Here you go guys :) A huge thanks to my beta reader Emily_90, I couldn't do this without her checking for typos and gently nagging me to write the next chapter!

Charlotte woke with a crick in her neck. With a groan she opened her eyes, slowly uncurling from the sofa and rolled her head from side to side. She glanced over at the clock hanging on the table beside her '12:00' and it definitely wasn't midnight "Shit!" she leapt to her feet and ran to her bedroom and started to grab clothes out of the wardrobe.

"I've called in for you," Jenna's voice floated in from the kitchen "You can stay at home". By the time Charlotte turned around Jenna was leaning casually in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee. She looked completely relaxed, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, her hair unbrushed and wearing no makeup. She took a sip of her coffee "No offense Charlotte, but you look like crap and I definitely wouldn't want anyone to be my doctor if they'd only had five hours 6 hours sleep."

"Six hours is a lie-in for me kid," Charlotte growled "You have no idea." She was furious; who the hell did this kid think she was? Cooper had always known to back off when it came to her work, if she could work herself to exhaustion, it would mean that she would fall into a dead sleep that evening- which was what she needed. She should never have told Jenna, to have let her in was a big mistake. Now, because she's shown some weakness, this girl thought that she could walk all over her. She wouldn't have it.

"Well remind me to never go to a doctor again" Charlotte continued to glare at her and she rolled her eyes "Look, I only said you were feeling like crap because you have a cold. I didn't say anything about what happened. Even when Cooper called, I didn't tell him." Charlotte stiffened "I knew you wouldn't want Cooper to know and worry".

Charlotte sighed and threw the work clothes she was clutching onto her bed and sat down heavily "Thanks" she murmured. Jenna disappeared from the doorway for a few moments, leaving Charlotte sitting there to think. In a strange way, telling Jenna had given her a kind of release- sure, she wouldn't go around shouting from the rooftops about what had happened to her but she didn't have to keep so everything so bottled up. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair; she looked up as Jenna sat down beside her and passed her another mug of coffee which she sipped from gratefully. "I'm sorry I snapped" she said finally "I'm used to everyone giving me the pity eyes and tiptoeing around me. I hate it."

Jenna smiled "It's cool, I should've woken you up but you looked kinda peaceful" there was a moments silence, not awkward but companionable "I get why you want to keep it all quiet, it's such a personal thing to happen to you, no one can ever really understand." Charlotte nodded in agreement "I'm not going to try and understand" Jenna continued "Because I know I never could, but you can trust me not to tell anyone, and you shouldn't stop what happened to you from meeting my family and getting on with your life." she gave a wry smile "Plus it would be nice to have someone to talk to next thanksgiving. I mean, I love them all, but they can be pretty boring after a while."

Charlotte chuckled "Well I'll definitely consider it, and I'll talk to Cooper about it" It was then she heard a key turn in the lock. Stiffening she turned around.

"Charlotte? Jenna?" she let out of long exhale, relieved at the sound of her fiancée's voice. Cooper stuck his head round the door and observed the two sitting on the bed, side by side, sipping coffee. Charlotte looked haggard, her hair was tousled and she was clutching the coffee as if it was going to be the cure for the common cold. But when she turned to look at him, her eyes were soft and she appeared more relaxed than he'd seen her in a while. She gave him a small smile.

"Hey Coop"

Jenna got up and began to move out of the room "I'll give you guys some time on your own" and she turned back once to smile at Charlotte who nodded back. Whatever had happened when Cooper was away, it had bonded the two women and they now seemed extremely close. As Jenna left the room, he dropped his bag onto the floor and sat himself down beside Charlotte on the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder and slowly, carefully, he put his arm around her. Instead of flinching away, she stayed where she was, if anything she was nuzzling into him. She sighed and he felt the tension leave her body.

"So what's this about you being ill?" he murmured, pressing his lips to the top of her head. She gave a low chuckle and she broke away from the embrace, turning to look at his directly.

"I had a flashback last night, it was pretty nasty, the most vivid I've had in a while" he stiffened and opened his mouth to speak but Charlotte cut him off. "It's fine Coop, we dealt with it" she nodded toward the door "I told Jenna, I told her everything," his surprise must have been evident on his face. "We saw Lee yesterday, at lunch. He didn't do anything, I think he was just as scared as I was and Jenna got me out of there quickly. I think that brought on the flashback, but telling Jenna… It wasn't as bad as I thought, she's a good kid" she smiled "She actually got me to sleep."

