The Flaw in the Experiment--Orphan Black (F/F) -- 2 parts, complete

[wannablessedbe]

Hi guys! So, it's new show time. As in, I have started watching a new show and am channeling my obsession with fanfic. I think you would all like it, but assuming that not everyone has seen it, I'm going to try to explain roughly what the hell is going on in this scene, because you'll never understand it otherwise.

Basically, the show is about a young British woman named Sarah (an orphan) who is living in Canada; and one day as she's getting off the train, she sees a girl who looks exactly like her--and then the other girl commits suicide right in front of her. Sarah takes the dead girl's purse and takes over her life, because her own life is suuuuper shitty; and then shit just keeps getting weirder as she discovers more look-alikes and finds out the secret that ties them together: they are all clones, and they were created in an illegal human cloning experiment. Hijinks ensure. Cosima (pronounced kuh-SEE-ma) is the gay one; and, it seems everyone totally agrees,

. she's basically a super-crazy-adorable lesbian science geek, with cat-eye glasses and dreads and tattoos. In the S1 finale, she starts to get sick with the same mysterious disease that killed off some of the other clones early on, and it seems the race to cure her before she dies will be a big part of S2 (DON'T KILL HER YOU EVIL WRITERS! DO. NOT. KILL. HER).

the other important person to know is delphine, the sexy french scientist who was set up to be cosima's monitor--like cosima is her personal test subject, but isn't supposed to know anything about it. all the other clones have monitors, too, that they are slowly figuring out are mostly their husbands or boyfriends. so, cosima knows from the time she meets delphine that that's what's happening, and she convinces herself that she's being smart by spying on the people who are spying on her; but of course they end up falling for each other for real. delphine (and paul, who is sarah's monitor) seem to not know the full picture at first, and once they do they're on the clones' side for real. oh, and conveniently, delphine is an immunologist. so, she totally has to save cosima's life, obvs!! here's a

I found that summarizes their relationship pretty well. sooooo yeah. I hope that's not all too complicated to follow.

This scene takes place directly after the S1 finale, and features Cosima, Sarah and Allison (all clones), Delphine (who you know now--the sexy french scientist), and Felix, who is Sarah's foster brother who she grew up with (and who is also super-gay, fyi). Enjoy!!!

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The Flaw in the Experiment

Orphan Black fic for SFF

Part 1 of 2

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When Sarah, Allison and Felix finally returned to the loft that night, the first thing they saw was that sneaky, spying French girl standing over Cosima—who appeared to be fast asleep on Felix's bed—and sticking an IV tube into her arm.

“Oi! What the hell are you giving my sister?” Sarah demanded, rushing across the room and putting herself protectively between the blonde woman and the unconscious girl on the bed.

“Nothing,” Delphine said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

“She's not your ruddy lab rat,” Sarah spat. “Not anymore.” She was convinced the French scientist had done something to sedate her sister-clone, and she leaned down cautiously to try to rouse the sleeping girl; but then she gave a soft, startled gasp when she felt the feverish heat radiating from Cosima's pale skin.

“I know that,” said Delphine, her voice tense and worried. “You think I don't know that? It's just fluids. She has a temperature of a hundred and three. She is dehydrated, yes?”

“What's wrong with her?” Felix asked nervously, as he slowly crept across the room, unsure if he should get any closer.

“It's the same thing the German had, isn't it?” Allison groaned, showing none of Felix's reluctance as she crossed the room and sat on the side of the bed beside the sleeping girl, feeling her face for fever just like she would with one of her own children. “We're all going to get it eventually. We'll die delirious and coughing up blood.”

“No. You won't.” Delphine said tersely. “Because I'm going to find the cure.”

“Like hell,” Sarah growled, still deeply suspicious of the blonde woman's true motives. “You've been working for Dr. Leakie this whole time. You could be the one making her sick for all we know.”

“I'm not!” Delphine yelled, tears running down her face now. “I'm a God damn immunologist, Sarah! And I am not leaving. Not unless Cosima asks me to.”

“No...don't go, Delphine,” the sleepy girl mumbled, roused by the sound of her name being yelled. Her fever-glazed hazel eyes opened a crack, and she blinked blearily. “I don't want you to go...” She began to cough, a deeply rattling, congested cough that Sarah and Allison both winced at involuntarily. The blonde woman knelt beside the bed and stroked her girlfriend's feverish forehead, waiting for it to pass.

