She finds herself running down a cobblestoned street towards a gated home, scaling the wall quickly, she lands unharmed in the garden moving towards the back door of the house. Sneaking in, she pauses watching a large woman move from the kitchen into the next room. She cannot be seen, must not be seen. This is well practiced, navigating with the ease of one who knows the route well.
But she is waiting, on the back stairs. So obviously Cosima, even if the face is not quite the same. It's easy, she knows her, would know her anywhere. Cosima's hair falling down around her face in dark curls and only a thin cotton nightgown covering her skin. She extends her hands and guides her up the stairs. They kiss, tussling with clothing, heads spinning she finds herself on her back, her young lover climbing atop impatiently, hiking up her white cotton nightgown to slide down on... his length. Blissfully engulfed, his hands sliding against soft thighs, reaching to grip gently moving hips. He sits up leaning in to trail kisses across her neck. She rides him, moaning softly, until...
Delphine wakes in a sweat in her sleeping bag, throbbing and mind spinning. She's wetter than she can recall being in a long time, her heart still pounding from the confusing dream. Cosima. Again. Twice in a matter of days. But this dream, Delphine could not be more unsure of what to make of it. She sits up, unzipping her sleeping bag to sit cross-legged. She's never... dreamed like that before. Of being someone else. Some other time. That is certainly not something she wants, and yet... her body reacts to this... impossible dream. Is this hormonal? Another side effect of coming off the pill? She was already aware that her libido was much higher off of it, but this... this is just bizarre.
She's on breakfast crew this morning, she begins the work silently and alone - unconcerned with when the students will join her. She throws the porridge on the stove, boils water for coffee and tea, and is about to begin setting out the ingredients for the lunch station when Greg and Michelle join her, quickly telling her to sit down and eat something.
Dr. Leekie wakes early, but he doesn't speak, simply sits next to his lab tent smoking a cigarette in the early light.
"Do you want one?" He offers, holding out the pack to Delphine.
She's been trying to quit off and on, but having something to do besides speak is too tempting and she tentatively accepts the offered cigarette, even allowing him to light it for her.
"I've been thinking about your metopic suture theory..." Dr. Leekie begins, "Have you ever considered moving to The States?" She supposed that this was part of the seduction he'd slowly been priming her for throughout the week.
"No." Delphine answers quite honestly. She'd be lying if she outright said she wouldn't ever consider it. A body is just a body after all, and sex is just something that happens. Using it to her own advantage wouldn't be entirely new, though she already knows she won't. Not with Leekie, and besides, Cosima wouldn't like it...
"It's a shame. I have some connections that could prove quite useful to you, if you ever change your mind."
She answers simply, "Thank you Dr. Leekie, I will consider it."
"Aldous." He corrects her, "So, what is the subject of your dissertation? My PhD dissertation was on comparative lithics - I spent hours flint knapping in my house. Used to do it in bed. That's experimental archeology for you. I still have the scars..."
She's not really paying attention to what Aldous, as he trails off on what is obviously a terrible decision, knapping flint in bed, in a strange attempt to create his own recreations of early human weapons.
Instead she smokes, letting the nicotine calm her, watching the students ready themselves for the day. Most talk excitedly about leaving for Rome this afternoon. She smiles herself at the though, exhaling smoke from her lungs.
Cosima wakes late, the last to remove herself reluctantly from her cozy sleeping bag and stumble out into the cool morning air, she glances over at them, shaking her head noticeably before eating a small breakfast.
Though conversation between her and Cosima was typically easy and stimulating, a sort of mal à l'aise somehow slipped over them whenever they spoke for too long. She admired Cosima - her quick mind, her wit, her perspective... and perhaps more than that Delphine admits to herself, flushing once again. Less than a month ago she'd been in bed with Rémy, he'd been her lover off and on for nearly a year. The sex had been the easiest part of a rocky relationship. She'd enjoyed it. She cannot possibly be sexually interested in Cosima, she is not a homosexual. Delphine's rational mind asserts. But then again...
