Cosima came bursting through the double doors, nearly smacking into Alison, the veterinary technician, in the process.
"Code blue! Or whatever - I've got Gherkin!"
Alison held her hands up in a calming gesture, but the sharpness in her gaze and voice revealed her own stress.
"The doctor's in the OR. Let's take her right back now."
Cosima had dashed into the operating room before the sentence was even finished. Alison followed on her heels.
"I think her wing is broken-" Cosima blurted, before skidding to a halt and looking up. To her confusion, the familiar, pot-bellied, middle-aged form of the usual veterinarian was replaced by a tall, young, slender figure with feminine curves. And that face... whoa, Cosima's brain blurted, taking in a gorgeous, doe-eyed beauty with blonde hair done up in a bun. "You're not Dr. Paget," Cosima's mouth exclaimed, stating the simple-minded obvious.
"Non, I am Dr. Cormier. I'm filling in for him for a while. Now let me see what we've got."
Cosima snapped out of her brief short circuit and lowered her arms to reveal a small bundle of frightened fluff.
"This is Gherkin, Saw-whet owl, age 15 months. She got whacked by a misplaced 'enrichment' item. Some stick-on-a-string the new intern—"
"Okay, put her on the table. Please."
"Right," Cosima nodded, and did as she was told.
"Alison, help restrain, please." The doctor directed.
The two women cradled and immobilized the tiny avian with care. One press or jerk in the wrong direction could maim or kill the delicate bird, already badly injured and at risk for shock.
Nevertheless, Cosima's attention was much more divided than it usually would be in such a situation. As she deftly aided with the examination, sedation via miniscule gas mask that could nearly engulf the owl's entire head, and taking of x-ray radiographs, part of her noticed the sure but gentle way the doctor examined her patient with utmost competence, the even-toned respect she showed both the vet tech and the animal keeper, and way her hair caught the light, releasing an intoxicating scent of spring mountain flowers...
Focus, Niehaus. Focus.
But it was what veterinarian said to the injured owl as they monitored her recovery from anaesthesia that really won Cosima over.
"Pauvre petite fille," the veterinarian murmured softly to the disoriented creature. "Nous allons t'aider à se sentir mieux."
She transferred the little owl to Cosima's arms, a secure wrapping keeping the waking bird warm and preventing large movements. She seemed to accept right away when Cosima insisted that Gherkin trusted the dreadlocked animal keeper, and would do better coming to pressed to her rather than in a special cage.
Cosima lingered as Dr. Cormier made notes in the files and Alison tidied up the room.
"What you said to her before, to Gherkin, you said you'd make her feel better?" Cosima asked.
"Mm, oui, I said we would." A warm smile spread across the doctor's face. "You speak French?"
"Oh, uh, no, not really," Cosima responded, feeling flustered. "Un petit peu. I, uh, took Latin in high school, and did some travelling in Europe, one summer. I just," she wiggled one hand in the air, "pick some things up."
"Ah, very smart," Dr. Cormier looked up at her from her paperwork, continuing to smile. "I'll have to be careful, knowing someone is listening in on my ramblings."
A grin flickered around the edges of Cosima's mouth. "Well, it also might have to do with the time I spent in a French hospital after getting kicked by une vache..."
"Everything's in order, Doctor Cormier," Alison interrupted. "Do you have to continue to monitor the patient, or can we get back to the orientation I was giving you?"
"Ah. Yes, I think we can leave our little… 'sweet pickle,' is it," the blonde's dimples deepened with the question, "in the care of Ms. Niehaus. She seems to know what she's doing, eh?"
Alison gave a little "hm" and a tight shrug in response, then walked back toward the office. Cosima's grin had bloomed into fullness now, complete with fangy eyeteeth on display.
"Thank you, doctor," she nodded, "I very much do. And it seems like you do, too." She held out her right hand, cradling the ball of mussed feathers in her left. "Cosima Niehaus. You can call me Cosima."
"Delphine," the Doctor replied, shaking the proffered hand. "Enchantée. I'm sorry we only got to meet this way. I'm supposed to come to your afternoon keepers' meeting to be introduced."
They both seemed to be lingering in the contact of their hands.
"Oh, enchantée," Cosima repeated, with a questionable accent. Her tongue poked lightly between her teeth. "Well then, I look forward to our formal introduction. I assume you'll want to check on Gherkin, again, later, yeah?"
"Of course," Delphine nodded. "Is right after the meeting good for you?"
"Absolutely," Cosima answered, "and maybe, if you don't have to rush off, I could give you a little tour of our happy wildlife park afterwards? We could have some lunch…"
Delphine found her own eyebrows rising to match the inquisitive look on the cheeky zookeeper's face. She was about to say that she was already to get a guided look at the facility from the Head Curator, but for some reason, she decided to swallow the response. Maybe the vivacious woman with the interesting hair before her didn't need to know.
"Yes, if I don't get called away, I would love that."
