Here's an early update, my Christmas contribution to my amazing readers!
Feels Like Home- Epilogue.
It was just peaking late morning by the time Cosima had rolled out of bed, clad in the pajama shorts and Delphine's old college shirt that she can't help but love. Her feet, cold against the squeaking hardwood floor, led her to Delphine. She was hunched over the desk, rummaging through a box and chatting away to somebody in French on her laptop.
"Is that Scott?" Cosima mumbled with a yawn, pressing the front of her body flush against Delphine's spine, wrapping her arms around her waist tightly and settling her chin on the taller woman's shoulder.
"Oui, say hello." Delphine answered, smiling wide as Cosima sweetly kissed her cheek good morning.
"Bonjour, Cosima!" Scott waved through the laptop screen, Cosima smiling and waving back. She loved when Scott called, missing her foreign friend terribly.
"Hey Scott! When are ya going to come visit?" she asked, stifling another yawn.
"You know how it is over here, Cosima. We will see." The man laughed, shrugging. "Is there anything that I missed, Dr. Cor-Delphine?"
Delphine's hands dug through the open box on the table that was in front of her laptop. It was the very last of her things from her lab at DYAD that Scott was gracious enough to send over. Cosima's apartment, already cluttered, was now filled with all of Delphine's things, (of which her mother and Scott were gracious enough to ship over little by little.)
Delphine pulled out various items: a microscope, an unopened pack of petri dishes, her old lab coat. She smiled subtly, grazing her fingers over her embroidered name as she shook her head at Scott, who was smiling wide at the camera in the Skype window.
"Non, Scott. This seems to be it. Thank you again for sending these things. I do not know why I never thought to empty my desk at DYAD. I appreciate it."
"Yeah!" Cosima chimed in, gripping Delphine a little tighter and making them rock side to side, eliciting a giggle from the taller blonde woman. "We appreciate it!"
"No problem. As great as it is to finally see you both again, I am quiet tired." Scott laughed awkwardly, shrugging. The women waved goodbye as Delphine closed her laptop, just in time for Cosima to spin her around and kiss her strongly. Though stunned, Delphine pulled her in with equal force.
"Good morning." The blonde giggled, smiling toothily against Cosima's lips.
"I love you." The American mumbled back immediately, feeling Delphine drape her long arms across her shoulders and link them behind her neck. Cosima couldn't help herself sometimes, always wanting to remind Delphine that she did indeed love her. Delphine, the smile never leaving her face, pulled Cosima closer, brushing their noses together as she felt the smaller woman push on her hips and back her into the table.
"I know, mon amour." She whispered sweetly, kissing her between words.
"I know you know, but I just want to remind you…" Cosima responded, her voice a low growl as she pushed Delphine up and onto the desk, wiggling her hips between the blonde's thighs. "I just want… to remind you… all the time…" she managed to say as she left hot, open-mouthed kisses along Delphine's jawline. Her lips wandered to the pulse point that made Delphine practically a puddle in her hands, feeling her strong legs twitch around her hips.
"Remind me later!" Delphine hummed, but made no effort to stop Cosima. "We have to call my mother, remember? We promised to show her that we aren't going crazy."
"We can call her later. She'll understand. You know, time zones and shit." Cosima brushed off, gently nipping and sucking at the tender skin in the middle of Delphine's collarbone, immediately turning the blonde woman submissive to her touch.
"You and I both know she will not understand, Cosima. Come on. Just five minutes."
Cosima groaned but continued, grasping Delphine's thighs and pulling her closer to the edge of the desk- making the Frenchwoman elicit a guttural moan.
"I really don't want to hear you talk about your mother while I'm trying to seduce you." She growled lowly against her neck, sending violent shockwaves down to the very core of Delphine. She shuddered at the sensation, earning a wide grin from Cosima. Still, Delphine shook her head, laughing as she planted her hands on Cosima's shoulders and ever so gently pushed her away.
It had been a year since the plane ride to San Francisco. And though it was a messy transition, one filled with constant trips for working visas, dual citizenship applications, and learning to live in Cosima's lifestyle this time, neither women have regretted it for a moment. Their lives together were just beginning.
Delphine managed, with her strings with DYAD before cutting them off completely, to obtain a research and teaching position as Cosima's university, and Cosima was nothing less than pleased.
