Cosima shows up in her office after hours, prattling on about funding and things that don't quite add up. Delphine attempts to follow the tangential monologue Cosima enters on funding and maternity leave and how long Delphine will be off for. She's not sure when she moved, when she approached Cosima, nearly pinning her to the desk.
It's unexpected, she's dropped to her knees in front of Cosima, buried her face in Cosima's flat belly. More surprisingly, Cosima lets her. Pregnancy had reminded Delphine of her own vanity several times. She misses her body as it was, but this... this will be worth it. A child made from Cosima's DNA mixed with her own. A scientific achievement, her own beloved baby.
"Whoa, Delphine...are you okay?" Cosima looks down at her concerned, "What's wrong?"
"Non... I miss you." Delphine sobs, unable to blame hormones for this as much as she might like to, "Je t'aime ...Je t'aime.." She repeats into Cosima's shirt, arms locked around Cosima's hips as she clings to her.
"Delphine." Cosima whimpers, her lower lip trembling, she strokes her hair before leaning down, while pulling her up to kiss.
She removes Cosima's skirt without thinking, Cosima's hands going to join hers to strip herself naked from the waist down.
"I don't love anyone but you." Delphine promises, guiding Cosima back on the desk and sinking back down to her knees, "Je suis fidèle à toi. Toujours fidèle." She presses her mouth to Cosima's sex, licking gently, memory resurfacing near instantly, she remembers how to do this. How to love Cosima, how to please her. It's different, her round belly resting on her thighs, she worries somewhat she will be unable to stand again without assistance. Cosima is familiar, her taste, her movements, her sounds.
"I love you." Cosima tugs her closer, fingers running through her straightened hair. "Oh god... Delphine..."
Cosima cries and whimpers on her desk, bucking her hips into Delphine's face, but she doesn't care. Doesn't care if her lips are bruised tomorrow, not if she can taste Cosima, feel her love, enjoy the sweetness of her. She wants to reassure Cosima of her love, her passion for her, her loyalty...
Our baby is inside me, Delphine thinks, as she looks up at Cosima's eyes, meeting her tender gaze. Her hands caress soft skin, she works her more ardently, until her beloved gushes and moans her pleasure, back arching as she shakes on the desk.
"I missed you too." Cosima cries, stroking at her hair, her face, "Kiss me. Please... come up here and kiss me."
"I...I can't get up on my own." Delphine admits sheepishly with a little cry.
"Oh shit," Cosima laughs, helping her to her feet and pulling her into her arms. Her belly presses between them, but Cosima doesn't release her, doesn't stop kissing her, stroking her face. The three of them are together, as they're supposed to be, Delphine smiles at the thought.
"Come home with me." Delphine breathes into Cosima's skin, "I... I need you. And... it's too hard for me to make love with you here. I need a bed."
"Yes." Cosima nods at her, "Yes... Of course. Take me home. "
"This is so weird." Cosima looks her over as she undresses haltingly. She's barely looked at Delphine's new condo, hadn't even commented on it being larger than her old apartment. "It's so hard to believe it's real... you pregnant, but now...oh god." Cosima shakes her head, any illusions she's had vanish at the sight of Delphine's changed naked body.
"It's still me." Delphine offers, "Just..." She looks down at her darkened nipples, her swollen breasts and belly, she wants to make a face, to grimace, at Cosima's uncertain expression. She's thirty weeks along, and it's impossible to deny how much things have changed. Their child moves slightly inside her, and all Delphine can do is hope Cosima doesn't notice.
"Yeah." Cosima nods as if she's trying to convince herself, she pushes forward claiming her in a kiss, guiding Delphine back towards the open bedroom.
They manage to reach the bed, to rid each other of the last of their clothing, she's bare to Cosima now, she still looks at her tenderly, hungrily. It has to be okay, it has to be, Delphine tells herself.
"Are you comfortable?" Cosima asks as she guides her down gently on the mattress.
"Yes... yes..." Delphine reassures between frantic kisses. Now. Her body insists, now, now, now. It's been too long since she's let anyone touch her, anyone... She bites Cosima's neck, sucking firmly, marking her. Is Cosima still with...? She doesn't know, she doesn't ask... for the moment Cosima is hers. She cries out, and Delphine hums happily in response. Mine, Delphine thinks kissing lower, moving to draw a nipple into her mouth, encouraging Cosima to touch her in return. She cannot remember Cosima being this tentative….not since the first time.
