Authors Note:

Thank you for the wonderful reviews!

This chapter was a whole lot of fun to write.

I hope you like it too!

Chapter 2:

Mombassa, Kenya

"Anything to drink, gentlemen?" Robert Fischer wiped the corners of his mouth with a white serviette. His blue eyes glared at the two men sitting on either side of him. He swallowed down a piece of steak and placed his eating utensils on either of the edges of his plate before noticing that the two men were shaking their heads at his offer. "Now, which one of you impersonated my Uncle?"

Eames' brown eyes narrowed and he almost smiled as he raised a few subtle fingers, as if it were a recognizable symbol.

Robert nodded slowly, observing him as he grabbed his wine glass before saying "You were really very good." He paused and drank down his red wine before asking "Tell me-" his eyebrows perked upward "do you ever think about becoming an actor?"

Arthur looked down at the watch that he was wearing on his left wrist. It took all the energy in him not to cough as he felt a tickle creeping up within his nostrils.

"Everyday, sir." Eames replied. He was, of course, he failed actor and the issue did bother him truly.

Arthur sighed, looking towards the Fischer and inquired, "I'm sorry, but whom exactly are we waiting for?"

Robert placed his wine glass down on his mahogany table and removed his blackberry from his pant pocket before reading the name off the e-mail. "Domenic Cobb." He placed his phone back into his pocket and asked through a laugh "Or, should I say, 'Mr. Charles'?"

Arthur's eyebrows shot upward at the recognition. He placed a hand on his forehead, wiping away a few drops of sweat that were falling from his eyebrows. He needed to be in bed, drinking honey lemon tea and eating soup, not going through this personal hell. "What's taking him so long?" He turned over to Eames, in an utmost frustration.

Eames could not help but smirk. "Well, if I know Cobb-" he halted, flipping his totem, poker chip, in his pocket over and over before continuing "And I do. I can bet my whole life's savings that he's taking a little side trip to Paris to enjoy the scenery."

"Paris?" Fischer asked, confused "Shouldn't he be a little more worried about his work associate than the view from the Eiffel Tower?"

Arthur's eyes widened "He's bringing her?"

"As I said, I can bet my whole life's savings." Eames chuckled briefly, admitting "It won't be much but- I can bet it if you want."

Arthur inhaled softly, tension climbing in his throat. "Why would he even get her involved?"

"I'm sorry-" Robert interrupted, his voice calm as he asked, "Whom exactly are we speaking about?"

Eames was the one to answer, after a few moments of silence. "The architect." Arthur peered at him in a state of worriment, his eyes once again looking over at his watch. It would be 2:25 in Paris right now-

Paris, France

"A NAS is a single storage device that operates on data files, while a SAN is a local network of multiple devices that operate on disk blocks." Ariadne stated to Professor Thomas, taking a breath before asking "Right?" He nodded, picking up his briefcase and looking over at the empty lecture hall.

"Is there anything else, Ariadne?"

"Yes, one more thing." She nodded, pulling her book bag over her shoulders "And the Romans used more than one order of columns in Tiried Arcades, right?"

The Professor smiled at her sheepishly and then nodded while saying through a light chuckle "You did fine, Ariadne. Stop your worrying."

She grinned at him softly, her mind telling her that the Professor wanted nothing more than for her to leave him alone. She nodded, stated a goodbye to him and left towards the exit of the lecture hall.

"Excuse me, Miss-" a masculine voice came from behind her just as she turned the corner of the lecture hall. She turned at the tenor, finding it rather familiar as it continued to flow "Do you know where I could find the cafeteria?"

A look mixed with happyness and confuson overflowed her as she saw Domenic Cobb leaning against one of the wall's of the University. She didn't know what to do exactly. Should she hug him? Shake his hand? Wave from a relatively safe distance? Instead, she smiled and walked towards him while saying "Cobb? What are you doing in Paris?"

"I'm here to get you." He leaned himself off the wall and uncrossed his arms while muttering "Unfortunately, the circumstances of me being here are not quite as simple as going to the cafeteria."

