Chapter 11

Going Home

It's almost ten am. Cooper's been waiting almost an hour in Amelia's office before she finally walks in the door. The brunette's surprised to see him. "Cooper? What are you doing here."

"Waiting for you, you told me on the phone last night to meet you here at nine to discuss Charlott's surgery?" Cooper 's sitting at her desk.

"I forgot, I had a late night and I have a light patient load this morning, I slept in a little." She flips her hair and puts her purse on the desk. "Why didn't you call?"

"I left three messages on your voicemail, don't you check it?"

Amelia pulls her phone out of her purse. "Would you look at that. I forgot to charge it." She says non chalantly.

"What if there was an emergency at the hospital?" Cooper asks.

"Sorry to break it to you Coop but I'm not the only neurosurgeon in LA. People can survive without me for a day."

Cooper looks at her, something's off with her today.

"Do you mind moving. I need to get into my desk." She motions for Cooper to get up.

"Charlotte wants the surgery." He tells her as he rises from the chair.

"I told you the surgery's risky. Charlotte can end up with worse damage." Ameila explains.

"Charlotte needs this surgery Amelia. It's killing her to not be able to talk."

"She can talk." Amelia grimaces

"Like a two year old." Cooper retorts.

"She's lucky she woke up from the coma, Cooper." Amelia looks down at papers on her desk. "Can't you two be happy with that?"

Cooper argues, "Her quality of life sucks right now. How can she ever go back to work if she can't talk?"

"Life sucks Cooper. We see bad things happen with our patients all the time."

"Come on Amelia, this is Charlotte. She can't live the rest of her life like this." Cooper pleads.

"She'll adjust." Amelia doesn't look at him..

Cooper throws his hands up in the air. "She won't adjust. What's going on here Amelia? You're usually pushing to do these cutting edge surgeries and now you're backing down?" Cooper questions.

Amelia hands him a business card. "Here's the name of a neurosurgeon in New York. If you insist on having the surgery, he's the best one to do it."

"You're passing on doing the surgery?" Cooper asks.

"Just give him a call, Cooper" Amelia tells him as he walks out the door.

After Cooper leaves her office, Amelia unlocks the second drawer of her desk. She stares at the bottle of Vodka sitting there. She has to examine Charlotte this morning. She remembers the morning of the earthquake, she woke up in a bar with her chin bleeding bad enough to require stitches. She operated on Charlotte that morning right after. She promised Cooper she was okay to do the surgery, but was she? If she let another doctor operate instead would her friend still be having all this trouble? She takes a swig of vodka.

An hour and a two swigs of vodka later Amelia shows up outside Charlotte's hospital room. She pops a breath mint, the strong kind, before entering. She's learned how to hide her habit by now. "Good morning" she says to Charlotte.

"Mornin'." Charlotte replies,

Amelia performs a quick neuro exam and then tells Cooper, "Charlotte's ready to be discharged. There's nothing more we can do for her here that can't be done at home. She should continue to receive speech therapy as an outpatient."

Cooper's just as annoyed as Charlotte that all the doctors treat her like a five year old. "Can you please talk to Charlotte, she's the patient, she's sitting right there." He motions to Charlotte sitting on the bed, with his hand.

"No offense, Charlotte." Amelia says to her. "I'll sign your discharge papers."

Charlotte nods her head in agreement.

"I called the neurosurgeon you referred us to." Cooper tells Amelia.

"And?" Amelia asks.

"And we have to fly to New York to see him so he can examine Charlotte." Cooper informs.

Amelia shrugs her shoulder. "That's usually how it works."

"It's unfair for Charlotte to have to fly to New York when there's a competent neurosurgeon in this room." He grimaces at Amelia.

Charlotte tells Cooper. "I…fine." She pauses a minute and thinks of the words. "I …go…New...York."

"Amelia rubs her shoulder, "Dr. Murray is the best.. It'll be worth the trip"

"I thought you were the best?" Cooper asks.

"Not at this kind of surgery, Cooper." Amelia doesn't like the way Cooper's pressuring her, she can't stop thinking about the bottle of vodka in her desk.

Cooper's certain something's up with Amelia now but he can't worry about that, he's got enough on his own plate.

Amelia walks toward the door to leave and says, "I'll send one of the nurses in with your discharge papers, Charlotte, good luck in New York."

After Amelia leaves the room, Cooper looks at Charlotte and smiles. "You're going to get to see our new house for the first time." He's excited,

Charlotte wrinkles her forehead and grimaces. How dare he buy a house without her, how dare he make such a big decision withour her? "You…buy… house!" She takes a minute to find the words, "I…kill…you"

He laughs and it makes her even more mad. She flings her breakast tray onto the floor making a big mess.

Cooper scolds her,"Hey! Someone has to clean that up now and *no,* he tells her. "I rented a house in the Pacific Palisades with the option to buy if we both like it."

She's still glaring at him.

"Our apartment was destroyed, Charlotte, we need a new place and I know you like the Palisades, I rented it a few weeks ago. I didn't want to keep showering at Violet's every day, she's always bugging me to call my mother." He's still not thrilled with Violet for telling his parents about Charlotte being pregnant.

"Not….tell...me?" Charlotte asks still pouting.

"I wanted to surprise you." Cooper's excited, "I can't wait for you to see it, it overlooks the ocean."

Violet comes in the room. "I passed Amelia in the hall, she told me she's signing your walking papers today." She addresses Charlotte.

Charlotte nods her head and smiles at Violet, besides the nurses Violet's one of the only people that talk to Charlotte about Charlotte and not to Cooper.

"That's great news Charlotte, I'm glad you're better." Violet rubs Charlotte's arm.

"Thank...you." Charlotte responds even though she doesn't feel better, she won't ever feel better until she's able to talk like an adult again.

"I'll go so you two can pack up." Violet steps over the mess of food on the floor. "Someone didn't like their breakfast?" She asks.

Cooper answers with sarcasm, "Yeah, that's what we do around here if we don't like the food, Violet, we fling it on the floor."

Charlotte rolls her eyes.

"Bye the way Coop, have you called your parents? Your mom left me a voicemail she wants you to call her." Violet asks.

"I'll call her when I get a chance, it's not my priority right now." Cooper looks over at Charlotte who's getting out of bed to clean the mess.

The nurse comes in with the discharge papers and tells Charlotte. "Leave that Dr. King, we'll have housekeeping clean it up." Charlotte continues to clean it feeling guilty for making the mess on purpose. Cooper helps her.

Violet tells Charlotte, "Good luck" as she walks out the door and tells Cooper "Call your parents!" waving a finger a him.

Charlotte, Cooper and the nurse all finish cleaning up the mess together, after they're done the nurse goes over the discharge paperwork with them and leaves. Cooper helps Charlotte get dressed. "Ready to start our new life?" He asks.

"Always….forever." Charlotte answers, remembering it was their special saying when they first started out as a married couple. He takes her hand and he leads her to a wheelchair. "No...wheel...chair." Charlotte tells him.

Cooper teases her, "It's hospital policy Dr. King, all patients are to be wheeled out when they're discharged, you're breaking your own rules."

She smacks his arm playfully as they walk out the doors of the hospital together. Charlotte's not going to admit it but she really is excited to see what Cooper's done with the house he rented for them in the Palisades.

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