Thesevupdates are a bright spot in a fortnight were nothing else is going right. Thank you so much for continuing yo post [sic.]
AN: Thanks! I've been a little nervous about posting the next few chapters, to be honest. Needless to say, the way they get to their ending isn't going to be a pleasant one (but S is not going to die, I can swear on/give you guys that. She's gonna be one of the people that make it to the very end). ... Also, Helena is a goddamn cinnamon roll.
Like a really fucking cute lil' cinnamon roll and next chapter there's totally gonna be a flashback of her (or two—one is already finished). I just couldn't fit it into the chapter because I'm still trying to figure out exactly how long I'm going to make it.
"So, that happened.." Cal leans against one of the large glass windows on the porch of the main house, watching as Sarah walks up the stairs.
"Yeah," Sarah's almost breathless, raking a hand through her hair before chuckling, "of all of the shit I expected tonight, that definitely wasn't it. I mean, I thought Cosima would chase the horse off before we got a chance to kill it like that first year with you."
Cal snorts and chuckles, rolling his eyes as he takes the unnamed cup from Sarah's hands when it's offered to him, "That would have been a train wreck."
Sarah smirks, leaning against the window with him as she watches Delphine meander over towards the music, "No kidding. Holy shit, though, Siobhan.."
Cal nods, wrapping his arm around her shoulder casually. He'd have to wait another night or two. The tiny jewelry box in his pocket might as well be as heavy as a brick, but the wait would be worth it.
"What's on your mind?" Sarah quiets her voice, leaning into him and raising the shared cup towards Felix and Tony when she realizes they're watching them.
Every phone is turned off, they're relying only on the small firepits they'd made two hours earlier before the hunt, having taken two torches from the Yule log's fire... it was nice, almost being back in their natural environment.
"The future... and, uh, bear claws."
Sarah smirks again, quickly taking stock of who was where before she turns her attention back to him, "In the woods?"
"Hell, I'd take you right here if the kids weren't still awake inside."
Sarah rolls her eyes, grabbing his hand as she leads him off of the porch, "Let's go shag in the woods."
...
"You're doing great," Beth promises, helping her onto the twin bunk bed (situated above a full mattress underneath it). It'll be easier to replace in the long run and if it's ruined, they'll still have enough beds to sleep comfortably.
"My birth name is Naomi, not Nat'." Natalie doesn't know why she's been spilling her guts over the past hour as Beth climbs up onto the bed with her, helping her out of a pair of black yoga pants, "I have dissociative identity disorder. Marion had me on medication for it but it's been hard to function due to the baby."
"Hey," Beth reaches out to her, squeezing her hand reassuringly, "It's okay, no rush. If you want to get on your meds or even different ones, we'll find a way to get them. We've got connections here. How severe is it and how long do we have before it might become a problem?"
"I'm on antidepressants." Natalie settles into the pillows Niki puts behind her upper back and head, breathing deeply, "It only becomes a major problem when I'm not on them. No 'psycho' symptoms, though."
"Okay, that's good. Are you going to be able to nurse? If not, we'll send someone out to get some formula." Beth rakes a hand through her hair, trying not to let her panic show. What would Cosima ask? What would Sarah or Siobhan say to comfort her? Christ, she really isn't cut out for this part of being an Alpha, it's fucking terrifying.
"I should be able to nurse, but I think we'll need to keep an eye on the pups... or at least, that's what I heard Marion say."
"Good... that's good. Do you have any issues with blood pressure or bleeding too much?" Think, Beth.. what are any of the possible conditions that could cause it to become dangerous for Nat'?
"My blood pressure hasn't been a problem since I became pregnant, but it runs naturally low. I think." Natalie shuts her eyes, running her hand over her stomach before shuddering. She was freezing.
"Can we turn on the heat?"
