A/N: *Sighs*...ok...*bites nails nervously*...I really hope this chapter goes down well with you guys, I've really struggled with writing it, and I hope *fingers crossed* that all of the characters are in character as best as possible. Thanks to all those that took the time to review the last chapter - I'm sure there are going to be some of you with plenty so say about this one...
Big thank you to my Beta Brophy for all her help with this chapter, I'd still be playing with it if it wasn't for her.
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Julie smiled up at Joe Hague, reveling a little bit in the male attention; the first bit of attention she'd received from anyone in the male population at school since her break up with Matt.
"Sure," she said, brushing her hair back behind her ear, "if you get any problems with the chapter just give me a call. I'm more than happy to help."
The basketball player grinned down at her as he hiked his backpack further up on his shoulder. "You're a star, Julie. History's just not my thing, and to be honest, Ms Beazley just completely lost me from about the fifth chapter in. I must have read the book a couple of times over, and it still makes no sense to me."
Julie smiled sympathetically, "Your probably just over thinking it. Sometimes I find that the more I try and study something so I understand it, the more confusing it gets."
"Exactly!" Joe agreed his blue eyes sparkling. "That's it exactly. No one's gotten that before. I thought it was just me."
His words had Julie blushing. While she didn't have a crush as such on the Point Guard, she certainly wasn't immune to his charm and could see why so many of the girls in the school found him attractive.
He was taller than Matt, roughly the same height as Tim, although he was definitely leaner than the Fullback, but it was easy to see the muscles that stretched over his body. Coupled with his blonde hair and blue eyes, Joe Hague was certainly easy on the eyes.
Taking a hint out of her latest teen magazine, Julie ducked her head briefly before looking back up at him, deliberately making Joe search for eye contact from her. "Well, we'll just have to make sure that we find a way for you to relate to the material."
The bell rang, startling Julie, causing her to visibly jump at the sound.
Joe didn't say anything, but judging from the smile on his face, he thought it was sweet. "So…I'll speak to you later?"
"Sure."
There was a beat of silence as they both stood there before Julie sprang into action. "Sure, I'll speak to you later. Bye." She said, turning to go and casting him one last smile over her shoulder.
"Bye."
As soon as Julie was sure she was out of Joe's sight she gave a little squeal, her face splitting into a grin. She was back in the game!
-----
"Hey Tim," Julie said with a smile as she approached the Fullback who was currently hunched over his English essay. She dumped her backpack down by her feet and sat down next to him on the bleacher.
"How are you getting on?" She asked.
She got a grunt in response as Tim shrugged his shoulders and then rubbed his face. "I just don't get it! What does it matter what Othello's insecurities are?"
Snorting softly, Julie leant back and tilted her face up to catch some of the sun rays. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised that English isn't your forte." She replied flippantly.
The words caught Tim off guard, striking right at his heart. He'd thought… jesus, he'd thought that Julie was different. That she didn't see him the same as everyone else did… but obviously he was wrong. She thought the same thing as everyone else in Dillon, that he was just another dumb jock, too stupid to pass his English class.
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them as he stuffed the essay into his bag. "I can't believe I thought you were different," he ground out without looking at her as he stalked away.
Stunned at Tim's reaction, Julie tried to work out what the hell had just happened. "Tim!" She called out, hurrying after him. "Tim!"
The Fullback didn't slow down, his long legs eating up the ground in front of him so quickly that Julie was forced to jog to keep up with him.
"Would you just hold on for one minute!" She exclaimed, catching hold of his arm in an attempt to stop him from walking away from her. She knew that if he wanted to he could carry on walking – she definitely didn't have the strength to stop him – but to her relief, Tim came to a reluctant halt, but refused to meet her eyes, deliberately keeping his face averted from her.
"I didn't mean it like that," she tried to explain desperately, aware that more than a few people were looking at them and trying to work out what the hell was going on. "It came out completely the wrong way. What I meant… What I was trying to say was that, well, you're not exactly the most talkative of people are you?" Julie sighed. "Tim, would you just look at me? Please?" She asked softly. "I want you to understand, to believe what I'm trying to explain here, and I can't do that if you won't look at me." Julie whispered, swallowing down the lump in her throat.
The tightness in her chest lessened a little bit as Tim looked her in the eye, but Julie knew that she wasn't in the clear just yet. What she had said had come across as uncaring and insensitive, and she understood why Tim was feeling the way he felt, but the words had come out in completely the wrong way.
