Here we go chapter 2. (I have tried to break up the paragraphs to make them easier to read).
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
Chapter 2: Safety and training.
Ariadne had fallen asleep not long after Arthur had pulled onto the motorway, he was glad that she was resting now, and she had certainly had an ordeal. His gaze would drift to the cut on her forehead every once in a while. The blood was now drying and some had stuck her hair to her forehead, there was also a horrible purple bruise forming under her right eye. Arthur suddenly had the urge to turn the car around and face their pursuers just so that he could teach them a lesson for touching her. He gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter before looking over at Ariadne who was sleeping with her head resting against the window, it didn't look particularly comfortable but sleeping in a car never is.
Arthur stifled a yawn, he had been driving for almost four hours since Paris and he was really beginning to feel it. It was only just midnight and the roads were deserted, for this Arthur was glad, it meant that if they were still being followed he would know about it straight away, luckily however they had the road all to themselves. When Arthur finally arrived at Bordeaux he sighed happily, he would now have to find the hotel, Eames and Cobb were meeting himself and Ariadne at, The Regent Grand Hotel. They were due to arrive the next morning, Arthur would be glad to finally get a chance to lie down and relax. He had been on edge for days, Cobb had informed him that they were all being tracked by the competitors of their last job. Arthur's very first instinct had been to find Ariadne, he'd been keeping an eye on her from a far for a few days, he had noticed when someone else started following her as well, unfortunately while he had been at her apartment packing her bag, the man who had been following her decided to make their move.
Arthur pulled into the car park of the large hotel, he left Ariadne in the car while he checked them in and took their bags inside, when he returned she was still asleep, he didn't want to wake her but he knew they he wouldn't be able to carry her to the room. He was far too exhausted. Instead he opened the car door and gently shook her shoulder.
"Mmm?" her eyes were still half closed as she turned her body to look at Arthur.
"We're here," he pushed the car door open wider; "come on, let us get you to bed." Ariadne mumbled something about Arthur and hotel rooms as she slid effortlessly from the car and on to the asphalt. Arthur locked the car and followed slowly behind her, he glanced around them making sure that they weren't being watched, he paused in the doorway and noticed that Ariadne was waiting for him, he ushered her inside the hotel and then into a lift.
"What time is it?" her voice was thick with sleep and her eyes were drooping heavily.
There was a pause as Arthur stretched his left arm out in front of him and moved it so that his sleeve shifted above his watch; "Uh...3.47am." Arthur then had to remind himself to breathe as Ariadne rested her head gently against his shoulder. A sleepy noise escaped her as she rested against him, he moved an arm carefully around her to support her, he hoped that she couldn't hear the way his heart was hammering loudly against his ribcage, the lift doors opened and Arthur walked Ariadne to the door of their room, he pushed the key card into the slot and opened the door carefully. He walked her over to the bed and gently sat her down, he turned to close the door and Ariadne shuffled up the bed pausing only for a moment to slip her shoes off, Arthur turned to see that she had already fallen back asleep and marvelled at her ability to get back to sleep so quickly. Arthur carefully took his suit off and hung it up in the wardrobe, the extra work would be worth it in the morning. He was now dressed only in his boxers, he wondered what Ariadne would say when she woke in the morning to find him almost naked in the same bed as her. He lifted one of the covers and pulled it so that it was covering Ariadne before settling into the bed. He slipped quickly into a dreamless sleep, he was surprised by how easily he fell asleep while there was someone else in the bed. He would normally be on high alert, it seemed that his trust for Ariadne ran deeper than he had first thought.
Ariadne woke the next morning to find Arthur already up and fully dressed, he was sat in a chair reading a newspaper, she rubbed her eyes and winced as her fingers brushed the cut above her right eyebrow, she really needed to have a shower, sleeping in her clothes had been a bad idea, she was now hot and her clothes were not in a state to be worn again, Ariadne hoped that Arthur had brought enough clothes for her to wear.
"Good morning." Arthur's voice caused Ariadne to jump slightly, she had been thinking back to the events of the night before.
She smiled slightly and muttered something that sounded like a good morning before yawning and sighing heavily; "Um, where is that bag you packed for me?"
Arthur carefully folded the newspaper and gestured to the draws; "I unpacked your clothes before I brought you up here." His small smile was beautiful and Ariadne felt her heart skip a beat.
"Thanks." She whispered before grabbing a t-shirt and some underwear, Arthur had neglected to pack another pair of jeans so she would have to settle for the ones she had slept in. She quietly slipped into the bathroom to get changed and wondered to herself where exactly Arthur had slept that night, she hadn't noticed that the other side of the bed was messed up, and by the time she was dressed and out of the bathroom Arthur had made the bed; "You know they have people to do that for you?" she said a small smile playing on her lips as she pulled her scarf around her neck.
"I can't stand mess." Was all he said in reply as someone knocked on the door, Arthur motioned to Ariadne to step back into the bathroom as he pulled his gun out and looked through the peephole on the door; "It's Cobb, stay there for a moment." He hissed still on edge, he then pulled the door open and Cobb and Eames stepped inside.
"Were you followed?" Cobb's question was hushed as his eyes darted around the room.
Arthur shook his head; "Ariadne you can come out." She slipped out of the bathroom her eyes were wide with fear.
"You've scared her half to death Arthur." Eames' West London drawl calmed Ariadne slightly as she smiled at him.
Arthur pulled Cobb to one side his face devoid of emotion; "They found her though, look Cobb I know you said these people are serious...but they shouldn't have been able to find Ariadne." He was clearly angry but was refusing to show it, his tone was calm and his face remained stony as he spoke.
