Wow okay I'm really sorry this took so long to write and this chapter really isn't very long either so please if I take too long to update go smack me on the head


"Delphine?" Cosima stood there, in shock. Delphine was here. Delphine Beraud was at a DYAD event. No, Delphine Cormier, not Beraud. Delphine Cormier.

Leekie looked over at Delphine. "You know each other?"

She looked down sheepishly. "Y-yes, a little."

Instead of yelling at her, which she seemed to expect, Leekie smiled and threw up his hands in delight. "That's great! Why don't you two go talk?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Cosima said, eyeing Delphine. "I'd love to talk."

"Oh, see, I think it would be better to stay here! To speak with our parents, of course," Delphine countered, her voice startlingly high. "I'd love to meet your mother, Cosima."

Cosima's mother smiled over at Delphine. "Oh, what a nice girl! So polite." She elbowed Cosima and whispered under her breath, "I'd like to see you act a little more like her."

Cosima rolled her eyes. "Yeah, she's very polite, mother. You know what? I think a great idea would be to go off and talk about how I could be more like her. Wouldn't you say that's a good idea, mom?"

Cosima's mother opened her mouth to speak, but Leekie cut her off. "Oh, you girls shouldn't worry about being so polite tonight – it's a party! Have fun."

Cosima just nodded and grabbed Delphine's arm. "That's a great idea, Mr. Leekie, I'll see you later!" She marched off to the side of the room with Delphine trailing behind her, hearing laughter and something along the lines of "teenagers, huh?"

Cosima crossed her arms and stared up at Delphine, trying to ignore the fact that a stout man with thinning black hair was shoving cheese into his mouth at an alarming rate directly behind her.

"So, Delphine Cormier. Cormier, huh? Not Beraud."

"Cosima, I can explain-"

"No, no! I wanted to thrust you!"

"I know, I am so sorry, Cosima I just –" She stopped speaking suddenly. "You wanted to what?"

Cosima yelled back, "I wanted to trust you, Delphine! Or is the word 'trust' too foreign for you to understand it?"

"That is not what you said."

Cosima's brow furrowed. "Yes it is. What are you talking about?"

"Well, you said, err, thrust. You wanted to thrust me." She scratched her neck and looked away, as if it was awkward to say out loud.

"No I didn't."

"Yes, I think you did, Cosima."

"No I didn't!" Cosima could feel colour rising into her cheeks. Maybe she had said thrust. Damn you, Freudian slips!

"Cosima, I am sure of what you said, you did indeed say thr-"

"No! Stop! No I didn't. Ugh, I'm mad at you! Can't we just get back to the conversation? Delphine, why would you even do that?" Cosima could feel her voice softening, even though she was no less angry.

The man who had previously been shoving cheese into his mouth was now staring at the two girls, popping crackers into his mouth instead, as if they were a TV show to be observed.

"Get lost!" Cosima yelled at the man, who jumped up as if he had forgotten they were actually there and shuffled away, ears burning bright red.

Cosima turned back to Delphine and huffed at her. "What kind of person even lies about their last name? What good would it do?"

Delphine stared at her feet. "I didn't – I, I didn'tâ€Ĥ" She took a deep breath. "I didn't want you to associate me with him. N-no one decent likes him, and you are so great, Cosima. I did not want to be tainted by his name."

"Oh yeah? Well you're tainted anyway." She began to walk away when a hand grabbed her bicep.

"Cosima, what is so bad about it anyway? It's just a last name! Why does it matter if I am not Delphine Beraud? I'm still me!"

She yanked her arm away from Delphine and turned back to her. "No! No you aren't! How do I know you weren't lying about all of that too?"

"Cosima, I wasn't! I swear!"

"I wanted to trust you, Delphine!"

"You can trust me!"

"You know Leekie! And you lied to me about it! Why would you even lie to me about that? What possible good could come from it, Delphine?" Cosima's throat burned from screaming, but she couldn't seem to get herself to stop.

"I don't want you to look at me like I'm his! Like I'm some sort of spy or copy of him! I dislike him as much as you do, Cosima! Why does this even matter? It is not like I chose him!"

"But you chose to lie to me!" She sighed and cleared her throat. "Not saying who your father was, or telling me you had plans tonight, I knew it was bullshit. That you were hiding something, at least. But I still thought you'd tell me if it was something this big."

"I would tell you!"

"Obviously not."

Delphine looked down at her feet again, turning her foot in circles. "I'm sorry, Cosima."

"Me too." She looked away, turning to face her mother. "I have to go." She turned on her heel and stormed back to where her mother was speaking to Dr. Leekie.

"Cosima, wait! Why does this matter so much to you?"

Cosima didn't answer.

Navigating through the crowd to get to her mother was more difficult than she thought it would be. There were waiters and tall men and women in big puffy dresses and it took her much longer than she would care to admit to finally reach her mom. Her mom and Leekie were talking about something, laughing even, as her dad stood behind them awkwardly sipping his wine. His face lit up at Cosima walking towards them, but quickly darkened when he saw the expression she was wearing.

"Cos?" he began.

"I want to go home," she said.

He tried to hide his pleasure. "You know, I don't know if that's a good idea, we just got here, but if you really need to I guess that's oka-"

"No, Dad, I really need to go home."

"Cosima? What's wrong?"

She ignored his question and tapped her mother's shoulder, trying not to notice the death stare she gave her when she turned around.

"What is it Cosima, can't you see I'm speaking to Doctor Leekie?" He words seemed casual enough, but her tone said 'I'll murder you in your sleep if you don't leave right now.'

"I want to go home."

"Cosima, I thought we established that we weren't going to go home until the party was over, right?"

Cosima sighed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep tears from falling down her cheeks. "Please, mom? I'm just really not feeling good."

Her mother's expression softened when she saw the moisture threatening to leak out of her daughter's eyes. "Okay, honey," she said. She turned to Leekie. "I'm so sorry Doctor, my daughter isn't feeling well. I'm afraid I have to go home. Good night."

Before he even had the chance to reply, the Niehaus' were out the door and walking towards their car.

"You better have a good reason for this," said Cosima's mother, holding her daughters arm tighter than she would have preferred.

Cosima just looked away.