"I'll follow behind, with Charlotte." Delphine had promised when she left.
But it's been five days. Five days of hiding out in her secret basement lab. Five days of angst and worries. Sure, there was still the cure to worry about. But to get more of that she either had to hyperstimulate Sarah's ovaries to get more eggs, if she could even find Ira… Or cooperate with Dyad and Rachel. Maybe they'd release part of the stem line to her.
Delphine shows up, at night carrying Charlotte. Even though the child is really too big to be carried.
"Cosima…" Scott hollers down the stairs. She races up, recognizing at the least the urgent tone in her friend's voice.
"Take her…" Delphine insists, motioning until Scott lifts up Charlotte, who is awake but obviously exhausted.
"There's a bed downstairs. Cosima's." Scott offers, getting Cosima to open the door before cautiously carrying Charlotte down.
"Good…. You sleep here?"
"Umm yeah. For a long time now." Cosima responds pleasantly.
"Careful." Delphine warns Scott, before turning her attention back to Cosima. "It wasn't an easy trip… on either of us… but thanks to you, Charlotte trusted me enough to leave with me."
"That's good." Cosima nods. At least calling Delphine her friend had had that effect.
"So…" Delphine leans forward, drawing Cosima into her arms, "oh…" she sighs contentedly into Cosima's neck. "We'll stay here too?"
"It'll… it'll do for the night." Cosima says, "I've been living down there… well for a while now."
She wraps her arms around Delphine, she doesn't want to move, just bury her face in the crook of Delphine's neck. She kisses the skin she finds there.
"Oh…" Delphine lets out a little sigh.
"I texted Hellwizard, he's going to bring a camping cot… you know, cause there will be three of you downstairs." Scott announces at the door.
Delphine looks like she's about to say something but she's tired. So tired, that Cosima cannot tell if Delphine has slept at all.
They break apart reluctantly. A last kiss quickly added, uncaring that they are being observed or that Scott squirms slightly and looks away.
They manage to set up the camping cot, just outside of Cosima's bedroom where there's room. The top of it is inflatable, and seems to be comfortable enough, when it's set up as a third sleeping space. She tests it with her hand, it'll do for the night. Then they'll, they'll figure out something.
"I'll take the cot." Delphine decides quickly, assessing the situation, and the sleeping child already tucked into the bed. She glances down at Charlotte, who is surprisingly already asleep. Did adrenaline not affect her as strongly? Or change in environment? How could the kid already be asleep?
"Should I move Charlotte?" Cosima offers, looking at her love. Delphine looked even more haggard than she recalled. They'd both lost weight, Cosima realizing, letting her eyes run the contours of Delphine's body.
Delphine shakes her head with a small sigh. "Non… leave her. She's tired."
"So are you…" Cosima pauses, "I'll take the cot… unless you want me to get in the middle."
Delphine considers slowly. "Non… I will take the cot."
"Like hell you will." Cosima asserts herself. "I want you sleeping with me." The words blurt from her mouth without thinking. Though, there is probably room for the three of them.
"But Charlotte…" Delphine eases herself down on the corner of the bed. At least it's settled where Delphine is sleeping.
"Just sleeping." Cosima puts up her hands in mock surrender, "she's not going to care if she wakes up with the two of us in bed with her."
"She barely knows me." Delphine protests.
"It's fine." Cosima shrugs, grabbing pajamas from the drawer, she stands slightly out of the view of the bed to change. Though maybe it was worse if Scott gets an accidental eyeful coming down the stairs, than if Charlotte wakes up and gets a preview of her own body after puberty.
"Delphine, you can just steal a nightgown… or whatever." She calls over, though when she peers back into her bedroom area to see Delphine had stripped down to just her shirt and underwear.
"Come on…" Cosima coaxes, sliding into the middle of the bed, but no sooner has Delphine slipped in after her than does she lower herself down effectively trapping her former lover. She lets her hands slide down the fabric to the exposed skin on Delphine's legs.
"Sleep." Delphine repeats, "just sleep."
And curling herself into Delphine, she closes her eyes and tries.
She wakes several times throughout the night, whether it's movement from Charlotte, or the fact that Delphine is in her arms, she cannot tell.
