Delphine sets down the phone and takes a deep breath. She doesn't claim to know everything, but at this point there are two things that are absolute truths: she's not ready for this and Cosima will not be happy to see her again. However, knowing those two facts ahead of time it's not challenging nor does it help Delphine to find out how to act.
She shouldn't have left things the way she did. It was stupid and, worst of all, made Delphine vulnerable to any attack coming from the other other woman, for the simple fact that they will end up being, most likely, justified. The main problem is that there's no way Delphine can explain the way she acted without stepping foot in some very dangerous territory.
She can't just tell Cosima that, when she woke up, that night, so many months ago, at five a.m., she simply panicked. Looking at the small woman, sound asleep, carefully wrapped around the blonde's arms, she felt there were thoughts in her mind that would create a situation she didn't (doesn't!) want to address. Delphine's instincts was to pack her things and leave immediately, she didn't tell anyone she was leaving ahead of time, just the young man at the front desk of the hotel.
Of course, in doing so, Delphine ended up arriving way too early at the airport, resulting in spending nearly six hours there, waiting for her flight. Nevertheless that was preferable than to wake up next to the young woman and have a conversation she desperately wanted to avoid, no matter the direction it took. So, she left, in the middle of the night, like someone who was ashamed of what happened, when, in fact, she was just scared of having to deal with the clone who made her feel like she was fooling herself in thinking she had her life under control.
Pushing those memories aside, Delphine gets up, determined to survive the clones' visit with minimum damage to her life. She passes her long fingers over her waves of blonde hair, to give it some life and opens the door but stops, somehow not sure if arriving empty handed is the best decision. If she's nervous, Delphine always feels better when she has something in her hands, anything at all. She walks back to her desk and grabs the first folder her hands lay on and gets back to the door, noticing her lab coat hanged on it, which she puts on, not really sure why and finally leaves.
Delphine tries to look calm, politely waving her hand in "hello" fashion to the colleagues she crosses with in the hallway, but inside she's a mess, the sound of blood rushing fills her ears, taking quick breaths.
The doctor crosses the door to the lobby, but doesn't step inside, she just stays there and observes. Dr. Jacqueline Courbet, the head of DYAD France is receiving the three clones who came: Sarah, Alison and, of course, Cosima. The clone in glasses seems at least in a good mood, talking lively, her hands in constant motion. Still a little hesitantly, Delphine gives a few steps closer to where everyone else is, certain that her presence has gone unnoticed so far. However, when she's just two steps away, her eyes still locked in Cosima's features, she sees the dreadlocked woman shift a little and deep brown eyes stare at her for just a heartbeat before they get back to who's in front of the young woman.
"Bonjour à tous, welcome to Paris." Delphine says, giving the last two steps. Looking between the clones' faces, the blonde knows she won't find any friends here. "I hope you all made a good journey and that the accommodations are to your liking." She then says, deciding to keep things professional, it is the best way to avoid further friction.
Sarah steps forward and looks straight at Delphine, ignoring the fact that the actual head of the French branch is in front of her. "Oh yeah! A fancy hotel with plenty to trash and a stocked bar it's all we need." She comments with a joking smile. "I wonder what the DYAD wants from us if they seem so invested in having us so well taken cared of."
The French swallows down the uneasiness Sarah causes on her and puts on her best polite smile. "We just want you to be comfortable, Sarah. I assure you, there's no secondary intentions on our side."
"Of course not!" Alison intervenes, giving her impeccable ponytail a brush with her left hand. "Because DYAD doesn't do that sort of thing. Always correct!"
Sarah approaches the nervous clone and gives a little tug at her elbow and when Alison's stare moves from the doctor to the punk clone, Sarah widens her eyes slightly. In the meantime Cosima's stuck staring at Delphine, her face neutral, not showing any signs of emotion. The blonde has no idea whether that's a good or a bad thing. If, on one hand she's happy to see that Cosima's first reaction when her eyes set upon her wasn't to scream and shout; in another the void of emotions Delphine sees in the clone's expression causes her heart to tremble at the possibility that, what happened between them in a solitary night months ago, meant nothing to Cosima.
In reality, she should feel relieved. If that's the case, it makes things a lot easier and the interaction between the two of them doesn't need to be starin, filled with awkward silences. Yes, that should be all true and, yet, it isn't. Some hidden part of Delphine was clinging to that memory, holding it close to her chest, only to pull it out when things were not going her way. It doesn't matter what it was making her feel down, if she flashed in her mind little moments of her time together with Cosima, her world got a little brighter.
The doctor cleans her thoughts. "I believe I can take it from here." She says to her direct boss, who agrees and leaves. "If you want to, I'll show you around." She turns her attention to the three women with identical faces.
"Course!" Cosima speaks for the first time, but her voice, like her expression, doesn't show any emotion.
Delphine walks in the direction of the main lab. "Dr. Leekie was very pleased to know that you decided to accept our offer to visit the Paris facilities." She says as she walks.
"So, he's still the one calling the shots." Sarah deduces.
"Yes." Delphine looks at Alison. "You're little… display had that effect. Whatever Dr. Bowles was planning, she put the brakes on it."
"And she's still working with the DYAD?" Cosima raises her brow and the French nods in response. "Hmm… I thought that after her evil plan was uncovered she would get the boot."
"Dr. Bowles is a very important member of the DYAD Institute, it's not easy to let her go." Delphine gives them the same explanation she got when she asked the same question, shortly after she returned from the States.
"Really?" Cosima chuckles. "Well… I have a very different theory."
