"It's junior high, Charlotte. Not Siberia," Addison Montgomery says, eyeing her friend.
"Yes, thank you, I'm aware," Charlotte replies sarcastically.
Charlotte tosses the patient file she's carrying onto her desk and walks around it to sit in her chair. She rubs her forehead tiredly.
Addison watches her, feeling slightly guilty.
"It is kind of mind-blowing," she offers as Charlotte sits down. "Seems like only yesterday she was in diapers. Reading already, but still. In diapers."
Charlotte manages a soft, reminiscent smile.
"Yeah," she agrees.
"Where is the little genius today?" Addison asks, coming to sit across from Charlotte.
"Cooper took her and Jamie shopping for school," Charlotte replies.
A laugh of disbelief escapes Addison's throat.
"Cooper? And those two? In a mall?"
Charlotte joins her chuckling.
"That'll teach him to go behind the Chief of Staff's back," she says.
"When did he go behind your back?" Addison frowns.
"You know, last month. That patient of his that had the crazy mother."
"Oh," Addison remembers. "I forgot about that. So this was his punishment?"
Charlotte gives her a look.
"It's genius, actually," Addison ponders. "You make it look so easy, but even I can't manage those two together for very long."
"Kati's not the driving force behind that whirlwind," Charlotte replies.
Addison tilts her head. "Come on, Charlotte. Kati may be amazing and wonderful, but that kid has a brain for pranks. She can hold her own next to Jamie."
Charlotte raises an eyebrow, choosing to ignore the comment.
"Does Kati know about…" Addison asks.
"Nope," Charlotte replies, giving her a conspiratorial grin. "No idea."
"She's going to flip," Addison replies, grinning.
Cooper Freedman trudges to the front door of the house as his daughter Kati and her best friend Jamie race ahead of him, laden down with bags of clothes. He rubs his eyes with an exhausted sigh.
"Hey honey," his wife appears in the foyer, grinning.
He looks at her and she laughs at his puppy-dog eyes.
"I am so, so sorry," he says. "And I'll never mess with Charlotte King, Chief of Staff, ever again."
Charlotte laughs and the two of them head into the living room, where Cooper flops onto the couch.
"What's the damage?" she asks, as Kati and Jamie giggle from upstairs.
"To me, or to our bank account?" Cooper replies.
"Both."
"I, will never be the same again. Our bank account fears for our daughter's love of clothes."
Charlotte grins, looking proud.
"She's got an eye for fashion, I'll give her that," she says.
"Three hours," Cooper says between his hands, covering his face. "Three hours of clothes and that mall and so many people. How do you do it?"
Charlotte shrugs. "They listen to me."
"Everybody listens to you," Cooper retorts dryly.
Charlotte just smiles.
They're interrupted by Kati and Jamie as they burst into the living room.
"Well? What do you think?" Kati asks, referring to her outfit.
Kati is gorgeous, with her father's thick dark hair, tousled into loose curls, and her mother's large green eyes. She's skinny, like a typical 12-year-old, but manages to choose clothes that don't accentuate her thin frame.
Charlotte grins, reaching out to grab her daughter's hand and pull her onto her lap.
"I think you look beautiful," Charlotte says, hugging her.
"And?" Jamie asks meaningfully.
Charlotte releases Kati, who rolls off of her.
"And you look beautiful too, Jamie," Charlotte tells her.
Jamie smiles happily.
"What did you two do to your daddy?" Charlotte looks at Kati.
Charlotte watches as the eyes that match her own crinkle into a mischievous grin.
"Took him to Victoria's Secret," Kati replies, turning a cartwheel in the middle of the room.
Charlotte looks at her husband, who shakes his head, as though remembering a bad dream.
"I told you we'd go on Saturday," Charlotte gives Kati a look.
"Well we couldn't exactly pass up the opportunity to watch Cooper squirm and turn beet-red," Jamie answers.
"I didn't buy anything," Kati adds.
Charlotte laughs, rubbing her husband's back.
"You two," she says, shaking her head.
Kati turns another cartwheel and Jamie attempts one at the same time, causing the two to crash into each other and fall to the floor in a fit of giggles.
Charlotte, shaking her head, stands up.
"Don't forget, we've gotta go pick up Violet from the airport," she says.
In perfect timing, a knock sounds on the front door.
Charlotte goes to answer it, revealing Jamie's father George.
"Come on in, George," she says, moving aside.
"Daddy!" Jamie cries, running over and pummelling into him.
