Cooper smells like sweat and horse when he gets back, so after quickly gobbling up one of the dinner plates left out for him and Chris (apparently they'd been out riding a lot longer than he'd realized), he excuses himself to the shower. Laney's parents are still there — they'd all made small talk while he and Chris ate, pointedly ignoring the fact that Duke, Charlotte, and their mother were all conspicuously absent from the kitchen.

Charlotte wasn't in the bedroom when he grabbed his pajamas, either, so once he's showered and clean he goes looking for her. The house is silent, now. Almost eerily so.

He's not terribly surprised to find Charlotte in her parents' old bedroom. She's curled on the sofa, head on a throw pillow. One hand is resting next to her head, a halved lemon cupped loosely in her palm. Her eyes are open, trained on the bed where her father had been hours ago. If she notices his presence, she doesn't make any move to show it. Not until he crouches down next to her. Then, she comes to life suddenly, pushing herself up until she's sitting, one hand moving to her stomach with a grimace.

"I need to talk to you," he tells her, trying to keep it gentle. He wishes they could do this in another room. Any other room.

"Me first." He can tell she's unhappy, agitated.

"Charlotte-"

"No," she insists. "I have somethin' to say, and I'm gonna say it." Cooper tells her okay, and sits next to her while she takes a deep breath. "I just had what was arguably the worst day of my life. I'm more tired right this second than I think I've ever been, and I can't handle one more conflict I've gotta resolve while I'm here. I'm buryin' my father in the mornin'. This has to wait 'til we get back home. You can be as mad as you want in LA, but not here. I can't have a fight right now. Not today."

"I don't want to fight," he tells her, and he shouldn't be amused at the way her whole face changes, melting from stony determination to confusion, but he likes when he manages to catch her off-guard.

"You don't?"

"No." Cooper reaches for her hand, threads their fingers. "I don't."

She's eyeing him cautiously now, like she doesn't believe him. "You were pretty pissed when you left."

"Yeah, I was," he agrees, with a nod. "But your cousin's fiance came to keep me company, and he gave me some dad-to-be advice that made me a little less mad. Gave me some perspective."

Cooper watches Charlotte's body lose some of the tension it's been holding, her shoulders drooping just a little. "Okay…"

"So I don't want to fight. But I do need to say something to you." She looks away from him, then, and shakes her head a little, mouth drawing into a tight scowl. Like she knew getting let off the hook was too good to be true. Cooper lifts a hand, tilts her chin back in his direction, and leaves his fingers there as he says, "Look at me."

She sighs, and nods, and waits, looking for all the world like she's waiting for the firing squad.

Cooper gathers himself, takes a breath and lets his hand fall before saying, "I'm outside of this. This baby, this pregnancy, I don't have any control over anything. I can't help you, I can't make it better, I don't know anything that's going on with you unless you tell me. So I need to know you're gonna tell me. Everything, Charlotte. I need to know everything. You can't keep me at a distance. You can't keep me at arms' length-"

Charlotte interrupts, pointing out, "I'm the one who wanted to get back together."

"Yeah, I know that, I just…" He sighs, grabs her hand again. She doesn't squeeze back, but he's not surprised.

"You just what?"

"I'm scared. Okay? I love this baby, and I love you — I do — and I need you both to be healthy, and safe. And right now you're sick, and miserable, and, no offense, you look like crap." She rolls her eyes, tugs her hand away from his, and locks it with her other, keeping them firmly in her lap. "Char, c'mon — Seeing you like this… it's hard for me. And I need to know that if something is wrong, I'll know. Okay, so I'm not gonna yell at you, and I'm not gonna get mad, and we're not gonna fight. I just need you to promise me that you'll let me in on this. And not just if something's wrong. I want to be a part of this with you, as much as I can."

