An insistent knocking on the door snapped Delphine out of study mode as she looked up from her books for the first time in hours. She checked her watch, 11pm, she'd missed curfew, merde. She briefly considered that the knocking on the door might be one of The Guard, come to drag her off to prison for breaking curfew. But then, why would they be knocking? She cautiously rose from her designated desk in the medical lab and made her way to the large oak door. 'Hello?' She asked through the wood, still half expecting The Guard on the other side. 'Hello? Delphine?' The voice was strained, her name spoken through gritted teeth, but still she recognised it. She flung the door wide open immediately and greeted the visitor with a wide smile, 'Cosima!' Her eyes inspected the other girls face, not quite believing that her old friend was really here, but when her gaze moved downward she spotted a dirty white cloth tied haphazardly around Cosima's hand, rapidly turning red with blood. 'Come in! Come in!' She snapped quickly into doctor mode, without even realising it, 'How did it happen? Can you tell me the exact nature of the injury? How much pain are you experiencing?' Cosima laughed through her pain, a light chuckle that echoed off the walls of the empty lab, 'Now now, Dr. Cormier, is that really how you treat an old friend, straight to business mode?' She grinned, 'aren't you pleased to see me?' Delphine tsked, 'Cosima, old friend, you're dripping blood over my lab.' Cosima looked down where sure enough a few droplets of blood had rolled from her palm on to the floor. 'Guess you'd better sew me up then, doc,' she made her way over to Delphine's desk, her's being the only one with the lamp still on. Everyone else had gone home hours ago. She sat and placed her hand under the light for Delphine to inspect, just like all the other times before. The two friends rarely spoke these days but every now and then, when Cosima had been a little too careless at work, she found herself in the medical lab seeking her assistance. Delphine always grumbled about being exploited and how she should be getting paid for this but she didn't mind, not really. 'What happened this time?' she asked as she unwound the cloth, not being able to hide a grimace at the bloody mess she found underneath, 'splinter.' Cosima shrugged, 'down at the docks again. I slipped when unloading the boxes,' Delphine could see the wound clearly now, having gently wiped the blood away with some antiseptic wipes, she narrowed her eyes at the large shard of wood impaling Cosima's palm, 'Don't they give you gloves down at the docks?'

'They do,' Cosima grinned sheepishly, 'I lost them'

Delphine raised an eyebrow as she poked about in her medical box finding the right tools 'lost them?'

'In a bet.'

'In a bet?'

'I bet against Moris.' A sheepish grin formed on her face 'He's a snail.'

Delphine paused, met Cosima's eye, 'Moris is a snail?'

'Yup. A damn fast one apparently.'

'Let me get this right, you lost your one pair of protective equipment because you were betting on racing snails?'

'I guess it's lucky I never became a doctor after all, huh? I'd have probably bet away half the medical supplies cupboard by now-ow! That hurt!'

'Sorry,' Delphine muttered, but she didn't look sorry at all, 'I'm not surprised it hurt, that thing was really wedged in there, it looked like someone had hammered it in on purpose.'

Cosima shrugged, cradling her sore hand, 'I've always been pretty clumsy huh?'

Delphine threw the splinter and bloody cloth into the bin and passed Cosima a roll of bandages and some cream, 'I don't think it needs stitches, but you should probably wrap it up, I assume you still remember simple bandaging techniques?'

'Yeah, yeah,' Cosima's tongue poked out in concentration as she carefully applied a generous amount of cream to the cut and then wrapped it up.

'Very good,' Delphine nodded, impressed,

There was a moment of awkward silence and Delphine stood, starting to pack her her equipment and then her books, Cosima's hand reached out, stopping her from packing up her last text book as she read the title aloud, "Optimal Medical Therapy with or without PCI for Stable Coronary Disease" wow, catchy title, you've gotta tell me how it ends.' Delphine exhaled humorously as she stuffed it into her bag, 'it's not that boring actually.'

'Obviously,' Cosima smiled, 'Something must have been interesting, to keep good girl Dr. Cormier out past curfew.' She fake gasped, as though she'd never broken curfew before, and for much worse reasons than studying. Delphine made a face back at her 'and what about you, what's keeping you out this time?'

'Nothing too illegal, I promise. But then I had this bloody great splinter in my hand and I was walking home thinking, hey wouldn't it be great if I knew someone with the medical knowledge to remove this, and as if by magic I saw your light still on in the lab.'

'How did you know it was my light?'

'Cos I know you. And I know that there's a big test coming up for you medical students, so I know you'd be up all night studying, of course.'

Delphine narrowed her eyebrows, 'And how did you know there's a big test coming up?' She asked, 'Is that the type of thing you discuss down at the docks?'

'Mmh totally, they're all massive geeks like me, isn't it obvious?' Delphine thought about the other dock workers she'd seen, the tall man with the bulging biceps and the smaller, but no less intimidating rocker girl with the big black boots and ferocious scowl. 'How is it though, really,' Cosima continued, ''Is it all dissecting frogs and icky squishy things?'

'Haha no, well, there are some icky squishy things, but mostly it's just studying charts from the hospital and reading big old dusty volumes.'

'But you must get to work in the hospital sometimes, right?'

'Sometimes, but it's not common.'

Cosima seemed to consider this, 'but you have access right, I mean-you're basically a doctor now! You must get to visit the hospital.'

'For certain occasions, they don't give us free reign just because we're studying medicine Cosima. And I'm hardly nearly a doctor, I have at least four years left of training.' She stood and yawned, 'I think it's time we got going.'

'Mmh I agree.' Cosima stood too and took Delphine's bag from her, swinging it over her own shoulder,

'What are you doing?'

'Walking you home of course. Consider it a thank you for the hand'

'Cosima it is way past curfew,'

'Exactly, can't have a pretty girl like you walking home all alone now can we?'

'Oh and you'll stop any attacker will you? Have you even grown a bit since middle school?'

'Hey! Working on the docks has got me ripped!' She flexed her arms at Delphine, 'and I'm 5'4' she grumbled.

Delphine rolled her eyes and switched off the lamp, 'Come on then, tiny protector.' and Cosima eagerly followed behind.