Two days before Valentine's Day

Cooper's sitting at his desk, twirling a pen around his finger, staring at his computer screen. He looks up and Charlotte's standing in his doorway. He grunts and ignores her.

"Cooper."

"Go away, Charlotte."

"Cooper, please. I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

He doesn't answer her. He just brings his focus back to the computer screen.

She sighs and disappears down the hallway.

He looks up, biting the inside of his bottom lip and watching as she walks down the hall.

Violet walks in and shuts the door. "Hey, Cooper."

"I'm not in the mood, Vi."

"Charlotte?"

"What do you think?"

"You're better off without her."

"You never liked the idea that we were together, so of course you'd say that." He pauses. "I'm really not in the mood to talk about this."

"Any plans for Valentine's Day?"

He grunts. "And why the hell would you bring that up, Violet? I just broke up with my girlfriend, so no, I don't have any plans for Valentine's Day."

"Come over tonight. We can watch American Bake-off reruns and get drunk off our asses."

He laughs, but then scowls. "I hate her, Vi. How could she think this was ok? Lying to me about this? I'm so glad she wasn't pregnant because I don't know if I could raise a kid with someone who would think lying was ever ok."

"Pregnant? What?"

He sighs. "We thought she was pregnant, but it was just food poisoning. Thank God."

"But you want to be a dad, don't you?"

"Not with her—not with someone who could so blatantly lie to me about something like that. Opening up a competing medical practice downstairs from OWG—I mean, come on. It doesn't take a genius to figure how something like that would affect me. But hey, Charlotte's selfish, so I guess I should have expected it. She does what she needs to, to get ahead of everyone else."

"I'm just gonna—."

"And she comes in here just now expecting things to be ok." He pauses and slams his hand on his desk. "Ow."

"Breathe, Cooper."

He shakes the pen in his hand and throws it against his desk. "Ah."

Violet opens the door. "I'm gonna go—give you some time to yourself. I'm kind of scared. Something is going to come flying at me any minute—it's inevitable." She disappears down the hallway.

Cooper crumples up a piece of paper and unfolds it, proceeding to rip it into tiny little pieces. "I hate her!" He shouts into the air, and slams his hand on the keyboard.

Charlotte's standing at a nurses' station in the ER, looking at the OR rotation schedule when she sees high heels out of the corner of her eyes. She looks up and Violet's standing there. She rolls her eyes and marks something on the schedule. "What do you want, Turner?"

Violet leans against the counter. "Do you have any idea what you did to Cooper or do you just not care?"

"Excuse me?" She pauses. "Of course Cooper's the victim here—poor, poor Cooper. He's the one who broke up with me, and if you didn't open your big mouth, none of this would have happened, so if you want to blame someone, blame yourself." She takes a patient chart from the nurse behind the counter and starts walking away. "And I already told you that I was goin' to tell him. I couldn't then 'cause of my contract, so if you think I kept this from him deliberately, which I'm pretty sure Cooper thinks, think again, Turner—I didn't. You hurt Cooper, not me." She tucks the chart under her arm and walks down the hallway.

Violet grunts and walks away.

Valentine's Day

Charlotte's sitting on her couch at Pacific Wellcare, curled up with a blanket with a patient file sitting on her lap. She hates Valentine's Day—always has. She's not a rose kind of girl. She's not a box of chocolate kind of girl. She's not a candy hearts kind of girl, either. Today seems to be the hardest Valentine's Day she's had in a while. She can't focus on her work, which is why she's sitting on her couch, trying to forget. She wishes this day would just go poof and disappear. She hears a knock on the door just when she can feel the pang of tears behind her ears. She rubs her eyes and blinks rapidly. She swallows and rips off the blanket. She smoothes down her dress and combs her fingers through her hair, fixing her bangs. She walks over to the door and opens it. She blinks. "Dr. Wallace."

Sheldon holds out a rose. "For you. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Thank you."

"Are you ok?"

She swallows. Oh God. She quickly shuts the door and leans back against it. She drops the rose on the floor and wipes her hand against her cheeks, catching the few tears that were dripping down her face. "Get back to work, Sheldon!" She walks over to the couch and lays down, sliding her hand under the small square pillow and closing her eyes. Her shoulders are shaking as she tries to keep the emotion from overflowing. Pull yourself together, King. What is wrong with ya? Pull it together. She lets out a soft whimper. Stop. But she couldn't—from zero to sixty in three point five seconds.

Another knock brought her attention back to the door. "Are you ok?" Sheldon asks again.

"Get back to work or I'll fire you," she croaks out. She hears footsteps scurrying away from her office. She lets out a breath and sucks in tears.

Cooper's sitting at his desk, staring at a bouquet of purple orchids while twirling a pen around in his fingers.

Violet walks in and shuts the door. "Hey, Cooper. Pretty flowers. You shouldn't have," she jokes.

"They're not for you."

"Who are they for?"

"They are—were for Charlotte."

Violet swallows. "Oh—so what are you gonna do with them?"

He shrugs. "I have no idea."

"And orchids?"

"She doesn't like roses—well, she's not a conventional woman, I should say." He sighs. "I got her X-rated conversation hearts and a card too."

"Are you gonna give them to her?"

"NO! I get this knot in my stomach whenever I think of her."

"That's not because you hate her, Cooper—that's because you love her."

He shakes his head. "I can't love someone who would do that—lie to me, open up a practice one floor below mine, a practice that is trying to bury us—no."

"Have you seen Charlotte today?"

"No, and I don't plan on it."

"Can I read the card?"

"Knock yourself out." He hands Violet the white envelope.

She takes the card out of the unsealed envelope and reads it out loud. "I suppose you are expecting some kinda mushy Happy Valentine's Day…Poo Poo Kitty…I'll love you forever and ever…la la la la la…be my Valentine _." She opens the card and continues to read. "Having said that…can we get frisky now? Happy Valentine's Day." She laughs. "That old man in his boxers and slippers really makes the card."

"It is—was our thing—cheesy holiday cards."

"This isn't healthy, Cooper."

"Just get rid of this stuff. I can't look at it anymore."

"Ok." She takes the flowers, candy hearts, and card, and walks out of his office.

Charlotte's waiting at the elevator when she hears the ping of the doors as the elevator stops at the fourth floor. The doors open and Cooper's standing towards the back corner. She sighs and walks into the cart, pressing the lobby button.

"I already pressed that," he says.

"I can see that. Nothin' wrong with pressin' it twice," she retorts.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Why did you keep this from me? The practice, what you were doing?"

"I already told you—I had to."

"That's bull, Charlotte—that's an excuse."

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" She stands there, clutching her purse, trying not to lose control. She closes her eyes and listens to the dings as they descend. She's grateful that today is almost over—that she can curl up on her couch, order some Chinese food, and forget about this stupid, unnecessary holiday.

The doors open and Cooper breezes past her, almost at a run.

"An 'excuse me' would have been nice." She walks out into the lobby and disappears into the parking lot. She sighs. If there's one thing she hates more than Valentine's Day, it would have to be love.

I'm sort of working with my own timeline here, so if something's off the timeline of the show, I apologize.

Anyway, please review :)