A/N: Hey, everyone! First attempt at an Inception FanFic! Hope it's okay...enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inception.
"Look at this great big sea of people wearing dark colors. It used to be you saw someone wearing black and you knew their beloved had died. Now everyone wears black all the time. We are in a state of perpetual mourning. But for what?"
-Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl
A couple laid in bed together, she wrapped up in his arms. They smiled as they stared into each other's eyes. "Do you really have to go?" she asked him.
"You know I do," he said, causing a frown to appear on her face. "But you know that if I could, I would just blow it off in a heartbeat, right?" he added quickly.
She smiled. "I know. And you know I'm gonna miss you every second that you're gone, right?"
He smiled, too. "I know. It's just a few weeks, though. I'll be back as soon as humanly possible."
"Promise?"
"Promise." He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I love you, Ariadne."
"I love you too, Arthur."
One Month Later
"Are you sure you haven't heard from him?" Ariadne asked frantically.
"Yes, darling. I am absolutely positive that I haven't heard from our favorite point man in weeks." Eames said. "Have you tried reaching him?"
"What do you think?" she spat. "I've been calling him constantly for the past week! I've called him so much that I'm starting to hear his fucking voicemail message in my sleep!"
"There's no need to yell," Eames said, trying to get the architect to calm down.
Ariadne sighed. "I'm sorry, Eames. I haven't really been able to control my emotions lately. Cobb came to check up on me the other day, and I nearly threw a dish that I was washing at his head!"
"Darling, if you don't mind me asking, is your 'Aunt Flo' in town?"
Ariadne blinked a couple times. "No...I haven't seen her since..." She tried to think back to the last time she had her period. "I think she was supposed to visit the week Arthur left..."
"And you didn't notice until just now?"
"I've been so worried about Arthur, I guess it just slipped my mind..."
"Alright, I'm going to get on the next flight to Paris. I'll be there as soon as humanly possible." There was silence, and then Ariadne started sobbing really loudly. "What's wrong now?"
"That's what Arthur said the last time I saw him!" she said between sobs.
"Alright, Ariadne, just breathe, and I'm leaving for the airport right now."
Ariadne took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, wiping her eyes. "I'll see you soon."
"Yes you will."
Ariadne pressed the "END" button on her phone, then slid down the wall she was leaning against to the floor. She hugged her knees tight to her chest, then went to her recent calls and clicked on Arthur's name. She put the phone up to her ear. "Hello, you've reached Arthur. Leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as humanly possible."
Ariadne stifled a sob as she waited for the "beep." Once it did, she felt the tears start rolling down her face again. "Hey, Arthur. It's me, again. Ariadne, that is. Um...I know I've been calling you constantly for the past week, and I know you're probably just busy with the job, but I...I just really need to hear your voice right now. Something big might be happening right now. Eames is flying to Paris right now, to help me figure it out, but I would really appreciate it if you would call me so we can at least talk about this. I mean, it's not something that can really be dealt with over the phone, but...I guess it's better than nothing. So-"
"If you are satisfied with your message, press one. If you would like to record your message again, press two. To delete, press three." Ariadne sighed, and reluctantly pressed "three."
She crawled over to the bedside table and pulled out the bishop that she hadn't even thought about in years. She set it on the bedside table in front of her. She flicked it. It tipped over. This wasn't a dream.
The Next Day
Eames and Ariadne pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex that Ariadne and Arthur lived in. Eames parked Ariadne's car and turned it off, then turned to look at the woman sitting next to him. "We're home." Ariadne nodded, staring straight ahead, not blinking. "Shall we go inside?" She nodded again, then grabbed the paper bag on the by her feet and climbed out of the car.
The two made their way up the two flights of stairs to the apartment, and once inside, Eames took a seat on the sofa while Ariadne made her way to the bathroom. A couple minutes later, Ariadne came out of the bathroom, gingerly holding the Pregnancy Test in her hand. Eames stood up and walked over to her. They stood around the counter, just staring at the stick. "How do you know if it's positive or negative?"
"If there's one line, it means I'm not pregnant. If there's two lines, it means I am."
"How much longer?"
"About a minute."
It was the longest minute of their lives. They stood there in complete silence, and if it wasn't such a serious moment, Ariadne would've made a joke about Eames and silent being used in the same sentence, unless it was "Eames is never silent."
Once the excruciating minute was over, the two looked even closer at the test. Slowly, two pink lines appeared. Ariadne started tearing up, and Eames put his hand on top of hers, trying to comfort her. "Maybe it's a false positive..." he said hopefully.
Ariadne shook her head. "I haven't had my period for two months, I've been eating like crazy, I'm having mood swings up the yin-yang, and now this. I'm...pregnant."
