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"I just get the feeling your parent’s don’t like me Del, that’s all." Cosima is sat on the couch in the living room, her right hand on the back of her neck as she peers down at the coffee table. Delphine looks up from her place at her desk, and sees the look of sadness and failure in her girlfriend’s face. A face usually so often full of hope, radiant beauty and a hint of cockiness. She stands up and quickly hurries over to Cosima, sitting next to her and pulling her hands into her lap.
"Don’t be silly ma chérie, they love you." She brings Cosima’s hand up to her lips and kisses her fingers gently. "And even if they don’t, I do." Cosima looks away from the coffee table and meets Delphine’s gaze smiling lightly. It usually is enough for Cosima, that Delphine loves her, but not today.
She had never been one for tradition, or the patriarchal ideal that a man owns his daughter until he gives his permission for an other man to take her, but she knows that Delphine’s parents, her father in particular, can be very old-fashioned. Today, she plans on asking Mr Cormier for Delphine’s hand in marriage.
"I know, I love you too." She puts on a brave face for Delphine. Not wanting her to know what she has planned, but also not wanting to ruin this moment. Delphine hasn’t seen her parents in over a year. Since her and Cosima had both been working so hard with DYAD, they had barely been able to see anyone other than Scott and the rest of Clone Club.
She is practically bouncing as she packed her stuff, telling Cosima over and over the same stories about her family.
"Did you know that Oncle Louis played for the French national team as a boy? He went to the Under-21’s European Championships in 82.” Cosima did know that Oncle Louis had played for the national team, but Delphine is so happy and so wrapped up in reminiscing that she doesn’t want to burst her bubble. “He’s coming to the party, with Tata Chloe and Mathieu”. This,was something that Cosima didn’t know. She was not expecting a big family party, just a small get together with Delphine’s parents.
"Woah. Delphine. You didn’t say anything about a party" She turns to face her girlfriend who is still packing.
"I am sorry, Cosima, I knew that if I told you it was a big family…thing that you might not want to come with me" The blonde replies, biting her lip and trying to avoid the the other girls eyes. "And I need you." She finishes, finally turning to capture Cosima’s eyes.
Cosima falls back onto the bed. Sighing playfully and draping her arm across her face. “It’s okay. But…you pack my case for me. Deal?”
Delphine lifts a small, full suitcase out from underneath their bed, dropping it unceremoniously next to the petite girl. “You underestimate me, ma petit chiot”
"You’re the puppy" Cosima beams as she reaches up to throw a pillow at the blonde.
__
Delphine’s parents house gets more beautiful the more Cosima sees it. A large, overbearing mansion with antique wood shutters and a marble porch that stands out against the gravel of the drive way. There are metal fences with ornate patterns around the sides that hold back acres of luscious green grass, bordered with alpine roses and irises. In the garden, Cosima can hear the family chatter. She can hear children running around and playing whilst the adults talk, but it is all in French. Although Cosima has tried her best over the last two years to learn, she still has trouble when it is spoken so quickly.
She drags her suitcase out of the rental car before pulling Delphine’s out too. Her girlfriend kisses her on the cheek and grabs her hand, before taking her own suitcase and heading excitedly for the front door. Delphine pulls back the (probably antique) knocker and bangs loudly thrice. After a minute, although it feels like 10 to Cosima, Delphine’s mother opens the door and pulls her into a tight embrace.
"Bienvenue chez vous!" She squeals excitedly into her daughters ear, her voice slightly muffled as her face is pressed into Delphine’s hair. She pulls back, her hands resting on the tops of her daughter’s arms. "Et vous Cosima, bien sûr." She adds, reaching around the smaller girl and pulling her into an equally tight hug.
"Bonjour Madame Cormier" Cosima smiles, feeling less nervous at the welcome Delphine’s mother has given her.
