Authors Note: Sorry it has been so long, I had major writers block and was super busy!


Spending the weekend with his parents would be like torture. Arthur's family was very nice and their home was more than welcoming, but all they ever did was ask about his love life. You wouldn't put Arthur in their family at first appearances that's for sure. But there was nothing he loved more.

Arthur had received the phone call from his mother earlier that Thursday afternoon asking him, no telling him, he has to visit the following weekend. You couldn't say no to that woman. That is probably why Eames loved Arthur's family so much – Arthur had to do as he was told. The annoying thing was, they loved Eames back.

For some unapparent reason though, his mother, Lily, and his sister, Laura, where very interested in his social life. And on average, every time he visits they bring up his relationship status at least five times.

On his last visit it had all been going so well – they hadn't brought it up yet, surprisingly. Then suddenly he gets a funny text from Ariadne about how Eames had fallen over on an icy patch outside the warehouse. He had laughed out loud at the text, his sister had seen the caller I.D. and for the rest of his trip all they could talk about was this 'mysterious Ariadne'. The average of relationship conversation peaked that weekend.

That is why he was dreading this weekend. He could actually bet a lot of money that they will bring up Ariadne within the first hour of him being there. It was fine him talking to Laura about it, but as soon as she was with his mother or he spoke to his mother alone, they were talking about how they fit in with the family and if they have the right 'couple look'. He couldn't help but think that Ariadne was the perfect height next to him and they fit perfectly together. Arthur was not going to say that to his mother though, although she would certainly notice the same thing if his mother was to ever see Ariadne when his family visited him in Paris. He actually dreaded that day.

After what Eames had told him about his conversation with Ariadne, he wondered if there really was more than just being friends. He recalled what Eames had said to him.

"I'm warning you Arthur, break her heart and you will be sorry." Eames had a fierce look on his face. "That girl is like a sister to me."

But there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. So Eames' warning was unnecessary, or so he thought.

So there he was preparing his things for the weekend of hell. Arthur wasn't lying when he thought he couldn't wait to see his family, but he was lying when if he thought he was looking forward to the conversation his mother will undoubtedly bring up.


Arthur's parents' house came into view and he pulled into their driveway. They had a beautiful house, after Arthur had finally been allowed to give them some of his job earnings, which they thought had come from a lottery ticket, they had decided to invest in something that all of the family could easily come back to. It was well worth the money.

It was a sunny afternoon in France and once he had stepped out of the car, he walked straight to the patio where he knew they would be.

Confirming his thoughts he saw three people sat around a table, all three looking up when they heard him approach.

"Arthur!" his mother called out, standing up with her arms spread out wide asking him to hug her. She was a blonde woman who was in her fifties. Arthur thought that she was the nicest woman he'd ever know. She could probably get along with anyone, and when he thought about it, she would get along with Ariadne like a house on fire. Why he kept thinking about this sort of thing, he didn't know. It seemed Ariadne did this to him.

He hugged his mother and when they pulled apart she looked behind him and then back at him, looking disappointed. "You didn't bring anyone?"

"No mom, I didn't. Don't look too disappointed." He replied sarcastically. He knew what she was doing. She wanted him to tell her that he was so in love with the 'mysterious Ariadne', who always texted him when he was away, and that they were together and how excited he was for them to meet each other. Not going to happen. He can tell her that now.

"Oh Arthur." She said almost sympathetically, what was that supposed to mean? He decided to ignore her as kindly as possible and turned towards his sister. He hugged her and shook his Dads hand after some 'hellos' and they spent the rest of the afternoon catching up.

His mother only once brought up the topic of Ariadne; she was trying to find out how he knew her. She was trying to be subtle by asking how his friends were and started talking about 'that girl who was talking about the Eames boy' and how she was. It was going to be a long weekend.


After a near miss with his mother talking about the neighbours' son who was Arthur's age that was getting married, he went to his room to get ready for bed. All he could think about was what Ariadne was doing right at that moment; maybe she was on a date. He didn't want to think about that. She wouldn't do that to him. They had something... special. How cheesy. He'd never think in a million years that he would ever feel that way about someone.

A knocking at the door interrupted his thoughts and Laura walked in. "Hey." She said quietly.

"Hey." She walked in and sat on the bed. She looked like she wanted to talk about something. "Are you okay?"

She looked up at him; he had clearly disturbed the cogs turning in her mind. "What? Oh, yeah I'm fine." She continued talking. "You know you hardly ever visit anymore..."

"I know. Sorry. Work has been crazy lately." He didn't like to lie to them about his job. Lying to them was the hardest part about his job.

