Cosima Niehaus was pretty sure she heard her alarm go off 4 times already, there may have

been a phone call or two, she isn’t sure.

The fifth time her subconscious hears another disturbance, she springs up like she knew she
had to leave 30 minutes ago but hadn’t.

Scott Smith calling…

“Heeey Scotty.” she yawns to the phone.

“Cosima, where are you? It’s getting harder and harder to save your seat. The class is filling up.
~Hey no! Bag on the seat means it’s taken. ~Not cool man, late comers should sit in the back.
~They’re in the restroom! Cos-“

She hangs up, looks at the time and gets ready faster than she’s ever had before.

Of all the days to be late, my first day to the PhD program I worked my butt off to get into
shouldn’t be one of them!

Her usual shower gets reduced to a 5-minute rinse, she applies her eyeliner and pops a half-
eaten granola bar from the fridge to her mouth before she’s out the door… only to have to
retrace her steps back inside to the bathroom because she always forgets her glasses.

Been wearing these things for half my life yet I can never seem to remember them! Get a grip,
Niehaus!

She gets in her car, a red 1967 VW Beetle and prays it starts after the first attempt.. it doesn’t.
Nor the second, third, fourth, and finally on the fifth, the engine comes alive.

“That’s it, baby! Be good for mama and get us to school. Crap, I hope this Dr. Leekie fella
doesn’t turn out to be a ball buster on the first day.”

The minute she finds a place to park her car, she’s off to the far end of the building, slowing
down only when she’s near the door and could hear the professor making announcements.

She makes herself look presentable as an attempt to save face. Might as well look decent when
you’re going down.

“…And due to a series of very unfortunate events, I’m here. Any questions?” French. That
accent was unmistakably French.
The blonde professor raises an eyebrow and clasps her hands together behind her as Cosima
tries her best to brush off the odd looks sent her way as she makes a beeline for Scott’s
backpack.

“Dude you brought a backpack? On the first day? Of graduate school?” She whispers, sitting
down. Scott’s backpack carelessly tossed on his lap. “And did you really have to pick seats up
front?” She’s aware of the audience she’s garnered but Cosima is dead set on ignoring them.

Thank God Leekie decided to be my saving grace and continue on with her announcements.
Maybe today won’t be so bad after all. She smiles to herself and starts to thank some God she
long stopped believing in.

“Since it’s our first day, I will allow it this once, but I want to be very clear that I do not tolerate
tardiness. Not in deadlines and not in attendance.” The French woman addresses the class
sternly. Cosima sinks lower in her seat because that was obviously for her benefit and everyone
knew it too.

It’s time to face the music, I guess.

She stands up and was about to say her apologies, but the blonde woman looked straight at her
before she could even get the words out and Cosima, for the first time in her twenty-five years
of living, was stunned into silence.

Chestnut eyes. Beauty marks all over. Pink lips. I didn’t expect a well-established microbiologist
with mountains of researches published to be this… young.

“Yes? Is there something you would like to say?” The blonde professor was about to grab her
arm when she snaps out of her musings.

“Oh. I’m sorry, what?” Cosima lets out a nervous chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood but
is not so well received by the blonde.

“I asked how you would identify genes from methylated or unmethylated CpG data.” The
blonde does not hesitate, and a collective gasp can be heard from the class that’s seemingly
being morphed into the background.

As if on cue, everyone starts booting up their computers and hitting the internet for answers,
afraid to be called on next when the stuttering brunette wouldn’t be able to give the correct
answer.

Cosima takes another second to fully comprehend that she was just asked a question seemingly
out of the blue, if the frantic looks of her classmates are of any indication. Apparently, she took
a second too long because the blonde professor is marching closer to her, hand on one hip and
a pointed look.
“Quel est tu nom?!” The blonde all but demands, losing her composure.

“Oh! Uh. Cosima.”

The blonde steps back in shock. I had said that in French, right? Elle connaît le français?

“Well, Cosima. I believe I asked you a question. Does your answer want to keep me waiting
much like you have all morning?”

A few snorts and snickers in the background but they pay the others no mind, too lost in their
own world.

“I’m sorry. You were asking how to map CpG sites to its potentially regulated gene, right?” The
brunette spoke with such confidence and charisma that the blonde is left unsure if this is the
same stuttering student that was late to her class. Cosima’s hand gestures and erratic waving
could make an Italian blush, the blonde was sure of it.

“In… euh… how do you say, layman’s terms, oui.” The professor continues to cross her arms in
annoyance. Of course, Cosima was listening, she was just having a really really hard time
focusing. It’s not like it’s her fault anyway, she just has a thing for blondes. Tall, French, blondes
in particular apparently.

