Cosima was quite possibly the worst cupid ever.

Or at least, that's what Alison liked to tell her, over and over and over again in that haughty, prissy little voice of hers.

Honestly, Cosima, it's not that difficult to spot the potential for true, everlasting love.

Whatevs.

Easy for Alison to say, Cosima thought bitterly as she wound her way through the crowded sidewalk, bypassing distracted elves on their cellphones, mages rushing to work, and construction zones erected by the dwarves repairing cracked and broken concrete. E.R.O.S. via Mrs. S didn't assign Alison to a city. Instead, Alison got the cushy digs out in Scarberia, where people tended to stay with their high school sweethearts... for better or for worse… all the while boosting Alison's annual quotas.

Barf.

Cosima was convinced that love in the city was an entirely different animal; much trickier to pinpoint among the endless supply of passion and lust and poor decision making. Okay, so, maybe Cosima might have made a few misjudgments here and there when choosing love interests for her marks. Like, when she hit some unsuspecting couples with her qi arrows only to have their "relationship" last for all of one night. Or when she zonked platonic friends or unintentionally created instances of unrequited love. But Cosima just didn't know how any of that was her fault in the slightest. She recognized the sparks of attraction just fine; provided just the right amount of push to spur people into action.

It was up to the couple to make things last.

That's what she planned to argue to Mrs. S during their weekly meeting—the one for which she was already 15 minutes late.

Hoping it would shave off some time, she cut through a park and hustled over the grass in her black leather boots, which, in hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea. Her heels kept sinking into soil softened by the water being spread by the azure undine spirits floating over the flora.

In the rapidly approaching distance, she could see a lone figure sitting underneath the hanging branches of a bent willow tree. The stranger—a blonde woman—rested against the trunk, eyes concealed behind a pair of dark sunglasses, lost in whatever was playing through her headphones. She wore simple blue jeans and a plain white top, and yet Cosima's attention was drawn to her nonetheless: to the way her long, shapely legs stretched out against the blades of grass; the way the cotton of her shirt clung just so to the dip of her waist; the way the sun's rays filtered through long, curtain-like leaves and cast her body in shimmering light and shadow.

Just as she was about to pass the tree, eyes still honed in on the lovely stranger, Cosima lost her footing in a patch of muddy ground and ended up slip-sliding head first into a bed of violets and other wildflowers being tended by several gnomes. The tiny creatures immediately swarmed a beyond mortified Cosima.

"Just what do you think you're doing, human!?" One of the gnomes shouted at her from behind his long, white beard.

"S-sorry!" Cosima pushed herself up into a sitting position and readjusted her glasses back to their proper position on her nose. She had managed to keep her face and hair out of the dirt at least, but the front of her black and white skirt and maroon blouse were now smeared with soil.

"You should be!" Another gnome cried out, his red cone cap vibrating from his agitation. "It took us all morning to plant those!"

Cosima raised her hands. "My total bad." She grimaced as she looked at the trampled flowers. "I can fix this… somehow."

"Are you a nymph?" A third gnome asked.

"Well… no."

"A mage?"

"No."

"Then what use are you!?" The first gnome shook his fist at her.

Cosima scrunched up her shoulders. "I could… help you find the love of your life?" She offered. Using her powers outside of work was frowned upon, but what S didn't know…

"You're one of those?" The gnome slapped the heel of his tiny hand on his forehead. "You really are useless."

"Listen pipsqueak..." Cosima wasn't about to be sassed by beings she could easily step on.

"Excuse me," a smooth French-accented voice cut in. "Perhaps I could be of assistance."

Cosima and the gnomes gaped up at her, willow tree girl. The blonde had pushed her sunglasses up on her head to reveal a pair of sparkling irises that reminded Cosima of the golden crystals inside her favorite geode; the one her parents had brought back to her as a souvenir from the Kilauea fire caverns. Cosima thought the girl looked like she could be Aphrodite reborn.

"Are you all right?" She asked Cosima, who lost all ability to speak and merely nodded, heat spreading across her cheeks. "Good." She offered a well-manicured hand to Cosima, who gratefully accepted. The blonde helped her to her feet in one smooth motion and then turned her attention to the gnomes lined up in a row, arms crossed, watching her expectantly.

Brow furrowed with concentration, the girl bit the corner of her bottom lip and waved her hand. Almost instantaneously, the crushed flowers perked up, rejuvenated, while the soil returned to an undisturbed state.

The three gnomes cheered and thanked her before returning to their work. Each of them gave Cosima one last glare, with one muttering under his breath that at least some humans weren't a waste of air. Cosima stifled a sigh and turned toward her gorgeous savior, who was trying (but failing) to hide her amusement.