"There's a wood stove across from the bed," Beth turns her attention to Anne, "Can you go into the back porch and get some dry wood? It should be under a blue tarp." Anne nods, quick to leave the chaos that was happening in the house.
"Danielle," Beth looks over to the curly haired clone when her head snaps up, she doesn't know enough French, but hopefully.. "Boiling water."
They'll need to sterilize a pair of shears and thread, that much she remembers.
Danielle nods, finding her way over to the kitchen and quickly pulling out any pot she can find from the cupboards.
"Jade, in between the bedrooms is the bathroom. Can you get any clean towels you can find and put them into the dryer? We'll need one or two left out."
What else? What else.. the afterbirth.
"I'm going to need someone to get another pot!" Beth barks over her shoulder only to be stopped by Natalie's hand over her wrist.
"Can the others go into the other rooms? We usually do this alone."
She forgot. They all came from different packs, one of the few things that separated everyone, it also was something that even seeped into how they each traditionally would give birth. She'll need to be sure to smooth things out for her. At least she's lucky... Natalie's an American. Which means this shouldn't be half as stressful and ten times more 'chill' than Beth has been making it out to be. Beth feels her shoulders sink slightly in relief, "Just let Danielle finish boiling water, the others can go, okay?"
She can do this.
...
Cosima pulls on a pair of joggers, quick to detour down to the lab.
How did they even know about Gyps' being pregnant..? Or even just Gypsy's existence in her life in general? Yeah, at one point she was going to marry her, but she never told anyone other than Shay and... Oh, right.
Emi.
Maybe I really am suffering from brain damage or something...
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she briefly waves at Carter and Scott when she walks into the lab, "What are you guys doing in here? Shouldn't you be with the others?"
"'Could ask you the same thing." Carter exhales a puff of smoke, returning to his game with Scott. It was nice to have a gaming buddy that wasn't one of his older half-brothers for once.
Cosima shrugs half-heartedly, walking over to Caitlin's desk after getting a jar of water out of the mini-fridge. Sitting down, she turns on the computer screen, letting it power up. She was grateful that two of her computers weren't hooked up to their mini-network when the whole thing was hijacked, primarily because replacing all of the software would have been a bitch.
"Got another lead?" Carter has a KitKat hanging out of his mouth, impeding his speech when he absentmindedly asks over his shoulder.
"No." Cosima bounces a pen against the health journal Caitlin made her keep the second she found out about her illness, "But I might have found a needle."
In the haystack.
"What're you thinking?" Carter surges forward, pressing 'X' at an almost panicked pace as he continues fighting off Zombies with a crowbar.
For the most part, Scott had stayed out of the lab. He'd made quick friends with the four wolves from Florida, which naturally meant that Carter was the next to follow. She still wasn't exactly sure whether she wanted him wrapped up in it, even though his help would probably be just as priceless as Carter's was right now (he was involved in the project that created them, after all). She wasn't one-hundred percent sure where he fell in between Marion and Siobhan.
"When we were cross-referencing your DNA with other shifters," Cosima opens a familiar program (not the version of the chromatogram software Carter had been fiddling with) before waiting for the old computer to catch up, "that and my chat with freaky-Leekie got me thinking about something that happened with Gramps' from when I was younger..."
"One minute, man." Carter pauses the game once Scott grunts in agreement before he crosses the room and leans over the desk, watching as she types a familiar string of commands onto the keyboard after loading several files back onto it.
Cosima's stomach sinks when she hears a familiar sound of matches being made, "Hey, Scott.. can you call Delphine for me?"
She already has her phone in hand, dialing Sarah's number. She needs someone else to compare it with... Preferably Siobhan, Sarah, Helena, Alison, and Tony if she has her way; otherwise, she'll be up all night.
Scratch that, she will definitely be up all night.
...
