Title: He was Never Mine Chapter 9/9
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm just playing with the character.
Once more, many thanks to my beta reader, Black Purple rosess who went with me through the process of making this fic, never back down and always had cheering words when I was feeling down…
Here we are, the last chapter…I wish I could name and thank everybody who read this story but it would be too long. I'l just simply thank all of you for your suport,and hope you'll like the last chapter as much as you did the rest of the story…
AN2: I know I told people this part wouldn't be up until Sunday, but I couldn't wait any longer so enjoy!
Chapter 9: The Wedding aka Where We Meet Little P.
Almost a year later…
"It was perfect," Lyla said, holding the phone to her ear while trying to diminish the damage made to her make-up. "Daddy was looking so good, and Tabby was so happy, it was really perfect, there are no words. I don't care if I'm looking like a zebra now, it was worth it."
"I'm really glad to hear it," Holly said with a smile in her voice. Take pictures at the reception so I can drool over her dress and over how happy she looked."
"I will. I should go back though, my bridesmaids duties are not over. And I really need to take these shoes off, they'll be the death of me."
"Ok," the other woman laughed. "Don't forget about the pictures and give me a call later."
"Will do. Talk to you later Holly."
She hung up the phone with a great smile on her face, then made a final check: she had managed to wipe off the mascara blurs on her cheeks and was looking human again. She tucked the cell phone back in her purse then made her way back to the gardens were the reception was being held.
The day she had waited for had finally come, and earlier that morning, Tabby and Bo had exchanged vows in front of their whole families, friends, and most of the town. Her little sister was officially Mrs Miller now, and she had seen her father shed a few proud tears when they had been introduced as husband and wife.
Lyla had been of the maid of honor and had helped the best she could with the wedding's preparations. She had graduated a little less than a year ago and had moved back to Dillon for good. Today was a beautiful day for her sister, but it was also a personal success for Lyla who had had a lot of free time when she had graduated from college and had spent most of that time planning the wedding. Since they both had the same ideas on what made a beautiful ceremony and what were deal breakers, the two sisters had been able to work hand in hand to prepare that day. They had taken in consideration the few demands Bo had made ("not too stuffy", "I'm wearing a tux but no bow tie, I don't want to look like I escaped from that penguin movie") and the few demands his mother had made, like for Tabby to wear her grand-mother's necklace, but for the rest they got free-reign on the whole day. Buddy had given them a pretty high budget, explaining with a shrug and a blush that he had been saving money for a wedding ever since Lyla had turned sixteen and had started dating Jason Street. Lyla had gladly given her sister this budget for her big day.
So far, the whole thing was happening according to their plans, and for that they were grateful. The only thing they hadn't taken into account was just how much uncomfortable the bridesmaids' shoes would turn out to be after a couple of hours. Lyla briefly wondered if the other girls were hurting that much but didn't feel like asking them. The only thing she felt like doing was finding a chair where she would untie the strap from death off her feet.
As per Bo's request, they had decided on having an outside buffet rather than an indoor three-course meal for the reception. People were slowly setting in the gardens, seating wherever they wanted. Lyla slumped in the first empty chair she saw and took of her stiletto shoes with a relieved sigh. She looked around her and waved at some people she knew, while massaging her sore feet discretely. Bo and Tabby were receiving congratulations and best wishes from their guests a little farther away. It was the moment the girl had dreaded the most, standing there and waving and smiling like a princess on display.
She didn't know how long she stayed there, watching the newlyweds accomplish this chore, but at some point, when she looked on the side, she saw that Julie Riggins had gotten a seat a few tables from her. She was alone, one hand holding a bottle of water while the other rested on her heavily pregnant belly.
She weighed the pros and cons, thought about the last time they had talked and the awkwardness she had felt. She pondered what to do for a few minutes, before putting her bare feet in the grass, loving how it felt, then made her way to the woman, her shoes in hands.
"Do you mind?" she asked, motioning to a free chair, as a way to make her presence known. "Hey Julie!"
"Hey Lyla!" The woman said with a very bright smile on her face. "Have a seat, go ahead!"
"How are you? What did you think of the ceremony?"
"It was really nice, really noble. You did a great job planning it, congratulations! I told Tabby how much I loved it just a few minutes ago, and she told me it was all your doing. She's glowing!"
"She should be," Lyla said, "it's her wedding day!"
"As for how I am… Well," the blonde said, slowly rubbing her belly with a sweet smile, "I am as fine as one can be while carrying a baby who keeps kicking her bladder. You know, the usual."
Lyla laughed along sincerely and said:
"You look amazing. Plus, remember that you'll get to scold it for all the trouble you will have had to go through with your pregnancy, for the rest of its life."
"I'm really counting on it. I used to hate when my mom gave me those long sermons about how long the delivery lasted for me and all, but I really can't wait to admonish this one with all the miseries I went through. Does that make me a future bad mother?"
"Nope, just an eager one. Do you have enough water? Do you want something to eat?" the brunette asked, ready to go find something for her.
