Billy Riggins watched amongst everyone as his brother ran the last fifteen yards scoring the final touchdown that led the Panthers to win. Billy cheered along with the crowd, celebrating. This was the final game in the playoffs that would lead the Panthers to the State Championship.
He drove back home in his old truck with Tim sitting beside him after the game. They talked briefly about the win and then settled into a comfortable silence as they listened to the radio.
All of a sudden, the front of the truck started emitting smoke so Billy reluctantly pulled the truck over to the side of the road. Both brothers got out to look under the hood.
"I think it's time you get a new truck." Tim finally said.
"She's all good; I would never replace this beauty." Billy replied as he removed himself from underneath the hood. "She just over heated."
Billy walked to the bed of the truck and pulled a football out. The two walked onto the field beside the road and started throwing the football.
"So I was thinking of opening my own auto body shop." Billy yelled to Tim as he threw the football back.
Tim laughed. "You don't know anything about cars."
"Yes I do, I repair my truck all the time. Besides, I need to find solid work because soon Mindy won't be able to work." Billy caught the football and held onto it, walking towards Tim.
His brother just looked at him, not quite understanding what Billy had just said but he could see the gears turning.
"What are you trying to say?" Tim finally asked.
"What I'm trying to say is that Mindy is pregnant!" Billy said, now standing in front of Tim. He watched as it all sunk in and his smile lit up his whole face.
"I'm gunna be an uncle?"
"Yes!"
The next second Billy was being tackled to the ground by Tim and they began to fight like they did when they were younger. They rolled around on the ground, each one trying to get on top to throw a soft punch.
When they were worn out, the two laid side by side on the grass. "I'm happy for you, Billy." Tim finally said, breaking the silence.
"Thanks, Timmy"
Tim sat at the dinner table with Billy and Mindy, everyone eating in silence. The scraping of knives and forks filled the air when Mindy finally put her utensils down and spoke up. "So, Tim, how's work?"
"Good." Tim replied, looking up to address his sister-in-law before turning his attention to his brother. "How's Riggins' Rigs?"
"Good, doing really well. We've just opened up our third location! You know we started here in Dillon, then one's in Austin and the new one is in San Antonio." Billy explained not being able to hide his excitement.
"That's great." Tim gave a small smile.
"Never would have guess that your brother had business smarts, huh?" Mindy smirked. "He joined forces with this big company, Olco Gas, so they plan on putting Riggins Rigs next to all their gas stations across Texas. That is if the first two are successful!"
"Congratulations." Tim said.
Mindy noticed that everyone had finished eating and got up to clear the dishes away but Billy stopped her and made her sit back down and relax. "So, how's Becky?" Mindy asked.
"How do you know about Becky?"
"Talk around town. Plus I've you two together quite a bit in the past few months." She raised a brow, smirking.
"She's just a friend."
"That's not what I've heard."
Tim shook his head. "Just a friend. She's there for me, especially now that Jay's too occupied with his new girl."
"Jason has a new girlfriend?"
"Yup, new resident in town, Lyla Garrity." He replied.
"Oh, when I go pick up Stevie I'll have to ask him about it." Mindy smiled to herself.
"Who's ready for desert?" Billy yelled from the kitchen. When he came into view, he was carrying a pie and a few plates.
"This looks good, babe." Mindy said when Billy sat down.
Billy and Mindy asked Tim more questions during desert. They often talked about the life they had now, not bothering to talk about the elephant in the room. Mindy was a stay at home mom and Stevie is in kindergarten. Billy was doing exceptionally well with Riggins Rigs which allowed them to renovate their whole house.
Tim sat their uncomfortably while they talked about their new life. He didn't feel connected to his brother like he used to, he felt disconnected from him. He had written him off five years ago and from that point on he didn't have any family.
After dinner, Mindy left to pick Stevie up from Jasons' house, which left Tim and Billy alone.
Stevie was lying curled up on Lylas lap while she leaned against Jason. The three watched the five year old's favourite movie, The Lion King. It was not the night that Jason had expected or enjoyed and Lyla knew that. She saw that he adored his nephew but he wasn't one for staying in and watching movies.
Jason was asleep within the first five minutes of the movie and she let him sleep, knowing he would only be miserable. It gave Lyla time for quiet and also to get to know Stevie better. The movie had just finished when there was a knock on the door.
Lyla quietly lifted Stevie up and walked towards the front door. When she opened it, a blonde hair woman with blue eyes stood in front of her.
"You must be Lyla!" The woman exclaimed and Lyla could only nod. "I'm Mindy, Stevie's mother." She smiled reaching out to take her son from Lyla. "Tim told me about you."
"What did Tim tell you?" Lyla asked nervously.
