A/N: I should probably read this once more before posting but... what the hell... I plan to clean it up once I'm done.. so... I'm in a lazy mode.
This chapter is a bit plot heavy, but it's time to get to it. :D
She closes the front door quietly, the house is completely silent, all lights turned off and the only illumination is the one that is provided by the crescent moon filtered through the windows of the living room. Delphine goes to the bathroom and gets herself ready for bed with a quick shower. Under the bedroom shadows she can see Claire's body on the bed, turned to her side and lightly breathing in regular intervals.
"Is it done?" The other woman doesn't speak until Delphine is covering herself with the bedsheet.
Delphine breaths in deeply, closing her eyes for a few seconds, her sight adjusting to the dim room. "Non," she answers in a whispered voice.
Claire stirs a little under the covers, twisting her head in the blonde's direction. "Why not?" She asks in a slightly annoyed voice. "When I left you, the two of you seemed to be moving in the right direction."
"She was… not thinking clearly," Delphine says, putting an effort not to let the exasperation she's feeling being revealed in her words.
"Oh… I'm sorry to hear it," her girlfriend, on the other hand, makes no attempt to hide her annoyance.
"Claire… I've told you," Delphine says in a less argumentative way, sneaking closer to her and placing an arm around Claire's waist, pulling her, "if you don't want me to…"
"And I've already told you my opinion on the matter," the other woman responds, her body remains still whilst Delphine's hand moves under her shirt and reaching up, cupping her breast. "For whatever difference it makes."
The doctor smiles to herself when she starts to feel Claire's body responding, pressing back, pushing against her. Delphine's lips seek the long neck, her hand tugs the soft skin underneath and her own waist jerks forward. Her smile grows even larger when her hand skims lower, pass the elastic band of her girlfriend's loose, sleeping boxers and presses against her, the wetness already noticeable just with the tip of her fingers.
"Hmm… Delphine," Claire moans, her own hand moving over Delphine's and assist in a few strokes. "If you think I'm going to let you fuck me while your mind is with someone else, you have another thing coming." She says in a still soft voice, but quickly pulls both their hands away from her and moves her body out of Delphine's reach.
The doctor doesn't say anything, she knows it's useless. Instead she gets more comfortable to sleep; it's probably for the best, she needs to be fresh in the morning. Besides, she knows there's truth in Claire's words, Cosima remains in her mind, a distant memory, but still there; even if it's something she'll never admit aloud, it's impossible to lie to herself. Her body still aches with Cosima's memory and the way the American's touch so easily wakes up a hunger within her.
It should bother her; the way Cosima causes her body to react, like there's something more than physical between them, a connection that goes beyond what should be acceptable for simple sexual attraction. The only thing that's keeping her from exploring the depths of her feelings for the younger woman is the keen awareness that she won't have to deal with it much longer. Soon, Cosima will be gone, both their lives getting back to where they were before they met and making too many considerations about the extent of her feelings will, not only be unproductive, it is also potentially damaging. Faith as a way to make itself feel inescapable, even if Delphine wanted to, there's nothing she could do to change the path they are in; it will be like swimming upstream with the certainty of failure.
Despite all the logic she conjures, these thoughts are still keeping her awake until the wee hours of the morning and when her brain finally decides to give her some rest, Delphine can already see the rising sun's rays entering the bedroom through the slits of the window shutters. So it's with no surprise she wakes up late the next day, just in time to get a quick lunch and leave. What did surprised her though, was waking up to an empty house. It's not like Claire to get up and leave without saying a word and even more unusual is for Delphine to not wake up with the inevitable noise around the house. The alcohol and THC left in her system were probably responsible for her heavy sleep.
Fortunately, she doesn't have time to think about the meaning of Claire's actions, only to quickly get dressed in one of the two pairs of jeans she owns and a silky, merlot sleeveless shirt, a light gray blazer complete the ensemble and she moves out the door, her computer briefcase on one hand and her purse hanging from the other shoulder.
