tw: sibling death, tw: drowning accident, tw: emotional abuse, tw: mental abuse, tw: physical abuse mentioned, tw: alcoholism
cooper elias hawkins was born on cctober 31st back in 1984 to two loving and hardworking parents named william and heather (nee’ cooke) hawkins. the hawkins clan was very well known and well liked in their town of hilton head, south carolina which is where they resided and where cooper had grown up. william & heather are very successful owners of a diner that’s family owned. it’s beloved in their town.
ryan hawkins was the first of the hawkins clan, then ethan, the annie, then cooper and finally the baby megan whom they call meg. growing up cooper idolized his older siblings, his brothers were his best friends and his sister annie was someone whom he admired and aspired to be like. meg was someone cooper always took care of and adored. the hawkins siblings were well known and well liked by the town and could do no wrong.
they were one big happy family. that was until one 4th of July annie and cooper had decided to take their family boat out onto the water alone, without their parents permission. he was 11 at the time and annie was a little bit older. they drove it illegally, but annie really wanted to go and she always had a way of making cooper follow in her footsteps.
they were having a good time and being safe until annie decided to jump into the water after cooper had told her and begged her not too. it was a while until cooper had realized she hadn’t come up from the water. panicked and scared, cooper illegally drove the boat back to shore for some help. once reaching his parents & some cops, they ruled it as a drowning accident. they always said that annie held the family together and her death tore it apart.
his father was furious and devastated and wrongfully accused & blamed cooper for annies death even though he knew it wasn’t his fault. growing up for cooper wasn’t easy anymore. he wasn’t the happy go lucky kid he used to be. his father mentally and emotionally, & had sometimes physically abused him for years, and his two older brothers followed in their fathers footsteps. cooper closed himself off and didn’t talk to them until he actually needed too. it killed him in a way since cooper and his older brothers used to get along so well. the only ones who truly cared about him and worried about his well being was his mother & his little sister meg.
he kept to himself and got into reading and writing. he hid himself away in his room, and only had a couple of friends. but even then he was quiet and closed off. cooper excelled in school and kept his grade average high. he graduated high school with honors and had decided to move as far away from hilton head as possible to get a fresh start. choosing the city that never sleeps, cooper was accepted into almost every nyc college but ended up choosing brooklyn college. he majored in & has a master in criminal justice, and minored in florescence science.
however that wasn’t what he wanted to do in life. after graduating college with honors again, he decided to go into the academy and become a police officer. he wanted to help people. he wanted to save people. in ways it made up for him not being able to save his sister. not being able to help his family. so he decided to help the city instead. after a couple years of being a cop, he took the detectives exam and has been/is in the homicide unit ever since.
he had met & fallen in love with his then partner, and they were together for quite sometime. they were really professional but somehow their then Sargent found out, and in order for his ex to stay in the unit, cooper decided to transfer. he didn’t want to mess up her career & he wanted to protect her from himself. they ended on pretty bad terms & havent spoken since. so he transferred to heartsdale , georgia to get yet another fresh start in life. he’s still a homicide detective and has been living in georgia for
the memory of his sisters death still haunts him. and when it does he doesn’t sleep at night but writers in a journal in the morning & keeps it to himself as hes writing to her. cooper has had trouble with commitment and relationships. only ever been in love once, with someone from college his sophomore & junior year but she ended up cheating on him with is then room mate/best friend. still doesn’t get along with his father, nor his two older brothers but it super close to his sister meg & his mom. only goes home for their birthdays.
cooper can be pretty self-destructive sometimes & will purposely get into bar fights but then will use his “I’m a detective” excuse to get out of it. he drinks, and sometimes his unit thinks it can be a problem. he smokes every morning but only in the morning. still loves to read and write and secretly keeps journals and writes in them. overall he’s really just a cinnamon roll who wants to love & be loved. & wants to do good in this world. make up for his past mistakes.