"So does this mean I'm sleeping with the professor now?" Cosima teased, flashing Delphine a wide, fangy grin that made her absolutely swoon.
"Cheeky. And that's Doctor, not professor, Ms. Niehaus." She nudged as they walked home hand in hand from campus. "And technically, non. I am not your professor."
"So it's totally cool to just, make out with you on campus whenever I want?" She pressed more, shrugging nonchalantly while Delphine turned an obvious red hue.
"Mon amour, what on earth am I going to do with you?" Delphine sighed, staring at the petite brunette next to her whiles they climbed the stairs of Cosima's building and up towards her apartment.
"Just kiss me." Cosima offered. Delphine complied immediately, gently backing Cosima up against the door to her apartment and tenderly pressing their lips together. Neither woman could help but smile, so beyond in love with each other.
Cosima groaned, pouting as she allowed Delphine to push her away and slide off the edge of the desk. The two women, side by side, began to dig through the last two boxes Scott sent over.
"Do you miss it?" Cosima asked, grabbing at Delphine's lab coat. She ran her fingers over the embroidery before putting it on, flapping her hands at the excess of material on the sleeves. Delphine, hands on her hips, laughed at the sight- the white jacket dwarfing the American's petite frame.
"Non." She laughed, stepping close to Cosima and adjusting the collar. "Well, sometimes. But I wouldn't change anything."
"So you'd do it again?" Cosima asked quietly, her dark eyes staring up with sincerity.
"For you? A thousand times over." Delphine nodded. Cosima couldn't help but smile, revealing her full set of teeth as complete bliss washed over her face.
"You make me so happy." The American whispered, pushing up the oversized sleeves of the jacket up to her elbows. "Are, are you happy?"
"What makes you ask that?" Delphine asked, furrowing her brow at the questionable look on Cosima's face.
"I know this is a big change from Paris. I know- I know you say you want this, and obvs I want it, too. But like- no pressure, dude. If you ever change your mind and want to go home, I'm not going to blame you-"
Delphine huffed, cutting off Cosima's ramble and fast moving arms with a sweet, soft kiss, humming against her lips.
"Cosima." She cooed, her thumb tracing circles on the back of the American's neck. "Je suis heureux. And with you, I always be. I do not want to be anywhere without you. You are my home, I want to be and go wherever you are. D'accord?"
Cosima nodded her head, relief washing over her slowly as she felt Delphine press her lips to her forehead, her eyes fluttering at the tender sensation. Cosima grinned, running her hands up Delphine's thighs, to her hips, and finally settling on creeping them under her shirt and resting on her warm stomach.
Delphine flinched slightly, Cosima's cold fingers tickling her as both woman giggled.
"I like your stomach." Cosima mumbled tiredly, letting her head drop backwards as she felt Delphine wrap her long legs around her waist lazily, resuming her original position on top of the desk.
"Of all the things to like, it is my stomach?" she blonde woman asked, laughing at the pouty face staring back at her. Delphine braced her arms on either side of the desk she was sitting on to keep her balance as Cosima's fingers roamed across the plane of her stomach under her shirt.
"Mhmm. It's cute, like you. And like, hella soft and warm and like, smooth and stuff." She noted quietly, leaning forward to quickly kiss Delphine.
"Enjoy it, because one day children will probably taint it's soft and smoothness." She thought allowed absently. Cosima's eyes widened behind her glasses, her mouth slightly ajar at the comment.
"Children?" she stuttered. It was no contest that Cosima never thought of the idea of kids with Delphine before, but hearing it aloud for the first time knocked the wind out of her. She wasn't sure what Delphine meant by it. Was she serious, was she joking?
"I- I mean, yeah? Or, no? I know we never really talked about it but I always thought- oh merde- maybe one we would explore the possibility and just-"
Delphine was abruptly cut off by Cosima's palms on either side of her face, pulling her down to kiss her deeply. She moaned into her chapped lips, taking one between her teeth and pulling slightly. Cosima couldn't help but smile, dipping her tongue to trace the outline of Delphine's mouth- only pulling away after sometime for air.
"Is that a maybe?" Delphine asked, regaining her breathing as she rubbed her nose against Cosima's before pulling back to sit straight.
"Of course I want kids one day. I just, I never knew how to bring it up! So, so is this a thing? Is this a plan?" Cosima asked excitedly. Delphine nodded, a wide grin across her face. "YES! I have to get our book!" she yelped, breaking free of Delphine's leg embrace and running into the bedroom.
