Delphine was 18 when she left the small, isolated town she'd called home since the age of 7, when the event that would define her life forced her to leave Paris and move in with her grandparents on the outskirts of the big city. Saint-Pathus is but less than an hour away from Paris, but a world apart. Going back to her hometown was out of the question, she needed to be as far away as possible and that was exactly what lead her to move to New York as soon as she came of age. The Big Apple, with its millions of inhabitants provided the best hideout she could think of; just another immigrant looking for a better life.

There was an internal strength that kept Delphine moving forward, even in the darkest hours when she doubted everything and everyone around her, a voice which kept her on the path, giving her purpose; her personal crusade constantly pushing her forward. With that kind of determination it wasn't too hard for her to stand out among the other students, the same way that it didn't take long before she attracted the attention of the big sharks.

Delphine was first approached by a big company when she was 20 and already with the first grade under her belt, she refused them and their astronomical paychecks, the same way that she did all the others that followed. Finally, at 23, she was contacted by Ferdinand and even if at first she played hard to get, after a little back and forth, she accepted. Delphine was careful not to sound too eager and give away her real intention. She made the negotiations difficult, but never gave a conclusive 'no' as she had done before.

Under the guidance of what is known only as "The Company", Delphine continued her studies until they saw fit to have her infiltrate the DYAD Institute.

Her instructions were as clear as they were simple: find out everything they know - on and off the record - and report back. The doctor was comfortable with these directions, simply because they presented no conflict with her own personal intentions, in fact, quite the opposite. It was always her intention to acquire that kind of information, the only difference is that she intends to take it a step further; not interested in corporate espionage. But in order to achieve that, Delphine has the conscience that she needs to appeal to her patience. She has waited for this many years, what difference will a few more months make?

Another month has passed without changes though, not that the French was expecting it. It takes time to gain the trust of individuals who are naturally suspicious. She was aware that the first month, while it wouldn't provide any breakthroughs, was fundamental to prove her worth in the new position and the way to make it happen was to fly under the radar. Thus, she maintained her apparent clueless front, constantly aware of Krystal's interested gaze upon her. Delphine likes the young woman, she has a kind heart and it's a competent assistant, but Krystal's ultimate allegiance lies with her real bosses. The girl seems harmless enough but the doctor knows better than to relax around anyone.

The little free time her job leaves is spent at home, in front of her computer and cataloguing all the information she's able to gather without raising suspicions. While it's true that she sends all the official data she collects to The Company, her personal notes remain for her eyes only. They aren't particularly elegant; it basically consists of her private observations: cleaning crew schedules, security rounds, but, most importantly, who in the staff has access to more restricted areas. Her own access is very limited. When she arrives in the morning everything she needs is already set up, the cabinet where the injections she'll need for the day is already filled with the right amount of vials. Other than her office, Delphine has access to the staff's bathroom and a small cafeteria that's reserved for workers.

In an attempt to get more information, one day she intentionally dropped the last vial for the day, but Krystal promptly offered to pursue another, leaving the office too quickly for Delphine to react and in less than five minutes returned with a new one. So that was a bust...

Even more disheartening was the fact she has yet to meet any high ranking scientists from the Institute. When she was hired she'd only met with someone from HR, who explained, with a too pleasant smile and a too cheerful voice, what her job would consist of. It didn't surprise Delphine, of course, her job was rather monotonous after all; administering injections and completing a standardized inquiry doesn't necessarily require much skill. However, she thought that after a few weeks she'd, at the very least, meet with one of the scientists. But no. The only contact she has with them is if she passes by them in the hallway or sees them in the cafeteria when she can take extra time for lunch. Other than that, it's like they're a completely different breed, distinguished by their sky-blue lab coats with a red access card pinned to the breast pocket which contrast with her white one and the yellow ID card.

When she informed Ferdinand of this situation, he immediately tried to assure her that he was working to improve her situation within DYAD and that soon enough she'll have extended access. Furthermore, he added as a side note, someone with Delphine's resumé would always arouse the interest of someone higher in the Institute's hierarchy. All she needed to do was to continue to do her job and be patient.

And there it was that word again. Patient. Something Delphine had long ago learned how to embrace. Years she has waited, she can spare a few more months.

Cosima wakes up with the sun in her eyes. For a brief moment she panics, an instinct that has become natural after centuries of fearing its rays. Once she fully wakes, she chuckles to herself and pushes more into the warmth coming from the window. The pleasant feeling doesn't last long, though; the red mark on the calendar she keeps pinned on the wall right in front of the bed grabs her attention like a dark cloud over her head. Spending so long without concern for which day it was - or month or year - had made her hate any activity marked for a specific day, even more so when said activity is utterly unpleasant.

She drags herself out of the bed and into the shower. Cosima takes her time under the hard sprays of water and in preparing something that Alison had left her to eat. Before she leaves, Cosima double checks to see if she has any weed left; she does but it's in dire need of restocking.

