"I think that's everything," Scott announces as he drops a few pens in the bankers box on his lab table. "You need help?"
"Nah, I've just got one more drawer to empty. Go," Cosima points towards the door, "enjoy Rune Wars night."
"What time did you want us to come by tomorrow?"
"I don't know, maybe 10."
"Okay, see you then. Have a good night!"
"You too."
Scott leaves the lab and Cosima rummages through the bottom drawer of her desk before giving up and just pulling it out and emptying the contents into her box. She scoops up the box, shuts the lights, and locks the door to the lab before leaving the science building.
As Cosima walks through the little tunnel on campus, she pulls out her phone to check her messages while carefully balancing the box against her side.
"Excuse me," a familiar voice calls out from behind her, "I've been flying all day and my lips are very dry. Would you by any chance happen to have some lip balm I could borrow?"
Cosima drops her box, reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a tube of Chapstick. She turns around, waving it in the air, "Sorry, I only have the one and a wise woman once told me it's extremely unsanitary to share Chapstick. There's like millions, maybe even billions, of germs that'll probably kill you if I let you use mine." She then smugly slathers the stick all over her lips.
Delphine quickly approaches Cosima, snatching the Chapstick from her hand and tossing it behind her before grabbing Cosima's cheeks and planting a passionate kiss on her lips.
"Mmmm," Cosima hums as their lips part, "this summer is already starting on a high note. I don't know how I survived nearly five months without kissing you."
Delphine rubs her nose against Cosima's, "I've missed you."
"I've missed you more."
"Impossible."
"Equally as much?"
"Perhaps," Delphine concedes as she pulls Cosima's face back to hers for another kiss.
"How was the flight?"
"Long, a little turbulent, but so worth it," Delphine insists as she wraps her arms around Cosima and hugs her tightly. Delphine glances at the box on the ground behind Cosima, spotting something that captures her attention. She lets go of Cosima and reaches down into the box, "Was this in your lab?"
"Yeah, I had it on my desk. It's my favorite."
"It's my favorite, too," Delphine smiles, admiring the framed of photo of them kissing either side of Shelly's face on their first sledding date. "You were so cute that day."
"Just that day?"
"You're cute everyday, but you were especially adorable that day."
"It doesn't hurt that I had such a beautiful woman by my side making me look good. And you looked pretty good yourself."
"Oh, gee, thanks."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Cosima wraps her arms around Delphine's waist. "You're so hot I'm surprised Shelly didn't melt under your touch. I know I always do."
"Okay," Delphine concedes, "that was better."
"You hungry?"
"Did the grumble in my stomach give me away?"
"Little bit."
"I'm starving. Airplane food leaves a lot to be desired."
"Come on, let's drop this box off at my place and then go out for dinner." Cosima goes to pick up her box, but Delphine stops her.
"Allow me," Delphine picks up the box and holds it against her left hip as she takes Cosima's hand in her right. They walk hand in hand through the campus and out onto Cosima's block.
"Oh my god," Cosima gapes when they arrive outside her apartment, "you seriously rented us a U-Haul?"
"I did," Delphine nods. "We needed something big enough to move your belongings and it seemed appropriate."
"It's very appropriate and not at all cliché," Cosima laughs. "Do you want to grab your bag and bring it up?"
"No, I'll get it later. Let's just get this box up there so we can go eat."
They enter the building and walk up a flight of stairs.
"Cosima," Delphine gasps when they enter her apartment, "you haven't even begun to pack."
"I got the boxes at least," Cosima points to a stack of cardboard in the corner.
"You're impossible."
"Hey, I've been busy, you know, graduating and stuff."
"Your graduation was almost a week ago."
"I'm sorry, I get easily distracted. But you're here now and two can pack way better than one."
"You purposely left this mess for me to help clean up, didn't you?"
"No, I would never."
"Cosima," Delphine gives her a stern look.
"Okay, okay, maybe I did. You're just so much more organized than me."
Delphine shakes her head in exasperation, "Alright, order us a pizza, there's no way we can go out to dinner now, we have a lot of work to do. We, Cosima. You're helping."