"Thanks for that." Cosima sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck until she realized she was just spreading dirt to new places. "I thought for sure they were, like, 10 seconds from kicking my ass or something."

"My pleasure." The blonde smiled. "I could help you with that too," she twirled a hand at Cosima's stained clothes, "if you'd like."

"Dude, that'd be so rad of you."

The stranger nodded and waved her hand again. Cosima's clothes instantly became clean, like they were fresh from the dry cleaners. Maybe even fresher. Mrs. S would be impressed.

"Thanks again, I'm, uh, Cosima, by the way. Bit of a klutz. Klutzy Cosima, as you just saw, obvs." She was babbling. She had to stop babbling before she embarrassed herself even further.

"It happens to the best of us."

"Really?" Cosima lifted an eyebrow. "When was the last time you face planted right into a gnome garden?"

The blonde chuckled and the sound was enough to make Cosima feel as weightless as a nimbus spirit.

"Well, never," she admitted, "but I was just trying to make you feel better."

I could come up with plenty of other things you could do to make me feel better. Cosima blushed at the unbidden thought. Easy there, tiger, you just met this girl. She hoped to high heaven that the blonde couldn't also read minds.

"I appreciate that," Cosima said instead after she cleared her throat. "I should, um, probably get going and all." Truth be told, Cosima didn't want to leave at all. She wanted to stay, to be asked to stay, even though she would never hear the end of it from Mrs. S if she didn't show.

But the blonde only nodded in response, eyes crinkled at the corners. "Try to stay out of trouble, Klutzy," she said, already making her way back toward the willow tree. "I won't always be around to save you."

"Hey," Cosima called after her. "You got a name, hero?"

The girl turned around and shot her a mischievous smile. "Come back tomorrow, Klutzy, and maybe I'll tell you."

Cosima could only grin in return.

Several hours later, Cosima was no longer grinning. She scowled down into the froth of her matcha latte, replaying her meeting with S.

"You… you're suspending me?" Cosima's mouth dropped open.

"Not suspending," Mrs. S sighed as she poured a pot of steaming Earl Grey into two ceramic cups. "Just giving you a little break."

"Wha… why? Just cuz a few people didn't live happily ever after?"

"It's not just that, love. We provide an important service. One that's supposed to help people find their life match, not help them make painful mistakes. They can do that easily enough on their own. Do you understand?"

Cosima huffed and rubbed her forehead. "I guess… yeah. It's not like I'm trying to fuck up."

"I know. That's why I think it would do you well to get a bit more guidance."

"Guidance? From who?"

Cosima groaned at the memory. Of all the people S could have chosen, she had to pick Sarah, the one person who would tease her incessantly about their new arrangement. And, sure enough, Sarah showed up to the cafe in her usual black leather jacket and blue plaid hoodie, accessorized with a shit-eating grin across her face.

"Well, well, well," Sarah drawled as she approached Cosima's table, swiveling a wooden chair backwards and straddling it. "So I hear you're my bitch now."

Cosima crossed her arms to keep herself from smacking Sarah. "Not for long, so don't get used to it."

"That's not what I heard."

"And what exactly did you hear?"

"That I'll be babysitting your arse until you make a match. A good match." Sarah leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. "And given your track record, I'd say you're gonna be my bitch for a good long while."

"I can't fucking believe this," Cosima growled. "I make good matches!"

"Oh yeah?" Sarah lifted one eyebrow. "Name one."

"Okay." Cosima paused, racking her brain. "Okay, I paired up those high school students."

"What high school students?"

"You know, the one who eventually became a director and the one who became an heiress."

"All right, I'll give you that one." Sarah rolled her eyes. "How about one from the last decade?"

"Um... " Cosima's eyes drifted to the portrait of Mount Rushmore hanging above the pixie baristas brewing espresso at the coffee bar. "How about those two secret service agents visiting from BFE South Dakota? Perfect match."

"Cos, one of them ran off with some suburban white bread while the other one started shagging the partner who was practically her brother!"

Cosima ducked her head down. Okay. Point taken.

"Well, what about that veela and the witch?" She asked.

"The witch married one of her best mates and the veela married his brother."

"That doesn't mean they weren't a good match!" Cosima threw her hands up in frustration.

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose. "Listen, maybe they were or maybe they will be, but the fact of the matter is: your bottom line's shit right now. Most of your couples end up apart, rather than together. Even Cold Bitch Duncan is getting better results than you."

Cosima let out a forceful sigh. "I still don't understand why I'm getting bitten in the ass here. Those people still loved each other regardless of whether they stayed together."