“I'm right here, cherie. I'm not going anywhere without you. If I have to study your genome until my eyes bleed, I will find a cure for you, I promise.”

“Geez...drama queen,” the sleepy girl smiled, looking slightly pleased with the attention nonetheless. Then she looked up and noticed her two sister clones were also by her side, and she smiled even wider. “Allie...Sarah. We cracked the code. Delphine and me. We can...*snfl*...we can really study our DNA now.”

“We know, honey,” Allison gave her a watery smile, trying not to break down and cry. “You did great. But you don't have to worry about any of that right now...you just rest, all right? We're going to take care of everything.”

“Don't be mad at Delphine,” Cosima mumbled, rubbing her nose woozily on the back of her hand. “If you can...*snfl*...trust Paul...have to trust her t-too...*snfl*...” She made a soft, ticklish sound in the back of her throat as her nose began to run, and the side of her finger abruptly went still against her glistening nostrils. “Aah'hhitchew!!!” Her feverish body shivered weakly with the force of the wet, itchy sneeze, which she tried to contain behind her hands.

“Bless you,” They all chorused gently, anxious to comfort the sick girl and distract her from the idea that she might well be coughing up blood by the end of the week.

“Uhhh...*snfl*...sorry,” Cosima moaned miserably, cupping her hands back to her face to cover another wheezy, juicy cough. She'd never felt so congested in her life; like she was half drowning. She had to fight to keep her cough in check, gasping and wheezing through the congestion in her chest.

“Hush, you should not apologize,” Delphine cooed to her, pulling a few fresh tissues from the box on the bedside table and pushing them into her sniffling girlfriend's hands. “It's the bastards who did this to you who should apologize.”

“Uhh...*snfl*...well, y-yeah,” Cosima agreed weakly, eyes narrowing to the thinnest slits as she raised the fresh tissues to her face, hovering a few inches in front of her runny nose in anticipation. “Aaah...*snfl*....” Twin trails of clear, sickly snot hung from both nostrils as they quivered and opened helplessly wide. “AahiiishOOoo!!!” She sneezed desperately, pink nose cupped snugly in the soft cotton tissues.

“Bless you,” they all said again anxiously as the sickly girl coughed, tissues cupped over her mouth now. Her nose was so itchy and runny, the tickle just seemed to grown stronger with each sneeze; the moment she'd sniffled and wiped her nose, the out-of-focus expression re-appeared on her face.

“Hheh-heh...*snfl*...” She drew the crumpled tissues away from her face to gasp in a wheezy, hitching breath, revealing fresh dribbles of snot trailing teasingly from her raw pink nose. “Hhit'iishhew!!!” Another wet, itchy sneeze; another congested cough, another liquid sniffle. The tissues she held were so soggy now, she just wiped her runny nose on her cuff as she sniffled again, leaving a long, wet mark up the inside of her sleeve.

“À tes souhaits, cherie,” Delphine murmured lovingly, plucking a fresh tissue from the box and holding it gently to her girlfriend's leaky pink nose. Cosima sniffled and tilted her head back a little, enjoying the feeling of having her itchy, runny nose wiped in a soft, clean tissue.

“Uhhh...*snfl*...mberci,” She grinned weakly, too sick to be embarrassed. “Cad sombebody get mbe a...*snghf*...a glass of water?”

“I will!” Allison chirped eagerly, anxious to have something to do other than watch Cosima suffer. Sarah, on the other hand, remained suspicious as she sat on the edge of the bed and gave the french girl the evil eye.

“You stay, you cure her. You promised. Yeah?” Sarah demanded warily, raising an eyebrow as she stared the young scientist down.

“Yes,” Delphine nodded, a smile of relief spreading across her face as she realized she was being allowed to help—to save the life of the girl she planned to spend the rest of her life loving. Then she chuckled a little, and Sarah raised an eyebrow defensively.

“What?” the british girl demanded angrily.

“Nothing, it's just—I see now why you are the one she fights with the most, yes? You are so like her. You like to be the boss.” Sarah's outrage was cut short by a soft, congested giggle from the girl lying limply on the bed. Immediately, all the anger drained out of the british girl, and she leaned in and rubbed Cosima's back when she started to cough again.

