He loved her first.

It was love at first sight. There was an elegance about her petite frame and she glowed when she walked. But by the time Arthur had met her, her and Cobb had already made a connection. The extractor was smitten; he went on and on about her dreamshare skills and her imagination, her fire and ambition. That didn't keep Arthur from worshipping the ground she walked on. She made him laugh. Anything the Architect asked, Arthur was Johnny on the spot. The Point Man became infatuated with the woman. He watched her, he admired her, he dreamt about her until things between her and the Extractor turned serious. Then and only then did Arthur realize his crush was just that. A boyish crush. He didn't understand the raw, organic need that Cobb had described he felt upon seeing her. The more he saw them together, the more he agreed that they belonged with each other. Unfortunately, she only had eyes for Dom. Their passion was something Arthur didn't believe he was capable of giving her, not yet, maybe not ever.

Everyone that attended the funeral agreed she was too young and bright to have died without receiving all the gifts life had to offer her. The Point Man stood under a black umbrella and tuned out the harping of the preacher man talking of heaven. Instead, he let his eyes admire her framed face. Her pearly white smile, her bluish-grey eyes—like the ocean-, and her short caramel curls flowing in the Parisian summer breeze. He mused. Your hair was long when we first met. He vowed he'd never let himself have such foolish ideas about a woman again.

And then another petite Parisian walked into their warehouse with her arrogance and her refusal to put up with Cobb's bullshit. She was an old soul whose wise eyes were filled to the brim with innocence and naivety. Her sweet mouth was twisted into a coy smirk. She was tiny and short and Arthur was sure he could break her in half with his thumb and his index finger. Yet her energy was big. And it was tall. And it was strong. It filled every inch of the large room and scared him whether he wanted to admit it or not. A plain Jane (except really she wasn't)…with an out of this world name like:

Ariadne.

She was every contradiction rolled into a radiant fireball. When she snatched her coat over Arthur's head and stormed out he couldn't hold back the smirk. This girl had released his humor again. Somewhere in the dusty corners of a beating organ he'd locked away was a raw, organic bubbling of sorts. The beginning of an aching need…to see her again. To know her. For her to know him. Is that what it had felt like for the Extractor? Well she had come back and Thank God. He heard the footsteps first and so turned. Upon seeing her fresh—surly-face and smelling the familiar scent of the Parisian summer breeze he couldn't be bothered to look away from her as he paused his work to turn and engage in conversation with her. Paradoxical architecture was a great way to start their comradery…after all she was a bunch of paradoxes herself. Before the day was done he'd felt a connection. Arthur wondered if she had felt it too: the sensation of a string attached somewhere beneath his ribcage-in the webby confines of his left ventricle—and tied to a similar location in her. He wondered if she knew that every time she moved, it tugged on him and if she tugged hard enough it would burst the walls that hid the part of him that would be the most valuable to her. He often wondered if she felt his eyes on her when they had no reason to be; he doubted so, she seemed oblivious and focused solely on her work—and Cobb. He saw the pattern repeating itself. The Point Man would be useless if he couldn't see the parallels and the qualities in their new addition to the team that she shared with Mal. As in love with his late wife as he was, he knew Cobb would be able to point her qualities out in Ariadne as well…and he knew Cobb had long yearned to be touched by those qualities again. The Extractor was still filled with guilt, yes, and obviously still broken over his late wife but he'd developed a mutual respect, trust, and soft spot for this Architect. And surely with time that would only grow.

Ariadne was always there for Dom. With embitterment, the Point Man noticed late nights spent with the two, hushed conversations and an encroachment on Arthur's duty—mentoring the girl about the dreamworld. Maybe she hadn't remembered the time Arthur had been there for her: grabbing hold of her hand and assuring her that she was ok. Maybe their touch hadn't been as significant to her as it was to him. Then again, Arthur would be lying if he said he didn't catch her admiring him from time to time. There were moments where he felt she only had eyes for him and then her sympathies would return right back to the extractor.

But he kissed her first.

How could he not? Lips like that begged to be kissed. The idea came to him when her anxiety became apparent; a little joke was appropriate. Quick, give me a kiss. And she obliged without a second's hesitation. Soft but earthshattering—another of her brilliant contradictions. In fact, They're still looking… sounded like she'd like another and her eyes as she watched him set charges in room 491 screamed it. The way she looked at him blazed down his spine. He would've loved to grant her wishes but really he needed to leave her wanting more, keep her wanting him.

