A/U: Here's the second chapter, thank you for your support! Constructive criticism is very appreciated!
Present time
"Holy shit!" Cosima was standing with her mouth agape, staring in awe at the building in front of her, "Delphine, is this where you grew up?"
It was late afternoon, they had just got out of the taxithat had brought them to the address Delphine had given the driver, located in the outskirts of Lille. Cosima had always imagined Delphine's family to be well off but, as she found herself in front of the Cormier's residence, she couldn't help but be surprised.
The big house, or rather small mansion, was standing proudly behind the massive automatic iron gate towering over them, a tree-lined road made its way through the elegant and colorful garden to a medium sized square with a cast stone fountain placed in the middle of it and, from what Cosima could make out in the distance, a large marble staircase that probably lead to the house's front door.
"It is." She simply said. Cosima kept looking around while Delphine ringed the doorbell mounted into one of the two columns at the sides of the gate, not even twenty seconds later it swung open. "Let's go."
The taller woman motioned with her head to the road. Cosima picked up her suitcase while with her other hand she grasped Delphine's free one, interlacing their fingers. Delphine, sensing her girlfriend's nerves, gave a little squeeze, before starting to walk up the road. Rather slowly, they made their way to the house, Cosima gaping at the beautiful trees, bushes and flowers which adorned the large garden.
"Maman loves gardening," Delphine commented, noticing Cosima inspecting a nearby flowerbed, "She grows all the flowers herself."
"Mmh," the dreadlocked girl hummed, "I was wondering where you got your green thumb from." She grinned. Back in their apartment in Toronto they had a small culture of plants that Delphine grew herself, they were mostly small plants that the French woman used when she cooked, such as sagebrush, basil and rosemary, but there was also the occasional flowers she liked and decided to nurture. Of course Cosima had tried many times to talk her into growing a particular plant that some used to relax, but Delphine had straight out refused to grow marijuana in their house. Cosima knew the other woman didn't approve of the joints she occasionally smoked, but she thought it was worth a try.
In a matter of minutes they arrived in the square with the fountain in the middle. The staircase was in front of them and on their left Cosima could see a garage with an dark red Aston Martin DB11 parked outside. While the younger scientist gawked at the car, the wooden front door swung open and a woman in her late fifties appeared in the threshold at the top of the stairs.
She had her long, chestnut hair tied in a loose bun, a pair of hairpins holding it in place and her eyes were the color of a striking light blue. She had a shapely figure, she was rather tall, her waist was tapered and she had a pale complexion, much like Delphine's. She wore an elegant cream colored dress which matched her heels, a pearl necklace adorned her long neck and her nails were accurately painted a soothing caramel color just a shade darker than her dress. Cosima recognized her from the only time they had met as Gabrielle Cormier.
"Bonjour maman!" They dragged their suitcases up the marble stairs and, once at the top, Delphine let go of Cosima's hand to hug her mother.
The older woman gladly returned the embrace, clinging to her daughter's shoulders, "Bonjour Delphine," she reluctantly let go of her and proceeded to look all over Delphine, most likely checking her wellbeing, "Tu m'as manqué! Comment ça va?"
"Très bien, merci." Delphine answered the question, "Je suis bien content de te voir."
Cosima stood by Delphine's side quietly listening to the two women catching up. At first she had been able to follow the conversation but after a few sentences she lost track and just stood there watching how much of Gabrielle behavior and movements had been passed on to Delphine.
After a few minutes, when Gabrielle seemed satisfied of her daughter's health, she finally addressed Cosima. "Hello Cosima, how are you?" She asked in a heavily accented English, for the American girl's sake, "Did you like Paris?"
"Hi Mrs. Cormier," she smiled and raised a hand to give a small wave, "Yeah I loved Paris. Delphine was a really great guide, she showed me around every corner of the city. It was really beautiful."
The other woman smiled, a few small wrinkles appearing at the edge of her blue eyes, "I'm glad you're enjoying your vacation, I hope my daughter made you taste some fine French wine," she let out a quick laugh, her eyes darting to Delphine for a moment before settling on Cosima once again, "And please, dear, call me Gabrielle."