Somewhere along the way, Natalie has managed to shoo everyone out of the room (except for the cop) and make her way down to the full-sized bed, where Beth carefully rearranged everything after Natalie's insistence that a twin sized bed, off of the ground, was not going to work. She all but pushed Beth off into the kitchen after the contractions grew closer, begging for something to eat for after. The only thing Beth could find left over was the ingredients for Spaghetti.
Natalie almost cried over the idea of something so normal.
Beth is quietly boiling looted silk thread to sterilize it (they'll use what they have to, the cabin wasn't prepared for someone to give birth and has been empty for a while by the looks of it). The scissors were already sterilized, ready to go.
Once Beth had some distance between her, the woman relaxed substantially, quietly working on autopilot while keeping an ear out for Natalie in case she was needed.
"You okay?" Beth looks back at her in alarm when she realizes she's been staring at her.
"I'm fine. Yeah. I feel like I'm running a marathon in my crotch more than anything." Natalie chuckles breathlessly, resting her head back against the enormous mound of pillows they'd managed to gather for her. She was fine, but she didn't lie when she admitted to not feeling comfortable giving birth while squatting, "Not too much longer now."
"This isn't your first litter, is it?" Beth stirs the sauce quietly, glancing up at Natalie when she hears a quiet grunt, "How many have you had so far?"
"This is my second." Natalie shuts her eyes, shuddering as she rubs her stomach protectively, silently urging her body to hurry up, "My last litter... I had four. All boys. They were given to DYAD's higher-ups as pets."
"Jesus Christ."
"This time, though.." Natalie rests her head back against the pillows again, not fighting the slight cramping as her muscles finally seem to kick into work after the stress of the trip, "This time it's... natural. I'm not surrounded by strange men and women crowding around me, poking and prodding me as if I were nothing more than an animal."
"Let's keep it that way. Natural is good, at least, we can work with natural." Beth leaves her spot by the stove, filling one of Luka's plastic cups up halfway before joining her, "Here, you could use some fluids."
"I don't want t-"
"-Don't worry about the damn bed. There are towels under you and it's only a bit of water. We should probably rest like a pack tonight, anyway. It's everyone's first night out."
Natalie nods, taking the cup with shaking hands before nodding gratefully, "Thank you.."
"Do you want me to go for now?"
"N-no.. would you mind actually staying? There's going to be four of them again, and I could use the hands..."
Beth nods, sitting down next to the bed before reaching out to her with her dominant hand, "I remember you, I think."
...
"Selkie DNA," Cosima turns around the second she recognizes Delphine, Sarah, and Siobhan's footfalls descending down the stairs, "I still don't believe it and it didn't make sense at first until I remembered when my Grandfather had me test my DNA against different species as a child."
"What about sirens, now, chicken?" Siobhan has to ask for clarification as Cosima's already making her way to a dry erase board.
"At first I thought it might just have been corrupted, but that's, like, impossible, knowing him. He retested it at least eight times that day." She picks up the nearest dry-erase marker, quick to write down a small list of the samples she tested against before drawing a line from 'Selk./Siren' across to the other side of the board, quickly writing her name at the end of the line and turning around, walking back to the computer, "So I tried again, only this time I cross-checked it with one of Helena's samples from her earlier tests when she was down here for her check-up."
"What are you even on about, Cos?" Sarah's shuts her eyes in irritation, rubbing her forehead again.
"It might be all four samples," Delphine watches as Cosima returns to the list, head racing at eighteen miles a second as she scribbles down Helena's, drawing a line from it down to one of the other listed samples, "All four. I mean, shit, no wonder we're so fucked up!"
She's so flustered, excited, and wound up that she can hardly think straight. Delphine is surprised that she can herself with Cosima's emotions washing over her.
"I mean, it's only, like, 2... maybe 3% in common with the sample we had as far as relation goes, but almost a tenth of everything that makes us distinct from humans on our extra two chromosomes—"
Sarah rubs her eyebrows, irritation evident, "—In English, I hope."
