From: Robert Willers <willers@trombone.sps.mot.com>

LOVING Update for Friday, March 31:

STORYLINE: A COOP OF FLASHBACKS
 (location: Kate's house)
* Cooper picks up a photo of he and Ally.  Sadly, he puts it in the
 suitcase.  Stephanie enters, saying Deborah is feeling a lot better
 today.  She asks how he is doing.  "I've been better."  Stephy reveals
 what she was hiding: a plush frog (Michigan J. Frog, I believe).  She
 tells him he can sleep with it in Paris.  He says he'll wake up every
 morning and give it a kiss and think of her.  He thanks her and kisses
 her.  She asks if he is all packed.  As he tosses the frog in, he says
 he thinks so.  She reminds him to take sweaters, socks, etc.  Finally,
 he says he has everything except what he needs most.  She says she is
 sorry she can't go with him.  Cooper says it isn't her fault; Deborah
 just has bad timing.  They laugh, then Cooper gets serious again.  He
 says he won't go; he'll talk to Clay.  Stephy says he has to go.  He
 asks what Tyler is going to think: all he'll know is that his father
 isn't there.  She says he knows Cooper loves him.  From below, Kate
 calls, "Cooper!"  He says he'd better see what she wants.  Then, they
 decide that can wait a moment and kiss.
Downstairs, Isabelle and Cabot enter.  They say they wouldn't have
 missed this for the world.  Kate, Ally, Tyler (doing his refrigerator
 repairman imitation), Jeremy and Casey are all there.  Kate says Stephy
 (who was in on this) went to get him and they'll be down in a minute.
They emerge.  "Surprise!"  Cooper is embarrassed, saying, "We already
 had a party."  "Yes, but we didn't get the chance to say 'good bye.'"
 Everyone is all smiles.  Stephy hugs Cooper.
* Banana Cream Pie, Cooper's favorite, is served.  Stephanie hands him
 another present: a blank scrapbook.  Stephy says she asked everyone
 to bring pictures of him and them, so he'll remember them in Paris.
 Cooper asks how he is going to leave them.  Ally brings a photo: "Do
 you remember this?"  The "bleak house" party.  [Brief flashback of
 him saying the best thing about college life is partying, and getting
 Ally to agree.]  Casey says he's next.  He knows they were never best
 of friends.  [They fight in Jeremy's classroom.]  Casey promises that
 they will take good care of Tyler while he's gone.  Casey gives him a
 few snapshots of Tyler he took yesterday.  Cooper thanks him and shakes
 his hand.  Kate brings another picture of Tyler - his christening.
 Isabelle brings a photo of him when he first came to visit.  He laughs
 at the "nerdy" picture and says he doesn't need *that* - it was a long
 time ago.  He says that was a lifetime ago -- somebody else's life.
 He says he isn't proud of some of the things he has done, especially
 to them.  [At the courtroom: "I'm not taking him.  He belongs with his
 mother."  He hands baby Tyler to Ally and apologizes for everything,
 as Stephy looks on.  He leaves as Ally kisses and hugs Tyler.]  Cooper
 says that was the hardest thing he ever had to -- until now.  He picks
 Tyler up (his shirt is tucked in now) and symbolically hands him to
 Ally again.  Gwyn pipes up with her picture: the article from the paper
 (with photo) about a "Streaker In Corinth."  Stephy says, "Let me see,"
 and grabs it from him.  He says that's not his best angle.  She says he
 looks good.  He says it was worth a night in jail, but she says that
 depends on the cellmate.
Clay enters.  Stephy asks what he is doing there.  He says he heard
 about the party but his invitation must have been lost in the mail.
 Isabelle asks why he is there.  Cooper asks if he can "help him."
 Clay says he wants to give him something.
* Cooper: "Thanks, Clay, but no thanks.  There's nothing you can give
 me that I don't already have."
Clay: "I can give you my respect."
Cooper: "I've lived this long without it, so I probably don't need it."
Clay: "You have it now, in any case."
Cooper: "Why?"
Clay: "For a long time, I thought of you as an intruder trying to force
 his way into the family.  Probably started a lot of trouble between us.
 There were other issues but, over time, you have proved yourself worthy
 of the Alden name."
Cooper: "What's the catch?"
Clay: "No catch."
Cooper: "Excuse me if I have a little trouble believing this, but this
 isn't --"
Clay: "That's all right.  I haven't earned *your* respect yet, and I
 don't expect to any time soon.
Cabot suggests that he go.  Clay says he will as soon as he does what
 he came there for.  He says he knows this trip is costing him a lot
