The Dreamer
Summary: He put the top between his fingers and spun it. For a moment it hung in the air before it struck the table, ready to determine his fate.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inception. I am not amazing enough to have thought it up.
A/N Ending is now edited and improved thanks to Les Mots de Meaux.
The dream sat fresh in his mind as he wandered up to immigration. His papers were all filed, his passport freshly printed and his charges just dropped. He was free.
He saw them out of the corners of his eyes as he left the airport; Ariadne at customs, Yusuf and Eames getting their bags, Arthur walking out of the airport. He didn't focus on them though. He had only one thought in his mind, consuming his consciousness- going home. Miles met him, welcomed him home. He forced himself to observe the formalities that society dictated of their conversation, forced himself not to take the keys to the car and drive home like he was running from people who could take everything that he loved (even though it felt like he was).
He slowly walked into the house, his confidence gone. What if his children were gone? What if they had changed? What if? The questions plagued his mind, bogged him down as he passed through the foyer into the dining room.
Then he saw them. James and Phillipa, his children, just as he remembered them, playing together outside. He paused. Before his doubts could stop him Miles called out to his children.
"James, Phillipa!" They turned at the call. For a moment their faces were unreadable before their joyful shrieks met his ears.
"Daddy!" they yelled. He put the top between his fingers and spun it. For a moment it hung in the air before it struck the table, ready to determine his fate.
Throughout their reunion the top spun. It fell off the table and out of his mind.
It wasn't until his daughter's graduation party some odd number of years later that he thought about the top in any way, shape or form. A spinning disco ball hanging from the kitchen ceiling distracted him for a moment, its momentum reminding him of a dream half remembered, dreamt a long time ago. Its thousands of sparkling faces illuminated memories of a happy childhood for his children, a healthy relationship with Miles, an olive skinned and dark haired female laughing, a job so dangerous it would probably kill everyone involved, and a small metal top. If only he remember why it was so important.
"Cobb! Get underneath the china cabinet!" Ariadne yelled, breaking his train of thought. He hurried to comply as she tried to calm Phillipa down, assuring her that Todd, the boy that broke her heart just hours before the biggest day of her life (because, as a dramatic teenage girl, every day was the biggest day of her life, every event the most important) was an idiot. She had become a mother like figure for the two half orphans while remaining in Cobb's life (in varying capacities). James's panicked call for help with the tent pulled him away from his chore, pushing any residual thoughts of spinning anything out of his mind.
Under the cabinet the top silently spun its never ending circles.
"The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened." Unknown