Delphine studied the information, jotting down notes. In her extensive research on Shay, she found a pattern. Shay preferred girls who tugged on her heart strings.

Delphine sat back in her chair, taking a sip of the whiskey. Pauvre petit chiot, she thought. It's no wonder that Shay immediately was intrigued by Cosima. Aside from being breathtakingly beautiful and mindblowingly intelligent, Cosima had a vulnerability that was undeniable.

In Felix's hallway, Delphine had hoped Cosima would understand. Secretly, she hoped Cosima would stop her, refuse to break up.

"I love you," Cosima had whimpered, her lip quivering and her eyes filling with tears. She didn't look like a grown woman, she looked like a sick little girl and Delphine knew that to Cosima, their love was her cure.

Delphine had said nothing, unable to speak. How could she? There was no accurate response. Cosima was so lost in her own heartache that she didn't even notice the way Delphine had to struggle to keep it all together. Did Cosima see her, really see her? Had she ever really seen Delphine?

Delphine slammed the glass down. For a woman who loved sob stories, Cosima's bitter breakup was like a made for TV movie. Delphine had practically pushed Cosima into Shay's arms. She ran a hand through her hair, yanking at the straightened strands as rage boiled over her. This was her fault. Shay was her doing. And now, it was her problem to fix.

She grabbed her keys and her purse. She needed to head back to her apartment first. This power suit was not going to get the job done.

At the bar, she sat, glancing down into her half empty glass of bourbon. She wasn't normally a fan of bourbon, but she felt everything needed to be different. She didn't want Shay to catch a single trace of Delphine underneath it all. She didn't want Shay to know a single truth about her. It all had to be fake. It was the only way Delphine could get through this.

She had changed it up, opting for a retro skirt that was long enough to keep her modest but feminine enough. She had a boatneck sweater, a creamy ivory color and a style that showed off her collarbones and the sensitive skin that covered it. It reminded her of all the times Cosima had kissed and sucked the skin, a spot that Delphine had never been kissed before. The result was more arousing that she understood. The memory was so vivid that Delphine absentmindedly craned her neck the way she always had for Cosima, letting the kisses travel to her neck.

"Why the long face?" The bartender asked.

"A beautiful woman broke my heart," she scoffed with a nervous laugh.

"If I had a dollar," Shay said, startling Delphine. "Give her another. On me."

"Oh, you're very kind," Delphine said, her voice different as she hid her accent.

"I'm Shay," she said softly.

"Sophie," she whispered, taking the name of one of her favorite French actresses. "I don't normally drink so much," she said softly.

"You don't normally get your heart broken, I'll bet."

Delphine smiled, but she could feel the rage burning through her veins. Shay had it all, she had Cosima and she was flirting at a bar. She couldn't be the lowlife that Delphine had imagined her to be and yet she was falling into this trap. As angry as she was, her heart broke for Cosima. She didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve to even think for a second that anyone was searching for someone better to her than love. The thought filled Delphine's eyes with tears.

"I'm sorry. What an ass thing to say. You poor little puppy," she whispered.

"What did you say?" The words got Delphine's attention.

"Just some phrase a girl, a friend says. If she's sick she'll call herself a poor little puppy."

"Your ... friend," she choked the word out. "She is... very sick?" She tried to play it casual.

"No, no. Just coughing fits. She thinks it's worse than it is. You know the type," she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Of course," Delphine managed.

"You want to talk about her?" She asked. "It helps my friend."

"Your friend talks about her ex? To you?"

"Yeah, I mean not much. Some smart French doctor who had never been with a girl before. She thought it was love at first sight until she got dumped the day her ex came back from a business trip. Guess she didn't miss her as much, you know?"

The words knocked the wind out of Delphine and the tears spilled before she realized. Had that been what Cosima told her? What Cosima thought? That Delphine went to Frankfurt and never thought of her? Never missed her? Didn't she know Delphine at all.

"Oh, hey, don't cry," Shay blurted.

"No, no. It's just ... after all this time, my ex didn't know a thing about me," she sobbed. "A simple miscommunication, I thought. But it's becoming clearer that we were never as intimate as I thought."

"Sex and intimacy are two very different things," she agreed.

Delphine hated herself for breaking the promise she made to herself. She wanted it all to be fake and yet the truth came slipping out. No matter who she pretended to be, Delphine couldn't keep Cosima from slipping into her. She was a piece of her and Delphine didn't know if she could ever shut Cosima out completely. She didn't know if she wanted to.

"You know how to get over someone?" Shay asked.

"Please, tell me." Delphine pleaded.

"Kiss someone else. Think of it, you're kissing someone new. You're feeling that person's last kiss..."

Cosima, she thought. Her last kiss was Cosima. Delphine kissed Shay, pressing her lips desperately against hers, trying to steal every last trace of Cosima. However illogical, she hoped to have the taste of Cosima, even the slightest trace of it.

All she tasted was the strawberry flavored kiss of Shay. She knew Cosima didn't even prefer strawberry lip balm, she wanted something more unique. Shay wasn't unique enough for Cosima. But was Delphine? Had Delphine ever been enough for Cosima?

"I'm sorry. You aren't her," Delphine blurted. "I have to go..."

"Sophie..." Shay called, but Delphine was too distracted to remember the fake name.

She rushed out the door, slipping into the darkened alley just in time to burst into tears. Who was she becoming? What had she done? She had just ruined Cosima's reaction. Shay wasn't faithful, and Delphine had caused that.

She imagined Cosima's reaction. The way the tears stayed in her eyes, obvious even behind her glasses. The way her lip quivered as if her body rejected a truth she wasn't yet able to accept.

She couldn't tell Cosima. She couldn't break her heart. Not again.