A/N: Some dialogue in this chapter was lifted from Private Practice and manipulated to fit the scene. No copyright infringement intended.
And now Cooper makes his appearance in the story.
Chapter 8
Cooper steps off the elevator at Oceanside Wellness, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. He pushes his sunglasses up and greets Dell with a cheery smile, which creeps the younger man out a little. "Thank you," he says, taking the stack of message slips.
"You look…tan," Dell's looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Did you forget to pack the sunblock?"
Cooper takes out a package of coffee beans, sniffs it before handing it over to Dell. "This is for you. From Costa Rica, the best coffee in the world."
"Um, thanks?" the younger man replies. "So, you didn't touch monkeys?"
"That was the plan and then we went to the airport and said 'no plans, Costa Rica.' White sand beaches, fabulous music, steady stream of alcohol. It was very zen."
Dell's other brow goes up. "Zen?"
"It was relaxing," Cooper flips through the message slips.
"Coop, you're back."
Cooper turns around, still smiling. "Pete!" He reaches out, hugs him and Pete's looking at Dell, bewildered.
"He's zen," Dell explains, while Cooper takes out another package of coffee beans and hands it to Pete.
"Best coffee ever," Cooper says. He gathers his things and heads to his office. Quickly dropping his bag off, he's got one more package of coffee and decides it's a good peace offering to Charlotte. After spending two weeks away, he's feeling a lot more open to the idea of possibly letting her back into his life. He walks down the corridor, ready to knock on her door when he stops and sees the empty office.
He thinks it's a dream, so he checks the name on the glass, Charlotte King. Okay, right office, but where is she? Turning around, he walks over to Dell. "Hey, why is Charlotte's office empty?"
"I have no idea. It was like that when I came in last Monday," Dell replies.
Cooper turns on his heel, walks to the staircase and heads down to the fourth floor. There's one person he thinks will have the answer and now he's knocking on the door to Sheldon Wallace's office. "Hey," he barges in and Sheldon looks up. "Any idea why Charlotte's office is empty?"
"Well, hello and welcome back, Cooper," Sheldon greets.
"Thanks, now can you answer my question? Where is Charlotte?"
"I thought her office would be enough of an explanation. She's gone, Cooper."
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"Gone, as in she decided it was time for a change," Sheldon watches the expression change on Cooper's face and while he won't admit it, he feels bad for him. "So she packed up and left. If you're looking for more answers, I'm sorry to say I don't have any."
Cooper looks at the bag of coffee beans in his hand and places it on Sheldon's desk. "Thanks. Uh, here you can have these. It's um, coffee. Enjoy." He walks out of Sheldon's office, heads back upstairs and is once again standing outside of Charlotte's office.
This isn't how it's supposed to be. He's back and Charlotte should be here too. Two weeks of pouring his heart out to Violet and finally admitting he's still in love with Charlotte, wants her back, and this is what he gets? An empty office and a girlfriend, -correction- an ex-girlfriend who's left town, never to be heard from again.
Useless stupid love. The words echo in his head as he stands there, head leaning against the doorway. It's safe to say he's not feeling zen anymore.