So to avoid the tourists who invade her hometown in a pleasant spring weekend, Delphine chooses to hail a cab and stays clear off the public transportation. Arriving at the hotel lobby, she has Felix waiting for her, who quickly approaches the tall woman, not using a single word he gestures her to follow him. For some strange reason, the doctor feels self-conscious during the ride up the elevator, her briefcase held by both her hands in front of her, her eyes, now and then, finding the young man's stare steady on the front steel doors. A weird need to check herself on the mirror at the back gets set aside as she's aware that such move wouldn't go unnoticed by the lean figure next to her, who remains quiet.
However, Delphine doesn't feel truly intimidated until she enters the room, when Felix opens the door and doesn't bother to wait for her before he steps into the large, perfectly decorated area. By the room's number she knows they're in Sarah's room; a suite that has a sitting area completely separated from the bedroom, two large white couches surrounding a long but low coffee table. Alison and, unsurprisingly, Beth are sat close to one another in one of the couches, while the other is occupied by Sarah, with her arms crossed over her chest and an unfriendly expression, frowning her brows with unwavering gaze in the blonde's direction. Delphine's eyes continue their journey along the space until they rest on Cosima's compact body, out in the balcony, leaning forward against the railing and facing the outside, shades of orange color her long and loose skirt, the lightness of the fabric swaying with the ease warm breeze, a simple black top and feet bare, the young woman seems unaware of the new arrival.
Realizing that she let her eyes linger for too long on the dreadlocked woman, Delphine makes her gaze refocus inside, subtly clearing her throat. "Good to see you again, Beth," she greets, looking at the former police officer.
"Dr. Cormier," Beth says with a small nod.
Delphine tries to answer with a little smile and a head nod of her own, but her attention continues to stubbornly get diverted to the woman in the balcony, whose body seems to become rigid, her back straightening visibly, but doesn't turn around.
"I heard you're willing to help us on our quest," Beth claims her attention.
"Oui," Delphine nods this time with more conviction. "Although it would be an easier achievement if I knew exactly what quest that is," she comments, keeping her tone neutral. By the blonde's observations it's easy to apprehend that she's the most reasonable of the group or, at least, seems to be the least combative.
"As we've discussed before, doctor, you'll know what's going on if you have something useful to us," Sarah takes back the lead and with it the tone of the conversation becomes more strain.
"I'm putting a whole lot on faith here, Sarah," Delphine's not interested in allowing the brit clone to push her around. So, instead of fighting her, the French woman gives a few steps into the room, making her shoulders relax as she sets the computer case on the table and removes her coat, draping it on the headrest of the sofa. "Like I told you, all I can do is give you access to someone who might help you; that is all." She explains while she starts the machine, typing her password when the screen asks for it. "The first time I've heard of Rachel was when you mentioned her."
"But Leekie knows about her?"
Cosima's voice startles her, not having noticed the other woman enter the room. She scrambles to regain her thoughts. "Oui, he definitely knows her," she answers after a deep breath, nodding her head a few times, fighting against the need to inspect the clone too intensively, forcing her mind to remain in the present and don't dwell on what happened the night before.
"What does he have to say about her?" Cosima asks, tilting her head a little in curiosity.
"To me? Nothing," Delphine answers without hesitation. "But he was not happy to hear that you know about her existence and asking questions."
"Figures..." Sarah snorts and roll her eyes.
The French woman looks at the brit and shakes her head. "Although Leekie has never been the pinnacle of honesty, this felt different," she comments to the entire room. "It was more than a need to keep things a secret," she pauses briefly, recalling the conversation she had with the man the day before. "I got the feeling he was almost... scared."
"Of Rachel?" Beth asks surprised.
Delphine looks directly at her with a blank stare, after a few moments she frowns her brows and shrugs a little. "Of something..."
"Ohhh... that's helpful," Sarah says with bitter irony.
"Sarah..." Cosima warns in a soft voice, shaking her head a few times, with her eyes on the fellow clone, in what appeared to be an attempt to stop her.
