Tim Riggins stood in the stadium parking lot watching the taillights of Coach's car disappear down the road. He shook his head at the thought of what was in Julie's future. Julie. Jules. A smile crept across his face. When she had shown up on his doorstep yesterday he'd seen something in her that he had been trying to avoid. She was hot. The girl had somehow wormed her way into his consciousness and now it was all he could do not to throw her up against a wall and explore all there was to her. That now seemed to be the last thing that could happen. Julie would be lucky to avoid having to wear an ankle monitor that tracked her every move. Tossing his bag over his shoulder he headed to his beat up Chevy.

Starting the beast up he gave a quick thought to going to the party, but after the way the game ended, he really just wanted to kick back on his couch and down a few beers. People would want to talk about what happened and he'd rather avoid having to do that. He pulled up to the small ranch house he shared with Billy and saw that his brother was home.

"Billy?" Tim called out as he came through the door.

"Bro! What the hell? How you doin, man?"

"Fine. It's fucked up, but I'm cool. The guy has some issues bigger than this going on, so...yeah...there any beer?"

"Yeah, yeah, man. I picked up a case on my way home." Billy got up and went to the fridge to grab Tim a beer and one for himself. Cracking them open the two brothers sat down in the living room and shared a few, turning their attention to the TV. The local news was playing footage of the hit. Tim sat there with a blank look on his face. Shit. This wasn't good.

"Think this will make SportCenter?" Billy laughed.

Tim didn't think it was so funny. "Turn it off, man."

Billy clicked off the TV and asked, "You hungry?"

Tim hadn't thought about it, but at the mention of food his stomach gave him the signal that it was indeed wanting some grub. Before he could respond there was a knock at the door. Tim hauled himself over to answer it and saw a grinning face through the glass. With a chuckle he opened the door.

"We come bearing gifts!" Jason Street exclaimed, holding a bag of Alamo burgers.

Herc rolled up beside him and brandished a large bottle of tequila. "This worm's got your name on it, Riggs!"

"Good to see ya, Six. Herc. Gifts are always welcome at the Riggins abode."

Tim got the guys in the house and they started chowing down on the burgers. Nobody mentioned the game, they just drank beers and did shots, yucking it up like guys do. Tim was glad for the distraction, but every so often his mind would drift to Julie. Flashes of the way her hair would catch the light when she flipped it over her shoulder, the shoulder that was dotted in the palest little freckles, or the way she bit her full bottom lip when she was concentrating on something. Those lips were a killer. He was surprised at himself, he hadn't realized he had been taking all those moments in. What the hell was going on?

"Riggins!"

Tim's head snapped back to the guys and Street was looking at him.

"Yeah, Six?"

"It's your shot, man." Jason replied.

Tim picked up the bottle of tequila and took a slug. It burned going down, but felt good. He just wanted to pass out. Dealing with things wasn't his style and he was tired of his brain going places he didn't want it to go.

--/--/--/--/--/

The next morning Tim awoke on his bed fully clothed. At least Billy had the decency to pull off his boots. He saw a glass of water next to his bed and drank it down. His head felt like his brain was trying to escape out of his eyeballs. This wasn't going to be a good day.

"Aspirin." Ouch, even the sound of his own voice was enough to make him lay back down.

Tim stumbled to the bathroom and threw on the shower. He tossed a few aspirin down his throat and chugged some more water while waiting until steam had filled the room. Climbing in, the hot water felt like salvation on his skin. He rested his head against the wall of the shower and let his mind go where it wanted. It wanted Julie. Good luck with that, he thought wryly. He was sure that Julie would be in lock down for the rest of her high school life. That wasn't even the biggest problem he saw to all of this. One vision loomed in front of him, an angry Coach Taylor. There was no way Coach would let a guy like him within 10 yards of his precious little girl. Julie was a prize, Tim knew that, he also knew that this was just impossible. He was tired of fighting. The Lyla situation had taught him that sometimes the odds were just too great. She had moved on, he hadn't realized he had too, but he wondered what the hell was wrong with him for jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Tim stood under the pounding water until he could feel the it go cold. Climbing out he grabbed a towel he hoped was somewhat clean. He had a forlorn thought that clean towels had never been an issue at the Taylor house.

