While Ariadne was taking a shower and freshening up Eames, Cobb and Arthur were discussing their next move.
"We need to get out of the city." Cobb said.
"I agree. If we stay here, we're a sitting target." Arthur said glancing at the bathroom door.
"And go where?" Eames asked. Silence once again consumed them, while they all thought of where they go could.
"Mal and I had a cabin about 6 hours from here. Under a different name, there's no way they could trace it to us. We could go there at least for a little while, until we figure things out." Cobb said looking around to see their reaction.
"We might as well we have no other plan." Arthur said.
"I agree, but I think it would be wise if we left at dusk tomorrow night." Eames said.
"Just incase we're being watched, easier to lose in the night."
"That's a good id..." Arthur started but the bathroom door opened and the men snapped their heads to see Ariadne standing in the doorway with only Arthur's button up shirt on.
She kept tugging it down self-conscious because she knew they could now see the large cut on her leg. It had soaked through her jeans so she took them off and washed the cut the best she could. She dropped her jeans on the floor and having all of them look at her was to much to handle, so she quickly stepped back into the bathroom and shut the door, sliding down the wall next to the door onto the floor, drawing her knees up.
"Eames why don't you and I go get some supplies, like food, toiletries and such that we'll need and Ariadne some clothes." Cobb started, "Arthur you stay here with her, she needs you right now I think."
Arthur nodded, "Good, now let's get her out of there so we know what size clothes then we'll be gone."
While Eames and Cobb got ready to go, Arthur walked over to the bathroom door knocking on it gently.
"Ari, can I come in?" Arthur asked softly, waiting for her to answer and when she didn't he asked again. "Ari?"
After a few moments the door opened and Ariadne was standing on the other side of the door not looking at him but looking at her feet, trying to cover herself up. He walked towards her quietly and slowly afraid she back away from him, but she didn't. Once he was in reach he wrapped his arms around her hugging her for a minute before leading her slowly out into the room.
"Love, did they do that to you?" Eames asked gently nodding towards the large cut on her thigh, she nodded. "First aid-kit Cobb." he muttered.
"Right. Ari will you write down anything you might need and your sizes for us? Eames and I are going to go get some supplies right now. Arthur is staying with you." Cobb explained, she nodded again and wrote down her sizes, saying she needed some jeans, a pair of sweats, a few shirts, scarf's and a sweatshirt plus anything else they think she would need along with toiletries.
Giving it back to Cobb she turned to look at Arthur and nodded. He then guided her back to the bed helping her into the covers so she could get some sleep. Once she was comfortable, he made to go talk to Eames and Cobb before they left but felt a small hand grab his hand. Turning he saw Ariadne looking at him.
"Arthur, please...stay with me." She whispered. Arthur stared at her in disbelief these were her first words since they incident. Arthur nodded and kissed her head.
"I've got to talk to Eames and Cobb for a moment then I'll be right back. ok?" he said and she nodded sinking back into the pillow.
Arthur got up and walked over Cobb and Eames who were staring at the pair.
"Did she just speak?" Cobb asked concerned.
"Yeah. She asked me to stay with her. AT least it's progress, she's starting to talk."
"Good. Good. We'll be back in a jiffy." Eames said. "And watch your back while your here alone."
"Don't go to sleep until we get back and we'll have a key so no need to answer the door." Cobb told Arthur before him and Eames left.
Arthur locked the door then walked back to the bed taking his tie, and shoes off in the process. Making sure that his gun was next to the table he saw that Ariadne was watching him. Giving her a small smile he lifted the covers to the bed and slide in next to her. Ariadne shyly moved towards Arthur facing him and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped an arm around her pulling her close making sure not to hurt her.
The two sat there in silence for sometime before Ariadne mumbled something that Arthur didn't hear and he asked her to repeat it.
"He um...kissed me...everywhere." she whispered not looking at him. "and touched me...everywhere." Arthur's face went stiff as she talked. "I thought you weren't going to make it to me...and it...it scared me. He was going to..."
She couldn't finish the sentence for she was starting to tear up again. Arthur looked at her before taking her pulling her closer, wrapping one arm around her waist landing right above her butt and the other around her shoulders holding her.
"Shhhh. You're fine Ari. shhh.." Arthur whispered. "No one is going to hurt you again. I promise you I will always be there Ari."
Arthur held Ariadne as she cried silently into his chest. Her small hands had grabbed his shirt and held it tightly. After a while she fell asleep in his arms. Arthur laid there holding her running his hand through her hair gently not waking her. 10 minutes had gone by of his before the door opened. Arthur looked around quickly to find Cobb and Eames coming back in with some bags full of clothes, some guns and clips, toiletries, and some other supplies. They were going to buy their food and such once they to the cabin, considering it was 6 hours away. Looking down at Ariadne he brush some hair out of her face before getting up quietly, tucking her in and walking over to Cobb and Eames.
"How is she?" Cobb asked unpacking Ariadne's new clothes into a suitcase they bought her while Eames packed the other stuff.
"She's asleep for now." was all Arthur said before looking at Eames and saying, "He was going to you…well…you know. She told me what they did."
"What!" Cobb and Eames exclaimed together softly so they didn't wake her up.
"She told me before she broke down." Arthur said looking at her, away from the men.
"That bloody bastard." Eames muttered.
"Why would they go after her though? She's our architect." Cobb said.