"English is basically picking apart a story, or a piece of text to find meanings behind the words. Formulating and explaining the different points of view the author offers, rationalizing the characters and giving reasons and evidence that support you thoughts and views when it comes to that piece of prose or poetry. It's not that you don't understand it," Julie told Tim, her hand sliding from his forearm to curl around his clenched fist, "you just have problems explaining it, communicating your point of view. You just need to refine it, set your work out in the right way and you'll be fine."
Silence stretched between them as Tim said nothing, instead choosing to glance away and fix his eyes on the female hand that covered his own.
Taking a deep breath, Julie stepped forward, crowding his personal space just a little. "And you're not stupid." She informed him quietly with steel behind her words. "Don't think I didn't see your Math pop quiz the other day before you tried to hide it from me. I just don't find it that surprising. Football is basically just Math; calculations, angles, velocity…" Julie's voice trailed off. Her heart was heavy, sinking further into her stomach with each passing second that Tim didn't respond.
"I'm sorry." She said, making another effort to get him to forgive her. "You say just enough to explain what you need to, and that's fine, that's just you. I get that. But English papers mean that you need to expand on those feelings, or reasons, or what ever the hell you're writing about. I really am sorry, Tim, it didn't come out the way I meant it too. I didn't mean it to sound as if I was ridiculing you for a problem that you were having."
The sound of Julie's voice cracking on the last sentence had Tim pulling her against his chest and wrapping his arms about her.
She tried to say something else, her voice muffled by his shirt, but Tim cut her off. "Sshh." He said. "I overreacted."
"No you didn't. I sounded like a complete bitch."
Tim sighed, his fingers finding their way into the mass of Julie's hair as he cradled the back of her head. "Yeah, well," he began, careful not to deny the statement. "You'll make it up to me."
Julie offered a watery laugh in response, pressing her face closer into his chest. "Oh I will, will I?"
"Yeah, I was thinking along the lines of cornbread, fried chicken…"
A relieved smile found its way to her face, and Tim literally felt the tension drain out of Julie's body. "I think I can manage that."
He chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of Julie's head, knowing that everything was back the way it should be.
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As the commercial came up, signaling that there was a break in the movie they were watching, Julie jumped up off the sofa and darted down the hallway for the bathroom. She'd been sitting there with her legs crossed for the last ten minutes, desperate to go to the toilet, but unable to, in case she missed an important part of the film.
Eric shook his head in amusement at his eldest daughter's antics, stretching his body out and then slumping down further into the couch.
The phone rang, and he sighed in annoyance. He glanced over at his Fullback. "Get that for me would you son, and if it happens to be for me, I'm not here."
Smirking, Tim stood and strolled over to pick up the phone. "Hello?"
"Uh, hi. Is Julie there?"
Unbidden, Tim's face lost its amused expression, dropping into a frown instead at the male voice on the other end of the phone. "Who are you?"
Catching the tone of Tim's voice, Eric craned his neck around to watch Tim as the conversation continued.
"I'm Joe Hague sir -"
"Why are you callin'?" Tim demanded, cutting the basketball player off mid-sentence and not correcting the use of 'sir'.
"Julie offered to help me with my history homework. Is she there?"
Tim glanced down the hallway to where he could just make out the sound of water running. "She's not in right now." He lied, knowing exactly why he was doing it, that Julie would be mad as hell when she found out, because he wasn't too stupid as to believe otherwise, but unable to stop himself all the same.
A second later, Julie appeared from the bathroom, walking back up the hallway towards him.
"Oh, uh, sorry to have disturbed you, Sir. Do you know-"
Without bothering to listen to the rest of whatever the boy was saying, Tim pressed down on the red button, a satisfied thrum racing through his body as the line disconnected and went dead in his ear.
"Who was that?" Julie asked as she walked past him and into the kitchen for a soda.
"No-one." Tim lied, unable to keep the untruth from slipping off his tongue. His eyes darted away from her and over to where Coach Taylor was sitting before finding their way back to her body. "Just some phone sales company, double glazing, I think." He continued with a shrug to disregard the subject as he sat back down.
The look Coach T sent his way told Tim that the older man clearly didn't believe him, but obviously he didn't have any problem with the fact that he'd just lied to his daughter about some boy phoning her up for 'help' with his homework.
Pile of bullshit, Tim thought bitterly. The basketball jocks weren't any different from the football jocks. If they were having that much trouble with a subject then they'd already be getting additional tutoring, or they'd simply get one of their own rally girls or cheerleaders to complete the work for them. The boy was simply looking for a way into Julie's pants and he sure as hell ain't having any guy thinking he could get away with that, Tim thought derisively.
