A little while later Lyla and Tim had managed to clean most of the mess from the party. It was already dark out and Carter had been in bed for a while. The two worked in comfortable silence, occasionally glancing up and smiling at each other.

"So you and Jordan are really getting married?" Tim asked as he was finishing cleaning up the mess in the backyard.

Lyla froze, she almost felt uncomfortable talking about her fiancé with her ex-boyfriend. "Yes, Tim. We really are getting married."

"How'd you two meet?" He looked up and Lyla could tell he was genuinely curious about her situation.

Lyla gave in and replied to him. "After you left, I took a year off from school and volunteered in the hospital. He was a first year intern in oncology back then, we really got to know each other and started dating shortly after that."

"So you moved on, just like that?" He grabbed wrapping paper off the ground and was shoving it into garbage bags, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Tim, it wasn't like that." Lyla pleaded. She stopped what she doing and walked over to him, hoping that he would give her the chance to explain.

"We could have made things work, I called you but you never called me back. Austin isn't that far from Dillon, we could have stayed together!" Tim turned around and she could see he was hurt more than he ever let on.

"It never would have worked, Tim. I wanted more for you than this town, you needed a clean break." She replied.

"You deserved more than this town too, I was never supposed to leave. I should have stayed in Dillon."

"Don't say that, Tim." Lyla said as she reached out and grabbed him his wrist to stop him from cleaning.

"All I wanted was to be with you." He looked up at her and his hair fell into his eyes. She remembered everything she went through after he left and her heart broke all over again.

Tim left the day after she found out she was pregnant. She couldn't stop him, it was too late. So Lyla let him leave and felt it was easier if she never heard from him again. Although, she knew one day he would return but she hoped that would be after he had a long career in the NFL. She truly wanted more for him; she wanted to see him succeed because she loved him so much.

"What do you want now, Tim?" Lyla asked as Tim straightened up and she let go of him.

"You."

Tim took a step closer to Lyla and lift his right hand up to grip her neck. She closed her eyes and let herself be pulled in close to him. As he tilted his head down, she lifted her chin up so her lips met his. Lyla gave in and allowed herself to kiss the man she used to love.

After a minute she snapped to attention and pushed him away from her, breaking the kiss. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I love you, Lyla Garrity."

"Tim" When he realized that she really had moved on for good he began to walk away.

Lyla reached out and grabbed his arm and he slowly turned around. She stood on the tip of her toes, like she used to do in high school, and kissed him. He broke apart and looked down at her, his green eyes questioned her, wondering if this was allowed. She slowly closed her eyes and nodded.

Tim took no time in reaching down and kissing her. It felt right to Lyla and somehow she felt alive for the first time in almost five years, she knew this is what she had been missing. She deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as he ran his hands through her hand and down her back. She reached back in front of her undoing the buttons of his plaid shirt and pulling it off of his shoulders and dropping it behind him.

He reciprocated by grabbing the hem of her t-shirt and pulling it up over her head. They continued kissing and Lyla lead them through the sliding back doors into the house. She broke apart and grabbed his hand leading to her bedroom. She kissed him as they attempted to get up the stairs, neither one wanting to break apart. When they reached the top she lead him down the hall, closing her sons door on the way.

Her bedroom was at the very end the hallway, Tim grabbed her and pushed her through the door, kissing her passionately. He broke apart to turn around and quietly close the door behind them. Lyla reached up around his neck and pulled him into her as she sat back on the bed. Tim kneeled down on the bed on top of her, kissing her from her lips and down to her neck. He grabbed her on her sides and dragged her up to the head of the bed and laid her down.

Tim now straddled her and kissed her neck then jumped down to her belly button, kissing his way back up her body. He grasped her hands and brought them up beside her head as he went back to kissing her.

Lyla woke up early the next day, it was still dark out and moonlight was still shining in through her window. She rolled over to find the spot next to her was abandoned and sighed, relieved that Tim hadn't stayed the night. She flashed back to last night, recalling Tim telling her he loved her. Her mind then wandered to his naked body on top of hers as they had sex, as much as she enjoyed it she wished it never happened. She was a soon-to-be-married woman and she had a son that was in the next room.

