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Diane, 4:54pm, I'm yet again entering the town of Twin Peaks. Feeling a little eerie, Diane, and I'm sure you can understand why. It is strange and unusual here, as always. But the trees still line the road perfectly and they are still just as majestic. I'm meeting with Harry later, Diane, but first I have to settle in at the Great Northern, and meet with the new police team. After 25 years, I hope we finally have enough power to fight this evil. Even though I have my doubts, Diane. But you already know about that, don't you?
Pulling up to the majestic hotel, Dale Cooper took a breath before getting out of his car. Coming back to this place felt heavy on his soul, and something inside of him hoped it would be the last time. He had once fallen in love with this place, this town and its people. But that love had vanished when he had found what really lingered inside the Ghostwood forest. He knew it wasn't the town's fault, but after 25 years of trying to fight this evil, he was tired.
The hotel had changed. It was still run by the Horne family, but it had been remodeled and felt modern and fresh compared to how he remembered it. “Dale Cooper, checking in, and if it's possible I would like to have room 315,” he said at the reception and smiled to himself when he was handed a key. A real key with the same kind of green number tag they had used 25 years ago. Some things hadn't changed and it felt oddly satisfying.
He went up to his room and dropped off his suitcase and jacket. A heavy feeling pushed against his chest when he opened the door to the bathroom, but a quick sigh of relief escaped him when he saw that the bathroom had been completely remodeled. Even though he knew that BOB had no chance of entering him now, he couldn't blame himself for feeling this way. That moment had changed his life. He looked at himself in the mirror. He was much older than the last time he visited this place, his hair was a mix of black and gray, and his eyes looked tired. A knock on his door stopped his aging thoughts. “Mr Cooper?” He smiled softly when he met the eyes of a younger woman. “It's all set up down in the conference room for you, whenever you're ready.” He nodded quickly and went back inside his room to gather the things he needed.
The conference room was big and bright. It was lined with windows that went from the floor to the ceiling, almost inviting the forest to come inside and listen. He went up to a whiteboard and carefully rolled out his beloved map across the surface. And then he flipped the whiteboard over and wrote down a keyword. BOB.
Turning to the people who had gathered to listen, he took a moment to breathe. There were maybe ten people there, maybe even fifteen, and they all waited patiently for him to start. “Before I begin to tell you about my latest research on our Ghostwood project, I want to tell you all a little about a country called Tibet.”
Flipping over the whiteboard again, he pointed a finger to his beloved map and began talking about the monks, about the Dalai Lama. The spiritual quest. The Buddhism that had always inspired him. He talked about the evil of the woods all around this place, compared to the evil of the world and the evil of the minds. He talked about karma, how actions, words and thoughts all add up to form either good or bad. And in the corner of his eye, he saw a hand rise from the group. “Yes?” He said, turning to face whatever question was coming.
“But how many bad actions and thoughts could generate this kind of evil?”
He felt his mouth open and had to look away to gather his thoughts. It had been many, many years since he last saw his friend. And she looked almost exactly the same. “Well,” he began, “the Buddhists believe that karma follows you through every life, and this evil we have here might have been here for a very long time. You can feel it in the air, it vibrates and makes your hands shake. Can you feel it?”
She nodded, knowing what he meant, of course she knew. Everyone's hands trembled here. There was a moment of silence between them and he felt 25 years younger, getting drawn into her gaze. But then someone coughed and he smiled briefly to his old friend, and continued his explanation. Minutes ticked by while he described what kind of evil they were dealing with, what could happen if this evil was set free. And what had happened to him.
“But how did you escape it?”
The young policeman's question was a little shaky, as if he didn't believe that Cooper actually had escaped it. But he had. “I was shown how to get rid of this evil. Leland Palmer showed me, killing himself to be set free from it. He hit his head against a window, and I saw the evil rush away from him. I didn't think much of it then, but I realized that this evil does not follow you into death. It escapes like a coward when you're dying.”
His eyes met his old friend's. “I had to trick it. I hit my head and made it feel powerful. It escaped in the air, in the water, in the walls, thinking I would die. But I didn't. Simple as that.”
An hour later, he rolled up his map and gathered his papers. “Hello.” He smiled to himself before turning around to meet her eyes again. “Audrey,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and he felt 25 years younger again. She was just as small and her eyes were just as blue when he leaned back and looked at her.
“This was good, insightful. Do you think we can fight it this time?” Her words were strong, almost aggressive. And he nodded, “I hope so.”
A silence fell between them again while he just looked at her, calmly, feeling like no days had passed since he saw her last. But the more he looked, the more he noticed that small details of her had changed. The little lines around her eyes were easier to see. The few scars she had gotten from the explosion had almost faded away. A small Buddhist tattoo was visible on her forearm and it made him wonder how much research she had done herself. “Buy you a cup of coffee?” He asked. And she nodded.
Dropping off his things in his room, she slowly moved, the exact same way she had done all those years ago. “Does it feel weird?” She asked, keeping her eyes on the wall as her finger slowly traced a line in the paint there. “Being back here?”
And it did. It felt weird being in this place, in this room, feeling close to the thing that had almost killed him. And it felt weird watching her again, looking at her gentle way of running her hand against the wall, dreamy in a far too familiar way. “Yes,” he said, “It feels very strange.”
