Chapter Text
It was 10:43 on a Friday evening when Cosima Niehaus first got wasted. She had never really been a fan of alcohol, probably because it only took two shots for her to feel like shit the next morning. Whenever her friends wanted to party, she would just smoke a bowl and relax. She didn’t want to relax that night, though. She just wanted to forget. So when Andrew from her Organic Chemistry lab had invited her to a house party back at his frat for the billionth time, she found herself accepting the invite for the first time.
When the officers the next morning asked her about the party, Cosima didn’t remember much. She remembered taking too many shots of Fireball. She remembered gyrating to the booming EDM with a hot blonde, the music’s bass pounding in sync with her rapidly beating heart. She remembered taking the woman upstairs and watching her come undone beneath her, despite not knowing her name. She didn’t remember leaving the party. She certainly didn’t remember driving her car into a telephone pole, a block from her house.
But the police had footage from the nearby traffic light, and the nurse had the results of her blood test showing her blood alcohol levels at .21.
She cannot forget the judge’s scratchy voice as he sentenced Cosima to three months of probation. She cannot forget the look of disappointment in her grandmother’s eyes when she picked Cosima up from the courthouse. She refused to forget the warmth and understanding that she so easily heard in her Aunt Siobhan’s voice when she first called to ask for help.
Siobhan Sadler was not of any blood relation to Cosima Niehaus, but that never stopped the older woman from treating Cosima like family. Back in college, Siobhan and Cosima’s mother, Anne, had been roommates. The two were inseparable. That is, until Siobhan was offered her dream job working at an outdoor education school in Northern California. Twenty-five years later, Siobhan now ran the school, Wyatt Hill Ranch, and Cosima was stuck in a rickety old bus on her way to the campus.
Cosima had always disliked buses. She was always the smallest in her class, and was often teased in the unsupervised school bus. It wasn’t until today, however, that Cosima realized she despised them. Her hatred might have had something to do with the lack of air conditioning or the multitude of pot holes in the road. If Cosima had been honest with herself, though, she would find that she didn’t hate the bus, she hated where the bus was leading her.
When Siobhan first learned about the specifications of Cosima’s parole, she insisted that her niece worked the three months of her school vacation at Wyatt Hill’s summer program. After all, Cosima needed to be employed and the ranch provided free room and board for all of their naturalists.
Siobhan saw the plan as mutually beneficial for both parties, but Cosima couldn’t help but dread the next ten weeks in Marin. The ranch just held too many memories that she just wasn’t ready to confront.
After an hour of winding through bumpy old roads in the golden Marin hills, the bus abruptly came to a stop in the middle of nowhere.
“Excuse me,” Cosima questioned the driver. He raised a bushy eyebrow at her in his rearview mirror.
“Is this the stop for Wyatt Hill?” He nodded silently. Cosima winced as she looked down the long winding road into a thick forest of trees.
“Granted it’s been a really long time since I’ve been to the campus, but I’m pretty sure it had like buildings and cabins and whatnot.”
The sleepy bus driver’s face remained as stoic as ever. “It’s just down the road,” he drawled.
It took every ounce of willpower the young brunette had to not roll her eyes at the infuriating old man. Instead, she picked up her backpack and duffle bag, shuffled through the empty seats, and exited the rickety bus.
In a few minutes the vehicle had finally disappeared around a bend. Cosima turned towards the school’s entrance and began to lug her bags into the forest. She walked steadily for a solid ten minutes until a melodious bird call distracted her from her destination. The brunette wandered a few feet off of the road into the dense forest, but couldn’t seem to find the bird whose call she found so enchanting.
She stepped out onto what appeared to be a sturdy ledge to further investigate the bird when suddenly the ground gave way. It took a few moments for Cosima to notice she was no longer standing up right on the cliff, but now tumbling down into a small raving. The petite woman crashed into a streaming creek down below.
Cosima didn’t dare move. The icy cold water flowed slowly around her, but she couldn’t find it in her to climb out. Maybe this was how things were supposed to go, she thought. This seemed like an easy way to go. After all, it would only take a few minutes for her oxygen deprived brain to just go loopy. She would rather die loopy than coughing up blood and gasping for air like her mother did.
It seemed the cards were not aligned for Cosima to die that afternoon, though. Before she could decide to stand or not, she felt two strong arms wrap around her torso and pull her from the shallow water. Instinctually, she gasped for breath as soon as she reached the surface. Whoever had saved her from the water didn’t let go of Cosima until she was safely resting on the bank.
“Are you alright?” Cosima froze upon hearing the warm voice with a thick French accent
The soaking wet brunette slowly turned towards her savior. There, crouched behind Cosima, sat the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her blonde wavy hair glistened in the sunlight streaming through the oak trees.
“Huh?” Cosima replied ever so gracefully.
The blonde smiled, causing Cosima’s stomach to feel like butter on hot bread. She picked up Cosima’s hands and slowly began investigating her palms and arms. The taller woman’s face grew more and more concerned at each cut she found on the soaking wet girl.
“We aren’t far from my cabin. If you think you can make it, I would be happy to get you bandaged up.”
Cosima shook her head, “Oh, no. I’m fine-”
“Please,” the woman interrupted. “I insist.”
Cosima can’t help but smile at the woman.
“Did you lose anything at the top of the hill?” the blonde questioned.
“Just my bags… and my dignity.”
The woman chuckled, “I will get Felix to grab those for you.”
“Oh, Felix,” Cosima could’t help but feel disappointed. “It must be romantic, living out in the woods with your boyfriend.”
A loud laugh poured from the blonde’s mouth. “Oh I don’t think I could handle having Felix as a boyfriend. He’s my best friend.” She winks at Cosima.
At that point, Cosima decided it was best to keep her mouth shut until they arrived at the other woman’s cabin. That way she could spare herself from any more embarrassing situations.
The blonde woman wound through the trees expertly. She obviously knew these woods like the back of her hand. Out of nowhere, a small wooden cabin appeared within a small clearing. Cosima followed the taller woman inside her cabin. She gestured at the kitchen table, and Cosima quickly took a seat.
“So, what are you doing out here in the woods, uh-”
“Cosima,” the brunette replied. “I’m, uh, here to work at this dinky summer camp my aunt runs just down the road.”
The other woman raised her brows but did not question any further.
“And you? Why is such a beautiful woman, as yourself, hidden out in these woods?”
Before the blonde had a chance to answer, the door to her cabin swung open. There in the threshold is none other than Siobhan Sadler.
“Aunt Siobhan?” Cosima glanced between the woman wrapping her injuries and her aunt.
“Cosima, love,” Siobhan squealed. “When did you get here? I see you’ve already met our senior naturalist, Delphine.”
Cosima’s mouth hung open as she stared at Delphine. “Y-you-”
Delphine’s smile was forced. “Yes, I work at that…”she cleared her throat, “camp down the road you were mentioning.”