St. AMBROSE HOSPITAL
3PM
Charlotte noticed Cooper looking at the little girl and he seemed to be out of it, "Coop.?"
She got nothing, "Cooper?" His eyes were still glazed over and he had a little color back in his face.
She playfully hit him, "Dr. Freedman?"
He shook his head, "Oh…sorry. That's…I know who her daddy is."
"What are you sayn'?" Charlotte asked, slowly turning to check on the little girl, who was now sucking her thumb, her eyelids were drooping, as she continued to watch the video.
"It's Michael. You said she was four, I haven't seen them in four years. She was a baby the last time. I can see the resemblance between her and her mother. Michael's not wearing a wedding ring 'cause her mom died." He told her, finally making eye contact again.
Charlotte sighed, "That crossed my mind when she said her name was Zoe. I wasn't gonna say anythin' 'cause I didn't want you worryin'. Does Michael have any family that we can call to come pick her up? She's worn out and it looks like it's nap time."
Cooper just shook his head. "Michael's parents are dead, and he's an only child, so was her mom. Her mother's mother is gone and her mother's father has advanced Alzheimer's."
Charlotte sighed. "So if he doesn't make it, we'll have to call DCFS."
Cooper nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."
She hated when he mentioned DCFS, more paperwork, though she knew he hated it more. "Let's just wait until he's out of surgery. Amelia's workin' on him so it shouldn't be too much longer."
He nodded, glancing at the now sleeping four year-old. Before anyone else could reply, Amelia came to the door, with a defeated look on her face, her hands twisting in front of her. Cooper turned his head and blinked slowly. Her normally stoic, surgeon, poker-face had disappeared. "I stopped the bleeding and they got his abdomen stitched up fine."
"Well, geez, Amelia, you look like someone just hit you over the head with a shovel. You're a surgeon for heaven's sake. You don't go up to someone lookin' like that, whether the news is good or bad."
Amelia swallowed. "But his heart just couldn't take the blood loss. He went into V-fib, so we charged the paddles, then he flat-lined. We shocked him again and again, but after five minutes with no oxygen, and at that point, there wasn't any blood circulating, so we called it."
Charlotte glanced up at her husband, the color gone from his face again. "Coop—."
"I'm gonna go call DCFS," he said, walking away.
Amelia gave Charlotte a confused look. The blonde sighed, "See the little sleepin' four year-old over there? That's your patient's kid. Her momma's dead, and now her daddy is too."
"Oh," was all the brunette surgeon could say.
"But the cherry on top of that horrific sundae, is that your patient was one of Cooper's buddies from high school. They were supposed to meet up for lunch today." Charlotte explained.
"Oh God. Tell him I'm sorry," Amelia replied.
"I will. Now I gotta figure out how to tell a terrified four year-old that her daddy's dead." Charlotte said, glancing behind her shoulder at Zoe, who was still hugging that stuffed dog.
Amelia sighed, "I've been there—being told my dad was dead. I was only a little bit older than she was. I witnessed his death, and technically, she witnessed her father's death too. Just take it slow. Explain it in terms she'll understand. Doctor speak isn't gonna get you very far here."
Charlotte nodded. "I know. I'm usually not the one that does this, though. I fill out the paperwork, and maybe say somethin' to the parents, but never this. I'll figure it out, though. I always do. But I'm gonna let her sleep right now. She looks plumb tuckered out. It's been one crazy day and it's only around 3:30." Charlotte replied glancing down at her phone.
She sighed. There were now four casualties, a little girl who was now completely alone, and a stack of paperwork that just kept on growing—not like that was the most important thing at the moment. Amelia had walked off to go check on other patients, so Charlotte was just standing there alone, watching the little blonde sleep. This isn't gonna be easy…
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her husband, with a piece of paper in his hand. She turned to face him, "Hey."
He just sighed. "I called Michael's lawyer, since I know he has a will. He created it after his wife died. He said to put the house on the market, the profits going into a college fund for Zoe, which the lawyer will take care of—."
