A/N: So this "epilogue" had a mind of its own and really wanted to be a final chapter instead. Again, a hearty thank you to everyone who has been following along. Hope you enjoy it!

Far Away From Here

Cosima trembled with lingering pleasure as Delphine slowly slid up her body, savoring the friction of skin against skin. Hips snug between Cosima's thighs, Delphine settled on top of her, burying her hands under the pillow beneath Cosima's head.

A girl could get used to this, Cosima thought, wrapping her arms tightly around Delphine's shoulders. She wished the night could last forever. It had been nearly one week since they first made love, and every night since then Cosima had found herself deliciously entangled with Delphine. The room was dark save for the last flickering remnants of dim candle light.

"Tell me again why we didn't start doing this sooner," Cosima half groaned.

"Because," Delphine said, trailing her tongue along the side of Cosima's neck, "you didn't make a move sooner."

"Um, excuse you, Dr. Cormier." Cosima shivered despite her attempt at indignation. "I don't recall you getting your game on any faster."

"I believe I gave you an ample amount of hints." Delphine raised her head slightly to playfully smile down at Cosima. "Perhaps you are not nearly as clever as I thought."

"Is that right?"

"Mmhmm." Delphine brought their lips together in a slow and gentle kiss that tasted like spearmint and cigarettes and sweet tenderness. It left Cosima dizzy long after they broke apart.

"I might be willing to admit that I probably should have gone ahead and ravished you that first night in Kinshasa."

"I probably would have let you."

"Yeah?" Cosima grinned lazily.

Delphine nodded, the tip of her tongue darting out to lick her lips. "I feel like I just saw you standing outside that hotel." She pulled one of her hands free and brushed her knuckles across Cosima's cheek, eyes turning serious. "I still can't believe you're leaving tomorrow."

"Me either."

A wave of sadness swelled inside Cosima, an increasingly frequent occurrence ever since she received her marching orders from Rachel. In a few hours, the sun would be rising and Cosima would be on a plane back to Kinshasa, where she would board a private DYAD jet that would take her home to Toronto...and away from Delphine. Cosima took a deep breath and managed to keep the emotion from cresting.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it," she said.

Delphine sighed, shifting downward to rest her head on Cosima's chest. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Can't be helped, really."

Cosima combed her fingers through Delphine's hair, and tried not to dwell on the goodbyes she had shared earlier that day with Valerie and Ava and everyone else at the clinic. Instead, she focused on the steady staccato rhythm of Delphine's heart beating against her, the silky smooth strands between her fingers, the warm, comforting weight pressing her into the worn mattress. But then she thought of the forlorn faces of the children, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to hold back her tears.

"Are you okay?" Delphine turned her face up and Cosima felt the heat of her breath ghosting against her throat.

"Of course," she answered, but the thickness in her voice belied her claim.

Delphine laid a soft kiss on her breastbone and nestled closer. "So what's the first thing you'll do when you get back?"

Find some weed and get so baked that I don't go batshit crazy missing you. "Nothing that exciting, I'm sure."

"Tell me. Please?"

"All right." Cosima nuzzled the top of Delphine's head, breathing in the familiar scent of lilac. "After I get settled, I'm sure my boss will want to debrief me and then strong arm me into getting a physical." Cosima grimaced, already dreading the onslaught of Rachel's unrelenting scrutiny and micromanagement. "Then I'll probably check on my lab, catch up with some friends. Boring, right?"

"Not at all." A beat. "Why would your boss want you to take a physical?"

"Oh, you know, to make sure I'm still healthy as a horse after this trip."

"DYAD must really care about its employees."

Cosima hummed noncommittally. She probably should have changed the subject. But for some reason, she couldn't. "Or they just want to make sure that the experimental gene therapy they spent god knows how much money on for… for people like me… is still effective."

Delphine propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at Cosima, worry and confusion etched across her beautiful face.

"Gene therapy?"

"I don't know if you remember this," Cosima said, toying with the ends of a golden curl, "but, when we were in Kinshasa, I might have offhandedly mentioned, um, coughing up my lungs at one point."

"I thought you were high and joking."

"Totally high, yes, but totally not joking, about that at least."

Delphine shook her head, her mouth moving without sound for several moments. "Are… are you better?" She caressed Cosima's face with the tips of her fingers.

"I am now," she said, leaning into the touch and kissing Delphine's palm. Cosima could tell the Delphine had hundreds of questions racing through her head, but was just too polite to pry. "It was an unclassified autoimmune disorder... unique to my, uh, family. Gotta admit it was a little touch and go there." And the massive understatement of the year award goes to…. "But, I've got a clean bill of health, thanks to the therapy. DYAD wouldn't have let me come here otherwise."

