Chapter 3
Kae woke up the next morning wondering is seeing her brother at the toy store had all been a dream. She knew that she missed them a lot because for the last two years she had been mostly alone since her aunt had left. She got up and started her daily routine which usually consisted of drinking coffee, showering and getting dressed. Since today was her day off she knew that someone in the neighbourhood would probably need a sitter for their kids and she was more than willing to help. After all most of the women that lived in the trailer park with her were single moms who couldn't afford much more then these living conditions. She stepped outside into the muggy June air. As she looked at her car sitting there she got an idea. If it had been her brother Tim in the store the night before he must not be living that far away. Maybe today would be the day when she would have the courage to go back home to Dillon. She had always hesitated on going back "home" since she had gotten her driver's licence two years earlier. She had been lost without her two brothers and wondered what had become of them. She knew that Tim had gone on to play football for the Dillon Panthers. She had been to some of the games at the high school in Midland. She really had no idea what her older brother Billy had been doing with his life after she had moved away. Had he stayed around and helped Tim or had he let him fend for himself too? She had also often wondered if their father had ever shown up again since he had up and left that faithful day. She sat in her car and headed down the road, still unsure of where she was going. She just continued to drive letting the road guide her to a destination. She took a turn in the road and never realized there was a truck coming straight for her. The next thing she knew the truck had hit her on the one side and she passed out....
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Tim sat across the table from Billy, the next morning after last night's events. "What did you want last night? I got busy and didn't get time to catch you and ask what this was all about" said Billy. "I went into Kae's room last night when I got home" said Tim. "You what?" exclaimed Billy banging his fist against the table. "Whoa, you lower your voice will you. You don't need to alert the neighbourhood. I didn't do anything. All I did was go into our sister's old room. I need closure Billy I need to know if she's okay or what she's up to now. It's something that I need. If you can't be supportive that's fine but it's something that I need for me" said Tim. It had been very long time since time had told his brother how he'd been feeling. Since Billy had been married he had shut Tim out of his life and mainly focused on making money and forget about the rest of his family. Sometimes when Tim came home from vacation he felt as though he was more of a father to Savannah then Billy was. "She isn't part of the family anymore, we've moved on and I'm sure she has too. She doesn't need us anymore" said Billy. Tim shook his head at his brother; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Do you not care about her anymore? She's our sister; our parents did take care of all three of us for a while. That should be something that matters. It something that certainly matters to me" said Tim. "It doesn't aright! I don't want to hear about it anymore "yelled Billy. Tim got up from the table and left the kitchen table and left the room. He went into his bedroom and picked up some empty boxes from the floor. He grabbed the key to his sisters' room and went into it to pack some things he felt would have been important to her; he also took the opportunity to pick some things that brought him memories into the boxes. After he was done in his sisters' room he went into his own to throw some of his own belongings into boxes and bags. When he was done packing the things that were important to him he packed the bed of his pickup truck with his belongings and walked back into the house and walked to the kitchen where his brother was still standing. "If this is how you want it, that's fine but I'm not going to stand here and let you just step all over me. You, Mindy and Savannah are my family but I still have a little sister that I haven't seen in a long time and I want to see if I can make her a part of my family again to make it complete. If you have a problem with that, I'm not sure what I'll do but right now I just need to find myself and I don't think this place is going to help me" said Tim. It was a hard to leave the house he had always called home for as long as he could remember. It hadn't always been a happy home but it was somewhere he knew he could stay or at least that had been his impression, but this was for the best it was something he had to do for himself. Where he was going to go he wasn't sure, so he just drove around Dillon for a while. He hadn't realized it but he had driven to his old high school coach's house. He got out of his truck and walked over to the door. He knocked, and soon after heard footsteps coming towards it. Mrs. Coach, as he had always called her answered. "Hi Mrs. Coach. hi Gracie Belle. I know this is going to sound like a strange request and because I'm no longer one of his players, it might make this a useless question but I thought I would at least try to see if coach could help me find somewhere to crash" said Tim "come on in Tim, Eric is in the back getting dinner ready. I'm sure he won't mind the interruption" she turned towards the patio and yelled at her husband "Eric, Tim Riggins is here to see you". "Hey Tim, come on back. We can catch up on old times. Bring some beer with you" said Eric. Tim walked towards the Taylor's kitchen and opened their refrigerator. He grabbed 2 beers from it and headed towards the backyard. Once he was at the patio door, he saw his old high school coach standing by the family BBQ. He walked over to him and handed him one of the beers. "So Tim what brings you by the house?" asked Eric "Well I was wondering if you had any ideas where I could crash for a few days. Billy and I really aren't getting along and I think I need to be away from the house for a while" said Tim. "I'll ask Tami if she minds having an extra house guest for a couple of days you could stay in the rum above the garage" said Eric. "Watch the steaks I'll be right back" Tim nodded, thankful he wouldn't have to sleep in his truck. He was glad the Taylors welcome him with open arms on more than one occasion.
