Breaking the Rules chapter 3

Notes: 1. Sorry for the delay in posting RL knocked me on my butt. 2. This was originally going to be a three part fic, this being the final part but the story has taken an unexpected angst-y turn, so will have probably only one more chapter after this. I hope you all like it. 3. Every review I received put a stupid smile on my face so a big thank you to all those who made the effort and brighten my days.

Eames is sitting in his car staring in shock at his location. He double checks the laptop to make sure he hadn't made a wrong turn somewhere. The computer blinks at him, confirming that his target was indeed in the building in front of him.

It had been three days since the plane had landed safely in Los Angeles. That night should have been a celebration. They had perform an inception. A feat no other team had successfully accomplished. It would have been a great night, Cobb would have obviously gone home to his family, and Saito would have rushed off to ready his business, but everybody else would have gone out dancing and drinking, marvelling in their own brilliance. Then he and Arthur would have found a quiet room and gotten thoroughly reacquainted with each other.

But there wasn't any celebrating, because even though they had successfully performed inception on Fischer, Cobb and Saito hadn't made it through. It had baffled the airline and the authorities how two seemingly unconnected passengers had both lost their minds during the flight. They had all been detained at the airport while the plane was examined for possible toxins or causes that could explain what had happened. Arthur had spent that time sitting eerily still staring at the ceiling, not looking at anyone and only talking when asked a direct question. Eames had wanted nothing more than to go over and comfort the man, but they needed to preserve their cover especially while an investigation was going on.

Finally after half a day they were released. Eames had tried to keep up with the zombie like Arthur as they cleared immigration but by the time he had made it through he was gone. He went to their usual hotel but Arthur hadn't checked in. Calling his phone was no use it just rang and rang no one picking up. The messages he left went unanswered.

Eames knew that Arthur was sending him a message. He wanted to be left alone, but Eames couldn't do that. He knew that Cobb was more than Arthur's boss or team member. They'd been friends and had known each other a lot longer than Eames had known either of them. Arthur had to be hurting and Eames wasn't going to let him go through it alone.

So he tracked the GPS locator on Arthur's cell phone and it lead him here.

The location was a rundown motel that looks like it charges by the hour. It was sleazy and dirty and as unlike Arthur as you could get. He checks the blinking light on the computer one last time before exiting his car and approaching the room that held Arthur inside.

Arthur's hand is unsteady as he pours himself another glass of scotch. He's lost count of how much he's drunk but he knows it's not nearly enough.

He faintly hears a knock at the door but he ignores it. There's only one person he'd want to see and he's defiantly not standing outside this room. No, Dom will never knock on his door again.

He brings the glass to his mouth and drains the contents, he stopped feeling the burn hours ago. He reaches for the bottle to pour another glass pausing when he sees a pair of legs step into view.

He closes his eyes, please he prays silently, before opening them and following the legs up to see the face. He hates himself for the betrayal he feels when he sees Eames standing there. It wasn't supposed to be you.

"How'd you find me?" He asks words slurring from too much liquor.

"Your phone."

Eames walks further into the room and sits on the chair opposite him. Arthur glues his eyes firmly on the small table separating them.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm concerned about you. Thought you might need a friend right now."

Arthur laughs and sweeps his arm showing Eames the empty bottles littering the floor, "I've got all the friends I need."

"Yes, I can see you've made lots of them," he looks across the table to the scotch in Arthur's hand, "Feel like sharing that?"

"No," he replies his grip tightening.

"Arthur," Eames says softly, "You're holding on to that bottle like it's a life line. You're wearing the same clothes from the plane. You have actual stubble, and as sexy as it is I can't really appreciate it because I know it means you haven't showered for days," he leans across the table and gently places his hand on top of Arthur's, "But what really worries me, is that you won't look at me." He strokes his fingers along Arthur's wrist, "Look at me darling. Let me help you."

Arthur slides his hand from underneath Eames' and defiantly raises his eyes and stares at him, "Who are you to try and help me? You're nobody," he notices the flinch that Eames tries to conceal but he doesn't care, "We sleep together and I have a fondness for you but that's it. We're not a real couple, you don't love me, we're not... family."

"Mal and Dom, they were my family. They saved me, gave me a life worth living." Even though he is looking at Eames his eyes have become unfocused seeing into the past, "When she died it was hard but I buried the pain because I needed to be strong for him. Now he's gone too. He was like a brother and now, because of me, he's lost in his own mind. He's not even dead he's just... gone. They're gone."