--/--/--/--/--/

Tim had been camped out on the couch for most of the day when he heard a knock on the door. Billy was up grabbing a beer so he answered it.

"Hello, Billy. Is Tim around?" Eric Taylor inquired.

"Yeah, hey Coach Taylor. He's right here. Hang on a sec."

Tim got up and walked over to the door. "Coach."

"Tim. You got a minute? I'd like to speak to you."

"Sure. What's up?"

"Step outside, son."

As Tim walked outside into the bright light, he wished he had some shades. He hoped Coach couldn't see that he was fighting a massive hangover.

"I've come to apologize, Tim. Julie told me what happened and I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I know you tried to tell me, but I let my anger get the best of me. I'm truly, truly sorry. Will you accept my sincerest apology?"

Tim was stunned. In less than 48 hours two Taylors had stood at his door apologizing to him. It didn't usually happen this way.

"Of course, Coach."

"I know you were trying to do right by Julie. I appreciate that you cared and were there to stop her from making a mistake she'd regret. Someday I hope you'll understand what something like that means to a father."

The two men shook hands and Eric clapped Tim on the back. "Well, alright. Now I've been ordered by Mrs. Taylor to invite you and Billy over to Sunday dinner. She won't take no for an answer, so we'll see you both at six. No arguments."

Tim nodded his acceptance of the offer and said goodbye. He watched Coach Taylor walk to his car. The same car he'd watched Julie drive off in the night before. He remembered seeing her standing in the parking lot after the game and all the heaviness had left his body. The lights were shining down around her making her blond hair glow. Walking up to her was like walking into a new day. He could only see her. She had seemed so concerned about him. He wasn't used to someone caring about how he felt. As the Taylors left he saw her touch the window with her fingers. He still recalled what those fingers had felt like resting on his arm. Damn, he thought. This wasn't going to be easy.

--/--/--/--/--/

Sunday afternoon rolled around and Tim had managed to get a few loads of laundry done. He wanted to present a clean appearance at dinner that night. Billy was going to have to work so Tim had called up the Taylor house to let them know it was just going to be him showing up. He hated talking on the phone but hoped that maybe Julie might answer.

"Hello?" Her soft voice said.

"Hey Julie, it's Tim."

He heard her take a small breath in and smiled as she responded with what seemed like happiness. "Hi, Tim. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let your mom know that Billy wasn't going to be able to make it tonight, he has to work."

"Oh, that's too bad. Um...are you still going to come?"

He could hear the hope in her voice and it made his heart soar. Did she want to see him as badly as he wanted to see her? He shook his head clear, Christ, was he turning into chick?

"I'll still be there. Can't turn down Mrs. Taylor's fried chicken, now can I?"

Julie laughed. "No, I guess not."

There were a few moments of silence and he started to feel a little nervous. He wanted to ask about what had gone down at their house after the game, but didn't want to be too nosy about it.

"So, you survived?" He managed to get out.

"Uh, yeah...it was...intense, but um, they were actually kind of cool. I mean I'm grounded for practically forever, but they didn't freak out like I expected."

Tim heard Tami Taylor walk into the room and inquire who was on the phone. Julie explained about Billy and said a rushed "OK, well, we'll see you tonight," before hanging up.

Tim sat with the phone in his hand. He'd just talked to Julie Taylor on the phone and was giddy. It was confirmed, he had turned into a total schmuck.

--/--/--/--/--/

Driving over to the Taylor house felt so natural, like his truck knew the way all on its own. Tim parked outside and hopped out. He had stopped at the market and bought a small bouquet of flowers. He had thought about his phone conversation with Julie earlier and was going to take a chance on this so he wanted to make a good impression. He had formulated a plan, now he just needed to see if she was willing to go along with it.

Coach Taylor opened the front door and saw a well-groomed Tim Riggins in front of him. He gave a quick glance at the flowers, chuckled, and welcomed the boy inside. Tami was in the kitchen getting some of the final touches ready for dinner when she saw the flowers in Tim's hand.