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Julie was standing at the nurses' station waiting for a new wave of patients to come into the ER. She was heading into her fourth and final year in Nursing at Texas a & M. She was home for the summer and working at the hospital. She turned around when she heard the front doors open. She saw the two stretchers come into the ER doors. "Unknown female 16-19, broken ribs, fractured leg, sprained wrist and possible concussion bring her to trauma 1" yelled the paramedic. Julie jumped into action and grabbed one side of the stretcher with the aid of another nurse. They pushed the stretcher into one of the trauma rooms and started taking the girls vitals. She was taking notes on her vitals when she realized they knew nothing about her. She looked to see if she had come in with any personal effects that would tell them who she was. She came closer to the bed to see if they had left anything on the stretcher with her. When she got close enough she saw that the girl was awake. "Where am I?" asked Kae. "You're at Dillon Memorial Hospital. You were in a car accident "said Julie "I'm in Dillon. What am I doing here? Tim did I see him" Kae wasn't making any sense but Julie just sat there and listened" Tim who?"Asked Julie "Riggins, I was coming to Dillon to see if I could find him" said Kae. "Why are you looking for Tim?" asked Julie trying not to sound too nosy. "I'm just someone close. If you find my purse there's a cloth bag. Find Tim and give it to him he'll know what it's all about and if he chooses to see me tell him to come here please" she said getting weak and exhausted. "I'll do my best to find him, you just need to rest" said Julie. She set off on a hunt to find the girls purse. When she found it she looked inside it to try and see if she could find what the girl had talked about. When she did she put it in her own purse and continued her shift. Once her shift was over she could finally go home, have dinner and then go looking for Tim who she hoped was back from school by now. She left the hospital absolutely curious as to who the mystery girl in the ER was. Especially what she meant to Tim or who she was in his life. She drove back to her parents' house and pulled into the driveway and got out of her car. "Hi mom, Hi Gracie Belle" said Julie as she walked towards the front door. "Wait honey, how was your day?" asked Tami. Julie stopped wondering what she could tell her mom. "There was a major accident this morning right off the highway, 3 people were injured" she said trying to sound as matter of fact as she could. "Could you take your sister inside to get ready for dinner" said Tami. "Ok mom, come on Gracie lets go and get washed up for dinner" said Julie to her 6 year old sister. They walked into the house hand in hand. Once inside Julie walked towards the washroom, she could hear her father talking. She wondered who else was here. She washed her hands and peaked into the yard. That's when she saw Tim standing in the backyard. "Hi daddy, Hi Tim, what are you doing here?" asked Julie looking at Tim. "I needed somewhere to crash; my brother and I aren't Seeing Eye to eye on a lot of things lately. Your mom and dad are letting me crash above the garage for a couple of days" Said Tim. "Alight new person to babysit Gracie" said Julie cracking a smile at Tim. "Don't push too far Taylor" he said smiling. "Can I talk to you?" she asked "Sure, what about?" asked Tim. "It would be better if we were alone" said Julie. She led the way back to her bedroom. Tim followed her inside wondering what she could want to talk about. He stepped into her room, not much had changed in the last 5 years since he had first stepped in there when he had brought her home drunk from one of their parties. "Please sit down Tim, we have to talk about something" said Julie. Tim looked at Julie wondering what the short blonde had to tell him that was so important. "What's got you so on edge Julie I don't think I've ever seen you this flighty when it comes to talking to me" said Tim. "I am not flighty, Tim, this is really serious. Did you hear about the accident right outside of Dillon today?" asked Julie. Tim had been