She looked at him. She looked at him like she had looked at him all those years ago, and he couldn't help but smile. “But it's nice to see you again, Audrey,” he said, generating a smile from her as well, “It's been far too long. How have you been?”
Moving further inside his room, she lightly sat down on the edge of his bed, tilting her head as if she had a hard time remembering what her life had been like. “I've been okay,” she then said, “I took over my father's business. Made a few changes. And I've opened two more hotels in the Northwest area.”
He stood leaning against the wall. “That sounds successful. I'm glad.” But there was a very obvious sadness in Audrey that he recognized. He met her eyes. They were just as blue and deep and wise as they had always been. But they had something more in them, the same thing he saw in his own eyes when he looked at himself in the mirror. Exhaust. “Audrey,” he started.
“I tried to burn it. Did you know that?” She ran a hand through her dark hair. “The place where you found the Black Lodge. The sycamore trees. I walked close enough to see my reflection in the oil and I spread gasoline and tried to set it on fire.”
He frowned, took a few steps forward and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. He watched how she took a breath. “I heard that someone had tried that, yes,” he said. Sheriff Truman had neglected to tell him who. Probably to protect him.
Her eyes filled with tears. And it was as if 25 years hadn't passed, and as if she was sitting next to him on his bed talking about Laura Palmer or One Eyed Jacks, but he felt much older now. So he leaned towards her and wrapped his arms around her. Pulling her close to him, he let his cheek rest against her hair. It hadn't occurred to him that she was this involved.
“Audrey,” he said, “I really think we can fight it now. We have the manpower and the facts. We have the blessings from the monks.” She leaned away to dry her cheeks and he reached out to run his finger over her tattoo. “Have you searched for answers?”
And she nodded, smiling through her tears. “I have. I went to Asia and I kept your words with me and I wanted to fight and win.” She looked up at him. “But I know now that you can't solve this alone. I guess we both tried that.”
Cooper took a steady breath while looking at her. It had been too long since he last saw her, too damn long, and although he didn't believe in regrets, he felt bad for leaving her the way he had. She had been young, yes, but she had been important and he should have known better. Reaching out to brush a tear away from her cheek, he smiled softly. “Is the coffee at the Great Northern still to die for?”
And she laughed, nodding. “It is.”
Together they walked down to the dining room where a group of birdwatchers were having a wild discussion about owls, and Cooper smiled to himself as he followed Audrey to the far end of the room, to a window seat looking out over the waterfall. He watched her slide onto her chair, her hair a little longer than it had been 25 years ago. Her eyes watched the waterfall for a while. But his eyes only watched her.
“Coffee, miss Horne?”
Cooper hadn't noticed the waitress that had walked up to their table, holding her pencil ready to take their order. “A latte. Vanilla, maybe?” Audrey said, “And my friend would like your blackest coffee. Black as midnight on a moonless night,” she smiled, looking at him, “Right?” He nodded, smiling, feeling a sudden rush of nostalgia filling his senses. “And two slices of Norma's cherry pie.”
When the waitress had left their table, Cooper frowned. “Does Norma work here now?”
Audrey shook her head. “No, but we partnered with the Double R a few years ago. Norma and Ed run one of the other hotels in our chain.”
A smile formed on Cooper's lips. “I'm glad to hear that, Audrey.” She smiled softly, and it was like looking at her 25 years ago. Maybe he had been wrong about this town feeling eerie and maybe he didn't want to leave it as soon as he had planned. Because looking at her, watching her take a sip of her coffee, and watching her laugh as the birdwatchers ran to the windows to take pictures of an owl flying over the waterfall, it made him feel the same way he had all those years ago. That this place wasn't all evil, that it was actually a place he could see himself settle down in.
The following days would be filled with a roller coaster of events and emotions and it would leave them both exhausted. But they would win, with the help of the police team and a few monks and a lot of coffee, Cooper would eventually be sure that Twin Peaks was a safe place to live in. But as he sat there now, taking his first bite of Norma's amazing pie, and watching Audrey gaze out through the window, her eyes the bluest of blues, he could only hope that everything would be okay.
“Let's go for a walk,” she said a while later, standing up and reaching out for his hand. Together, they walked outside and she guided him down a path into the forest where the trees were unbelievably tall and the air smelled of sunwarm pine needles. He closed his eyes for a second. Magic. And when he opened them again, she was looking at him with eyes glittering like sunshine on spring water, and he couldn't help himself. He had to touch her.
“Audrey,” he started, reaching to touch her cheek and as soon as his fingers met her skin, her eyes closed slowly. And he leaned forward, forgetting what he was about to say, letting his lips meet hers. She wasn't slow to respond and kissed him back, reaching to let her hands run down his chest slowly. The wind rustled through the trees, but the sun lingered on their skin, and her dark hair was warm to let his fingers get lost in. She hummed lightly and then smiled against his lips when the group of birdwatchers had somehow also found the path and were shushing each other when they saw them there in the sunlight.
He looked at them, and then he looked back at her, and she was beautiful and maybe even a little magical, and he smiled. She tilted her head, as if the trees formed music and it played in her mind. And Cooper knew. Just by looking at her, just by smelling the pine needles and feeling the warmth of the sunlight. Just by listening to the wind and the trees and the waterfall nearby, he knew. This was all he could ever want.
He would never leave Twin Peaks ever again.