Chapter 10
Delphine couldn't have possibly have been aware of the little bit of drool beginning to travel out of the corner of her mouth and down her chin, being completely passed out with a handful of documents still on her lap.
Marion had watched as the woman started to nod off after staring at the same page for about twenty minutes. Four hours into their flight to Toronto, and Delphine had started showing signs of being overtired. If she were honest, Delphine always looked overtired, although she only had a handful of experiences to go on.
She was sympathetic to the younger woman. She also had decided that she trusted Dr. Cormier. Delphine wouldn't do anything to put any clones, herself, or even DYAD in jeopardy. She was smart and tactful, even avoiding the usual scandal that accompanies a monitor sleeping with a clone. She thought they had a lot of similarities, both able to balance their involvement with cloning in their personal lives and still able to work in the face of a constant threat. In reality, she thought of the doctor as the only other person she knew who could understand her own position.
Whether or not she could trust Cosima was another story. She knew the next few days would be an exercise in whether or not Cosima could eventually step into the role she needed her for, knowing the main motivation would be Delphine.
Marion reach over to look at the documents Delphine had been looking at.
She had expected smuggled top-secret DYAD documents, but her eyebrows couldn't help but raise at what the doctor had managed to get her hands on.
The MONAD Research Collective. An entire file.
Marion put the documents back on Delphine's lap, sitting down across from her, happy that she had the private jet designed for meetings while in the air. She took a moment to organize the papers onto the tabletop that separated the two of them, deciding not to make Delphine wait until they landed for information as she previously planned.
If Delphine was going to step into her role as Director of Biological Initiatives, hopefully with Cosima eventually taking the role as Site Director of DYAD North America, she would need a lot of background that was previously worlds above her regular security clearance. She, of course, couldn't tell them that she planned to offer them the positions, knowing that taking them away from direct clone research too soon would scare both of them off. It was a matter of finding the common ground between what the two of them were scientifically and, to a certain extent, personally passionate about, and where that intersected with business needs.
Marion watched as the flight staff began to prepare lunch. At least that would give her a reason to wake the doctor up without having to be rude about it. She knew that they should also eat before they started discussing all of the things that would destroy both of their appetites.
Alison had exactly one hour to turn this horrendous black-mold covered shit pile that Cosima had rented for the weekend off of craigslist into something both presentable and that would actually look like Cosima had lived there for over a year. It was a small, one bedroom apartment that was technically a short-term sublet, but to Alison it looked like was inhabited only by the spider colony that sent her screaming the moment she stepped into the kitchen.
The main problem was that she was somewhere near the University of Minnesota, and had no idea where the nearest headshop was, and these hastily done faux-dreads were itching like nobody's business. Alison hopped into her rental car, and started driving, hoping somehow the GPS would figure out how to get her to a store with some kind of Cosima-like items.
As she got closer to the U of M campus, she saw what looked like a little outlet shopping center for students. The sign that read, "DORM ROOM ITEMS 50%" reaffirmed her suspicions.
Perfect. She'd have just enough time to run in and grab at least a lava lamp, or whatever it was that pot-smoking lesbian scientists decorated with these days.
The plate being set down less than gently in front of Delphine was enough to startle her out of her unintended slumber, causing her to jump out of sleep and into Marion's stare.
"I hope you're not a vegetarian. The plane was already pre-stocked so I didn't have them do any special meal planning like we normally would." She smiled as the doctor wiped away the offending saliva, trying to pretend she wasn't just out like baby in a car seat.
"No, not at all. I eat meat. Thank you." Delphine's eyes went wide when she saw the documents were out on the table, face-up. She had known taking them with her was a risk, but she considered it less risky than leaving everything back in Germany in case Rachel had her place searched in her absence.
Marion noticed the scramble to pick up the papers. She placed a hand on the doctor's arm, stopping the shuffle.
"It's alright. I have copies of them as well. Let's just add those to the list of things we should discuss before we land?" Marion asked, waiting for Delphine's nod before removing her hand.
Delphine was momentarily stunned. The woman's hand on her arm was the first time she had felt another human being in contact with her since leaving Canada. Co-workers in Germany didn't shake hands, acquaintances didn't hug or greet by kissing on the cheek. It was a sterile, solitary environment save for a few hours each night with Cosima on the computer.
