Title: The Tattoo
Chapter: Cobb… does not make an attempt.
Rating: T
Disclaimer:I own nothing.
Author Notes: Alright, question for the masses. Roxie; people like her or rather, no one has complained about her. So, what I'm asking is, is she popular enough to keep referring to or after this chapter do I need to just faze her out? I'm anticipating the former but you can never tell. I don't want to get into Sue-ish waters and that's why I'm asking. Add on the fact that I don't want her to take over the fic, well you get my drift I hope.
Anyways, thanks for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter =D
After watching the boys walk out to get Yusuf from the airport, she sought out Cobb.
"I think there's something wrong with Arthur and Eames. They've been like that for two days straight now." She said, flopping into the chair next to him.
"Don't worry about them, they'll be fine." He replied, not looking up.
"But…"
"They're just miffed at the moment."
"Oh," Ariadne sat there for a moment, watching him draw out the 'plan of action' for the heist as she liked to call it. "So does that mean-"
"I'm going to let them sweat it out a few more days," he cut her off and shot her a smirk.
She just rolled her eyes, got up and went back to her own drawings in the other room.
Two days later and still nothing, not that any of them really tried. Yusuf suggested they just drug her and look around until they found it. That idea was shot down by both Eames and Arthur who found it slightly disturbing; as Eames had put it:
"If we're going to strip her, she needs to at least be half coherent- legal issues and all that jazz."
Arthur suggested they extract the information. While it was a plausible idea, they all quickly realized none of them were quiet certain just how militarized her mind was. Cobb told them he never taught her anything; still she was a fast learner and could have easily picked some of the tricks through the internet or just by studying their marks. All came to the conclusion that none wanted to find out the hard way how skilled she was at blocking extraction.
Then Cobb, who'd remained relatively mum on his part of the deal, gave them a shocking revelation that seemed to make sense. Ariadne had requested the day to do research for her dissertation. Therefore, it was only the boys in the warehouse and thus was free to discuss the matter openly.
"I'm starting to think she doesn't have one," he said nonchalantly, putting down the papers on the table.
They were all seated around a large wooden table in mix-matched chairs, combing through documents. It seemed Arthur found new information about the mark that could make or break the job and they all needed to thumb through all the previous notes to make sure nothing else was missed.
"She better have one," Arthur grumbled. "I've been through hell racking my brain. She wouldn't lie… Would she?"
"Arthur, darling," Eames said condescendingly, "All women are liars. They're trained that way."
"Oh so you were trained to lie. I knew it." Arthur smirked. Eames just rolled his eyes.
"Ariadne wouldn't lie about something that trivial," Yusuf chuckled.
"You obviously don't know her that well," Cobb retorted with a half-smile.
"She isn't lying," Eames grumbled, "she wrinkles her nose when she lies."
They all stared at him.
"What?" He said huffily, "I'm a Forger; I read people."
"Obviously you're not as good as you think since you're still hounding that woman" Arthur smirked, "No means no; especially in Spanish, Eames."
Eames threw a folder at Arthur, the papers flopping in his face.
"Don't get smart with me," he said darkly, while Arthur picked up the papers.
"Oh, sorry," he said seriously, "didn't realize she shut you out completely."
"Cobb," Eames growled, "If you don't restrain you're Point Man, I'm going to kill him."
"Okay kids, that's enough." Cobb said sarcastically.
"I think you need to put them in time-out," Yusuf chuckled.
"I need to hire different crew members, that's what," Cobb grumbled. "Seriously, my kids behave better than you two."
"That's a load of bull," Arthur said seriously. "Phillipa is the devil and James is her advocate."
"Arthur, they're kids; they didn't know any better." Cobb rolled his eyes.
"They ruined all my ties," Arthur said in a higher octave, "ALL OF THEM!"
Yusuf snickered; remembering the past Easter they all spent at Cobb's. Phillipa and James got into Arthur's suitcase and made his ties 'prettier' by dipping them in food coloring like they had the eggs.
"I thought they improved them but that's just me," he said.
Arthur sighed, getting back in his seat and gave Yusuf a 'really?' look.
"Can we please get it together?" Cobb sighed, "We have a week left before we do this job."