Leekie's voice interrupts her thoughts, "And if you don't have plans, you're welcome to take up the second bedroom in my rented house -"
Realizing she must response quickly, Delphine answers, "I have plans, I am going to Rome with the rest of the group."
Aldous hesitates, lighting a second cigarette, "So you'll be rooming with Cosima then." He nods, thinking something she cannot quite place. Does he see it? The way she looks at Cosima? The immutable lightness she feels just being around her. And sometimes... it's ridiculously easy.
Half the group has now moved to prepping the second chamber for excavation with Dr. Leekie and Cosima, she remains here with the other four students, sketching out the excavated burials. Few grave goods were found, some pottery, amphoras and the like. A few remnants of gold jewelry, to Leekie's great disappointed it appeared this chamber had been looted, making him eager to move on to the next. With only a half-day of dig ahead of them, they were all motivated to work quickly.
It's quiet, Delphine keeps her skeletal reference book with her as she examines the burials one by one. The juvenile first. She checks the bones for fused growth plates - unfused clavicles, femora, she tallies up the bones. She knows already nothing has fused - this child being clearly pre-adolescence, but she follows procedure regardless filling out her form. She makes a note of the persistent metopic suture, pencilling it in on her chart. She peers forward, pleased that the child hasn't lost teeth post-mortem. This will be easy work.
"So what do we have?" Cosima's voice rings out from behind her, disturbing her work.
"What are you doing here?" Delphine asks, turning around in delighted surprise.
"Yeah," Cosima indicates the large padded case around her neck, "Camera, I begged Dr. Leekie to allow me to photograph the three burials."
"Yes, please do." Delphine steps back, watching Cosima gesture students or equipment out her way with a wave of her near-constantly moving hands. They seemed to understand what she wanted, and moved themselves and their belongings out of the way. She adjusts the lighting and snaps two pictures of each burial before settling down next to Delphine.
"I can tell it's a child, but can you tell me why?" Cosima's inquisitive nature shines through once again, and Delphine is only to happy to indulge her.
She smiles back, things seem easy again, "The size, the unfused growth plates, but mainly the teeth. Permanent dentition has begun to replace the deciduous teeth, and the child has their first permanent molars, with the seconds probably ready to break through as well."
"How old?" Cosima asks.
"Between seven and ten years." Delphine states decisively, "Though I will be able to get a better look back in the lab."
"And the others? Can I look at Leekie's warrior with you?" They move excitedly and resettle next to the first adult burial, now uncovered.
"Of course." Delphine is aware of what Cosima wants, "It's an adult, the bones are all fused - but age determination is harder with adults." She admits shrugging, "For example for a sample that is 30 or 45 - sometimes there's very little difference. I won't be able to finish age determination until the lab."
"Okay, so, what about the sex?" Cosima points at the skeleton's pelvis, "I mean, my human skeletal biology course was not really... that helpful here. Refresher?"
Delphine examines the pelvis, gingerly picking up the ilia with her hands, careful not to damage the rest of the burial, "Ventral arc, subpubic concavity." Delphine begins to laugh, turning the left ilium in her hand.
"What is it?" Cosima's looking at her, wondering what she sees. Delphine checks through her skeletal reference again, comparing the markers of sex that seem so obvious now.
"The pelvis is textbook female." Delphine giggles again, unable to help herself glancing at the spear again.
Cosima's eyebrows raise, but she cannot stop smiling either, "Textbook female? So not just female-ish, or indeterminate?"
"Very much a she." Delphine grins happily squeezing Cosima's closest hand in her own.
"I know it doesn't matter, as long as we follow scientific process. But I am like so happy right now." Cosima's grinning back at her, "Teach me some more."
"Alright." Delphine smiles back happily, thrilled that things are easy again, and she does.
They're called in early, belongings quickly packed before they pile into Leekie's van and are driven expediently to the closest metro station. The radio blasts an unfamiliar song in Italian, and several students pretend to sing along with large sweeping hand movements.
Leekie rolls his eyes, and seems somewhat relieved to have dropped them off and to be rid of them for the weekend.
"Okay, so the plan is to ride the subway into Rome." Cosima grins again, "Cheap, effective and then we'll ...umm someone else will find the hotel. Scott you have the map?"
