Chapter Text
Saturday was Cosima’s favourite day of the week because Saturday in the Niehaus-Cormier household was a chill day. It was all about kicking back and doing whatever they wanted.
On this particular Saturday, Cosima wanted nothing more than to recline back on her couch and watch some trash TV.
Cosima grimaced at the television, her thumb hammering down on the remote control buttons, flicking through the same channels for the third time.
‘I honestly don’t know why we pay for cable, there’s never anything to watch,’ Cosima huffed, settling for some mediocre horror movie that she had already seen.
Delphine looked up from the books she was marking, she had the weekend to get through at least half of her students papers, but trying to do anything whilst Cosima was bored was extremely challenging.
‘You could work on your dissertation, if you’re bored,’ Delphine responded tapping the pen against her lips in deep thought, before scribbling something down on the paper in front of her.
Cosima’s eyebrows furrowed at Delphine’s suggestion and she turned her head to look at her. ‘God no, I need a day off from staring at my laptop…I swear the words lately look all jumbled together,’ she mumbled reaching over and snatching the paper from Delphine’s lap. ‘Wow, does this girl seriously dot her ‘I’s’ with hearts? I thought that was some 90s rom-com bullshit.’
‘Hey, come on. I have so much left to do Cosima, give it back,’ Delphine pleaded, shooting Cosima her best mock glare. ‘And yes, you’d be surprised at how many of them think it makes their writing look more cute and endearing.’
Cosima sniggered in amusement and rolled her eyes, handing the paper back. ‘Delphine, it’s Saturday, you are meant to be watching this shitty movie with me, not marking the papers of these science-wannabe students.’
Delphine glanced over at the tv. The movie had reached a pinnacle point of the killer breaking into some girl’s house and grabbing a kitchen knife.
‘Rookie mistake… I mean who leaves a knife block in clear view like that?’ Cosima shook her head, sinking back into the couch. ‘I bet under that mask it’s her boyfriend…predictable and totally unoriginal,’ Cosima chuckled, her eyes glued to the screen.
Delphine snickered inattentively and once again began marking her exam papers. She had been teaching at the university for two years and she had grown to love all her students, she wanted nothing more than for them to succeed and for them to go out into the world and do amazing things. But, it was hard to grade their papers with inspiring, thought provoking comments when Cosima was intent on distracting her.
‘Of course she’s gonna take a shower, she will hear a noise downstairs, jump out the shower then…bam!’
Cosima drew her hand across her neck suggestively and then gurgled dramatically as her hands imitated the spurting of blood shooting out from her neck. She clutched a hand around her fake wound and let her body slump back into Delphine’s space, her head landing in Delphine lap with a soft thud.
Delphine’s lips formed a tight line, she took a deep inhale through her nose and let her shoulders slump down in defeat. ‘Mon amour, I love you…but you are getting on my nerves,’ Delphine admonished fondly resisting the urge to smile as she looked down at Cosima.
Cosima’s eyes crinkled happily as she met Delphine’s, and the corners of her lips turned upwards. There was nothing she loved more than making Delphine smile. It never took long. A sarcastic remark, a bad joke, or the way she butchered the French accent purposely. Soon enough, she was grinning, and so was Cosima.
Delphine lowered her head to meet Cosima’s lips in a soft kiss. Their lips brushed together slowly, the familiarity of the caress making them both sigh contentedly into it.
Then slowly they parted but kept mere inches away from each-other. It didn’t matter how many times they had kissed over the years, Delphine never got used to the way it made her heart swell or her breath stutter shakily from her chest.
Cosima’s eyes grew darker as they met Delphine’s, and she reached up to gently wrap her fingers around Delphine’s neck urging her down for another kiss, a deeper kiss. Where before their kiss had been gentle, a kiss of affection, this time it was laced with desire.
It wasn’t long before Delphine’s paperwork was forgotten about, discarded carelessly on the floor as they shifted to stretch out along the couch. Their hands started trailing over soft curves and their mouths parted to taste more of each other, their bodies subconsciously beginning to rock together as they lost themselves in the moment.