"Because of you?" Eames asks softly.

He nods his head vehemently, "If I'd done my job properly we would have been prepared. Saito wouldn't have got shot and Dom wouldn't have stayed in limbo trying to find him. He wouldn't have gotten lost."

"Arthur, Love you can't..."

"Don't," he says with desperation, "don't call me that."

Arthur lets out a shaky breath as he releases his hold on the bottle and hides his head in his hands, "Please," he whispers through his fingers, "Please just go."

Eames can see that Arthur is too drunk and guilt ridden to listen to reason or anything else Eames might want to say or do to help him through his pain. So he stands up, grabs the bottle off the table so Arthur won't be able to drink any more and walks towards the door. Before leaving he looks back and sees Arthur sitting at the table, his face in his hands, his body shaking. Eames heart breaks for him and he realises that Arthur was wrong. He does love him.

It takes all his willpower to walk away.

He doesn't go far, he checks himself into the room next door. Needing to be close by in case he's wanted. He convinces himself that Arthur just needs a bit of time and space, that he said what he did because he was drunk and in pain. Tomorrow when he's sober they'll talk again and Eames will convince him that he wasn't to blame and, more importantly, that's he's not alone.

He spends the night sitting up on the bed with his ear pressed up to the wall to see if he can hear Arthur moving around.

He never does.

He doesn't hear Arthur stand up from the chair. Doesn't hear him walk around the room putting the few things he unpacked back in his bag. Doesn't hear him pick up his phone before putting it back down, leaving it on the bed so he can't be tracked down again. Doesn't hear him walk out the door and out of his life.

The knock causes Eames' stomach to clench in anticipation. It's been over a year since he's had any contact with Arthur but he can't help but hope, Maybe this time it's him.

It's not.

"Ariadne," He smiles at her, "To what do I owe this pleasure."

He and Ariadne have kept in contact since the inception job. She started out sending him letters asking for advice or tips about structuring dream mazes, it seems what happened to Cobb wasn't enough to deter her from a life of dream architecture. After awhile she stopped writing for advice and started simply updating him on her new life in Los Angeles.

Miles had picked up where Cobb had left off and started training Ariadne in the art of mind manipulation. She was a quick study and before long the government was employing her to design and occasionally build dream levels for special assignments, on which she was always very secretive about.

He didn't pay too much attention to them at first just scanning the letters briefly out of courtesy before hiding them away. It wasn't until he read the most recent one, his heart stopping at one sentence "Arthur doesn't think I'm ready", that he went back and combed through them all, searching for that one word. Arthur.

It's the first time he's had any news of the man since he woke up to find he'd disappeared with no way to find or contact him. Ariadne didn't mention him a lot in her letters but from what she does say Eames knows that he's somehow involved with her work and that he spends a lot of time with Cobb's children.

"I'm running a job for the CIA that I'd like you to work on," She states.

Eames can't help it, he laughs, "You are running a job? With the CIA? How quaint."

Ariande bristles but doesn't respond, "We need a forger and you are the best I've seen. I can't give you any further details unless you sign on and get clearance."

"Why would I agree to a job I know nothing about?"

"Arthur is on the team."

He doesn't need any more convincing.

During the flight to Washington Eames reads over the basic details of the job. The job, or mission as the CIA calls it, is to discover the spy within one of their covert teams. Under the guise of giving the teams extraction training suspected individuals will willingly enter a shared dream. Eames, disguised as known counter intelligence agents, would approach them to see how they would respond.

It was going to be a long mission. There were fifteen covert team members and there were five different forgeries Eames was to use. That meant a lot of time, both in dreams and out. Hopefully that means he'll be able to find time to talk to Arthur alone.

Eames isn't deluding himself. He knows that whatever relationship they had ended two years ago when Arthur left. Eames had made himself deliberately easy to find but Arthur never contacted him, never came looking for him. So no, he wasn't expecting a grand re-ignition of passion at the mere sight of each other. But what he had with Arthur had been special, he had...loved the man, and he didn't want their last encounter to be him walking away from a broken man trying to deal with his grief. It had to end better than that.

He spends the entire flight reading through the information Ariadne had given him. He finally reaches the end of the forgery profiles when he turns to the final page and freezes. There, stuck to the middle of the last page was a post-it note, with three words written in Arthur's unmistakeable scrawl. His heart skips a beat as he reads Arthur's hand writing.

'Truth or Dare?'

He traces his hand across the words smiling, maybe there was hope for them after all.