Never Just a Dream
Now don't get mad kids! This is the same story once called (DREAM) I had been meaning to update and re-post this story for a long time now. Been super busy with my other stories. This is the first in my series and I wanted to make it flow better.
I just needed a kick in the pants by my friend. (TASHA!) who laughed at all my typo's. Love you lots you sexy BEE-Itch!
(Takes Place after the Fisher Job)
"And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep,
and sink into good oblivion."
D.H. Lawrence
The mission had ended well. Cobb had gone home to his family. There was a nice feeling of a well accomplished mission, and sense of comradeship that only happens when everyone involved, has played their part well and succeeded.
Arthur had a rare smile as he tried to avoid Ariadne's eye. Eames explained to Saito the inception appeared to have taken. That Fischer seemed to have made peace with himself and wanted to be 'his own man' Saito was impressed.
The Tourist had insisted on treating the remainder of the Team to drinks and dinner in an upscale hotel. He even paid for the hotel rooms for each member of the Team.
Like all Japanese business men, he took his R&R very seriously. He provided generous amounts of champagne and interesting talk of dream levels. Hours passed, daylight waned away. Yuseff became as drunk as Saito and Arthur and Eames helped them to their own rooms in the hotel.
"I think Saito wants to be an Extractor when he grows up." Eames teased as they left the businessman snoring. Ariadne had laughed but Arthur seemed more serious.
"We have to disappear in the morning." He said softly. Not really speaking to anyone. Eames grumbled to himself about catching a red eye in a hour. Arthur looked at Ariadne as she fumbled clumsily with her room's key card.
"Where are you disappearing to?" She asked. He looked down at his shoes.
"Best not to tell you. It would be safer, after a job like this, if a Team separates." He explained "No contact, at least not for a while." Ariadne nodded sadly.
"I'll be going back to Paris in the morning." She said trying to make her voice bright. "I have dual citizenship in France and The States. I won't use the same passport I used for the flight in." Arthur nodded.
"Smart." He said. They stood in the empty hallway, as a heavy silence fell on them.
"So listen, I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the dream." He said very serious and almost cold. She laughed.
"I'm not mad at you for stealing a kiss. I live in France you know." She said with a smile. Arthur seemed surprised.
"Umm... no I wasn't thinking about that." he said scratching behind his head. "I wanted to talk to you about the risk you took by going into Limbo with Cobb. It was very dangerous. There was always the chance Eames couldn't line up the kick. The van was in free fall, I had to simulate a fall in the elevator to give you your own kick. There was a real chance I wouldn't be able to bring you out." He gave her a stern look. She sighed softly and felt slightly embarrassed.
"I trusted Eames to do what needed to be done." She said honestly. " I trusted you." He looked up at her then and met her eyes fully.
"I wanted you to know that my yelling at Cobb... that it had nothing at all to do with you." He said with difficulty. "You did everything right in the dream. My... anger, wasn't meant for you to hear. I'm sorry you had to see it."
"I know." She said "Cobb threw us a curve ball." She said feeling herself blush slightly. She finally unlocked the door to her hotel room. Arthur's stance seemed to relax.
"You know if you are mad at me for stealing a kiss, I can always give it back to you." He teased leaning in closer with a smile. Ariadne blushed and smiled back as she stepped into her room.
"Good night, Arthur." She whispered playfully and she closed the door on him.
She locked it quickly, suddenly overcome by a school girl giddiness that was either the champagne, the mission or the Point Man outside her door. She stood on tip toe and looked out her room's peep hole. Arthur was still there, hanging on her door frame.
For a thrilling moment she wondered if he would barge in. He was long and lean. Much stronger then he looked. As the Point Man, he took the most dangerous position of anyone in the Team. If he barged in, would she stop him? Ariadne smiled to herself as she spied on him through the peep hole. Taking in his well tailored suit and careful manners.
Remembering the dream, in the Hotel.
After they had left the lobby, he said nothing of the playful kiss he had tricked out of her. She couldn't stop the blush from coming on her face as she watched him prepare the charges. She was suddenly seeing him in a new light. Not as her teacher or Team member, but something more. Suddenly she was seeing him with new eyes. His graceful movements, his intelligence. She suddenly noticed his large hands and kind eyes and voice he only used with her.
When Fischer's projection of Browning appeared at door, Arthur took him down easily. The Architect had gasped softly at the sight of Point Man holding a gun over the older man. She had to keep telling herself that it was just a projection of Browning. Nothing more.
She did not go on this mission with Cobb looking for anything like Arthur. She had no need or time for romance. Arthur was different. He, as well as the rest of the Team treated her like a very valued Team member. They explained things to the new dreamer without being condescending. She was always made to feel she brought something important to all of them. It was a wonderful feeling and it made her want to do her best work for them.
She watched him smile to himself and walk away. For a moment, she was suddenly sad. He had wanted to kiss her again. She was sure of that. She had wanted him to come in. She turned around to look at her lonely hotel room. She would not be the one to run after him like some love crazed girl. She may live in France, but she still had old fashioned beliefs on love.
