When Delphine woke up that morning, her head was pounding, she felt sick to her stomach, and her throat was in agony every time she swallowed. Which meant only one thing: she was sick.
If there was one thing Delphine hated more than her lover being sick, that was being sick herself. It meant she couldn't go into work in case she spread germs to all the other scientists at DYAD, and she couldn't look after Cosima, instead the roles were reversed.
Cosima rolled onto her side, as Delphine stifled a cough into her pillow, hoping that if she pretended she wasn't sick it would just merely disappear into thin air (obviously, she knew that was scientifically impossible - she was a scientist after all).
"You're sick." Cosima whispered, sleepily.
Delphine grimaced at the pain in her chest as she stifled another cough. "I might have a little tickle in my throat. It's nothing bad though, chiot."
Cosima pushed herself up, so she was sat on her side, before placing her hand against Delphine's forehead, before moving to her cheek. "Tell that to your raging fever, Delphine. You're absolutely burning."
Delphine bit down on her lip, chewing away, something that annoyed the hell out of Cosima (but she'd let her off just this once because she was sick).
"Have you got a headache?" Cosima fussed over Delphine, as she went to pull herself out of bed, Delphine using the little strength she had to pull her back.
"I have, but you fussing over me isn't going to make it go away, is it?" She croaked, her throat aching more as time slowly ticked past. "I just want to cuddle in bed, with the love of my life. Is that too much to ask?"
Cosima smiled. "It wouldn't be. If I didn't have to work in half an hour."
Delphine groaned, glancing at the clock at the bedside table. "I guess I best get up too, then." She pulled the covers back off of her, shivering at the sudden coldness that hit her full force.
She pulled herself up, using the bedside table as a crutch. Delphine was hit with a wave of dizziness, sending her straight back to the bed.
"You are not going into work today, petit chiot." Cosima cooed, playing with her beautiful blonde ringlets. "Back to bed. I guess, I can leave the lab in the hands of Scott so I can play doting lover for a change. It's about time you got some rest - you're probably worn thin looking after me 24/7."
Delphine cracked a small, weak smile, as Cosima tucked her back into bed, her head still spinning and pounding all at once. "I have to do something, Cos." Delphine whispered.
"You can catch up on some rest. That's doing something, right?" Cosima said, watching as Delphine's face fell into a sad pout. "I know you hate doing nothing, but if you want to feel better then you need to rest."
Cosima smiled at her poorly girlfriend, as she tossed onto her side, muttering something inaudible. She leant down and pressed a kiss, still shocked to feel the warmth radiating from every surface of her body. "Get some sleep, little lady. I'll be here when you wake up."
Cosima raised herself from the bed, Delphine's hand clutching her arm. "Don't leave."
"I'm just going to ring the lab and get someone to cover for us, okay? I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
Delphine gave a small nod. "Okay. Good." She let out a sleep breath. "I love you." She whispered before she closed her eyes and almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Cosima watched her sleep for a good ten minutes, mesmerised by how someone could look so beautiful while asleep, and sick. It was astounding, her beauty made her breathless (no pun intended).
Delphine slept for over six hours, and when she woke, it was almost 4pm. She had wasted a whole day sleeping, but her head no longer pounded with pain, instead it was more of a dull ache, and she could breathe without it feeling like someone was stabbing her in the chest.
The smell of pancakes flooded her nose, and she knew Cosima was cooking. She loved it when Cosima cooked, her food was always better than Delphine's (her's was usually so bad that they tossed it into the garbage and ordered takeout most nights).
She managed to get out of bed and to the kitchen without falling over, but her legs ached beyond belief. It was almost like having a hangover but tripled. "I smell something delicious." She smiled, as Cosima turned round to face her.
"My beautiful Delphine," she grinned, turning the heat on the stove down before walking over to her, pressing her lips to Delphine's, "how are you feeling now?"
"Better. Not 100% but a tiny bit better." She smiled, standing was starting to make her feel nauseous.
Cosima's eyebrows furrowed, she could tell Delphine was in pain. "Sit down, sit down."
Delphine smiled at her, thankfully, let out a sigh filled with obvious relief as she sat down on one of the dining chairs.
Cosima felt almost as if she could feel the pain Delphine was in herself, and she hated it, she hated seeing her puppy sick.
She dished out the pancake, blueberry and chocolate chip, onto the plate and popped out two flu pills, pushing them onto the edge of the plate, before carrying them over to Delphine.
"Oh my goodness, Cos." Delphine beamed. "You didn't have to do all of this. It's only the flu, I'll feel better tomorrow."
Cosima sat down opposite her. "I'm sure you get it, because obviously you deal with me being sick almost every day, but clearly at the moment I'm having a better time health wise - but it's almost as though I can feel every single ounce of pain that you are in, I can feel your fever as if it's my own, and it hurts me to my very core to think that you're hurting and I can't stop it. Is that what love is? True love?"
"I think it is." Delphine whispered, taking Cosima's delicate hand in hers. "I really think that's how it's supposed to feel. True, intense, burning love. That's how I see our love. We've made it through everything. I think I'll probably love you until I die."
"You're my forever love." Cosima whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "Now take your pills, eat your pancake and get back to bed, we can put on some cheesy romance movie, it can even be in French if you want too, and cuddle until we fall asleep. Okay?"
Delphine grinned. "That sounds great."
They decided on watching The Backup Plan, What If and Love, Rosie in the end, but they both fell asleep halfway through What If - they never even made it to Love, Rosie.
Delphine woke up, feeling almost one hundred percent better (maybe like eighty percent), to Cosima coughing beside her. She didn't even try to stifle it.
Delphine let out a small chuckle. "I'll call the lab."