A CLOSE CALL
It's 8 am and the doctor's at OCW are just arriving to work. Addison and Sam are waiting in the conference room. Cooper comes hustling in, "Do you guys hear all those sirens? It sounds like the whole town's on fire!"
"It's the Famous Jamous Deli. They said there was a gas leak, I just heard it on the news. " Addison informs them while drinking her coffee. "I could hear the explosion all the way from here, just about ten minutes ago.
"That's not good." Sam sighs, "At this time in the morning that place has a line out the door of people ordering breakfast burritos."
Cooper interrupts, "I go there sometimes. Where's Violet? Sometimes she stops there for breakfast on the way to work." Cooper's worries.
"Everyone's going to be a little late with all the traffic and detours from the fire trucks blocking the main street." Addison tries to reassure him.
"Still, I'm gonna call her." He takes out his phone and dials Violet's number.
Violet answers right away. "Hi Coop. Tell Addison I'm going to be late. I'm stuck in traffic. There must be a big accident on the main road."
"Good. I thought you stopped at Famous Jamous for a breakfast burrito and coffee this morning." Cooper breathes a sigh of relief.
"No, I overslept, Charlotte offered to go for me." Violet casually tells him unaware of the situation.
"What?" Cooper feels his heart sink.
"Yeah, she left about fifteen minutes ago. Tell her to keep my breakfast and coffee warm. I don't know how long I'm going to be stuck in this traffic."
Cooper drops the phone and starts to panic. "I've got to get over to Famous Jamous, Violet says Charlotte went there fifteen minutes ago."
"Wait Cooper. Try and call her on her mobile phone first. She may be stuck in traffic." Addison advises.
"Good thinking." He starts to calm down and feels his pulse rate slow a little. He presses the button for her number and get's voice mail. "Char you need to call me immediately, there's been an explosion and I need to hear your voice."
Sam's listening,"She's probably be at the hospital. If it's a big emergency, they're probably keeping her busy. She is the Chief of Staff." Sam offers.
"Right." Addison agrees.
Cooper dials Charlotte's secretary at the hospital. "Hi Dotty. I know Charlotte's probably very busy with the emergency. I just need you to confirm that she's there." Cooper explains to her secretary.
"She's not here Cooper. I was just going to call you. We've been trying to reach her since we got the call about the explosion, but we keep getting her voicemail. It's not like Charlotte, she's always has her phone on in case of an emergency." The secretary rambles on. "My phone is ringing off the hook with questions for Charlotte about what to do. I'm going to have to send them to Dr. Drake. He's second on call."
Cooper has a bad feeling. "Send them to Dr. Drake." He sighs and rubs his head with his hand. "I can't get in touch with Charlotte either."
Sam and Addison overhear the conversation with looks of dread on their faces now. "No luck?" Sam asks quietly.
"No" Cooper answers somber. "I'm going down to the scene."
"They won't let anybody through Cooper until they clear the gas line." Addison tells him.
"I can't sit around and wait." He sits in a chair and puts his head between his legs. "I asked her to marry me two weeks ago. We didn't even get a chance to enjoy getting back together. We spent most of the past two weeks grieving for Dell. I never got to tell her I'm sorry about the break up."
"She knows Coop." Sam rests his hand on Cooper's back. "She agreed to marry you."
"I was cruel" Cooper looks up with tears forming in his eyes. "I didn't mean any of it. I love her."
"Everyone's cruel when they fight Coop." Now Addison rubs a hand on his shoulder. "Charlotte knew you loved her. I could tell. She missed you like crazy when you and Violet were in Costa Rica."
"I wasn't too nice to her after I got back. She wanted to get back together with me and I wasn't ready."
"You had your reason's Coop." Sam offers
"Those reason's don't seem important anymore." He gets up, "Cover my patients for me. I need to go for a walk."
Cooper walks toward Famous Jamous. "Excuse me sir, nobody is allowed past this point." An officer warns him.
