"Cosima…" Delphine whispered, holding her lovers head as she lay on the floor, rasping rather than breathing.
"Del-" her words where cut off by heart shattering coughs, desperate attempts to expel the blood in her lungs and to breathe.
"Non, don't try to speak," Delphine said quietly, tears in her eyes, "Save your breath," She whispered, watching her strong willed girlfriend.
But Cosima shook her head and managed to take a deep breath and she held it but her body shook with the force of the attempted coughs, "Delphine," Cosima tried again, her voice rustic as she tried to speak without letting out her breath, "Fifty three, one hundred and sixteen, ninety tw-" She couldn't hold her breath while she spoke and the breath she held was released harshly, her body throbbing as it tried to kill her.
"Cosima, what does that mean?" Delphine asked, stroking Cosima's cheek lightly.
The woman pointed over to the couch where all their research lay, "I'm sorry" she said. She then raised her hand to Delphine's jaw and with surprising strength for a dying woman, lifted herself up and kissed Delphine, the taste of blood strong on her lips but she didn't care. She stole Delphine breath and used it to be her last, falling limp in her girlfriends arms.
Tears fell upon Cosima's warm face and Delphine couldn't bring herself to close Cosima's eyes. Not yet…
But it didn't matter how long she stayed there on the floor, she just couldn't bring herself to move. She shifted positions but kept Cosima in her arms, her tears pouring over Cosima.
Eventually Felix came back to his loft, Delphine wasn't sure of how much time had passed, it could have been hours of mere seconds. Felix knelt beside Delphine with a look of empathy and closed Cosima's eyes, covering her with a blanket.
"Delphine?" He asked.
"Fifty three, one hundred and sixteen, ninety two." She said suddenly, not looking away from Cosima's covered body.
"What does that mean?" Felix asked.
"I do not know, yet, it was one of the last things she said before she-" Delphine stopped, she couldn't say the word and choked on it. She pressed her fingers to her lips and then touched Cosima's head, as if she could pass on her kiss into the afterlife.
Delphine then stood up, shakily though she tried to hide it and she went over to the couch and began scouring the documents that littered the apartment.
"Do you think she figured it out? What was making her ill?" Felix asked, watching Delphine from a few steps away.
"That is a possibility, but I think it's a code."
"A code to what?" Felix asked and watched as Delphine moved through the papers with a grief filled fire.
Delphine didn't answer, she just pulled Cosima's laptop onto her lap and started searching the numbers through the computers files and even the genome. Felix grew tired of standing over Delphine and went about his own business as Delphine's grief consumed her to find out what Cosima had told her.
Why would she tell me something in code?
Sarah burst into the loft suddenly, "Where's our science monkeys?" She asked, looking around and spotting Delphine.
Delphine stood up, "Sarah, im désolé, our Cosima has left us," Delphine said, looking over at the covered form, fresh tears threatening to well up and consume her.
"Left us?!" Sarah cried, advancing towards Delphine, "What do you mean l-" She Delphine's gaze and her face dropped, "No…" She whispered and dashed to the form, whipping the blanket off Cosima and seeing her eternally sleeping, "Cosima…" She sighed with a tear rolling down her cheek as she fiddled with a dreadlock, "So she was lying to us about how sick she was?" Sarah said, her tone mellow.
"I do not think that even she knew just how extensive her illness was," Delphine said, watching Sarah mourn the loss of her clone, "What did you call her?" She asked suddenly.
"What? Cosima?" Sarah asked, covering the body again and looking up at Delphine confused. She had gained Sarah's trust after much trial, after all Cosima was gone and Delphine was still here. She figured that maybe she was on their side like Cosima had said, or at least she decided to give Delphine the benefit of the doubt for now.
"No, when you came in just now."
"Oh, science monkeys," Sarah said and then explained, " I once told Cos to 'stick to the science' and she said 'what am I the geek monkey now?' so I've been calling her a science monkey or a geek monkey ever since."
Science…. The thought ran through Delphine's head.
"Science!" Delphine suddenly exclaimed, turning back to Cosima's laptop and bringing up Google.
"What is it?" Sarah asked with a slight sniff.
"Something Cosima said to me, she said 53, 116, 92, and I've been going through all the research we did together but I haven't been able to figure out what she was trying to tell me or why she couldn't just tell me outright what she wanted to say, I think she was referring to elements!" Delphine as she felt she was close to figuring out the code. She grabbed a bit of paper and wrote down the three numbers, "Iodine, livermorium and uranium," She said and underneath she wrote everything she knew about the three elements.
Sarah watched closely for anything that might help her to find Kira, "So what does all this mean?" She asked.
Delphine stared at the information in front of her and shook her head, "I am not sure…Maybe it's the answer to finding a cure," Delphine said more to herself then Sarah and she picked up Cosima's laptop again and began searching the elements
Sarah had a look of dawning understanding on her face, "You're looking at this too hard you dork," Sarah said taking the paper from Delphine.
"Pardon?" Delphine asked, a little offended at being called a dork.
"It's not a cure or a code at all," Sarah said, taking the pen from Delphine and inserting carrots in between the elements symbols, "the symbol for Iodine is 'I' yeah?" Sarah asked to confirm for her chemistry was not the best. Delphine nodded and gestured for her to continue, "And the symbol for uranium is 'U' and the symbol for livermorium is 'Lv..." Sarah's words tapered off as she completed her written sentence with the elements.
I love you.
"Geek monkey till the end." Sarah said softly, handing the sheet to Delphine who stared at the words and the elements as tears sprung to her eyes.