Chapter 4 : Evasions and Examinations

A few days later

The doctors had come in shortly after the nurses had brought Delphine dinner, they told her all about the injuries that she had sustained - cracked ribs, laceration to the liver and damage to the gall badder from the bullet entry wound and a cracked skull with a slight concussion- from the shooting and the fall onto the concrete plus the blood loss from the wound while waiting to get to the hospital. The doctors expressed praise and gratitude to Cosima for the help that she had given Delphine as without she would have died and that brought home the reality that was Delphine's close brush with death and how close Cosima had been to losing Delphine. All the damage meant close observation and if any complications occurred the recovery would be impacted. The concussion and cracked skull were the biggest issues at the moment and these required their attention but they were worried about infection at the wound also. The doctors had told the both of them that Cosima would be able to take Delphine home by the end of week if no complications occurred before then but if anything happened when she left, she would have to come back.

Delphine was in higher spirits after the doctors told her that she could go home with Cosima. Cosima, too, was excited that Delphine should be able to go home by the end of the week. Both women were a bit apprehensive around each other, both skirting the hard conversation that they needed to have soon. Cosima had been getting phone calls frequently from whom she could only assume was Shay, Cosima never said who it was before hastily pressing the ignore button. She got phone calls from Felix and Alison and almost always answered those and took the calls in front of her. Delphine was getting more than a little worried, Cosima never left her side and never answered the phone calls Delphine assumed were from Shay, like she knew what happened in the garage that night at DYAD. Delphine was worried how to approach a conversation about this so she started with something simple, like the fact that Cosima hadn't left the hospital in 4 days.

"Chéri, why don't you go home and have shower and change your clothes?"

"Oh I see, you think I smell" Cosima smirked

"Non, non. It's just you have been here since I was admitted and you haven't, I thought you might like to go home for a bit." Delphine said uneasily while looking at her lap.

"Hey, it's cool. I was just joking, you know me. Obvs, just joking. What's up? You want me to take a shower?" Cosima smirked wider and grabbed one of Delphine's hands and gently rubbed her thumb across her knuckles in an effort to get her to relax.

"Non, I just don't want you to think that you have to stay here with me, if you don't want to or you have somewhere else to be or someone to go home to." Still looking at her lap, Delphine mumbled.

"I get it, you're jealous of Shay" Delphine kept looking at her lap, a slight blush and a nearly imperceivable narrowing of her eyes at the mention of Shay's name. Cosima pulled her face up by her chin to make Delphine look at her. "You have nothing to worry about I am here for you, I am with you. I just have to tell Shay that since she doesn't seem to be getting the message. I will go back to Felix's and grab a bath, change my clothes as you seem so concerned about my state of dress" This earned Cosima a small smile "and I will come back with some actual food that both you and I will love rather than the crap they are passing off as food here. I will be back soon, okay?" Cosima kissed Delphine lightly on the lips and then smiled before leaving the room.

Delphine was glad she had some alone so that she can think about all that had happened in the past days. She contemplated if she should tell Cosima who it was that shot her or if she should keep it to herself, after all it was Delphine's shooting and not Cosima's but could she put Cosima in danger by not telling her the truth about who had shot her. They had talked about the shooting a little bit but nothing specific. Delphine thought that a shower might do her some good rather than just staring at the walls for the few hours that it took Cosima to get back. Delphine stood cautiously and made her way slowly to the bathroom adjoining her hospital room, each step hurt like a knife to the side but she kept moving knowing that once she was in the shower it would be worth it. She finally made it to the bathroom after the torturous five minutes it took for Delphine to make it to the bathroom, she was exhausted and glad to see that shower with a ledge to sit down on while she bathed. Delphine took off the hospital gown with the ever so flattering gap in the back and turn the water on waiting for the heat to come on, sitting on the little shelf in the shower area. Delphine left out a relaxing sigh and tilted her head to rest against the tiled wall, breathing in the steam. She took her time washing her hair and herself with the products provided by the hospital before leaning back against the wall in exhaustion and slowly felt her eyes sliding shut.

