The Funeral - Chapter 3
Title: The Funeral: Chapter 3
Authors: shelbecat and rachel_wilder
Rating: T (aka PG-13)
Summary: Continuing from Reunion and The Wedding, we follow our characters through the highs and lows of a five year span until we reach The Funeral.
The Funeral
Chapter 3
April, 2020
Tim held a screw between his lips as he drilled another pilot hole into the cabinet he was installing. Another fine job by Riggins Interiors. It had taken a few years, and ultimately a sizeable investment on Tyra's part, but Tim finally had his own company-installing cabinetry and lighting in upscale homes throughout Nashville. Being his own boss felt great. It gave him a lot more hours to work, but it was worth it.
His cell phone rang in his pocket and he fished it out, mumbling around the nail still in his mouth. "M-ello?"
"Do you remember Dad?"
Tim sat up quickly, knocking his head against the countertop as he did. "Billy?"
Billy repeated his question, oblivious to Tim's confusion. "Do you remember Dad, Tim?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Why?" Billy called him at least once a day, and usually it was about things as mundane as what flavor of ice cream he should choose, but their father had never been a topic of conversation. Why now all of a sudden?
"Because I don't remember him and that lady says I should."
Tim stood up now, pressing his phone tighter to his ear. "What lady? Did someone talk to you about Dad?"
"That lady that was here. Dad's wife. She said I should go see Dad, but I don't remember him. I don't want to see someone I don't remember."
Tim's stomach churned. Walt was remarried? And his wife was in Dillon harassing Billy?
"Is she still there?" Tim asked, grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter.
"No, but we can call her. She wrote her number down for me and everything."
"Hang on, Billy. Don't do anything. I'll drive down, okay? I won't get there until tomorrow morning, but…just sit tight. I'll take care of it."
"Okay," Billy replied. He was quiet for a minute, then his voice came back over the line. "Tim? If she's Dad's wife, does that mean I have to call her Mom?"
Tim slammed the door of his truck and peeled out of the driveway. Whoever this lady was, he was going to find her and set her straight. Walt's wife or not; she had better leave him and Billy alone.
"Julie, hon, will you be home for dinner tonight?"
Tami called down the hallway to her daughter's room. It still felt odd to think of it as 'Julie's room'. This was a new house for her and Eric, one they'd only been moved into for a week when Julie had shown up on their doorstep in Austin. That was a few weeks after Christmas. A few weeks after Julie had left her husband and kids without so much as a note.
Tami had suspected post-partum depression, even before Julie went as far as to run out on them. But it only took one look at her daughter, standing there on their doorstep in a strange city, to know she was desperate for help. And they had helped her as much as they could. Julie was seeing a doctor regularly, and had started volunteering at a local school after leaving her teaching job behind in Dillon.
Now, if only Tami could get Julie to make an attempt at reconciliation with Matt….
"Julie," she called again, knocking softly on Julie's bedroom door. When there was no answer, she pushed the door open. Julie's bed was still made; it hadn't been slept in…again.
"Eric!" Tami yelled as she stormed back down the hallway to the living room. "I would like you to have a chat with your daughter, please!"
Her husband looked up from his newspaper, heavy crease lines in his forehead. "Something new I should be discussing, or just the same old?"
Tami sighed, pushing her hair off her face with her hands. Julie was an adult, Tami knew that, but how did you stand by and watch your daughter throw away her marriage and not say anything?
"What are we going to do with her?" she asked Eric.
Eric lowered the newspaper and smiled gently at her. "We could lock her in her room. Ground her. Did either of those things work back in high school?"
Her husband-ever the jokester. She wasn't in the mood to joke about Julie, but then…was there really any point in arguing about it?
Their conversation was interrupted as the front door opened and Julie walked in.
"Morning," she said sleepily, barely glancing in her parent's direction.
Tami waited quietly while Julie walked down the hallway, then raced to the front window. A car was just pulling out of the Taylor's driveway.
"It's him again, Eric! She's dating that teacher. I told you volunteering at that school was a bad idea."
Eric's strong hands massaged her shoulders as he came to stand behind her. "Weren't you the one that encouraged her to get out of the house?"
