A/N1: I own nothing from the Home Improvement universe.

A/N2: This story is AU. Story starts between the first and second season.

Kara had been living in Tim's den for the last month. At first, it was because she didn't want to be at the apartment where she had unwittingly been kept as a mistress. Then it was because she found out that she couldn't live at her old apartment. It had been in Jack's name and he'd called and canceled the lease and the owner was selling the building. Oh well, it wasn't the worst thing that had happened, but she was anxious to get a place of her own. She was supposed to go look at house a few blocks away with Tim that afternoon after Tool Time.

Right now though, she was taking advantage of the empty house to do something she had been putting off. She sat on the edge of bathtub and watched as her fourth and last pregnancy test turned positive.

"No," she whispered. This wasn't supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to be happily engaged, starting a family, looking for a house with her soon to be husband. Not living in her brother's den, sharing a bathroom with his three boys, and hoping that she had enough savings to at least afford a semi-decent house in a decent neighborhood.

"Kara?" Jill called out, coming in from buying groceries. "Are you upstairs?"

Kara quickly stuffed the tests in her robe pocket, dried her eyes, and went down.

"Oh, were you taking a shower?" Jill asked.

Kara shrugged. "I was taking advantage of the boys being out of the house."

"Sorry I interrupted you," Jill replied.

"No problem. I'm supposed to be meeting Tim soon anyway," she replied.

"Thank you for letting him help you," Jill said. "I know it might be inconvenient to wait for him to go look at all these houses with you but he feels like he needs to be doing something."

"I know," Kara smiled. "It's okay. I'd probably want his opinion anyway. Besides, all the other boys want to do is go kick Jack in a sensitive area."

"Oh, Tim wants to do that too," Jill grinned. "Have you talked to him? Has he tried to call again?"

Kara shook her head. "And say what? Sorry, I didn't tell you I was married?"

"Has he tried to explain at all?"

"Nothing I believe." She looked at the clock. "Well, I better get dressed and go meet Tim."

"Hey, Al?" Tim approached him after Tool Time was over.

"What's up?"

"I'm going over to look at house with Kara," Tim said. "It's kind of run down to be honest, but it's in her price range and it's in my neighborhood, which I like, so would you be willing to go with us and give your opinion on the plumbing and foundation? You'll know that stuff better than me and if they're shot, she doesn't need to bother with this house."

"Well, I don't have any other plans this afternoon, so sure," Al answered.

"Great. Let me change and we will go," Tim said.

Twenty minutes later they met Kara at a dilapidated house. It had, at once, been a beautiful house. It was Victorian-style with two stories, a large front porch and a round tower with three stories of windows. However, it was long past it's prime.

"Really, Tim?" Kara said as they walked up on the porch. "This is the house you think is perfect for me?"

"Look at it," Tim said, practically bouncing with energy just like when he was starting any project. "Look at the detail work. Let's go inside. You're going to love the inside."

"Are you sure it won't fall in if we all go in there?" She asked.

"Well, you have put on a few pounds," Tim replied, looking at Kara as though he was sizing up her weight.

"Why do I talk to you?" She asked.

"Because Jeff and Marty are worse?"

Kara nodded in agreement. "That's true. Hi, Al. How did you get roped into this?"

He shrugged. "I don't mind. I wasn't busy this afternoon."

"Great!" she smiled. "I may need some help hiding the body when I murder Tim." She glared at Tim again.

"Well, this would be the perfect house for it," he quipped, causing Kara to giggle.

"Yeah, yeah, come on in," Tim said, finally getting the key to turn the old lock.

Tim was right, Kara did love the house. The first floor had a large foyer with a staircase along one side and a living area, bathroom, and sitting room on the tower side and a kitchen and dining room on the other. The upstairs was three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The rooms were small but there were a lot of nice details in the house. Still, Kara wasn't sure. Al had given his approval that foundation was sound and the plumbing needed a little updating but nothing too major.

"Tim, this house will take forever to renovate," Kara said, trying to convince herself more than Tim.

"Nah, six, eight months tops," he replied.

"I'm not living with you for six months," she said. "I did it for sixteen years already. I've paid my debt to society."

"Haha," he said. "Come on, Kay, this could be a great house."