"Ohh." Cosima groans, pushing her away to move over her, and begins to laugh, "How am I going to ... wow... umm how do we work around that?" Cosima points at her belly.
She pulls Cosima against her, hushing her doubts with kisses, with a probing tongue, "We'll manage... we have to." She moans, "I need you... I need you, Cosima."
Fingers probe between her legs, as Cosima cautiously hovers over her, "Like this?" Cosima groans loudly at the feel of her, "Oh my god, Delphine… I don't think you've ever been this wet… "
"Please..." Delphine begs, clinging tightly, she begins to murmur to Cosima, unsure of whatever she is saying, but it all sounds like love. Fingers press deep inside, she wants to demand for more, harder, deeper - but instead she allows Cosima to set the pace, decide how she wants to touch her.
Cosima takes her with sweet kisses and delicate touches, "I still love you." Cosima assures her. She comes easily, shattering under Cosima's body, muscles throbbing and clenching on Cosima's fingers.
"More." Delphine demands when Cosima first tries to pull out, "I need more...please..."
Cosima lets out a wordless cry, allowing their mouths to rush together in a possessive kiss, before beginning again, this time harder, deeper... desperate.
Lying next to Cosima naked she finally breathes, crying softly. Their daughter wriggles excitedly inside her, nearly as much as she does for music whenever Delphine plays it. Does she sense that Cosima is near? How could she know? Or is it the beating of her own heart that causes their daughter to squirm so much? To kick and dance and roll inside of her. It's almost perfect.
Cosima regards her tenderly, "You okay?"
"Did you still enjoy it?" Delphine asks nodding, clasping Cosima's hand in her own, trying not to think of the way Cosima eyes her changing body, disbelief with a mix of lust, and love and fascination. She's unsure what to think of it, Delphine realizes.
"Well yes, but it was different." Cosima smiles at her again, readjusting her body, "Were you comfortable enough?"
"It was okay... Maybe we should have used pillows. My midwife said to put a pillow under my ass for sex." Delphine giggles at that, the baby squirms again. Backflips? Delphine wonders, dance moves?
"Midwife?" Cosima seems impressed, "Wow... you've done a lot of research haven't you?"
"Yes." Delphine breathes, and grabs for Cosima's hand, pressing it firmly against her belly, needing to share this with Cosima. The joy of it, the fears... She has to tell her, our baby. That tiny being Cosima can now feel moving inside of her is theirs. She begins to imagine telling Cosima, would she be furious? Excited? Shocked? Would she even listen to her now? And what if there's something wrong? What if the baby isn't...right.
"Holy shit." Cosima looks into her eyes, almost reverently for a moment, "There's... wow." She yanks her hand back nearly as quickly, as if she's been burned.
"Cosima, please..." Delphine begs, wondering what she's asking for. Don't be afraid of this. Don't deny us this, not this moment.
"I'm not... I can't..." Cosima shakes her head, "I mean loving you is one thing... but... Delphine... this isn't... I'm not... I think I'm more of an 'auntie', you know? And I can't even really be that... not for..."
"Could you... could you try?" Delphine asks, voice breaking.
"What would baby's dad think of that?" Cosima shoots her a look as she climbs from the bed and begins rooting around for her clothes.
You are the 'dad', Delphine wants to say. Or there is no dad, there will never be a dad. Two mothers, the two of them. Our baby, our baby, she chants it in her head until Cosima leaves.
Her mother flies two weeks before her daughter is born, even though she asked her not to. She criticizes everything, the crib in her own room, her plans to breastfeed for at least a year, the cloth diaper service, the colourful array of baby clothes already washed and folded lovingly, and most of all the lack of husband. She'd hired a doula, and a temporary house-cleaning service. Assured her mother that she was fine, that she wasn't truly pregnant and alone. But her mother had come all the same.
"Maman." Delphine rolls her eyes, "I can name my baby what I please." She'd never intended for her mother to find the name list, still tucked in her drawer for the rare lazy mornings she reclined in bed, stroking her belly, admiring it.
"Céleste?" Her mother scowls at her, "C'est le prénom d'une femme agée!"
"Je l'aime bien." Delphine brushes off her mother's opinions as usual. That Céleste, the name she'd spent minutes drawing hearts around as her daughter kicked her hand as it smoothed over her belly, wasn't good or modern enough for her granddaughter.
"Toutes mes amies ont des petits-enfants s'appellent Emma ou Léa ou Jade..." Her mother whines at her.
"Je m'en fou!" Delphine shrugs and returns to her nesting, folding tiny items of clothing in greens and purples and yellows. There wasn't enough pink for her mother's taste either, so she'd arrived with plenty of it in anticipation.
