Author's Note: Ugh. So, technology has not been my friend as of late. I intended to have this chapter up much sooner (as well as Shelter), but my laptop was being an asshole. It's fixed now (I think), so expect more frequent updates (yay!). Not only that, but now that the season is over, I feel that I desperately need to fill my OB void (something I'm sure all of you are also experiencing), so I've been doing a lot more writing. So, expect more pieces out of me in the near future. Enjoy and let me know what you think :)
"Oi, Cos! Over here!"
She spots Sarah and Alison in the corner of the waiting room, the housewife anxiously pacing back and forth, face buried in her hands and eyes bloodshot. Sarah is sprawled in an uncomfortable looking chair, her left knee bouncing rapidly. The dreadlocked clone expels a tiny sigh of relief and ventures over to her sisters, Delphine at her side.
"What's she doing here?" Sarah asks, motioning her head in Delphine's direction.
"Uh... well... uh... I called her when Alison told me... I thought... um..."
She turns to Delphine, hoping the blonde will have a better excuse for her presence, but Delphine is just as stunted as she is. She had been so anxious over the news of Beth that she hadn't even bothered to think of something to tell the others about why she was with Delphine so early in the morning. Sarah's worried face shifts, a crooked smirk finding its way between her cheeks. After exchanging a few glances back and forth between Cosima and Delphine, she is able to put the pieces together herself.
"Well, fuck me," she drawls, trying to contain her laughter. "Or you, apparently."
"Not now, Sarah. Please," Cosima warns her.
"Yes. Can we please not do this now. Beth is dying," Alison snaps.
"She's gonna be fine!" Sarah retorts. "She's tough, yeah? She's gonna pull through."
Cosima nods in agreement, walking over to where Alison is and pulling her into a tentative hug. Of all of her sisters, Cosima is closest to Sarah, just as Alison is closest to Beth, so she understands the soccer mom's distress very well. It dawns on the scientist that despite the connection all of them share, they've been relatively limited with physical contact, as if they're almost too afraid to touch each other and submit to the realness of their situation; she's never once hugged Alison before and she finds it strange that it has taken a tragedy for her to do so. She'll have to remember to do it more often in the future.
While Cosima is attempting to soothe Alison, Delphine takes a seat next to Sarah.
"How is she?" the blonde asks.
Sarah shrugs and releases a deep sigh.
"The bullet missed her heart, but just barely. The doctors said it's still inside of her, so they're trying to remove it now," Sarah explains. "So, I don't really know what that means. You're the doctor, you probably have a better idea of how she's doing, yeah?"
"If the bullet missed her vital organs, then it's promising," Delphine replies with a smile, a harbinger of hope.
"Oh, yes. Very promising. Someone shot Beth in the park on her morning run, but that's promising," Alison interjects. "Promising that someone wants our sister dead."
"Hey, take it easy. She's just trying to help," Cosima says.
"If she wants to help, she can find out who shot Beth!"
"No arguments there," Sarah mumbles.
"And how is she supposed to do that? She's just a doctor, guys. How would she know any more than we do?"
Delphine's head drops as Cosima tries to defend her. Of course, the tattooed girl has no idea that the blonde does, in fact, have some sort of knowledge surrounding the entire situation; she may not know who's responsible for Beth's attack, but she knows that whoever it is has a taste for clone blood and that the three women in the waiting room with her are most likely next on the hit list. Cosima drops down next to Delphine, finding the doctor's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. Delphine smiles absently as her fingers toy and intertwine with Cosima's, the two women trying their best to be discreet in their light display of affection. The astute British clone spies the gesture out of the corner of her eye and a small smile creeps onto her face, though she says nothing. It isn't until many minutes of silence pass that Cosima finally speaks again.
"Hey. Where's Paul?" she asks, as if suddenly remembering the existence of Beth's boyfriend.
Paul hadn't invaded her train of thought until that very moment. She knew Beth said he was emotionally distant, but this seemed like the sort of situation when one would put that all aside to be there for the woman he loved, who was currently fighting for her life. Emotionally distant or not, his absence was noted.
"On some sort of business trip," Alison answers. "The doctors called him first, naturally. He said he'd be on the next flight, but who knows when he'll actually get here."
Cosima nods, accepting the answer because she has no other option. The air is beginning to hang heavy in the waiting room as the four women wait to hear news of Beth's condition. An hour passes before a doctor finally emerges and everyone is on their feet, waiting to hear the news.
"We managed to remove the bullet," the older man in scrubs explains. "For now, her condition is critical but stable. It'll be a long road, but she's expected to make a full recovery."
