A/N: Soooo, as a chronic fic starter who has seen Inception four times already since it came out both because Christopher Nolan is a genius and quite frankly I enjoy salivating over Tom Hardy and JGL quite thoroughly, I am of course starting a new fic. This does not mean that I will be abandoning my other fics (I always say that and then let them stagnate) and I am long overdue to update and I do hope to do so soon (again I always say that) but I've recently had a computer death and a lot of work on top of that so it's been difficult to find the time to write at all but I just simply have to write this so it's taking priority. I live vicariously through my OC's (as sueish as they may be to some even though I try to keep them from not being) and because I am not able to fondle Arthur/JGL myself despite how very, very much I would like to do so, I am going to have my OC do it for me haha!

Obviously because of that last statement you should have gleamed that this will in fact be an OC/Arthur fic so if you don't dig OC's and want to stick to strictly movie verse pairings now is your chance to stop reading.

For the purposes of my fic when it comes to stuff like timeline and stuff that isn't implicitly made clear in the movie I'll obviously be altering it a bit but otherwise I always aim to keep events as accurate as possible and alter them as little as possible from their original form.

I love, love, LOVE reviews and constructive criticism, and am currently in the market for a new BETA.

If you feel the need to flame, go right on ahead but just know that it's basically going to accomplish nothing.

I do not own anything to do with Inception…unfortunately enough for me Christopher Nolan has that honor. I do however, own my OC's and all their personal and private possessions and memories haha!

Rating as it stands right now is PG 13 or T or whatever for language and such but it will go up in later chapters.

That about sums it up.)

Prologue

For the kind of job Saito was asking him to pull off, Cobb didn't just need a good team to work with but one that was nothing short of flawless, or at the very least as damn near to it as was reasonable. Though it was impossible to pull of every single extraction he was handed, Cobb had a record that was something more than impressive enough to be considered one of the best at what he did, if not the best, of that there was no question. He knew what he was doing and he was pretty damn good at gathering just the right sort of people for the job. But extraction and inception were two very different animals and this time there would be no room for carelessness, no room for overlooked details or complications that could be avoided; not this time, not with his children and his freedom on the line. This time around it was more than necessary for everything go off without a hitch. It just so happened to be a cruel twist of fate that the one most important job Cobb would ever work would also be the one that had the least chance to play out the way he wanted or the way it needed to.

Be that as it may, the puzzle pieces were falling into place rather easily which was fortunate seeing as there wasn't exactly a ton of time to get the plans ironed out. What time they had could easily be up ended if Maurice Fischer decided to up and expire sooner than was predicted. In such an event it would definitely hold the chance of leading to nothing short of disaster were the proper preparations not yet made.

The team had been all but set, Arthur on board as point man (a given seeing as Cobb had stated several times his reluctance to work with anyone else in that capacity), Eames filling the role of forger (albeit in spite of Arthur's continued protest). Cobb was even lucky enough, thanks to Eames' recommendation, to secure a chemist in Yusef before leaving Mombassa.

Ariadne, of course, rounded out the team and while she was no doubt an promising architect and a natural by the seem of it she was still a rookie so to speak. As such it was a little unsettling to leave the construction of the dreamscapes in her hands considering the job had such high stakes. As much as he would have liked too, Cobb couldn't oversee her work. He couldn't know the details or help her work out the kinks of the constructs, not when it meant risking Mal knowing and posing another threat of interference. The others would undoubtedly help when they could, but even then they needed to be focused on their own roles. Everyone needed to be as prepared as possible in their own right, and that meant from that point until Saito had his end result, they all needed to individually eat, sleep, and breathe their role. There was no time for hand holding and guiding a fresh amateur over any bumps along the way. What Ariadne needed was a mentor of sorts, someone to be absolute in their tutelage, someone with the same skill level (or even surpassing) what Ariadne had displayed already. Someone who he had teamed with before who could be trusted and who knew the severity of what lay ahead of them.

As far as Cobb was concerned there was really only one consideration for the position but whether or not she would even want it was the question. Extraction work, despite its special sort of charm and glamour, was not an easy line to be in. He had seen a lot of teammates come and go over the years he had been involved for just as many reasons as they were in number and once they got out, seldom were they ever drawn back in.

Charlotte hadn't been in that line of work for three years, and it had been all of five since Cobb had even last seen her. The scenario under which she had come to leave his team was something quite less than ideal to say the least and there was no telling how she would react to his proposition, or if she would even see him or hear him out at all. To his benefit, he had a certain degree of mastery over the art of "sweet talking" (not so much a valuable skill as an extractor so much as it was a necessity to be able to gab any given mark into spilling their secrets). If there was even just the slightest chance Cobb could talk Charlotte into rejoining their cause, even just on a one off, it was worth the trip to see her.

Above everything else, he knew her trump card, the one thing that could get her guard down and stood a good chance of leaning her decision in his favor. He was going to hate to have to play things that way with someone he had once, and still did, consider a close friend. It was beyond manipulative to play on feelings he was quite certain would never die and memories she would have played again and again in her mind; memories that no doubt fuelled her dreams just as often as his on fueled his.

He would hate to do it, but if playing the trump card is what needed to be done, then so be it.