When I ask a story now, as opposed to a few years ago, I always think of a story as a pathway to the reading. It’s like a twist on TPRS to see Step 3 as the source of the greatest grains, the goal of the work. The reading is the big deal.
When the kids know the story well, they can read the reading easily, and that is when the grammar gets taught. Understanding the spoken language is one thing, but understanding it PLUS then reading it is even more, better.
Step 2 TPRS is the baking of the CI cake, but Step 3 TPRS reading is the putting on of the icing. Reading makes the whole thing about CI taste good and complete, so that the language experience we have given our students is complete, and very tasty.