Chapter 7 Progress and Setbacks

It took longer than Cosima would have thought for Mrs. S to organise her a lab to work in, not that she didn't have a lot to deal with. Cosima focused her attention to Delphine who was getting physically stronger and healthier each day and trying to ignore the fact that she could feel herself getting worse almost by the hour at this point. The lab was set up in some remote area of Canada, Cosima didn't know how Mrs. S even managed to get this together but Cosima was not going to question it. Delphine recovered for two additional weeks after coming to the apartment before Cosima was happy to move her to where it was that Siobhan had set up the lab. Scott had also been recruited to help Cosima and Delphine with the cure for Cosima and her sisters.

The work was slow and Cosima was getting frustrated easy, Delphine was getting worried. She had noticed a few things like Cosima coughing in the hallway or bathroom, appearing weary then when Delphine would look at her, she would make a big show of being energetic. Cosima was keeping her illness from Delphine and Scott, the only person who really knew how sick she actually was, was Mrs. S. Siobhan had taken in the clone, much like she had when Sarah was brought into her care so many years ago. Siobhan had taken to showing up at the lab throughout the day and night, if they had the stamina to continue into the night. Siobhan, like many others, was very concerned for Cosima. She had heard about how quickly she deteriorated before and how Kira's stem cells were the only thing that kept her alive last time. She used to dislike Cosima simply for her need of Kira's stem cells but as she had gotten closer to the clone, she had become part of her family. Her geek monkey as it was. She now loved Cosima as one of her own, much like Alison and Helena had been adopted by the Irishwoman.

Having Mrs. S around was like having a proper mother again, she brought food and sent us to rest and asked multiple times a day if any help was needed. Cosima hadn't seen her mother in years but that didn't bother her much, it was nice having a mother back in her life though. Cosima had taken to confiding in Siobhan how sick she actually was or how ill she thought she was as she won't run any tests in front of Delphine because she knew how the results would come back. Cosima having known the signs began to work harder and smarter to bet the sickness brewing inside her, invading every cell in her body until nothing healthy remained.

Cosima was making good progress on her treatment plan and thought that she had less than a week before she had it completed. Scott was helping Cosima in whatever way he could but some days would get more on Cosima's nerves than do anything productive. Delphine was trying, she still got tired easily even though the wound had healed and she was physically fine. Both Cosima and Delphine would have nightmares about that gloomy night over a month ago. Their nights were anything but restful, either they kept each other up or the nightmares would wake them not long into a restful sleep. Collectively, the scientists and their team were exhausted and frustrated with the disease that now was affected Alison. Alison had called Sarah worried about the symptoms she was having which reminded her that Cosima said she was having back months ago. Cosima was worried about Alison now having symptoms of the disease but knew she was already working as hard as she could to heal herself. She was running out of time and she needed to find the cure quickly or risk dying before being able to save her sisters as well as herself.

Scott and Delphine had gone out for food with Siobhan while Cosima stayed back at the lab, she said that she was on a roll with an idea but in reality, she didn't think she had the strength to go for a long walk. Cosima tried to work but rested her head down on the shiny table as she felt a wave of unsteadiness flood over her and could not stand to be upright at that moment. Cosima stayed like this for a while. She laid her head on the desk until she heard the door creak open and swiftly raised her head from the desk. Cosima knew the second that she did it, raising her head was a bad idea. She went from head on the desk to in the air then on the floor in a matter of seconds. Cosima crashed to the floor with a thud echoing off the walls and all through the lab. Delphine heard the roaring scream before she recognised it as herself screaming, she ran over to her love and pulling the small woman close, she watched her brown eyes roll back into her skull as she started to convulse. The blonde knew what she should do as a doctor and did everything she could remember but as the woman who loved Cosima, she struggling to comprehend the image in front of her, the small brunette on the floor convulsing as she had at DYAD not too long ago. Delphine didn't notice the tears streaming down her cheeks or the strangled cry escaping her, her only focus was Cosima. Cosima stopped convulsing and Delphine pulled her into her arms.

"Don't leave me, Je t'aime." Delphine held her close as she whispered firmly in Cosima's ear.

Delphine watched on as her love's chest rise and fall with every shallow breath her body struggled to take. Every beep of the heart monitor echoing the beating of Delphine's own heart, Delphine sat by the bedside clasping the hand of the small woman that was unconscious on the bed. The longer it was that Cosima was unconscious, the more worried Delphine became. It had been 27 hours and 57 minutes since Cosima had fallen to the ground in convulsion, a grand mal seizure, Delphine had been told by the physicians that Mrs S had found. Delphine was reluctant to trust anyone but where Cosima's health was concerned, she knew that she could treat her herself so must rely on the help of others and trust that Mrs S found trustworthy people. Delphine hadn't left Cosima's side for more than 3 mins of that time, she watched Cosima as if her gaze was the thing that was keeping Cosima breathing. The blonde woman's eyes were getting heavy and the harder she tried to keep them open, the heavy her eyes became. Her eyes slide shut for just a moment or two.

*BEEEEEEEP*

The loud persistent beeping of the heart machine startled Delphine into consciousness, she jumped out of her chair as she screamed for someone to come help. This was it, the woman she loved, her heart had gone into cardiac arrest and she was going to lose her.

"COSIMA!" The french woman screamed at the unconscious woman as if this could save her from death.

Sorry this has taken so long, Work and Uni has knocked me around and left me with no time to write. I already have the idea for the epilogue so it shouldn't be too long for the last instalment of this story.