They stop near the door for the lab and Delphine looks for the card in her pocket to swipe it open. "And what theory is that?" She asks, opening the door.
"I think she knows too much for the DYAD to afford to let her go." The tattooed clone offers, passing in front of Delphine to enter the lab.
"All DYAD employees sign a confidentiality agreement when they are asked to join our most… sensitive projects." The doctor follows the rest of the women inside.
"When you say sensitive, what you really mean is illegal." Sarah says, moving around the big open space, her hands touching everything on her way. "And I have the feeling that those agreements won't hold in court, if it reaches that far."
Delphine's eyes follow the punk clone as she sits in one of the stools and peers through a microscope. She's not surprised that they reached all these conclusions by themselves, but it's her understanding that this is not the area of expertise of someone like Sarah, who's spent the best part of her life in the wrong side of the law.
"I thought Beth would also come." Delphine says casually.
"She's busy!" Alison blurts out in a way that doesn't invite any more requests for explanations.
So Delphine just hums and looks at Cosima, moving around closer to the glass cabinets and reading the labels. She won't find anything that Delphine - or better, her boss - doesn't want her to. Last week was spent cleaning some labs, this one included, of everything that was unfit for unruly eyes.
As if she's sensing Delphine's stare on her, Cosima looks at her and opens a small smile. "It must be very exciting working in a place like this, that has everything you need. No fighting over budgets and all that crap."
It sounds inviting and Delphine gives a few steps in the smaller woman's direction. "Yes, it is." She approaches, but doesn't invade Cosima's personal space.
"Too bad they use all of this the way they do." Cosima smile fades and her eyes leave Delphine.
"DYAD has many areas of work, you know that Cosima." Despite noticing the sudden coldness in the clone's demeanor, the doctor moves forward. "Besides, the clones' project was shut down years ago, the only thing that remains is what's necessary to keep you safe and make sure…"
"Don't sell it to me, Delphine." The clone says fast, moving her eyes to the French. "I'm not the right audience for that bullshit!"
"Cosi…" Delphine starts, but the petite woman is already moving away and she's left standing watching her walk to where the other two clones are, with her hands securing the folder she still has on her arms.
"Alright… What else do you have?" Sarah asks, getting up from the bench.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't tell me that the all powerful DYAD only has this to show." The rougher clone's hands move around the room as if displaying an evidence.
Delphine's eyes go briefly to Cosima, who's looking down and then return to Sarah's expression of defiance. The scientist gives them the rest of the tour to the facilities, or at least what was approved ahead of time; DYAD might be invested in wanting the clones to cooperate, but that it's not without restrictions. When Dr. Leekie called and informed Delphine of his intention to invite the clones to visit, she wasn't sure exactly what he pretended to achieve with that, and today she still doesn't know, but one thing she's sure about: the institute wants them happy. If Delphine didn't know any better, she would be naïve enough to believe that was the end of it - they're just looking after their projects. However, her experience in working in DYAD has showed her that nothing they do is without meaning, with DYAD there's always something else - an hidden agenda.
The French doesn't mind playing the tour guide and echo the words which were said to her for the clones. For now… But if she has an hint that the clones could, somehow, become in danger with their activity, she will no longer be a part of it. So she'll do it and be sure to maintain a position that will allow her to help if what she fears turns out to be truth. Delphine will do that, while at the same time refuses to contemplate why she, so suddenly, decided to change her allegiances.
Even when she started to work with DYAD, Delphine never fed the ideology that everything they did was above board, no one gets the amount of power they have without some backdoor deals. But she was young and eager, those things didn't bother her, as long as she found a way to stay clean. Today, Delphine doesn't regret her decision to work with them, but she wishes she had done a few things a little different. However, the blonde is a pragmatic person and not one to linger in the past - it's done, move on! She believes that ideologies are a luxury than only a fortunate few can afford. If something made her change her mind about DYAD it has nothing to do with morals or ethics…
The tour took better part of the morning, Delphine had imagined that after she showed two or three labs the clones would be happy, but they never complain about the repetition of the visit and, even if she expected as much from Cosima, the other two were a different matter, but no. In fact, what surprised the doctor the most was that, during the entire tour, Sarah was the one pushing forward, while Cosima and Alison seemed to stay behind most of the times.
Their last stop is the DYAD's library, a big room with two floors, stacked with books top to bottom. It is the crown jewel of the French branch and it's not unusual for members of other countries to come here just to use it, since some books are too sensitive to leave the installations. The headquarters of DYAD might be in the States, but here it's the center of its knowledge.
Delphine was explaining all this when Sarah interrupted her. "You expect me to believe that people still spend hours bend over a book in this dusty room?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I said." Delphine said, nodding. The clone's bad attitude was getting to her and she doesn't like to be pushed around, which seems exactly what Sarah's trying to do.
"What Sarah's trying to ask is if…" Cosima says in a conciliatory way, but stops to carefully think about her next words. "All this information is computerized. Like databases and stuff like that.
"I mean… you have all this stuff." The tattooed arm goes around the room. "Wouldn't it be easier to… you know."
"We have a log with the information necessary to find a specific book or the books regarding a specific subject, like any other big library." Delphine says, but in her mind there's something else bothering her. "But if you want to know if we have the books and whatnot scanned in a computer, the answer is no."
The three clones look between each other and start to walk to the door. Delphine watches them leave the library and is certain that their sudden interest in the library catalog has nothing to do with books.
They are up to something!
A/N: I'm sorry for making you wait so long and then offer a little of a filler chapter, but I needed to do it.