Delphine decided then that she was going to trust Marion. At this point, she didn't have much else to lose, and she had already decided that regardless of her circumstances in the future, losing Cosima was off the table, no matter what. If they could find each other across an ocean, they couldn't be kept apart.
She had been haunted recently by the first conversation she ever held with the woman who would go on to become so important in her life.
Long distance never works. Can't it, though? Hasn't that been what they'd been banking on?
"I suppose you want to know where I got these from." Delphine started, not being able to help the innocent eyed look she gave, knowing she sounded like a school girl who just got caught sneaking off to the playground.
"Not necessary. It doesn't really matter at this point; you were going to get copies of them anyway. I suppose you have questions? I do have to advise you, Delphine, that I am not a scientist, so I might not have all of the answers. You have a better understanding of a lot of clone issues than I do." Marion said, downplaying her own position at DYAD for the moment.
"What is it that you need my help with in Toronto? Not that I mind." Obviously, she knows why I don't mind. Cosima.
"Jumping right in then." Marion gave a little laugh. She thought they would start out with something she could be a little more detached about, such as the documents she was holding. "What do you think?" Marion knew the answer would put them on equal footing for the time being.
"Charlotte." Delphine answered. "So then, I am here until she is cured?"
Marion laughed. "I suppose that would be the opposite of motivation for you to find a cure. I know you've agreed because Cosima is here." Delphine had to smile a little as well. Of course, if she were a terrible person who didn't care that there was a sick child, she could drag out a cure selfishly to stay. However, it was a sick child at stake, and she was not the type of person to do that.
"I wouldn't not help." Delphine meant it. Charlotte was technically one of Cosima's sisters on top of being an innocent child.
"I know that. We can't technically send for your things until you have a place, and then we'll just have a pod packed up and shipped over. You're welcome to stay with me in the meantime, but I imagine you'll be looking to stay with a particular someone. Or, we can set you up with a hotel suite. No reason to rush into a decision." Marion noticed Delphine had gone silent, staring at her as she spoke as though she was speaking in pig-latin to a deaf parrot.
"I'm sorry, my things shipped over?"
"Delphine, you're not going back to Germany. That is, unless you want to." Marion said, hoping that this would be received as good news. It certainly would be good news to Marion if the woman accepted, since she knew she needed Delphine and Cosima for her own daughter at this point, although it was an arrangement she had been trying to avoid.
It was an arrangement she thought also wouldn't be able to negotiate, until Sarah had come to her with an idea.
"I'm staying here?" Delphine said in shock. She could come home? After all of that? The stress of the last couple of months, the heartache, the sixteen hour research sessions…she would just hop on a plane one day and it would be handed back to her so simply?
"What about Rachel?" Delphine had to ask.
"We've arranged a trade. You, in exchange for…well, let me preface this with this was Sarah's idea. We were actually going to try to trade you for a comparable scientist with actual experience dealing with reproductive disorders, but Sarah suggested something else."
"You've made a trade?" Delphine asked, not even sure what that meant.
Rachel never felt excitement. It wasn't an emotion she was capable of at this juncture of her life, personally or professionally. To be fair, for her, the personal was professional and vice versa. It also pleased her that this would be the day she could show off her ocular implant without having to wear the eye patch. She hoped it wasn't perfect. She hoped it looked just a bit unnatural enough to be intimidating. She knew that not all of the scarring from the surgeries would be gone yet. She wanted it there, as if to say, "look what I managed to live through, you unruly bitch."
However, if Rachel could still feel excitement, this would be the moment where she would be bouncing off the walls. She maintained her cool exterior as her guest was deposited across the table from her, handcuffed and hooded.
One of the handlers ripped the hood off, waiting for Rachel's nod before leaving the room.
"Hello, Sarah. It's been too long, hasn't it?"
Sarah simply nodded, eyeing Rachel from across the table.
Alison jumped at the knock to her makeshift "graduate student housing option" home. She threw the last tie-dye tapestry over the last window, stopped in front of a mirror to make sure she still had herself put together.
She took a deep breath before opening the door.
