A/N: I don't own any of the characters, all rights go to the rightful owners. Sorry for any mistakes, they are all mine.
Time Travel
Alison closed the oven with one hand while balancing a baking tray on the other one. "I can't believe it's the first Christmas after all the Dyad...incident...and you won't be here with us."
If the loud thud and the unusual high tone of voice coming from somewhere out of the camera's reach hadn't been warning enough, the look on Sarah's face told Cosima she should be thankful for the fact she was only a face on a laptop's screen. After having postponed the news as long as possible, she had called Alison the week before to tell her about the holiday plans she and Delphine had made. When the call had ended, the girl knew she would never be forgiven for this.
As she opened her mouth to apoloize once more, Alison came from the kitchen to stand beside Sarah with one hand on her hip and another one resting on the counter top. From this angle, there was no way Cosime could escape Alison Hendrix's deathly glare.
"Last year, we had just met and, even so, you and Beth..."
Her voice died as she averted her eyes. The three of them had become rather close over the six months prior to Sarah's arrival and Beth's suicide, but Cosima was a busy student living in another country, while Beth and Alison had been pratically neighbours. While she had been there for the most important decisions about their situation at the time, the other two woman had had the chance to bond over other things she had not been a part of.
Looking back, she could say she hadn't had the chance to fully comprehend the extention of what was going on. Beth and Alison didn't cared about the scientific facts. They didn't lived in her world of microscopes and chemical reactions, all they cared about was how all that mess was going to influence in their lives directly.
They had bonded over fear, when she had only been curious. Cosima had been scared to think about who was trying to kill them, but the fear, the fear came much later. In a way she had been way more naive than Beth and Alison.
Shaking her head, Cosime pushed that line of thoughts aside. "I'm very sorry Alison, I miss her too." She paused until the other woman looked at her again "And I'm also sorry I won't be at your Christmas party, but I have a ton of shit to review before I can send the final version of my thesis and, since Delphine is coming next week, I have to get it all done until the weekend so we can fly over to Canada in time for New Year."
"Well, you have made your choice already, haven't you?" Alison spoke making her way back to the kitchen.
Sarah watched her walk away before turning back to the screen. "Don't worry, she'll get over it. She just had a tough year. We all had."
"Yeah, I understand, but that's why I have to stay you know." Cosima sighed reaching for her glass of wine. "I love Christmas, I really do, but the New Year is a new begining and that's what I want to celebrate with you guys."
Before Sarah had the chance to reply, Alison's voice reached her ears. "I guess that is ok. We all need fresh starts more than we need Eggnog Cheesecake."
"DUDE! YOU'RE MAKING EGGNOG CHEESECAKE?"
Another figure appeared next to Sarah, leaning over the counter top. "If that girlfriend of yours don't forget my parisian christmas gift, I might give you the recipe."
"Fee, Cosima barely survived this year and you want her to cook?" Sarah turned to her brother with a scowl. "Seriously?"
"Hey?! I can cook!" She tried to defend herself only to receieve a scowl of her own.
"Frozen things doesn't count as cooking Cosima."
Felix took a sip from Sarah's glass and walked pass the computer. "Tell her to double the number of packages and I make you one."
"But I want a big one!" Cosima shouted back at him, when he was already out of sight.
"Sarah? Mrs. S, Paul and the kids will be here soon and I need you to help me wrapping the gifts. That used to be the one thing Donnie could do, besides spying me, of course." Alison said with yet another tray on her hands.
Staring at her, the woman replied. "Aren't the kids suppose to open those tomorrow morning?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't knew you wanted to wake up 4am to do this?" Alison said putting the tray down.
Sarah lowered her eyes back to the screen. "Cos, I have to go."
"Totaly." She chuckled before the three of them came into view all at once. "Merry Christmas, guys. See you next week ok?"
She looked apologetically at Alison, who simply smiled at her. "You better."
Felix placed a hand at the woman's shoulder. "Tell Delphine I look good on dark colors."
"Bye Cos, be safe." Sarah spoke last, before ending the call.
Closing the lid of the computer, Cosima refilled her glass of wine and send a quick text to Delphine before finishing one of her joints. She would smoke now, eat later and then fall asleep with some old Christmas movie.
For the year she had had, this was heaven. The only thing missing was a certain blond girl with a french accent.
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She wasn't sure if it was the buzz of her cellphone or the bright sun light filling her room that pulled her out of sleep, either way Cosima wasn't sure she was ready to let go of her covers yet. Rolling to her side, though, she picked up her glasses and when she saw the name on the screen, it was settled.
Sleep could wait.
"Delphine?"
"Cosima! Joyeux noël, ma chère. Did I wake you?"
The voice soaked her fogged mind and she fell back into the pillow with a smile on her face.
"Why would you think that ?''
