They can both breathe easier now. The procedure is done, stem cells injected into the growths in Cosima's uterus - in hope that they would slow the spread, help heal the masses. She waits sitting across from Cosima - who's still waiting for the spinal anesthesia to wear off. Cosima, who still has no idea where the stem cells really came from. But the procedure is done now - it cannot be reversed, and she will keep this from Cosima, for as long as it takes.

"Now I know why my mom refused one of these when she had me. That and being a total lamaze-loving hippie." Cosima jokes as she waits for the feeling to come back into her legs.

"Is there any pain? Headaches?" Delphine's attention is drawn back to Cosima easily.
Cosima shakes off her concern, "Not really, just numbness, tingling - feeling kind of weak. Should fade. Complications are rare. I know, I know."

"Do you want something to read?" Delphine stands offering, she could get her one of DYAD's many publications, or grab her e-reader from the lab.

Cosima shakes her head, "No. Tell me something about you. We're like living together and ... sometimes I think I know nothing about you." Cosima's hidden things too - her contact with her sisters for example. Maybe they're both hiding things.
"Like what?" Delphine looks up from removing her scrubs, she doesn't really need them anymore now that the procedure is complete.

"I don't know. Anything. Tell me about your family." Cosima suggests, probably at random.

"Well, my parents divorced when I was twelve. My father remarried a much younger woman. I have two brothers, one older, one younger. Marc and Sebastien. Marc is married to Julie. I have a five month old niece, ZoƩ, but I've never met her." It's the short version, she doesn't get into childhood antics with her brothers, or how Sebastien is always traveling around Europe and changing jobs. It's enough for now.

"Really? DYAD wouldn't give you the time to go?" Cosima shakes her head, "Never even met her?"

"I've seen her on skype. And I was going to go this spring, three weeks." Delphine confesses. She'd been saving up her leave, ensuring she'd have enough time to spend and enjoy before having to return, though that was before Cosima, before she'd known exactly what she was dealing with at work, before almost everything that fills her mind constantly. Autoimmune disease. Cosima. Clones.

"Anyone else?" Cosima inquires curiously, reaching to play with her fingers.
"I have a half-sister, Emma, but she's only fifteen years old. We are not close." Delphine shrugs, remembering all too clearly the teenager who was convinced her father had replaced her mother, and then herself, in quick succession.

"Three siblings," Cosima muses, "I'm like kind of jealous. It was just me, my parents and our cats growing up. Which was great sometimes - but nice to have people around."

"Two." Delphine corrects, "I have two brothers. Emma is so much younger..."

"So she's not your sister?" Cosima, who has accepted her clones eagerly as sisters regards her curiously. And why wouldn't she?

It's different, Delphine reassures herself before speaking again, "I don't know. She doesn't feel like family?" Delphine suggests, "I'm closer to my mother and brothers." She leaves things out, like how Sebastien never calls, how Marc resents her for not getting along better with Julie, but it's not untrue.

"Alright. When was the last time you went home?"

"I've only been at DYAD for... eighteen months." Delphine shrugs, "I was at my brother's wedding. I talk to my mother every few weeks or so." Has it already been that long since she's left home? It feels like a lifetime ago. Fast tracking through school and her Bachelor's degree in biology. Of course she'd gone to medical school, followed immediately by her PhD. Then she'd been recruited by DYAD, almost immediately after. That was who she'd been. Delphine: determined, ambitious, ravenous for knowledge. Was that who she was now? Her family was proud of her accomplishments, certainly, but she'd never had much of a personal life. Not since...

Cosima interrupts her train of thought, "Hmm, we should go someday. Meet your family. Let you meet your niece. See La Louvre. Tourist stuff for me, of course." Cosima grins and then looks down at her feet, probably trying to get them to move.

"I'd like that." Delphine smiles, though that would be somewhat awkward for her family, she hasn't even told them about a girlfriend, she doubts they'd ever expected something like that could happen. She imagines the looks on her mother's face, on her brothers' faces. Bisexuelle. She can almost hear the word slipping from their mouths as they glance curiously from Cosima to herself, wondering what it is about this woman that made Delphine change. They'd be confused by this.