"C'est terrible. Tu dois trouver un autre prénom. Est-ce que tu aimes Camille?"
Delphine rolls her eyes, longing for any distraction, her child to kick her bladder, anything for a chance at escape.
Eventually she wakes one morning to cramping. Contractions? She wonders, drifting in and out of consciousness. Is this it?
Hours later, and it becomes clear labour has begun. The end is in sight.
She doesn't feel distressed, her body acts on instinct. Contractions coming over her like waves, "Is it time to go to the hospital yet?" She asks her doula. She has music playing, coping strategies, support... she can do this. Delphine reassures herself.
"Shh, shhh." Kate shushes her, "Let's try getting you to lean on the ball." Kate rolls the large ball towards her and she half collapses onto it, rocking her hips.
"Cosima..." Delphine finds herself whining, "I want Cosima..."
Kate looks at her gently, "Who's Cosima? Your sister? A friend?"
Delphine breathes out relief, enjoying the pauses between the waves that rack her body, "My lover, Cosima was...my lover."
"Oh. Alright then." Kate squeezes at her hips again, "Should we call her for you?"
Could she ask for Cosima? If she did, would she even come? Would she want to? She can see her mother face-palming before she leans over the ball again. Can make out words that sound like disparaging comments.
"I think we should call the midwives." Delphine pants after the next contraction.
"Okay," Kate nods, "Let's do that. Labour at home with them for a bit."
The birth is fast, less than an hour after arriving at the hospital. Her mother had made herself somewhat useful, holding her hand or stroking her hair.
She holds her new daughter on her bare chest, watching the child move her tiny red wrinkled limbs, try to raise her head. The midwives haven't even cut the cord yet, bowing to her wishes for as natural a birth as possible.
"Ohh... mon ti-ange." Delphine croons at her baby, "Allo Céleste." She admires the child, a fair amount of what appears to be damp curly hair covering her head, the deep blue eyes of newborns and what looks to be Cosima's mouth in miniature. She strokes the child's back, uncaring that she is completely naked, or that her mother is grimacing at her, overcome with the joy of this. Her daughter is alert, pink and perfect, so perfect.
Her mother sticks her tongue out at the name, "C'est terrible." Her mother may understand some English, but other than to translate quickly for a labouring Delphine, she'd refused to speak it.
"I think Celeste is lovely," Kate volunteers, "My boys are Darren and Lukas. Do you want help latching her on? When we're done with the placenta?"
She nods, admiring her baby, unable to look away even 20 minutes after Céleste emerged from her own body. She's caught her breath, but she's never felt this fixated before, except maybe with Cosima. Is it the resemblance? The hormones? Delphine finds herself wondering, she giggles slightly, fingers stroking at a tiny wrinkled foot.
"You can go home later today if you want, Delphine." Mara tells her, "Midwifery patients aren't held for 24 hours, and you didn't even tear!"
"Good." Delphine breathes, "I think I'd like that." Maybe then she could call Cosima, try to explain what she's done... How would she even start? She wonders looking down at Céleste again, their miracle of science. Their love made manifest.
At least she could sleep in her own bed tonight. She hates hospitals, they make her think of death. She knows too well, the risk of contracting an infection is high here. She won't do anything that may risk her health. Or Céleste's.
"Umm.." A nurse pops his head in, "We have someone here looking for Delphine Cormier? But, you're only allowed two guests."
"I need a cigarette anyways." Her mother announces still pale, leaving the room for the time being.
A familiar dreadlocked head pops in, "Hey Delphine. You okay if I come in?"
"Cosima." Delphine breathes.
"Umm, whoever you are," Mara warns, "We're about to deliver the afterbirth in here...in less than ten minutes."
Kate jumps in immediately, "Let her stay. Assuming she's not squeamish." She tosses a small blanket over Céleste's tiny body, and Delphine's. For warmth, Delphine assumes… though it may help conceal the child's parentage, for a few more minutes.
"Okay, placenta, that's kinda gross." Cosima nods, "I can handle it. Can I stay?"
Delphine nods, unsure of whether she should try to hide Céleste. Would Cosima see herself in their newborn? Would she see only Delphine? Would Cosima be furious? Confused?
"How?" Delphine looks from her child to Cosima, for a moment.
"Well... ever since you went off on mat leave last week, I've been stalking your apartment. I didn't want you to be alone..." Cosima shrugs moving closer, looking from Delphine to the blanket covered baby on her chest. To the midwife adjusting the baby's position to clamp the cord for cutting.