"S’il vous plaît, call me Danielle" She replies, still beaming with joy and excitement. Her accent is much thicker than Delphine’s but Cosima is grateful she has even bothered to learn any. Unlike Delphine’s father. "Papa is outside with Oncle Louis et Tata Chloe. Grand-mère is here too, et Dominique, mais pas tata Anne, she could not come" Cosima knew that Delphine’s aunt Anne had not been around all the time, and that her daughter, Dominique, had always loved Delphine.
"Delphy!"
It makes Cosima’s heart flutter as she sees the small, blonde haired girl with plaits run through the kitchen that lead to the garden and jump at her girlfriend, throwing her arms around her neck and shouting her name. Delphine kisses the girl on her cheek hugs her tightly. She whispers something to her in French before putting Dominique back on the floor and letting her run back outside.
"She adores you Delphine." Danielle comments softly, before clapping her hands together and leading them both to the kitchen. "Du vin?" She questions, eyeing the women in front of her.
"I couldn’t think of anything better" Cosima laughs, and accepts the glass of white wine that Danielle hands to her. "Merci." Delphine looks down at her, her doe-eyes full of love, smiling like an idiot. Cosima was so adorable when she tried to speak French. Danielle sees the way that her daughter looks at the smaller girl and smiles to herself.
"Je suis tellement heureuse pour vous Delphine" She says. Delphine simply nods in agreement before taking a sip of her wine.
__
The night is going better than Cosima could have planned. Although every now and again Delphine has to translate for her or correct her French, the conversation is flowing, as are the drinks.
"I did! Je promets!" Louis shouts, placing his palm across his chest.
"Non, vous n’avez pas! You did not" Chloe replies. Shaking her head in disbelief, quickly adding the English when she remembers Cosima is there.
"Albert," He says, looking towards Delphine’s father, "Tell Chloe that I once fought a wolf"
"Oui, Chloe, il l’a fait" Albert replies very seriously, before banging his hand on the table and shouting "Si vous considérez un labrador un loup!" The whole table bursts into fits of laughter, whilst Louis just sips his beer and shakes his head, mumbling something to himself about the dog being 4 foot tall.
Mathieu and Dominique are playing on the swing set in the garden. Mathieu shouts for his maman and Dominique shouts for ‘Delphy’. She gives Cosima a quick peck on the cheek before joining Chloe with the children. Delphine’s mother smiles as she watches her daughter push Dominique on the swing. She turns to Cosima and takes her hands, who is at first a bit surprised, but slowly warms to the touch. “She will make a great maman, my Delphine”
"I know" Cosima responds, honestly. She often thinks about their future. She knows that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Delphine, to raise a family with her.
"Pourquoi ne vas-tu pas nous avez un peu de vin Danielle?" Albert says calmly. There is no emotion in his voice, but Cosima can tell he wants to change the subject. Danielle gets up from the table and walks towards the kitchen. Leaving Cosima, Louis and Albert at the table. It is almost as if Louis can read their minds as he excuses himself and follows Danielle into the house, heading for the bathroom.
Cosima coughs lightly the break the silence that hangs over the two of them. Albert doesn’t turn to look at her, and simply continues watching Delphine and Chloe playing with the two children. “Um, Monsieur Cormier?” She begins, trying to ignore the lump in her throat.
"Oui?" He replies calmly, eyes still fixed on his daughter.
"Your daughter and I have been together for years, I love her very much. J’aime son beaucoup." She continues, trying her best to speak slow so that he can understand her, repeating the last part in French so that he truly understands how much she loves his daughter.
"I plan on spending the rest of my life with her. Je veux demander à votre fille de m’épouser. Dois-je votre bénédiction?" Cosima had learned the last phrase especially for this moment. She wants Albert to fully understand her intentions. She wants him to realise the levels that she is willing to go to in order to get his blessing.
He sighs. His shoulders slumping as he brings his hand to his forehead. ”Non.”
His words cut through the air and straight into Cosima’s heart. Her heart stops for a second and all she can hear is his simple response again and again in her brain. She looks at him in disbelief, fighting back tears. “What?”
"Non. Je n’approuve pas."
"But we’re in love! Elle m’aime et je l’aime."
