Disclaimer: I do not own Inception.

Summary: "There's always another job, Ariadne." "Are you always going to take it?" A new job for almost everyone on our favourite Dream Team. A/A.

Warnings: At some point in this story there will be foul language and mature content.

Deceit My Deception

Chapter One

Going Nowhere

The four mandatory days of 'lying low' since the Inception in an anonymous motel in downtown Los Angeles had finally passed for Ariadne. She stretched her arms and heard her shoulder pop as she walked out of the motel and felt the sun on her face for the first time since leaving LAX airport.

She had been told before leaving Paris already that her share of money would be wired to a Swiss bank account set up in her name. All the information was on a piece of paper at the bottom of her bag. The only thing she didn't know was how much.

Ariadne mulled the thought over as she walked around with no clear destination. The Inception had been her first experience working with Dream Sharing. It wasn't just a job to her. Not yet. She suspected with what was at stake, and with everything that had gone wrong, it wasn't to the rest of her team either. But they probably had an easier way of coping with it than she had.

She couldn't imagine Eames being reluctant to check his salary. Ariadne drifted into a small shop. She had never really had any sort of money. Well her parents had been middleclass and she had never missed anything either really, but she had never been rich. In fact, she was drowning in student's loans and hadn't been back in America since leaving for Paris, mostly due to the fact that she couldn't afford her ticket.

Now she would probably be able to buy everything in this shop. The man behind the counter derailed her from her train of thought. He stood with his young daughter on his arm and she giggled as she played with a snip of his turban. Ariadne smiled kindly at both of them as she walked to the counter. The little girl was cute and her deep, brown eyes connected with Ariadne's for a second.

She felt herself wave at the baby girl with three fingers, wondering where that came from. She had never been good with toddlers, growing up as an only child in a small family she was never really around them.

"What can I help you with, Miss?" the father asked, heavily accented.

Ariadne became flustered and nearly knocked a stand with postcards over. She had walked up there without anything in her hand or a clear idea of what she was getting, just because the money was on her mind. In the end she didn't buy everything in the shop. Just a five dollar paperback, a piece of chocolate and a bus ticket.

He gave her directions to the nearest bus stop while Ariadne dug around in her purse for enough cash to pay for her purchase. Having watched too many action movies, she didn't feel comfortable using her credit card yet since it could be traced. She wasn't exactly sure who would want to trace her credit card, but she was caught up in a mood.

"Here is three back." The man said when she had finally paid.

Ariadne crammed the change in her pocket and grabbed her stuff "Have a nice day," she read of his nametag "Mr. Rajid."

"You too, Miss." Mr. Rajid answered, already absorbed with his daughter again before Ariadne had even left the shop. Truth to be told this was the most conversation she had been engaged in for days.

Easily finding the bus stop, this wasn't her first time in Los Angeles, Ariadne sat on a bench and waited, clutching her bag in case she drifted off so she was sure no one could steal it without at least waking her up in the attempt. After all, this wasn't her first time in Los Angeles.

She didn't know why she was so exhausted. All she had done for the last four days was lie on the crappy motel bed watching bad television or staring at the cracks in the ceiling. She had food delivered once a day, mostly so no one would be suspicious, but until she saw that chocolate bar she hadn't actually been hungry.

Once the bus came Ariadne quickly found two empty seats next to each other and put her bag down in one, signalling for people to look elsewhere. She broke off a piece of the chocolate and savoured the taste while she opened the book she had bought. It was one of those predictable romance novels that came a dime a dozen. For once it suited her fine and she got so wrapped up in the forbidden relationship between a knight and a princess that she barely noticed the chauffeur's hazardous driving on the freeway.

Actually, Ariadne didn't put the book away until she knew that the next stop coming up was her own. What little that was left of her chocolate had melted on the forty-five minute drive. She threw the wrapping away and loosened the scarf around her neck before stuffing it down her bag along with her jacket. The sun finally got to her.