Jesus, she’s probably twice your age and just uses really good face cream she buys with her
research money. And she’s probably married. With icky children. She’s definitely straight.

“Cosima! I really don’t like to be left waiting. Are you still with us?”

“Yes… uh… oui! So, the majority of HM450 probes are located in promoters, right? Well, I’d just
need to select the gene whose TSS is closest to the CpG, obvs.” Cosima pauses and the blonde
seems to be satisfied with her answer, if not completely shocked by the words being spewed
out by the brunette. “But what if the CpG is located in the distal regulatory regions…” She
smiles, her tongue peeking in between her teeth. “If that’s so, then that is when mapping it to
genes gets tricky. We could always try the Genomic Regions Enrichment of Annotations Tool,
though. I guess that’d work. I haven’t tried it out myself, but it’d be pretty cool… or should I say,
‘GREAT’.”

For half a second, Cosima thinks she’d gone too far. But not a second more, the entire class
erupts in laughter, even the broody blonde seems to be having a hard time trying to hide a
smile too. But she was too obvious, and Cosima already saw.

The blonde narrows her eyes once again, zeroing in on the brunette who seems to think she
just dodged a bullet and is ready to take her seat.
“And how would you determine the methylation level surrounding the CpG sites if your odds
weren’t so… ‘GREAT’?”

Cosima stands straight back up and looks at the blonde. She wouldn’t know the answer to this.
It’s more advanced than what was being asked for her first year. She shouldn’t know. But she
does. And if it weren’t for the playful glint in the blonde’s eyes, challenging her, she had nothing
holding her back from speaking up about how unfair of a question that was.

But the blonde professor shrugs and nods at Cosima ever so subtly, you wouldn’t see it if you
weren’t paying attention. So, she humors her.

“Simple. I’d do a targeted bisulfite sequencing using that same 450K array locus with CG IDs.
Same equipment but really get in there, y’know?” Cosima shrugs and returns the blonde’s
hidden smile.

The blonde merely nods before she composes herself and returns to addressing the whole class
about topics and expected performances from everyone.

Woah okay, hot then cold. I’m so screwed.

“Dude, how did you know what to say! Are you wearing Google glasses?” Scott whisper-yells,
always Cosima’s number one fan.

“Photographic memory, remember?” Cosima points to her head as if it’s common knowledge
when in fact, it’s something she keeps very private. She’s always been a tad insecure about her
intellect. She knows she’s brilliant, but people treat you differently when you’re special and it’s
so much easier to just blend in. She stands out enough as it is.

“How can I forget? That thing is terrifying! I still can’t believe you aced the SATs! Four years
later and I’m still in shock you got a 1600! The only one that year too!” They laugh amongst
themselves but one look from the blonde and they go back to listening about the lecture and
consultation proper.

As the class concludes, everyone starts making their way to the exit.

“I’ll see you later! Gotta run to the other side of the campus. Please feed Denise, Cosima. It’s
only till tomorrow and then I can take her home.” Scott stands up and clasps is hand together
to beg Cosima. She was never particularly a cat person. Why she agreed to catsit Denise, she’ll
never know.

“I will Scotty! I don’t know where you get the idea that I’m not a good cat-auntie.” Cosima
glances around the room. Everyone’s sure taking their sweet time down those steps.
“Cos, please, you can’t even remember her name with that big brain of yours! You call her ‘that
cat’.” He crosses his arms in front of him and raises his eyebrows at her.

“Are you gonna go to your next orientation any time soon?” She says with her own raising of
her eyebrow. It shouldn’t be hard to remember that cat’s name, really. But who name’s their
cat Danielle! She scoffs at her friend.

“Fine, fine, just feed Denise!” Scott waves goodbye as he makes his way out the door.

Cosima shakes her head at her friend, deciding to check on her phone while waiting for the
other, bigger, students to exit. She absolutely refuses to get trampled on and make herself look
even more foolish in front of the gorgeous blonde professor.

Dad [8:02 AM]: Good luck today, kid! Do your old man proud! Try to make it on time though.
Wouldn’t want to be that person who was late to the very first day of adult school!

Mom [8:06 AM]: I’m so proud of you, sweetie! Promise you’ll call your father and I when you
finish your day. We want to hear all about it!

Dad [8:09 AM]: Convinced Jay to grill celebratory steak tonight. Since you’re not here, I get it all
to myself. Don’t tell your mother.

She lets out a chuckle and rolls her eyes at her father. Jay is their butler who’s become one of
her dad’s closest friends. They like to bust out the grill whenever I did something worthy of a
celebration. Mostly, my dad just liked to use my achievements as an excuse to eat unhealthily.
My mom was never a fan, so he uses Jay as his ‘fall guy’ and me as an excuse when I’ve been
vegetarian my whole life. He rarely gets away with anything.

