Safe House

Chapter 3: Bets

Rated T {will be changed to M later for lemons}

Disclaimer: I do not own Inception

Author's Note: You are all so sweet. Sit tight, I promise ACTUAL action to come next chapter ;) (working on new chapter for Proposal, fingers crossed I will have it up by the end of the weekend)

"Did they say what it was about?" Ari whispered as they approached the tiny living room. He shook his head. Arthur held Ariadne's hand as they entered the living room. Eames watched them from the recliner he had been plastered in.

"What's going on?" Ariadne asked, taking a seat on the sofa. Cobb stood in the middle of the room the same way he did when he was leading a meeting for a job. He rolled up his sleeves and had that pensive look etched onto his wrinkled face.

"Eames and I were talking this morning and we thought we should have a bit of a house mate meeting." he said looking around the room, "So, maybe we can set down some rules."

"Rules?" Arthur asked, amused at the idea.

"Well first off I think I should say something. We should all have alotted time for certain things." Eames said, not bothering to look at any of them, perfectly content thinking aloud.

"Alotted time for certain things?" Ariadne echoed, confused.

"Yes, things like the washer and the radio," he tilted his head.

"Please Eames, we all know I do the wash around here," Ari scoffed indignantly.

"Ok fine, so the radio and the telly," he pursed his lips and looked at Cobb to take it away.

"We should also take turns doing things. So you don't always have to do the wash," Cobb said, "Like who cooks dinner and cleans up and such." She didn't seem to mind that request.

"Yeah, there are others though." He said a little more timidly. Arthur put his arm around Ariadne and leaned against the back of the couch. It was rare that Cobb was short for words, or shy about saying something.

"What are the other rules?" he pushed.

"Rules of the house, whatever else he has to say is all him." Eames rolled his eyes. Ariadne laughed nervously, "Yeah, come on Cobb, we're not kids. I think we all know what to do and what not to do."

"Ok, I'm just going to be blunt. Arthur, Ariadne, it would be nice if you could… be quiet at night," Eames shrugged. Ariadne's face turned bright red. Arthur began to laugh to her dismay, "Sorry about that."

Eames and Cobb gave each other a satisfied glance before going on. Eames stood up and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Any other requests?" Arthur asked with a yawn.

"No, other than he expected no phone calls, no leaving the house ever for anything. No staying outside past dark, blabbity blabbity blah," he waved away the point man. Ariadne made a small sound that sounded like choking but she started to cough.

"Problem darling?" Eames asked with a smirk.

"No sorry," she stood up and rubbed her face. "I'm just going to step outside for a bit, before lunch."

The others frowned and nodded. The rules weren't going to sit well with her and Arthur already knew it. The others didn't seem to take a notice since they left the room, returning to their usual business of moping about. Reading a book or fiddling with some old thing they had found lying about the house.

"I'm just going to go with her," he excused himself.

"Hey you," Eames grabbed him by the sleeve. Arthur frowned as he stared at the forger.

"We have to have our own little meeting. About Parker," he said. Arthur tensed up, hoping that Ari really was outside.

"Not here, not now Eames," Even Cobb seemed tense. They had to talk about it when they were one hundred percent sure that Ariadne was gone. If she found out... well it would be like hell breaking loose.

"Later."

Arthur nodded and continued to head away. He slipped out to the back of the house. It was beginning to become the place of solitude. The place where they were going when they wanted to get away. It was the only place they could get away though. The only other choice was the basement or the attic and in a house of that age, those places were never pleasant to be.

"Ari, I hope you aren't upset about the whole... noise thing," he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"No," she answered monotonously.

"Then why did you leave like you had seen a ghost?" he kissed her jaw bone.

"No calls. No leaving... no... nothing," she breathed, "That's a ot to ask of a person... and for so long!"

"Well I'm still not..."

"Yeah, yeah I know. You're not sure of the time. But you said it yourself. You've been here before and it's longer than you would think," she pushed him away from her. He frowned and folded his arms.

The weather was nice, but it was cold. It was almost time for it to snow there. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if it happened during their stay.

"How did you even come across a place like this? So far away, so isolated from the rest of the world?" she cursed the house.

