She'd been watching her for weeks. Sometimes she sat and she just read, sometimes she stared out the window, sometimes she was jotting down stuff in what looked like legal documents.
Cosima liked to observe. It was in her nature as a scientist to observe. When she was younger she had collected insects, kept them as pets in her room and released them when they looked like they were getting a little too old so that they could die in the peace of their original habitat. She liked to observe and she liked to take down notes too.
This woman across the coffee shop from her liked her coffee strong, she liked it without sugar, and she liked to tap her foot when she was concentrating hard. She didn't like to look at other people but she smiled at anyone who seemed to know her and gave them a small wave.
She had a magical smile.
Like all scientists, Cosima wanted to know everything about what she was observing. Where she came from, any particular habits, what she sounded like, what it felt when she'd touch the texture of her skin…
The last one might be more of a personal whim than scientific curiosity.
She would sit and cradle her hot chocolate in her hand on days like these and just wonder if she could ever muster up the courage to go up to her and talk to her. Sometimes she almost did but then the woman would get up and leave, leaving her with a sense of 'Well what the fuck now?!'
Once, on her way out of the shop, Cosima bumped into her table and put a hand on it to steady it, staring wide eyed at her.
"Sorry."
Well, it had been an accident.
She smiled back and shrugged with just one shoulder.
"It's alright."
She was French.
-0-
She saw her get up and leave one day – leaving her with the same feeling again – that time, but noticed that she had carelessly left behind a sliver of paper. Feeling like the cat in a famous idiom, she slinked over, slipping the paper under her fingers and staring at the writing. It was scrawled and spidery, but she could still read it. Even though she didn't understand what was written on it anyways – it was all in French (she never liked the language until she heard her speak in that accent).
She pocketed the slip and hoped for the best.
-0-
"Hi."
The woman looked up at her – her eyes were beautiful – and she handed her the slip of paper, giving her a small smile, hopefully a friendly one.
"You left this behind yesterday."
"Oh, thank you," she replied, returning the smile and brushed her fingers across Cosima's as she took the paper from her. Cosima gulped, hopefully not audibly, and gestured lamely at the other chair on the table.
"May I?"
"Of course," she grinned, moving her chair for more space for Cosima, and she sat down, extending her hand.
"Cosima."
"Delphine."
-0-
For a few days it was friendly and harmless. They met and they talked for thirty minutes before Cosima had to go back to classes and Delphine had to run off to whatever it is she did (Cosima hadn't digged that out of her yet). But they always met the next day, and Cosima liked this consistency in their routine.
She liked that Delphine used her hands to talk, just like her, and that she was very interested in Biology and listened to her when she talked about her work (and actually understood what she was talking about). She liked that they could talk about most things, but they hadn't yet gotten to what Cosima wanted to know.
She wanted to know everything about her.
"So what are you doing in the States anyways?" she asked around a cup of coffee one day, leaning over the table to look at her better.
"Oh, I'm here on a bit of…special work."
"Special work?"
"It's secret."
"What, FBI?"
"Maybe."
Cosima laughed, sensing the joke beneath the words, sipping at her own cup again. "So, I'm guessing it's something biology related?"
Delphine shrugged, and Cosima gave another laugh. "Come on, why are you holding out on me?"
"Because you Americans like a sense of mystery."
Cosima rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly. "You Europeans have a wrong perception of us. Most of us find mystery annoying."
"Well, maybe one day…" Delphine answered, before getting up, scooping up her belongings and leaving out the door, leaving Cosima more wanting by the second.
-0-
"Tell me."
"Why should I?"
"Please, Delphine!" Cosima pleaded, laughing as she did. They were sat in her room now, finally having moved from meeting in just the coffee shop to meeting on campus, meeting at a bar, and finally at Cosima's apartment. They were sat on her bed, and Cosima felt years younger, a decade away, in another place with a different climate.
"Why are you so curious?" Delphine was laughing too as she shook her head again. She seemed so adamant at keeping this 'mystery' alive.
"Scientific curiosity, I want to know your story! Come on, we've been doing this meeting up stuff for forever. You know what I do, what I like, where I go on the weekends, where I'm from. All I got out of you is Paris and medical school and working at some place called Dyad."
Delphine looked at her, dead in the eyes, and she suddenly felt weightless as her face got closer, her eyes bigger, and her lips nearer. The smiles were gone and replaced with the transfixed silence of anticipating lips. Delphine was the one who closed the gap, pressing her lips gently to Cosima's, dragging away before she had gotten her fill and leaving her breathless and wanting so much more…
"Where do I start?"
Cosima smiled behind closed eyes and shrugged. "I think every good story starts in the middle…"