"Yeah. Got it Cosima."
"Then we're good."
"I can't wait to get on the dance floor." Jamie exclaims loudly.
"Soon enough." Rob nods his head, "Won't be long now"
"I don't think I brought anything suited for a disco." Delphine admits quietly.
"It's fine - you can borrow something of mine!" Karen volunteers happily, "I can't wait."
Cosima's grinning right along with them, "Neither can I, though we should check in and grab a bite to eat first."
**
It's quite the transformation, Delphine is stunned by the change in Cosima's appearance when she exits their room's bathroom. Her long dark hair is loose and wavy, down to the middle of her back. The pants have been replaced by a long colourful maxi skirt, it was all very ... bohemian. It suited the brunette, in an irresistible way.
"You ready to go?" Cosima's voice interrupts her admiration, "Wow, where'd you get that?"
"Yes. I borrowed it from Karen." Delphine's own hair is loose, falling in curls. She gestures over her clothes, a borrowed purple jumpsuit. Karen had opted for a tiny skirt, and had been too happy to loan the jumpsuit to Delphine.
"You go to discos a lot?"
Delphine bites her lip before admitting, "No... just eight-tracks in my apartment, mostly."
Cosima laughs, "It's gonna be awesome, I promise."
They're a colourful bunch of tourists, scouring Rome for a disco, and finding one within an hour. Hitting the bar, the first round of drinks is consumed quickly, except Cosima cannot stand still long enough to drink - quickly getting on the dance floor, and is soon followed by the others. Masses of Romans and tourists jive to the music on the dance floor.
"Come on and dance Delphine!" Cosima shouts over the music, holding out her own hands to her. Cosima's hands move as fluidly to the music as her hips.
And so... beautiful, Delphine finds herself mesmerized by Cosima, absolutely beautiful. She watches Cosima spin herself in a circle before joining in properly herself. It's hard to stand still to disco - and even Scott has joined in, despite his clumsiness.
Delphine dances easily, standing up, Rob clumsily trying to dance with her as soon as she walks on to the dance floor. He bucks his hips almost obnoxiously in Delphine's direction who raises her eyebrows slightly before hesitating.
"Okay, Romeo, I'm cutting in." Cosima shakes her head, laughing slightly at her own lack of resistance. She pulls Delphine in by the hand, dancing with her. The warmth of Cosima's hand is stunning, nearly electric and when she meets her eyes for a moment Delphine is convinced that this...whatever it is... must be mutual. Irresistibly her mind offers a theory - la décharge électrique de l'amour? Ça existe? Delphine finds herself wondering in stunned bemusement as they dance for a few blissful minutes. Voices silenced by the loud music.
Delphine's confused at first by Cosima's movements, a moment ago her dancing was entirely feminine, but suddenly her small body mimics that of a male dancer, complete with twitching her own hips.
The song changes, dances fluidly moving into the hustle. She laughs and joins in happily, following Cosima for the steps. The evening passes quickly, though sadly too loud to really talk. She drinks instead when she wants the break, men instantly buying her glasses of wine whenever she wanders up to the bar. Cosima's nearly always looking at her, even when teaching Scott the hustle, though she seems to have wandered off to the bar for the time being.
She can't deny that it's fun, a nice break from the dig, and when she's asked to dance, she says yes, quite happily downing the rest of her drink to join the handsome stranger on the dance floor. American, she notes the accent, probably a tourist.
The dance is fine, though after several minutes the stranger's mouth is on hers as she's pushed towards a corner, and out of the way of the dancers, away from the lights and the disco ball. It's alright she supposes, wine dulling her senses, the stranger's tongue overzealously poking at her tonsils. Though large hands have found her hips, and she can already feel proof of his excitement between them. She knows, her mind as foggy as it is, that this is not want she wants. Not from this stranger. Not even, she admits guiltily, from Rémy.
Delphine finally manages to break away, "I'm sharing a room with a friend." Delphine explains, gently pushing the young man off of her. She takes deep gulps of oxygen, she'd needed more air than this stranger had been allowing her to inhale. Where was Cosima? A dance was fun, but she wanted to get back to her friend!