Delphine's eyes darted over Cosima's face, obviously wanting to know more, both out of concern and medical curiosity. But after a few moments, she let out a long breath and smiled.

"I'm glad," she said.

"Sorry for not mentioning it sooner."

"Technically, you did mention it already."

"That's true," Cosima laughed.

She wondered if Delphine remembered the other bombshell she had inadvertently dropped that night—the one about the cloning trial. If Delphine did, she didn't say anything and Cosima didn't remind her. She didn't like hiding things from Delphine, but she just couldn't bring herself to discuss her genetic identicals, at least not that moment.

"Thank you for sharing that with me," Delphine said.

Cosima braced Delphine against her and rolled them over so that she was now straddling the doctor's hips. Leaning forward so that her face was hovering over Delphine's, Cosima looked deeply into hazel eyes.

"There's so much I want to tell you," she whispered. "I wish we had more time."

They hadn't discussed staying in touch after Cosima left. She knew Delphine had only a few weeks remaining in her MSF assignment. But what the doctor had planned after she left the country, Cosima didn't know. And honestly, she was too afraid to ask. What if she didn't like the answer? What if this wasn't anything more than a one-time fling for Delphine?

Deep down, Cosima knew that couldn't be the case. They shared a connection. Instinctive. Visceral. She was sure Delphine felt it too, but her uncertainty remained nevertheless.

"I've heard," Delphine started, tracing patterns up Cosima's thighs and hips, skimming the sides of her stomach and breasts before splaying her long fingers across the scientist's waist, "that Bridgepoint Health is always in need of physicians."

"Bridgepoint? Like in Toronto?"

"Yes. If I can set up some interviews," Delphine grazed her teeth alone the edge of her bottom lip, "maybe you could tell me more when I'm in town."

Cosima froze, not quite sure she had heard right and not quite willing to get her hopes up.

"Or not," Delphine backtracked hurriedly when Cosima didn't immediately respond.

"No no no," Cosima rushed out, heart pounding in her chest. "I would love that. If you're, if you're serious?"

"Yes." Delphine bobbed her head up and down once.

A huge grin broke out on Cosima's face. She cupped Delphine's jaw and captured her lips eagerly. The kiss turned passionate quickly and when Delphine gripped her hips and rocked up against her core, Cosima gasped in pleasure and any notions of further discussion flew out of her head.

…

About a month later, Cosima still replayed her last night in Africa over and over again in her mind's eye. Even after all that time, she remembered everything: the slick heat of Delphine's body intimately entwined with her own, the salt of her skin, their strangled cries of ecstasy, the sweet nothings Delphine murmured in French against her ear. She recalled how, the very next morning, Delphine had smiled through her tears and kissed her goodbye so sweetly that it had left a permanent ache in the center of Cosima's heart.

Sometimes memories of Delphine would sneak up on Cosima, often at the most inappropriate times, like during status briefings with Rachel. The DYAD executive picked up on Cosima's distraction quite readily, but usually responded with nothing more than a raised eyebrow.

Although she had been able to speak to Delphine briefly on the phone here and there, it was always difficult to hear her amidst the crackles, pops, and hisses of the long-distance static. And their conversations weren't nearly enough to satisfy Cosima's craving for Delphine. She had no idea it was possible to miss someone so much that she physically felt incomplete, a part of her missing. Some of her friends were sympathetic—most notably Scott, who was going through his own separation pangs with Valerie. Others (namely Sarah and Felix and Tony) seemed to revel in teasing her incessantly about it.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?" Sarah said one night at Felix's loft, lounging on her brother's teal couch with Cosima, legs outstretched onto the coffee table.

"No," Cosima lied, taking a sip from her glass of pinot noir.

"You totally are." Tony poked his head out from behind one of Felix's unfinished paintings, a smirk on his handsome face. "You've got the look."

"What look?"

"That look." Sarah reached over and nudged Cosima's jaw with her finger. "That starry-eyed, I-can't-stop-thinking-about-shagging-my-girlfriend look." Sarah shook her head.

"She's not my girlfriend."

Sarah wordlessly responded with a thoroughly unconvinced "stop shitting me" expression.

"I mean, we haven't talked about it," Cosima admitted. She and Delphine were, obviously, more than friends. But were they in a relationship? Cosima just wasn't sure. "I just don't know why we have to label it."