I miss them already.

Growing up an only child, though adopted, she was spoiled rotten and had everything laid out
in front of her which is why Cosima Niehaus had to work twice as hard her whole life to prove
that she belongs in a program just like this.

She figured out her family is above the working class, like way above, pretty early on, if the
private schools and the butler and housekeepers weren’t enough indication. She loves her
parents to death, and she doesn’t resent the fact that they have money, but she will not accept
her achievements being handed to her on a silver platter.

She replies a quick ‘dad, I don’t eat meat’ and an ‘I love you’ to her parents, promising to call
them later and makes her way to the door which, thankfully, is already clear of giant students.

“Cosima.” Co-si-ma. There is just something about the blonde says her name.
Cosima turns around to face the professor still gathering her things. She didn’t realize the
blonde was still here.

“Yeah? Oh, I mean, yes, Dr. Leekie?” Cosima tried to sound as polite as she could, but it was
hard to do when she can’t even look into the blonde’s eyes without turning into a tomato.

The blonde professor had a look of utter surprise. She opened her mouth as if to say something,
only to close it after no words came out.

Cosima’s eyebrows rose to her hairline, thinking she’d done or said something wrong again.

“I’m so sorry, is it something I said earlier maybe? Or me being late? I swear I’m going to try
harder tomorrow.” Cosima trails off, scratching the back of her neck, pleading the blonde to
end this awkward confrontation.

“Non, non! Euh… no. It’s just that… I am not Dr. Leekie.” The blonde is trying and failing
miserably to hide the laughter bubbling from inside her.

“Wha- you’re not? Damn it, was I just in the wrong class?” Cosima turns around to examine the
room she’s in as if she’d be able to tell she was in the wrong class by the room’s bland décor.

“Euh… no, I don’t think so because I-“ The blonde interrupts, but the brunette has her back
turned to her and doesn’t seem to hear anything but herself.

“No, that’s not possible because Scott was here, we share the same first period. Don’t we?”

“I believe so, who is Sco-“

“Wait, maybe we were both in the wrong class?! I’m going to kill him. It’s bad enough that I’m
late to this class, now I’m marked as absent in my real class! Really, Cos? That’s enough pot for
yo-“

“COSIMA!” The blonde yanks Cosima by the elbow so she can face her. “I have been trying to
explain but you weren’t listening.” She bends a little to be eye level with Cosima.

Cosima is vaguely aware that the blonde has been calling her name for the past minute. She’s
also just now realizing that the professor is still holding onto her, and she can’t help but look if
not to make sure it’s real and the heat she’s feeling emanating from the blonde’s hand on her
skin wasn’t because she was absolutely freaking out about missing a class. She may always be
late, but she’s never cut class before!

When the blonde sees Cosima take a look at where her hand is, she quickly removes it and
clasps both her hands together to keep them from wandering and going back to the very, very,
warm place they were just on.
“Desolée. I was just trying to tell you that you are indeed in Dr. Leekie’s class, Epigenetic
Control of Gene Expression.”

“But you said you weren-“ Cosima cuts her off but the blonde looks at her pointedly as if to say
let me finish. Cosima closes her mouth then.

“I am Delphine Cormier, Dr. Leekie’s TA. He had to fly back to Toronto because of an emergency
so I had to fill in for him. Mais bien sûr, tu saurais si tu n’etais pas en retard.” The blonde raises
an eyebrow in challenge, her eyes playful and her lips pulled up into a smirk.

“Hey, I apologized like a hundred times!” Cosima crosses her arms and pouts. The blonde’s
smirk is quickly replaced by a look that can only be translated into ‘aww’. But before she can
think about how the brunette was the most adorable tiny thing she’d ever seen, Cosima stomps
her foot as she continues to defend her tardiness. “It’s not like I knew she was gonna be gone
when I had to wake up. I told her to wake me, but I guess she had to be up earlier today, I never
got around to looking at her schedule. Again! Not. My. Fault. It’s her stupid boss and her stupid
schedule that seems to change like every week! And I-“

Cosima stops rambling when she feels the familiar warmth coursing through her body once
again. The blonde had taken both her hands into hers in hopes that in stopping the wild flailing
and articulate hand gestures, the brunette would also stop talking. She did.

Cosima clears her throat and pulls her hands back to herself. “Sorry, I… I ramble when I’m
nervous.”

“It’s alright, Cosima. I guess it’s a good thing I was here and not Dr. Leekie himself.” The blonde
chuckles to ease the brunette’s nerves.

“Yeah. Thank God for you, Delphine.” Cosima laughs, more at ease now.

