Hey guys! thank you again for being SOOOOOO wonderful. you're seriously awesome.
I'm sorry about the length of this chapter, as I've had a lot of schoolwork (ick), and because I really hate the Petrelli Manor. For real.
a few notes
Lizzie is ten. Will is 24. Arthur is 26. Eames & Aemelia are 30. Fancy is 20. Ariadne is 22. I hope that clears things up! :D
Oh, btw, you should go read Tater-Totss story. It has a seriously awesome start and sh's been working really hard on it!
shout out to my super super personable reviewers. I love how responsive you are! I'm going to start replying, because you guys seriously rock, so much. 3
is anyone else really annoyed that Inception lost to Eclipse in the People's Choice Awards? Because I am.
The Petrelli's main living room was larger than Ariadne's entire apartment. Much to her discomfort, Ariadne was still at the Manor. She found herself wishing to be on the plane home to Paris rather than stay in that house a moment longer. The past hour had been, as Joselyn had said, a living hell. Receiving death glares from Karen around every corner and catching Will's eyes roaming around her body was not how Ariadne had expected this night to go.
Fancy stood next to Ariadne while her husband told yet another of his exciting tales about the world of male modeling. "So you see, before I met Fancy." He paused to take another drink of wine.
"He was catching girls left and right," Fancy muttered.
"I was catching girls left and right. It was like they couldn't keep their hands off of me." Ariadne wondered how many times Fancy had heard this story and why she put up with such a pig of a husband. As Will began to explain, in great detail, what he did with said girls, a cough from behind caught Ariadne's attention. Glad to have a reason to ignore Will, she turned to find Mr. Petrelli in the kitchen. He gestured for her to join him. Knowing she wouldn't be missed, Ariadne left Fancy.
Mr. Petrelli was making himself a blend of various alcohols. He smiled at Ariadne and she tried to return it. "Look," he said. Stirring his acidic cocktail, Ariadne saw how old he truly looked. "I know my wife can be a bit of a…"
"Monster."
He seemed as if he was trying not to smile. "Yes, that. I want you to know that we don't feel that way about you at all. Any friend of Arthur's is a friend of ours."
"But, Karen doesn't feel that way," Ariadne added.
He sighed. "It would seem so, yes. I'm so sorry for the way she acted." Another wrong person apologizing from Karen's actions. "But please," he pleaded. "Don't think the rest of us feel that way. Lizzie, Will, Fancy, and I think you're splendid."
It looked to Ariadne that he had spoken this monologue so many times he had it memorized. She felt a pang of sympathy for the man before her. It was obvious that everywhere he went his wife would insult someone, thus making his life significantly harder than it had to be.
Ariadne placed her elbows on the island. "I understand." He was so relieved Ariadne once again felt sorry for him.
"Thank you, Ariadne," he said. He was the most sincere out of his family so far. Maybe even more sincere than Arthur Ariadne thought. He made his way back to listen to Will tell his stories for the umpteenth time.
"Actually," Ariadne said, making a split second decision. "I was wondering…"
"Yes?"
Ariadne took a deep breath and took a chance. "What was Arthur like as a child?"
Mr. Petrelli's face lit up. "Oh, he was a joy. Much better behaved than his brother, William. And so nurturing when Elizabeth was born. We couldn't have asked for a better son." He placed his wine glass on the swirled marble. "We never had to worry about drugs or drinking with him. He was much too focused on his studies to even think of interfering with them. I don't think he took a sip of alcohol until he graduated college."
"Really?" Ariadne asked. She couldn't see Arthur do anything behind his parents' backs, but he had seemed extremely comfortable with the beer in LA.
"The only problem we ever had was him socializing. I'm not sure if he realized girls existed until he went to college. Never once did he bring home a girl from school to study. The only girl I can recall from his high school days was his prom date, whom was supplied by my wife."
Ariadne found it slightly hard to believe that Arthur hadn't hung out with girls in high school. While he could seriously be a jerk, girls were obvious attracted to him. As she began to doubt his father's recollection, she remembered the way Arthur hadn't noticed a single of the Barbie-like girls in LA fawning over him. Maybe it was that he only acknowledged girls he had an interest in
"Ariadne," Mr. Petrelli said with a motion of his hand. "I know you must think that with me being stuck in such an awful marriage that I know nothing of love. But I know my son and I've taken many courses in psychology. He has deep feelings for you, maybe even love."
"With all due respect, sir, I think you're wrong. Arthur treats me like a friend." At times, less.