"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Julie asked, feeling a little confused and left out at the silent male communication that was going on between Tim and her Dad.
"Get me an' Tim a beer each would you, honey?" Eric asked in return, deciding on this occasion that he was going to relax his rule about the Fullback drinking in his household.
Julie shot him an odd look, but didn't bother saying anything as she hurried to get a couple of beers our of the fridge as the movie started again.
Eric smiled to himself as he popped the cap off his beer; better than a freaking chastity belt!
-----------
Feeling slightly despondent about the fact that Joe Hague never did call for help with his history homework, Julie shuffled along in cafeteria queue with Tyra hot on her heels.
Apparently, it turned out that Joe Hague had a bit of a reputation for being a ladies man on the basketball team, or so Tyra had said, and initially that had only added to Julie's confidence.
After all, it wasn't as though she had a massive crush on him, so she didn't particularly feel jealous over the thought of him flirting with other girls, but she would be lying if she didn't admit that she had felt flattered by the attention.
That wasn't the case now though, as she contemplated the fact that his attention had been diverted by someone else.
"So, let's go over this again," Tyra said as they picked apart every bit of the conversation. "You left it so that he would call you, right?"
Julie nodded as she glanced over the salads, looking for one that didn't look particularly limp. "Right, we were chatting, I did that eye thing that was in the magazine we were reading the other day-"
"Where you make the guy search for your eyes?" Tyra questioned as she grabbed a water.
"Yeah, and he totally seemed to be going for it. And then the bell rang, and he said, 'so I'll speak to you later?' and I said 'sure'. That was it, end of conversation."
Handing over her lunch money, Julie waited for Tyra to do the same before stepping back out to the seating area of the cafeteria.
Spotting a group of people leaving one of the tables over by the far window, Julie made a beeline over there before anyone else could claim the spot.
Twisting off the cap of her water bottle, Tyra said, "Have you asked him why he didn't call?"
"No. Do you think that would make me look too eager? Or desperate? 'Cause I could really do without that right now."
Tyra shrugged. "Maybe, just, I don't know, bring it up in a conversation casually, maybe?" The older blonde girl bit her lip in thought. "Usually, I'd say just go up to the guy and find out what's going on, and be blunt about it, but that's not really your style… Guys like the whole innocent vibe you've got going on."
"Great," Julie grumbed. "Julie Taylor; destined to remain a virgin forever."
"He could have just chickened out." Tyra suggested, trying to offer her friend some comfort.
Sighing again, Julie took a bite of her salad and glanced round the cafeteria. Tim was sitting over at the jock table, Matt right next to him. A couple of the girls from her dance class were positioned over by the doors. Julie's face hardened as she caught Lois's eye, looking away from the girl as quickly as possible.
They'd still not resolved the fight between them, and given the glares that Lois was sending in her direction, it wasn't something that was going to be sorted out any time soon.
"Still mad at you, huh?"
"Ohhh yeahhh." Julie said as she rolled her eyes. "And that's not going to change any time in the near future. She should just grow up. It's not like your throwing a fit about the fact that I'm friends with Tim and he's your ex-boyfriend after all!"
Making a noncommittal sound, Tyra tried for a smile that hopefully didn't look like a grimace before diverting the subject away from Julie's friendship with her ex.
"Don't look now, but Joe is standing behind you a couple of tables away. Don't look! Don't look!" Tyra hissed as Julie started to twist round in her seat.
"That's got to be the worst thing you can say, Tyra! When you tell someone not to look they automatically do!" Julie hissed back.
"He's coming over," Tyra said, giving a running commentary as the basketball player moved through the crowd of people rushing to get lunch before their next class. "Just remember to act casual."
"Casual," Julie mumbled to herself, feeling the nerves beginning to build. "Causal. I can do casual," she assured herself.
"Hey Tyra," a voice said, coming from behind.
Turning around in her seat, Julie offered a small smile up at Joe.
The smile on his face widened. "Hey Julie."
There was beat of silence as they remained smiling at each other before Tyra broke in and brought them back to their senses.
"You gonna sit?" She asked, motioning to the empty seat next to Julie.
"Sure!" He said before hesitating as he glanced down at Julie, "That's if you don't mind. I don't want to interrupt anything."
"No problem," Julie assured him before glancing back across at Tyra with a look that screamed 'help!'
