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's flight to Minnesota was on Sunday afternoon. Tim was up early on Sunday, a sort of
dread settling into him. He tried hard not to think about it, but the packed suitcase in the corner of the room made that difficult.
They didn't have to leave until noon, so he and Al took George and Nicky for a walk. It was nice, but Tim didn't seem to be able to carry on a conversation, so Al squeezed his hand and stopped trying. It was a pleasant morning, or at least as pleasant a morning as you could have under the circumstances.
At the airport, Tim left Al in the check-in line, telling her he'd be right back. He went over to the information desk, clutching a piece of paper with some details scribbled down on it. Earlier in the week, Tim had called to find out what he needed to do to be able to accompany his wife all the way back to the gate. A few minutes later, Tim left the desk with a special pass to go through security even though he wasn't a ticketed passenger.
He waited off to the side of the check-in line until Al came out, pushing the stroller and holding her tickets. Tim had insisted that she buy a seat for the baby so she'd be able to keep him in the car seat for the flights.
"You all set?" he asked.
Al nodded and they started to walk toward the security checkpoint.
"Are you sure you don't need the travel crib? I put it in the car just in case," asked Tim.
"I'm sure. My brother Mickey's got an extra crib from when they had the twins. He's already set it up at Dad's house."
Al stopped about twenty feet from the security line.
"I suppose we should say goodbye now," said Al reluctantly. She had seemed a lot more excited about this trip when it was just a plan.
Tim smiled and pulled out his pass. "I got special permission to go all the way to the gate, in case you need help."
"Timmy, how?"
"I called them a few days ago and asked what I needed to do. It was pretty easy, although I did have to make you sound a lot weaker than you actually are, so don't look too healthy, okay?"
A few minutes later, they were on the other side of security, walking to the gate. Tim insisted on staying with them until they boarded the flight, so they sat down. He took Nicky out of the stroller and held him. He was aware of Al's hand on the back of his neck and her head pressed against his arm, but they didn't really talk much.
"You should have let me drive you to Dallas. I'm worried about you changing planes," he finally said as he watched an airline employee shuffle around behind the desk, getting ready to make the boarding announcement.
"That's four hours away. You wouldn't really want to spend all day driving. And when I come back, I sure won't want to spend four hours in the car."
Tim nodded and slipped back into his pensive silence. Nicky was awake and watching him. Tim loved his eyes, their two different colors and the way they widened in surprise at nearly everything.
The intercom crackled and soon they were listening to the announcement that boarding would start soon. Tim pulled the stroller over in front of him and buckled Nicky into it. He held out his hand to Al, helped her out of her seat. She brushed the hair off his face and put her hands on his shoulders.
"The time'll go fast. You'll barely notice we're gone. Think of all the sleep you're going to get," she said, her light tone as forced as her pained smile.
"You're coming back, right?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. He hated asking it. There was no way to ask that question without sounding pathetic.
Al looked sad. Deeply and irrevocably sad. "I hate that you have to ask me that," she finally said, her voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
Tim looked down. "Sorry....it's just....."
"Timmy," she interrupted him gently. "I get why you asked it, I'm just sad for you, that you can't help but think that if someone goes away for a while, they're not coming back."
He shrugged and continued looking down at the dirty airport carpet.
"Timmy, I don't know how to break this to you, but you're kinda stuck with me. And if you're really that miserable here alone, you can always come up to Minnesota – everyone would love to see you."
Tim smiled. "I can live with being stuck with you. But I sorta need to stay here. Besides, Minnesota is freezing."
"I could keep you warm," she said with a suggestive smile.
Tim smiled and held her close, then the intercom announced the priority boarding.
Al kissed Tim before she stepped away. "That's us. You'll be fine. Just remember, no rally girls and make sure you clean up all the beer bottles before I get back."
Tim smiled, then leaned down and said goodbye to his son. He stood up slowly and walked them both over to desk. He folded his arms and watched them walk down the long hallway toward the plane, stepping away only when they were out of sight.
*** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** ****
Without Al and Nicky, the time passed quite slowly. Al called him every night and Tim looked forward to these calls, even though they always felt too short. It sounded like she was having a great time although she missed him and was considering cutting her trip short. Nothing would make him happier than to have her home sooner, but he didn't want her to regret leaving, especially since it might be a long time before she got to see her brother Charlie again.
Tim was dreading the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. He had plans to go over to Billy's on Thanksgiving for the traditional Riggins' holiday of football, pizza, and beer and he was taking TJ fishing on Saturday. Beyond that, he wasn't sure how he was going to fill all of those lonely hours.
Wednesday night, he was in the kitchen, getting another beer, when the doorbell rang. Tim looked at George, who started barking.
"Some watchdog you are. You're supposed to warn me before they get to the house," said Tim as he walked over to the door.
He pulled it open and was surprised to find Tyra standing there with a small suitcase. He felt a weird sense of reverse deja vu and resisted the urge to ask her what she was doing there, with all her stuff, right there, the way she had asked him when he'd shown up on her doorstep that time.
"Tyra?"
"Yeah, who the hell else would it be. You going to let me in or you going to stand there looking stupid?" she asked. Turned out there was a third option, which was her pushing past him into the house before he could say a word.
"Where's Al?" she asked, looking around like she might be hiding behind the furniture or something.
"Minnesota," said Tim as he closed the door.
"Are you kidding me?"
Tim shook his head, unsure why Tyra thought he'd joke about something like that.
"Well, shit. She invited me here for Thanksgiving."
"Sorry about that – when did she ask you?"
"Like the beginning of October."
"Shit....yeah, she decided two weeks ago that she needed to go to Minnesota. Charlie's moving to Singapore for a while. She must have forgot about inviting you – she calls it Mommy Brain – forgetting stuff all the time."
"It happens a lot then?" Tyra asked, sitting down on the couch in the living room.
Tim shrugged. "Yeah....well, like not excessively, but the lack of sleep will do it to you. You want a beer or something?"
"Nah, I should probably drive back to Austin. If I leave now, I'll be there before midnight."
"You can still stay. We have the guest room – I can even put clean sheets on the bed."
"Mmm, tempting, but no."
"The kids would love to see you. Amber talks about you all the time."
"I'm not cooking dinner for y'all tomorrow," Tyra warned.
Tim rolled his eyes. "We don't expect you to. That's what Dominos is for."
"And you promise the sheets are clean?"
"Yes, Tyra, I promise," said Tim, beginning to regret encouraging her to stay.
"Okay, why don't you get me that beer then?"
Tim went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of beers, then returned to the living room.
"So....how are you doing?" Tim asked.
Tyra shrugged. "I'm still alive, still putting one foot in front of the other. That's all you can hope for some days."
"Is that a Collette saying? Al says nearly the same thing."
"No. I think it's just the universal mantra of shit magnets everywhere," Tyra took a sip of beer and looked around the room. "How's Billy doing?"
"Okay, I think. Kind of. Hard to tell, really," said Tim, aware that he wasn't making a lot of sense. He wasn't sure what to say to Tyra, how much he could or should tell her, but then he realized that Amber or TJ might mention day they had to walk to school.
"There was a small.....incident. Billy had a really hard time a few weeks ago when he realized it was the day he proposed....he forgot to take the younger kids to day care and TJ and Amber walked to school. It was fine, everyone was fine, and the kids all spent the night at our house to give Billy a chance to pull himself together."
Tyra sighed. "He's lucky I don't live here. I would have totally kicked his ass."
"I knew you would. But that's not what he needs right now. He's doing fine and we're looking out for the kids. Everything's going to be fine," said Tim, not sure who he was trying to convince more – Tyra or himself.