A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews and the PMs of encouragement. I haven't written fanfiction in such a long time. It's hard sticking to canon, but I'm trying.

Chapter 6

I woke to the sound of a loud knock on the door and remembered I was in a motel room with Tim. The knock woke him and he crawled out of bed with a groan.

The knock came more persistently.

"Yeah, yeah…keep your pants on!"

"This is the police!" came the response.

I looked wide-eyed at Tim when he looked at me. The police? The first thing that came to my mind was that they came to tell me they had captured the killer. But didn't Detective Clay say he would call me himself when they caught him?

Tim opened the door and two officers entered. To my surprise, they suddenly grabbed Tim and dragged him outside.

A third officer stepped in and looked around. He saw me sitting up in bed, the sheets dragged up to my neck. He had a flashlight and aimed the beam in my face. "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes. What's going on?"

"There's no need to worry. Everything will be fine now. We'll send someone to come talk to you later this afternoon." And then he walked out of the motel room, closing the door behind him.

I immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to look out the window.

Tim had been handcuffed and they were putting him in the back of a squad car. The officers all got in and the car pulled away.

Holy shit! What the heck happened? What had Tim done? Maybe he wasn't supposed to have left Texas. Did that violate his parole? Had they been monitoring his whereabouts? How bad had his crime been that they would have followed him all the way to the state of Washington?

I started to panic and quickly threw on jeans, a teeshirt and shoes. I thought about calling my dad, but then he wouldn't trust Tim ever again and I'd have to take a flight out of the next airport. And then what would happen to Striker?

I needed to do this on my own. I needed to help Tim out of this situation…And no matter what he had done in the past, I was going to support him and not judge him in any way.

Tim's keys were sitting on the night stand. I scooped them up and grabbed my purse before I left the motel room.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me where the police station is in this town?" I asked an elderly man watering flowers nearby.

The man gave me a once over. "Sheriff's Office is at the other end of town. Just stay on this road until you get to Orville's Hardware Store. Then turn left. Keep on that street. You can't miss it. Big brick building with a clock tower."

"Thank you."

I headed for Tim's car and just as I got in I realized I had no idea how to drive a stick. What if I screwed up the transmission? He'd be furious with me for messing up his very expensive classic car. I looked out the window at the pickup truck and the never-ending trailer hitched to it. It was as long as a 747. There was no way I was driving that thing.

I put the key in the car's ignition and started the engine. It sounded like a Formula One at the Indy 500.

My cell phone buzzed.

I glanced at the display. It was Henry again. If I didn't answer it, he would just keep calling me. This was already the fifty-sixth missed call from him. I hit the Answer button. "What do you want, Henry?"

"I came home last night and noticed all of your stuff was gone. You couldn't possibly have moved out, because I'm pretty sure you would have told me."

"I moved out." Why lie about it?

"Why?"

"Really? You're asking me why?"

"Oh, come on, Julie. That girl doesn't mean anything to me. You're the one I want to be with. Maybe if you could just let me show you how great we can be together."

"You know what, Henry, I'm just gonna come out and say it. The whole sleeping together thing? That was never going to happen. In fact the very thought of it actually nauseates me. I'm not planning to go back to Portland. So, this is me being a bitch. Lose my number. If you call me again, I'll tell my dad what you did."

"I'm not afraid of your father."

"Well, you should be. Don't call me again." I ended the call.

Henry Pelican was now gone from my life for good and in the next few seconds he was going to be gone from my mind.

"Okay, this can't be that difficult." I pushed my left foot on the clutch pedal and put the stick in what I imagined was reverse. Then I remembered that I needed to unlock the parking brake. Once that was done, I eased off the clutch and accelerated. The car lurched backward several feet and I instinctly hit the brake.

The man watering the flowers watched me with his mouth open as I attempted several times to back out of the parking space. Then I put the gear in first and turned the wheel to go forward. The car lurched forward and I kept hitting the brake for no reason.

This was not going well at all. How the hell did Tim drive this car? He made it look so easy.

After several more attempts at lurching forward and braking, I got the hang of it and was able to advance further down the street. But the traffic light turned red and I had to stop, just when I thought I was doing so well. I just hoped the Sheriff's Office wasn't that much further away.

With the constant lurching and braking, it took me almost a half hour to get to the brick building with the clock tower. I let the car roll into a parking space and I set the parking brake before turning the engine off. I was sweating profusely from the exertion of driving Tim's car. It had stressed me out more than seeing him get arrested.

I rushed into the building and walked inside. It reminded me so much of an old comedy show on TV, the Andy Griffith Show. Or maybe I was in the Twilight Zone.

