Charlotte's sitting in her office at the practice, reading over her patient notes, while Betsey sits on the couch, drawing pictures and playing with her plastic ponies. They've enrolled her in school, but they're giving her another few days of recuperation. Her first day is Monday. Charlotte glances down at her phone when it starts to ring. She grabs it off her desk and stands up. "I'll be right back, Betsey." She walks over to the door and opens it, stepping into the hallway. She leans against the door and answers her phone. She lets out a breath after hanging up. She blinks slowly and jumps when she feels a presence beside her.

"You alright, Charlotte?"

She turns her head slowly and nods. "I'm fine, Amelia."

"Who was on the phone?"

Charlotte sighs. "No one important. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work." She opens her office door, but quickly shuts it again, turning back to Amelia. "It was—." She swallows. "Nancy."

"I don't know who that is. Should I?" Amelia laughs.

"She's the social worker in charge of Betsey's case."

"Oh—oooh."

Charlotte nods. "She called to set up a time to pick up Betsey."

"And you told her—what?"

"I told her I had to call her back 'cause I didn't know Cooper's schedule."

Amelia crosses her arms over her chest. "You're stalling." She smiles.

"I am not. I really don't know Coop's schedule."

"Uh-huh, sure." Amelia pauses. "You're stalling," she repeats.

Cooper walks through the lobby doors and continues down the hallway towards his wife and colleague. "What're we discussing?"

"Charlotte got a call from the social worker about coming up with a time for her to come get Betsey and she told her she'd call her back," Amelia blurts out.

Cooper raises an eyebrow and twists his lips into a smile. "Does that mean you're saying you want to adopt Betsey?"

Charlotte rolls her eyes in Amelia's direction and sighs. "I don't know what it means, Coop."

"Amelia, can you give us a minute?"

"And miss the decision—no way."

"Amelia," he says again.

"Ok, fine." Amelia heads down the hallway and goes into her office.

Charlotte turns around and peers through the blinds, looking at the little girl sitting on her couch coloring.

He follows suit and hooks his arm around his wife's waist. He presses a kiss to her temple and smiles. "You know deep in your gut what you wanna do, Char. It's only a matter of saying it out loud."

She leans against him and loops her arm around him, clutching the fabric of his shirt in her hand. "Babysittin' her for a couple nights and raisin' her are completely different things, Coop. What if I—what if I can't do this—be a mother?"

"We've been more than her babysitters the last couple days and you know it." He pauses. "But to answer your question, I don't have any doubts that you'll be able to do this. I have absolutely no doubts that you won't be anything less than an amazing mother."

She tilts her head and looks at him, smiling. "You mean that?"

He closes the gap between their lips and slides his fingers through her hair. "I do," he says, pulling back. "So do you want to call back the social worker and set up a meeting time to discuss this or should I?"

She looks back at Betsey and sucks on her bottom lip as she thinks. She lets out a breath and without taking her eyes off of the child in her office, she says, "I'll do it."

He smiles and slides his hand up and down her side. "Are you sure you wanna do this? 'Cause once we start this, there's no going back."

She's silent for a few minutes, but then nods, turning her body towards him and looking right into his eyes. She smiles and gives him another reassuring nod. "I'm sure, Coop. Let's do this. Let's adopt Betsey."

He lowers his head and engulfs her mouth in a deep kiss. He steps back and smiles wider.

"Um, so when do you wanna talk to Nancy about this?"

"Anytime after three o'clock. We can discuss this over lunch in the cafeteria also. Just let me know after you get off of the phone."

"I'll see what works better for her."

Betsey looks up and sees them looking through the window. She hops off the couch and walks over to the door. She opens it and smiles.

Cooper looks at her. "Hey, kiddo, you want a snack?"

Betsey nods. "Uh-huh."

"Let's go to the kitchen and see what we can find. I bet there's a box of animal crackers or cookies hidden in those cabinets."

"Animal crackers!"

"Come on." Cooper and Betsey walk into the kitchen, leaving Charlotte standing in the hallway alone.

Amelia suddenly appears at her side. "So what'd you decide?"

Charlotte jumps and turns her heads. "Geez, Amelia."

"I scared you twice in one hour—that's a new record." Amelia pauses. "So—?"

Charlotte walks into her office and sits back down at her desk. "I don't have time to talk right now. I have to call back the social worker."

Amelia steps into the doorway. "And tell her what?"

Charlotte rolls her eyes. She's not gonna let this go, is she? "And ask her a few things about how to move forward with the adoption process."

Amelia squeals. She's a little happier about this than she probably ought to be. "I knew it."

"Don't you have patients?"

Amelia nods and heads back down to her office.

Charlotte leans back on her chair and redials her most recent call. She listens to the rings, thinking about what she's going to say to the social worker.

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