Mr. Petrelli let out a laugh. "Well, with all due respect to you, Miss Ariadne, you don't know him as well as I do quite yet. And I promise you, it will be frustrating being around him as he's coming to terms with his feelings. I told you, socializing was his biggest problem. Love is so completely emotionally based, Arthur struggles with it. He can't handle things that aren't based on fact, only discretion. I've never seen him in love, so I'd be delighted to hear your report on how that goes down."
Ariadne was so surprised that Arthur's father could read into that so well that she couldn't decide how to reply. Choosing not to address the beginning of the conversation, she said, "You've never seen him in love? What about Aemelia?"
Another loud laugh. "Aemelia? They weren't in love and I doubt they loved each other."
Ariadne was about to ask why they were together when Fancy entered the kitchen. "I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation," she mumbled, "But Will insists Ariadne see his part in the music video."
"Again," Mr. Petrelli muttered. He pointed Ariadne toward the door and she took that to mean their conversation was officially over.
Will had a seat in the middle of the room, only feet away from the gigantic television. "This, Ariana, is way better than anything Johnny Depp has ever done, I promise you."
"Oh, I'm sure," she said.
He turned on the TV. Autotuned voices flowed through the speakers. A group of girls began to shake their butts in front of the camera while singing It started to cut to different shots of each of the girls singing about how sexy someone us. "Here I am!" Will yelled as the view changed to one of him, "seductively" licking a large pink lollipop.
With that, he popped out the DVD. Ariadne started at him. "Where's the video?" she asked, knowing he had to be kidding. She caught Eames shaking his head out of her peripheral vision and saw Karen's death glare. "I-I mean, where's the video shot?" she amended. She knew where it was shot. A cheap studio with no equipment.
"Oh, Urostatia."
"Is that even a real place?" Lizzie asked. She was still staring at her book, sprawled across the floor. It seemed that ignoring people the people they talked to was hereditary.
"Of course it is, Liz," Will said, reaching down to ruffle her hair. She just turned the page. Ariadne momentarily felt sorry for Will.
Karen and Will began to bicker. "Hey," Arthur said behind Ariadne, wrapping his long fingers around her slender arm. "You ready to go home?" She jolted away from him.
"Yes," she snapped. "I've been ready since dinner, actually."
Arthur took a deep breath. "I'll go get Bernard."
As he left, Eames joined her. Regardless of her issues with Arthur, home sounded wonderful. She missed her apartment and he own bed. Any bed, for that matter.
Ariadne was already beginning to miss Cobb. He would have said something to Karen. She knew that he was close with the Petrelli family. Even though Eames obviously had connections with them that Ariadne didn't want to think about, she knew that Cobb had a deeper relationship to them and that Karen would have at least pretended to listen to what he said.
Arthur returned. "The car is ready." Karen gasped.
"Oh, honey you're leaving so soon! You just got here. Please, Stay." She ran over and took his hands. Eames grunted. "Oh, you of course, Eames, you can stay as well. She grabbed his hand. "You are always welcome. You and your sister, always. It's not like you two haven't been over here often enough." She smirked.
"Actually, we really need to get going, Mrs. Petrelli." Eames pulled away from Karen and wrapped his arm securely around Ariadne. "Our plane leaves in an hour." They hadn't booked a plane.
Karen nodded. "Well. Alright. If you two would please leave me a moment with my son."
Ariadne felt herself being guided out of the room by Eames while Karen began to say, "Are you leaving because of her?"
Standing in the solitude of the long white hallway helped Ariadne to think. "Eames, what are we doing when we get home? We're not going to be one of those things where we keep saying 'oh, let's get together this weekend!' but never actually intend to see each other?"
Eames laughed. "Ariadne, is that when you're worried about? Us suddenly not talking to each other?" She nodded. "No, that will not happen. When we get back to Paris, we will drop you off at your apartment. You will sleep from approximately 24 hours and then we will meet at the warehouse when we are all well rested and presentable. I promise you that we won't leave you."
Ariadne had had one too many deep talks for one sitting. After Arthur entered the hall, looking sullen, she made sure to give a quick good bye to Joselyn before finally heading home.
So. What'd you think of Mr. Petrelli and Ariadne's deep talking? My friend says I'm like Mr. Petrelli and I could see it, I suppose. lol.
Alright, y'all, the next chapter should be set in Paris, but you know, sometimes the characters don't want to go to Paris quite yet. But I'm intending it to be in Paris!
You know how I took that Monday completely off, so I could take a break? I went to the mall with my friend and I think she was starting to get seriously annoyed, because I kept getting all these wonderful Arthur/Ariadne moments!
btw, I'm thinking there may have to be a sequel for this, or just numerous oneshots in the series.
you all rock, again. seriously. I love you. Each and every one of you.
/super long Author's note