When she finally decides to leave is late in the afternoon, the spring breeze is picking up and the sun will set in less than an hour. The vampire speeds up the pace, even if there's no scheduled time for her to present herself, she figures that coming after-hours could send the wrong message. She goes through the motions of making the check-in, the same security guard gives her the same ugly look, this time perhaps a little heavier as the result of the late hour. At least she's not left waiting for long and soon Krystal is stopping in front of her.

"We were starting to think you wouldn't come," she says in her usual happy voice.

Cosima stands up and starts to follow the perky blonde. "Got a little distracted," she explains. "Time is a difficult concept to grasp. I don't even own a watch."

Krystal laughs. "So, that's why you're always so late" she jokes while opening the door to the office, "I thought you were just always running late as a principle."

"Yes... that too," Cosima nods and smiles, her eyes still focused on the small woman. "It's my way of protesting."

"I thought this was a voluntarily treatment."

The clear voice leads the vampire's attention to the woman sitting behind the big desk. As before, she feels a growl rising into her chest, the primitive animal inside trying to crawl its way out and she has to tamp it down. It's not a new emotion for her, Cosima has felt this before, not often, but it has happened. The single difference is that on previous occasions, there was no reason to resist the temptation; she could try to pursue the object of her desire and, more often than not, have that same desire satiated. The beast could feed and would calm down until the next person who made her feel this way came along.

At least, Cosima is happy to see, that the doctor has followed her advice; a light scarf is loosely wrapped around her neck while the blonde curls remain pinned up in a messy bun.

"It is," the brunette concedes, moving with grace to sit on the usual chair and placing her elbow on the armrest, palm up. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't make me feel cranky."

Delphine raises a surprised brow. "Then why do it? Why put yourself through this?"

"Damn, you really know how to sell your product, don't you?" Cosima says, biting her tongue to contain her smile.

A light flush colors the doctor's cheeks and she lowers her face just slightly. "I'm just curious," Delphine says after a subtle clear of throat. "You had all those... abilities and you just threw them away... for what?"

Cosima narrows her eyes, carefully examining the woman who so plainly posed a question nobody has bothered to ask before. It was a decision Cosima didn't take lightly, there were many reasons that made her choose this path, but she's not in the mood to share them with someone she knows nothing about and is having a hard time trusting.

"Immortality is overrated," she answers in an carefree way, "especially if you can't go to the beach and enjoy the sun. Although, judging by the lightness of your skin, that wouldn't be an issue for you." She chuckles. "You look more like a vampire than I do... You'd fit right in with my old gang."

"That seems fair," the doctor comments under her breath, she even shows a little smile, but deep down she's unconvinced. The humor in Cosima's response didn't fool her, but she nods her head nonetheless and moves her attention to the screen of her small computer.

The vampire, on the other hand, keeps looking at her with the same interested gaze, Delphine can still feel the curious eyes on her. She struggles to return her focus back to the work she's supposed to be doing, checking the boxes that don't require questioning the creature, where simple empirical observation will suffice. Even when Cosima's half distracted following Krystal's instructions, the doctor can sense her every move being keenly observed. It isn't necessarily intimidating, Delphine is sure that's not the intention of it, but it makes her feel self-conscious all the same. Perhaps it's because she knows that fooling someone who's been around for so many centuries is damn near impossible. That's why she forces her expression to remain neutral and when that doesn't work, she tries to hide it, lowering her head or directing her attention elsewhere. She knows that this doesn't go unnoticed by Cosima, but it's all she can do for now - at least until she knows whether she can trust her emotions around this creature, or, better yet, learn how to control them.

There's a moment of silence between the three women. Krystal's working on the next shot, knowing that after the first the patients tend to be a little more irritable. But today Cosima seems to be a little more calm during the entire procedure, her attention clearly divided between the two blondes. Delphine continues to fill out the forms, giving them more thought than what really is necessary. When the doctor returns her attention to the vampire, she's not surprised to see the observing gaze still on her, not that Cosima is trying to hide it. Even as their eyes meet, the brunette's stare doesn't waver, all she does is twist her lips slightly, as if something isn't quite right and it makes Delphine hesitate for a heartbeat before she starts to ask the questions.

Cosima answers them mechanically, no real thought behind her answers, not even bothering to keep the boredom she's feeling hidden. Delphine is sure that more than a few answers are blatant lies.

"Have you kept a balanced diet?"

"Yes."

"Have you gone out, made an effort to get reacquainted with the human society?"

"Yes, been having a blast!"

"Have you had contact with any vampires who haven't been introduced to the treatment or are currently refusing it?"

"No and no."

"Have you had thoughts about leaving the treatment?"

"And lose the height of my month?"

"Any side-effects other than the previously mentioned headaches?"

"Nope."

With every mumbled answer Delphine checks a box and moves to the next question, her eyes not going to the small brunette, who remains in the chair, pulling her sleeve down once Krystal has administered the second shot and leaning back into a more comfortable position. It's only when she finishes the questionnaire that the doctor looks at her patient and finds the expected bored expression.

"I know this is tedious," she admits after a deep sigh, "but it's for your own good."

"I fail to see how asking me personal questions is helping me with the treatment," Cosima replies a little annoyed. "Why does it matter with whom I spend my time?"

