April is really far away. So, instead of making the healthy choice and distracting myself with real-life things, I'm writing fanfiction. This will definitely be getting a few more chapters in the very near future (or maybe the not-so-very-near-future, because occasionally real life does get in the way), but this is it for the moment. Just a fun little expansion on everyone's favorite Cophine scene in 1x08. Feedback both positive and negative is very much appreciated.

I own nothing involving Orphan Black. Obvs.

Data Collection

A few twigs. The butt of a cigarette. A soggy handbill.

Delphine stood tall, shoulders tense, fingers wrapped tightly around the straps of her purse. She was momentarily grateful for the gloves she wore, for had her hands been bare her nails would already have broken the skin of her palms.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Her heart beat erratically, abnormally. She could feel it in her ears.

Focus, she told herself.

The longer she stared, the more details she accumulated. She strained to fill her mind with the nuances of the building's doorstep, striving to push all other thoughts from her mind.

Scattered twigs. The butt of a cigarette crushed against the pavement. The crumpled handbill plastered to the moist concrete.

Dig deeper, faster. Cosima's safety is at stake.

Her posture stiffened, her grip tensed. She stared more intently.

Focus.

The scattered twigs. The crushed cigarette. The crumpled handbill.

The handbill.

Focus.

"Join the Literature Club for a Reading of George's Orwell's 1984!

Tuesday, December 14th, Room –"

Delphine's eyes pressed shut.

Merde.

She redirected her gaze to the doorway before her. She had been here before, but it had never seemed so tall. She stretched her spine, visualizing her vertebrae stacking neatly atop one another, trying to grow herself as tall as that doorway. It didn't help. She dropped her gaze to the ground again.

The twigs, the cigarette, the han—

She snapped her head up in frustration. She stared determinedly at the doorway. There was no use delaying any longer; the chill in the air was beginning to get to her, and her thoughts were not getting any quieter.

She stepped gingerly to the threshold, pulled the massive door open and stepped inside.

She shifted her purse to hang from her elbow, absently removed her gloves, and stuffed them into her left jacket pocket as she made her way down the corridor.

I need to know which ones she's in contact with.

Would Cosima tell her, if she asked her outright? It was a ridiculous thought, but she couldn't help but wonder. While Delphine did not know for certain, she had a feeling… she was sure Cosima knew far more than she let on. She could feel it when those brightly curious eyes regarded her with such intensity, could see it in the way she had stared so coldly at Leekie.

Cosima knew about the clones. She had to.

But did she know about Delphine? About Leekie? She behaved as though she was buying the act, and yet… something seemed off. Delphine could not shake the feeling that Cosima was playing her, as well.

And the kiss? How did that fit in?

Focus, she told herself again. Remain impartial.

She turned up the stairwell and ascended slowly, gripping the handrail in a half-hearted attempt to steady herself.

This was simple. She could do this. She only needed to find a way to obtain access to Cosima's apartment, to search it when she was away. If Cosima knew anything, there must be some clue in her apartment. She only needed a chance to find it.

Where are you with Cosima?

She remembered Cosima's lips on hers and felt suddenly warm and awkward and guilty. She tasted wine.

Closer.

Cosima hadn't called. Since that night, she hadn't called. Delphine knew that she should not be surprised. She was the one who needed to reach out; she was the one who had left without any explanation. A few times she'd attempted to draft a text, but nothing seemed appropriate.

Nothing seemed honest.

Why should she care if anything seemed honest? Her task was simple. Just data collection, really. It was simple.

Remain impartial.

She reached the top of the stairwell. She felt the blood flooding through her veins at an alarming rate, and while she understood the various biological processes that were causing this marked increase in speed, she could do nothing to slow it. She stopped herself a few feet from Cosima's door, making one last attempt to quiet her mind and slow her heart. This time, she gave up quickly. It would only get worse.

It's just data collection, she reminded herself. Simple.

She took a shallow inhale because it was all her body would allow her.

She knocked.

It took a moment, but Delphine soon heard the lock unlatch. She heard the door open, but found that she could not lift her eyes from the ground. She could feel Cosima's gaze on her, but still she did not look up. She stared instead at Cosima's bare feet, memorizing their detail.

