He Has Changed
A/N: So I just watched the entirety of FNL on Netflix and I became obsessed with Tim and Lyla (and the show itself, obviously). I loved every scene they had together and this is just a little off-shoot in my imagination on little moments in building a future together (since the show obviously didn't think that was possible lol).
Tim Riggins walked through the stores of the A&P, the same A&P he'd went to since he was a 15 year old buying beer for his brother. He doesn't come as often as he used to, he doesn't come to Dillon as often as he used to, but it still feels like home. Only now its his old home. He has a new life now, one that he'd never admit to wanting as the 15 year old beer-buying football jock, but one that he couldn't live without now. It's usually when he comes to this same A&P that it hits him how much things have changed, how much he has changed.
"Tim Riggins is that you?"
It amazed him how often people stopped him in the grocery store to talk about football. For some people, Panther football was all they had. Yes, he was a legendary Dillon Panther and he loved every second of it, but it just made him that much more thankful that it wasn't all he'd become.
This voice was different though, it was a woman and as he turned around he knew...Tyra Collette.
"Miss Collette" he said with that unmistakable smile.
"I knew it was you! But with that haircut you kinda look like Jason Street."
Tim laughed and ran his hands through his significantly shorter hair, "Yeah its a bit of a change but come on, I'm much more handsome than Streeter."
He shoved his hands in his jeans as Tyra came over to him, "I can't believe it, I've been back in Dillon for an hour and I've already seen Riggins."
"You don't live around here anymore?"
"Nah, I live in Ohio actually." she laughed, gauging Tim's disgusted reaction, "This is the first I've been back since our nieces were born."
Billy and Mindy gave birth to twin girls, Alice and Jane three years ago to become the little sisters of rambunctious Stephen. Tim sometimes forgot that Tyra was also the aunt to his brother's little ones because she was never around.
"That's right, I didn't see you though."
"No, Mindy said you were home the week I came. Mindy and my mom have been so busy you know and I've been away, I've barely spoke to them in years. Actually that's why I'm back, to mend some fences."
"Mend some fences?" Tim gave her an eyebrow, "What exactly have you been up to in Ohio, Collette?"
"I'm engaged." Tyra said matter-of-factly, "To this guy they don't exactly love. I've put off our wedding for the last three years because I want my mom and sister to be there so…"
"I get ya." Tim said.
"So I haven't heard much about you, I take it you're still a Dillon Panther?"
"Actually, not really." Tim smiled, "I still have that land, you know, and we come here on the weekends to relax over there sometimes, but yeah I live in Austin actually in the suburbs."
"Tim Riggins lives in the suburbs, you're kidding?!" Tyra almost fell over.
"Well I got a kid now, so my boy needs some space in the city."
Tyra did fall over, "You're a dad. Oh my god, I don't believe it, show me a picture."
Tim rolled his eyes, "Fine." He pulled out his iPhone and scrolled through until he proved it, showing Tyra a picture of him holding a baby in a blue blanket in a hospital room.
"His name is Samuel, Sam for short, he's almost a year old now."
Tyra gushed, "He's adorable Tim!" then she saw something that caught her eye as she grabbed the phone from Tim's hands.
"Why is Buddy Garrity in the hospital room with you and your newborn son?"
"Oh," Tim laughed, "He's scoutin' those Dillon Panthers a lot earlier than he used to."
Tyra didn't buy that at all and looked at him skeptically.
"He was meeting his first grandchild."
"You got Lyla Garrity pregnant?!" she exploded.
"You mean Lyla Riggins?" he grinned.
"Tim!" Tyra playfully hit him, "You married Lyla!? What!?"
"What?" Tim defended himself, "Yeah, I married her three years ago, and then had a baby."
"Tim!"
"Stop sayin' that!"
"Tim, I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks Tyra, I appreciate it." he exhaled, running his hands through his hair, "I'm happier than I could have ever imagined. And I'm glad you're happy too."
"I guess it took gettin' outta Dillon, huh?"
"Surprisingly, yeah." Tim nodded.
"Well, I'll see ya around, Tim Riggins."
"Hey, what's your fella's name?"
She gave him a look, "Does it matter?"
He shrugged, "I guess not."
"I'll see you around, Mr. Lyla." she smirked.
"Yeah, see you around." he nodded back and gave a pathetic half-wave.
After leaving the store, he pulled up the dirt road and into his quaint little home on the Dillon countryside. As much as he loved the suburbs, he loved this little piece of Texas that he could call all his own. He found his wife sitting on the porch swing.