Delphine laughed loudly, watching Cosima jog into their bedroom, her two sizes too big lab-coat billowing in her trail. It wasn't long before Cosima emerged, the large book in hand as she walked back over to stand in her rightful spot between Delphine's legs.
"You know, you look good in a lab coat." Delphine growled, gripping the collar and pulling Cosima up into a long kiss, her tongue poking out to tease at her bottom lip. Cosima managed to push the book onto the desk besides Delphine, melting into the kiss once more as their mouths moved fervently against one another's.
"Do I?" Cosima hummed.
"Mhmm. I think that this," Delphine said, pulling at the white jacket. "And those glasses are definitely, how would you say, a definite turn-on."
"Mm, Dr. Cormier." Cosima growled. "Maybe when you're done with your million hours-long conversation with your maman, I will possibly be in the bedroom…possibly with this labcoat and possibly with nothing else." She teased, hands gripping the frenchwoman's hips as she pushed herself away, Delphine whimpering with injustice and licking her lips. The blonde woman watched Cosima saunter off behind the wall and into the bedroom, hips swaying purposely to make Delphine weak in the knees.
"Cheeky!" the blonde whimpered, hearing Cosima's loud giggle. "Take your book!" she yelled, tossing it from the desk and onto the bed. She watched Cosima flop onto the bed, a pen in her mouth as she flipped to find the right page and start scrawling across it.
She sighed, running a hand through her frazzled hair as she turned to sit at the desk, her back to the bedroom. Delphine went to reopen her laptop to initiate her Skype call, but stopped. Instead, she took the time to look about the apartment.
It was small, but totally and completely identifiable as Cosima's. The singular countertop that ran across the wall acted as her complete kitchen, having everything Cosima needed. The bookshelves squeezed into open wall space were filled with books, knick-knacks, and dust- the first thing that Delphine started to clean the moment she was somewhat situated in her new living space.
The year had gone by in a blur, and Delphine missed France terribly- but she knew it was nothing in comparison to the way she'd miss Cosima had she not followed her. Delphine smiled to herself, remembering how comfortable they fell into living with each other again, only this time in a completely different venue, though Delphine must admit that she prefers Cosima's apartment than her owns by a long-shot. It had life, the walls could tell stories that Delphine could listen to for hours. There was truly no place she'd rather be.
"Are you going to call her?!" Cosima called in the not-so-far distance, knocking Delphine from her trance. With a shake of her head and a quick pull back to reality, Delphine opened her laptop to initiate the Skype conference. She could just make out Cosima in the reflection of her laptop screen, catching her just as she shrugged the lab coat back onto her now-bare body, climbing back on top of the bed and laying in such a way that Delphine knew Cosima was aware she was being watched.
She laughed, shaking her head and clicking her mother's name- wanting nothing more than for this call to be as brief as possible.
"Hello, maman!" Delphine waved into the camera.
"Delphine, good morning to you! What are you up to?" Adele asked, a slight yawn pulling at her voice.
"Just… planning." Delphine shrugged nonchalantly, but a smile plastered across her face.
"Planning what, Del- merde! Is that Cosima behind you?!" the older woman gasped, hands flying over her face. Delphine's eyes were wide, nearly popping out of her head as she heard Cosima gasp and jump. By the time she swiveled around in her chair to face the entrance to the bedroom, Cosima was nearly on the floor after throwing herself off the bed and out of the camera's view.
"Cosima!" she yelled. Only a huff and a strangled apology in response as she glared down to the dreadlocked American who was fighting to stand back up. Delphine was pretty sure her face was a bright red as she tangled her fingers into her own hair, turning back around to see a very embarrassed, very pissed- off mother.
"Maman, désolé I-"
"Non non non, Delphine. You will learn one day that there are just some things that mother's do not need to know."
Delphine smiled at her clearly flushed maman, warm eyes staring back at her through the computer.
"Oui, maman. One day." She responded, an unmistakable light in her eyes.
Cosima, pulling herself together in her bedroom was smiling ear-to-ear at the conversation between Delphine and her mother. 'Plans.' She thought.
Their lives together were just beginning.
That's a wrap. It's been a hell of a ride, guys. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such an amazing group of readers. I seriously cannot thank you all enough. Stay tuned for another story coming around the first week of January!