Cooper's desperate. He's a mess almost crying when he tells the officer. "My fiancée was there this morning and now nobody knows where she is."
"There's a make shift first aid station down the road to your right. They've been taking the victims there and triaging them." The officer points Cooper where to go.
"Thank you." Cooper rushes towards the first aid station.
He arrives and asks where he could find his fiancée. He describes Charlotte to a couple paramedics "Doesn't sound familiar a young paramedic tells him but you could ask the doctor in charge, she'd know. She's directing us where to take each victim."
"Where's the doctor in charge?" He asks the guy.
"Right there." The paramedic points to a small blonde figure that Cooper could only see from the back.
Cooper rushes up to her. "Charlotte?"
Charlotte turns around. "Cooper what are you doing here?"
He hugs her as tight as he can and she looks around to see if anyone's watching. She's working after all. She gently pushes him away. "Cooper I'm working here."
"Okay, okay." He breathes a sigh of relief and then smiles big and bright.
"What's going on?" She asks.
"I thought you were at Famous Jamous during the explosion." He confesses his fear to her.
"I almost was. I was on my way there when the thing exploded. Damn near knocked me out of my shoes."
Cooper notices she's working barefoot. "I tried calling you."
"I lost my phone with my shoes, but other than that I'm okay. I set up this make shift triage stand to treat the least injured and direct the most injured to different hospitals."
Cooper looks her over, she's got black soot on her dress and forehead. She's still looks beautiful to him anyway. "I love you so much Charlotte." He says.
"Cooper not here." She hushes him.
"Dr. King, the fire chief called, he said to tell you there are no more victims." A paramedic reports.
"Great, then I've got to get to the hospital." She starts to rush off.
"I think you could use a shower and change first." Cooper points out the soot on her dress.
"Oh right" She looks down at the state she's in. She was too busy working to realize what a mess she was.
"I'll take you home." He grabs her hand.
She looks up at him and it's way up considering she's barefoot. "I guess those shoes are gone forever. That was one of my favorite pairs." She's disappointed.
"Shoes are replaceable Charlotte. You're not. I could never replace you."
She looks at him, he stops walking and tells her."We wasted too much time fighting. I wasted too much time fighting. I was an idiot. If anything would have happened to you, I wouldn't want to live."
"Oh Cooper come on?" She pulls his arm to move along.
"I'm serious. I couldn't live without you." He lets her drag him down the street to their apartment.
"I couldn't live without you either. I tried it the past few months and it was a horror show." She rolls her eyes. "Ask poor Sheldon he had to listen to me talk about you constantly. He knew I was in love with you and backed off. He's the one who advised me not to give up. He kept pushing me back to you."
"You're in with love me?" He asks with big hopeful eyes.
"Of course I'm in love with you." She looks at him like he's crazy. "Why would I agree to marry you if I wasn't in love with you?" She smacks his behind as they enter the stairwell of their apartment building.
"You never say it." He follows her up the stairs.
"I have trouble talkin' and expressin' but I'm workin' on it, I promise." She turns around to look at him.
"I appreciate it." He tells her. She turns back around and climbs up the rest of the steps.
"You know Sheldon's probably gonna send you a bill for that advise." Cooper smiles.
"He already did." She turns raising an eyebrow at him. "Got it in the mail yesterday."
They reach the apartment door and as they walk in, he tells her. "Charlotte you know I didn't mean any of that stuff I said to you in the conference room that day. You're not a sex toy you never were."
"I know. I didn't mean any of the stuff I said to you that day either." She looks into his eyes. "I love you Cooper Freedman, always have."
She earns herself a great big smile for that, and tells him, "that felt damn good. I should have said it a long time ago.
He hugs her, "I love you Charlotte King." He looks down at her soot covered dress. "How about if I help you with that shower now?"
She chuckles. " I don't want this to ever end."
"Me too," he grins at her. "I can't wait for the wedding."
"Me too," she smiles.
THE-END