Delphine was beaming at Cosima's side, pleased with their interaction. She didn't doubt her mother would get along hust fine with Cosima but she still loved to see her maman truly happy at getting to know her girlfriend better.
After that Mrs. Cormier seemed to realize they were all still standing outside and although the autumn weather wasn't cold at that hour in the afternoon, it was getting pretty chilly. "Please come inside."
As soon as they crossed the threshold Cosima was once again surprised by the sheer elegance and luxury of the entrance hall, even though she should have expected something like this after having seen the garden and the outside of the house. The first thing the American girl noticed were the white and black, diamond-shaped marble tiles they were standing on, her eyes were then drown to the beautiful crystal chandelier towering from above their heads. On the far end of the rectangular room, right in front of them, there was a large staircase which, at one point, separated into two smaller staircases, one heading right, and one heading left. On both sides of the hall Cosima could see that there were two other wooden door, they one on the right was open and she noticed a dining table, along with a fireplace. The other door was closed but she guessed that on the other side there must have been the living room.
"Can I take your luggage, Miss?"
Cosima was so busy checking out the room that she didn't even notice the young man that had approached them. He was probably just a few years younger than her, maybe in twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with seal brown cropped hair and dark eyes, almost black. He was clearly addressing her as he already had Delphine's suitcase in his hand. She wondered for just how long she had been staring at the hall because both her girlfriend and Mrs. Cormier were looking at her with puzzled expressions.
"Oh, uhm… Sure." She stuttered, handing her own suitcase to the man, "Sorry, I was just taking this room in," she smiled, "It's a very nice house, Mrs. Cor—Er Gabrielle."
"Thank you, Cosima." Mrs. Cormier smiled kindly then addressed the young man and told him something in French that she didn't understand, actually the only thing she could make out was the man's name, Raphaël. Maybe she should have listened more seriously to Delphine when she had tried to teach her some French.
"Oui, Madame Cormier." Raphaël answered then quickly started climbing the stairs.
"Papa and Blaize aren't home?" Delphine asked her mother and Cosima silently thanked her for speaking in English.
"Non. They went out for a hunt this morning but they should be back in time for dinner." She explained, "We weren't expecting you for another two hours or so."
Delphine nodded, "Oui. Sorry I didn't call you to let you know we were early."
"Ne t'inquiète pas," the older woman waved her hand, as if dismissing Delphine's worries, "Now, why don't you go get settled in? I will have Raphaël call you when your papa and Blaize come back."
"Trés bien maman."
"Later Gabrielle!" Cosima grinned.
"Later Cosima!" Mrs. Cormier smiled back before heading into what Cosima supposed was the living room.
"Come on, chérie." Delphine motioned towards the stairs and Cosima followed her from behind.
On the second flight of stairs they headed left, at the top there was a long hallway with several doors overlooking it, "Wow Delphine, really," Cosima didn't have any idea that her girlfriend had lived most of her life in such wealth, "What are all these doors?"
"There's a studio, a guest room, a bathroom, my brother's room," she pointed to each door they passed, the one that belonged to Delphine's brother was completely black save from the name BLAIZE written obliquely in white. "This was our old playroom, but now my brother and his friends play videogames in it, and finally, this is my room."
They had stopped in front of the last wooden door. Cosima could have guessed it was Delphine's thanks to the name engraved into it in italics. Once the French woman opened the door and entered, Cosima stayed still on the threshold, gaping at the spacious and bright room that had been revealed to her. The first thing that stunned her was the size of the room, Cosima though it must have been at least twice the size of their shared bedroom back in Toronto. The California queen sized canopy bed, covered with light blue silk sheets, stood with the headboard against the right wall, their suitcases sitting at its feet. on the other side there were two other doors, one probably leading to a private bathroom, the other one to a walk-in closet. A large French window took up almost all of the wall opposite the entrance door, and, from where she stood, the girl could see the big balcony it lead to. On another side stood a beautiful dark brown, vintage double dresser, a vase of violets and a lamp placed on it and a mirror hung above it. Two Sanctuary Bling rectangular nightstand were placed on either side of the bed, each with a cute lamps on them and, covering a large part of the parquet, there was the finest Persian rug the dreadlocked girl had ever seen. There was also a circular, wooden table, along with two small armchairs and a small couch placed near it. Upon their head there was yet another crystal chandelier, this one smaller than the one in the entrance hall, and, just when Cosima thought the room couldn't get more elegant, she noticed what was situated in the far corner of the bedroom.
