Author's note: I own EVERYTHING. Glad we got THAT settled.
Now then, this came directly from ICanStopAnytime and her comment/review of my story Breaking of the Shell. She wrote that she'd like to see a continuation of sorts of that story where Tim moved in to Casa de Taylor, so of course that roiled and bounced around in my head until I said screw it and wrote this. It's AU of course, which means we get the cute beyond words team of Payton and Jordan Taylor wagging their tails and lying on Coach's lap in adorable fashion. I suppose this is also a sequel or continuation of Breaking of the Shell. Now if only ICanStopAnytime will get working on that story about Eric's adventure/travails coaching a girls football team like I suggested. C'mon, we all want to read that story, so start pestering ICanStopAntime to write it. I realize that an actual 3 year old probably wouldn't be as sophisticated in her language as Gracie Belle is here, but we all know EVERY child of Eric and Tamu=i Taylor is going to be EXTRA gifted. As for reviews, blah blah, seething hatred, you know the drill.
"We forget very easily what gives us pain."
-Graham Greene
Eric was reading when Tami came into their bedroom. He waited until she'd gotten settled under the covers, and marked his place in his book with an index card. "I talked with Tim and his parole officer and Buddy today."
"All at once?"
"Yeah, Buddy has an in over at the jail, like he does everywhere else. Annoying as he is, it does help that he knows everyone and that he can lean on people and that people owe him."
"Well, I don't like it when he leans on you or on us."
"You think I do? It isn't so much that he leans on me, it's that he has some scheme or plan that he's halfway through that gets sprung on me so I get the blame if it gets found out. But I didn't want to have a complain about Buddy Garrity talk, this was supposed to be about Tim."
"Alright, but Buddy is involved with this, right?"
"Yeah. The basics of it are that Tim can't live with Billy or Mindy until his probation is up in two years. He can see Billy, but it has to be supervised, like if we had Mindy and Billy over for supper. Tim can't go near Riggins Rigs for two years and he can't work at a car dealership or gas station or car repair shop or towing or storage company or car parts store, pretty much anything having to do with motor vehicles. That includes being a driving instructor. The cops eyes are gonna be on Riggins Rigs for a while 'cause they don't believe that Tim could have done all that by himself, no way, they think Billy had to be in on it as well."
"Do you think that, do you think Tim took the fall for Billy?"
Eric rubbed his face. "Yeah, they were in it together. But Tim wasn't gonna let the two of them go into prison and leave Mindy there to raise their kid alone. It-I don't want to say it was an honorable thing he did, but it was brave."
"Would you have done it?"
Eric's face flushed. "I wouldn't have gotten in the damn situation in the first place. A chop shop? Jesus." Eric shook his head. "It's not just that they don't think of the consequences, they don't even believe there are consequences."
"Well, that's because they pretty much had to raise each other and they were both really good high school football players in Texas, they didn't have to face the consequence of their parents being called because they skipped school or were caught drinking. It caught up with them finally and they're paying the price. And sugar, I think it's kind of hypocritical for you to be castigating them now when I can think of several times when you begged and pleaded with me not to have Tim flunk a class or suspend him because you happened to have an important game that particular week. You enabled his behavior." Tami leaned over and kissed him. "But I am not gonna get in a fight or an argument with you about this, 'cause that isn't what this is about, right?"
"No. So Tim's job options are really limited. I can't imagine him lasting a week at a place like the Alamo Freeze or some other restaurant, same for working a retail job like Target. He'd get bored and start goofing off and fired 'fore he got through his third day."
"So what is he going to do, collect unemployment?"
"It'd be tough. A lot of ex-cons apply and get denied, and Tim's work ethic in terms of going out and looking for work probably isn't very good. But Buddy said that he would give Tim a job at his bar."
"Doing what?"
"Tending bar, cleaning up, maybe a little bouncer type stuff."
"He can't, he's not 21."
"He's gonna be 21 in two months. You know he was held a back a year on purpose; he was 19 when he graduated. That isn't that unusual if you play football in Texas or Ohio. Look, I've been thinking about this, so has Tim and Buddy, this is pretty much the only job he's gonna be able to get for a while. He could maybe get some piecemeal handyman jobs here and there, but he needs something steady, every day." Tami frowned. "What is it?"
"I'm confused about Buddy, why he's doing this? I mean he was not happy when Tim and Lyla were together, I think he still believes Tim is somehow responsible for Buddy's losing the car dealership, there has to be some angle to this, don't you?"
"I don't know. I don't think so. Buddy was angry with Tim for going out with Lyla, and her saying she was gonna follow Tim to San Antonio State, but Tim convincing her to go to Vanderbilt got him some points. You think all Buddy is motivated by is Dillon football and how well the team does and he is, but there's more to him than that. I was surprised as hell to hear him say that he'd speak on Tim's behalf in front of the parole board, before I got the chance to I would. The cynical part of me says that Buddy sees what Tim did with the chop shop as some horrible stain on the legacy of Dillon football and this was something to give Buddy an in to erase it somehow, but I think he also does care about Tim, that isn't just talk, he hated seeing Tim being brought before the parole board in handcuffs and leg chains. I think he wants Tim to redeem himself, like you and I do."
"So…"
"So I think that when Tim gets released from prison he should move in with us. Buddy had mentioned it to the parole officer, about Tim moving in with him, but that business with Santiago nixed that. The parole officer said he'd ask, but didn't think there'd be any problems. We would need to go over to Tim and Billy's house and get his clothes and stuff and talk the situation over with Billy and Mindy."