He laughs, and she finally hears his voice, "We don't need a room, babe, just a dark corner like this one." He reaches to unzip his fly with one hand, the other pressing down on her shoulder. He's larger than she is, it's definitely time to go. Even her drunken mind knows that much. Maybe dancing to 8-tracks alone in her room has its advantages after all.
"Ah. Non." Delphine shakes her head, as she's about to launch into a longer refusal Cosima shows up.
He catches her accent this time, "Oh, French. Hot." He smiles at her, hands gripping her arms firmly as she plans her escape.
Cosima quickly pushes her body between the two of them, "Not tonight, buddy."
"What?" The boy blinks, stunned for a moment, "So this is a two for one deal?"
"No. Get lost." Cosima steps forward, trying to make her small frame as imposing as possible. Cosima's glass is quickly tipped forward spilling beer all over the stranger. His shiny pink paisley shirt stained with beer.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? No one asked you..." He slinks off, eyeing the floor for another target.
"Thank you." Delphine's shaken slightly by Cosima's choice of tactic, it worked, she supposed.
"He may have just, you know, ended up puking on you instead. But then that's still pretty gross." Cosima turns to face her, "I figured, strange man, dark corner was a bad thing. But, you know, if that's really your thing - I'm sure I could go get him back for you...or find another better one..."
"He was very drunk," Delphine confesses, "I could smell it. Would you have...?"
"Gone off with him? No! Spunk or vomit, vomit or spunk," Cosima made a show of weighing things out with her hands, "I can't decide which one is worse."
"Spunk?" Delphine repeated slightly confused.
"Semen." Cosima clarifies, a little sheepishly with a sly grin.
Delphine laughs, "No I don't... never..." She shakes her head reaching for phrasing, talking about sex in English was just so... unnatural. She doesn't do that... but how to say that without offending Cosima? Would it offend?
"Never again." Cosima nods interrupting her awkward speech, making a concession for honesty, "I have a friend who says that's why you don't let them finish in your mouth, but um... gross."
Unsure of how to react, Delphine simply laughs, "Can we go ...somewhere else?" Somewhere else, alone with Cosima, she smiles to herself at the thought.
"Yeah, of course." Smiling again, Cosima dances her way across the bar, "We should probably go find the others and let them know."
She finds Karen and Jamie casually drinking beers while sizing up the locals, resting their likely sore feet for a few moments.
"Cosima and I are going to head out and get some air, do you want to come with?" Delphine's not sure she wants to invite them, but decides to go for it regardless.
Karen looks at her very seriously for a moment, "You're going to disappear off with Cosima for the rest of the night?"
Delphine looks at Karen in disbelief, "Well... yes. What's wrong with that?"
"What? You don't know?" Karen cackles madly, seemingly amused by this, "First you agree to share a room and a bed with her. And now this?"
"Now what?" Delphine shakes her head, "Cosima is fun, and kind and intelligent." She cannot believe the flack Cosima is getting from these students of hers, especially with how patient she is with them excavating.
"She's a dyke!" Karen exclaims loudly letting the bottom of her glass clank against the table.
"What?" Delphine repeats glancing over at Cosima who's waving at her from near the door.
"Everyone knows Cosima is a dyke. She doesn't hide it. She's our T.A. and most of us know. The whole damn archeology department knows... more or less. I mean you get your picture taken in the Pride March and... hard to hide that." Jamie adds in, calmer than her friend.
Her brow furrows as she glances over at Cosima, making her way towards the door. Dyke? Homosexual? When Delphine thought of homosexuals she always thought of men, of sodomy, for some reason. Of course there were female ones, but she'd never spent much time thinking about it at all... until recently. Until her own dreams had become... strange. A stray thought crosses her mind, blocking out everything else for a moment. Cosima is homosexual, her dreams are...possible.
"I mean she's not dangerous or anything." Karen adds in, "But... you probably don't want to go off with her alone... I mean..."
"Yeah." Jamie nods, taking a long swig of her beer, "So want to have a seat? A beer?"
"Non." Delphine's shaking her head, it's a surprise... sort of, but then again...