"I propose that if none of us figure out what her tattoo is by the day after tomorrow, we just ask her." Eames sighed as well, leaning onto the table. "She's harder to crack than the Pentagon. Wait, sorry I meant Fort Knox. That job was harder than the Pentagon one."
"You'd think they would have made it a little harder to break into the leading country's main defense headquarters." Arthur nodded thoughtfully.
"Arthur, we used to work there; of course that job was easy." Cobb snickered.
There was pause and Yusuf blinked.
"Wait, you guys broke into the Pentagon?"
Eames, Arthur, and Cobb all smirked at him.
"Something like that," they said in unison.
That afternoon with they all departed, Cobb stayed behind. He was in no means a paranoid man, however, if something can go wrong it will. Thus, he was going over every inch of the plan to ensure that every escape route had another escape route to back it up.
Between looking over the model (he was the dreamer. Mal hadn't shown up in his dreams in months and after three practice runs, they decided that he could give dreaming a try again.) He made a note to tell Ariadne in the morning that the third route needed a connection to routes two and four.
Normally a job wouldn't need such precautions. However, the Mark had a history of slight mental disturbance. Those disturbances, according to Arthur, were years ago. The Mark hasn't had an episode since but it still never hurt to be prepared.
"Cobb?"
He startled and looked up to see Ariadne standing in the doorway and glanced at his watch.
"Ariadne, what are you doing here? It's nine o'clock at night."
"I figured you'd be here."
He frowned; she didn't look it, but her voice told him she was upset.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she shrugged and walked over to him, stopping on the other side of the model. "Something's missing, isn't it?"
"That's not important right now," he looked her over, "What's bothering you?"
She sighed and gave him a half-hearted smile. "It's- I know you guys don't want me doing this anymore and with graduation around the corner… I guess I'm a little torn." She ran her fingers along the edge of the model and sighed. "I really like dreaming, and building in dreams. Sure, it's not the most legit way to go about making a living but… I feel like this is where my heart is. Giving it up would be… devastating."
Cobb studied her for a moment.
"It's your life, Ariadne," he said softly, "you're in charge and I know in the end you'll make the right decision for yourself. What everyone else thinks isn't that important."
He watched some of the tension ease off her shoulders.
"Thanks, I needed that."
"I know you did."
"So… what's missing?" She grinned, peering down at the model.
"Well," Cobb leaned forward and pointed to the spot where the third exit was "this exit route needs a split just in case… well, you know."
"In case the Mark goes crazy."
"Pretty much," he smiled.
"I can work on that," she studied the layout. "It'll only take a moment."
"No, no, no," Cobb shook his head, "You've been working all day." He walked around, grabbing her shoulders gently and steering her away from the model. "You need a break."
"Me?" She laughed, "You're the one here at nine p.m.!"
"Which is why we're leaving now," he grinned.
Cobb gave her a gentle shove out the door, making her laugh while he turned the lights out.
"Does this mean we're going somewhere?" Ariadne asked as they headed down stairs.
"Yea… to the hotel so we can get some sleep to rise and shine in the morning."
"Oh my- really, Cobb? You're such a dad." She laughed, rolling her eyes.
"Call it paternal instinct." He grinned.
They were now on the deserted sidewalk, heading back to the hotel. Ariadne took note to start bringing a jacket. Chicago isn't the windy city for no reason.
"How 'bout I call you old." She shot back, smirking.
"Hey," Cobb pointed a finger at her. "Don't make me ground you, young lady. I already had to put Eames and Arthur in time out today."
"What did they do this time?"
"The usual: they got in an argument over who loves the other more." He let out an exaggerated sigh, "You know how those married couples are."
"Oh I do," Ariadne nodded quickly. "I just figured they were fighting over Yusuf."
"I think they did that yesterday."
"Oh." She paused,"Have you-"
"Nope."
She eyed him as they entered the hotel and he glanced back with a smirk. She gave a half smile and just rolled her eyes.
Mwahaha if you read my Snuggles story (which has a plot brewing!) the Pentagon thing is mentioned there too :P. Anyways, Cobb is a strange fellow; wonder why he didn't try to sneak a peek? Hmmm. We'll see how this plays out I guess =)