"I will, I will, I swear."
Cosima takes out her phone to place their order while Delphine looks around the cluttered apartment. She places her hand on her forehead, at a loss where to begin, "Merde!"
—
Two hours later, they've got 4 boxes packed, a pile for donation, and a pile of stuff to trash.
Cosima looks around as she chomps on Delphine's leftover crust, "Hey, we're making good progress."
"Yes, but now you need to pick which books you're keeping."
"Can't we just take them all?"
"Cosima, we're not going to have room for all of them. Are you really going to read those textbooks again? Most people sell them back at the end of the semester."
"Fine, the textbooks can go, but I need the rest."
"Okay," Delphine chuckles, "if you need them."
Cosima starts going through the books on her shelf while Delphine constructs another box.
"Sebastian asked if you were still going to join us for Christmas this year."
"Of course," Cosima insists, "why wouldn't I be there?
"I think he thought since we'd be living together you wouldn't need to come visit me in France for the holidays anymore."
"You, yeah, but what about them? I haven't missed Christmas with the Cormiers in 3 years, I'm not about to start now. I have big plans for our next gingerbread house. I'm thinking a three story mansion with a pool out back."
"A pool?" Delphine laughs.
"Yeah, but it's frozen over in the winter so we can have a few little gingerbread people skating on it."
"I think you missed your calling as an architect."
"No way, science is in my blood, architecture is strictly a Christmastime hobby."
"That's a relief, considering the degree you just received."
"Yeah, totally. What a waste of money that would have been."
"Sebastian will be thrilled, by both the gingerbread mansion and having you there."
"Also, my parents will be coming to France for Christmas this year."
"They will?" Delphine asks with surprise.
"Yeah, they figured it was about time they met your family and also-" Cosima pauses her train of thought and starts looking for something.
"Also what? What are you looking for?"
"I thought it was right here," Cosima looks behind the books, checks under the stack of notes on her desk, then rummages through the donation pile.
"What was right where?" Delphine follows Cosima into the bedroom. "I don't know how you ever find anything in all this clutter."
Cosima gets on her hands and knees and looks under the bed, she grabs a fuzzy purple slipper and sticks her hand inside, "Found it!"
"Great! Found what?"
Cosima turns around on her knees and looks up at Delphine, "A wise, pigtailed child once made me promise to never let you go and I think I've done a pretty good job of holding on to you these past three years. Despite distance and busy school schedules, we've made it work, and now we're actually going to be living and working together. This is everything I've dreamt of since falling in love with you, except for one small detail."
"What's that?"
"This," Cosima opens her clenched fist to reveal an antique diamond ring.
Delphine gasps and brings a hand up to cover her mouth, "Cosima!"
"The first time I left Chamonix, I told you I intended to marry you one day and that intention has never wavered, it's only gotten stronger. We've spent so much time apart, too much time, but because of that we've really had to work at this relationship. The highlight of every single day we were apart was seeing you on Skype or getting a text message from you. And in all that time, we've never ended a conversation without saying I love you. Even when you were annoyed at me, you still told me you loved me. But the times we have been able to spend together, the three weeks each winter break in Chamonix and three months the past two summers, were everything to me. Do you remember how worried you were, that first summer you stayed with me in San Francisco, that my parents would hear us making love and you kept making me check to make sure they were asleep or out of the house? That was fun. But those times, being with you, actually touching you rather than imagining touching you, those times were absolute bliss. And now, after three years of touching and then separating, we're going to be together all the time. We won't have to spend three weeks thinking about the day when I fly back home. We won't spend the summer dreading your return to France. Because now there is no end date, we can go to sleep every night and it's never going to be the night before one of us has to leave the other for months on end. We're not going to stay in a hotel room or my parents' house or this apartment, those were temporary spaces that we made our own for a limited time, and they were great and we made so many wonderful memories, but now we're going to have our own place. We have an apartment on the 9th floor of a very nice building in Toronto waiting for us to move into. We're starting from scratch and building a home together. We can argue about what color to paint the bedroom or where to put the tv in the living room, and, in the end, I'll always let you have your way, because you're usually right. But when I thought about us moving in together, permanently, I realized that I didn't want to live with my girlfriend. I've had a girlfriend for the last three years and she was incredible, and our relationship was amazing, but now I want to spend the rest of my life with my wife. This is it for me, Delphine. You are it for me. You were it for me the moment I made a fool in front of you that first day in Chamonix and you are going to be it for me the moment I make a fool in front of you before I take my final breath. And now that I've managed to ramble on and on and you haven't run off, Dr. Delphine Cormier, will you marry me and be my buddy for life?"