A few hours later and they were walking through the exhibits, Cosima telling Delphine little stories about the inhabitants, and asking Delphine about her work and her past. Delphine had once been a protegée of Dr. Paget's, so when he had to take a leave of absence and she was between field studies, he recruited her to take his place. Not that anyone really could, she noted. She'd been on a study in West Africa before that, recording behaviours of local species of monkeys and how they interacted with the human population. They wanted to determine how the primates were responding to the spread of human habitation into their territories. It was also important to analyze how, besides the bushmeat trade, diseases might spread from one population to another.
"Wow, so you're coming at it from a behavioural ecology standpoint, and also epidemiology? That sounds complex, and totally amazing."
"It is, but it also can be hard," Delphine admitted. "We see the local animal populations dwindling with human encroachment, and we also see the spread of diseases among people who did nothing more than exchange body fluids with someone who connects with a chain of people back to whoever first killed the primate or ingested the bushmeat."
Cosima's brow furrowed.
"The last report I read said the local governments were getting better about protecting reserves and educating the population about vectors," she noted. "I thought things were improving."
"Mm, oui, but it's not at all where it needs to be," Delphine responded, enjoying conversing with someone who really knew what she was talking about, despite the troubling topic. She was about to continue when her nose was assailed by a pungent odour.
"Mon dieu," she exclaimed, wrinkling her nose, "what is that smell?"
"Oh, that's Chester, the horny porcupine," Cosima laughed. "He always smells all musky like that. Also, he's always bothering his poor mother."
"'Horny?'" Delphine thought something was being lost in translation. "Do you mean quilled?"
A woman's raised voice came down to them from the path ahead.
"Chester! Oh, Chester, no! Stop! Leave her alone!"
An expression half-smirk and half-grimace crossed Cosima's face as they rounded the bend toward the exhibit.
"Nope," she said, a sort of apologetic frustration in her tone, "I mean horny. Sounds like he is right now."
Delphine's eyebrows scrunched in perplexity as they approached the fence. A distressed zookeeper was waving her hands and calling to the animal.
"Chester, no! Ugh…" she said.
"Hey, Stubbsy," Cosima greeted her, joining her beside the fence. "You remember Doctor Cormier? I'm showing her around."
"I thought Siobhan...huhn," the other woman answered, then turned to greet Delphine. "Hi, Doctor. I'm Sarah Stubbs, in case you don't remember. I'm sorry about this."
Delphine squinted at the enclosure. Inside, the male porcupine was bumbling after the obviously harried female, trying to mount her as she shook him off and tried to get away.
"Oh. He's… trying to mate with his mother," she asked.
"Yeah," Cosima nodded. "Incest. Gross, right? But I really think it's about the environment and their lack of space and unrelated porcupines. She's on birth control, thank goodness, but Dr. Paget and I have gone back and forth awhile on what to do with him. The good doctor doesn't want him sterilized in case another zoo wants him for breeding, but they're not an endangered species, right? Meanwhile, poor Bella, his mom, has to fend him off all the time. Fortunately, she's a tough old lady."
"Hmm… unfortunate. What have you tried to modify the behaviour," Delphine queried.
"Well, with budget constraints, we haven't been able to enlarge their enclosure, and what little we've got for enrichment toys is not distracting his urge to procreate. Meanwhile, parents have to cover the eyes of their children as they walk by." She turned to Sarah. "Remember what I told you to try when he does that?"
"Yeah," the other woman looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, but he ignored any treats. And I still can't make that gosh-darned sound like you do."
Cosima sighed.
"Okay. You just have to remember to start in the throat then move up through your nose." She turned toward the animals and began to emit a strange sequence of whining grunts and grumbles. After a few seconds, Chester turned his head, looked directly at her, and lumbered over to his feed bowl. Sarah leaned down and dropped a treat into it.
"Fascinating. I'm impressed," Delphine cocked her head at Cosima, who once again grinned at the praise. "That was… the most, uh, remarkable porcupine imitation I've ever heard. Does it mean something, or is it just a conditioning cue?"
"Mm, if it were conditioning, I'd be using a clicker," Cosima answered. "He's a tough case. He's shrugged off most behaviour mod. I've had to learn a few vocalizations like warning calls and food discovery whines. So far he only responds to me, although there's been some talk of using recordings. I'm concerned about him getting used to the repetition, though."
Delphine leaned on the fence next to Cosima, her hair taking on an aureate glow from the afternoon sun behind her, while her greater height threw enough of a shadow over the shorter woman to allow her to ease up on her squint.
"Are you concerned that he'll start to associate the behaviour with the reward, and continue to initiate, or that he will continue when you're not here?"