"So… what have you been up to recently, Joe?" Tyra asked.
"This and that." He replied easily. "I was hoping that Julie was going to be able to help me with my history homework," he continued, glancing across to Julie who was sitting on his right. "but she's a hard girl to get hold of."
"Excuse me?" Julie asked with a small frown on her face. She damn well had been home last night! He wasn't pinning any of this on her!
As Joe caught the look on Julie's face, he paused and reconsidered his words. "I was just teasing. You weren't in last night, that was all I was referring too."
"Who told you that?" She asked, consciously trying to soften the hard look she just knew was plastered across her face.
"Your Dad. I called about 8:30, and he said that you were out. He hung up the phone before I could ask what time you would be back. I would've phoned back, but to be honest, he didn't sound in the best mood on the phone."
As if in slow motion the dots began to connect together in Julie's mind, and as she happened to glance over to where Tim was sitting, the look on his face as he watched them and caught her eye confirmed everything that she needed to know.
"Double glazing." She muttered under her breath. And her Dad had been in on it! He'd known that someone had called for her and deliberately ignored the fact that Tim had lied about her whereabouts. No, actually, that was wrong! He hadn't ignored it! He'd rewarded it with a fucking beer.
Drawing her gaze away from Tim, Julie smiled sweetly up at Joe. "Would you excuse me for a minute?" She said between grit teeth as she stood. "I just have something I need to take care of."
"Julie?!"
"Not now, Tyra," Julie snapped back as she marched away without a second glance at the two people she'd been sitting with.
Tyra snorted as she watched just where Julie was headed over to, understanding dawning as she realized just what had happened. "Oh, that boy is deader than dead."
---------
She'd figured it out.
The moment Julie had glanced up from her conversation with Joe and over at him, Tim had known that the game was up.
And judging by the glint in her eye, he was in serious trouble.
Downing the remaining drink in his carton of fruit juice, Tim chucked it down on his empty tray and stood up as Julie approached, hands on her hips and her face just screaming 'pissed off!'
The other players had fallen silent at the furious expression on Coach Taylor's daughter, waiting for the explosion of fireworks as she approached their Fullback.
Before Julie could open her mouth and say anything, Tim's hand clamped down on her arm and he towed her away from the football players and out of the cafeteria.
He'd caught glimpses of the temper Julie had inherited from her father, and he had no intention of being verbally assaulted and reamed a new one in front of the entire school.
"Jus' settle down," he mumbled, trying to keep a lid on the situation.
"Oh, don't you dare!" Julie replied as she rounded on him. "Don't you dare tell me to 'settle down' like some dog you expect to heel!"
Guiding Julie into the first empty classroom that he came across, Tim let Julie go and pulled down the blind in front of the glass doorway in an attempt to give them some privacy.
Visibly trembling with rage, Julie fought for the words she was looking to say but unable to find, arms flying with emotion as she spoke. "You…you… How dare you do such a thing?! I was out? I was out?!"
"Jules-" he began, reaching forward to try and catch hold of her.
Jerking back out of his reach, Julie whirled around and made a point of putting a desk between them. "No. Why did you do it, Tim? Why? I expect that sort of thing from my Dad. But you?"
Leaning back against the teachers desk, Tim stared at his shoes as he scuffed them along the floor. Lifting his head, Tim looked over at her and couldn't miss the look of betrayal on her face.
It cut into him as deeply as the look that had been on Street's face when it came out that he'd been sleeping with Lyla.
"Jules-"
"Don't 'Jules' me! I don't want to hear it!" Julie shouted, her cheeks blossoming with color. "Just tell me why you did it! That's all I want to know!"
"He's not good enough for you," Tim muttered petulantly.
Shaking her head tearfully, Julie asked, "And who are you to decide that?"
"I'm just looking out for you. Guys like that are only after one thing!" Tim said in rebuttal, straightening up a little as he spoke.
"Yeah, because any guy that goes after me must just be in it for the chance of getting laid!" Julie retorted sarcastically, her eyes flashing angrily.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I realize you might not have any problems when it comes to the opposite sex, but it's not that easy for us mere mortals!" Slapping her hands down angrily on the desk in front of her, Julie let her head drop forward and took a moment to gather her thoughts. The movement merely caused the tears gathering in her eyes to increase and she quickly blinked them away. "Do you have any idea of what it's like being Julie Taylor in this town?" She asked softly.
Tim frowned at her in confusion.