She pushes herself in against Delphine, free hand going to play with her hair. This feels real enough, Cosima decides. Blinking in the darkness of the lab. She's fairly certain it's nowhere near morning. But with no window she's forced to check her phone briefly.
3:24 am. Cosima sighs, glancing behind her, seeing that Charlotte is still asleep and curled away from them in the fetal position, she makes her move.
She leans down, kissing Delphine's lips. She sucks one, and then the other into her mouth. She kisses until Delphine wakes, arms going around her and lips responsive under her own.
"Cosima…" Delphine's hands are in her dreads, gripping and pulling her back slowly.
She tries to slow her breathing, to sound rational and not like she was trying to make out with Delphine in her sleep. "Yes?"
"We can't… Charlotte." Delphine reminds her, stroking her face, speaking in hushed whispers.
"I want you." Cosima replies clearly. "So badly…"
"I know." Delphine responds by nuzzling in.
Another kiss follows, but neither probes deeper, neither tries to push farther. She pushes herself back away from Delphine when it's finished.
"I guess… we should sleep again."
"Come here…" Delphine opens her arms, and she snuggles herself in, if she can't satisfy the sexual longing, at least she can satisfy this one.
Charlotte wakes before either of them.
"Cosima…" the girl gives her shoulder a gentle shove. "Cosima!"
"Yeah?" Cosima croaks groggily, rolling to face the child, and removing her face from the makeshift pillow that is Delphine in the process.
"I'm hungry."
"Right… yeah." Cosima pushes herself up in bed, "well, there are granola bars over near… the pot… and there's like a diner, we'll take you for breakfast."
"Why are we all in the bed if there's a cot?" Charlotte yawns slipping from the bed. Unlike the two of them, Charlotte is still fully clothed. Another thing they'll have to do something about. Maybe Siobhan could lend them some of Kira's things? Cosima wonders if the girls are close enough in size that Kira's clothes would work. What the heck were they going to do with Charlotte anyway?
"Oh… yeah… that…" Cosima trails off. Somehow, 'Delphine and I are in love' doesn't seem like the right answer right now.
"Cosima and I couldn't agree who should take the cot." Delphine offers, easily awoken by the two of them.
"Ok." Charlotte shrugs, getting to her feet. Cosima finds herself smiling when Charlotte's gait falters, and Delphine's initial reaction is to hop out of bed, getting just a little bit closer. Just close enough to catch her if she falls.
She shuffles her way over to her snack cupboard, and throws the box of granola bars behind her.
"Oww." Charlotte yelps, "that hit my arm."
"Shit… sorry… sorry." Cosima winces.
"Swears." Charlotte says blankly, but the rustling tells her Charlotte is helping herself to a granola bar.
"Right…sorry." Cosima looks up, flipping on a couple of the lights. The lab clocks telling her it's already 8 o'clock. Good enough, Cosima decides, there's probably a hundred other things they should do, but she can't stop herself from plotting how to get Delphine alone down here for at least 20 minutes.
"Cosima… this is not breakfast." Delphine looks at her seriously, as she pulls on her own clothes again. It's a memory that comes easily, Delphine's old apartment. How Delphine would literally start making her breakfast in the morning, simply expecting her to eat it. Cosima smiles at the memory. She hadn't skipped breakfast once when they were together.
They all look worse for wear, Cosima decides, but either way, the diner shouldn't care.
"There's this diner, like… a 10-15 minute walk away. We'll get dressed, and go get breakfast.." Cosima announces.
"Cosima?" Scott's voice ringing down the stairs. "Is it okay to come down?"
"Yeah Scott. Give us like… five minutes. We're coming up and going for breakfast." Cosima looks down, noting her on pajamas, but she knows she can change quickly.
The server at the diner eyes their frumpled appearance, but says nothing, Serving them eggs and pancakes and fruit salads before leaving them to eat again.
Charlotte digs in eagerly, ripping off pieces of blueberry pancakes with her fork. "Oh… this is much better than the food at Revival."
"You can eat whatever you want for breakfast, Charlotte." Delphine tells her, though she pushes one of the fruit salads towards her at the same time.
