Title: A Sore Subject
Author: Romantique
Email:
Classification: Eric/Tami Pairing.
Rating: T
Summary: There was a certain subject that was never completely aired on camera. I decided to air it here.
Disclaimer: This Friday Night Lights fan fiction occurs at the beginning of Season 4 which has yet to air.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
The Taylor home ...
Coach Eric Taylor arrived home after football practice to find his wife, Tami, in the kitchen starting dinner. "Hey," he said, giving her a quick peck on the lips while holding his well-chiseled jaw in his hand.
Immediately noticing the discomfort on her husband's face and that he was holding his jaw, Tami asked, "What's wrong, Hon? Mo's not back in town is he?" She couldn't help but tease him a little. Mo was such a sore subject with Eric.
"It's my damn tooth," he said without letting go of the right side of his face, "although thinkin' about it, Mo could very well have somethin' to do with this." His memory immediately flashed back to over a year ago and to the shot he'd taken on the right side of his face at the hands of Tami's old flame. He couldn't help but think it was a good thing he'd inflicted even more damage to Mo's face. Changing his tone, Eric continued, "I almost didn't make it through practice this afternoon."
Not totally surprised by this turn of events, Tami asked, "Well, when's the last time you actually made it to the dentist?"
"I know," he grumbled in defense, through his nearly closed mouth. "I cancelled my last appointment."
"And the one before that," she reminded him. "Your last appointment was your annual exam. You put football before your health."
"Babe, please, not now," he pleaded with pain in his eyes. "I'm hurtin', here."
"Ohhhhh, Honey," Tami soothed, patting on him. She really did feel sympathy for him. "How bad is it?"
He lowered his wincing eyes. "Bad," he mumbled, still holding onto his jaw.
Tami knew it must be bad. Her husband was never one to complain about pain. In fact, he was more prone to downplay something in the hope it would just go away. Looking at the clock, she said, "The dentist is closed. Do you want me to call the exchange and see if he'll do something for you tonight?"
Still holding his face, Eric gently shook his head in the affirmative.
"Okay. I'll be right back," she patted his back and left the room to make a call.
About ten minutes later, she returned to the living room to find her husband lying on the sofa with his eyes clenched tight, using a throw pillow to put some pressure on his jaw.
"Dr. Cochrane can't see you until first thing, tomorrow at 7:00. He's calling in an antibiotic and a few pain pills to get you through the night."
Mumbling through the pillow, he said, "No pain pills." Eric never took anything stronger than aspirin. He was an example to his team and to his daughters.
Tami took a slightly different view, thinking that sometimes, pain relievers were appropriate when used responsibly. She and Eric had had this discussion before, but he wasn't one to give in on this particular topic. Taking a seat next to him on the edge of the sofa, she brushed his hair away from his pained face. "Have you taken aspirin today?" she asked him softly.
He slowly nodded his head, moving the pillow away from his face.
"And did it do the job?" she asked him softly, still gently stroking his hair.
Even more slowly, he shook head and said, "No."
Tami let out a small sigh. "Babe, I know you don't like to take pain pills, but I'm going to pick them up. You have to take the antibiotic, and you'll have the pain pills here on hand in case you change your mind … like in the middle of the night when everything hurts ten times worse. He ordered only five pills to get you through this."
She leaned down to him and whispered near his ear. "You don't think you'll change your mind, but knowing they're here … just in case … will make me sleep a whole lot better tonight."
"Um-kay," he surrendered and repositioned the pillow back on top of his face, as he knew he was in no position to win this argument.
Placing her hand over Eric's heart, Tami slowly rubbed it through his red Lions polo shirt. She loved his heart. "Jules, would you come here for a minute?" Tami called out to her eldest daughter, as she stood and walked towards her purse and car keys.
Less than a moment later, Julie came into the living room from her bedroom.
"You're up, Jules, in charge of Gracie. Your Dad is benched, and I need to go to the pharmacy to pick him up some prescriptions," Tami quickly rattled off her instructions.
