Disclaimer: I don't own anything here (except for Al and TJ) and am just doing this for fun and to pass the long months until Season 4.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and for sticking with the story for so long. The end is very definitely in sight - just one more chapter after this. :)
The next day, Al, Tim, Nicky and George all headed out to Midland to meet Angelo. He was a massive dog, taller and heavier than George. He had a black spot over his eye and then irregular black patches over his white body that looked a bit like a Holstein cow. When they met him, he was curious and sniffed each of them in turn, then sat down next to Al, leaned against her and looked up at her. Tim watched this and grinned, knowing his wife had fallen in love with the dog.
After a brief interview with the rescue volunteer, they were soon loading the dog into the way-back of the Passat and heading home. Al sat in the back seat, allegedly to watch over Nicky, since he was in close proximity to a strange, new dog. But in reality, Tim could see that she was just using it as an excuse so she to be close to her new dog.
Angelo fit into their household very well. George liked him, but also seemed to like that he went away during the day. The kids loved him and he loved them, showing endless patience, especially with Jack.
The weeks flew by as the school year ended and the babies seemed to change each day. Cody finally started walking in June and Nicky was just two weeks behind him. Al was amazed it happened so quickly, but Tim figured that Nicky just didn't want to get left behind.
Nicky was a funny kid, happy and laughing nearly all the time although he could scream when he needed to. His eyes had darkened slightly but remained two distinctly different colors. His hair had gotten straight and from white blonde to a yellow blonde.
Billy's house was finished at the end of June. He and the kids moved in right away. With school out, Tim watched all of the kids, including Noah, during the day and he loved it. He tried to make sure they were busy and doing activities instead of just sitting in front of the television.
Al was doing well at work and was pushing Billy to consider expanding into offering an auto body shop. The building across the street from the garage was for rent and she thought it would be perfect. Billy was dragging his feet because they already had more business than they knew what to do with and he needed to hire more staff. In fact, Al had been working 12-hour days and even going in on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
She was exhausted most of the time and Tim wished Billy would just hurry up and hire someone already. He hated seeing her so run down and wasn't at all surprised when she came down with a stomach bug that kept her out of work for two days. He tried to get her to stay home for a few more days to fully recover, but she wouldn't hear of it.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, they had a party to celebrate the holiday, Billy's housewarming and Tim and Al's anniversary. Coach and Tami were there along with Julie and her boyfriend, a singer/songwriter from Austin named Ethan. Tyra was also down from Austin along with Jean-Luc and his son Remy. And of course, Billy and his kids and Jay, Lyla and Noah were also there.
The party was near the dock at Jay's house, where they could take advantage of the shade, the picnic tables, and the big grassy field. After lunch, while the babies napped in travel cribs, Noah and TJ's constant begging for a football game finally wore down the adults.
Tim and Jay looked at Coach Taylor, expecting him to get things organized. He sighed and adjusted his ball cap, his jaw clenching the whole time.
"Don't stand around lookin' at me like that. All y'all who are playin', go stand over there," he finally said.
TJ, Noah and Gracie Belle all scrambled over to where he was pointing. Tim, Billy, Jay, and Al strolled over more casually. After conferring with Tyra, Jean-Luc and Remy also joined in.
"Ethan? What about you?" asked Coach, looking pointedly at Julie's boyfriend who was sitting on a lawn chair with Julie on his lap.
"Ah, no thanks, Eric. I don't play sports. They make me chafe."
"Chafe?" Coach asked incredulously and then waved his hand like he didn't really want to know.
"So, how we going to divide the teams?" asked TJ.
"I'm thinking Coach and Six have got to be the captains," said Tim.
"Is that okay with everyone else?" asked Coach Taylor, looking around at all the nodding heads. "OK, then, Jason, let's save ourselves thousands of dollars of future therapy bills and stipulate that we each are going to pick our own kids first."
Jay grinned and nodded as Gracie Belle skipped over to stand behind her father and Noah came over to stand next to him, whispering instructions about who to pick next.
