One half-hour later
Doc Hayward stepped out of Audrey's room at the Great Northern and met Cooper, leaning against the wall outside his own room across the hall from hers. Cooper stood up fully and nodded. Hayward inclined his head, motioning to Cooper's room. Cooper understood; he pushed the door open wide and waited for the doctor to enter. Once there, he closed the door with a barely audible click.
"Well Doc?" Cooper started.
Hayward nodded and scratched the back of his neck. His face was long, drawn, older than it ought to have been; everyone, it seemed, had aged unnaturally in the last few weeks, though Cooper would not have expected anything else from the denizens of such an idyllic place rocked by such unimaginable horror.
"She's doing surprisingly well, considering," Hayward began. "Her blood pressure is within normal limits. Her mental faculties—reflexes, intelligence—are all present and accounted for," he looked up at Cooper. "She has been injured...some muscle tenderness in her shoulders and legs. She can't give me detail—she doesn't remember much."
"She had quite a few muscle contractions last night. I suspected it was from the withdrawal."
Hayward hmm'd and stared at the floor. "Her wrists are sore, too, as you might well imagine. I've put dressings on the skin to cover the abrasions. She probably won't need them for too long."
Cooper nodded and leaned against the wall beside the bathroom and breathed in and out; the feeling—if you can imagine the impact on your chest of three bowling balls dropped from the height of about nine feet, you might begin to approximate the sensation, Cooper repeated his own words to himself—spread outward and upward, pressing the air out of his lungs and making him feel lightheaded.
"Was she raped?"
Hayward shook his head. "All signs point to no, thank God. Whatever their reasons for holding her, it doesn't appear to be about that."
Cooper exhaled deeply, and Hayward hmm'd again indulging in the long pause.
Finally, he lifted his bag off the bed and stood to face Cooper. "I wouldn't press her too hard for details. She might be in good shape physically, but mentally...emotionally..."
"Taxing her is the last thing I'd want to do," Cooper replied softly. Hayward smiled and made his way to the door, which Cooper opened and followed him through on his way to debrief with Audrey.
He found her sitting cross-legged on the bed, a blanket over her knees, combing her hair with her fingers. She was wearing the same clothes as she had on before, staring off into space across the room.
"Audrey?" Cooper called out, knocking on the wall to announce his entrance.
She looked up and smiled faintly, "Agent Cooper."
"How are you feeling?" he asked. He watched her play with a lock of hair, twisting it around her fingers and letting it fall in a curl against her neck. His stomach knotted around itself, but he smiled in spite. She moved over on the bed, careful to keep her legs covered by the quilt, and made room for Cooper to sit down.
"Better," she said. "Is Doctor Hayward gone?"
"Yes. He just left." He walked over and joined her on the edge of the bed.
"Did he... say anything to you?"
Cooper nodded. "Just that you're well on your way to a full recovery, but that you still need lots of rest."
Audrey smiled. "You know, I've lived in this hotel my whole life, and I don't think I've ever been truly relaxed in any of its rooms before."
"There's always time to start."
"That's right."
Cooper held her gaze for a moment before looking away. "Audrey, I don't mean to pry, but... ."
"You want to finish our session?"
"Well, yes, eventually," he cleared his throat. "What I mean is... it's important for any friendship to begin on a note of honesty and free and open dialogue. I want you to know that I have been completely truthful with you and intend on continuing down that path. I hope you feel that you can trust me, too."
Audrey smiled and examined her hands, which were folded neatly in her lap. "Do you know why I like you, Special Agent Dale Cooper?"
Cooper smiled, liking the way his name sounded in her mouth. "I'll bite. Why?"
She looked up at him with a gaze that pierced him through the heart and to his very core. It took him aback; he blinked twice and braced his hands on his knees to steady himself.
"I've never known a man who could be so strong and yet speak so gently before," she said. Her lip trembled. "No one has ever talked to me the way you have."
"No one?" Cooper croaked out.
"Not a single person," she sighed.
"Well," he started, but had no idea how to finish, so he left the word hanging—he imagined—within a comic book speech bubble a foot away from his head. He had suspected as much, that Audrey was neglected emotionally, and as much as he wanted to avoid the wrong impression, out of habit he had been a gentleman towards her. Always. Looking back over his time in Twin Peaks, he decided quickly that, were he able to do it over again, he wouldn't change a thing.
"Did you want to finish talking now?" she asked him.
Cooper broke his silent stare and looked up at her. He blinked and shook his head slightly. "No, let's wait until tomorrow."
"Okay," she said.
Cooper turned away from Audrey for a moment, staring at the wall in front of him
"Tell me, Audrey. What's your favourite food?"
She smiled. "Are we playing a game again or are you asking?"
Cooper turned to face her and leaned on the footboard of the bed. "A little of both."
She closed her eyes. "I've always had a soft spot for big, greasy burgers."
"Hmm," Cooper pointed a finger at her, "I figured it would be burgers, too."
Suddenly, as if on cue, her stomach erupted in a rumble, making her laugh, albeit weakly. "I haven't really felt like eating anything all day. Not until just now."
Cooper stood up straight and smiled. "Well, then I'd like to ask you if you'd care to join me for dinner."
Audrey looked up at him, shocked. "You mean... eating? Together?"
Bemused, Cooper just smiled and looked down at his hands. "That's typically what is implied when one uses the words 'join me' in the extending of a dinner invitation to another."
"But...," she shook her head, "Do you mean... like... a date?"
Cooper felt his face flush a little and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Well... a friendly date. Sure."
She smiled, nodded, and looked away for a beat. "Okay."
"Tell you what," Cooper leaned over to rest one hand on the bed post, "I've been on my fair share of 'dates', and I know how women can be. I'll give you an hour to get ready. Think you can handle that?"
She grinned—God, how I missed that smile! he thought to himself—and nodded.
"Good," he stood up to his full height and pulled his suit jacket down to fix the bunching around his shoulders. "I'll even let you decide where you want to go. All I ask is that you select someplace with excellent coffee and a wide selection of delicious desserts. Preferably of the pie variety."
She pretended to salute him and nodded briskly. Cooper felt his legs turn to jelly.
"I won't let you down, Agent Cooper."
"Audrey," he smiled, "Let's relax protocol for tonight. We're friends, after all. And my friends usually call me Dale."
"Okay," she beamed back at him. "I'll see you in an hour. Dale."
"In an hour," he repeated, locking eyes with her as he stepped away from the bed and walked back around to the door.
When he was out of sight and safely hidden within the confines of his own hotel room, Cooper let out a breath he'd forgotten he was holding in and tried every trick in the book to calm his racing heart and dry his sweaty palms.