A/N: I wanted to dig a little deeper into the off-camera Clone Club happenings of the S2 finale. We'll start with Cosima, and work our way through the rest of the sestras. Many, many spoilers/lines from the episode. As always, I own nothing. Hope you enjoy!
"Delphine…what have you done ?"
Delphine was frightened to reveal the truth. She was supposed to be championing the battle for Cosima's health, and here she was, played so easily by a fake email from Rachel. The gut-wrenching truth was they were just pawns in Rachel's long game. Cosima was a tree, Kira was the forest. Cosima had a hard enough time accepting help from Sarah and Kira. How could she tell her what it was really for?
"Rachel took Kira." Delphine broke the news through her sobs. She thought she'd done everything right. She warned Sarah, about Benjamin, just honoring her promise to love all of Cosima's sisters. "She won't stop until she has Sarah, too."
Cosima closed her eyes a moment, letting the news wash over. This is why she didn't want to get Kira involved. The corporate proclone always had an ulterior motive. "Is she okay?" She reached for her glasses. She was just a little kid, alone in some ward brimming with scientists waiting to poke her with sticks.
"She's safe." Delphine confirmed with a nod. "And the marrow, it's processing, it should be ready for implantation tomorrow." She offered, as if the news could somehow undo the fallout of the marrow harvest.
Luring Sarah to the institute by holding her daughter hostage. It was brilliant, and frightfully cruel. What they should have expected of DYAD by now. "Rachel can use me all she wants, but I swear, if she hurts that little girl—" Her arms buckled against the mattress as she tried to sit up. It was a completely idle threat, given her current physical state.
"No harm will come to her, I will make sure of it." Delphine curled her arm around Cosima, holding her up. She was in no condition to start a crusade. Her once strong shoulders shuddered as she fought to stay upright. "Cosima, I promise." She gazed into her eyes, the familiar dark lining long faded. She owed her at least this much. She couldn't fail again. "Please, you need your rest." She leaned in, resting her forehead on Cosima's.
"She's just a kid." Cosima resigned in a sigh, every word dripping in exhaustion.
"I'll look after Kira tonight, and we'll have everything ready for you in the morning." She was this close to buying herself more time with the transplant. Once she had the marrow, Ethan would unlock more of the cryptic synthetic sequences. Everything would be better in the morning.
"Sleep tight, petit chiot."
"Good as can be expected." Scott carefully placed the processed marrow vials in the lab fridge. He felt a sense of relief. He was the unfortunate witness to Cosima's plummeting health spiral. He'd seen her go from enthusiastic science sprite, to a woman who could barely put two feet on the ground. Cosima had held on for this long, now they could finally focus on getting her well.
"Nice job, nerd." Cosima high-fived him. "I wouldn't expect any Christmas cards from the lab techs, though." She managed a smile, leaning on the lab bench for support.
"I wasn't kidding when I said I'd be looking over their shoulders the whole time." He replied with a sheepish grin. As much as Cosima teased him, she was grateful for his unwavering support. Speaking of which, where the hell was Delphine?
She barely had time to finish the thought before Martin burst through her lab's doors, flanked by a few nameless labcoats. "Good, you're awake."
"Yeah. What's going on?" She eyed the new faces suspiciously, her heart racing as they bee-lined for the marrow vials. "Whoa, hey…." She ambled over to Martin, dragging the oxygen tank with her. This wasn't part of the schedule.
"Hey! You can't take that!" Scott tried to rush the thieving intruders, only to be stymied by a security guard.
"We just finished processing that material, Martin." Her voice trembled. The marrow was her lifeline. To see two strangers unceremoniously stuffing it into a cooler was unnerving to say the least.
"And your transplant is being booked. The marrow's being sent directly to Dr. Nealon."
"Dr. Nealon? Who's Dr. Nealon?" She'd never heard that name before. What were they hiding?
"Your new physician." His cool, calm demeanor was alarming.
"What? I have a new physician?" What was going on, and where the hell was Delphine?
"Dr. Cormier didn't tell you? It was all on Rachel's orders."
And there it was. Rachel had found another way to use Cosima's illness as leverage against her sisters.
"Where's Delphine?" Cosima had to ask, no matter how much she feared the answer.
"Dr. Cormier has been reassigned to our Frankfurt campus. Rachel felt her expertise was a better fit heading our German Operations."
Felt. Right. More like Rachel had made the cold calculation that Delphine was an obstacle, not an asset, to whatever twisted plan she had for the three marrow vials now under lock and key.
Cosima retreated to the bed, the weight of the news far too heavy to bear. She didn't even get to say goodbye. She set her glasses down, trying to stem the tide of tears forming. There was no time to cry. She literally could not spare the energy.
"She…she can't do this. No one is more familiar with her illness than Delphine." Scott gave the softer approach a try. "We need her."
"Dr. Nealon has all of Dr. Cormier's records. She'll get the best possible care." It was as though Martin was lazily running through the DYAD script.
"She had the best care, you took it away." He tersely spat as Cosima's email dinged in alert behind him.
Cosima squinted, finding her glasses again. Delphine! She opened the attachment to find the tightest spreadsheet she'd ever seen. Of course it was Rachel's itinerary. Meetings. Meals. Sarah Manning, OR 1. Holy bombshell.
"This is not for debate, Mr. Smith, if you wish to remain involved—" Martin scolded the young lab tech
"Uh, Martin?" Cosima cut in, improvising the best way to get him out of there so they could handle this new intel. "Can you just tell Dr. Nealon I'm really excited to work with him?"
Scott looked at her like she had six heads.
"Um, is there anything I can do for Sarah? I just don't want anybody to get hurt." She gripped the edge of the bed, trying to settle her trembling body. "Maybe if I can't see Sarah, then I can see Kira? She's just a little kid…it'd be a nice gesture from you guys, we can foster cooperation." Their twisted plan had worked, Sarah was finally under DYAD's thumb. Of course Cosima felt responsible. She knew DYAD only saw Sarah as an anomaly. She was a collection of parts they'd longed to investigate. Cosima didn't want to imagine what cruelties Sarah had already been subject to.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Awesome. Thank you."
Scott made sure Martin was clear out of sight before looking to Cosima. He knew when Cosima's wheels were turning. He'd seen it time after time in the lab, sharing a workspace together. "What are you up to?"
"I don't know yet."
"We should really leave."
"Yeah. We probably should. But they're planning something for Sarah. Delphine just sent me Rachel's Itinerary." They couldn't abandon her there, not after everything she'd sacrificed for her. Cosima was the biology. The Geek Monkey. She was supposed to be the science to save the others from this intrusive fate. She wouldn't allow it.
"So, we know where she's gonna be?" He was kind of following the gist of it.
"And we know where Sarah's gonna be." Get them together, and they might have a chance of breaking her out. "We're never seeing that marrow again." Cosima buried a cough in her shoulder. Rachel had been playing games with Cosima's health long enough for her to know when something was up. Delphine was gone. On a DYAD plane. Given how that journey went for Dr. Leekie, she may have seen Delphine for the last time. No. She wouldn't accept that. One crisis at a time.