"Is that a piano?" A polished, black grand piano was indeed drawing the girl's attention and, not for the first time since she had arrived at the Cormier's residence half an hour before, she wondered just how rich Delphine's family actually was.
"Oui, mon amour." Delphine replied, "I used to play it but I stopped when I went to university as I couldn't bring it to Paris with me."
"Man, I love your room!" Cosima entered the room and, without wasting any time, started inspecting every corner of the room, "I can't point my finger on it but something about this place just screams Delphine's!"
The blonde woman just watched in amusement as her fiancée moved the curtain to the side and opened the French door leading to the balcony. Her bedroom, just like the other bedrooms of the house, overlooked the back of the garden, where a small pond full of water lilies was situated. The mix between the setting sun, the light breeze and Cosima's awed expression created a beautiful memory that Delphine would never forget.
The older scientist slowly approached her girlfriend from behind and when she was close enough, she slipped her hands around her waist, pulling her body against hers. Delphine then nuzzled Cosima's neck before laying a soft kiss against it.
"It's beautiful here." The brunette sighed, leaning back in the embrace and resting her head on Delphine's shoulder.
"Je t'aime, ma chérie." She said, taking in the combination of the view of the sunset in front of them and the familiar smell of her girlfriend's sweet scent, hands gently caressing her stomach through her shirt.
Cosima then turned around in her arms, facing Delphine with her usual toothy grin in place. She slipped her arms around the French woman's neck, pulling her down for a kiss. She brushed Delphine's lips with her own, letting her tongue caress them to ask for entrance. The other woman parted her lips slightly, enough to let Cosima's tongue enter and dance with her own. Delphine let her hands travel up her fiancée's sides, tracing her ribcage, the her shoulders and finally cradled her face. She then pulled back, smiling lovingly at her.
Cosima groaned, clearly still not satisfied by the brief kiss.
"Cosima, we should probably freshen up before dinner." Delphine grabbed her hand and pulled her girlfriend back inside her bedroom.
"Mmm." With her free hand, Cosima moved Delphine blonde hair to the side and softly sucked at her earlobe, "I think," She whispered, her lips brushing Delphine's ear with each word, making her shudder, "We have just enough time for a quickie in the shower."
"Cosima…" Delphine trailed off, still not quite convinced by the idea.
"C'mon! I know you want to." The blonde woman faced Cosima and found herself staring in an eager pair of dark brown eyes, grin still in place, "It'll be quick, I promise. No teasing," she frowned, "Well, not too much teasing."
"Okay." Delphine sighed, knowing that it didn't take much to convince her. After all this would be the first time she had sex in the shower in her own bathroom in France. Her sex life had been pretty much vanilla until she met Cosima, she'd never have agreed if one of her ex-boyfriends had suggested shower sex years ago. Of course she and Cosima had experienced it many times since they got together four years ago, but doing it in her childhood bathroom was a new experience for the blonde woman.
"Awesome! Let's go then!"
Delphine smiled and followed her eager girlfriend in the bathroom. She found Cosima mesmerized by the large tub she found there but she knew a bath would take much more time than a shower for them. "Maybe another time, chérie." She said as she crossed her fiancée to close the window curtains, "We don't have enough time for that."
"Yeah…" She mumbled, starting to undress, "But we totes need to try it out before we leave!"
"We will." Delphine stripped until the only piece of cloth covering her body were her lace panties. Cosima, who was standing naked before her, having already opened the shower faucet, was waiting for her with an eyebrow cocked. "What?" Delphine feigned ignorance, "I thought you wanted to take them off." She gestured to her underwear with a hand, a feisty grin on her face.
"Oh you asked for it, mon amour." She uttered in a terrible French accent, before quickly taking two steps towards Delphine, pushing her against the cold wall behind her while capturing her lips in a hungry kiss.