Cosima reluctantly left Delphine's hospital room and shut the door behind her, nodding to Art who had been sitting guard outside the room in case anyone tries to get at Delphine to finish off the job. No-one suspicious had come near the room, the only other person who had been by was Shay and once Art told her that it wasn't appropriate for her to be here, she left. Cosima called Alison who was somewhat close by to come and get her and take her to Felix's to change and bathe. She would be there any minute. Cosima called Shay as she walked out the doors to the hospital, it rang. It rang again. The voicemail kicked in after 10 rings.

"Hi, you've reached Shay Dovydov. Leave your name and number at the beep and I'll get back to you soon.*Beep*"

"Shay, It's me. We need to talk. Call me when you get this." Cosima said with less confidence then she wished she had. She made her way to the curb where Alison was waiting for her. Cosima plopped into the car and reached to put her belt on. She had it clicked in no time and went to stare at her lap to avoid the conversation she knew was coming.

"So, you're back with Delphine?" Alison said as she started to drive away from the entrance to the hospital.

"Yeah, no. I don't know what I am with anyone." Cosima said and stared out the windscreen squinting at the brightness.

"Rightio, then. So, clean clothes and a shower?" Alison queried

"Yeah, for sure. I want to pick up some food for Delphine and me before I go back. I have to see Shay at some point too and probably see Sarah too. How's everyone?" Cosima said as she took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes as she lent her head against the headrest.

"Everyone is fine, you will have to wait a while before you see Sarah though, she has gone to Kira with Siobhan and they took Kendall too. So it's been pretty quiet around here. How long has it been since you slept? You look terrible."

"I will sleep once I have figured everything out and Delphine isn't in danger and no-one is dying. And I did sleep enough, last night. Most nights in fact" Cosima stated still with her eyes closed.

"Did you sleep in the bed with Delphine? In a chair next to Delphine?" Alison asked, concern audible in her tone.

Cosima huffed "Obvs. Where else would I have slept?" sarcasm dripping in her tone.

"You can't keep doing this, you aren't long well yourself and if you get run down, you could get sick again and no-one wants that. You need to take of yourself too." The motherly instinct taking over Alison. She grabbed Cosima's hand and rubbed it gently before releasing it and returning her hand to the steering wheel. Cosima started awake when the car pulled to a stop in the alley behind Felix's apartment. Cosima rubbed her eyes and slipped the forgot glasses from her lap, onto her face. Cosima turned to look at Alison who had turned off the engine and looked at Cosima.

"You got enough sleep, did you?" Alison asked while turning to get out of the car.

"Okay, so i'm tired. So what? Dolphins in the hospital after some maniac shot her and left her for dead. I can catch up on sleep when we can sleep comfortable and without the threat of someone trying to kill my puppy." Cosima ranted as she walked upstairs ahead of Alison. Alison stopped behind Cosima suddenly and pulled her backwards with a confused look on her face.

"Did you just call Delphine your puppy?" Cosima blushed

"What? No, of course not. I called her Delphine, Obvs. Maybe you haven't had enough sleep."

The distraction worked. "I slept an adequate amount last night, thank you very much." Alison seemed slightly outraged at such a claim. Cosima smirked at the heavy metal door of Felix's apartment as she opened it. Felix was nowhere to be seen, Alison sat down on the couch after doing a quick once over of it's cleanliness as Cosima headed straight for the bathroom.

Cosima bathed quickly and got dressed even faster, Alison sprung to her feet and straightened her clothes before looking at Cosima.

"Ready to go?" Alison enquired

"Yeah, we just need to make a quick stop to the grocery shop and then back to the hospital please, my sister." Cosima gathered her bag and placed it on her shoulder, shutting the door as they left.