"Look, I'm not here to argue with you," Sarah said. "But I think I can help, if you're willing to keep an open mind... and do everything I say," she added with a lopsided grin.

"That's not gonna fucking happen, so don't hold your breath."

"Then I guess you'll be stuck with me forever then."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They let silence fester between them for several long minutes, with Cosima continuing to fume about the injustice of it all and Sarah grinning the entire time.

"You know what your problem is, Cos?"

Cosima's eyes narrowed behind her frames. "No, Sarah, why don't you enlighten me?"

"Your problem is that you rely too much on your bonce." She tapped two fingers against her temple. "And not enough on this." She pressed her hand to the center of her chest.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't overanalyze it."

"What's there to analyze? Nearly all my matches were orange."

Sarah snapped her fingers. "See? Right there, that's your problem. You see and think one thing, instead of feeling the match, regardless of other factors."

"I feel the matches just fine."

"If you did, you wouldn't be in this mess now, would you?" Sarah reached across the table, snatched Cosima's latte, and took a sip over Cosima's protest. "Answer me this: have you ever been in love?"

"What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I've been in love!"

"Really in love?"

"Yes, really in love," Cosima snapped.

"With who?"

A willow tree, golden curls, and crystalline eyes flashed unbidden through Cosima's mind and she shook her head. That was… weird. She hesitated a beat too long in answering and a smirk appeared on Sarah's irritatingly smug face.

"Shay," she finally said.

"That hippy shaman girl?" Sarah guffawed. "Cos, please. She was way more into you than you were her."

Maybe that was true, but at the time… "I still loved her."

"I'm not saying you didn't. But were you really, like, 100 percent madly in love with her? I'm talking the kind of love where you want nothing more than to eat, sleep and breath her 24/7, to share your life with her, wake up next to her, grow old with her and all that shite?"

No, Cosima immediately thought with guilt, hating that Sarah could read her so easily. "What's your point?"

"My point is: how can you possibly expect to recognize potential true love when you haven't experienced it yourself?"

"So, what, you're saying you have?" Cosima scoffed. "With who, Cal?"

Sarah's expression softened. "Yeah with Cal."

Shock from Sarah's confession instantly deflated most of Cosima's ire. Sarah "the wild type" Manning didn't fall in love. She was a rolling rock that gathered no moss or whatever. A lone wolf. And yet here she was admitting that she was in love. It was nearly inconceivable.

"Dude, I had, like, no idea."

"Me neither, until recently, that is."

"That's actually... really great Sarah. Have you told him?"

"Not yet."

Cosima tilted her head to the side. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Eventually." Sarah cleared her throat. "But we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about you and your nonexistent love life."

"In case you've forgotten, our powers don't work on us," she said, taking her drink back from Sarah. "So, if you want me outta your hair any time soon, you're gonna need a better plan than waiting for me to fall in love."

"That's why we'll do the next best thing."

"And that is…?" Cosima brought the mug to her lips.

"Get you laid."

Cosima sprayed her latte all over Sarah.

"Bloody hell Cos!"

"Sorry!" Cosima wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry. But it sounded like you said…"

Sarah grabbed at napkins on the table and rubbed them vigorously against her face. "That you need to get laid. Nothing wrong with your hearing, at least."

"That's… that's not…"

"When was the last time you got down and dirty anyway?"

"None of your damn business."

"So a while then," Sarah aptly concluded.

She wanted to throttle Sarah, even as her thoughts drifted to a certain blonde savior yet again. "I don't see how that's supposed to help."

"Well it can't hurt either, can it?"

Before Cosima could argue further, a familiar ringtone-Sam Cooke's Cupid-floated through the air. A message from S. Sarah pulled out her company cellphone from the pocket of her black leather jacket and read her next assignment.

"We've gotta go get cleaned up, geek monkey. It's time for you to watch and learn from the master."

Cosima rolled her eyes. "Who's the mark?"

Sarah stood with a screech of wood against tile, checking her phone one more time.

"One Delphine Cormier. Let's not keep her waiting, yeah?"

Cupid Rule #1: Hide in Plain Sight.

After leaving the cafe, Cosima and Sarah had quickly changed into clothing more suitable for an evening out on the town: Sarah in a black pencil skirt and indigo sleeveless blouse she borrowed from Beth, another one of their E.R.O.S. colleagues, while Cosima had slipped into a form-fitting silk dress in deep burgundy.

As they approached the jazz club where the mark would be, Cosima could hear strains of music from even from a block away as she hurried to keep pace with Sarah's swift gait. A line had already formed outside of the venue by the time Sarah and Cosima arrived. But thanks to E.R.O.S.'s connections, the bouncer, a 7-foot-tall orc towering near the double doors, immediately waved them inside with a deep grunt.