The tears started falling down Ariadne's face. Eames quickly walked around the counter and pulled her into a hug, not really knowing what else to do. They just stood there like that for God knows how long, and the only thing on Ariadne's mind was "What now?" She grabbed the bishop from her pocket and set it down on the counter in front of her. She flicked it. It tipped over. This still wasn't a dream.
One Month Later
Ariadne, who had just started to show, was sitting on her sofa, watching the news. Cobb was sitting next to her. Eames and Cobb had been switching off every few weeks since Ariadne had found out about the pregnancy. She had given up trying to call Arthur two weeks ago; his phone didn't even ring anymore, just went straight to voicemail, which meant it was either dead or off.
Ariadne felt her phone vibrate on her leg, and she looked down and felt her heart stop for a second when she saw the name.
ARTHUR.
Ariadne scrambled to answer the phone, almost dropping it in the process. "Arthur? Hello?"
"Ariadne..."
It felt so good to hear him say her name again. "Arthur! What's going on? You were supposed to be home already!"
"Ariadne, I can't talk long. They can track my phone..."
"What do you mean? Who's 'they?'"
"The company I just performed the extraction for. The extraction failed, and my colleagues are already dead. Ari, they're coming after me next."
"Come home, then! Cobb is here, and Eames can be here in a couple hours, and I'm sure Yusuf would come and help protect us, as well, maybe even Saito or Miles!"
"Ari, I can't take that chance. I shouldn't have even called, but I miss you so much."
"I miss you, too. But there's something you should know..."
"Can it wait? They've probably already tracked my cell phone to this hotel, and they could be here at any moment..."
"It'll only take a second..."
There was a banging in the background. "I have to go."
"Arthur, I'm-"
"I have to go! I love you." And with that, he hung up.
"-pregnant." Ariadne finished to herself. Her eyes started watering, but she refused to cry this time. She was going to be strong, for Arthur and for their unborn child. She pulled out the bishop from her pocket and set it down on the coffee table in front of her. She flicked it. It tipped over. This wasn't a dream.
Five Months Later
An eight month pregnant Ariadne waddled around her apartment. Cobb had just run to the store, and Eames was sleeping on the couch. She was just about to head to the bathroom, when she heard her phone ringing. She walked to her room, figuring it was just Cobb with a question about which laundry detergent to get. She answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. "Cobb, I told you that the generic detergent is just fine."
Someone cleared their throat on the other end. "Is this Ariadne?"
Ariadne raised an eyebrow, then looked at the name. Arthur. "Who is this, and why do you have my husband's phone?"
"My name is Officer Barnes, and I am with Scotland Yard. We received a call from a person staying at St. Ermin's Hotel here in London, stating that they heard gunshots in the room next to them. We investigated, and we found your husband's body. He was clutching this phone, and there was a note tucked into it. It says 'My name is Arthur Stevens. If you are reading this, then I am dead. Please call my wife, Ariadne, at 555-2678, and let her know immediately. Thank you."
Ariadne lost all control of her body. The phone fell out of her hands and fell to the floor, the battery falling out. She thought she had wet herself a little, but when she looked down, she realized that it wasn't urine...
She pulled the bishop out of her pocket and set it down on the bedside table in front of her. She flicked it. It tipped over...
"EAMES!"
Twelve Hours Later
"Come on, Mrs. Stevens, one more push!" Dr. Albright yelled over Ariadne's screaming. Ariadne squeezed Eames' and Cobb's hands so hard, he lost all feeling in it for a split second. Ariadne let out one final scream, then let out a giant sigh of relief. Dr. Albright held the baby, then looked at the other nurses and doctors in the room. "We need to get this baby into an incubator, stat."
The nurses and doctors started running around, and Ariadne just looked around hopelessly. "Wait! What's wrong with my baby?"
"He's not breathing, Mrs. Stevens," Dr. Albright said as she handed Ariadne's newborn baby son off to a nurse. "If we don't get him into an incubator right away, he'll die."
Ariadne felt her head spinning. As the room cleared out, Ariadne felt herself losing control of her emotions. Her eyes started watering, and she tried to hold back her tears. She had made a promise to herself that she wasn't going to cry anymore. Cobb placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. He didn't say anything, but the simple gesture was enough to push her over the edge. Ariadne started sobbing. She had just lost her husband, and she was on the verge of losing the one piece of him she had left.
