All right...time for chapter two! Thank you for the reviews! I hope you have fun reading this chapter.

As before...Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan. Not me. Wah wah.

Chapter Two

Eames and Yusuf burst through the door sometime later with the fake I.D.'s and credit cards.

Eames glanced around the kitchen, not seeing anybody and peeked into the living room to find Ariadne asleep with Arthur's coat tucked around her. He looked to his left to find Arthur asleep on the other chair in the living room.

Eames slapped Arthur across the face, just hard enough to make him jump awake. Eames laughed, "Oh good, you two are already acting like a couple." He motioned toward Ariadne with Arthur's suit jacket.

Arthur frowned, "I was just trying-"

"Yes, yes, I know. Always the gentleman. Anyway, I got everything finished, our flight leaves in about three hours. Yusuf is now Mr. Richard McNarry, I am the respectable Mr. Michael O'Connor, and you and the Mrs. will share the last name of Paulson." He smiled, handing him a credit card and two fake I.D.s.

"Me and the...Mrs.?" Arthur asked skeptically.

"Yes, you are Mr. Matthew Paulson, and she-" He pointed to the still sleeping Ariadne, "is Mrs. Allie Paulson."

Arthur's mouth opened to protest, but there wasn't much that he could do about it now, he knew Eames had some kind of joke up his sleeve. "Thank you, Eames, for being so kind as to make our I.D.s for us." He patted him on the shoulder with a tight smile and hard eyes. He wanted to punch that grin off his face.

"You know you two are going to have to act all lovey-dovey, right? You're on your honeymoon, after all." There was a twinkle in Eames' eyes.

Arthur sighed, "Our honeymoon? To New Jersey?" If he had to choose a destination for a honeymoon, it would not be New Jersey.

Eames couldn't help but laugh. "Now, go wake up the little wifey so she can get ready and we can get on the road."

Arthur sighed and walked over to Ariadne and knelt down next to her, "Ariadne, we need to get going soon." He said, slightly shaking her shoulder. This time, her eyes opened and she stared at him in a daze.

"We need to leave?" She asked through her sleepiness.

"Yes, you should go get ready and then we'll go."

She nodded and started to get up from the couch, she noticed the change in scenery. She was no longer at the kitchen table and she had Arthur's jacket draped over her. She blushed with the realization that he must have carried her over to the couch, and then gave her his jacket to sleep with. She couldn't help but notice how good his jacket smelled and that she could have laid there with it all day, but instead she got up and handed it to him and smiled. "Thanks." She said quietly and headed for her bedroom.

"Oh, did Eames get everything worked out?" She asked, turning toward him.

"Yes, he did...you and I are newlyweds." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

She nodded as if this was normal. Really. She should have expected this. "How should I dress then?" She asked, motioning toward him.

Arthur glanced down at what he was wearing and thought for a moment. Ariadne thought he looked perfect in business attire. Was she supposed to mirror him? What kind of couple were they supposed to be? Two business associates that dated in secrecy? She was completely perplexed.

He smiled softly, "Just wear what ever is comfortable. We'll just say that I had to meet you at the airport after a quick business meeting to wrap some things up before our honeymoon."

She nodded and couldn't help but feel completely ridiculous. She was playing out one of her deepest fantasies: Being Arthur's wife. This was going to do some major damage to her emotional spectrum if she let herself believe that the feelings he projected toward her during their time on the flight were real. She told herself to get a grip, turning and walking into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her. She let out a shaky breath as she started putting together an outfit. She started the shower and hopped in, taking a quick one and then getting dressed and blow drying her hair. She put on a bit of make-up and picked out her favorite scarf, then zipped up her suitcase and pulled it out of her room.

Eames and Yusuf were sitting in her living room, watching T.V. She glanced around, "Where's Arthur?" She asked, getting Eames' attention.

"Ah! The Sleeping Beauty awakes! He ran out for a quick errand. He left a little while ago, so he should be back at any moment." Eames smiled and checked his watch. It was 8:15 a.m. They had to leave in a half an hour.

