Ariadne pushed herself up on the very tips of her toes, straining to hook the wire of her newly framed photo onto the wall of her freshly painted apartment. Dimitriev's connections had paid off with quiet and cozy apartment in Oberkampf. Their house was nice, if a bit older. For all its flaws, she loved their new home. The strange threadbare blue carpet and fluffy black cat they had adopted reminded her of her small midwestern home, and Dimitriev had recently begun to teach her to play piano.

A small smile spread across her face as Ariadne felt the wire latch on to the small nail on her wall. After some slight adjustments she stepped back and beamed at her work.

The photo was from their visit to Athens. They had met his parents there last summer, and Dimitriev had shown her all of his favorite local places. He was Greek and studying Music in Paris. They met at one of the post-graduate socials and had become fast friends. Ariadne remembered the first night they had spent together - she had fallen asleep in his room while he puttered around on his piano.

The next morning, she had awoke to the sounds of Chopin and they went to her favorite creperie for breakfast.

Ariadne tilted her head at the photo at the reflection of outside buildings bouncing off the glass. Something about the light seemed to penetrate the photo and cut a severe line across the laughing faces. It seemed false.

Ariadne suddenly felt a searing feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Below her, the black ball of fur chirped, snapping her out of her cogitation.

The last year had been a blur, Ariadne comforted herself, shaking her head as she tidied up. She glanced nervously at the newly hung photo. It was no surprise the specifics of meeting Dimitriev's parents were escaping her. She had a mountain of homework to do, jobs to apply for, and a boyfriend to plan a future with.

Outside, the bright sunlight suddenly dipped behind a cloud.

A series of three abrupt knocks at her door nearly caused Ariadne to knock her coffee off of her drawing table. A glance at the clock on her desk proved just how engrossed she had become in her latest project. Steadying herself with a deep breath, Ariadne collected herself and went to the door.

She opened the door to a sight she had not seen in nearly two years - Complete with his typical three piece suit and ghostly smile.

"New scarf?" He asked.

Ariadne trailed behind Arthur as he politely took in her apartment, a delicate espresso cup in his hands. He carefully traced the outline of her living room first, touching a few objects with his hand and stopping to pet her cat - who, despite being suspicious at first, warmed to sensation of a strange and warm palm. Arthur sauntered past her coffee table, his fingertips brushing over the tips of chess pieces, haphazardly arranged on a dusty chessboard. He continued to take in smaller details of her apartment, all while wearing the same ghostly smile. His inspection led Ariadne to think he wanted to unnerve her, but she quickly brushed the suspicious thought away. Arthur stopped in front of the photo of her and Dimitriev.

"Vacation?"

"Yeah - his parents live in Athens."

"What do they do?" Arthur asked, his eyes trained evenly on the photo.

Ariadne paused, her mind filled with the blank space of the wall surrounding her photo.

"His mother's a journalist - his father's a lawyer," she answered at last, feeling that she had taken too much time to recall.

"When was this taken?" he asked, all politeness.

"Last summer," Ariadne responded quickly. Arthur looked over to her with a thoughtful glance and a mysterious smile that immediately caused Ariadne's face to burn red. She looked away and he took another sip of his espresso.

"Why are you-"

"So how long have you lived here?" Arthur interrupted, swiveling effortlessly away from the photo. Ariadne grit her teeth, but nonetheless followed him onto the balcony overlooking the busy sidewalk. She watched him as he leisurely leaned over the rail and absorbed the view, taking another modest sip from his espresso.

"A few weeks," Ariadne replied as soon as her irritation at his audacity had died down enough for her to reply. "The owner is a family friend of Dimitri's."

"Well-connected," Arthur added lightly. Ariadne scowled, finding his smile increasingly disingenuine.

"What are you doing here?" Ariadne asked frankly as she crossed her arms across her chest and faced him head on.

Arthur's mocking smile fell slightly and he paused for just a moment before speaking.

"Potential job offer. Consulting, mostly. Interested?"

"Consulting? Does that mean you have a new architect?" Ariadne blurted and Arthur's lips upturned slightly as he lazily returned to the view.

"Maybe. We're still vetting candidates."

"Am I among those candidates?"

Arthur shrugged, pursing his lips as he finished off the rest of his espresso. "It's a six month job and you're a graduate student."

Ariadne lowered her eyes.

"I'm-"

"The best." Arthur said, turning to her with growing seriousness but still idly resting against her balcony. "We know."

"The most qualified," Ariadne corrected sharply, raising her eyes heatedly to Arthur's.

That struck a chord.

The smug, knowing smile that had lingered on his lips since walking into her apartment dropped. She met his gaze evenly, even as the intensity of his stare caused her to flush red. It was just Arthur - a former colleague and mentor from an exciting time in her life that was over. Her life had taken a notably different turn. Now she had Dimitriev - quiet, intelligent, and distant - but loving. She had a promising future in Paris, a home, and a place in life. Arthur represented a fleeting dream she had left behind.