"Because their from Cobol, Cobb." Eames said quietly. "I found out when I was cleaning up the mess."
"Shit." Arthur said under his breath.
"What? Why didn't you tell us soon?" Cobb asked slightly angry.
"Because in case you couldn't tell I didn't want to panic Ariadne more then she already was. She didn't even talk until 2 hours after the incident." Eames said like it was obvious.
Cobb took a deep breath before speaking again, "Your right, sorry. So I'm assuming they went after Ariadne in order to get to Arthur and I?"
"That's the only thing I can think of." Eames replied.
"If you want out Eames you can leave, they aren't after you." said Arthur.
"And miss this adventure, sorry darling your stuck with me. Besides I want to get those bastards who touched her just as much as you two." Eames said with a smile on his face
"Good we need you." Cobb said. "Now I suggest we all get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be a long day."
"I'll take first watch." Arthur said. "We shouldn't all sleep."
"I agree but I'll take the first watch. Cobb has to drive tomorrow since we don't know where it is and Ariadne will freak if you aren't with her when she wakes up." Eames said looking pointedly at her.
"Eames has a point. Arthur go back to her and I'll sleep on the couch. Eames you can take a nap tomorrow afternoon before we leave. We leave at 8 tomorrow night." Cobb told them firmly before heading to the couch and laying down.
Eames nodded to them both before making some hot tea and plopping down in a soft chair to read a book. Arthur made his way back over to Ariadne before taking his dress shirt off leaving him in his white undershirt and pants, looking at the clock he saw it was 6am, he sighed. Sliding in again to the sheet next to Ariadne he scooted towards her wrapping one arm around her waist and started to drift off to sleep with a smile on his face.
Sometime later Arthur woke up to Ariadne whimpering softly in her sleep and mumbling.
"No...please...stop...Arthur hel..." she mumbled. He looked down at her and saw she was tucked into his arm and face in her hair. Arthur looked over to see Eames was standing by the bed looking quite worried about her.
"Ari...Ari wake up." Arthur said softly as he shook her gently to wake up. Ariadne slowly opened her eyes looking at Arthur before looking at Eames. The realization hit her that she had said that stuff out loud and turned her head again to bury it again in Arthur's side. Eames sighed looking at Arthur who was trying to comfort her.
"What time is?" Arthur asked him.
"Almost 11." he nodded and walked over to the kitchen area and started to make some coffee and tea for everyone. Cobb was stirring and stretching over on the couch and Arthur looked back down to see Ariadne looking at him, with her arm laying on his chest drawing light circles.
"You ok?" she simply nodded. "You sleep ok?" she nodded again.
"I'm going to take a shower if that's ok." she said softly.
"Of course. They got you clothes and things and put it all in a suite case for you. We'll order you some food. What would you like?" he said.
She nodded again but didn't move to get up. "Anything really except seafood. Thank you Arthur. For staying with me." Ariadne said softly before leaning up and kissing his jaw softly, lingering a little and getting out of bed.
Arthur smiled and watched her go. She grabbed her suitcase and headed to the bathroom, shutting it behind her. Arthur got out of bed pulled a different more casual dress shirt with a vest out and got dressed.
He headed over to Cobb and Eames and they all ordered some food, talking and reading the paper and such. Thirty minutes later Ariadne came out with her hair slightly damp, with jeans, her shoes, a loose shirt and jacket on and a scarf of course. She felt much more refreshed and better then she had a couple of hours before. Walking out she found that food had arrived and the others were starting to place everything out. They had ordered her a burger with fries to which she smiled her first genuine smile since they had seen her. Cobb and Eames both stood up and wait for her to reach them. Eames was first and came forward to give her a hug.
"Hello darling." he said in his accent.
"Hi Eames." she replied.
Cobb was next and came trapping her in a hug. "Hi Cobb."
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Better." was her reply for sitting down next to Cobb. "Thank you for the food. I really was craving a burger."
"Well dig in dear." Eames said chuckling. Ariadne smiled and started to eat, as well as the rest were too. A little while later they were all done eating just sitting around talking.
"Do you all know who those...um...men were?" Ariadne asked slowly looking around at each of them.
"They were from Cobol Engineering." Cobb told her.
"And exactly who and why did they want me?"
"Cobol hired us before Satio did. They hired us to extract information from Satio, we failed and didn't return to them. That's when Satio picked Cobb and I up and told us about Inception. They are after us because we failed." Arthur said to her.
"So they're after you and Cobb?"
"Yes." Cobb and Arthur both answered.
"Then why come after m..." Ariadne started but trailed off when she realized why they came after her.
"They went after you to get to them darling." said Eames.
"Cobol knew you were important to us." Cobb started.
"And that we would come after you." Arthur finished looking at her. Ariadne sat there trying to comprehend everything.
"What about Yusf?" she asked
"We called him and he's fine. Going into hiding, but I doubt they would go after him." said Arthur.
"Why?"
"Because like Cobb and Arthur said you are more important to us." Eames said glancing at Arthur.
Ariadne blushed a little when she saw Arthur was looking at her. "So what now?"
"We're leaving at 8 tonight to head up to a place Mal and I have. Trust me we'll be safe there, until we can figure out what to do." Cobb said.
"Oh...how long of a drive is it?" Ariadne asked leaning back and on the couch and pulling her knees up to her chest.
"About 6 hours." Arthur said.
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