Day 5

Weak legged. Arthur helped Ariadne out of bed and into a hot shower. Their frantic lovemaking had left them both feeling exhausted and less then clean. He took responsibility for her then. Washing her body and hair. She seemed so weak and helpless in his arms. She allowed him to wash her body thoroughly before toweling her off.

Arthur replaced the sheets and gently put her to bed. She fell asleep almost instantly. As for himself. He was much to wired. Night has fallen on the city once more as he watched the pouring rain. It was much heavier now. Like a steady sheet. It's droning noise was almost hypnotic.

'It wont last.' He mused sourly. 'The rain like this. It will cause the dream to collapse early.' He had always been doubtful if the compound Yuseff created would actually hold them in the dream for a week. He was sure they could stay sedated for 10 hours, but a 10 hours of dreaming? He had never heard of that before. However, he had never heard of inception being capable before now.

In bed, Ariadne stirred. Ever attentive, he went to her. She lightly woke up.

"Arthur." She said with a smile as he climbed in next to her.

"I'm here." He said taking her body in his his. He kissed her softly. "Go back to sleep."

"Why is it raining so much?" She asked half sleep already. Her voice was almost childlike.

"I told you about that. About Yuseff. About the dreamer." He answered patiently. He was ever patent with her.

"Who's Yuseff?" She asked. The question made his blood turn to ice. Her inexperience with the dreaming was showing again. Like her cold a few days before, her mind was becoming lost in the dream. She was unsure of what was the dream, and what was reality.

They had to wake up now.

"Ariadne, you remember Cobb." He said trying to keep his voice calm. "You remember the mission?" She looked up at him. Her eyes blurry from sleep.

"What do you mean?" She asked. A confused look written on her lovely face. A face pink and cozy from blissful sleep.

"Ariadne, tell me something right now." Her said feeling the sharpness creep into his voice. "How did we meet? When was the first time you and I met?" She only looked at him with an easy smile.

"I love you." She she said eagerly kissing him. As much as he loved to hear this from her, it only increased his worry. He leaped free from the bed and went to her side.

"Ariadne!" He stood her up and shook her gently. She seemed somewhat annoyed of having to leave the warm comforts of her bed.

"Try and remember. Where are we right now?" He asked

"In a hotel." She answered robotic like.

"In what city? How did we get here?" He asked leaning down to meet her eyes. He had to keep her focused. Had to keep her mind planted in reality. He couldn't risk losing her to the dream. Couldn't lose her the way Cobb had lost Mal. Her mind looked confused. She was trying to remember.

"I made this city up." She said finally. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"How did you make this city up?" He asked her. Leading her. Leading her to the right answers. She shook her head.

"I don't know." She said. He saw a look of panic in her eyes.

"Where's your totem?" He asked her. Rubbing her arms with his hands. Comforting her the best he knew.

"My jacket." She pointed to the closet.

"Go and get it." He ordered her. She nodded and numbly went to retrieve the shinny gold bishop. She pulled it free from a small inner pocket in her jacket and looked at it confused.

"Wait... this isn't mine." She said looking at it. She placed it on the table and knocked it over.

"It was in you pocket, it has to be yours." He told her. A rush of gentle relief flooding over him. She was coming back.

"It doesn't feel right." She told him looking up and out the window at the rain.

"Tell me why it doesn't feel right." he said calmly. Needing her to come to the conclusion on her own power. "What dose it mean when a totem doesn't work right?" She looked like her mind was working hard. As if she were solving a very complex math problem in her head.

"It means I'm still dreaming." She concluded. He nodded.

"Now," He redirected "Who is Yuseff? Who's Cobb?"

"Yuseff?" She repeated. He mind slowly working. "He... He's a chemist." He went to her, holding her small waist between his big hands. "Yuseff is the dreamer?" She asked hoping he would help her with the answers. He nodded at her but gave her no more clues. She would never believe this world was not real unless she convinced herself of it.

"Who is Cobb? You remember Cobb?" He asked. His voice was gentle. Like it had been when he first taught her the dream world. She nodded.

