Author's Greeting: As promised, the next part, Fall. One more to go. I hope you're all enjoying your holidays!

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimers: I do not own Inception, its characters, or the song Christmas Wrapping.

Fall

It's hard for Ariadne to hide her disappointment on the video chat window when Arthur tells her he's stuck at his parents' house in the suburbs and is not going to be able to take her to the Halloween party. She had been looking forward to going with him since he asked her nearly three weeks earlier.

"I'm really sorry, Ariadne. My car won't start. My dad's looking into it, but it's not looking good."

"That's okay, I understand." She gives him a small smile. "I heard Batmobiles aren't really reliable vehicles."

The Batman cowl he's wearing covers half of his face, but thankfully not his dimpled smile. "Are you really okay we're not going? Eames and Yusuf are already there and from the drunken texts messages they've sent me, it sounds like a good party. If you want, I can give you the address and you can meet up with them."

"No, that's alright. Besides, it wouldn't be nearly as fun without you there. We can't have a Catwoman without a Batman."

"Yeah, speaking of Catwoman…your costume…"

"Oh, you didn't get to see it, did you?" Ariadne stands back from her laptop's camera to get a full shot of herself in the video chat frame. "What do you think?" She turns in a circle to give him the full effect of her multi-cat emblazoned sweater and the basket of cat stuffed animals she's holding. "What?" she asks when he frowns.

"It's...creative. But aren't you worried that some people may confuse you for a crazy cat lady?"

"How could they? I'm wearing the eye mask. And the cat ears. And you're Batman!"

He smiles at her insistence. "You're right. No one would have mistaken us for anything but Batman and Catwoman. I love the cat ears, by the way."

"Thanks. Now, your turn. Stand up and show me your full costume." Ariadne eagerly watches her laptop screen as Arthur obeys and holds out his black cape to give her the full effect of his dark knight outfit.

"Wow. You look…" Hot. Sexy. Delicious. "…great." Unlike her, Arthur didn't have anything against dressing sexy for Halloween and for that Ariadne is secretly grateful. "I don't think Batman has ever looked so good."

"Thanks, but I hope you don't mind interacting with me instead of the masked crusader." Arthur removes the cowl, mussing his hair in the process. "It's getting a bit stuffy in this thing." The snug-fitting mask has also left red trace-mark patterns around his face, making him look more like a little boy playing pretend than a grown man fighting crime.

"I prefer it, actually. I'd rather talk to a real person than a comic book hero."

"Batman is real. In the hearts of many little boys and girls, Batman is real."

"And in the hearts of the big boys, too?" Ariadne asks, smiling at his sincerity.

"Absolutely," he responds, giving her his most charmingly boyish smile and making her laugh.

"Arthur? Are you in here?" Ariadne hears the feminine voice call Arthur's name, and watches as Arthur turns when a woman enters the room. "You're not looking at porn are you?"

"What! No! Mom!"

The older woman peers into the computer screen. Highly amused, Ariadne smiles and waves hello.

"Mom, this is Ariadne. Ariadne, this is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Green."

"Oh, Ariadne! Hello, it's nice to meet you, too. I'm so glad you're not porn."

"Mom!"

Ariadne is glad Arthur took off the cowl or else she would have missed the tips of Arthur's ears turning pink. "No, no porn here. Just a girl in her Catwoman costume."

"You're Catwoman?" She moves in closer to the monitor to get a better view, displacing Arthur a bit. "Oh, of course. Arthur is always Batman, so that makes sense. He's dressed up as Batman for Halloween every year since he was four years old."

"Mom, she doesn't need to—"

"Really, every year since he was four?" Ariadne ignores Arthur's consternation and continues to engage his mother.

"Yes. His father and I would ask him every year what he wanted to be for Halloween, and always, every year it would be Batman. Well, except for one year. The year Robin died."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Who's Robin?"

"He was our beagle. Arthur named him after Batman's little buddy. He died when Arthur was fifteen." His mother pauses and turns to Arthur. "Sweetheart, go get another chair so we can both sit down."

He looks like he wants to protest, but dutiful son that he is, gets the chair as requested as his mother sits in his vacated one. "Arthur would dress as Batman and Robin would dress as Robin. I made the cutest little costume for him. And they would go out trick-or-treating together. Robin even had a little doggy bag and some of the neighbors would give him dog treats. They were the most adorable little crime-fighting duo! Oh, and I have pictures! Would you like to see?"

Ariadne nods her head enthusiastically as Arthur returns with a chair. "Okay, I'll be right back." His mother leaves to locate their family albums.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

A smile erupts on Ariadne's face. "You know I'm curious about everything. Why wouldn't I want to see pictures of baby Batman and his beloved Robin?"

"Mom'll probably show you a lot more than just the Halloween pictures."

"Oh, I'm counting on it." Ariadne laughs when Arthur tries to give her a menacing scowl; but the effect isn't the same without the Batman mask.

"You better be careful Ms. Kyle. Didn't you hear? Curiosity killed the cat."

She pauses, almost ashamed at how arousing his words sound when paired with a deepening of his voice and its gravely edge.

It spurs her to give her best sultry, seductive purr. "But don't you know? I'm Catwoman. I'm adaptable." Even with the mediocre video quality, Ariadne can see the arousing effect her words have on Arthur.

"Would you think it completely inappropriate of me if I ask you to say my name in that voice?"

She gives him a pleased, gamine smile. "You like that?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Arthur! Is that porn?"

Arthur jumps at the sound of his father's voice. "No! Dad! I'm chatting with my friend."

Arthur's father peers into the monitor and once again Ariadne waves hello before asking Arthur, "Do you watch a lot of porn or something?"

"No, my parents caught me once when I was in high school. It was a very traumatic experience."

"For his mother and me, too," Arthur's dad adds.

Arthur bows his head in embarrassment. "Ariadne, this is my dad. Dad, Ariadne."

"Hi, Mr. Green."

"Hello, Ari…adne. Did I get that right?"

"Perfect."

His father smiles proudly and for a brief moment Ariadne is able to see into the future as a familiar dimple peeks out of one cheek.

"Any luck with the car, dad?"

"No," his father sighs, sitting down next to him. "Sorry, son."

Arthur's mom returns with a stack of albums in her arms. "Jerry, if you're going to join us, pull up another chair. I'm going to show Ariadne pictures of Arthur and Robin."

"Yes, dear."

When Arthur's dad moves away, Ariadne take the opportunity to say to Arthur, "You know, never in a million years would I ever guess that I'd spend Halloween video chatting with you and your parents and looking at your baby pictures."

"Yeah, this isn't exactly how I imagined us spending Halloween, either. If you'd rather just go, I'll understand. You can't be this interested in me."

Ariadne smiles as Arthur's parents each take a seat by his side. "No," she catches Arthur's eyes, "I am."