"J’ai dit non!" He shouts in a whisper. His head turning rapidly to meet Cosima’s eyes and gives her a stare that could have killed her. He looks behind her and sees Danielle returning with a fresh bottle of wine, who sits down next to Cosima and pours her a glass.
"Is everything okay?" Danielle asks, sensing the tension that hangs in the air like pollution.
"Oui," Cosima smiles. Before looking back down the garden at Delphine, who has a Dominique wrapped up in her coat. A pain hits her in her heart as she her girlfriend looks up at her and waves, she knows that this life may never be a possibility for her any more.
__
"What’s wrong?" Delphine asks, her fingers brushing against Cosima’s cheek as they cuddle in her old bed. Cosima looks at her girlfriend, her eyes probably full of sadness and crushed hope, but she shakes her head and replies."Nothing. I’m fine"
"Non, tell me"
Cosima spins herself around so that her back is facing Delphine. She doesn’t want to act like this but she can’t tell her the truth. She cant tell her girlfriend that her father has crushed all of her hopes for the future. She can’t tell her that right now she hates her father with the heat of a thousand suns. So she allows herself to be the villain. “Is it something I’ve done?” Delphine asks, not turning to hold Cosima like she normally would do.
"No. I told you. I’m fine. Can we just go to sleep?"
Delphine sighs, before turning so her back is also to Cosima. She doesn’t have the energy to argue, not after their long flight and having to stay up with her family and catch up. “Je taime” She offers before closing her eyes and burying her head into the pillows.
"I love you too".
__
Cosima wakes up before Delphine. The pillow beneath her wet with tears, which she quickly turns around to hide from her girlfriend. Delphine’s face is illuminated by the warm, French sun, and her hair takes on an ethereal glow. Cosima can’t help but watch her for a few minutes, taking her in. She thinks to herself how lucky she is that she found this angel, and that by some miracle she loves her back. However, this joy quickly turns into sadness as she remembers the conversation with Delphine’s father the night before.
She pulls on some shorts and a tank top before adding a robe on top to be fully sure she doesn’t embarrass Delphine’s parents before heading downstairs to get some breakfast.
"Bon matin Cosima" Danielle smiles, looking up from her newspaper.
"Bon matin" She replies, taking the seat opposite her at the table.
"Breakfast?"
"Oui, please, er, s’il vous plaît"
Danielle stands up from her place at the table and starts to make Cosima breakfast. “Do you mind?” Cosima asks, gesturing towards the paper.
"Non, of course not"
"Merci"
Cosima starts to flick through the paper until she reaches the showbiz section, figuring that pop-culture is pretty much the same throughout the western world. She gets lost for a moment in the trivial celebrity gossip, it gives her the slight escape she needs. She doesn’t hear Delphine come down the stairs, so is shocked when she feels her arms slip round her waist and her soft blonde curls fall on her shoulder.
"Bon matin ma cherie" She whispers into Cosima’s ear. Cosima can feel her own heart flutter and the big, lazy grin that stretches across her face. She tilts her head to the side to rest on the blonde’s, enjoying the feel of her hair against her face before lifting her head up to catch the her girlfriends lips in a quick kiss.
Danielle sits back down at the table, looking at the two girls whilst placing a plate of bacon and eggs at the table. Delphine looks at the plate confused, before looking up at her mother. “Qu’est-ce que c’est?”
"La nourriture américaine" Danielle smiles. Cosima shoves the bacon in her mouth, moaning at the saltiness and crispiness. The other women laugh and Delphine runs her hand over her girlfriends shoulder. Cosima looks up confused, but smiling. She feels accepted by Danielle. She knows that if Danielle knew about Albert’s dismissal, she would be furious. But it’s not her place.
"What is the plan for today maman?" Delphine asks, still looking at Cosima, now concerned with the glaze that is falling over Cosima’s eyes.
"Nothing, Louis and Chloe are coming again with Mathieu. Dominque is asleep. You can stay here with us or go out, your choice chéris"
Delphine nudges Cosima to bring her back to earth. “Hmm?” She questions.