She's looking at him sideways again, lips pressed hard together, eyes narrowed, studying him, looking for something. She must find it, whatever it is, because she deflates suddenly, mouth dropping open, tongue swiping out to wet her lips before she says, "I'd have told you if somethin' was wrong. I know you don't trust me, but… I'd've told you. I'm not just gonna sit by and let somethin' bad happen to this baby." Her voice drops a little as she mutters, "Even if it is torturin' me."

Cooper offers her a sympathetic smirk, lifting his hand and rubbing gently between her shoulder blades. Her eyes drop shut for just a second, her face softening at the contact. Cooper's loathe to break the moment of peace, but he finds himself saying, "You got sick again, didn't you?"

The lemon in her hand was a dead giveaway. Plus, she's paler than she was this morning, and Laney had said something about her excusing herself halfway through dinner and never coming back.

Sure enough, Charlotte grimaces and nods. "Lou brought king ranch chicken."

"Yeah, I had some; it was great. Wait - did you eat it?" It had been delicious, definitely — cheesy, and creamy, and rich, and a little spicy. And a far cry from anything Charlotte should be putting anywhere near her mouth with the way she's been lately.

She blows out a little breath. "I didn't have a choice. If I didn't eat, they'd ask questions. It's bad enough Landry and Laney know," And Chris, Cooper thinks silently. Best not to let her know that, though. "I don't want everyone else to find out, too. So I ate as much as I could, then excused myself and came up here. Figured no one in this house right now has any interest in steppin' foot in Big Daddy's room, and it has its own bathroom. I think I barfed up half my weight." She swallows, heavily, like even talking about it is making her queasy. Sure enough, she lifts the lemon he'd almost forgotten she was still gripping, lifting it to her nose and taking a slow whiff.

"Does that actually help?"

She nods, breathes again. "Surprisingly, yeah. It's not an instant cure, but it helps a little." Her lips curve just a little before she adds, "Landry brought it to me. Guess him knowin' isn't the end of the world."

Cooper finds himself smiling, and wondering if that means he's forgiven for his little slip. He doesn't want to test his luck by asking, though, so he just keeps rubbing slow circles over her back. She's quiet for another minute or two, then asks, "You really wanna know everything? How I feel, all that?"

She's still looking straight ahead, and her hair has fallen, blocking her face from him, so he lifts his hand from her back to tuck a few locks behind her ear. When he can see her profile again, he says, "Yeah, I do."

"I hate this," she nearly whispers. "I feel like crap. All the time. Just gettin' through the day is gettin' hard. I'm exhausted, and my throat hurts from pukin' every day." Her voice wavers a little as she says, "And I just want a break. I'm so tired." She sniffles, once, then looks all kind of irritated with herself, dropping the lemon into her lap and wiping furiously at her eyes. "And I am sick of the goddamned waterworks."

"Okay," he murmurs, comfortingly, bringing his hand back to her shoulders. She looks so miserable; all he wants to do right now is coddle her. And he thinks she just might let him - a rarity for her - so he decides to go for it. "You should get some rest. Why don't we go to your bedroom? I'll give you a back rub, you can get some good sleep. You've been taking care of your family all day; let me take care of you for a little bit, okay?"

She turns to look at him then, finally, and nods a little. "I need a shower. I feel grimy. Sweaty."

"You're sweaty?" he teases, dryly. "You should've seen me when I got in. Chris and I took the horses out, saw the rest of your property. You never told me your family was this loaded."

Now it's Charlotte's turn to smirk, one shoulder lifting in a pale imitation of a shrug. "You never asked."

Cooper chuckles, and shakes his head. "No, I guess I didn't." Then he pushes to his feet, and holds a hand out for her. "Come on - let's get you showered and into bed."

Charlotte lets her brows rise slowly, taking his hand and standing as she says, "We are not gettin' me showered."

"Yeah, yeah," Cooper dismisses. "You shower. I will wait in the bedroom."

Charlotte nods, then steps past him, using the loose grip of their fingers to draw him out of the room.

Cooper thanks God for good advice, and patience, and starts to think that maybe, just maybe, they can get through this pregnancy together after all.