Cosima shuts her eyes, taking a deep breath and sighing the second she catches a familiar, impatient look in Siobhan's eyes, "However they managed to keep the DNA they cloned us from alive, some of the parts must have still been corrupted because they filled it in with DNA from other shifters that should have stayed long extinct."
"What?" Delphine furrows her brows in confusion, walking over to the computer Cosima had been working over earlier, "That... that's impossible. Marion promised..."
"There's no reason for Grandpa to have kept the samples here. They should have been in the museum in Tibet where they would have been safe. Why else would he have kept them around if he wasn't leaving breadcrumbs?"
...
"Oh my god," Natalie reaches out, fighting tears as she wraps her arms around the tiny bundle, quick to get the first baby to latch onto her breast.
"You're doing great." Beth encourages, getting the second blanket ready for the mirror as it begins to crown, still in its sac.
"Christopher.." Natalie coos, ignoring the sniffle that surfaces after being able to touch a pup of her own making for the first time. The last time she'd given birth, they'd all been whisked away before she could even get a look at them, Rachel cooly citing to her that it'd be 'easier that way'.
It wasn't.
"Hey.." Beth's voice is surprisingly patient, "Do you need to take a break after this one?"
Natalie nods as she holds the baby close, "He's so beautiful.."
She needs to take stock of the children she has, and by the time the others will be born, she should be done nursing the first (two, hopefully). There's no tearing yet; but even if there is, Beth has assured her that she knows her way around a needle well enough to stitch her up. It was going just as smooth as she'd expected so far.
Marion finishes tearing out the last of the men's spines, groaning in disgust when she chucks it onto the floor.
They'd followed the tracking devices all the way to a small, empty safe house. When the men and women that were supposed to be her help insisted on calling in when they found Siobhan's location tucked away in a notebook under a piece of furniture, she'd made a split-second decision to get rid of her problem.
Ergo, they're dead, and they will not have the chance to betray her if the council decides that interrogating them would be a necessity.
The things she'd do for love...
Or perhaps it's the fact that she's nearing the end of her life-cycle, and she's too reckless and uncaring about anyone other than those in her inner circle.
Siobhan's ringtone. She was almost out of the house when her phone went off, making her nearly flinch in place before she answers.
Siobhan's calling her.
Siobhan, Siobhan, Siobhan...
"Hello? Siobhan? Are you okay?"
She can't hold back the almost frantic voice that comes out when she hears nothing but silence.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Not her..." Marion shuts her eyes in annoyance when she hears the voice over the phone. If it's not her, then she doesn't want to hear what she has to say, "I'm calling to make a deal... I knew you'd pick up if I used S's phone."
"Why should I help you?"
"Because you had a hand in creating me, I'm an Alpha... and I have two working Lycanian ovaries."
Marion scoffs, walking back into the living room and sitting down on the couch, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "And what are you suggesting?"
"Release the pack—don't even try to pull that 'there is no pack here' bullshit with me, I know you have one—release them, and I'll come. Give me a lab, communication with the others, and promise that you won't turn me unless I'm on my deathbed and that you won't go after the others... I'll give you as many children as DYAD wants."
She knows too much..
"And why the sudden change of heart?"
"... I can't lose anyone else."
"Then they'll be cut loose today. You'll have a week to turn yourself in before we take every pack that DYAD is aware of."
Maybe this will work out after all... What ransoms could be paid for the head of a Queen...?
Siobhan.
...
Cosima stands outside of the sliding glass door on the porch that leads to Caitlin's current bedroom, nervously chewing on her lip.
Now that they had an idea of what to use as their next jumping off point... once Shay and Mina get to Tibet, they'll be able to get into the Museum's library in order to see if the illness that had been affecting her and her sisters was in any way related to the gene splicing that had taken place. From what she vaguely remembered reading in the library before she even became sick, only one of the four had no present illnesses before their species went extinct. At least, if it was related to their dubious heritage, Sarah and Helena would definitely make it out unscathed.
