Headlights on Dark Roads

Summary: Cooper and violet have been together for two years, but when Cooper dies in a tragic car accident Violet is left to deal with the aftermath. Eventually Violet/Pete 

Disclaimer: All rights to Private Practice and the characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rimes. If I owned them Mark and Addison would be together, and happy.

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"Bright are the stars that shine, in somebody else's sky; green is the grass that grows, someplace different."

Today was suppose to be the day, their day. She was going to tell him the news that would change their lives as a couple and as best friends forever. But as fate would have it, he was gone.

Gone faster than she could say goodbye; gone forever. Because now instead of their lives changing together, Cooper's life was over and Violet was left to raise a new life alone. A life that they had created; together, a life Cooper never got the chance to love.

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Still dressed in black from the day before, Violet sat at the kitchen table. Her face was tear stained, her eyes were tired, and it was obvious that sleeping had never occurred to her. She rested her hand on her still flat stomach whispering softly, "I am so sorry, Cooper would have loved you so much…" she paused, "but, I can't do this…"

Her decision was made. Cooper was gone, and a baby was just too much for her.

She looked down at her blackberry as it started to ring. The caller ID let her know that it was Pete. Most likely calling to check on her again and wondering why she wasn't at work, after all it was almost noon. Ignoring the call Violet threw the phone in her purse, grabbed the bag that she had packed the night before and the plane ticket off the table, and headed out the door.

She had never been the type to back down from a fight, to run away when things didn't go according to the plan. But then again, she never really had a plan for her life to go along with, so when things went wrong her best option was to ignore it or throw herself into her work until the memory was gone.

Running, this wasn't her.

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Violet walked through the Hartford airport, even after a six hour flight across the country; she still wasn't sure where she would go. She chose Connecticut because it was home. Hartford, where she had grown up, where she had gone to medical school, and where she had family.

Family. That is where she would go, she would go home. Violet looked around her, looking for any sign to indicate where she was in the airport, any sign to point her in the direction of the rental cars.

Two hours later she was driving down the familiar roads in her newly rented Lexis. She hadn't been home in close to 5 years, sure she had spoken to her family, but talking on the phone and actually seeing them were two completely different things.

About a half an hour later Violet pulled up to the familiar house, the house that held all of her childhood memories. She took a deep breath and opened the car door to step out.

As Violet walked up to the house, trying her best to keep walking forward rather than turning around and running again, he opened the door and walked out into the yard. Violet looked up at him.

"Vince…"

"Violet"

Before she had a chance to say anything, she felt his arms wrap around her. He kissed the top of her head, and by that point she had lost all hope of holding the tears in, as they flowed down her cheeks.

"Vi, what's wrong? Why are you here?"

Vince decided to hold off on the questions when he saw the pain in his little sister's eyes.

"Hey, Vi…"

He wiped the tears from her face.

"Why don't we go inside."

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She walked stiffly next to her older brother as he led her towards the house. She didn't know why she was so scared to walk into that house. Her parents no longer lived there, they had up and left, heading to Florida after their retirement, leaving Vince and his family the house.

Her brother wouldn't judge her, and even though she knew that she would have to face her parents at some point and time, she was glad that, that time was not now. Now she would be able to find comfort in a familiar place. Home with Vince and his wife Lynn until she could figure out where she was headed.

The inside of the house was quiet. This took Violet by surprise, because she was sure that her six year old niece Faith would be getting into some kid of trouble. The child had the strongest will that Violet had ever seen. But instead when Vince led her into the house Faith was nowhere to be found. The house was seemingly empty.

"Where are Lynn and the kids?" Violet asked.

"Lynn took the kids with her to run some errands, so that I could get some work done, here at the house." Violet looked distant as her brother explained.

"Violet, what's going on with you? Are you okay? Are you in some kind of trouble?" Vince was concerned.

"I… I um… Cooper, he died four days ago." She shuddered at the memory, and tears began to gather in her eyes. She sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I am pregnant."

Vince sat down on the couch next his sister, letting her cry, and wiping away as many tears as he could along the way. He hated to see his little sister this upset. She had one of the kindest hearts that he knew, and she didn't deserve to hurt like this.

Violet sat up, wiping stray tears from her face with her jacket sleeve. "I wasn't going to keep it, the baby I mean. I didn't think that I could raise a child alone. But on the way here I realized that I have to keep this child, because it is what Cooper would have wanted, and this baby is as much his as it is mine. It can keep Cooper with me forever."

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Pete locked the door of his rental car, and slowly walked towards the coffee shop. He was on his way to speak to some Yale Medical School students about Eastern Medicine. He walked into the coffee shop, breathing in the sent of the fresh ground coffee beans. This sent had always calmed him, for him it was a save secure sent. An escape.

The line was long, and he was tired. Pete looked down at his watch; he had four hours until he had to be at the college, which gave him plenty of free time. He looked around for a place to rest, a magazine to read, something to do until the long line of early morning coffee addicts to go down.

She was sitting in the corner on a small red couch; her feet propped up on a stool, and crossed at the ankles. Her classes were new, ones that he had never seen her wear. Her hand was resting on her swollen abdomen, and she was reading a parenting book.

He hadn't noticed that right away, the swollen stomach. That couldn't be her.

Except that he was sure it was her, and he was already walking towards the woman.

"Violet?"

The woman looked up from her book; she jumped startled when she saw him.

"Pete, I…I uh, I…hi..."

He smiled. It was her. Pete watched her as she stood, she was the same Violet that he knew and loved, except she was different. She looked uncomfortable, and tired. She set her book on the table next to the couch, and clutched her growing belly. He walked over to her, noticing the fear in her eyes. In an attempt to rid her of that pain, he reached out his hands to embrace her. Violet immediately relaxed as she hugged him.

Hugging her was different.

"Pete, what are you doing here, in Hartford?" She asked confused.

"I have a class to speak to at Yale, Violet what are you doing here in Hartford?"

"Well I guess I can't put this off anymore. Do you have time to talk?" She asked with hopeful eyes. "yes." He answered simply.

She sat down, taking a deep breath. "I am staying with my older brother Vince and his wife, and two kids."

She jumped a little grabbing Pete's hand suddenly. She placed it on her stomach. He felt the flutter of a baby kick. As suddenly as she had grabbed his hand, she pushed it away. "I am so sorry, I am just still so shocked by that feeling, and I guess I forgot that you haven't seen me in over six months." Pete looked at her, "May I?" he asked placing his hand on the center of her bump. She watched him with careful, bright eyes as a smile made its way to his face.

Not moving his hand, he looked up at her, she was still watching him. "It's…the baby; its Cooper's isn't it."

Violet nodded.