Delphine chuckled on the other side. "Because your sleepy voice is one of my favorite sounds in the whole world. I would recognize it anywhere, even over the phone."
She groaned, feeling a sudden ache in her chest. "Dude that's not fair. You can't tell me stuff like that, when you're not here for me to kiss you." Her fingers were tingling with the need to wrap themselves on her girlfriend's golden locks. Cosima had pushed the blond into going back home for Christmas, but that didn't meant it was easier for her to be away from her love during this time. Or during anytime, actually.
"How can I make it up to you ?" With her eyes closed Cosima could see Delphine's smile in the phrase, and that alone made her feel warmer. She was going to be here in a few days and then they would celebrate Christmas together before heading to Canada. She could wait a few more days.
With that thought in mind Cosima snuggled a little deeper into the blankets.
"You can tell me if you liked my Christmas present."
The answer took a little bit longer than she antecipated and, just when she was going to see if the call had been ended, Delphine spoke again.
"I could...but I haven't open it yet."
"What?!" Cosima abruptly sat down on the bed, taking the cellphone away from her ear to check what time it was. "You're like seven hour ahead of me, so for you is four in the afternoon already!"
"In Paris? Yes, almost."
She waved her free hand in confusion "Again. Why haven't you open it yet?"
There was a knock on the door and Cosima stood up automatically, making her way barefoot towards the entrance of her apartment with the cellphone still pressed against her ear, not even paying attention to what she was doing. "You open your gifts first thing in the morning Mrs. Cormier! That's the tradition, why did you broke the rules?"
Opening the door, her eyes went wide in shock.
Smiling at her, Delhpine hanged up the phone. "Because I wanted to open it with you."
"How.. ?! What... ?!" Cosima blinked couple of times, slightly shaking her head before a massive grin broke across her face. "What are you doing here?"
Delphine entered the apartment and pulled the shorter woman to a tight hug, feeling the warmth of Cosima's body spreading into hers. "I'm spending Christmas with my girlfriend."
With her face burried on her neck Cosima breathed in the scent she missed so much, before pulling away with a slight frown. "But I though you were staying with your parents. I mean, your siblings were coming over and all."
"And I did." The blond nodded eagerly. "I spent Christmas eve with my family. I got to meet my new nephew, I saw how big my niece is,I talked to my brother, my sister, I helped my mother decorate the tree, we went to the mass, she made the Réveillon de noel, we exchanged gifts and it was..." Cosima smiled at her dreamy expression. "It was amazing. I haven't felt so happy in a very long while." Reaching out, Delphine took Cosima's free hand intertwining their fingers. "I think that over the years that I've worked with the Dyad, on the few times I went to visit them, I never allowed myself to be with them you know. I guess I was a little ashamed. It was easier to do some of the things I did, if I could separate who I was from who I had become. I never truly realized how much I've missed them, how much I've missed who I'm with them, until now."
"And my mother. She noticed as well." Delphine brought Cosima's hand to her lips, brushing a kiss on her knuckles. "When everybody had gone to bed and it was only us, she asked me what had happened, what had changed, and I said I had met someone. A gorgeous, kind, brilliant woman who had made me realize I was lost and that made me want to find myself again."
"You told your mother about me?" Cosima smiled sheepishly.
Taking the sight of her - still sleepy - girlfriend dressed in nothing but an oversized sweater that barely went down her mid thighs, she felt her heart swelling with love. This was one of the cutest things she had the privilege of seeing. "Oui. She woke my father and made him drive me to the airport at 4am because, in her own words, you, Cosima, gave her the best Christmas presente she could have ever asked for, you returned her daughter back to her and so she couldn't allow you to be alone today."
She pulled Cosima for a kiss, but the woman pulled back gently. "Hold on." Her fingers drew some invisible patters in the air and the blond couldn't help but to smile. She had missed everything about this cheeky girl of hers. "It's a seven hour diference between here and Paris and a nine hour flight, so...you basically time-traveled to spend Christmas morning with me?" The blond's smile grew bigger. "That's...oddly romantic."
Brushing her fingers across Cosima's cheek, Delphine swallowed hard when the woman leaned into her touch.
"I hope it is totally encouraging as well."
The laugh filled her ears and she finally pulled her girlfriend into a kiss, feeling Cosima shivering as she slid her hands beneath the sweater to wrap her arms around her back. When her lungs began to burn for air, Delphine made a path of butterfly kisses going from the side of her lips to the shell of her ear before whispering.
"T'aimer."
Smiling, Cosima placed a single kiss on Delphine's jaw before caressing her lips again.
"I love you too, Delphine."
Slowly running her hands to the front of the blond's coat she slid it off Delphine's arms.
"No preasure, but no matter what you got me now, your mother just sent me the best Christmas gift ever."