"A little bit of both, although I think I do a good enough job with the timing that he's unlikely to make the association. But yeah, he'll do it if we don't stop him, and one of these days, one or both of them is going to get hurt." She cocked her head. "You know, I talked to Dr. Paget about possible changes in diet or medical intervention to ease up Chester's hormones, but he never really got to it. I don't think he bought that they'd be effective. And, until we can arrange and exchange with another park…"
Delphine met Cosima's gaze and recognized the suggestion in her tone. She smirked, realizing she'd probably been led to witness this problem on purpose.
"Well, since Dr. Paget isn't here, I'm willing to discuss those options with you."
Cosima's hands flew together in a combination clap and twist. Her delight at having succeeded in both pleading her case and having sussed out the new veterinarian's leanings was quite evident.
"Really? Oh, that'd be great. Thank you, Delphine."
"Not a problem, Cosima," Delphine answered, and she felt a small, sweet pang as she said the other woman's name. She was smiling, too, even if she didn't realize when her own happiness in response had kicked in.
The sun was dropping low and the visitors were leaving as, having made the rounds and responded to a couple phone calls on the way, Delphine strolled with Cosima towards the last area. She realized it was the primate section from her previous tour, and wondered why they were ending there, as it wasn't particularly close to the veterinary building or the main office.
"So, now we get to one of the awesomest parts," Cosima informed her, bouncing a bit on her toes. She led the doctor in and came to a large interior cage structure that had an open door to the outdoor enclosure. Delphine guessed which animal Cosima might have meant.
"Nana," the animal keeper called softly. There was a rustle, and then the form of a large, adult female gorilla filled the door, shuffling through quickly to move close to Cosima and hooting softly. The great beast sat down right before them, gestured and reached her hand through the bars to touch Cosima's face. The smaller woman laughed.
"Hi, Nana, hi. I love you, too. Did you have a good day?" Cosima moved her hands in sign language as she spoke.
Delphine was somewhat nervous, but quickly felt that eclipsed by awe. She had seen the famous primate earlier, while with the head curator, but it had been at a distance, from where she apparently signed "hello. Talk more-more later. Nana eat good now." This was an entirely different reaction. The dark-furred animal seemed to want nothing more than to be close to Cosima, and much more excited about communicating.
"She says yes, she had a good day. She got some watermelon. That's a special treat for her. Good-good, Nana. Good watermelon!" Cosima turned and looked at Delphine with a smile, and the veterinarian suddenly felt an affinity with the the smitten gorilla. She felt a tug in her chest, a sudden rush of amazement at and affection for the woman now standing with a large ape's hand stroking her dreads.
"Your eyes are so big right now," Cosima chuckled, and reached out her hand. "Here, don't be afraid. Come meet Nana."
Delphine stepped forward slowly. Cosima took her hand and lightly guided it towards the bars of the cage. The great gorilla reached out and gently touched the back of her fingers to Delphine's own. Delphine had witnessed a good amount of primate behaviour, and she had treated all sorts of animals, but this one gesture took her breath away.
"This is Doctor Delphine, Nana. She's a nice doctor. A nice lady. Say hello."
Nana made a soft grunting noise and some gestures.
"She says nice lady. Doctor OK. She… wait… yellow?" Cosima laughed as Nana gestured again. "She says good yellow hair, lady gentle-soft. I think she really likes you."
Delphine found herself smiling so intensely that tears were gathering at the edges of her eyes. Her hand brushed against the gorilla's again, amazed by how soft it was, and then gave Cosima's a squeeze.
"She says, nice lady doctor… before? Nice lady doctor, watermelon, Mrs. S?" Cosima's eyes narrowed in accusatory mirth as she turned to Delphine. "Did Siobhan Sadler already bring you around here?"
Delphine felt a blush rising in her cheeks as she looked down. She didn't know why or how to say she had been happy to arrange getting a second complete tour with the impish, intelligent woman beside her. Cosima just laughed again.
"I can see it all over your face. You've been lying to me. Right, Nana?"
The gorilla gestured and let out a recognizable laugh.
"Hmm. Nana says 'Nice lady doctor lady bad.' I'm inclined to agree." Before Delphine could gather an explanation, however, she felt Cosima's warm fingers squeeze her hand in return.
"I'll take it as a compliment," the woman with the gorilla's arm around her shoulders softly grinned.
Delphine was still blushing, but meeting the golden-brown eyes before her, she also felt herself happily smiling back, She was about to reply when Cosima's transceiver squawked. The brunette animal caretaker quickly pulled it up and answered it.
"Hey, Cosima. Code sixer at the east gate," came over the device.
"Got it. Be there in a few," Cosima answered, then looked back up at Delphine.
"Well, bad lady doctor, I'm afraid I have to take care of a visitor conniption so we can close. My coworkers seem to think that I have some animal behaviourist skills that translate to calming tantruming toddlers and screaming adults. I guess you'd better get back and check into the main office before we close. Do you know how to get there? I mean, I assume Siobhan showed you…" There was a twinkle in the zookeeper's eye.