There were three jail cells on one side of the room and Tim was in one of them…no shirt and no shoes. He saw me and walked up to the cell bars.

A man in uniform stepped out from a back room and noticed me. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm here to bail out that man over there," I pointed.

The officer looked in Tim's direction and then back at me. "You're the woman in the motel room with him?"

"Yes." For some reason I suddenly felt self-conscious, like he was judging me on some level.

"Ma'am, there was no need for you to come to the station. We're scheduled to take your statement later today. You won't have to be troubled any longer."

"Troubled? I don't understand what's going on. Why did you arrest him?"

When I turned to Tim, he gave me a shrug. "Don't look at me. I don't have a clue."

"Look, ma'am," said the officer. He glanced at a piece of paper on the corner of his desk. "Tim Riggins…" He looked up at me again. "He's been arrested for spousal abuse. We take it very seriously in this town and it's not going to happen to you again."

Then it suddenly dawned on me. This man was the officer I saw the night before in the diner. He had been staring at me in a funny way. He must have seen the bruise on my face and thought Tim had hit me. Well, I would just have to set him straight. "Sheriff, is it?"

"Yes, the name's Andy Brooks, sheriff of Redmond."

Andy Brooks. Andy Griffith. Twilight Zone.

"Look, Sheriff Brooks, I think there's been a misunderstanding. Tim Riggins is a friend of mine. We're not even married."

Brooks shook his head. "Doesn't matter. It's still abuse."

"But he didn't hit me. I got this bruise in Portland. I got into a scuffle with someone else."

The Sheriff looked from me to Tim and then back to me.

"He didn't hit me. We're on our way to Dillon, Texas for a wedding. We're both in the bridal party."

Brooks held up a hand. "Look, you don't have to lie to protect him."

"I'm not lying," I said. This guy was getting on my last nerve. "Like I said, we're friends and he DID NOT hit me."

He mulled it over for a minute before looking back at me. "All right, ma'am. If you say so." He unhooked a set of keys from his belt and walked over to the jail cell containing Tim. "But if it happens again, don't expect any help from law enforcement in Redmond."

I frowned, wanting to tell him that Tim and I weren't planning on staying very long anyway.

After Brooks unlocked the door, Tim stepped out.

I rushed over and hugged him. "Are you okay?" I asked, glad that he was hugging me back. "They didn't beat you up or anything, did they?"

He laughed. "No, I'm fine."

When we came apart, we were standing close, our noses practically touching. Our eyes met and we moved apart awkwardly.

"Let's get out of here." He took the keys from my hand and after he signed release papers, I followed Tim out of the Sheriff's Office.

"You drove my car?" he asked as we got in.

"Yeah," I said nonchalantly. "It was…it was a piece of cake."

"I don't suppose you brought my boots?"

"I'm sorry. I rushed out so fast, I didn't think about it."

As we drove back to the motel, tears suddenly filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. He hadn't gotten arrested because of something he had done. He had gotten arrested because of me. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

"Hey…" Tim touched my arm. "What's the matter?"

"Tim, I am so sorry this happened to you."

"Why are you apologizing? This wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. If they hadn't seen us together last night at the diner, then they wouldn't have thought you hit me. Maybe I should just take a bus to the closest airport. You can drive back to Dillon without me." Whenever Tim and I were involved in something together, he always ended up bearing the brunt of whatever misgiving occurred.

"Come on, Jules. It was a misunderstanding. Nobody got hurt."

"I got so scared when they took you away. I didn't know what was going on."

"Yeah, that makes two of us. But it's gonna be all right. Just don't worry about it."

I turned away, wiping at my eyes. "I'm sure the last thing you want is to spend another minute in prison."

He picked up my hand and squeezed it. "Hey…"

I turned back to him.

"It's gonna be all right," he repeated. "Trust me."

Flashback – Five Years Ago

When I woke up the next morning after the party, it all came back to me in a rush. I couldn't believe what I had done in the bathroom with Tim Riggins the night before. As the images came to me, I groaned in agony…in embarrassment and in excitement. The only thing I regretted was not finishing what we had started.

But it had been wrong. I knew it now. It would have meant nothing to him, just another high school accomplishment. While to me, it was a life changing event and would have meant the world.

On Monday, when I went to school, I tried to avoid Tim because my dad told me to, but it was impossible, given that we were in Biology together. Usually he ignored me. I had a feeling he wasn't going to this time.

During class, I kept my eyes focused forward, at the front of the class. From the corner of my eye I could see Tim occasionally looking in my direction.

"Psst, Jules."

I tried to control my breathing as he called me, and I didn't look at him.

"Julie…" he whispered loudly.

I frowned and slowly shook my head. I wasn't going to look at him.

