Hi! So this is my first Orphan Black fic and I hope that you give it a try :) The idea was just swirling around in my head so I went with it. I know that I still have other fics ongoing but they will definitely be continued.

Here goes nothing!

Chapter 1: Unexpected Arrival

I tap my foot impatiently as I wait for my parents to catch up. You'd think that they would move a little faster since it's been a year since we've seen him. He was supposed to come home for Christmas but about a week before he was due to fly he informed us, via email, that he wasn't coming back for the holidays and that he wanted to use his free time to travel around Europe instead of going home.

I can't really begrudge him the experience though, I know that I would have done the exact same thing but that doesn't change the fact that it really had been the loneliest Christmas ever. I had turned down all the offers that my friends had made me to spend part of the holidays with them because I had so much catching up to do with him. But I guess it doesn't really matter now because any minute he is going to walk through arrivals and then shall begin the best summer ever.

Mom and Dad eventually catch up to me and I practically have to drag them over to arrivals.

"Cosima, really, what's the rush?" Mom asks airily.

"I don't want to miss him coming through!" I exclaim.

"We won't, we won't just calm down," Dad begs me.

"I will calm down after he gets here and I have choked the life out of him with my hugs."

I notice a large crowd gathered in front of the arrival doors and I sigh. I survey the crowd, looking for a way in which I can position myself at the front. I have to find one because my tiny stature won't allow me to see from the back. I decide to give up on my parents and I go ahead and start squeezing through bodies in the crowd. Most of them don't notice me and when some people send me disgruntled looks I gesture forward at random people, pretending to know them and that I need to join them.

Eventually I get a decent position at the front and I grip the barrier firmly in excitement. I can see the automatic doors that are going to let him through any minute. I wait with bated breath as the doors open. I sigh heavily when it's not him. I should have known better than to think that the first person I see come through would be him.

Not only is he not the first person to come through, he's also not the tenth, thirtieth or fiftieth. After the crowd has somewhat dispersed I feel Mom and Dad sidle up beside me.

"What time did he say he would be arriving?" I can't help but ask a little grumpily.

"He should have landed about forty minutes ago, but you know how these things are, anything could have delayed him," Dad explains.

"I know," I mumble as I scuff my shoe along the ground. "I just really can't wait to see him."

"Cosima!"

I snap my head up to see him striding through the doors without a care in the world.

"Cyrus!" I shout as I duck under the barrier and run towards him. He stops wheeling his bags in preparation for the hug I am about to give him.

I throw my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. He's taller than me but that's not really saying much, I'm smaller than most people. I notice that he smells different, not a bad different, he actually smells like perfume and a nice one at that. He puts me down and we smile at each other, the skype chats we had every once in a while really weren't enough. It didn't show how much he had changed. He definitely looks older, more mature even, and he seems to be letting his hair grow out a little bit. It suits him.

I smell the perfume again but much stronger this time.

"Hey, Cos, I have someone I want you to meet," he states excitedly.

I look up at him in confusion, still a bit dazed from the smell. I blearily watch as Cyrus steps to the side and a tall blonde girl steps up beside him with cases in tow. She smiles at me like we've met before. Cyrus snakes his arm around her waist and pulls her closer to his side.

"This is Delphine, my girlfriend!" he informs me.

"Enchanteé," she says as she extends her hand out for me to shake.

"Enchanteé," I mumble feebly in response as I shake her hand.

Before I can say anything else Mom and Dad join us.

"Cyrus! Who is this beautiful young woman you have with you?" Mom gushes and I can't help but roll my eyes.

Cyrus delves into introducing Delphine to them which gives me a moment to step back and collect my thoughts.

I don't want to like her but she seems charming. Her smile when Cyrus introduces her is genuine and she only has lovely things to say about him which rings out in a fabulously French accent. But why has Cyrus never mentioned her? Surely if he is bringing her back here for a holiday then they have been going out for some time? It seems like the kind of thing that a brother should tell his only sister.

"Let's make our way to the car, shall we?" Dad announces.

Dad takes one of Cyrus' cases and gestures for me to grab one of Delphine's. I hastily jerk forward and reach a hand out to take the bigger case.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Delphine says quickly.

I stop reaching for the case and look up at her.

"Oh no really, please let me, my Dad will think I'm being super rude if I don't."

"Well, in that case, you can take this one instead, it's not as heavy." Delphine drags the smaller bag over to my side.

"You calling me weak?" I joke.

Delphine's eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Non, no, not at all, I just didn't want to burden you!"

"Chill, it's ok, I was joking," I say waving away her apology.

Shit, I'm really making a great first impression.

"Oh...," Delphine sighs as she pushes her hair back from her face. "Sorry, it has been a long day, my ability to process humour in English is not quite as good as it normally is."

