Hey everyone,
I'm sorry if some of you found my last chapter a little confusing. It was just hard to try and describe 2 people in different places at once. If anyone has suggestions as to what direction I should take Tim or Kae into, you are more than welcome to send me ideas and feedback.
Chapter 4
Tim hated hospitals. He remembered when Six had first been in the hospital and he hadn't wanted to go and see him there. Today he regretted that choice but back then it had been the only choice he had been able to make. Julie saw the hesitation in Tim's body and grabbed his shoulder.
"It'll be alright Tim" was all she said to him before she helped him walk into the ER.
"Hey Rosa, do you know where the female victim from this morning's car accident is?" asked Julie to the nurse standing behind the desk.
"She's in room 1064, I'm not sure how much she's up to seeing visitors. Julie turned towards Tim,
"It's your turn Tim, go for it I'll wait for you out here" said Julie. Tim looked at her and wanted to say something to her, he really wasn't sure if he could handle this.
"Please, come with me. I don't know if I can do this" said Tim.
Julie squeezed his hand tight and pushed him towards the hallway. They walked down the hall towards the room number. Tim stopped at the door unsure of how able he was to go in there and see this person that was in that bed.
"You can do this Tim, if you really want to have the answers you've been looking for, you really have to go in there and face the music" said Julie. She gave Tim a little push passed the door frame.
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When Tim entered the room, he just took a look around the room before his eyes settled on the battered form that was lying in the bed. He took a few steps closer, still feeling unsure of how comfortable he felt with the whole situation. He took a good look at her, she was definitely taller then he remembered her and definitely more defined then he remembered. She did really look like the 9 years old sister that had left their house. When he sat down on the chair at the side of the bed he saw that she looked a lot like him now. Sitting this close to a hospital bed still had him a little freaked out but he was trying to keep his cool. He turned back towards the door where Julie was still standing.
"Jules, do you know how hurt she was when she came in here today?" Julie stepped into the room and closer to Tim before answering.
"I was told she had a broken leg, a sprained wrist, some broken ribs and more than likely a concussion" she answered him. He turned back towards the bed before speaking.
"Kae girl I'm so sorry this happened. Your big brother Timmy's here now. I promise I'll make it better" he whispered, brushing some hair away from her face.
When she had finished answering Tim, Julie stepped out of the room and went to sit in the waiting area down the hall. She wanted to give Tim as much privacy as he needed to deal with this. Tim spent a good time just starring at his sister, he was afraid that if he turned around our closed his eyes, he would wake up and this would all be a dream. He felt guilty that he had lost touch with her, she had been so special to him and he had let her go. He wanted to ask Julie if she could call Billy for him and tell him about their sister. He realized when he turned around that she had probably left the hospital to give him some time to deal with all of this. He stood up and grabbed his cell phone to call Billy and tell him about this whole situation. He looked around to see if he could find a quieter place to make this phone call. He found the waiting room where Julie was sitting. He was glad that he was still there with him.
"I wanted to tell you thank you for all this. You can't imagine who much this means to me" he said while sitting down.
"I'm just glad I could be of help Tim" she said. She realized then that Tim really had changed in the last few years. He was very different then the high school jock she had first met.
"Do you want me to leave you alone to do this?" she asked him.
"You can stick around, who knows maybe I'll need someone to help me calm down after I talk to him" said Tim
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Tim pulled out his cell phone and dialled the house number. He hoped Billy's reaction wouldn't be too sour or harsh about all this but he felt that it was important for him to hear. The phone started ringing and after 5 rings someone picked up.
"Riggins Residence" it was Billy. "Hey Billy, its Tim I felt this was important enough to call you. There was a girl brought into the ER today and I think it's Kae" he said. He waited to see what Billy would do.
"Tim you know that Kae isn't around here anymore, you know that it's just us now" said Billy.
"She has things that belong to Kae and she looks like me Billy. It has to be here" said Tim pleading for his brother to listen and believe him.
"You're wasting your time Tim it's time to move on now. Just put her in the past" said Billy.
