Disclaimer: I don't own anything here (except for Al) and am just doing this for fun and to pass the long months until Season 4.

Al wasn't sure how she made it through the interviews, but she managed. She was somehow able to disconnect the part of her brain that was worried about Tim and their relationship and just go through her list of questions and take notes. It became a routine and she followed it letter-perfect, even while a background process in her brain was wishing she could find Tim and explain everything to him.

Her interviews lasted until five o'clock, at which point she figured the garage would be closed and Tim would be at home. She gathered up her papers and headed to their house, surprised to find Bruno waiting there for her, even though there was no sign of Tim or George. She walked through the house nervously taking an inventory. Two duffle bags, most of his clothes, his toothbrush and razor, the dog's crate and food. It looked like Tim had planned on an extended stay away from home.

Billy and Mindy's was the obvious choice, so Al grabbed her backpack, got in her truck, and headed over there. She didn't call because she thought Tim would simply dodge her call and leave before she arrived. Her heart sank when she arrived at Billy's house to find only his Camaro in the driveway.

She knocked on the door and opened it when Billy hollered out a distracted "Yeah? Come in." She stepped into the living room hesitantly. Billy was laying on the couch with a beer in his hand, watching ESPN.

"Al. Didn't expect to see you tonight. How did those interview things go? Please don't tell me you came over here to talk about them now."

Al shook her head. "No, they were fine. I'm looking for Tim."

Billy frowned. "What you mean you're looking for Tim? He went home with the dogs at lunch – said he was feeling sick or something."

Al wanted to ask if Billy was serious, but she couldn't get her voice to work. Instead, she walked over to the kitchen counter, set her backpack down, and sat on one of the stools, facing into the kitchen so she could put her head down on the counter. Then, she just held on and tried not to cry.

Billy jumped off the couch and walked over, his eyes growing more concerned. He went to the fridge, got out a beer, and handed it to Al. Then he sat down at the other stool, facing into the living room as he leaned back and rested his elbows on the counter. It felt both incredibly weird and perfectly natural to be sitting this way with his prospective sister-in-law, since this was how he and Timmy sat whenever they had something important and personal to discuss.

"I screwed up, Billy. Big time. And now Timmy's gone."

"What happened?"

"I did something without talking to him about it and he found out. He didn't give me a chance to explain – he just left."

Billy shook his head sadly. "You got an abortion."

Al's head snapped up, a look of shock on her face. "No! I'd never do something like that to Tim. Jesus, it would be his kid too – he'd get a say in that."

Billy breathed a sigh of relief and struggled to switch gears to stay with Al.

"So what did you do then?"

Al reached into her backpack and pulled out a stack of papers. "This isn't how I wanted to do this."

She shuffled through the papers and handed several pages over to Billy. He flipped through them, his eyes trying to comprehend all of the cramped lines of legalese in tiny print. He caught a phrase here and there, things like "hereby relinquish all claim", "property located at", "forego further contact", "in consideration for $50,000", their father's name and signature.

"What is all this?" Billy looked up at her, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

She sighed. "I know I probably should have discussed this with both of you, but I was trying to protect Timmy. Your dad started calling the garage, I guess he figured I was a way to get to Tim and that Tim would be more receptive to him, eventually. I don't know. Anyway, he started making threats about taking you to court to get this house back. That his name was on the deed."

"I've made about 10 years of mortgage payments on this place. And the last one will be next year. No way this is still his house."

"Stephen, my ex-husband, was lawyer and I helped him study in law school, so I know a thing or two about legal matters involving property disputes. I explained to Walt why he wouldn't have a claim and gave him an alternate offer."

Billy shook the papers. "This alternate offer here?"

"Yeah. Basically, Walt promised to give up all claim on this house and to not contact any of you again, in exchange for $50,000. 5k in cash, the rest wired into a bank account, if you want the details."

"You're kidding? You paid our father to go away?"

Al nodded. "I'm sorry, I probably should have talked to you both first. I just wanted to get it done as painlessly as possible and then I was just going to leave the quit claim deed in your mailbox. Make it look like Walt had decided to do the right thing."

"Al, this is a lot of money. It's too much. Mindy and I'll pay you back somehow." His voice cracked.

"No way. I didn't even want you to know I did this."

"But how? Where did you get the money?"

Al's lips twisted into a small, regretful smile. "I worked in Iraq for three years and made a truckload of money without much tax and with pretty much nothing to spend it on because all my expenses were taken care of. That lets a person build up quite a nest egg, if the person is so inclined. Or, say, if the person is so depressed that she doesn't care about anything."

"Don't worry about Timmy. He'll call or come around and I'll talk some sense into him. He's probably just at some dive bar or hitting beer cans off the dunes. He'll come crawling either here or home, probably as soon as tomorrow."

Al slid her half-full bottle of beer over to Billy. "No, I don't think so. He took almost all his clothes. And he also took George, the crate, and at least a month's supply of dog food."

Billy stood up and put his arm around Al's shoulders. "It'll be okay, Al. One way or another, we'll find him and talk some sense into him. I promise," he said, trying to sound more convincing than he felt.