As any good lawyer worth his salt knows, just like snowflakes from the sky no two conversations are alike. Sure, any mediocre attorney could fumble his way through consultations, negotiations and cross-examinations using same formula for how to play the game and do alright at it, but the fact of the matter is that communication in its most perfect, effective form is no math problem. And Cooper Alan Pickett IV was no mathematician. He was an craftsman, an artisan of articulation, and most especially he was one who would never sell the quality of a conversation short, even if it had to take place next to a steaming pile of manure and went on longer than an old dog's tooth.
Not to mention that many of the conversations that his job as the Louisiana Head of Citizens Against the Supernatural necessitated were more delicate than walking over thin ice while carrying a baby. Some could be had in a hush, others behind a closed door. But some of the most delicate conversations of all needed to be had in another county - or in this case, over state lines in a cabin so remote even Emerson and Thoreau would say it was too rustic to do anyone any good.
Which is exactly why it had done Cooper good, as well as all the small group of folk who'd been at the table over a long weekend where plans were make. The kind of plans that people wouldn't see right away - at least not until the dominos started to fall a bit down the line. For an organization like the Citizens Against the Supernatural, the best were exactly those. Ones that unfolded slower than a flower faced with a cold spring, because those sort of plans were the ones that folks didn't see coming until they were already living with the effects as part of their lives.
Four days away from the office and off the grid was longer than he'd stepped away from his desk since Marie Michelle had disappeared. But the silver lining was that there was no front page supernatural activity lately, and things like trying to get a clinic for supernaturals a bad reputation was stuff that the associates and interns could handle well enough without him. It was late on a Monday night when Cooper was driving back to town, and while he was out he figured he'd make a few pit stops that would make the long drive worth the trouble. The first stop was a liquor store where he spared no expense to both stock the bar in spirits and cigars. The second was a call to Antoine's, where he ordered up enough high class food to serve a party of six. The lawyer had to make up for the four days he'd just spent roughing it, after all. The last stop after picking up the food had him carrying a bunch of flowers in one hand and a couple of classic movies in another as he walked up to the front entrance of Pickett Manor.
The flowers were just in case Georgia Grace had a mouthful for him for going off without telling her hide nor hair of it. The movies were for the same. Nothing like turning up the television nice and loud to drown out an upset woman who doesn't seem to ever run out of breath, right? Or maybe the lawyer just needed to sprawl out in front of the home theatre and unwind his coils something awful. But first thing was first, after walking in the door he asked Harrison to help him with the rest of the bags and set up a spread in the dining room fit to feed a herd of horses. Wouldn't be long before the whole manor smelled like Antoine's, and it smelled damn good.
Cooper Alan Pickett IV was one lucky son of a gun. His disappearance happened at the same time that Maddox had been in New York for work, so she wasn’t at the plantation half as much as she might have been otherwise. She had checked in with Harrison daily, and she had told him to call her on her cell if he needed, and she would be there in a short time. It was funny, at least to her, that at age 28 she was checking in with Harrison about her whereabouts.
Before she had packed a bag to go to Maddox’s she had asked Harrison if Cooper was around, because she hadn’t seen him, the man just said that he wasn’t around. The man was more tight lipped then a two year old staring at a plate of spinach. She had wanted to know if anything had been said about her mother’s disappearance, or even if contact had been made with Coop himself.
After going shopping she had stopped by the Pickett Plantation, to drop off a few things, and to grab a few more articles of clothing after finding out from Maddox he was going to be in New York for a few days longer then he thought. She had sat on her bed, only for a moment, but the next thing she knew she was waking up to the smell of food.
Food was surely one way to get the girl to wake, and her hands lifted to rub at her eyes, before bouncing off the bed. Her bag was left in her room for now, as she followed her nose into the dinning room, entering it slowly. Absently her hands were tugging her tank top down, and straightening her clothing from her nap, her hair was pulled back into a single braid down her back. Upon spotting Cooper in the dining room, she lit up, a smile lifting over her features and reaching those mismatched eyes of hers. “Coop! Your not suppose to just disappear without warning and give a girl a heart attack.” Her voice wasn’t shrill and she wasn’t exactly nagging him, but Georgia Grace, she could nag with the best of them.