Tim smiled as he came into view and Lyla's face instantly lit up.
Tim walked over to her, leaned over and kissed her forehead lovingly. She smiled brightly and grabbed his cheeks while they were still close and dragged them to meet her lips.
"Hi Tim." the way she said Tim still made his heart melt.
"Hi honey."
"How was the store?" she asked.
"Come with me." he deflected her question and reached out his hand.
"What?" she laughed, confused.
"Come with me."
"Tim, Billy's gonna call any minute when we're supposed to go pick up Sam and-"
"Billy can hold on to our kid for five more minutes. Come with me."
"Tim." she smiled.
"I'm spontaneous." he grinned devilishly, "I thought that's why I interest you."
"Fine." Lyla continued grinning. She swore that the amount of time Tim made her smile was going to break her face one day.
He took her three steps off the porch and layed down on the grass.
Expecting to be more of a journey, she stared down at his amazing eyes looking up at her, "What are you doing?"
"Lay with me."
"It's lie." she corrected him.
"I don't lie."
"You're something else, Riggins." she grumbled playfully, crouching down to lie next to her husband.
"Yeah, you're something else too, Riggins." he whispered, cuddling her up in his arms.
Lyla couldn't help but go crazy at the sound of the love of her life calling her by her last name...his last name.
"Look at that." Tim said, staring up into the sky, clear and full of stars.
"It is beautiful. And it's so peaceful here." she replied, wrapping her arm around Tim's torso as close as humanly possible as she dug her head into the crook of his neck.
"Our own little piece of Texas, babe."
"Thank you." Lyla said quietly.
Tim chuckled, "It's just some land, I-"
"No." she cut him off, "Thank you for everything."
"Huh?"
"Thank you for everything. There's way too many things I have to thank you for, Tim, so just thank you for being with me all these years. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well thank you for being with me." he rubbed her shoulder, still staring up into the Texas sky, "You're the first person who ever stuck around."
Crickets chirped around them, "I love you, Lyla."
"And I love you, Tim." he finally turned his neck around to face her, and she placed a small kiss on his lips. "I could just lie here forever." Lyla exhaled.
"Well you're forgetting about the 11-month old who we have to get from his Aunt and Uncle's house."
She rolled around and scratched his stomach affectionately, "Obviously I didn't forget about our son."
"Holy god, we have a son." Tim shook his head.
"What?" Lyla barely caught the words Tim said.
"I don't know. I ran into Tyra Collette at the A&P today and it just-"
Lyla was fully interested in this now, "Tyra? Oh my god, we haven't heard from her since before Sammy was born...why is she here? Where does she live? How is she?"
"I don't really care about that." he stated clearly, playfully covering his wife's babbling lips, "What I care about is you, and talking to her made me realize how much things have changed, you know. I used to fall back on her all the time whenever I let life walk all over me, she was always this weird constant, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." Lyla frowned, not liking where this was going, "Obviously I didn't like that-"
"Jason Street." he replied with a wicked grin and Lyla couldn't roll her eyes hard enough, "Touche."
At the beginning of their love affair, Tyra and Street were two major points of jealous contention between the two. But with enough understanding, time, and love, it was just a testament to how in sync Tim and Lyla were that they could easily joke about it now.
"Anyway, what matters is that this is our life, without all of that crap. I'm a husband...your husband, and a father and a football coach and have a kick-ass place in Austin and a little piece of Texas back in Dillon and I get to share it with the love of my life every single day."
"Aw Tim." Lyla cooed, loving that her husband was being so rarely emotional. She couldn't think of what to say so she started to kiss him. Before they knew it, they were rolling around in the front lawn, laughing and loving each other just as much as the day they met.
"Okay, we have to go to Billy's, he and Mindy gonna kill us if they have to watch Sammy one more minute." Lyla giggled.
"They already got three kids, what's one more matter." he continued kissing down her neck.
"Tim, let's go." she couldn't stop laughing.
"Fine."
"I love you." she smiled getting up and helping him up with her hand.
"God, I love you more." he stared at his wife, following her back up to the porch.
Lyla gasped and showed him her phone.
"Ohhh, five missed calls from Mindy! You're in big trouble!" Tim teased.
"Shut up! This is your fault." she laughed, playfully punching his abs and heading to their car.
"My fault! Don't try to blame this on your husband!" he kept joking as he slid into the driver's seat, taking a minute to look at his very frazzled wife and recognize just how good he had it.