"Ah, oui, I... I probably should. It's been a pleasure getting to know you Cosima, and a very, uh, informative tour." She blushed again as she realized their hands were still joined, and pulled hers back to wipe her sweating palm against her pants.
"Oh, the pleasure was all mine, Doctor Cormier," Cosima teased, then turned at a grunt from the ape. "And Nana says nice to meet you, too."
"Y-yes. Very nice to meet you, Nana." Delphine nodded at the gorilla.
Cosima looked at the Frenchwoman, gears obviously turning.
"Hey, maybe…" she tentatively started. There was another squawk, this time from Delphine's walkie-talkie.
"Yes," Delphine answered, pulling the radio to her face.
"Doctor Cormier, I hate to be a bother, but it's closing time and we have a few more things to finish before I can go." The clipped voice belonged to an obviously irritated Alison.
"Okay, be right there." Delphine turned again to say goodbye to Cosima, but the trainer's back was already retreating down the pathway. Delphine bit her lip, trying to clear her head.
In the cage, Nana bared her teeth in a smile.
It was the next week before Delphine got back to the small zoo for rounds again. Alison had a number of healing patients for her to check up on, a large sheaf of paperwork, and a running commentary on the faults and disorganization of certain departments of the conservation organization. It was afternoon before she had a moment to take a breath and grab a bite. She walked around the tiny food court area for a moment before purchasing a sparkling water to go with the salad she'd brought from home, and then made her way to the employee breakroom, getting slightly lost on the way. She knocked and answered a voice growling "who is it" with her title and name.
The lock on the door clicked and Sarah Stubbs appeared, smiling, to hold it open for her. Delphine stepped in to see other chairs at the table taken by a scowling woman with a bag of chips, a well-groomed young man ignoring his tupperware container to look her over, and a woman with cropped hair dyed an unnatural red looking up from her cell phone.
"Uh, hello. I thought I'd stop by to eat here," Delphine offered.
"That's funny. Doctor P. only came out here every three months, or so," the woman with the growly voice observed, her speech revealing a British accent. The young man rolled his eyes.
"Don't mind Sarah, she's having boy trouble. Hello, Doctor Cormier. I'm Felix."
"Ah, nice to meet you," Delphine nodded, seating herself and opening her lunch container. "I don't remember seeing you at the staff meeting last time I was here?"
"Ah, that's because I'm not animal care staff," he responded, a similar English twang inflecting his words. "I'm your PR man. I believe our Cosima mentioned meeting you." A brief look passed over his face. It looked suspiciously like amusement.
"Oh, Cosima," Delphine acknowledged, "I haven't seen her. I wanted to say hello. Will she be here soon, you think?"
"Nah," the grumpy Sarah grunted at her. "She's on sea lions today. They've got three lunchtime shows, so she won't get a break 'til later."
"Oh," Delphine answered, not knowing her shoulders slumped with disappointment. She picked at her salad.
"If you're still here at four, you might get to see her," Sarah Stubbs reassured her, with a sweet, helpful smile.
There was a blurt of London Calling by the Clash, and Sarah grabbed her phone from her pocket and rose. "Cal? You absolute wanker…" she strode out the door before Delphine knew what had happened, and Felix rose to follow her.
"Uh-oh, better do damage control. Have a lovely visit, doctor." Delphine swore he smirked as he exited.
The veterinarian poked at her salad for a few moments, then looked up as she felt the weight of someone's eyes on her.
"Was ist das," the red-haired woman suddenly ejected, all harsh consonants. "Is that arugula?"
Three days later there was a call from the little conservation park.
"Doctor Cormier," she answered briskly, looking up from the blood tube she was labeling.
"Uh, hi, Delphine. This is Cosima. From the borough park?"
Delphine forgot the tube was in her hand.
"Uh, yes, hello Cosima. Nice to hear from you."
"Oh, good. Yeah, me, too. Listen, I'm having a little trouble with a Pallas's Cat, and I wanted to go over Chester's new regimen with you. Do you think you could… swing by?"
Delphine raised her eyebrows. She knew it was generally not protocol for a veterinarian to "swing by" between scheduled rounds without some sort of emergency. Still, she bit her lip. There was a part of her that really wanted to go.
"I, euhm, I'm sorry, Cosima, but I'm really booked up right now. I have a sedated lynx on the table. Is it an emergency?"
"Oh. No, it's just… maybe when you get a chance. I think our female Pallas's may be having hormonal problems. Oh, and there's a fish with a fungus."
A dimple appeared one of Delphine's cheeks as she registered this. A small smile was forming.
"Well, then, yes, of course. Em… I think I could do it between ten and noon, tomorrow?"
"Great! Awesome," the voice on the other end responded with enthusiasm. "I really appreciate it."
"Cosima, don't these requests usually come through the head curator or the vet tech," Delphine asked, suddenly feeling as though she had some room to tease, herself, this time.
