2016

It doesn't matter, Cosima realizes giddly in Delphine's arms. Not that their bodies are old and veiny, not that they're so easily chilled by the night air that they must keep the comforter wrapped around them as they pleasure each other. She remembers winter nights, where they'd been too hot, too lost in passion to consider cold. Even the years apart seem distant now, neither of them hesitant, Delphine's little whimpers exactly the same. It had been easy, part of her remembered what to do. Else, they were simply lucky enough to fumble their way along, like they had as girls. This, parts of it anyway, had not truly changed that much. What pleases Delphine, is still much like it was decades ago. And her own feelings, those too have stayed the same.

"Je t'aime…" Delphine whispers, shifting on her again, gray curls falling into her face.

"Touch me." Cosima breathes back. This is familiar, so familiar. "I want you to touch me."

And, she does.


A panicked nurse runs up the hallway, her dyed blonde ponytail flying behind her. The other night staff looking at the frantic young woman with a mix of amusement and terror. The best shifts, after all, were the less eventful ones.

"Missing resident, Delphine Cormier isn't in her room." The nurse cringes as she reports the missing resident breathlessly to the front desk. Her pristine name badge stuck to her scrubs, she'd only been on the unit for a week, and already her first disaster.

"Check the common areas, Mandy." The head nurse, Pam, shakes her head. "We're calling it a code yellow. Delphine is definitely mobile enough to get out, I'm just not sure how we didn't catch it. This is a locked ward, but I'll call her children."

"Should I check the other rooms? She might be confused on someone's couch? Or in a common area?"

"Discreetly," Pam nods finally, "do not wake anyone. Go quickly. I should call Dr. Smith as well."

Pam grimaces, as she waits, allowing the phone to ring. "Hello, is this Annabelle Rousseau?"

She pauses, "Yes, this is Pam at… Yes your mother, Delphine isn't in her room…. I'm sorry, I will have to call your brother …. No, that is the policy that you put in place…. No I can't delay… Yes, I will update when we have news."

Putting down the phone, she selects the next number. "Alain Rousseau? Yes this is Pam, I'm the charge nurse on the night shift. Yes, I'm calling about your mother… She's gone missing, but we will find her."

An angry voice emerges from the phone. "She lives on a closed ward!" The man exclaims loudly, "are you totally incompetent? My mother cannot be allowed out, she'd get lost."


Mandy quietly opens the doors near Delphine, but every resident she sees is snoozing soundly, or annoying a personal support worker about soiled sheets or missing objects. She'd checked the common areas first, before reporting back to Pam, who was in the process of contacting other floors after calling Delphine's family. Delphine, as far she knew, was usually a loner. This was a task to confirm that

Albert. Maria. Valentina. Muriel. Lyle. Ruth… all sleeping. No Delphine to be found in their rooms or private washrooms. No Delphine sleeping on their couches. Or staring at photographs. She'd gotten the old lady smackdown a few times at this job, but Delphine hadn't seemed like much trouble. Kept to herself, still largely mobile. Mandy shakes her head, moving towards the doors. She'd seen Delphine with only one other resident, perhaps she'd simply forgotten the time and gone to bother Cosima during the night. Confused? Dementia? Whatever.

Mandy quietly opens the door, at first, she sees nothing. But a low, drawn out moan causes her to swing the door open. The comforter is thrown up over the bed, but it's moving, her brow furrows. Surely there cannot be some sort of illicit romance going on.

"Someone's there." Cosima's voice emerges first.

"Non…" The other voice is female, accented.

"Jesus Fucking Christ!" Mandy shrieks, running from the room. "Pam! Pam! I found Delphine!"

"Oh hell no," Cosima groans.

"Well, at least she couldn't have seen much?" Delphine offers helpfully, settling down into her lover's arms. At least they'd finished, it could have been much worse.

"Yeah, but here, you know they're not exactly gay friendly…" Cosima warns her. "And they thought you were missing, which means."

"They are going to call my children. Or they already have." Delphine surmises glumly. "I have no intention of being restricted to my own bed like some sort of young girl. What is the sense of imposing a curfew now?"

"I don't want you to stay there either." Cosima assures her. "I know other floors have couples rooms, but not the closed wards…."

"I think you have to be married for that." Delphine shakes her head, leaning in to kiss Cosima again.

"Yes," Cosima says, yawning contentedly. "You do." She bumps Delphine's noses playfully with her own as she smiles.


1952

Cosima sighs against the soft flesh of Delphine's breast. Her lips dance along the exposed skin, laying little kisses, even as she shyly moves to remove the blonde's blouse.

She's barely engaged in petting, a date's hand wandering under her blouse the furthest she's ever gone. But with Delphine splayed out, flushed and uncertain on the bed she wants everything. She wasn't completely ignorant, she's sure neither of them are, despite inexperience. There are things she can do to Delphine, things that her friend Sadie should have stuck to doing if she hadn't wanted to get married in such a rush.

"Delphine?" She looks for a response for a minute, a slight nod, and she continues pushing the blouse off Delphine's shoulders until it's pinned between the blonde and the mattress.

The bra is delicate, plain white, and Cosima gently reaches beneath her to unclasp Delphine's skirt, sliding that off long legs before casting the garment onto the floor. Leaving Delphine in only a thin slip covering her thighs.

Delphine whimpers, and she rushes to reassure her with sweet kisses, to her lips, to her cheeks, to her neck.

"What is it?" Cosima asks, wondering if Delphine has changed her mind, instead, hands work the buttons on her dress, slow and steady, her own hands going to help Delphine's. She herself is becoming some sort of wicked addict, some sort of love-crazed fiend. She understands, she finally understand desire.