"Oh, Cosima," Delphine smiles, "I will never get tired of listening to you ramble, especially when your rambles are so incredibly sweet. I have been listening to you ramble for three years and I've watched you ramble yourself to sleep during many late night Skype sessions. You are perhaps the most eloquent and adorable rambler of all time. And what you call making a fool of yourself in front of me, I call making me fall in love with you by being your charmingly quirky self. I admire when you try to win an argument, even though you know you'll inevitably bend to my will, and not because I'm right, but because you love me so much that winning an argument isn't as important as making me happy. It's the same way that I let you get away with always leaving your packing to me. You are very cheeky, but you never annoy me, exasperate me, perhaps, but never annoy. I can't imagine anything you could ever do that would prevent me from telling you that I love you, even saying it was fun making love in your parents' house with them just down the hall and your total inability to keep quiet. Despite that part, I lived for the time we were able to spend together. Yes, counting down the days until we separated was agony, but it was nothing compared to the wait between visits. Leaving France this time felt so different. Right before I got on the plane it hit me that, this time, I wouldn't be back at the end of the summer. And as much as I am going to miss being in the same country with all my family, I had this total sense of peace and joy because I realized I wasn't really leaving my family, I was going to start my own, with you. We are putting down roots together. Starting with our apartment and hopefully expanding to a house with our four children."
"Four children?"
"And a dog."
"Four kids and a dog?"
"Eventually. If you want all that, of course."
"Four kids and a dog sounds like a lot."
"We don't have to if you don't want, I'd be perfectly happy if it was just you and I—"
"No," Cosima interrupts her, "I want. We just might have to make that gingerbread mansion a real thing to accommodate all of us. And I think I'm gonna need to add a fire pit in the backyard."
"A fire pit?"
"Yeah, for family s'mores nights."
"That's going to be every night, isn't it?"
"Yup!"
"You really want to raise four children with me?"
"And a dog, don't forget the dog."
"And the dog," Delphine adds.
"Four is a lot, but the good thing is we can take turns being pregnant."
"That's true."
"Or we could both get pregnant at the same time and we can be like two sumo wrestlers trying to have sex."
"That is quite the visual," Delphine giggles.
"I know, right?"
"But do you really want all of that?"
"The sumo sex?"
"No, not the sumo sex, I'm sure you want that, I mean the kids and the dog?"
"Delphine, I've wanted that ever since you mentioned that we had formed a family with Charlotte, Kira, Oscar, and even Gemma, out on the slopes. It felt right, me and you with kids. Hell, it's not even just kids. I want everything with you. I want the two of us to become groundbreaking scientists together, I want us to raise a family together, I want us to ski together, and build snow women together, and make s'mores together, forever."
Tears roll down Delphine's face, "I can't wait to do all of that with you."
"Is that a yes?"
"Oui," Delphine nods, "of course I'll marry you."
Delphine holds out her hand and Cosima places the ring on her finger, then she tries to stand up, "Ow my ow, I think I was down here a little too long."
Delphine laughs as she sinks to her knees and takes Cosima's face in her hands, "Je t'aime."
"I love you, too," Cosima responds tenderly as Delphine leans in for a kiss. What starts out sweet and slow, quickly intensifies, and soon their clothing is discarded in a heap on the floor beside them.
"Bed," Delphine hums between kisses, taking Cosima's hand and helping her to her feet before backing her onto the mattress and covering her body with her own.