"I don't see how this has any relevance, Coop."
"I was getting there. The dog and um, Zoe," he paused, looking at Charlotte, who's eyes were wide.
"What?" She asked, quickly glancing at the little girl. "Get to the point—the dog and Zoe?"
"He gave her to me, same with the dog." Cooper slowly explained, watching Charlotte's facial expression go from shock to just blank.
"So now we have a four year old and a golden retriever?" She asked, making sure she heard right. She was a little sleep deprived and stressed, so for all she knew, she was imagining this conversation.
He squeezed her shoulder. "Yeah, it looks like we're gonna be a family sooner than we thought."
"How do we tell her?" Charlotte asked, glancing at the little girl, who was starting to stir.
Cooper sighed, "I'll call Violet. You just stay with her. We don't want her waking up with nobody around."
"Don't call Violet. Zoe's just gettin' comfortable around me. Violet's gonna be all shrinky. It took me several minutes to get Zoe's name out of her. If you bring Violet in here, it'll set everythin' back, and she'll run away again."
"Run away—again?"
Charlotte swallowed. "I mean, she'll run away. That's what I said. She'll run away."
"Whatever. I don't wanna know. She obviously didn't get too far." He paused. "I really think we should get Violet involved. This isn't about you—."
"Did I say it was 'bout me, Cooper? I'm not that fond of Violet, sure, I'm cordial, she's not my best friend, but this has nothin' to do with my feelins towards Violet, personally or professionally. I'm just sayin' that it took me a long time to get Zoe to open up to me and she's freaked out 'bout somethin'. Not sure if it's the accident or what, and I know this is Violet's area and all, but that girl doesn't need to be shrinked." She paused. "She'll need to talk to someone, but let's wait for that, ok? Let's get through this right now, and worry about that later."
Cooper nodded. "Yeah, ok."
They both heard a whimper from the tiny girl and Charlotte slowly made her way back to the chair where the girl had been sleeping. "Hey, Zoe." She smiled, sitting down next to the four year-old.
The child yawned, stretching like a cat.
"Did you have a good nap?" Charlotte asked, shifting her gaze back to Cooper, and back to the little girl. She just got a nod and another yawn in response.
Charlotte sighed heavily. There was no easy way to tell someone their daddy had died. It was still hard for her to deal with it sometimes, and she was a grown woman. "Kiddo, there's somethin' I gotta tell ya."
Zoe turned her head to the side, a little confused. "Mmk."
"Remember how I told you your daddy was gettin' fixed up by his doctor?" She started, trying to go slow so the young girl could understand and follow along.
She just got a nod, but the girl shuddered at the mention of her father. She'd been doing that all afternoon, and it was starting to make Charlotte worry and frankly, it confused her.
"Well, your daddy hit his head in the accident, and his brain got hurt real bad. There was a lot of blood, and they couldn't get it to stop. He didn't make it, sweetie," she said.
"I think I've heard that on TV, so he…he's dead?" Zoe asked, a little confused, still too young to grasp the concept fully.
Charlotte nodded, and squeezed the little girl's hand, "That's right. He's dead," she repeated, to help the little girl understand.
First she got nothing, just a blank stare, then the little girl's eyes glazed over, a few fresh tears fell, and Zoe buried her head in her knees. Charlotte contemplated telling the girl that her and Cooper were going to take her, along with Buster, in. She then thought about how their tiny loft was suddenly too small for a four year-old and a golden retriever.
She turned to look at Cooper, who looked almost as upset as Zoe. She knew he could pull it together…with the help of Violet, most likely, which irked her a little, but that was beside the point. The point was, he'd be ok, and Zoe would be ok, even though she was going to need help, eventually. Truthfully, Charlotte might need a good shrink after this.
Cooper slowly approached Charlotte and whispered in her ear, "Let her calm down, then we can tell her."
"Okay. Don't know how long that'll take. Are you okay?" She said, looking up at Cooper and placing a gentle, comforting hand on the little girl's shoulder.