"Nothing, just that you were with Jason. So did Stevie behave himself?"
"He was great. We made pizza then played a few board games and we just finished watching the Lion King. He's a great kid." Lyla said, smiling down at Stevie who was asleep in Mindy's arms.
"Perfect. Well, I'll see you around, Lyla Garrity." Mindy waved and turned around to walk back to her car.
Lyla returned to Jason who was still on the couch and had his head leaning against the back with his mouth open softly snoring. She tried to stifle a laugh but failed and he startled awake.
"Get up, Tim!" Billy yelled as he walked into the living room to see Tim passed out on the couch with multiple beer bottles on the coffee table and the floor.
"Go away." Tim muttered before turning over and covering his face with his arm.
"You got school, Tim, get up." Billy said, walking closer.
When Tim didn't budge Billy poured the glass of water he had been drinking onto his brother, aiming for it to hit his face. Tim jumped right off the couch and was in front of Billy in a flash. "What was that for?"
"Time for school, Timmy."
"I'm not going."
"Yes, you are. I am tired of watching you drunk off your ass… So get up and go to school."
"No, you're not in charge of me, you can't tell me what to do!"
"Do you think I liked raising you and having to take care of you when dad left?" Billy shouted. "I get stuck with you because nobody else wants you."
If Tim hadn't been drunk from the night before he might have been hurt, but for the past few months he would drink until he couldn't feel anything. He drank so he wouldn't feel the hurt, the guilt, the grief that he felt every second of the day since the accident.
"You have to get over it, Tim. The accident wasn't your fault, stop wasting your life away."
"Of course it was my fault. I'm the reason she's in the hospital and the reason Jay won't be playing college football. Everything is my fault!" Tim spat.
"I'm not going to sit here and watch you waste your life away. I'm not going to bring my son into this world with his uncle drunk off his ass every day." Billy looked at his brother and saw that nothing he said had changed his mind to clean up his act. So he resorted to the last thing he could think of to help him. "Get out."
"What?"
"Get. Out." Billy was looking at Tim with disgust and regret; like he had wasted the past ten years trying to take care of Tim only to have failed.
"You can't kick me out of my own house!" Tim said.
"I can and I will. If you don't want to clean up your act then get out of my house."
Tim looked Billy in the eye, expecting him to back down. To say it was all a joke; but Billy stood his ground. Tim quickly packed his bag and got out before Billy could say another word.
"Why'd you invite me to dinner tonight?" Tim finally asked Billy.
The two had sat in silence since Mindy had left to pick Stevie up ten minutes ago.
Billy looked over at Tim who was sitting on a separate couch across from him. "Well, Stevie is going to have a younger brother. It made me realize that I needed my younger brother…I miss you, Tim."
"It's been five years, Billy."
"I know." Billy looked down at his hands.
"I needed you, Billy. Back then, I needed my brother and you kicked me out."
"I thought it was for the best, what you needed. I thought you would get your act together."
"What I needed was for my brother, my only family member, to take care of me and tell me everything was going to be okay."
"Tim-" Billy tried but was interrupted.
"I needed you and you walked out on me!" Tim yelled, he stood up from the couch and began to leave.
"Tim, don't go." Billy pleaded.
"I needed you five years ago, but I sure as hell don't need you now." Tim said as he calmly walked through the door and slammed it shut behind him.
Jason woke up to find Lyla standing over him laughing at him. "What's so funny?" He asked as he grabbed Lyla behind the knees and pulled her on top of him so she was straddling him.
"Just the way you were sleeping." Lyla leaned down and placed a kiss on his lips. "It was kind of cute."
"Is that so?"
"Yup." She replied, giving him another kiss.
"So did Stevie go home?"
"Yeah, Mindy came and picked him up about two minutes ago. Did you have fun tonight?"
"It was alright."
Jason lifted his chin up to kiss Lyla, this time it lasted longer than a few seconds. He was bout to deepen the kiss when Lyla pushed at his chest and pulled away.
"Can I ask you a question?" She asked.
"You just did." Jason smirked and kissed her again.
Lyla pulled back, "I'm serious, Jason."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Well a few months ago at Pantherama, you said Stevie wasn't your nephew. That he was Tim's nephew and it was a long story…"
"And?"
"And, can you tell me why?"
"I'd rather not." Jason lifted Lyla and placed her on the couch so he could get up. He walked into the kitchen to grab himself a beer and heard Lyla follow him.
"Jason-"
"It was a long time ago." He interrupted her and sat at the island and she sat beside him. "Tim was going through a hard time, we all were, but him more than others. He started drinking all the time, we weren't even out of high school yet but he didn't care, any way to drown everything out. Billy didn't want anything to do with Tim so he kicked him out."