"Well. Heyyyy, I mean. Maybe," the animal keeper allowed, "but I thought you and I were, y'know, I thought since we were friendly and all…"
"Yes, okay," Delphine smirked. I'll be by then. Goodbye, Cosima."
She hung up to find the animal rehabilitator looking up at her with a quirked eyebrow as she massaged the lynx's arthritic shoulder.
"What? Shay, what is it?"
"Cosima Niehaus," the petite blonde asked, a bit of a twist to her her voice, as she moved her hands down the big cat's leg.
"Yes. She said she had some animals she'd like me to look at." Delphine responded. She couldn't quite read the other woman's expression or tone.
"Mm," the rehabilitator hummed, straightening up. She pulled off her gloves and moved to the doors to the hallway. "Yeah. Be careful with that one."
"Be careful…?" Delphine was bemused at this turn in conversation.
"Yeah. I mean, hot, right? So hot." The smaller woman gave her an oddly knowing look. "But she doesn't let the grass grow under her heart, if you know what I'm saying." Shay made a little click-click with her tongue to accompany her wink, and backed her way out, the doors slapping shut behind her.
"The grass…?" Delphine bit her lip and wrinkled her forehead. She only broke her wondering gaze at the doors when a soft cough informed her that the lynx was on his way back to consciousness.
"So, I got you urine and blood samples from this morning," Cosima told her, as the fluffy Russian feline paced her small holding cage and spat as if filled with hate.
"You… you got me the samples already? How? Did you sedate her?"
"Ah, no. I've got my techniques. Why are you looking at me like that, doctor? I'm not just a handler, you know. I'll be presenting my dissertation in Biology, soon. I've had some experience."
"Your dissertation," Delphine's eyebrow was cocked. This woman was full of surprises.
"Hells, yeah. I was going for evo-devo, originally, but then I started working with these guys hands-on, and I just fell in love with the behaviour, you know? So I thought, why not evolutionary ethology, you know?"
Delphine eyed the Pallas's Cat, who was now glaring with loathing through the grating of her cage, then suddenly leapt to smack her arm at an opening lightning-fast, her claws projecting impressively outside the enclosure, and her face snarling in a resonant hiss.
"Sooo, you took the samples, and now you want me to… observe? Examine her?" Her nose wrinkled slightly at the pungent, meaty smell of the feline's breath.
"Examine? Oh, no, not without a dart gun. This one'll take your head off." Cosima answered, making a brief chirrup at the animal, followed by an imitation purr, which was met with an only slightly less murderous glare. "But uh, I thought maybe I could tell you about it, and we could review… discuss the case. You know, maybe over lunch?" Delphine's eyebrows were closer to her hairline than her eyes at this point. Cosima swallowed and cleared her throat.
"Well, there's also the fish," she offered.
Alison was first nervous, then bordering on livid when she ran into them in the veterinary building, gloved hands thrust into an isolation tank. Apparently, it was bad form for the doctor to show up without being on the schedule, much less without even a how-do-you-do letting the vet tech know. Delphine carefully made her exit slipping a jar of antifungal ointment into the veterinary nurse's hands, with Cosima following, hands raised in placation and making sure not to turn her back on the irate woman. They found themselves jogging down the pathway toward the main buildings before they realized it, slowed to a walk and looked at each other, chuckling.
"Well, I see I can't come here on your request without getting into trouble," Delphine pointed out, gathering her breath
"Heyyyy, now. That's Alison. You could bring her a box of chocolates and she'd yell at you for not knowing she was on a diet," Cosima defended herself. "Anyway, I think fish 32B will be grateful."
"Mm. And I appreciate the popcorn you shared at lunch," Delphine nodded, her lips slightly askew on the edge of a smirk.
"Hey, they give it to me fresh," Cosima insisted. "None of that bottom-of-the-pile stuff that's been cold, getting stale, that they give to the rubes."
"Ah. I hope you let Felix hear you calling our guests 'rubes' in public," Delphine countered, arranging her bag across her shoulder.
"Are you kidding? Felix practically coined that," Cosima answered, her smile a bright slice of sunshine as she looked up at the lovely woman beside her.
"Okay. I see," Delphine nodded, then looked down and cleared her throat. "Although, I… I guess I should probably get back to the main campus. I'm sure Shay will need my help with the dominant mandrill."
"Oh," Cosima's step seemed to slightly falter, the toe of one boot scraping on the pavement. "You've been working with Shay, there… today?"
"Mm-hm," Delphine acknowledged, and slipped her gaze sideways to watch the suddenly subdued behaviourist. "Is she a friend of yours?"
A half-aborted grimace twisted across Cosima's lips. She made an arcing gesture with her hands.
"Welllll… not lately. I mean, we were friends. But, uh… things kind of…" she tapered off.
"Oh?" Delphine felt a weighted sensation of caution enter her head. She wasn't sure why, but she felt uneasy, wanted to both end the conversation and hear more of what Cosima had to say.