"Yeah." Cosima notes her own meat-free plate, and is surprised when she sees that Delphine's is the same. She looks at her in surprise, but Delphine merely shrugs, ripping off a piece of bread and dipping it in the yolk of her sunnyside-up eggs.
"It's a good breakfast." Scott mutters around the sausage he is chewing on absentmindedly. "So, when we get back is it science time? Should I like… get some video games or something for you? Charlotte?"
She lets her hand drift to Delphine's fabric covered thigh under the table, she squeezes lightly and catches Delphine's eyes, hazel, first confused, then annoyed, then aroused.
Cosima eats while letting her left hand conduct a gentle assault with fingertips, anything to work Delphine up. After all, that comic book shop was full of distractions, surely Scott could amuse Charlotte for at least thirty minutes. Long enough, Cosima grins, taking a measured bite of her omelet, to get things done.
The server returns, to refill Scott's coffee, and ask, "Separate bills or together."
"Uhh.. Separate." Scott offers.
"Who's paying for the kid? Mom?" He looks questioningly at Cosima whose mouth falls open in response. She can't even manage a response to that.
"Oh, Cosima's not my mom. She's my big sister." Charlotte answers nonchalantly. Totally unperturbed.
"Okay. Thank you. Big sis pays. Got it." He shuffles his way back to the kitchen, a couple of other patrons just shuffling in.
Delphine leans in to whisper to her, but it's nothing sexy. "Cosima...I don't have money."
"I'll pay for you." Cosima waves off her concern. "We're good."
They arrive back at the Rabbit Hole, feeling much more satiated than earlier.
"Where's Hellwizard?" Cosima asks.
"Hellwizard?" Delphine mouths back at her.
She could explain, but Delphine has kept her in the dark about enough things. Cosima decides with a small smile. It can wait.
"Oh, I sent him to the pharmacy to get you guys toothbrushes and stuff… I don't know why he's not back yet?" Scott shrugs, "like, Delphine and Charlotte showed up with the clothes on their backs, and that's it… I am not sure even what to do. Are we taking Charlotte to Mrs. S? Are we… letting her stay a while? I mean… we have pot in the basement… and…" Scott stops to check his phone, "he's asking me if he should buy you… underwear?" Scott shakes his head.
"And?" Cosima challenges him. "It's just medical marijuana." She has that excuse now, and a license she'd gotten back when Delphine was at DYAD, she'd made sure Cosima would attract no trouble from law enforcement for her...habits.
"I know what marijuana is." Charlotte informs them, her nose wrinkling. "It smells."
"Yes. It does." Delphine agrees with a giggle and a sly look at Cosima.
Cosima gasps in mock-offense. "Hey!"
"Okay, so, new plan." Cosima lets her hand rest on Charlotte's shoulder. "Scott here knows lots of cool board games... "
"Really?" Charlotte perks up looking around, "like what?"
"Like… Agricola. And Kill Doctor Lucky. And Ticket to Ride… and lots of them… there are so many board games in this shop." Cosima says with a smirk.
"Cool. Are we going to play?" Charlotte leans against the counter.
"Scott, is going to teach you how to play Agricola… and Delphine and I are going to clean the lab." She invents wildly. It's a good an excuse as any, but she doubts Scotty is going to buy it.
"Clean the lab?" Scott repeats blankly. "Cosima… it's…."
"Time to clean the lab." Delphine agrees instantly. "I'm sure you two will have lots of fun. It shouldn't take us more than…"
Cosima blurts out, "30 minutes." It should be enough, at least to get off once or twice.
"An hour." Delphine corrects her, "Cosima is messy."
And for a moment, she's not sure whether to take offense, if it's a sexual jab or if… Delphine is really bothered by her poor housekeeping skills.
Charlotte giggles at that, "okay… teach me how to play."
"Alright…" Scott agrees, looking over at Cosima and Delphine, feeling no doubt somewhat defeated.
She locks the door to the lab, there's no way she's letting anyone interrupt this now. Cosima begins shedding her clothes before she's even reached out for Delphine, causing her to laugh at her throwing her jacket and sweater onto the floor.
"Come on…" Cosima invites, continuing to shed layers.