"Tell me something else." Cosima plays with her fingers absentmindedly, "What kind of child were you?"

"I was the quiet one, the reader. I mean, I do remember playing with my brothers. They were both so loud. Mostly, I read a lot." Delphine admits, probably to being the strange obsessive child who was constantly researching something, but then again, had Cosima been so different?
"Well that's not a surprise." Cosima laughs and coughs slightly, the moment broken as Delphine jumps to her feet to help her sit up. Cosima coughs for a few moments before it subsides again.

"Are you alright?" Delphine asks, staring at the spot of blood on the gurney sheets.

"Yeah fine. Slight headache, you know, the normal side-effects." Cosima answers, "I think the feeling is coming back into my legs."

"I think we'll call it day when you can use your legs again." Delphine states decisively, "You can rest at home."

"How long do I have to wait?"

"At least another hour, then you can try to get up." Delphine informs her.

"If you have stuff to do you can go." Cosima volunteers.

Delphine smiles, reaching for Cosima's hand again, "No. I'm going to stay with you until the spinal wears off."

"Might get kinda boring." Cosima tilts her head and shoots her a half-smile.

"With you? Never." Delphine laughs, dipping to kiss Cosima's cheek.

"I could start telling you tales from casa Niehaus - involving a very small Cosima, her greying older parents, and strange experiments that took over the house."
"Alright. Tell me." She kisses Cosima's fingers, and lets herself forget, just for a moment.

A few hours later and they're home, Cosima crashed on the couch, Delphine sent to go get Thai take-out.

On her way back in the front door She nearly runs into her landlady, Linda, who eyes her strangely these days.

"Hello Delphine." Linda greets her cheerily.
"Bonjour." She answers, her tact has been to continually charm her landlady. Who is probably growing more and more suspicious as her tenant has moved in, rarely been home, had her older boss over at inappropriate hours, taken off to Minnesota for a few weeks, returned with a young woman and proceeded to rapidly set-up house. It's not as if she can be unaware, her apartment unit is directly under Delphine's.

"So... do you want me to put another name on the lease?" Linda asks weakly, "What is your ...Cosima's... last name?"

"Um. Not just yet. Thank you." Delphine nods, and moves to go up the stairs. She shifts the large paper bag to reach her key and open the door.

Cosima is sitting up on the couch, smiling at her - it's enough to have Delphine feeling the now familiar rush of love for her.

"Smells good, you get the pad thai?" Cosima grins hopefully from her spot on the futon.

"Yes. And the soup, mango salad and... the coconut curry thing you wanted." It's a lot of food, but she wants Cosima to have it, if she wants it.

"Sounds perfect." Cosima gets to her feet, slightly unsteady. There's no need for that, she doesn't want to watch Cosima struggle.
"We can eat on the couch," Delphine waves her hand permissively, "Sit back down." She brings the food over, they don't even really need plates - they can eat out of the same containers, cuddled close like this. She doesn't care if she needs to steam clean the couch when they're done - it has seen its share of mess from food and sex in the last few weeks.

Cosima teases, "Mmm you rebel. I like it." Before easing her way back down, patting the spot close beside her for Delphine to join her.

Cosima digs in happily, but her appetite isn't as good as it once was, Delphine packs away the leftovers - should be good next day.

"Shower?" Cosima asks hopefully, "We'll just, you know, bathe."

Delphine hesitates, but doesn't want to deny her, "Okay."

They only wash each other, her hands running down Cosima's body, washing her hair, cuddling her close under the spray. She's drying off in her bedroom, about to reach for her nightgown when Cosima stops her, dropping her own towel to the floor.
"Can we just sleep naked? I want to be able to feel your skin."

"Cosima..." She's chiding her now.

"Just sleep, I promise." Cosima holds up her hands in mock surrender, "I'll even let you be big spoon so you can like supervise my hands."

"Oh mon amour." Delphine shakes her head, slipping underneath her covers and drawing Cosima close to her, pressing to her back. Lining up her legs so she's pressed along every inch of Cosima's back, holding her. Rough dreads pulled out of the way so she can reach Cosima's neck with a kiss.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of easy?" Cosima jokes.

It's not funny, but Delphine finds herself laughing anyways. For Cosima, she is - that much is certain.