Past, Present, and Future – Sequel to Extraction
Chapter 4: Surprises
Note: I do not own Inception.
Ariadne had been too scarred to tell Arthur about Eames' job offer during their flight from Paris to San Francisco. The girl had been terrified that the point man might make a scene on the plane, not that that seemed like Arthur's style, but the girl figured you could never be too careful. However, now that they were alone in their hotel room Ariadne felt like it would be as good a time as any to bring the subject up and she just couldn't keep beating around the bush.
Ariadne took a seat on the large bed and crossed her legs as she began to dig into her hamburger and fries that room service had just delivered. Arthur soon joined her taking a sip of his wine before finally addressing the girl.
"You've been awfully quiet this whole trip. Anything wrong?" Arthur asked.
"Well, I've actually been looking for the right time to tell you something," Ariadne said at last as she pushed around the fries on her plate.
"Well go ahead," Arthur replied sounding slightly tense.
"I . . .well I got a call yesterday with some . . . exciting . . . information," Ariadne finally stated, trying to come up with the right words.
"What kind of exciting information?" Though Arthur was trying to force a smile she could tell he was wary. Ariadne bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers for a few moments keeping Arthur in suspense.
"I . . . well I got a job offer from Eames," Ariadne finally blurted and quickly chanced a look at Arthur's face. To her surprise he didn't look upset. In fact he seemed relieved.
Relieved? the girl wondered.
"Is that all?" he finally asked through a chuckle.
"Yeah, what's so funny?" Ariadne asked.
"Nothing, I just thought . . . well it doesn't matter what I thought," Arthur finally declared as he reached for his wine again and downed it in one gulp. He chuckled softly to himself again.
"No, what did you think I was going to say?" Ariadne demanded now.
"I don't know! The way you were all fidgeting and reluctantly saying you had 'exciting' news I guess I just jumped to an extreme conclusion."
"Such as?" Ariadne pressed, frowning.
Arthur shook his head, "I don't know, I thought maybe you were pregnant!"
Ariadne sat momentarily shocked. "What?"
"Hey, you're the one who was acting strangely," Arthur declared raising his arms in surrender.
"But we're always careful," Ariadne pointed out.
"I know, but accidents happen right?"
Ariadne cringed, not liking the term accidents. "Would you have been excited if I was pregnant?" The girl's question obviously took the point man off guard because his face registered surprise.
"What? I don't know. Why does it matter? Because you're not, right?" he asked checking.
"No, but I was just curious," the girl finally mumbled. She began fiddling with her fries again. Arthur could see the girl seemed upset so he finally reached out a hand and gently grasped her chin lifting her face so their eyes could meet.
"I don't think I'm ready to have kids yet, but I would hardly walk away from you if we found ourselves in that situation. It takes two to tango after all."
Ariadne smiled and shook her head. "You always know exactly what to say. You're too perfect. I'm beginning to think you're just a figment of my imagination."
"Hey, check your totem, it's the only way to be sure," Arthur joked. Ariadne smiled, but did actually reach into her pocket for her totem just to be sure.
"So, what's this job Eames offered you?" Arthur asked as he finally began eating his own hamburger.
"A business man wants an extraction done on his son, who he believes might be giving his enemy's his secrets, and he also wants an extraction done on some competitor who he thinks is working on some big secret project," Ariadne explained.
"Whose on the team?"
"Well Eames, and an extractor named Philip Long."
"Philip Long," Arthur mused.
"Have you worked with him before? Eames said he was a pretty decent guy and that he's fair."
"Yeah Philip's a pretty good guy," Arthur finally relented.
"So, do you think I should take the job?" Ariadne asked.
"Do you want to take the job?" Arthur countered. Ariadne sighed as she set her burger back on her plate.
"Honestly, I don't know. The pull to create, to do another extraction, is really strong. However, I don't know that I want to give in to the addiction. After going through Cobb's subconscious so thoroughly I worry about the long term effects that shared dreaming can have. I think it would be wiser to actually find myself some legal work," Ariadne confided to her boyfriend.
"Ariadne, I'm not going to tell you what to do," Arthur finally sighed. He held up a hand of protest as Ariadne tried to speak.
"Let me finish. Ultimately, this is a choice you have to make on your own. I will say that I don't like the idea of you continuing to build dream worlds. I think you're incredibly talented and could do some much more impressive work in reality. After our mission to rescue Cobb, however, I know that you now understand the risks involved in doing extractions and it would be hypocritical of me to tell you 'no you can't do it,' when I continue to. So, if you want to take Eames' offer then you have my full support."
Ariadne grinned. "Again, I worry you aren't real."
Arthur laughed as he tackled the girl to the bed. "Hey, watch out for my food!" Ariadne scolded as she tried to fend off Arthur's tickling attack. After a few more minutes of torture Arthur released Ariadne and returned to his dinner.
"So, what time did you tell your parents we'd be by their place tomorrow?" Ariadne asked. A thick silence filled the air. "Arthur?"
"I might not have called them yet," he replied guiltily.
"What? Get on that cell phone right now!" Ariadne snapped.
"I was thinking we could just surprise them. That way they won't have time to prepare a lecture for me."
"Arthur!" Ariadne cried in frustration. The man laughed as he took in his girlfriend's angry expression.
"Aren't you always badgering me about how surprises are fun and I need to be more spontaneous?" Arthur asked.
"I don't think this is a good time to start acting spontaneous," the girl lectured.
Arthur just laughed as he leaned towards Ariadne to give her a long kiss. Soon enough the young man's hands were wandering across his girlfriend's body and their food was all but forgotten.
Note: Thank you to everyone who took the time review last chapter. I posted a one-shot Inception story yesterday called Birthday Surprise, be sure to go check it out when you get a chance and review it!
