Blinders

Season 1 - Episode #15

Disclaimer: This episode was created by Peter Berg and written so beautifully by Carter Harris, Jason Gavin & Bridget Carpenter. All recognizable dialogue is theirs – all italic flashbacks are mine.

ICanStopAnytime: I am going to try and slowly introduce how Eric turned himself around to win Tami over. I think at this point I have have taken it too far at this point in one direction so it was have to be a slow and steady build from here.

Naguabo: I always wished Eric witnessed that Matt/Julie argument. I also wish we saw more of that Jason/Eric father/son relationship which I feel like could have ran deeper than the writers let it.

Guests: Thanks for the reviews. I like writing the flirty scenes too.

Seth0091: Thanks for taking the time to review.

A/N: This race storyline was one of my favorites from season 1. I almost wished they introduced it earlier in the season so they could have dragged in on for longer than 2 episodes, but I still loved it. Also, thinking of incorporating flash-forwards, but not sure if that would work or not. Stay Tuned.

"Slot Right 28 Gun-Sling"

"Are you serious?"

"Slot Right 28 Gun-Sling" Eric repeated.

The playoffs. Eric loved to lead this team and making those calls. All the years of not having the opportunity to make final decisions and right now in this moment, he got to do what he wanted.

Eric looked at Mac, who Eric could tell was not so sure about that call. But Eric knew his boys, probably more than they knew themselves.

As his boys took the line, he saw them all smiling. When the score was this spread, he gave his boys the opportunity to have some fun with the talents that God gave them. Eric clenched his fists and watched the play unfold. Just as he thought, when Matt handed off the Riggins and then Riggins to Smash, the defense forgot all about Matt as he sailed toward the goal line. Smash threw a long pass and Matt's hands reached out to catch the ball. Eric made Matt the hero tonight. Eric needed to put his feelings aside and be a coach first when he was on that field.

Julie didn't tell him much of what happened after he comforted her in the hallway. Eric assumed Matt did something to break his little girl's heart. He hated that it was one of his boys that hurt her like that. Tonight, he had to focus. He had to keep his personal stuff off the field. He wanted Matt to still trust him. Julie could not get between their relationship. He couldn't let that happen.

Eric was thrilled with the victory tonight. The Panthers just won their first playoff game. They were officially on the road to State. He knew no one believed in them this season, in the aftermath of what happened to Jason. He wanted his boys to know he believed in them. He was excited to coach them through this journey.

"I want you to be proud of yourselves, and I am damn proud of you."

As Eric went in his office to clean up after the game, the reporters made their way around the lockers for interviews. Eric always liked to go last so he could gather his thoughts. Mac, Crawley and Spidey did the rounds first and Eric usually fed off of them.

Spidey came into his office and relayed a very strange message to him and Eric immediately popped his out of his office. The reporter was undermining the context in which Mac was spoke. Right as he got within ear shot, Eric heard Mac say something that he shouldn't have. "I'm not saying that all white guys…"

"Mac!" Eric stopped him. "I need to talk to you."

"Coach, just a couple more." The reporter pleaded.

"It's getting late." He politely said, but the minute he turned away he couldn't keep the scowl off his face.

When he closed the door to his office, he peeked one last time to make sure the reporters were gone. When his eyes focus back on Mac, he could help but raise his voice in anger. "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"In there! What the hell were you saying?"

"She was trying to spin my words."

"Come on, Mac. I don't need to have to worry about what you guys say to reporters. Watch your damn mouth next time, aight?"

When Eric walked out of the fieldhouse, the cold air hit him as he slung his bag over his shoulder. When he looked where his car was parked he noticed Tami and Julie waiting for him. Over the past few months, it was rare that Julie was there waiting with Tami. Her presence served as a reminder that Matt did not even deserve to be around his daughter.

The ride home was quiet. Julie was clearly still upset. On a Friday night when she should be celebrating, she was sulking in the backseat, going home with her parents.

Tami studied Eric's features and, although he just won, he looked completely stressed. Tami knew better than to ask him to delve right into it in the car with Julie listening. So she waited until they arrived home and Julie went to her bedroom. He sat on recliner, rubbing his hands over his eyes when she joined him on the adjacent couch.

She stayed silent, giving him the opportunity for him to open up to her. She learned over the years that sometimes if she gave him enough time, we would eventually come to her.