"Yeah, but I can't afford great," she protested again. "I can barely afford bad."

"Sure you can," Tim replied. "We'll make it a Tool Time project."

"You can't do that," Kara replied. "That's way too much."

"Sure, I can," he said, confidently. "Right, Al?"

As much as Al wanted to agree with Kara, Tim could talk Mr. Binford into anything and Al, himself, was itching to make this house a project house as much as Tim was. "You'd be surprised what Tim can do," he answered.

"Come on," Tim said, pulling Kara towards what she had thought was a second closet in the Master bedroom. "I haven't shown you the best part." He opened the door so reveal a staircase. At the top was the tower room. It was the size of the master bedroom without a bathroom and had large windows on three sides. "I thought this could be your writing room. We could install a half bath at the back of the room and I could put in some built in bookshelves between these windows and look. We could put you a built in desk right here, under this window and you could look at the whole neighborhood." He pulled her over to the center windows.

She looked out the windows over the now unkempt yard. Finally, she could see it. Not Tim's vision exactly, but the sight of the yard freshly raked, flowerbeds banked by the house and walkways and she could see herself, sitting in swing, watching a little brown haired girl playing in the yard. "Dirty pool, Timmy," she said with a sigh. "Let's do it."

Tim's whole face broke into a smile. "All right! I'll go with you to the bank tomorrow. If everything goes well, we could start work next week. I'd say we could have you in the house in what, Al? Three months? Start with the kitchen and baths."

"Sure," Al agreed. "It won't be finished but you could live here, definitely."

"You know what? We should celebrate," Tim declared. "Let's get lunch at Big Ernie's. My treat."

Kara groaned at the thought of the greasy spoon Tim loved so much but heard herself agreeing anyway. It wasn't until they were locking back up that Tim's face suddenly fell.

"Dang it," he said. "I can't go to Big Ernie's. I promised Jill I would pick Brad up from school and take him to the dentist."

"Oh, well, that's okay," Kara said, slightly relieved.

"Hey, Al?"

"Yes, Tim?"

"Would you mind dropping Kara off at my house? It's on your way and I'm headed in the opposite direction," Tim said. She had walked over, but the weather had suddenly turned colder in the afternoon.

"Sure, if she don't mind," Al agreed. It wasn't exactly on his way, but it was only a few blocks out of his way and he really didn't mind.

"Thanks, buddy," he replied, lightly pushing Kara towards Al's car.

"Thanks," Kara said, buckling her seat belt. "Tim is...,"

"I know," Al said with a laugh. He paused for a moment, then forged ahead. "You know, we could get some lunch, if you want to, I mean."

"Okay," she smiled. "Just not Big Ernie's."

"Agreed," he laughed. "I know a little coffee shop on Cedar that does lunches. They have great pie, too."

"Sounds good," she smiled again.

Kara had a wonderful afternoon with Al. They had spent hours at the coffee shop, sipping coffee and talking about plans for the house. She loved the way his whole face seemed to light up as he would think of an idea then sketch it down on a napkin. He seemed to lose some of his shyness and reserves when talking about building things. They had even gone to Harry's hardware store to look at paint and wall paper samples.

It was almost dinner time when she finally came home.

"About time you came home," Tim said. "Were you with Al this whole time?"

She nodded. "We were talking about the house."

"Oh," he replied, resisting the urge to tease her. This was his second chance to put things right and he wasn't going to push too hard and mess it up again. "Well, you know, I get final say on anything we do on Tool time."

"Yeah, and I get final say on anything you do to the house I'm going to be paying for the next thirty years," she shot back.

"Yeah," he agreed with a smirk that clearly said he didn't agree. "I was thinking we could take the boys and Jill over to see it after supper."

"Okay," she said, padding back to den. She set her purse down and shut the door, truly smiling for the first time in weeks. It had been the first truly nice time she'd had since Jack's wife had called her. Well, until she saw her robe hanging on the back of door and remembered the four positive pregnancy tests stuffed in the pocket. She quickly counted up the weeks on her fingers. Six months would mean that she would be due just before or right after the house was finished. Well, at least she wouldn't be living in Tim's den by then.

Please R and R.