"Oh."
"So today, your landlady got really pissed at me and said you were in labour, and your apartment was full... and I guessed you didn't really need me. But I hung around anyways."
Mara looks at the visitor, "Okay, do you want to cut the cord? Or should I just do it?"
"Seriously?" Cosima looks from the midwife to Delphine, who shrugs at her. "Umm okay."
"Just cut right there, between the clamps." Mara instructs, handing Cosima the sterilized scissors.
"But here?" Delphine is confused, though her hand never leaves Celeste. She watches Cosima cut the cord with a smile.
"Oh... Felix has a friend who works here. And umm, I followed you." Cosima raises her eyebrows, as if to imply a client. Delphine wonders who briefly, a doctor? An administrator?
"I'm happy you came. I would have wanted you here for the whole thing." Delphine feels tears well up in her eyes again.
Cosima grins, "Can I see the baby?"
"Actually if you can hold her, that'd be great." Kate suggests, "Delphine's going to have to squat again in a minute."
"Okay." Cosima nods in disbelief, "Umm, I've never held a newborn before."
"This is Céleste." Delphine strokes her hand down her daughter's still slippery back before holding her out for Cosima to hold, wrapped loosely in a small blanket.
Kate adjusts Cosima's hands, "Like this, skin on skin is better, if you..." She cuts herself off at the blank look on Cosima's face, "Yeah that's fine, nice and close, support the head."
"Holy shit. She's still all gooey." Cosima breathes, looking down at the bundle in her arms, "You really had a baby. Oh my god. Hi baby. Hi Celeste." The brunette corrects herself.
Delphine giggles, even as the midwives are guiding her up to squat again, weaker cramps of her body expelling the afterbirth already begun.
"She looks like..." Cosima trails off, a look of comprehension dawning on her face, "She's beautiful, just like you." Cosima finishes, eyes wide as she regards the baby with equal parts awe and fascination.
Cosima stays with them the six hours until they're discharged, permitted to go home. She watches Delphine nurse Celeste, watches her lie around with Celeste on her chest and finally watches as she dresses her carefully in tiny little clothes to go home. A bright blue sleeper with stars, and a white sweater. She's nervous about handling a newborn herself, and it shows, even with the kind reassurance of her midwives and doula. Cosima is quiet for the most part, even on the ride home, she doesn't speak. Doesn't interrupt any of the conversations going on around her, she hovers in the background.
"Remember, as much skin-on-skin as possible. Diaper clad baby, topless mama." Kate reminds them as she leaves to go home herself, "The midwives will be back to check on you tomorrow, and if you need anything, just call."
"I'll see Kate out," Cosima nods, following the doula to the door.
Delphine lays in bed. She's tired, but happy. Céleste in her arms, Cosima seemingly lost in processing this new biological and social reality.
"She's mine. She's really mine." Cosima finally whispers stunned, when Delphine has been tucked back into bed with Celeste snoozing on her bare chest, making tiny little noises in her sleep. "Everything is tiny, tiny diapers, tiny toes and fingers... Tiny and perfect." Cosima shakes her head again, climbing on the bed next to Delphine.
Delphine smiles, "Yes, mon amour, she's yours." It's too much, the pet name, the affection - Cosima tenses instantly.
"I was so angry when you were pregnant because I …" Cosima cuts herself off shaking her head, "I wanted her to be mine."
"Cosima."
"And now that I know she is mine? I'm … fucking pissed… and it's…"
"It's what?" Delphine, wraps her arms protectively around Celeste, nervous at the roughness of Cosima's gesturing.
"Why?" Cosima's angry again, eyes flashing, "Why did you do this?"
"I … I wanted to."
"Why?"
"If I couldn't have you… if you died… I would still have her." Delphine mutters, "I wanted our baby, not anyone else's, yours and mine."
"We weren't even together. You'd left me months before that. Months!" Cosima shakes her head, "And I look at her… and oh my god Delphine… she's beautiful, so beautiful. But… fuck."
"Not because I wanted to!" Delphine reminds her. On Céleste, she agrees, she's never thought much of babies, but Céleste? Céleste is gorgeous!
"Is this another leverage thing with DYAD? An experiment, just because you can? This is a child, Delphine, do you even understand how serious this is?"
"I do understand," Delphine takes a deep breathe, "Céleste is our baby, I carried our baby inside of me. How could I not understand? How could I not love her? She's our daughter, Cosima, she's not an experiment. She's not a ploy. I've destroyed the files - it was compartmentalized, she's safe. I promise."