There were plenty of smells to help her follow her nose, no doubt about it. He'd gotten Antoine's Huitres Bienville, which was oysters baked on the half shell in a white wine sauce with onions, pimento and peppers, and their Chair de crabs au gratin which was lump crabmeat baked with cheese and breadcrumbs casserole style with thin slices of toasted baguette to scoop it up on. And that was just for starters. Three entrees, one a centercut ribeye with a mushroom garlic butter cause, one a filet of trout with toasted sliced almonds and a lemon-butter sauce, and finally some lamb chops with mint jelly just because he'd had a hankering. All of them with impossible and long french names, just like the fried puffed potatoes and steamed asparagus had even though those side dishes were simple. For desert he got the Mousse au chocolat and the Creme renversee au caramel, just because they didn't come with ice cream so there was no danger of melting.
It was all set up on the table by the time she came into dining room, and imagine that, there was already two place settings. One of them had that beautiful lush bouquet of flowers he'd picked up sitting pretty in a delicate crystal vase, with a wine glass and a bottle of white wine chilling in an ice bucket. The other place setting had him standing in front of it as he was in the middle of pouring from a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue he'd picked up from the liquor store. One guess which spot was meant to be hers. It should be noted that the Johnnie Blue was not what he drank every day, let's just say the roughing it he'd done in that cabin across state lines was rough enough that he was hellbent on spoiling himself.
And when she scolded him, he was ready. Soon as he set the bottle down he gave a point at the flowers, his reply smooth as a brand new set of silk sheets. "When a man wants to get flowers for a lady sometimes he's got to go across state lines and take a few sunrises and sunsets so he finds the ones that are just right. You wouldn't go and hold somethin' like that against me now, would you Georgia Grace?" His grin was a cross between a tease and a dare, one of the most dangerous combinations that a man could direct at a lady using his smile. Not only was Cooper using his for all that it was worth, the lawyer was damn good at it too. Didn't climb up the ladder as high as he had walking around sporting a frown, no ma'am.
But just in case smoothing her over needed a little extra something, with an easy stride Cooper crossed the distance to her seat. Pulling it out for her, he'd tuck her into the table right nice once she sat down. Taking care of filling her wine glass to boot, he didn't pinch pennies on the pour. Far as he was concerned, even if the hour was getting late this night was about rolling around in the finest things that life could bring like a pig in mud, so drinking a couple of sips just wouldn't do.
Cooper was a lawyer, though, so it couldn't be avoided that one good turn deserved another. So she got a look over his shoulder as he sauntered back to his seat. "Speakin' of disappearin', when Harris was helpin' me bring all this in he happened to mention that mine wasn't the only bed goin' cold in Pickett Manor." Just to be a devil about it, he paused and let that comment hang before he lifted his glass, raising it in a toast. One that had been in his family for many a long year, and spoken by Cooper at many an occasion because of it. To the Picketts, there was nothing more important than remembering one's roots and honoring one's country in the same breath. "To the land we love, and the love we land."
The nose always found food even if it had not been wafting through out the house. She lifted her mis matched eyes over to Coop when he spoke and she gave him a grin. She had yet to open her mouth again when he had his story spill out. Her head giving a light shake as she listened to him. “Well, no, you can not rightly blame a man for that.” She was grinning even as her eyes were shining just so. But she still had shook her head at him. “They are lovely flowers Coop, thank you.” That smile that he had would get him out of most of her tempers that were directed at Coop.
As she sat into the chair and he pushed it in she looked up at him. “Thank you.” And pushed up she went. The same went for the pouring of the wine for her, she was still getting better at pouring stuff from the bottles, but it was probably for the best that he did it for her. She would of said thank you again but she had a feeling he caught that thankful drift. Instead she smiled up towards him.
He was a devil wasn’t he though? And she felt her cheeks pinkin’. But she shot Cooper a grin. “Been staying at my boyfriends house. He had to go out of town for work.” Okay so that was those four days that Cooper had not been in town either. “But I made sure Harrison knows where I am at. Just in case.” She frowned a bit, but she would not ask him questions on a empty stomach.
