Three days. Arthur swore under his breath. It had been three days since Ariadne had stormed out of the warehouse. He had been expecting her to return within a few hours.

The door to the warehouse clicked open, and Arthur jumped to his feet.

"Morning," Yusuf nodded as he entered, carrying his briefcase full of assorted sleep medicines.

Arthur scowled and ran his hand through his hair, a habit he had picked up recently. "Have you seen Ariadne?" He asked Yusuf, glancing once more towards the door.

"She still isn't back yet? You must have really ticked her off." Yusuf chuckled lightly. "Er, I mean…." Arthur glared at him. "Sorry, I'll just…" He shook his head and headed to the back of the warehouse where the lawn chairs were set up for the team's dreaming.

Arthur glanced at his watch. 7:13. Damn it, Eames. Arthur thought. Always late.

At that moment, the door clicked open again, the sound of shuffling footsteps entering onto the concrete flooring from the carpeted floors of the hall outside. "Eames, you're late…. Again." Arthur called over to him.

"Sorry," Eames replied. "Look who I found out in the hall."

Arthur glanced over his shoulder to see Ariadne, arms crossed, jaw set, glaring at the ceiling.

"I was going to knock." She mumbled.

"Sure you were, darling," Eames chuckled. "Sure you were."

Ariadne blushed.

"So I'll leave you two alone," Eames continued, heading towards where Yusuf had begun setting up for their next practice run. "If I wanted to see this I'd watch a bloody soap opera."

Arthur watched him go before turning and walking over to Ariadne.

"Look, I'm—" She began, letting her arms drop to her sides.

"No, no." Arthur interrupted. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"But you were joking!" She said, staring at him incredulously. "I'm the one who lost my temper."

"So you don't want me to apologize?"

"No, I do," She paused, biting her lip.

"There's just no winning with you, is there?" He grinned.

Ariadne's lips twitched in an effort not to smile. "No, there really isn't."


"I just need someone to test this," Yusuf said, showing Ariadne the bottle. "You'll go under quickly, about five minutes. Same as usual. I'll leave Arthur here to see how it goes."

Ariadne nodded. "Sounds good." She sat back in the chair as Arthur leaned forward to attach the sedation tubes to her wrist. She noticed how his hand lingered slightly over hers before he withdrew it, sitting back in his chair to watch her.

Sighing, she settled into the chair, closing her eyes. She felt three drops of the cool liquid splash over her lips, before she drifted off into the dream.


Ariadne was standing under a green and white striped awning outside a fancy-looking hotel, watching the projections around her hurrying from building to building to avoid the heavy rain. Even they don't like the rain, Ariadne smiled. There was something comical about the way they scurried about like ants.

"There you are," Ariadne turned to see a projection of Arthur standing behind her, offering an umbrella out to her. "Shall we?"

She nodded, ducking under the umbrella with him. "Where are we going?" She asked, watching his face. He was still Arthur, even if it was just a projection.

"It's up to you," He shrugged.

Ariadne scowled. She hated making decisions. "How about, umm, here?" She motioned to a door to their right.

"Ladies first," Arthur smiled.

Ariadne blushed, before ducking inside. Blinking, she glanced around the dim room before turning an even brighter shade of red. They had walked into a hotel lobby.

Arthur was watching her, a bemused expression on his face. "I didn't…" Ariadne stuttered. "I just…. The rain. Somewhere dry…." She let her voice trail off as Arthur walked up to the reception desk.

"One room, please." He said, taking the offered keys. Turning around, he glanced back at Ariadne. "You coming?" He winked before walking toward the elevators.


Ariadne sat up with a start, reaching down to pull the tubes out of her arm.

"Whoa," Arthur said, grabbing her arm. "Easy." He released her hand, carefully removing the tubes himself, rubbing the spot on her wrist where they had been. "Nice dream?" He asked, watching her carefully.

"Y-yeah," Ariadne blushed. "Did you get the results for Yusuf?"

"Got 'em." He smiled. "Want to go with me to return them?"

Ariadne nodded. "Sure."

They were quiet as they walked across the warehouse to return the results to Yusuf.

"Thank you," Yusuf smiled. "How did it go?"

"Perfect." Arthur grinned. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He nodded to them, before heading off toward the door of the warehouse.

Ariadne looked at the folder curiously. "What exactly did that do?" She asked Yusuf.

"Arthur didn't tell you? Oh," He placed the folder on the table. "It makes your dream visible to those around you outside your dream. Brilliant, no?" Yusuf laughed.

"It… what?" Ariadne gaped at him. "You mean Arthur could see my dream even though he wasn't in it?"

Yusuf nodded, flipping through the drawer in his desk. "It'll be a lot of help, don't you think?"


A/N: Sorry it was short. :/ Writer's block is a terrible thing. Still, ideas and reviews are lovely. ^^

The next chapter might not be out as quickly, but at least you got this one out of me. o: We should celebrate- my first ever non-oneshot! whoo~