"The fact that you understand me at all is really impressive. I tend to use way too much slang," I explain, waving my hands about in a flustered attempt to apologise for confusing her.

"It's alright, I'll ask you if you say anything I don't understand," she says while smiling reassuringly. "We better catch up with Cyrus and your parents."

I turn around and notice that they have gone on without us, thinking that we were probably right behind them.

"Yeah, cool, let's go," I agree.

As we walk out together I'm feeling relieved that Delphine gave me the lighter case because this one is still pretty damn heavy and I probably wouldn't have been able to move the other one, and that would have been embarrassing.

"You seem to have brought the whole of France with you," I remark. "How long are you staying for?"

"The whole summer," she responds.

My stomach plummets. She is here for the whole summer? At most I was expecting a month and then I would still get two months with Cyrus. Now, we aren't going to be able to do anything that I had planned. I smile at her anyway and try not to show my disappointment. Now I understand why Cyrus didn't tell me she was coming. He can be such a chicken shit sometimes.

"Cyrus has told me a lot about you," Delphine says to fill the silence. "I kind of thought he was kidding about the dreadlocks."

I toy with the ends of them nervously which was odd because I had never felt self conscious about them before.

"Hahaha," I laugh. "You know it's funny because Cyrus has never even mentioned you."

Delphine laughs as well and nods in agreement.

"I know, we thought it would be a nice surprise."

"No offence but I'd say Cy was just afraid that they would say no if he asked," I inform her.

"That is probably very true," Delphine admits with a concerned look.

"But hey, don't worry about it, they would never send you back or anything! I'm sure they're going to love having you and teasing Cyrus is really just a bonus for me."

I want to be annoyed at this girl and to give her the cold shoulder because she had effectively ruined my plans for the whole summer but I just can't help it. It must be scary for her to come such a long way to meet her boyfriend's family and while I want to, I don't know if I have it in me to give her a hard time. I'll just be sure to take my frustration out on Cyrus when I get a chance to speak to him alone later.

"Why would you tease him?" Delphine asks confused, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, well, I mean, that's what sisters are for right? He brings home a pretty French girl and I get to tease him about being in love, you know how it is," I explain.

"We, uh, aren't quite at the love stage of our relationship, I don't think," Delphine says awkwardly.

"Oh shit, sorry. I am always putting my foot in it! Please just pretend I never said that, I just thought that since he brought you here that things were already pretty serious between you two. I really shouldn't have assumed anything," I ramble endlessly.

"Cosima, it's alright," Delphine assures me while resting a calming hand on my shoulder. "The truth is that we are serious but we have still only been dating for two months."

Her touch mellows me out instantly and I don't trust myself not to say anything else stupid so I just nod along in understanding.

I praise the powers that be that we are nearly at the car. Cyrus jogs back over to help since he has already put his luggage in the car. He pecks Delphine on the cheek before taking the case from her. I roll my eyes and try not to visibly gag. I have never seen him act like this around any girl before.

"So what are you two talking about back here?" he asks curiously.

"Nothing!" I say hastily. "I was just telling Delphine about some of the things she will have to go and see while she is in San Francisco."

Delphine looks at me, clearly grateful for the quick save.

"Oh cool, yeah we have so much to do this summer!" he says eagerly.

I can't help but feel a little sting at that, he is basically rubbing it in my face that he will have no time for me this summer and that he is going to do everything we had planned with Delphine. I scoff under my breath and narrow my eyes at him. His eyes flick from Delphine to me and I see a glimpse of guilt in his eyes.

I plonk Delphine's case down at the back of the car, leaving it for someone else to put in.

I get into the back of the car and stare gloomily out the window as I wait for everyone else to get in. Cyrus comes up and opens my door.

"Dude, what are you doing, get in on the other side," I grumble.

"Eh, Cos, there are five of us and I can't really sit in the middle and Delphine is like, way taller than you so could you…?" he gestures to the middle seat and I roll my eyes before shuffling over.

"It might be a tight squeeze but I think we'll manage," Mom calls over her shoulder to us from the driver's seat.

It's then that I feel Delphine's body pressed up beside me as she gracefully gets into the car. Being sandwiched between my brother and his girlfriend isn't exactly ideal but at least it keeps them from being all coupley.

"You kids must be hungry after such a long flight," Dad states as we pull out of the airport car park.

"I could eat a horse," Cyrus exclaims.

"Well we'll have dinner when we get back and then you'll have to tell us all about your time in France!" Mom says excitedly.

I can practically see Cyrus roll his eyes and I'm not even looking at him.

"Mom, I've pretty much told you everything there is to know, I spoke to you guys like once a week."

"I know but you failed to mention Delphine here and I want to hear all about how the two of you met and what you did together."

Cyrus gapes and I snigger.

