They lay next to each other, damp and drying from their swim. Cosima nuzzled into Delphine's side, a reversal from the night before, the blonde cradling her on the blanket now damp with saltwater and a thin film of sand from the night before.

"Delphine?"

"Mmm," she said in more a contented murmur than words.

"Can I ask you a question? One I don't think you're gonna like?"

"Oui, Cosima," she said slowly, as she looked back from the waves and down to the brunette curled into her side, a little nervous, eyebrows knitting.

"Thomas seemed really concerned last night." Delphine's body became rigid under Cosima's. "You don't seem to want to talk about it, and I totally respect that, but, I just wanted to ask if you are alright? And if it is something you want to talk about with me … I would like to know anything you would share."

Delphine shifted, pulling away slightly, unsure. "Ohh," her face contorted as she looked away, "it isn't a pleasant story, ma cherie." Using the familiar words the same way the brunette had the night before, melancholy and distant.

"Tell me anyway."

She paused. So long Cosima thought the attempt to draw her out was lost, considering what to say to move on. But then Delphine started, tentatively.

"My maman, you heard Thomas speak of her, yes?" Cosima nodded, squeezing the blonde's hip and placing a small kiss on her shoulder. "Well, she died when I was young, 16. She was a teacher – biology, actually – and a pianist. She played beautifully when I was a child. My best childhood memories are of listening to her play, curled under the piano, playing make-believe or reading." She let out a soft sigh, remembering.

"She had Huntington's. You know it?"

Cosima tried not to react too strongly, slowly pulling up to sit, running her fingers along Delphine's cheek, her curls. "Delphine …" The name was a whisper and her eyes betrayed concern, panic, the brunette's eyes searching. She was unable to stop the thoughts flooding her mind: 50/50 chance, not genetic predisposition but genetic destiny, incurable, slow. She tried to stay focused on the woman before her, her story.

"I was very close with her all my life. Watching that happen … I remember the most devastating thing to me was that she was no longer able to play. There were worse things, you understand, but that was what I felt most deeply at the time." She shook her head and closed her eyes, the next words spoken from a necessary distance, not wanting to see the concern in Cosima's eyes "Some things happened, at the end. I think my father blamed me for some of it … I went back to boarding school, seeing him sometimes at holidays. But my singular focus became finding a cure, some way to fix it." She looked now. "If not for my maman, then for others. I graduated early from University, went straight into medical school. I have been aiming for this point my whole life."

Cosima didn't know what to say. The panic still simmering just beneath her skin, the need to comfort the trembling woman beneath her was overwhelming.

"Delphine …" She leaned down and kissed her tenderly. Cosima pulled back, but still hovered just above the blonde. "That is why they are so worried. Are you … are you okay?"

Delphine placed her hands on each side of Cosima's face, pushing her back slightly and looked into her eyes, a small smile on her lips at the brunette's concern. "Ma cherie, I am not sick."

Her head dipped involuntarily to the blonde's chest, laying her head there in relief. She mumbled into the taller woman's collarbone, "That's, that's why … CRISPR. You're searching, that's the riddle you are trying to answer?" She asked, recalling Thomas' words.

"Oui. I am not sure if I have it in me to continue this crusade. I want to feel useful, I want to honor my maman, but I also want to have new experiences, meet cheeky Americans on the train…" Her sigh trailed off into a light chuckle.

Cosima leaned up to kiss her again, unsure what else to do. She ran her hands down the other woman's arms, fingers loosely intertwining, stroking. "I'm so sorry. Please tell me what I can do."

"Oh, Cosima, this was all a very long time ago. My grand-mere and Thomas are just very protective. I am happy to be here with you now. Can we enjoy this?"

They laid together for a while, drying off, not speaking, nestled into each other in the early morning light.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The moment receded, light strokes and murmurs replacing the tension. After a while, Cosima pulled herself up, grabbed her bag and found her camera. "Do you mind if I take a photo of you? I want to remember you just like this. Remind myself you weren't a dream … I'm not sure I will believe it though."

"D'accord," she said, a light chuckle and hesitance in her voice, "Okay."

She laid down next to Delphine, snapping a few shots of their smiling faces tilted lightly into one another, shutter loudly clicking. She pulled up, snapping a few just of Delphine - the first a bashful smile, then capturing her lip pulled lightly between teeth. But as she looked through the viewfinder, down the barrel of the lens, she saw the blonde's expression change, sadness evident there, her lip barely trembling, before she turned away from Cosima, back of her hand covering her eyes.

Cosima put the camera hastily away, leaning down to pull the blonde into her arms. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong?"

"Non." She let out what sounded like a light gasp. "You did everything right. I don't want it to end. I feel like my heart is pumping now the way it should have pumped its whole life."

Cosima leaned down again to lay next to the blonde. Facing each other on their sides, Cosima pulled their lips together in a soft lingering kiss. "I'm so sorry. I hate this." She held her, brushed her cheek, touching forehead to forehead. "Oh god, I didn't expect this to happen."

She waited a long moment, eyes closed, a barely audible whimper escaping. "I hate this. But I do think we might need to go soon. My flight's in a couple hours." Cosima's voice was low, tentative, concerned her words might wound, her or Delphine, she wasn't sure.

Their hands met each other between them, stroking, intertwining their fingers. "How did this even happen to us? I have been on this trip for weeks, traveled through Paris just last month, how am I only meeting you now? It's not fair, some cosmic joke."

"I don't know what to say Cosima. I know we said that long distance never works, and that we are both still trying to figure out so many things. We have our own lives, ambitions, plans. But, maybe you can come with me to Paris? Change your flight, let me show you Paris like you should have seen it the first time. I want to know you." Her tone was earnest, but not pleading, offering an alternative with no expectation.

Cosima propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at the blonde, still stroking her hand. "I want to. God, I so want to see Paris with you." She placed her fingers on Delphine's cheek, rubbing her thumb over her brows, her lips, then smiling. "You have no idea. But school starts next week. I have to go back. I haven't figured out if I want to follow some other path, so I can't just walk away from the one I'm on."

Delphine let out a slow sigh, her voice hitching. "I understand, cherie. I do." She wrapped her hand around the back of Cosima's neck, the other hand pushing dreads behind Cosima's shoulder, pulling her in for a kiss.

Cosima pulled away after. She sat up abruptly, gathering their things. Lingering, she determined, was only going to make the situation worse.

As they walked toward the avenue that ran along the coast, she reached for Delphine's hand, their fingers intertwining naturally. Delphine leaned her head toward the shorter girl just slightly, Cosima's nestled perfectly between her neck and shoulder. As they waited at the taxi stand, Delphine turned, pressing a kiss to Cosima's temple. "That old woman, the one dreaming of this alternate universe, she is thankful she got to make this small lapse in judgment with you, Cosima. Even if it does not last."

Cosima's eyes closed tightly, her features a riot of emotion: anguish, warmth, frustration. Her frame slackened next to Delphine, wrapping her arm around the tall woman's waist, folding herself into her form