"Hey… Delphine." She said, a hesitant smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Delphine could feel Cosima smiling – could hear it in her voice – and finally she looked up to meet her gaze.

"I… I hope I am not disturbing you," she managed awkwardly. She felt warm again.

Remain impartial.

"Oh, no! No, no, no. Impossible," Cosima assured her, turning and walking past her desk. Delphine scarcely had time to take a breath before she continued:

"So, apparently I've got this thing for like, um, jumping to conclusions."

Delphine was caught off guard. She hadn't been quite sure how to breach the subject of their last encounter or how to explain her abrupt and graceless exit, but here Cosima was wanting to discuss it straightaway. Suddenly all of the explanations Delphine had rehearsed in the last twenty-four hours were inaccessible to her.

"You know, it's just that I've… never…" she stumbled.

"I know, I know, I know," Cosima cut in, saving her from her struggle, "You're not… you're not gay. And I'm a total idiot. So sorry."

"Hm," Delphine agreed, nodding a bit too forcefully. She knew she should say something, but instead she began to remove her coat.

"Oh, let me," Cosima said, reaching out to her.

"Oh, yes," Delphine responded, shrugging her coat off awkwardly. She felt warm and uncomfortable again, and suddenly she was all too aware of her arms and hands. She settled them inelegantly on her hips.

"Do you, uh," Cosima began, taking her coat, " I just want to make, like, uh, crazy science with you."

Delphine laughed a bit too eagerly.

Cosima smiled widely, glad to have broken the tension a bit.

"Totally crazy science," she assured her, taking the coat and draping it over a chair.

"I am so glad to hear that," Delphine began hurriedly, moving to her purse. This encounter was going far more smoothly than she'd expected. They'd put the kiss behind them, and now she could go right back to plugging Leekie and DYAD.

It was simple.

"Because, you know what, I was, I was reading up on, on the DYAD institute," she continued, fishing a pamphlet out of her purse and opening it shakily.

Simple. This is simple. Focus.

Then why was she stuttering?

"And, did you know that Dr. Leekie," she continued, "he has built a dedicated department for transgenic organ transplants, and—"

"Sorry," Cosima, said, cutting her off, "I was just dorking out so hard to their, um, extrapolation of murine models."

"What?" Delphine exclaimed, genuinely surprised that Cosima had given the DYAD materials a chance at all, let alone… what had she said? "Dorked out" over them?

Cosima pulled an identical pamphlet from a stack of papers, bringing it around to the desk and laying it out next to Delphine's.

"Yeah, look," she smiled, gesturing.

"Oh, wow," Delphine breathed. For a moment she forgot herself.

"You know, it's really, really good to finally meet someone who gets it."

"Mmm," Cosima nodded, continuing to stare down at the desk.

"Who gets… who gets me," Delphine confessed, staring straight ahead. She was surprised by her own sincerity. What was she doing?

Focus. DYAD. The clones. Focus.

Now Cosima turned to look at Delphine, giving her a small smile. Delphine returned it, awkwardly.

"Yeah, ditto. Obvs."

Delphine felt her teeth pressing into her lower lip. Talk about DYAD, she told herself. Tell her about the progress we've—ah, they've made with stem cells. The murine models, talk about the muri—

"I can't stop thinking about that kiss," she heard herself say instead.

"Uh, like in a… not bad way?" Cosima stammered.

"Oh like, I have never thought about bisexuality. I mean, for myself, you know? But, as a scientist I know that sexuality is a, is a, is a spectrum," she stumbled, finally landing on the right word. She felt warm and anxious. "But, you know, social biases, they, they codify attraction, contrary to the biological facts. You know," she tacked on lamely, smiling uneasily. She dropped her gaze to the floor, uncomfortable.

"That's… oddly romantic," Cosima smiled.

Delphine laughed: short and nervous. Now she held Cosima's gaze, and Cosima's face went from smiling to strangely serious. She watched her swallow. She watched her part her lips. She was acutely aware of Cosima's lips. Cosima stared openly into her eyes.

"And totally encouraging."