"My god, Skype sex has nothing on the real thing," Cosima moans as Delphine's long fingers work their magic.
"Non, it doesn't," Delphine agrees as she bites down playfully on Cosima's earlobe.
—
"I love my fiancée!" Cosima shouts as she collapses on the pillow after a lengthy lovemaking session.
"Your fiancée loves her fiancée," Delphine concurs with a kiss before resting her head on the pillow beside Cosima's. "Wait," Delphine suddenly remembers their earlier conversation, "what did any of this have to do with your parents?"
"Oh, yeah, right, my parents. The reason they're planning to come to France this year for the holidays is because our wedding is two days after Christmas."
Delphine lifts her head off the pillow, "What?"
"I mean, it is if that's okay with you. I reserved the church, but I'm sure they won't mind if we have to cancel."
"You reserved the church?"
"I did."
"You must have been very confident I'd agree to marry you."
"I had high hopes," Cosima shrugs. "What do you say, will you marry me on December 27th?"
"The day we kissed for the first time," Delphine smiles.
Cosima nods, "I want the first day we kissed and officially started our relationship to be the day we also have our first kiss as old married ladies."
"I think that sounds perfect." Delphine leans in for a kiss, "You are such a romantic."
"You bring it out of me."
"I should called Maman and Papa and give them the good news."
"They already know."
"What? How?"
"You think I would have asked you to marry me without getting your parents' permission first? Besides, they're the ones who helped me reserve the church, well them and Adeline. Your pastor doesn't exactly speak my language and he's got a real soft spot for your grandmother."
"Mémé knows, too? How long have you all been keeping this secret from me?"
"Since Christmas."
"Christmas? Wow, my family is better at keeping secrets than I thought. I wonder what else they've kept from me. Wait a second," Delphine looks at her ring finger, "this is Mémé's engagement ring."
"It was," Cosima corrects. "As soon as I told her that I was going to propose, she asked if I would consider giving it to you. She said that you'd always admired it and she wanted to pass it down to you. At first, I had envisioned designing you an engagement ring, but when I saw this, it was too perfect. Not only is it beautiful, but it's got character and history. It was a symbol of the love your grandparents had for one another and they spent 60 years together. I fully intend for us to be together at least that long, more if we can figure out the key to immortality like those freaky Neolutionists have been spouting."
"I look forward to our endless love. I can't believe you held onto this ring for five months and didn't lose it. Well, until you nearly lost it today."
"Hey, I knew which slipper it was in the whole time," Cosima swears.
"Why did you wait so long to ask me?"
"Because I wanted to propose to you when we started our new life together, when there wasn't going to be any more separation."
"But we only applied to Dyad days before Christmas, what if we hadn't both been hired?"
"They'd have been crazy not to hire two such brilliant scientists. Plus, it didn't hurt having Marion Bowles recommending us."
"Two? Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"Don't remind me."
"Oh come on, I think it's nice Scott will be there as well. We'll be like team science mega force."
"Team science mega force? What are we, superheroes?"
"Perhaps."
"Fine, but at least he's not living with us. If you thought it was awkward with my parents down the hall, imagine Scott in the next room. I don't think he can turn the volume on his video games up high enough to block us out."
"Oh stop, we're not that bad. It's you that's uncontrollable."
"If you say so."
"We're going to be pretty busy planning a wedding while starting work."
"Don't worry, we already have the church and the reception taken care of."
"The reception, too?"
"Yes, on the hotel roof. We can have Jenna take the wedding photos, Meggie can sing, and we'll have a Shelly the snow woman ice sculpture."
"You've really thought of everything."
"I just want to make it special for you. I've got grand childhood dreams to live up to."
"You, my love, have exceeded all my wildest dreams."
"Ooh, we totally need to do one of those elaborate entrance dances."
"Entrance dance?"
"Yeah, you know, when they announce us at the reception. We can come out and, like, recreate the final number from Dirty Dancing. Do you think you can lift me over your head?"
"I don't think so."