A blanket of sound enveloped them like a warm cloud the minute they set foot inside the club. Each note from the live band vibrated within Cosima, from the deep plucks of the double bass and the brush snaps on the snare drum to the light tickle across the ivories and the plaintive wail of the brass.

It was a swanky club, reminiscent of a speakeasy, with dim lighting from the phantom-like wisps suspended in midair further muted by exposed brick and a mahogany floor. Next to the stage, sharply dressed couples moved as one to a low key jazz waltz. Cosima found herself swaying to the music, walking alongside Sarah in time to the triple metre beat, past round, candlelit tables covered by white cloth. After snagging the last two empty stools at the crowded bar, Sarah ordered a bourbon for herself and a pinot noir for Cosima.

"Keep an eye out for the mark." Sarah handed her phone to Cosima. "I'll be right back."

"What? How am I supposed to know what she looks like? E.R.O.S. hasn't sent her photo yet."

"Jesus, Cos, do I need to hold your hand when you piss too?" Sarah asked gruffly. "Figure it out, will ya?"

"Fine," Cosima waved her off with a flick of her wrist and hopped up on the barstool. "Bitch," she muttered as she pulled up Cormier's file from E.R.O.S.

Cupid Rule #2: Know Your Mark

The information from the mainframe was never much to go on. In fact, it always sounded like a bad personal ad, but it was a start.

Delphine Cormier
Born: Paris, France
Qualifications: Ph.D. in multi-species immunology, certified red mage
Likes: TED talks, truffles, photography, music
Dislikes: snakes, light beer.
Hobbies: dancing, wine tasting, reading.
Relationship history: few long-term, one with a much older superior

Which… creepy... Cosima thought as she sipped her red wine, too immersed in trying to download Cormier's photo to notice the woman who slid next to her.

The perfume hit Cosima first, a delicate mingling of lilac and honey, followed by:

"Have you been staying out of trouble?"

Cosima jolted at the sound of the playful voice and swiveled to her left to meet the hazel-brown orbs she had been dreaming about for the better part of the day.

"Ahh…" Cosima quickly switched off the phone's screen. "Actually I've been terrorizing gnomes all over the city just for the hell of it."

The blonde's responding grin made Cosima giddy. "I expected nothing less," she said, her voice as smooth and as lilting as Cosima remembered. "So," her eyes traveled slowly down the length of Cosima's body and back up at the same languid pace, "you clean up nicely, even without magic."

"Likewise." Flushing, Cosima let her own gaze roam over the other woman, draped in a monochrome silhouette dress that accentuated every fine line and curve of her figure. She swallowed. Hard. And hoped that sheer force of will alone would keep her synapses from short circuiting. "You a big jazz fan?"

"I am." The blonde nodded. "I play sex sometimes."

Cosima shook her head. "I'm sorry, what?" She had to have misheard.

"Sax? Alto saxophone, more specifically."

"Sax! Right, sax, of course." Clearing her throat, Cosima ignored the unsure look that crossed the blonde's face. "Awesome."

"And you?"

"Me? Oh, uh, ukulele for me. I was obsessed with Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's cover of Over the Rainbow when I was, like, 9 and bugged my parents until they caved and got me a uke. Been playing ever since."

"I've always wanted to play a string instrument," the blonde said, resting an elbow against the bar, her hand mere centimeters from Cosima's. "They require dexterous fingers, non?"

"They do."

"Perhaps you could give me a demonstration." She subtly caressed the back of Cosima's fingers. "One day."

Cosima trembled from the soft touch, pulse fluttering. "Totally," she managed to stay. "One day."

Finding it increasingly difficult to breathe, Cosima wondered if someone had cranked up the heat in the club. The back of her neck was blazing. The blonde moved closer and the air around them shifted. It felt charged. Potent. Imbued with latent possibility. But before they could explore any of that delicious potential, someone called "Delphine!" from the other side of the club.

Both Cosima and the blonde startled and leaned away from each other, simultaneously turning toward the sound of the voice. Sitting with a group of people at one of the tables, a woman waved at the blonde. She lifted a hand back in greeting before fixing her attention back on Cosima.

"Your name's Delphine?" Cosima asked.

"Yes."

Delphine.

French Delphine.

French Delphine Cormier.

French Delphine Cormier the Mark.

Holy…

Cosima felt a wave of vertigo wash over her.

"I'm sorry." Delphine smiled apologetically. "But I have to go."

"Oh, uh, of.. of course. Don't let me keep you."