The punk clone puffs but lets it go. "Right..." she says calmer. "Let's see what Dr. Creepy has to say."
Once more, Delphine nods and has no other option than to sit next to Sarah, but keeps a safe distance.
"Wait!" Alison says fast, as if something just came to her mind. "I thought Leekie was still working with DYAD. Why would he help us?"
"Only on paper," the doctor clarifies, distracted with putting the call through, her eyes set on the screen. "Officially he has kept his old position, but since LA he has been quietly removed from it. Currently, Aldous has virtually no access to anything slightly related with the institute and, by association, with the clones."
"So… a little bit like yourself," Felix pokes with a smirk.
Delphine ignores his remark and, after a brief look towards the young man, her stare moves to Beth, who has been quietly listening to the conversation. "Needless to say, he isn't exactly pleased with this turn of events."
"Making it more likely to help us," the former cop finishes the thought with a small smile.
Delphine returns the smile, happy to see that, at least, she's not entirely among enemies. Still not understanding why they decided to keep Beth presence a secret, but she's pleased that the woman is here.
"Delphine… good to see you," Leekie's voice brings her attention back to the screen in front of her.
"You too, Aldous," she responds with a meek smile, adjusting the computer, so for now the camera is centered only on her.
The blonde observes him carefully; the man looks older, much older. In a few short months he has aged years, the wrinkles once smooth, giving him some sort of charm, had deepened and his eyes, once bright blue and full of life, are now dulled, liveless, like they belong to someone who has lost all purpose in life. "You look good," she says instead, stroking his ego for the sake of putting him in a better mood, one that would encourage him to talk.
He perks up a little. "Well, you look ravishing."
"Yes… yes, everyone looks spectacular," Sarah interrupts and slides closer to the doctor, getting in the frame.
"Ms. Manning," Leekie says in a more composed voice, "how are you and your… sisters?"
"We all look lovely," the clone gives him a fake smile. "What can you tell us about Rachel Duncan?"
"Straight to the business then," the man frowns.
"Yeah… sorry," Sarah retorts. "Never been one for the foreplay."
Leekie seems unmoved by the clone's hostility. "I suspect that Rachel wouldn't agree with you…" he says with a small glint in his eyes.
"That's traumatic," Felix comments from the other couch, where he sat on the armrest, next to Alison.
"Who's that?" The older man asks, slightly confused.
"No one you should care for," Sarah answers, her eyes moving to her brother with an ugly look.
"We have all the American clones here," Delphine intrudes with a more appeasing tone, aggravating Leekie further will only ensure that he'll stay quiet about what they want. "Everyone is very curious about this mysterious clone."
"What do I get for helping you?" Leekie raises his brow and leans back on his chair, his image gets further away and shows his white, pressed shirt. Even in asylum he keeps a respectable figure.
Next to Delphine, Sarah huffs and gets up in an instant. "We aren't giving you any damn thing, you fucking twat!" She strides away with impatience in her steps.
Delphine helplessly watches her go, back and forth along the large space, and when her gaze falls again on the man on the screen, she notices him equally displeased. This isn't a solution, if Sarah's the one who heads the negotiation they'll get nowhere, she lacks the diplomatic skills. The doctor motions subtly with her head for Beth to take over, but it's Cosima who moves to sit by her side, keeping a much closer distance than Sarah ever did, their shoulders brushing every time they move.
"How about you show the middle finger to DYAD," the American says, her eyes steady on the camera, an easy smile on her lips and gesticulating slightly with her hands. "They fucked you over, you get to fuck them back… no foreplay required."
Delphine finds herself looking at Cosima, a small smirk barely concealed. The man on the screen is also smiling, apparently more pleased to deal with the likes of Cosima.
"What makes you think DYAD has anything to do with Rachel?" He asks cryptically.
"Well… they created us…" Cosima answers confused, her hands moving faster. "You want us to believe they are not involved in Rachel's… exitance?"
