Julie's cell phone rang out "We Will Rock You," signaling that her dad was calling. She and Gracie had just left the movie theatre, and Julie had a minor headache thanks to the high-pitched voices of Alvin and The Chipmunks in their "Squeakuel"

"Hi, Dad Gracie Belle and I are going to the Hollywood Diner. It's 1950's themed. Jax took me there but I'll bring her back to the hotel after ok? I have classes in the morning but I'm free after one."

Eric tried to keep the irritation from his voice. "I'm glad you girls are having fun . Do you know where Tim might be? I thought I might see him while we're here."

"Um, ok he's probably at work at Teller-Morrow. Just follow the highway to exit 310 and then turn right at Eureka and then you'll be in Charming after maybe 25 miles. Just follow the signs and then the shop is past the Shell station on the main drag to the left."

"Thanks sweetie…"

"No problem, but Dad, listen, Tim doesn't…" The dial tone blared in her ear.

"Know about Jax and me," she finished.

"He hung up on me. He actually hung up on me." She looked at her phone as if it had offended her.

"That was rude!" Gracie said.

"I agree ." Julie replied primly. "Ready for dinner?" she said more brightly.

Eric followed the signs and Julie's directions into Charming. He pulled into the dusty lot, parking as close as he could to the door. He locked it.

As he was getting out of the car, a tall man with graying white-ish hair approached with speculation written all over his face.

"Clay Morrow, can I help you?" the man didn't offer his hand, which said a lot to Eric Taylor.

"Lookin' for Tim Riggins."

"Prospect you got company and it ain't of the female persuasion. Looks like a

pissed off Daddy. You knock somebody up?" Clay called into the darkness of the garage.

Tim saw Coach and smiled widely until he saw the expression that meant he was fixing to do about fifty thousand winds sprints. His first thought was Julie.

"Is Jules ok Coach?"

"She's fine physically. It's mentally I don't know about."

Tim's brows crinkled momentarily.

"Look, can we go somewhere to talk?"

Tim looked around, considering his options. He motioned over toward the picnic tables near the clubhouse. Everyone was either inside the clubhouse or the garage, so he figured they'd have as much privacy as they were going to get.

Coach sat down on one bench and folded his hands in front of them, clenching them tightly enough that his knuckles went white.

"I'm afraid I don't follow Coach," said Tim as he sat down on the opposite bench.

"You and Jules hang out a lot?"

"We used too, yeah, although not as much lately. What makes you think something is wrong with Julie, Coach?"

"What makes me think there's something wrong with my daughter? She's dating that Jax guy, that's what!"

Eric saw anger flame for a split second in Tim's eyes, the muscle in his jaw ticking. Then he looked down at the table, causing his hair to tip into his eyes. When he looked up, his face was completely neutral. Eric almost thought he'd imagined the anger, but he knew what he'd seen.

"What makes you think they are dating?"

"He answered Julie's front door half-naked this morning."

Tim nodded. "Listen coach, I didn't know anything was up, but Julie's real private these days. anyway Jax isn't a bad guy. His heart is the right place."

"His heart's in the right place," Eric smiled his are-you-kidding-me smile and shook his head. "How old is he?"

"I dunno, something like 31, I think."

"Thirty-one. That's just great. And all of this, I don't think I want to know what all of this is, do I, son?" asked Coach, vaguely waving at the Reaper on the clubhouse wall.

"It's just a bunch of guys that like motorcycles, that's all."

Coach looked at Tim skeptically. "Uh-huh, I'm sure that's all it is. Look, you're her friend - do you think there's anything you could say to her to make her reconsider what she's doing? Or something you could tell me so I could have a talk with her?"

"I dunno, Coach. Julie's real stubborn and if you push her ,she's gonna do the exact opposite of what you want. Believe me, I know this first hand. I'll watch out for her Coach, but there's not a lot any of us can do. We're grown ups now remember? Sometimes we just hafta make our own mistakes."

"Basically, what Tami said."

"You do say that your wife is always right," said Tim.

Juice pushed open the clubhouse door and barreled over toward Tim, stopping short when he saw Coach.

"Obviously, you need something Juice." Tim said.

"Clay needs you for the thing with the guy at The Dog. Oh, you must be Pixie's dad. I've heard a lot about you from Tim and Pixie... nice to meet you."

"Excuse me, Pixie?"

"Yeah that's what Jax named her back when she was Abercrombie's I mean Tim's old lady...I mean girlfriend...Sorry I forget normal people don't speak biker."


Eric looked over at Tim for confirmation. It was news to him that Tim had been dating his daughter.

"We had something," said Tim, looking sadder than Eric had ever seen. "But I messed it up. End of story."

"I'll just shut up now," Juice said.

"Looks like my break's over. My boss needs me but it was nice seeing you."

"Nice seeing you too, Tim…" Eric walked back to the car with a million thoughts in his head. As he pulled out of the lot, he caught a glimpse of Tim, fists clenched and anger burning on his face as he approached Jax.

-----------------

Jax came out of the clubhouse in time to see Julie's dad pulling out and Juice sheepishly ambling away. He could put two and two together and he knew that the four didn't add up to anything good.

"Tim, can I talk to you a minute?"

Tim got up from the table, his fists clenched as tightly as his jaw. Jax took a step toward him, but Tim pointed a warning finger.

