This is a side-story specially written for Christmas. I added it to my other inception fic, The Pawn and someone suggested that i publish it just as a separate one shot fic. If you like this one shot, go check out my other fiction, The Pawn. Reviews are always welcome.

Enjoy!

She had no idea.

She just simply did not know.

There were many things Ariadne did know like the characteristics of a classic gothic architecture and the time period during which the infamous Chateau de Versailles was built but all that didn't matter. At least not at the moment.

Christmas was tomorrow but she still didn't have a gift for him.

For everyone else, yes.

For Cobb, she made an album that she designed herself. She wished he would fill up the empty pages with newly created memories with his family in the near future. When they met later, he would perhaps brag about his daughter's athletic talents or his son's artistic abilities, grumbling about how he wished their personalities were switched but still talk about them with sparkles in his eyes. Then, maybe he would take out the album and show her all the wonderful places his family went together, all the beautiful things they had seen. Show her how happy they were now that everything was right again. She would smile then because his face would be much more softened than before. All the guilt and anger gone and just pure bliss and comfort gracing his face.

For Yusuf, she bought him a pair of shoes. His leather shoes were shiny not because they were new and well kept, but because they were so worn out. They seemed to be barely holding on together, straining against his overgrown feet. She had caught the chemist eyeing Eames' shiny black shoes enviously weeks ago and had gone ridiculous lengths to find out Yusuf's shoe size after that. She had to pretend to be extremely interested in anesthetics to put him under sleep under the pretense of a "harmless experiment" and then measure his feet…three times. Ariadne had then promptly run to the hand-made leather shop she had kept her eyes on for several weeks now and ordered a modest but comfortable and sturdy pair of shoes for Yusuf. After, when she was soaked in the satisfaction of getting her friend a perfect gift, she had to explain to the much-confused Yusuf why she had left him alone during an "experiment session."

For Saito, it had been trickier. A multi-billionaire didn't really need anything. In the end, she decided on a handkerchief when she remembered he had ruined his silk one when he was injured during the last mission. Sure, it had been in a dream and his extremely expensive handkerchief had remained spotless when they woke. But Ariadne wanted him to know that she thought of him as a friend even when the mission was over. 'For a friend, more than a tourist,' she had embroidered on to the handkerchief. Although they were only superficially teammates, Ariadne thought of Saito as more than that. He had been kind to her, especially after the mission. He was a good man.

For Eames, it was a whole different matter entirely. It was not a matter of needing but of preferences. If Eames didn't have something, it was because he could live without it. If Eames had something, it was because he liked it. In the end, Ariadne thought of something that he would like and would be able to live with. Eames was an unpredictable man: imaginative in thinking and fickle in nature. As changeable as he was, Eames was never on time. He was sometimes early but more often extremely late to the point of almost pushing Arthur over the edge. Watch was a gift that Eames did not necessarily need, but all the other teammates needed him to have. So that he would actually bother to wear it, Ariadne picked one out that would suit his flashy taste. Hopefully, he would glad when wearing it as much as his teammates would be if he did.

Now that all four gifts were done and over with, Ariadne could no longer postpone the paramount that lay before her. Arthur was unpredictable in a whole new nature than Eames. Arthur was…airtight. Impenetrable yet he was clear. He was symmetric yet not artificial. Perfect yet human. He was a bundle of paradox and Ariadne wished to make sense of him…yet was scared that once she did, he would disappear and move on to the next person who is willing to take up the challenge. She loved and at the same time hated how she turned into a paradox of her own with even the briefest thought of him. It was evident to her that she loved him much more than he loved her. She wished that to be just an arrogant assumption but had stubbornly stuck with it nevertheless.

Arthur did not need anything. He always knew what was needed before that object was even needed at all. Perhaps it was the nature of his job of being a point man that drove him to be so ready at all times for any kind of situations.

To make matters worse, Ariadne didn't even know Arthur's favorite color. They always talked about work and when they were alone together, their minds seemed to be fully occupied with the thoughts of being non-awkward that seemed to bring about just the opposite affect of what they wanted. They were most comfortable with each other when they talked about their plans of the future and remained silent as they watched movies together. As her mind floated through the past 'dates' they had been on and the presence of silence that seemed to occupy most of it, Ariadne began to panic.

She was completely hopeless. Arthur probably thought of her as a boring woman with a stick up her not-even-that-nice ass and probably regretted the very day he asked her out. AND she couldn't even pick out a gift for him. She was boring AND useless… Ariadne suddenly felt the urge to cry in the midst of her full-blown panic attack.

Breathing slowly in and out of her nose, Ariadne managed to keep the hot tears that were threatening to spill at bay. 'I will NOT lose my head. If I do, I'll become a boring and useless woman that is totally mental. If I lose my confidence and completely mindless sense of adventure, who am I then?' she thought to herself. She was Ariadne, the girl that yelled at Dom Cobb and kicked some sense into his sorry ass. She was the girl that designed a dream with three freaking levels! She was the girl wonder, a love-struck fool but an independent architect nevertheless. She was anything BUT useless and she was going to prove it to everyone.

The next day, everyone, except Eames and Arthur –the first was to be expected, the second, however, was extremely out of character, arrived promptly at the decorated warehouse at seven for the Christmas dinner. Aside from the team, Cobb's children and Ariadne's professor, Miles came with Dom, Saito came with his secretary and Yusuf arrived with his cat.