"You're still going?" Karen raises an eyebrow.
"Yes," Delphine answers without thinking, "I'd rather go be sodomized by Cosima than sit here and speak about her cruelly with the two of you." Drunkenly, she's aware she's said things that don't quite make sense... she really needs some air.
"The fuck?" Jamie looks at Karen in disbelief, "You're joking right? How drunk are you?"
Delphine shrugs and walks towards the exit, the night air, and Cosima.
The look on Delphine's face is obvious once she's close enough, "Hey, you ready to go?" Cosima asks, reaching to pull the door open for both of them as they leave.
"Yes."
"What is it?" She knows the answer of course, but waits for Delphine to ask.
"Is it true?" The blonde plays with her own curls nervously. Oh, they've told her... or someone has anyways.
"Yes. It's true." Cosima nods. "But umm... I prefer lesbian. Dyke is, like, really offensive."
"Okay. Let's go." Delphine nods, grabbing Cosima by the hand and pulls her out into the street. Patios from cafés and restaurants line the street, despite the late hour all the restaurants are nearly full of patrons - eating, laughing and drinking.
"I think I love Rome." Cosima admits casually.
"It's beautiful... and tomorrow we get to see more of it... " Delphine's distracted, she can tell that much. Just drunk maybe?
Noticing her new friend's wobbliness, "Hey, how about we get something to eat and you sit for a bit, okay?"
"Oui." Delphine agrees, and they wander into a nearby café, Cosima tries to work out lira into dollars, until Delphine stops her and simply orders for both of them. It seems, their waiter spoke French, easing the need for either of them to speak Italian.
"This is amazing," Cosima looks around at the varied patrons, at the parents and grandparent leading their happy children from the gelateria, happily eating gelato, probably on their way home to bed. "I mean look how alive it is, and whole families out together just... stuffing themselves with gelato. Rome is... awesome."
"I've been to Rome before." Delphine volunteers as Cosima pushes a piece of bread towards her, in hopes having more food in her stomach will stabilize Delphine somewhat.
"With your boyfriend?" Cosima offers, more to remind herself than anything. She cannot forget, despite the way Delphine looks at her, despite the way the blonde's hand feels in her own, that Delphine is straight. No more straight girls, she'd promised herself, and she intended to keep it.
"No. Not Rémy." Delphine snorts, "He... had no interest in things like this."
Cosima shakes her head, "It's pretty romantic."
"He didn't care about romance, or archeology or..." Delphine stops herself with a sigh, "If I date another archeology student he is threatened by me, if I date an older archeologist he treats me like a pet and if I date someone like Rémy... he doesn't care or understand or even try. C'est fou." Delphine pauses to take a liberal gulp of water.
"Older archeologists." Cosima winces, it reminds her of Leekie, of what she forces herself to imagine to turn herself off Delphine.
"Before Rémy... a prof in his late thirties." Delphine snorts again, "Married...maudit menteur... I found out. Mon premier amoureux."
"I'm sorry." Cosima doesn't quite know what to say, Delphine didn't seem to be aware she was switching languages, "Better to be alone I guess?"
"Always alone... I am always alone. Even when I was with Rémy." Delphine begins to laugh drunkenly, and then she sings, "Qu'on est toujours toute seul au monde." "What's that song?"
"Les uns contre les autres. Starmania." Delphine grins, "I saw it last month in Paris."
"Sounds...interesting. What does it mean?"
"Knowing you're always alone." Delphine begins, "Disconnected, even with people."
"You're not alone now." Cosima reaches forward, before thinking better of it and pulling back her own hand just as their food arrives.
"No," Delphine's smile reaches her eyes, her face flushed from the wine, "I am not alone
with you. You understand."
"Du vin?" Vino? You ladies want wine?" Their server asks glancing between the two of them as he places bowls of pasta in front of them.
"Oui! Une bouteille!" Delphine nods enthusiastically at the same time as Cosima responds with emphatic shaking of her head.
"Okay. Wine." The young man nods and disappears off to fetch them a bottle. Oh well... the food should help anyways.