"Is there something you want to share with the class, Mr Riggins?" asked the teacher.

Tim sighed. "No."

As soon as the bell rang, I jumped out of my seat and pushed my way through everyone to get out of the classroom. I didn't want to confront him. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to remember any of it.

It went on like this for a few days. Until Friday…when I saw him coming down the hall. He saw me and I quickly turned and walked in the other direction with the intention of hiding in the girls bathroom.

I went through the doors, but so did Tim. I whirled to face him. "What the hell, Tim?"

He grabbed my arm. "You're not getting away this time."

There were several other girls in the bathroom and all eyes went to us.

"We are gonna hash this out right now." He looked around at the girls standing on front of the mirrors. "You all look fabulous, ladies. Can we have a few minutes of privacy, please?"

Everyone filed out, glancing over their shoulders at us. Tim checked the stalls to make sure. When he was satisfied we were finally alone, he turned to face me. "You know, I took the heat for your dad catching me in your bedroom. I can live with that, but I won't have you ignore me."

"You won't have me ignore you? What're you the Prince of Sudan all of a sudden?"

"What is your problem?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No."

"Really? Are you that oblivious or maybe you're just so conceited you don't know the difference between reality and porn."

He nodded his head to the side. "Alright, maybe I was a little drunk last Friday night."

"A little? Do you even remember what happened?"

"Of course, I remember." It was obvious he was trying to charm me.

"So you're just oblivious then?"

He put his hands on his hips and leaned closer to my face. "I'm oblivious? You gave me the green light and you got what you wanted and then you expected me to hit the brakes, just when it was my turn to get lucky."

I clenched my fist and swung. He deflected my punch by grabbing my wrist.

And before I knew it, his arms were around me, trapping me against him. "All right, all right. Chill out, okay?"

"Let go of me, Tim," I fumed.

He immediately released me and held up his hands.

"Maybe you're used to getting your way," I said angrily. "I'm sure most of the girls in this school would love to be with you. But that doesn't mean you should take advantage of every opportunity. I was drunk and weak and vulnerable. You knew it." I stabbed a finger into his chest. "And you took advantage of it."

He frowned and looked down. Was I getting through to him? Was I making him feel guilty. His eyes came back up to mine. "Look, I'm sorry. So if you wanna quit me, that's fine. I can just get another rally girl to do stuff for me."

Tears burned my eyes and I refused to let him see me cry. I almost lost my virginity to him and he thought I did it because I was his rally girl? Well, I didn't want to be a part of it any longer. He could have his fun with someone else. "Yeah, you do that." I turned and walked toward the swinging doors. "Asshole," I blurted over my shoulder as I walked out.

And even then, walking away from him, I felt my body crying out for those hands, those lips...that Riggins scent.

He didn't stop me or follow me. It was over. Hell, it was over before it even began.

But I felt guilty about him taking the blame for my dad catching us. He had only been trying to get me into my bed without my parents finding out that I had been drinking. He deserved to at least be exonerated from that. Especially when I saw the murderous look my dad kept giving Tim every time we were within twenty feet of each other in his presence.

That same night, just before the football game, I decided to come clean as my dad was about to walk out of the house.

"Dad, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, but I got to go, baby." He leaned in and kissed my cheek.

"No, Dad, I really need to talk to you right now. It's about the other night, and the whole Tim thing."

He stopped and looked at me.

"It wasn't his fault," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"It was my fault. We were at this party, and…and I was drinking and there was this other guy named Riley and…I was about to get in trouble, and Tim…Tim stopped it and he took me home and he was trying to sneak me in, and…Then you came in, and…And I'm just trying to say it was my fault." I would never forget the expression on my dad's face.

"Damn, Julie," he finally said.

"I'm sorry."

"Damn." He turned and walked out.

A week later as I did my homework in my bedroom, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me." It was Tim.

I stared at the closed door. "Go away."

"I've got nowhere to go, Taylor, nothing to do. I can sleep outside your door. I'm not moving until you open it."

I released a frustrated sigh and went to the door and opened it. "I have nothing to say to you."

"So that's it? You're never gonna speak to me again?"

"That's right. Never."

"Coach came and apologized to me, so I guess you fessed up."

I kept my face neutral. "Well now I don't owe you anything. We're even."

"Jules, I'm reaching out to you. Can't we just be friends again?"

"When were we ever friends, Tim?"

He frowned. "Look, I am not taking all the blame for what happened in the bathroom that night. But, I guess I'll be the bigger person and apologize again. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for taking advantage of you."

I slammed the door in his face. It felt good, but I also felt terrible.

End of Flashback

I would love to hear your thoughts on this so far.