When she got off the bus Ariadne shielded her hazel eyes with the back of her hand and pushed her hair back as well, trying to ignore how sweaty she felt and how long it had been since she'd last washed her hair that had become greasy. She knew she was also looking pasty and that there were large, purple bags under her eyes.

At that moment, it didn't matter much though. Because the sight that lay before her was so beautiful. She could see a large portion of the San Diego skyline. This was where she had grown up. She had visited the historic monuments, the museums, enjoyed the architecture that could change in style around any corner.

It had been so long since she had been here, but now it all came back. The lousy restaurant her first boyfriend had taken her to, the public pool where her father taught her to swim, the small shop in a side alley where she had bought her prom dress. The quaint apartment complex where her parents had lived before her mother had gotten pregnant and they moved outside of the city to Pine Valley.

Taking it all in, Ariadne breathed deeply and felt her heart slowing down and some peace within for the first time in a long while. It had been the right decision to come here. But before she went home she knew she had to clean up. No one would believe she was just home for a visit and not because she was in trouble if she turned up like this.

Finding a public bathroom, and getting over her innate fear of them, Ariadne washed her face, sprayed on some perfume, put a little make-up on and tied her gross hair up in a ponytail. She had looked better, but at least it was an improvement. Outside she caught a local bus to Pine Valley.

Despite the calm she had found standing by the lonely bus stop looking out on San Diego, now her heart rate was speeding up again and her palms got sweaty from more than the sun. There it all was. Her old school, the hospital where her mother was a nurse and the different, local shops her father had done taxes for. She got off the bus earlier than she had to and rediscovered old childhood hideaways, waved at the waitress at a restaurant where her family had been coming since she was little and she even bought a milkshake from the ice-cream parlour where she used to spend most of her summers with her friends.

Standing by her front door at last, Ariadne's legs were shaking when she wondered how to approach this. She knew where the spare key was hidden but she would probably frighten someone if she let herself in. She could go around to the back and she would most likely find her mother tanning on the deck. Finally she decided on just ringing the doorbell. Even though she found it odd to do that at her own house

It was a generously sized house when they had been a family of three, two stories as well as an attic and a basement. There was a large backyard and the front looked idyllic with the well-kept lawn, the white boards on the garage and house, with blue shutters around the windows.

She could glance up at one of the windows that had belonged to her room. As far as she could tell it was still her curtains, candlesticks and other knickknacks she could see there.

Waiting for someone to open the door Ariadne smoothed her jeans out as well as she could and she was busy doing the same to her shirt, which had become wrinkled during the bus ride, when her mother opened the door.

Ariadne lost her breath. She looked exactly the same. Tan and lean with her dyed, blonde hair cut in a Marilyn Monroe hairstyle. Her teeth were slightly yellowed by too many cigarettes and coffee, her basic diet despite being a nurse. Her blue eyes looked slightly faded and it was obvious she was getting older even under all the make-up.

She was wearing a sheer robe over her bathing suit and high heeled slippers, like she was some old-time movie star. Because of that craving for fame her mother harboured Ariadne had never felt that close to her. Georgette Page, originally Christakos, had dreamed of becoming an actress, but in her family you married young and at nineteen she had married the five year senior Leroy Page. During their first year of marriage she got pregnant and that was really when her dream crashed. When Ariadne was old enough to start preschool Georgette had taken her nursing degree and began working at the local hospital.

Taking care of a child at home and senior citizens at work was a far cry from her dream of being an actress and living the lifestyle that came with the occupation. Slowly over the years she got more attached to her old movies and slithered further into a world in her head where this suburban married woman was just a role she was acting out.

Ariadne had a hard time understanding how her parents had fallen for each other, but wasn't surprised really that Leroy had been so smitten with Georgette. On a good day she was stunning and carried herself magnificently. In a way Ariadne was grateful for her mother's strange obsession. If she hadn't inherited that powerful imagination she might not have been as successful as an architect.