“Well then, now that you know who I am, I guess, Enchantée.” Delphine holds out her hand for
Cosima to shake.

“Enchan-tay.” Cosima shakes her hand and smiles, her tongue poking in between her teeth.
Until the blonde bursts out in laughter and lets go of her hand to cover her mouth. “What?”

“Oh Dieu, your accent… it’s… it’s-“ Delphine snickers, the harder she tries to compose herself,
the harder she laughs.

“What? My accent is what?” Cosima raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms in front of her.
Sure, she was more invested in learning Latin and binary in high school, but she did pay
attention to her French classes. All two short semesters of it.
“C’est terrible!” Tears are visibly about to fall from Delphine’s eyes as she tries once more to
straighten herself.

Cosima pouts at this and makes to get out the door. “Okay! If you called me here just to laugh
at my incroya-blay françai-s, I’m going!”

This only makes the blonde double in laughter. Tears freely streaming down her face.

“Cosima! Oh God! Je ne peux pas penser à quelque chose de plus adorable!” Finally, Delphine’s
need for air forces her laughter to a halt and she straightens herself.

“I am not adorable! I am a smart, grown woman, I’ll have you know!”

“Okay stop, I don’t think I have it in me to laugh again. At first, I just wanted to see if you really
understood me or if I was just making it all up, because you kept answering my French
questions in English. But then you actually tried to answer in French, and I couldn’t bear it.
“Delphine starts to chuckle. “I will stop, I’m sorry.”

It’s Cosima’s turn to chuckle. “You’re going to have to do better than that. ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t
cover it. I’m not an easy girl.”

Delphine’s face contorts into a confused frown. “Euh… okay, if you’re serious. What is it you
want? Nothing illegal, I only have a green card and I don’t plan on being deported before I finish
my doctorate.” She lets out a nervous chuckle, not quite sure if the brunette is joking or not.

Cosima seems to pick up on this as she says, “Oh I’m def serious. You are gonna make it up to
me. Today. Well… if you have no prior obligations. I only have your class for my first day.”

“I’m… I’m not preoccupied, non.” Delphine’s voice wavered, scared yet intrigued.

“Parfai-t! You can make it up to me now!” Cosima proceeds to grab the blonde’s hand and pulls
her towards the exit.

“Cosima! What are you doing? Where are we going?” Delphine’s voice spiked up a pitch in
slight panic.

“Come on, Delphine, live a little.” Cosima looks back at the hesitant blonde and winks. The
blonde reluctantly stops putting up a fight and lets Cosima drag her out of the campus.

They stop at a convenient store across the street.

At least I can still see the university. The Frenchwoman thought.

Cosima disappeared into the aisles after leaving Delphine by the door. The blonde, using her
height as an advantage, quickly spots dreads bouncing sideways to the freezers.

What is she up to now?

The brunette opens one of the refrigerators and pulls out two frozen treats wrapped in foil. She
spots the blonde as she turns around and immediately lights up.

“Delphiiiiine! There you are! You have money, right?”

Confused and seemingly in a daze, Delphine nods and blindly follows the bubbly brunette to the
counter. She pays for both treats, all the while, she raises an eyebrow at Cosima.

The brunette having brought only her black card, didn’t want to be assumed a certain way. She
merely winks at Delphine and takes the treats from the counter greedily as the blonde finishes
paying. Delphine follows her to the bench outside the store where Cosima is sitting, legs
bouncing up and down in anticipation.

When the blonde is seated by her side, she hands her one of the treats and proceeds to open
the other.

Une glace?

“Not just any ice cream! Eskimo pies!”

“Eskimo.” Delphine holds the foil packaging closer to her face to inspect. “I don’t think I know
it.” She looks back up to Cosima in confusion.

“No?” The brunette is almost halfway done with her ice cream. How that happened, Delphine
would never know. But Cosima just kept licking and digging into her treat with no regard about
her state and how she must look in front of someone she didn’t know. She couldn’t care less.
She looks utterly happy and enjoying the treat.

Delphine laughs and proceeds to open hers to see what the hype was all about.

“Prepare yourself.” Cosima says and Delphine looks back up to the brunette. The ice cream long
gone as the brunette continues to lick at the stick, frowning when she’s sure she’s finished her
treat and goes on to search for remnants around her mouth with her tongue. Completely in her
own world, not even realizing that the blonde had been watching her this entire time. “You’re
about to be a craven addict.” Cosima looks up at Delphine and winks with her tongue poking
out while she smiles.

Adorable.
Delphine chuckles at the realization before gazing into Cosima’s eyes, the green hues of her
hazel orbs accented by the green bushes that surrounded them, the brown, turned golden by
sunlight and the playful glint that’s always present.

“I think I already am.”