Ariadne's gifts had arrived just in time that morning through the mail and everybody there thanked her for them. Cobb's kids, Phillipa and James, handed Ariadne messy but endearing hand-made cards and gave her shy kisses on both sides of her cheeks. Dom himself gave her his notes and data on his past experiments and claimed, when Ariadne tried to refuse, that he no longer needed them. Yusuf seemed to be overwhelmed with happiness when he showed off his new shoes to everyone and told and retold the story of how she tricked him in order to get his measurements. Saito genuinely smiled widely when Ariadne gave him a hug for the brilliant Christmas log cakes he brought for her. "I didn't know if you liked strawberries or chocolate so I bought both…" he murmured, trying to hide his embarrassment but thanked her again for her gift.

Eames arrived fifteen minutes late and excused himself with the fact that his new watch was not set-up correctly yet. As soon as he saw her, Eames pulled Ariadne into a tight hug. "Thanks Ariadne," he chuckled when she gasped for breath and released her. "The place looks brilliant Ariadne" he complimented after he was done looking around the place.

"Where is Arthur, that bastard? He's always complaining that I'm late-"

"Right here, Eames. Sorry that the bastard is late," Arthur chuckled.

Eames' banter was cut off by the point man that had just entered.

"It's true though, you're almost never late Arthur," Cobb said, raising his eyebrow suspiciously.

"And why on earth are you not wearing any coat?" Eames added, "It's bloody cold outside you know."

It was true. Arthur was wearing just his crisp white shirt and suit vest and was holding his suit jacket by his side, without bothering to wear it. He seemed unbothered by this and swatted the air as if the bothersome questions had materialized in front of him as flies.

"Too many questions I can't be too bothered to answer. How about we eat now, eh? I'm positively starving," he said humorously.

"They're beautiful," Arthur said to Ariadne when he passed by her but she wasn't sure if he meant the decorations or the gift she had sent him.

The dinner was pleasant. Everyone had brought something to the table: both food to eat and things to talk about. For the first time in a long time, Ariadne felt like she was at home with her true family.

"Arthur, are you cold?" Ariadne asked when she saw he was the only one that was without any sweaters or jackets. She had gone great lengths to close off any openings that may bring in the viciously cold winds from outside. Ariadne had even borrowed heaters from her neighbors that were nice enough to comply. But her efforts couldn't keep out all the chills and everyone, except Arthur, had held on to all their clothes other than their coats. Arthur looked awfully bare with just one shirt on. 'Although he looks kinda sexy,' Ariadne commented in her head. She immediately chased the rather inappropriate thought out of her head and plastered a cheesy grin across her face in hopes that her thoughts weren't too transparent on her face.

"I'm perfectly fine," Arthur said politely and returned to his friendly conversation with Saito's secretary. Ariadne felt a pang of jealousy when the gorgeous woman reached over to touch his wrist. Pretending not to notice, Ariadne hid behind the curtain of her hair and continued to watch them through out the meal.

After coffee and dessert were served, plates cleared and all greetings exchanged, guests started leaving one by one. Saito left first, with much regret, he had business to attend to early next morning. His secretary shook hands with Arthur and trailed behind Saito, leaving Ariadne rather bitter. Professor Miles and Cobb left after that, each with sleeping child in their arms, after Ariadne refused their offers to stay back and clean up. Eames and Yusuf stayed back for a while, singing carols loudly in the recliners. They were quite drunk from drinking too much wine and Macavity, Yusuf's cat, meowed every time Yusuf screeched off key. After a rather dramatic rendition of Christmas pop songs, Eames and Yusuf were put, forced by annoyed Arthur more like, into a cab and sent home.

Satisfied by the empty plates and pile of Christmas cards, Ariadne hummed Christmas tunes the drunk duo were singing while wiped the table top.

"Here, I'll do it," Arthur reached over and grabbed the cloth from her hands. Their hands touched for a fraction of a second and Ariadne jumped back in surprise.

"You're still here," she gasped. "I thought you left with Eames and Yusuf."

"I couldn't leave to all this mess," he explained and casually folded the cloth in half. "Did I really scare you that much?"

"Your hands are freezing," she defended her reaction. "You're gonna catch a cold wearing just a shirt in this weather you know."

"But if I wear a coat or a sweater over my shirt, your gift won't be visible," Arthur declared as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. He pointed at the elaborate silver cufflinks that were in the shape of dice that he wore on his shirt cuffs. "I have to show them off don't I?" he shrugged playfully. "Miss de Silva complimented them during dinner," he added proudly.

"That's what you guys were talking about?" Ariadne could not believe what she was hearing. He had refused to put on his jacket because he wanted to show off her gift. She burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of herself. She had been jealous of Miss de Silva who was actually complimenting Ariadne's taste.

Arthur raised his eyebrow at the sudden change in Ariadne but started laughing with her. It was Christmas. They didn't need a reason to laugh.

"Here. Uh..I don't know if you'll like it or not…I'm not exactly used to picking out gifts...it took longer than I thought you know...picking out a gift," he coughed to hide his embarrassment as she unwrapped the box he handed to her.

"Was that why you were late?" Ariadne laughed in disbelief. "You didn't have to," she smiled when she saw a silver bracelet with a delicate pawn charm. "It's beautiful…Thank you."

He helped her to put it on and admired how it fit comfortably around her slender wrist.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered against her hair.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered back.

She tiptoed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Everything was right.

Outside the window, white snow fell silently, covering the streets and turning the city into a blank canvas. Above their heads, mistletoe decorations hung, looking down on the embracing figure.

It was Christmas.

I'm planning on writing an Arthur version for the New Years. What do you guys think?

Please comment!