Part 6

She beats him home, somehow. He comes in and finds her lying on the couch, dressed in sweats and cuddled into a blanket. She looks exhausted. She barely lifts up her head when he comes in, and as he gets closer, he can see that her knuckles are scratched and she has a bruise blooming just beneath her left eye.

"What the hell..."

"Hey, baby," she says.

"Charlotte? What...happened?"

"I'm okay," she says.

"But..."

"Felt like hitting someone. So I did. It was a kickboxing class, Coop. Amelia took me."

"And?"

"Took my lumps. But I got some of that energy out..."

Hr frowns. "This doesn't sound like progress."

"Well, what did you expect me to do? I had to do something, Coop. Do you get that? I had to do something. What did you think I was gonna do?"

"Okay, don't shout at me, please."

"I'll shout if I want to! You got a better way to hash this out?"

"Whoa. Can we please just slow down for a second and talk about this?"

"Talk? Talk MORE? Isn't there anything else you ever want to do?"

She's suddenly not looking so tired anymore. She's practically frothing. How did this escalate so fast on him? All he wanted to do was breathe for a second and make sure she was okay...

"Fine. Yell at me. If it helps you, Charlotte, go ahead and yell at me."

At last, that deflates her. She takes a shaky breath, burrows a little deeper into her blanket. "I'm sorry," she says.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. This is not about you."

"Isn't it? Even a little?"

"Coop! How can you say that?"

"Just...I was there that night too. So if Violet is right and you have this transference thing..."

"Ah. Is that what she told you?"

"Well..."

"Coop, I'm not mad at those two because of what the rapist did. I'm mad at them because of what they did. And that's something I was talking about today with one of the therapists Sheldon recommended."

"Oh?"

"Her name is Sandra Ashe. She's on staff at County, and she's good."

"Oh! That's..."

"Let me ask you something, since you seem so bent on talking. You like Addison?"

"Um, I guess..."

"But do you LIKE her, Coop? Like if something happened that...if I did something, you'd back me up? Even if it meant she had consequences?"

"Charlotte, of course I would."

"All right. Now, how about Violet? Would you back me, over her?"

"What are you getting at, exactly?"

"Just...Dr. Ashe and I were talking. And I was angsting to hell and back about why I was having such a reaction to those two, and I guess I expected her to tell me that I was over-reacting, or that I was...what did Violet call it...transferring... and she didn't, Coop. She didn't. She pointed out that I did have legitimate grievances."

"Okay..."

"And legitimate grievances can be addressed through legitimate channels. I can take action here, Coop. I can file a complaint and it'll go in their files, and maybe that's all that'll happen. But I can DO something, and before I do it, I guess I want to know if you'll back me."

"I'll back you," he says.

"With Violet too?"

"Violet will understand."

"I don't want her to understand. I want her to pay. And maybe that is transference, when all is said and done, but Coop, she betrayed my trust. She pissed on my boundaries and she violated my right to confidentiality. And I know she's been your best friend in the whole wide world, but Coop, that's what she did to me, and I need you to stand with me on this, or...or..."

"Hey," he soothes. He reaches out his hand, coaxes hers into it, gently squeezes. "I'm here for you. Baby, I'm here."

"And you're...you're okay, with what I'm asking?"

"If I'm not okay, that's why I speak to Sheldon."

She bites her lip. "That don't sound right."

"Well, when you're ready to hear more of it, I'll tell you. Are you ready, right now?"

"Honestly? Not so much."

"Well, okay. So I have my outlet, and you have yours, and when we're ready we'll blend it all together, and then we'll be okay. You understand me, Charlotte? We'll be okay."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I know you are. I love you."

She lets go of his hand, burrows deeper. She's crying, he thinks. But she won't turn his way again. With a sigh, he gives her one more pat of the hand, then goes to call Sheldon and fill him in on these latest developments.

"Okay," Sheldon says, when he's through explaining. "That's quite a spot she's putting you in."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"How do you feel about it?"

"I feel like Violet will understand."

"So, that's how Violet feels. But how do YOU feel?"

"Okay, a little conflicted, I guess. If I didn't think Violet would understand, I think I'd be a little more worked up. I mean, I get why Charlotte needs to do this, and I get that Violet maybe hasn't handled this well. But if it were anything else, anything not this huge and tangled and hard, would I let her make me choose between them? Probably not, Sheldon. Probably not."

"Then that's how you feel, and it's okay, Cooper. You can love her and you can support her and you can concede that this IS huge enough for you to make the compromise, but it doesn't mean you're a bad boyfriend if you find this hard too and if you don't agree with every choice she makes."

He exhales slowly. "Yeah. I guess I needed to hear that."

"So, what are you going to do?" Sheldon asks.

"Stay out of it, I guess? I mean, if Violet -or Addison- want to talk to me about it once they know, then sure, okay. But this is her fight, isn't it? She has to go through her own channels."

"You're learning."

"I try. Sheldon, am I doing this right? Cause I really, really want to be doing this right."

"I know you do. And she knows it too, Cooper. It's hard for her to see past her own pain right now. But underneath it all, she knows it too."

He goes to bed with her. He senses that she's restless again, and when he wakes up in the morning, she isn't in there with him. He finds her in the living room, still in the sweats she was in the night before. She's pale and her eyes, above the purpling bruise, are bloodshot and dry. She's been pulling an all-nighter.

"Babe?"

"Morning, Coop."

"Whatcha working on?"

Just writing up some notes. I want to to do it, Coop. I want to go ahead with this."

"Okay..."

"Nothing with the state medical board. I'd have to testify, and I sure don't need that. But in their files, at the hospital. A reprimand."

"Oh."

"Since it's me who is complaining and I'm the one who normally would deal with this sort of thing, I'll have to bring another doctor in to sign off on this and then break the news. I asked...she said...Naomi offered. Spent some time on the phone with her yesterday, and she offered. Said she'd copy the complaint to their files at the practice."

"Sounds like you have this well under control."

"I just want to ask you one more time. Cause if this is gonna be a thing with us, because of you and Violet..."

"Two questions," he says.

"All right..."

"Number one, will this make you feel safer, working with them again?"

"It will, it absolutely will."

"Number two, will it give you even the tiniest bit of closure, on that side of what happened at least?"

"Yeah. On that side, it will."

"Then I think you should do it. And I wholeheartedly support you. Do you want me there, when you and Naomi tell them?"

"Oh, can you? Can you, Coop?"

He squeezes her hand. "Like I told you, babe. I'm here for you."