"OK, Streeter, name your team and we'll negotiate," said Coach.
Jay looked around. "I'll take Al, TJ, and Remy."
"You sure? That gives you an awfully short team. I tell you what, I'll trade you Billy for TJ."
"You think Billy's going to bring up the height average?" joked Jason. "I'll stick with my original team."
"OK, then, let's play some football. Tag football, kids, just tag here."
Tyra flipped a coin and Coach's team won the toss, electing to receive. Al's kick-off was perfect and Billy managed to catch it, fumble and then recover before TJ tagged him.
In the huddle, Coach was distracted by Julie and her boyfriend.
"I tell you what, that guy doesn't get his hands off my daughter, he's gonna be picking up his teeth with broken fingers."
Billy chuckled and Coach cut him off with a sharp look. "Sure, Billy, laugh it up now. You wait about 5 or 6 years until your pretty little girl's a teenager. Then we'll see who's laughing."
"C'mon, Dad. Can we just play?" whined Gracie Belle, bringing Eric back to reality. He called a play and they broke out of the huddle. But he was still too distracted and Remy easily intercepted his off-target pass, running it in for a touchdown.
When Coach's team got the ball back, he was all business, executing a couple of running plays with Tim before setting up a perfect long pass into the end zone.
Although Tim hadn't played much defense, he knew Six like a book and was able to anticipate his plays, shutting down Street's offensive. Soon, it was fourth and long and Al was lining up to punt the ball. Instead, she tossed it over to Noah who ran up the sideline. Just as he was about to get tagged, he lateralled to Remy, who scored, mostly because Al was able to run up the field and block Tim.
On the next play, Tim lined up across from Al and noticed that she didn't look quite right. He stood up quickly, hands forming a T over his head as he shouted "Time out," then dragged Al over to the side.
"You okay, Al? You don't look so good."
She waved away his concern. "I'm fine. You're just worried because you're getting your asses kicked by a bunch of midgets and a guy in a wheelchair."
He tried to reason with her, but she was insistent that she was fine. Eventually, he had to relent and they returned to the game. Coach Taylor called for the snap and Tim burst off the line, stepping out of Al's way. She grabbed his arm and dug in her heels, but Tim easily dragged her up the field. He felt a release of pressure on his arm, took another few steps and then turned to look for the pass he was sure was coming.
He didn't see the ball, though. All he could see was Al, crumpled on the ground and not moving at all. He ran over to his side and dropped to his knees, then realized he was afraid to touch her because he had no idea what to do.
"Lyla! We need some help over here," he shouted, his voice ragged. Lyla was soon by his side, checking Al's breathing and taking her pulse.
"I'm fine," said Al, opening her eyes and struggling to sit up.
"You passed out or something," said Tim.
"Oh. I must just be dehydrated. I'll drink some Gatorade and then I'll be fine. Really. No problem."
"Al, your pulse was kind of weak and fast and your breathing's a bit shallow," said Lyla.
Al rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I was playing football, I think that's fairly normal."
Lyla looked at Tim, her big eyes begging him for a little help, but he didn't know what point Lyla was trying to make.
"With the heat, and if you are dehydrated, you should probably be worried about heat exhaustion and heat stroke," said Lyla.
Tim put his hand on Al's forehead. "You do feel like you might have a fever."
"Tim, I'm fine," she struggled into a sitting position, ignoring all help. Lyla sighed and walked away while Tim tried to think about how to convince her to get herself checked out at the hospital.
"I'm going to go get you some water. Back in a second," he said, kissing her forehead before standing up. He headed over to the coolers, which were near the picnic tables where everyone was waiting, Tami having insisted that everyone clear out and give Al some room.
"Mrs. Taylor, I was hoping you might be able to talk to Al. She's so damn stubborn," said Tim, knowing both that Tami would help and was probably the only person Al might listen to. Tami nodded solemnly, accepting the responsibility, and walked over to Al.