"What do you say? Stay in the house today or go out?"
Cosima sighs, she definitely doesn’t want to stay in and be around Albert, but she also knows she is still far too tired from the plane and lack of sleep last night to be of any use to Delphine today.
"I’d um, rather stay in, if that’s okay?"
"Of course" Delphine replies, still looking into Cosima’s eyes, pleading with her to tell her what is wrong. "Finish up," She adds, removing her hands from Cosima’s shoulders defeated. "We’d better get ready for when Oncle Louis and Tata Chloe show up."
__
Cosima spent most of the day playing with Mathieu, and Delphine spent most of the day playing with Dominique. They didn’t mean to spend it separately but Cosima knew how much Dominique needed Delphine, and Mathieu just wanted to play on his new ukulele, and Cosima was more than happy to teach him some American and Canadian pop. (The beauty of being from San Fran but living in Toronto).
Half-way through an instrumental version of Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson, Albert walks into the living room and gives Cosima a glare so cold she could freeze on the spot. He walks away eventually, joining the rest of the adults in the garden. She snaps, all of the anger she’s been holding in for the last 18 hours spills out and she grips the ukulele so tight it almost breaks.
"Hey, Mat, you wanna play a new Canadian song?"
"Oui, yes!" He nods back enthusiastically.
"Awesome! Right, so this song really means a lot to me right now, think we can play it extra loud?"
"YES! YES!" Mathieu is practically jumping up and down with excitement.
She starts to teach him the basic chords that she pulls up on her phone, going through it over and over until he picks up on the right rhythm of the song and the right strumming pattern.
"Wow, you’re super good Mat, you want to be a musician when you grow up?" He nods, brow furrowed, focusing on the small screen in front of him.
"You gonna sing?"
"Non, trop anglais"
"I guess I’ll have to then" She nudges him playfully, and he counts her in, counting to four in his best English.
Cosima starts out quiet, suddenly thinking her anger was childish and all this will do is make it harder for Albert to agree. But as she gets to the end of the first verse she is filled with courage and loudly sings. “Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes ‘cause I need to know” She smiles at the thought of having Delphine forever, but then bites back tears as she continues, “You say I’ll never get your blessing ‘til the day I die, tough luck, my friend, but the answer is ‘No’”.
Her and Mathieu stand up, dancing slowly to the slow, reggae-type beat, and he starts to strum loudly like they had planned. “Why you gotta be so rude? Don’t you know I’m human too?” She yells, tears still fighting to break out. “I’m gonna marry her anyway!” Her and Mathieu continue to dance around and laugh. Cosima shouts random lines so that Albert can hear. “You know she’s in love with me. She will go anywhere I go!”
After the song they crash down on the floor, both laughing so hard and high-fiving. Mathieu doesn’t even know why he’s laughing, he just knows that Cosima’s laugh is infectious and that as long as she is happy, he is happy too. But her laughter is soon cut short.
"Ce que le baiser?!" Albert is tearing through the kitchen towards Cosima and Mathieu in the living room. "LAISSER, MATHIEU, MAINTENANT!" Mathieu runs from the sofa, clutching his ukulele from his chest and crying.
"Hey, you leave him out of this." Cosima shouts, pointing her finger at Albert. "This is all your fault anyway!" She shoves her finger into his chest.
"Ma faute?" He laughs, as if he cannot believe what he is hearing, "non, c’est vous! you have…corrupted…ma fille!"
"Corrupted? Elle m’aime!"
"Non"
"Yes! She does."
"Elle ne le fait pas" He shakes his head, trying to knock Cosima’s words out of her head. "Je ne le permettrai pas."
There is a moment of silence. “Papa?”
Both spin round to see Delphine on the stairs looking confused and upset. “What is this?” She looks between the two of them. Cosima’s face full of an anger she had never seen since she found out Delphine had hidden the identity of the stem cell donor.
"Delphine, I’m sorry" Cosima starts, but Delphine raises her hand to stop her.