"What's wrong, Dad?" Julie asked, finally noticing her dad on the sofa.
"Toothache," he answered, his voice muffled by the pillow.
"Sorry, Daddy," Julie winced. It wasn't very often she called him 'Daddy' anymore, and it wasn't very often she saw him in pain. "I love you."
"Love you," he mumbled back.
To her mother, Julie whispered, "You're old boyfriend isn't back in town, is he?" Julie couldn't help but feel the déjà vu of the past two minutes.
Tami looked up at her daughter after the random question. "No, Honey."
Eventually, Eric did take the pills that night. The pain got to be so bad, he was left with no choice. The next morning, Tami drove her groggy husband to the dentist office with Gracie in tow. He had showered and brushed and flossed his teeth as best he could, but he skipped the shave. The right, lower side of his face was too painful to touch with a razor. In fact, his entire lower jaw was swollen.
After he was all checked in, Tami explained to the receptionist that she needed to leave to take Gracie to day care but that she would return directly afterwards.
"Don't you worry, Tami. We'll take real good care of Coach. You've even got time to stop and get yourself a latte if you like," the receptionist reassured her, and then led her poor husband out of the reception area and into a dental chair.
After bite wing x-rays were taken of the affected area, Dr. Cochrane came into the room and took a seat beside his patient.
"Hey, there, Coach," the gloved and masked dentist greeted his patient. "I've looked at your x-rays, and I'm afraid you need a root canal on that lower molar."
Eric's face immediately changed from one of being in pain to one of being in fear, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. In his entire life, he only had to have one small filling in his mouth. And then, there was the extraction of his wisdom teeth. He was put under anesthesia for that. All in all, he wasn't particularly fond of the dentist.
Noticing the change of expression on Eric's face, Dr. Cochrane made the following proposal. "I'd like to give you a little nitrous oxide or laughing gas to help with the pain during the procedure. Have you ever had gas before, Coach?"
"Naw, Doc," Eric shook his head.
The dentist noted Eric was in pain. "Did you eat anything this morning?"
"Naw, I couldn't eat with this pain," he answered the question.
"That's good you didn't eat," the dentist remarked. "It means I can give you the gas for the discomfort. You'll even be okay to head back to school when we're finished here if you need to. Sound good?"
"Sounds really good," Eric shook his head. He did need to be at this afternoon's practice.
The dentist began to administer oxygen to Eric through a nasal hood while he and his assistant set up the tools they needed for the procedure. A few minutes later, with the assistant seated near Eric's head on the other side of the chair, Dr. Cochrane returned. "Alright, you're about to smell a sweet odor. That's the nitrous oxide. We'll run it for a few minutes before I get started."
That was really the last thing Eric clearly remembered.
After Dr. Cochrane was satisfied that Eric was doing well on the gas, he proceeded to take molds for a temporary and a permanent crown and to repair the tooth.
Sometime later, Eric returned to the waiting room to find Tami there doing some paper work.
"Hey, Hon," Tami looked up from her paperwork at the sight of her husband. "How did it go?"
"I'm okay," Eric smiled on one side of his face. "Dr. Cochrane gave me laughin' gas. I hardly remember a thing. That stuff is great!"
Tami smiled and giggled a little, amused by her husband's affected demeanor. "Yeah, you look pretty happy right now, Hon."
"Coach Taylor?" the receptionist called him over to the counter. Tami followed.
"I have you scheduled for next Thursday at 7 a.m. Dr. Cochrane will affix your permanent crown, and we'll finish up with the rest of your x rays and cleaning."
Then, the receptionist turned to include Tami so that she would understand the aftercare instructions. "Go and put some breakfast in your stomach. Something soft like eggs and toast, so you can take an over the counter pain reliever within the hour. We'd give them to you now, but Dr. Cochrane said you haven't eaten anything yet today. Here, I'll give you some to take with you." She handed Tami a couple of packets of Extra Strength Advil. "Your tooth could be painful for up to a week after the root canal, but not anything like it was. Keep on a scheduled dose of the Advil, as directed, until tomorrow evening with food and then, see how you're doing. You may need to continue, or you may be able to back off of the pain reliever."
