"I'm home."
"Yes you are." Cosima says, letting the tears make their way down her cheeks.
Nothing can stop Cosima Niehaus from hugging her girlfriend even if it means falling. Yes, she fell. She tried to climb the box and then the box fell with her still clutching the top, leaving the couple one on top of the other with the box as a barrier between their bodies.
The girl in dreads grunted but then smiled at the sight of her girlfriend's face in front of her's.
"Pauvre petit chiot." Delphine teases.
The group was so shocked at the scene unfolding before them that they didn't moved or rushed to help. It was a few seconds later that someone reacted and moved forward to help them out.
"Are you alright, Cos?" Sarah says as she moved towards the two of them, and soon after the rest followed suit.
"Yeah, yeah." She said while all of them tried to lift the box with Delphine still inside of it.
Once Cosima was out of the way, they let Delphine crawl out of the box. Cosima then helped her to stand up.
"You're the puppy." Cosima said as she moved in to kiss the blonde. She kissed her with passion.
She invited her girlfriend to the couch and they sat beside each other. Delphine hugged her and Cosima fell organically into Delphine's embrace. Delphine nuzzled Cosima's neck, while Cosima rests on Delphine's curls. They both cried tears of happiness.
The others sighed in relief, their gift for Cosima had been a success. They left the two of them alone and went back into the dining room.
The two intertwined their hands and played with each others fingers without breaking the hug.
"I missed this, our hands, your lips on my neck. You." Cosima said.
"I missed this too." She says as she kisses Cosima gently on the lips.
When they broke apart, the two wiped the tears from their faces and went to the dining room to have a drink.
"Welcome home, Delphine." Sarah says with a knowing smile.
"Welcome home." The others repeated in unison.
"Thank you." Delphine replied.
"Now, drink Niehaus." Beth said.
"Of course, Childs. Let me just get wine for my girlfriend." She said as she winks at Delphine and reaches for the bottle of wine.
Delphine answered with a chuckle as she bites her lower lip. Cosima poured some red wine for Delphine and grabbed a beer for herself. As she sat between Tony and Delphine she handed her girlfriend the glass of wine.
"Bonjour." Tony greeted Delphine. "You should've seen Cosima's face when she saw Beth and Alison kissing."
"Shut up, Tony." Cosima snapped annoyed.
"Well, I think you can see it." Sarah butted in, grinning mischievously.
Cosima gave her a confused look as Sarah brought out her phone and handed it to the blonde.
Cosima leaned in to her girlfriend to see what was playing in Sarah's phone. It was a short video of the exact moment in which Cosima was watching Alison and Beth having fun.
The dreadlocked girl is so embarrassed that she downs her beer in one gulp.
"That…," she coughed. " felt rough on my throat." She stated.
Delphine let out a chuckle, grabbed Cosima, pulled her towards her, and kissed her fiercely without minding the audience.
Cosima gasped taken aback by Delphine's impulsiveness. Delphine took the opportunity to enter the brunette's mouth with a deeper kiss.
No one in the room could process a thing. Things were heating up pretty fast between these two.
The dreadlocked girl was so amused that she opened her eyes, winked at Tony and snapped a photo of him with her cellphone. His face was the epitome of shock.
The children came boisterously up the stairs, and with all their laughing and noise broke the two apart.
"Mom, can we go to bed and sleep now?" Oscar greeted as he brought up a hand to rub his eyes and yawned.
"Okay." Alison said as she stood up. "Let's just tuck the kids in their beds and we'll continue this later."
Alison, Beth and Sarah went to tuck the children in. Tony and Felix went to get fresh bottles of beer. And Helena went to the kitchen to get more food.
"I am so happy tonight." Delphine broke the silence that has been hanging between them after everyone else has left the room.
"Ditto." She replied as she kissed the blonde on her forehead.
She sighed as she realizes that Delphine won't be here for long.
"What's wrong?" Delphine asked, sensing something was up.
Cosima put a hand over her girlfriend's.
"When are you going to leave me again?" Cosima blurts out the question and looks at Delphine with a sad smile and teary eyes.
Delphine felt a pang of guilt in her chest.
"About that." She stopped, she held Cosima's hand and brought it close to her. "Can we just talk about it in your flat?"
"Sure." Cosima looked down and whispered. Delphine rubbed her girlfriend's hand reassuringly.
Everyone came back and they resumed their drinking and partying.
Cosima and Delphine have been quiet after their brief conversation, and they haven't been drinking either. Maybe they were thinking the same thing,. they need a clear mind to have that pending conversation, and alcohol wont be helpful.
Cosima was lost in her own thoughts every time that Beth interrupted her with phrases like:
"That beer wouldn't drink itself Niehaus!"
She would then smile obligingly and drink one fourth of her drink.
She had a total of two glasses of beer. Cosima is not drunk, and neither is Delphine. By now the rest are either sleeping in their respective lover's shoulder or still drinking and enjoying their conversations.
"Let's call it a night, okay?" Cosima stood and grabbed the bottle in Sarah's hands.
"Oi!" Sarah protested.
