"No. No way. I can't just leave you." Cosima's gesturing wildly, shaking her head.
Delphine's desperate now, "Listen to me, I cannot protect you. Your clone batch was terminated years ago. They could kill you. Experiment on you. Or worse."
Cosima tipped her head, adjusting her glasses, "What will happen to you?"
"Doesn't matter. Just, kiss me goodbye and go." Delphine adds softly.
"No. Not leaving you. It's not happening." Cosima answers firmly, "Together or not at all."
"Traveling with me would guarantee you get caught. I'm chipped, remember? The second I get on a shuttle they'll know." Delphine's shaking her head now. Not once did she even consider that Cosima would refuse to leave. Maybe, she's fallen for her too.
"Then I stay. I mean you go back there without me and they'll probably kill you. Fire you at the very least." Cosima punctuates the sentence with sweeping gestures, she puts the tablet back on the passenger seat and closes the door.
"It's possible." Delphine admits, "Still, if you're going to go. Go now." Cosima sighs, looking around awkwardly, there's no one else around to hear them.
"Not. Happening." She says clearly, "I'm not leaving you in a giant life-destroying mess and taking off." She pulls her into a hug, "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"That isn't the intelligent decision." Her words are muffled into Cosima's head.
Cosima's hands rub her back, "I know. I don't care. If you go back with me - there might be some salvaging of your career. We might both live. If I take off and you go back without me; you're doomed. And not just to questionably consensual sexual liaisons with your creepy boss."
"And if we're still doomed?" She asks, a half-laugh in her voice from the word and the ludicrous situation she's found herself in.
"Then we'll be doomed together." Cosima responds decisively, "I just found you. If I go..."
"We'd never find each other again." Delphine answered honestly. There were hundreds of colonies, she would never see Cosima again if she were to go. Unless things went horribly wrong. She presses a kiss to Cosima's forehead. There's no one around, Merrick is a sleepy town at the best of times. Though, she wouldn't really care if there were.
Cosima claims her lips, tugging her head down as an older couple passes by across the street holding hands. There's no reaction from them, they simply continue on their way to one of the restaurants or boutiques that they were browsing. For all they know - Cosima is just her partner, and they're just spending a week at their cottage in the middle of nowhere. Here, no one cares. A same-sex couple is a bit more unusual, but nothing they hadn't seen before in all likelihood.
"Come on, I'll show you around Merrick." She slides her arm around Cosima's waist, who smiles. The bag remains locked in the car.
"What are you going to tell people who ask about me?" Cosima glances over, leaning into her hand as if it's the most natural thing in the world.
"I'm going to tell them you're my partner." Delphine shrugs, "They don't really know me around here - I'm only here a few times a year."
"Do you have anyone in your life who'd notice?" Cosima asks, pausing to glance into the window of a store that was full of natural bath and body products.
Delphine hesitates, "No." DYAD had been her life more or less. She adored her work, mostly. She had coworkers, colleagues but very few friends.
"Poor you." Cosima leans in and plants a kiss on her cheek.
She could get used to this, she tells herself. It would be far too easy to fall into this, but maybe it's alright to pretend. Just for a little while.
They find their way through various shops, they buy very little. They pick up a large container of extra fuel for the vehicle - Delphine dashes back to the car to stick it in the trunk of the tiny two-seater. When she returns Cosima is lining her eyes with one of her new purchases. Using her reflection in a glass window of an antiques shop. It suits her somehow, like this is how Cosima is wherever she's from.
"You look nice." She comments, sliding her hand back into Cosima's.
"Thanks. It's nice to look like me again, you know?" Cosima grins. "Ooh. Let's like pick up lunch to go and go picnic somewhere!" Cosima suggests, pulling her into one of the cafés downtown. There are few patrons, mostly of retirement age, sitting around drinking coffee and eating sandwiches.
"Hello," the owner greets them. An older women with long grey hair tied up on her head, "What can I get for you?'
"Food to go, for a picnic?" Cosima asks politely looking in the glass case near the front at various salads and sandwiches. She's pointing at what she wants, her other hand tightly laced with Delphine's.