Still, there was something about the way he was looking at her now that made Ariadne feel like the exciting time in her life was not quite as far back in the past as she had thought. The soft intensity of his gaze was so fresh in her mind that when he opened his mouth to speak, she almost expected him to ask her for a quick kiss-

"I need to see your plans from the Fischer job."

Ariadne drew back slightly, suddenly realizing she had been staring at his lips.

"What?"

"The plans from the Fischer job," Arthur repeated firmly. "Do you still have them?"

"Of course."

"Show me," Arthur pushed past her and Ariadne felt a sinking feeling in her stomach bring her back to reality.

Ariadne pointedly avoided Arthur's gaze as she unfurled floor plans and retrieved grids from the closet in her cluttered and mostly unpacked office. He stood behind her stoically and Ariadne felt as though she were being evaluated on some behavioral examination.

"That's all of them," she sighed nostalgically at the items on her desk. He stepped forward to examine them and she immediately stepped back, trying to maintain her composure as Arthur pored over each of the items on her desk.

Outside, the clouds grew darker.

The twinge of nostalgia was growing into something more palpable. When her hands had touched the paper and styrofoam, the flood of memories was slowed to a trickle. She recalled the rush hour traffic jam downtown, the hotel lobby (again, she flushed pink), and the snowy secret base. All of her plans were there and accounted for, but somehow she felt the memory of the dream - of Cobb, Yusef, Eames, and even Arthur was clouded.

"Have you showed these to anyone else?" Arthur asked casually as the thumbed through a few of Ariadne's original maze sketches.

Ariadne heard an involuntary scoff escape her lips, earning her a questioning glance from Arthur.

"Am I trying your patience?" He inquired innocuously, turning his head to reveal the quirk of a smile tickling his lips.

"No."

"No?" Arthur asked, chortling slightly as he ran his hands over the scaled down maze of Paris.

"No," Ariadne answered coldly. "I haven't shown anyone."

"Not even. . .?" He asked tipping his head toward the living room, and Ariadne knew by the smirk on his face, the photo of her and Dimitriev in Athens. Ariadne gave him a seething look as she pushed her hands onto her hips. It was a clear enough 'fuck off' in Ariadne's mind, but the grim expression on Arthur's face told her he hadn't noticed.

"Did you show him?" He repeated gravely, turning around. His trademark smile once again completely vanished.

"Of course not," Ariadne snapped. "As far as he knows or cares, these are mock-ups for my first year exams."

"You're sure of that?" he asked calmly.

"Arthur," Ariadne started impatiently. "I didn't think I'd ever have to explain this to you - but I would never, ever show anyone those blueprints."

Ariadne watched as Arthur's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his slacks and leaned back against her cluttered desk.

"I know, but I have to establish a chain of custody with these jobs, particularly the Fischer job," he explained peaceably. "It's for the safety of the team."

Ariadne's expression softened in disbelief as she connected the dots. There was no job.

He'd come into her home as if to check in on her and see how she was doing and she - like the naive idiot that she was - thought that he might actually be interested in having her on the team again. She was starting to think that maybe he missed her presence, but of course he didn't. He wanted to make sure that she'd kept her mouth shut after the Fischer job.

He was here to ensure that she wasn't a containment risk.

"Right," She acknowledged numbly, the strange irritation in her chest moving past a simmer into a full on boil.

Trembling, Ariadne drew in a deep breath.

"Was there anything else, Arthur?"

She barely caught the downcast expression in Arthur's eyes before he withdrew his hands from his pockets. As he did so, his wrist brushed against a snow globe sitting atop her desk. It fell heavily to the ground and shattered into a dozen pieces.

"I'm sorry," Arthur apologized lowly. "How can I help?"

"Leave," Ariadne said simply.

A heavy silence blanketed the room, and outside a loud clap of thunder announced the arrival of an unexpected rainstorm. Ariadne jumped as the lights in her office flickered. Arthur looked up at the swinging ceiling lights carefully as he clarified:

"You want me to leave."

"I think that would be best," Ariadne replied, trembling. She turned out of the room and went to fetch a dustpan. When she returned, Arthur was carefully stowing away the plans and models back into her closet. Still fuming, Ariadne deposited her dustpan on a nearby chair and led him to the door. Ariadne began to close the door after him, but jumped when she felt him push his way back in.

"By the way - Your bishop's missing."

Her heart beat loudly in her throat.

"What?" Ariadne murmured, her eyes searching his in sudden fear.

"Your chess set," Arthur gestured easily to her coffee table. "It's missing a bishop."

Ariadne looked over, a strange tingling sensation spreading through her chest, as her eyes combed the board for a certain white bishop. Her search came up short.

"It was nice to see you again, Ariadne."

She whipped around at his voice, but Arthur had already vanished.

Ariadne slammed the door, upset at the missing bishop on her chessboard and the seed of doubt growing in her mind.