Chapter Three: The Past Revisited: Pt. One
Though they were off to a rough start as a complete team, the somewhat rocky events of the day quickly faded into the background before too long. Tense bouts of silence and slightly awkward snippets of conversation gave way to introductions and Ariadne familiarizing Charlotte with what she had done with the levels thus far. Arthur had never come back, and Cobb only just briefly to check on Charlotte before darting off himself with little explanation. Hardly the first day back she had wanted, but almost down to the minutest detail what she had expected.
It was a little nerve wracking, diving into everything head first after being absent so long, but things eventually managed to settle down and Charlotte began the process of settling in. A good bout of work always did the trick to bring her mood around. Something positive to brighten Charlotte's demeanor and take her mind off of things, even just a little was more than she could ask for.
As was not so very uncommon, their work carried them into the evening hours and beyond. In short order Yusef had taken his leave as well and left Charlotte to start the model for the third level with Ariadne and of course Eames, who graciously volunteered to oversee things. Whether that meant the work, or Charlotte herself was left to interpretation, but she was convinced for the most part he'd offered to stay behind for little more than emotional support; not that she had any objection. While working late into the night was not uncommon, there came a certain point where everyone needed a little rest. To work on something so complex, and something which in fact had to be downright flawless while a little drowsy was at the least undesirable and at the worst, disastrous. Charlotte's nerves had worked her up more than just a little, and while she muscled through most of the night just fine, she was ultimately the first in need of a catnap. Napping in the work room in one of the lounge chairs seemed ultimately easier than going back to her hotel room and seeing as time was apparently not on their side for the job at hand, she figured a quick twenty minutes and she could get at least a little more work done. Unfortunately for Charlotte, doing so left her vulnerable to all kinds of conversation of which she were certain to be the focal point. Ariadne, after all, was curious if not intrigued to say the least by the latest addition, and she had so many questions that needed answering.
"Who is she exactly?"
Eames cocked his head inquisitively. "Hmm?"
"Charlotte," Ariadne nodded her head in the direction of Charlotte's sleeping form. "I mean, I know she's worked with you guys before and you all apparently go way back but there's more to it than just that right?"
"Yes, quite a bit actually."
"Quite a bit meaning…" She urged him on with an awkward hand gesture.
"She's a very old friend…who at one point, was to be Arthur's wife." Eames replied absently, still focused on the model as he tried to dodge the subject. "Could you look at this a minute Ariadne? I'm not quite sure what you've done here is actually going to work.
"His wife?" Ariadne avoided the attempted change of subject. "Wow…really?"
"That surprises you?"
"A little." She hoisted herself up onto the worktable and swung her legs back and forth through the air. "It's just that Arthur doesn't really strike me as the marrying type."
"Button down, one dimensional Arthur, not the marrying type?" Eames smirked. "How could he not be more suited to the a white picket fence and a life meant for a post card?"
"I don't know…just a vibe I guess." She shrugged. "He just seems too…"
"Too much like he's got a stick up the rear?"
"I was going to go with un-invested, but I suppose that works."
"Oh, Arthur can be very invested." He assured her with another smirk as he flopped sloppily into his chair. "He's just too reserved to show it most of the time…wasn't always that way though."
"So, what happened there?" Ariadne pressed. "Obviously they're not together anymore."
"No…no, not for quite some time now. Things um…" He furrowed his brow slightly, trying to sort out how he could get around the subject and still leave Ariadne's curiosity satisfied. "Things got a little complicated and it didn't work out."
She arched a brow inquisitively as she started to put a few pieces together in her head. "And would you just so happen to have been one of the complications?"
"Ariadne," Eames played up a little offence. "Are you implying I would ever do anything amoral and inappropriate?"
"Well were you?" She flashed him a cheeky, mock disapproving glare. "I mean, forgive me if I'm wrong but every interaction between you two seems like very thinly veiled flirtation…or not so thinly veiled in your respect."
"Yes and no." He smiled to himself, taking a moment to play a few choice memories back in his head. "Maybe a little more yes than no, but you've got it backwards actually. It was Arthur who posed the biggest complication."
"I'm intrigued."
"She was my girl first before she was ever Arthur's." A hint of sadness painted across his face.
"Seriously?"
"I knew Cobb, and he knew Charlie…Arthur didn't come into our little group until later; and then much later he took her from me."
"That is complicated." Ariadne agreed.
"More than you know…but you can't blame her really. He was everything she needed; everything I wasn't back then."