"A rose by any other name, Cosima," Felix chimed in from the kitchen where he was pouring bourbons for himself and Sarah. "So, is your not-girlfriend still in Africa?"

"No, she's flying back to Pointe-Claire." She glanced at her wristwatch. 9:45 p.m. "Her flight should be landing soon." She refrained from mentioning that she had tracked Delphine's plane online all day.

"And then?" Tony plopped down on a chair and crossed his legs, guzzling a beer.

"Then she spends time with her mom and her friends."

"And what about you?" Sarah asked.

Cosima's brow furrowed. "What about me?"

"Why in the hell are you here and not there?"

"Sarah, she hasn't seen her mom in almost a year." Cosima raised her hands in exasperation "I'm not about to intrude on her family time."

"Okay then, so you give her a bit." Sarah stood and walked to the kitchen, taking one of the drinks from Felix. "Then will you see her? Because I don't know how much more of your pathetic moping we can take."

Felix and Tony both chuckled, and Cosima sighed.

"She was thinking of maybe coming to Toronto next month," she offered hesitantly, knowing full well she'd probably regret sharing that bit of information.

"Now we're talking!" Tony clapped his hands together in excitement. "I have got to meet this chick."

"Nuh uh." Cosima waved her hands in a crossing motion. "If she ever comes here, you guys are going to make yourselves scarce."

"Why? Worried she's gonna dig me more than you?" Tony winked at her, lips quirking up into a devilish smile. "I am definitely hotter."

"You're kidding, right?" Cosima canted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "In case you've forgotten, we're clones."

"So?"

"You don't see a problem with that?"

Sarah returned to the couch and shrugged. "Cal knows. Donnie knows. Art knows. Siobhan knows. Kira knows. Hell, everyone knows. Why not Delphine? You can break the first rule of clone club, Cos."

Cosima lifted her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, unlike the rest of you, I've signed confidentiality agreements."

"And what?" Felix asked, taking a seat opposite Tony. "Rachel gonna sue you?" He straightened his spine, adopting a stiff posture. "You see, your honor, one of our illegally cloned subjects breached her contract by disclosing that she is, in fact, an illegally cloned subject." Slumping back into his chair, Felix rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "Come on, Cosima!"

"What are you really afraid of?" Sarah asked. "That she'll take one look at this shite storm and bolt in the other direction?"

"I don't know, maybe," Cosima quietly admitted, shaking her head. "Things are good right now. Marion's keeping Topside out of our hair. The Proletheans are out of the picture. We've reached a detente with Project Castor." She swirled her wine glass and watched the blood red liquid slosh against its sides. "But what if all that changes? She's been through so much already. I don't want her to get hurt."

The others remained silent for a few moments before Sarah spoke up again. "Cos, for all you know, she could get hurt crossing the street tomorrow." She patted Cosima's knee reassuringly. "Listen, if you want a life with this girl, you can't hide things from her. Believe me, I know."

"And it's her life too," Tony added. "Don't you think she has a right to know? A right to choose?"

Their arguments were nothing Cosima's hadn't already considered. Of course, they made sense. If anyone would value the importance of free will and agency, it would be them. She knew all of that. And yet, objectively speaking, Cosima had known Delphine for only one month. Was that really sufficient time to divulge everything?

Just then, her phone buzzed, the vibrations bouncing it toward the coffee table's edge. They all glanced at the caller ID, and Cosima's heart leaped into her throat.

"Speak of the sexy devil," Tony grinned.

Jumping off the couch, she snatched up the phone and accepted the call with a quick swipe of her thumb.

"Hey you," she answered with a smile. She walked toward the kitchen and bathroom for a bit of privacy, knowing that the others would be hanging on her every word.

"Hey," Delphine breathed. "Bonsoir Cosima."

Cosima closed her eyes at the sound of Delphine's smooth cadence against her ear, nearly crystal clear in clarity now that they were on the same continent again.

"You just land?"

"Yes, a few minutes ago. I'm… I'm sorry for calling so late. I hope I'm not disturbing you?"

"No! Not at all. Night owl, remember? It's totally early."

"Good, I'm glad."

Cosima could practically hear the relieved smile in Delphine's voice and couldn't stop her own smitten grin from forming.

"So how's it feel to be back home?"

"It's always so strange, you know? I mean, it's amazing how we take even the smallest comforts for granted here. "

"Yeah I know what you mean." Cosima ran a hand along the strings of beads hanging in the archway to Felix's bathroom, the disruption causing them to click and clack as they swayed through the air. "So, your mom's picking you up, right?"

