"What if they don't like me?"

Cosima shrugged and smoothed out Delphine's hair, back into place, giving her a smile and a small wink. "They will like you because they have to. Because I like you, because you helped us, because you saved my life. They will love you."

Delphine breathed in deeply, screwing her eyes shut. She felt Cosima lean in to gently kiss her on the lips, giving her the little spark of courage she needed to get out of the car and walk up the drive to Alison's house.

Cosima rang the doorbell and looped her arm through Delphine's waist, knowing that if her girlfriend could feel her presence there, she would feel calmer about the whole situation. She smiled at her, and that smile basically told her everything she needed to know right then. Delphine smiled back, and the door swung open.

"Oh, finally!" Sarah grumbled around a beer, stepping aside to let them through. "We've been waiting forever for you guys to get here-"

"Wipe your feet!" Alison's shrill cry came from the kitchen, and Delphine jumped slightly, scrubbing the soles of her feet against the carpet and shrugging off her jacket. Cosima had already barreled into Sarah, the two sharing a hug that seemed beyond just the friendly kind. It was sisterly, and Delphine knew that logically that would make sense, that they should feel the compulsion to act like a family to each other…

She shoved any thoughts of Biology out of her head and focused on Cosima's 'family' instead. No. Not a 'family'. A family. They certainly had the dynamic for it.

"So you're Delphine, eh?"

She looked at Sarah, and was suddenly shocked by the resemblance to her Cosima. They looked nothing alike, but there in the face was the same nose, the same pair of eyes, the same coy smile on the lips, the same angular jaw. She found herself staring just a little bit. Years of working with Doctor Leekie could never have prepared her for this. Meeting one clone was easy enough. Meeting them all in the same room was slightly more difficult.

"Yes, hello," she said shakily, breaking herself out of her thoughts and outstretching a hand to Sarah, who took it uncertainly and shook it once before letting go and asking them if they wanted a drink. Cosima looked over at Delphine and smiled, saying "Just a glass of red wine each."

As Sarah moved to the kitchen to tell Alison about the wine, Delphine felt another presence enter the room. She looked at the stairs leading to the first floor and noticed a little girl with light brown hair standing there, staring at her. Her eyes widened as she put the pieces together and turned to Cosima, raising her eyebrows.

"That's-"

"Kira!" Cosima grinned, putting her coat on the sofa and kneeling down. "Hey, come give your Auntie Cosima a hug!"

The little girl lunged forward, jumping over the steps two at a time and straight into Cosima's arms, laughing as she did. Cosima, in perfect form, swung the little girl up and stood with her in her arms. Kira had latched a hand onto one of her dreads, playing with it between her tiny fingers, and Delphine found herself staring. Again.

"Kira, this is Delphine," Cosima said, and Kira looked up at Delphine and reached a hand out, giving a small, melodic laugh.

"You have pretty hair!"

"Thank you, Kira," Delphine couldn't help but smile back. This child, this miracle child, this impossible child that shouldn't exist because it didn't make any biological sense, was the cutest thing she had ever fucking seen.

"Making friends, Monkey?" Sarah said as she came into the living room with two glasses of wine, giving them to Delphine and taking her daughter out of Cosima's arms to set her back down on the floor. "Weren't you playing with Gemma?"

"I wanted to see the new people, Mommy!"

"Hello, Cosima."

"Hey, Alison."

Delphine turned to look at another identical face, and her head swam just a little bit. Jesus Christ, so many identical faces. It was a miracle they all seemed to somehow look so different from each other anyways that she could still tell them apart!

"And you must be Delphine, pleasure."

"Yes, it's a pleasure," she stammered back, accepting Alison's outstretched hand.

"We appreciate everything you've done for us," Alison said curtly, waving her hand around dismissively. "It was very nice of you to find a…a cure for what was happening to us."

"It was my duty," Delphine shrugged. "Both as a scientist and as a friend."

"Just a friend?" Sarah grinned, nudging Cosima in the ribs, laughing as her genetic identical blushed and looked away, mumbling something about how obvious it was that yes, they weren't just friends, thank you.

"Well, whatever your relationship with each other, we're grateful."

"Yeah."

"Now, where's Mrs S with those two?" Alison wondered aloud, walking to the back door and looking outside, motioning to some people Delphine couldn't see. "Lunch is ready!"

Through the door walked a tall woman, who looked like she could easily take down a bear and live to tell the tale without a scratch, followed by a male who made a beeline for Sarah and another clone. This one looked much…much different from the others. Her hair, for starters. But it was also something in her eyes. Something appeared broken…

"Delphine, this is-"

"Helena, I assume?"

"Uh, yeah. Helena this is Delphine."

"Hello," she mumbled, giving her a small, child-like smile. Kira ran over to Helena, grabbing her hand, and she visibly relaxed.

"So, everyone ready for lunch?"

It was at that moment that Delphine felt out of place. Here were these people who already had established a perfect dynamic with each other – banter, dos and don'ts, inside jokes – and she…she was an outsider.

"Delphine, come on," Cosima called her out of her thoughts and pulled her to the stairs, leading her to the dining room. As they sat, Sarah introduced the two unidentified people as "Mrs S", her foster mother, and "Felix", her brother. She smiled and nodded at each of them, and found her seat sandwiched between Cosima and Alison. Her hands on her lap started to fidget a little bit, but Cosima reached out and clasped her own hand over both of them and instantly, she felt better. Electrified, also, by the touch. But better.

Alison was leading two children into the room, obviously her own if she remembered what Cosima had told her on the trip down. They sat down opposite their mother, and soon everyone was doing their own version of 'Grace', and shoveling food onto their plate from the center where Alison had left all the dishes.

Cosima squeezed her hand one last time before offering her a bowl of mashed potatoes, grinning cheesily.

"You OK?"

Delphine nodded and leaned forward, brushing her lips against Cosima's forehead. "Never better."