It had been three weeks since Eames had screwed up the most important relationship he had ever had. Of course, he hadn't done it on purpose. He wasn't that daft, no matter what Ariadne said. He just had a knack for reacting stupidly before he thought through the situation that was forcing him to react.

All of this had started one evening at the warehouse. Most of the team was getting pretty tired, but Eames was going to stay around a do a bit of extra research on the marks brother. Even Arthur was leaving early, which was a huge surprise to everyone.

As they were all preparing to leave Arthur stopped by Eames desk. He generally would just walk past it, or just stop to say goodbye. They didn't want to be too out about their relationship. They were sure their friends suspected something, but they had nothing concrete to go on.

The night before Eames and Arthur had had a conversation about being more open about their relationship. Surprisingly Arthur was the one to initiate the conversation, saying he wanted a real relationship where he didn't have to hide his feelings around his own friends.

Eames had readily agreed. I mean really, who could turn Arthur down? Especially when it probably meant there would be more kissing. Kissing in public. Eames was nothing if not an exhibitionist, so the prospect of now being able to kiss Arthur in public had him quite excited.

But over the course of the next day Eames had forgotten about their conversation because he had been so busy and there had been so much going on. So when Arthur stopped by Eames desk and leaned down to kiss him, he shoved him away without thinking.

It took him all of five seconds and a door slam for him to realize what he had done. Cobb, Yusuf and Ariadne were all just going back and forth between staring at the door and at him.

Finally Ariadne broke the silence by saying "Eames, you are so stupid." Then she made to follow Arthur out, hoping the point man had not gone off to kill someone, or drown his sorrows, or some other horrific display of un-Arthur-like emotion.

Eames still sat in his chair, unable to truly process what had happened. Yusuf just shook his head and left, much too tired to deal with any drama that was going to be caused by Eames' lack of intelligence.

Cobb's smacked Eames on the back of the head as he followed Yusuf out, figuring he could always yell at Eames tomorrow.

Still the forger sat there, staring off into space, not quite believing that this event had actually come to pass. Maybe he had imagined it as some sort of horrific nightmare, but as he rubbed the surface of his totem with his thumb, he knew he was in reality.

As that realization sunk in he quickly dashed off in hopes of finding Arthur and at least trying to explain himself. Or just throw himself down at Arthur's feet for mercy. He didn't care what he had to do, he knew he had screwed up royally and it was probably going to take a hell of a lot just to get the point man to look at him again.

When he finally reached their shared hotel suite he was surprised to find that the door wasn't locked with the deadbolt. He was also surprised to find that all of the lights were on. Normally Arthur would have just come home and gone to sleep.

"Arthur?" Eames called into the living room, walking past the kitchen. "Darling, are you here?" There was absolutely no sign of Arthur and Eames was growing more and more worried.

Finally he spotted a piece of paper that hadn't been there when they had left this morning.

As he began to read it he felt as if his heart had stopped and his stomach had dropped to the floor. The note was short and concise, which wasn't much like the Arthur who sometimes got carried away, rambling to Eames about anything he could think of. Not that he ever minded, he loved hearing Arthur talk.

Here's what the note said:

Eames,

I have another job.

He had known Arthur was pissed at him, but he had not expected the young point man to just up and leave while they were in the middle of their own job. It was not like him at all. Though it wasn't like Arthur to show his feelings in public and the one time he had tried to do it, Eames had essentially rejected.

The phone rang and Eames ran to it, hoping it was Arthur. He was disappointed to hear Cobb on the other end. "Arthur left town."

Eames chocked down a sob as he said "I know."

"Figure out how to fix this Eames."

"I will."

With that Cobb hung up the phone and Eames was left listening to the dial tone. He put the receiver down before deciding to try and call Arthur, though he knew it was most likely pointless.

While the phone was on, Arthur did not pick up. Eames wanted to believe it was because Arthur had not noticed the phone ringing, and not because Arthur was ignoring him.

Finally he decided he might as well turn in. But before falling asleep he texted Arthur, with the fools hope that he might wake up to a return text in the morning.

"Goodnight darling. I'm so sorry. I love you."