He nodded, squeezing his wife's shoulder, "We can do this, right? I know this isn't ideal, but I don't know what else there is to do."
She sighed. They had nothing to care for a young girl, or a dog. Maybe they could get some of Zoe's things from her old house, to make her feel more comfortable when she started living with them, which Charlotte assumed would be that night—that made her nervous. Zoe was going to be her responsibility tonight. No time to prep, no time to talk about it with Cooper, this was happening now.
She nodded, looking at Cooper with glazed eyes. "We don't have a choice, do we?"
"Well, we can say we're not capable of taking her or we don't want to—but I don't wanna see her go into the system if I can help it."
Charlotte nibbled on the inside of her lip, stroking Zoe's blonde hair. She looked at Cooper. "Then, I guess we don't have a choice."
He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "You're gonna be an amazing momma, Char."
She forced a smile and fought back a yawn. I've got a terrified four year-old and a hospital to run. I'm not sleepin' anytime soon. She sighed, starting to gently rub the little girl's back, trying to soothe her.
Cooper sat down next to Charlotte and pulled her hair to the side. He pressed his lips against her neck and kissed her. "We can do this—you can do this. You wanted a baby, you're ready for this," he whispered. "He was one of my best friend's in high school. He trusted me enough with his baby girl. I can't just put her in the system. I wouldn't be able to live with myself—you saw what happened with Betsy and her foster family."
Charlotte nodded, closing her eyes. "Okay, um," she swallowed, "okay."
He rubbed her back, much like she was doing to Zoe. "I love you."
She let out a breath and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I love you too." She paused. "I'll stay here with her, Coop."
He nodded, standing up. "I'm gonna call Michael's lawyer and get some more information."
"How'd you know he had a will?" She asked.
"We talked about it when I was there four years ago. He wanted to make sure Zoe was taken care of if something happened to him. His lawyer told me that Zo's grandparents, her mother's parents, were named as guardian, and then Mike's step-Aunt, but he made this will four years ago, and things changed—her grandmother is dead, her grandfather doesn't know what year he's living in, and her Aunt's, well I don't know what's up with the Aunt, but she's not in the right state of mind, I don't think. I was next in line."
She nodded. "The lawyer just gave that information away? You bribe him or somethin'?"
"With blow pops and jolly ranchers." He smiled. "It took some persuasion. I told him who I was, the circumstances, and why I needed the information—for Zoe. He wants to set up a meeting with us. I wanted to talk to you first before I set anything up."
"I can appreciate that—wait, you called Violet first, didn't you?"
He flashed her a guilty smile. "Not technically. She called me just as I got off the phone with the lawyer."
"I still appreciate it, I guess. Call the lawyer, and see what else we need to do."
"Stay with Zoe. I think she likes you." He smiled. "Thank you. I know you're a busy woman."
"Busy is the understatement of the year, Coop."
He laughed. "Well, I'm not leaving the hospital, until you do—no matter how late we're here."
"It'll be late."
"I know the drill. I've been involved with the Chief of Staff long enough to know that."
She smiled. "See ya later."
He lowered his head and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Things seem to be calming down a bit."
"Calm before the storm, Coop."
He nodded. "Keep her company. She needs someone."
"I'm not leavin'. Paperwork versus parkin' my ass in this chair—I'll pass on the paperwork."
He laughed and walked over to the door. "Thank you," he repeated. "You've been a lifesaver today."
"There's one life I wish I coulda saved."
"Yeah…me too." He sighed and disappeared down the hallway.
Charlotte looked down at the little girl, who had stopped crying, but had begun to shake a little. "Shhhh."
Zoe slipped off the chair and crawled up onto Charlotte's. She curled into a ball and wrapped her arms around her.
Charlotte swallowed, and looked around. She hesitantly draped her arm over the girl and let out a breath. "You're okay," she whispered, and turned her focus to the TV in the corner. Was she really ready for this to be her life?