"Well, this is my uncle's brother-in-laws, best friend's girlfriend's mother's house." He said as he looked around the old place. Ariadne frowned, "And…"

"Well she was an extractor," he explained. The safe house hadn't just been used by Arthur. Apparently many teams had passed through over the years, though it was ancient house. It had been built well before dream sharing was even a real thing. Though once it was, the lady who somehow knew Arthur had bought it and allowed members of teams to leave things there just in case something came up.

"It was a safe house before there were trackers but now that there are...We have to be careful, people have ways of finding people and things now. Anything out of the normal, people look into, which is why we can't leave the house at all, or make calls, or…"

"Have any fun whatsoever." She sighed.

Sympathetically he took her hand and faked a smile, "hey, at least we're here together… Catch up?"

"There is only so much catching up we can do." She replied dryly, "By the way you talk about it, I think that we will be here longer than we were apart."

He chuckled, "I doubt that." Though he didn't.

She didn't seem convinced at all but nodded, "Yeah… thanks Arthur."

"Anything for you," he said with a kiss on the cheek.

After a while they remembered that they had to go back. In a few days time it was already becoming a prison,like a magnet it pulled them back in, no matter how reluctant. As they entered the kitchen Arthur spotted Cobb. He leaned against the counter and held a glossy magazine in his hand. He seemed content with whatever it was, but Arthur couldn't make out the name of it.

"Are you reading my seventeen magazine?" Ariadne laughed.

"It's better reading than the romance novel I found in a drawer upstairs," he defended himself with a shudder. The book seemed to spark her interest entered the room and went straight for the refrigerator. Ariadne opened her mouth to continue the conversation about the romance novel but was drowned out.

"What the bloody hell?" he stood up and looked around.

"Who drank the last beer? We just got them," he shouted. It was as though Ariadne had asked about the secret again. Everyone's eyes darted to each other, looking for support, only to find averting gazes.

"You are so annoying. A bunch of little kids, really." He shook his head.

"Eames we can't be possessive about these things," Arthur tried to calm him.

"Seriously though, you are all going to drive me mad," he said as he slammed the door, leaving the room. Cobb looked over wordlessly at the couple and sighed. Ariadne let go of Arthur's hand and checked her watch. She had started wearing it the day after they arrived. When isolated time seemed to blend and she was the only one who seemed to be keen on actually knowing the hour in the day.

"I am going to get some more cleaning done before noon," she said, "talk to you later." she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before following Eames into the other room. Cobb waited until she was gone to start to breath again. There was already tension in the air.

"It really is a shame," he muttered, "the price we pay to be here."

"Our sanity," Arthur chuckled darkly.

"I wonder who it's going to be this time." He said.

"Eames, without a doubt," Arthur shook his head, disappointed. Usually, despite his sarcastic remarks, Eames was a very professional calm and nice person. Rarely was he upset over something as trivial as few beers gone. It was always a sham to see a friend lose themselves but it was imminent in situations like this, and Arthur was sure as hell it wasn't going to be himself.

"Nah," Cobb said as he lifted the magazine off the counter, "It'll be Ariadne easily."

"Excuse me?"

"This is her first time. She is the only woman, she is clueless, once she finds out the truth about our little stay, about Parker, she will go mad… or be mad. Mad enough to break… I can almost guarantee it." He didn't even look up from the column about teen hotties. As if it were a casual thing to talk about, along with the game on Sunday and the weather.

"I can't believe you'd say that."

"And I can't believe you think Eames…" he glanced up. It was obviously starting to trouble him. There actually was a chance it could be Ariadne. Then again, there was a chance it could be any of them. Just because he had lived through it before it didn't mean he could again and again.

"Fine, would you like to make a wager on that?"

"A bet?" Cobb's eyes sparkled with interest. Arthur nodded, "Share from the Grant job."

"You are going down Arthur," he smiled with pleasure. He held out his hand and Arthur took it surely. If he lost this bet he would be losing way more than money and he knew it. Never before had he hoped more that he was right.

Inspiration for this chapter: Stereo Hearts (featuring Adam Levine) by Gym Class Heroes and the actual Inception script page 103

Parker will be explained later :D Thank you for reading and reviewing! :D