"My Dad is the Panthers Head Coach. My Mom is the school Counselor. My ex-boyfriend is Matt Saracen; QB1 for the Panthers who took this town to state." She swiped a hand across her eyes. "Do you have any idea just how off putting that is to any guy who has the slightest interest in me? Matt fancied me for months before he got the courage to say anything, and don't just turn around and say that's because it's Seven we're talking about."
Tim sighed. "Jules…"
"There are enough issues about the name Julie Taylor to frighten off most of the guys in the school, I don't need to add your name to the list as well."
"I'm just looking out for you," Tim mumbled, trying to defend his actions.
"Tim, if all a guy was interested in was getting laid, there are plenty more girls in this school that would be far easier, and without half the problems," she pointed out.
Okay, so maybe she had a point there, but still… "Yeah… well, he should have called back."
Rolling her eyes, Julie placed her hands on her hips as she glared at him. She might not have been crazy in love with Joe Hague, but that didn't change what Tim had done. She understands that he's looking out for her… but she has enough people in her life doing that already.
"Julie?" The classroom door was pushed open and Tyra appeared in the doorway, her eyes flicking between the pair of them as she tried to take in the situation and work out what she'd missed. "You alright?" She asked, catching sight of Julie's red eyes and pink cheeks.
Nodding, Julie did her utmost to reassure her best friend. "Sure. We're done."
Jerking upright at Julie's words, Tim snatched hold of her arm as she passed in front of him, panic racing through his body. "Jules!"
"We're done with this conversation." Julie said, re-clarifying her previous words as she stood in front of Tim, looking up at him.
The tension that had filled Tim's body drained away as he understood that she was referring to the conversation and not to their friendship. Ignoring his ex-girlfriend's presence in the room, he pulled Julie into a tight hug. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into her hair. "But you're my girl, y'know? I gotta keep an eye out for you."
"I know." And she gets that. She understands that he's looking out for her the same way he usually does when it comes down to things like the hurricane, and Matt and all of the other shit going on around them. The only difference is that she doesn't appreciate it this time.
"We good?"
"We're good." Julie replied, smiling slightly as she felt him press a kiss to her forehead, much like he'd done the other day when they'd made up from their fight about the Rally Girl and English misunderstanding.
Conscious of the fact that Tyra was waiting for her, Julie drew back with a quick squeeze. "I'll see you later, alright?"
Tim nodded, brushing a strand of hair back behind Julie's ear and giving it a little tug close to the tips of it on her collar bone. "Yeah."
Hurrying over to Tyra, Julie slips her arm into the blonde's and they start off down the hallway.
But as they both turn around to look back at Tim standing in the classroom doorway, it's for very different reasons and Tyra bitterly swallows down the realization that her best friend gets far more out of her ex-boyfriend than she ever had.
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Eric rubbed his hand over his face, his eyes heavy with lack of sleep from the combined forces of Julie and Gracie. "I thought she'd grown out of it by now," he said to Tami.
Looking over at her husband's strained countenance, Tami admitted to herself that she'd been under the same impression. "It's just stress," she pointed out objectively. "I'm sure that once this whole thing has blown over in a week or two, things will be back to normal. She's under a lot of pressure at the moment, honey; you know that." As Eric remained silent, Tami continued on pointing out various facts, "School, breaking up with Matt, you've been back and forth between Austin, Gracie; we're not the only ones that have had to make adjustments for the baby. There are heaps of books giving advice on how to deal with children when you're expecting a new baby. Ways to make sure that the baby is accepted and that any existing children don't feel left out or unloved, and despite the fact that Julie is seventeen, it doesn't change the fact that us having Gracie has been a big upheaval for all of us, Julie included."
"Tami," Eric replied his voice rising as he continued, "I hear what you're saying honey, I really do. But it does not change the fact that she is sleepwalking into bed with Tim Riggins!" And would be a bed, soon enough as Shelley was planning on leaving and getting back to her own life come the weekend. It was amazing how quickly the time had gone. It had only seemed a couple of days ago that she'd arrived.
"Eric," Tami replied, mimicking her husband, "I hear what you're saying honey, I really do. But it's five past one in the morning. That boy out there, so far, he's only had to come knock on the door once for you to get Julie, Gracie hasn't woken up once yet. Let me enjoy it please."
"Fine." Eric muttered grumpily, knowing that his wife had a point. But still, his innocent little girl, his baby, the teenage daughter over which he had threatened Matt Saracen, his QB1, with bodily harm should he have any reason to believe that his hands had been somewhere he deemed inappropriate, was climbing into bed with Tim Riggins, the most notorious player on his team when it came to women.
