I woke up to the sound of Tim's snoring in my ear. I rolled over and stared at him. His hair was laying across his face in pieces and he wore a slight smile. I took a quiet pleasure in watching him sleep, knowing that he felt comfortable enough to let his guard completely down in my presence. Watching his face, I wondered what would happen when he woke up. Last night had been amazing, but would Tim retreat back to his shell? He hadn't really relaxed with me before this, so I wondered if it was only a one time thing. My mind wandered to an hour from now, when we had to leave the little locker room haven we had created. Did he expect to just drop me off at home, and go on with our lives? Were we going to go get breakfast? Or lunch? I had no idea what time it was. And then the panic set over me when I realized there was also a potential pregnancy scare in the mix. I could feel myself starting to freak out, and I knew I had to walk around or I'd go crazy. I slipped out from Tim's side, watching as he shivered and curled into himself. I paced around the locker room, the strange mix of sweat, bleach, shampoo and sex actually helping to calm my nerves. I knew the only thing we could do next was wake up and talk about this. Tim hated to have serious conversations, hated to bring all the emotions and spontaneity out of his life. He figured he'd gotten along this far without having to talk about his feelings and where a relationship was going next, so why should he have to start now? I always reminded him that until I came along, he'd been drinking his body weight in beer and having random sex with rally girls, so there had been no need to have serious conversations. Sometimes I worried that he would get tired of having to deal with me and my need to talk about things and go back to the girls that fell all over him. Even I had to admit, sometimes I got incredibly tired of having to deal with the "You're dating Tim Riggins?" crap. People just didn't understand what I saw in him. Sometimes I didn't either. Sure, he was so hot he made me drool, we had fantastic sex, it was fun to date the famous #33 from the Dillon Panthers, but he made me doubt us. I saw the way his glance occasionally strayed to a rally girl shaking her butt in the middle of the party. I heard the exasperation in his voice when I called him at night, worried about something stupid. He said he wasn't drinking as much, trying for my sake, but I saw the cases of Lone Star beer in the fridge. He claimed they were for Billy, but I knew Billy preferred his Coors Light. I think Tim thought he could slip things like that by me, but the first thing I learned about the Riggins brothers was that you did not buy the wrong beer. And I knew I sounded like a overbearing girlfriend, but I couldn't help it. I guess I just didn't completely trust him. Which was a major problem, especially if I really was pregnant. I sat down on the bench to try to calm down again. As I counted my breaths, I heard Tim moving around in the other room. He stood in the doorway, scratching the back of his neck with one hand.

"Hey." I didn't know if it was just us or if it happened to every other couple, but a quiet "Hey" seemed to be our neutral greeting, the one we used after a fight, a quiet snuggling session, a night of great sex or just about every time we first saw each other. I looked over at him and I realized things could go one of two ways. I could either bring up the future and we could get in a huge fight, or I could just suck it up and we could move on.

"Hey." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You okay?" Tim took a seat next to me.

"Yeah. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Today. Us. Our future."

"Oh. What about it?" I just stared at him. Good Lord, sometimes Tim could be so dense. I wasn't sure getting into things now would be good, but at this point I was pissed and I didn't give a shit.

"Hmm, let me think. Maybe about the fact that I've seen you checking out rally girls when we're at parties. I know that you hate talking about our relationship, but it's important to me and I want to make sure we're on the same page. I hate that you never want to talk about us and where we're headed. Jesus, Tim, I just had sex with you in the Panther locker room. Where do we go from here? What about next year when you've graduated and gone off to do whatever you're going to do? What about next Friday when you're drunk at a Panther party? Are you sure you're going to be faithful to me? What happens if we really are pregnant? I know you said last night that you're with me 100%, but…I don't know. I'm just not sure." I embarrassingly wiped my tears away. Tim sat next to me, not moving. I knew this routine all too well. "Oh, no Tim. Don't pull this silent act on me. I know it works with Billy, Mindy, Tyra, Lyla, everyone else, but you're not pulling this with me. We're going to talk about this, get it all out in the open right now." Tim still didn't say anything, just stared down at his knees.