And with them having almost five hands on deck, they're bound to get somewhere close to finding the cure. She's never had so much 'homework' in her life, the urgency of it all was more than a little overwhelming. Hopefully wherever she was wouldn't hinder her ability to get it done.
"Does she know?" Shay's voice is quiet behind her, causing the clone to jump and almost shriek when she processes it, pulled out of her thoughts almost a split second later.
"Holy watershed, Shay!" Cosima fights the urge to push her away, only successful when she rakes a hand through her dreadlocks to stop herself, "Don't creep up on me like that."
"She tried getting your attention thrice." Mina speaks up, leaning back against the railing of the porch, "Do they know yet?"
"No. Obvs, I'm not going to just-" Cosima stops in her tracks, spotting the black leather jacket on Mina's shoulders, "I haven't seen you wear leather since you became my guard..."
"You are no longer Queen... I was hoping I could loosen protocol. Do you not like it..?"
"Dude, I fucking love that jacket on you."
"Were you even going to tell us?" Shay cuts back through the conversation, folding her arms when Cosima digs her nails into the back of her waist, "You weren't... God, Cosima! How can we protect you if you don't tell us what's going on?!"
"She wasn't going to tell you because she knew you would not let her leave." Helena speaks up, sitting on the stairs with her chin resting casually on her knee, "She is not a queen any longer."
"She's our Queen!" They're speaking in unison, sending a shiver down to the bottom of Cosima's spine. They're all too close, even now as friends, having them upset with her...
"I will join her. You two will go to Tibet together as planned."
"Helena, you can't." Cosima turns, walking over to her in a rush. She's on her knees again in seconds, hands reaching out and gently grabbing onto Helena's upper arm, "They might do something to your children."
"You will be alone in there..." Helena presses her forehead against Cosima's before the other clone has a chance to, body running on autopilot, "We made a promise."
"Then follow me until we get there," Cosima's voice is quiet, lowering until Shay and Mina can no longer hear them as starts the beginnings of bargaining with the younger clone, "Follow me so you know where I am. I don't even care if you pull stakeouts again like you used to, just don't let them see you."
...
"Cosima? Tony?" Caitlin's voice is quiet and croaking when she feels the bed dip slightly. Squinting at the outline of the figure in the darkness, she sighs slightly in relief and reaches out for her, "Come here, Kitten."
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you before we left..."
"It's okay, just come here... you scared the ink out of me." Caitlin wriggles her wrist in the air slightly, "Now come over here, if you're going to leave then I at least want a chance to hug you for a while. Tony won't because he's too afraid of my stitches."
Cosima smiles slightly, unable to help herself. She hates being mothered, but with Caitlin... She's probably the only person she ever called mom after her birth mother left, and the only person outside of Delphine and Tony that she'd trust with her life without a moment's hesitation.
"I'm sorry I scared you.." Caitlin's voice is quiet and patient, stroking her hand through soft dreadlocks that almost match the first pair she had put into Cosima's hair.
"I should have let Sarah deal with it, she's better at dealing with threats than I am. It was stupid, mom."
"Look at me," Caitlin pulls her arm away, lifting Cosima's chin to meet her eyes, "You did what you thought was important at the time, you know how I feel about that... but you can't end up like the three queens that were before you. No giving up your life for the sake of everyone else, no riding head-first into battle, am I clear? There's always another way."
Cosima nods slightly, guilt entangling itself and taking root in her gut as she looks away, resting her head back down. She shuts her eyes, shuddering softly and feeling muscles relax up until the moment she feels a swift kick against her jaw. Pulling away in confusion, Cosima looks down at Caitlin's stomach.
"Sorry... he's a fighter." Caitlin offers before patting the pillow next to hers as a truce.
"I didn't think it would be that strong..." Cosima slowly rests her head down on the other pillow, eyes almost glued to the stomach that's barely even showing despite being a solid six months into her pregnancy. It was definitely stronger than she'd ever anticipated a tiny human could be.