Delphine’s mouth had started trailing heated kisses down Cosima’s neck when the sound of the front door rattling open startled them both.
There wasn’t enough time for them to recover from their shock and correct their positions before Arthur and Donnie came bursting into the room screaming and whacking each other with toy swords.
Arthur stopped swinging his sword as his eyes fell upon them and he pointed it at them accusingly. ‘You two were kissing!’
‘Ew! That’s yucky,’ Donnie added making a face of disgust as he joined Arthur to stare down at them.
Muffled, hurried footsteps stampeded into the house and Cosima heard a familiar voice bellow after the twins, ‘Boys! I told you to bloody wait.’
Sarah appeared in a blur of moving dark hair and leather, a little breathless and her eyes bulging slightly out of her head in surprise to Cosima and Delphine’s position.
‘Uh, sorry guys,’ she offered, her hands instantly going to the back of the boys heads and rocking them forward in reprimand. ‘You can’t just barge into your aunts house, it’s rude and you might be interrupting,’ Sarah added, looking over the twins heads to quirk her eyebrow knowingly at them.
‘But they were kissing!’ Arthur repeated in horror making Cosima laugh as he poked his sword at them again while him and Donnie started making smooching noises.
Delphine blushed fiercely in embarrassment and quickly sat upright, smoothing down her clothes, and reached for her paperwork to hide behind.
‘And I’ll kiss you two in a minute if you don’t go play,’ Cosima threatened with a smile, sitting up to grab at them both, and smothering their cheeks in kisses, making them shriek and squirm and run away. ‘I’ve left slime and Lego in the playroom for you,’ she called after them and smiled when they yelled back a joined, ‘thanks, Auntie Cosima!’
‘You’re early,’ Delphine said, not meeting Sarah’s eyes. ‘We never would have gotten so… carried away if we knew you were coming now.’
‘I did text you both but neither of you bloody check your phones, I have to meet Kira earlier than expected,’ Sarah responded in explanation, her lips curling in amusement. ‘Besides, it’s like 2pm on an average Saturday, I didn’t expect to find you guys so hot and horny.’
‘My wife’s a total babe, what can I say?’ Cosima smirked even as Delphine blushed an even deeper shade of red that made her reach back to swat reproachfully at Cosima’s arm.
‘I really do have to grade these papers,’ Delphine justified. ‘Which I was doing before someone got handsy.’
Sarah held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘Hey, no need to convince me, Dr Cormier… although from what I saw it was you on top, not Cos.’
‘Goodbye, Sarah,’ Delphine mumbled sheepishly, knowing Sarah had caught her out, and quickly gathered the rest of her papers to make her hasty retreat.
Cosima’s amused smile mirrored Sarah’s as they watched Delphine disappear from the room.
‘You’re such an ass,’ Cosima chided with a laugh.
Sarah shrugged, the sound of the boys bounding around upstairs drew Cosima’s attention and she stood up to throw her arms around Sarah in a quick, parting hug knowing she was going to have her hands full.
‘Cosima!’ Delphine called down in annoyance, and Sarah’s eyes widened once more in fear this time.
‘You better go sort the little terrors out. Delphine sounds all scary headteacher-y,’ Sarah joked.
‘Yeah,’ Cosima agreed with a smile, imagining Delphine’s icy stern gaze as she heard her chide the boys in panicked French and then, ‘please don’t touch that boys, it’s very expensive.’
Cosima opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by the sound of something shattering on the ground. The sound echoed for a moment before she heard Donnie let out a panicked sob.
‘Yeah I definitely have to go,’ Sarah announced with a tight lipped smile. ‘Good luck, Cos.’
Cosima watched her sister shut the door behind herself, and she took a deep breath to steady herself before she made her way towards the stairs.