"Yes, I should be seeing her shortly. Um, I don't want to keep you. I just…" Delphine paused. Cosima imagined her licking her lips.

"I had to hear your voice," Delphine finished softly.

Cosima nearly melted on the spot. "I'm really happy you called. I've missed you too." So much.

She made the mistake of turning back toward the living room, where Sarah was making gagging motions, Felix was smooching the air, and Tony was… well, Tony was in the middle of a fairly obscene gesture involving his tongue and two fingers.

Cosima gave them all the bird and whirled back around just as Delphine said, "I should probably go. Will you have time to maybe Skype tomorrow?"

"I have all the time in the world for you."

Playfully disgusted groans rang out behind her and a throw pillow suddenly bounced off the back of her head. Cosima ignored it all.

"Okay then," Delphine said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bonne nuit."

"Yeah, okay, sweet dreams." Cosima waited for Delphine to disconnect and then braced herself for the ribbing that was to come from her family of eavesdroppers.

As Cosima made her way back to the couch, Sarah and Tony had identical shit-eating grins on their identical faces.

"Not your girlfriend, huh?" Tony smirked.

"Christ, I knew you had it bad, Cos," Sarah added, "but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Don't mind them, Cosima," Felix said. "Love sick puppy works surprisingly well on you."

"Whatever." Cosima waved them off, but blushed nonetheless—because it was all true. And for the rest of the night, her thoughts remained on Delphine and how exactly she would go about telling her everything.

As the Toronto skyline came into view outside her plane's window, Delphine leaned back in her seat and took a sip of water. Even from such a high altitude, she could make out the needle-like CN Tower and the block-like buildings surrounding it. Somewhere down there, Cosima was going about her day, completely unaware that Delphine would be surprising her in just a few hours.

Her stomach twisted in anxiety as she imagined Cosima's reaction. Would she be happy to see her or upset, perhaps, that she was dropping in unannounced? Delphine had intended to visit Cosima once she had secured job interviews in Toronto, but had moved up her plans at her mom's insistence.

To Delphine's surprise and mild annoyance, her mother had found out about Cosima through a loose-lipped Ava, who had returned home to Montreal a week before Delphine. Chloe Beraud had taken the news of Delphine's relationship in stride. Though, in hindsight, it shouldn't have been at all surprising. Unlike her more practical-minded daughter and despite her failed marriage to Delphine's father, Chloe still fervently believed in fanciful notions of love and romance and "the one."

And so Chloe had peppered Delphine with dozens of questions about Cosima, from the usual (Where is she from? Where does she live? What does she do?) to the exasperating (So what's it like, being with a woman? When will I get to meet her?). After about a week's worth of interrogation, Chloe point blank had asked in French:

"Do you love her?"

Delphine had nearly spit out a mouthful of merlot over her dinner salad. "What?"

"It's a simple question, Delphi. Do you love her?"

"I…" Delphine had briefly considered saying she didn't know. But it would have been an outright lie. During their month-long separation, Delphine had thought about Cosima every day and dreamt about her nearly every night. What she felt for Cosima… it just wasn't possible for it to be anything but love.

"I do," she had finally answered.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Chloe had smiled, pleased with her answer. "Go to her."

"Maman, I'm here to spend time with you."

"There's plenty of time for that," her mom had waved her off. "Delphine, life's too short to not give into your feelings every once in a while."

"Like you did with papa?" The words had come out before Delphine could stop them. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

"If I hadn't given into your father, you wouldn't be here, would you?" Chloe had said. "Good can come out of everything, Delphi, even things that end. So. Go, tell your Cosima how you feel, and bring her back here. Then we can all spend time together."

And less than 48 hours later, Delphine was landing in Toronto. As she deboarded the plane, she sent off a quick text to Cosima: Are we still on for Skype tonight?

She received a response within a few seconds: Same bat-time, same bat-channel. ;)

Delphine smiled affectionately, even though she didn't quite get the reference. It was enough knowing that Cosima would be home when she knocked on her apartment door. With her attention on the phone, however, Delphine failed to notice the distracted woman in the terminal yelling at her family and barreling toward her until it was too late.

They crashed into each other. Although Delphine managed to stay on her feet, the smaller woman was not so lucky and ended up sprawled on the floor.

"I am so sorry!" Delphine exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

She reached down to help the woman and froze when the face that looked up at her was the one she had been aching for weeks to see.

"Cosima?"

The woman scrunched her eyebrows beneath fluffy bangs, regarding Delphine with irritation and absolutely no recognition whatsoever. She ignored the doctor's outstretched hand and stood up on her own, her proper posture stiff and straight.