"Yes, but I didn't want her to sleep with another man! She's married!"
Eric frowned, looking past Tami out the front window.
Tami closed her eyes, feeling every one of her years weighing down on her. She had to talk to Julie. It was time for some tough love. If she wanted to date another man…well, that's not what Tami wanted at all, but Matt deserved to know. And Julie should be the one to tell him.
Walking surely down the hallway, Tami paused in the open doorway to Julie's room. There was a suitcase open on the bed, one that hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Julie emerged from the closet then holding an armload of clothes.
"Going somewhere, honey?" Tami asked.
Julie smiled, walking back to the closet for another pile of clothing. "It's time," she said. She looked up at her mother and there were tears shining in her eyes. "I broke it off with Paul. I'm going back to Dillon. Tonight."
"Oh honey," Tami said, walking over to gather Julie in a hug. "Have you talked to Matt?"
"No, I want to surprise him."
"Oh, that's nice." Tami bit her lip nervously. Matt had called the Taylor's house pretty regularly when Julie first showed up there, but she had never taken his calls. And eventually he had stopped calling. Now it was only when Tami called to check on her grandbabies that she spoke with Matt, and usually the topic of Julie was off limits.
"Are you sure you shouldn't call? Make sure he's home?"
"Mom, where is he going to be? And if he's out, I'll wait. Besides, I still have a key!"
Nothing could deter Julie from her plans, and Tami was happy that she was going back to Dillon. She just wasn't sure Julie's old life was at home just waiting for her to jump back into it.
Smash gripped two coffee cups in his hands and checked the arrivals board one more time. The flight from New York had landed 20 minutes ago. Kevin should be here by now.
He paced over to the doors leading to the luggage carousels, then back to check the arrivals screen again. The frosted glass doors slid open and a family with two young kids exited. Smash was turning around to check the board once more time when the family stepped aside and he saw a lone figure standing behind them.
It was Kevin.
Smash couldn’t hide the smile that broke across his face. He stood frozen like a statue as Kevin made his way over to Smash. What was he going to say? They hadn't seen each other in months. Would things still be the same?
Kevin stopped right in front of Smash and grinned. "Not even going to help a guy with his luggage? Classy, Williams."
Reaching out with the two coffees still in his hands, Smash pulled Kevin into a hug. God, he'd missed this man. It had been too long. Far too long.
Matt reached across the stove to turn down the element, then grabbed the pot with one hand while reaching for the pasta strainer with the other. In his high chair, Andrew was wailing for his bottle, and EJ had plastered himself to one of Matt's legs.
"Look Daddy, I'm a koala bear!"
"That's good, EJ," Matt replied absently, pouring the pasta into the strainer and reaching back to make sure the sauce didn't scorch on the stove. He plucked Andrew's bottle out of the warmer and dabbed a few drops of formula on his wrist. Too hot. Shit.
"Okay, buddy, okay," Matt said as he shuffled across the kitchen and picked Andrew up in his arms. Half dragging EJ with him, he made his way over to the fridge and laid the bottle of formula back inside. "Almost ready, Andrew. Hang on."
The baby whimpered and grabbed at Matt's shirt for attention. Trying to ignore the chaos around him, Matt served up a plate of pasta for himself and a small plastic bowl full for EJ and made two trips to the table to lay everything out. Then he reached back in the fridge for the bottle, praying it hadn't gotten too cold at this point.
"Okay, EJ, up in your chair." Still holding Andrew, Matt helped EJ into his high chair and buckled him in. He was a pro at one-handed tasks now. He could fold a load of laundry and read a storybook, all while rocking Andrew to sleep. Super-Dad.
Except why did he feel like he was going to fall over from exhaustion? Sinking down into his chair, Matt nestled Andrew in the crook of his arm and placed the bottle in the baby's open mouth. He picked up EJ's fork and put a bite in the child's mouth, then switched forks and ate a bite of his own food.
Then there was a knock on the door.
Before he could stand, the front door opened slowly and Matt caught his breath. He hadn't seen Julie in almost four months. Hadn't spoken to her other than once when he'd called Tami to ask for a recipe and Julie had answered the phone. And yet, here she was, her blonde hair longer than he remembered, standing in their hallway.