"It was nice seeing you again, Klutzy Cosima." She pushed away from the bar, but didn't immediately begin walking away. "I hope that you'll still visit me tomorrow, even though you already know my name. Perhaps for that demonstration?"

"Yeah!" Cosima blurted out much too eagerly. "I mean, I'd totally still… if you wanted that is…"

"I do…" Delphine moistened her lips as her eyes dropped down to Cosima's mouth. "Want."

Cosima had no response. She was too busy trying not to spontaneously combust.

"Until then," Delphine said, lifting her gaze to meet Cosima's. "Ciao."

"Bye," Cosima belatedly said, but Delphine was already halfway to her friends. She tried to convince herself that maybe she was wrong. Maybe Delphine was a common enough name. But then Sarah's cellphone chirped-image transfer finally complete-and she glanced down at the screen to have her suspicions confirmed. Groaning, she wanted nothing more than to bang her head atop the wooden bar. Of all the people to have the hots for...

"So then," Sarah suddenly drawled from behind Cosima, slapping her between the shoulder blades and settling on a bar stool next to her. "Did the mark show up?"

Cupid Rule #3: Don't Bang Your Mark

"Yeah," Cosima said, her heart sinking low as her gaze settled on the gorgeous blonde on the other side of the room. "Yeah, she did."

"Then let's get started."

It always started with a flash of red.

A rush of energy.

Thousands of pinpricks tingling just below the surface of her skin.

No matter how many times she channeled her qi, it still gave Cosima a buzz like no other. Crimson flooded across her vision, nearly blinding her, until it began to recede and condense around a single focal point: the Mark.

The hazy aura surrounded Delphine Cormier, pulsating in bright sparks to the steady rhythm of her heart. Cosima took a deep breath. Blinked once. Twice. And similar emanations formed around the club's patrons in a wide spectrum of ethereal blue, green, yellow, and orange flickering beats. No one matched Delphine's exact pigment, though, to Cosima's secret relief.

She glanced over at Sarah, the only other person in the room besides Cosima who didn't have a similar flow of energy around her.

"You see 'em?" Sarah asked, squinting around the room.

Sarah probably meant all of Delphine's potential matches, but Cosima's gaze was honed on the party of five at Delphine's table. Two of them pulsed yellow and orange-a man and a woman, both making what could only be described as googly eyes at the blonde-and Cosima's stomach slowly twisted.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Then let's get started."

But Sarah didn't move from her bar stool. She just continued to sip her bourbon and bob her head to the rhythm of the uptempo jazz music.

"Um," Cosima said after a few more minutes of inaction. "Shouldn't we, you know, be doing something?"

"We are doing something." Sarah was relaxing back, elbows propped up on the bar.

"We are?" Cosima raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yeah, we're observing." Sarah rolled her head toward Cosima. "Lemme guess what you usually do, wait around for the oranges and then look 'em up on E.R.O.S.?

Cosima bit her tongue. That was exactly what she usually did.

"Thought so," Sarah chuckled when she didn't answer. "Like I said, Cos, it's more than just grey matter."

"So you never do any research?"

"Not never. I at least make sure they're not serial killers and all."

Cosima sighed, not having the strength to argue with Sarah's approach right at the moment. "So what are we looking at?"

Sarah lifted a finger toward Delphine's table. "Y and O over there. They're totally interested in her," Sarah observed and Cosima grit her teeth. "But it's not mutual."

"Really?" Cosima asked, her voice unnaturally high. She cleared her throat and returned her voice back to its normal pitch. "You, uh, you think?"

"Yeah, I mean," Sarah shrugged, "she's barely paying them any attention."

Cosima exhaled in relief as Sarah continued, "In fact, she keeps looking over here."

"What?" She whipped her head back around to Delphine, who was indeed looking in their direction. When their eyes met, Cosima's mouth went dry and her heart shot up into her throat. Mesmerized, Cosima barely registered Sarah's confused, "huh," or the fact that the gangly guy next to her left the bar with two drinks in hand. It wasn't until the man had reappeared in her line of vision-nay, blocked her view of Delphine-that Cosima finally snapped out of her trance.

His aura wavered from blue to green as he offered one of the drinks to Delphine, who accepted it gracefully and invited him to sit with the group, much to orange and yellow's (and Cosima's) irritation.

"He could be promising," Sarah commented.

Not even, Cosima thought, tamping down the very irrational wave of jealousy rocking through her.

"But the night is still young," Sarah continued. "So… let's get you out of the doghouse, geek monkey. Make her a match."

Over the course of the next hour, however, Cosima was practically useless. Whenever Sarah considered a potential match for Delphine, Cosima made it a point to discard him or her from the running based on information she secretly downloaded from E.R.O.S. and, well, practically any asinine thing she could think of ("That elf? He's way too short for her." "The chick's getting her master's from Wellesley. What if she turns out to be a LUG?").