“She's...got your number,” the sick girl wheezed softly, a weak but playful smile on her pale face.

“Yours too,” Sarah replied softly, stroking Cosima's hot forehead with a little wink. “I suppose we'll let her stay then, will we? Whatever it takes to make you better, yeah?”

“Sarah?” The sniffling girl wheezed softly, with another painful cough.

“Yeah?” Sarah asked gently, rubbing her back. Allison returned with the water then, and they all fussed over helping her sit up enough to drink it.

“Before...” Cosima yawned, rubbing her red eyes as Allison took the glass back and set it on the bedside table. “When you thought I was sleeping...you called mbe your...*snfl*...your sister.” She was beaming woozily. The tough british girl flushed for a moment, her defenses kicking up out of habit; but then she sighed, and smiled back.

“Yeah.”

Edited February 13, 2014 by wannablessedbe

[SmokeyGhost]

I've never seen the show but I've heard of it. Didn't need to though, very well written. I'm always a sucker for a few coughs thrown in between

[wannablessedbe]

SmokeyGhost, thx very much! I knew I was taking a chance by posting in a fandom that's somewhat hard to follow if you haven't seen it, so it's lovely to know you were able to enjoy this even without seeing the show. I had one more part in me for this, even if not many people are reading...but I write first and foremost for myself, anyway! For those who are reading this, I hope you will enjoy

--WBB

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The Flaw in the Experiment

Part 2 (final)

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By the next day, Delphine had sent for her microscope and all her portable equipment from her lab in Minnesota, and called in a prescription for some heavy-duty cough syrup with codeine at the local pharmacy. The drugs had an almost immediate effect on the pale, sick girl curled up in Felix's bed; not only did it ease her breathing and loosen the deep congestion in her chest, it also got her stoned out of her mind. Since it took her mind off her worries, and since nothing more could be done until Delphine's lab equipment arrived anyway, they all humored her, participating in an incredibly geeked-out nucleotide sock-puppet theater followed by a solid hour of TED talks on her laptop. It had only just been revealed that Felix owned an X-Box and a copy of Guitar Hero, when Allison came prancing in from the kitchen with an enormous tray of food, and announced, “lunch break!”

The anxious soccer mom had unleashed her restlessness on Felix's loft in the form of a cleaning binge; and now she returned from the kitchen with a tray piled high with cheese sandwiches and Fritos, the only food she'd been able to find in the house. “And ps, Felix, if we're all going to be camping out here for the foreseeable future, you have got to let me make a trip to Whole Foods.”

“As long as you're buying, you can fill the larder with whatever you like, love,” the flamboyant young British man winked, putting down his plastic guitar and reaching for a sandwich.

“Allie, I dod't wadt this,” Cosima pouted, her voice a hoarse rasp compared to its usual smoky timber. She was sitting up now, her fever somewhat under control from the drugs, even if the effect was only temporary. “I'll just...*snfl*...play by mbyself while you guys eat.” She reached for the game controls, but her suburban counterpart swatted it out of her hand.

“You will do no such thing,” Allison lectured. “I have a cup of ramen noodles for you, little miss sniffles, and you will sit still and eat it.” Cosima just grinned at her broadly, and coughed a little into a crumpled tissue.

“Geez, okay mom,” the young scientist teased, giggling between her coughs.

“Eat your soup, cheeky monkey,” Delphine nudged her girlfriend playfully, poking her in the side.

“I will. But ndot because you told mbe to,” Cosima nodded woozily, a playful smirk already back on her face once she stopped coughing. “Because I wadt to. Ahd thed I amb goihg to kick all of your asses at Guitar Hero.”

“Whatever you say, cherie,” Delphine beamed at her, leaning in and kissing the pink tip of her nose.

“Oi! Being as you're the only healthy scientist we have left, Delphine, d'you reckon you might keep your lips away from her snot, adorable though it may be?” Felix demanded, raising an eyebrow at the two cuddling girls.