"Hi," Julie said quietly.
"Mama!" EJ cried, shooting his arms up in the air, a fistful of spaghetti flying back to land on the cupboards.
Julie grinned as she walked over to EJ, her eyes seeking out permission from Matt as she moved. Matt didn't say anything. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She'd left him with two small children without a word or a note and now it was as if nothing had happened. She was back.
"Julie," Matt said quietly, her name foreign on his lips. "What are you doing here?"
Julie had taken EJ out of his high chair and was hugging him to her chest. "I missed you," she said simply. "I'm ready to come home."
Matt nodded, but didn't respond. She was ready to come home; but was he ready to let her?
Lyla looked down at her ringing cell phone. The display said "undisclosed" but she knew that meant it was the clinic calling.
She wasn't sure she could answer the phone and hear bad news again. She had known that doing the in vitro fertilization was not going to be easy, but she had no idea how hard it would be-how devastating it was to do in the IVF and then wait for two weeks only to find out that it hadn't worked again. The message boards that had offered her so much support at the beginning now seemed to be mocking her as more and more women seemed to be getting pregnant and having healthy babies.
Everyone except her and Jason.
"Hello," she said as she finally answered the phone. "This is Lyla Street."
She listened to the nurse give her the results. She felt a cold wave wash over her.
"Just tell me," Lyla said as she sat across from the nurse at the fertility clinic.
The nurse tried to look sympathetic. "I'm really sorry, Lyla. Maybe next…"
Lyla stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. "Yeah, I know-maybe next time. Well, maybe there won't be a next time."
She turned and headed out the door. As she strode into the waiting room, the door opened and Jason wheeled in.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized.
"Yeah, well, it really doesn't matter," Lyla said as she walked past him.
Jason pivoted his chair and pushed to follow her through the door before it closed again.
"Lyla, wait," he called after her.
She paused at the elevator, her hand resting just above the button she needed to press to call the car. She turned and looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. "I know it's the damned hormones, but I just can't stand feeling like this anymore."
"So, let's take a break," Jason said. "We've been doing this for almost six months and let's just take a break."
"I want to give you a baby," Lyla said, her voice choking with the tears she couldn't stop.
"Well, I want to have a baby with you," Jason replied. "You don't need to give me anything-you've given me enough with your love."
Lyla raised her hand to cover her mouth and began to cry harder. Jason pushed his chair closer and took her other hand in his.
"We'll just take a little break," Jason said. "Let's get away and relax and remember what our life used to be like."
Lyla nodded. It would be good to get away. They needed a break.
"Okay, yes, I understand," Lyla said as the nurse finished. She finished the call and snapped her phone close.
She needed to find Jason.
Tim walked up the steps to Billy's house-the group home he'd moved into when Tim had moved to Nashville to live with Tyra and Jake. It had been too long since he'd visited; not since Christmas. But Billy didn't seem to mind, and Tim had been busy with work.
"Hey, Phil," Tim said as he greeted one of the staff members.
"Well, well, Tim Riggins. You're not planning on sneaking Billy out for a little late night trip down memory lane, are you?"
Tim grinned and shook his head. Phil had worked at the rehab center when Jason was there so many years ago. He was never going to let Tim forget kidnapping Jason one night for a trip out to the lake.
"If I do, I'll make sure you're not working, deal?" Tim replied.
Phil laughed, but then his smile faded quickly. "You here to see Billy?"
Tim nodded, suddenly worried that something else had happened since Billy's phone call yesterday.
"I'm real sorry about that woman. She said she was married to your father, and I just assumed she was family."
"You talked to her?" Tim asked, surprised.
"Uh, yeah, when she arrived this morning. I left her and Billy in the back room, only for a minute, but when I came out Billy was yelling at her and she was just standing there."
God damn it. "Is she still here?"
"I told her to leave, but then Billy told her you were coming and she said she'd wait outside. You must have passed her on the way in."
Behind them, the front door to the group home opened and a woman entered.
Phil nodded before Tim could even ask. "Yep, that's her."
Tim turned to the woman standing near the front door.
