Charlotte, Cooper, and Mason had ended up staying at the Kings' house after all. With no dying woman in the room next door, there had been no reason to go to a hotel. Charlotte and Cooper had settled Mason into Charlotte's old bedroom around 7 o'clock. He'd been exhausted, and after listening to under two pages of a bedtime story, had fallen asleep.
This is the first time Charlotte had ever heard the house quiet, she thinks, as she brushes her teeth barely an hour after settling her son into bed. She'd grown up with two raucous brothers, and any time Charlotte came home for a visit there would be a house full of nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Cooper hadn't expected his wife to get much sleep tonight. Since he'd known Charlotte, she'd been a bit of an insomniac. But the combination of no sleep the night before and the awful, stressful day had knocked Charlotte out before 9. It's too early for Cooper to fall asleep, but he wants to be by Charlotte's side in case she needs him.
Mason walks into the room not long after Charlotte had fallen asleep. "What's up, Mason?" Cooper asks his son. The only illumination in the room is from the full moon outside, and Cooper can just barely make out Mason's tear filled eyes.
"Momma," Mason mutters.
Cooper doesn't want to wake his wife, so he asks Mason, "What's wrong?"
"I want Momma," Mason tells Cooper again. Cooper has really tried to get past his jealousy, but it still cuts at him when Mason prefers to talk to or be comforted by Charlotte. He knows Charlotte would tell him to grow up. And he knows his own mother, who could not love him more if he were her own flesh and blood, would be hurt and angry. But Mason wanting Charlotte instead of Cooper still awakens a jealous voice in Cooper's head that insists, but he's mine.
"Mason, tell me what's wrong." Cooper isn't sure at this point whether he isn't waking Charlotte because he wants to let his grieving wife sleep or because he's being possessive of Mason. But either way, Mason is having none of it.
Mason runs over to Charlotte's side of the bed and shakes her arm. Charlotte opens her eyes to see Mason standing next to her with tears streaming down his face. She puts her hand on his arm, giving him a little tug, "C'mere," she urges still half asleep.
Mason climbs on the bed and throws his arms around Charlotte's neck. Charlotte wraps her arms around her son, and as he curls himself into her lap she realizes that his pants are wet. He must have had an accident, but Charlotte has never seen Mason this clingy after wetting the bed, and he's never crawled onto her lap covered in urine before. Charlotte figures that the peeing is low on the priority list as Mason sobs into her neck. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asks, and Mason nods. "I've got you, sweetie," Charlotte reassures her son as she rubs his back.
"I dreamed that you died," Mason tells his momma. Cooper feels absolutely awful for trying to keep Mason from waking Charlotte, and he reaches over and puts a hand on his son's back.
"It was just a dream, honey," Charlotte tells Mason. "I'm right here. I've got you."
"Momma. I love you so much," Mason sobs, desperately, and it kills Charlotte to see him in so much pain.
"I love you too Mason. I'm right here, you hear me? It was just a dream." Charlotte cradles Mason in her arms and rubs his back as he cries. Her own pain, Charlotte can deal with, but she just never imagined that you could hurt so much for another person.
Cooper realizes then that the blanket is damp, and so he asks, "Mase, did you have an accident?"
Mason reacts with such surprise and apologizes so much that Charlotte isn't sure that he knew he peed until Cooper pointed it out. "I'm sorry, Momma. I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" he trails off embarrassed that he's sitting on his mother's lap after wetting himself.
"It's ok, Mase," Charlotte tells him. "Everything is ok. Look at me," Charlotte waits for eye contact, and then tells Mason calmly. "It was just a bad dream. I'm ok. And we will get you all cleaned up – that is not a big deal." Mason sniffles as he tries to calm himself. Charlotte wipes his cheeks. "You want to sit here a little longer before we get you washed up?" Mason nods and lays his head on Charlotte's shoulder.
When Mason's crying tapers off, Charlotte asks, "You ready to take a bath now?" Mason nods, and Charlotte stands up, setting Mason's feet on the floor. He wraps his arms around Charlotte's waist as they walk to the bathroom.
Charlotte runs the water in the bathroom adjoining the guest room. When she turns back around to look at Mason he looks so lost. Charlotte sits on the edge of the tub and pulls Mason onto her lap. "I'm sorry Momma," he whispers.
"For wetting the bed?"
"Mmhmm. And now you're wet too."
"I can change my clothes. Don't you worry about any of that," Charlotte tells Mason, kissing the side of his head.
"You shouldn't have to take care of me now," Mason tells Charlotte. It takes her a second to realize what Mason is talking about. She'd been so focused on comforting Mason that she hadn't been thinking of her mother.
"I told you, honey; you always come first." Being a mother had been so instinctual for Charlotte. Normally she was a logical woman whose actions were guided by reason and not emotion. But this kid had been thrown into her lap, and she had just acted.
Mason's tear filled voice brings Charlotte back from her thoughts. "You can't die Momma," he tells her. She wishes there was something to say to reassure him. She would do anything for this child, but this is a promise she can't make.
"I'm right here. I love you so much." Mason had finally been getting back to the smart alec kid she'd met almost a year ago, and it hurts Charlotte so much to think that her momma's death is going to set Mason back.
The tub fills, and Charlotte reaches to shut off the water. "You ready to get in?" she asks.
"Will you stay here with me?" Mason asks.
"Of course," she tells him. Mason gets in the bath, and Charlotte settles herself on the floor next to him.
Mason makes quick work of bathing, and ten minutes later, he and Charlotte emerge from the bathroom to find Cooper standing with a pile of blankets. "You feel any better?" Cooper asks his son.
Mason shrugs and replies, "a little."
"Good," Cooper says walking over to Mason and Charlotte. "I stripped both beds," he tells his wife, "but I don't know where your family keeps the linens or cleaning supplies." It hits Cooper then that Charlotte's family doesn't live here anymore, and even when her parents were alive it is doubtful that they ever cleaned anything themselves.
"Let me change my clothes, and then I'll go get them," Charlotte tells Cooper. "Mase, you stay here with your daddy." Mason looks a little nervous but nods. Cooper puts his arm around his son as Charlotte leaves the room.
Charlotte is starting a wash when Bernie walks out of her room in a robe. "I'm sorry for waking you. Mason wet the bed and I wanted to get these in the wash before they stained."
Bernie gives a little laugh and tells Charlotte "it's only 9:30. I wasn't sleeping yet."
"Oh, right," Charlotte says. She must have just fallen asleep when Mason woke up.
"I can take care of all that," Bernie says gesturing at the dirty linens.
"Nonsense," Charlotte tells Bernie. "I just need to grab the stain remover for the mattress and some new sheets. Then I'll be all set."
"Really, dear, I can clean the bed."
"Absolutely not. I can do it just fine. Plus, Mason would be embarrassed if anyone besides Cooper and I knew."
"It'll be our secret," Bernie tells Charlotte, before going back into her bedroom.
When Charlotte walks back into the guest bedroom, Cooper and Mason are sitting on the edge of the bed. Cooper's arm is around a still nervous looking Mason. "Hey you two," Charlotte smiles, walking over and placing a kiss on each of their foreheads. "How about we get the beds made so we can get some more sleep tonight."
"Can I sleep in here with you and Dad?" Mason asks.
"Of course," Charlotte assures him. They get the bed made, and Mason crawls in the middle. He lays his head on Charlotte's chest, and Cooper slings an arm protectively around the both of them. Charlotte might be right. He needs to grow up. He has people who are counting on him.