Just then, Ariadne could hear her front door open. She walked in to the kitchen to see Arthur walk in, grabbing the knife out of the potted plant and walked into the kitchen with the shadow of a smile on his face. He rinsed the knife off in the sink and put it back in its drawer. She smiled sheepishly, "I wouldn't have stabbed you, I hope you know that."

He gave her another amused look, "I would hope not."

He reached inside his pocket and took out a silver ring and slipped it on his left ring finger. Ariadne frowned for a second. "Where did you get that?" She asked.

"I just got it while I was out." He said as he reached into his other pocket and grabbed something square. At first she thought it was his loaded dice, but as his hand came out of his pocket, she couldn't help but be curious at the little velvet box.

He opened it and took out a silver band with one perfectly cut diamond in the middle along with three other diamonds imbedded in the ring going outward on either side of the middle diamond.

He held it up and examined it for a second, "It's quite beautiful, I hope you're all right with it." He held it out to her, but she just stared at it.

"That's mine?" She asked finally, still not reaching out to take it. "Please tell me it's not real." She said.

Arthur looked perplexed at her reaction, he reached out and grabbed her hand, "It is real, and it is yours." He couldn't help but smile as he slid the ring onto her left ring finger.

She gaped at it, "This must have cost you a fortune. It didn't need to be that expensive." She said, looking up at him with a blush on her cheeks.

"You're talking to a man with more money than he could spend in an entire lifetime." Arthur said, he knew he shouldn't be feeling this open to Ariadne, he was letting her get the best of him.

She laughed, fingering the new ring. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful her laugh was. He mentally slapped himself. "Are you all packed and ready to go? We need to leave in ten minutes."

She nodded, still staring at her ring-clad finger.

It felt completely surreal. Ariadne had just stepped out of the cab and on to the sidewalk of the airport. She grabbed her suitcase after paying the cab driver and made her way into the airport to meet Arthur. She felt butterflies in her stomach when she realized that Arthur might act differently with them being supposedly husband and wife. She stood at the ticket area waiting.

"Can I help you, miss?" Ariadne turned around and saw a man in his early forties with a name tag, he worked at the airport.

"Oh no, thank you. I'm just waiting for my husband." She smiled.

The man nodded with a grin, "Going for a trip?" He asked politely.

"Yes! We're going on our honeymoon, actually." She said, grinning. Oh how she wished it was real.

The man laughed, "Well, have a fabulous time." He winked and kept walking, asking another person if he could help them with anything.

She felt her heart flutter after the man walked away. She was paranoid that someone would recognize her and yell for security. She turned to look around her and finally found a familiar face, he was only a few paces from her.

"Hey Matt." Ariadne smiled.

Arthur smirked and strode right up to her, "Hello, sweetheart." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.

Ariadne felt like her knees were going to buckle. "I'm sorry, my meeting took a little longer than what I had expected. I hope you weren't waiting too long." He looked over at her, noticing how tense she seemed. "Are you all right Ar-Allie?" He asked, concern filled his voice.

Ariadne snapped out of it, "Of course. Sorry, I was just thinking." She followed behind him as they got their tickets, tagged their bags, and headed through Customs. They got through security, Ariadne holding her breath as they checked their I.D.s.

She finally let her breath out when they got away from all the security. Arthur grabbed Ariadne's right hand, lacing his fingers through hers. "We're almost through." He whispered, giving her hand a squeeze. She couldn't help but feel as though what he was doing was real. Either he was a fantastic actor, or he was acting on emotions alone. That being if he really did like her the way she liked him.

Her mind flashed back to the kiss they had shared in the lobby during the Inception heist.

Quick, give me a kiss.

She knew as well as he did that the projections kept staring. She had voiced this and a ghost of a smile had appeared on his face.

Well, it was worth a shot.

She stared at him now, letting him pull her down the different open halls of the airport until they reached their gate, C2. She knew he had to feel something for her. She just wasn't sure how strong it was yet.