And so it went until Sarah, who had anything but an eternal wellspring of patience, flat out told Cosima that she would throttle her if she didn't cut that shite out.

"I told you," Sarah growled. "It's not about what's on paper or even what's in front of our noses. You have to feel it."

But that was the entire problem.

Cosima couldn't feel anything between any of the candidates and Delphine. Especially not when her own responses to Delphine were flooding through her system, making her oblivious to everyone and everything else. Whenever Cosima looked at the blonde, it was like her heart hopscotched right into overdrive. And Delphine didn't help in the slightest by allowing the heat of her gaze to linger over Cosima every so often. Thankfully, Sarah didn't seem to notice, her concentration mostly focused on all of the potentials milling about the club.

The evening wore on and Cosima could feel Sarah becoming increasingly frustrated. Perhaps Cosima wasn't the only one having difficulty getting a read on Delphine.

"I don't understand," Sarah gruffly admitted. "I haven't had this problem in ages." She narrowed her eyes at Cosima. "It's you."

Cosima froze. "Me?"

"Yes you! Your bad mojo must be rubbing off on me."

"Oh c'mon," Cosima huffed, rolling her eyes in the hope that it would disguise her relief that Sarah, for all her talk about feelings and whatnot, still hadn't worked out Cosima's little secret. "What if none of these people are a good match for her?"

"One of them has to be. Otherwise E.R.O.S. wouldn't have sent us here."

Cosima shrugged casually, or tried to at least. "I dunno. Maybe it's someone we wouldn't, you know, expect at all."

"Maybe."

They continued to watch Delphine and her would-be paramours until drinks guy, his aura now bright orange, stood and held out an arm to Delphine. She rested her hand next to his elbow and moved with him to the dance floor. Cosima's jaw clenched involuntarily when he placed one hand on Delphine's hip while clasping her fingers with the other.

"Fucking finally," Sarah muttered.

"What?" Cosima's brows knit together as Sarah formed a finger gun with her right hand. "You can't seriously be matching her with him? You said earlier you weren't feeling anything!"

"Yeah, well, he's the best of the lot, and I don't fancy spending my entire night here."

"But…"

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

Yes! Cosima wanted to shout. "No," she said instead.

"Then shut it and make sure no one gets in the way of my shot."

Panic rising in her chest, Cosima had to stop Sarah. Consequences be damned. She eyed Sarah's glass of bourbon on the bar and, without hesitation, knocked it over while she pretended to reach for the drinks menu. The alcohol splashed all over Sarah's back just before she fired.

"Goddammit Cos!" Sarah roared as she whirled on Cosima. "What the hell?"

"Sorry! Sorry! My bad." Cosima winced. "I will totally pay for the dry cleaning."

"Hell yeah, you will," Sarah said with a displeased grunt. "Christ, I looked like I pissed myself."

Cosima stifled a laugh, knowing she already was on dangerously thin ice. "Why don't you go get cleaned up? I can... finish the job."

"Fine. You better be done by the time I get back."

Sarah stomped away and Cosima knew it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, Cosima walked toward the dance floor, wondering with each step if she was making a huge mistake, and yet powerless to stop herself. As she approached and the music drew to a close, Delphine's eyes found hers and the corners of her lips turned up. She was already slipping out of her dance partner's grip even before Cosima reached them.

Cosima nodded politely at the guy, a small frown creasing his forehead, before turning her attention to Delphine, who watched her expectantly. The band started playing a new song, silky smooth and slow, and Cosima's chest fluttered.

"May I have this dance?" She asked, swallowing her nerves.

Smile widening, Delphine nodded and placed a chaste kiss on her companion's cheek. "Merci, Alfred."

Although clearly not pleased, Alfred graciously tilted his head toward Delphine and then Cosima before turning around and heading back to the bar. Cosima almost felt a little guilty. But when she locked eyes with Delphine, who began to close the gap between them, Cosima forgot about Alfred entirely.

She met Delphine halfway, reaching up to rest her arms on Delphine's shoulders while the blonde lightly rested her hands on Cosima's waist. And as she let Delphine's crimson aura envelop her, Cosima heard a small voice in the back of her mind whisper, Sarah's going to kill you. But she couldn't care less.