The Coaching staff thought he was mad to let the boy live with him in the first place, considering he had a teenage daughter, and a very pretty one at that.
Everyone was thinking that he was busy keeping Tim Riggins out of his daughter's bed, they didn't stop to think for one moment that he was busy keeping Julie out of his Fullback's bed.
"Fine," he repeated grumpily.
"Eric, go to sleep," Tami hissed at him before rolling over and pulling the covers up to her ears to block out anything else he might say.
It isn't as simple as that, he thought resentfully. He couldn't just roll over and go to sleep.
As Tami's breathing evened out next to him, signaling that she was asleep, Eric stood up and padded out of their bedroom and down the hall to check on Julie.
The door gave a slight creak as he opened it, but nothing else.
Julie was still in her bed, asleep, but judging by her restless movements, the way she'd kicked her covers off to the bottom of the bed and the slight frown on her face, it wasn't a peaceful slumber.
He wanted to go over and comfort her, to soothe the distress from her face, but, Eric acknowledged, he'd probably wake her up. It wasn't anything like the deep sleep he'd gotten used to seeing her in as he carted her up off the couch and back to her own bed.
At least she was still asleep though.
Closing the door behind himself, Eric made his way to the kitchen for a glass of milk and one of the brownies that were sitting in the fridge.
He moved about in the dark, knowing where things were without having to click on the light and disturb Riggins.
Draining the last of his milk from the glass, as he set it in the sink, Eric heard a noise from down the hall.
A second later and Julie appeared, obviously still asleep.
As if it was a well rehearsed routine – which, Eric reflected grimly, by now it was – Julie stepped up next to Tim, who, as if sensing that she was there, lifted up the covers and moved over to make room for her.
But Riggins didn't move towards the back of the couch as Eric expected, instead he moved to the edge of the couch and Julie climbed over him, wedging herself into the small gap between the back of the couch and his body.
The cover was dropped back into place, and then Riggins twisted from his back onto his side so that he was facing Julie and moved closer to fill the small gap that had appeared because of his movements between the pair of them.
As Julie tucked her head beneath his chin, Eric watched as Riggins settled an arm about her waist over the top of the covers while beneath them his leg hooked over Julie's.
His daughter gave murmur of, he hated to say it, but there was no other word, contentment and snuggled closer, her own arm wrapping itself around Riggins' waist as she relaxed against him, the lines of worry dissolving upon her face.
Riggins was still asleep, and he wasn't faking it either. His breathing was still slow and steady.
Irrational anger burnt through Eric. Just when was the boy going to wake up and come and get him?
Exactly how long did they remain curled up asleep on the couch before Riggins woke up?
He had no idea how his daughter hadn't been crushed beneath his Fullback's hefty frame. Sammy Meade called him Big Timmy Riggins, and there was a reason for that; he was one of the biggest players on the team.
If not the biggest.
If he hadn't been watching the pair of them with such intensity, he would have missed the telling signs.
The relaxed state of Tim's frame suddenly changed. The once languid limbs filled with tension as his body stretched and then stilled abruptly.
Slowly, he began to untangle himself from Julie, pausing only once in his movements as she gave a whimper of disagreement, waiting until she was quiet once again before sliding away from her.
Sleepily, he stood up, rubbing his hands across his face as he turned away from the couch with his eyes half shut.
A flicker of guilt ran through Eric.
The only people unaffected by Julie's nightmares and sleepwalking expeditions were Shelly and Gracie. Considering that Gracie had her own sleeping habits to deal with, that wasn't saying a lot.
But he'd never spared a thought for Riggins, who was up multiple times throughout the night, knocking on his door so he could pick his daughter up and put her back into her own bed only for the process to repeat itself several hours later.
It had never once occurred to him that she was disturbing the Fullback's sleep.
As Tim shuffled down the hall, Eric glanced back at his daughter, his baby girl still curled up fast asleep on the sofa. The slight frown that he'd witnessed marring her face earlier became present once again as if she sensed that her 'protector' was no longer next to her.
"Riggins," Eric said quietly before his Fullback could knock on the bedroom door and disturb Tami.
The bleariness disappeared from Tim's eyes at an alarming rate, replaced with a wariness that was painful to see. There was a look in his eye that reminded Eric of a mistreated dog, accepting of the fact that, despite its best behavior, another kick was coming its way.