listening to the radio on his way to the Taylors and had heard about the accident. "What would that accident have to do with me?" asked Tim. "I'm not sure exactly but one of the accident victims asked me if I could find you" said Julie. Tim looked at Julie wondering who could want something with him. "Did they tell you who they were?" asked Tim. Julie looked into her purse and took out the pouch that the girl had told her to grab. "She told me to give this to you and said you would know what to do with it" said Julie. She handed the bag over to Tim, he grabbed it from her, he hesitated opening it he really wasn't sure what this could hold or who it was really from. He stuck his hand into the bag and felt around inside of it. He felt something hanging from a string and pulled it out. He was shocked at what he saw it looked exactly like the necklace he had made Kae when she was 5 and he was 10. It had some pebbles he had painted and two bottle caps with his and her initial in it. He knew it was an original necklace and nearly dropped it to the floor when he came to realize that it was more then likely his sisters "Kae, what happened to you" he sighed " how did you get this" asked Tim "Like I said before she told me to take it to you so here were are. I just didn't think I would have to give it to you this soon" said Julie. Tim stuck his hand back in the bag to find what else was in there. When Tim spilled the other contents of the bag onto his lap eh found an old family picture that dated to before Walt or their mom had left. He also found some news paper articles of Jason's accident and their trip to state. He also found one that had him and Billy in front of Riggins Rigs. That's when he knew for sure this had to be his sister. "Who is she Tim?" asked Julie. Tim looked up at Julie before answering her. He couldn't believe how sweet and understanding she was being. "She's my little sister" he said matter of factly without looking up at Julie. "A little sister, Tim, I had always thought it was just you and Billy" said Julie putting hand on Tim's knee, she was surprised that Tim didn't pull away when she did it. "It has been me and Billy for the last nine years but we do have a little sister. When Walt left Billy couldn't handle taking care of both of us. So she went to live with some of our relatives. I haven't seen or heard from her since that day she left" he said. "What was in the bag?" asked Julie "This is a necklace I made for her one summer. Our parents had been pretty brutal with us that summer and I remember telling her that when she would wear the necklace I would always be there with her and I would protect her. Sorry if I'm boring you" he said shyly. "you're not boring me Tim, it's actually nice to know that the guy form all those years ago that protected me at the grocery store or the one that brought me home from a party is still there "said Julie. "Hey, let's not take away all of the manhood I have left here" he said cracking a smile at her. "Do you want me to take you to the hospital? She should be settled into a room by now" said Julie "Your parents worked hard on dinner. I think we owe it to them to stay for that at least. I'm sure she can use a little more rest that a few hours won't hurt" he said. The truth was that he wasn't sure what would be waiting for him at the hospital. He had hated going there when Jason got hurt. He was also afraid she would be angry because they had never written or called her since she had left them. He and Julie sat in silence for a little while. He found her presence very comforting. He realized that he had never really felt this comfortable with a girl before. Julie was certainly bring out a side of himself he hadn't been able to bring out in himself. Only Kaelyn had ever brought that side of him out before. They stepped into the Taylor dining room and started their dinner. All through dinner Tim tried to hide any emotion he had been feeling but he was starting to struggle by the end he was glad it was over. Once they were done they helped clear the table and do the dishes for them. Once they were done with the dishes they excused themselves and headed to Julie's car to go to the hospital.