"Hi, Tim!" she said with a smile, "Oh my, those are just lovely."

"I wanted to show my appreciation for the invite to dinner."

"Of course, of course. It's our pleasure. Julie!"

Tim saw Julie come out of baby Gracie's room, carrying the infant. She looked gorgeous, Julie that is. The baby could only hope she would start to resemble her big sister before she got too old.

"Hey there, Gracie Belle." Tim grinned at the baby. He had to admit he missed the homely little tyke as much as he had anyone in the house. She gurgled in response to the attention and struggled in her sister's arms to go toward him.

"Hi." Julie said to him with a nervousness in her voice.

"Hey, Jules. How's it goin?"

"Julie, hun," Tami broke in, "could you come here please? Here, I'll take Miss Gracie. Hey, baby." she said giving her youngest daughter a quick kiss on the cheek while taking her out of Julie's arms. "I'm just going to go outside and help your dad with the BBQ. Hope you don't mind not getting fried chicken, Tim, but it was so nice outside I thought grilling would be better."

"Nah, that's fine. Mrs. T."

"OK, well I'll just be a second. Julie, could you please put these beautiful flowers Tim brought into some water and finish setting the table?"

"Sure, mom." Julie replied watching her mom go out to the back yard.

Tim saw her smirk as she picked up the flowers and reached into the cabinet for a vase.

"Flowers, huh?" She shot at him.

"Well, I wanted to make a good impression." He said nervously.

He could see her smile and watched as she delicately arranged the flowers and sat them on the table.

"They're nice." She stated.

Tim shrugged the compliment off. They stood there looking awkwardly at each other until the silence was broken by the sliding glass door.

"Soup's on!" Eric called out.

Dinner went well and conversation seemed to flow naturally. Eric and Tim started to talk about the Panther's path to the playoffs, being careful to avoid the topic of Friday's game and what happened with Larabee's coach, before Tami laid down the law of no football talk at the table. Tim had absentmindedly sat next to Julie, just like when he lived there. Halfway through the meal he realized she had moved her leg a little closer to him so he followed her lead and moved his so it rested against hers. Feeling the heat from her body was like electricity. He felt his pants go tight. Great, I'm popping wood, he thought, how old am I, 13?

Just as they were finishing up Tim caught Coach's eye. He saw him staring him down. Awesome. He knows I've had a boner this whole time and is going to tear my head off. Instead Tim was issued a challenge.

"Think you can beat an old man at ping pong?" Eric let out in a menacing drawl.

"I don't think, sir. I know." Tim replied back with all the confidence a starting fullback for the Dillon Panthers should have.

"Well, alright, son! Let me go clean up the grill real quick and I'll meet you in the garage."

Tami laughed at their bravado. "I'm going to give this little sweetie her bath and get her ready for bed. Julie," she said with a knowing look, "you got the clean-up out here, right?"

"Yeah, mom. I got it." Julie replied back with a grimace.

Tim figured this had to do with the punishment doled out to her from her little adventure, so he stayed out of her way while she started cleaning up. After a minute he decided it was now or never so he picked up a few plates from the table and brought them into the kitchen. As she thanked him and reached out to take them, he sat the dishes on the counter. He grabbed her hand and drew her roughly into him. The shock and surprise in her eyes melted away into something resembling willingness. He had been dying to hold her all night. As he held her close and looked down into her hazel eyes he thought, God, she's beautiful. Her full lips were just aching to be kissed, it took everything he had to resist them, instead bringing his mouth down to her ear. He could smell the sweetness of her shampoo and feel the velvet of her skin next to his face. He knew he could spend hours resting here.

"Those flowers are for you." He gently whispered.

With the sound of the sliding glass door opening Tim quickly broke away from her.

"You ready, Coach?" he called out.

"Better bring your A game, boy!" Eric responded.

Tim took a quick look back at Julie who was still standing where he had left her speechless. She glanced his way and he gave her a quick wink before heading to the garage. Phase one, complete, he thought with a smile.

AN: Thanks so much for all the kind reviews and story adds! I'm having a good time with this.