"Hello, Cosima." Alison was taken back by the two individuals on the other side of the door. They both still looked like the people in the pictures Cosima had given her, so they were indeed Cosima's parents. However, she didn't expect them to be so dressed up for what she thought would surely be a casual walk through campus and for grabbing dinner. She didn't expect them to seem—so uptight.
"Hi Mom! Hi Dad!" Alison said, trying to sound as upbeat as Cosima usually did without being overwhelming. Neither parent made a move to hug her, instead stiffly motioning towards the inside. She moved to let in the woman who was wearing what was clearly a designer navy blue and white dress and the man in the khakis and navy blue sweater in.
They were so stiff and uptight they had made sure they matched each other when getting dressed for the day. These people were beyond even Alison's ability to speak suburban-ese.
"Cosima…" Cosima's parents had been let in and immediately started looking around the one-bedroom that Cosima had picked out off of the internet without so much as a second thought. They appeared to be sizing up everything, from the furniture, the posters of Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead that Alison had picked up from the student shop, even the sweater Alison was wearing from Cosima's wardrobe without so much as a word.
It wasn't long before Alison watched as Cosima's mother turned from her inspection of the apartment, tears in her eyes. Alison looked at the woman. They seemed to be tears of anger, not happiness.
"Cosima, you are back to smoking that marijuana! I can tell. This place is a homage to every drug that could possibly be illegal! After all of the opportunities we've opened up for you? You're back to living…like this?" The woman pointed around to various points of the décor. Alison immediately thought about how she may have gone overboard with the purchase of an actual lava lamp.
"You listen to your mother, young lady." The man chimed in. Alison suddenly felt very, very guilty, like she indeed herself had been smoking 'that marijuana' and deserved to be grounded for it immediately.
Alison couldn't actually answer out of shock. She had a lot of thoughts about what she thought Cosima's parents might be like, but this was never on the agenda. She could only hang her head, her toe suddenly becoming very interested in digging into the carpet as Cosima's parents continued sizing up the apartment.
"Cosima, did you even try to get furniture that matches? No wonder you never want us to visit! It's like you try to be a common vagabond."
Alison knew she was in for a very, very long evening.
Delphine now had a stack of papers in front of her from Marion in front of her, in addition to the papers she had brought herself. They were complete medical and personal backgrounds, everything about every clone, their health, background, upbringing, their diets, exercise preferences, environmental exposures based on where they were raised and where they lived. She had in her hands everything about everyone, minus Sarah and Helena. The blonde was already mapping out in her head how to make the information into a spreadsheet where she could line up common factors across the board and see if there were any connecting factors.
Interesting to the file were the names of four clones she had never heard of, and that she assumed Cosima had never heard of either since they weren't in any of her files when Delphine was spying on her. Two of the four had contracted the disease and had it regress after each endured a year of constant illness, almost dying, and then coming back.
"As you can see, there is nothing connecting them showing why some of them don't get the autoimmune disorder. And there is nothing to show why Charlotte started showing signs so early." Marion was going over the documents along with Delphine. They still had a good hour left on the plane, and she wanted to go over as much as possible before the stepped off, and she knew Delphine would most likely disappear into Cosima-land for at least a day or two before she was of any use.
At least, she hoped Delphine would work on Charlotte without being coerced. Forcing decisions wasn't Marion's style. She was a big fan of catching flies with honey, finding that her position allowed her to provide all of the honey she ever needed to get things done whenever she wanted. She wouldn't have to force her, she knew that between the draw of the science, having Cosima nearby, and hopefully the tug at her heartstrings by helping a child would combine to allow her access to both of the scientists, doing whatever necessary to align their interests.
"I have a question." Delphine asked, looking up seriously from one of the files. Marion waited for her to continue, not promising an answer.
"The clones…were they made sick on purpose?"
"Yes." Marion confirmed, making a ball form in the pit of Delphine's stomach.
Delphine was actually surprised. She thought that the disease's ability to retreat showed some hope that the clones weren't being unnecessarily harmed, and that it really was an accident.
"Why then, do not all of the clones get sick? Why does the disease regress?" She left out the pressing question of 'why did you adopt a clone child knowing she might die' for the sake of getting the more pressing information.