"I've been stuck here with them. All they ever talk about is you." She laughed. He looked shocked by this.

"No they don't." He said bluntly.

"Well they do a lot of the time. They miss you, we all do. Why do you have to be away so often?" Laura was slightly younger than him, but not by much. She was probably Ariadnes age. They were very similar in a way, both very caring people that never once think about themselves.

"You know you can come and visit." He went and sat on the sofa opposite her. It was a very big room so it had a lot of space to fill. It was painted cream, along with most of the house it seemed, and had the softest carpet ever. The bed was king size and there was a big flat screen TV on the wall, you could tell it was Arthurs room in comparison to the rest of the house. The rest of the house seemed more lived in.

"I know, and I will." She reassured.

"You could come next week?"

She thought about it for a second. "Maybe I will." He smiled at her. "How is everything in Paris anyway?" Arthur's family had moved to the Dordogne in the South of France after finding their perfect home there and Arthur had gone to Paris. He promised to visit as often as he could, yet still not very much.

"Yeah it's good. Cobb and Eames said hi." She smiled at this. Laura knew all of Arthur's workmates. She even went to the warehouse occasionally when she visited. She knew Arthur well enough to know that he wasn't being particularly truthful when he said he worked for a bank. She had picked up on the fact that it wasn't exactly legal. Laura would never tell their parents that though, not that they'd mind or judge Arthur, but it was probably for the best.

"I haven't seen them all in so long; they haven't been here in ages either!" Laura got along with everyone too, although none of his family had ever met Ariadne. The one opportunity, she'd been visiting her family back in America. Ariadne didn't have any family in France, other than an aunt who she isn't that close to. Her parents died when she was younger. None of the team knew this, only Arthur, he'd done the research after all. Ariadne knew that Arthur knew, but they never once spoke about it.

"I know, Mom was saying that as well." He didn't seem too happy about this, probably because Eames was one of the team. "She said they have to visit as well next time I come."

"Good. If it takes them all coming as well for you to get here then so be it."

He laughed at this. "What have you been up to anyway?"

"Not much really, college and stuff. I ran into Mandy the other day..." She said with what was almost a smirk in her voice. He looked up, alarmed.

"What did you say Laura?"

"Oh you know the usual. Just how you're away working, you've been out a lot, you're new girlfriend and how you're making a tonne of money these days." She said casually.

"My new what?" He asked almost angrily, he could never properly get angry at Laura

"She was asking about you and I said how great you're doing with your new girlfriend." She saw the look on his face then added: "You know how much I hate that girl Arthur."

"So do I but I don't make things up to shut her up."

"Who says I made anything up?" She stared at him curiously.

"Laura..."

"No, no I know you said there is nothing going on between you and that girl, Ariadne was it?" He nodded. "But that doesn't mean you don't want there to be..."

He looked away and avoided her eyes, she understood. Laura was probably satisfied that she was right.

"Arthur, what is stopping you?" She practically whispered.

He looked up, sadness in his eyes. "She's perfect. She would never even think about going out with me. Not in a million years."

"That is absolute crap! Of course she would! I'm not going to lie to you Arthur, but they don't get much more perfect than you."

"I'm anything but perfect, you know what I do isn't exactly legal..."

"Didn't you say she worked with you?" Smart ass.

"Yeah but I just want to be perfect for her."

"You shouldn't have to be, if you're going to be with someone then you have to be yourself. And I'm pretty sure she likes you for you."

He looked sceptical. He didn't even know what to say. He'd never even admitted to himself that he liked her, and he'd just blabbed to his sister.

"Tell me about her." She said. "She must be good because I know it's pretty hard for you to fall in love."

He didn't even deny that he was 'in love', because it was true. Normally he would have said some stupid comment back, but she was absolutely right.

"Ari is... she is just, great at what she does, you know? She doesn't seem to get anything wrong, and when she does she just laughs it off. I wouldn't be able to do that! She is like the most beautiful person I've ever seen, and the nicest. She is so caring and funny. Eames will insult her and she'll just say something equally as mean back and doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks of her." He was now lost in this world thinking about Ariadne, barely even noticing the presence of his sister. "She has all these little habits that no one else picks up on; like she picks at her split ends when she's bored, she taps her fingers on her desk when she's thinking, she has a weirdly large collection of scarves but yet she looks so great when she wears them and she bites her lip when she is nervous." He smiled slightly at the last one, because he thought it was so unbelievably sexy when she did that.

When had he noticed all of these things about her? It was new to him.

After a moment, Laura piped up. "Wow... You've fallen hard."

He then remembered that she was there and was worried he had said too much.

"Arthur, what are you waiting for?"