Julie was almost three and Eric had a solid bond with her. He felt proud of his relationship with Julie and easily recognized that most fathers did not have what he had. He and Julie were friends. They played together, they joked together and they laughed together. Tami's relationship with Julie was different. Not different in a bad way, but different in the way that Tami offered her more affection, but also more discipline.

It was Eric who first brought up having another baby. They always discussed having at least two, but they never really discussed a timeline. Eric just wanted to have another child that he could bond with over time. Maybe a son?

Tami had been off the pill for almost 9 months, but for some reason, she could not get pregnant. They had plenty of sex, but month after month, she continued to get her period. Tami was frustrated. She got pregnant with Julie so quickly. She just assumed this time would be no different. Eric assumed too.

The first two months they had fun with the idea that every time they had sex, they were making a baby. It was relaxed and there was no pressure. The next three months, Tami was growing frustrated. Tami decided that they should cut back and only have sex when she was most likely ovulating. Eric complied but he wasn't happy about it. After that didn't work, Tami thought maybe she didn't know her cycles as much as she thought. She read somewhere that if you have sex every other day, you will likely hit one of your three highest ovulating days. So that is what they did for the next two months. They routinely had sex every other day which Eric initially thought was going to be fantastic. Eric did not expect to feel the way he did during that time. He felt a bit used, and the sex was not fun. He wouldn't call it boring, but it was so routine and monotonous.

Tami could sense that Eric's patience was starting to wear a bit and she wanted to talk to him about it. She thought about approaching it several different ways, but in the end, she didn't really know how to have that conversation. But eventually, Eric came to her.

"This is crazy." He said one evening in their bedroom after putting Julie to bed. It was Tuesday and Tuesday was a sex night. Tami started taking off her clothes so they could just get to it. "I don't understand why you are not getting pregnant. Do you think something is wrong?" He asked tentatively.

Tami was surprised he brought it up. Even she could admit that having sex with Eric every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and every other Sunday was starting to feel more like a chore than it ever should. "I don't know." She admitted. "Let's give it a few more months to figure it out. We can't really see a specialist until we have been trying for at least a year."

"A year?" Eric didn't want to continue like this. "Tami, I love you, but having sex like this is …."

"I know."

"…It's not us. I don't want this to be us."

"I know." She said again.

"I'm starting to worry."

Eric eventually told her how he was feeling.

When he didn't say anything and they sat in silence, she thought about the game. She wasn't reflecting on the actual football part of the game, but instead on how she loved watching Eric on the sidelines. It was his confidence that always lit her on fire. The way he led that team, his fast thinking, his deep concentration and how hot he looked when he tugged the headphones from his head to his neck when he needed to hear his boys. She suddenly was turned on.

She got up from the couch and walked over to where he was sitting and stood at the foot of the recliner. He raised his eyes to meet hers, sort of questioning what she was doing. She started to kneel in front of him, easing his legs apart to accommodate her slender frame.

Still in his pullover, she raised her hands to his shoulders. She ran them up and down his arms soothingly as her chest rested his stomach and her chin on his chest. She could feel a little stirring beneath his belt against her stomach.

"What are you doing?" He asked, not wanting her stop her comforting, but afraid to continue. "Julie is right down the hall."

Her hands moved from his arms to across his chest. She loved his body and how good it felt at her fingertips. "I was just sitting over there thinking about the game…"

He stretched his neck out so his eyes could meet hers. "You were thinking about the game?" He interrupted.

"…well, I was thinking about you at the game." She said in a sultry voice. "You looked good out there."

"Yeah?" He loved when Tami paid him sexy compliments.

She started to trail her hands a little lower, now by his stomach. "And I was thinking how lucky I am that I am the one who gets to go home with you."

He smiled and rested his head back against the recliner, enjoying her touch. He felt himself growing hard. "I like when you say stuff like that."

"Yeah? What else do you like?" She teased.

He picked his head up off the recliner again, looked at Tami and then looked down the hall to ensure Julie's door was still closed. "You know everything I like. After all the years we have been together, you've perfected it."

"Want to follow me into our bedroom and find out if I have any new tricks up my sleeve?"

Eric chuckled. "You holding out on some things I don't know about?" He asked as he watched her rise off her knees as she stood straight up. She held a hand out to him, which he gladly took as he got up too. He'd follow her to the moon.

"Maybe."