"What do you mean?" She asked worriedly, watching his forhead wrinkle from tension.

He sighed out softly and pushed out a plane ticket towards her while saying "Come on. I'll explain it to you on the flight over."

Mombassa, Kenya

"Is he safe?" Eames asked, moving his bishop chess piece on one of the empty squares on the chessboard.

Fischer moved his chess piece, in deep thought and replied "He is. I don't intend to hurt anyone Mr. Eames. I am not a murderer." He smiled and then pointed towards the table saying, "It seems that I have won once again."

Eames almost rolled his eyes as he could hear Arthur mumbling something about time and how it's being wasted. "I'm sorry, Arthur? Would you like to play as well?"

Arthur groaned, his head being held up by his elbow as he looked over at the doorway. "We've been here nearly 12 hours."

"Well-" Fischer leered at him through the corners of both his lips and eyes "Maybe you'll think twice before committing another felony."

"Then maybe you should not ask us to commit the same type of felony."

"I am trying to spare you all a life time in prison." Robert declared, crossing his right leg over his left "You should be thanking me."

Arthur stayed quiet at that, except for a minor sneeze moments later.

The double doors suddenly flew open to reveal a body guard of Fischer's who announced "They're here."

Eames grinned at his correct assumption and Arthur stared at the doors wide-eyed watching both Dom and Ariadne walk into the large dark room.

Cobb nodded at the two familiar men in greeting while Ariadne let out a small smile at both of them. "How are you, darlin'?" Eames asked her and she nodded at him in response.

"Ah, Mr. Charles-" Fischer waved his hand at Domenic, pointing to an empty seat at the dinning table before asking, "Would you care to have a seat?"

He shook his head, walking towards the three men, Ariadne following closely behind him as he asked, "Where is Yusuf?"

"He's very safe." He picked up one of his chess kings and flicked its edges before commenting, "He's working on a new sedative for the inception right now actually."

Dom shook his head, walking towards Fischer, a laugh forming on his lips before asking "How do you remember?"

He placed down the king piece, removed his blackberry from his pocket and spoke into it "Bring it in." He smiled at Cobb before pointing to Ariadne and saying "She can wait outside."

"Why do I have to wait outside?"

"Perhaps it would be best, Ariadne." Arthur suggested, his eyebrows rising upward as his lips pursed.

Ariadne bit down on her bottom lip but Cobb intervened "If she wants to stay, she can."

The doors opened moments later and Ariadne couldn't help but smile at Dom and then at Fischer, in retaliation, who was eyeing her carefully. One of the wealthy man's bodyguards brought in a large briefcase and placed it on the center of the table, the gentlemen and lady crowding around it. The bodyguard opened it and then left the room moments later, playing with a pistol that hung on his belt chain.

Inside the briefcase was a machine much like the PASIV but instead of a loop on the outside of it, it had a square design. "What is it?" Eames was the first to ask.

Cobb examined the machine with his eyes only, waiting patiently for the answer. "It's called an 'Inceptor.'" Fischer turned to 'Mr. Charles' and said, "It registers unusual brain activity." He closed the briefcase, walking away from the group as he continued "After my Uncle, Browning, found out about my decision to break apart my Father's empire, he suggested to me that we use it to find out if somehow someone had incepted the idea into my mind. He was right, of course." His tongue flicked his bottom lip rapidly before he stated "That's why you're all here."

"And you want us to put an idea in someone's mind-" Arthur started "But whose?"

"Saito turned his back against mine. I wish to return the favor." Robert quirked "I need you to make him decide to quit the business so that he can spend more time with his family."

"That's our motive?" Ariadne asked, her mind trying to retain all the information.

"It's impossible." Cobb jumped in, shaking his head "He knows us far too well. It could never work. His subconscious would know it was a set up."

"Then you all go to prison." Robert ushered, his lips thick with bitterness.

"No." Ariadne shook her head, looking over at Cobb. This was not fair to him; he had just gotten home to his children. They could figure this out. "We'll figure this out."