He grinned and hugged her "I'm glad" he murmured. "I'm so… I'm just glad" she giggled.

"I'm not going to lie" Jenna's voice floated in "But I'm getting bored out here" and with that they both smiled and went to join her in the main room.

The rest of the day past quickly, Cooper agreed with Jenna that Charlotte should skip work that day and he phoned into the practice to cancel his patients for the day. It was the kind of day that Cooper had hoped for when he had found out Jenna was going to come and stay. The girls were laughing and chatting over the crappy films they had rented and he could safely put his arm round Charlotte and watch, just happy to have her close to him. He also learnt that Jenna could cook, and cook well, just like his mother. He knew that for the remainder of her stay there would be no more awkwardness and that this was taking Charlotte closer to meeting the rest of his family.

It was about 6pm when his cell phone rang. He nearly didn't answer it but the ringing had irritated Charlotte and she'd forced him to pick up the phone. He slowly walked out of the main room and into their bedroom to get away from the noise of the TV and the laughing women.

"Cooper it's me" it was Sam, he sounded upset and worried and immediately Cooper realised something was up.

"Sam what's wrong?"

"Have you or Charlotte left the house today? Have you been anywhere near the pier?"

"No why, Sam tell me what's wrong?"

There was a sigh from the other end "It's Lee Coop, Lee McHenry just died on the table. There was an accident, a car crash I think, and they hit a tree full on, the girlfriend and the son survived but the son's in intensive care"

Cooper inhaled sharply "We've been at home all day, are they thinking we're involved?"

"They're checking the car for any sign of foul play; I just wanted to be sure."

"We've been at home all day, there was no way any of us could have been responsible or involved with the accident. Should I tell Charlotte?"

"If you want to, it's up to you."

"She saw him yesterday, at lunch. I…" he turned to see Charlotte in the doorway "I… I've got to go Sam, I'll call you back." He flipped his phone shut and looked at her; her jaw was set as it always did when she was angry or upset. He noticed her hands were clenched tightly, pulling at her sleeve.

"So," her voice was shaky and she swallowed hard "The son of a bitch is dead?" he nodded "and the girlfriend? The boy?"

He sighed "The boy's in intensive care, the girlfriend is fine". His eyes widened in surprise as she grabbed her bag "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the hospital" she paused and looked him straight in the eye "I need to do this Coop, please?" he nodded "Right then," she became business-like once more "let's get over there."

She stood stock still, looking into the room where Lee's girlfriend sat crying beside her boyfriend's body. She'd already looked in on the son; he was going to be fine, stable for now. She took a deep breath, straightened her white doctor's coat and stepped inside. The woman looked up, she had a few stitches above her left eye and some bruises but apart from that she was fine, though her eyes were swollen from crying. Charlotte sighed but didn't say anything, she turned her gaze onto the body of Lee, feeling a sense of relief but also disappointment, he would never be brought to justice, unless there was a place reserved in hell for him and she sure hoped there was. He shouldn't look as peaceful as he was, and this woman shouldn't be crying over him, he should have been alone, hurt and scared, just like she had been. "You're her aren't you?" Charlotte stiffened, so she'd known, go figure. She nodded stiffly "I… I suppose you're happy now."

Her head snapped back to the woman sharply, her eyes blazing in anger "Happy? No. I haven't been happy in a long time, and do you know why? Because this man raped me and left me for dead. Yes, I'm relieved he's gone, relieved I won't have to look over my shoulder every time I walk down the street, relieved that he can never hurt me again. But no, I'm not happy. You knew, you knew what he did to me and you stayed with him. You're…" she snorted in disgust "You're crying over the body of a rapist. If you ask me, you're the lucky one. Not lucky for not being hurt; you're lucky because he can never hurt you in the way he hurt me. Have a nice life, and please, for God's sake, raise his son to be a better man than he was."

With that she turned sharply on her heel and left. Standing waiting for her were Cooper and Jenna; Jen nodded in approval and squeezed Charlotte's arm as she walked past but it was Cooper that Charlotte needed. Finally, drained, she fell into his arms, and cried.

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