"Newlyweds?" She smiles knowingly, "I'll give you a nice deal on it, how about it?" She preps a large paper bag with utensils and napkins. Why correct this assumption? It's a good enough cover story, Delphine reasons.
"Yes. That would be lovely, thank you." Delphine answers without thinking, she watching Cosima's eyes meet her own stunned.
"Merrick is a nice quiet spot for a honeymoon, isn't it girls?" The woman smiles, loading their food into containers and a large brown paper bag, "Anything else I can get for you? Dessert?"
"Yes, thank you. And it's been perfect." Cosima nods, playing along. Delphine pays for the food, using the tablet, and they leave giggling slightly.
"Sorry. I just thought-"
Cosima cuts her off with a kiss, making a brief show of it, "Yeah. No worries. Happy to play along." She half-skips back to the car before they take off for their picnic. They drive about twenty minutes out of town before stopping near a small lake off the main path to eat their lunch. There was a small rocky beach and a collection of picnic tables. It was most certainly a spot made for tourists. The overcast day, however, saw that they were alone.
"How does this planet manage to be so close to Huxley Station and feel so... perfect?" Cosima asks, after their food has been devoured and they sit on the grass.
"I don't know. The planet was here first." Delphine shrugs, taking a long swig from a water bottle. She wasn't blind to it's beauty, certainly, but seeing it through Cosima's eyes made it more so.
"The water is so clear you can see right to the bottom. It's filled a marvelous diversity of life, including bioluminescent fish. The leaves on some of the trees are all orange and purple and gold. When the sun sets it's beautiful. Freakishly amazingly beautiful." Cosima shakes her head, "And I get to spent it next to you. You, who according to local gossip, are my wife." Cosima continues, "And while I have no memory of marrying you - I don't seem to have a problem with that." Cosima pauses to clean up their food containers.
Delphine laughs, "It got us a good deal on lunch." It's enough of an explanation. She glances up at the clouds, growing darker. She means to warn Cosima to get back to the car, but is quickly distracted by her lovely face.
Cosima leans back teasing, "Still, you've gone from 'never been with a woman' to 'fake-married' to one within twenty-four hours. How does it feel Dr. Cormier?"
She stifles a laugh against her hand, she lays back for a moment, just looking at her, "Feels good."
Cosima glances over at her mischievously, "Would you let me take you here? Out where anyone could see us?" Cosima's voice goes low, her eyes drifting down Delphine's sundress. She feels herself flushing and also aroused by Cosima's words.
She answers with a kiss, her lips mercilessly attacking Cosima's, pulling her down on top of her, "Prends-moi." She mumbles between kisses. If Cosima's determined to stay and doom herself she doesn't intend to waste a minute of this.
She's rolling her hips pointlessly up into Cosima, but for the moment she can't bring herself to care. She's only known her for six days - not even a week - but she knows she cannot easily go back to life without her. Not when it feels like this.
She feels the rain, first a light misting and then a cold torrential downpour. It's impossible to ignore, Cosima may be taking the brunt of it but it's far too cold to continue.
"Shit." Cosima breaks away and laughs into her shoulder, clambering to her feet and offering a hand to help Delphine up. She nearly slips on the muddy ground getting to her feet.
"Come on." She grabs Cosima by the hand and they run back to the small parking area climbing into the car. When the doors slam shut on either side of the vehicles they look at each other breathlessly.
"It's a shame there's no backseat." Cosima comments glancing back, "I guess we'll have to take the long drive back to your cabin to warm up." Delphine feels her face flush slightly with the implication of Cosima's words.
The drive is cold, and they're both soaked through. Cosima keeps her entertained with stupid jokes and anecdotes. She finds herself laughing even as she's shivering in the driver's seat.
They finally arrive back at the cabin, "It's not too late, you know." Delphine finds her eyes drifting towards the small pre-packed bag, "I could drive you back, if you want me to."
