Title: Forward Progress (1/18)

Author: Romantique

Email:

Classification: Eric/Tami Drama/Angst

Rating: T for some language.

Summary: MAJOR SPOILERS from Season 4. Tami and Eric have been put through the ringer this season. Wouldn't you love to see them smile? At least for awhile? This fic takes place at the end of Season 4 before Season 4 airs on NBC.

Disclaimer: MAJOR SPOILERS from Season 4.

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.

forward progress:

the location to which a ball carrier has advanced the ball, even if he was pushed backwards after getting there.

At the Taylor home …

Tami Taylor naturally opened her eyes before the alarm went off and woke in a wonderful mood. Between her husband's miraculous Friday night win over his former Dillon Panthers and yesterday's satisfactory conclusion to her own horrendous feud with the school district, Tami had slept better than she had in a long, long time and suspected her husband, Eric, had, too. The fortunate turns of events made for an absolutely perfect ending to their long Thanksgiving weekend.

Lying in bed next to her, Eric rolled towards her and opened his eyes with a smile on his face. "Mornin'," he drawled, their passionate interlude only hours before still fresh on his mind.

"Good morning, Hon," Tami cooed, snuggling in closer until her face lay against her husband's t-shirted chest. "I was just about to get up to check on Gracie and put on a pot of coffee. Do you want to go to church with me this morning?"

Taking his wife in his arms, Eric was still smiling. "Sure. I'll go to church with you. But do you think we could go to the later, 11 o'clock service?" And he brought his head down and began to place soft little kisses on her neck, being careful not to scratch her with his overnight scruff.

After the torturous, lonely football season the two of them had endured, Tami was thrilled her husband wanted to make love to her again so soon, even if it meant going to the later service.

After some time later, Tami showered and dressed and made her way into the kitchen to start breakfast. Their oldest daughter, Julie, was already up with little Gracie. After Tami put the coffee on and began making waffles, a special request from Gracie, a freshly showered and still smiling Eric joined them in the kitchen. After saying his 'Good Mornin's' to his girls, he made his way over to his wife and gave her a sultry, romantic kiss which Tami happily returned.

Normally, Julie would have vocally complained about her parents' public display of affection in her presence as being 'gross' or 'too much information.' However, so worried had she been about her parents over the past several months, this time, she smiled with approval upon seeing her mom and dad express their love to one another. It did her heart good.

After the kiss, Eric energetically volunteered to cook up some bacon and poach some range free eggs to go with the waffles. Julie set the table, poured juice for all, and sliced some fruit. She couldn't help but think that it had been a long time since her family had a real Sunday breakfast before going to church together. It felt good to see her parents smiling and happy and to know all was well, once again.

As the family ate their breakfast, Julie could not help but notice the way her parents gazed into each others eyes or that her mother placed her hand in her father's at the table. She was planning on bringing up the subject of Habitat for Humanity again, but decided it better to give her parents some time to themselves. For if she was going to leave her family, she would feel much better leaving them on a happy note.

Later that day, at Church …

After the service, the church congregation gathered outside to greet one another and exchange pleasantries before heading home.

Buddy Garrity walked over towards Eric with a serious look on his face that Eric always feared. "Hey, friend. Did you see the paper this morning?"

"Naw, I didn't. And if you've got any bad news to tell me, I don't want to hear it," Eric smiled. Although Buddy Garrity was a great guy, he could be a thorn in Eric's side more often than not. "My family and I are goin' to enjoy this beautiful day." He looked up at the big blue, Texas sky. Before giving Buddy even the slightest chance to spoil this wonderful day, Eric quickly said, "I'll talk to you later, Buddy." And he turned on his heel to go and find his lovely wife, a few yards away.

Buddy decided to let it be for now. It had been a long while since he'd seen a smile on his friend's face, and he decided to allow Eric to continue celebrating his big win against the Dillon Panthers for a little while longer.

Walking up behind Tami, Eric placed his arm around her shoulder, as she reached up and grabbed his hand in hers. Even though she was making small talk with some of her friends, the touch of Eric's hand reminded her that they had finally physically reconnected, were plugged in to one another ... and it felt good.

