A/N: This is more of a filler chapter than anything to kind of set the stage for the next few. Hope ya'll enjoy it! As always, let me know what you think and I promise you'll get a quick update :)

Almost as if they blinked and missed it, August flew by for Julie and Tim in a string of days spent at their respective places of work and evenings spent with each other talking, laughing, and learning. Before they knew it, flights were being scheduled and bags packed for their trip home to Dillon.

As if fate has orchestrated it, Tim's first bye-week of the football season coincided with the September homecoming game. For some unknown reason, his coaches were being charitable and gave the team Friday off of practice. Probably, Tim assumed, it was because the season had started with a pair of wins.

Julie flew out on Thursday morning, having taken both it and Friday off of work so that she could have a decent weekend home. Tami insisted on picking her up at the airport, even though Julie assured her that she could rent a car and easily make the drive from Midland to Dillon.

Tim, on the other hand, didn't head down to Texas until late Thursday evening after practice. Because his flight wasn't scheduled to arrive until half past midnight, he was planning on renting a truck and making the drive home himself.

Of course, Tim was the type who flew by the seat of his pants, so calling ahead to reserve a vehicle wasn't really on the top of his list of things to do. Which explains why, when he got to the rental car booth and requested a truck, he was informed that everything was already reserved. Something about a homecoming game, the man behind the counter had said.

Weighing his options, Tim knew that if he called Billy this hour he would risk waking up Mindy and the kids as well, something that infuriated his brother. Scrolling further through his contacts, his only other option it seemed was to call Julie and hope that the time change had affected her in a backwards way and was keeping her up.

--

With a final sigh, Julie rolled out of bed and padded into the dark kitchen, using her Blackberry as a source of light in case Tami had decided to add any random tables in the hallway that could cause bodily harm. Unable to sleep, she was hopeful that a glass of tea would help settle her racing mind.

She sat her phone on the counter after turning on a lamp before digging through the cabinets for a kettle to heat some water. While she was turning on the stove, the faint echo of her phone vibrating against the counter drew her to where it was resting.

Checking the caller ID, she was surprised to see Tim's name flash across the screen. She had assumed that by now he would have been fast asleep in the bed at Billy and Mindy's.

"Hello," she whispered into the receiver after pressing the green button to answer.

"Jules, hey," said Tim. She could hear airport noises in the background. "I, uh, was wondering if you could come pick me up at the airport?"

"Come pick you up? Tim, it's almost one in the morning," she hissed, attempting to keep her voice down.

She was unsuccessful, hearing her parent's door creak open.

"Please Jules, I can't call Billy and wake up the kids again or he'll be pissed at me all weekend for making them grumpy and they're all out of rental cars here," he explained, hope in his voice.

Julie sighed as her father entered the room. "I told you that you needed to make a reservation," she reminded him. "But fine, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks," she heard him murmur before she disconnected the call.

"Who was that?" Eric asked the second Julie finished her conversation with Tim.

"Uh, Tim Riggins," she answered truthfully.

Her father's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Why is Riggins callin' you at this hour?"

"He's, uh, stuck at the airport," Julie offered as an explanation.

Eric rubbed his chin while pondering her answer. "Well, come on, let's go get him," he said after a few agonizing seconds.

"No, no you need your rest for the game tomorrow. I'll, uh, go by myself."

"I'll be alright, I'm a big boy. Go get dressed," Eric assured her before she hurried off to her room to change from her pajama shorts into jeans.

--

Julie was furiously typing a text message warning to Tim that her father would be joining her when Eric spoke. "You are Tim Riggins big buddies up there in New York?"

"I guess so," Julie answered. She wasn't sure how to answer the question without announcing that they were dating. "It's, uh, nice to see a familiar face once in while." Or almost everyday, she thought.

Eric was silent, his eyes trained on the road. "How often is every once in a while?" he asked later.

"Uh, just, you know," Julie fumbled, avoiding a clear answer.

"No, I don't," Eric joked, his gaze shifting to Julie. She was fidgeting in her seat.

"We just grab lunch once in a while," she finally said. It was the truth, she just omitted the dinners and movies and other times they saw each other.

"So you're friends?"

"Yes," Julie answered, "we're friends. Otherwise I wouldn't be driving to Midland in the middle of the night to pick him up."

--

"Thanks again, Coach," Tim said awkwardly from where he stood by the passenger side window as Eric and Julie dropped him off at the same house he had spent his childhood and teenage years in.

"You're welcome, son," Eric answered.

Tim was immediately taken back at his statement. He remembered that Eric referred to most of his players as 'son,' but he wondered if he would be singing the same song if he knew that he was dating his daughter.

"Jules," he added with a smirk and a nod.

She smirked back. "Night, Tim," she said in the tone that drove him crazy in a good way, the one she used around her family when she thought something was funny or awkward but didn't want them to know.

After one final wave, and a wink at Julie that he hoped Eric didn't see, he turned and walked up the short sidewalk and into the house. Everyone was asleep, as he knew they would be, judging by the lack of lights on in the house so he went straight to what Billy had assured him a few nights prior on the phone was still his room. Opening the door, he was relieved to see his bed still in tact, though his other miscellaneous items (most notably the Christmas lights hanging above his bed) had been removed.

After slipping off his boots, he collapsed onto his bed and allowed the tension that had built up in his shoulders during the car ride to Dillon where it had taken every ounce of his willpower to keep from holding Julie's hand or resting his palm on her thigh to fall away.

Twenty minutes later, however, he found himself completely unable to settle his thoughts and fall asleep. Jumping up out of his bed and darting to the kitchen where he knew the keys to his old truck would be hanging on a hook, he grabbed them and raced out the front door. Julie Taylor, he decided, need more of a proper goodnight than his nod had provided.

--

Groaning at the interruption of her sleep, Julie rolled over and glared at the window. There was a sound coming from it that she wasn't familiar with; either a new tree had been planted and its branches were slapping against the glass or someone, or something, outside wanted in.

Sighing, she tumbled out of bed and crossed to the window. Lifting the blinds, she was shocked to see Tim standing on the other side. Quickly, she unlocked the window and slid it up. "What are you doing here?" she hissed through her teeth, attempting more to be quiet than angry.

"I wanted to say goodnight," Tim said. A twinkle in his eye was evident even in the darkness.

Julie leaned out the window. "Is that so?" she asked.

He nodded, biting his lip. "It is," he drawled. The Dillon twang he tried to hard to lose in New York once again occupying his voice.

"I'm guessin' it would be a bad idea for me to climb in?" he asked.

"Yes," Julie said with a smirk, "it would."

"Well, then," he began, choosing to finish the sentence with actions instead of words as he lifted his hands to cup her face and bring her lips to his.

Julie tried to resist at first, just because she was standing inside her parent's house, but eventually gave in to his kisses. Sighing into him, she inwardly cursed the windowsill that was cutting into her hips.

"Goodnight," he whispered against her lips when breaking apart for air was necessary. Releasing her from his grasp, he turned and began to strut back towards his old truck and climbed in. A small wave through the window and he was gone.

Julie practically floated back to bed, instantly falling asleep.