Maturity
Cosima woke to a pair of knees. Glancing up, she found Kira, sitting cross-legged next to her pillow.
"Good morning, Auntie Cosima. You've been sleeping for a really long time," said Kira, with a hint of disproval.
"Morning. Sorry to keep you waiting," grumbled Cosima, mostly managing to suppress her sarcasm.
"Where is Delphine?"
"Delphine?" Cosima rubbed her eyes, still trying to drag herself into the land of the conscious.
"Delphine. You know, the tall, pretty girl."
Cosima almost smiled at that. Almost, but the memory weighed just a little too heavy. "Delphine and I, we're not really friends any more, little Lizard."
"Because she told us about you being sick? About the bone marrow? Because you didn't want her to?" Kira dropped her eyes to her lap, fiddling with the sheet.
Cosima pushed herself up in bed with some effort, coming to rest against the headboard. "Hey," she said carefully, ducking to see Kira's face.
"I heard you and Mommy arguing last night."
"Your mommy thinks Delphine did the right thing, but that really wasn't mommy's choice to make." She tried to keep her voice sweet, but a sharp edge snuck in. Kira opened her mouth to protest, but Cosima cut her off. "You know, Lizard, this is adult stuff. You'll get it when you're grown up."
Cosima watched as Kira's face hardened. It was a look she'd seen in the mirror a thousand times as a child - the look of a seriously smart kid giving up on a seriously stupid adult. Pure disappointment.
Cosima scooped Kira into her arms. "Hey, hey there. I shouldn't have said that. This is your family too." She took a deep breath and started again. "Delphine should never have asked you for help. It wasn't fair to you."
Kira considered this. "So you wanted her to just let you die? That doesn't sound very fair either."
Cosima shook her head, struggling to explain. "Little Lizard. You see, the thing is, Delphine has just hurt our family too many times. I can't forgive her."
Kira pulled away enough to face her aunt, deadly serious. "If you had died without letting me help you, I wouldn't ever have forgiven you."
Cosima stared at the child, speechless.
Kira shrugged a little. "Maybe you should just let us love you."
Her gaze focused on her fingers as she absentmindedly threaded them through Cosima's dreads. "Plus," she said, sounding slightly wounded, "I didn't get a chance to ask her how she makes her curls so nice. Mine are all tangly."
Of everything, this hit Cosima the hardest. She's barely grasped the thought before the words slipped out. "I didn't get the chance to take her to San Fran."
"Or to ask her how to make those flat pancakes," Kira chimed in.
"Or go to Paris. Or buy a Christmas tree. Or..." Cosima faded off. Kira smiled a little, and squeezed Cosima's hand. Cos felt the hard edge of her phone being pressed into her palm.
Kira slipped off of the bed, suddenly shy. "Um, I'm going to go downstairs. It smells like Mommy is burning breakfast, and I don't want Mrs. S getting mad." She hesitated for a moment, before flashing Cosima a quick wave and bolting from the room.
Cosima let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and slipped down in the bed until she could pull the covers over her head. Her mind was weighing the pros and cons, rehashing all the old arguments, but her fingers were already dialing.
"Hello? Cosima?" Delphine's voice was rough and laced with sleep.
"Hey, yeah, it's me. I, uh, just got schooled in maturity by an eight year old. Can we talk?"