"Would you all excuse us?" Eric interrupted the superfluous chit-chat with an exaggerated smile on his face. "We've got plans this afternoon, and we're gonna need to get goin'."

Smiling through her teeth, an unsuspecting Tami picked up on Eric's cue and played along. "Oh, yes. We really do need to get moving. Bye y'all." As the two walked, still hand-in-hand, over to find Julie and Gracie, Tami leaned over to her husband and quietly asked, "Do we really have someplace we need to be?"

Eric smiled and gave her hand a loving squeeze. "I've got somethin' in mind." Upon spying his daughters, he called, "Hey, Jules! Could I see you for a second?"

Julie came right over with her baby sister in tow. "Yeah, Dad. What's up?"

Keeping his voice down low, he asked, "Would you do me a huge favor and watch Gracie for a couple of hours so that I can take your mother somewhere this afternoon? It will only be for a few hours. I promise."

The pleading in her father's eyes made Julie smile. "Um, sure. I'll watch her. No problem."

Eric kissed his oldest daughter on the top of her head. "Thank you, Sweetie. I really appreciate this."

"You're welcome," she nodded. Whatever was going on with her parents, she hoped it would continue forever.

Eric drove the family home; then, he and Tami went inside and changed out of their church clothes and into more casual, weekend attire.

"Where are we going?" Tami asked, once back inside Eric's SUV.

"You'll see," he answered with a mischievous look on his face. And he leaned in to give her a lingering kiss at the stop light.

Tami was really enjoying this day.

Eric drove them outside of Dillon, holding Tami's hand in the car. At one point, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her fingers. Tami smiled at him. The love inside Eric's rig could have filled a football stadium.

Soon, Tami noticed they were heading toward the lake, to the same spot she had taken him to reminisce about their first romantic date. Sure enough, he pulled into the same parking lot.

"Awww, Hon," Tami smiled. "Thank you for bringing me back here. This is such a beautiful spot." She seemed pleased to be there, and also pleased that he remembered her romantic gesture.

"You really love this lake, don't you, Babe?" he smiled back, placing his rig into 'Park' while turning off the ignition.

"Yes. Don't you?" she asked.

"I do," he nodded. "I really do."

Tami smiled. "It's so peaceful here. I love being near water and nature," she continued. "And I love being here with you."

The two fell into a soulful kiss in the front seat of the car. "I love you," she sighed.

Eric smiled. Grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze, he said, "There's somethin' else I want to do."

"Okay," she returned his smile, a bit perplexed. Her husband was just full of surprises today.

Eric started his rig and drove up a road, up a hill, ending up at a secluded quaint, brick home with a beautiful garden, overlooking the lake. After he stopped the car, he said, "C'mere."

Tami followed him out of the car, but she still didn't understand what her husband had up his sleeve.

He walked over to her, took her face in his hands, and gazed into her eyes. "This house is for sale." He continued in a very level, measured tone, "It sits on five acres, has a huge kitchen and den, plenty of room to entertain. It's big, but not too big. It has three bedrooms, two baths, a small office, and … it's zoned for East Dillon."

Tami looked at her husband's face in disbelief.

"And Babe," he went on, saving the best part for last, "there are 'his and her closets' in the master bedroom." He continued to gaze deeply into her blue eyes.

He touched her heart by quietly listening to every word she had ever said over the years about her dream house ... when she thought he wasn't listening. Tami's eyes began to fill with tears. She leaned in and kissed him. She kissed him hard.

"Don't you want to take a look? Go inside?" he asked in between kisses.

"Honey, I don't need to. It's perfect! I can feel it. It's perfect," she laughed with her arms held tightly around her husband's neck. "I can picture us down at the lake …"

Hugging her around her waist, Eric smiled and said, "When the weather is warmer, I'm gonna take you skinny dippin' with me in that lake."

