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.

Two weeks before the baby was due, a crashing sound woke Tim up around 6 am. He rolled over to see if it had also woken Al, but the bed was empty. A little alarmed, he jumped out of bed and went to investigate.

He found Al in the kitchen, looking down at the floor, which was now littered with baking trays, pie tins, and cake pans.

"Sorry, Timmy. I didn't mean to wake you. I was just organizing the cupboards and I got a little clumsy and knocked all this mess onto the floor."

Tim scratched his head as he yawned. "Let me get those for you."

He picked the pans off the floor and put them in the cupboard. Then he looked around. The kitchen was spotless, even the windows were gleaming.

"How long have you been awake?"

Al shrugged. "I don't know, maybe three hours."

Tim put one hand on her belly and rubbed her back with the other, as Al leaned into him. "You having those not-labor contractions, whatever they're called?"

"Actually, Timmy, I think this might be the real deal."

"Seriously? But your due date is still a couple of weeks away." If Tim had been half-asleep before, this news had completely woken him up.

"I'm about 38 weeks. Anything can happen after 37 and still be considered pretty much full-term."

"Should we go to the hospital now?" Tim's mind raced as he thought about all stuff they needed to do. They hadn't even packed her bag yet.

Al laughed. "No, we've got awhile yet. I don't want to go until the last possible minute. You spend too much time in the hospital and they get to wanting to do all sorts of medical things to you – shoot you full of drugs and 'intervene'."

"I thought that was the whole point of picking this hospital, that it has that special birthing center" Tim had struggled to understand Al's decision to deliver at the hospital that was 20 miles away instead of the one in Dillon.

"Yeah, it's a birth center, but it's still attached to a hospital and they can transfer you to the hospital part. And I really don't want that."

"OK then, so what do we do?" asked Tim, remembering Billy's advice to just do whatever Al said.

"You go get dressed. I'm going to make some pancakes," Al said as she stepped back and gave him a gentle shove.

"I can make them. You should probably sit down." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were a mistake.

Al sighed. "It's going to be a long day if you play it like that, you know?"

Tim was about to reply when Al suddenly breathed sharply, her hands going to her bump. Tim looked at her with wide eyes.

"Just a little contraction, Timmy. I'm fine. Next one will probably be in about ten minutes or so," she said, looking at the clock.

Tim felt like he was going against every instinct he had as he forced himself to relax. "OK, I'll get dressed and get the stopwatch."

"You bought a stopwatch?" Al giggled.

Tim shrugged and looked a little sheepish. "Yeah. I figure I can use it to time the kid in the 40 later."

"Wow, Timmy, it's not like you to think that far ahead. You really are becoming a father." Al smiled and turned away to begin preparing the pancakes.

After Tim had gotten dressed and found the stopwatch, he returned to the kitchen to find Al putting two plates of pancakes on the table. He sat down and smiled at her.

"Oh, I texted Coach to let him know I wouldn't be able to golf with him today. He texted back and said that he hoped you were well and that the little fullback or kicker was born healthy."

Al grinned. "I'm going to call Charlie later. Even though New York is two hours ahead of us, it's still too early. God only knows what he got up to last night."

Tim was looking forward to seeing Charlie, who was planning to visit after the baby was born. He was Al's favorite brother, the one who was only ten months older than her, and he was always good for funny stories about Al when she was growing up.

"Yeah, Billy's in Midland for his birthday this weekend, but I was going to call him soon-ish."

"Leave it 'til after the baby's born. I don't want to interrupt their weekend and knowing Billy, he'd probably come back here."

"You think so?" asked Tim.

"I know it. He'd do anything for you."

After breakfast, they got Al's bag packed and prepared the Passat. Tim found it hard to believe that soon, they would be strapping their baby into the car seat in the backseat.

When they were done with the preparations, Al wanted to play Scrabble and Tim reluctantly agreed. He understood that she wanted to keep her mind occupied, but he was hardly a challenge to her, even when she spotted him 50 points and didn't challenge his obviously made-up words.

It took them nearly three hours to play the game, since Tim was slow and Al had to pause to let the contractions pass. Al ended up winning by 150 points.

"Thank, Timmy, I know that's not your favorite game," said Al as she picked up the tiles off the board and dropped them in a scarlet drawstring bag.

"It's okay," said Tim "I really didn't mind that much. I wouldn't want to play you every day though. That would get depressing."

"Or maybe you'd get better at it. You're not dumb."

Tim shrugged and finished packing the game back into its box. He returned it to the high shelf in the linen closet.

"Let's take George for a walk," said Al as she stood up.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like that. Poor dog's whole world is going to change soon. Where do you want to go?" Tim looked down at his dog, who had been sleeping but perked up when he heard his name and his favorite word.

"I'd like to walk out to the cabin, but we should probably stay closer to home. I'm going to need access to the bathroom. I am so looking forward to not having to pee every five minutes," said Al.

Outside, they headed up the new road toward where Jason and Lyla would build their house. Six had told Tim that they were going to start construction soon, the builder had had a project fall through, and it looked like they could be in the new house by Christmas.

Al stopped suddenly and Tim could tell that she'd just had another contraction. They were closer together and getting stronger and longer, but she was still insisting it was too soon to go to the hospital.

"Distract me," she said, when she was able to speak again.

"OK.....All Time Fantasy Football Dream Team, starting offense. Go," he told her with a smile. They often played variations of this game, her favorite being Fantasy Hockey, but Tim was at a severe disadvantage in that sport.

"Dan Marino."

"He's just a pretty boy," scoffed Tim.

"Over 60,000 yards career passing says otherwise."

"Yeah, but no Superbowl rings."

"OK, then who's your pick?"

"I'm torn between Peyton Manning and John Elway."

Al breathed a fake sigh of relief. "For a minute, I thought you were going to go for Brett Favre just to wind me up."

"Nah, Minnesota, I know better than that."

They reached the lake and Al stopped to look longingly at the water.

"I'd really like to go for a swim," she said.

Tim held his breath, unsure of how he'd talk her out of that one if her mind was really made up.

"Relax, Timmy. I know it's not a good idea. I'm not stupid, just a bit stubborn."

"A bit?" Tim tilted his head to the side and raised one eyebrow.

"A teeny tiny bit." Al grinned.

They turned back and walked home, talking Fantasy Football all the way. The day was comfortably warm and Tim was enjoying this time with Al more than he expected. She was relaxed and comfortable and just seemed to know what she was about.

When they got home, she wanted to sit under the cottonwood tree, which they did until the contractions were four minutes apart and Al was having a hard time concentrating on anything else. Tim put George in the outside run with some water and called Lauren to ask her to feed the dog in the evening and morning. Then he helped Al into the car and headed for the hospital, trying not to break too many traffic laws on the way.