"Us humans are more resilient than people give us credit for."
Delphine reaches out, careful not to disturb Cosima in her shallow slumber as they lie on the couch. She wants nothing more than to hold her right now, but she...
Cosima's eyes open, quiet and focused on the faint noise coming from the old electrical fireplace.
"How can you not hate me for what I've done?" Delphine's voice is soft, cutting through the silence of the half-empty living room. The four wolves Scott allied himself with have been helping Tony and Cal work on loading up the moving vans. They only had three more hours of resting together before they were on the road. Sarah, Jenni, and the others would be headed to California in one of the cramped RV's.
Cosima hadn't been able to actually sleep for even a second.
She leans forward slightly, clearing her throat to ward off a cough before resting her forehead against Delphine's, content to bask in the silence for a minute or two longer before she decides to speak.
"It's not just me..." Cosima smiles softly up at her, "You gave me Tony and Jenni, Sarah, Helena..." She shuts her eyes, clearing her throat and internally facepalming at the cracking of her voice when she speaks up, "Beyond the shock, I don't see how I could hate you. I mean, sure, you could have told me sooner, but... I love you, Delphine."
"Je t'aime, aussi." Delphine smiles and bumps her nose against Cosima's.
"Now, please just go back to sleep," Cosima fights off a quiet yawn when she relaxes back into her spot, "it's gonna' be a long day tomorrow, and you get a little... timorous when you don't sleep."
Delphine rolls her eyes, kissing Cosima's forehead, "I do not."
"Whatever you say, Spock." Also known as; Welcome to de' Nile. Cosima smirks, unable to hide her amusement.
Delphine groans, playfully swatting at Cosima's hip, "Star Trek? Seriously?"
Cosima smiles, eyes still closed as she settles further into the couch, greedily wrapping her arms around Delphine's waist with nothing more than a small hum of acknowledgment.
"Tony, did you find-" Caitlin's voice is scratchy and breathless as she helps Cosima maintain the back roots of her dreadlocks, her daughter half-awake and sleepily drinking the tea she made, wrapped up in a blanket she'd taken off of the bed when Tony finally managed to drag her away from Delphine.
She insisted on being the one to help with the part Cosima always struggled to do, just in case her suspicions were accurate...
"-Yepp."
"And the syringes?"
"Already packed. 'Not a kid, mom." Tony's only slightly annoyed.
Cosima offers him a sheepish smile, keeping her voice at the same whisper they'd been using ever since he woke her up at five, "I made sure he had enough for the next half a year."
"Good. Thanks, cuttlefish..." Caitlin finishes, leaning forward and kissing the back of Cosima's head out of habit despite the white-hot pain that follows from disturbing her wound, "There you go."
Cosima looks back at her and offers another small smile, "Are you sure you want to be up? We don't wanna risk hurting the baby..."
Caitlin adjusts her cannula before leaning back, "The baby is the least of my concerns right now. I'm more worried about you two."
And when she can get her next cigarette, but she wouldn't admit to that aloud.
Cosima swallows, unable to hide a second of guilt before she's smiling up at her, bright and sweet like when had as a child, "Don't worry about us. We're resilient, remember?"
Caitlin smiles down at her, cupping her cheek briefly, "How could I forget?"
All three look up when the door opens after a short knock.
"Ehm.." Delphine's hesitating at the doorway, "Cosima, Alison needs you to show her where a few things are and Sammi wishes to say goodbye to Tony."
Cosima nods slightly, despite the slight presence of a pout as she stands and leans down to hug Caitlin, "'Love you, mom."
"That's my cue, I guess." Tony grunts as he stands, quick to leave the bedroom and avoid an emotional goodbye.
"Wanna come with me?" Cosima's voice is surprisingly soft still, reaching out for Delphine tentatively.