"Hi, I'm Anne." She smiled hesitantly and held out her hand. "You're Billy's brother, right? Tim? You look just like your pictures."
Tim ignored her hand. "You should leave now."
"Wait, please, I just wanted to talk to you and Billy. I didn't know he was…"
"Was what? Retarded? Slow? Good ol' Walt never told you about the accident that turned Billy's brain to mush?"
Tim was fuming. He couldn't believe he was unleashing on a total stranger, but he still carried so much anger where their father was concerned. It wasn't healthy.
"No, I…I knew, but I thought…"
Anne looked honestly shamed to have caused so much trouble, but Tim didn't care about her feelings. He just wanted her, and Walt, to leave him and Billy alone.
"Your father didn't want me to come. He said it was better to leave you boys alone, but I had to try. He's sick, Tim. Really sick. The doctors don't give him much longer and I just thought…"
"You thought what? That harassing Billy would make us forgive him? Walt sure as hell didn't care about Billy when he got hurt. So why the hell should we give a damn what happens to him now?" Tim didn't care if their father was sick or dying or wanted one last shot at redemption. Walt had made his choice a long time ago. Tim was just holding him to it.
Behind him, Tim heard Billy's voice as he entered the room. "Timmy?"
Tim turned and saw Billy staring at him with a look that put all the problems of the world in Tim's hands. Like Tim was the guy that could fix anything. Like Tim was his father who took care of everything.
He turned back to Anne briefly. "Billy and I don't have a father. And you should leave before we call the cops." He walked past Phil to where Billy was standing and led his brother out of the room. He wasn't going to let painful memories of the past ruin his impromptu visit with Billy. They would have a good time, just the two of them. As far as Tim was concerned, Walt Riggins did not exist.
Jason looked at his computer screen and sighed. The caterer had written down the wrong date for their big gala event and was telling him now that they would not be able to do the event, which was happening in two weeks. He reached for the phone to call and see if they had a recommendation for another vendor when there was a tap on his door.
"You busy?" his wife said as she stuck her head in his office.
Jason set the phone receiver back down. "Not with anything that can't wait while I talk to my lovely wife."
Lyla crossed the room and leaned down to kiss Jason lightly on the lips. She walked back in front of his desk and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
"So, do you have any plans for next Valentine's Day?" she asked as she slid her right leg over her left.
"Not that I know," Jason replied. "Are we going somewhere special?"
Lyla smiled and leaned forward. "How about the hospital?"
Jason looked at her, a look of confusion on his face. "That sounds romantic," he said slowly.
The smile grew larger on Lyla's face. "Oh, I think you'll like the trip."
Jason wracked his brain trying to figure out what that angle was, what Lyla was teasing him with…
They were having a baby.
"Are you sure?" he asked Lyla.
She nodded, still smiling at him.
"Get over here," he instructed her.
Lyla crossed back over to him and gently sat down on his lap. He slid his right hand up on her abdomen, sliding down over where their baby was growing.
"A baby," he said as she laid her hand over his.
"A baby," she replied.
At last.
Four Years Later
Jason pushed open the door to the bathroom. Lyla was sitting on the closed toilet seat, the small piece of plastic in her hands-a scene they had repeated now more times than he was willing to remember.
"Lyla?" he asked as he slowly advanced across the room. He didn't want to ask, but he knew he had to.
She looked up at him, her hair falling away from her face. The tears were brimming in her eyes. He could tell she was trying everything in her power to not begin to cry.
Lyla held the test stick up so he could see.
So. That was it.
He pushed toward her, then stopped as the phone rang in the background.
"You should get that-it's early, so it must be something important," Lyla said, her voice devoid of any emotion.
They couldn't continue this way. They just couldn't. He picked up the phone.
"Hello," he said. "Yes, this is Jason Street."
He set the phone down a few minutes later, looking at the notes he had hastily scratched on the paper. His handwriting was barely legible under the best of circumstances. But they would have to be able to decipher his notes.
Because the unthinkable had happened.
/tbc/
Disclaimer: All characters who appear in these stories belong to their respective creators, including Imagine Entertainment, NBC Universal Television Studio and Film 44.