"I'm sorry," she said primly, her brown eyes sizing up Delphine from head to toes. "You must have me mistaken for someone else."

Delphine could only shake her head, mouth agape. With the exception of her hair, which was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and the lack of glasses, the woman was the spitting image of Cosima. It was uncanny.

"Alison! Are you okay?" A mildly rotund man, with two children in tow, hustled up to them.

"I'm fine, Donnie," Alison said, addressing him with a snap of her head, her ponytail whipping along with her. "I wasn't watching where I was going. Let that be a lesson for you, Gemma, Oscar." She turned back to Delphine. "I apologize."

"That's… that's all right," Delphine said. "I should have been paying attention as well."

"We really should get going, honey," Donnie said, touching Alison's elbow.

"Right, of course." Alison nodded.

As the family began to continue to their destination, Delphine's curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't stop herself from calling out, "Wait!"

They all stopped and turned to face her, with Alison raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. I know you have a flight to catch. But, are you somehow related to Cosima Niehaus?"

Alison eyes widened and she inhaled sharply, while Donnie and her kids glanced at her uncertainly.

"No," Alison replied quickly; perhaps too quickly. "I don't know who that is. If you'll excuse us."

And with that, Cosima's doppelganger shooed her family onward, leaving Delphine to wonder if it was possible that she just missed Cosima so much that her mind was starting to play tricks on her. Things only got worse from there.

On the cab ride from the airport to her hotel, Delphine's driver took them past DYAD's sleek headquarters, its mirror-like windows reflecting the orange glow of the setting sun. While stopped at a neverending traffic light, Delphine noticed a man in a dark blue suit standing next to a black stretch town car—a man she recognized as Paul Dierden, or who she hoped was Paul given the way her day already was going.

Paul opened the car door for a woman emerging from DYAD's main entrance, and Delphine had to do a double-take. For a second time in less than a few hours, Delphine again stared at a woman who eerily resembled Cosima. This time, however, the lookalike had a perfectly composed blonde bob cut as chic as her navy blue skirt suit and four-inch Louboutins. Delphine shook her head and rubbed her eyes, convinced she was losing it. By the time she looked back, Paul, the woman and the town car had driven off.

After Delphine managed to convince herself that she wasn't completely losing it, she dropped her bags off at her hotel and freshened up. It was nearly 7 o'clock by the time she finally headed to Cosima's apartment building. Arriving about 30 minutes before their scheduled Skype call, she sent another text to the scientist.

Are you almost home?

Sure am. What's up?

Good. I might have a surprise waiting for you.

Ooh, Dr. Cormier. You shouldn't have. ;) I'll be there soon. Can't wait.

Delphine thought about waiting for Cosima on the steps of her building, but changed her mind when a departing resident held the front door open long enough for her to slip inside. After double checking the address on her phone, she rode the elevator up to the third floor and made her way to the Cosima's home.

Rounding a corner, Delphine found someone else standing at her destination's doorstep—Cosima herself.

Later, in hindsight, Delphine would mentally kick herself for not questioning the sight before her: from Cosima's all black attire and haphazardly pulled back hair, to the fact that it would have been improbable for Cosima to have made it to her door before Delphine.

At the time, none of that mattered.

"Cosima!" she greeted excitedly.

Cosima turned around in shock. "Uh… hey…?"

Delphine blindly rushed forward and cupped Cosima's jaw line, drawing their lips together. Somewhere in the distant background, she thought she heard the ding of the elevator. Cosima didn't immediately return the kiss, but before Delphine could pull back, the voice she loved rang out in the hallway.

"Delphine?"

She broke the kiss instantly and stared into bewildered brown eyes before turning her head to see yet another Cosima—this one with familiar glasses and dreadlocks in place—standing a few feet away, mouth hanging open and clearly flummoxed. Meanwhile, the other Cosima wriggled out of Delphine's grasp with a displeased grunt.

"Cosima?" Delphine asked, completely discombobulated and unsure of what to do. Her gaze shifted from one woman to the other and back again. Where one was dark and scowling, the other looked bright and apologetic.

And if things weren't already confusing enough, a man soon appeared next to the Cosima standing at the end of the hall. Even with the soul patch on his chin and the baggy jeans and t-shirt, he too looked just like Cosima.

"Damn." His voice was deep and smooth. "I knew I should have gotten here sooner." He grinned roguishly at Delphine, making no effort to hide the fact that he was slowly undressing her with his eyes, which earned him an elbow in the chest from the Cosima at his side.