That choice of career she owed to her father though. Since she was little he had played with her, teaching her to build the most amazing things with Lego's and building blocks. He bought her an easel, watercolours, sketchbooks and everything else she might need. He was an accountant, a devoted family man, and he had a quiet demeanour.

When Ariadne was sixteen he passed away from a tumour in his brain. They had discovered it far too late and from the time they found out until he died Ariadne had no time to make peace with it, she barely had time to say goodbye. He had meant everything to her, he was her role model, her mentor, her whole world.

Georgette had showed up at the funeral in a dress that revealed her generous cleavage, also wearing a black hat with a veil that covered her eyes. As always she wore bright red lipstick and she made a show of sobbing hysterically and fainting into the arms of the minister.

Never before had Ariadne hated her mother like she did at that moment. That's when she knew she had to get out of their town, far away from all of it. She set her sights on attending Sorbonne, perfected her French and scored top grades. Her mother supported her decision by switching from smoking Sobranies to smoking Gitanes.

A lot of time had passed and now that the two were face to face again some was forgotten as well. Georgette's eyes welled up and Ariadne willingly hugged her.

"Moro mou, welcome home." Georgette sobbed, stroking Ariadne's hair and whispering 'Moro mou' over and over again. Ariadne never learned much Greek, but she knew that meant 'My baby'.

They walked inside the house that hadn't changed much since Ariadne had left it. It was kept light, but with occasional pangs of bright colours. All of the downstairs floor was open, with the living room coming first and walking through that you reached the dining room that had the kitchen off to the side. Almost the entire back of the house was glass doors leading into the beautiful backyard. It had both palm trees and exotic flowers.

"Why are you home, baby?" Georgette asked flustered, while she lit up a cigarette, she was back to Sobranies Ariadne noted. They looked dramatic with the gold against the black, especially between the brightly red painted lips. At the same time Georgette poured them both a glass of wine even though Ariadne declined, especially since it was only two PM, and fingered her fake, pearl necklace nervously.

Ariadne let her finger run up and down the stem of the wineglass "I just missed," she could hear her mother's sharp intake of breath, but Ariadne couldn't say it "it here." She finished. Georgette looked disappointed and Ariadne understood that, but she hadn't missed her mother.

"But it's in the middle of the semester, yes?" she had never let go of that affected accent.

Nodding Ariadne got up. It unnerved her the way Georgette kept moving, looking frazzled and with that sticky sweet smile on her face.

"I took a leave of absence, because I got a job." Well that was halfway true "We just finished, so since I was in Los Angeles I thought I should stop by here." Ariadne grabbed her bag and headed towards the stairs "Is it okay if I stay for a while?"

"Of course moro mou, of course. You can stay in your old room, baby."

Ariadne hated being called baby. And she was desperate to find out if her mind was playing tricks on her of it Georgette really did look nervous now. She only had one foot on the first step of the stairs when someone came walking down them.

"Who's here, honey?"

The man was only wearing cotton boxers, had a beer gut and a very hair corpus. Ariadne's face fell.

"Mom, who is this?" she asked, not even acknowledging the man who held out his hand for her to shake once he'd reached the bottom of the stairs. He had thick black hair and a moustache.

Georgette asked him to go and get cigarette "Baby please, don't you remember Jeff? Daddy's friend from the Treasure Trove Club?"

The Treasure Trove Club was really just a seedy bar one step above a strip joint. It was in San Diego and back when Ariadne had been in high-school some students snuck out at night to go there because they let everybody in as long as they bought something at the bar.

"Daddy would never be friends with someone from that place!" Ariadne insisted, literally quivering from anger and resisting the urge to scream and then run out, slamming the door. She wasn't fifteen anymore. And it was perfectly expectable that her mother would be dating. It was not however all right of her to piss on the memory of Ariadne's father.