Authors' Note: Thanks once again to our beta, devilc.
Authors: shelbecat and rachel_wilder
Rating: T (aka PG-13)
Summary: Continuing from Reunion and The Wedding, we follow our characters through the highs and lows of a five year span until we reach The Funeral.
The Funeral
Chapter 3
April, 2020
Tim held a screw between his lips as he drilled another pilot hole into the cabinet he was installing. Another fine job by Riggins Interiors. It had taken a few years, and ultimately a sizeable investment on Tyra's part, but Tim finally had his own company-installing cabinetry and lighting in upscale homes throughout Nashville. Being his own boss felt great. It gave him a lot more hours to work, but it was worth it.
His cell phone rang in his pocket and he fished it out, mumbling around the nail still in his mouth. "M-ello?"
"Do you remember Dad?"
Tim sat up quickly, knocking his head against the countertop as he did. "Billy?"
Billy repeated his question, oblivious to Tim's confusion. "Do you remember Dad, Tim?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Why?" Billy called him at least once a day, and usually it was about things as mundane as what flavor of ice cream he should choose, but their father had never been a topic of conversation. Why now all of a sudden?
"Because I don't remember him and that lady says I should."
Tim stood up now, pressing his phone tighter to his ear. "What lady? Did someone talk to you about Dad?"
"That lady that was here. Dad's wife. She said I should go see Dad, but I don't remember him. I don't want to see someone I don't remember."
Tim's stomach churned. Walt was remarried? And his wife was in Dillon harassing Billy?
"Is she still there?" Tim asked, grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter.
"No, but we can call her. She wrote her number down for me and everything."
"Hang on, Billy. Don't do anything. I'll drive down, okay? I won't get there until tomorrow morning, but…just sit tight. I'll take care of it."
"Okay," Billy replied. He was quiet for a minute, then his voice came back over the line. "Tim? If she's Dad's wife, does that mean I have to call her Mom?"
Tim slammed the door of his truck and peeled out of the driveway. Whoever this lady was, he was going to find her and set her straight. Walt's wife or not; she had better leave him and Billy alone.
"Julie, hon, will you be home for dinner tonight?"
Tami called down the hallway to her daughter's room. It still felt odd to think of it as 'Julie's room'. This was a new house for her and Eric, one they'd only been moved into for a week when Julie had shown up on their doorstep in Austin. That was a few weeks after Christmas. A few weeks after Julie had left her husband and kids without so much as a note.
Tami had suspected post-partum depression, even before Julie went as far as to run out on them. But it only took one look at her daughter, standing there on their doorstep in a strange city, to know she was desperate for help. And they had helped her as much as they could. Julie was seeing a doctor regularly, and had started volunteering at a local school after leaving her teaching job behind in Dillon.
Now, if only Tami could get Julie to make an attempt at reconciliation with Matt….
"Julie," she called again, knocking softly on Julie's bedroom door. When there was no answer, she pushed the door open. Julie's bed was still made; it hadn't been slept in…again.
"Eric!" Tami yelled as she stormed back down the hallway to the living room. "I would like you to have a chat with your daughter, please!"
Her husband looked up from his newspaper, heavy crease lines in his forehead. "Something new I should be discussing, or just the same old?"
Tami sighed, pushing her hair off her face with her hands. Julie was an adult, Tami knew that, but how did you stand by and watch your daughter throw away her marriage and not say anything?
"What are we going to do with her?" she asked Eric.
Eric lowered the newspaper and smiled gently at her. "We could lock her in her room. Ground her. Did either of those things work back in high school?"
Her husband-ever the jokester. She wasn't in the mood to joke about Julie, but then…was there really any point in arguing about it?
Their conversation was interrupted as the front door opened and Julie walked in.
"Morning," she said sleepily, barely glancing in her parent's direction.
Tami waited quietly while Julie walked down the hallway, then raced to the front window. A car was just pulling out of the Taylor's driveway.
"It's him again, Eric! She's dating that teacher. I told you volunteering at that school was a bad idea."
Eric's strong hands massaged her shoulders as he came to stand behind her. "Weren't you the one that encouraged her to get out of the house?"