Delphine moaned, surprised by the sheer force of her girlfriend's momentum, and Cosima used that opportunity to slip her tongue into her mouth, gently stroking Delphine's. Both her hands then started their exploration of the blonde's almost fully naked body, starting at her hips, then travelling up her sides, enjoying the feeling of her girlfriend's soft skin underneath her fingertips. She took her time caressing her stomach, every time reaching a little higher so that she was almost touching her breasts. All the while their lips were engaged in a passionate battle for dominance that Delphine was quickly losing. Finally Cosima's hands reached up and cupped both of her breasts, the French woman shivered and then let out a loud moan when Cosima's thumbs stroked her nipples. Delphine pushed her hips forward, trying to gain some friction against Cosima. The other woman caught up with her eagerness and shifted her left thigh until it was placed between Delphine's, giving her something to grind on. Not wasting a second, the blonde began moving her hips up and down, trying to gain some friction against Cosima's leg. The brunette sensed her girlfriend's eagerness and remembered that she wasn't supposed to tease her as they didn't have much time. She trailed soft kisses down her jaw and neck, before settling near her ear, gently sucking and licking the skin she found there.
While her mouth busied itself with Delphine's ear, one of her hand moved from her breasts down her smooth stomach, then slipped underneath the elastic of her panties. She relocated her thigh so she could make room for her fingers, then easily run them through the neatly trimmed hair until she found Delphine's clit. The blonde moaned loudly as soon as she felt Cosima's touch on her most sensitive place, "Cosima… The shower."
"Okay." Cosima uttered and wasted no time in removing Delphine panties, disregarding them somewhere on the floor.
They managed to stumble inside the large shower without detaching their lips, Cosima's hands stroking every part of Delphine's body she could reach from a standing position. As the hot water sprayed them, the brunette let her hand wander down to Delphine's slit, she relished in the way her fingers were instantly coated in Delphine's arousal. She stroked up and down, from her entrance to her stiff clit, for several times, enjoying the sound of the moans her fiancée was making.
"Chérie, please…" Delphine begged, having already had enough of the short teasing.
Cosima normally would not have stopped teasing her so easily, however she knew they couldn't be late for dinner, especially if she wanted to win Mr. Cormier over.
"Fingers or tongue?" She decided to let Delphine decide how she wanted to get off, even if she was hoping for the blonde to choose her tongue.
Delphine bit her lower lip, then, after a couple of seconds, made her decision, "Tongue."
Cosima smirked and wasted no time in getting on her knees on the hard shower tiles. Delphine, not being new to this, leaned back against the cold wall, then lifted her left leg to rest it on the brunette's shoulder. Cosima massaged the skin of her inner thighs with both hands for a short moment, then proceeded to spread her lower lips. She was greeted by one of her favorite views in the whole world as Delphine's cunt was revealed to her, and soon she leaned in, burying her mouth in the heat of her girlfriend's pussy.
The dreadlocked girl trailed her tongue from her entrance to her clit, before drawing it into her mouth, flickering her tongue against it.
"Cosima!" In the meantime Delphine's hands had found their way to the back of her head and were now trying to pull her even deeper in between her thighs, all the while grinding her hips against her face.
Cosima was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the combination of Delphine's delicious, musky taste, and the moans of pleasure that were coming from her. She also knew they didn't have time for round two, so she decided to care to her needs too. She hurried to slide her right hand in between her own thighs, while her left one stayed where it was to keep Delphine's lower lips open for her tongue.
Cosima moaned as soon as her fingers brushed her throbbing clit, the sound resonating against her fiancée's own clit, kept firmly between the brunette's lips, and caused Delphine to let out an even louder squeal.
"Cosima," The blonde's hazel eyes fluttered open, clearly wanting to enjoy the view of what was going on between her legs, "Are you touching yourself?"
Cosima just moaned louder as both, her fingers and her tongue, worked harder between their legs, wishing to take them both to the edge. She figured Delphine was already close due to the sound she was making and the way her small bundle of nerves pulsed in her mouth, she was becoming wetter by the seconds and she knew the French woman was only minutes away from coming.
"Plus fort, mon amour! Please!"
Cosima doubled the efforts of her tongue, lapping everything her girlfriend was giving to her and allowing her tongue to slip into her entrance form time to time to enjoy the feeling of Delphine's inner walls fluttering around her, before returning to her clit.