"You feel no guilt that you've left Scott to babysit Charlotte?" Delphine questions her, before shedding her garments. "Have you thought about what we're going to do with Charlotte?"
"None at all. And we can talk about it later… it's not like it can't wait an hour." Cosima answers honestly, throwing her underwear onto the floor right near the bed. "Did you miss me?"
"Of course," Delphine leans in for a quick kiss, and then a longer one. "Of course I missed you!"
Delphine comes at her desperately, her tongue pushing into her mouth, her hand reaching between her legs, stroking furiously.
"Woah…" She manages to get out between breathtaking kisses. She's aroused, but not quite as much as she'd like. It'll happen, she knows, given enough time. Unless even her body has decided Delphine cannot be trusted not to leave her again.
"Oh non…" Delphine stops suddenly, opting instead to attack one of her breasts with little bites, with open mouthed kisses. Cosima enjoys it, Delphine's hips rolling down, all that skin pressed against her own.
She slows Delphine down, insisting on gentle touches, on drawn out teasing, but it doesn't last long. A slide of skin over her own, lips return to her neck and Delphine's hand moves from teasing her thigh to stroking her again.
"Why aren't you wetter…?" Delphine sighs, more in annoyance than anything else. Delphine returns to kissing her neck, groping at her body.
"Why are you rushing me? You're the one who asked for an hour." Cosima reminds her, "and… I am wet...enough."
"Yes?" Delphine's fingers returns to their teasing at her sex, it's not as slick as she'd like, but it's passable.
Two fingers gently enter her, but the little sounds that accompany entry are all Delphine's.
"You're wet inside." Delphine grins, kissing her again, possessively. What starts as slow drawn out movements becomes more and more insistent as they continue. As her arousal increases, she notices Delphine relax, begin to enjoy herself more. But it's never enough to let Delphine add a third finger. Maybe she was still recovering, maybe this, lovemaking, needed to be gentle.
Delphine keeps pushing into her, her tongue stroking into her mouth, fingers thrusting into her cunt. Maybe in another life, where things were less...complicated, Cosima would be annoyed. Find Delphine's desire to sink as much into her as possible just too much. But here and now? It's almost perfect, Cosima decides, she rewards her lover with little moans, with breathy cries of pleasure.
"C'est pas suffisant." Delphine whines, withdrawing from her mouth.
Cosima shakes her head slightly, disoriented. "What's not?" It feels good to her, Delphine's fingers inside, though she can tell her lover is trying to draw out their encounter. Make it last. She knows it won't be much longer, they both do, she's certain Delphine remembers. That she recognizes the tells.
"I can't get enough…" Delphine's invaded her mouth again within minutes, tongue sliding against her own before retreating. A tease.
"It is… it is enough." Her hands move to Delphine's back, she feels the constellations of beauty marks she'd barely managed to memorize, she lets her hands slide down to her ass, cupping firmly.
"Say it…" Delphine moves over her, a slower movement, a thumb pressing against her.
"It's so good…" Cosima responds with a moan, rolling her hips up.
"Non… say it." Delphine urges again, her voice softer.
Cosima tries again, "Delphine." She moans her name, she knows Delphine likes that.
Delphine shakes her head briefly, never stopping her movements. "Non… tell me… tell me…"
"I love you." She offers finally, knowing by the look that goes over Delphine's face, she's finally said the right thing. She's told her lover what she wants to hear. What she needs to hear.
She rolls her hips twice more, Delphine lips crashing down first against her own, then her cheek. Tensing, she grips hard, and lets herself come.
"Oh… yes…" Delphine sighs afterwards, kissing her temple. Letting her heart rate calm again.
She pants on the bed for longer than she'd like to admit, to the point Delphine begins eyeing her, as if she's trying to decide if this will end in a coughing fit and more blood splattered onto her own hands.
"Mon amour…" Delphine croons instead, cuddling into her gently. And she knows, this could be over now, if she'd let it. But she's been denied this for too long, and they both need this. Then, then they can tackle the rest of it.
It's another minute before she flips Delphine over, taking a minute to catalogue her body with her hands. She makes a mental note that they could both use less stress and more food.