"I was hoping to get a chance to talk to your mother."
Cosima nods, squeezing Delphine's hand when it's in hers before she leaves.
Caitlin sits up straight, listening quietly for the sound of Cosima heading off towards the kitchen. When she's sure she's far off enough, she stands up, hand on her stomach as she returns to her bed, "I take it you're Doctor Cormier?"
"Oui." Delphine nods, walking over to the bed and stopping a distance from the carpet sprawled out on the floor, half-aware of Siobhan's presence outside of the bedroom. When Caitlin knocks the wall with her knuckles behind her, Siobhan comes inside, arms folded slightly. Delphine can't help but look back, "You're awake.."
"So, I take it you're the one we have to thank for our predicament, then?"
"Pardon?" Delphine furrows her brows.
Caitlin stands, ignoring Siobhan's bristling as she walks over to her, pushing an oxygen tank across old wooden floorboards, "Their mother was barely eighteen when DYAD impregnated her. We lost six out of the eight she could have had because she tried to kill herself when she found out she was pregnant."
"I.." Delphine stumbles over her own words in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"I've known their mother since she was six, we spent nearly every waking moment of our childhood together, did you think I wouldn't notice?" Her hand is already on her stomach by the time she's face to face with Delphine, standing a steady two inches taller than the blonde (at least), "Every aching moment of pain, every insecurity you've left Tony and Cosima with, every betrayal, every overstep of their rights... I don't care if you leave or even retreat back to DYAD, but if you betray my children again, I will make the blood eagle look like a walk-"
"Easy now, love," Siobhan rushes over to her the second she smells blood, hand over Caitlin's briefly when she spots crimson soaking through her shirt, "Delphine understands."
Delphine nods mutely.
"Go check up on my Godson, he should be in Marion's cabin." Siobhan doesn't look back at her, already busy helping her back to the bed and pulling up Caitlin's shirt to examine the damage.
"Damn, Siobhan, If you wanted me naked, all you had to do was ask." Caitlin's voice comes out as an amused whisper the second after Delphine is out the door, laying back in complete exhaustion.
She hasn't even been up for more than two hours, and she can already hardly speak.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't pick you up over my shoulder and haul you back to that godforsaken hospital." Siobhan gruffs, getting up to get what she'd need to clean out the wound and change her dressings, "You're being reckless."
"Because it would tear my stitches. They're all I have, what do you really expect from me? You have, what, fifty other daughters? I have no one but Cosima and Tony."
"Thirty-nine. I have thirty-nine other daughters." Siobhan turns around, meeting her eyes past the door in the bathroom, accent heavy, "You have a son on the way, that's a lot more than some of us could hope for." Walking back to her with the necessary items in hand, Siobhan sits down on the bed, "They can't live without each other, but they also can't stand the thought of losing you, not yet. We can't afford to have you throwing your life around."
"I just want them to be able to thrive.." Caitlin carefully rakes her non-dominant hand through her hair, doing her best not to disturb her right side, "That, a shower, and a god damn cigarette."
"A cigarette is off the table, but I can probably see about helping you clean up and getting my hands on one of Cosima's pot-brownies before she goes."
Caitlin moans lowly at the idea, "Christ, that sounds like heaven."
"Then behave."
"Be careful," Shay murmurs, pulling Cosima further into the strange group-hug she'd insisted on the second Cosima finished saying goodbye to Jennifer and the others, "there's licorice tea already in the fridge for you. Okay?"
"Mm.." Cosima nods, kissing Shay and Mina's cheeks before pulling away, "You guys, too. I can already guess the shit-fit your aunt is going to throw when she finds out what we're doing."
Mina snickers bitterly, unable to help herself as she reaches forward and hugs her again, voice just as low as Shay's was, "I'll find a way to get my eyes on you, okay?"
"Don't." Cosima shakes her head, squeezing her hand gently when she pulls away before whispering, "If this is what's necessary to keep them away, then I'm doing it. No last minute rescues."