"Mon Dieu, Cosima!" She felt Delphine's fingers tighten around her dreads right before her hips started grinding harder against her face. A moment later she felt a gush of wetness hit her chin as the blonde's body stiffened and a stream of profanities left her mouth.
Right after Cosima had helped her girlfriend come down form her high, she focused harder on her own clit, the delicious taste of Delphine's wetness still in her mouth along with the encouraging words she was whispering, helped her come in a matter of seconds. Their eyes stayed locked for the whole duration of Cosima's orgasm and, after she calmed down, Delphine helped her to her feet and proceeded to kiss her sweetly, making sure to convey all the love she felt through the brushes of their lips.
When they finally exited the shower, Delphine could already tell that they weren't going to make it to dinner in time if they didn't hurry up.
Cosima had just exited the bathroom after putting on the last of her make up. She was finally ready for dinner and Delphine was waiting for them sat on the edge of the bed.
"Hey, woah!" Cosima gaped at her fiancée, "You look stunning." She approached the bed and then sat down beside Delphine, taking her left hand in both of hers. "I love you."
The blonde smiled and leaned in to join their lips. The kiss was short but really sweet and left Cosima wanting far more, unfortunately they had a dinner to attend and Delphine pulled away. The brunette was gently stroking her girlfriend's hand with her thumb when she noticed she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. She frowned and lifted Delphine's hand to look at it and indeed, the ring wasn't on her ring finger.
"You're not wearing your ring…?" she questioned, confused.
"Well I…"
"I thought you wanted to tell your parents we are engaged. This was the reason we came to France in the first place, wasn't it...?" Cosima's mind was running a hundred miles a minute but she didn't want to make assumptions.
"It is, Cosima," The French woman started to explain but Cosima couldn't let her finish.
"Have you changed your mind?" She furrowed her brow, "I mean, it's okay if you did. I just wish you'd have talked to me about it… I…"
Delphine reached up and cupped her girlfriend's face with her hand, trying to stop her rambling. "Hey, hey… Chérie, this is you jumping to conclusion. Please, let me explain."
Having known Cosima for more than four years, the blonde woman knew that she had a thing for jumping to conclusions. Sometimes she was right, but more often than not this caused problems and misunderstandings between the couple. Luckily they both agreed to always talk things out so they managed to solve the misunderstandings rather quickly.
"I want to tell them tonight, mon amour. I just don't want them to see the ring and guess." She explained while squeezing Cosima's hand, "I want it to happen on my own terms, do you understand?"
Cosima just nodded. She felt silly for having doubted Delphine's choices but she was feeling so insecure that it was driving her crazy. She looked forward to the end of the dinner so that it could be all out on the table, she didn't care if Mr. Cormier was going to be pissed about it. "Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Are you okay Cosima?" Delphine frowned as she took in her girlfriend's downcast look.
"What?" She asked, confused by the question, "Of course I am." She rushed to reassure Delphine, leaning towards her to lay a quick peck on her lips, "I'm just a bit nervous."
Delphine's eyes softened as Cosima spoke, "Oh chérie, there's no need to-"
Knock-knock-knock
The blonde was interrupted by a knock on their door. With one last squeeze to her fiancée's hand, she got up to answer it even if she could guess who it was.
"Oui?"
As she thought, Rafaël was the one standing on the other side of the threshold. He told her that dinner was about to be served and everybody was already waiting for them in the dining room. Just as he finished speaking, Cosima appeared from behind her in her dark green dress and greeted the young man with a smile and a wave.
"So are you ready to go?" She asked, grinning.
Delphine looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she knew as well as Cosima that the dreadlocked woman was the one who was making them late, "Let's go."
They followed Rafaël into the hallway as he lead them downstairs. All the way to the dining room he and Delphine chatted in French about something that Cosima couldn't understand, but it seemed like they were catching up. It had been a lot of years since Delphine had gone back to France, so there probably was a lot of catching up to do. The brunette knew that the last time her fiancée had come back home was a year before they got together, so they hadn't seen each other for nearly five years.