Eames nodded in agreement, "She's right. We just need time."

"One day to figure out a proposal, gentlemen-" Fischer looked over at Ariadne, disregarding her from the gender grouping. He placed a cell phone that he had in his jacket pocket on the desk in front of him before saying, "When you have it figured out. Give me a call."

Mombassa, Kenya –Two hours later

"I just don't understand why he had to bring you into this." Arthur commented to Ariadne, looking over at Cobb who was sitting alone and scribbling down ideas onto a notepad that one of Fischer's bodyguards had brought him an hour earlier.

Ariadne shrugged her shoulders, passing him a Kleenex, as he was about to sneeze, and saying "Perhaps he feels that he isn't ready to build on his own yet."

"Mal has been gone for three years, Ariadne." Arthur breathed out, his eyes burning him "I understand what a mourning period is, but don't you think that's kind of a long time to hold onto someone?" He looked over at his friend and watched Eames pass him a piece of paper. Seconds later after reading the paper, Dom scrunched it up and shook his head at the Forger, disappointed.

Ariadne tilted her head to the side towards Arthur as she whispered "Perhaps you've never been in love, Arthur." She stood up off her feet and walked over towards the 'Inceptor' machine while Arthur thought about the statement she had told him. Actually, he had been in love… once.

Mombassa, Kenya- 4 hours later

"'We are the producers of our own thinking'." Ariadne grinned at Cobb and sat down across from him on the bench that was in the corner of the dark room.

Dom gazed up at her, a small smile on his own face as he asked "Richard Carlson?"

She nodded slowly, brushing her brown hair out of her face as she said, "Ironically enough, in our case, I don't think that has much truth to it."

He almost chuckled at that but then his eyes fell immediately to the blank paper in front of him. Her lips pursed as she asked "Nothing yet?"

"Nothing at all, actually." He sighed slowly and then snickered before saying "It's as if my mind is blank. I can't think of anything."

Ariadne nodded, pondering for a moment on the topic before saying "Maybe that's the problem. The mind has to wander, maybe you should just walk around the city for a while." He glared at her, listening to her suggestion as she spoke it "That's what I do when I can't think of a design. I look at the world around me; I draw from stuff I know. Maybe, you should too."

His eyes narrowed, as he comprehended the intelligent idea. He stood up off his chair, taking his notepad with him while saying "Okay, get your jacket."

Her eyebrows knitted upward as she asked, "You want me to come with me you?"

Cobb was about to reply to her question when Arthur's screams came from the other side of the dark room "I've got it!"

Dom's eyes glowed as he threw the notepad down onto the desk and marched over to where Arthur and Eames were sitting, near the chessboard. "Okay, let's hear it." He ordered, crossing his arms across his chest as Ariadne walked towards the group of three.

Arthur took a large gulp of his apple tea, to clear his sick sinuses, before starting "Well, Saito knows his real world down to the carpets in his mistress' apartments, right?" Cobb nodded, listening intently as Arthur continued "We have to get him into a place he doesn't know."

"Like a hotel?" Ariadne asked.

"No. That's too simple." Cobb interjected.

"Exactly." Arthur smiled, a smirk tugging at his lips "I started thinking about how I would much rather be sitting at my hotel room right now watching the season finale of 'Lost' when something struck me."

Eames moaned in annoyance at his obsession with the television show "Oh God, please let it have been lightning."

Arthur gave Eames a quick evil glare before continuing "What if we bring Saito here, to discuss some type of pseudo job proposal but then when we get on a plane to get to the States but here's the catch- we trick him into believing that our plane crashes. It will be a dream, of course. But he won't have to know that. And from his dismay, he'll start to become more stressed and then when he has completely lost all hope, then we-"

"Then we can plant the idea." Dom's eyes widened at the brilliance of it. "I'm calling Fischer." He moved towards the cell phone that rested in the middle of the table and dialed the phone number.

Authors Note:

Did you enjoy this chapter?

Please, let me know in a review.

Take Care!