Here's Chapter 4!


Eames (2)

17:17pm

Eames' blackberry vibrated on the side table. As the Forger left the steamy shower room, rubbing the pristine white towel over his dirty blonde, wet hair, he heard the buzzing. He strolled (in the way only he could stroll) over to the phone and left the towel in a crumpled heap next to his jacket on the sheets of his double bed. He reached across the table to pick it up with his right hand, the left preoccupied with keeping his towel around his waist. Cobb. As he lifted the black phone to his ear, he habitually picked up his poker chip and rolled the familiar mass between his fingers, leaving his towel to sit on his hips.

"Cobb?"

"Eames. Come to the nearest hospital. Now."

"What's the hurry?"

"Just be there."

"But..."

The phone line went dead as Cobb hung up. Strange call. Eames wondered, slightly annoyed at having to go out into the cold again, especially as he had just come out of his burning hot shower. Wonder if Arthur's going. He already knew what the answer would be, but scrolled down the list of contacts nonetheless, and hit the call button. He held it by his ear, looking up at the ceiling. No answer. Something very strange, he decided. Arthur always had his blackberry on, carefully sheathed in the pouch that came with it. The blackberries were courtesy of Saito, along with many other gadgets he had decided the team were worthy of. Eames had lost, or "misplaced" as he liked to put it, his pouch already, in a messy hotel room not unlike the one he was staying in. He decided to leave a text to his favourite Point Man:

Call me when you get this text, pet. ;-)

A ghost of a grin flickered past Eames' face as he imagined all of Arthur's little habits, rolling his eyes at the text, sighing in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose between his pale forefinger and thumb, the crease in between his eyes as he frowns...

He stopped as he remembered. "Fuck. I'm meant to be at the hospital."

#

17:34pm

"What was the rush, Cobb?" Eames strode over to the front desk at the reception of the Hospital, still buttoning up his crumpled purple shirt. "And, where is everyone?"

"Arthur. He's been in an accident. Ariadne is here, Yusuf is working with the nurses at the moment." Eames mouth fell open dumbly, as he allowed the Extractor to lead him down the Emergency Department and into Intensive Care: a room full of scary looking equipment and instruments. This was not what he had been expecting.

Eames closed his mouth and took a deep breath. He expertly hid all his emotions behind his "neutral" face, and pushed open the door.

Eames would never forget what he saw. Tubes leading into the Point Man's pale white arms. The single breasted jacket and waistcoat, slick with a combination of blood and snow, discarded on a side table, a cruel tear across the surface of each garment, which even the best of tailor's wouldn't be able to mend. A bowl of pink water, to show where nurses had cleaned the blood off each of his clever hands. The scratched blackberry. Unresponsive fingers which were clutched between Ariadne's own frantic digits. A pang of jealousy shot through Eames, inappropriately, just as it had when he saw her kissing Arthur, asleep.

He focussed of Arthur himself. Thin lips gently parted, naked chest rising up shallowly through his open shirt. Tie undone. Eyes closed. A dark hole in to the right of his stomach, which could only have been where the bullet had ripped its way through Arthur's body. The support machine with digital lines and the "beep" which indicated Arthur's life force. Eames shook his head. This was wrong, all completely wrong. Arthur: organized, neat, sarcastic, fastidious, professional, sceptical, alive. Not living off a machine, mechanical. Robotized.

Eames also noticed Arthur's briefcase, on its side. On it a red piece of cloth, wet and sticking over a small cube. Eames realised that the red cloth was actually Arthur's handkerchief. Red, with blood - Arthur's blood. He bent to lift the cloth, gingerly between his thumb and forefinger, but Cobb warned him off with a small shake of his head. He understood. Underneath the handkerchief was Arthur's little red die, his totem, which he wasn't allowed to see, once rolled. Arthur had gone to the extreme of pulling out his handkerchief to cover it. Eames smiled weakly, inside. That's the Arthur he knew. So professional.

Eames noticed an odd silver briefcase; hard, aluminium. A PASIV, open. His shirt whispered over his warm skin as he stood up from his squat. He rubbed a hand over his rough jaw, feeling the unshaven stubble. Frowning in concentration, he followed the grey lines past all the other tubes and leads, to the white band, strapped across the Point Mans wrist, perfectly camouflaged against the snow white skin. Eames looked up at Cobb expectantly. Cobb sighed.

"Yusuf...had designed a chemical purposefully for those in comas." He closed his eyes, and pinched his nose. A habit of Cobb's too, Eames noted. "Yusuf was certain that it could prolong Arthur's... Arthur, stabilize him for the moment. "

"How long 'till he wakes up?" The mask on Eames face could fool everyone, but he couldn't help the catch of longing in his throat on the end of the sentence. Eames turned his head as he heard the door open behind him. Saito entered. Eames turned to Saito inquiringly.

"Sorry I was late. I was ensuring that my employee receives the finest care whilst hospitalized," Saito answered Eames' silent question in his soft Japanese accent, tucking what looked like a cheque book into his jacket pocket. Eames turned back to Cobb.

"Like I said, the chemical will prolong his...condition. But unless we do something soon..." Cobb shook his head. He pulled up a chair next to the silent Ariadne, the metal base screeching painfully loud along the floor. He sat sideways, to continue his conversation with the Forger.

"His condition? He's dying, for fucks sakes. How are we meant to wake him up?" Eames had whirled round to grab Cobb's shoulder in a moment of anger, and pull him round to face the unconscious body of Cobb's colleague.

"That's... why we need you. You're going to wake him up."


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