 in the short run.  He pulls a pocket watch and says it is to remind
 him what he is doing -- for the family -- in the long run.  Cabot says
 *his* father gave him that watch when he first started at AE.  Clay
 reminds Cabot that he gave it to him on his first day, and now he would
 like to pass it on to Cooper.  Cabot says, "I can think of nothing more
 fitting."  Cooper says, "This is too much."  Cabot says Cooper has done
 a lot for him -- and for 'Buddy.'  Cooper says he misses Buddy.  Cabot
 says he has the highest regard for him.  Clay says it was a difficult
 time for all, but the family survived, and he is a part of that family,
 he is a true Alden.  Cooper takes the watch from Clay's hand.  Clay
 hugs him (Cooper appears absolutely shocked by that).  [Cooper suggests
 the name Tyler for their son to Ally while they are in the hospital.]
 Cooper thanks Clay and Cabot, and all of them for making his last day
 there so special that he might not be able to leave.  Stephy says he
 had better leave.  Cooper says he doesn't have much time, and he has
 somebody he has to talk to.  Fade to...
Outside, Cooper explains to a sleeping Tyler that he is leaving on a
 business trip and he might not see him for a while.  He waited until
 he was asleep so this would be easier and so what he says might soak
 in.  He says that when he was growing up, his parents were never
 around, so he had to hang out with the maids and the staff while his
 parents were in another country skiing or whatever.  He was very mad
 at them for that, but here he is leaving him.  He tries to tell himself
 that this is different because he loves Tyler.  "I hope you won't feel
 the way I felt about them."  He tells Tyler a father-son secret, that
 sometimes he worries that he is not such a great guy and he has done
 things he isn't proud of, but he looks at him and sees something _good_
 he has done, and that makes him feel better.  He holds Tyler tight.
 "I'm gonna miss you, so listen, you take care of--  OK, you take care
 of Ally and you take care of Stephy, and Casey, and everywhere I go,
 I'm going to think of you.  And you'll be in my heart, right here, so
 you'll never be far away.  OK?  You'll never be far away."  As he holds
 Tyler tight again, we see Stephy, standing thoughtfully in the doorway.
* Stephy is putting the pictures in the scrapbook.  Cooper comes down
 the stairs with his suitcase.  She says he had better get going, or
 he will miss his plane.  "Yes I do."  He asks her to call a cab -- he
 doesn't want to say good bye at the airport.  She says she doesn't
 know when she is going to see him again.  They sit on the couch.  He
 says he will sit there and hold her hand, and then he'll go.  OK?
 She cries.  He says he knows she is going through a lot...  She says
 she can handle it.
C: "You've come a long way since I carried you into the emergency room,
 remember?"
S: "I couldn't have done it without you.  You believed in me and you
 loved me when I couldn't look at myself in the mirror.  And you gave
 me the strength.  I owe you so much."
C: "No, you don't owe me anything.  I love you, and I just wish I hadn't
 fought it for so long."
[In the barn, Cooper tells Stephy he doesn't want to be her sparring
 partner or her buddy or pal -- he loves her.
On the night they first made love (recently, that is), he undresses her
 slowly as they kiss.
They have their food fight in Kate's kitchen.
He does his striptease for her in the hotel room.
She tries on clothes at Burnell's.
He opens a box and a frog jumps out of it onto her head.
They tussle in a pile of leaves.
They dance, still wearing the clothes from Burnell's.]
Stephy, crying, says she promised herself that she wasn't going to cry. 
 She recalls all the things they were going to do: skinny dipping in
 Belden Pond, have a picnic in the park, dancing at some romantic spot.
 He says they can do those things in Paris.  She says it's not the same
 and there's no time now.  He asks her to dance -- here? -- yes, here,
 because wherever she is is the most romantic spot in the world.  He
 pulls her off the couch and they dance.
S: "I love you, Cooper."
C: "I love you, too.  I will always love you for the rest of my life."

-----
|   "I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes."    |  Bob Willers  |
|         -- William Shatner as Buck Murdock,          |  Phoenix, AZ  |
|            from AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL              | MY opinions!! |
+------------ willers@trombone.sps.mot.com ------------+---------------+

