Title: Safe In My Arms

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! You ladies are awesome! Hopefully you'll enjoy this one as well - let me know! Enjoy :D


Tim killed the engine on his old truck, staring at the house for several minutes. The yard was overgrown with weeds, looking like it hadn't been mowed in weeks. Probably more like months. Tim was sure it probably hadn't been done since he had been home.

Billy's old firebird was in the drive, so that meant he was probably home. Tim didn't know if he was excited about that fact or not. He had driven over to the house with the intention of trying to talk to his brother and work things out, and possibly come back home.

It wasn't that Tim necessarily wanted to come home. He loved living with the Taylor's. Hell, he had started to feel like a member of the family.

But it was getting harder and harder for him to keep his hands off of Julie. He was tired of sneaking around, and tired of having to try and hide his feelings from everyone. And Coach and Mrs. Coach had to be catching on. Tim had seen several looks pass between them as they watched he and Julie together. No, they couldn't keep sneaking around any longer.

He had had a moment's panic after the pep rally when she said that she didn't want people to know about them. He had thought that maybe she didn't want people to know because of who he was and the reputation that he had made for himself.

But she had assured him that was not the case. And he believed her. Julie wasn't the kind of person to give a damn what anybody else thought. No, he believed that she was solely concerned about her parents not allowing him to live there if they found out about them.

That's why he had bowed out of going to Sunday service with the family this morning, saying that he had some things to take care of. Julie had given him a puzzled look, clearly wondering why he wasn't going to church with the family. He hadn't been able to tell her anything, knowing that he needed to talk to Billy first.

Tim sighed, climbing out of the truck and making his way toward the door. He knocked twice before twisting the knob, surprised to find the door unlocked.

The house was a wreck, and that was saying something considering how messy it usually was. Billy obviously had taken care of the inside like he'd taken care of the outside – not at all.

"Billy." Tim called, taking a couple of steps into the living area. "Hey, Billy."

"Timmy, what the hell?" Billy asked, stumbling out of his bedroom a few seconds later.

Tim looked at him and had to smirk. Billy was in his underwear, his face unshaven and his hair standing on end. He looked like shit.

"Hey." Tim said, not sure what else to say as he slid his hands in the pockets of his worn out jeans.

"Hey." Billy replied, looking at him for several seconds before running his hands over his face. "You wanna beer?"

"It's ten in the morning." Tim said, watching as Billy walked into the kitchen, taking two bottles from the fridge.

"So." Billy replied, a slight grin on his face as he passed a bottle to Tim over the counter.

Tim opened the bottle, taking a long swig as he sat down on the bar stool, leaning his elbows on the bar as Billy leaned on the kitchen counter across from him.

"The place is a wreck." Tim said after a few moments of silence, fiddling with the label on his bottle.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to hire a maid service lately." Billy said sarcastically, taking a long draw from his bottle. "I uh, got fired several weeks ago and haven't had much time to do anything but look for a job."

Tim nodded slightly, not the least bit surprised to hear that Billy had lost his job. Billy never kept a job for more than a few months. Silence filled the house as neither spoke for what seemed like hours. Tim wasn't quite sure what to say. Words had never been his strong suit.

"I uh, broke it off with Jackie, you know." Billy finally said, clearing his throat nervously. "She and the kid moved back to Houston a few weeks ago."

Tim didn't respond. What could he say? Tim was over her and whatever they had been, but the whole situation was screwed up.

"Look Tim, I'm sorry okay. I know I screwed up messing around with her and I shouldn't have. I just, I'm sorry little brother." Billy said sincerely.

Tim nodded slowly, his hair falling in his face. He knew Billy was sorry, and as hurt as he still was by his brother's actions, Tim knew he had to forgive him. It was Billy after all. Billy had been his father, his brother, his friend through everything.

"Tim, are you listening to me? I'm sorry, little brother. Really sorry." Billy said, worry in his voice.

"It's alright, Billy." Tim said finally, giving his brother a small smile.

Julie was right. It would be really stupid for Tim to let his relationship with Billy continue to suffer because of his pride. Julie was a pretty smart gal. Thinking of Julie reminded him of his real reason for being there.

