Start A Fire

Disclaimer: While this story in particular is mine, Inception does not belong to me, it was the lovely work of Christopher Nolan, and "Start a Fire" also does not belong to me, it belongs to the ridiculously talented and sexy Ryan Star.

I remember when you said your fathers asleep.

I remember swimming as our clothes drifted off to sea.

So wake up, wake up dreaming, and lie here with me

So wake up, wake up dreaming, and lie here with me.

Here we go, just lose contro,l and let your body give in,

To the beat of your heart as my hand touches your skin,

Is this love or just sexual desire?

We're gonna start a fire!

I woke up in the middle of the night, my mind clouded by sleep, as I assessed my surroundings. I bolted upright as I realized I was in an unfamiliar room, and the spot beside me in the bed was empty. I immediately panicked, terrified that something had gone terribly wrong. I calmed myself then tried to remember how I got here, and I searched for my totem on the bedside table. As I held the die, I was comforted in knowing that I was not dreaming. This knowledge, followed by the sound of crashing waves outside cleared my mind a bit, and I remembered I was in the guest room of a gorgeous beach home, and that Ariadne was just down the hall in her room from her childhood summers. Her parents had wanted to meet me, the "mysterious man that stole their daughters heart," so they invited us to spend the weekend with them at their beach house. Of course, being a bit on the old-fashioned side, they couldn't possibly allow us to share a room, even though they had to know their daughter was no saint. We had been living together for 6 months now, and she was 22, for Christ's sake. But, far be it from me to question the authority of Ariadne's parents. This is, after all, their home, and if they want to hang on to the idea that their daughter is not having sex with the aforementioned man who stole her heart and the space beside her in her bed, that's their business. Maybe they're still hanging on to the illusion that she's a little girl. Regardless, her father scared the shit out of me, to be honest. While her mother seemed happy for Ariadne, her father seemed wary of me.

Which she most definitely was not. She may be small, and she may be female, and she may even be 6 years my junior, but there was nothing little girlish about her.

She was a creative, talented, stubborn, determined, beautiful woman who me intrigued from the moment she walked into the warehouse door behind Dom Cobb. As I helped train her, and as she managed to break into Cobb's secrets, I grew more and more fond of her. The kiss on the second level sealed it all. It was unprofessional I know, but she looked so kissable in her prim and proper business suit. I lost my self-control for a moment and did what I had wanted to do for weeks.

Not that it didn't pay off. When we awoke from the dream, she shot a quick glance my way, but she was immediately turned towards Cobb and Saito, and I could see the desperation in her eyes for several moments, and finally relief as she watched them both awake.

When we left the plane, we watched as Cobb successfully made it through immigration, and, though I probably should not have had any contact with her for the next few weeks, I could not resist slipping her a note assuring her that I was there if she needed to talk, followed by my cell number and hotel location.

Within a few hours of my arrival at my hotel, I received a knock on my door. She needed someone to talk to, having just come out of limbo. She wasn't sure what had happened down there or where to go from here.

I remained her companion over the next few weeks, but, as soon as she got through the shock of the inception and her journey to limbo, her curiosity got the best of her, and she had to ask me the question I knew was eventually coming, and I had to explain to her what that kiss really meant. I expressed how much she fascinated me, and I watched as she seemed to consider what I said, and what that meant, then she smiled. She beamed, really, and then she jumped at me, throwing her arms around my neck. When her grip loosened, I kissed her the way she deserved to be kissed. One month later, we had an apartment in Paris, just down the street from the university. Now, here I am, for the first time in 6 months, sleeping alone. I missed her.

I considered going to check on her, just to see her for a moment. Then I thought better of it. I could wait until morning. If her father caught me sneaking into her room…well, I would rather not see where that led. I settled back to attempt to get back to sleep when I heard the door creak open.

A few moments later, I saw the tiny form of Ariadne coming towards me.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi. I was just thinking about you," I replied, sitting up.

"I would have thought you would be happy to have a night to yourself. You're always complaining about how I hog the blankets and mess up the entire bed, since, you know, the sheets and blankets have to remain perfect even while you're asleep."

"Okay, first off, you do hog the blankets. Secondly, I sleep better when the blankets remain in an orderly fashion." She rolled her eyes. "And thirdly, well, yes, I still miss you. It must be love, huh?"

"Nah."

"Oh, then what is it?"

"Great sex"

"Well, that definitely helps."

She laughed. "Come on, let's go out"

"It's kind of late isn't it?"

"Only 2am. You normally stay up a lot later working on your damn research."

"Yeah, but we're also at your parents."

"They won't care."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I doubt your dad would like me going out with his daughter at 2am while staying under his roof. He keeps giving me the stink eye as it is."

"Oh, that's just his face"

I stared at her for a minute. "What?"

"He always looks like that, now let's go." She started pulling on my arm. I groaned but followed her, going towards the suitcase to get dressed. "Nope," she said.

"What?"

"We're just going down to the beach. You don't need to change." I groaned again but let her pull me outside.

"You better be glad I love you."

"Uh-huh."

I grinned to myself. That was my Ariadne. She always got what she wanted, one way or another. It's not like I really cared that much, but I'm the stick-in-the-mud Arthur. I have to put up some resistance.

She pulled me all the way out to the waters edge, then she let go of me and took a few steps forward. I just hung back and watched her as she absorbed her surroundings. She may be an architect who adores man-made buildings, but she still thoroughly appreciated nature as well. No doubt she was remembering fond childhood memories. Then she turned and smiled at me. Then she started pulling off her shirt.

"Whoa! Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing?"

"Skinny dipping. I used to do it all the time when I was a kid. You can join me or you can stay there, but I'm going in," she said, as she continued to pull off the rest of her clothes. I had a moment to admire her in the moonlight as she waded out into the water before she disappeared under the water, then bobbed back up, looking towards me with a huge grin on her face.

There was nothing to do but to join her, so I started stripping off my own clothes, piece by piece. When I was completely stripped, I waded out to waist deep then swam over to Ariadne, grabbing her as soon as I reached her, laughing at her squeal of surprise. Then I kissed her with every bit of the love I felt for her, which she returned with such intense passion that the kiss quickly became more. I knew I had to stop it before it got too out of hand. We were, after all, out on the beach in plain sight, and right in front of her parent's house. I don't care how hard her father sleeps, I was not going to take that chance, so I pulled back.

"I love you, but we can't do this here." She pouted at me. "Sorry, love. The last thing I want to take a chance on is your father miraculously waking up and looking out the window or stepping outside to see me ravaging his daughter."

"You just don't love me anymore."

"Don't be ridiculous. And you're referring to desire, not love."

"Oh, so then you don't desire me anymore, is that it?"

I rolled my eyes and began pulling her with me towards the shore. "You are impossible. Of course I desire you. And just as soon as we get back home I'll prove that to you. As many times as you can handle," I said with a wicked grin.

"I'm holding you to that."

"I wouldn't expect any less." We reached the shore, and I glanced around at the sand. "Um, Ari, where are my clothes?"

"What do you me—oh," she started laughing.

"It's not funny, Ari." I was quickly getting peeved. "Where are they?" She pointed back towards the ocean where I saw my clothes floating away. "Oh, bloody hell," I sighed, then dove back in the water, swimming for my clothes.

When I returned, Ariadne had controlled her laughter but was still grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Next time," she said, "You might want to make sure you put your clothes out of the way of the tide, point man."