Georgette grabbed Ariadne's upper arm "Be nice baby, and go say hello." she practically dragged her daughter to the kitchen. Ariadne pouted, but shook hands with the man during their awkward introduction. She was forced to stay for a while and answer questions about Paris, her education and this and that, before she could excuse herself and retire to her room.

She felt the exhaustion again and dragged herself up the stairs. On this floor were two bedrooms, a small office and a bathroom. Ariadne instantly headed into her old room, but it felt like another bomb was dropped on her.

Nothing had changed in there either. Her bed was even made with the same covers she had back when she'd lived there. They were red and had the white 'Coca Cola' logo strewn all about them. The room smelled a little musty, but that was really the only indication that time had passed.

The pale yellow wallpaper was still there, almost completely covered with cut out images from magazines, diplomas, pictures, old mementoes. Her easel still stood at the corner with old paint spots splattered across it. She picked up a picture frame from her desk. It was one of her and the group of friends she'd hung out with in school, all crammed in a photo booth and making silly faces.

Ariadne smiled and put it back down, instantly picking up another one. It was a framed concert ticket from when she'd seen Macy Gray in concert with her old boyfriend Davey. The CD was lying on the shelf of her bookcase next to the picture frame.

She picked it up as well, wondering if the CD was even still in the case, but beneath it lay another picture. It was of her and her father. Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't even look at the picture any longer. Both of them had looked so happy.

Sitting down on her bed she pulled up her knees buried her face in her pillow, quieting her sobs. Ariadne never really cried much and it was over quickly. But she was still lying, frozen on the bed, staring into the wall. She couldn't help but wonder if her father would be proud of her if he knew what she had been involved in.

0o0

All of the sudden weeks had passed by. Ariadne was surprised to discover she could still remember her dreams from time to time, but usually they didn't make sense or they were nightmares. She was never sure what the nightmares were about, mostly the feeling of it that lingered after she'd wake up, drenched in sweat and with marks in her palms from where her nails had dug in the skin.

Jeff was around the house more often than Ariadne cared for, but he was actually all right to be around, she reluctantly had to admit. Well compared to her mother anyhow, he didn't annoy her as much.

Every day when Georgette came home from work she would suggest to Ariadne that they do something fun. She was like a small child, unable to be still. For the most Ariadne refused and then her mother would call Jeff or one of her few girlfriends.

To her surprise a lot of Ariadne's old classmates and friends still lived in town, and once in a while if she was taking a walk she would bump into them. Each time she was left with the same feeling that she was much older than the rest of them. Mostly she passed her time by reading or catching up on some studying on her own. She couldn't find the passion to go back to Paris and her school.

She felt like she was on a time-out as long as she stayed in Pine Valley and for the moment that suited her. Despite her occasionally long nights she looked better than she had in a while, her complexion had taken well to the sun and due to Jeff's skill around a grill she had put on a little weight.

One day she came back from another walk around Pine Valley with a canvas. Her parents had moved there because it was the place nearest San Diego that had a small town feel to it and she took joy in peaking at the well-kept gardens and old buildings. That beautiful day had inspired her to pick up her paintbrushes again.

She was in the middle of deciding on a motif when her mother yelled for her "Baby, there's someone here to see you!"

Ariadne frowned. Who in the world would come to see her? She felt certain her mother was up to some sort of trick and stayed in her room. But it wasn't long before Georgette glided dramatically through the door "Baby, there is a handsome man waiting for you at the door."

She sounded giddy about it and tittered in excitement.

"Who is it?" Ariadne asked, following her mother downstairs, already embarrassed by the feathered robe Georgette was wearing with her high-heeled slippers and the cigarette dangling from her manicured fingers.

"He didn't say his name, but he looks very distinguished and wealthy?"

Hurrying up Ariadne passed her mother on the stairs. It was strange, but she only really knew one person who could maybe fit that description and would know to find her here.

