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.
The fact that Billy had gone through all of this three times with Mindy and was most of the way through the fourth time was reassuring to Tim. He usually didn't even have to ask questions or tell Billy what was going on. His older brother would just dispense random advice when they were together.
Of course you're not going to hurt the baby, just be grateful she lets you touch her at all....
Get her whatever she wants, trust me, it's easier that way....
Dear God, Timmy, whatever you do, don't ever, ever, say anything that even implies that she's gotten fat. Butterball or something might sound cute to you, but it's seriously not worth the trouble.
Tim was walking through the supermarket at 2am on a Friday, smiling to himself as he tried to juggle a bag of oranges, a carton of lemonade, and a jar of caramel sauce. He really should have gotten a basket, but then it felt too much like shopping. Besides, he only had one last thing to pick up.
In the frozen food section, he found the pizza rolls, something Al had always found disgusting until she suddenly got a craving for them. Tim grabbed two bags and turned around quickly, finding himself face-to-face with Billy.
"Give me a couple of those, there, Timmy," said Billy with a grin.
"You're kidding. They're craving the same thing?"
"Looks like it. Who knows how these things work?"
Tim dropped the pizza rolls into Billy's basket and turned around to get two more.
"Just tell me she's not going to use the caramel sauce on the pizza rolls. That would just be gross," said Billy.
Tim shook his head, but said nothing else.
"C'mon then, I need to get ice cream too," said Billy.
"I don't. I'm done."
Billy looked at his brother. "Then why the hell do you need caramel sauce?"
"Don't ask," said Tim, feeling his cheeks flushing.
It took Billy about thirty seconds to process the response, then he burst out laughing and pounded Tim on the back. "You're a lucky bastard, you know that, right?"
Tim shrugged. "Billy, seriously, you can't say anything. She'd kill me if she even thought I kinda sorta ever told you anything. She gets really weird about that since you're her boss and everything."
"Please," Billy snorted. "I might own the garage, but being her boss? It's not possible to be the boss of a force of nature.
Tim grinned and followed his brother to the ice cream freezer and then to the checkout. After they'd finished their purchases, they stood by the door of the store, getting ready to head out into the rain. Tim looked at Billy. Maybe it was the harsh fluorescent lighting, but Billy looked tired and run down.
"You OK, Billy?"
"Yeah, you know, just tired. I don't know why, but this one's been harder. Amber and TJ have been good but Jack is just wired all the time. But it's not like we're not used to taking care of multiple kids.....Maybe because Angela's not around to help out. I never realized how much she did for us."
Tim nodded. Since he'd never seen her that often, it was easy for him to forget that Mindy and Tyra's mom had died a year and a half earlier.
Billy zipped up his jacket, pulling the collar up close around his neck. Then he slapped his brother on the back of the head, tousling his hair and bending his head down, just like he'd done since they were little. "Go on home, I'll see you Monday."
"Not a word to Al, Billy, I mean it. Not even half a look."
"Relax, Little Brother. I'm real good at playin' dumb."
"That's 'cause you ain't playin' most of the time," said Tim as he dashed out the door to his truck.
Tim and Al had the sort of weekend he loved best, slow and lazy with a lot of time spent in bed. It rained all weekend, so there was nothing else to do anyway. At least that's what Al had tried to tell him, but he'd just kissed her and told her that they didn't need any reasons or excuses.
He was relieved that she was pretty much her same old self. The morning sickness was nearly gone and although she could be a bit moody, it was manageable. She still wasn't quite showing and even though she could still button her pants, she found them uncomfortable. She'd taken to wearing sweatpants or yoga pants instead of her usual jeans or cargo pants.
Tim offered to go shopping with her for maternity clothes, but she'd declined on the grounds that it was nearly impossible to find pants that would fit her length-wise and she wanted to wait as long as possible.
Mindy went into labor late Sunday night, finally giving birth to an 8-pound boy named Cody Monday afternoon. Shortly after Billy's phone call, Al asked Tim to round up the interns and bring them to the office for a meeting. When he arrived, trailing behind the five teenagers, he found her sitting on Billy's desk, her legs swinging several inches above the floor. The interns stood in front of the desk awkwardly, with the exception of Jake, who leaned casually against the filing cabinet like he owned the place. Tim sat down in Billy's chair, looking out at the interns and wondering what Al was going to say.
"I wanted to let you guys know that Billy's son was born this afternoon, so Billy's going to be out for at least this week, probably next week too. You can give me your time sheets on Friday."
Al paused, looking around to see if there were any questions. Five blank faces stared back at her.
"OK, while we're talking about babies-"
"You going to tell us where they come from?" interrupted Jake, causing a few of the interns to laugh.
Al silenced the laughing with a dark look. "No, Jake, I'm sure that's something you can figure out all on your own....Tim and I are expecting a baby in October. So, Jake, Danny, now you know that I'm not just letting myself get fat."
Danny, at least, had the decency to blush but Jake just stood there with that shit-eating grin that made Tim want to punch him. Carlos leaned over to Javier and whispered something in rapid-fire Spanish.
"Carlos, for the record, I don't need a reason to be a bitch. And thank you, for volunteering to clean the toilets and sweep the floors every night for the next two weeks. That's really sweet of you." Then she said something to both of them in Spanish. Tim enjoyed the looks on their faces as they realized that everything they'd thought was just between them for the last year had been possibly overheard.
Al waved her arms, dismissing the interns. After they'd left, she hopped off the desk, shut the office door, and closed the blinds. Then she went over at sat in Tim's lap.
"I just need five minutes before I can go back there and supervise those savages," she said.
Tim rubbed her back. "I didn't know you spoke Spanish."
"Why would you? It's not much, anyway. Languages are easy for me – like catching a cold or something," she shrugged. Tim smiled at her. He had a hard enough time with English, his only language, on a good day. He hoped, not for the first time, that their baby took after her in the smarts department.