"Mais au bout du compte, on se rend compte qu'on est toujours tout seul au monde..." Delphine sings again, "I liked Starmania."
"It's beautiful Delphine, but...so sad."
Delphine shrugs, "Thing are sad. The child burial is sad, but fascinating quand même, tu sais? You understand me, Cosima?"
"I think so." Cosima nods, "I think you need to eat though, especially if we have more wine coming."
"Yes. Yes. Let's eat." Delphine grins picking up her fork.
They reluctantly pay and leave the restaurant, wandering the winding, hilly cobblestoned streets of Rome back towards their hotel.
"I won't take Rémy back this time." Delphine states out of the blue, pausing to sit on the edge of a random fountain. "Not again..." She spits on the sidewalk for what Cosima assumes is emphasis.
"That's good," Cosima's own head beginning to spin from the shared bottle of wine, "He's not good enough for you anyways."
"It was always, Delphine why do you have to go on dig? Why do you want to spend so much time at the lab? And he grew this stupid mustache..."
Cosima laughs drunkenly in return unable to help herself, "Yeah that's a lot of guys."
"Cosima, why don't you like men? Why ...why are you? Were you always?" Delphine looks at her, flushed, confused and entirely too close for comfort.
"Well, yeah, I always liked women. But.. I did experiment a little which was just gross..." Cosima gags, "But homosexual behaviour exists across the animal kingdom, and history, I mean think of the art we find that has homosexual behaviour depicted on it between humans."
"Yes," Delphine nods thinking, her brow furrowing, "But exclusive homosexual behaviour or identity is rare... with animals or in antiquity. It's the behaviour not an...identity?" the blonde suggests cautiously.
Cosima pauses in her walking, "I had this prof once who told us that whatever a culture deems as normal the vast majority of a population will simply fall in line with it. There's always a small percentage of deviants though, whatever the norms. Whether that's obligatory generosity within the group, or sexual mores."
Delphine smiles again, surprisingly, "Then maybe few of us are really exclusively anything."
"It's possible." Cosima nods, "But, identity is valid, I am a lesbian Delphine... men don't... they're not..." She tries to find a way to phrase it and falls short. Whether it's the alcohol still clouding her brain or Delphine's proximity she cannot be sure.
"No, no, that's not what I meant." Delphine squeezes her hand again.
Shit, Cosima gulps down an urge to pull Delphine to her here, in a still living street, in a Roman night. "Tell me about something, anything."
"I'm happy here." Delphine sighs, not letting go of her hand, "Why don't you tell me about your research. Your last dig."
"It was just a west coast thing." Cosima shrugs off the question for now, "You going to sing again?"
"Maybe." Delphine smiles, not releasing Cosima's hand until they've reached their hotel.
Once they're in the hall stumbling, all they can hear is a woman's loud moaning in the next room.
Cosima giggles louder, "Oh god... it's Karen or Jamie." She points at the door next to theirs. She finds herself completely unable to contain her laughter, she doubles over wheezing for air.
"Shh." Delphine shushes her, drunkly groping in her purse for the room key before trying to unlock the door. In their room the sounds are louder if anything
The woman's cries echo loudly through the walls, "Aaaah! Aaaaah! Aaa-aahh!"
"I think it's Jamie." Cosima says, tilting her head to the side, "Wow... someone's having a nice night."
Delphine bursts into drunken laughter again, she changes quickly in her pajamas, not bothering to turn her back, but even drunk, Cosima turns around to change. Offering her privacy. Hearing one of the students in the throes of orgasm just makes them both laugh drunkenly, fumbling around the small bathroom to remove their make-up. They're both half-undressed but neither cares at the moment.
After a few moments of silence, the moaning begins again accompanied by the dull rhythmic thump of a headboard hitting the wall.
"Do you think this will go on a while?" Delphine allows her body to flop onto the bed. "No clue." Cosima shrugs, washing off the last of her make-up and patting her face dry.
"Cosima, do you wish I wasn't with you? That you could have taken someone home?"
Cosima tilts her head considering, now clad in a t-shirt and sleeping shorts, "Not really. Delphine, I really like you. I'd rather spend my night dancing with you. Drinking with you. Talking with you."