"We've been through this. No." Cosima leads her from the car, getting soaked again in the process, until they're shivering on the deck as Delphine taps the key code. They enter, throwing off clothes until they're naked. Soaked clothes litter the floor while Cosima leaves her glasses on the kitchen table. Leaving wet footprints on the laminate flooring as they make their way back to the bathroom. She makes a mental note to clean up later.
"You can take the first shower," Delphine instructs grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. She leans against her washing machine waiting, beginning to towel off her hair.
"Uh, I kinda thought you were coming in with me." Cosima turns on the water, her expression making it clear what she expects.
"It's too small." Delphine shakes her head, glancing at her small corner shower stall.
"We'll fit," Cosima assures her, stepping into the small shower stall and waiting expectantly until Delphine tosses off her towel and joins her. It's a tight squeeze, but they both fit.
She finds herself resting in Cosima's embrace under the hot steady stream of water. There's not much room - but there's just enough for the two of them to squeeze in together. She sighs audibly, drawing Cosima closer to herself. Her hands slip down Cosima's body, she finds herself admiring her. How slippery her skin is under her hands, how she pushes herself in to mould her body against Delphine's own. How was she ever going to want anything else after this? They're both rapidly warmed by the water and each other. It's a shame, she thinks, that the shower is so small.
"You still could go." She murmurs, "Anytime." She lays kisses against her neck. She watches water droplets bead on Cosima's skin. Cosima's hands pause in their achingly slow journey up her ass. It feels electric, desire pooling at the apex of her thighs.
Cosima looks over at her again, considering her response, "I'm not leaving. I don't want to leave you. And I don't think I'll live without treatment." She shakes her head, wet dreadlocks hitting her skin rhythmically.
"What do you mean?" Delphine finds herself gripping her new lover more tightly to her.
"I mean I'm sick. And I knew it when I came here." Cosima admits.
Her head spins, she pulls back to look at her, "No. You would have noticed. You'd have seen the symptoms and gotten checked out." Unless that is what brought Cosima to DYAD in the first place, that is possible Delphine notes to herself.
Cosima swallows, "Let's go talk out of the shower." She switches off the water and swings the shower door open haphazardly, before grabbing a large white towel and tossing a second back at her.
She wraps herself in the towel, they make their way to the couch and sit down. She doesn't care about the wet footprints on the floor, or the fact her windows are not currently tinted and anyone could see in. Would the cabin have looked empty enough? Would they guess?
Though glancing outside she notices a second set of muddy tire tracks larger than those made by their rental vehicle, "Someone was here." She points through the window.
"Looks like they left before we got back though. So that's good." Cosima glances out noting that those tracks extend further up the drive than the car.
"We may have gotten very lucky being out when we were." Delphine shakes these thoughts off, "What do you mean you knew you were sick?"
Cosima eyes her cautiously considering, "At first I just though, damn I'm smoking too much. Which honestly, very possible," She pauses looking sheepish, "So I cut back on the pot-smoking, got a vapourizer - but it was still happening, I was still coughing up blood. I gave a blood sample to my friend to research what the hell was happening - that's when they found me and brought me in."
"Why not see a doctor?" Delphine is incredulous, shaking her head. Any physician would have sent her in for tests, and probably eventually sent her to DYAD...
"My parents weren't big on doctors- for obvious reasons. Besides I was in a science lab on Eos with a bunch of grad student geeks. I might as well get something out of it." Cosima shrugs.
"So when you came to DYAD..." Delphine's trying to piece things together though she's unsure if she has all the information.
"Well, I knew I was sick obviously. And DYAD's got brilliant medical research. And luckily for me, they also have you." Cosima's fingers are playing with her own again.
She smiles unable to help herself, "I can give you another stem cell injection in a few days. It should help." She strokes Cosima's face. She wants that full-body scan, but it will have to wait. There is no way she's setting foot back on that station until her two weeks are up. Least not voluntarily.
"I can think of something else that might help." Cosima slides closer, dropping her towel open. Her body is still wet, but she doesn't care. She finds herself giggling as Cosima reaches for her own tossing it open and sliding close so they're skin on skin. Cosima leans in all the way only to lay a quick kiss on her nose.