Ariadne had followed Cobb into limbo; she'd made him face his fears and his guilt over Mal and she'd been by his side as he did so. He was sure when she said Cobb had stayed that he had stayed to be with Mal. Dom would never get over his first love. So when Ariadne corrected him, said he'd stayed to find Saito instead, displayed unwavering faith in his ability to wake up from the depths of his mind…Arthur didn't know how to respond and he didn't. The implications were that with Ariadne's help he'd been able to put Mal to rest…with Ariadne by his side he had done the impossible. His demeanor dampened further when the first person she looked to when she woke was The Extractor, not the person she'd spent a week at that level with.

Arthur knew that his choice to be guarded when in her presence was both a vice and a virtue. On one hand, it would only protect him from the disillusionment he'd felt with Mal. More importantly, it would only protect her in the long run…relationships with criminals weren't the most beneficial. On the other hand, there was no way she'd ever be able to decipher what she meant to him. Ariadne would never grow close enough to him and he knew that the more he pushed her away and acted like his interest in her was only professional, the less she would push back and eventually their arms length relationship would be a continent's length. Ariadne would eventually stop trying.

Except she tried harder. They worked two jobs together without Cobb's interference. Without his playing on Ariadne's sympathies and demanding her attention. She wanted their working relationship to be friendship; she wanted him to open up. The more he closed up, the more she pried and it infuriated him but why keep retracing the circle? The Point Man wanted what Cobb had with her (and more) for himself, had for a while. Years of clamming up and locking away emotions had taken their toll and loosening up for her would be difficult, painful maybe, a blow to everything he'd worked for in making his illusive façade. Was she worth the shot, though? Every bullet. With every glance through her eyelashes, that string he'd felt on their initial meeting tied itself tighter. It took less of her movement to tug on him and she couldn't go very far anymore before it became unbearable. They were growing closer.

"Perfect. Now always aim a fraction lower than your target point." His hands molded over and into hers as he pressed on them to lower her aim. "Like that." Arthur swore it was a conventional way to teach—he needed to see how she was aiming, he needed to see the target through her eyes to be able to correct and advise. His arms encircled hers to reach the gun, her back pressed into his chest so that he could feel each breath through his suit vest. They rose and fell together like one person. He was careful not to rest his head on her shoulder, it was bad enough that it was by her ear, that he could smell that summer breeze in her hair again with the slightest turn of his head. "Now when you think you've got it, exhale and pull the trigger. But brace yourself because the momen-"

BANG

"OOMPH-The momentum will knock you back." He finished on the floor. Her shot had caught them both off-guard.

"Oops…but…I got him in between the eyes!"

Arthur lifted his head up and looked over hers to find a bullet in the silhouette's head centered flawlessly. "…how'd you manage that?"

She twisted around and up to a sitting position between his legs while he sat up on his elbows. "I don't know…what should I aim for next?" She grinned excitedly, "His heart?" and poked his chest.

You've already got it. "Well that'd be a bit pointless…you've already made the perfect shot."

"So that means we're done for the day?" Ariadne suggested eagerly.

"No. Unfortunately you'll need a lot more practice for that to be a consistent occurrence."

She groaned and leaned on top of him, "Can't we just lay here for an hour and tell Keener we practiced?"

He scoffed at the idea—no matter how appealing—and rejected, "No, I don't want you to get hurt."

Daringly, her chin rested on his chest, "I can't get hurt like this, can I?"

"I meant in the field."

Ariadne's exaggerated, exasperated, sigh filled the room, "Fine…" they both got up and she retrieved the gun, taking her stance again. "If I get three perfect shots in a row, though, you owe me coffee."

"If you get three perfect shots in a row, I owe you dinner."

"Well then…"Her eyes narrowed at the target, "Exactly how small was that fraction below my target?"

His hands molded into hers again, his arms around her, theirs bodies pressed closer. Arthur pushed her hands lower 1 millionth of a centimeter and huskily chimed into her ear, "Like that."