"I… you're not allowed to leave again." Cosima spells it out, leaning down for a kiss before Delphine can protest.
She lets Delphine's tongue invade her mouth, lets her clutch at her body, she rolls her hips, relishing in the wetness, in Delphine's obvious excitement. She takes a deep inhale, this smell is one she can't mistake. Can't forget. Can't stop craving.
She shifts lower with a smirk, hands prying Delphine's thighs apart as she lowers her mouth to make contact. Delphine squirms at the first touch of her tongue.
"J'ai besoin de toi…"
"Mmmhmmm." Cosima hums affirmatively. Her high school French is rough, but she understands that much.
"Dédans moi…"
"Oh yeah…Still better than eskimo pie." Cosima mutters between licks. She wants to submerge herself in Delphine, maybe they weren't so very different that way after all.
"Inside…" Delphine pleads again with a desperate buck of her hips.
She adjusts position to slide a couple fingers in, keeping her mouth on Delphine. This will be quick. And she almost regrets it. Part of her wants to tease, wants to watch Delphine turn into a squirming needy mess.
Cosima wants to take her time, to savour this, to make love to Delphine like she has an unending expanse of time. But another flick of her tongue makes Delphine shudder and tense around her fingers. This wasn't going to take long, there was no way that she and Delphine needed a full hour. Cosima doubts it's been 20 minutes as she redoubles her efforts, gently sucking Delphine's clit into her mouth.
She groans, rolling her own hips down, Delphine squirms at the next swipe of her tongue, thighs tighten around her ears, and Delphine's fingernails dig into the base of her skull.
A few more little cries, and it's done, Delphine climaxing in her mouth. Exactly what she'd wanted. Cosima laps happily, enjoying the taste of Delphine after she comes, looking up she slowly releases Delphine from her mouth.
She takes a moment just to look at her, to look up the pale expanse of skin dotted with moles, soft small breasts, curly blonde hair and the beautiful flushed face of her lover.
Delphine's eyes still shut, she grins down at her.
"Happy?" Cosima asks, leaning in to trail kisses up her body.
Delphine laughs, opening her eyes. "Oui. Very happy."
Their lips meet in a kiss that tastes of Delphine, something she adores, and she knows Delphine is getting used to.
"Cosima…" She sighs simply, hands resting on her face. "Cosima…"
"Yeah." She murmurs back, even though no response is required, she leans in, letting herself rest her weight fully on her.
"I want you in… I want you all the way in." Delphine begs softly. Her face peering up at her. Suddenly seeming no longer so tired.
"Oh my god…" is all Cosima can manage to moan in return. The rush of heat is back, and the smell of Delphine and sex is more than enough to get her going again.
A desperate kiss later, she's the one stroking Delphine's hair. Her own tongue slipping into Delphine's mouth, teasing hers out to play. Again, Cosima thinks, one more round and then they'll talk. God do they ever need to talk.
"I want it." Delphine tells her softly, as she's entering her again, this time hovering over her, keeping her close enough to kiss. "I want you in me like that."
"When we're finally alone, really alone, I will." Cosima promises, "whatever you like."
"What do you think of Agricola, Charlotte?" Scott asks, they've set up the board and the child seemed to have a knack for strategizing fairly quickly.
Hellwizard sits back, his own farm not doing nearly as well as Charlotte's, but with Scott helping her that was the most likely result.
"I like it… but are we really going to wait an hour before going down to the lab? Cosima should at least look at me. See if the treatment is working." Charlotte rests her head on her hand.
"Nah, we're going to give them… an hour and a half." Scott takes a sip of his second coffee of the day.
"They aren't cleaning the lab, are they?" Charlotte sighs, adding a goat to her farm.
"Oh… don't worry about that." Scott chortles awkwardly. "Worry about your next move in Agricola!"
"Are they trying to have sex?" Charlotte asks innocently.
"Gahh.." Scott winces as he spits out hot coffee, and it sprays on his own shirt.
"Not the game pieces man!" Hellwizard warns, "anyway, don't worry about them. Just… we'll play Agricola, and then we'll dig out some other games. It's fine."
"Let's not worry about Cosima and Delphine." Scott agrees, "I'm sure… they're... managing fine."