A/N- This chapter follows immediately after the last one. I'm giving y'all a bonus chapter today because Chapter 53 was underlined. I posted chapter 53 right before I posted this one. Make sure you read it so you can understand what's happening.
CHAPTER 54
After driving for two hours at this late hour Cooper is exhausted by the time he reaches the little house in the woods. He's been up since 6 am doing rounds at the hospital and then he had Andie's birthday party all day. He was ready to settle into bed with Charlotte when they got the call Tyler Mason was missing and now here he is at the little house in the woods two hours away from LA. He knocks at the door and Jolie lets him in.
Jolie's frazzled, "I don't know what to do Coop. Help me." She paces back and forth in the small living room.
Cooper talks calmly. "I think the best thing is to call the police and turn Tyler in to them."
"No. No. That won't solve anything." She throws her hands up in the air. "Tyler will go back to his abusive father and I'll go to jail."
"I don't see any other option." Cooper tells her calmly.
"You think I'm crazy. Don't you?" She sits down on the couch with her head in her hands.
"No. Believe it or not I went to jail once for keeping a child away from his mother." Cooper sits next to her and rubs her back.
She looks up at him. "Are you serious?"
He nods his head. "Yup."
"What happened?" She asks.
"I went to jail and got beat up pretty bad for that kid." Cooper tells.
"But at least you could sleep at night because you protected him from his abuser." Jolie tells him.
"Turns out the kid was lying. He didn't like his stepfather so he made the whole thing up so his mother would leave the guy."
"We know Tyler's not lying." Jolie tells him. "Those scars on his back don't lie."
"Where is Tyler?" Cooper asks.
"He's asleep in the bedroom." Jolie points.
Cooper gets up to look at the four year old blonde boy asleep in the bed. "You have to give him back, Joe. His father is worried sick."
"His father hurts him!" She raises her voice.
"The social worker didn't think so." Cooper tells her.
"He's got everyone fooled with his southern charm and good looks. Those scars don't lie, Coop." Jolie sits back down on the couch.
Cooper sits next to her. "What do you plan to do with him?"
Jolie gets up and starts pacing back and forth. "I don't know. I don't know what to do. I probably just blew my career. I probably can't operate if I'm a felon."
Cooper shakes his head, "Probably not."
Jolie continues to pace. "My parents are going to be so disappointed. They worked their tails off to put me through med school and a surgical residency and I just blew it all."
Cooper watches her pace. "It's not too late. You can fix this."
"How?" She asks.
"By returning Tyler." Cooper advises.
"I can't"
"Why?" Cooper asks.
"Because I can't sleep at night thinking of his father hurting him and Tyler knows me as Dr. Jolie. He'll tell everyone I took him and my career will be over anyway."
"Then what's your plan?" Cooper asks.
"I don't have one!" Jolie paces nervously.
Tyler wakes up crying. Cooper and Jolie run in the bedroom to see him. "It's okay sweetie. Don't be scared." Jolie rubs the boys back.
Tyler cries. "I want to go home. I want my daddy."
Jolie hugs him. "Sweetie, I took you here so you could be safe from your daddy. Your daddy can't hurt you anymore."
Tyler sniffles. "My daddy doesn't hurt me."
"Who does?" Cooper asks gently. Tyler doesn't answer.
"You can tell me Tyler. I want to help you." Cooper says in a very soft quiet voice.
Jolie helps out. "If you tell us who hurts you we can take you home."
Tylers eyes tear. "I don't want my grandpa to get in trouble."
"Did your granpa hurt you, Tyler?" Cooper asks.
Tyler wipes his eyes. "Only when he drinks his beers and smokes his cigars. The rest of the time he's nice to me."
"It's not okay for him to hurt you." Jolie says.
"I don't want grandpa to get in trouble. I want to go home. I want my daddy." Tyler cries.
"Tell me how grandpa hurt you. It's okay Tyler." Cooper asks.
"Once he was babysitting me and I spilled his beer. He hit me and he put his cigar on my back til I screamed."
"That's not okay." Jolie tells him. "Did you tell your daddy?"
Tyler sniffles. "No. I didn't want him to yell at grandpa. Grandpa give me dollars and buys me ice cream. He bought me a bike for my birthday."
"Your grandpa needs help so he doesn't hurt you." Jolie tells him. "We need to tell someone."
Tyler cries. "Please don't tell the police on my grandpa. I don't want him to go to jail. " Tyler cries. "I want my daddy. I want to go home."
"Ssh Ssh!" Cooper tells him as he picks up the boy. "We're going to take you home to your daddy now." Cooper looks at Jolie, "grab his stuff."
Jolie picks up Tyler's belongings that she grabbed from his hospital room and follows Cooper out to his car. "How much trouble do you think I"m in? How much jail time will I get if we give him back now? I've only had him a few hours." Jolie worries.
"Cole seems like a reasonable guy." Cooper tells Jolie as she gets in the passenger seat of his car. "We'll talk to him together."
"I think his sense of reasoning probably went out the window when I took Tyler." She sighs.
Cooper checks the backseat. Tyler's fast asleep again. "Cole will understand when Tyler tells him his grandfather has been abusing him. You did it out of compassion to help his little boy. Hopefully he'll drop the charges." Cooper drives.
Jolie puts her hand on Cooper's leg. "Not everyone is as kind hearted as you, Coop. I just have to hope Cole Mason has a shred of compassion in his heart to understand why I did it."
"It'll be alright." Cooper looks at Tyler in the backseat through the rearview mirror. The boy is staring out the window looking frightened in the darkness.
Cooper turns on his satellite radio station to Radio Disney. It's late so there's not any preschool songs, like Andie and Chase normally listen to in the morning. It's a Selena Gomez song but he notices it soothes the child. He watches through the rear view mirror as Tyler closes his eyes.
"He's falling asleep, poor kid." Cooper tells Jolie.
I know. I'm sorry I had to do this but I felt a responsibility to protect him." Jolie tells Cooper.
Cooper nods, "I get that."
"Thank you." She tells him. "Does Charlotte know you came out here?"
"She figured it out." Cooper answers as he drives.
"Do you think she called the cops or told Cole?"
"I like to hope not." Cooper answers. "But she was pretty mad at me when I left."
"I appreciate your helping me, Coop. You're a good man. I can't figure out how you ended up with Charlotte." Jolie tells him.
He furrows his brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She just doesn't seem your type."Jolie answers.
"Charlotte has a heart of gold, probably bigger than both of ours." Cooper defends. "Charlotte doesn't wear it on her sleeve like we do. It's how she was raised but believe me Charlotte has a big heart." Cooper defends his wife.
"I hope so because you deserve someone with a big heart."
"Charlotte's a good woman. Can we change the subject?" He smiles. "We have a long drive."
"Should we call Cole and tell him we're coming?" Jolie asks.
"No. Then he'll have the police waiting. I think we should explain things to him face to face and not involve the police." Cooper explains.
"So, we're going to surprise him in the middle of the night?"
"I doubt he'll be sleeping with Tyler missing. It'll be a happy surprise." Cooper tells her and they continue to drive.
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