Author's Note:

This story was just to help me kick the writer's block that I've been suffering with, and to shake off the insane desire to write an Inception/Mentalist crossover. I wasn't going to post this story, but one of my Twitter followers kindly asked me to post it. She reminded me that I wasn't sure about my Sherlock/Mentalist crossover and it was good. . . so, I'm taking a chance here.

Enjoy.

P.S

I'd like to dedicate this story to little-firestar. Darling, thank you for your unfailing faith in me. Without you, this story wouldn't be having its day in the sun at all. Thank you for encouraging me to give it a chance.

And to my kindred spirit, soul mate, and baby sister Hannah. Last night, we were driving home from the Dark Knight Rises and we both decided that when GOD made me, He knew that I'd need someone like her to laugh and fangirl with, and to hold me when my heart is breaking (and vice-versa). She's the macaroni to my cheese, I'd be lost and oh so lonely without her.

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i. at a funeral

Arthur never dreamed in a million years that the way Ariadne would meet his favorite cousin for the first time would be at a funeral. He always thought she'd take some well-deserved time off and they would all meet under the Eiffel Tower, and then they'd go have lunch at an expensive restaurant somewhere.

But his desire never got the chance to come to life. He had gotten a call from her early one morning, asking him in a sad voice if he could come back to the states. Without asking any questions, he told her that he would be there. Growing up, she had always been there for him without asking any questions, and now he tried to return the favor whenever he had the chance to.

When he had called Ariadne to tell her what was going on, she told him immediately that she was going with him. She didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was, she wasn't going to let him face it alone.

She was waiting for them at the airport when they arrived, a sad smile on her face as he greeted her with a long hug before pulling away to introduce her to Ariadne.

"It's nice to finally meet you," she said as she shook the younger woman's hand. "Arthur's told me so much about you."

"Arthur's told me so much about you Agent Lisbon," Ariadne replied. "I just wish we could have met under different circumstances."

"Yeah," she said wistfully, getting a far off look in her green eyes. "Me too. . ." she turned to Arthur and said, "You should have asked why I wanted you to come to California before you jumped on a plane, you idiot. If you had known beforehand that I wanted you to come to my consultant's funeral—"

"I would have still come!" He jumped in. "I know how much that he meant to you Reese. I wouldn't have wanted you to face today alone. Besides, you know that money isn't an object. I have enough money to burn and then some."

"Well, thank you for coming. . . it really does mean a lot to me to have you here Arthur."

He pulled her into another hug and rubbed soothing circles on her shoulder like she did when he was and his cousins were little boys with bad cuts or stomachaches. She gave a great, shuddery sigh and put her arms around his waist. And he could tell that she was fighting off tears, trying to be the strong one just like she had been when she was a little girl.

.

Arthur and Ariadne stayed with her for a week after the funeral. When she dropped them off at the airport, she tried to smile and then faltered, giving them a very serious look.

"Promise me one thing," she said quietly.

"Anything for you Reese," Arthur replied, slipping his hand through Ariadne's.

"Take care of each other."

"I plan to," Arthur said, glancing at Ariadne affectionately before giving his cousin a hug. "Love you Reese."

"Love you too Arthur," she replied.

Arthur pulled away and smiled at her. "Come and visit us in Paris sometime."

"Okay," Lisbon whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she turned away from them to compose herself. When she turned around, she looked at Ariadne. "It was nice meeting you. Thank you for coming all this way, even though you didn't know me."

"No problem," Ariadne said, giving Arthur a look that told Lisbon that she would follow him to the ends of the earth and back given the chance.

"Well, you better hurry. . ." Lisbon said trailing off helplessly. "Or you might miss your plane."

ii. in a café in Paris

"Who's that woman looking at you?" Ariadne asked, putting her cup of coffee down.

"Where?" Arthur asked, looking around in confusion.

"Over there, with the blonde man!" Ariadne answered, not pointing at them because the woman was still staring at them.

Arthur sighed. "I really don't know Ariadne. . . oh! It's my cousin!"

The architect frowned. "Your cousin? What is she doing all the way in France, I thought you said that she was a detective at an agency in California—"

"She's a senior agent at the CBI," Arthur corrected, smiling slightly.

"Is the CBI even a real place?" Ariadne asked, watching as her boyfriend started to wave the petite brunette over to them.

"I'm pretty sure it's a real place," Arthur answered. "I've seen their website and I've actually been to their headquarters when I've visited my cousin in California."