"What about Julie and Gracie?"
"You or I call Julie and tell her what's going on and we can tell Gracie tomorrow. She'll love it."
"Is he going to have a curfew? What about chores and such?"
"Curfew?"
"If Tim is going to live with us, he's not going to be staggering in drunk at one in the morning. And you aren't going to be playing ping pong with him in the garage at four in the morning either. And honestly, I don't really want him having a beer with you or a glass of whisky after he turns 21."
"Not even to celebrate?"
"Eric, he's pretty much the definition of a functional alcoholic and while I want to help him and I care about him, I'm not gonna enable him while he's living here. When he gets released we'll bring him here and sit him down and lay it out for him."
"A'ight, I see you and hear you. As far as chores go, mowing the lawn and babysitting Grace, taking Payton and Jordan out to the dog park or on walks, laundry and helping clean up, maybe even some cooking." Eric looked at Tami. "Will we pay him for babysitting? I still pay Julie."
'Yes I think we do pay him, the same that Julie gets."
The next morning Gracie, Eric and Tami were having breakfast. "Gracie Belle, you remember Tim Riggins?"
"Uncle Tim."
"That's right."
"I remember, did he move or something, I haven't seen him in a while."
Tami and Eric looked across the table at each other. "Well, he's—he had to go away for a time, but he's gonna be coming back and your mom and I have been talking and thinking and it looks like Tim will be staying with us."
"You mean, like sleeping over? What about his house?"
"He can't stay at his house, at least not for a while, and, well it would be really hard for him to find another place to live, so he'd be living here."
"How long?"
"I—we—I don't know, we think it's gonna be a couple of months, maybe more. He's gonna be staying in the guest room."
"What if Aunt Shelley comes over, are they both going to sleep in the guest room?"
Tami snorted and covered her mouth while she laughed. Eric's brow furrowed and he grimaced. He started to say something but Tami cut him off. "Well, Aunt Shelly far as I know is busy with her new job."
"What about Christmas? Isn't she coming for Christmas?"
"No, she's going to visit your grandmother."
"Does Julie know?"
"I'm going to call her today and let her know."
"Can Tim and I play dress up? Can we play dolls?"
"You'll have to ask him when he gets here, I'm sure he'll play with you, he told me you are really good at braiding his hair."
Eric stared goggle eyed at Tami when he heard that.
"When is he going to be here, is he coming today?"
"No, not today, if things go well, in about a week, maybe a little longer."
In her office that afternoon Tami called Julie's cellphone.
"Hey mom."
"Hello Jules, how's things?"
"Okay, I have three papers due on Friday and a couple of tests."
"Well I'll try not to keep you long; do you have a couple of minutes?"
"Sure, and I—I wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"I—you go first."
"Okay. You know that Tim Riggins has been in jail since last November, haven't you?"
"I heard some people talking a about a few times at school, he got in a fight and crippled some guy or he tried to rob Panther Pizza." Tami sighed. "Mom, you aren't rolling your eyes are you?"
"I swear it's being in the middle of the worst game of Telephone living here sometimes. No Tim did not beat up anybody or try and rob anyone. He and Billy were running a chop shop out of Riggins Rigs and they got caught and Tim took all the blame."
"But Billy knew about it."
"More than knew about it he helped out with it, but, look Tim took the blame, let's just leave it there for now. Your dad and I have both visited him in prison and we've been thinking and talking about the situation and we've decided that he's going to move in and live with us for a while when he gets out, which should be in ten days, if everything goes well with the parole board. "
"Why is he going to live with us, I mean he and Billy have their own house, don't they?"
"From what we've heard and learned it could be a parole violation if he lives in his house, he and Billy aren't supposed to see other without supervision. Tim can't work at a place that has anything to do with motor vehicles, if he does it's a parole violation. Your dad and I have already talked it over but we wanted to call you and tell you about it. Will you be okay if Tim is living with us for a while?"
"How long is he going to be with us?"
"We don't know, probably a few months."
"It's fine with me; I'm only going to be home for a few weeks until the semester starts up, but it's okay. Thanks for telling me."
"Of course, honey. What was it you wanted to ask me?" There was silence on the line. "Julie, are you okay?"
"Mom is dad still upset with me, about, yo—you know, Derek?"
Tami frowned. "Do you think he is?"
"I guess, I mean, he never calls, it's always you calling and he'll come on and talk for a few minutes, but then he puts you back on."
"I don't know that he's still upset with you, but he is hurt and I guess he doesn't understand how it could have happened. And you know he'd never come out and ask you about it. He and I did lose some respect for you, but we both still love you very much. Your dad will come around; he mentioned the other day that he missed you being sassy to him at breakfast."
"What? I was never sassy to him."
"Julie Taylor. You have my and Shelley's sassiness and you know it."
Tami could hear Julie sigh. "I suppose. How are Gracie and the puppies?"
"Doing fine. Your dad lets Gracie hold Payton's leash for a while when they walk. Not the whole time. She's enjoying daycare and looking forward to seeing Tim."
"So am I. And I promise, he won't be taking me to any parties and coming home drunk."
"Good to know. Well, I've got a student in a couple of minutes so I'm going to go. I love you and it was good talking to you."
"I love you too, mom. Will you tell dad I love him, and Gracie?"
"Of course."
"And can you give Payton and Jordan some pats and maybe a tummy rub?"
Tami laughed. "If I can get Payton out of your dad's lap I will."