"Davey?" she asked, opening the door and expecting to find her old boyfriend on the other side. Instead it was Arthur.

"Hello Ariadne." the Point Man said, adjusting the sleeve of his immaculate suit, that he apparently wore even though the sun was baking down on them.

They kissed the air next to each other's cheeks while Ariadne stumbled over various versions of 'hello'. Georgette offered to fetch something to drink and invited them to sit outside with her in the garden. But Arthur insisted on talking with Ariadne privately.

She took him to her room, feeling like a silly girl next to him, wearing denim cut-off's and a yellow, strappy top she had left behind when she'd moved out.

"How did you know to find me here?" Ariadne blurted as soon as she heard the door click shut behind them.

Arthur gave her that reserved smile "It's my job to know, Ariadne."

She rubbed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on. Why was he here?

He sat down on the very corner of her cluttered desk after glancing briefly at the empty canvas on her easel. Ariadne sat down on the bed, still trying to process the fact that Arthur was there. She had never thought she'd really see any of them again. The little bubble she had been hiding in had burst at his arrival.

"I'm here," Arthur began slowly "to ask you if you might be interested in doing another job for us. Saito needs us again. Not for another Inception, just an Extraction."

'Just' an Extraction Ariadne thought, stunned by his casual way of brushing that off as something easy.

"It would be you, me, Eames and Dom."

"Cobb, but," Ariadne was cut off by Arthur simply holding up a hand "You don't just retire from this occupation Ariadne. Saito made sure to set up for us here in Los Angeles so Dom can still be around his children. We don't have time to train another architect and since you know the ropes and the team we would much prefer you to finding someone else in the business. Besides you are very talented." she was still thrilled to receive a compliment from the perfectionist.

But even so, Ariadne couldn't answer him yet "What about Yusuf?" she stalled.

"He is out. But Eames has another Chemist at hand already, of course." Arthur explained and Ariadne's lips twitched at the face Arthur pulled when speaking of Eames.

"Saito insists that this is a pressing matter, so we are in a bit of a rush to at least get everyone together. But take tonight to make the decision. And don't forget what I told you, you don't just quit." Arthur finished, precise and to the point. Ariadne wasn't sure if he was warning her or trying to bait her to say yes.

He slipped her a business card "I am staying at a hotel in San Diego. If you are in, come by tomorrow at noon. Bring your bag," he nodded at the bag she still hadn't unpacked since her arrival "and Eames will forge some papers for your college to prolong your leave of absence."

Ariadne felt as if she had the wind knocked out of her. She thought she was done in this world, but now Arthur was sitting in her childhood room and explaining all of this to her, looking so out of place it all seemed like a surreal Salvador Dali painting.

Getting back up on his feet Arthur gave her shoulder a little squeeze on his way to the door "I can let myself out. But tell your mother goodbye from me. She is very," he thought about it "unique."

Grimacing Ariadne watched Arthur leave. She wanted to stop him and ask more questions, but something weighed her down. She head the front door open and close and was tempted to rush to her window and watch him leave, if only to be sure he had really been there.

But she could already her Georgette on the stairs.

"Did your gentleman friend leave already, baby? Who is he?"

Ariadne swallowed and found her voice "My boss from that job I told you about. He has another offer for me. I leave tomorrow at noon. If I take it." she added uncertainly. Georgette made a big scene of it, insisting on inviting Jeff over along with Ariadne's friends and other acquaintances for a goodbye party.

"Mom, I don't know if I am taking it yet, and even if I do I don't want a party."

Georgette sulked like a child, but left the room to let Ariadne think it over.

0o0

A/N: Hello all. I haven't written a multi-chaptered Inception fic yet, but this is my attempt. Let me know in a review if I should continue this or not. If I feel there's an interest I'll start on the next chapter. I have an idea of what the job is of course, but depending on the response I might make up something more detailed. Oh and also, since English isn't my first language if anyone is interested in being my beta, I would much appreciate to hear from you.

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