"She's not nearly as intimidating as you made her out to be," Ariadne mused. "I thought for sure that she'd be at least five or six inches taller."

"I didn't ever make her out to be intimidating," Arthur said.

"You did when you told me stories about how she handled her consultant."

"She just pretends to be intimidating where he's concerned—"" Arthur replied, stopping mid-sentence as his cousin and her friend came over to them. "Hey Reese, Jane! Long time no see!"

The woman he had called Reese laughed. "You're telling me! Are you too busy with whatever it is that you do that you can't come and see me once in a while Arthur?"

Arthur laughed and pulled Ariadne to her feet. "Reese, Jane. . . I'd like you to meet Ariadne. Ariadne, this is my cousin Teresa Lisbon and her consultant Patrick Jane."

"It's nice to meet you both," Ariadne said as she pushed a strand of hair away from her face. "Arthur's told me so much about the both of you."

"All good, I hope!" Lisbon replied, giving the younger girl a friendly smile.

"All good," Ariadne assured her.

"Even the stuff about him?" Lisbon asked, jabbing the blonde man gently in the ribs as she laughed.

"Of course!" Arthur answered quickly. "So, what brings you and Jane to Paris?"

"We're celebrating," Lisbon replied.

"Celebrating?" Arthur repeated, raising an eyebrow and looking at the both of them, teasing in his serious brown eyes.

"Not that you silly little boy!" Lisbon answered, blushing slightly. "We're celebrating because we finally caught Red John."

"You e-mailed me about it," Arthur reminded her. "And it was all over the Internet the day after it happened. Congratulations to the both of you! Now Jane, tell me, how did you convince my cousin to take time off and come halfway across the world with you? Her brothers and I could barely convince her to come to the movies with us on the weekends."

"It was easy," Jane said, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "All I had to do was kiss her and she was powerless to say no."

Lisbon blushed. "Stop it Jane."

"So, you are together then? Aren't you?" Arthur asked, grinning at his cousin.

"What about you and Ariadne?" Lisbon asked, changing the subject quickly. "Are you two together?"

Arthur looked at Ariadne sideways and shrugged. "I guess it depends on what you mean by 'together'."

"She clearly likes you Arthur," Jane jumped in. "And you clearly like her, judging by the fact that you've told Lisbon so much about her, and that you haven't let go of her hand since we came over to meet you."

"Jane!" Lisbon hissed, trying not to look mortified.

"It's okay!" Ariadne assured her. "Arthur told me all about his need to read people, I was fully prepared to meet him."

"That doesn't stop it from being any less mortifying when it happens," Lisbon said, shooting Jane a look.

"Sorry," Jane answered.

But Ariadne could tell from the way he apologized that he wasn't really sorry at all.

Arthur sighed and released her hand. "It's fine. Are you two hungry? Ariadne and I have some time to get a quick bite to eat before we have to get back to work."

Lisbon smiled uncertainly and glanced at Jane. "I don't really think getting dinner would be a good idea. Our flight leaves for England in three hours."

"And that's why it would be a quick meal," Arthur said. "Come on Reese, I don't know when I'm going to be able to come and see you. And it's been so long since the last time we were together."

Lisbon sighed and looked at Jane.

"I'm up for it, if you are," he answered.

"Fine," Lisbon finally replied. "We'll go and get dinner with you."

"Great!" Arthur exclaimed, signaling his waiter for the bill. "I know this great little place down the street. If we hurry, we can get a table before it gets too crowded."

.

"What were you and Patrick talking about so intensely after we were finished with dinner?" Ariadne asked Arthur after they had left Jane and Lisbon at their hotel.

"So, its Patrick now, is it?" Arthur asked teasingly.

Ariadne smiled. "Tell me what you were talking about!"

"Nothing of consequence," Arthur answered. "He just told me that I should tell you. . ."

"Tell me what?" Ariadne asked a little breathlessly.

"That I like you," Arthur replied. "That I like you a lot."

Ariadne smiled then. "I like you too."

"No, that's not what I meant—" Arthur started to protest.

She laughed gently and stood on tip-toe to kiss him. "I know that you silly little boy."

As Arthur reciprocated the architect's affectionate kiss, he thought about how thankful he was the he had run into his cousin and her consultant at the little café in Paris.

iii. at her wedding

"Don't be nervous, everything's going to be fine!" Arthur assured Ariadne as she fidgeted with the hem of her short, cocktail dress.