"Yeah, well," Cosima paused and sighed. "Okay, we dated for a little while. Very little. And she's a great person. It just… it just didn't work out."
They walked for a moment in silence.
"So, she may not have the best opinion of me, right now."
Another few seconds of quiet.
"But I totally was not an asshole in this situation, I promise," Cosima suddenly insisted.
Delphine forced a small shrug.
"Right, well, I guess I should be going…"
"Oh," Cosima cleared her throat, then slowed to a stop resting a hand on Delphine's forearm.
"Listen, I know it's probably unprofessional that I mentioned it. I just didn't want you to get the wrong impression of me, see?"
Delphine chewed on her lip, looking down and the small, shapely hand on her arm.
"So," she finally pushed out, "you're a… lesbian?"
"Um," Cosima shifted on her feet, pulling her head slightly back. "Well, I'm not so much into labels… but I'd say I mostly see women, yes." She watched Delphine for a moment, as the doctor continued to look down, saying nothing. "Is that a problem?"
"Oh," Delphine's head jerked up. "Oh, no. I just… no, not at all." Delphine waved an arm in a dismissive gesture, her small smile not fully reaching her eyes.
Cosima's starkly linered eyes narrowed for a moment.
"So, you won't mind swinging by and taking a quick look at Nana before you leave? I think she has a toothache."
Delphine cocked her head, looking back up at the smaller woman.
"A toothache?"
Cosima made some exaggerated gestures in ASL.
"A toothache, yeah."
"Well then," Delphine nodded with a shrug, "lead the way."
Nana was all hands-on and gorilla grins at Cosima, again. She even looked at Delphine and gave her an obvious wave of welcome, hands moving into the words "yellow lady doctor." Both women giggled.
After a bit of snuggling with Cosima and reaching out to pat Delphine on the arm, the great ape sat down and began rapidly signing to Cosima. Cosima responded, and they went back and forth for a few minutes. Delphine cleared her throat.
"Um, so shall we press on with the examination? That Mandrill..." she trailed off, her look obviously urging.
"Oh, right. Nana, can you open your mouth? Wide open. Show your pretty teeth, now."
After a few more gestures, the gorilla awkwardly opened her jaw, lips pulled apart, and rolled her eyes to look at Delphine. The doctor quickly got out her examination light and peered into the gaping mouth.
"Hmm. Where did you say you thought the bad tooth is," she asked Cosima.
"Um, near the back. Nana, show the lady the tooth." The primate's wide eyes rolled to focus on the keeper, and she gave a little grunt. "Your tooth, Nana. The bad one. Your tooth bad hurt."
The gorilla blinked and focussed back on the doctor, reaching in her dark index finger and tapping at a molar at the rear of her dentition.
"Hm. Posterior. Right upper molar three," the doctor mumbled. "I don't see anything. Can you ask her where on the tooth it hurts?"
There was the whisper of air as Cosima's hands arced and flowed into various signs. Again, the gorilla looked at Cosima, then back at the veterinarian. She gave another soft grunt, and moved her thick finger slightly until it touched one side of the tooth.
"Hm," Delphine said again, straightening up. She turned to look at Cosima.
"Do you think she would let me probe it? I don't want to hurt her, and I don't want to get bitten…"
"Oh, sure, sure. She's very good with examinations. I would never put you in danger, Delphine."
The two women looked at each other for a moment, and Nana took the opportunity to stretch and relax her jaw. When Delphine looked back at her she assumed her previous position. Letting out a small huff, Delphine opened her dental examination kit and pulled out a probe and a mirror.
"Alright, Nana, I promise I'll be gentle. Lady doctor good, right?" Delphine slipped on some gloves and eased her way toward the cage.
The big gorilla's eyes moved almost comically to Cosima as the doctor carefully looked at and probed the tooth and its neighbour, and then upward as if in patient suffering. Delphine didn't see this, her eyes being focused on the molars, and her fingers being careful, but it was evident when the primate gave a sigh. Delphine stepped back, removing her gloves.
"Well, I don't see anything, really. Has she had trouble there, before?"
"Umm, maybe once or twice," Cosima told her. "Dr. Paget didn't… there was never anything really done about it."
Delphine watched the smaller woman, her stare slightly suspicious. Nana took the opportunity to close her mouth and massage her jaw, then pick up a beetle off the floor.
"Euhm, without taking rads there's not much more I can do to diagnose her, and that's a whole procedure that would require an appointment, of course," Delphine explained.
"Of course. Totally. So, we should just… keep an eye on her? Is there anything I should give her, or look out for?"
A subtle curve upward graced Delphine's lips. The woman before her seemed so uncharacteristically serious.
"I'll tell you what. I'll give her a prescription to reduce sensitivity. If she's that good with examinations, you or Alison can surely apply it to her tooth and gums."
"Sure," Cosima agreed, "or I can even train her to do it."