She glanced at the clock on the far bed side table, reading 6:30. Lyla begrudgingly rolled out of bed, grabbing her pyjamas from the dresser on the far side of the room and got dressed. She grabbed the rob hanging on the back of the door and shrugged it on tying it tight. She opened her door and made her way down the hall, ready to start breakfast, knowing her son would be awake soon.

Lyla passed Carter's room and saw the door was open, which meant he was probably already awake. She peaked inside to a foreign scene displayed before her. Tim was lying down on Carter's single bed, a book still open laid on his chest. Her son was curled up under the blankets beside Tim. Lyla took in the scene and smiled, in all the four years she had never seen Jordan and Carter like this. Then she was furious at Tim for doing this, she knew her son was going to ask so many questions, ones that she knew she didn't have the answer to.

Tim stirred and opened his eyes and saw that Lyla was watching him and quietly got out of the bed. He was only in his boxer shorts which made her even more mad but also made her want to take him back to her room and kiss him. She grabbed his wrist pulling him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What do you think you're doing, Tim?" Lyla spitted once they were safely in the kitchen downstairs.

"He had a nightmare, I heard him crying and instead of waking you up I comforted him." Tim replied innocently.

"That's not your job; you're going to confuse him! He's four, Tim, and he barely knows you!"

"I'm sorry, I thought I was helping"

"You're not helping, just making things worse." Lyla said as she rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Tim reached out to touch her but she jumped back, too angry to deal with him. "Just go home, Tim."

"I'm sorry, Lyla." Tim retreated back upstairs silently to get dressed. He made his way back down to the kitchen to leave out the back door.

"Don't go." Carter said as he walked into the kitchen. Lyla was about to speak up to explain to her son that Tim had to go home but she took a look at the boy. He was rubbing his eyes and seemed to really like Tim. "Have breakfast with us, please?"

"Only if it's alright with your mother." Tim replied glancing over at Lyla.

She nodded and watched as her son ran over to Tim and jumped up into his arms, she noticed Tim was getting used to the ambush and was ready for him. Carter wrapped his arms around Tim's neck and it warmed her heart. "Hope you're alight with pancakes." Lyla said from across the room.

"I love pancakes." Tim said as he put Carter back on the ground.

"Come watch cartoons with me Mr. Riggins!" Carter exclaimed as he grabbed Tim's hand.

Tim bent down so he was eye to eye with the boy and said, "I think we're good enough buddies now that you can call me, Tim." He winked at Carter and got up following him into the next room to watch cartons.

"Don't worry about me, guys, I can make breakfast all on my own!" Lyla shouted after them.

A half hour later, Lyla had the table set with pancakes, fruits, orange juice and toast. She called the boys in to eat.

"Wow, looks great, Garrity" Tim remarked as he sat down at one end of the table. Carter dragged his chair and booster seat over towards Tim and sat down.

"Thanks, Tim."

"Momma, Tim's my new best friend!" Carter exclaimed as Lyla dished pancakes onto his plate. She sat down in her seat across from Tim, dishing food onto her own plate.

"Is that right?"

"It is" Tim spoke up. He flashed Lyla a smile and grabbed a stack of pancakes, toast and a pile of fruit.

"Tim, will you come to the zoo with us today?" Carter asked Tim, obviously very anxious to spend more time with his new friend.

"Honey, I'm sure Tim has better things to do today than go with us." Lyla spoke up. She had made a horrible mistake last night and the last thing she wanted was to spend more time with that mistake. She shot Tim a look telling him that he should say no.

"You're in luck, buddy, I never have anything good going for me on Sunday's" Tim said. Lyla was infuriated with Tim but once she saw how happy her son was she let it go.

When everyone was finished with breakfast, Carter was excused and returned to watching cartoons in the living room. Tim helped Lyla clean off the table and started washing the dishes in the sink. Lyla picked up a cloth and began drying the dishes and putting them away in the cupboards. The two worked in a comfortable silence, knowing there were things to be talked about but when it was the right time.

A/N: Thanks to a snow storm and my lack of wanting to go to school today, this chapter was put together quicker than I thought. I really hope that I can get a new chapter out everyday for you guys. Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please review and feel free to drop any suggestions. :)