"Yes, but I didn't want her to sleep with another man! She's married!"
Eric frowned, looking past Tami out the front window.
Tami closed her eyes, feeling every one of her years weighing down on her. She had to talk to Julie. It was time for some tough love. If she wanted to date another man…well, that's not what Tami wanted at all, but Matt deserved to know. And Julie should be the one to tell him.
Walking surely down the hallway, Tami paused in the open doorway to Julie's room. There was a suitcase open on the bed, one that hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Julie emerged from the closet then holding an armload of clothes.
"Going somewhere, honey?" Tami asked.
Julie smiled, walking back to the closet for another pile of clothing. "It's time," she said. She looked up at her mother and there were tears shining in her eyes. "I broke it off with Paul. I'm going back to Dillon. Tonight."
"Oh honey," Tami said, walking over to gather Julie in a hug. "Have you talked to Matt?"
"No, I want to surprise him."
"Oh, that's nice." Tami bit her lip nervously. Matt had called the Taylor's house pretty regularly when Julie first showed up there, but she had never taken his calls. And eventually he had stopped calling. Now it was only when Tami called to check on her grandbabies that she spoke with Matt, and usually the topic of Julie was off limits.
"Are you sure you shouldn't call? Make sure he's home?"
"Mom, where is he going to be? And if he's out, I'll wait. Besides, I still have a key!"
Nothing could deter Julie from her plans, and Tami was happy that she was going back to Dillon. She just wasn't sure Julie's old life was at home just waiting for her to jump back into it.
Smash gripped two coffee cups in his hands and checked the arrivals board one more time. The flight from New York had landed 20 minutes ago. Kevin should be here by now.
He paced over to the doors leading to the luggage carousels, then back to check the arrivals screen again. The frosted glass doors slid open and a family with two young kids exited. Smash was turning around to check the board once more time when the family stepped aside and he saw a lone figure standing behind them.
It was Kevin.
Smash couldn’t hide the smile that broke across his face. He stood frozen like a statue as Kevin made his way over to Smash. What was he going to say? They hadn't seen each other in months. Would things still be the same?
Kevin stopped right in front of Smash and grinned. "Not even going to help a guy with his luggage? Classy, Williams."
Reaching out with the two coffees still in his hands, Smash pulled Kevin into a hug. God, he'd missed this man. It had been too long. Far too long.
Matt reached across the stove to turn down the element, then grabbed the pot with one hand while reaching for the pasta strainer with the other. In his high chair, Andrew was wailing for his bottle, and EJ had plastered himself to one of Matt's legs.
"Look Daddy, I'm a koala bear!"
"That's good, EJ," Matt replied absently, pouring the pasta into the strainer and reaching back to make sure the sauce didn't scorch on the stove. He plucked Andrew's bottle out of the warmer and dabbed a few drops of formula on his wrist. Too hot. Shit.
"Okay, buddy, okay," Matt said as he shuffled across the kitchen and picked Andrew up in his arms. Half dragging EJ with him, he made his way over to the fridge and laid the bottle of formula back inside. "Almost ready, Andrew. Hang on."
The baby whimpered and grabbed at Matt's shirt for attention. Trying to ignore the chaos around him, Matt served up a plate of pasta for himself and a small plastic bowl full for EJ and made two trips to the table to lay everything out. Then he reached back in the fridge for the bottle, praying it hadn't gotten too cold at this point.
"Okay, EJ, up in your chair." Still holding Andrew, Matt helped EJ into his high chair and buckled him in. He was a pro at one-handed tasks now. He could fold a load of laundry and read a storybook, all while rocking Andrew to sleep. Super-Dad.
Except why did he feel like he was going to fall over from exhaustion? Sinking down into his chair, Matt nestled Andrew in the crook of his arm and placed the bottle in the baby's open mouth. He picked up EJ's fork and put a bite in the child's mouth, then switched forks and ate a bite of his own food.
Then there was a knock on the door.
Before he could stand, the front door opened slowly and Matt caught his breath. He hadn't seen Julie in almost four months. Hadn't spoken to her other than once when he'd called Tami to ask for a recipe and Julie had answered the phone. And yet, here she was, her blonde hair longer than he remembered, standing in their hallway.