She stepped forward, an apologetic smile on her face.

"Delphine, don't like freak out."

"Too late," the woman Delphine had just kissed muttered in a British accent.

"I can explain."

But Delphine barely heard her over the memories rushing back into her mind: You were going to tell me about your dissertation. Oh right. Epigenetic influence on clone cells…Like, what if there were a dozen versions of me out there...Taraxacum offspring are genetically identical and Cosima's a…DYAD's just a little overprotective of its, uh, assets…I'm actually part of an illegal human cloning trial…

"You're clones," Delphine blurted out.

And three pairs of identical eyebrows shot up.

...

After being introduced to Sarah and Tony, Delphine quietly sat on Cosima's leather couch, head spinning, as the scientist gave a CliffsNotes summary about military-funded cloning experiments; monitored subjects; patented genes; faulty synthetic sequences that led to reproductive and autoimmune disorders; religious extremists; and trained assassins—to name just a few topics. It all seemed like something out of a science-fiction show.

During her explanation, Cosima paced back and forth in front of a poster of Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, wearing tracks into her Persian rug. The various bangles on her wrists clinked and clanked as her hands alternated from wringing together and zipping to and fro. Her nervous energy eventually prompted Sarah, who was leaning against the side of a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, to burst out: "Bloody hell, Cos, will you calm down already? You're making me dizzy."

Otherwise, Sarah remained mostly silent, as did Tony, who made himself at home at Cosima's desk and drummed his fingers on her double-helix adorned laptop. At some point, Tony had turned on Cosima's lava lamp, which cast a bright green glow across the scraps of paper, books, pens, and other assorted knickknacks strewn across the desktop.

When Cosima finished, all eyes turned expectantly to Delphine for her reaction.

"You still with us, gorgeous?" Tony asked.

Delphine smiled at him, touched by his concern. "Yes, it's um…just a lot to take in. And I'm not even the one who was cloned." She laughed, a bit cautiously, the initial shock slowly but surely dissipating from her system. "I can't even imagine what it's like for all of you." She made eye contact with Cosima, pleased to see that some of the tension in her small frame seemed to be gradually lessening.

"It was like a punch in the head, lemme tell ya," Tony said. "Knocks you flat on your ass."

Delphine remembered the woman at the airport. "I think… I think I might have bumped into one of your, um, sisters today at the airport."

"You did?" Cosima asked, her curiosity piqued.

"She had bangs," Delphine ran a finger across her forehead, just above her eyebrows, "and she was with her husband and children. I think her name was Alison."

Tony laughed out loud. "Oh man, I would have killed to see that. She was probably crapping her Lululemons."

"So you know her?"

"Oh yeah," Sarah answered. "A bloody soccer mum, but we love her anyway. I'm surprised she didn't call us with a red alert about it."

"Give her time," Cosima replied with a sigh.

"And on the way here," Delphine continued, "I passed by DYAD and thought I saw Paul with, well, another one of you, but she had short, blonde hair."

"That'd be Rachel," Cosima winced. "She's kind of my boss, actually. That's another long story."

Delphine nodded, now knowing the identity of the person with whom Cosima had been teleconferencing in DRC.

"I'd steer clear of that one, if I were you," Sarah warned before shaking her head. "If you ever meet Helena, you'll be all caught up with our little clone club."

"Seeing us all in one day," Tony whistled. "What are the odds, huh beautiful?"

"Astronomical," Cosima and Delphine said simultaneously, gazes locking, and they shared a laugh.

Sarah cleared her throat, not getting the humor. "Um, right then. So, Cos, if you have the stuff we came to pick up, Tony and I'll be on our merry way so you two lovebirds can have some time to yourselves."

Delphine blushed, but neither she nor Cosima insisted that Sarah and Tony stay longer.

"Speak for yourself, Manning," Tony said. "I for one wouldn't mind sticking around for the show." He waggled his eyebrows at Delphine and Sarah smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Thank you for that, Sarah," Cosima said as she disappeared briefly into her bedroom and returned with a bulging tote bag. "Here you go. Some more of my favorite books for Kira."

"All age appropriate this time?" Sarah asked. "I don't want a repeat of that Dr. Moreau fiasco."

"Of course," Cosima offered a little too readily. "I've also packed some, uh, medicinal herbs for you guys."

"Nice," Sarah grinned. "Thanks Cos."

The three clones moved toward the door and Delphine stood to join them.

"It was nice meeting you," Delphine said to Sarah. "And sorry about the… you know."