~Returning to Paris was not pleasant. She flew coach under her French passport. Cobb had called her that morning from a disposable cell phone and said her payment would be wired to her account that day. He seemed more stable. Less agitated. Perhaps being in limbo with Mal had given him peace.
Saito and Yuseff were already gone when she checked out and Arthur was nowhere to be seen as she left for France. Cobb had made it very clear to her not to try and contact any member of the Team until one of them (Arthur or himself) would contact her. He had ended their brief conversation by telling her that she was the most talented architect he has ever worked with and that if she wanted more work in dream extraction, she need only ask.
The compliment made her very happy. She had felt over the past weeks that her intellect and imagination had been stretched and there were times she felt she could barely keep up with the Team intellectually. It was just so much to take in. But Arthur had been her guide on this new adventure. A kind and patient one who never grew tired of her endless curiosity.
Paris now seemed different to her. She had chosen to study architecture here because there were no other buildings like the ones in Paris. The wide streets, the graceful lines and colors were always an inspiration to her. Suddenly, the City of Lights was no longer so engrossing to her. What can Paris hold compared to the worlds she had created and destroyed in the dream world?
Her apartment was in a very Persian part of the city. Small and efficient but suitable for a student. Her Grandfather had left it to her along with a large trust fund that enabled her to study anywhere that would have her, in any country she cared to study in. Her parents had died when she was young and she was raised by the kindly but brilliant old man who had passed away when she was 19.
Since his death she had studied all kinds of subjects all over the world. She was never satisfied by any major. She studied art, history, literature and now architecture. She often laughed at herself for being a professional student. She had no other family to nag her about getting married and having children. Her life was alone and all her own.
Perhaps that was why she so wanted to help Cobb get back to his own young children. No child should feel the loneliness she always felt. Miles had reminded her so much of her Grandfather. He was still in America with Cobb and wouldn't return till next semester.
Paris seemed empty now. The people felt like nothing more then projections.
~Arthur was in New York, thinking of a good reason to make a quick flight to Paris. He had wanted to brake down Ariadne's door that last night. He wondered if she would scream at him. Become angry. Or if she would allow him to take her. To be almost savage with her and ungentlemanly.
It was in his nature to be bold. He succeeded in everything he did by being his way. It was this unafraid nature that had made him kiss her. He refused to be shy about it afterward. Ariadne hadn't seemed angry about it. More relaxed even. She had said nothing about it after. Nothing like a silly girl would have. She had stayed focused on the mission. It made him like her all the more.
It was raining in New York. Everything was wet and gray. The people moved in nice predictable lines as he watched them from his window. His large well appointed Manhattan apartment was modern and elegant.
Arthur's taste.
It had been his childhood home and with his parents gone it was now his only home. He had spent his entire youth in very exclusive boarding schools all over the world. He only came home during the brief winter breaks and even then his father weren't there.
His beautiful Mother had died when he was still young. He had felt her absence profoundly. After her death, his world became cold. He never knew the attention Cobb lavished on his children and was envious.
The boarding school his Father sent him to had been good for him. He found comfort in the life he lead there. He dressed well, simply because he had always been expected to dress well. It was a habit for him. He excelled in school because he found the work easy.
After college, he joined the military where he learned about dream sharing. The military and it's training appealed to his careful, meticulous nature. He was a born perfectionist. He expected the best from himself and others around him. He had very little patience for others incompetence and always let them know it.
But Ariadne had been different. Nothing like the silly girl he was afraid she would be. She was smart and brave. She stood up to Cobb when lesser mortals trembled. He liked to teach her about the dream world. She asked the right kind of questions. She wanted to understand and learn about the nature of dreams, not for the money but for the thrill of the new worlds she made.
When he had found out about the train crossing in the dream he would have snapped at a male architect. But his manners and his liking her had only made him ask instead. After she explained about going into Limbo with Cobb, he had been angry. The elevator drop had worked as a kick to pull them out, but it was a close thing.
He downed the last of his drink and picked up his cell phone. He would take a flight to Paris. Let Cobb say what he would. Arthur had a bad feeling in his bones, he needed to go check on the Architect.
As Arthur was looking out his window in New York, the Architect was getting ready for bed. She had spent that Sunday in the flower market and couldn't resist putting fresh flowers all around her little room. It brightened up her blue toile wallpaper that was 'oh so Paris' with shots of red, pink, yellow and green. It made her room seem more dream like. She couldn't help but wonder if Arthur would like it. As the city glowed around her, she quickly fell asleep.
Bang.
A loud noise jerked her from a dreamless sleep better then any kick she had felt before. Ariadne was wide awake as gruff noises and light flooded her room. She was too shocked to scream as the men dressed in black with there faces covered were on her.
One had ripped the phone from the wall and threw it on the floor. She had made a feeble attempt to put space between them and her, but her tiny apartment granted her no room to escape them. One of them pulled her out of bed by her hair and she had been to shocked and afraid to scream out.
The other had hit her with something. A vase her new flowers were in. She felt water on her face and saw flowers falling as she tried to stay awake. The rest was only black.