"I like maybe. Maybe is good." He said. Tami walked down the hall and took a look back at Eric. Yeah, the stress was definitely melting away.

The next morning in the car, Tami heard the story on the radio about Mac. Tami watched Eric driving the vehicle to school and the same tense look resurfaced on his features. She knew he was going to have a hell of a day today.

Apparently Tami was going to have a hell of a day too. Ms. Carol, the girls' physical education teacher' informed Tami that Julie had skipped three gym classes last week. Tami was livid. Julie never skipped class. She realized that she was clearly going through something with Matt, but overall, Julie was a rule follower. She was never THAT kid. The kid she and Eric had to monitor. They had an immense amount of trust and faith in Julie, and she was testing the waters.

Tami knew who Tyra Colette was. Before this incident, Tami really had no idea how much time Julie was spending with Tyra, but she was definitely having a negative influence on Julie, clouding her usually sturdy judgment on the simplest of decisions.

"You skipped class?" Tami couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. Julie kept her head down, afraid to look her mother in the eye. Tyra, adjacent to Julie, didn't seem to have a care in the world that she was sitting in that office. "Julie? You skipped class?"

"It was only one time."

"Ms. Carol told me you skipped three classes." Why was Julie lying to her?

"It was just P.E." Julie tried to defend.

Tami took a seat across from Julie, trying to figure out what was going on with her baby girl.

"Look, Ms. Taylor. We're really sorry. We'll never do it again." Tyra interjected.

"Well, Tyra, that really sounds like a hollow apology to me, so you can just save it." Tami should have known this was probably old hat for Tyra, but Tami knew one thing. She was smarter than Tyra. She was smarter than Tyra because she was once exactly like Tyra. She used to be able to talk and charm her way out of everything in high school. "But I am going to tell you what you are going to do. You are going to be in P.E. for every class for the rest of the semester. And in terms of making up the classes that you missed, Ms. Carol made a really good suggestion, which is that both of y'all are going to play in the Powder Puff game. Practices start this afternoon. You will not miss one of them." Tami said coldly.

Julie and Tyra looked at each other and back to Tami. "You have got to be kidding me?" Tyra said with the attitude that Tami recognized as her teenage own.

"You wouldn't do that to me." Julie begged.

"Do I look like I'm kidding y'all?

As Tami dismissed the girls out of her office, she grabbed Julie's arm, stopping her from following Tyra out. "We're not done with this. Your father and I will talk more about this tonight."

"Great." Julie rolled her eyes, expressing sarcasm she knew her mother despised.

She watched Julie walk away from her, afraid of what was next. She thought about talking to Eric immediately, but he was probably dealing with so much more right now. It could wait.

Eric's morning was more than stressful. He was fielding calls all day. The Superintendent was breathing down his neck because of all the calls from TV and radio stations from all over the state. He pulled Mac out of class, needing to put an end to all of this. "You need to issue a public apology." He hated making demands. It wasn't his style. When Mac wasn't receptive, he said what needed to be said. "I'm not making a request." With that, he walked away.

That night after dinner, Tami thought about telling Eric what was going on with Julie, but he looked so stressed. She knew this would fuel the fire of his aggravation. After over 15 years of marriage, Tami was skilled in how to handle her husband.

There were times when Eric needed immediate disclosure to filter out his emotions. He had a strong sense of self-containment which made those moments more often than not. There were less times when Eric was on a need to know basis. She sometimes held information to herself, easing it out in her own mind before knowing exactly how to handle his reactions. Then there were these other times when she knew as a partner in this marriage he needed to know what was going on, but other factors that stretched his patience deciphered that lag in full disclosure. This was one of these times.

The next day after school, Tami checked the football field to make sure that Julie was there for Powder Puff practice. It was the one advantage she had with working in the school. She wasn't sure if Eric's practice would immediately follow, but she knew she had to talk to him tonight in the privacy of their own home.

This thing with Mac was worse than she thought as she just witnessed a very racial fist fight in the hallway. After calling security and dispersing the crowd, she needed to do something to fix this.

She went down to Eric's office, hoping to catch him after practice but before he headed home. She was threading his arms through his pullover as she lightly knocked on the frame of his doorway.

"Honey, I just broke up a fight in the hallway over this whole Mac McGill thing." She said it, expecting some sort of response, but got this instead.

"I don't know what to tell you, babe." He pulled the jacket over his head and adjusted the sleeves.