And Tami went on, "... with the girls and our grandchildren. …"

"Grandchildren?" Eric teasingly echoed. "Naw, I don't want to talk about grandchildren. You're makin' me old before my time. I want to talk about you ... and me ... swimmin' in the moonlight." Eric took great glee in painting his own picture of their future.

"... And I can just see team parties down at the lake," she went on. "Oh, Honey, we could get a boat!"

Now that Tami was excited, Eric allowed himself to become excited, too. "I looked at the house yesterday, and I've already met with the realtor. This is a bank foreclosure that just came on the market, yesterday. We could do this, Tami. We could rent our house out until the market improves, which is probably what we should do. It's no surprise there's a shortage of rental housing for folks wanting to move into Dillon High's boundaries. We rent our house out at a premium and, so long as the market improves over the next few years, we sell our house at a fair market value and then, we could pay off this lake house in five years. It feels as if it's meant to be." He gazed into her eyes again. "We wouldn't be upside down. I wouldn't lose sleep over this house. I'd sleep just fine."

After a beat, Tami started to jump up and down like a kid. "Yes, yes, yes! Oh, Eric, yes! Let's do it!"

"Alright," he smiled. "Let's go over to the realtor's office. Missy's waitin' for us."

Tami surprisingly leaped up into his arms, and the two held each other tight.

"Just a minute, Hon," Tami said, looking at the house, looking at the lake view while still in his arms. "Let's take this all in for a minute."

"We can take all the time you want," Eric affirmed, with a joyful laugh.

And the two stood arm in arm, allowing their future to sink in. It was a radically different future they saw for themselves than the one they saw when overlooking the dilapidated football field at East Dillon High for the very first time.

Dillon Realty …

The Taylors were met at the door of the realty office by long time acquaintance, Missy Aubrey.

"Tami ... Girl, didn't you absolutely love it?" Missy asked in a very high voice.

Smiling, Tami answered in a voice almost equally high, "What's not to love?"

"I knew it," Missy gushed. "How long have y'all been looking at houses? I knew I would get you one day. I think this is the absolute perfect property for you."

"This one is a God-send," Eric said. "It's still on the market, isn't it?" The look on his face turned to one of worry.

"Yes," Missy smiled. "I called on it as soon as you said you were coming over. So, you say you are ready to make an offer?"

"Yeah," Eric shook his head with confidence. "Let's do it."

"This is so exciting, Coach, Tami," Missy continued to gush. She proceeded in helping them write the offer in her computer. Then, when all the "I's" were dotted the "T's" were crossed, she printed it out and collected their signatures, scanned a couple of the signed documents, and hit the "Send" button.

"We should hear something from the bank first thing in the morning." Missy was still smiling. Then, she said, "This almost makes up for that bad Tim Riggins deal."

"What?" Coach looked perplexed, as did Tami.

"Oh. Haven't you been reading the paper this weekend?" Missy asked. "Tim Riggins pled guilty for fencing the parts of stolen cars. His lawyer made a plea bargain for him, but he's still going to have to spend at least a year in the Big House."

"Oh, my God," Tami gasped, placing her fingertips over her mouth. "He was just over at our house on Thursday for Thanksgiving."

"So, ya'll didn't know anything about this?" Missy secretly got a thrill at the possibility of being the first one to tell them the news. She was such a gossip.

"Naw," Eric looked sternly into his realtor's eyes. "I can assure you this is the first we've ever heard of it."

"I wish I could say the same," Missy said, not catching Eric's drift. Lowering her voice, she whispered, "Tim Riggins came in here and bought some land off the Interstate. Paid cash for it, too. Guess it's pretty obvious now where that money came from. But you didn't hear anything from me."

"Uh, no. We didn't hear anything from you," Eric said with a slight edge of annoyance. "I'm not comfortable talkin' about this. Could we please change the subject?"

"I'm sorry. Of course we can," Missy went back to gushing. "You all are putting an offer on your dream house. That's what we should be talking about."

The Taylors were more than happy to change the conversation, although this news about Tim lay heavy on their minds, most heavily on Eric's. Then suddenly, it hit him ... This must have been what Buddy wanted to tell him at church.