"I don't know, you've some impressive upper body strength, we can work on it. We'll stop at some lakes on our drive and practice. Apparently it's easier in the water."
"Okay," Delphine laughs, "we can try."
"Awesome! Thanks Johnny!"
"Johnny?"
"In this scenario, you're Johnny and I'm Baby."
"I see. Are we going to sing as well?"
"Sing? No, they don't sing, they just dance."
"We'll be dancing to The Time of My Life, won't we?"
"Yeah."
"Johnny lip-synced a little of it."
"I guess we can lip-sync if you want."
"No, we can sing it. I think it would be more original, and impressive, if we sang and danced. I'm sure many couples have done that dance, but I doubt they've also sung the song while doing the dance."
"Okay, you might be right, that would be quite the showstopper. Or show starter, I suppose, since it's our entrance. And nobody would ever forget our wedding after that. Alright, let's do it, but we're gonna need separate reception outfits. We can't do that number in wedding gowns."
"No, of course not."
"Hey, lay down for a sec." Delphine lays back down with her head on the pillow. "Ok, now lift your arms and legs in the air."
"What? Why?"
"Just trust me. Arms in the air, palms up. Then legs in the air, soles up. Like this," Cosima lays on her back and demonstrates the position.
"Seriously?"
"Don't I look serious?"
"You look ridiculous."
"Baby, please, humor me."
"I thought you were Baby and I was Johnny?"
"You're a riot."
"Okay, I'll do it, I don't know why, but I'll do it." Delphine gets into position.
"Great, hold just like that," Cosima stands up on the bed, then leans her stomach on Delphine's feet while grabbing her hands. "You ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"Steady," Cosima instructs as she leans forward, resting all her weight on Delphine's feet with her legs in the air.
"Cosima, are you mad?"
"Just hold me up."
"I'm holding you." Cosima loosens her grasp on Delphine's hands, "Cosima, do not let go."
"Too late," Cosima grins as she holds her hands up on either side of her. "I'm flying."
"Not for long," Delphine responds as her legs shake and tilt to the left, causing Cosima to slide off and drop onto the bed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Cosima responds through uncontrollable laughter.
"You're not fine, you're insane."
Cosima rolls on top of Delphine, "Oh, come on, you didn't enjoy that?"
"I'm not the one who got to fly."
"You flew for 13 hours today."
"13 hours and 35 minutes," Delphine corrects her. "Why did we just do that?"
"We were testing your strength so we know how much practice we'll have to do."
"That was quite different than lifting you over my head."
"Okay, well, maybe I just really wanted to try that."
"With me or anyone who happened to be in your bed?"
"Only you," Cosima kisses Delphine. "In fact, I have a very long list of things I want to do with you."
"Oh yeah," Delphine wraps her arms around Cosima's backside, "what else is on that list of yours?"
"So many fun things that we have a lifetime to cross off."
"Are they all going to involve me naked with my legs up in the air?"
"Hmm," Cosima thinks for a moment, "maybe about half of them."
"Okay, well let's try to cross those off while I'm still relatively young and flexible."
"Deal," Cosima seals the promise with a kiss before laying her head on Delphine's chest. Delphine runs her hands up and down Cosima's back soothingly.
After several minutes of silence, Delphine glances down at Cosima's face, "Cosima, did you seriously fall asleep on top of me?" Her only response is the little puffs of breath against her skin. Delphine laughs and then lifts her left hand off Cosima's back and stares at her engagement ring. Delphine smiles as a feeling of absolute contentment fills her, the weight of Cosima's body atop her own feeling less like a burden and more like an extension of herself. She wraps her arms around Cosima, kisses the top of her head, and drifts to sleep.
—
Loud knocking stirs Delphine from her slumber. "Cosima, what is that?"
"What's what?" Cosima mumbles against her shoulder.
There's more knocking, followed by, "Cosima, are you in there?"
"Is that Scott?"
Cosima's eyes pop open, "Oh no. What time is it?"
Delphine glances at the clock, "Just after 10."
"Shit, they're here to help move my stuff."