Tim hung up on Billy; this made him so mad that his brother didn't want to listen to reason. He wasn't just waiting this to be true he knew it had to be. He had a feeling that this could be the final piece to his puzzle for a family. Tim looked at Julie shaking his head.
"I'm sorry Tim. I hope you know that I still believe in you and that the person in that bed is your sister" said Julie.
"Go back to your sister. I'll wait here until you're ready to leave". Tim smiled at Julie and headed back towards the room where his sister was. When he got there he saw his sister stirring in the bed.
Kae tried to move around in the bed but then she realized how much pain she was in. She groaned when her body really didn't want to do what she wanted it to. The pain finally woke her up, she tried to get her eyes to focus anywhere in the room. She finally realized that there was someone else in the room. She tried to look in the direction she thought the person was but she found it very hard to concentrate anywhere.
"Hey Kae, it's okay you don't have move, I'm here now. I won't leave I promise" said Tim. Kae heard the sadness and pain in Tim's voice. She felt horrible that Tim felt this way. Kae knew it wasn't his fault, she also knew that Tim could only do what Billy had said because he had been the head of the house. Kae turned her head towards Tim's voice.
"I know Timmy. I missed you" she whispered stretching her free hand towards his.
Tim stretched his own hand towards hers. When he had a hold of it he felt her squeeze his.
"I'm home Timmy, don't ever leave me". Tim knew that that was how Kae felt but he wasn't sure if it was all her or the concussion and the drugs talking.
"I won't baby girl. I'm sorry I ever let you go away" he said to her.
"It wasn't your fault Tim I never blamed you for all that happened" she said to him.
Tim spent the rest of the evening watching her and comforting her. He was feeling so many emotions, he couldn't quite all place them together to make any sense of them. At one point in the evening he heard a knock on the door.
"Sorry Tim, visiting hours are over" said the nurse.
"Thanks, I'm sorry Kae I have to go for now. I'll be back in the morning okay" said Tim
"Okay Timmy, you swear you'll come back? Tell your friend thank you for bringing you here to me" said Kae.
"I will angel, I'll be back in the morning I promise" Tim said leaning in to give her a kiss on the forehead. He really didn't want to leave her here but he knew he had no choice. He left her room, when he got into the hallway he saw Julie still sitting in the waiting room. He walked over to where she was sitting.
"I'm sorry you were here so long today. You could have left I would've found a way back to your house" said Tim coming to stand beside her.
"It's alright Tim; I drove you here because I wanted to. I also knew I would have to give you some time alone with her so that you could connect with each other" said Julie.
Tim grabbed Julie's hand and kissed it gently.
"Taylor thanks for everything. I really appreciate the help" he said.
Julie smiled at Tim who was really lost for words and wondered why it was so hard to talk to Julie.
"I'll drive us home" said Julie walking towards the parked cars. When the two got back to the Taylor house they said good night to each other and headed in opposite directions for the night. When Tim got to the room above the garage he sat down by the window that faced the front of the house. He spent a great deal of time looking out and thinking about everything that had happened since he had returned home from college. Dillon certainly was a different place then it had been when Tim had been in high school. Things were very different and Tim wasn't sure if he could keep up to the speed at which things were changing. He was also starting to see, especially after today how much he had feelings for Julie Taylor. He loved how Julie had respect for him and how he wasn't seen as someone who needed to be fixed or pitied or as if he was the misfit in society that most people perceived him to be. A knock on his door broke him out of his thoughts.
"Come in" he said as low as he could. Julie walked into the room and sat down on the bed opposite Tim.
"Hey Tim I hope I'm not bugging you" said Julie
"Nope, what's up" said Tim.
"I just wanted to hang out with you and ask you how you felt about what happened today" she said looking at him.
"Do you think that the girl in that bed was your sister" asked Julie.
"Yeah she has to be, I mean she looks like me and the ID's you showed me had my sister's name on them. I'm not really sure how else I can prove that she is my sister. I mean that girl in the bed has been through enough without my or anyone else questioning her about who she is and why ask for me if I don't mean anything to most people" said Tim.
