A/N: So it's been a while since I wrote anything...but this ship has pulled at my heartstrings too much to resist. This fic will be a three-parter, and I've got a second AU Cophine fic in the works as well. Enjoy!

"You have to talk to her."

Cosima looked up and glared at Scott, crossing her arms defensively. "I have to do no such thing."

Scott sighed. "I know you're angry with her, and I'm not saying you don't have every right to be-" he hastily added, seeing the brunette start to open her mouth, "all I'm saying is that I think you should give her a chance to explain."

"Whose side are you on?" Cosima scoffed, hurt seeping into her voice. "I walk in on her in bed with a high-level employee of Topside- a very female employee, might I add- and you're telling me I need to let her explain?!"

She turned away from Scott, angrily ruffling through the random sheets of paper strewn across the lab tables, the memories still sickeningly clear in her mind.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She had been going to visit Delphine in the apartment that she knew DYAD rented for the blonde, just needing to talk to her and see her in the aftermath of her breakup with Shay. She knew that Delphine had tortured the other woman, if not physically then mentally, and when she had learned that Shay was in the military, even if she wasn't affiliated with CASTOR….it was too much. Too many lies and accusations and the complete destruction of trust for there to ever be any hope for a relationship between them in the future.

Cosima had left the smaller girl's apartment in tears, but also with a strange sense of relief. Part of Shay's allure had been being able to throw her in Delphine's face, to prod at the Frenchwoman's sensitive spots and try to get a rise out of her, to make her hurt in the ways that Cosima had hurt when Delphine told her it was over. But now…she didn't want to hurt Delphine like that anymore.

What she wanted was to figure out where the two of them stood, whether there was a chance for them to be back together again. Because god damnit, they had kissed, and yes Delphine had pushed her away, but she had seen what it cost the blonde to pull away and it made her hope that maybe they weren't done.

And yes, okay, she totally realized that if her main reason for breaking up with Shay was that there was too much between them and not enough trust then it made absolutely zero sense for her to try to be with Delphine. If the lies and snooping had created a rift between her and Shay, then the fucking Grand Canyon might as well have been sitting in between her and Delphine.

And yet…Cosima still wanted to try. Wanted to follow this thing through to the very end. And so as she climbed the stairs to the third floor flat, she let herself indulge in a small moment of fantasy. Her knuckles grazed the wood of the door, and she could almost taste the salt from their tears mingling as she apologized for not trusting Delphine, and the blonde whispered how she never should have tried to leave in the first place. It would be a perfect reunion, and then they could get back to being them instead of the disjointed individuals they had become.

The door swung open as she knocked, and Cosima poked her head inside, looking for signs of Delphine. She couldn't hear anything, so she stepped inside and began wandering through the sparsely furnished rooms. Nobody in the kitchen….nobody in the living room….it wasn't until she began to walk towards the bedroom that she heard soft sounds.

Please please please don't be what I think that is…..the door swung open, and Cosima immediately wished she could forget the scene in front of her. Delphine was on the bed, looking at Cosima with wide, panicked eyes as the brunette's gaze shifted to the woman on top of Delphine. She was a redhead, probably in her early 40s Cosima noted with detachment. The woman stood, a slow smirk coming onto her face as she looked at Cosima.

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person Ms. Niehaus….I've heard so much about you from Delphine."

Cosima could feel herself starting to shake as she looked between the redhead and Delphine, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. "I'm sorry," she stumbled, looking back to the other woman, "Who are you?"

The infuriating smirk seemed to grow with the redhead's reply. "I'm from Topside, just here for a short meeting with Delphine."

The inflection that was placed on the sentence left little room for doubt as to what, exactly, the meeting consisted of, and Cosima felt something inside of her snap. Turning to Delphine, who still didn't seem to be able to say anything, Cosima felt her blood boil at yet another betrayal. Shaking her head in disgust at both the blonde and herself, she ground out, "I would say fuck you, Delphine, but it looks like you've already got that pretty well covered. I'm done."

Turning on her heel so that Delphine wouldn't see her eyes welling with tears, Cosima fled the apartment, ignoring the pained cries asking her to wait. She swiped angrily at her tears as she ran back down the steps and out into the cool night air.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She felt so stupid in hindsight; how could she have ever thought it would work out between them? Delphine was clearly so consumed with amassing power and influence that she was willing to do anything to get it…or worse yet, maybe she actually liked that hideous woman from Topside.

Regardless, Scott suggesting that she try to speak with Delphine was absurd. If she had her way, she wouldn't go anywhere near the blonde for the rest of her life and so far she had been lucky enough to avoid running into her around the building. It had been…nearly a week now, since it happened. She walked in on Delphine on a Friday night, and it was Thursday now, and she hadn't seen the blonde once that entire time.

Maybe she's just finally learned when she's not wanted?

The thought made Cosima chuckle darkly, before she scowled at the realization that even if she was thinking mean thoughts, she was still standing around thinking of Delphine.

Throwing the papers she had been mindlessly shuffling down on the table, Cosima groaned. There was no way she was going to be able to focus on anything today, least of all packing up the lab with Scott. She had zero regrets about resigning from DYAD, but this was the last place she wanted to be right now. Every surface seemed to remind her of Delphine in one way or another, and all she really wanted to do was drown her memories in some strong alcohol and good weed.

As if sensing her line of thought, Scott shuffled his feet and quietly asked, "You want to call it a day? All of this stuff will still be here in the morning."

Cosima nodded gratefully.

"You go on ahead," he said, "I'm just going to finish up shredding this pile and then I'll be out too."

As the petite scientist shrugged her jacket on, he reached out and caught her arm. "Just- think about what I said, okay? About talking to her?" Shrugging away from him, Cosima shook her head. "No can do Scotty. I'm done with her this time, and I'm not changing my mind."

Sighing, Scott reluctantly nodded and waved her away. "Go on, get out of here and go party or drown your sorrows or whatever you plan on doing."

Managing a small smile, Cosima winked and said, "You know me so well," as she walked to the door and buzzed for an escort. She still thought it was stupid that she and Scott had to be escorted anywhere that wasn't in the lab; it wasn't like they had managed to get away with anything in the first place. But she supposed appearances were important, or something….that's all Delphine was really ever concerned with anyways she thought snidely.

The guard came and checked her ID and then nodded and began walking down the hallway, Cosima half-jogging to keep up with his long strides. They stopped at the entrance and the guard waited for her to leave the building, securing the door behind her as he turned to go back to watch the labs. The whole ritual was stupid, and just represented the pointlessness of ever trying to work with DYAD. With Delphine. The two were inextricably intertwined in her mind and, it seemed, in reality as well, and she couldn't wait to be free from both of them.

Glancing up at the DYAD building a final time, Cosima shuddered and walked away.

Next part will be in Delphine's perspective, hopefully early next week!