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.
After Billy had interviewed the intern finalists on Friday afternoon, he and Al met to discuss which would receive offers. They agreed on Carlos and Jake, two sophomores. They were in disagreement on the third one, but Al eventually swayed Billy into accepting Lauren, a freshman. Billy had been reluctant to let a girl into the program, but Al had pointed out that he was being a sexist pig and she was, after all, a girl herself and Billy'd never had a problem with her work.
After the decision was made, Billy stood up and stretched. "Hey, you want to go get a drink or something tonight? Mindy and Amber are in Austin with Tyra this weekend and TJ's sleeping over at Angela's, so I'm all on my own."
"I've got a better idea," said Al. She ushered Billy into her truck and drove them over to a miniature golf place in the next town over.
"You're kidding, right?" asked Billy, looking around in disgust.
Al ignored him and he followed her out of the truck, muttering complaints the whole way. But instead of going to the front desk, Al went around the back and bought tokens from a second desk., then selected a few bats from cubbyholes in the wall. She picked up a batting helmet and then tossed one to Billy, who was looking at the batting cages skeptically. She handed him a bat and several tokens, then set off toward the batting cages.
Billy watched as Al passed up the softball batting cages and got into the 45 mph baseball cage. He put his fingers through the wire fencing and watched as she went through two rounds of pitches, hitting 80% of the pitches, most of them good, solid, soaring hits.
She switched to the 60 mph baseball cage, pausing to ask Billy if he was going to just stand there all night.
"Not really a baseball kind of guy," mumbled Billy, who hadn't played baseball since he was about twelve and didn't want to embarrass himself by flailing around wildly.
Al shrugged and dropped two tokens into the machine, then started hitting, again connecting with most of the pitches quite solidly.
"Damn Al....hitting fastballs, handling yourself in a fist fight, fixing cars, playing football and Timmy tells me you can cook too. Is there anything you can't do?"
Al swung and hit the ball straight up the middle. "Yeah."
"I hate golf." She paused to hit another ball.
"I never play poker unless I want to lose all my money." Swing and a rare miss.
"Couldn't carry a tune if it was stapled to my hands." She laid down a perfect bunt, the ball dribbling two feet up the third baseline.
"And I can't let go of the people I love." Another base hit. She brought the bat back quickly and waited for the next pitch.
"Even if they've already let go of me." She put all her power into the bat, getting up under the ball and driving it past the sign marked 300 feet.
"He hasn't let go of you," said Billy.
Al shrugged and focused on the next pitch, glad that Billy couldn't see her face.
"Seriously. If he was done with you, he woulda come back to live at our place or found another place in Dillon."
Al swung and missed.
"I know it feels like shit right now, but his disappearing is maybe a good sign."
Al hit another ball hard. "Why hasn't he called? Jesus, Billy, how do we know that he's not hurt or in trouble some place? You know I spent last night calling hospitals? Started in Dillon, worked my way out to Midland, then tried Austin and Galveston."
Billy sighed. "You'll drive yourself crazy thinking that way."
Al turned her head and smiled. "I already am crazy."
The pitch flew past her and hit the fence nearly Billy's head, causing him to jump back.
Al hit the next few pitches in silence, then spoke.
"The wedding's supposed to be in five weeks. I got Tyra freaking out at me because the DJ just got arrested for having a box of E in his truck and she's having a hard time finding a replacement. I don't care. Wedding can go on without a DJ. But it can't happen without Tim."
Billy was reminded of a Catholic confession he'd seen in a movie once. The person sat in a box behind a screen, telling his secrets and sins to a priest. It stuck with Billy because he appreciated the idea of talking to someone without the pressure of eye contact or worrying about judgemental facial expressions.
"He'll be back soon," said Billy, trying to be reassuring because he didn't know what else to say.
"I hope you're right. Because seriously, I don't know what I' going to do otherwise."
Al hit the last pitch then went into the 90mph cage. Billy was relieved to see that her average dropped to about .250 against these fast balls. She hit three rounds and then came out, stretching her arms high above her head.
"Go on then," she told Billy.
"No, I'm good."
"Billy." He didn't know how she did that. How she put all kinds of words into a single word and then got him to do what she wanted. Tim called it her Jedi Mind Trick. He sighed and went into the 45mph cage, hoping he wouldn't embarrass himself.
Al stood outside the fence, watching and giving quiet instructions. "Elbow up. Watch it there. Swinging too early, slow down a little."
Billy missed the first few, then sent one straight back on a foul tip.
"OK, swung a little late on that one."
Billy took a deep breath and concentrated, then swung hard. The bat connected with the ball and send it flying to the outfield. He looked back at Al and grinned.
"Don't get cocky. Heads up!"
Billy looked back just in time to lean back before the next pitch hit him. He refocused on hitting, getting into an easy rhythm. He spent three rounds in that cage before moving up to the 60mph. It took him a round to adjust to the increase in speed, but then he was on a roll.
"This is it, Al. I ain't going any faster than this."
"That's fine. You're doing pretty good for a non-baseball guy."
Billy smiled. "Hey, Al, Mindy and I've been meanin' to talk to you and Tim about something. I know this isn't great timing, but Mindy's on my ass about it because I shoulda done it weeks ago."
"You're leaning forward, put your weight on your back foot."
Billy did as she instructed and hit the next ball.
"It's just, well, when Tim comes back, you think you two could maybe think about agreeing to be the kids' legal guardians if...god forbid, anything happens to me and Mindy?"
He hit the next three pitches and Al still hadn't said anything. He stopped swinging and looked back to the fence, where she was standing with her head down, not even flinching as the pitches hit near her.
Billy went out of the cage and put his hands on Al's shoulders, turning her around to face him. She looked up, and Billy was ashamed to admit that he was relieved she wasn't crying. He could never handle crying girls and seeing someone like Al cry would have somehow been worse.
"That will mean so much to Tim," Al whispered.
"He's coming back. Just keep telling yourself that." Billy felt so damn helpless. He put an arm around Al and hugged her.
"You know, Billy, I got seven brothers and never thought I'd want another, but I think you'd make a great eighth brother," Al said as she pulled away from him.
Billy smiled. "C'mon, let's go get a drink now."