"That's the game I want." Ethan points to a TV screen set up in the video store for customers to try out the game. Ethan runs over to it and starts playing. "What's the object of the game?" Cooper asks.
"You see those guys in the green combat gear?" Ethan points them out with the remote.
"Yeah."
"You have to kill them before they kill you."
"Oh." Cooper watches.
"I'm gonna kill you man. You're dead when I get you." Ethan talks to the video screen.
"Does your mom let you play this kind of game?"
"Course. This is the second version. I have the first one at home."
Cooper looks at the ratings on the box. "It says it's rated for teens. You're only seven, pal. I don't think it's a good idea."
Ethan drops the remote. "You promised." He cries. "You promised you would buy it for me if I came out with you. You have to buy it."
"I don't have to do anything, Ethan."
"You promised." Ethan yells before running to the other side of the store. He sits in the corner and cries, covering his eyes with his hands.
"Ethan, you're making a scene."
"I want my mom to come and get me." He cries.
Cooper's cell phone beeps. It's the ER. He briefly answers the phone and then tells Ethan, "get up, we have to go. One of my patients is in the ER. I need to go the hospital."
"I don't care."
"Ethan, get up. I have to go."
"Leave me here. You promised to buy me the video game and now your not. You're a liar."
"I didn't know it was rated for teens."
"All my friends have it and they're not teens. Their parents bought it for them."
"I'm not their parents."
"I wish you weren't mine either."
Cooper's heart breaks. He looks at his watch. He doesn't have time for this now. He has a patient waiting in the ER. "Ok. You win go get the game."
Ethan looks up. "Really?"
"Really, get the game. I'll meet you at the cashier counter." Cooper buys the game and they drive over to the ER. Cooper calls Charlotte after he reaches the ER. "Are you still in the hospital?"
"I am, why?"
"I'm in the ER. I got called in to see a patient. It might take a while. Are you done with your meeting?"
"It just ended."
"Good, because I need a huge favor."
"What is it , Cooper?"
"I need you to come get Ethan for me and take him back to our place."
"No."
"Come on, Charlotte. He can't sit around the ER while I'm treating a patient."
"Where's Violet and Pete?"
"I can't keep asking them for favors. It's enough that they're taking him back to Jen's tonight so I don't have to deal with her."
Charlotte sighs. "Fine."
"He hasn't eaten yet. We were at the video store when I got the call. Take him out for pizza and by the time you get him home I should be done here."
"I'm not happy."
"I know." Cooper hangs up and smiles.
Charlotte takes Ethan to the pizza place across from the hospital and orders them some slices. "What do you want to drink?" She asks the boy.
"Dr. Pepper." He answers while playing his hand held video game.
They sit down to eat. Ethan plays with the video game the whole time. The two of them don't say a word to each other, which is fine with both of them.
After they get home Ethan asks if he can try out his new game on the Wii. Charlotte lets him and notices the violent game he's playing. "Dr, Cooper bought that for you?"
"Yep" Ethan continues to play. Charlotte rolls her eyes.
"Did you ever play bowling on the Wii?" Charlotte asks
"Aha."
"That's my favorite video game. I play it with doctor Cooper."
"It's my mom's favorite game and the golf game."
"How 'bout we play bowling? I bet you can't beat me."
Ethan laughs. "You sound just like my mom. That's what she always says."
"Who wins?"
"Usually me."
"The winner gets to pick out the snack for later." Charlotte suggests.
"You really do sound like my mom. She always says that the loser has to take out the garbage."
Charlotte laughs and they play the game. Charlotte wins but she lets Ethan pick out the snack anyway. He picks Dorito's out to munch on while they watch Ethan's favorite show on TV.
"Whoa." Charlotte says and puts her hand on her belly.
"What's wrong?" Ethan asks.
"I have two little babies in my belly and they're doing somersaults."
"Can I feel?"
Charlotte takes his little hand and puts it over the part of the belly she feels the movement strongest. "Here. Feel it?"
"Wow. I can feel it. It's moving a lot. I hope it's a boy. "
"There's two of them. One's a boy and one's a girl.
"I hate girls.""
"Why?"
"They smell."
"Do I smell?"
"You smell pretty, like my mom. Grown up girls wear perfume. Little girls smell like poop."