Arthur found two open seats for them, sitting down with Ariadne to his left. He was still holding her hand, and she was acutely aware of that. She glanced down at his hand, their fingers laced. She lifted their hands, putting them in her lap and tracing his fingers with her free hand. She spent a little more time on his finger with the wedding ring, rotating it around his finger over and over again. She glanced at him and saw that his eyes were closed.

He realized she had stopped and peered through half-open eyes at her. He smiled when their eyes met. A woman across from them looked as though she was about to cry at their sweet exchanges. Taking advantage of the moment, Arthur leaned in and kissed Ariadne, this one definitely longer than the one they shared just a half an hour earlier, and a million times longer than the one they shared in the dream world. Although he knew they weren't really married, or even dating, for that matter, he couldn't get past the fact that she was absolutely perfect. And especially when he knew that what he was doing only made it harder for him to stay away from her. He was realizing his true feelings for her, and he was afraid of turning out like Cobb and Mal had. He couldn't let that happen.

He pulled away from her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Ariadne rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling close to him. She turned her head to look behind her and spotted Eames sitting two rows of seats behind her. He made a 'kissing face' and smiled broadly. Ariadne blushed deeply and hid her face in Arthur's shoulder, smelling his cologne.

They finally got onto their plane, shuffling in between seats and finally sitting down next to each other in the regular class seating, watching as Eames took a seat in the first class.

"I should have known." Arthur shook his head.

Ariadne sat watching the scenery as they taxied across the tarmac, getting ready for take off. She took a deep breath, not realizing that she was clutching the armrests with all her might. She felt Arthur loosen her fingers and held her hand in his.

"Sweetheart, we're going to be fine." He looked at her with a slight upturn of his lips and a caring look in his eyes.

Ariadne nodded and exhaled slowly, "I know, I just always get nervous during the take off and landing." She smiled and focused on his face as they took off.

When they were finally in the air, Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against Arthur. Before she knew it, she had fallen into a light sleep.

Arthur knew he was in trouble when he couldn't address her unless he called her 'sweetheart'. Every time he wanted to say something to her he couldn't help but almost utter her real name. It was after he had almost called her by her own name earlier in the airport when he first saw her that he knew he'd have to say 'sweetheart' or 'honey' rather than try saying Allie. It was dangerously close to Ariadne, in his opinion. Or at least, they both started with an A.

He felt her lean up against him and watched her gentle breathing as she fell asleep. He was still holding her hand, and a large part of him didn't want to ever let go, although he knew that this was against his better judgement, he held her hand anyway.

He didn't know how long he had been staring at Ariadne for when he saw someone walk past him and something dropped into his lap. He looked down and found a folded piece of paper, he let go of Ariadne's hand (rather reluctantly) and opened it.

Remember: when we get off the plane, you're still a married couple until we meet up later and find an apartment and a warehouse.

Arthur looked up as Eames passed him again from going to the bathroom. Eames glanced back and saw the scowl that presented itself on Arthur's face.

'You know you like it.' Eames mouthed as he turned to go into his first class seating area.

After putting Eames out of his mind, he leaned back in his chair, finding Ariadne's hand again and closed his eyes to try to get some sleep.

Ariadne felt something, or more like someone, brush her hair out of her face and whisper something. She still felt completely groggy and didn't want to wake up yet.

Arthur pressed his lips to her forehead, "Honey...it's time to wake up. The plane has landed." He whispered again, a tad bit louder than the first time.

Ariadne's eyes opened this time, looking around wildly. She finally looked to see Arthur next to her, his hand reached up to cup the side of her face, running his thumb over her cheek. She closed her eyes for a moment to capture exactly how that felt.

Do you know what it's like to be a lover?

She could hear Mal mocking her in the depths of her mind. Her breath hitched and she opened her eyes again, seeing Arthur looking concerned.

"Are you all right?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, I'm fine." She glanced around and saw that people were getting up and moving off the plane. "We should probably get up and get going." She said sheepishly.