"Coach, I swear, I just-"
Eric cut in before Tim could say anything more.
He'd seen enough.
It was time to face facts.
His daughter was sleepwalking into bed with Tim Riggins.
By doing so she was disturbing the majority of the household.
He was going to go against every instinct a father had.
But really, it wasn't going to change anything.
His daughter, for some bizarre, yet understandable reason (obvious to herself only), was desperate to sleep with Tim Riggins.
It was already happening; she was sleepwalking onto the couch with him.
And Riggins, it seemed, was not only used to it, but beginning to make allowances for it. Upon his arrival into the house, he and Tami had been quite clear when it came to laying out the ground rules to the boy. One of them being that he was expected back at a reasonable hour. It might not be their place to enforce a curfew on him, but they didn't want the household disturbed at all different hours when he stumbled in, back from whichever party he'd attended.
But recently, Riggins hadn't stayed out all night for a while, and he was always back at a reasonable time.
Hell, Eric really didn't think that the boy spent as much time out of the house as he'd done earlier on when he first started staying with them.
He was just changing the 'where', essentially, that they happened to be sleeping.
It was near enough to two o'clock in the morning, and all any of them wanted was to be able to sleep right through the rest of the night.
He was going to trust Riggins in a way he'd never trusted another boy, and considering his reputation, the amount of trust he was about to display was immeasurable.
But so help him God, if the boy proved him wrong...
"I know son," he said calmly. "I know." He took a deep breath. Hell, he was really going to do it. "Why don't you go and take Julie's bed?" He said, motioning down the hallway to the empty bedroom and the bed within it.
The suggestion clearly caught the Fullback off guard, Riggins giving him a look that asked quite plainly whether or not he'd lost his mind.
"There's not enough room on the couch for the both of you."
Hesitantly, Tim turned away, slowly making his way down the hallway, casting a confused look back at Eric before his gaze slid away to settle on Julie's sleeping form.
As Eric watched Tim disappear through the doorway, he let out a sigh, hardly believing what he was about to do. What he was about to condone.
Turning around, he headed into the garage and rifled through the boxes full of baby stuff they'd brought for Gracie.
Finding what he'd been looking for, Eric walked back into the house and into his bedroom.
Gracie was still fast asleep in her crib, and it wasn't going to be until Shelley went home that they'd be needing the monitor.
Opening the box, he glanced down at the instructions and set it up as required.
He was not doing this.
He was not doing this.
Maybe it was a dream.
A nightmare.
A nightmare would be good in fact.
In fact, it had to be a nightmare or some crazy assed dream because this sure as hell did not make sense.
Baby monitor in hand, Eric went back into the living room and picked Julie up off the couch.
Her brow was furrowed, her eyes flickering rapidly beneath their lids.
Cradling her against his chest, he couldn't believe that his little girl had grown up so fast.
It seemed only yesterday that he could pick her up easily enough without a second thought and now… she sure had grown up quick.
Slowly, he turned back towards Julie's bedroom, flicking the hall light switch on with his shoulder as he pushed the door open from where Tim had pushed it shut.
The fullback, who had until that point, been lying stiffly on Julie's bed, sat up, the covers falling down around his waist. The light from the hall caught the angles of his face and illuminated wide eyes filled with confusion.
"Uh, Coach…?"
"Lie back down Riggins," Eric growled from behind clenched teeth.
Tim's eyes flickered back and forth between his Coach and Julie as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"Now," Eric snapped quietly, leaning down to deposit Julie on the bed alongside Tim and pull the covers up over her.
Doing as he was told, Tim lay back down, arms tucked by his sides as he discreetly shuffled closer to the edge of the bed, jumping at the sound of Eric's voice.
"Hands on top of the covers."
Doing as he was told, Tim held his breath as Julie slid closer to him, her arm flopping out from under the covers to wrap around his waist.
This was it, his life was over, his brain chanted, while his heart was busy pounding in his chest. His voice cracked when he spoke, "Coach?"
Staring down at the boy with furiously hard blue eyes, Eric explained exactly what was going to happen. "This," he drawled slowly, his voice thick with his southern accent as he motioned to the baby monitor, "is going to stay on throughout the night. If you so much as breathe too loudly I will know about it. Your hands will stay where they can be seen at all times on top of the covers. That door," he continued pointing to it with a firm jerk of his finger, "will remain open at all times. I am trusting you, Riggins. I am trusting you in ways that I have never trusted another teenage boy when it comes to my very young, very beautiful, very innocent teenage daughter. So help me God, if I find out that you abuse that trust; they won't ever find your body. You understand me, boy?"