"Non, not you, cherie." She looks at her father. Waiting for his response. "Est-il vrai?"
"Delphine" He says, seriously.
"Avez-vous dit à Cosima qu’elle ne peut pas se marier avec moi?" She states, her voice firm but not shouting. She does not want to cause a scene. She doesn’t want her mother to be worried.
He looks down to the ground. “Oui”.
She looks up to the ceiling. “D’accord. Cosima, will you come upstairs please?” Cosima looks to her, not expecting this calm reaction. She almost feels hurt that Delphine is not as angry as she is. “We need to pack. We are leaving. I will not stay any longer with him”. She runs down the stairs to grab Cosima’s hand and drags her upstairs.
__
"Delphine, non! Dont go." Her mother is screaming as Delphine is packing up the car. Cosima is sat in the front, her head resting on the dashboard. Tears falling from her eyes like a tsunami tide. She can’t help but feel guilty. She doesn’t want to be the reason that Delphine is upset. She wants her girlfriend’s family to like her, not blame her for their little girl moving away for good.
"I have to maman. Je suis tres desolee, mais, Je ne peux pas rester avec lui." She shrugs, and pulls her mother into a tight hug. "Je taime. You will be invited to our wedding." She gets into the car and waves to her mother before driving off.
They sit in silence for hours, Cosima sleeps as her girlfriend drives. Delphine keeps running her hand through her hair, and across Cosima’s thigh. She stops the car eventually and Cosima looks out of the window. She can see tall, white buildings with balconies. “Where are we Del?” She manages, still tired.
"Paris. I wanted to show you around" Her girlfriend smiles, taking her hand in her own. "We have a lot to see."
Delphine takes Cosima sightseeing, trying everything she can to let the smaller girl know that she does not blame her for what happened earlier. As the day draws to a close and the street lights flicker on, Delphine takes Cosima towards the Eiffel Tower. The long walk to the top gives Cosima plenty of time to go over what happened today back at the house. She had shouted at Albert Cormier. She had made Delphine fall out with her father and now, she thinks, Danielle must hate her too.
"I’m so sorry Delphine" She says, nuzzling into her girlfriends coat. "I was just so angry at him. I didn’t want you to fall out, I just wanted him to understand what he’d done"
"Cherie, I told you. You don’t need to be sorry. You were right to be angry with him. I am too". She wraps her arm around Cosima’s shoulder and pulls her close. They stay like that until they reach the top. Cosima instinctively runs to the edge, only the railing stopping her from tumbling straight off the edge she moves so quickly. She looks out at the city in front of her. All tall white buildings surrounded by green grass and busy streets. She can see faint outlines of people beneath her. She wonders where they are going. Who they love. If they are in love. If they hurt anyone today.
"Cosima?" She hears her name from those beautiful French lips. She turns round, expecting to come eye to eye with her girlfriend, but she doesn’t. Delphine is on one knee in front of her, holding out a small leather box. In the box sits a gold band, topped with a beautiful, clear diamond. It was obvious that it didn’t come cheap. "Ma cherie, I am sorry for my father. If you would still have me, despite his stubbornness, I want you be yours forever. Cosima, I love you more than I ever thought possible. I wasn’t supposed to fall for you, but I did" A slight smile creeps onto Delphine’s serious face as she repeats what she said all those years ago, "veux-tu m’épouser? will you marry me?"
Cosima tries to hide the shock on her face. She was definitely not expecting this. Not after what had happened today. Had Delphine planned this all along? Or had she done this in the spur of the moment. Cosima realises that she hasn’t replied, and that all of this contemplation had been done in her head. Delphine was still on the floor, the optimism fading from her face with every passing second, feeling foolish now in front of all of these people.
"Of course, Oui" Cosima whispers breathlessly, nodding. "Come here" She drops to her knees to hug Delphine, pressing kisses to the side of her face. "Are you sure Del? Are you really sure?"
"Cosima, I have had this planned for months. This was my idea all along."
"I love you so much,"
"Je sais. Et Je t’aime aussi."