Chapter 12- Force
Cosima smiled up at her fiancée, giving her belly a gently rub "You ready?" she asked.
Delphine nodded and reached for the hand on her stomach from her spot on the adjustable hospital bed. At least when it was your own equipment, you could line the stirrups with padding. She took a deep breath as Cosima too her hand and gave it a squeeze.
Everything had finally come together: the lab and medical equipment had been delivered to the finished basement, Scott had moved in to the basement room and had gotten his section of the lab together, the clone embryos had been produced, and Delphine was still ovulating. So now the blonde was wide open to her wife, speculum in place, and the catheter was in her uterus. She'd made Cosima practice a thousand times on the dummy beforehand; and she wouldn't want anyone else to be doing this.
Cosima took a deep breath herself, holding her thumb on top of the syringe's plunger. She chuckled and gave Delphine's hand another squeeze.
"Okay, I'm gonna inject now" she informed the blonde.
She slowly depressed the plunger, watching as the fluid was pushed out of the syringe, through the catheter, and up in to Delphine's uterus. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Delphine pregnant. If this took, she would be pregnant for their wedding. Of course she wouldn't be showing, but it was a nice thought.
Cosima felt the burn in her throat and quickly turned her head to cough into her shoulder, despite already wearing a surgical mask. She kept her hand as steady as possible. Clearing her throat, she turned back to her partner who wore a look of concern.
"I'll just do all the bleeding you won't for the next 9 months" she joked, knowing her mask was splattered in blood.
Delphine didn't laugh. She laced their fingers together, intertwining them perfectly.
"I'm gonna pull out now" Cosima told her.
"That is what he said" Delphine joked back this time.
It earned a chuckle from the brunette.
Charlotte nibbled on the pad thai Maman had made her for lunch as she listened to Oscar talk about how fun gym class would be. His words were tuned out in her mind, coming as a secondary source of importance for her attention, compared to the stares she was getting from the other kids in the class. They had quickly learned that Oscar didn't have any friends but them. They were the weird kids. Charlotte didn't much mind, but wished that they would stop staring. It was making her self-conscious about how messy her lunch was. She made a mental note to ask Maman for a bologna sandwich. It seemed to be what most kids had.
The bell pulled her from her thoughts and she packed up her lunch. She still had not figured out the schedule, but knew that a bell meant it was time to pack up and move on to something else.
"Oh, it's long recess" Oscar informed them, packing up his own lunch.
"Another one?" Charlotte asked, not at all excited by the prospect of all those kids running wild around her again.
Maybe regular school wasn't for her. She longed for the quiet company of her parents and the security her home provided. She missed having a nice hot meal for lunch and not having to worry about people watching her eat. Nevertheless, she finished packing up her lunch box and followed her chatting cousins to the hallway where she stored her lunch box in her backpack.
Once outside, she felt the spring sun shine down on her face and had to squint against the brightness. Kids had already started up games. She followed Oscar and Kira to the corner of the playground where the fence met the building. They all sat down.
"We should start playing D&D during recess. I'm sure Auntie Cosima could make us up a campaign" Kira suggested, turning a rock over in her hands.
"Are you crazy? We're already freaks!" Oscar exclaimed to his cousin.
"Well at least then we'd be MonkeyBum freaks" Charlotte joked with a chuckle.
Kira laughed and nodded, using her character's voice "The MoneyBums would not stand for this!"
"No, this is pure vacuousness! Pretty sure Princess NiceDress would kill them all with a toss of her axe" Charlotte noted.
"You better keep it down, people will hear" Oscar worried in a hushed tone.
A group of three kids in their class walked up to them. "Oh people already hear. It's not like we don't know you're already a freak, FREAK!" the tallest of them shouted at the group while the other two laughed.
"Just go away Josh" Oscar told the kid.
"Just go away Josh" the girl to the kid's right mocked, sticking out her tongue.
"I didn't know that you had more freaks as friends either. We weren't even sure anyone even could stand being around you. Isn't that why your parents put you up for adoption?" the kid teased, jutting out his lip in fake sadness.
"That's enough, Josh" Kira told the kid. "Just leave us alone."
"Oh, the freak speaks. And what about you, peg leg? You got a voice? Or did it get lost in that giant nerdy book you're always reading?" he asked Charlotte.
The small clone peered up at him through narrowed eyes. She didn't have anything nice to say. She was going to keep her mouth shut.