Once they approached the dining room, Cosima could hear two voices talking animatedly in French. She recognized one as Mrs. Cormier's, while the other one was deeper and rougher but it wasn't new to her either, so she figured it must have belonged to Delphine's father.
Cosima was once again surprised by the looks of the huge room, it was similar to the rest of the house in style, so she really needed to get used to the fancy and luxurious appearance of it all. There was a marble fireplace situated in the wall in front of the entrance door, above it a huge skull of what must have been a male deer was hung, a pray of Mr. Cormier for sure, it had enormous horns and Cosima felt almost intimidated by it, she surely would have loved to see what it looked like when it was alive. In the room there were also several cabinets made out of wood, with glass shutters, some of them where filled with expensive liquors from all over the world, she could read the labels of several bottles such as the Yamasaki single malt Whiskey, or the Limoncello Villa Massa. Other cabinets contained either crystal glasses and shot glasses, or plates probably made with some awesome pottery. From the ceiling, surprise there, hung a crystal chandelier which shined it's light on every surface of the room. However, what caught the woman's attention was the massive wooden table in the center of the room, it could host at least twelve people but for now it was laid for only five.
Then Cosima shifted her focus on the people who were sat at the table. One of them was Mrs. Cormier, she was smiling at them from her seat and looked lovely in the beige dress she had chosen. Her hair had been let loose and it cascaded softly on her slim shoulders, her eyes were warm and welcoming and the brunette felt more at ease as she looked into them. The brunette then let her eyes wander the table and then noticed the boy seated on the right of Mrs. Cormier. The young scientist recognized him as Blaize Cormier, Delphine's younger brother. He had light brown hair, almost blonde, combed in a messy, side part hairstyle. He was staring straight at her and Cosima could see that he had taken the color of his eyes from his mother as they were as blue as hers. She didn't know his age for sure but he must have been around nineteen or twenty years of age. Even though the siblings were born more than ten years apart, Cosima could tell they were brother and sister. A lot of their facial features looked alike, they had the same shape of the eyes and a very similar nose.
After she had analyzed Blaize's face for the first time in person, she shifted her attention to the last person seated at the dining table. He was sat at the head of the table, the seats on his right were occupied by his wife and his son, while the ones on his left were free, already set for her and Delphine. He looked majestic, seated there with the fire form the fireplace and the head of the deer behind him. His hair were short and brown but streaked with grey, he also had a short beard and he had the same hazel colored eyes Delphine had. In the expensive suit he was wearing, he looked tough and powerful, around him he had the aura of a man who was used to having his way no matter what. His brow was furrowed, a few age lines showing on the side of his eyes. Cosima felt intimidated by him, just like she had felt when she had first met him two years ago. His judging stare was set on the brunette but she held his gaze, she couldn't afford to show weakness when he already thought she wasn't worth of his daughter.
"Bonsoir Papa," Delphine greeted, interrupting the silence, "Blaize." She waved at her brother, who immediately stood up to approach them.
He hugged Delphine and murmured something in French that the brunette couldn't understand but made his sister giggle and blush, then the boy turned towards her, "Cosima, it is nice to meet you!" he extended his hand for her to take, "You're even cooler in person, I like your hair."
Delphine laughed at his antics while Cosima smiled and took his hand, shaking it firmly. "The pleasure it's all mine, Blaize. I've been waiting to meet you in person."
Before the younger woman could say anything else, she noticed that Antoine had left his seat to come and greet them. He had finished talking with Delphine and had now resumed staring her down.
"Hello Mr. Cormier, it's nice seeing you again."
Delphine's father, unlike her mother, didn't comment on her use of his formal name and instead proceeded to speak coldly, "It is nice indeed, Ms. Niehaus."
Liar. Cosima knew he'd have liked to never have to see her again, especially in the company of his only daughter.
"Please, call me Cosima." The brunette said that just to be polite but she knew he wouldn't call her by her first name any time soon, if ever.
Mr. Cormier didn't bother give her an answer but instead he turned around and said something in French to Raphaël, who had been standing in the threshold this whole time. The young man just nodded and left the room.
"Well, take a seat." Mrs. Cormier spoke from her seat at the table, "Dinner is about to be served."
A/U: Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think!