"We did create her, but we did not raise her," Leekie explains. "As you know first hand, we never wanted you to be self aware. We observed and recorded your lives, but we never interfered." He clears his throat and moves closer to the camera. "Not until we've found out about the disease."
"But not Rachel?" Delphine frowns her brows, her body tensing slightly with the revelation. "She was raised..."
"Self aware," Leekie quickly finishes her thoughts. "But that's not the work of DYAD."
"That explains why I couldn't find anything about her," Delphine reasons. "But not how she came to be."
"Early in the project one of the surgates managed to... desert," Leekie starts, rearranging the screen and leaning back on his chair again. "We though she acted on her own, somehow found a way around the people we had keeping an eye on her and flee into anonymity, not be heard from again."
"And you didn't bother to look for her?" Sarah asks in angry astonishment, back on the frame by standing against the back of the couch, her head between the doctor's and the other clone's.
"Oh... we looked for her, alright," the man replies, raising both his hands. "But she simply disappeared.
"Thinking back, we should've known something wasn't right," he continues, his voice dropping a little with something close to regret. "No one should be able to escape us so cleanly - not without help. But we never heard from her again. For years the missing clone remained a thorn in DYAD's flesh and we never gave up looking for her, but as time passed without any information we even started to doubt that the pregnancy came to term."
"But you know about her now," Sarah interrupts the man's monologue, too impatient to let him go on unchecked.
The old scientist twists his lips and nods. "Twenty-two years later she resurfaced, or better, someone contacted DYAD saying they had proof of the existence of clones and the Institute's involvement in their - your - creation." He stirrs uncomfortably in his chair and clears his throat again. "As evidence of their claims they sent us a tape with Rachel telling the whole story, dates and names of the scientists who worked on the project throughout the years and files on a few European clones."
"What did they want?" Delphine asks. "Money?"
"If only it was that simple..." Leekie laughs humorlessly. "They were the ones who brought to our attention the clones' condition. As far as we know, Rachel was the first to show symptoms."
"They wanted a cure," Cosima concludes under her breath and raising her head to the screen. "They didn't have the science that would allow them to find the cure."
"Correct!" The man confirms curtly. "They had a clone who was dying and could do nothing about it.
"We made a few tests on the clones under our... guard and we're able to isolate the condition," Leekie explains. "It wasn't long before we started to work on a cure of our own."
Delphine narrows her eyes, her stare locked on the screen. "But you didn't give them the cure, did you?" She's sure of it, being intimately familiar with the way DYAD works. "You started to work on the cure, but never gave it to them."
"We don't do blackmail, Delphine," he stated simply. "So no, not at first."
"At first!?" Sarah exclaims, leaning more over the headrest, the wild hair brushing the doctor's cheeks, too close for comfort. "What made you change your minds? Not the goodness of your hearts, I'm sure."
Leekie's uneasiness is palpable even through a video conference, his chair squeaks under his weight as he moves again, hesitating a few times, the unrest obvious in his icy blue eyes, usually filled with self-assurance. "The European clones whose files they had started to dissappear," he begins tentatively. "When the first went missing, we didn't connect the dots, but then there was a second and a third..." Leekie shakes his head, shame was never something the French woman thought to see in his expression, yet there it was. "We deal with the entire situation very... poorly."
"How many?" Cosima's voice cuts coldly through the air, ending the unsettling silence which lasted for over a minute. "How many women had to have gone missing before you finally gave them the cure?"
"Seven," Leekie answers in a low voice, dipping his head. "And we've only managed to recovered the bodies of five; official two are still considered missing."
