Disclaimer: Inception does not belong to me. Copyright infringement is not intended.
A/N:
Warning: I have mild dyslexia and dyscalculia. There may be small grammatical errors and large mathematical ones.
Summary: Forget all you knew about dreaming; this is *her* dream now. AU. Both Het and Slash.
A Single Glass of Water
"She was a student of mine, an amazing architect, and her mother will pay anything."
"I can't build, Miles," Dom reminded.
"So let her do the building."
"I think she's looping," Eames said, pulling out the IV. At their looks, he added, "Not insane, you ninnies! Looping as in being in an endless loop."
"I'm listening," Dom said interestedly.
"Well, hear me out mates; Miles said that she graduated, right?"
"Right…" Arthur said with a 'get it over with' expression.
"Well she's still a student in there, isn't she?"
"So she's on an endless loop of the past why?" Arthur asked skeptically.
"Because of some regret. So we get her past the regret and she wakes up."
"Well, what's her regret, then?"
"That's your job, Point Man," Eames shrugged.
Arthur snorted and went to open his mouth, when Dom interrupted –
"What's bothering me is how the mother's paying for this. We can do it within the year allotted, that's a given, but where is a middleclass woman getting this money?"
"No mafia contacts," Arthur said immediately.
"No, gentlemen," the man said with a certain firmness, stepping into the room. The man beside him looked less… stern. "I am funding you."
"Saito," Dom nodded tensely.
"Worry not, Mister Cobb. While you failed, you were just doing your job. You impressed me – though I'd suggest a better Architect. You are the second best Extractor I have ever met," Saito explained.
"Who's the first?" Arthur asked.
"The woman in that bed," he answered simply.
"…so we're waking the competition?" Eames said with some humor.
The other man gave a slight smile.
"No, you're waking our friend. She only did those jobs on the side, generally as favors to us. Mostly she's into legal architecture."
"Extremely lucrative favors, I imagine?" Eames half joked.
"We paid off her student loans. After that she declined more payments, but I may have… slightly disagreed," Saito's lips twitched.
"Slightly as in her bank account expanded exponentially," the other man said drily.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name," Dom said.
The man looked both surprised and pleased.
"Bloody Hell, Dom, what rock have you been living under? That's Robert Fischer!"
"That rock called work," his reply came flatly.
Fischer chuckled.
"While it's nice to know that not everyone knows me by face, let's get back on topic."
"Mister Cobb, if you do this within the year I will get you back into America," Saito said simply. "One call is all it would take."
They shared looks, all nodding.
"We can do this."
"Now, you say you're friends?" Arthur asked immediately. "We need more personal details. Access to her home maybe; things like that."
"What do you want to know?" Robert asked slowly. Saito stroked his hand softly, Eames noted but didn't comment on. Those two were obviously more than friends.
"Any traumatic experiences? I've done my research, but something's buried beyond my capabilities."
"When she was fourteen, she had two friends; Araya Callahan and Thomas Pryce. Tom was in love with Araya, and when she gently turned him down, he slit his throat right in front of them."
"So her regret is not saving her friend?" Arthur asked.
"She'd be looped in high school for that," Dom shook his head.
"I'd say her biggest regret is not seeing the issues and helping," Robert sighed.
There was a pause.
"So we let her play your therapist, Cobb," Eames finally suggested. "God knows you've got some bloody issues."
"And how do we conceivably get me that close to her?" Dom sighed, not denying it. He didn't mention the issue of Mal with their other company.
"She's an Architect," Arthur said. "Let's give her a job."