"You told them to come this early?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I wasn't thinking."
"We never finished packing."
"I know."
"We're naked."
"I know."
"All my clothing is still in the truck."
"Oh yeah," Cosima smiles. "Guess they're in for a treat."
"Really, Cosima?"
"They're really in for a treat."
"Cosima!"
"Okay, okay, you can borrow my robe. I'll just tell them to wait a sec and then I'll run down to get your stuff."
"But I wanted to take a long, hot shower this morning."
"Can you make it a short, warm shower?"
"I don't know, can you?"
"Ohhh," realization sinks in, "No, I don't think so. Okay, I'll send them to get us breakfast."
"Good idea."
Cosima starts to slide off Delphine, but stops herself, "Wait, did I sleep on top of you?"
"You did."
"No wonder I slept so well," Cosima slides back up and gives Delphine a kiss.
"Go," Delphine smacks her butt, "he's clearly not going to stop knocking."
Cosima grabs her robe as she heads for the door, tying it around her as she answers, "Good morning, Scotty."
"Good morning? Cosima, I've been knocking for 15 minutes, what were you doing?"
"Um, sleeping."
"But you said to come at 10."
"I meant 10 pm. Dude, you're 12 hours early."
"You did?"
"No, I've been busy. With Delphine. Who I haven't seen in five months. In fact, we're still busy, so would you mind going and grabbing us some coffee and muffins and coming back in like 30 minutes?" She hands him $20. "And feel free to get something for yourself."
"The guys are outside waiting to come up and help."
"Here," she hands him another $20, "get them something, too. Thanks!" She shuts the door on him and returns to the bedroom. "Alright, we've got 30 minutes." She drops her robe at the bathroom door and turns on the shower as Delphine hops out of bed and joins her.
—
After their shower, Cosima gets dressed and goes outside to get Delphine's bag from the U-Haul.
She walks back into the apartment as Delphine comes out of the bedroom, "Ooh, I like my robe on you."
"It's way too short."
"I know," Cosima grins. "I'm not sure I want to give you your suitcase now."
"Cosima," Scott knocks on the door, "I've got your breakfast."
"I'm not wearing this in front of them," Delphine extends her hand.
"Alright, I guess I don't need them ogling you when they've got work to do," she hands Delphine the handle to the suitcase and she quickly wheels it back into the bedroom.
"Cosima," Scott knocks again.
"Alright, alright." Cosima opens the door, "Come in, but stay in the living room, Delphine is getting dressed."
"Where do you want the food?"
"Just drop it on the windowsill." Scott walks in followed by Eugene, Kenny, and Hell Wizard. "Hello, boys, thanks for coming to help."
"Uh, Cosima," Kenny looks around, "are those all your boxes?"
"No, didn't Scott tell you? You're helping me pack."
"Cosima," Scott complains, "you didn't finish packing?"
"Dude," she picks up a coffee cup and takes a sip, "priorities."
"Scott," Delphine exits the bedroom, "don't waste your breath."
"There's priority number 1," Cosima points her cup in Delphine's direction.
"It's good to see you," Delphine hugs Scott.
"You too, Delphine."
"Hi, Kenny. Hi, Eugene," she waves at them.
"Hi," they wave back.
"Delphine, this is Hell Wizard," Scott motions towards the unfamiliar friend in the room.
Hell Wizard extends his hand, "Nice to meet you."
She bypasses his hand and gives him a hug, "It is so wonderful to finally meet you. I am forever indebted to you and your dearly departed appendix."
"I'm glad my pain resulted in you and Cosima finding love. And Cosima did send me a very large, very delicious fruit basket."
"With extra chocolate covered pineapple flowers," Cosima adds.
"Yes, those were quite good," Hell Wizard agrees.
"I'm sorry for the state of the apartment," Delphine apologizes. "I did try and help Cosima pack last night, we just got a bit distracted."
"Just a bit," Cosima hands Delphine her coffee.
"Is that an engagement ring?" Eugene points to Delphine's hand as she sips her coffee.
"What?" Scott looks at her hand.