Cosima blinked and red faded from her vision, leaving Delphine in technicolor focus. All of Cosima's senses sharpened, nerves thrumming like live wires, bright and intense. She swore she could feel the band's melodies, rhythms, and harmonies wrap around them just as keenly as Delphine's hands tightening around her waist and pulling their swaying bodies closer. They brushed against each other, deliciously so. Cosima could taste the floral honey of Delphine's perfume, the bite of the alcohol on her breath. Pressed so close together, Cosima felt as high and as light as a dandelion puff, swirling higher and higher until she was sure she was close to passing out from thinning air oxygen.

"I wondered if you might come over." Delphine's voice was silky, intimate, but strong enough to pull Cosima down from the stratosphere.

"Is that right?" Cosima asked when she finally recovered the basic ability to speak.

Delphine nodded. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't."

"I wasn't going to," Cosima admitted, "but…" But I wanted to keep you from connecting with the possible love of your life? That didn't make her sound like an asshole. At all.

"But?" Delphine prompted.

Cosima wet her lips. "I guess I couldn't help myself," she said before she could stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. Heat spread across the back of her neck and crept up the sides of her face.

Delphine's lips stretched into a slow smile as she leaned closer. "I'm glad," she whispered, her fingers lightly squeezing Cosima's waist in a way that made her heart trill in delight. A wisp past overhead, briefly bathing them in a pale blue light that made Delphine look positively angelic.

"And you?" Cosima asked, completely enchanted. "You could just as easily have come back over."

"I could have," Delphine acknowledged. "But I didn't want to interrupt. You seemed to be in deep conversation with your… friend?"

Cosima snapped back to reality at the mention of Sarah. "Friend. Yes. We uh…" She glanced at the bar, which thankfully remained punk rock ho free. "We weren't exactly seeing eye-to-eye on… something."

Slipping her hands from Cosima's waist and down to the small of her back, Delphine began to trace random patterns along Cosima's spine. "Care to talk about it?"

Not really, no, Cosima thought as she suppressed a shiver, arms tightening across Delphine's slim shoulders. But she was running out of time. Any minute now, Sarah would appear and commit manslaughter.

"It was about… you…. actually," Cosima said.

Brows arching, Delphine pulled away slightly. "Me?"

"Yeah, uh, full disclosure… my friend and I… we're not completely, like, human," Cosima started. "I mean, we're human, just not like human human, you know?"

"Okay," Delphine breathed out. "I had a feeling."

Cosima's eyes widened. "You… you did?"

"Yes. I'd be a poor mage if I didn't."

"Right..." Cosima, encouraged by Delphine's lack of surprise, inhaled deeply. "So, what I'm trying to say is… don't, like, freak out or anything… but we're erotes."

"I'm sorry?" Delphine blinked.

"You know… cupids?"

Delphine paused mid-dance-and Cosima was afraid that she'd let go completely-but then she resumed their easy motion. "That's… different."

"Different bad?"

"No." Delphine shook her head. "Different like… I've never met a cupid. I thought they were smaller. Chubbier maybe? With less clothes. More like babies."

Cosima chuckled. It was a common misconception-one that had annoyed Alison so much that she once created color-coded poster boards to explain the differences between erotes and winged, child-like putti.

"I know exactly what you're talking about," Cosima said, "but no, we're just regular humans with added mojo. Not unlike you mages, I suppose."

Delphine inclined her head forward, accepting Cosima's point. "So you're cupids and you were arguing about me?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Cosima bit her lip, knowing she was already so far past the point of no return that she couldn't be anything but honest. "Because we're here to find you a match."

"What?" Delphine laughed. "You're joking."

Cosima didn't answer and Delphine's mirth faded with each passing second of silence. "Oh," she said. "That's, um…" Delphine scrunched her forehead. "How? With whom?"

"I don't know if I can really explain the how of it, but the whom? You've got plenty of options." Cosima kept her tone steady, neutral, hoping that it would mask her (entirely unfair and unwarranted) displeasure with Delphine's options. "Alfred, for one. And two of your buddies at your table."

Delphine let out another incredulous laugh. "I'm sorry, but this is so…"

"Crazy? I know."

Sobering, Delphine looked up at the ceiling, as if the exposed joists could help her make sense of things. "What about free will?" She lowered her gaze to meet Cosima's once more. "Don't I get a say in who I'm with?"

"Of course!" Cosima exclaimed, momentarily stepping out of beat from the music. "Broken down to its most basic form, isn't attraction, and love even, just a combination of biological and chemical reactions? Our powers just… stimulate them, I guess you could say."

"I would think love is more complex than that. Mysterious even."

"Definitely." Cosima nodded. "That why we also hope for the best."

"Hope for the best?" Delphine skeptically repeated.

"Yeah, that you'll make it last. We just get the ball rolling."

Delphine let the music fill the silence between them for several moments, eyes trailing across Cosima's face. "So you're here to get the ball rolling for me?" She finally asked.