Another heavy silence encapsulates the room, this time no one cares to put a stop to it, it's as if everyone needs a moment to mourn the women they never met, but had an undeniable connection with. Even Delphine can feel a heaviness in her heart, her stare leaving the man she considers her mentor, now appearing to her weak and crumbling under the burden of his wrongdoings, to find Cosima next to her. The petite woman looks even smaller, her shoulders lowered, twirling a ring on her left middle finger slowly, a dark semblance painted on her beautiful features, brows frowning and with her stare locked on her hands. Around her, the same expression is mirrored by the other women, the sight made even more disturbing by the understanding that they share identical features with the women who have been used as pawns in a game they didn't even know it existed. Women; Cosima's right. These are not just clones, but women, who may share identical looks but are individuals on their own right, who have their own personal life story and experiences which have built the singularities that distinguish them and made them into the women they are today.
"Eventually we did give them the cure," Leekie's voice enters the room through the speakers, but no one changes their stance. "Well, we gave them what we had at the time."
Delphine returns her stare to the screen." And when was that?"
"Too soon," he replies flatly. "Before you were even brought into the project. It was still too early to have some real results; we had preventive measures, treatments that would delay the progress of the disease, in some cases the growths would even diminish..."
"But not a cure," Sarah summarizes, pushing herself away from the back of the couch and giving a few steps to the center of the room.
"No, not a cure," Leekie shakes his head.
"But they didn't know that," Delphine deduces aloud, her mind beginning to recover from the shock. "When you gave it to them, they thought it was a permanent cure."
"It was Marion's idea," the man answers fast. "She figured it would buy us time to deal with the threat."
"Yeah... just enough time to plant that bomb on our doorstep," Beth intervenes, getting up and moving closer to the computer.
"Our investigation was cut short after the clones' existence was made public. After that, Marion took over, even if not officially," Leekie says. "She has managed to pull the board of directors to her side."
"They've lost the leverage they had," the blonde gets up and starts to pace back and forth, unable to remain still any longer. "The threat of going public with the clones is meaningless now and it's not like they can... eliminate any of them without raising eyebrows." She stops to look at Sarah, who's leaning against a cupboard not far from her. "What do they have on you?"
"Come again?" Sarah asks roughly, but it's obvious to the young doctor that she's defensive as well.
"They contacted you, didn't they?" Delphine inquires in a determined voice, struggling to sound as diplomatic as possible. "They want you to get the cure for Rachel, that seems obvious. It's why you're here, why you have been poking around the Institute. But they must have something to... encourage your task. And I assume it's something big, otherwise all of you wouldn't be here."
"It's none of your damn business!" Sarah snarls, in a single step she has her face right next to Delphine's.
"I am helping you!" Delphine says quickly, standing her ground long enough to see Sarah back down and put some distance between them. "I would like to know why."
"You don't need to know that in order to help," Cosima says from her place on the couch, her voice not nearly as excited as Sarah's and her eyes avoid looking directly in the blonde's way. "You need to give us the cure, Delphine."
At hearing her name, Delphine's temper eases considerably, her attention entirely diverted to the young dreadlocked woman, who has a pleading look in her gaze when she finally raises her head. She gives a small step in Cosima's direction, but stops, trying not to let herself get too emotional in front of so many people she takes a deep breath and shakes her head.
"I have no access to it," Delphine admits in a low voice. "Not since I came back from the States."
"What about telling us who they are," Alison asks, "can you do that?"
"We don't know who they are," Leekie answers, choosing only now to step back into the conversation. "They never identified themselves while we were dealing with them."
"Well... that's convenient." Felix offers, sarcastically.
"I can get you the cure," Aldous Leekie surprises everyone by saying. "But I'll need Delphine's help, or better, I know how she can get the cure."
Delphine raises her brow. From where she is, the blonde's eyes catch a glimpse of Cosima's intense gaze on her and she can't help but to feel the judgement in her eyes. Delphine is almost certain that Cosima is deciding if she's worth the trust they need to put on her. It's only when she allows herself to look around that she notices the same expression on everyone and Delphine needs to swallow a bitter chuckle.
"Of course, I'll need something in return," Leekie continues dryly.
Now, that's not surprising. Delphine rolls her eyes and the chuckle does come out, but the cause of it is Cosima's exact same reaction to Leekie's words.