"That's what I thought" he told her. "I'd say that I'd see you in gym, but we all know you can't participate. It must suck to be broken. Look at you, freaks, nerds, one abandoned by his parents, one with only one leg, and you…I haven't figured out what is wrong with you yet, but it MUST be something" the kid glared at Kira.
The kid to Josh's left made a show of punching his own hand "Maybe we should make something wrong with her" he suggested.
"If you touch her, I will have to do something about it" Charlotte promised, speaking for the first time.
"Oh yeah, and what you gonna do peg leg? Stare me to death?" Josh's left hand asked.
"Just walk away Devon" Oscar told him. "You don't want to mess with her. She took out a dragon" he informed the bully.
That's right, thought Charlotte. I took out a dragon. I am a mighty warrior. And these are my friends.
The three erupted into a fit of laughter, leaving Charlotte standing there, fuming at them. She was thinking about the best course of action. She knew her brace was heavy and she knew her other leg was strong. She smiled, daring them to make the first move.
The laughing kids each picked up a rock as they laughed "Peg the dragon freaks!" Josh yelled.
The moment that first rock was thrown, it hit Oscar's forehead, opening up a gash. Charlotte reacted, putting all of her weight on her good leg and swinging the braced one up in a vicious kick to Josh's face. She felt the force from the impact vibrate through her leg and sting her knee, but continued following through. She watched as he dropped, clutching his face. The entire playground went silent and ran over. His friends dropped their ammunition and kneeled at his side as he wailed in agony.
"Don't you EVER touch my friends" she told him, turning to Oscar and putting pressure on his wound as he cried.
Finally, a teacher came over.
Helm knocked on the basement door.
"Come on down, her legs are back together!" Cosima called up the stairs, earning a look from Delphine. "What? They are."
Helm opened the door and descended the steps, holding the phone. He held it out to Delphine.
"It's for you" he told her.
The French woman took the phone "Hello? Dr. Cormier speaking" she informed the other end.
She listened carefully, nodding as the other line spoke.
"Is she okay?" she asked, nodding at the response, "I am on my way" she spoke, hanging up the phone.
"Who was that?" Cosima asked.
"The school. Apparently Charlotte is suspended" Delphine responded with a huff, shaking her head.
Cosima laughed "What for? Being too smart? How does Charlotte of all people get suspended? Oh please tell me she schooled the teacher" the brunette laughed.
"Cosima, this is not funny" Delphine told her. "She got in to a fight and seriously injured another student."
Cosima raised an eyebrow "Charlotte? Are you sure? I don't believe it. Our sweet little Charlotte got in a fight?" she asked again.
Delphine flipped her hair up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed "I have to go pick her up."
"Wait, Delphine. I'll come with you" Cosima informed her.
"Are you up for that?" the blonde asked.
"I had a nap already. I'm fine. Besides, you're quite wound up right now. At least one of us should go in there with a level head" she suggested.
That revved up Delphine's anger engine, making her fume for a moment while she considered Cosima's words. She recognized how angry she was. Maybe Cosima was right. She looked to her future wife who was waiting for a response back with two raised eyebrows. Maybe having Cosima there to balance out her anger would be a good thing. She nodded and reached for her underwear, pulling them on under her sun dress.
Cosima rolled to the lift, Helm meeting her halfway there to help.
Charlotte sat in the office, arms folded. She was the only one there. Oscar and Josh had been brought to the nurse room by the secretary to be treated. This wasn't fair. She had only been defending her friends. Maman was gonna be so mad. She wondered what would happen. She'd never been punished before. Still, she was convinced that she had done the right thing. For some reason Josh and his goonies held power over Oscar and by proxy her and Kira, which he seemed to hold by being the scariest kid on the playground; the best way to win that back was by being an even scarier kid. She was sure that from now on, Josh would think twice about coming after them. She had the power now.
Alison flew in to the principal's office, seeing no secretary and turning to spot Charlotte.
"Charlotte, where's Oscar?" she asked.
Charlotte pointed to the medical room and Alison ran to it, opening the door and walking in. Charlotte listened as she grilled the secretary about what had happened to her son. It was all muffled through the closed door, but Auntie Alison's voice was loud enough that she could make out what was being said.
The young girl sighed and crossed her arms, hoping Mummy came and not Maman. Mummy would be a lot more sympathetic. But she knew that she couldn't drive anymore. Maybe she'd get lucky and Opa would come instead. Yeah, that would be the best case scenario.