"Don't mention it," Sarah said, waving her off. "And that goes for you too." She looked pointedly at Tony.

"My lips are sealed," he said, stepping closer to Delphine and took her hand. "If you ever get tired of dreadlocks there," Tony inclined his toward Cosima, "or even if you don't, call me anytime." He winked and kissed her knuckles, his whiskers tickling her skin.

"Okay." Delphine couldn't help but smile. Like Cosima, he was just so cute.

"All right," Cosima said, rolling her eyes. "Beat it, Casanova."

And with a few last goodbyes, Tony and Sarah were gone. And Delphine found herself alone with Cosima at last. She turned around and regarded Delphine, her eyes nervous behind her dark frames.

"So," Cosima started, rubbing the back of her neck with her right hand.

"So."

"You're here."

"I am." Delphine's hands itched to just reach out and grab Cosima. She wanted nothing more than to kiss away any remaining anxiety from her. But she managed to refrain, somehow, allowing the still uncomfortable Cosima to set the pace of their reunion.

"Did you, uh, already have some interviews scheduled?"

Delphine tried not to read too much into the hopeful tone in Cosima's voice.

"No, actually, I-"

She was cut off by a shrill ringtone. Cosima pulled out a blackberry in a lime green case and winced when she looked at the caller ID.

"I'm sorry. I have to take this." She pressed the phone up to her ear. "Hey. You guys make it to Florida okay?"

Not wanting to blatantly eavesdrop on the conversation, Delphine turned away to peruse Cosima's book collection. On the Origin of Species. Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Brave New World. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Delphine did a double take on the last title and shook her head in amusement.

"Yeah, I know," Cosima said behind her. "That was Delphine. Yes, that Delphine."

Upon hearing her name, Delphine glanced back at Cosima, who smiled sheepishly at her.

"Don't be silly. That's not even remotely true. Sarah and I do not get all the hot ones. Donnie's, um, hot too… in his own... way. No, I promise I'm not patronizing you."

Hot ones? As Cosima continued to placate the caller, Delphine returned her attention to the shelves that displayed a couple of picture frames, thankful she could hide the flattered blush spreading warmth across her cheeks. In one photo, a grinning Cosima, clad in dark blue velvet doctoral robes, stood between a proudly beaming older man and woman Delphine assumed were her parents. In another, the scientist was squished against the side of a couch next to three other women, two of whom she recognized as Sarah and Alison. The last one had a bleached-blonde mane of long, frizzy hair. Across their laps sprawled a little girl, 8 or 9 years old by the looks of it. The photographer had captured them all mid-laugh, the entire scene exuding a sense of love and family. It brought a smile to Delphine's face.

"She already knows," Cosima let out a long-suffering sigh. "She kind of bumped into Sarah and Tony, in addition to seeing, well, you… and maybe Rachel. How is that my fault? Listen, we've already taken care of it. Okay. Just have fun with the fam. Don't worry. Yes. I will. I promise, Mom. Okay. Bye."

Delphine turned around once Cosima hung up.

"Sorry 'bout that," Cosima said, slipping the phone back in her pocket. "If I didn't answer, Alison would somehow put a BOLO on me."

"It's not a problem," Delphine said. "Is this Helena?" She pointed to the group photo.

"Yup, that's her."

"Don't people wonder why you all look alike?"

"Oh, um, I actually don't get a lot of visitors so… I've never actually had to explain that picture before."

Delphine nodded, mulling the implications of that statement. Cosima had always seemed so open and outgoing, and never struck her as particularly private. But given what she learned tonight, she could see how Cosima might keep to herself.

"If we're out together someplace though, people seem to buy that we're twins or triplets or whatever," she continued. "Speaking of, are you hungry? Do you want to grab some dinner?"

"I'd love to," Delphine replied.

…

Cosima brought her to a diner a few blocks away called The Bus Terminal. ("Trust me, their burgers are to die for.") And she was right. It had been nearly a year since Delphine had eaten a hamburger. The minute she blissfully sank her teeth into one, she nearly passed out in the stuffed-cushion booth they were sharing, with Cosima watching her with unabashed delight. ("Dude, I never thought I'd be jealous of food, but…") Over their meal, Delphine updated Cosima on Eva and Valerie ("We're thinking of starting an education fund for the children in Mbandaka." "That's so cool! Sign me up!"), but avoided mentioning that her nosy mother was practically chomping at the bit to meet the scientist who had seized her daughter's heart. Meanwhile, Cosima kept mum on anything clone-related, though she briefly focused on a fringe faction within DYAD that favored body modifications and other forms of self-directed evolution ("The guy had a tail. I swear to you. I can't believe, after everything you've seen today, you're really gonna question me about a tail!").