"I feel so hot…" Delphine moans gently, working off both of their layers, trying to get at skin. Slippery undergarments slide under warm hands, then underneath in an effort to get them off. They're both shivering, nerves and excitement. Even with Delphine's trembling hands, she excites her.

The dress is cast of nearly as quickly, her own undergarments mirroring Delphine's. Bra, half-slip, panties. Delphine immediately tugs down her slip, early nimble fingers working her garters and allowing silk stockings to fall to the floor. But when Cosima reaches to do the same, she finds herself fixated on the softness of Delphine's thigh, eventually she leans in to kiss it, again, drawing in slow breathes that smell like Delphine...and desire.

Cosima lets out a whine, before she's pulled back to Delphine's mouth, kisses that make her short of breath. Delphine unclasps her own stockings letting them fall. Her hands remove the garter belt without looking,

Her breasts are bare to Delphine before she really has time to think about it, cotton panties the only layer left between their bodies. She's not sure whether it's nerves or excitement anymore, but the way Delphine's eyes skate down over her form has her whimpering again.

"Come here…" Delphine breathes to her, and she does, she settles over the blonde's nearly bare body, allowing Delphine to cradle her with her hips. And they're so close, she stops herself for a minute. The sheer warmth she can feel coming off of Delphine has her stunned.

"Oh my god." Cosima sighs, easing herself down with another soft kiss. She'd had a plan, and yet now when Delphine reaches to ease the last bit of fabric off her body she is the nervous one.

"Je t'aime… et j'ai envie de toi." Delphine whispers to her in a low determined voice, "I want to…"

"You…?" She laughs slightly, but allows Delphine to continue until they are both bare. Dark curls at the apex of her thighs, barely concealing her swollen sex. She's not completely ignorant, she knows that she's aching madly, knows that the wetness she feels against her body is coming from Delphine, knows what it means. But this is new.

"I want us to make love too." Delphine assures with kisses.

Delphine's legs wrap around her hips, and she swears she's on fire. She can feel everything, the intense warmth against her skin, how slick she is, how their bodies want this. She lets out a strangled sound.

"My hands… I'll use my hands." Delphine offers, running them up against her sides as she does. The gentle touch is enough to propel her forwards.

She kisses her hard instead, rocking her hips instinctually down, feeling Delphine's echo her movement, even as she shifts to bring her own hand down between them.

The first tender touch is met with a gasp from Delphine, and a rush of her own arousal. She strokes gently, in an effort to please.

"Ohh." Delphine merely moans softly, hands pulling at her shoulder and back. There is no sign of the expected nerves in Delphine, none of the 'holding-back' Cosima was convinced she'd do.

"Like this?" Cosima offers, letting her fingers slide across slick flesh, trying to see what would bring Delphine the most pleasure.

She's met with a nod from Delphine's beautiful flushed face.

"Je t'aime." Delphine speaks clearly, moving to cup her face.

Surely, Delphine must know how much she loves her. She moves again, learning the curves and folds. She finds her entrance easily, and teases it with a fingertip, no more. But Delphine lets out a desperate sound, hips pushing back up at her. There doesn't seem to be a way to do this wrong, everything she does has Delphine looking at her with adoring eyes, or stroking at her cheeks and hair.

"Oui. Fais-le." Delphine begs. She's sure this will ease the aching, and she presses gently, surprised with how easily Delphine's body accepts it. The smell of Delphine alone has her head spinning madly, how could this be wrong?

"Oh." Cosima smiles at the warmth, at how easy this is. Stroking Delphine, pushing into Delphine. Her love, She doesn't feel guilty, doesn't feel anything but this absolute enthrallment. She toys with the swelling bud of her beloved's desire, but it's Cosima's own heart that feels like it will burst.

"I want you to…" Delphine offers, one of her own hands pushing at Cosima's wrist, encouraging her to slide deeper, to touch more, to take. Whatever uncertainty is left dissolves in Delphine's loving arms, in the sweetness of their lovemaking. It's enough, it's more than enough, Cosima realizes with relief.

It's remarkably easy, all warmth and moaning, even as it draws out for minutes, Delphine becoming more and more desperate, her noises increasing in frequency and depth. Until finally, Delphine stills, stopping her.

"Are you… ? Is that it?" Cosima breathes, trying to keep the gentle laughter they'd shared out of her voice.

But instead of a response in words, Delphine begins to cry. Clinging to her as if she's some sort of life preserver, the tears come fast and furious. She tries reassuring her, kissing her cheeks and forehead, stroking her bare back, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. None at all.

"Did I… did I do something wrong?" Cosima finally asks, in a very small voice. "Did I hurt you?"

"Non… no pain at all." Delphine assures her, disturbed at her distress. "I just… I just love you so much. And I… I can't have… I love you. I just… I need…" The québecoise continues to struggle with words, leaving Cosima completely uncertain, even as the tears halt themselves.

Delphine shakes for a moment, before moving to roll her to her back. She is pressed back on the bed, her beloved's own hand going to mimic the same movement as earlier. She cries out loudly at the first touch of Delphine's fingers. But her lover is content to play with her, all light stroking, experimental and tentative.

"I'm… I'm making love to you." Delphine murmurs finally, putting name to this. In words that Cosima can understand.

"Yes." She smiles back.

"Oh chérie…" Delphine coos at her. She's never seen Delphine this emotional, then again, she's not much better. .

"Inside. Inside. Inside." Cosima pleads softly under her breath. She knows that that will ease the aching, and strange as it is, the feeling of Delphine's soft slender fingers captivates her.

"Ça te plaît?" Delphine whispers gently, looking for some kind of response, her hand still moving experimentally as if she could master this by a process of trial and error. Unlike her earlier explorations, Delphine thrusts, teasing another finger into her entrance until she feels stretched around two slender digits.

"Oh…" Cosima lets herself moan freely. Losing herself in this, in their shared passion, in this love.