"Then … what do I do?" Cosima looks over at them, a hand reaching to gently touch Céleste's tiny coned head, "Cause I have no idea anymore." Cosima cries a little, and it makes her want to cry too.
"Anything you want. You can do anything you want. Ask me anything you want." Delphine offers, anything about Céleste she will answer. The rest? She doesn't think she can breathe a word of it. Ever.
"How did you make her? Bone marrow?" Cosima asks, the scientist in her taking over, "Or is she some kind of dual-clone technique... oh god ...you didn't use Sarah or Helena for this, did you?"
"Non... I used your bone marrow. I wanted her to be ours. Epigenetics and everything." Delphine admits quietly, "When you were sick about a year ago, I was worried I'd lose you forever, so when you recovered and we took a sample..."
"You used it." Cosima seems increasingly overwhelmed by the news, "Can I hold her again? Can I try the skin-to-skin thing?"
"Yes." Delphine offers quietly, waiting for Cosima to undress from the waist up, moving her hand, allowing Cosima to take the baby from her chest. She hasn't seen Cosima undressed in months, she smiles at the sight and longs to press a kiss to Cosima's shoulder, but she doesn't move.
"And you used your own ova, obvs... But... why did you carry her... I mean... holy shit Delphine." Cosima shakes her head, one hand clasped over Celeste's tiny back, the other gesturing frantically.
"Are you still angry?" Delphine resists the urge to pull Céleste back against her own skin, worrying that the roughness of Cosima's gesturing would harm her.
"Umm... more shocked and amazed right now. I mean having my baby without my consent, kind of creepy. Kind of wrong but... It didn't hurt me, you know? It's just...fucking weird. And I'm pissed but I'm also… so… stunned." Cosima decides on the words finally.
"You don't have to do anything." Delphine assures Cosima, "Not financially, not socially... I just wanted to have our baby. I wanted her so badly."
"No way. I'm not letting you do this alone. I mean you hired a doula, midwives, your mom's here. But... you don't have to do this alone."
"What about Shay?"
"We split like... two months ago... after I came home with your love-bite on my neck. Fucking the pregnant ex will kill things every time."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not. She went on about me needing to 'symbolically break our karmic bond' and I was… I didn't want to break it, so… that was the end of it."
"Oh." Delphine blinks, brow furrowing.
"So about this name thing... do I get a say?" Cosima probes curiously.
Delphine hesitates, "I really want her to be Céleste... but if you want to add to it."
"My oma's name was Alida... if... umm that can be her middle name... I'd like a say...given as...umm she's my baby. Holy watershed... " Cosima closes her eyes, "I have a baby."
"Céleste Alida." Delphine considers this, then offers, "Céleste Alida Niehaus-Cormier?"
"Yes. Okay... woah. Unexpected parenthood. This is supposed to only happen to dudes." Cosima laughs again, "I'm... floored."
"What did you think when I was pregnant?"
"Hopefully that you'd gotten really drunk on wine missing me and had unprotected sex? I don't know... seemed more likely than the donor route to my brain. Or... that you'd done it with some powerful guy and it was a blackmail baby."
"Blackmail baby?" Delphine is aghast, "Cosima, there are lines even I would not cross. I do not harm children."
"Yeah, I know..." Cosima looks down, "Oh my god. I mean the thought crossed my mind that she could be ours but I never thought you would be that -"
"Impulsive?" Delphine suggests.
"Stupid. Is Dyad going to be after her now? The bone marrow baby with two moms. Including me, a clone. What about my genetic marker tags? My modifications? Will she be sick?" Cosima's voice breaks at her last question.
"Dyad wouldn't know, I destroyed the files. One doctor knows I agreed to carry an experiment, he has no idea where the bone marrow came from, or the ova. The doctor who implanted her knows nothing. I promise."
"And my synthetic sequences?"
"She inherited bits of them - but not the sequences in their entirety." Delphine answers honestly, "I had all the embryos given PGD - preimplantation genetic diagnosis. I made sure she would be okay. I was careful." There are no guarantees, Delphine knows this well, but for the moment Céleste seems perfectly normal and healthy.
"Yes... oh my god, she has your ears." Cosima remarks gleefully, intently observing their daughter on her chest.
Delphine turns on her side, admiring Cosima admiring their baby, "She does, and your mouth. I think."