While the boys shared Helena’s wild feral energy, there was significant differences between them. Ironically, Donnie took after his namesake being slightly more sensitive in nature, while Arthur was bullish and unrelenting. If Cosima had to guess what happened, she’d say there had probably been some pushing and shoving that had resulted in Donnie accidentally breaking something valuable, while Arthur shook it all off brazenly, not a care in the world and leaving his brother teary and regretful.
‘Don’t be such a sissy,’ Arthur teased, punching Donnie on the arm.
Donnie wiped the tears from his eyes and walked into Delphine’s open arms. He threw his arms around her shoulders and she scooped him up into a comforting hug.
‘Whoa, Rocky, no hitting your brother, okay?’ Cosima teased ruffling Arthur’s hair, whilst moving the shattered pieces of china to the side of the hallway.
Cosima’s gaze shifted to Delphine. She felt her heart swell in her chest watching her wife hold Donnie. Delphine was a natural when it came to children and it only made Cosima love her more, if that was even possible.
‘I’m sorry, Auntie Delphine,’ Donnie sniffed, prying himself from Delphine’s warm hug. He rubbed his face and gave her his best apologetic smile.
Delphine cupped Donnie’s little face and brushed away the remaining tears etched on his face. ‘Ca va, fais attention chérie,’ Delphine cautioned leaning in to kiss the side of his head and soothing his worries.
‘Hey, are you boys hungry?’ Cosima asked, already knowing the answer was going to be yes. The answer was always yes. Knowing the boys were coming over, Cosima and Delphine always made sure their fridge and cupboards were stocked up with their favourites, not that they were overly picky, they tended to share Helena’s love of horrifying combinations.
The twins heads quickly snapped back to look at Cosima, and they began nodding in sync.
‘I’m starving,’ Arthur declared. ‘Can we have turkey and Jello?’
‘No,’ Donnie cut in enthusiastically. ‘I want sardines and cheese!’
Delphine’s eyes locked with Cosima’s, her eyebrows raising in amusement and affection as the boys bickered back and forth. They were a total handful most of the time but Cosima knew she and Delphine wouldn’t have them any other way. They were weird and wild and unbelievably good natured and sweet at heart, they were everything Helena was and had learned to be mixed with a ridiculous dash of traits acquired from all the sestras, thanks to the time they’d spent with them all from such a young age.
‘Hey, little dudes, how about I make some wicked bacon pancakes?’ Cosima offered.
‘With chocolate chips,’ Arthur demanded.
‘And whipped cream,’ Donnie grinned.
Cosima couldn’t help but smile affectionately as she led them away back downstairs, glancing momentarily over her shoulder at Delphine to see her sharing her bemused smile as the bit back fond laughs.
———
‘Flip it!’ Donnie encouraged, helping himself to the already opened bag of chocolate chips.
The twins were sat at the breakfast bar watching Cosima prep the pancakes. They were beginning to get impatient and bored. To keep themselves entertained they snacked on the pancake toppings whilst arguing who was going to have the biggest stack.
‘Yeah flip it!’ Arthur piped up.
Cosima’s face broke into a toothy grin. She poured the pancake batter into the pan and pretended to look around the kitchen for Delphine. ‘I can’t Auntie Delphine is around … she would kill me,’ Cosima tells them.
The twins began laughing mischievously together as they slapped their hands on the breakfast bar countertop and chanted at Cosima to flip the pancake.
‘Maybe she can’t do it,’ Donnie turned his head, giving his brother a smug look.
Arthur crossed his arms looking at Cosima with a playful smirk. ‘We don’t think you can flip it!’
Cosima let out a scoff before turning her head to look at the two little boys. ‘You don’t think I can?’ she asked watching them as they shook their heads firmly at her. ‘Wow, okay, that totally sounds like a challenge. I don’t think you’re ready for this,’ Cosima chuckled and took the pan off the heat, positioning it in front of her.
‘Yeah!’ The twins yelled in excitement, practically falling off their seats as they watched in anticipation.
Cosima decided to go all out with her pancake toss. With steady hands she flipped the pan in the air not realising the batter hadn’t cooked properly. The soggy pancake flew out of the pan, hit the kitchen counter and slapped onto the floor at top speed.