"He'll be alright." She said simply. "He won't lose himself." Her voice seemed childlike again.

"Ariadne!" He said sharply. Not allowing her to drift off in the dream again. "Tell me right now. How did you meet Dom Cobb?" His body was lowered to meet her eye level. He placed his large hands around her face to keep her gaze focused on him.

"Miles introduced us." She said coldly. Responding to his harsh tone. "Then we were in a Cafe." He nodded.
"How did you meet me?" He asked then. Her face relaxed and a smile broke out. Her small delicate little hands covering his.

"In that warehouse." She said softly. "Then I came back, and you showed me how to dream."

For hours they had to do this. Arthur asking the most basic of questions. He repeated questions about the mission. About Cobb and Saito. About the rules of the dream. Finally, Ariadne came back to him.

"What happened?" She asked rubbing her forehead. He sighed. She had asked that so many times already. "I feel so confused." She looked out the window. "Were still dreaming?"

"Look at your totem." he ordered her. "You tell me." The bishop had never left her hand. She looked at it. Her brow wrinkling.
"I'm still dreaming." She concluded. "What's wrong with me?" She asked.

This was the right question.

"You've never been down in a dream to long." he told her. "Your confusing reality for the dream." She looked disgusted with herself.

"Nothing to be ashamed of." He said gently. "Your just not used to the dreaming world yet. It takes years of practice. We spent a lot of time here. It's natural that you might get lost."

"What must it be like for Cobb and Saito in Limbo?" She mused sadly.

"Cobb has experience." Arthur said. "He was in Limbo before. Hopefully he can bring Saito out." He comforted her. She nodded. "Now, tell me what you remember about the mission." He asked. He was sure she was back to her old self by now. He mind seemed to be working just as sharply as before.

She explained about Robert Fischer, the van, the hotel, the mountain, Limbo. She looked up at him then.

"How long have we been on this level?" She asked

"Over five days now." He told her. "But don't worry, I think the dream will collapse soon." He stood and looked out the window.

"We need to try and find the others." he said.

As much as he hated the idea of leaving the safety of the hotel room, Arthur knew they had little choice. If the dream was going to collapse soon, they need to make certain that inception actually took place. That everyone was still together, and that they would all wake up knowing all details of the dream. They could afford no surprises.

The plan for all extractions were the same. If at all possible, meet up at a specially designed safe house when the mission was complete. It was safer to separate to throw off projections, but when a dream started to collapse, they needed to re-group.

Arthur guided Ariadne down the stairs to the lobby.

"We can't go out in this." Ariadne said looking at the sheets of rain falling out of the gray sky.

"We can take a car." He told her lightly. From a parking garage off of the hotel, Arthur made quick work of opening a locked SUV and hot wiring it.

"Impressive." Ariadne said with a laugh. He smiled at her.

The large vehicle felt safer in the rain soaked streets.

"Arthur?" She asked as he cut across the streets.

"Yes?" His attention focused on maneuvering though the dangerous traffic.

"Did we... Did we have sex?" She asked. He almost took his eyes of the road as he was taken aback by this question. Did she forget all of it? Did she regret it?

"Um... Yes we did." He said not able to hide the embarrassment in his voice.

Once he was down a less busy street, he cast a quick glance at her. She was sitting in the passenger side, her hands in her lap. Looking lost in thought.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She looked up at him surprised.

"Yes of course." She told him.

"Did you forget... about us?" He asked. She shook her head.

"I was just trying to make sure." She told him. He said nothing at this. Not sure of what he could say.

They reached the safe house after less then an hour's drive. It was a spartan warehouse down very deserted streets. Arthur like it. He could easily see if projections were closing in. They had no buildings to hide behind. He pulled the SUV close to the front entrance and was about to get out when the ground started to shake. It was a violent tremor. Arthur took her hand and they remained inside the cab.

"What happening?" Ariadne asked. Her voice filled with worry.

"Dream is collapsing." He whispered.

Inside the warehouse they found Yuseff. Ariadne ran to the Chemist as soon as she saw he was bleeding.