"Well, I don't know, but it's clear to me that this thing is not going away. I mean, these kids were riled up and it was a lot of kids and it was black against white. It was racial."

"Look babe, he said something stupid. He said something stupid, he made an apology. There is going to be fall out. There's no way around that." Eric just wished this whole thing would go away.

"I feel like I…" She was trying to formulate her thoughts. "I want to have some sort of a dialogue for the kids. Maybe something after school later this week, like a forum or something. "

"Forum?" Eric didn't like the sound of this.

"Yeah. You know, where the kids can come and talk to each other and air it out. So, it's not just coming up with their fists in the middle of the hallway. You know what I mean?"

Eric answered quickly, knowing any hesitation would be taken as uncertainty. "Yeah. It's a good idea." Even though he was very uncertain.

This was so like Tami, he thought, to want to get involved and help. She had this passion that ran so deep that it forced a need within her to make things right, especially when it came to her students. Eric was certain in her abilities, but he was often uncertain with how receptive others would be with her ideas.

"Will you tell your football players about it? I think it would be certainly good for them to come." Of all the students she was worried about, it was Eric's team that really was in the midst of this crossfire.

"Sure." Another short and quick response.

She turned away and started walking out. She held his stare for a bit, wondering what he was thinking. "Appreciate your support. See you later."

Eric watched her leave. "A'ight. Have a good day." Eric was worried. He didn't understand how this could go well and a part of him was worried about her safety. He was worried she could get hurt physically, but also emotionally. He couldn't help it. He was protective of her. He always was.

Eric considered Tami a friend. During their junior year of high school, they spent time together, probably more than they should have, considering she was Mo's girlfriend. Eric knew the exact moment when he felt something more. He was always attracted to her, which he could never deny. She had the most beautiful smile and he could remember when he'd first saw that mega-watt smile even though it was directed at Mo. He'd like to say it was her smile that drew him in, but physically, it was everything. She had the most beautiful hair, the most honest eyes and he certainly didn't miss her body. She was perfect. But she was Mo's.

He became acquainted with her, mainly through Mo. They were often find themselves at the same parties and Eric always was aware of her presence. In the beginning, Eric just observed. He would just watch her interact with Mo and she never seemed to notice him noticing her. Eric knew how to play the game. He took advantage of what was often thrown his way in the girl department. But he would never forget to glimpse at Tami Hayes.

It wasn't until Mo started taking her presence for granted that Tami started to socialize with others when she was out with him. Initially, she and Eric started out by trading insults. She would criticize him for all the girls he would seemingly use and he would tease her about anything under the sun.

As the months passed, Eric always seemed to be there when Mo got too drunk, got into a fight, couldn't drive Tami home. They really started to bond during those months. She still criticized his playboy ways and he still teased her mercifully, but a deeper friendship formed over their common interests, their unrelenting parents, their passions and their future goals.

Through Eric's eyes, Mo and Tami had less and less in common as, he himself, grew fonder of Tami. Fear was always set in Tami's mind, when thoughts of Eric entered. She never wanted to be with someone like Eric, so superficial and callous when it came to girls.

He fought the urge to admit his feelings for her to anyone, including himself. His father once pointed it out, but Eric immediately dismissed the idea. They were at one of his conference games, and as his father made his way down the bleachers to give Eric his typical congratulatory handshake, he followed Eric's eyes to the strawberry blonde girl. "She's pretty, son." He said nonchalantly. "Have any interest?"

Eric replied, quickly. "No." He probably replied a little too quickly. "That's Mo's girlfriend."

"Uh-huh." Mr. Taylor said, knowing he never saw Eric look at anyone like that. "Be careful, son. Never cross your teammates, especially over a girl."

Eric's feelings didn't hit him full force until he walked in on Mo getting a blowjob from Mary Elizabeth at some party Tami was not present. In that moment, his heart broke. He knew how hard Tami worked at her relationship with Mo. He knew she consistently tried to be happy envisioning a future with him. It wasn't until recently that she started to admit that maybe he wasn't the one. Those weren't her exact words, but Eric was able to read between the lines. Eric wasn't a fool though. He knew she wasn't admitting that harsh truth because of him.

Now Mo did this. It was going to kill her. All of her beautiful confidence was going to be washed away because this jerkoff didn't know how lucky he was.

He wanted to protect her. He wanted to avoid her from getting hurt. He couldn't imagine her being played the fool, but how can he be the guy to deliver the truth that would ultimately crush her?