"Stay away from me, Teller. I don't want to do anything I'm gonna regret," growled Tim as he headed over toward his bike to go take care of business, mostly likely scaring off some dumb shit drug dealer, at The Dog.

Jax looked back and saw Chibs standing behind him. "Go with him, watch his back. And make sure he doesn't kill someone."

"You got it, Jackie-Boy."

-----------------

Jax slipped into Gemma's office, grabbed the phone, and dialed Julie's number.

"Hi, Jax," she said warmly.

"Hey Pixie, baby." Hearing her voice made him smile. He felt Gemma looking at him from the desk. He turned to her, making his "What Ma?" face.

"Abercrombie knows, Pix, and it doesn't look good."

"Well shit. I was afraid of that!"

"Ohm… you said shit" Gracie said.

"Don't say shit, baby," Julie murmured kissing the top of her sister's head as she fixed her pony tail.

"Huh?" Jax was confused.

"I have Gracie Belle for our girls' night. We're at dinner now and then I'll drop her off at the hotel."

"Oh that's good. Okay, Pixie, I gotta go but I'll be over tonight, okay?"

They said their goodbyes and Jax went back into the garage to finish the bike he'd been working on earlier in the day.

-----------------

When Jax got to Julie's apartment later that night, she was already in her pajamas and she looked exhausted. He followed her back to her room, got into bed with her, and let her lean into them. Looked like a quiet night in, watching television, which was fine with him. Some days were too exciting.

They were watching an old episode of "Three's Company", when they heard someone knocking on Julie's door.

"I'll get it. We've had enough bad luck with you answering the door for one day." Julie smirked.

"No shit," Jax murmured with a smile.

Julie looked out the window. "It's Tim…let me try to handle this on my own, okay?"

"Alright." Jax turned down the TV so he could hear things, in case Tim got out of line.

Julie walked slowly over to the front door. She took a deep breath before pulling it open. There stood Tim, looking crushed and helpless, reeking of booze. He could barely stand.

"Jesus Tim, please tell me you didn't drive here."

"No, Chibs drove my truck…I just wanna know why you kept it from me. Then I'll leave."

"I… we… didn't want to hurt you."

"So letting your dad tell me was a better option?"

"No, god no…"

Tim leaned against the door frame and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the look on his face made Julie's heart break.

"All that time I spent trying to get you back, begging and pleading and basically handing you my heart on a silver fucking platter for months, Julie… months and it was a some joke. You two have a good laugh at how dumb I am? Don't even know that my gal's going out with someone I knew."

"No Tim! I swear to you, my main reason for not telling you was because I didn't want to hurt you. I never in a million years thought you'd find out this way...

"I was...I don't know, sometimes I think I still am confused Tim, okay? I don't have all the answers! But" Her voice shook and she sounded like she might burst into tears at any second.

"I know you are. That's why I didn't ask why you did it. I understand why you did it. I've been there before."

Julie nodded sadly. If anyone could understand, it was Tim.

He pushed off of the door frame, lurching into her personal space. He put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a shake before letting her go.

"Let me make something crystal clear for you, baby. I know Jax. To him, you're nothing but a shiny new-model of crow eater. Watch the way he looks at Tara Knowles, then tell me different. I love you, Jules, always will. Him... well, after the new wears off, he's done."

Julie gasped, his words having the same effect as a slap. Jax had heard enough. He strode quickly through the apartment and stood behind Julie.

"Abercrombie, you don't near enough about me to make that call. I don't like when people presume to know things they don't… It's time to back off Tim."

"And if I don't you'll what? Hit me? Shoot me? What?"

Jax moved Julie out of the way and bowed up. Tim's eyes narrowed and he stiffened. Julie had seen that look before: it meant bad things.

"Chibs a little help please?" she shouted, feeling relief when she heard a muttered cursed followed by his feet pounding up the stairs.

Tim spit at Jax's feet "Some brotherhood this is." He turned to Julie. "Call if you need me, even now."

Then he turned staggered towards the stairs, Chibs catching him before he could fall.

Jax closed the door of the apartment. Julie leaned against him, all the strength draining out of her body after that confrontation. Jax guided her over to the couch, sat down and pulled her into his lap. She rested her head on his shoulder and he waited for the tears, but nothing came.

"You okay, Jules?" he asked softly.

She nodded.

"Hey," he said as he tipped her head back and gently lifted her chin until she made eye contact with him. "He's drunk and he's angry. That's all. He's hurt, so he was trying to hurt you. You get that, right?"

Julie looked down and bit her lip. "I guess so. I just feel horrible."

"I know, baby, I know."

"Did we make a huge mistake?"

"You mean getting together or keeping it a secret?"

"Both, either....I don't know."

"Maybe we could have handled things better, but you're not a mistake and you're not just some diversion or amusement."

Her eyes scanned his face like she was trying to gauge the truth of his statement.

"I care about you. A lot. I'm not just fooling around here neither. I want to be with you and I don't care who knows. "

She looked down and leaned forward a little, letting her face brush against his face, her breath warm and ticklish near his ear. "Good. I care about you too."

Jax squeezed her tight. "All right, Pixie. Let's get some sleep now and we'll figure things out in the morning."

AN: We own nothing this is just for fun hope you liked it!