"Is it over?" Delphine gestures towards the wall their room shares with Jamie and Karen's. "From the sounds of the thumping? Probably not." Cosima is right, of course, and the woman begins to cry out again, even louder.
"She's so loud!" Delphine exclaims flopping into bed, "There is no reason to be that loud."
"Maybe she's really into it? I'm sure you've created some noise pollution before." Cosima climbs into the bed herself, back facing her. Delphine finds herself reaching out a hand to to the brunette's shoulder before she stops herself.
The noises are affecting her in an unexpected way, her body already tight from proximity to Cosima, Delphine sighs shifting again, "No... I am never that loud..."
"Just don't like making noise?" Cosima offers as the woman's noises quiet again briefly before crying out again.
Jamie's voice is barely muffled, "Oh god, yes! Just like that!"
"Not like that... Are you going to be okay?" Delphine notices her distress, Cosima is suddenly tense and it's difficult to ignore.
"I'll be fine." Cosima assures her, a hand brushing gently against curly blonde hair before pulling away. She's unable to stop herself from picturing Delphine like that, making those sounds for her. "Fuck, I've had too much to drink." Cosima finishes her thought aloud.
"Me too." Delphine giggles again, a hand going to hold Cosima's, feeling incredibly warm and stimulating, she lets her thumb gently stroke Cosima's wrist.
"Maybe she just likes being loud?" Cosima suggests as a few more cries punctuate their conversation. Eager to distract from the gentle torture being carried out on her own body.
Delphine pauses, listening to the woman's noises quiet again, now joined by the low mumbling of a male voice, "Did she... again?"
"Sounds like she came three times," Cosima turns around next to her, "For a random hook-up? Impressive. Three-orgasm man is certainly going to make it hard for others to compete. Unless she's like found herself a Roman boyfriend, it would explain why her field journal is such a mess..." "Three?" Delphine blinks again, momentarily releasing Cosima's hand, "Three?!"
"Oh... Delphine." Cosima shakes her head laughing, "What am I going to do with you?"
"What do you want to do with me?" Delphine answers, her sleepy brain and alcohol lowering her inhibitions. Yes, a smaller part of her mind insists, wanting Cosima to want her, to feel the fire she cannot control in her body at Cosima's touch - no matter how brief or gentle.
"Please tell me you didn't just say that." Cosima groans into her pillow. "Go to sleep, Delphine. I like you too much to be having this conversation."
Delphine props herself up on her hands instead, leaning over Cosima, "I like you too, Cosima." She says softly.
"You're drunk. You like everyone right now. Go to sleep."
She tries to sleep, they both do, but within minutes there's a rapping at the door, growing more insistent until Cosima presses herself up out of bed to answer it.
"Yes?" Cosima calls first, not opening the door.
"It's Karen... I can't get into my room. I can't crash with Scott - Greg will probably show up again soon."
She unlatches the bolt, "So you want to crash in here with Delphine and I?" Cosima cocks her head, more in surprise than anything else, Delphine surmises.
"No... but... I don't have a choice." Karen rolls her eyes, and the door opens,.
"Okay, climb in." Cosima shrugs, "It'll be a tight fit with three of us though."
Delphine's brow furrows in annoyance, this is not what she wants, she wants to be alone with Cosima. Not ... this. How can she even try to broach the attraction she feels with Karen in the room? Never mind the bed...
"I don't want to sleep next to you." Karen addresses Cosima, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Here. I will sleep in between you." Delphine throws herself in the middle of the bed, "Now, get some sleep - as I think your room is still occupied."
"Fine, just don't like touch me." Karen emphasizes, crawling in on the other side of Delphine.
Cosima snorts, "Don't want to."
Karen's presence kills any desire for conversation and it's harder to sleep than she thought, on her side between Karen and Cosima Eventually, they sleep, but whenever she wakes during the night she scoots closer to Cosima, the brunette smells like wine and sweat... but it's strangely inoffensive, Delphine muses. She longs to curl her body around Cosima's, but instead closes her eyes and wills her body into unconsciousness once again.
