It starts with a simple email, Cosima's checking her email in the morning from the kitchen table as Delphine cleans up after breakfast. She's still sore from two days ago, a fact that hasn't escaped her attention, or Cosima's.
"You're fired?!" Delphine glances at Cosima with concern, "Did you have a job you forgot to quit in Minnesota?" This was not good, if Cosima was that forgetful how did she ever manage to get things done? Delphine had taken care of the University of Minnesota issue with her - having Cosima go on leave to work for DYAD had actually pleased her advisors. It had been easy, if there was something forgotten...

"No... No... It's my mom... it means I haven't called or emailed in over two weeks. Shit... Shit..." Cosima jumps to her feet and searches around for her cell phone, selecting a number and shoving it against her ear.

Even on the phone Cosima gestures, it makes her smile. Delphine's supposed to be working, she has to be working - Cosima's life depends on it - but she's watching her. She's not even checking her own email for news from Aldous or researching autoimmune issues. She hasn't looked at clone medical data in weeks, not since going to meet Cosima, and wonders what she's missed. She doesn't know most of their names, only tag numbers and medical information. Delphine didn't think of it much before Cosima, but the inescapable reality that these were all people; people who resembled her precious Cosima, was more difficult than ever to ignore.

"Yeah sorry... Hey mom. How's dad?" Cosima nods listening to her mother.

"Should I leave you alone?" Delphine offers, but Cosima shakes her head.

"Well yeah a lot has happened yup. I met someone," Cosima pauses, "She. Delphine"

Cosima's pacing and gesturing, the phone held to her ear by one shoulder.

"Yeah well... she is French. No, I'm not in France," Cosima laughs, "But I'm not in Minnesota either, I'm in Toronto."

Delphine hears the garbled voice grow in volume through the speaker.

"No Mom, it's fine. I know I'm supposed to tell you when I leave the country... I'm telling you now... I'm on leave. I'm going to finish my PhD... umm well my Master's was another story... I did finish it Mom, remember? You and dad were there." Cosima paces faster, one hand gesturing more enthusiastically.

"Cosima, are you alright?" Delphine asks, but Cosima's tied up in whatever conversation she's been drawn into.

"I'm working for DYAD... yeah they do a lot of scientific and medical research. Delphine works for them... mmhmmm... immunology," Cosima hesitates again, "I think she's a couple years older than me..." Cosima glances at Delphine again.

Delphine shakes her head, they're the same age. Cosima nine months older, but Cosima has never asked her age.

"Or not...umm don't worry about it. It's a new thing after all... I'm fine... Yeah I have a work visa obvs... I'm like kind of living with Delphine."

Delphine takes that moment to excuse herself to go shower before work. With the running water she doesn't hear Cosima until the curtain opens.
"Didn't you already shower?"

"Yeah." Cosima answers, "And now I'm going to shower again, with you."

"Did you tell them?" Delphine asks as Cosima slips in between herself and the spray, closing the curtain behind her.

"Tell them what? Their beloved only child is a clone? No. Definitely not." Cosima's laughing again

"That you're sick." Delphine answered, would Cosima want her parents? Would that even be possible to arrange for her?

"No. If I told them they'd fly to Toronto, they're retired - nothing stopping them. And we would have a sudden lack of privacy. Plus there's the clone thing that they should never know about." Cosima states this rather seriously moving in closer, wrapping her arms around Delphine's waist.

"You don't get along?" Delphine understands this, she avoids her father and step-mother most of the time, she speaks with her mother every couple weeks or so.

"Oh we do." Cosima nods, "They just do their own thing. Travel. Retirement stuff. Let me do mine. They were around a lot when I was younger but they give me plenty of space these days, you know, adulthood."

"Then why not tell them?"
Cosima's shaking her head, "Because my mom and dad would be here, crying all over me and we'd never get to be alone again. Just not yet. Okay?"

"Okay." Delphine agrees, that decision can be Cosima's, she won't interfere unless it saves her life. Saving Cosima is more important than keeping her, she knows that much. The last few nights they've been a cuddly tangled lump in the middle of Delphine's bed, she doesn't want to give that up.

Cosima's kissing her neck and she really should stop her, she's supposed to be at work in twenty minutes, they're already running late but she just moans freely, arms closing around her new lover.

"It's so easy..." Cosima whispers.

"What is?" Delphine breathes, the hot spray of the shower, Cosima's proximity had her feeling heat that was in no way related to the warm water.

"Losing myself in you."

She drops her head to capture Cosima's lips, sliding her tongue into Cosima's mouth with a whimper. She was not going to be on time for work. At least she had a bathmat that would hopefully prevent them from slipping and falling.

Cosima's hand slips between her legs, "Oh yes," Cosima hums, between deep kisses, "You're always so wet."