"Good. Keep watching her for signs of pain. If she has any more, including excess drooling, lethargy or reduced appetite, let me know. If all goes well, follow the directions to wean her off it after a couple of weeks and see how it goes."
"Okay. Great," Cosima nodded with conviction.
"Okay," Delphine acknowledged, her grin slowly growing. They were looking into one another's eyes now, and Cosima's lips pulled into a smile, her teeth starting to show.
"Well, uh, Cosima, I think I'd better go," the doctor finally said.
"Yes, uh, okay," Cosima nodded. "I'll, um, I'll walk you to the front gate."
They were oddly quiet as they walked together, both women seemingly caught up in their thoughts, both perhaps a little guarded. When they reached the main gate, Cosima walked a few steps out into the parking lot with the veterinarian.
"Um, Delphine," she started. The Frenchwoman turned and looked at her.
"Listen, I… I hope you didn't feel uncomfortable. I mean, that thing with Shay, I never would have just… put it out there, like that. You know, I wouldn't want to… be unprofessional, you know?"
Delphine gave a rapid nod of her head with a slightly awkward smile.
"Yes, I understand," she said.
"So… I hope the me being… gay, queer, thing, won't get in the way of… our work relationship? Or anything?"
The keeper was twisting at her fingers, now. Delphine could tell that she was probably used to wearing rings on them when she was off duty, from the faint tan lines on her hands.
"No, no, of course not," she reassured they smaller woman. "I… I have plenty of queer friends and colleagues, you know?"
"Friends. And colleagues," Cosima repeated slowly.
"Yes."
There was a pregnant pause. Delphine felt her smile faltering and aching slightly, her eyes, darting a bit. Cosima's eyes narrowed, then she blinked. She seemed to come to a decision.
"Well, okay, then. Great. See you around?"
Again Delphine nodded, her head feeling oddly airy, slightly dizzy, as she did it.
"Oui, Cosima. See you around."
The animal keeper turned around and headed back through gate.
Delphine stood in the parking lot for a few moments. She rubbed her arms when the breeze picked up, suddenly noticing the chill bumps on her flesh. She walked to her car, got in, and left.
On her next rounds at the little zoo, Delphine felt oddly jittery, and occasionally flushed and warm. She kept her head down, working at her tasks, and satisfied Alison with her attention to detail and confident directions as they reviewed her cases. When lunch time rolled around, Alison actually smiled at her.
"Would you like to have lunch here with me, Dr. Cormier? I have lots of extra casserole I brought from home, and I would love to talk with you about how we might put a bit of extra pep and sparkle into the presentations for the children at the education center."
"Oh, um," Delphine blinked. "I… I was going to maybe see if Cosima was around."
"Cosima? Oh, no, she's not in. Her dissertation's this week. She's presenting it, and then I predict we staff will end up going out for drinks, whichever way it goes. I hear she's got some offers already for studies abroad, so, fingers crossed, all will go well and she'll be out in the world, leaving this," Alison's eyes narrowed with a hint of discontent and contempt, "small… facility."
There was a pause while Delphine took this in.
"Alright," she finally said. "Casserole."
Several days passed. Shay came in one day looking slightly worse for wear, tired circles under her eyes.
"Are you alright," Delphine asked her, as the smaller woman helped a disgruntled potbellied pig walk on a treadmill partially submerged in water.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Just went out for drinks last night. Ran into Cosima. We tend to, you know, talk a lot and end up staying late when we get together."
Staying late? Get together? repeated an unexpected voice in Delphine's head.
"Oh, yes? I thought you and she were… you know, on the outs," the doctor mentioned as casually as possible.
"Aw, yeah," Shay shrugged. "Well. You know. I just can't stay mad at her. I mean, so we had a brief thing, you know? She's always been a great friend. And she said some really sweet things last night. I'm, like, totally done being a bitch. Always moving forward, you know?"
Delphine nodded absently. She busied herself with flipping through a file for a moment.
"So, did she… Cosima, did she… pass her dissertation?"
"What? Oh, the results aren't in for that, yet," Shay chuckled. "No, when that happens, there'll be a real party. I just ran into her and Felix at the local bar. They like to wipe the floor with other people on trivia night."
"Ah," Delphine said. She exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in. "Ah," she said again, and got back to work.
Two days later she got a call.
"Hey, Delphine," the warm voice at the other end said.
"Cosima, hello," Delphine said.
"Listen, I was wondering if you could take a look at Nana's tooth, again? It doesn't seem too painful, but she's been weird about eating hard fruits, lately, so… you know," the keeper offered. There was a brief pause. "Also, we've got a marmot with loose stools. And Jun Zhen? The younger red panda? He's got a small bald patch. Could be nothing, but…"
Delphine felt a sweet sensation creeping from her smiling face down to her chest.
"Hm, that sounds important," she answered. "I could make it out by… two o'clock?"
"Really? Today?" There was more than a hint of surprise in the doctoral candidate's tone. "Uh, great! So, I'll see you then!"