"Don't worry, I sent people to get me all I needed. But let's talk about you," the blonde said, grabbing her hand. "How have you been? It's been so long! My mother told me she hired you a couple of months ago for the guidance counseling office. How do you like it?"
"It's been great, really," Lyla said with a broad smile. "The kids are great, the teachers are nice, and so are my colleagues, it's really cool. Plus, I was assigned the office your mom used to have. I don't care if it was a coincidence of some sort, but I'm really proud about it. I sit behind that desk as if I were a queen. I feel like I'm filling in her shoes, you know? Like really following her footsteps. I'm hoping I make just half as much of an impression as she did by the end of my career!" she said with a humble expression.
"That's so great!" Julie laughed with her, pressing her hand a little tighter. "Does she know about that?"
"Yep. When she made me come in to tell me I had gotten the job, I had a Tami fangirl moment when I just babbled on and on about how great of an influence she had been and how proud she just made me… Your poor mom looked touched, but mostly uncomfortable by my tirade."
"I'm sure she didn't! She must have been so proud that… Ugh," she huffed holding her stomach tighter. "I thought we had already discussed that. Kicking my bladder is already inexcusable, don't start kicking my kidney to top it all. I can use the bathroom but I can't rub my sore kidneys, so don't be mean. Sorry," she said, grimacing at Lyla, "sometimes I talk to the baby out loud."
"Don't worry, it's okay. Is it kicking now?"
Instead of answering, Julie just grabbed the hand she had been holding and pressed it on top of her overstretched tummy. Just a few seconds later, Lyla felt a sharp blow and exclaimed:
"Wow! That's some healthy kick! How far along are you? Do you know what it is?"
"We don't want to know until it's born, and I'm eight months along already. I mean, I hate it when barely pregnant women complain about how big they've gotten, but I think I can do that with certain legitimacy. I haven't seen my feet for at least two months, if not more, except for the one time when I sprained an ankle in a weird way. It hurt like hell, but I got a glimpse at my left foot. It made me feel slightly better since they haven't swelled up, like some women's from my Lamaze class. I may look like some kind of whale, but I still have the cutest toes ever."
The proud expression on the blonde's face was just priceless, and Lyla had to laugh.
"That's still good to know. You're lucky, my own feet are killing me."
"You look really nice in that dress," Julie said, "but those shoes look so good that they have to be lethal in some way."
"They are indeed. I have a question I need to ask, I hope you won't mind… I have a friend I told everything about high school that will kill me if I don't ask. Is this one your first child? Were you pregnant before?"
"What? Why? Oh!" The blonde exclaimed. "You saw that pregnancy test last time we met, right? I wasn't pregnant then. I was worried I might be, which may have made me extra bitchy."
"Don't worry. So this one is the first of the Riggins-Taylor brood?"
"Yeah. When we thought I might be pregnant all those years ago, Tim and I kept telling ourselves and each other that if I was indeed with child, we could do it, it would be okay and that it was just Nature sending us a message, that we could and were ready for that next step. When the test turned negative, we were so happy, we knew we had been feeding ourselves bullshit. We were so not ready. We needed more time to settle down. But this baby," she said with a hand on her belly, "was no accident. We both have jobs and we're finally ready for that step."
"What do you do for a living? I just realized that I have no idea."
"I'm a food critic, and I'm also writing children books. I'm looking for an editor right now."
"Food critic, huh?"
"Yeah, I know, it was so unexpected. I was writing a sports column when one of my colleagues in charge of the culinary reviews got sick. She asked me to go and try a new restaurant, and I accepted, mostly because I was hungry as hell. It was supposed to be a typical Texan family restaurant, but I found the food seriously lacking. I was just too used to Tim's delicious cooking, and I wrote a very negative, on the verge of nasty, review. My editor liked it, and so did I in the end. We decided to give it another try, I got another assignment and I wrote another great article. I then got transferred for good to the food section. I'm actually really good at this, you know? When I go into a restaurant, people get chills, they're a little afraid of me. It's annoying when I'm just coming in to grab lunch, but it also comes in handy. I tested a lot of restaurants at the beginning of my pregnancy, I was eating so much that you could have fed a third world country with what I was eating. So I ate my fill almost every day before I went into maternity leave, and they publish my reviews at a slower rhythm so that I can still get paid while I'm away. I'm not always mean in my critics, it's just that Tim spoilt me when it comes to food."
"That's really great. I never expected you to go this way, but I'm glad you found something you liked."
The brunette noticed a ring on the blonde's left hand.
"I knew you had gotten married when I had to address your invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Riggins, but tell me more… He finally proposed? When did you get married?"
"He did propose. Four years ago, he gave me this ring," she said pointing to an elegant ring on her middle finger. "A little less than a year later, we got married in Grandma Ruby's backyard. It was perfect. Ruby was so happy that we had chosen to get hitched at her place, but to us it made a lot of sense. She always knew we would get together, even when we didn't think it was a possibility. Anyway, we didn't want it to be a big business, so we only invited my family, Billy, -I was so glad when Jackie couldn't come because of a work problem-, Jason, Tyra and their respective families."
