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.
Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the ideas and encouragement. A lot of things have fallen into place in my head, although I still have a few things to figure out. But the good news is, I can at least move with purpose in the right direction. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the story.
When Tim came out of the shower, he felt much better and alert than he had for awhile. He sat down on the couch. Al came over carrying both Nicky and a blanket. She was wearing a robe and when she sat down, he could see the spot on her leg where they'd inserted the tube. It was starting to bruise.
"Does that hurt?" he asked, lightly tracing the outline of the bruise.
"Believe me, even if it did, it would be the least of my worries right now," she told him with a smile.
He still didn't really understand how that procedure worked, but since it seemed to have done the job, he was happy. Tim took Nicky and held him close as Al got comfortable, leaning in against him and snuggling down under the blanket.
"It's freezing in here," she complained.
Tim felt her forehead to make sure that it wasn't clammy, since the last time she complained about being cold was just before she passed out.
"I'm fine, Timmy. Really. They fixed me right up."
A knock at the door caused Tim to stand up with a certain feeling of dread, since the last person who'd knocked had been Lyla with the news about the accident. Tim blinked and tried to process what he was seeing – Coach and Mrs. Taylor walking through the door with bags from the Alamo Freeze. Coach came over and shook Tim's hand, clapping him on the back in that way men do to express support.
"Jason called us, told us what all was going on and said y'all might need a little help," Coach explained.
"We brought some lunch – figured you'd probably be needing something decent to eat at this point," said Mrs. Taylor.
"Thanks, Tami. I was just about to try to send Tim out for something. I don't think either of us has eaten anything in about a day."
"Tim, I'll trade you a burger for your baby," said Mrs, Taylor with one of her charming smiles.
"Now see, that's just playing dirty, Mrs. Taylor. That's not hardly a fair trade at all," said Tim as he handed Nicky over. "You will give him back though, right?"
"I'll try my best," she promised. "But he just might be too adorable."
Tami and Al started to talk about things that Tim really didn't want to hear about when he was eating, so he took his lunch across the room and sat down at the table. Coach followed him and sat down with a sheepish smile.
"There's some things I don't want to know too much about, you know what I mean?" asked Coach.
Tim nodded. He ate his burger quickly, his body hungry even though he was past feeling it and couldn't seem to taste anything. He texted a quick thank-you to Six, thinking that only Jason would know how to help when he was hundreds of miles away.
The sun coming in through the window gave the room a warm glow and he could nearly forget that anything bad had happened. Until he looked up and saw Officer Clarke standing awkwardly in the doorway. From the look on his face, Tim didn't think this was just a social visit to see the new baby.
"Son, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Mindy didn't make it," said the officer.
Tim felt like the breath had been knocked right out of him.
"Billy?" he asked and even he wasn't sure if he was asking if his brother was okay or if he had been told.
"Still in surgery, as far as I know, so I came down here. Technically, I probably shouldn't be doing this, but....." He let the sentence trail off.
"What would usually happen?" asked Al, who was now standing beside Tim, holding her bathrobe tightly around her.
"I'd contact the police in Austin and they'd tell Tyra."
"If that's what you need to do – I don't want you to get in trouble, but do you think you can make sure Landry is with them? She's all alone out there and no one should be alone when they hear something like that," said Al.
Tim was so relieved that Al was able to handle this. He wasn't sure he could talk about anything, let alone make decisions right now. Officer Clark said a few more things that Tim didn't catch before he left.
"Timmy?" asked Al.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said, even though he wasn't completely sure it was the truth.
"We need to call Celia to ask her to stay longer, but I don't think we should say what's going on quite yet."
"Celia?" The name was familiar, but Tim couldn't place it.
"You know, the babysitter."
"Yeah....could you do that...please?"
Tim didn't want to talk to anyone or think about what was happening or how he felt. Because he felt like the world was crashing down around him and that as sad as he was to hear about Mindy, a selfish part of him had been relieved that it hadn't been bad news about Billy.
The phone conversation and condolences from the Taylors were just a distant buzz in his ears. His thoughts were spinning and he couldn't seem to focus on anything.
"Is there anything we can do for y'all?" asked Tami when Al was off the phone. "You need a babyitter, groceries, anything?"
"Actually, could you stay here with Al? I want to go try to see what's going on with Billy?" asked Tim.
"Of course," said Tami.
"Tim, you mind if I come with you? I'm sure they're going to be talking about some more stuff that I don't need to hear," said Coach.
Tim shrugged and hung his head, his hair hiding his face. He wasn't sure he really wanted that but he also knew he didn't want to be alone. He wished that Al could go with him, but he didn't want her leaving the watchful eyes of the nurses, who had been coming in at least twice an hour to check on her.
Coach nodded like it was all settled and headed for the door, Tim trailing behind him, trying to figure out what he was going to say to his brother.