"Eugene, I'm impressed. It's always the quiet ones who are the most observant," Cosima praises.
"You're engaged?" Scott asks excitedly.
"Yes," Delphine smiles, "Cosima proposed last night. Hence the packing interruption."
"Oh my god, congratulations!" Scott hugs them both and the other guys follow suit.
"Thank you!" Cosima smiles. "I guess my brainwashing worked."
"Oh hush," Delphine swats at Cosima, "I wasn't brainwashed."
"Have you set the date yet?"
Delphine nods, "We're getting married December 27th in France."
"Back to where it all started," Scott notes.
"Yes, and actually, since we're on the subject," Cosima interjects, "Scotty, I'd like you to be my man of honor."
"Cosima," Scott grins, "are you serious?"
"Yeah, of course, none of this would be happening without you. I wouldn't be marrying Delphine and we wouldn't be purchasing a mansion to live in with our four children and our loyal dog, Percy."
"Your what?" he asks confused, looking to Delphine for clarification.
"Just say yes," Delphine instructs.
"Yes, of course."
"Great," Cosima claps her hands together, "as man of honor, your first responsibility is to finish packing my stuff and get it all into the U-Haul outside."
"I walked right into that one," Scott shakes his head. "Come on, guys, let's get Cosima moved out of here."
The guys get to work as Delphine turns to Cosima, "I thought you agreed to be nicer to them?"
"I've been very nice. In fact, I'll be sending them each an Edible Arrangement's Kudos For All You Do basket."
"You're so thoughtful."
"I know.
"Go," Delphine points towards the bookshelf, "you still need to pack your books. I'll help them separate what's coming with us from what you're donating."
Cosima follows orders and starts packing her books. "Wow, I think you're the only person she ever listens to. What's your secret?"
"Oh, I don't know—."
"Scotty," Cosima interrupts as she piles books in her box, "take a nice, long look at Delphine, that should be all the answer you need."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Scotty replies while Delphine blushes.
"And I love her very much," Cosima adds.
"Aww," Delphine walks over to Cosima, bends down, and gives her a kiss.
"Alright, back to work. Stop trying to get out of packing by kissing me. I know I'm irresistible, but you gotta control yourself, Delphine."
"Stop being so sweet, then maybe I'll stop kissing you."
"Forget it, now I'm definitely never gonna stop being sweet. You're stuck with a life full of sweetness."
"I think I'm going to enjoy the sweet life."
"Will Zack and Cody be there?"
"Excuse me?"
Cosima waves it off, "Lame American joke, ignore me."
"Hey, Cosima," Scott shouts from the bedroom, "are we dismantling the bed or are you donating it with the desk?"
"Donating." "Keeping." Cosima and Delphine respond in tandem.
"What do you mean keeping?" Cosima asks with surprise. "I thought we were leaving the furniture and picking out new stuff together."
"A bed is a big expense, I think maybe it's better if we don't waste money on things we don't need," Delphine explains. "And that is also the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. Even with you sleeping on top of me."
"It is pretty comfortable," Cosima agrees, "almost as comfortable as you are. Okay, Scotty, the bed is coming with us."
"Alright, guys, we're taking her apart," Scott informs the crew.
Delphine and Cosima watch the boys remove the mattress and dismantle the bed.
"Delphine?"
"Yeah?"
"You do realize we have to put it back together?"
"I'm just now realizing."
"Okay, well, good luck with that," Cosima returns to her books.
"Please don't lose any parts," Delphine pleads when Eugene drops a screw.
—
Three hours later, the apartment is pretty much cleaned out, with just the now larger piles for trash and donation, along with furniture marked for Goodwill, remaining.
"Wow," Cosima marvels as she looks around, "this place looks so different."
"No, it looks clean," Delphine remarks.
"Funny," Cosima sticks out her tongue.
Delphine stops and stares as Eugene walks past her after clearing out the final contents of Cosima's closet, "Cosima, what are those?"
"Um, those are called skis, you should probably know that by now."
"No, I know they're skis, but what were they doing in your closet?"
