"Good morning, Dr. Cormier!" Cosima exclaimed as she walked into the lab.

"Please, just Delphine," she said, "You are very awake in the morning."

"Yeah," Cosima smiled, "I get up early sometimes just thinking about the experiments I have to do. I'm a dork like that."

Delphine smiled as Scott walked in. "Good morning to you both," Scott stated.

Cosima ran past Delphine, throwing her arms around Scott. "Happy Birthday nerd!" she yelled, rubbing his head playfully.

Scott chuckled and turned red. "Uh, thanks, Cosima."

"Oh, Scott, I didn't know it was your birthday. Happy Birthday," Delphine said.

"How would you know? You just started," he asked.

Delphine smiled as they set out to get to work.

The three of them had a good rhythm together. Delphine was happy that her job was working out like this. She didn't need any further stresses in her life.

At the end of the day, Cosima came over to her while she was packing up her things. "Hey, Delphine, I'm going to take Scott out for a drink for his birthday. Do you want to come?"

Delphine didn't really want to. She wasn't ready to hang out in a friend capacity with anyone. If she did, that would prompt questions about where she was before, why she moved, and she didn't want to talk about any of it. "I'm sorry, Cosima, I think I'm just going to head home. I have some things to look over."

The dreadlocked brunette looked a little disappointed, but simply stated, "Ok, another time, then."

She turned to Scott, "Come on, stud, let's go get you laid for your birthday. Can't be a virgin forever."

Scott turned beet red as he chuckled nervously. "Always a joker, this one," he muttered to Delphine.

Delphine chuckled as the two bespectacled people left the room. She turned back to gathering her things, thinking about how carefree they seemed. They were only a few years younger than her, she thought, maybe in their mid-30s, but they both seemed to be untainted by life. She envied them.

As she walked out to her car, she thought about how that used to feel, uninhibited.

She was about to turn 30. Thirty. She couldn't believe how quickly her twenties had gone by. Her friends were throwing her a party at one of their apartments. She decided to have a drink at a bar on her way, just to have some quiet time to herself before her friends inevitably got her extremely inebriated.

She sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. She just needed a little time to relax and reflect on her last decade. It hadn't started out too well. Her mother had been gone for almost 8 years now, but it often felt just as raw as it did in the days following her death. It was a dull ache that she didn't think would ever go away. She missed her all the time.

The rest of her twenties had been a blur. She spent much of it in school, getting her master's, and then her doctorate. So much time focused on her career, she hadn't had much time for personal relationships.

As she sipped her beer, she noticed a woman sitting across the bar, alone. She caught her eye and the woman looked away. She was wearing a business suit, sipping a glass of wine. Delphine wondered why she was there. It was 5pm and they were the only two people in the bar.

She went back to her beer and her thoughts, resting her head on her hand and looking out the window. All of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me," she heard the woman say, "I don't mean to bother you, but I thought since we were the only two people in here, we could drink together, or at least just next to each other. You know, give the appearance that we're not alone," she laughed.

Delphine smiled. "That would be ok."

The woman sat down and they sat for a moment in silence.

Delphine finally broke the quiet, "So, why are you sitting in a suit, in a bar, at 5:15 on a Thursday?"

The woman grinned. "Oh, I just had a job interview. It didn't go all that well, and I just wanted to sit and have a drink before I have to go home and continue searching."

"Oh, I see. Sorry to hear that. What exactly are you searching for?"

"Well, many things," the woman said, "but for my job, I'm trying to get a teaching position. I'm an English teacher."

"Oh wow," Delphine exclaimed, feeling relaxed from the beer she was drinking.

"What about you? Why are you here?" the woman inquired.

"Actually, it's my birthday, and I wanted to have a quiet drink before going to the party my friends are throwing for me," Delphine answered.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry, I'm totally ruining your quiet moment. And it's your birthday! How rude of me," the woman replied, blushing.

"Oh, no no, it's ok," Delphine said, "I'm enjoying the company. It's nice." She looked at the woman sitting next to her. She noticed how beautiful her eyes were.

The woman stared back. "Hi, I'm Jen."

"Delphine."

"So nice to meet you, Delphine," Jen stated, her body language more relaxed now.

Delphine needed to get going. She knew her friends would be waiting. On a whim, she decided she wanted to spend more time with this woman. "Jen," she started, "I know we just met, but if you want to take a break from the job search tonight, maybe you'd want to join me at my birthday party?"

Jen exhaled as the sides of her mouth curled up into a grin. "Sure."

Delphine made it home and heated up her leftovers from the previous night. She settled in much like she did the night before, going through the notes, trying to prepare as much as possible so she could keep up with Scott and Cosima.

Her work would help to keep her mind off of everything that happened. She liked the fact that no one knew her here. They could treat her like a normal person. She didn't want pity from anyone. That's what she had moved to get away from.