"We don't know, we don't know, and before you ask, no, I did not know the clones were made to house an illness before I agreed to adopt Charlotte, but that's a story for another time. I wasn't always at the top of this particular hierarchy, Delphine. When I adopted Charlotte I was the Chief Financial Officer for the oversight organization. I've never actually worked for DYAD on its own." Marion said, her eyes starting to tire from reading all of the small type on the pages in front of her.
Delphine suddenly had nothing to say but far too many questions buzzing around her head all at the same time. She originally had wanted to know if there was anything to show that Cosima would indeed be one of the very few lucky ones who have shown signs of the disease regressing, but now she wanted to know everything.
"We'll be landing shortly, Delphine." Marion started packing the papers back neatly into their files before putting them in her briefcase. "Here." She handed Delphine her business card, with an address scribbled out on the back.
She looked at the front of the card. It simply had Marion's name and a single phone number, not even the name of her company or any other identifiers.
"I'd like us to be able to work together. And I do mean work, as in we continue to pay you. If you'd like us to be able to work together or even if you're just thinking about it, come to my home anytime this weekend, just give that number a call to let me know when you're on your way. And feel free to bring Cosima." Delphine eyed over the card again, name, address, phone number, name, address, phone number, no email, no logo, not knowing what to make of it.
"We have a car to take you where ever you'd like, and my home is still open. What would you prefer? A hotel?" Marion asked, already thinking she would know the answer would be Cosima's address.
Delphine went to answer, but stopped herself. She hadn't seen Cosima in close to two months. Why not make the most of the situation?
"I—I may take you up on the offer of a hotel suite."
Cosima ran across the apartment to where her phone was on the kitchen table when she heard it ring from the bathroom. She was immediately winded, that short sprint having been the most exercise she had gotten in quite some time.
She growled in frustration when she saw it was Alison.
Of course it's Alison. Delphine may not have a phone to use yet. I don't even know if she's landed yet.
"Hello." Cosima said a little more gruffly than she should have, given the huge favor Alison was doing for her.
"Cosima, really? Can we take a moment to review just how many things you didn't tell me about your parents before you sent me out here?" Alison said in a rant. Clearly she was finished with the parental dinner, and was just as displeased as Cosima usually was after a night with them.
"So you can see why I haven't had a problem not visiting them." Cosima said, wincing at Alison's tone.
"SOME things are important, Cosima! Like the fact that your father is running for governor next term, and now I'm sure he thinks that his lesbian pot-smoking daughter is going to be a stick in the mud for his future campaign!"
Cosima smacked herself in the face. Maybe she should have mentioned her family's political proclivities, and how their general behavior was…well, the opposite of everything that was Cosima. The fact that she was going for a Ph. D. was most likely the only reason they were even still on speaking terms.
"Whoa, Alison…which part did you tell them? Did you tell them that I—smoke pot?" Cosima was suddenly worried. Cosima knew it was a bit ridiculous, she was a grown woman, she could smoke whatever she would like to, but she still had that little bit of programming from growing up in their stiff, sterile household that prevented her from throwing things directly into their faces. As much as she might want to.
"Well, they figured it out after I did some decorating-"
"What?! Alison, no. I purposefully picked out somewhere that was already furnished. What do you mean you decorated? With what?" Cosima started pacing with her arms flailing around.
"Oh, that's not even the top of the list, Cosima. You could have told me you never came out to your parents before I went to dinner with them!"
Cosima winced again. She knew she should have told Alison about that, but figured if she'd have to tell them eventually anyway, why not just let Alison do the dirty work for her?
"Yeah, about that…it's totally fine that you let that slip. So, how did they take it?" Alison immediately noticed how nonchalant Cosima was that she was just outed without being there to see it.
"You knew! You knew that they didn't know, and I would say something lesbian-ish! You set me up! You dropped me in the middle of nowhere university, U.S.A., and just Laverne'd me with no Shirley." Alison said.
"Okay, I don't even know what that means, but—look, now that you've met them, you can see how my parents aren't the easiest to get along with. So if I happen to have a proxy available, well…how did they take it?"