Xxxxxx

He'd started to find excuses to visit Paris with Eames and Yusuf at times he knew she'd be on break from school. To his disappointment, she was normally nowhere in the city. The Architect had taken to traveling stateside with Miles every time he would go home to visit his wife, Cobb and the kids. She would stay for weeks. Arthur would get calls. Whether it was out of selfishness, obliviousness, or disregard for Arthur's own feelings, Cobb would call to vent about her. When she visited with Miles for Christmas, Arthur got a call New Year's Day. I wanted to kiss her. If anything could make the Point livid, that phrase was key. Cobb had had his Architect to share things with. Cobb had had his lover and his days in the limelight and this time Arthur deserved the woman. This time it was Arthur with the ardent passion and Cobb with the simple infatuation. It wasn't fair. Dom would whine about his guilt…no longer over incepting his wife but the prospect of moving on…of developing feelings for a younger version of her. But that was just it. That was Arthur's argument. Ariadne wasn't Mal and as much like her as she seemed, she was her own person. Her own beautiful person. And he'd seen that first. He'd wanted her first.

So when she visited for two weeks around Spring Break for Pippa's birthday, Arthur decided he'd drag Eames along and visit as well. After all, the little girl was entering the double digit realm and Uncle Arthur had never missed her birthday anyway. The Forger was perceptive to a tee. The tension between the two men needed a chainsaw to cut through. Cobb knew Ariadne had a special connection with Arthur too and Arthur was younger, more appealing, had more to offer her. All Cobb had going for him was his older charm, his kids who adored her, his father in law who already treated her as his own and the romantic tragedy of losing his wife. Arthur and Eames arrived before Miles and she had. When the doorbell rang and everyone said their hello's, Eames may have caught Cobb swallow hard when Ariadne rose to her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around Arthur to give him a hug. And he definitely noted the set in Arthur's jaw as Cobb pulled Ariadne into one, their bodies being the perfect fit. She didn't have to stretch to return his embrace. She beamed at the Extractor and ruffled his hair, "It's gotten long." He returned the sentiment by taking a strand of her hair and twirling it around his finger, "So has yours." Arthur took her bag from her shoulder and pushed past Cobb to take it upstairs. Ariadne was oblivious.

Xxxxxx

"Now! Every princess has to have a prince! Daddy is mine! James can be Aunt Milly's…umm…you can pick yours Aunt Ari!" The blonde fairy princess skipped to her Barbie boom box and turned her Hannah Montana cd to maximum volume. She stood on her daddy's toes and ordered him to dance with her. Something Ariadne thought was the cutest thing. She and Cobb had shared a look for it. Lots of other little girls and their brothers or dads or what have you joined in the teeny bopper frenzy. Miles sweetly pulled his wife to him and led her out to amuse Philippa.

He found her traipsing towards him in a little white sundress sprinkled with orange butterflies much like she had after her first storm out. That same flirty grin and her mischievous, sparkling eyes batting themselves at him effortlessly. "Everyone is supposed to have a prince, Uncle Arthur…" Ariadne informed him.

"Oh?" He was standing by the refreshments table outside watching little girls jump around and scream in the bouncy castle.

She nodded, "Mhm. I was hoping you'd be mine for the day because…" Her head jerked towards the Forger squeezed into a child's chair at the arts and crafts table. Some of Philippas many friends had stuck a crown on his head and lacking a spoon, he was licking out a pudding cup. "Well, Eames just isn't an option."

He followed the others' suit, taking her hand and waltzing as best he could to Best Of Both Worlds. "And what as a Prince am I expected to do?"

"Hmm…" She mocked him with false pondering, "Waltz with me."

"Check."

"Fawn over how pretty I am?"

"Beautiful. And check."

They neared the craft table and she chuckled, "Save me from fire breathing dragons, duh."

It took little to no effort on his part to lift her and twirl her around so that she avoided contact with Eames entirely and his messy process of eating. "Check."

"I think you about have this covered, then." She shrugged. No longer smiling at him but into him. It was his turn to come up with princely things to do. He stopped dancing put her arms around his neck and picked her up bridal style, "How about carrying you over thresholds…" He glided into the house, set her on the couch and took the untouched extra brownies on the counter to set before her, "…and stealing you brownies?"

"I love the way you think, kind Sir." Ariadne's laugh was like bells.

"I have a proposition for you." Her teeth sunk into another brownie as he sat across from her and continued, "I leave this Saturday for Dubai and I have four jobs lined up back to back."

She teased, "Cool."

"Come with me. With Cobb retiring, I lack a partner. I'd like us to work together from now on, sell us to prospective clients and teams as a package. What do you say?"