"Hi baby," he smiles. "How'd the shopping go? Do you still have a college fund?"
"Depends if you mean UCLA, or a community college in Hollywood," Jamie replies.
George rolls his eyes and Jamie races off the get her stuff.
"Cooper still alive?"
"Barely," comes Cooper's reply from the living room.
"Well, thanks buddy," George replies. "I owe you one."
Charlotte smiles as Kati comes around the corner.
"Hey George," she says, as her mother wraps an arm around her. "Any good clients lately?"
"Mmm, nothing to write home about. I'll keep you posted," he promises.
Kati nods and Jamie returns, bearing her numerous shopping bags.
"Good lord, Jamie," George says, taking some of the bags from her.
"I know, Father," Jamie replies, pulling on her jacket. "You've raised such a well-dressed, fashionable child."
George rolls his eyes.
"Thanks again, Charlotte," he says. "Cooper."
Cooper raises a hand from the couch, where's he's still laid out.
After George and Jamie leave, the three Freedmans pile into one of the SUVs in the driveway and head out.
"I thought Pete was picking Violet up?" Kati asks from the back seat.
"He was supposed to," Charlotte replies.
Kati doesn't ask anymore questions, choosing to busy herself with a book for the drive. She only looks up when they're nearing their destination.
"Your version of an airport is…interesting, Mom," Kati says, looking around. They're in a small neighbourhood on the outskirts of town, where houses sit on expanses of land that could almost be acreages.
"It was a lie!" Cooper grins, turning from the driver's seat to stare at her wildly. "It was all a lie!"
Kati makes a face at him. "You look delirious," comes her dry reply.
"You're about to be," he replies, smiling at her.
They hop out of the car and look around. A woman opens the front door of the house and steps out.
"You must be the Freedmans," she says.
"That's us," Cooper nods, stepping forward to shake the woman's hand. "Cooper. This is my wife Charlotte, and our daughter Kati."
They shake the woman's hand.
"Karen," she says. "Well come on in."
Kati looks to her mother, but Charlotte just gestures towards the door, so Kati follows Karen inside.
The front room is full of little figurines and pictures of dogs. English bulldogs. Kati looks around curiously. She loves English bulldogs.
She follows Karen into the next room, and there on the floor is a little kiddie pool with a blanket in it. Her eyes widen with glee as she takes in the five bulldog puppies playing inside it.
She turns to stare at her parents, who are both grinning.
"Seriously?" she says, still not smiling because she's so shocked.
"Any one you want," Cooper replies.
Kati turns back to the puppies and sinks to her knees. Three of the puppies are making crying noises, chewing on each other and trying to escape their little area. One puppy, bigger than the others, is sitting off to the side, watching. And another one, smaller, is beside him, watching his brothers curiously.
"Except this one," Karen says, touching the bigger puppy. "I sold him this morning."
But Kati is staring at the little one. He sees her and kind of tilts his head at her, so she reaches out to him. Slowly, he moves forward to sniff her. Gently, Kati picks him up and sets him on her lap.
The smile on her face is making her glow, and her parents smile just watching her.
The little puppy looks up, directly at her.
"This one," Kati says softly.
"That's the one?" Cooper asks.
Kati looks up at her parents, beaming, and nods.
"Are you sure? He's the runt of the litter. He won't get as big as the others," Karen says.
"He's perfect," Kati replies, stilling cuddling him.
Cooper takes out his check book while Charlotte kneels down beside her daughter.
"What do you think?" she asks.
Kati looks at her mother for a moment, her happiness evident.
"How long have you guys had this planned?"
"A few months," Charlotte shrugs.
Kati is barely paying attention as she pets the puppy and he settles into her lap.
Cooper finishes up with the paperwork and then the Freedmans are back in the car, heading home.
"Little guy's gonna need a name," Cooper says, glancing at Kati through the rearview mirror. "Any ideas?"
"Something English," Kati replies thoughtfully. "Gotta keep to his heritage."
"What, like Winston?"
"No way," Kati replies. "Too obvious."
"Bane?" Cooper suggests hopefully.
Kati smiles, rolling her eyes. "That's not British, and I'm not naming him after a Batman character. Nerd."
After a few moments, the puppy looks up at Kati and then lies on her lap, snuggling in to sleep.
"Nigel," Kati says softly.
The puppy opens his eyes and looks at before sleepily closing them again.
"Nigel it is," Charlotte says, smiling at her daughter.