A/N: Okay, here's part 3. And I'm pretty sure none of you were expecting what's about to happen. There is ANGST. So please be warned.

Thank You to The Mind's Eye for being my awesome Beta!

Chapter One

"Don't touch me," Charlotte growled, shoving his hand away from her. "I mean it, Cooper. I'm not in the mood!"

"Damnit, Charlotte. It's been four months since the twins were born and you still won't let me hold you! What is your problem?" he asked as he rolled onto his back to spite her. "This is getting stupid!"

"I don't have time for this." She pushed back the covers and stomped over to her dresser. Grabbing her clothes for the day, she walked into the bathroom and before she slammed the door, called over her shoulder, "And don't call me stupid!"

"I did not call you-" He stopped mid-sentence. There was no point. Something had changed with Charlotte after the girls were born. She was different now. He just didn't know why.

It had started slow; her withdrawal. But it was now to the point where there was at least a foot between them when they slept. And although she would never admit it outright, he knew how much Charlotte liked to be held when she slept. But now, she wouldn't let him near her and he honestly didn't know what to do.

He was losing her and he didn't know how to get her back.

Xxx

Charlotte stood gazing at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. What she was seeing wasn't right and the tears certainly didn't help matters. They made her look weak and defenseless. But she couldn't make them stop. The more she wiped, the harder they fell.

Looking after three children under the age of two was starting to take its toll. She felt exhausted all of the time. She couldn't remember the last time she'd worn clothes that weren't loose or covered in spit-up.

Charlotte tugged on a lock of her hair. It looked limp and lifeless. She dragged a brush through it and then put it up into yet another messy ponytail.

It was just after 7am and the kids would be waking up soon. Caiden had just started sleeping through the night but Charlotte still had to get up twice, sometimes more, to feed the girls. With Cooper working, it fell on her to do the night-time feeds. When he'd get in, Cooper would make dinner and give the babies their baths. That was her only chance for quiet time.

Which was great at first. But now, the more time she was left on her own, the darker her thoughts would get. And it was beginning to scare her.

Charlotte wondered how long she could last before she snapped. Judging by the way she'd been acting with Cooper, she knew she was close to her breaking point.

Xxx

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Vi. She won't talk to me. She won't let me touch her. She barely even talks to me!" Cooper said as he paced the floor in Violet's office. "I think-"

"Don't go there, Coop. You know it's not true," Violet interrupted. She took a sip of her coffee then placed the empty cup down onto the table. "And stop pacing. You're making me dizzy."

Cooper stopped in front of the sofa and threw himself down onto it. "I don't think she loves me anymore," he confessed.

"I told you not to go there!" she shouted. "It's ridiculous, Cooper."

"It's not! I'm telling you. That's what it is. It has to be. I can't believe it." He put his head into his hands and felt tears well up in his eyes. "She's the love of my life. I gave up everything to be with her and now I don't know what I'm doing wrong. She won't let me touch her and I don't just mean the naughty kind. I tried to wrap my arm around her this morning and she nearly bit my head off!"

"Have you tried asking her what's wrong?" Violet asked.

"Of course I have! And it resulted in our fifty-seventh argument this week. This is serious, Violet. I feel like I'm losing her and worse, my kids are losing their mother."

Xxx

Empty. Alone. Bereft. Exhausted. Numb.

Those words kept playing through Charlotte's head as she held her twin daughters. She'd been lucky so far. Cassie and Chloe were good girls. They were only four months old, but they weren't fussy or difficult. They always woke with a smile in the morning and at night time they were content to lie in their cribs until she got up to tend to them. She loved them. She loved all of them.

But that didn't matter. She was failing her children.

She didn't know how, but she was. She was also doing the one thing she'd promised Cooper she wouldn't do anymore. She was shutting him out.

In her defense, she was trying to protect him. If he got close enough, physically and mentally, then he might not like what he saw. And she couldn't bear that. Charlotte couldn't handle seeing that look on his face again. And she would. If he saw the dark inside her then he'd leave and take her babies with him. She wasn't strong enough to deal with that.

She placed the girls in their baby swings and made her way to the kitchen. She pulled out a pen and a pad of paper and started writing the week's grocery list. When she finished, she walked over to tack the list on the fridge. As she put it up, she gasped at what she'd written.

It didn't make any sense. Her writing was all gibberish.

What the hell was wrong with her?

Xxx

"Char, I'm home!" Cooper called out as he closed the front door behind him. "I picked up some Chinese food." Cooper wandered further into the house and was baffled by the silence. "Char?"

After checking all of the rooms downstairs, he made his way up the stairs. He looked into Caiden's room and saw his son asleep in his crib. He walked further into the room and placed a kiss on his son's forehead.

He checked the twin's room. Empty. He walked along to the master bedroom and saw all his girls asleep.

He felt guilty. He knew it wasn't easy for Charlotte with him working crazy hours and leaving her home to care for the children.

He thought about moving the girls to their room but decided against it.

Cooper quietly got changed and slipped into bed. He reached over across Charlotte and turned off her bedside light.

"What's going on with you?" he whispered into her ear. "I love you so much, Charlotte. I wouldn't survive if I lost you. I need to help you, but I can't unless you talk to me.

Cooper sighed when Charlotte rolled over to face away from him. Even in her sleep she didn't want him near her. He scooted back over to his side of the bed, closed his eyes, and prayed that tomorrow would be a better day.

What he didn't see, however, was the shaking of Charlotte's shoulders as she sobbed silently into her pillow.

TBC

A/N 2: So pretty angsty? Yeah I know, but this is something that I haven't seen explored in any fics I've read, so I wanted to give it a shot.