"So, I guess I'll move back home." Tim said, watching Billy's face for his reaction.

"Well, yeah." Billy said sarcastically, a grin on his face. "Though I don't know how much longer we'll be able to call it home." He muttered, his grin quickly disappearing.

"What do you mean?" Tim asked, propping his arms on the bar.

Billy sighed, running his hands over his face. "Well, we're about three months behind on the mortgage and if we don't come up with a couple grand by the end of next week, the bank's going to foreclose on the house."

Tim swore quietly, dropping his head in his hands. Two thousand dollars? Where were they going to come up with that kind of money? Hell, he may be crawling back to the Taylor's in a week or two, only this time he'd have Billy with him. He really didn't think Coach would go for that.

"It'll be alright. We'll figure something out. We always do." Billy said with a short chuckle, turning and opening the fridge. "You want a grilled cheese?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah." He replied, smirking at how quickly he and Billy had fallen back into their old routine.

He guessed some things never changed.


"Son, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Eric asked, staring intently at Tim.

Tim nodded, swallowing as he glanced around the Taylor's living room, meeting everyone's gaze except for Julie's. He had met them after they returned from church, telling them that he needed to speak with all of them. He hadn't really known what to say, so he had just said that he thought it was time for him to be heading back home and that he and Billy had worked things out. While all that was true, there was still part of him that wanted to stay with the Taylor's.

"Hun, you know you don't have to move out right? You can stay here for as long as you need." Tami said, concern in her voice as she looked at him.

"Yes ma'am, I know." Tim replied. "I just think it's time to go back home. I really do appreciate everything though. I don't know how to thank y'all enough." He said sincerely, glancing toward Julie.

Her head was lowered, her long blonde hair falling down around her face and blocking his view of her eyes. He couldn't see her face, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking as she sat there silently.

"You don't owe us a thing." Tami replied quickly, standing and pulling Tim in for a hug.

"Thank you." Tim said quietly, pulling back as Coach stood as well.

"The couch will be waiting on you if you ever need it again." Eric said, giving Tim's hand a firm shake and a small smile.

"Thanks Coach." Tim replied, hoping that he still felt that way once he found out that Tim was crazy about his daughter.

Tim glanced toward Julie again. She still hadn't moved or spoken a word. "Uh, Jules. You want to walk me to my truck?" He asked, noticing the curious looks on the faces of her parents as they looked back and forth between the teenagers and then at each other.

Julie shrugged, standing and marching past the group and toward the front door. Tim caught a glimpse of her face as she walked by, looking like she was on the verge of tears. Tim sighed, following along behind her as they walked out of the house and toward his truck parked in the driveway.

He threw his duffel bag in the back of the truck, before turning toward her. She stood leaning against his truck, her arms crossed over her chest and her face once again hid behind a curtain of blonde hair as she stared at the ground.

"Jules." He said softly, unsure of how she felt – sad, pissed off – he didn't know. "What's wrong?"

She shrugged, still not meeting his gaze. She wasn't supposed to shrug – that was his move. He was the broody one and she was the talker. She couldn't be trying to change things up on him.

"Come on. I thought you'd be happy." He said, brushing her hair back out of her face.

"Happy? Seriously, Tim?" She snipped, finally looking up at him.

"Yeah." He responded slowly, wondering if he would ever understand how her mind worked.

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever." Julie said waving her hand in the air. "Go. Leave. I guess it was nice while it lasted, huh?" She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she chewed on her full bottom lip.

Tim sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Jules…"

"Don't Jules me." She said, mimicking his voice.

Tim looked down, trying to hide his smirk. She was cute when she was mad, but now wasn't the time to tell her that.

"I'm leaving for you, for us." Tim said, placing his hands on her slender shoulders as he took a step toward her. "If I'm not living with you then we can really be together. No more sneaking around. I thought you'd be happy about that."

He watched her expression change as she continued biting her bottom lip, looking up at him through her lashes. "So, you're not leaving because you're tired of…this." She said, motioning her hand between them, clearly not knowing what to call their relationship.