"I'll make sure your little sister doesn't walk around smelling like poop." Charlotte jokes. "I don't like poopy smelling kids either, girls or boys."
"How did you grow those babies in your belly?"
"Uh… well…when two people love each other they can make a baby together if they want."
"How do they make it?"
"Well…" Charlotte thinks. "The daddy and the mommy mix a small piece of their bodies together and it grows into a baby."
"Then you eat it and it grows in your belly?"
"Not exactly…."
Cooper walks in the door , Charlotte's relieved. It's not her job to explain the birds and the bee's to his kid.
"What are you guys doing?" Cooper smiles.
"Watching The Wizards of Waverly Place." Ethan crunches his Dorito's and pays attention to the TV now.
"Did you have fun with..." Cooper's not sure what Ethan should call Charlotte. Charlotte fills it in. "With Dr. King."
"Did you have fun with Dr. King, Ethan?"
"Yeah, I guess." Ethan chomps down more Dorito's
"How'd it go?" Cooper asks Charlotte.
"We didn't hit any bumps."
"Good." Cooper asks Ethan. "Did you know there's a full moon out tonight?"
"No." Ethan watches TV.
"Come over here." Cooper's standing by the terrace. "Do you want to look at it with my telescope?"
"No!"
"Did you ever look at the moon through a telescope before?" Cooper asks.
"I'm trying to watch TV. Be quiet!" Ethan snaps.
Cooper exchanges looks with Charlotte.
Charlotte tells Ethan. "I don't know if your mother lets you speak to her like that but it's not happening in this house. Apologize to doctor Cooper."
"What for?"
"For telling doctor Cooper to be quiet."
"But he wouldn't shut up. He keeps talking to me and I'm watching TV."
"Then you should have found a politer way to tell him."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to doctor, Cooper."
"Sorry." Ethan looks at Cooper with a pout face.
"When your show is over. Do you want to look at the moon through the telescope?" Charlotte asks.
"Yeah but with you, not doctor Cooper."
Cooper walks into the bedroom, leaving Charlotte alone with Ethan. Charlotte finishes watching the show with Ethan and then she shows him the telescope. "That's awesome. Can I have one of these?"
"This is a very expensive model. It's not made for children but you can look through it whenever you come visit us."
"Thanks." Ethan looks through the telescope.
There's a knock on the door. "Pete's here, Cooper!"
Cooper comes out of the bedroom. "Thanks for doing this Pete. I'll buy you a drink after work on Monday."
"I'm going to hold you to it." Pete calls Ethan. "Come on Ethan, I'm ready to take you home." Cooper introduced Ethan to Violet and Pete at the office when he first met him.
Ethan runs up to Charlotte and wraps his arm around her belly. "Goodbye, Doctor Charlotte. See you next time."
"Goodbye, Ethan." Charlotte hugs him back.
Ethan goes to follow Pete. "Hey, don't I get a hug goodbye?" Cooper asks.
"Boys don't hug other boys."
"I'm not a boy. I'm your father."
"You're a man. I don't hug mans."
Pete laughs. "You heard him, Cooper." Pete and Ethan walk out of the apartment.
"That was weird." Cooper tells Charlotte.
"What?"
"Ethan likes you and he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you, Cooper."
"Sure feels that way."
"Give him time. He's just a kid."
"How you do to get him to like you?" Cooper asks.
"I didn't do anything special. I just hung out with him. Maybe you're trying to hard and he feels smothered."
"I only see him once a month, how can I be smothering him?"
'It's not the amount of time you spend with him. It's how you spend that time together. Maybe he feels too much pressure around you because your so gung-ho about having a son. With me it's more relaxed. I'm not trying to win him over."
"I love you." Cooper pulls Charlotte in his arms and tells her "I'm in the mood to play with a dirty schoo lgirl?"
"You mean dirty pregnant school girl? Not tonight, Coop. I'm exhausted. I worked all day then had that late meeting and had to entertain your kid all night. I just want to sleep."
"Fine" Cooper says. He watches her pad into the bedroom. He grabs a sexy magazine out of the closet. He thinks Jen was right, if Charlotte's exhausted now and she's only in her fifth month, it's probably going to be a while before they have any intimate playtime. He sighs and opens the magazine before he pleasures himself on the couch while Charlotte sleeps.