"This is not going to help with autoimmune disorders," She shoots Cosima a look, but waits. Anything you want, she thinks, whenever you want.
Delphine meets her lips, not forcefully, but tenderly. She doesn't taste blood, not now - but perhaps she will before this is all over. Her hands skim Cosima's skin, up from her hips to her breasts. The feel of hard nipples against her hands is addictive. She skims her palms over Cosima's breasts again, moaning as she goes.
Cosima shifts forward, on top of her settling between her legs, "Talk to me. Tell me something. Anything." She pleads hands going to Delphine's waist, her thighs.
"In French?" Delphine breathes leaning in for another kiss. They're both dripping wet, she can feel that much.
"Yeah." Cosima's breathes ghosting her lips along her cheek.
"C'est le coup de foudre, toi et moi." She whispers into Cosima's ear. There are benefits, she reflects, to having a lover who does not understand her first language. Loving Cosima this much this quickly doesn't seem possible. And yet...
"What does that mean?" Cosima's lips move down her neck as she gently pushes Delphine back on the couch, moving her breasts out of range of Delphine's wandering hands.
She hesitates a moment before responding, "On va faire l'amour toute la nuit et toute la journée." She's fairly certain Cosima does not truly understand what she has said, but she moans in response anyways, burying her face in Delphine's chest.
"You're so cute." Cosima murmurs into her skin, lips entrapping a pert pink nipple between them. She presses herself up into Cosima's mouth in response, she's aching for her.
Delphine groans as she feels Cosima's fingers inch their way up her thigh slowly, too slowly. She tries to tempt Cosima's lips back to her own, without success. She'll meet her eyes, but her mouth won't budge. She must be able to feel her frustration, or at least her copious arousal.
"Cosima..." She begs writhing in an attempt to speed things up. But Cosima's fingers are sliding up her thigh at a frustratingly glacial pace.
"Mmm?" Cosima hums her response, between long suckling kisses placed against her flesh. She's kissing hard enough to leave marks on her, but she cannot bring herself to care.
"I want you inside me." No sooner has she said it than Cosima's fingers slide into her without preamble. She groans in response, moving in counterpoint to Cosima's steady movements. They writhe together on the couch, communication in steady moans and gasping breaths. In the slide of Cosima's body against her own, damp and now slick with sweat and arousal. The rain continues to pour outside, pounding against the windows as Cosima takes her, slow and steady on the couch.
She's lost in this now, her hand reaching up to cup Cosima's face, whatever she can reach of it, "Mon amour." She feels Cosima smile into her skin, she understands that much. She hadn't meant to say that, she bites her lip against further words rushing out in the heat of passion.
"You're mine, not his." Cosima moans into her chest, her movements becoming harder, more desperate. She can see a large dark hickey blooming on the side of her breast. Cosima's claiming her, she realizes through the haze of arousal.
"La tienne." She agrees, her voice little more than a needy whimper, finally pulling Cosima to her mouth to swallow her cries as she shudders out her climax.
They lay together on the couch for long moments, feeling her heart beating wildly against her ribs as she comes down from her high.
"So good." Cosima smiles contentedly down at her, "I'm sorry about what I said. It just sorta came out."
"It's alright." She strokes Cosima's face, "It happens." Maybe they're both holding back, afraid of what happens after.
"What does 'coup de foudre' mean?" Cosima props herself up on her arm, still hovering over Delphine.
She smiles nervously, "Literally a bolt of lightning."
"So when you say we're a 'coup de foudre', we're like lightning?" Cosima's face is bemused. She pushes herself up off of the couch and gets to her feet. Offering her hand to Delphine. They leave the towels there and wet clothing on the floor.
"Sort of. It's an expression - doesn't really exist in English. It's like the French version of love at first sight." She says this all really quickly, get the words out and over with as soon as possible. She takes Cosima's hand and gets to her feet, Cosima's leading her up to the loft and its comfy bed. Her steps are a little shaky, but she follows regardless.
"So kinda like us, right?" Cosima says without glancing back at her.
"Yes." Delphine agrees, "Very much like us."