Delphine woke later, not sure how long had past. She dressed in a clean hospital robe that was waiting in the bathroom clearly for situations such as these. Delphine could not find any clean underwear so she just went to start the short yet seemingly long journey back to bed. She braced herself against the door and opened it by leaning against it. Delphine struggled over to the bed and was three quarters of the way there when the door opened and she froze on the spot like a deer in the headlights.

"What are you doing out of bed, Dr. Cormier? You know that you need rest." Cosima said as she lent with hand on hip.

"Si, I had a shower, I thought that cleansing the body is good for healing and for you. I'm sure that you agree that smelling good is an ingredient for sharing a bed." Delphine rambled as she stood still while Cosima approached her slowly, nodding along to her speech. When Cosima made it to in front of Delphine, she wrapped her arms gently around her and gave her a peck on the lips before burying her face in Delphine's neck and inhaled deeply, making Delphine shiver against her and relaxed into her embrace. Cosima gently manoeuvred them towards the bed and made Delphine sit down. Delphine sat but didn't release Cosima and her face was currently buried in the brunette's stomach and arms secured around her waist.

"I love your hair when its curly like this." Cosima mumbled into the slightly damp hair. "Did you change the dressing on your wound after your shower?" Cosima queried

"Non, I didn't even think about that. Perhaps we should call the nurse to check it"

"Or I could have a quick look?" Cosima suggested and Delphine looked up from Cosima's stomach

"Oui." Delphine made no move to change her position. Cosima moved her hands to the blonde's shoulders and gently pushed until she was lying back against the hospital bed. Cosima leant closer to reach the bottom of Delphine's gown, Delphine's hand slapped onto Cosima's in a sudden recollection of the decision she made in the bathroom. Delphine blushed and looked away.

"What's wrong?" Cosima asked concernedly, pulling Delphine's chin to look in her direction.

"Je ne ai pas sous-vêtements." Delphine says quietly looking away once more.

"As much as I love when you speak french, I have no clue what you are saying. So please, in english, what is wrong?" Cosima leans closer to Delphine so she can whisper in her ear.

"I don't have any underwear on." Delphine whispered in her love's ear as she blushed an even brighter red. Cosima wrapped her arms around the blonde woman and whispered in her ear.

"Don't tease me now." The simple statement said through a cheeky smile took the tension out of the air and made Delphine smile and laugh back at the brunette before she continued "I brought you some so you could shower but you beat me to the whole shower." Delphine chuckled.

"Bien, merci" Delphine said and Cosima retrieved the pair from the bags she brought and went to slip them on for her wounded puppy.

"Normally, I would complain that I'm doing this in reverse but under the circumstances I will refrain." Cosima said softly and smirked sideways at Delphine, slipping them all the way up her legs and settling them on her hips. Cosima continue to pull the gown up, now that Delphine was suitably clothed for the examination of her wound dressing. The dressing was completely soaked through and would definitely need to be changed soon, lest the wound become infected.

"I will call the nurses to change the dressing" Cosima said as she pushed the call button behind Delphine's head on the wall above the bed. The beep of the call button was loud in the quiet room.

"Stay with me." Delphine phrased it more like a statement then a question and Cosima merely nodded at the woman in the bed, looking lost and little.

"Obvs" Cosima said and sealed her promise with a kiss. The door opened and a nurse walked into the room and looked towards the two women on the bed.

"Yes? What can I help you with?" The short women asked slightly displeasure in her voice.

"She has gotten her dressing wet and it is in need of a change please." Cosima said sweetly to annoy the woman a little, she is quite rude considering her job is to help sick people, Cosima thought to herself. The woman huffed and left the room to retrieve the necessary items for a dressing change. Cosima looked at Delphine and smiled before putting the chair next the bed and sitting down, reaching over to hold Delphine's hand while they waited for the angry nurse to return.

Chéri = Darling

Si = So

Oui = yes

Je ne ai pas sous-vêtements = I don't have any underwear on

Bien, merci = Good, thank you