It's been three days since Erica's funeral and the loft has had the same eerie sense of silence since then. Mason's barely said anything to Cooper and Charlotte and this night isn't any different. The three are seated together having dinner and the only thing they hear is the sound of their utensils hitting each other or the sides of their plates.

Cooper looks across from his seat to where Mason is seated. Lately, every time he looks at him, he goes right back to the funeral. As they lowered Erica's casket, Mason's eyes were like an ocean of tears and they uncontrollably flowed out to his cheeks. He just looked so distraught and hurt that Cooper knew it was a face he would never forget. The past few days had been horrible. He thought waiting for Erica's surgery in Seattle was horrible or the days leading up to her death were horrible. But he realized that seeing Mason's face after he and Charlotte told him that his mother had died had to be the worst of it. Now, he's stirring the pasta on his plate while looking at his son and all he wants to do is make everything better. Or at least, see a smile on his son's face again.

"How's the pasta, Mason?"

He doesn't look up at his dad. He just twirls his fork around the pasta while pretending to use the knife to cut the noodles into smaller bits. "It's okay."

"Charlotte cooked dinner tonight since she got out of work early."

That's enough to make him look up as he feels obligated to be polite. "Thank you, Charlotte."

"You're very welcome, Mason," she replies.

"So how was school, buddy?"

"School was okay."

"Did you ace that History test like how I said you would?"

"I guess. We don't get the results back until next week."

"Well, I'm sure you aced it anyway."

He doesn't bother replying to that. He just goes about twirling noodles and chewing them down. After a few minutes, he's finished more than half of the food on his plate and puts his utensils down.

"May I be excused now?"

"We've got strawberry ice cream in the freezer if you want some for dessert," Cooper answers.

"No thanks. I really just want to wash up and go to bed if that's okay."

"Of course it is, Mason. You go on ahead and call it a night."

"Thanks, Charlotte. Good night."

He pushes his chair back, gets up, gives both Cooper and Charlotte a faint smile, and then makes his way to the bedroom they all share.

When they hear the shower head come to life, Cooper drops his utensils and just shakes his head. Charlotte puts her hand on top of his and rubs it softly. "It's okay, Coop. It's gonna get better."

He uses his free hand to stroke it around his face and then looks softly at Charlotte. "When, Char?"

"I can't answer that, Coop," she sighs. "You know that. But you also know that they will. We just need to be patient."

"And until then, what do we do?"

"We just do what we're already doing. We let him know that we're here for him when he's ready. And even if he doesn't feel like he'll ever be ready, it'll be okay with us."

"Is it really okay with us?"

"Grief's a tricky thing, Coop. There's no timetable for it and there's no guide to get around it. He'll deal with it the way he thinks is right and we just need to support that."

"So we make sure he knows we're here for him but we don't push either?"

"I think that's all we can really do. We make sure that he's okay in terms of everything else but we let him grief the way he needs to."

"We make sure he eats and keeps more or less the same performance in school and if he acts out then we'll push?"

"We'll see how far we can push."

"Okay, that sounds about right," he says before taking another deep breath. After that, he looks at Charlotte and he can tell there's pain in her eyes too. More pain than there was in the past few days so he's inclined to ask. "What's wrong, Char?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, Coop," she says with a faint smile.

He parts his hand from hers then brings it up to her face so he can cup her cheek with it. "I know you and you aren't fine. Or at least, you're not any better than you were earlier so what's going on?"

"I guess," she pauses for a beat. "I guess I just want the same thing you want; for everything to just get better sooner rather than later."

"I know the past few weeks have been hell and this last week and a half has been the worst but we can get through this. We have each other so whatever happens, we can get through it."

She holds the hand that's resting on his cheek and genuinely smiles at him. "I believe it. It's hard to think we can but I believe it."

From there, he responds with a genuine smile of his own and then leans in to plant a soft kiss on her lips. When they part he asks, "So, I think we should discuss our game plan now."

Her eyebrow slightly rises at that. "Our game plan?" she questions.

"Yeah," he hesitates a little. "You know, our plan on how we're really going to move forward with taking care of Mason and eventually the baby."

"Right, that."

"Unless you don't want to. I mean, we can talk about it another time if you want."

"No, no," she shakes her head. "I guess we should talk about it now."

"Okay, let's talk about it now."

"Well, what do you have in mind?'

"For starters, we'll really need to get that house. When we talked about it before, it was when we thought Mason would need room for visits and then eventually a room for the baby. But we need more space now."

"I agree. I feel like we've been living in a shoebox lately so the sooner we can move, the better."

"Do you want me to contact a realtor tomorrow or do you already have a contact?"

"I guess I could contact my old realtor and ask her to show us a few places."

"Okay, so that's settled. We'll start looking at houses."

"So what else is on the agenda?"

He chuckles a little at that then continues. "Well, I was thinking about our work schedules."

Now both her eyebrows are raised. "What about them?"

"Well, I was thinking if we'd need to make adjustments of some kind."

"What kind of adjustments?"

"Maybe adjustments to accommodate Mason's school schedule."

"What's wrong with the system we have so far? It seems to be working."

"Yeah, it sort of has but there are a few kinks."

"What kind of kinks? You didn't mention this to me before."

"Well, yeah cause I didn't really want you to worry about them but now that we're discussing these things I thought I'd bring it up."

"Sounds reasonable. But seriously, what kind if kinks?"

He slightly scratches his head looking a bit embarrassed. "I've kind of been taking him to school an hour early since he came to stay with us."

"Why on earth are you doin' that?" she questions. "If the kid could sleep more, let 'em."

"Cause if I don't, then I won't make it to work on time. His classes start a quarter after eight and so if I take him a little before that, traffic will catch up on me."

She shakes her head after hearing that. "You should've told me, Coop. I can take him on the days when I start at St. Ambrose since I don't need to get in until nine."

"I didn't want to hassle you with it."

"It's not a hassle if it's for my kid," she says. "I can take him on the days when I start at St. Ambrose so that way the poor kid only wakes up early twice a week."

"Thank you," he says sheepishly.

"What about goin' home?"

"What about it?"

"Are there kinks about that that you aren't telling me about?"

"No, no," he says.

She raises an eyebrow questioning him.

"Okay, there's a little kink. He gets out earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I have to cut my days an hour short. But that's it."

"Well, I guess that's not so bad."

"It isn't, Char. Don't worry about it. I already talked to Addison and she completely understands."

"Okay, then I guess that's settled too."

"What do you think about his school?"

"I don't really know much about it. Why?"

"I don't know if it's the best one for him or maybe we can send him to a better one."

"I don't think movin' him to another school's a good idea right now, Coop. I get what you mean that there could be somethin' better out there. But right now, the kid's had enough change to deal with. This is probably a conversation for another time."

"Right," he nods his head. "You're right. I'm just thinking too much about all of this."

"You're planning out our lives. There's nothin' wrong with that."

"Thank you," he softly says out of nowhere.

"For what?"

"For doing all of this with me. I wouldn't want to with anyone else."

She looks at him lovingly then cups the side of his face. "Well, lucky for you, you won't have to."

Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews that all of you have sent in. I truly appreciate them and hope that you continue to review my work! I will also continue to reply to all reviewers who have registered accounts to further show my appreciation :)