"Hi," Julie said quietly.
"Mama!" EJ cried, shooting his arms up in the air, a fistful of spaghetti flying back to land on the cupboards.
Julie grinned as she walked over to EJ, her eyes seeking out permission from Matt as she moved. Matt didn't say anything. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She'd left him with two small children without a word or a note and now it was as if nothing had happened. She was back.
"Julie," Matt said quietly, her name foreign on his lips. "What are you doing here?"
Julie had taken EJ out of his high chair and was hugging him to her chest. "I missed you," she said simply. "I'm ready to come home."
Matt nodded, but didn't respond. She was ready to come home; but was he ready to let her?
Lyla looked down at her ringing cell phone. The display said "undisclosed" but she knew that meant it was the clinic calling.
She wasn't sure she could answer the phone and hear bad news again. She had known that doing the in vitro fertilization was not going to be easy, but she had no idea how hard it would be-how devastating it was to do in the IVF and then wait for two weeks only to find out that it hadn't worked again. The message boards that had offered her so much support at the beginning now seemed to be mocking her as more and more women seemed to be getting pregnant and having healthy babies.
Everyone except her and Jason.
"Hello," she said as she finally answered the phone. "This is Lyla Street."
She listened to the nurse give her the results. She felt a cold wave wash over her.
"Just tell me," Lyla said as she sat across from the nurse at the fertility clinic.
The nurse tried to look sympathetic. "I'm really sorry, Lyla. Maybe next…"
Lyla stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. "Yeah, I know-maybe next time. Well, maybe there won't be a next time."
She turned and headed out the door. As she strode into the waiting room, the door opened and Jason wheeled in.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized.
"Yeah, well, it really doesn't matter," Lyla said as she walked past him.
Jason pivoted his chair and pushed to follow her through the door before it closed again.
"Lyla, wait," he called after her.
She paused at the elevator, her hand resting just above the button she needed to press to call the car. She turned and looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. "I know it's the damned hormones, but I just can't stand feeling like this anymore."
"So, let's take a break," Jason said. "We've been doing this for almost six months and let's just take a break."
"I want to give you a baby," Lyla said, her voice choking with the tears she couldn't stop.
"Well, I want to have a baby with you," Jason replied. "You don't need to give me anything-you've given me enough with your love."
Lyla raised her hand to cover her mouth and began to cry harder. Jason pushed his chair closer and took her other hand in his.
"We'll just take a little break," Jason said. "Let's get away and relax and remember what our life used to be like."
Lyla nodded. It would be good to get away. They needed a break.
"Okay, yes, I understand," Lyla said as the nurse finished. She finished the call and snapped her phone close.
She needed to find Jason.
Tim walked up the steps to Billy's house-the group home he'd moved into when Tim had moved to Nashville to live with Tyra and Jake. It had been too long since he'd visited; not since Christmas. But Billy didn't seem to mind, and Tim had been busy with work.
"Hey, Phil," Tim said as he greeted one of the staff members.
"Well, well, Tim Riggins. You're not planning on sneaking Billy out for a little late night trip down memory lane, are you?"
Tim grinned and shook his head. Phil had worked at the rehab center when Jason was there so many years ago. He was never going to let Tim forget kidnapping Jason one night for a trip out to the lake.
"If I do, I'll make sure you're not working, deal?" Tim replied.
Phil laughed, but then his smile faded quickly. "You here to see Billy?"
Tim nodded, suddenly worried that something else had happened since Billy's phone call yesterday.
"I'm real sorry about that woman. She said she was married to your father, and I just assumed she was family."
"You talked to her?" Tim asked, surprised.
"Uh, yeah, when she arrived this morning. I left her and Billy in the back room, only for a minute, but when I came out Billy was yelling at her and she was just standing there."
God damn it. "Is she still here?"
"I told her to leave, but then Billy told her you were coming and she said she'd wait outside. You must have passed her on the way in."
Behind them, the front door to the group home opened and a woman entered.
Phil nodded before Tim could even ask. "Yep, that's her."
Tim turned to the woman standing near the front door.