“Keep your pandties on, Felix,” Cosima sighed croakily, rolling her eyes as she picked up the cup of soup and took a sip, breathing in the warm steam with a sigh. “What I have is genetic, sobethidg id our mbessed up DNA...it's ndot contagious. You cad't catch it...*snfl*...” The steam wafted gently up her raw pink nostrils as she held the cup close to her face. “Aaah...aht'chhiiew!! *Snfl.*” Her shoulders hunched, and her perfectly dreadlocked hair swung forward as she sneezed dazedly into her soup.

“À tes souhaits, cherie,” Delphine hummed soothingly, drawing a clean tissue from the box and gently wiping her girlfriend's pink nose as she sat sniffling and holding her soup cup.

“Uhhh...*snfl*...thag you,” Cosima sighed, putting the soup down and grabbing the tissue from her girlfriend's hands, scrunching up her face for a weak, stuffy blow. “Ughh. *Snfl.* Beihg sigck really blows. Cad I have adother shot of that red stuff? It's kind of awesombe.” She grinned weakly and wiggled her eyebrows, making her girlfriend chuckle and shake her head.

“Eat your soup first, ma coeur. I don't think the codeine will make you so happy on an empty stomach.” Delphine gave her girlfriend a little wink, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek while Cosima rubbed her nose absently in the damp tissue.

“Ugh, right. Good call,” the sniffling girl nodded, picking up her soup and taking a gulp of hot broth and noodles. As soon as she swallowed, she put the cup down again and hastily cupped her hands to her face as her wet, itchy nose quivered in fresh annoyance. “Hhtchxshh!!! *Snfl*...”

“Bless you,” they all chorused sweetly, watching the sick girl like a hawk for any sign of respiratory distress. But Cosima just sniffled and blew her runny nose into a fresh tissue.

“Uhh. Stupid ndose, stop sndeezig,” she grumbled to herself, dropping the crumpled tissue in her lap to reveal damp pink nostrils, still glistening with a thin coat of snot around the rims. “Hhuh...hhh...*snfl*...” Her eyes were sliding out of focus again, hands still sitting limply in her lap with the soggy used-up tissues. She was so sick and out of sorts, even with the extra-strength cold medicine making her happy and giggly; and Delphine felt a stab of fierce protectiveness for her usually strong-willed and independent girlfriend, grabbing a tissue from the box sitting between them and pinching it gently to the sniffling girl's runny nose.

“Hhuh'iiishxuh!!!” Cosima sneezed so desperately into the tissue her girlfriend held to her pink nose, her glasses slid off and fell into her lap.

“God bless you,” Delphine murmured, pinching her poor baby's runny nose a bit more snugly in the damp tissue, and giving it a firm wipe.

“Ugh. This is lambe,” the sniffling girl grumbled, coughing weakly into a fresh tissue and blowing her nose again before picking her glasses up and sticking them back on her face, blinking blearily.

“Ready for soup now?” Allison asked in her perpetually cheerful soccer-mom voice, holding up the little cup of noodles in front of Cosima's face.

“Uhhh...*snfl*...uh-huh,” the sickly girl nodded, even while she drew a fresh tissue to her leaky nose, gently squeezing the snot-slicked underside of her twitchy nostrils between the tissue and her fingertips. “Hheh...hheh...hhut'chxieww!!! *Snfl.*” Her glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose a bit when she sneezed; but they didn't fall off this time.

“Bless you!” Everyone chorused again as Cosima coughed and wiped her nose, and finally sat back against the pillows with a soft groan.

“Uhhh,” she sighed, wiping her nose in the crumpled tissue with one last, sharp sniffle before picking up her soup and taking another determined gulp. “As sood as I cad stop sndeezig...I'mb so godda kick all your asses at Guitar Hero.” She nodded sleepily and sipped her soup while the others all grinned silently at each other. Mysterious clone-destroying illness or not, the girl they all knew was still there, one hundred percent. And she wasn't going anywhere without a fight.

Edited February 13, 2014 by wannablessedbe

[tFM!]

Very cute little fic This definitely pushed me to start watching Orphan Black.

[wannablessedbe]

Very cute little fic This definitely pushed me to start watching Orphan Black.

omg dude you have no idea. GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. don't be put off if the pilot seems to complex, I felt that way at first, but after a couple of episodes it starts to be less confusing. and really, the gold star of it all is getting to see tatiana maslany play half a dozen different characters so well that you literally forget it's all the same actress. and they're all so adorably awesome, I just want to squee all day! it's kind of like a sci fi cousin to pretty little liars. the fact that the lesbian science geek gets to be "the hot one" is just the icing on the cake!

ps, there's only 10 eps in the first season (I guess that's how they roll in canada eh?) so you could plow through it in a weekend if the mood struck you. that's pretty much what we did

[tFM!]