Tim watched as Mrs. Taylor crouched next to his wife and had an animated discussion with her. After about ten minutes, Tami looked up and motioned for Tim to come over.
"Okay, Timmy, you win. I'll go to the hospital. But, when they say there's nothing wrong with me except a little dehydration, you're going to owe me something. Something big. I haven't decided yet."
"I can live with that deal," said Tim, helping Al up. She wobbled a little and he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the truck, ignoring her protestations.
The emergency room was surprisingly quiet once again and the triage nurse whisked Al back, firmly insisting that Tim take a seat in the waiting room. Reluctantly, he headed out and sat down in an uncomfortable chair, thinking that he'd been to the hospital way too many times in the last year.
Tim had no idea how long he'd been waiting when the nurse came out and asked him to follow her. The walk down the hallway seemed to take half a lifetime, but soon he was standing next to Al's bed. She looked pale and was attached to an IV.
"Have a seat," she said with a strange smile.
Tim sat down on the edge of the chair and reached across to hold her hand.
"Um, Timmy, I'm not sure how to tell you this," she began.
"Is it something bad?" he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice and wishing she'd just spill whatever it was without any preamble.
"No, just....um, unexpected....Timmy, I'm pregnant. The doctor just told me."
Disbelief and excitement battled in the pit of his stomach while his mouth hung open comically.
"But how?" he asked, when his voice was finally working again.
Al sighed. "Remember that night – our first nearly-kid-free house – when there was that thunderstorm and you built a fire?"
"I remember," he said, smiling at the memory and the sight of Al's blushing cheeks. "Shit....I didn't even think..."
"Neither did I, at the time," she said.
"I know I don't know a lot about this kinda thing, but I thought breastfeeding was nature's birth control."
"Yeah, well, it's not all the effective, apparently."
"How far along are you?"
"No idea – they're getting the ultrasound machine in here and should have a better idea then. Could be as much as 12 or 16 weeks.....Damn, and I thought I was just getting fat from working too much and not exercising."
"I hadn't noticed."
Al smiled. "That's very sweet, and wise, of you to say."
Tim kissed her hand. "And it's seriously true."
Tim felt like he was trying to catch up with reality and Al seemed shell-shocked. The tech came in with the ultrasound machine and set it up. Soon, a hazy image was flickering on the monitor. Tim looked at it with idle curiosity, since he knew his ability to identify the baby on the screen was woeful. He knew enough to look for the heartbeat, a steady pulsing beacon in a murky sea. There it was, he thought, then frowned. Or was that it there? This had been a lot easier the last time.
"Excuse me, ma'am," asked Tim, hoping he wasn't going to sound like an ass by asking a totally stupid question. "Why does it look like there's two heartbeats?"
"Because there are," said the technician with a giant smile. "Congratulations. You're going to have twins."
Tim was unable to hide his excitement. As far as he was concerned, the only thing better than one baby was two. His excitement vanished, replaced by cold dread, when he remembered the bleeding after Nicky was born.
"Al, are you going to be able to do this? I mean, giving birth the last time nearly killed you," said Tim.
Her eyes filled with tears and Tim held his breath, unsure if they were due to fear, happiness, or sadness.
"Well, you know, they'll probably have to come out the sunroof."
"The sunroof?" asked Tim, puzzled and concerned that Al was becoming delirious or starting to hallucinate.
"Yeah, you know, a c-section," she said with grin.
"Are you happy?"
"Yeah. A little terrified, but pretty damn happy, maybe even ecstatic," said Al.
Tim kissed her. "Me too. Hell, we've been taking care of five kids the last several months. Two plus Nicky will be nothing. No sweat."
"Well, it probably won't be that easy, but I know we can handle anything together."
"We make a good team," he said as he wiped a stray tear from her cheek. His knees felt weak and his heart was racing, but he couldn't think of any news he'd rather hear or anything he'd rather do than take care of his wife and his children.