Summary: What Delphine sees before she almost dies in Season 3/4
The summary alone is a spoiler, so there ya go. I copied this from it’s original home at AO3, where it still lives at <https://archiveofourown.org/works/11878743>
Sunlight danced in the air overhead when Delphine opened her eyes. She was home, in their bed, in their bedroom, warm and soft and heavy with sleep.
“So, are you, like, gonna stay in bed all day, or what?”
Cosima was beside her, propped up on one elbow and gloriously naked. She didn’t even have her glasses on. Her eyes sparkled golden, the way they did when she was particularly amused by something or pleased with herself. Her skin glowed in the sunlight, begging to be kissed and caressed. She was as beautiful as Delphine had ever seen her, but Delphine could only lay there and look at her.
“Hm?” Cosima cocked her head and a dreadlock fell onto the pillow. “Sleepyhead.” She pulled a joint from behind her ear and moistened the tip with her mouth. “You’ve got too much to do to just sleep, babe. You know that. Come on, get up.”
But Delphine’s arms didn’t work. She felt her body tucked into the covers on the bed, comfortable and so, so weak. She just needed to sleep, to rest, to stay here for a little bit longer….
* * *
Cosima straddled her in the bed, hands flat on either side of Delphine’s head. Her hair was pulled back and her breasts dangled a tantalizing centimeter above Delphine’s chest. And she was grinning. She had that full-face grin Delphine loved so much, the one that said
Let’s get out of here as it stole two bottles of wine from a Dyad function.
It said
Helium is way funnier than polonium!
It said
Enchantée.
You’re the puppy.
It said
I’m so happy you’re back!
And she wasn’t coughing. She was strong and healthy and starting to giggle down at Delphine. “You’re so cute when you’re sleepy,” she said.
Delphine wanted to reach up to her. Stay, she begged. Just stay with me, don’t go, don’t leave. “Nnggggg….” was all she managed to say, and Cosima laughed.
* * *
She was in the Felix’s loft, in his bed, and Cosima sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand. “You gotta get up, babe. I’m serious. You’ve got way too much to do.”
Delphine’s head fell to the side, facing Cosima. She wanted to speak, to tell her that she knew all that. She knew she had things to do, but her mouth wouldn’t move. Every muscle pulled her down into the bed. Her core muscles trembled with the effort just to keep breathing, to keep from disappearing into the scarlet bedsheets and vanishing forever. Vanishing sounded so wonderful, though… maybe she would. But Cosima was holding her hand and tugging, like the leash on a stubborn puppy.
You’re the puppy.
I’m your puppy, she thought.
* * *
Cosima was pacing next to their bed, back in their apartment. Well, Delphine’s apartment, but she’d thought of it as theirs once Cosima spent a few nights there, and started leaving clothes and toiletries around. She was still naked, except for her glasses, and Delphine watched the curves of her ass shift with each step she took away, then the dips and peaks of her hips and pelvic bones when she came back. You’re beautiful, she thought.
“You’re running out of time,” Cosima said. “We’re running out of time. Can’t you just get up? For me?”
And she tried. So help her, God, she tried to get up, but her body stayed put, not one fiber twitching in response to her brain’s request. I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. Just let me rest some more, please…
Cosima wore her rings now, and she spun them around her fingers while she paced. Now and then she adjusted her glasses or ran a hand over her hair. She stopped pacing a few times, to look down at Delphine in the bed, to purse her lips in worry or in frustration. Lie here with me, Delphine thought to her. Terror started creeping in then, as the words refused to come out, as her lips refused to budge, her fingers refused to stretch out to touch Cosima, standing less than a foot away.
“I came back for you,” Cosima said, and her voice broke. “I love you.”
* * *
Crisp reality woke her, and she gasped.
“Ah ha, she’s awake.” A rough masculine cough followed the words. “He will be pleased.”
She pried her eyes opened and saw a circular ceiling with wooden beams slanting from the center. A man leaned over her, close enough that she smelled his breath when he opened his mouth. He smelled like fish. Behind him, an IV pole winked in and out of view as he moved. “Do you know where you are?” he asked. He spoke with an accent that wasn’t North American, but that was as far as her brain went with it.
“Nnnnn…” She flexed her fingers and moved her head from side to side. Then she took a deep breath and the pain hit her so hard she screamed.
“Shhhh….” Someone else came into view, to play with the IV bag, and she drifted off again.
Ce Ucumatli 