"Yeah, Cy, you better tell us everything," I tease.

….

Dad places all the food on the centre of the table. We had decided to forego a proper meal and had ordered pizza instead and I sure as hell wasn't complaining. We had ordered ahead so it arrived at the house just after we did. We had dumped all the luggage in the hallway, food was much more important than bringing the cases upstairs.

We open up the pizzas and pass the food around. It was clear that everyone was famished because not a word was spoken until everyone had eaten at least two slices.

"So, Delphine, Cyrus tells us that you are staying for the whole summer?" Mom asks with a smile.

"Well, yes, that was the plan, if it's alright with you?" Delphine responds hesitantly.

"Of course it's alright!" Dad booms and Mom nods eagerly in agreement.

Cyrus smiles and takes Delphine's hand giving it a squeeze.

"So aren't you going to tell us how you two met?" I ask with a bit of bite that no one detects.

Delphine looks over at me and slips her hand from Cyrus' to continue eating her pizza.

"Delphine was teaching a class in my language school," Cyrus tells us.

My eyes widen in response. Maybe Delphine isn't as young as I thought she was. I figured that she was the same age as Cyrus.

"A student teacher," Delphine corrects him. "I finished high school a year ago and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do in university so I thought I would work for the year and get some experience. So I did a short teaching course and I got a job teaching French in the same language school that Cyrus attended."

"Were you her student Cy? Is that even allowed?" I tease.

Cyrus laughs loudly and my parents share a concerned look.

"Of course I wasn't her student! Delphine was teaching beginner's French and I was in the advanced class. That's why I didn't even meet her until a few months ago, our paths just never crossed. I promise everything was above board."

"So how did your paths cross then?" Mom asks.

"My professor was ill one day and cancelled the class but I never got the message and went anyway. After about twenty minutes with no other students and no teacher I just left. It meant that I was walking through the campus at a time that I wouldn't usually have been."

Cyrus looks over at Delphine to see if she would like to continue the story. Delphine smiles and wipes her mouth with her napkin.

"I was having an awful day. Most of my students didn't show up because the weather was so terrible and my car had broken down and just nothing was going my way. So I was delayed in leaving because my car wouldn't start. So I was going to have to walk home in the rain and I was trying to decide what I was going to have to bring back with me. I stepped out of the car with all the papers I thought I needed and the wind whipped up and breaking my umbrella and tearing the papers out of my hands," Delphine laughs as she remembers every moment vividly. "I was about to just call it quits and not even bother picking everything up when someone rushes up to me out of nowhere and starts helping me to get them."

I tried not to roll my eyes I really did but this just sounded like some cheesy scene out of a film and it was killing me. I slouched down in my seat and flicked pieces of corn off my pizza.

"After he had helped me pick them all up he introduced himself and offered me a ride home on his bicycle," Delphine says which gets laughs from my parents.

"Ever the gentleman our son," Dad says proudly.

"Of course she turned me down," Cyrus adds in. "But it was ok, I meant it as a joke."

"But he did ask me if I wanted to go get a coffee with him while we waited for the rain to stop."

"Now that time she didn't turn me down," Cyrus says puffing his chest out.

"So we went and got coffee and we just spent, I don't know, hours talking and laughing together."

Cyrus leans over and kisses Delphine softly.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's about as much as I can take. I stretch my arms above my head and yawn dramatically. Four sets of eyes follow me as I get up from the table.

"Well, I'm beat," I declare. "I think I'll head up to bed."

"Actually, you know what? Delphine and I are pretty exhausted too. We're going to head up to bed too," Cyrus says getting up from the table.

"About that," Dad says, stopping Cyrus in his tracks. "Your mother and I aren't comfortable with letting you and Delphine stay in the same room."

"Dad, come on, I'm nineteen. I'm practically an adult," Cyrus says trying not to sound irked.

"Practically, but not quite," Mom points out. "As long as you live here, we are in charge."

I sit back down at the table and smirk to myself. I suddenly feel much more awake, this is a show I do not want to miss.

"Mom, please this is ridiculous," Cyrus says failing to hide his annoyance.

Delphine quickly jumps up and puts her hand on Cyrus' chest.

"Cyrus, please this is your parents' house and I'm a guest. What they say is best."

Cyrus looks at Delphine in defeat and I watch him visibly deflate.

I laugh again and Cyrus shoots me daggers.

"I thought you said you were going to bed?" he glowers.

"And miss this? I don't think so," I laugh.

"Cosima, I really don't see why you're laughing," Mom admonishes, "Delphine will be staying in with you."

"Wait, what?"

…

I know that this was pretty short but it's just the first chapter and I wanted to just give a flavour of what the story will be like. Let me know if you're interested or think think that I should continue :) I'm also on tumblr at freakingcharming-limaheights .tumblr .com

Aisling x