Just finished the first season, and:

a) I'm madly in love with Cosima.

b)This show ruined my life.

Haha I'm so glad I watched it though, it was super bomb and helped me to appreciate this fic more. Definitely down for more fluffy Cophine stories if you feel so inclined to write them, as I'm going to need something to get me through the next couple of months until season 2 comes out!

Edited February 21, 2014 by tFM!

[telltale]

This is SO great!

[Winged]

Just finished the first season, and:

a) I'm madly in love with Cosima.

b)This show ruined my life.

Haha I'm so glad I watched it though, it was super bomb and helped me to appreciate this fic more. Definitely down for more fluffy Cophine stories if you feel so inclined to write them, as I'm going to need something to get me through the next couple of months until season 2 comes out!

hehehe welcome to the club (;

WBB, dear, I am SO happy to see someone writing Orphan Black onforums! Cosima is my favorite as well (sexy gay scientist? yes please), and I love how you've written Sarah and Fe and the whole gang. You may have just inspired me to write some as well.

p.s. of course they targeted Cosima ): although the h/c potential kind of makes up for it.

[wannablessedbe]

aahhhh yay, thx you guys! so glad I'm not the only one who is madly in love with cosima. I will write some more fluff for cophine, for shiz! I actually also just wrote a non-fetishy (or, well, as close to non-fetishy as I'm capable of) cophine-plus-sisters fluff at fanfiction.net, called "clone comfort." plz enjoy as a lite snack of fluff. I can't wait 2 more months for S2 either, so there will def be more where this came from!!!

[Not_Telling]

Wow, this story is great! I'm not much for female sneezing, and I've never seen Orphan Black, but this was really well written!

Two thumbs up!

[NoV]

Never seen the show, but I enjoyed reading this story

“Hhuh'iiishxuh!!!” Cosima sneezed so desperately into the tissue her girlfriend held to her pink nose, her glasses slid off and fell into her lap.

This is my favorite bit - there is something very hot about a girl sneezing so hard that her glasses fall off... maybe its just me

[wannablessedbe]

Never seen the show, but I enjoyed reading this story

“Hhuh'iiishxuh!!!” Cosima sneezed so desperately into the tissue her girlfriend held to her pink nose, her glasses slid off and fell into her lap.

This is my favorite bit - there is something very hot about a girl sneezing so hard that her glasses fall off... maybe its just me

Cheers, Nov! I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever had a character with glasses to work with (let alone, the sexiest possible glasses on the sexiest possible science geek girl), so it seemed like something worth trying out, at least once. Glad you enjoyed.

[evermissing]

Oh, man. I tend to be kind of serially monogamous with fandoms, and lately I've been all about Hannibal, but... a close friend had been working on me for months to get me to watch Orphan Black, and then I happened to click on this story out of curiosity, and kept reading because of "Cosima (pronounced kuh-SEE-ma) is the gay one; and, it seems everyone totally agrees,

. she's basically a super-crazy-adorable lesbian science geek, with cat-eye glasses and dreads and tattoos." Which, YES PLEASE.

...And then I ended up reading the whole story and subsequently watching the whole first season, which is amazing? So. Thank you. And yes, Cosima is definitely The Hot One, which makes me appreciate this story EVEN MORE.

[sugarrush]

i haven't commented for ages school is taking over my life but I did find the time to watch orphan black and I am loving this fic! cophine <3

[SexyGodlikeHair]

Ugh, I kind of wish Delphine COULD catch what she had!!! Well, not the life threatening respiratory part...more like the cute sneezes!

[Sirène]

Oh my GOD I have been completely obsessed with your Faberry and Achele stories pretty much since I started lurking on the forum (so what… 7 years?) and NOW YOU'RE WRITING ORPHAN BLACK FICS? Be still my heart!! WBB this is the best thing that has happened all week. You nailed all of their personalities!

Please keep writing anything and everything, you are one of my favorite writers on the forum!

<3 (lesbian completely in love with Cosima)