"Jesus bloody Christ," Sarah expels, her knees nearly buckling in relief.
Alison releases a sob, her hands immediately shooting to her mouth to muffle the noises. Sarah places a comforting hand on her shoulder, nudging her gently in one of her awkward attempts to show affection.
"I told you she'd be alright, yeah? She's a fighter."
Alison nods fiercely and pulls Sarah into a tight hug, something that catches everybody off guard, especially the punk. Cosima smiles and releases the breath she wasn't aware she was holding. She feels Delphine's hand snake up her back, coming to rest on the back of her neck, caressing her gently.
"She's currently sedated. If you'd like to go home and get some rest, she won't be awake for quite a while. If you decide to stay, I'll send a nurse to come and get you when she's ready for visitors," the doctor adds.
Cosima thanks him with a trembling handshake as Alison continues to cling to Sarah. Once the doctor disappears again, Cosima turns to Delphine.
"I guess we'll just have to wait," she says.
"Are you sure you don't want to go home and get some rest?" Delphine asks. "He said she won't be awake for hours."
"Doesn't matter. I'm still gonna wait."
Delphine smiles and nods. She's never met anyone as fiercely loyal as Cosima. From the looks of things, all of the clones seem to share that same fierce, intrinsic sense of loyalty. It was never something she considered to be a genetic trait, but perhaps she was wrong, for the commitment these women shared for each other went deeper than skin or blood or bones; it was in the very fabric of their DNA. As she ponders the woman standing before her, her eyes slowly drift beyond her shoulder to catch the familiar figure approaching.
"Aldous?" she asks in disbelief.
Cosima, Sarah and Alison whip around to spy the doctor with their own eyes. Sure enough, the DYAD director himself is standing there with a smile that is, perhaps, a bit too eager.
"Hello, ladies," he replies.
Cosima turns to Delphine.
"Did you call him?"
"No," she utters.
Doctor Leekie continues his approach, stopping a few feet away from the women, his glance alternating between all of them. The dreadlocked clone is able to pick up on her lover's hesitation and she wonders why Delphine is being so coy.
"Doctor Cormier," he says in greeting. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Cosima called me," she lies.
Her response comes a little too quickly and for a moment, neither women believe that he will accept it. He is silent, his eyes raking over Delphine before landing on Cosima and doing the same. It makes the clone feel uneasy, exposed. She crosses her arms over her chest.
"I see," is all he says.
"Sorry, but why are you here?" Sarah asks. "Nobody called you."
While Cosima and Sarah both agreed that the doctor was overly creepy, Cosima didn't possess the same level of dislike for him that Sarah did. She'd met Leekie periodically throughout the course of her life and despite his reptilian demeanor, she could appreciate his mind and vision. Sarah did not see the same qualities in him.
"He's a snake in the grass, that one," she had told Cosima when they had first met and began bonding over their shared genome. "Maker or not, he's hiding something."
"We need to talk," Leekie answers.
He corrals the women and they all take a seat around the table, waiting to hear Leekie's explanation for his presence. Delphine's eyes remained fixated on the floor the entire time, as she already knows the reason for his appearance.
"What do you mean someone's hunting us?" Alison asks upon Leekie's revelation.
"A few of your sisters have turned up dead," he clarifies. "At first, we thought it might have just been a random act of violence, but after four bodies, it's very clear that someone is deliberately hunting our subjects."
Alison's eyes are wide with horror. Cosima is quiet, taking time to absorb Leekie's words and process them. Sarah scoffs, more angry than scared or upset.
"And what the bloody hell do you plan on doing about it?" she pries.
"Yes! You're supposed to protect us! How could you let this happen?" Alison snaps.
"I understand your weariness. I want you to know that we're taking your safety very seriously."
"Sure you are," Cosima mumbles, rolling her eyes.
She's certain that if Beth hadn't taken a bullet, if they hadn't witnessed the events unfolding firsthand, that Leekie would have continued lying to them, keeping them ignorant of the danger lurking beyond the corner. However, there was no way he could possibly contain the truth any longer with Beth's attempted murder, which was the only reason he was there at that moment as far as the tattooed clone believed.
"It's clear that whoever is responsible is in the city. Needless to say, it isn't safe for any of you until the problem is contained. That's why we've arranged to have you escorted to our facility," Leekie says.
Cosima blinks, then narrows her eyes in his direction.
"What?" all three clones asks in unison.
"I can assure you, you'll be quite safe there. You'll have twenty-four hour security. Nobody will be able to come near you," he says, trying to sell the idea.
