As they walked out into the night, the heat from the August afternoon dissipating, Delphine sighed and Cosima swung their entwined hands slightly.

They reached La Rambla quickly, the tree-lined, tiled pathway leading from the old town straight to the sea. Soft blue lights wrapped around the trunks and branches, giving the night an ethereal quality.

"Felix, is not going to believe this story," Cosima said chuckling. "I've been checking in with him every few days, him and Sarah, and they've been making fun of my lonely little jaunt through Europe."

"What will you tell them?" She leaned to the side and cocked her head a bit, hand on her hip, striking a pose as if being appraised. "What am I like in this story of yours?"

Cosima held her free hand up to her own cheek, pinky by her lips, thumb at her ear, forming a make-believe telephone. "Let's find out? I'll call him."

Delphine shook her head and laughed, "d'accord."

"Hey Felix, buddy, how's it going? How's Colin?" Cosima nodded to Delphine.

"Um, yeah, Colin is great, everything is going well here in … San Francisco?" Delphine-as-Felix said hesitatingly, lowering her voice to a husky interpretation of a man with an American accent.

Cosima laughed, the affect all wrong. "Great, great, yeah, well, you know it's my last day of the trip, and it's been pretty boring, I mean, there was this really awful couple on the train, nearly mauled this poor boy…" She trailed off, stopping.

"Anything else?" Delphine raised an eyebrow, "Meet anyone interesting on this train."

"Nah, nope, pretty status quo." The blonde turned slightly to face Cosima as they walked, dropping her own mock telephone, and narrowing her eyes, challenging the brunette.

Cosima smiled widely, tongue behind teeth, "No, actually Felix, I met this, like, angel on the train. She's so smart – basically the first thing she said to me was about prion diseases." She stopped for a beat as if listening to the other end of the line, "I know right, talk science to me, that's like my catnip. And she has this big, beautiful heart. That's when I fell for her, right there in the dining car when she talked about healing people the world has forgotten. Yep, I was a goner. I thought maybe I was dreaming, my heart conjuring this perfect person while I was sleeping. But she's here with me right now." Cosima stopped a moment, listening to some imagined question, "Yep, I'm looking at her as we speak." With that she turned to meet Delphine's eyes, talking more slowly. "You wouldn't believe it, she's gorgeous. She's got these bouncy wild blonde curls, the biggest hazel eyes you've ever seen. And her laugh. Man. Did I mention she's French?"

Delphine's smile was broad, open, a low laugh shaking her shoulders as she looked down at Cosima's joyful face, framed by dreadlocks. She was astonished at how the small woman saw her, how flattering the light around her must be to Cosima's eyes. She hadn't missed the words, "I fell for her", and her stomach flipped.

"Cosima that was …" she just smiled back at her, running her fingers through her hair, sweeping it to the other side, then squeezed the other woman's hand, their fingers still interlaced, "thank you."

"Should I go now? I should call my friend Danielle, I'm supposed to be having brunch with her tomorrow, and I think I am going to miss it."

Cosima nodded, curious.

"Brrrrrng, brrrng. Brrrrng, brrrrrng. Cosima, are you going to answer the phone?!"

"Oh, um, Allo," she said in a harsh attempt at a French accent.

"Allo, Danielle, comment ca va?"

"Wonderful, looking forward to our brunch tomorrow, I want to hear all about your grandmother, she's such a lovely lady."

Points for Cosima, she thought. "Oui, well, Danielle, that's the thing, I think I may need to cancel brunch tomorrow … I know, I know. I, um, I met someone on the train between Valencia and Barcelona …. Non, it is not scandalous," she said to the question from Danielle, as she quirked an eyebrow at Cosima, joking, then her words came out in a rush. "She is brilliant. Her name is Cosima and she is a scientist, but she also takes these beautiful photographs too, a storyteller. She is this little compact ball of energy, always bouncing on the soles of her feet or speaking with her hands in wild spirals. She speaks in these American idioms, sometimes I can't follow them, sometimes they simply do not make sense, but they always make me laugh." It's her turn to pause, looking at Cosima, who's dropped the fake phone, looking at her with a grin and a cocked eyebrow. "Go oooon," she says, waving her hand for her to continue.

"You know," she sighed, as if she truly was talking to her best friend, "this girl makes me feel so alive, like no matter what I do, I will win." She recovers from the serious words, saying in a goofy tone, "Well, she asked me to get off the train with her in Barcelona, Danielle. And … And I did." A pause. "I know, I know it's crazy, but we've had a wonderful day, and I think we will spend the night here in Barcelona somewhere. I think there is still so much to, to … talk … about." With that she fake hung-up.