"Arthur, the first aide kit." She ordered. The Point Man kept pace with the Architect as she sat down next to the wounded Chemist.

"What happened?" He asked Yuseff as he fished out the medical supplies from the bag.

"Projections!" Yuseff whined as Ariadne peeled off his soaking wet jacket. "There closing in."

"Dream is collapsing." Arthur told him.

"He's been shot." Ariadne pronounced. "I can't get it out." She added looking at the deep wound. Yuseff winced away from her hands as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"How soon do you think the dream will collapse?" Arthur asked Yuseff. The Chemist shook his head.

"Tremors have just started. I'm not sure. Maybe a few hours. Maybe a day." Yuseff said as Ariadne started to clean the wound. He was looking very pale from the blood loss.

"Have you spoken with Eames?" Arthur asked. The Chemist shook his head.

"Well he knows to come here right?" Ariadne asked looking up from her work. Arthur nodded. Another tremor shook the ground. Arthur found himself crouching next to Ariadne as debris from the warehouse fell off of shelves. The old lighting from the ceiling swung lazily back and forth.

"We can't stay here." Yuseff said looking around the warehouse.

"We have to wait for Eames." Arthur said authoritatively. "Fix him up as best you can. I'm going to check the perimeter." He whispered to Ariadne. She nodded.

The warehouse was a simple design. Plenty of places for them to hide inside, few places for projections to take cover outside. Again, Arthur had to admire the Architect's work. On a purely professional level, she was the best he had ever worked with. On a personal level, things were much more complicated. He had always been the professional type. He wasn't the type to look for romance among Team members.

He could barely see past the driving rain. He almost didn't see a pair of headlights cut across the darkening parking lot. A large luxury sedan parked quickly and Eames scurried out.

It was nightfall again. The power in the warehouse had been knocked out by the continues rain and tremors. The Team had found candles and had them lit to chase away the darkness. They were gathered around the fire like primitives.

"A bit spooky." Eames said with a smile as he looked around the flickering shadows. He had spent the late afternoon explaining about Fischer's reaction to the inception. That it did appear to have taken. Fischer had apparently talked of nothing else but deconstructing his Father's empire.

Ariadne somberly told the group about Cobb and Saito.

"Saito knew what he was getting into." Eames said.

"We didn't know what we were getting into." Arthur said. "Cobb should have told us about the compound. About the risk of Limbo."

"I think if he would have told us, we wouldn't have gone." Eames said shrugging off his coat.

"Cobb will bring Saito out." Ariadne interjected.

Yuseff was looking much better under the Architect's care. Another light tremor shook the warehouse and caused everyone to tense up. Arthur couldn't help but lean into her as more crashing could be heard deep in the shadows. Eames was giving them a knowing little smile.

"So how did you two fair?" The Forger asked. Arthur cast him another disgruntled look as he rose to his feet. Off once more to the job of lookout.

It was night now. Arthur was in no mood to sleep. Eames and Yuseff had stayed close to the candle light. Like children afraid of the dark.

Arthur was staked out at the point of ingress. His thoughts only of what had happened over the past few days. They had been blissful, and troubling.

"After this is over, after Cobb and Saito wake up, do you think we could ever work together again?" Ariadne's voice came out of the darkness. He turned to see her. She appeared out of the shadows looking very tired from the days exertions.

"I don't know." He told her softly. She came to sit next to him and they both looked out at the driving rain.
"How can you see through all this?" She asked.

"I can't." He said with a light smile. He could never maintain any anger when she was around. A tremor shook the building again. It was natural for Arthur to take her into his arms. To protect her from anything falling in the warehouse. After the tremors stopped. She stayed in his arms.

"I'm sorry." She told him.

"For what?" He whispered.

"For saying I wouldn't see you again." She confessed. "For being so closed off. You don't deserve that." He sighed.
"No reason to apologize." He told her. His fingers running though her hair. He kissed the top of her head.
"I meant what I said before." She said softly. He stared out at the rain.
"What?" He asked.

"I do love you." She answered.

He said nothing to this. Only held her more closely.