While Julie was still at Powder Puff practice, Tami waited for Eric to get home so she could tell him what has been going on with his daughter.

Once he had a beer in his hand, she told him about the news Ms. Carroll delivered yesterday.

"So I called Julie and Tyra in my office and I spoke with them both. They are going to make up the grade by doing Powder Puff…"

"That's why she's doing Powder Puff?"

"Yes, that's why. What did you think? She was doing it for you?"

"No." Eric was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his baby girl was being so undisciplined. "Maybe." He admitted.

"Well, it's not." Tami started pulling out the cutting board and a knife to start dinner prep. "I am furious at her Eric."

"It's not like her." Eric was trying to make sense of it. "Why would she skip P.E. of all things?"

"She's not the athlete you always dreamed she'd be. It's no secret that's not her favorite class. Plus, I'm sure Tyra had a lot to do with it."

"Tyra?"

"You'd know her if you saw her. She's trouble with a capital 'T'. I don't understand why Julie would want to be friends with a girl like her."

Eric thought back to what happened last week, images of Julie crying in his arms in the middle of the hallway. "Maybe she's upset about Matt."

"Eric, it still doesn't excuse her behavior. This is not how our girl behaves."

"I know. I get it. Do you know how bad this makes me look? I teach P.E."

"Not the point, Eric!" She raised her voice. "She needs to be punished. She can't act this way over a boy."

"How stupid is she, though? We work at the school. What did she think? That we weren't going to find out?" He asked.

"I don't know."

"And thinking she could get away with lying to us?"

"I know." Tami repeated. She realized this revelation was new to Eric. Her shock wore off sometime yesterday, when she got a glimpse of Julie's misery during Powder Puff practice.

When Julie walked through the door, Eric's level of anger rose to total utter disappointment. He hadn't sat down since Tami delivered the news. He was watching game tape and continually hitting pause, hitting rewind, hitting play. Tami was going to take a back seat to Eric, having compete faith that he would handle this properly. It was a dance they perfected over time, supporting each other and presenting a united front.

When the heard the click of the door handle, followed by the shutting of the door, Eric turned his attention from the television to Tami, giving her a firm look that he had this.

"Hello?" Tami said in her best annoyed tone that she could muster.

"Hey." Julie called back in a soft, tired voice.

"Hey, honey. How you doing?" Eric's tone indicated he didn't care to hear her response.

"Grand." Julie responded with sarcasm and very little energy.

"How was Powder Puff?" Tami started the conversation.

"It was great."

"Oh, was Powder Puff tiring?" Eric's eyes followed her as she made her way to the couch.

"Where's the flipper?"

"I don't know" Eric said, even though it was in his hands. "Why don't you sit down?"

Julie let a sigh escape her lips in pure annoyance as to what was about to happen. As if she didn't have enough to contend with already, now her father was going to lay into her. Julie immediately thought about Tyra and how her mom wouldn't even care what went on at school.

"Don't!" Eric didn't need the attitude. "Don't roll your eyes." Julie threw herself onto the couch and braced herself as her father continued. "Something else is going to happen other than this Powder Puff thing as a punishment for you cutting class. I promise you your mom and I will let you know what it is when we figure out what it is."

"Yeah. That's understood." She got up. She didn't need this. "And when you figure out what my punishment is, I'll be in my bedroom."

"I don't want you to be flippant with me. I don't want you to be flippant." Who was this kid? Who was this girl who was not even paying attention to what he said. She started to walk toward her bedroom.

"Did you hear what he just said?" Tami interjected. She knew now Eric was getting a good piece of Julie's crappy attitude.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Yes. I heard."

"Can I tell you something? No, no. Look at me." With the remote in his hand, he pointed it at her. "Please, don't do this. Don't break our trust. Don't take our trust from us."

Eric's words carried some weight because Julie looked like she was about to cry.

"Please?" He begged. He knew those words would get to Julie because they always trusted her. She had never given them a reason not to trust her until now.

"I'm sorry. It's just been a really...a really crappy day. Matt's been yelling at me all day, about stupid quarterback stuff." Julie started to retreat down the hallway, as Eric looked at Tami.

Tami should have figured that Eric was right, that her attitude had to do with Matt. Eric's mind went to his second love, after his family. "Matt Saracen has you at quarterback?"