"Did you have a root canal done, Hon?" Tami was surprised.
"Yeah, I did," he nodded. "Same tooth that had that old fillin'."
"Now Coach, this is very important," the receptionist tried to get his attention. "Do not chew on the side where you had the root canal until you get your permanent crown. Is it on your right side?"
"Yeah," Eric nodded.
"That's only a temporary crown Dr. Cochrane put in this morning, so no chewing gum or anything sticky like toffee or caramel, understand?
"No gum? That's going to be tough for you on game night," Tami added as she glanced over at him.
The receptionist continued. "You don't want that temporary popping off. And no hot liquids until tomorrow. The cement needs to set."
"Thank you. I got it," Eric nodded and noticed that Tami was taking close note of everything that was said.
"Is that it?" Tami smiled at the receptionist. She could tell Eric was getting antsy and wanted to leave. "We're going to get a bite to eat."
"Yeah, that's it. You give 'em hell on Friday night, Coach," the receptionist smiled.
"We surely will," Eric gave a one-sided smile, as they made their exit.
Tami drove Eric to the nearby diner where he ordered eggs and pancakes. Tami ordered some coffee and an English muffin. After he put down a few good, slow bites of food, Tami passed him the Advil.
"How's your mouth, Babe?" Tami asked.
"Still pretty numb," he answered. "At least I'm not hurtin' anymore."
In fact, the lower right side of his face wasn't moving much at all from the Novocain. He opened the red packet and swallowed the pills. "This was a mornin' of firsts. I'd never had laughin' gas before, and I'd never had a root canal until today."
"Do you really think Mo caused you to have to have a root canal?" Tami asked. She had never had one. She also knew she might be breaching a sore subject.
"Now, why would you go and bring him up again?" Eric sighed. The look on his face looked as if he'd taken a bite of something that left a really bad taste in his mouth.
"What, Hon? You brought him up. You said he might have had something to do with your tooth," Tami defended herself.
"Oh, no," Eric shook his head with a forced smile on his face. Speaking in a low voice, he said, "You brought up Mo last night when I first came home, tryin' to make me jealous, 'cause you said you think I'm cute when I'm jealous." Eric was mocking his wife because she had made that very statement to him and to Julie several times before. Then, he continued, "That is, until I defend your honor and then, you don't seem to think I'm so cute. Then, you think I'm an idiot."
Taken aback at his over-reaction, after all this time, Tami just looked at him. She thought for a moment and then, chalked his reaction up to the after affects of the laughing gas. It was true that since the morning after the brawl between her husband and Mo, it was never mentioned again, not until yesterday.
"And yes, I do think when he clocked the right side of my face, he knocked my fillin' loose," Eric said and returned to eating his pancakes.
"I'm sorry, Eric." Tami placed her hands over his forearm. "I was trying to be funny last night, but it was not funny to me that you were in pain. And it is not funny to me if Mo inflicted this kind of damage to your tooth."
Tami didn't say so, but it was very apparent to her that a lot more than her husband's face and his tooth had been hurt ... so had his pride. Her joking about the fight with Mo certainly wasn't helping.
Eric continued to silently eat his meal.
"Honey, I don't think you're an idiot. That was a poor word choice on my part," she tried to explain, hoping she wouldn't make things even worse. "The night ya'll got into the fight, you both had way too much to drink. I did, and still do, believe you both acted with the restraint of children who couldn't rise above an argument that doesn't even exist."
"You're comparin' me with Mo McArnold?" Eric questioned her logic.
"No," she answered. "I think Mo McArnold is a jerk. I think he baited you into a drunken brawl, and I think if you hadn't had too much to drink that night, you would have walked away."