"Are you sure that she's going to like me?"

"She's going to love you," Arthur replied, taking her hand and rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. "Come on, it's not like you're going to be spending insane amounts of time with her anyways. Today's her wedding, I'll be surprised if she has time for a quick hello."

Ariadne sighed. "I know, it's just that I've never met any of your family before now. I'm really nervous that they won't think I'm good enough for you."

"My family doesn't know what's good for me and what isn't good for me," Arthur replied. "We haven't seen each other in years. The only person I really keep in touch with is Reese, and that's because she doesn't ever judge me or my lifestyle choices."

"Does she even know what you do for a living?" Ariadne asked as she started to pull at the hem of her skirt again.

"Nobody in my family really knows what I do for a living," Arthur answered. "I don't want them to know about it. Everybody on both sides of my family gets involved in some sort of law enforcement and they don't look too kindly at you if you stray away from tradition."

"The way you make your cousin sound—"

"She'd worry about me too much if she knew what I was doing," Arthur said. "She doesn't need that kind of stress. And besides, our job isn't exactly police friendly."

"Yeah, I guess so. . ." Ariadne replied absent-mindedly as they pulled up to the church.

.

"I'm so glad you could make it Arthur!"

"Me too Reese!" Arthur replied, pulling the petite brunette into a hug. "You look absolutely stunning."

"You're too much Arthur," she said blushing slightly as she turned to look at Ariadne. "This is Ariadne, isn't it?"

Arthur nodded. "Yup, this is Ariadne. Ariadne, this is my cousin Teresa Lisbon-Jane. Reese, this is my girlfriend Ariadne. "

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Ariadne said, smiling and holding out her hand to Lisbon. "You have no idea how much Arthur talks about you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Lisbon said, returning Ariadne's smile. "Don't listen to a thing Arthur says about me though. He's a little liar."

"I don't believe it for a second; he's too honest to be a liar."

"Thank you Ariadne," Arthur said as he smirked at Lisbon.

Ariadne smirked back. "He does over exaggerate sometimes though."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Where's that groom of yours Reese?"

"He's around here somewhere," Lisbon answered. "The last time I saw him, he was trying to stop some of his old friends from swindling our great aunt out of her money."

"I'm going to find him; I'll talk to you lovely ladies later."

Lisbon shook her head. "Always the charmer, that one."

"Yeah. . ." Ariadne replied wistfully.

"So, tell me how did you two meet?" Lisbon asked. "Arthur's always so closed mouth about it."

"We met on the job," Ariadne answered, smiling at the memory of their first meeting and their first kiss soon afterwards. "He was one of the most gentlemanly men that I had ever met."

"And that's what attracted you to him?" Lisbon asked.

"Actually. . ."Ariadne blushed. "It started with a kiss."

Lisbon frowned and then shrugged deciding not to press the issue further. She smiled and took Ariadne by the hand. "Well, it was lovely meeting you. Make sure that Arthur brings you around more often, okay?"

Ariadne nodded and then went off to find Arthur, leaving Lisbon to greet the rest of her guests.

vi. at his wedding

"It's so nice to finally meet you Ariadne. You can't imagine how shocked I was when I found out that Arthur was getting married," Lisbon was saying to the young bride.

"Oh?" Ariadne asked, raising an eyebrow in the direction of her new husband. "You couldn't have been that shocked, I'm sure that he's had a lot of girlfriends."

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "He hasn't had a lot of girlfriends. Just two besides you, and none of them as serious as you were. I never actually met any of the woman from his past aside from Mal Cobb and that was years ago when I was here visiting him during some required vacation time."

"You mean that I'm his first romantic interest that you've ever met?" Ariadne asked, looking at Arthur in shock.

Arthur shrugged uncomfortably. "You're the most important. So, Reese, I'm changing the subject here but I was just wondering how that wayward consultant of yours was doing."

Lisbon's face broke into a smile as she lifted her left hand up and showed Arthur a modest silver ring with a sparkling diamond on it. "We're engaged."

"Engaged?" Arthur repeated. "Now look who's hiding things! We've been talking for ages and you never said anything about even being in a relationship with him."

Lisbon sighed. "We both agreed that it would be pointless to date, because we've practically been a couple without any of the benefits these past eleven years."

"Well," Arthur said, smirking. "I've always thought that you two would be a good couple. Congratulations Reese, and please give my best to Jane as well."

"I will," Lisbon promised.