He nodded and stood when she did, he walked with her off the plane and they waited for their luggage. Once they picked up their bags, they hailed a taxi and headed for a hotel.

They checked in and took their bags upstairs to their shared room. Ariadne stepped in to the room and realized with a shock that if things didn't work out, they would be sleeping here for the night. One bed. Two people. Her heart sped up at the thought and she squeezed her eyes shut. She took a deep breath and put her fingers to her temple, rubbing it for a moment.

"Ariadne?" Arthur asked.

She spun around, facing him. "Huh?" She asked.

"Every time I've asked if you're all right, you've fended off my question. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, walking closer to her.

She looked up at him with butterflies in her stomach, "I guess I'm just feeling stressed out. Wait. Are we supposed to use...you know, our own names?" She whispered when she came to the last part of her sentence.

Arthur chuckled, "Yes, it's fine now. It's just in public places that we need to use our aliases."

She nodded, "Right. Of course."

Arthur grabbed her shoulders and lead her to the bed, forcing her to sit down, "Now, what's really bothering you?" He asked quietly.

She watched as he sat down next to her and debated whether or not to tell him the truth. If she told him her true feelings, he would either reject her, or he would reciprocate them, but that would further distract them from their job. She felt it was safest to come up with something else.

"I guess I'm just not feeling very well. All the stress of this is catching up with me." She said, grimacing slightly at the headache that was forming.

Arthur nodded, "All right, why don't you get some sleep, and I'll go make some phone calls. Is that okay with you?" He asked.

She nodded, "Of course."

Arthur went out onto the balcony, checking the adjacent ones to make sure no one else was outside to hear him speaking with Eames. He closed the door quietly as Ariadne fell asleep.

"Hello?" The British man drawled.

"Hello Eames."

"Ah! How are the newlyweds, then?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Just fine, thank you. Have you located somewhere to live?" He asked.

"I've found an apartment complex with three different living spaces available. You know what that means, don't you?" Eames said with a smile in his voice.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "No, Eames. I never want to know what things mean when it comes to you."

Eames chuckled, "You and the lovely Ariadne will have to stay as a married couple. Although, there is a guest room in one of the apartments. So it's not like you have to sleep in the same bed, unless...you want to."

Arthur took a deep breath to calm himself. "Eames, you're lucky you're not here in person. If that's all you could find, then that's fine. Get me the number of the landlord and I'll call them. Have you heard from Yusuf?" He asked.

"I've talked to Yusuf and he said he's found a fairly suitable workspace that isn't too far from where we're living. Maybe a ten minute drive, tops."

Arthur nodded, "All right, that's fine. What's the number for the landlord?"

Eames gave Arthur the number and then hung up. He loved making Arthur uncomfortable.

Arthur stared down at his phone, a frown etched across his face. "Why do I put with him?" He asked himself and dialed the number for the landlord.

The moment Ariadne's head hit the pillow, she was out. Arthur opened the sliding door without effort, making sure to keep it quiet so he didn't wake Ariadne. He had gotten everything taken care of with the living arrangements, and they had to wait until tomorrow to move in. He stood, looking around. There was a small couch he could take a nap on, or he could just take the floor. He eyed the couch with distaste. It was much too small for him, he'd probably get a kink in his neck, and he wasn't about to join Ariadne on the bed, he'd probably freak her out the moment she woke up. So, naturally, the floor was the only other option.

He stole a pillow from the bed that Ariadne wasn't using and laid on the floor on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He glanced up at Ariadne, seeing her left hand draped over the bed. She was still wearing the wedding ring. He felt a smile creep up on his lips when he remembered her astonished gaze at him when he had bought it for her. He shook his head, trying to clear the memory, he really needed to get some sleep. He left his phone on a high enough ringtone so that he would hear it as soon as it went off. Arthur's eyelids seemed incredibly weighted, and he finally fell into a light slumber.

And Chapter Two - Done! I hope you enjoyed reading :) reviews would be lovely! Thanks!