"Cosima!" As beautifully heart wrenching as her words were on their own, the terrified timber shot through my body as I pitched forward, my limbs rendered unable of catching the weight of my body. A sharp pain wrenched through my chest before the laboratory faded away into darkness, a dull buzzing filling my ears, though Delphine's screams still echoed over the static. "Cosima!"
"Cosima!" The resounding utterance of my name sounded again and I squeezed my eyes as tightly shut as I could manage, begging her panicked voice to evaporate. "Cosima, ma cherie, please wake up." My eyelids fluttered open slowly, taking in the familiar setting around me as I clutched my chest, the panic that held such a strong grip on my heart receding, albeit slowly. My gaze focused on wide green eyes, tears threatening a crescendo against her eyelashes. I only managed to whisper out her name before she'd gathered me in her arms, pulling me as closely as she could manage, her forehead falling into the crook of my neck.
"Okay, okay," I murmured, forcing my hands to remain where they were, soothingly rubbing her tension-filled form, rather than exploding into gestures to try and explain myself. "I'm okay," I settled for, while she and I both knew it couldn't be further from the truth. "It was just a bad dream. I'm okay, I promise." I pulled back gently, brushing a thumb across her cheek and catching the lone tear that had wandered downward; my free hand tugged insistently at one of her own, lifting the quivering blonde in front of me off of her knees and settling her atop my thighs. "I'm okay," I repeated once more, though I couldn't be sure whose benefit it was for. The hand still creating windshield wiper motions across her porcelain skin slipped around her neck, magnetizing our mouths until they were just a hair's breadth away from one another. "I'm okay," I gasped out for the last time, shifting my gaze upward and watching as the fear slowly drained from Delphine's beautiful features before her lips molded against mine. Every ounce of uncertainty I had washed away and I gripped the collar of her lab coat just that much more tightly in my fists, unwilling, or perhaps unable to let her go.
Even hours later, without her in arm's reach, I woke up to a chill settling into my bones, replacing the warmth her presence flooded my body with. "Delphine?"
"Lie back," she immediately ordered, though I could hear her voice echoing from the kitchen. Rolling my eyes, I fell into the comfort of the innumerate pillows behind me, knowing she'd be far from pleased if she found I hadn't complied. "I made tea," I heard her continue, though that fact was obvious when she walked into the bedroom, carrying a tray with two cups and a steaming bowl of liquid.
"You do know that you can't combat uterine masses with soup, don't you?"
She sent a half-hearted glare in my direction before scrunching her nose slightly and shaking her head. "So cheeky." My head tilted to the side out of habit as I grinned in her direction, earning a brilliant, if wavering smile in return. "I thought it might help you relax." I opened my mouth to protest and she tutted immediately. "Non, Cosima. We both agreed to quit smoking."
"I'll give you a free pass for the night," I laughed, tapping the tip of her nose with my forefinger when she sent a second, even less intimidating stare my way. However, despite my teasing, I carefully sipped out of the mug she placed next to me and took tentative spoonfuls of the soup, feeling it warm my chest almost as well as her adoration filled stares did. When I'd finished half of the bowl, I noticed her fidgeting and arched an eyebrow in silent query, my heart beating wildly as she mustered up the fledgling traces of courage she still possessed. "What were you dreaming about this afternoon? When I found you in the lab?" She needn't offer an explanation for the original question, and looked as though she might continue, but my hand automatically sought out her own, intertwining our fingers quickly and halting the nervous rambling I was sure would have come.
"I passed out, in the laboratory," I began slowly, the tightening in my chest I'd felt returning full force and making my words more difficult than my lungs already had. "I had a seizure, and all I could hear was you screaming my name." I caught a tear with the palm of my hand, wiping at my cheek roughly. "I couldn't get to you and – and – I couldn't hold you, or tell you I would be fine, or -"
I felt her lips ghost across my skin, following the same path the errant tear had moments before and blazing a trail of their own before pressing down, sealing a promise of some sort between us. "Je suis ici," she whispered, before taking her time imprinting those words into my mouth with her tongue, a diligent, constant reminder of her support. I could feel her stealing my breath away with each gentle stroke, leaving me lightheaded as she gave me an entirely new appreciation for the term french kissing. "Je t'aime ma cherie," she husked out, a familiar phrase that still managed to send involuntary shivers down my spine. I nodded, a small smile quirking the corner of my lips as I kissed her once more, though I refused to acknowledge the flicker of sadness that flashed across her features.
"Aunt Cosima!" A bundle of energy hit me square in the legs and I gripped the table behind me to steady myself before crouching down to the little girl's level, unaware of her presence at the Institute. "I lost a tooth, look!" She pulled the corner of her lip down, showing an empty space where her baby tooth had once been, and pain crackled through my chest as I pulled her to my body, congratulating her as genuinely as I could. I saw Sarah leaning against the doorway near Delphine, both of their expressions soft; she shook her head when I quirked an eyebrow and I immediately elected to keep my mouth shut, as hard as that normally was. "You're gonna get better," Kira whispered into my ear before she pulled away. "I know it." I blinked upward as my hand absentmindedly ran through the top of her curls, trying to keep the tears at bay, and thanking every evolutionist before me when Sarah called her away.
I heard Delphine's heels crossing the laboratory, and a wave of emotion hit me as I watched light colored curls walk down the hallway. Reaching upward, I tucked a rebellious wave behind her ear, finally allowing myself to imagine a toddler with golden curls, bright green eyes, and bilingual vocabulary. Leaning onto the tips of my toes to compensate for the height difference, I kissed her soundly, sighing as we separated and brushing the pad of my thumb across her bottom lip. "I love you, too."
The shock was evident on her face, despite her best attempts to hide it. "What changed?" Nostalgic flashes passed through my mind's eye, from the very first moment I saw her, around my microscope, clearly upset, and unfairly beautiful, to the night I finally told her I was sick, and right back to where we stood, and Kira's confident words. I tilted onto the balls of my feet a second time, pouring everything I had held back past my lips and hoping beyond hope that she could feel a fraction of it.
"Nothing changed," I finally replied, my right hand settling against her chest, where I could feel her frantic heartbeat and how aptly it matched my own. "I think I've always loved you."