Tami shook her head in disbelief as Eric rushed to turn off the television. "Wait. Honey? Hey!" He called after her and jogged after her. "C'mere. What do you mean he's got you at quarterback?"

Tami chuckled as she continued to dice the salad. He looked ridiculous running after her in his almost too small grey Panthers sweatshirt and blue jeans. She loved the interest he took in Julie, but she knew something else. A part of him always wished he had a son, so Julie playing Powder Puff was going to give him a sliver of that.

He knocked lightly when he reached her bedroom door. "Can I come in?" He remembered the days when she was little and no knock was required. He remembered the days when he was always welcome in her space.

"Sure."

He went in and jumped right into it. "You got a good arm. That's why Matt probably put you there. He's a good judge on the field."

"On the field." Julie said sadly.

"Is that why you're upset? Not about the football stuff, but because of Matt?" Eric thought again of Julie crying in his arms in the hallway and felt like he could kill this kid for making his daughter feel this way.

"I guess. I just don't get it." Julie wanted to say more, but afraid she would reveal too much to her father of all people. She was partially embarrassed, but partially intrigued because he always had a good take on things. "I have been playing it over in my head over and over again and it doesn't make sense."

"Listen, Matt's a good kid. I don't know exactly what happened and if he hurt you, then he doesn't deserve you. Boys can be senseless and sometimes jerks."

"Except you right?"

"Except me. In your eyes anyway."

"Please, mom would have never married a jerk or someone who treated her poorly."

Eric chose his next words carefully, not wanting to reveal too much of his younger self. "I wasn't always the best judge of my own actions Julie, especially when I was in high school. You're mom made me want to be better. You're mom made me want to be a man of better character."

Julie was surprised. She always assumed the courting of her parent's relationship was always one sided. Her dad chased until her mom allowed to be caught. Her mom was always more social, more people were drawn to her charisma and her friendliness. She just figured her dad wasn't much of anything but a guy with his head in the football sand. "Yeah, well I'm pretty sure Mom wouldn't have let it go if there were pictures of you circulating around the school that involved you and rally girls."

Eric thought for a moment back when girls would throw themselves at him and how he had no regard for any of them. "Well, people make mistakes Julie. I knew your mom was never going to be one of those rally girls. I'm sure Matt knows that about you." Tami was an athlete and on the political debate team. As long as he could remember she was fighting for things she believed in. Eric didn't want to go much deeper with this conversation, so he changed the subject. "After dinner, you want to run some plays outside. I think I may know a thing or two about quarterback stuff." He winked.

She cracked a smile. "Sure."

The next day Tami met Eric out by the football field to watch the Powder Puff game. It was nice to see Eric to let some of his stress go and enjoy watching Julie play in the game that he loved. Of course, once a bad call was made on Julie, Eric stared to yell. She was once again reminded to be thankful that Julie was not much of an athlete. Between Eric's passion and Tami's competitiveness, she knew the two of them would be unbearable and quickly labeled "those parents" as Eric's father once was.

"What the hell kind of call was that? Son, you're blind!" Eric yelled at poor Landry.

"Honey!" Tami scolded, trying to bring him back to the world where this was only Powder Puff.

"What?" He asked having no idea what he did wrong.

"Calm down."

"No." He simply said. His daughter was robbed of a completed pass. It was a bad call.

As Landry made his way over to scold Eric, Eric started walking toward him. He wasn't going to start a fight, was he, Tami thought. At that moment Tami was thankful yet again, they have a daughter and not a son.

Eric was particularly silent on the drive back from the hospital. They just finished their 20 week ultrasound and decided to find out the sex of the baby. They hadn't talked much about it since the moment Tami told Eric that she was pregnant. Their thoughts were filled with other things? How were they going to do this financially? Weren't they too young to be parents? What happened to their Newlywed phase the both of them were looking forward to?

When they arrived home, Tami took a seat on their worn couch and put her feet up on their nicked up coffee table. Eric went to the kitchen to grab a drink, and pulled a mug for Tami out of the cabinet. "You want a cup of tea?"

"Sure." His silence was making her nervous and she was not going to let it fester. The whistle of the kettle cut through the silence and rang loudly in her ear. It was like an alarm going off screaming 'we need to talk about your disappointment'.