Ariadne's face lit up like the Fourth of July and she stammered before she could give him an answer which was a resounding, "I say that I'd absolutely love to." He grinned and suggested they get back to the party before they ate the entire pan of brownies. With extra spring in his step then, he opened the door and held it for her. "Arthur…" she pointed to the ground, "Threshold." The Point Man laughed and picked her up once again. He caught the despondency in Dom's gaze when they met eyes. He was going to ask her to stay two more weeks for James' first soccer game of the season and so he and the kids could spend Ariadne's birthday together.

But Arthur had asked her first.

xxxxxx

He heard them talking downstairs well past midnight. The kids had gone to their friends' house for sleepovers and Eames had gone out. Arthur crept down to come upon Cobb sitting on the couch, laughing about something terribly funny. Ariadne was standing behind the couch reprimanding him and telling him to stop moving. In one hand, she had a pair of dull kitchen scissors and in the other, a razor. She was finishing working on his chin. Slowly and gently, she dragged the razor across it to rid him of the last remnants of stubble. His hair had been cut close to his head and with the lack of hair on his face, Dom must've looked ten years younger. The Extractor rested his head on the back of the couch and looked up at her while she placed the grooming tools on the end table and got a wet rag to wipe the shaving cream off. She did so carefully and Arthur could see the split second that Cobb's eyes glazed over and he knew what the older man was going to do. He watched helplessly as Cobb took the rag out of her hands, pulled her to him and kissed her sensually. She pulled away abruptly, her face full of shock. It hadn't registered for The Extractor. He turned around, stood on his knees on the couch and whispered, "Thank you…" and pulled on her neck to bring her in for another kiss and after a second—she reciprocated.

As her hand ran through the blonde's newly clipped hair, Arthur's hand ran through his own. He tried desperately to avert his eyes because every slight move she made into Cobb tugged on the string that connected her to Arthur and it hurt like hell. Like watching a trainwreck, he watched Cobb pull her over and lay her down on the couch. Over and over their lips met and over and over Arthur's stomach dropped. His forehead grinded into the doorframe when he heard Dom sigh, begging any deity that would listen that Ariadne would stop him.

The heat eventually died and they slowed, then pulled apart. Ariadne's eyes opened and immediately she bit her lip to keep from smiling. The Architect couldn't believe such a wonderful thing had happened…that he was there with her, needing her, wanting her, kissing her with such fervor. And then she blinked and Arthur's face wasn't there anymore. It was Cobb's instead and she realized what had really taken place. She'd gotten carried away and imagined he was the Point Man…and now the morning would come with awkwardness and a net of tangled webs. "Cobb…" she pushed at his chest lightly and sat up.

"I know, we got a little carried away." How could she break it to him when he was beaming at her like that? But how could she not? He needed the truth. He kissed her on the forehead—at which point she caught Arthur's eyes in the doorway and gasped- and bid her an amorous goodnight. Believing he'd just arrived, Cobb innocently smiled at Arthur, patted his back and nearly skipped up the stairs. Arthur may have kissed her first in a dream but in reality…Cobb had experienced it first. Long after Cobb's footsteps were heard creaking through the ceiling above, Arthur stood staring at her expressionless. Wordlessly, he padded into the kitchen, poured himself some water—like it was all he came down for and saw nothing—washed the cup and then padded out of the living room.

He had, however, stopped behind her on the couch. Fingers light as a feather pulled her hair over to one side, "I understand. But for the record—" His lips brushed against her ear and made her toes curl.

"—I loved you first."

The whisper rushed through her and Ariadne felt a tender kiss on her neck and furrowing her eyebrows, leaned into it. He walked away like it never happened, "Arthur—"

"Don't worry, it doesn't change our business agreement." And he was gone. They left for Dubai that Saturday. She'd had the decency to keep some distance from Cobb for the remainder of the week. Arthur wished she wouldn't put up pretenses for his sake. It only wound his binding to her tighter and constantly pulled on it. It only poured lemon juice and rubbed salt into his wound. Ariadne's eyes would linger on Arthur's every chance they could. She wanted him to see the truth in them. He only saw sympathy. The same sympathy he saw in Mal's when she had chosen Cobb.

The women he cared about always put Dom first.

Xxxxxx

They'd been in Dubai 2 hours and 3 minutes. The hotel rooms in Dubai were as big as houses themselves. The day of Philippa's birthday party he'd reserved one to share seeing as it had plenty of space for them to have their own and still be together. The idea seemed stupid now.

He showed her to her personal area of the room and informed her, "Feel free to order any room service you want. We have a meeting with the client tomorrow at 8 am. I'll knock on your door in the morning to make sure your up and I'll meet you downstairs in Ballroom 3."

