"Hey Arthur?"
Her voice startled him so much it might as well have been a kick. Taking a deep breath, Arthur turned to face his friend, discretely fingering the loaded die in his pocket.
"Jesus, Ariadne, it's got to be two in the morning," he said. She smiled and nodded, looking at her watch. "What are you doing here?" She sat on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs at the ankle.
"I couldn't sleep," she said simply, shrugging. The circles under her eyes had darkened significantly over the last few days; Cobb had been pushing her, in Arthur's opinion, too hard.
"I need a break," Ariadne yawned, moving to pull the wire from her wrist. Cobb shook his head no and depressed the button on the PASIV without another word. A second later, Ariadne and Eames were out again, their legs twitching intermittedly.
"You should probably let her go home, Dom. It's been a long day," Arthur said, leaning back in his chair. Cobb wrote a quick note on the pad of paper he was holding before moving the desk and grabbing his coat.
"Two more cycles and then she can go. I have to go see Yusuf. Lock up when you leave, okay?"
Arthur didn't wait for Cobb's goodbye to start packing up. The remaining five minutes of dream time ran out quickly, more so for Arthur than the dreamers, and Eames didn't wait for permission to leave. Ariadne had barely budged when the IV had stopped; it didn't take long for Arthur to realize that she was simply sleeping. He shifted uncomfortably; they were definitely not in a good enough neighborhood that he could leave her here alone.
"Ariadne? Hey, wake up," he whispered, shaking her shoulder. She woke with a start, groaning and pushing him away.
"I shouldn't have woken you up this evening, I'm sorry," Arthur said, smiling sheepishly. Ariadne laughed.
"Well, it wouldn't exactly have been fair to expect to babysit me during naptime, would it've?" she asked, crossing her legs and yawning. "Do you sleep anymore, Arthur?"
"Not really," he said. "It's like any other addiction; once you get used to the synthesized version, the real thing kind of loses its splendor. Do you want to go get something to eat? A full stomach can help."
"It's two in the morning. I highly doubt there's a Internationale Maison de Crepes open anywhere near here," she grinned, cringing at her terrible French. "Besides, eating before bed is a bad idea."
"It always helps me," he said. "I used to keep crackers by my bed in case I got hungry."
"It's a miracle you don't weigh three hundred pounds," she joked, smirking. "Leading scientists say that you should only use the bedroom for sleeping and… uh…"
"And what?" he asked, his face feeling warm.
"Sex," she said, her voice a little more than a whisper. She looked at her hands, embarrassed.
"Well, in that case, we should head back to your apartment and hop in bed," he laughed, putting his hands behind his head.
"I just told you I couldn't fall asleep."
"I know."