"So we're just supposed to spend the rest of our lives hiding?" Sarah asks, clearly unimpressed with Leekie's solution.
"We've dispatched a team to investigate. We hope to have this all resolved shortly. Until then, you'll be safest with us. It's only temporary."
Cosima laughs in disbelief, looking over at Delphine to gauge her reaction; she's tight-lipped and silent, still staring at the ground. Cosima can't quite decipher the blonde's emotions, but she expects her to say something, anything at all, really. She's met by more silence.
"What about my family? My children?" Alison inquires.
"As you can imagine, we can't bring your families in without exposing the project. We will, however, have a security detail on them."
"Oh, that's brilliant," Sarah snarls, standing up and storming out of the waiting room.
"I have a team waiting outside in vans. When you're done here, they'll take you back to your homes to gather your things, then transport you to the institute," he explains. "Of course, I'll also have a team positioned here to watch over Beth and keep her safe."
"These vans," Cosima begins. "They wouldn't happen to be black and unmarked, would they?"
"Cosima," Delphine whispers harshly, as if scolding a child.
"Come on. You've known there was a killer on the loose and you didn't tell us shit. To be honest, I don't entirely trust the whole "we're trying to keep you safe," thing. If you were trying to keep us safe, you should have warned us as soon as you knew something was happening," Cosima says, glaring at Leekie. "How do we know you're not the ones hunting us? How do we know that if we get into those vans, we won't disappear forever?"
"After all the time and money and years of research, do you really think we'd just kill you off?" Leekie asks with a laugh, trying to be charming. "We've invested far too much in you and your sisters, Cosima. Your safety is our top priority."
"Yeah. You don't wanna lose that data," Cosima mumbles.
Hearing Doctor Leekie refer to her as an investment rather than a person strikes a chord deep within her. Delphine can tell. She's tempted to reach over and grab the clone's hand, but with Leekie's eyes on them, it's impossible.
"Besides. If we wanted to get rid of you, we'd do it far more discreetly," he says with another chuckle.
"Wow. Thanks. That's comforting."
After he says his piece, Leekie makes his leave. Sarah eventually returns with a tray of coffee, the other three women eternally grateful for the much needed caffeine. Sensing that her sister needs a moment alone with Delphine, she pulls Alison aside and allows the two women to speak.
"You knew, didn't you? You knew someone was attacking us."
It isn't so much of a question as it is an accusation. She isn't angry, only disappointed. It means Delphine has been lying to her. Not only that, but she's fairly certain that it means the main reason why the blonde instigated a friendship with her in the first place was to keep a close eye on her, not because she actually wanted to be friends. It sends her back to a time when she was much younger, when most of her high school friends befriended her for the benefit of her mind, or her almost always empty house; when she wasn't busy helping them pass the SATs or study for finals, they were asking her to throw parties at her place, since her parents were away most weekends. She was foolish enough to believe this meant they actually cared, but their intentions became abundantly clear as soon as she reached university and realized how none of those "friends" even bothered to keep in contact with her, how none of them knew what her favourite book was or what she wanted to be when she grew up. It made her realize how lonely she really was. Perhaps that's why when she found her sisters, she held onto them for dear life. Perhaps that's why she was holding onto Beth so tightly. Perhaps that's why she believed that Delphine might have actually wanted to be friends with her for her, and not just her mind or her biology.
"Yes," Delphine replies. "I wanted to tell you, but Leekie told me if I did, I'd be in breach of contract. So instead I stayed close by, watching you. Protecting you."
Cosima nods.
"So that's why you showed up at my school and hung out on that roof with me and came to meet me for drinks-"
"Hey."
She reaches forward, capturing Cosima's chin and lifting her face so that the smaller girl meets her gaze. What Cosima sees in her eyes is something that can't be faked, something that betrays her previous suspicions and past experiences with others. What she sees is raw and earnest.
"I came to make sure you were safe. I stayed because I wanted to."
Cosima smiles and Delphine brushes her thumb over her cheek, returning the smile.
"I came over last night because I... I care about you, Cosima," she admits. "Yes, I wanted to keep you safe, but my intentions have become a bit more selfish. I... I just want to be near you."
Cosima's face lights up like a meteor shower and she has to fight every urge in her body not to lean forward and claim the doctor's lips. Even though Sarah and Alison know of their relationship, there is an entire DYAD team waiting just outside and she can't take the risk of endangering Delphine's career.
"I want to be near you, too," she replies.
"Please. Come into DYAD. You'll be safe there, I promise."
Cosima sighs, accepting defeat.
"Okay. But only if you promise to keep me company."
"Bien sur."