Donnie and Arthur erupted with hysterical laughter, throwing their heads back and pointing at Cosima.
Cosima couldn’t stop herself from joining in and broke into a laugh, she placed the pan back on the hob and reached over for some kitchen towels.
‘That one doesn’t count, the first one always goes wrong,’ Cosima told them, doing her best to mop up the soggy batter on the kitchen floor.
‘Hey, what’s going on in here?’ Delphine asked walking into the kitchen. Her eyes began to dart around the room taking in the destruction.
Flour dusted the countertops, and smudges of batter dripped down the bowl and onto her beautiful hardwood floors. Donnie and Arthur both had chocolate smudged over their hands and Cosima was standing sheepishly holding a wad of kitchen towel that looked to be concealing something else messy.
‘It was totally them,’ Cosima pointed to the twins. ‘They’ve made all this mess.’
Arthur and Donnie gasped dramatically, their hands to their mouths in mock disbelief. They both began giggling with laughter as Cosima was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
‘Auntie Cosima threw the pancake in the sky and it fell on the floor!’ Arthur shrieked.
Delphine smirked, throwing Cosima a glare. ‘Is that true?’ she asked, pulling the carton of orange juice from the fridge. She grabbed the boys their special cups with their initials on from the cupboard and poured them a drink each.
Cosima leaned in close to Arthur and Donnie. ‘Snitches, the pair of you,’ she joked and began to tickle them into uncontrollable laughter.
Delphine moved towards Cosima and placed the pan back on the hob. She decided to ignore the mess; she would force Cosima into cleaning it up later.
‘Think you can do better? Go ahead,’ Cosima waved a dismissive arm in the air and joined the twins at the breakfast bar to watch Delphine.
Donnie leaned in closer to Delphine as the pancake started to cook. ‘Can you flip it?’ he whispered, his hopeful, wide eyes staring up at her as he waited for an answer.
‘For you, boys? Of course,’ Delphine told him with a small, confident smile, and flipped the pancake perfectly, not just once, but twice.
The twins clapped in unison as they watched Delphine begin to plate up the fluffy looking pancakes, their little fists clutched eagerly around their forks as they waited for their portions.
Cosima rolled her eyes affectionately. ‘Obvs they’re perfect. You probably went to a French patisserie class or some bullshit,’ Cosima teased tilting her head.
‘Cosima!’ Delphine scolded in a low hiss, passing another pancake to Donnie in the hope that it would distract him from the profanity that had just escaped her wife’s mouth.
Donnie was too busy eagerly squeezing the bottle of maple syrup onto his pancake to have been paying any real attention luckily. However, it didn’t look as though he had any intention of stopping until Delphine decided to take the bottle away from him.
Arthur on the other hand never missed a trick, he was always observing, always listening and making note. Far too clever for his own good, and Delphine knew Cosima was about to pay the price for her minor slip up.
‘You said a bad word, Auntie Cosima,’ Arthur pointed out, his tone serious and reprimanding even as he spoke with his mouth full of food and stabbed his fork in her direction.
His outburst quickly drew Donnie’s attention and he gulped down his mouthful of pancake so that he could join in the interrogation.
‘You have to give us a dollar,’ Donnie stated, immediately holding his hand out to Cosima and glaring at her expectantly.
Arthur smirked and held his own hand out. ‘He’s right, you owe us a dollar each.’
Cosima’s eyebrows furrowed and her mouth opened to argue but she was quickly cut off.
‘Mon Amour, you did tell them you would give them a dollar every time you cursed,’ Delphine reminded her, flashing her a smile and handing her a plate.
It wasn’t her fault that the boys picked up on everything. The only reason she’d had to come up with the idea of rewarding them with a dollar was to stop them from repeating her cursing back to Helena. With little experience around children other than Kira it had been a habit which was hard to curb at first, but she’d gotten so much better considering the boys stayed over so frequently. This had just been a little mistake, that’s all, and Cosima knew she was going to have to pay up.