"Yes. Bonjour, Cosima." Delphine hung up the phone. She turned to check over her medical kit.
"Thank you for coming," Cosima greeted Delphine with a smile when she arrived.
"My pleasure," Delphine smiled back, and they proceeded toward the examination room.
The loose stools weren't so bad for the marmot. Delphine recommended a modified diet, observation, and administered a small dose of medicine, which the marmot reacted to as if it tasted like ashes and death.
"Oh, Éowyn. Always so dramatic," Cosima scolded lightly as Alison looked on with some alarm. Delphine chuckled.
The red panda had to be sedated. Cosima turned the blow dart over to British Sarah, who had better aim than anyone. Within a few minutes, the cranky, brightly coloured beast was sprawled on the bottom of his enclosure, mostly limp and with his tongue poking out. Delphine examined the patch and took a skin scraping to take back to the lab, but there weren't any other patches or marked sores anywhere. So far, nothing to be really worried about.
Finally, they made their way to the primate building. They walked mostly quietly, both occasionally glancing at each other and smiling slightly, then glancing off and directing their gazes at their feet. Cosima was twisting at the ghosts of rings on her fingers again.
Nana came as called, just as before. She stopped in the door for minute when she saw Delphine. The doctor could swear the gorilla's expression turned slightly annoyed and weary.
After some friendly greetings, Cosima got Nana to hold her mouth open again, and Delphine took a look.
"So, you say you haven't noticed any gestures of pain, but she's off her firm fruits?"
"Um… mm-hm," Cosima responded. She didn't sound as if she was even doing a good job of convincing herself. The gorilla's eyes turned heavenward.
"And what has she been resisting? How long has this been going on?"
"Uhh…" Cosima cleared her throat. "Honeydew? Persian melon? And, like, she just walks away from carrots, sometimes."
Delphine pursed her lips and took a final look around the ape's dentition.
"Well," she sighed, leaning back, "nothing here."
Cosima rubbed the back of her own neck. She seemed oddly at a loss for words.
"Cosima? Is everything okay," the doctor asked, looking at the other woman with worry. Something seemed off, here. "Did you… how did it go with your dissertation?"
"Oh, that," Cosima compressed her lips and shrugged. "I don't know, yet. But it seemed like it went really well, so…" her hands fluttered, "just waiting to hear, now."
Delphine slowly nodded. She could almost hear Cosima thinking, but there were clearly walls between them. She careful shut her examination kit.
"Well, I'm, I'm rooting for you," she offered. "I mean, you're so brilliant, and so good at what you do. Every conversation we've had, I just…" she flipped one hand palm up. "I can't imagine you wouldn't get the highest possible marks, much less not pass."
"Oh. Thanks, Delphine. That means a lot coming from you. Someone so intelligent and dedicated, and… it's, yeah, thanks."
There was another drawn silence. Cosima could not seem to meet her eyes for long. Her gaze would move up, hitch briefly at a connection, and then skitter off to the side or the floor. Delphine ran one hand through her own hair, flipping a section that had fallen into her face to the other side.
"You're really nice, Delphine," Cosima mumbled, and then bit her lip. Delphine waited, but nothing more came out.
"Euh, thank you, Cosima. You are, too. But, I suppose I should be getting back to the main branch to finish up…"
There was a loud sigh beside them. Both women looked up, perplexed, at each other, at the sound. Then there was a low grunt.
Two furry arms reached through the cage bars, and two hands spread to touch each woman's back.
Cosima's gaze shifted to the side, her eyebrows raised.
"Nana?"
And then the arms closed, pushing the women together. The great primate hooted softly, pressing them until they were chest to chest, surprised cheek touching cheek.
"Uh," Cosima started to say, and a hand came up behind her head and grasped it from the back, gently but firmly turning it until she was face to face with the beautiful blonde veterinarian.
Delphine let out a small, warm chuckle. Cosima smiled.
And kissed her.
Delphine responded, lips tingling, and laced her arms around Cosima's head and neck. Cosima moaned lightly as the doctor's tongue brushed against her lower lip, and gripped Delphine's waist as they deepened the kiss.
Nana, unnoticed and relieved, went back outside to eat a Persian melon.
It wasn't as hard as they expected, after all, to set up a study together. They both had good connections in the organization, and interested funders. Felix somehow managed to get the plight of the great apes back on everyone's lips, years since the story of Dian Fossey had been the basis of Gorillas in the Mist and a household name. Within three months, Cosima and Delphine were in Africa, sharing a small cabin, and recording important information about the local gorilla troops.
When they finally returned, their papers published and the documentary mostly cut, the local paper of record noted the happy union of Drs. Delphine Cormier and Cosima Niehaus in matrimony. Perhaps they were not that famous, yet, but they were emerging scientists, brilliant, beautiful, and obviously completely in love.
And, after all, not everybody gets married in a zoo enclosure, with a gorilla as maid of honour.