"And we better get an invitation to the wedding," Arthur said. "I won't hear of you eloping, I'll even have to pay for the wedding myself if I have to."

Lisbon smiled. "That won't be necessary Arthur. Jane and I both want a small simple ceremony with only our family and closest friends as witnesses. But don't worry; you'll most definitely be getting an invitation for the wedding. I was even thinking that you could give me away, since Jane asked Tommy to be one of his groomsmen."

Arthur grinned. "I'd love that."

Lisbon pulled him into a hug. "Come for a visit after the honeymoon, okay? I'd love to have time to catch up with you and to get to know Ariadne better."

"We'll plan for it," Arthur promised, putting his arm around Ariadne's waist.

v. and the one time she planned to

"Arthur?" Ariadne called as she let herself into his apartment with the key that he had given to her a couple months earlier. "Arthur? Where are you?"

"I'm in here Ariadne!" He called back quietly.

She followed his voice into the living room and found him sitting with his back against his Williams-Sonoma sofa with his telephone resting in his lap, a far off look in his eyes.

"Have you heard anything yet?" She asked, dropping her messenger bag and going over to him in less than three steps.

"Still waiting," Arthur answered.

"Well, you know what they say. . . no news is good news," Ariadne said in a weak attempt to get him to give her a ghost of a smile.

It didn't work, he just looked at her sadly. "I'd rather have news than no news at all. Then I'd know at least. . ."

Ariadne knelt down in front of him and trailed soothing fingers down his cheek. "Tell me something about her. . . tell me something about your cousin."

"I've already told you everything about her though," Arthur said, closing his eyes against her touch.

"So what?" Ariadne replied as she crawled over him and snuggled up to his side, sliding her hand into his and tangling their fingers together. "Tell me about her again. . . I really don't mind."

"I don't know what to say," Arthur whispered.

"Then we'll just sit here," Ariadne answered, pulling him closer.

He rested his head against her's and sighed. "She has to be alright Ariadne. She just has to be. . . there are people who depend on her too much for her not to be alright."

"I know," she soothed, not used to seeing the usually composed, dependable point man acting like this. "I'm sure that she'll be fine Arthur. Sitting here and thinking the worst won't help her at all."

"I know, but I can't help it—"

"I have an idea!" Ariadne said suddenly. "If we don't have a job, why don't we plan to take a trip to California in a few weeks? I can finally meet Teresa and maybe Tommy and Annabeth—"

"I'd like that," Arthur replied as he gave her a slight smile, too tired to argue that she might never get the chance to meet Teresa Lisbon.

.

They were woken up a few hours later to the shrill ring of the telephone. Arthur sleepily fumbled for the receiver and answered it, his heart beating rapidly as dread filled him to the very core.

"Hello?" He asked, jumping up from the floor and starting to pace the living room.

Ariadne watched his changing expressions through heavy eyelids, fighting back a yawn and rubbing the knot out of her neck. She stood too and stretched out her aching muscles.

"Is everything okay?" She asked when he had finally hung up the phone.

"That was her consultant, Patrick Jane. She's going to be fine!" Arthur replied, laughing with relief. He lunged at Ariadne and picked her up, spinning her around and peppering her face with a dozen little kisses. "She's going to be alright!"

"I told you that she'd be fine!" Ariadne replied, wrapping her arms around his neck as he stopped spinning and looked up at her with a huge smile on his face.

Arthur didn't reply to her, he just smiled and kissed her soundly on the lips, he pulled away and she ran her fingers through his hair.

"So. . ." he said. "About that trip to California."

_The End_

Author's Note II:

I saw Inception for the first time EVER almost two Fridays ago. I was blown away by the story, but the acting, and by that kissing scene between Ellen Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was so simple, so chaste. . . so completely unsexual. . . but at the same time, SO POWERFUL AND GORGEOUS! You could completely tell that he knew it wasn't going to work, but he didn't care because in that moment, all he really wanted to do was kiss her.

Anyways, this story was born from the long desire that I've had for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to guest star on the Mentalist as one of Lisbon's brother. For a multitude of reasons, I decided that he'd be her cousin in this story instead, but I still hope one day that he will be on as her youngest brother. I will die of sheer excitement and fangirling if that actually does happen.

Please leave feedback as this is my first attempt at Inception fan fiction of any kind. I would love to know where I failed and where I succeeded.

And as is usual, "Sinking" will be updated tomorrow.

Love,

Holly, 8/7/2012_