"What does that have to do with you?"
"Well I've always been really close to Mindy and they welcomed me into their family. It was a way to stay close to people that I had lost. I went away to school, out of state, but when I came back Stevie was talking and calling me Uncle Jason because I was around so much. I never had any siblings and Tim was always like a brother to me and now Billy fills that role and Mindy feels like my sister." Jason explained.
"So you and Tim aren't close anymore?"
"Not like we were in high school. We've grown apart over the years and when I came back from college things had gotten better between us. But lately he's been distant and ignoring my calls, I think he's gotten back into his old habits."
Lyla placed her hand over Jasons. "You should talk to him."
He didn't bother to reply but finished off his beer and nodded. "I forgot to tell you, I'm going away tomorrow morning."
"Where to?" Lyla asked, allowing the change of subject.
"Nebraska." Jason replied and looked over to see her frowning. "What's wrong?"
"It just seems like you're always gone."
"It's part of my job."
"I know, it just seems like you're never here anymore." Lyla sighed.
He turned and gently raised her chin so she was looking at him. "I'm sorry, I'll try and talk to my boss and see if I can travel less."
Lyla gave a weak smile in response. "Okay."
"How about I make it up to you?" Jason smirked.
Lyla smiled wider. "I think that's an excellent idea, Mr. Street."
Jason leaned down again and kissed her, this time with more passion. When they finally came up from air, he grabbed her hand and pulled Lyla towards his room upstairs.
Tim left Billy's feeling like he did all those years ago, angry and alone. He got in his truck and headed home, he knew exactly what would help him feel better. A couple of nice cold beers would do the trick and if they didn't then he would resort to whisky.
He finally reached his hallway in the apartment building and when Tim rounded the corner he saw a familiar curly haired brunette sitting on the floor. "Bex?"
"Hey, Tim." She said looking up from the floor, smiling weekly.
"Have you been waiting here long?" He asked as he unlocked the door.
Becky stood up beside him and followed him inside. "Yeah." She blushed.
"Sorry, I went to Billy's for dinner." Tim replied. He walked straight to the fridge and grabbed two beers and opened them. Becky was already sitting on the couch waiting for him. Tim handed her one beer and took a sip of his after he was seated beside her.
"Oh, how was it?"
"Fine." He sighed, not wanting to talk about the disastrous dinner. "So, how come you wanted to see me tonight?" Tim asked softly.
"I just needed to talk to you, nothing important." Becky shrugged. "Do you want to talk about your brother?"
"He tried to make amends."
"And let me guess, typical Tim Riggins didn't want to forgive him?" Becky raised an eye brow, she knew him well.
Tim looked down at the beer in his hands wanting to avoid eye contact. "Not after five years, I couldn't. He walked out on me when I needed my brother most." He paused and looked at Becky, "How do you forgive someone for that?"
"I don't know. I guess you give it time and wait for them to apologize and make amends. If they truly are sorry, then you give it a chance and forgive them. He's family, Tim. Everyone needs family, including you. Don't let your pride get in the way; you have to let someone in."
"I did." He whispered. Becky tilted her head and her brows furrowed in confusion. "You."
"What?" Becky squeaked, trying to remain calm but failing.
"Everyone has walked out on me. Lately it has felt like I have no one, but then you walked into my life and I don't feel so alone anymore." Tim smiled.
Becky grinned and leaned forward, she pressed her lips lightly against him. As soon as Tim felt her kiss him, he pulled back.
"Becky…"
Her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes began to water, rejection flashing through her eyes. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…I know what you said." Becky stuttered.
Tim reached out and grabbed both her hands and encased them in his. "I love you, Bex. You are my best friend and I will always be here for you. I just…I don't feel that way about you. I'm sorry."
"It's my fault, I'm so stupid."
A tear fell down the side of her face and he reached out to wipe it away. "You're not stupid. Look, you've been here for me when no one else has. You've been my rock and I don't want to lose you."
"Okay." Becky nodded and pulled her hands from his to wipe her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He smiled weakly at her.
"Tim?"
"Yeah, Bex?"
"I love you, too."
A/N: Yay for wednesday updates! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I actually am very happy with how this turned out. I hope I cleared up things and if you're confused tell me and I'll fix any mistakes. It has always been my intention to have the Becky in my story like Becky from the show, a companion to Tim when he had no one. I tried to clear things up between the two in this chapter.
So I wonder if anyone has caught on to Tims secret? I've been hinting at it for so long now, and this chapter I definitely gave you lots of hits. I'm really excited for next chapter because everything comes to a head, we find out what happened to Tim in high school.
Anyways, let me know what you think and if there are any mistakes or things unclear. Next update will be Sunday! :)