"I guess your right Tim but what about Billy. What about what he thinks" said Julie.
"Does he even care about me anymore I mean since Mindy moved in, I've never really mattered. When I was in San Antonio I was surely the last person he ever thought of. I know Savannah and Mindy are his family but I thought that at least I thought that I still had a place there but obviously when I got home last week I was proven wrong. I just want to be part of a family and Billy pushing me away isn't helping me any. I'm just glad your parent's let me stay here for a while." He said,
Tim didn't think he had ever expressed so much emotions in the span of a lifetime then he had right then in the last 5 minutes. Tim leaned closer to Julie wanting to feel someone close to him. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She realized that her feelings for Tim were coming up again, she certainly wasn't about to stop whatever Tim was about to do with her. She was no longer the shy little girl that had dated QB Matt Sarecen in high school. She was different and more mature then she was back then and her father had no say in what she did or who she dated.
The next morning when Tim woke up, he was fascinated that he was lying next to one of the beautiful women in Dillon, one that would actually respect him and his decisions without questioning them.
"Hey there blondie, how did you sleep?" he asked the sleeping form beside him
"It was great, thank you for last night" said Julie
"No regrets, right Tim, you're not going to run out on me like you do all the other girls" said Julie
"Of course not, no regrets Jules. I'm not that Tim Riggins anymore. I'd like to think that I am more mature" he said with a wide grin.
"First things first, I'll get out the back way so my dad doesn't see me and then you can come down in about 5 minutes" she said.
"Jules, there should be no secrets. Your dad will have to deal with your relationships someday. Even if it is with people he doesn't like" said Tim.
"I guess you're right. What are you going to do about Billy "Asked Julie
"I'll go see him before I go back to the hospital to see my sister. Are you working today?" asked Tim.
"No, I have the day all to myself" said Julie.
"Would you come back to the hospital with me to see my sister? I really think she wants to get to know you when she's not so out of it. You know other than you the only person who would sit here and listen is Jay. Sometimes I really wish he hadn't moved to New Jersey, but I know he did it for Noah." Said Tim
"a lot of other people are behind you Tim but they just don't think you always make the wisest decisions about your life." Said Julie
"I guess we should go to breakfast if we want to get our day started" said Tim.
Julie knew that this was Tim's way of avoiding deep conversations about feelings or anything that involved his emotions. Julie just let it slide; she didn't want to push Tim away when things were just starting to work out. Tim got dressed and headed down the stairs first. Julie followed a few minutes later but slipped into her bedroom to get dressed for the day. Tim was sitting at the kitchen table with Gracie Belle when Julie came out of her room.
"Hi honey, what are you doing today?" asked Tami.
"I'm gonna go help Tim talk to his brother about his little sister" said Julie.
Tami looked from Tim to Julie wondering what the two of them were talking about.
"What are you two talking about now" said Tami.
"Mrs. Coach, not a lot of people know this but before both my parents left us Billy and I had a sister. I mean we still do but she had to move away when Walt finally moved out. Yesterday Julie came to me before dinner to tell me about this girl that had been in a car accident. She was asking for me so I went to check it out and found that it was my little sister. I hadn't seen her in almost 9 years now. I am happy to have found her but my brother doesn't' seem to have the same idea, so I have to convince him that she is who she says she is. I mean not too many people look for Tim Riggins for the heck of it. Unless it was girls in the past in which case they would have wanted to tell me I was their baby daddy or that I gave them something or other but she wasn't like that" said Tim.
"Wow Tim, that's a lot to handle in one day. Are you sure you can handle this?" asked Tami.
"She's my sister. I have wanted her back in my life for a long time and if I have the chance to start over now I won't say no. I just have to make sure that Billy believes me and prove to people that she says who she says she is" said Tim.
Tami had to admit she had never seen Tim Riggins so passionate about something in his entire life other than football. It was a welcome change than seeing the old Riggins in her kitchen. Maybe Tim really had changed since he had moved away to college. She certainly hoped so if Julie was going to have a relationship with him.