Cosima shot Delphine a scandalised look at her complete treachery, and then looked to the twins, shaking her head in mock disbelief. ‘I guess I’m giving you guys a dollar,’ she agreed flatly.
She went to take a bite of her own pancakes, hoping the boys would be satisfied knowing they were going to get their money, but instead they stared at her with their hands out expectantly.
‘Jesus, okay,’ Cosima huffed out, standing to find her purse and handing them both a dollar. ‘Rob me blind why don’t you.’ Donnie grinned at his note but Arthur pinned her with a cheeky smile. ‘What?’ Cosima asked him.
‘Mom says you shouldn’t use Jesus’ name as a bad word,’ Arthur said boldly. ‘It’s blast-moo-foos. You need to give us another dollar.’
‘Blasphemous,’ Cosima corrected, saying the word slowly so they could take it in, and then slapped another dollar into their smug waiting hands.
Delphine laughed at Cosima’s defeat, and walked around to press a kiss to the top of the boys heads before moving to offer Cosima a conciliatory kiss on the cheek.
———
Hours later, after endless playing, a couple of children's movies, and a few more handfuls of snacks, the boys finally began to lose energy, their little bodies crashing from a mixture of the day’s excitement and their sugar highs. They were currently slumped comfortably against Delphine’s warm body as they slept through the cartoons they had asked to watch.
Arthur was asleep with his head in Delphine’s lap, his little lips parted as he snored softly while Delphine stroked her fingers through his wild hair. While Donnie was curled up against her side, nestled as tightly as he could get, his head lulled sweetly against Delphine’s chest as Delphine kept an arm wrapped protectively around him.
They looked so adorable and snug that Cosima couldn’t wait to join them when she was done in the kitchen.
The sound of the doorbell ringing startled Cosima from her thoughts and she hurried from where she was tidying up to answer the door.
Helena stood on the other side of the door, dressed casually, her bleach blonde hair as untamed as ever and a chicken drumstick clutched in her hand with a bite clearly missing.
‘Hello, Science Sestra,’ Helena greeted, chewing around a mouthful of her chicken.
Cosima blinked back at her in confusion. ‘Helena, hey. What are you doing here? Is everything okay? I thought we were having the boys over night?’
Helena took another bite of her drumstick and then pointed it at Cosima in a move so reminiscent of the boys that there could be no doubt they were Helena’s children.
‘Everything is fine,’ Helena answered. ‘I am here to collect boys. Sarah called and said you and doctor Delphine need some alone time.’
Cosima grimaced and shook her head, fucking Sarah and her big mouth. She was definitely getting her back for this one.
‘Nah, it’s all good,’ Cosima laughed, feeling a tad embarrassed. ‘Sarah was just joking I'm sure.’
Helena didn’t look convinced. ‘Sarah said boys interrupted you being dirty on couch. Do not be embarrassed. I will take boys home and let you get to the sex with your lady.’
Cosima glanced back at Delphine for help and watched as Delphine smiled at Helena and offered her a little wave.
‘Helena, why don’t you go home and relax, we love having the boys and they’re already asleep, we don’t want to wake them, do we?’ Delphine said lowly, loud enough for Helena to hear her and quiet enough that it wouldn’t disturb the sleeping twins.
‘That point is good,’ Helena replied, mulling the offer over. ‘They don’t stop bouncing off wall at home, and I have much relaxation to catch up on. I will come back in the morning for them.’
‘Awesome, you enjoy your chill time, we’ll see you tomorrow,’ Cosima replied, giving Helena a parting hug and watching her disappear back out of the the front door.
Cosima turned to join Delphine on the couch, never tiring of seeing her wife with the twins, it stirred something deep within her that she couldn’t quite explain. All she knew was that this is exactly what she wanted for many years to come; her beautiful, smart wife, her ridiculous nephews and nieces, her sestras who she loved more than any words could possible say.
They were family in every sense of the word and Cosima couldn’t imagine her life without these moments.