All hope was lost when she saw the blonde curly head walk up to the front door of the school. Luckily once the door was open, she could hear the wheels of Mummy's chair. She breathed a sigh of relief. They both walked in and she gulped.
"You okay, kid?" Cosima asked her daughter.
Charlotte nodded, looking up to Maman.
"What happened?" the blonde asked, trying to hide her anger for the moment. Cosima's hand on her lower back was helping.
"I kicked Josh in the face with my brace" she admitted "I am sorry, Maman. He was teasing us and they were throwing rocks and I had to balance the power dynamics and get them to stop" she blurted out in one breath.
Delphine dropped to her knees, checking the brace out. She saw the blood on it and the dent.
"Charlotte, what were you thinking? Your leg isn't that stable. You could have broken something" she worried, making quick work of removing the brace and lifting her daughter's pant leg to reveal a fresh bruise forming the length of Charlotte's leg, wrapping around her knee.
"I was thinking that my brace was hard and heavy" she looked up to her mummy "force equals mass times acceleration."
Cosima rolled her lips into her mouth to not show the smile. Of course Charlotte would use science to take down a bully.
Alison walked out of the room with Oscar, holding a mound of gauze to his head.
"He is going to need stitches. I'm bringing him to the hospital. This damn school can't keep their bullies in line. Someone needs to answer for this" she grumbled.
"Yeah, my kid. Charlotte's suspended" Cosima informed her.
Alison's mouth dropped, turning to Charlotte "Are you the one who kicked him in the face?" she asked.
Charlotte nodded, not making eye contact.
"You get extra dessert next sleepover" she told her, walking out of the room.
Delphine shook her head, looking up at her daughter "Do not think that this was heroic. Violence is never the answer" she told her. "You sit here while I go talk to your principal. We'll discuss your punishment when we get home" the blonde told her daughter, turning to Cosima. "And you, do not encourage her. I am going to deal with this."
Cosima raised her hands in surrender as she watched her wife storm into the principal's office. The brunette wheeled herself closer to her daughter, reaching out or a hug. Charlotte eagerly took it.
"I'm a freak mummy. I hate it here. Can I please just come home?" she asked.
Cosima took a deep breath and rubbed her daughter's back "I know how you feel. I was the weird kid when I was young. But this is going to make you stronger. You need to be here Char, and it will get better. I promise. Either you do things to make the kids smarten up, or you get tougher. I got tougher. It seems like you're going the other route. It's all good though. Just make sure this doesn't become a regular thing."
"I don't know why Oscar put up with this for so long" Charlotte noted.
"He probably didn't know how to deal with it" Cosima reasoned to her daughter. "He got tougher."
"I don't want to just get tougher. I don't want any of the other kids to have to deal with this. Josh has this power over everyone. I don't understand why they let him or how he got it, but I don't like it" Charlotte told her mummy.
"He HAD that power. Unfortunately for him, the dynamics of our culture dictate that once you get beaten by a girl and cry for your mommy in the middle of the playground, you lose that power" Cosima explained.
"But why? He was really hurt. I would have probably cried too" she explained.
"Because these boys have been taught since they were young that emotions and needing people are signs of weakness" the brunette taught the young clone. "And using the power you have over people to hold them hostage is strength."
"So what happens now?" Charlotte asked.
"Now we go home and you serve out your suspension, and you come back. You will have the power of everyone's fear. It will be up to you to decide how you are going to use it" she told her daughter.
"But I don't want to be a bully" the girl told her mother.
"Then don't. You decide what to do with this power. I'm not going to say that what you did was the right move, but it worked. I'm super glad, little dude that you stood up to the bully" Cosima mentioned.
"I wasn't going to let him hurt Kira and Oscar" Charlotte explained.
"And that's way admirable. Maybe next time, you won't need violence. We'll work on some ways to use words at home, okay?" the dreaded woman asked.
Charlotte nodded "Maman's so angry. I wonder how she'll punish me."
"You let me worry about Maman. Not saying you won't have consequences, but I'll settle her down" Cosima assured.
Charlotte nodded, playing with the bottom button of her shirt.
Delphine walked out of the principal's office, flipping her hair back and shaking her head at her kid.
"Let's go home"
A/N: It's been a busy week for me. Glad I got this done on time. Thank you all so much for your continued comments, review, messages, kudos, and for reading. I am super excited to write chapter 13! It's gonna be so gushy and cute. A very special thank you to maritexxa1982 who did the cover art for this story! It's so nice to have fan art! Anyways, happy Thursday and I hope that you enjoy this chapter!