Delphine doesn't answer, she could parrot back at the brunette what has been said to her: that it is important to ascertain the patient's disposition during the treatment. However that argument wasn't nearly convincing enough for her, let alone someone like Cosima. So, she leaves the question floating in the air without answer, hoping that the vampire would drop the subject.

"You don't know, do you?" Cosima asks with a hint of bitterness. "You just do what you're told and make your little notes."

"You're correct," the doctor replies with the simplicity of someone who isn't in the disposition to make an issue of it. "I'm just doing my job. And as far as I can tell, you're here voluntarily. When you signed into the program you knew there were strings attached. Still, you decided to go on with it and I figure it's because you think the benefits outweigh the inconvenience. I don't believe you'd be here if you thought this arrangement wasn't beneficial for you." She surprises Cosima by stopping and smiling at the vampire. "Even if it's just the possibility of going to the beach."

The brunette chuckles, a throaty, subtle sound and shakes her head a few times. "You got me there, doc," her hands rise in a sign of surrender, before she aims one of them at the small screen in front of the blonde. "But I still think those questions are useless. I could lie and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Now Cosima, you shouldn't lie," Krystal, who has been silently moving around and preparing everything to leave, pitches in. "It can skew the results."

"How?" Cosima's stare leaves Delphine and finds the other woman near a cabinet behind her. "Unless there's a psychological component to these treatments I don't know about, one thing has nothing to do with the other."

"I don't care if you lie," Delphine says casually, as she gets up from the chair and loses her lab coat. "As long as you answer the questions..." she finishes, hanging the coat on the hook in the back of the door.

"Nice spirit there, doc!" Cosima comments, raising her brows, while the tall woman looks over her shoulder, shrugging gently and smiles at her. "Next month then..." she gets up and walks to the door.

The vampire leaves without waiting for Krystal and the woman doesn't make an effort to follow her. Cosima hopes that they don't do the same with other patients, not because she wants to believe she's special, but because some of her kind aren't worthy of the same type of trust. She walks along empty hallways and reaching the front lobby notices it vacant as well. The security guard doesn't bother to look at her twice when, with an annoyed grunt, he leaves his chair behind the big desk to walk to the front door and unlocks it, since office hours have passed.

The sun has finally set, the sky a darker shade of blue, but the wind has slowed down, inviting a stroll in the evening. In the past this was a sign that Cosima's day was just starting. When people were rushing to get home to their families, Cosima was leaving, barely able to make the remaining of the day passed before night fully settled. Now she's allowed to join the flow of the regular society, but there's no rush in her steps, no family to go home to, no one waiting for her to get dinner going. No one except Alison, when she decides to pay a visit, that is.

Usually, after her appointment, the vampire's hurry to get home is due to her need to relax after the shots, the weed waiting for her inside a drawer in her nightstand is proof enough if it. However, today there's no such hurry; the vaccines have taken their toll all the same, she feels her energy levels drop at every passing minute. But she lingers around the big glass building, her steps slow, almost hesitant as she walks away, her stare singles out a stranger in the crowd of quick passers-by only to move to another. In the distance she picks up two female voices, chatting leisurely between each other, parting for the day. She knows to whom those voices belong to even before she can detect the words they're speaking and moves to their origin. Keeping a safe distance isn't difficult for her, having centuries of experience in such matters. Cosima observes the two women approaching a vehicle, the smaller blonde gets behind the wheel after another short exchange of words and drives away. The vampire's blazing eyes remain on the woman left behind, the smallest of steps guides her forward before she stops herself, fighting to keep the notion of prey away from her rapidly declining reason. It has been too long since she had to struggle with the hunter inside her, she realizes with her stare refusing to leave the lithe figure joining the crowd on the sidewalks. Silly girl, Cosima shakes her head to herself, the beast returning to its hole; it's bad enough that the doctor lives within walking distance of DYAD, but to actually walk there is just plain careless.

Contrary to what humans are lead to believe, vampires who undergo the treatment are not more docile, they haven't been broken, especially those who maintain some of their unnatural strength. Even if that was the case, it has come to Cosima's knowledge that the identities of those who work for DYAD, human or otherwise, are known in the underworld, the most active having prices on their heads. Cosima knows her own name is on the list, but she's also aware that very few are stupid enough to start a conflict with her.

Delphine is not hard to follow, even if she's not within the vampire's sight, the doctor's scent is different from anyone else's, unique to her like a fingerprint or DNA that she leaves behind everywhere she passes by. She doesn't mean to scare the blonde, in fact, she doesn't really know what she's doing, her mind is absent of thought, but her basic instinct keeps her moving in the same direction of Delphine. The lean woman remains unaware that she's been followed, or at least so Cosima thinks, judging by the lack of hesitation Delphine shows in reaching her building and opening the front door by punching the pin code on the security pad. Had it been early in the treatment and Cosima could easily see the code herself from where she's standing, just on the other side of the busy street, not having any difficulty in making herself look small amongst the unsuspecting crowd.

Very, very careless, Dr. Cormier, she thinks when she starts to walk back to her place.