Delphine hesitated. She reached her hand out and stroked Cosima's cheek. It didn't feel wrong. She cupped her face, brushed her fingers over her lips. Cosima's eyes fluttered, but did not close. They stared right back at Delphine's, dark and wanting.

It was all she needed.

Delphine pulled Cosima into her, pressing their lips together.

Merde.

Okay, it was not too late. She could still rein herself in. Aldous had instructed her to gain Cosima's trust, after all. Sure, this wasn't the avenue she'd planned to take, but perhaps… perhaps she could make it work. Perhaps she could give in to this strange thing she was feeling. After all, the only rule was to get the information; Aldous had said nothing about method.

She felt Cosima's breath hitch against her lips and felt that warmth turn into a fire.

It was okay. She could do this. This was just curiosity; scientific curiosity, and a means to an end.

Remain objective.

Delphine did her best to remain objective as she let her hands wander from the back of Cosima's neck down to her collarbone and around to her lower back. She did her best to remain objective as she awkwardly pulled Cosima's cardigan off of her shoulders and let her hands slide down to her ass. She continued her effort to maintain objectivity as she pushed Cosima into the desk behind them, as Cosima's hips arched up into hers, as Cosima's tongue pushed into her mouth, as Cosima's hand grazed her breast.

Her knees trembled. She steadied herself against the desk.

Merde.

This had to be a thousand kinds of unethical. Sleeping with her boss was one thing, but at least Aldous was just a scientist. Cosima was the science. She was the experiment they had created, and here she was kissing the experiment, stroking the experiment, moaning into the experiment. And the experiment was doing all of these things right back to her. Her head was spinning.

Focus.

It was becoming more and more of a struggle to remember anything that wasn't Cosima's hands ghosting down her back, Cosima's lips hot on her neck, Cosima's breasts pressing up against her own.

Dig deeper, faster. Cosima's safety is at stake. I need to know which ones she in contact with.

Delphine hardly understood how or when it had happened, but somehow her sweater was now crumpled on the floor and Cosima's fingers were roaming the bare flesh of her back and abdomen. She struggled to rein her thoughts in.

I need to know –

Cosima's thigh pressed up between Delphine's legs.

Merde.

She hadn't anticipated it being this difficult to remain in control, and she had to remain in control. She was here for a reason, and this – whatever was happening now – this was not it.

It was simple.

Cosima's hand traveled down Delphine's abdomen, hesitating at the hem of her skirt. She broke the kiss and looked up at Delphine, searching for some sort of confirmation or permission. But Delphine only buried her head into Cosima's neck, kissing down her collarbone and arching her hips up into Cosima's.

It was supposed to be simple.

Cosima moved her hips back a bit to create space, guiding Delphine's lips back to her own and kissing her deeply. Tentatively she undid Delphine's belt, unzipping her skirt and pushing it a bit down her thighs, just enough to expose the top of her underwear. She slipped her hand beneath the skirt and between Delphine's legs. She heard Delphine's sudden, sharp intake of breath; she felt her grip tense and her body stiffen. She stroked her softly through the fabric of her underwear for a moment before sliding her hand back up.

Delphine's body relaxed. Her breath was still uneven.

Slowly, Cosima drifted her hand back to Delphine's lower abdomen, and this time she didn't falter. She lingered for only a moment before dipping her fingers beneath the fabric of Delphine's underwear. Delphine gasped. Cosima gasped. Delphine's hips arched.

"Oh my god," Cosima breathed, "You're so wet."

Cosima hadn't been expecting it. Hell, Delphine hadn't been expecting it.

It was supposed to be simple.

Delphine felt frozen and on fire all at once. Until now she'd been able to fool herself into thinking she was still in control of this game. She'd ignored the shivers, ignored the warmth, ignored how easily Cosima could make her smile. It was just scientific curiosity. The science made her giddy. The science made her hot.

But Cosima was the science.

And Delphine was curious.

Focus, she told herself yet again, but by now it had become an empty mantra.

She felt Cosima's fingers moving against her, and suddenly all thoughts of science and cloning and consequences were gone.

Fuck it.

She didn't want to think anymore. She didn't care that Cosima was a clone, or that she was a woman, or that she was meant to be spying on her, or that this was probably one of the dumbest things she could be doing right now.

She only wanted Cosima.