"Tu me plais." Delphine runs her fingers along Cosima's face, her jaw, her neck, "You're so soft Cosima..."
"What does it mean? Tu me plais." Cosima shifts her attention to nip at her earlobe gently, sucking it into her mouth. Her hand still stroking gently, teasing her.
A moan follows before she answers, "You please me."

Cosima's tongue is in her mouth before she has a chance to elaborate, her hand moving against her, almost frantically. Cosima has been slow and deliberate with her so far, but this is anything but slow. This is needy, quick and... desperate. Delphine lets her head fall back to the slippery cold tile wall behind her, the spray barely reaching her now through Cosima.

It's not going to last long, she grabs at Cosima to steady herself, digging her fingers into soft slick skin. When she climaxes she nearly falls, but Cosima presses her back into the cool tile wall. Cosima holds her like that stroking at her skin until she feels steady enough to move again. Cosima's hands on her hips guide her to switch their positions, allowing Delphine to warm herself under the spray.

"You okay?" Cosima pants.

"Yes." Delphine nods, quickly rinsing under the spray before stepping out of the shower - she'd really have to hurry into DYAD this morning. At least Aldous was away, no one was directly supervising her now. Still, this wasn't like her to be late for work.

Cosima follows a moment or two later, wrapped in a large fluffy towel and flopping contentedly on the bed.

"Why did you have to tell your mother I'm a woman?" Delphine asks, pulling on her clothes quickly. They were going to be late. Merde.

"Oh... cause with me she's never sure what to expect. Usually a woman but not always. My parents don't care either way, it's just so they know the name and what pronouns to use." Cosima explains, fingers mapping intricate patterns above her head.

"Was it women first? Did you sleep with men later?" Delphine's curious about this, she's aware of Cosima's sexual history from a medical perspective. Aware of stupid decisions and a course of antibiotics. But... that barely scratches the surface.

"No... my first was a guy actually." Cosima answers nonchalantly, lounging on the bed.

"Really?" Delphine had trouble picturing Cosima with men, it didn't fit to her brain, not when she was used to seeing Cosima all over her. Then again sexuality was a spectrum, Cosima was intelligent enough to see that.

"Well... I wanted to sleep with my friend Steph. We used to make out topless in my room, off and on for months - but sleeping with me or you know, actually being my girlfriend would make her gay and Steph was very clear she couldn't be gay. So I like got annoyed around my 18th birthday and had sex with a guy I played D and D with." Cosima responds looking somewhat amused by her own anecdote.

"Did you like him?" Delphine wonders out loud. It doesn't sound like a funny situation to her, but Cosima seems on the verge of laughing all the same. Her lover just makes the best of everything, nothing seems capable of getting her down.

"Well...it was really more out of curiosity. He was a year younger and well... he didn't listen, like at all. The sex with Daniel was really bad. I basically went over one night to play games and asked him to have sex. So he pounded me into his parents' pull-out couch for about three minutes before ejaculating and collapsing on me. So there I am telling him that no I didn't have an orgasm and he has to pinch the condom and pull out before it falls off inside me, and then his mother walks in. So Mrs. Shapiro was yelling at us, and I was naked and...just... completely ridiculous." Cosima breaks into laughter, obviously picturing the unfortunate scenario.

"Oh no." Delphine strokes Cosima's face, this is a terrible story, why is Cosima laughing?

"No seventeen year old is a sex god. I seriously thought about drawing him a labelled diagram of the female anatomy. Obviously Daniel and I never had sex again," Cosima pauses with a wry smile on her face, "University was better. Berkley. More women, a few guys. Much better sex." Cosima grins happily.

Delphine wonders briefly if she should share as well, she had liked her first very much, but telling Cosima of a time a much younger Delphine was told she was too old to be a tease and pestered into sex by a boyfriend she desperately wanted to please isn't really a funny story.
"Well that is true." Delphine nods, finally deciding on what to say.
"Makes a funny story." Cosima flops back on the bed laughing to herself, "I think it was probably a bit vindictive of me at the time though. Oh right, how late are we going to be for work?"

"We're already late, I need to get to work," Delphine remembers suddenly, gathering her last few belongings as she steps into her shoes, "I'll meet you at DYAD?"

Cosima nods, she's not dressed yet. "I'll catch the next subway." She nods, and watches Delphine dash out of the bedroom.
Delphine locks the door behind her before checking her phone. "Salope." She curses aloud on her way down the stairs, it's a message from Aldous. A familiar tag number with a name, Jennifer Fitzsimmons, and a date of death. Three days ago. He's away of course, but she's newly permitted access to video files of Jennifer, and instructed the autopsy will fall to her. Annoyance at not being told sooner fills her, along with a strange sort of rage. She rushes the rest of the way down the stairs, she will probably only arrive ten minutes before Cosima but it will have to be enough to get things ready.
How will she tell Cosima?

Author's note: Title has been borrowed from a song by Sarah McLachlan "Hold On", which readers can listen to if they want to know why.