His words went through one ear and out the other. Or so it seemed. She made no acknowledgement that he'd even spoken. Ariadne simply stood there, scrutinizing him. Feel free to order room service. So they wouldn't be dining together that evening? Ok so maybe he wasn't hungry or maybe he had work to take care of. Blah Blah Blah 8am—I'll knock on your door—So he was going to hole himself away somewhere from 4 in the afternoon until eight in the morning. He was telling her this now because she wouldn't be in contact with him until the morning. I'll meet you downstairs in—Woah, woah, woah. Meet downstairs? They weren't even going to walk to the meeting together? That sounded nothing like the partnership package he'd pitched to her last Thursday. "Why are you acting like this?"

He licked his lips and raised his eyebrows, "Like what?"

"Like I'm some kind of stranger you have to walk around on eggshells in front of." Her hip had jutted to the side and her arms folded across her chest. "You're acting all professional with me."

"We're on a job. I have to."

"I don't think a smile behind closed doors or a word on an airplane would get you fired." He sighed and folded his arms as well; here they'd go again. He should've expected as much; this was a guaranteed occurrence that would happen frequently with them together so often. "You've been acting different the past few days and I know it's because of the night you walked in on Cobb and I."

He rolled his eyes and adjusted the cuffs on his suit jacket, "Not everything I do revolves around you."

"I didn't want to kiss him, Arthur." It came out angrily like he should've already known that.

Arthur nodded, "Of course not…so you did. You were really fighting him off, weren't you?"

"I was thinking of you."

It did calm him but his eyes warned her. "Don't play around with me."

"I'm not. I was shocked. I didn't even realize Cobb thought about me that way until then. And how I was supposed to know you did? I thought you kept your distance because you knew how I felt and you wanted to discourage it not because you thought those feelings were for Dom. It was a mistake to get carried away with him and I didn't realize that until it was done."

"You didn't make that known."

"I didn't know how. I've only seen him smile like that in pictures—I didn't have the heart to tell him that I want you. I've always wanted you. But I will." The Architect rocked up to the balls of her feet and pulled on his neck to kiss him.

Arthur melted into it, arms slinked around her waist, "Do you mean that? Don't put up false pretenses because of me."

She answered him with another kiss, "You know I've always felt like I have this hook in my chest and there's a wire that connects it to yours and if you get too far away from me it starts to tug." Another kiss. "And at first it would only flare up if I didn't see you for a couple months…then lately it would hurt it you went too far across the room…." Arthur smiled down at her, ecstatic that she felt this invisible thread weaving them together as well. The Point's forehead drooped to rest against hers and the small fingers behind his neck clasped to hold him tighter, "And right now I feel like if you move an inch away it'll rip my heart out."

"Then I'll never move from this spot." He vowed. Breaking it slightly as his head indeed moved to kiss the tip of her nose.

Ariadne bit her lip to keep from beaming ear to ear and Arthur could feel her thumb graze up and down behind his ear, "Promise?" He returned the grin she tried to keep from releasing. They both knew that they couldn't logically stay in that spot forever but it was freeing to pretend. Instead of promising something he couldn't he promised something he very well could. "I love you."

Like the sun, her face lit up the whole room. Her teeth hadn't been strong enough to hold back the smile anymore and so it spread across her face. She rewarded him with another peck. Hurriedly, The Point thought of something, anything else he could say to elicit the same reaction and receive another…"I've loved you since I kissed you in that dream."

"Oh really?" He chuckled and nodded. Greedily, he couldn't wait to be rewarded again so he jutted forward to capture her lips. The tease pulled back before he could, "Well, I've loved you since the second you tricked me into it. So I guess, technically…

I loved you first."

The cheeky little thing, Arthur mischievously and suggestively leaned towards her but she leaned away just as coyly. He was backing her up, "Always a competition with you, Miss Bourgeois…"

"Nu-uh…cause I always win…" He shot forward to collide their lips together. Cleverly, Ariadne ducked and ran across the living space. He snatched her from behind by the dining table and twirled her around. Her giggles could've been heard through the entire hotel complex as he peppered kisses on the back of her neck. He had 120 pages of contracts to read through and highlight, research on the mark, and two members of a team to background check and hire before morning…

But Arthur would make love to Ariadne first.

Xxxxxx

Thanks for reading! Please review if you liked it any way or have some concrit! Look out for my new multi-chap fic Hooded.