"This is so amazing. I never thought I could have this." Cosima breathes, and Céleste seems to stir, moving slightly on her chest, bringing a tiny pink hand to her mouth, "Oh, she's rooting isn't she?"
"Yes. She is." Delphine glances over, sitting up, "I guess it's time to feed her again. I can give her back right after." Cosima hands Céleste back, a little reluctantly. Delphine awkwardly positions her to feed, movements not yet second nature, before latching her on.
"Okay," Cosima takes a deep breath and looks over at her, "So do you remember when you asked me if I could try?"
"Yes." Delphine answers a little distractedly, looking down at Céleste, her tiny face, her tiny hands. Her tiny head resting in her hand, her feet in the crook of her arm as she suckles.
"When I was stalking the apartment, that was me trying. I spent a lot of time thinking things over when I was on my own. Moved back in with Felix, drove him crazy over it."
"And?"
"I was in, Delphine. For you. For your baby. I really wanted to be there for you, you know, at the birth… I'm sorry I wasn't. But I, like, bought sleepers and… I didn't know shit about newborns… so I did some research. Got some baby/parenting books." Cosima cocks her head to the side with a shrug, "She is so cute."
"Sleepers?" Delphine repeats, a mental picture of a confused Cosima in a department store trickling into her mind.
"And now that I know Celeste is mine… I mean really biologically mine, but I'm still here, okay? I'm still kind of pissed but… I mean I read up assuming I'd be a parent...or parent-ish figure or step-parent. Cause you were a package deal, and I know it took me over a month to make up my mind but-"
"Okay. Do you need to go for a while? More time to think?" Delphine offers, interrupting, looking at Cosima before looking down at Céleste once more.
"What? No! I only need to leave to get my stuff. I have to like, take care of you, and bring you food and let you lay around in this bed for a few days with our baby… I can't go anywhere. I mean… I think I made notes…" Cosima checks her phone briefly, "Yeah. I did. Week in bed. Lots of snacks and water…"
Delphine blinks in disbelief, "Take care of me?"
"Yeah, read something about babying the mother so she can baby the baby… and decided that was exactly what I needed to do. So umm… unless you're showering or in the bathroom, you're on or in bed. With Céleste. Not quite what I imagined for our reunion spent 'in bed for a week' but, hey." Cosima grins again, probably thinking she's hilarious.
She feels a stab of guilt, "Cosima we can't… not for at least six weeks." Sex had been the furthest thing from her mind, why would Cosima want to sleep with her like this anyways? Freshly postpartum… it doesn't make any sense.
"I know, no sex til at least six weeks and the midwife or doctor clears you for it. Body needs time to heal." Cosima answers her matter-of-factly, "It's a drag… but… apparently we're barely going to have sex now anyways. So, good practice?"
She knows her face falls in response to those words, she returns her attention to Céleste, switching breasts, latching her back on. At least their baby appears to be a good eater, with a good latch. She can focus on that, on Céleste, on co-parenting...
"Oh… no Delphine… it's not that I won't want to...Or don't want to… I swear. You're still beautiful… I should have read that postpartum body thing… shit."
"I still look pregnant." It's true, her belly is still round, and will likely remain that way for a few months. She's made no attempt to hide this from Cosima, but now as Delphine looks around, she thinks maybe she should cover herself and Céleste with a blanket again.
"You were beautiful pregnant." Cosima reassures her, "I was just being an asshole."
"So what now?"
"Well… I should probably tell my sisters about Céleste."
"Do you have to?" Delphine begs, looking down at their precious daughter, lazily suckling colostrum from her breast. Will Céleste be safe from Sarah? From Alison? Who will they tell? What will this bring? Her intentions to keep their baby's parentage a secret may be overruled, she realizes.
"Yes. I have to. And … I'll figure out something to tell my parents. The new u-haul - take up with your ex, raise her newborn, and be a mommy."
Delphine giggles, "I can't stop looking at her."
Cosima leans in, laying a sweet kiss to her forehead and then her lips, "Me neither," She admits, one of her own hands going to touch Céleste, to cradle her to Delphine's body.
"U-haul?" Delphine's brow furrows slightly.
"Bad lesbian joke. And we've already done it once… Just forget it." Cosima presses a warm hand to her shoulder, she cannot help but sigh in response.
"Cosima." Delphine smiles at the simple contact, at this moment.
"I'm so in love with you." Cosima murmurs. Delphine feels herself melt in response, before she realizes that Cosima is probably addressing Céleste.
"Céleste? Or… me?"
"Both." Cosima smiles sweetly.
FIN