"Not well!" Alison yelled back into the phone. "Not well at all!"
Alison thought back to the most awkward parent dinner she had ever sat through in her life, and she wasn't even there as herself. She sat through appetizers, a salad, and a soup course where her parents criticized every little thing, from the way the dishes were plated to everything Alison was wearing and how she held her posture. When they rounded past complaining about Alison's nose ring, Alison was ready to just take the fake clip-on ring out since by that point it was actually starting to bother her, but then she remember she was being Cosima and needed to leave it in.
By the time the main course arrived, Alison was trying to plan a way to suggest they skip dessert so she could leave. She wasn't even really Cosima and she felt terrible. She couldn't imagine Cosima, her sister who was usually nothing but sweet, coming from these people.
Once Cosima's parents had inquired about her personal life, asserting that she couldn't possibly only do schoolwork twenty-four hours a day, she couldn't help but try to defend Cosima, well, while being Cosima. So naturally, as Cosima, she asserted that she did indeed have a personal life.
However, as soon as she had used the term "lover" and began describing Delphine, she could see the point where Cosima's parents put two and two together, and where it was clearly a shock for them.
"Cosima, dear, we donate to the Log Cabin Republicans every year. We are in the City for the parade every summer. We watched The Birdcage with you that time. We do not have to have this sort of thing shoved down our throats at dinner too." Cosima's mother said coldly without making eye contact. Both Cosima's mother and her father continued to stare at their plates, then quickly attempted to change the subject back to one of what they identified as Cosima's many, many faults.
Alison was shocked. And she felt awkward, before getting angry.
Very, very angry.
"Oh, it's being shoved down your throats? I guess we can all see why I never come visit you!" Alison shouted, learning very quickly that when you have dreadlocks and start shouting in a five-star restaurant, patrons will turn and look at you.
Fuck it, Alison decided, I'm already in character, I might as well stay that way.
"Maybe if you spent three minutes away from your high end, uptight, overbearing lives you would see that having dinner with your daughter for the first time in a year and her mentioning her love life after you asked is not 'shoving it down your throat'. Maybe if you took three minutes to get to know her—me, you would know how much I've done for other people in the last year! And for the record, The Birdcage is a classic and you should be so lucky to have the acting genius that is Nathan Lane with Robin Williams on your screen, it was an excellent choice of film!"
Alison got up dramatically, throwing her napkin down on the chair.
"And another thing, marijuana is an excellent plant with many proven medicinal properties, and I will frame a picture of it on my wall if I damn well choose to! I will hang it on the wall next to a picture of my lesbian lover!" Alison shouted before storming out without so much as turning around to see the reaction, but she couldn't help but smirk to herself
Cosima sat smiling on the couch, waiting for Alison to finish the story.
"You really said that?" Cosima asked.
"I'm sorry, Cosima, I really didn't see another option. And I'm being you, so I really didn't think you would just sit there and take it from them all night. Oh my God, maybe you would have. What have I done?"
"Alison, you are so awesome!" Cosima said excitedly. Cosima rarely stood up to her parents, generally choosing the flight when her fight-or-flight mode kicked in. Usually she just rolled her eyes, took off as soon as possible, getting something pierced, tattooed, smoking or drinking something…the escapes were endless. But this time, Alison took the initiative not to fly out the door.
"…really?" Alison asked.
"That's exactly what I would've wanted to say to them! You're dead on. And that's exactly what they deserved to hear, even if I didn't have the balls to be the one to go say it. I owe you one so hard! You are amazing!" Cosima said smiling, before her laptop started dinging.
"Alison! That's Delphine. I gotta go, but don't worry about them picking you up for breakfast tomorrow. Just come on back, I'm sure they're looking for flights back to Cali as we speak."
Cosima jumped over to the laptop, flinging it open and clicking the green button to open the chat.
She saw Delphine, smiling, but she couldn't tell where she was.
"Delphine? Are you still in Germany?" She looked behind the blonde's head, seeing nothing but black leather in the background.
"No." Delphine said, still smiling. Not smiling, beaming.
"Where are you?" Cosima asked, both excited and a little scared.
"Outside. I'm in the limo. Pack an overnight bag and come out."
To Be Continued...