"Which was?"
"Stable, rooted, someone who had his head screwed on the right way instead of having it stuck up his rear." He sighed. "She was only just nineteen when she took up with Cobb and I. Maybe a bit too young or too naïve to deal with the work properly and then with Arthur in the mix it was only a given as to what would happen."
Ariadne nodded, not really sure what else could be said.
"Could have turned out the opposite way but instead we made it into a mess."
"Still doesn't quite explain what happened; why they're not together." Ariadne needled him for just a little more.
"Ah…but that is not my place to tell really." Eames shook his head. "She decided to walk away from everything about year before they called everything off though. Flitted about different places for a few months with Arthur when he wasn't working a job. Then Cobb got his hooks back into her and enticed her back for a short while and everything went down hill quite quickly from there; for everyone really."
"I suppose that's not your place to talk about either then." Ariadne sighed, looking both quite contemplative and a little disappointed that she was being somewhat cheated out of the big reveal.
"It was unfortunate, and I'll leave it at that. Maybe you can persuade Arthur to tell you one day." He suggested coyly. "Weaseling it out of him is probably easier than her."
"You're talking about me." Charlotte mumbled sleepily, catching both Eames and Ariadne off guard. "It's not polite to talk about people like they're not in the room you know, even if they are napping." She swung her legs to the side of the lounge chair and stifled a yawn as she hauled herself to her feet. "And what's being weaseled out of whom please? What are you gossiping about now?"
A flash of panic crossed Ariadne's face; first impressions were everything. Especially, she figured, in this sort of field where trust and transparency were pretty well essential to the success of the job. The last thing she wanted Charlotte to think was that she was a busy body having only known her a little more than twelve hours.
"The meaning of life, my love." Eames quipped coolly, picking at the corner of his thumb and playing off her suspicion.
"Likely." She snorted.
"You sleep like the dead by the way."
"Jetlag." She shot back with a sleepy grin.
"An hour and a bit in the air and you've got jetlag." He teased.
"Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there?" She replied. "And it is late."
"Only a half past midnight."
"Guess I'm not used to keeping the hours anymore." Charlotte swiped the cell phone Cobb had given her off of the table. "I need a little air and a walk…maybe a drink."
"Shall we join you?" Eames offered. "Have a bite and come back and finish up here?"
She shook her head. "Not this time."
He sighed, eyeing her suspiciously, having a good idea just where a little walk would take her. "So long as you stay out of trouble, yeah?"
Charlotte smiled sweetly and gave him a quick nod over her shoulder as she headed out. "I will."
"I mean it, Charlie." Eames called after her as he pressed his fingers to his forehead in an attempt to ward off an impending headache.
"I said I will!" A soft chuckle trickled in from the hallway as the heels of her shoes clicked against the tile as she made her way to the elevator.
If Charlie didn't find trouble, Eames was more or less convinced trouble was about to find her, and by trouble it went without saying he meant Arthur. Even if she swore up and down and on her mother's grave, he knew damn well where, in a roundabout way, her little walk would lead her. Charlotte was never the type to leave well enough alone. She was impatient and impulsive, and the best parts of her personality were also what often lead her to ruin. She always needed to find out for herself that it was better to listen to well meaning advice rather than stir the pot, and most often that meant needing someone to chase after her and pick up the pieces when everything was said and done.
It wouldn't be the first time Eames would be the one to do so. In general he never really got all that close to anyone if he could help it. He was the sort who had a lot of acquaintances but never any friends and the sort of guy who had a lot of one-night stands or brief flings, but so few real relationships. Mostly he considered it a factor in just why he was so good at what he did. No ties and no obligation to anyone made it so much easier to bounce from place to place and come and go as he pleased or as the job demanded it. Certainly no moral expectations to live up too passed down by the people he was around made it easier to deal in the work of identity and forgery. It was impossible to disappoint if he had no one around who had raised their opinion of him and that had always been fine with him, for the most part.
Charlotte had been his one anchor. The only one of so few people he had let in, that he had never really learned to get past or move on from. In that way they almost mirrored each other. He was and would likely always be hung up on her, and she would be perpetually hung up on Arthur. Eames was too flawed for Charlotte, and Charlotte was too flawed for Arthur.
It was a vicious cycle, and one that he wasn't quite sure he would ever be able to put an end to. Charlotte was his anchor just like Arthur was hers and that, if nothing else was as clear as day.
