"Maman! Maman!" Delphine could hear the high pitched calls and the thunderous footsteps coming down the hall before she even had a chance to close the front door behind her.
"Bonsoir mon ange," Delphine cooed, crouching down to scoop her four year old son up into her arms. "How was your day?" She questioned, kissing the small boy on the nose as he twisted his short arms as far as they'd go around Delphine's shoulders.
"It was lots of fun maman!" The young boy nodded enthusiastically. "Mom was home early, and when she got home we baked buns!"
Delphine froze at her son's statement.
"You baked?" She whispered, more to herself than to the wriggling mass in her arms. "You baked?" She repeated, looking up from her son to her wife, who'd now appeared in the hall.
"Yes dear, we baked, we didn't launch a nuclear missile strike," Cosima sighed, rolling her eyes at the expression on her wife's face.
"But ma Cherie…" Delphine began, absently putting down their son and letting him run back into the living room as his wriggling intensified.
"Don't worry," Cosima insisted, closing the gap between them now that they were alone, and wrapping her arms around Delphine's waist. "They were edible… I mean, probs a little gooier than they should be in the middle, but edible," she insisted, leaning in and resting their foreheads together.
"Sadly that's not reassuring," Delphine hummed, her eyelids drooping as her lips blindly searched for her wife's. "Seeing as Darwin takes after you and you would eat anything," she reminded Cosima in between chaste kisses.
"Are you saying our son's healthy appetite is a bad thing?" Cosima accused, as her hands slid absently up her wife's back.
"I am saying it would be a better thing if he ate more of the healthy food I made him, and less of the half raw crap you attempt to cook," Delphine teased, biting down softly on Cosima's lip so a soft moan rolled up from her throat rather than words of protest.
"I should be mad at you for insulting my cooking," Cosima began once her wife's teeth let go of her lip. "But your tactics of winning me over are just too damn appealing," she concluded, before pulling her wife closer to deepen their kiss.
"Ew gross!" Darwin squeaked from the doorway to the living room, his entire face scrunched in disgust as he watched his mother's kiss.
What was that buddy?" Cosima instantly turned out of her wife's embrace. "Did you say you'd like to get tickle attacked?"
"No!" Darwin protested urgently. "I said gross!"
"No, no, I'm pretty sure you said you wanted me to tickle you," Cosima nodded seriously. "I mean that's what you heard right?" She turned to question Delphine.
"Oui, I think he wants to be tickled." Delphine could barely supress the laugh as a smug grin spread across Cosima's features and she turned back to Darwin.
"You better run," she warned, taking off after the young boy as he scurried off screaming happily.
"Mes anges," Delphine murmured with a smile, shaking her head as she placed her bag on the table by the door and took off her jacket to hang on a hook.
-.-.-.-
Delphine closed the book she'd been reading and looked down to the bed beside her. Darwin was flat out, and had been since about half ways through the chapter. She watched him for a moment as his low, even breaths matched the up and down motions of his chest. A proud smile captured her features as she leaned down to place a soft kiss on his forehead, and run her hand once over the top of his curly golden locks.
She stood then quietly and switched on his DNA helix bedside lamp before crossing the room and turning off the main light. She glanced back from the doorway, making sure he was still asleep, before stepping out into the hall, making sure to leave the door slightly ajar.
Usually it would be now that her and Cosima would curl up together on the couch with a bottle of wine and catch up with one another. Cosima had been complaining of a sore stomach though and had went to bed after saying goodnight to Darwin, so rather than make her way down the stairs Delphine instead crossed the hall to their room.
She stepped into the room and was half-ways towards their bed before she realised it was empty. Cosima had been there though; the sheets on her side of the bed were folded down to prove as much.
Delphine didn't think much of it though. Instead she took off her clothes, placing them haphazardly on the chair in the corner, where she noticed Cosima had already left hers. She knew her nightdress was probably still in the bathroom where she'd left it this morning when she'd showered, so once she stripped down to her underwear she left the room again and made her way down to the end of the hall.
She was confused when she saw the light was on and the door was slightly ajar, though as she drew closer she could hear soft moans coming from inside.
"Mon amour?" She questioned hesitantly, pushing the door open to find Cosima curled up beside the toilet seat.
"Help me," the brunette groaned, her face pale as she clutched her stomach.
"Merde," Delphine sighed, crouching down and reaching a hand out to feel Cosima's forehead. "You have a fever ma Cherie."
"Yea, I also have it coming out of me both ends, so a fever's the least of my worries," Cosima snapped, her hand closing tighter around her stomach as a gurgling noise sounded in the back of her throat.
"That is… revolting," Delphine shuddered, not wanting to imagine even for a second what that must be like.
"It was those buns…" Cosima muttered spitefully, inching closer to the toilet bowl as she felt her stomach churn (something was going to explode from some end of her and she needed to be ready).
"It couldn't be," Delphine insisted, even as Cosima shot her an 'oh really' look. "Darwin had some too and he's fine."
"About that…" Cosima sighed. "Darwin kind of only had half of one…" Cosima was blushing as understanding suddenly dawned on Delphine's face.
"Cosima Niehaus Cormier." Delphine's strict tone made her wife flinch. "How many of those buns did you eat?!"
"Well Darwin was saying that I made them wrong, and that whenever he's at Auntie Alison's they always look browner when they're done," Cosima explained quickly (she was afraid if she paused the vomit sitting somewhere in the back of her throat would start rising). "So I wanted to prove to him that my baking was just as good…"
"Mon cherie…" Delphine groaned, one hand coming up to pinch her nose. "You are a scientist, an intellectual. Yet you gave yourself salmonella poisoning to prove a point to a four year old." (sometimes she really did wonder if she had one child or two).
"Well when you say it it sounds dumb," Cosima grumbled.
"I wonder why," Delphine laughed softly.
They sat like this for a while in silence. The hand that had been resting on Cosima's forehead moved to the brunette's cheek so Delphine could stroke her fingers gently across her wife's skin. Eventually it was the sound of Cosima's stomach the broke the silence.
"I need you to leave," Cosima groaned, repositioning herself around the toilet.
"But I can hold your hair or…"
"No, honey seriously," Cosima persisted. "I know we've had our ups and downs over the past eight years, but honestly, if you see what I'm about to do we may well never have sex again." Delphine didn't need to be told twice, and with one final grimace she grabbed her nightdress and was out of the bathroom like a shot.
It was another half hour before Cosima finally emerged from the bathroom and trudged town the hall, looking less than her best as she pushed open the door to their room and stepped inside.
"Before you come to bed are you uh… safe?" Delphine questioned, putting down the book she'd been reading and preparing herself to defend the bed at all costs if need be.
"Don't be a bitch, I'm fine now," Cosima huffed, trudging over to her own side of the bed and slipping under the covers.
"I'm not being a bitch, I'm being cautious," Delphine insisted, smiling at the glare Cosima shot her.
"You could at least pretend to care that I'm ill," Cosima grumbled, turning her body away from her wife and switching off her bedside light.
There was silence for a moment and Cosima could feel the bed behind her shift. Then the room went dark as Delphine switched off her own bedside lamp. Finally an arm wrapped around her waist and Delphine's lips pressed against the back of her shoulder.
"Je t'aime," Delphine whispered against her wife's skin. "Je t'aime mon ange."
"That's more like it," Cosima whispered, entwining her fingers with the ones splayed out against her stomach and shutting her eyes.