Tim smiled, shaking his head. And she called him hard headed? "Definitely not."

She sighed, pushing her hair behind her ears as she looked at him. "Well, you could have said something. You didn't even talk to me about this. You could have given me some kind of warning or something."

Tim shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I just decided it for sure this morning. And I guess I knew I just had to do it – no discussion or whatever. No regrets and all." He said, finally glad to see a small smile on her sweet lips as she rolled her eyes.

Tim turned at the sound of the garage door being raised, revealing Coach standing on the other side.

"Tim. I didn't know you were still here." Eric said, taking a few steps out onto the driveway.

"Whatever, dad. You and mom have been watching out of the window. I saw you." Julie said, giving him a look.

Eric didn't deny the statement as he scratched his chin, looking back and forth between the pair. "Is everything alright out here?"

Tim cleared his throat. He guessed now was as good a time as any. "Uh Coach, do you think it would be alright if Julie and I grab a bite to eat later?"

There wasn't a lot that made Tim nervous, but right now he felt pretty damn nervous. It was one thing to allow him to live in their home, but it was another all together to allow him to date his daughter.

Tim heard Julie's intake of breath and could feel the anxiousness coming from her as well. She'd probably be pissed at him for just blurting it out like that, but Tim was tired of hiding the truth.

Eric stood quietly for several seconds, his arms crossed over his chest. "Like a date?" He finally asked, his tone low.

Tim nodded slowly. "Yes sir."

Tim watched as Eric sighed, running his hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "Tami!" He yelled, turning toward the house.

Tim swallowed, glancing at Julie. She gave him a quick shrug, clearly not sure how this was going to turn out either.

"What honey?" Tami said, quickly appearing in the garage, walking outside. "You were right." Eric said quietly, almost too quiet for Tim to hear.

"Told you." Tami responded with a smirk.

"Has there been something going on between y'all while you've been in our house?" Eric asked, looking pointedly at Tim.

Tim opened his mouth to speak, stopping as Julie stepped in.

"No dad. Nothing has been going on. We just started being friends, and then well, we just started liking one another at some point. But nothing's happened. That's why Tim's moving out, so that y'all wouldn't have a heart attack if something did happen." Julie said, looking back and forth between her parents. "And I really don't think you have a right to say that we can't go out after allowing Tim to live with us, dad."

"Young lady, I have the right to say anything I want. I am your father." Eric said quickly, giving Julie a look.

"Coach, I know –" Tim said, stopping as Eric held up his hand.

"Stop. Just…just stop." Eric said exasperation in his voice, shaking his head as he shared a long look with his wife, Tami finally giving him a small nod of her head. "Y'all have both got school tomorrow. Have Julie home by ten o'clock and not a minute later." Eric said after several seconds, staring Tim in the eye.

Tim nodded. "Yes sir." He replied, trying to hide the grin on his face.

Yes. Coach had said yes. Tim felt ecstatic. He wanted to laugh out loud, but knew now wasn't the time. Julie looked like she wanted to do the same as she looked at him, a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you, dad." Julie said, stepping forward and wrapping her arm around her dad's waist.

Eric nodded, sharing another look with his wife. Tim could tell that he wasn't happy about the situation and was probably wondering if he had made a huge mistake.

"Thank you, Coach, Mrs. Coach." Tim said appreciatively.

"We're trusting you, son." Eric said.

"Don't make us regret this decision, Tim." Tami added, giving Tim a gentle smile.

"Yes ma'am. I won't." Tim replied, still not quite believing that they had given their consent. "So, I guess I'll uh, see you later, Jules." He said, rocking back on his heels as he looked at Julie.

"Okay." She replied with a smile, nodding slightly.

Tim nodded back, giving them all a small wave before walking around and climbing in his truck. He backed out of the drive, looking back at the Taylor family once more standing on the lawn before driving away.

Part of him was sad to be leaving, but the greater part of him was happy. Happy to have Coach's permission to date his daughter. Happy to not have to worry about sneaking around.

Tim couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he rode down the street, the wind in his hair as he looked forward to the evening ahead.