“Welcome home Coop.” Just as she lifted that glass and a small nod of her head as he spoke the toast. She would then drink from the glass of the wine that he had poured her. She would wait until he started to eat and she would get something herself as well. But her patience was not to well hidden at the moment. “You haven’t heard anything else about my ma’s disappearance have you?” He always was there for her and she figured if he heard something he might shield her and that was not what she was wanting at the moment.
He answered her, but not without taking a long drink first. One that nearly cleaned out his glass. "You are quite welcome, Georgia Grace. But no thanks necessary, it was my pleasure." Being in the position he was in, fighting for the cause he was fighting for, Cooper Alan Pickett IV didn't exactly have a simple life. Made it important, maybe even precious, to have some times when he could focus on the simple things. A nice drink. A nice dinner. A nice bunch of flowers for the woman at the table. These were the kind of things that grounded him and reminded him what a life on earth was really supposed to be like - if only the world wasn't full of so many damned complications which put said way of life at risk.
Likely it was a need for those simple things that had him so focused on filling his plate. Even though he had his sights set on a little bit of everything, he started where he was supposed to, with the appetizers. But he added a lamb chop smeared in some of the jelly to his plate after a second thought. Why the hell not, right? Ma and Pa weren't about to smack his hand from Heaven for jumping to the dinner course too soon. "I suppose I should assume you have good taste in your partners, and not go worryin' that you're shackin' up with a man wearing a coat big enough to hide the fact he's trouble?" Not a literal coat, it was just an expression, an odd one his Momma used to use God rest her soul.
It wasn't that Cooper was fixin to be her father, that wasn't how he saw her and it sure wasn't how he'd like her to see him It was out of consideration for the current situation that he felt it his job to ask, even if he wasn't looking to mix business with pleasure, especially not tonight. But it looked like the question wasn't too far out of line, considering she brought her momma up all on her own. Sitting down once he had his plate filled, he took the time to fill his drink too before he answered her. Thinking about what it was he wanted to reply exactly, as was always his way. "I have not heard anythin' from New Orleans finest, but where I was these past couple days you couldn't even get reception on a tin can telephone."
That said, he tucked into his meal. He ate it cleanly, wasn't about to chow down like a caveman in front of a lady, but the pace he set might make it clear this was the first good meal he'd sat down to in some time.
If the world was not full of complications, she herself, would probably not be there, spending all that time at Coop’s place. And truthfully she always loved being there, even when she was little and she was trailing along, with her family, so her ma and Coop could discuss business. When things in her life seemed to be topsy turvey, Coop had always been there for her. Of course, he did not have a clue how the girl felt about him, and he never treated her as anything but a kid sister, which saddened her on the inside!
As he had filled up his plate she was filling her own plate now, before she looked down at the plate before her, and she gave a small nod of her head, before looking back up to Coop. And she was laughing he did sound like a parent, but currently he was the only family she had, even if at times she wished things were different. “He is a reporter…whom already knows anything involving me is off the record.” She thought to get that out there because she had covered it with Mads before hand. “He is a human, I asked him, because that is a requirement.” No shifters or vampires or anyone else that her ma would pass out to have seated at the dinner table. She looked thoughtful a moment. “He treats me like a princess, that you and I both know, that I am.” A playful grin slipping over her features. “Once your schedule lightens up, if you want, you can meet him.” She lifted her fork and was playing with something on her plate a moment, almost like a nervous school girl, but this was Coop damn it. And while Coop had not a clue how Marie Michelle’s daughter felt about him, Mads knew…Mad’s got that I am in love with someone else speech, first day she met him.
Hearing that he had no news on her momma, she looked like a crestfallen child. “Oh. I was hoping…I reckon it’s going to be a while longer before we get any more news.” A small sigh but then she began to eat the food. Once she had a few bites in she paused and lifted those mis matched eyes up to Coop, whom everyone but Coop, would be able to see perhaps a bit of hero worship mixed in there with that love for the older man. “What was the name of the place you got this food?” Because the girl was thoroughly enjoying the food.
