Cooper walks into the kitchen at work and immediately loosens his tie. He looks around and Violet is standing there, looking at him with a curious expression on her faces.
"So?" Violet says, continuing to stare at her best friend.
Cooper pours himself a cup of coffee and avoids her eager eyes.
She nudges him. "Come on, Cooper. Tell me. What happened in court this morning?"
Cooper turns his head and smiles. "The judge accepted the adoption order. All we have to do is sign some papers and it'll be official."
"We didn't doubt it for a second." She gives him a hug and smiles.
"We're telling Betsey tonight. Wish us luck."
"You won't need it, Cooper. She's been living with the two of you for almost three months now. She's comfortable. I've counseled a lot of kids who have gone through similar situations, and I've never seen a kid adjust so easily. She'll be excited. She's never had a stable home, so this'll be good for her."
He nods. "I'm just ready for the legal stuff to be over with. I don't want to have to worry about that side of all this anymore."
She nods her understanding. "One more step."
He smiles. "Yep." He adds milk and sugar to his coffee and takes a sip.
"How'd Charlotte react to the news?"
"She's usually very easy to read, but I honestly don't have a clue. She didn't react at all. I don't know if that's good or bad."
"She probably hasn't processed it yet. I'm sure you'll know exactly how she feels about it tonight when you guys tell Betsey."
"She's been quiet since we left the courthouse. When I dropped her off at the hospital after the hearing, all she said was 'bye and see ya later'. I'm not sure what her silence means."
"Don't worry about it, Coop. She's just processing."
"I hope you're right, Vi, because I kinda feel guilty about this whole thing. I feel like I pressured her into doing this. She was hesitant and I pushed her until she finally agreed to it." He sighs and sits at the counter. He sips his coffee slowly and swallows.
"I'm sure she wouldn't have agreed to go this far with it if she didn't actually want to. She knew what all this would lead to. She had to have known that." Violet pauses. "Besides, have you ever known Charlotte to do something she didn't want to do, Cooper?"
"No, I guess not, but I feel like I gave her no choice." He sighs and stirs his coffee with the tiny black straw. Soon, he's sitting in the kitchen by himself, left to think about how he and Charlotte will break the news to Betsey later tonight.
It's almost eight and Cooper's sitting on the floor, letting Betsey paint his nails. He turns his head when he hears a key jiggle in the lock.
The door opens a few seconds later and Charlotte walks through it.
Betsey jumps up and runs over to her, wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist. "Charlotte!"
Charlotte blinks. "Well, hi there, sweetie." She runs her hand through Betsey's brown hair and walks over to the desk. She sets her bag and coat down and tilts her head when Cooper presses a soft kiss to her cheek. She smiles. "Hi to you too, Coop." She looks down at notices his bright pink nail polish and tries to hold back a laugh. "Nice nails."
He twists his mouth and swallows. "Betsey painted them for me."
"They're beautiful, Coop. I love the pink." Charlotte bites on her bottom lip to keep herself from busting out laughing.
"So are we gonna do this? Tell her about what happened in court this morning?"
"I'm kinda tired. Do you think this can wait until tomorrow? I've had a long day."
He sighs. "We agreed to do it tonight."
"Things change, Cooper." Charlotte yawns and disappears into the bathroom.
He looks at Betsey, who had run back over to the couch. "Come on, Betsey. Let's get you tucked in and I'll read you a story."
"I want Charlotte to do it."
"She's kind of tired tonight. Would it be ok if I did it?"
"But I want Charlotte to do it." Betsey pouts.
He sighs. "She'll tuck you in and read to you tomorrow night." He scoops the eight year-old up into his arms and tickles her.
Betsey squirms and giggles.
He stops and carries her back to her bedroom, the child draped over his shoulder. After she's settled under the sheets, asleep, he walks through the kitchen and into his bedroom.
Charlotte's in bed already, reading a book, when Cooper gets back.
Cooper smiles and crawls into bed beside her. He tugs on her pajama shirt and waits for her to turn her head away from the page. "Are you ok?"
She nods. "I'm fine." Her eyes fall back to her book.
"Hey."
She closes her book, leaving her thumb in between to keep her place, and looks at him. "What?"
"What's going on with you? Since this morning, you've been acting strange. I don't doubt that you're exhausted or that you had a long day, but you're sitting up in bed, reading a book, so I know you're not too tired to talk to Betsey about what happened in court. You've been silent all damn day. So what's wrong?"
She swallows.
He brushes his thumb against the back of her hand and nudges her.
"I'm just a little nervous. This is real now. Once we sign those papers, Betsey's ours. She'll have your last name, she'll be our daughter, she's our responsibility. It's a lot to digest." She pauses. "We'll talk to Betsey tomorrow. I promise."
He scoots closer to him, giving her a kiss on her cheek. "The only thing that's different now is that it's official. She's been our responsibility for the past two and a half months, Char. You've been her mother and I've been her father. Whether or not you chose to think of it like that, that's how it's been. We've been her parents this entire time."
She lets out a breath and rests her hand on his cheek as she leans in to kiss him on the lips. She puts her book on the nightstand and wraps her arms around him, snuggling in close and resting her head on his shoulder.
He kisses the top of her head and hooks his arm around her, slipping his hand under her shirt and running it up and down her side slowly.
The partition slides open suddenly and Betsey pads in. She stands at the foot of the bed. "Charlotte?"
Charlotte separates from Cooper and sits up. "Everythin' alright, Betsey?"
Betsey shakes her head. "I had a bad dream that a monster was gonna take me away." She climbs onto the bed and crawls over to the pillow, squeezing her small body in between the two adults. She nuzzles into Charlotte's side and looks at her.
Charlotte loops her arm around her and sighs. "Don't worry, sweet pea. No monsters are gonna take you away from us."
He gets out of bed and disappears into the bathroom, leaving the two of them alone.
Betsey tightens her grip around the blonde. "Are you sure?"
Charlotte nods. "I'm positive."
Betsey smiles and closes her eyes. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"
Charlotte nods. "I guess that'll be ok."
Betsey's scoots closer to her and drifts back to sleep within minutes.
Cooper comes back into the bedroom and glances at the two of them intertwined. He smiles and shuts off Charlotte's bedside lamp. He walks around the bed and gets under the sheets, switching off his light next. He brushes his hand against his wife's and smiles at her above Betsey's head. "Goodnight," he whispers.
"Goodnight," Charlotte slurs. She's exhausted. She shifts, getting more comfortable, and lets out a breath.
He closes his eyes and pulls the sheets up over Betsey, sort of tucking her in. He falls asleep shortly after that.
Charlotte stays awake for a couple hours, not being able to fall asleep. Eventually, her insomnia becomes no match for her exhaustion and she passes out, her arm still around Betsey.
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