Swallowing harshly, Tim gave a nod of his head. "Yes, sir."
Eric scowled, grinding his teeth. "Good."
With that being said, he flicked on the baby monitor and set it on the side of the bed, pushing the bedroom door open as far as it would go.
With a hard look at Tim, and having said all he could possibly say, Eric returned to his room with a heavy heart and a questioning mind.
Feeling as though he was entering the 'twilight zone', Tim turned his head to look across at Julie, freezing as the bed covers rustled, his eyes darting towards the doorway as though he expected Coach Taylor to appear from it at any given moment.
He seriously doesn't believe this is happening.
After the 'talk' Coach Taylor had taken the time to have with him before he moved into the Taylor household, he hadn't thought that he'd be left in the same room with Julie unattended, let alone that a month or so down the line, her Dad would be tucking them into bed together; even if it was only to sleep.
Coach and Mrs. Coach didn't strike him as the type of parents to be happy with their daughter having sleepovers with members of the opposite sex.
Julie snuggled closer to him, the crinkling of the bed sheets sounding absurdly loud in the quiet room.
Hell, forget Coach Taylor being okay with him cuddling up with Julie, what about him?
He'd never been one for cuddling with a girl!
Either at the cinema, next to each other on the couch, at home, or even in bed once they'd finished having sex.
It just wasn't something he did.
Random trysts in someone's bedroom at after game parties were over and done with quickly.
Somehow, he'd usually manage to piss Tyra off in some form or another after they'd slept together, and she'd always had the habit of kicking him in her sleep, so he'd often retreated to the couch whenever she had stayed over.
And Lyla, well, Lyla always looked at him as though he was the scum of the universe before she flounced out, full of self disgust towards herself and loathing aimed towards him.
Jackie had never really had time for the softer side of their relationship, often dropping off to sleep with exhaustion as soon as she'd climaxed.
Not only that, but cuddling, Tim realized, was different to quick hugs and romantic embraces that were about nothing more than lust and the urge to scratch the itch.
Cuddling with Jules… was cuddlier. More comforting than sleeping with half a dozen rally girls was.
It was... nice.
Surprisingly intimate.
Relaxing; even knowing that the door had been left open and the baby monitor was on to provide as little privacy as possible.
Yeah… cuddling with Jules; it was good, Tim thought, drifting off to sleep.
--------------
Yawning, Tami stretched and rubbed her eyes as the dim light from outside penetrated the thin curtains of the master bedroom.
Rolling over, her eyes closed, she enjoyed the quiet of the morning, her arm stretching out towards her husband.
Finding cold bed sheets instead, she forced her eyes open for the second time that morning and scanned around the room.
"Eric?" She asked groggily with a frown at the sight of her husband.
"Shush!" He hissed, pressing his ear even closer to the baby monitor held to the side of his head. His dark hair stood in every direction possible while black shadows were smudged beneath the underside of his eyes.
Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Tami flicked on the bedside light and looked over at Gracie who was still fast asleep in her crib. "What are you doing?"
There was a rustle, and Eric tensed, his breath catching in his chest.
"Eric?"
"I put Riggins in with Julie last night when I caught her sleepwalking again after you'd gone to sleep."
"What?" Tami question incredulously, unable to comprehend what her husband was saying. "You did what?"
He flushed, rubbing at his forehead as he often did when he was stressed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Obviously, that was due to sleep deprivation, but I put the door wide open and hooked the baby monitor up in there so we know exactly what is going on."
Shocked speechless, Tami looked at Eric in disbelief. Still half asleep, she was having difficultly gasping what he was telling her.
She…
He…
"And you've been listening to it all night?"
Pursing his lips, Eric decided not to answer the question, knowing that his wife would deduce the answer from the state of his appearance.
The bed covers rustled noisily again, and unable to help it, Eric slammed the monitor down on Tami's dressing table and left the bedroom, with her hot on his heels.
Sucking in a deep breath, ready to start bellowing at his Fullback, Eric came to a sudden halt instead, Tami slamming into the back of him.
The pair of them were curled up together, fast asleep with Tim spooned in behind Julie. One arm was stretched out beneath her head with Julie's arm mirroring its position, her own laying beneath it and their fingers tangled while his other arm was tucked tightly around her waist; over the bed covers.
"We really need to talk about this." Tami informed him quietly from her position by his side.