"It's May, the weather is not exactly conducive to skiing. Would you rather I hung them from the ceiling?"
"Where did they come from?"
"I bought them."
"You bought skis?"
"Yeah, and poles, boots, a helmet, the whole shebang. The sporting goods store at the mall was having a winter clearance a couple months ago and I thought it was time I had my own equipment since we're moving to freakin' Canada. No point renting forever."
"You bought skis," Delphine smiles with tears in her eyes as she reaches out to stroke Cosima's face.
"I did," Cosima nods.
Delphine surges forward and kisses Cosima as the boys finish up around them.
"I've owned skis for years and nobody ever kissed me like that," Kenny complains as he carries a garbage bag past them.
"Ahem," Scott clears his throat after several minutes of letting them kiss in peace, "we're done."
They finally peel their lips apart, "Awesome, dude. You guys did a great job," Cosima compliments as she gives him a hug. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. So, when are you hitting the road?"
"As soon as Goodwill picks up the rest of this stuff and I hand in my keys to the landlord, we're outta here."
"I can do all that if you'd like to get going."
"That's very nice of you, Scott."
"Yeah, Scott, very nice," Cosima agrees as she looks around. "Where is it?"
"Where's what?" Scott asks.
"The game. What is it today, Agricola?"
"Dungeons & Dragons," he admits.
"I knew it!"
"Knew what?" Delphine asks confused.
"The Fantastic Four here want to use my place for playtime."
"Then they should, after all, they did clean it out for you."
"You're right, you're right. Okay, here you go, Scotty," Cosima hands him the key. "Just hold on to the donation receipt for me."
"Thanks! I will protect it with my life."
"I guess this is it then. Thanks, guys," Cosima and Delphine hug them all. "Scotty, we will see you in Toronto in September. Delphine is already sewing our superhero costumes."
"What?"
"She's kidding. I'm looking forward to working together."
"So am I," Scott grins. "Enjoy your trip!"
Cosima takes one final look at her apartment before she and Delphine walk out the door hand in hand and head outside to their U-Haul.
"Oh, look at that," Cosima smiles when she hops into the passenger seat, "you hung Kira's drawing in here."
"Yeah, I thought it would be nice to make the truck a little homey since we'll be in it for a while."
"The kids are really excited we're moving to Toronto. Charlotte and Kira want us to give them science lessons and Gemma and Oscar have invited us to come to all their soccer games and karate tournaments. And their mom is apparently going to throw us a welcome to Canada party in their backyard."
"That's so sweet."
"Yeah, it'll be nice to see them all again. So, you ready to drive this thing to Toronto?"
"California first, Cosima."
"You do realize that's way out of our way?"
"You do realize we have all summer before we can move into our apartment and your parents are expecting us to spend some time with them? In fact, I planned out our whole trip while I was on the plane," Delphine pulls out a map of the U.S. with a line through it charting their course.
"Wow, that's some journey you got mapped out there. Doesn't U-Haul charge by the mile?"
"I got a special flat rate," Delphine announces proudly.
"How did you manage that?"
"I told them I was a French businesswoman considering bringing U-Haul to the people of France but that I would first need to test the driving performance and reliability of their vehicles."
"And they believed you?"
"Yes, well, it helped that I was dealing with a college age boy at the desk."
"That'll do it," Cosima laughs. "I like this rule-breaking side of you."
"Yes, well, I think it's your influence."
"Let's just try not to go all Thelma and Louise on this road trip. I'd prefer to stay out of the Grand Canyon."
"Which is why you're not driving," Delphine smirks.
"Touché."
Delphine buckles her seat belt and turns the key, the engine rattling to life, "I am so excited!"
"To drive this monster around the country?"
"No," Delphine shakes her head, "to start our life together."
"Ditto," Cosima beams as she stretches across the armrest and kisses Delphine, "obvs." Cosima sits back down and fastens her seatbelt, "Let's do this!"
Delphine puts the truck in drive and extends her hand, Cosima instantly taking it and entwining their fingers as they set off on their new adventure.