Cosima swallowed against a parched throat. "Yes."

"And have you picked?" Delphine sucked the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth, a shadow of uncertainty crossing her delicate features. "My match?"

"Sarah has, yeah." Cosima half-shrugged.

"But you don't agree with it?"

Heart pounding in her chest, Cosima slowly shook her head. "No."

"Why?" Delphine's gaze was piercing.

"Because I…" Cosima slowed their dance to a standstill, neither one of them releasing their grip on the other. "Look, this is going to sound insane, but I feel like there's something between us. Maybe it could be the start of something beautiful." She dipped her head to the side. "Or maybe it'll lead to complete and utter disaster because of the whole cupid-mark taboo thing and, more importantly, my track record with matches, my own or otherwise, is kind of shit in all honestly.

"But…" Cosima looked deeply into Delphine's bewildered eyes, feeling breathless. "Whatever it is, I feel it. And I hoped that… that you might feel it too."

They stared at each other then, completely oblivious to everything around them. Cosima wasn't even sure how long time stretched between them, but it was enough for her stomach to twist as it sunk. She was convinced that she made a huge mistake and that her pending homicide at the hands of Sarah would, in fact, be justified. Cosima began to release Delphine's shoulders when the blonde gently clasped Cosima's elbow with one hand. The other remained firmly on Cosima's back, drawing them flush up against each other.

Hesitating only briefly, searching for resistance and finding none, Delphine dipped her head and pressed their lips together. The kiss was meltingly tender. Dizzyingly sweet. Cosima closed her eyes and slid her fingers into the fine hairs at the nape of Delphine's neck. Pulling her closer, she deepened their connection with a sharp inhale as Delphine wrapped both arms around her.

Delphine murmured something against Cosima's mouth and Cosima reluctantly broke away.

"What?" Cosima was having difficulty catching her breath.

"I do… feel it." Delphine's words were a warm whisper, a promise that Cosima sealed with another kiss.

Sarah scowled as she tossed an alcohol-soaked paper towel into a wastebasket and glanced backward at her reflection in the washroom's mirror. She had rinsed and blotted as much of the bourbon from the backside of her skirt and blouse as she could. Once she got it dry cleaned, Beth wouldn't know the difference. Or at least she hoped. And if Beth did notice… well, Sarah had no qualms about throwing Cosima under that particular bullet train.

She exited and headed back to the bar, frowning when she noticed that Cosima had disappeared and strangers had already laid claim to their stools.

Exhaling sharply, Sarah's eyes darted around the rest of the club. But Cosima was nowhere to be found. Goddammit. Sarah next searched for the Mark and breathed out in relief when she saw her on the dance floor. Delphine Cormier had her back to Sarah and was still swaying to the music. But the blonde definitely was not dancing with the match Sarah had selected for her. No. She was dancing with someone much smaller. Someone Sarah could barely see. Which meant that Cosima not only had vanished, but hadn't done her bloody job either.

"I'm gonna kill her," Sarah growled through clenched teeth. Mrs. S and E.R.O.S. would just have to make do with one less cupid.

Re-activating her qi, Sarah meant to search for lanky loverboy when Delphine turned her dance partner around and Sarah's jaw dropped. Enveloped within the Mark's slim arms was none other than Cosima, wrapped in pulsing crimson that perfectly matched Delphine's aura.

Sarah rubbed her eyes. There had to be a mistake. The auras of other cupids shouldn't be visible. Sarah opened her eyes again. Sure enough, the phantom haze around Cosima remained. It was impossible. And yet there it was all the same.

And then Delphine kissed Cosima.

Their energies flashed so brightly, it was nearly blinding. But Sarah couldn't tear her gaze away. They were dazzling together. As she continued to watch them, she felt their connection deep within her chest.

"Well, I'll be damned," Sarah said under her breath, ire instantly dissipating. She wasn't sure how she'd explain it to S. Nor did she have the first clue about the type of red tape Cosima would have to go through once E.R.O.S. caught wind of things. But she did know that her instincts were never wrong. And they were telling her, quite forcefully, that Delphine had found her match.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah walked to the edge of the bar closest to the dance floor, shaped one hand into her usual finger gun, took aim, and released her arrow.

A/N: This is my last beta reader thank you fic, dedicated to the wonderful tatarrific and amazingly cool hellacophine. It was inspired by: 1) their song prompts ("Love Gets in the Way" by Dayna Kurtz and "Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde, respectively); 2) an urban fantasy post on tumblr; and 3) Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Also, my endless thanks to twig-height and cementmixer for joining me on this project and helping me with worldbuilding and editing. You two are awesome. :)