"Well, you see, that's where you're wrong," Eric said, poking around at the rest of his cold scrambled eggs with his fork. "He and I were gonna fight that night, whether we had too much to drink or not." He went on, "Once Mo came to town, started seein' you and runnin' into you over and over again, once he started flashin' his money around you … when I can't buy you the house you want …"
"But, Hon, I chose to marry you a long time ago. I've never had any regrets," she cooed in all sincerity. "I love you. I'm more in love with you now than I've ever loved anyone, even you. I've never loved Mo. I didn't know what love was until you."
Tami grabbed his hand. "You are the father of our beautiful children. I love you more than anything in this world"
"I know you love me," Eric sighed, as he tried to explain, "but this was between Mo and me. It's a guy thing. It's somethin' that had to be done and should've been done a long time ago." After a pause, he continued, "Tami, I don't want to be friends with Mo McArnold. And I don't want you to be friends with him, either. I also don't appreciate you tryin' to get a rise out of me because it makes you feel good. There's nothin' more I can say on the subject of Mo."
"I understand," Tami said. She knew it was hard for him to articulate his feelings on this particular subject. After a time, she said, "I called into the schools for both of us. I'm going to work the rest of the day from home."
"I have to be at practice this afternoon," he said. "We've got some problems that need to be ironed out before Friday's game."
"You still need to shave, Hon," she reminded him.
"Yeah, I know," Eric acknowledged. "I was out of it this mornin'."
Taking a refill on her coffee, Tami added, "Boy, I'll say you were out of it. You were moaning and groaning in your sleep. I couldn't make out what you were saying. I woke you up twice, do you remember?"
He shook his head, no. "It was those pills. They had me dreamin' in Technicolor. I dreamt something about losin' this next Lions game against Arnett Meade, but J.D. McCoy was my quarterback. He wouldn't listen to me; he would only listen to Joe who was coachin' the Arnett Meade team."
"Hmmmm. No wonder you were moaning," Tami responded while sipping her coffee.
After another awkward silence, Tami carefully broached the subject of Mo again. "I need you to know what I was thinking so you don't get the wrong idea. And you don't have to say anything, but I need for you to listen."
Eric looked up at her with his hazel eyes that looked particularly grey today.
Tami carefully proceeded. "The reason I brought the subject of Mo up was not because I like him anymore," she started, "but with Joe McCoy bankrolling the Boosters and the District and our politicians; and then, this redistricting thing in the middle of this recession … I just thought it would be nice if we had someone with financial backing on our side. I mean, Buddy Garrity is barely holding onto his dealership."
"On our side?" Our side?" Eric's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Mo McArdle would never financially back East Dillon or nothin' I have anything to do with."
Tami sighed, "I know this doesn't make any sense, but I thought he might do it for old times' sake, to help out a friend."
"You mean you thought he'd do it for you," Eric looked her straight in the eye with a look she never liked to catch. "Tami, please, I don't need that kind of help."
"Honey," Tami once again held his forearm, "in these extraordinary times, don't count out potential help from any source, including from the Mo McArnolds of the world. I'm just saying."
"Have you talked to him about this?" Eric asked. He was beginning to get a little red in the face from the old green-eyed monster. It still bothered him that this guy could buy his wife anything she ever wanted.
"Of course not," Tami answered right away. "You know me better than that. I haven't spoken to him since the brawl, and I would never talk to him again without talking to you first." She paused. "But that is why I brought him up last night, not to get you upset again about that fight ya'll had."
Eric looked at his wife in the eyes. He could read her like a book, as she could read him. Slowly, his anger began to dissipate into understanding. Her logic may have been arguably flawed, but Tami's heart was in the right place. It was always in the right place.
"Hey," he gave her a tight little smile and glanced at his watch. "It's just now a little after 11:00. Let's go home. I think I'll lie down for an hour or so before shavin' and headin' out to practice." He picked up the diner check to take to the register.
Picking up her purse and sliding out of the booth, Tami returned the little smile. "I just might lie down with you for awhile, Coach Taylor."
"Do say, Principal Taylor?" Eric said, as his half a smile grew a little bigger.
He stood, grabbing her by the hand, and he put his arm around her. Then, he leaned down and gave his wife a soft little kiss which she gladly returned. "Do say."
fin-