"Hi, I'm Anne." She smiled hesitantly and held out her hand. "You're Billy's brother, right? Tim? You look just like your pictures."
Tim ignored her hand. "You should leave now."
"Wait, please, I just wanted to talk to you and Billy. I didn't know he was…"
"Was what? Retarded? Slow? Good ol' Walt never told you about the accident that turned Billy's brain to mush?"
Tim was fuming. He couldn't believe he was unleashing on a total stranger, but he still carried so much anger where their father was concerned. It wasn't healthy.
"No, I…I knew, but I thought…"
Anne looked honestly shamed to have caused so much trouble, but Tim didn't care about her feelings. He just wanted her, and Walt, to leave him and Billy alone.
"Your father didn't want me to come. He said it was better to leave you boys alone, but I had to try. He's sick, Tim. Really sick. The doctors don't give him much longer and I just thought…"
"You thought what? That harassing Billy would make us forgive him? Walt sure as hell didn't care about Billy when he got hurt. So why the hell should we give a damn what happens to him now?" Tim didn't care if their father was sick or dying or wanted one last shot at redemption. Walt had made his choice a long time ago. Tim was just holding him to it.
Behind him, Tim heard Billy's voice as he entered the room. "Timmy?"
Tim turned and saw Billy staring at him with a look that put all the problems of the world in Tim's hands. Like Tim was the guy that could fix anything. Like Tim was his father who took care of everything.
He turned back to Anne briefly. "Billy and I don't have a father. And you should leave before we call the cops." He walked past Phil to where Billy was standing and led his brother out of the room. He wasn't going to let painful memories of the past ruin his impromptu visit with Billy. They would have a good time, just the two of them. As far as Tim was concerned, Walt Riggins did not exist.
Jason looked at his computer screen and sighed. The caterer had written down the wrong date for their big gala event and was telling him now that they would not be able to do the event, which was happening in two weeks. He reached for the phone to call and see if they had a recommendation for another vendor when there was a tap on his door.
"You busy?" his wife said as she stuck her head in his office.
Jason set the phone receiver back down. "Not with anything that can't wait while I talk to my lovely wife."
Lyla crossed the room and leaned down to kiss Jason lightly on the lips. She walked back in front of his desk and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
"So, do you have any plans for next Valentine's Day?" she asked as she slid her right leg over her left.
"Not that I know," Jason replied. "Are we going somewhere special?"
Lyla smiled and leaned forward. "How about the hospital?"
Jason looked at her, a look of confusion on his face. "That sounds romantic," he said slowly.
The smile grew larger on Lyla's face. "Oh, I think you'll like the trip."
Jason wracked his brain trying to figure out what that angle was, what Lyla was teasing him with…
They were having a baby.
"Are you sure?" he asked Lyla.
She nodded, still smiling at him.
"Get over here," he instructed her.
Lyla crossed back over to him and gently sat down on his lap. He slid his right hand up on her abdomen, sliding down over where their baby was growing.
"A baby," he said as she laid her hand over his.
"A baby," she replied.
At last.
Four Years Later
Jason pushed open the door to the bathroom. Lyla was sitting on the closed toilet seat, the small piece of plastic in her hands-a scene they had repeated now more times than he was willing to remember.
"Lyla?" he asked as he slowly advanced across the room. He didn't want to ask, but he knew he had to.
She looked up at him, her hair falling away from her face. The tears were brimming in her eyes. He could tell she was trying everything in her power to not begin to cry.
Lyla held the test stick up so he could see.
So. That was it.
He pushed toward her, then stopped as the phone rang in the background.
"You should get that-it's early, so it must be something important," Lyla said, her voice devoid of any emotion.
They couldn't continue this way. They just couldn't. He picked up the phone.
"Hello," he said. "Yes, this is Jason Street."
He set the phone down a few minutes later, looking at the notes he had hastily scratched on the paper. His handwriting was barely legible under the best of circumstances. But they would have to be able to decipher his notes.
Because the unthinkable had happened.
/tbc/
Disclaimer: All characters who appear in these stories belong to their respective creators, including Imagine Entertainment, NBC Universal Television Studio and Film 44.
Authors' Note: Thanks once again to our beta, devilc.