A Few Hours Later
"Mrs. Stevens, I don't know how to tell you this..." Dr. Albright started. Ariadne sat up straighter in her bed. News that started out with those words was never good news. "We've done everything we can, but we don't believe your son will live through the night." Ariadne felt her heart drop and her breathing become shallow. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Stevens." Once again, Ariadne felt herself begin to cry. She couldn't take anymore bad news. Eames and Cobb looked at each other over Ariadne's head. Neither of them knew what to say. "You can visit him in the neonatal intensive care unit, if you want. You can't hold him, but you can look at him and touch him through the holes in the incubator."
Eames and Cobb helped Ariadne make her way to the NICU. Once there, some of the neonatal nurses directed her to her baby boy. She crouched down and looked at him through the incubator. He wasn't moving, except for the subtle rise and fall of his chest. She stuck her finger through one of the holes and stroked his arm gently. His arm moved slightly, and his tiny little hand grabbed her finger. A smile spread across her face, and tears started falling down her face. But for the first time in a long time, she didn't want to stop them. They were tears of happiness. "I'm not going to lose you too, little one. I love you."
Three Years Later
Ariadne walked through the cemetery, three-year-old Arthur Jr. clutching her hand, Eames, Cobb, James, and Phillipa following closely behind. Ariadne was clad in a pair of black pants, black blazer, and dark purple scarf. Dark colors were all she seemed to be able to wear lately. You know, if the last three years were considered "lately." She used to be so carefree and happy, but nobody had seen her smile. At least, not really. She put on a smile for their son, but it never reached her eyes. She also hadn't cried in three years. It was like she was an emotionless rock (she preferred to call it "staying strong"). She thought back to her undergraduate years, when she took Acting for Non-Majors as her Fine Arts credit. They had read a play called Dead Man's Cell Phone, and one part in particular stuck out in her mind. She couldn't remember the entire quote, but she remembered it saying something about being in a state of perpetual mourning. That's where she was now. Eames and Cobb had tried their best to pull her out of her funk. Even Yusuf came to see the Arthur Jr. a few months ago. Nothing worked. There were a few nights when she thought about taking her own life, but then she would look across the hallway at Arthur Jr.'s room, and all suicidal thoughts would subside. She had another life to take care of now, and she wasn't going to let this one slip through her fingers.
They finally reached the gravestone, and they each placed a red rose in front of it. Red was his favorite color. She bent down so she was at eye level with the writing on the gravestone.
ARTHUR BARTHOLOMEW STEVENS
SEPTEMBER 23, 1984-FEBRUARY 18, 2016
"WITH A BIT OF LUCK AND A LOADED DIE, EVERYTHING'S WORTH A SHOT"
No matter how many times she read that final line, her eyes teared up every single time. This time, she decided to let them fall. Arthur Jr. looked at her, his brow crinkled up with concern. He looked so much like his father, especially in the suit that Uncle Eames had gotten him, partly as a joke. "Mommy?" he asked. "Why are your eyes all wet?"
Ariadne smiled. A real one, this time. One that reached her eyes. "I'm just missing your Daddy, that's all."
"Why can't he come home with us, then?" Arthur Jr. asked. "He's right there, and I'm sure he misses us, too."
The tears started flowing more freely now, as Ariadne leaned forward and hugged her son. "I wish he could, AJ. I really do." She let go of him and wiped the tears off her face.
Eames came up from behind Arthur Jr. and picked him up, carrying him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Uncle Eames!" he yelled, giggling. "Put me down!"
"No way, Lil' Artie!" Eames ran through the cemetery with Arthur Jr. slung over his shoulder. James chased after them, and Phillipa followed behind at a slower pace. Cobb took a couple steps towards Ariadne, who was tracing the letters of Arthur's name with her finger. He put his hand on her shoulder, just like he had in the hospital the day Arthur Jr. was born. The subtle gesture never ceased to comfort her, even if it was only a little bit. She looked up at the older man, new tears starting to form in her eyes. "He promised..." she said, the tears falling down her face again.
"I know," Cobb said, bending down to her level, his hand never leaving her shoulder. "But maybe now that you're finally accepting everything, you can move on with your life. Arthur wouldn't want you to waste the rest of your life crying over him."
Ariadne nodded, looking back at the headstone. "I know. But what if I need him? I'm not supposed to go through this 'parenting' thing alone. If I was, I would have been born asexual!"
Cobb stifled a laugh, knowing that this was not the time. "You're not alone. You have me, an experienced parent, and Eames...well, he's learning. For some odd reason, AJ adores him." Ariadne laughed softly, wiping the tears off her face yet again. "So in the meantime, this pseudo family we have is going to have to do."
Ariadne looked up at Cobb again, then stood up. "I guess so. But when AJ turns twenty-one, I want Eames nowhere near him." Cobb laughed, and Ariadne smiled. A real one, again. One that reached her eyes.