They were having a girl. The baby was healthy and that was all Tami could have hoped for, but she knew Eric's feelings on the matter were different. Whenever they talked about their future of marriage and kids, Eric would let his mind wander to not only being a father, but being a father to a son. He would talk about how he couldn't wait to teach him the game he loved, how to respect women far better than he ever had and teach him the importance of family.

Now, he wouldn't have that chance. When Eric took a seat next to Tami and handed her the cup, he stared into the empty space in front of him. "Please, talk to me." She asked.

He smiled weakly. "You feel okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." She moved the mug to her opposite hand to free to one soothingly rubbing the back of his neck. "You're disappointed." She stated the obvious.

"Disappointed?" He asked.

"Yeah. That it's a girl."

He moved away from her so he could set the water glass on the table. He turned to her and cupped her face and brushed his lips against hers. When he pulled back, he took the hot mug out of her hands and set it adjacent to his glass. He turned back to her and placed one hand on her growing belly and the other on her silk soft cheek. "I'm not disappointed." He searched her eyes, begging for her to see what he was about to disclose. "I'm so relieved, Tami."

"What?"

He thought about what he was feeling from the moment the news was delivered. He thought about how he felt when Tami was dressing out of that paper gown and into her clothes. He thought about all the glorious things that entered his mind on the drive home. "Relieved. God, Tami I love you, you know that."

"I love you too, sugar." She was bracing herself for what was to come next.

"For the past few months I was thinking about the father that I want to be. I thought about the kind of man your father was and on the opposite spectrum, the father my father was to me. I'm so relieved it's a girl Tami."

"Why?"

He took a deep breath and continued to rub her belly. "I don't have to worry about turning into my father. With a son, that was my biggest fear. That my son would never live up to my expectations. I was so afraid that I was going to make my son feel the way my father did for most of my life. And I didn't want that Tami, but I wasn't sure if that was something I was going to be able to control or not. And now, I don't have to worry about it. Now, I get to be the prince to my little girl. I get to be the example of the man she will want in her own life someday. I get to play a part I never knew I always wanted." He kissed her again, this time full of joy and passion. "I'm so happy Tami."

During her forum the next day after school, Tami could feel her fists clenched around the cuff of her cream colored sweater. It started out somewhat low key, but quickly escalated into something she feared she wouldn't be able to control. One kid interrupted, the next stood up, another spoke louder and another started walking toward another. It was like a snowball effect, with no end in site. She had to put a stop to it. She had to reason with these kids.

Tami had to stay late that day, working with members of the administration to educate them on the problem going on that they seem to want to ignore. Eric was sitting at the kitchen table when she walked through the door.

"Hey babe." He said as he took a swig of his beer.

"Hey." She said in a tone that was low, sad and frustrated. She placed her purse on one of the chairs that accompanied the kitchen bar and made her way into the living room.

Eric knew immediately she was not okay. He got up from the table and hovered over the back of the couch while she dropped her tired body into it. Tami took a few deep breaths trying to calm herself down, but Eric knew could tell she was about to break down. His strong, independent, confident wife was trying to steady her breathing so she could formulate words to speak. Eric waited for her to start. He'd wait for her forever.

"Well, it didn't go very well honey. " She closed her eyes, pressed her lips so tightly together, not wanting to let any sounds escape.

Tami opened her eyes as she started to speak. "I mean first of all hardly anyone showed up. But, then I wish you could have seen the way these kids were yelling at each other, calling each other names. She closed her eyes again, trying not to cry.

"It's real hard to make a change around here." He knew exactly what she meant. They lived in a small Texas town. There were certain things that come along with living in a town like that, that will never change. Eric just needed for her to look at the full circle.

"You know you're an example to aspire to, don't you?" Eric started. "You give them an opportunity to express themselves they wouldn't have otherwise, because you're always there ready to listen to them."

tears were threatening to spill over and Tami could feel her bottom lip quiver. She loved this man so very much at that moment because he knew exactly what she needed him to say.

"You never shy away from the difficult subjects. They know they can trust you." Tami took another deep breath. He believed in her. Eric believed in her and that was all that mattered. "That's a rarity." She finally made eye contact with him, giving him a soft smile of appreciation. "You're my wife and I'm damn proud of you. " He leaned in and kissed her.

Eric hoped what he said matched what how he felt. He hoped Tami understood how much he believed in what he just said. Did she know how much he believed in her? As he held her tightly in his harms, he silently prayed this situation with Mac McGill would be over soon, for both their sakes.

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