Cobb glanced from Ariadne to his point man and back again; "How many?"
"What?" Arthur was confused.
"How many of his men were sent after her?" Cobb clarified.
Arthur shrugged slightly, he didn't know how many, he almost kicked himself for not knowing details were his thing, he should know; "Three. I was followed by three men. But there could have been more." Ariadne was very matter of fact about it. All traces of fear had left her eyes; she didn't want to be coddled anymore.
Arthur noticed a look cross over Cobb's face that worried him; "What? Dom! What does that mean?" he needed to know.
"They were using her to smoke us out." Cobb paused and his jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth; "They knew that we would come to her aid if she was in danger."
"Who knew?" Eames entered the conversation, a frown plastered on his face.
Cobb shook his head, this only proved to anger Arthur, who grabbed the front of Cobb's jacket; "You got us into this Dom! Tell us who we are up against. Who are they?" Dom sighed heavily before looking into Arthur's eyes.
"They work for a company called Feygud Enterprises, they claim to be a legitimate business, but really they make most of their money trading in weapons and kidnapping." He paused and glanced around at Eames and Ariadne before settling on Arthur once more; "They threatened my family Arthur, I had to...after the job I went back to Phillipa and James when I got a call, they knew all about my family knew where I lived." Arthur's jaw was twitching slightly as his listened to Dom's story; "I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accepted the first job, but it was a lot of money."
"That isn't good enough Dom! You have put all of us in danger." Her biting response was fuelled by the fear that had now returned tenfold and was causing her heart to beat faster; "Are James and Phillipa safe?" Dom nodded slowly before explaining that they were with Miles.
"So how do you plan on getting us out of this one Dom?" Eames sounded slightly amused by the whole situation. The danger of it all was thrilling to him.
"We need to get all the information we can on Feygud. Especially, information about the man; Nathan Faith. He is the one who called me, I don't think he's in charge but he's pretty high up." Arthur nodded knowing that this would be his job; "I don't think it would be wise to move on just yet, but we can't stay here too long either." Cobb was going into business mode, he had it all planned out. Yusuf had already called in, he was staying in Mombasa as it seemed like the safest place for the moment.
"What do I do?" Ariadne wanted to help out, but wasn't sure how she could be useful.
Eames smiled and patted her on the head; "You just keep your pretty little head out of trouble, ok sweetheart?" Ariadne's eyes narrowed into a glare at his patronising tone.
"No seriously, I really want to help." She glanced from Cobb to Arthur and back again; "Please."
Cobb looked at Arthur, he knew that this would be tough on his point man, as his feelings for the architect were already apparent; "You need to know how to use a gun." Cobb could see that Arthur was about to object and Ariadne wanted to point out that he was the one who had given her a gun back in Paris, but Cobb spoke before she had a chance; "These people have already gone after her Arthur. We can't watch her 24 hours a day." Arthur was about to protest once more, but this time Ariadne got there first.
"So who is going to teach me?" She asked it like she was about to be taught something other than how to shoot a gun.
Arthur's eyes narrowed as Eames raised his hand; "That would be my job sweetheart." He said with his trademark grin.
Ariadne smiled nervously at the forger; "Will this training happen in the real world or in the dream world?"
"Both, we need to know that you can really protect yourself in the real world, guns act differently in dreams. The kickback isn't as bad and the chances of you hurting yourself while shooting is much less." Cobb explained trying his best to ignore the glare that Arthur was sending his way.
"Looks like it's going to be you and me Ariadne." Eames said as he slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a crushing hug. Ariadne barely had time to return the hug as Eames pulled away locking eyes with Arthur; "We should get to it don't you think?" he raised an eyebrow at the point man in a most challenging manner.
Cobb nodded slowly and watched as Arthur pulled the PASIV devise from his suitcase, he winced slightly as the point man thrust the metal case into Eames' arms. They all set about working on their specific tasks, Arthur turned his laptop on and started looking for information about both Feygud Enterprises and Nathan Faith. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Eames hooked Ariadne up to the PASIV devise and then attached one of the weirs to his own arm. He stared blankly at the screen of his laptop his heart pounding loudly in his ears, he wanted to be the one teaching Ariadne, Eames would miss something, he wouldn't teach her properly.
"He knows what he is doing." Dom tried to quell any fears that he knew Arthur was feeling; "He's been doing this for as long as you or I have." Arthur still did not respond and wondered if this would be considered sulking.
"But why him?" One of Cobb's eyebrows rose slightly as he gave Arthur a look which told him that he was in fact being very childish indeed.
"You have enough on your plate to deal with right now Arthur." Cobb's tone was now patronising and Arthur had to suppress the urge to punch the extractor; "Have you told her?" Arthur chose to ignore this question and turned back to the laptop. He needed to keep his emotions better in check, he had been okay before Cobb and Eames had turned up, now he was jealous of the forger for getting to spend time training her while he had to research the company who were after them. He decided that it would be prudent to quash any feelings that he harboured for Ariadne, it seemed that Eames delighted in using it to taunt him. His expression had returned to a neutral one as he began to gather information on their hunters.
Cobb smiled to himself as he watched his point man, it had been a very long time since he had seen Arthur even the slightest bit interested in a woman, and he was sure that Ariadne, unlike the object of his adoration previously returned his feelings. He hoped however that Eames would stop messing with Arthur's head, as he felt the point man could truly be happy with the architect.
A/N: So there you go. I hope you enjoyed ch2. 3 Will be here soon, maybe not as quickly as this one was though. Also I appologise for Arthur being OOC at the end there but it needed to be done. He will be back to normal in the next chapter. ANYWAY;
Reviews are love. They make me write faster. ;)