"I know how Jay is doing, but tell me more about Tyra!"
"She's in Albuquerque, she went into politics. She's working for the mayor's office, but she's also into lobbying. She married Landry, who's a science teacher now, about six years ago, and they have two young daughters. They asked me to be Godmother to the twins, and Matt is the Godfather. He's in the military now. He did a complete cliché thing and got married to a girl he met while on a mission in Pakistan. They live near Washington and they have a son."
"Hey Babe," Tim said, appearing next to the two women. "Hey Lyla!"
The brunette felt a myriad of emotion go through her. He was handsome, as always, in semi-formal clothes. His hair was shorter than she remembered and his features were more defined, but he still exuded the Tim Riggins magnetism. Lyla smiled sweetly at him, feeling completely at peace for the first time in a decade.
"Hello Tim. What did you think of the ceremony?"
"It was great," he answered while getting a chair to sit next to his wife, grabbing her hand.
He kissed it gently, with reverence then asked:
"How are you? Is Little P. behaving?"
"Not really, but it's okay, I just received a few nasty kicks. Other than that, I'm fine!" the blonde beamed at her husband.
"Little P.?" Lyla asked with a smirk.
The couple looked at her with a proud smile and Julie explained:
"Whether it likes it or not, at some point of its life, this baby will either play for the Panthers or for the Powderpuffs."
"That's so cute! Wait, the Panthers? Does that mean you're thinking about moving back here?" Lyla asked.
Tim looked at Julie with love-filled eyes then answered:
"We're considering it, maybe in a couple of years. My contract is going to end in about two years, and I'm not sure I want it renewed. Besides, if we're having a son, we couldn't let him play in a lame team like the Wildcats or the Fierce Antelopes, or something as pussy-sounding. The Panthers are the only team with a decent name."
"We just need to work on some details," Julie said, "but yeah, we could find ourselves moving back at some point; this town wasn't always nice to us but our family is here, you know?"
Lyla just smiled, understanding what she meant: when she had first left for India, she had thought she would never come back to Dillon, but now, there she was.
"Where is my food?" Julie asked her husband with a serious expression on her face.
"It's on its way," he answered chuckling. Your mom is piling up all the food you like from the buffet, and the Coach is breathing down the neck of the poor guy in charge of the barbecue, he's making sure he doesn't screw up with your steak."
"Trust my folks to go overboard," Julie blushed.
"They just want what's best for you and their first grandchild," Tim said with a loving smirk.
"Babe, I know we're in public, but do you think you could…?" Julie asked.
He nodded with a smile, and he made her turn around a little so he could massage her sore back. The blonde closed her eyes then moaned a little.
"You must be eager for the baby to be born," Lyla commented with a grin.
"A little, but at the same time… I wasn't small when I was born, and neither was Gracie. According to Billy, the Riggins boys were basically monsters at birth, so I'm a little worried about the delivery."
Tim tenderly kissed the crook of her neck and said:
"Don't worry. It'll be alright."
There was a definite uncertainty in his eyes, showing that he was worried too, but Julie turned her head to catch his eyes and said:
"I know."
Lyla was amazed by how serene she felt, watching their display of affection but it also made her happy. She was happy for them, they were so obviously as in love as they were all those years ago, if not more. But she was also happy to have made it there.
She excused herself, promising that she would see them later and went to get some food at the buffet. She sat at a table to eat it. When she looked around, she saw that the Taylors had come back with food to feed a small army. Gracie was holding cutlery for everybody. They settled at a nearby table to have their lunch. Both the Taylors were fussing over Julie and Tim, who were happy and laughing. Tim's hand was on his wife stomach, feeling their baby kick, and he would sometimes lean down to talk to it.
Lyla smiled, proud of herself for having moved on. Her heart wasn't aching or clenching. Holly would surely be proud too.
"Mind if I join you?" Santiago asked with a somewhat shy smile on his face.
"Go ahead," Lyla answered with the biggest smile on hers, then said: "I never thanked you for taking care of my family when I was gone."
"It was my honor and pleasure," he said solemnly.
"But let me say it," she argued. "Thank you."
She then placed her hand on top of his, feeling a surge of heat run through her body. He had felt it too she could tell and he smiled:
"You're welcome, Lyla."
She felt a shiver run down her spine when he said her name. She blushed but smiled a doe smile at him as she thought to herself that, as unexpected as it was, there was something there, something worth exploring.
&&&&
A little less than a month a later, on a Sunday morning, Lyla got woken up by her cell phone beeping. She read the text message she had received through sleepy eyes and smiled:
"What is it, babe?" Santiago asked pressing into her back, his nose buried in her hair.
"Julie gave birth to a little Joshua Eric Riggins last night," she said while melting into his embrace.
"Cool. We'll send them flowers when it's a more decent hour."
She silently agreed and went back to sleep in the comfort of his arms.
It's been a wonderful adventure, writing a multi-chapter fic... Let me know if the epilogue lived up to the rest of the story!