...
"Hey." Cal reaches out to Sarah the second she's said her goodbyes to Kira and S, "You probably won't be back until after Yule's over, even with a flight back."
Sarah looks up at him in confusion when she's handed a letter. She can already tell by the weight that he's put something inside, "This another one of your necklaces?"
"Something like that." Cal rolls his eyes, leaning forward and pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, "Open it on Sunna's day."
Sarah cocks her head to the side slightly in amusement, "Yeah... okay. Will do. You're going to have to wait for your present, though."
"Then you'll have a reason to hurry to get back here."
...
"This is for you." Cosima murmurs, handing Sarah an envelope (the second she pulls away from (yet another) god damned hug).
"Another?" Sarah looks down at it curiously, already tempted to open it while Cosima's still in front of her.
"Yeah, it..." Cosima fights her confusion at Sarah's response, "It probably has everything I know about the illness in layman's and.. a few other things."
"Right. Thanks, Cos."
Delphine watches as Cosima pulls off her sweater, "What are you doing?"
They managed to cram all eleven of them into the RV by way of sheer luck.. Cosima was exhausted, so she (and Delphine) retreated to the bedroom to free up a small amount of space. Even as it's moving, Cosima hardly seems to be bothered by it, feet planted comfortably into the carpet as if she had rooted her feet into it, "Cosima?"
"I'm way too warm right now." Cosima kneels down, looking up at her as she unzips the suitcase they shared. She folds the sweater up and puts it away before moving to find her harem pants, carefully searching around only to stop the second she feels cold leather against her skin, "What..?"
Delphine sits up in confusion, stopping the second Cosima pulls out the black leather collar Delphine has been mulling over for almost a solid week, "I-I was waiting for the right.." Merde. There never is a perfect moment with her family constantly around.
"I mean, yesterday would probably have been a good time." Cosima chews on the inside of her cheek for a second after taking in the almost familiar amethyst stones running down the middle of the outer layer (and mostly the o-ring). Climbing up onto the bed with it in her hands, she kisses Delphine warmly, not missing even a beat over the object, "And is this for you or me?"
Mon Dieu, this woman...
"I was hoping, ehm..." Delphine stumbles as she thumbs the amethyst resting against her neck. Timorous.. she wasn't entirely lying, it seems. Whenever she's around Cosima, she feels as if the decades of experience she's acquired over the past two hundred years had evaporated into thin air. Felix's earlier rantings seem to be not too far off after all; Cosima's weathered her down significantly.
"You were hoping..?" Cosima's above her, a cheeky little smile gracing her features.
Delphine shuts her eyes momentarily, ".. Cosima, where are we going once the 'shield' is set up?"
Cosima's stomach sinks as she sighs, giving up and melting into Delphine's side seamlessly, "I was going to suggest we take a little break, but with what's happened since then, I think it might be best for us to stay close by and keep searching for a cure."
Delphine nods in understanding, craning her head long enough to kiss her forehead, "You."
Cosima looks up at Delphine in confusion for a moment before a tiny smile plays across her features again, "Me, huh?"
"It was supposed to be for you." Exasperation bubbles at the surface, replaced by the sudden feeling of adoration when Cosima puts it into her waiting hands, pressing feather-light kisses along the crook of Delphine's neck, "But it's not necessary if you don't want to. I don't want you to think I'm forcing—"
"-You know what this would mean.." It's not a question, not after yesterday.
"Yes." Delphine agrees quietly and drags her nails down Cosima's shoulder, letting out a bated breath when the wolf nips at her neck almost playfully.
"... Would you let me bury my bones in you tonight?" Before I go... damn the whole fucking planet to hell if I'm not going to do it at least once.
Delphine looks up at her when Cosima pulls back slightly, reaching out to slowly guide her back to her lips without a moment's hesitation over the idea, "Yes."