Darkness had fallen by the time they left, and Cosima intertwined their hands as she led them back to her apartment building. Her skin was as warm, soft, and smooth as Delphine remembered and she could hardly wait to reacquaint herself with the rest of Cosima's body. But when they arrived at their destination, Cosima bypassed her floor on the elevator ride up and instead took them to the rooftop deck furnished with wicker sofas and tall outdoor lamps.

Despite the beautiful evening, the deck was quiet and empty; not unlike their first meeting atop the hotel in Kinshasa so many months before, when Delphine had been smoking a cigarette on the hot and humid roof. That moment now seemed like it had been a part of an entirely different world—a different life—in which she had been lost in painful memories until an unbearably cute, pajama-clad American stranger with a bright, disarming smile had interrupted her brooding solitude.

And now?

Ava once told Delphine in Mbandaka that she seemed different. It was true. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy, content. She looked forward to each new day, instead of remaining mired in the mistakes of her past. And Delphine knew it was all because of Cosima—who was still so full of life and wonder even after her life was turned upside-down by forces she couldn't control, even after confronting her own mortality.

They stood by the roof's wrought-iron railing, staring out at the gleaming lights of Toronto's high rises and skyscrapers, and the red LED glow of the distant CN Tower. Delphine wondered about what Cosima was thinking, and if she too was remembering their first night together.

"Care for a little more déjà vu?" Cosima asked suddenly after they'd been standing in comfortable silence for several long minutes. Grinning, she held up a small joint between her fingers, and Delphine chuckled.

"Okay."

Cosima quickly lit it and took a deep hit, her body relaxing on the exhale. "I, um, I'm sorry again about the whole clone thing."

She offered the joint to Delphine, who gladly accepted it. Her fingers tingled from where they brushed against Cosima's.

"I'd been meaning to float it by you for a while now. I just didn't know how."

Delphine brought the joint to her lips and inhaled. "You don't owe me any apologies," she said, blowing out the smoke. "So that was really why you were in DRC. To get away?"

"Mm." Cosima nodded, taking another hit and passing the drug back. "Though the frogs were a nice draw too. But, I can never escape it all. Not really."

"No," Delphine said. "You just have to make the most of it."

"Yeah. And, at least I'm not alone. I've got clone club and my sisters and their kids-"

"And me," Delphine said, earnestly, turning to face Cosima. "You have me." All of me.

Cosima swallowed hard and licked her lips. "So you're not, like, completely wigged that I could have hundreds of clones out there?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little, um, wigged," Delphine admitted, her voice low. She carefully stubbed out the joint to save the rest for a later time. "But, as far as I'm concerned," she stepped inside Cosima's personal space, slowly reaching up and cupping Cosima's face just as the scientist's hands settled on her hips, "there's only one of you. "

Delphine smoothed her right thumb lightly across Cosima's bottom lip. "Celle que j'aime."

Wrinkling her forehead, Cosima shook her head slightly in confusion, the phrase unfamiliar to her.

"The one I love," Delphine translated softly. "I love you, Cosima."

Cosima's eyes fluttered shut, her lips turning up into a mischievous grin.

"Is that why you showed up at my doorstep today unannounced?" Mirth sparkled in Cosima's eyes when she opened them again.

"Yes."

"Is that also why you laid a wet one on Sarah, like, 1.5 seconds after seeing her?"

Delphine rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Yes."

"I've gotta warn you." Cosima gazed at her tenderly. "Loving me is kind of a package deal. You're gonna have to love all of us."

"Then I'll love all of you," Delphine responded without hesitation.

Cosimas exhaled, long and slow, as if she had been holding her breath. "Good, because I've fallen so hard for you, Delphine Cormier," Cosima whispered, wrapping her arms around Delphine and melding their bodies together. "I don't think I can ever let you go. You've singlehandedly destroyed my budding career as an international Lothario."

Delphine closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the heat Cosima's embrace, their lips finally meeting with unequalled fervor. A now familiar sense of vertigo rushed through Delphine as her heart felt like it would expand straight out of her chest.

"One thing though," Cosima pulled back slightly, breathless, resting their foreheads together. "Could you maybe not make a habit of going around and kissing my clones?"

Delphine groaned. "You're never going to let me forget that are you?"

"No. Probably not ever. Think you can live with that?"

"Ask me again in the morning."

The End