"God-damn it Tim! Answer me! I'm so tired of your shit sometimes!"

Tim just stood up, shook his head and said, "Maybe we should do this some other time when you're not angry."

I ran in front of him and pushed my hands against his chest. "Oh no you don't. Tim, listen to me. We're discussing this, right now. Now tomorrow, not next week, right now. I'm tired of your bullshit. Do you even care about me? Answer me honestly, right now." Tim grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Live, I care about you. I care about you more than I've cared about anyone else. I just…I don't want to talk about it. You know how I feel about talking." Tim grinned. "We don't ever have to talk." His hands roamed down my sides.

"Tim. Damn you. I know you hate talking, but seriously. Just tell me. Do you want to be with me or not? Because if you don't, I'm done. I'll walk out right now and I won't come back. And I'm so god-damn serious." Tim stopped moving his hands.

"I want to. I do." He looked down at me, not quite meeting my eyes. "I'm serious. Please don't ever leave me." Tim twisted a strand of my hair around his index finger. He finally looked up at me. "I promise I won't hurt you ever again. I really didn't mean to. I just…this whole thing is new. I'm not used to talking about my feelings, talking about anything, really, and Liv, it's just hard, you know?"

Even though I really didn't want to give in easily and come across as a weak girl blinded by his begging, I realized this wasn't all about me, and I wasn't the only one taking a risk. This wasn't easy for Tim either. Hell, he just admitted to me that he needed me and was having trouble with this relationship. Turning him down now wouldn't make me stronger; in fact, it would only make me weaker. I needed to learn how to trust him and people in general. Trusting wasn't a strong point of mine.

"I do. I know. Tim, it's okay. We'll figure this out, we'll work through whatever it is. I want to work through it with you. I want this relationship to be something good for us both. I need to learn how to trust you. I'm sorry I was being jealous and petty. Let's just go eat, okay? I'm starving. You gave me a good workout." I winked at him and grabbed my bag, slipping on my tank and jeans from yesterday. Tim slipped on a pair of jeans from his locker and a white t-shirt. He looked over at me and smiled.

"Close your eyes." He whispered in my ear. I stared at him suspiciously for a second, but then did as I was told. I could feel his hands rubbing against my waist, then pushing my tank top over my head. I started to protest.

"Tim, what are you doing? We need to get out of here. I don't even know what time it is." I started to open my eyes, but Tim covered them with his hand.

"Shhh. Trust me. Keep 'em closed." I sighed, but obeyed. I could hear Tim digging around in his locker, quietly mumbling to himself. In a rush of body heat and faint smell of sweat, Tim was slipping something over my head and arms. As the cool material touched my skin, I knew it was his Panthers jersey. To an outsider, this wouldn't seem like a big deal. But they didn't know the town of Dillon and the rules it enforced. As a girlfriend of a Panther, you waited for this moment. There was a unspoken tradition among the boys that their jersey weren't just handed out to any cheerleader or rally girl they dated, it was reserved for someone worthy, someone who understood that by wearing the jersey, you represented and were a part of the Panther family. Every girl who dated a Panther hoped to be the one to wear his jersey. I can still remember hearing rumors that Jason Street was thinking of giving Lyla Garrity his varsity jacket, which in Dillon was just as good as an engagement ring. Of course, that was before the accident…Tim's light kiss on my forehead brought me back to reality.

"Hey." Tim looked down at me, a smile spread across his face.

I blinked up at him, a little nervous and unsure if we should talk about what just happened. I figured he had enough of my never-ending stream of words, so I shut up and hugged him. Tim pulled me up until I was straddling him at the waist and he was supporting my butt with his arms.

"Live, I love you. You know that, right?"

"Right." I replied, a giddy smile breaking out on my face.

"No regrets." Tim whispered in my ear, setting me back down on the floor.

"No regrets."