Felix and Tony then grabbed Sarah and led her to her room, Helena trailing behind them.
Alison and Beth retreated to their own room.
Cosima and Delphine were left with all the mess the group had made.
Delphine started to clean the table but Cosima stopped her grabbing her hand.
"But-" Delphine started.
"No buts, we will go home now." Cosima cut her off.
Without any further warning Cosima dragged Delphine by her arm out into the night and headed towards the car. She didn't even bother to grab her coat on the way out.
"Cosima, you're hurting me." Delphine said in almost a shout releasing her arm from Cosima's grasp.
"Do you think that you're the only one who's hurting here?" Cosima voiced out. Without another word she went to the other side of the car, got inside and slammed the door shut.
Delphine was so shocked about how Cosima was behaving, but she got in the car anyway not fully understanding what was going on with Cosima, what this sudden mood swing was all about.
"Look, Cosima I-" she was cut off. Again.
"It's fine."
The engine roared to life and Cosima sped up wanting to get home fast. They drove in awkward silence. Once they were on the parking lot of Cosima's flat Delphine spoke again.
"Cosima please."
"It's okay, don't worry about it." She said with a dismissive hands motion.
She pulled the car key from the ignition, walked out of the car and closed the door. More gently, this time.
Delphine followed her girlfriend through the entrance door and towards the elevator. They were silent the whole time. Until the elevator door opened on her floor and they both stepped out.
"Cosima, just please. Let me explain this first."
Cosima, let her hands fall to her sides and looked at Delphine.
"What part of "IT'S FINE" don't you understand!" She yelled at her for the second time that night.
"I completely understand it. But what I don't understand is why don't you let me explain things first before reacting?" Delphine said in her most calm tone.
"Cause you said we are going to talk about it when we got here."
Right. Delphine thought.
Cosima unlocked the door, went inside and waited for Delphine to enter. Delphine closed the door behind her and faced Cosima.
"Cosima-" Delphine said.
"No. You know what, I don't wanna talk about it." Cosima said turning away from Delphine.
Delphine didn't back away, instead she hugged her from behind. Cosima crumbled to the floor bringing Delphine down with her. That's when Cosima let it all out.
She cried it all out, to be exact. All her pain and doubts. She unburdened her soul and told everything to Delphine. She talked about her sorrow, her fears, her doubts, her hopes and dreams regarding them.
She talked about the things she would avoid doing so she could forget about her for a couple of hours during the day. She also told her how she would keep herself busy to keep her mind off her, and how she thinks about the blonde with the truffles and wine bottles that she sees every time she's at the store. She even told her how she would avoid eating or drinking them altogether to avoid feeling nostalgic. It was bad enough to cry herself to sleep every night thinking about the blonde. She would cheer herself up the next morning of course, but it was tough. She would wear the blonde's sweater as often as she could to feel like she was around and then she would doze off still wearing it. As if all this wasn't bad enough she would torture herself reading their past conversations on Skype and she would top it all off by going through all their pictures together and end up crying every single time. Yet, she could also feel her heart swell every time she did those things. It was kind of bittersweet to tell the truth, but she could feel her deep love for Delphine above all that longing for her. She let it all out, she didn't hold anything back.
Delphine answered to everything she said with tender kisses and reassuring hugs. However the brunette either squirmed or pull away from her kisses. Her own frustration and turmoil was too much to bear.
Once the dreadlocked woman stopped crying, Delphine stood up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water for her. She came back to a sobbing Cosima and handed her the glass of water.
"Here." She said a she stroked Cosima's back.
She drank the whole glass and wiped her face.
"I'm sorry and I love you Cosima."
"I'm sorry, too. I love you Delphine."
Delphine stood up and grabbed Cosima's free hand and pulled her up. She led the way into the bedroom.
Cosima followed dumbfounded and once she stepped into the room she just stood there with her mouth ajar. Delphine leaned at the door frame resting her head on it with her hands crossed over her chest.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Cosima said.
"No it isn't." Delphine replied, smirking to herself.
The room was filled with petals of roses, boxes and suitcases.
"Did you bring your whole house here?" Cosima said as she moved towards the boxes and examined them.
"Uhm, yes?"
"Yes?"
"I said earlier I just want to explain things to you, but you won't let me." Delphine said. Cosima faced her still confused.
"Now explain." Cosima demanded.
"Well, about me going back to Frankfurt." She stopped as she watched Cosima slouch her shoulders and sigh with resignation.
"I won't be going back." Delphine said unable to hide the excitement and happiness in her voice.
"What?" Cosima said with furrowed brows. "Now, you're joking."
Delphine simply stood straight and shook her head.
"If this is a joke we're over." She said with a the sternest voice that she could muster. She couldn't hide the excitement in her voice either.
"It's not. I'm not joking." Delphine said as she moved toward Cosima and reached for her hand. "I'm staying, for good. For you."
THE END
I want to thank my beta reader, Denise. Hats off for that woman. I love her. Favourites and reviews are much appreciated.
THANK YOU FOR READING! AND MAY YOU HAVE A MERRY 'COPHINE' CHRISTMAS! HO HO HO!