A/N: First of all thanks for reading/reviewing et cetera. Second thing: it's next to last chapter. Read and (hopefully) enjoy!
SIX MONTHS AGO
They were coming back to France. Ariadne shifted her position on the plane seat and sighed, causing a curious look from Arthur.
"Unpleasant vision of coming back to school?", he teased lightly, with one eyebrow arched, but quickly his smile faltered. "Ari, I there something…", he started talking, when Ariadne suddenly grabbed his hand in strong grasp.
"I know, Eames called me.", she says hurriedly. "Arthur, I can't say I'm happy, but I know it's impossible to resist Dreams.", her smile is sad, when she leans closer to him. "Just promise you come back to me."
"I promise.", Arthur answers seriously, looking into her eyes.
They almost didn't speak until they reached Ariadne's tiny flat.
She opened the door with a sigh of relief, hearing Arthur's soft chuckle.
"Tired?", he asked and pulled her into his embrace. Ariadne sunk into it and breathed deeply, smelling his scent she learned to recognize and love.
"A little.", she admitted and cuddled to him a tighter. They stood like that for a long time, when Arthur finally shifted his position.
"I can call it over.", he murmured into Ariadne's ear and for a insane moment she wanted to scream a loud "Yes!", but she managed to stifled the urge. She took a step back from him.
"I trust you.", she simply said, looking intently into his dark eyes.
NOW
Six months ago Ariadne was sure Arthur'd not leave her, not voluntary nor involuntary. She trusted with all her heart that he'd go back for every possible job.
Now she brushes her finger along Arthur's cheek. He's thinner than he was, no matter how wonderful the care is and Ariadne knows she needs to hurry.
The prickle of needle in her wrist doesn't bother her at all; it's something you used to, when you Dream.
ARTHUR'S DREAM
She doesn't pay attention to the blurriness and instability of the city around her; there's only one thing, which is important right now and it's a meeting with Arthur.
They are appointment in a hotel, which makes Ariadne wonder what Arthur will think about her. A second meeting and she agrees to meet him in a hotel room?
Nor that her reputation or less of it it's important here.
Arthur is waiting for her in the hotel lobby, his hair are slightly disheveled, sleeves of his shirt rolled-up. He hurries to her as soon as she appears at doors.
"Hello.", he says with smile. "Hope you don't have anything against such place of meeting?"
Ariadne quickly shakes her head, so Arthur leads her to the lift. He presses the button with number five on it.
"Ariadne.", he starts hesitantly. "I really wanted to see you again, but I also wanted to give you a job offer."
Ariadne frowns, trying to looks curious and maybe a little offended, instead of scared. "A job offer?", she repeats weakly, wondering if what she should do.
Would be able to play an innocent child that has never seen or heard about Dream technology?
Doubtful. Maybe if she doesn't have to pretend that she doesn't know Arthur…
The lift stops on their destination floor, which tears Ariadne out of her reverie.
Arthur lives in room 491.
Somehow Ariadne stays calm, although she can hear the bumping of heart in ears.
It can be a coincidence, but it would be a really strange one…
She manages not to flinch, when Mal greets her. Surprisingly it's not that hard, as she's different than Cobb's projections of her; it has nothing to do with appearance, more the whole atmosphere of person.
Mal smiles, her huge eyes lighten and Ariadne starts to understand why it was so hard to let her go.
"Arthur told you about job offer, didn't he?", Mal reassures herself and Ariadne nods her head.
"Although I'm not sure what I could possibly do…", Ariadne's voice falters, when she waits for an answer.
"We'd like you to design something for us.", Arthur responds.
Ariadne looks at him for a moment, her forehead frowned. "I'm not licensed architect, so you can't talk about reality, right?"
Mal and Arthur shares astonished glares.
"You 're working as an architect of Dreams?", Mal asks, stunned.
Ariadne shrugs. "I worked once, actually, but it was a big job. You can add a couple of training sessions."
"Big job?", Arthur repeats. "So you worked in extraction field, right?"
"Yes.", Ariadne admits calmly, while her heart is screaming in pain.
You kissed me for the first time during it! How can you not remember?
"It was an inception.", she adds, a risky step, but it turns to be wise one, as Arthur's gaze becomes even more sharp.
"Inception.", he repeats slowly, simultaneously with Mal, who says: "It's impossible!"
To Ariadne's surprise it's Arthur who disagrees with Mal.
"It's tough but possible.", he says firmly, causing an irritated sigh from her.
"Arthur, if it's another thing you just know.."
He shots her an angry look and Ariadne decides to interrupt, loudly clearing her throat.
They immediately calm down, focusing on Ariadne once more.
"Shall we go under?", Mal suggests. "You show us what you can build without previous designing and we'll spare time."
Ariadne takes a quick glance on the wall watch, checking if she has time; luckily there's still some time until there'll be a bright zero on the Pasiv' display.
"Sure.", she agrees. It's Arthur, who hooks her to the Pasiv and the familiarity of this gesture almost makes Ariadne cry.
This time it's not a modern city or a mountains landscape that surrounds them; Ariadne decides to use the peaceful, rural place, where she had training with Arthur and Eames.
Mal looks around, wide-eyed, but Ariadne pays attention only to Arthur, who is smiling to her, a true admiration in his eyes.
And nothing else.
Ariadne clutches her fists tightly. It doesn't matter -she'll make him recall, she'll pick up all the pieces. Right now she need to focus on the task in her hand.
"Who our subject is?", she asks.
"Phanny Charpentier.", Arthur answers immediately. "And, yes, she's French.", he adds, knowing in advance the question Ariadne wants to ask. Yet another oh so familiar thing, that simultaneously makes Ariadne want to cry and laugh with happiness.
"So,", Arthur continues smoothly. "She's working in a huge electronics company. We are hired by her boss, as he suspects her to spying for his competitor."
Ariadne frowns. "He can't check it any other way?"
Arthur shrugs, leaning on the tree trunk. Mal is walking not far away from them, clearly checking the design of the Dream. "He tried a couple of time, with no results.", he explains. "But he's sure secrets are stolen, so there we go."
He pauses and closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the warm touch of sun on his face.
Ariadne hesitates. He'd never do such thing if he doesn't trust her and Arthur never trusts people so fast and easy.
She wishes she could know where this trust is coming from. Is Arthur sensing they have so many in common, or is he changed because of the Dream world around them?
Ariadne takes a step closer, but Arthur doesn't open his eyes, so she relaxes beside him and breathes deeply the fresh, warm air.
"It's beautiful.", the soft whisper of his startles her a little, as it completely unexpected, but she smiles nevertheless.
For a moment she can believe that everything is fine.
NOW
Waking up isn't pleasant and Ariadne lays still for a little longer. She doesn't want to face the world in which Arthur is laying limply on the hospital bed with hole in his body.
And there is one more problem: she needs much more time spent in Dream, without all this breaks, which means much more time of being hooked to the Pasiv.
Nobody in the clinic will let her close the door of one of their patients room for more than an hour.
Ariadne hides the Pasiv in its usual place, takes a look on Arthur; he's still and pale, every day taking away a bit of him, and leaves the room in quick pace.
"Miss Ariadne.", doctor Gordon welcomes her with a professional smile, which doesn't reach his eyes. "What brings you here?"
"I want to take Arthur back to home.", Ariadne says hurriedly, like if the quick tempo could be more convincing.
Gordon raises his eyebrow. "Could I ask why?"
"I'm studying.", Ariadne starts slowly, cursing at herself that she didn't make up anything before she came here. "It's a last year so I don't have many classes, I'm mostly working at designs at home, but I still have many things to do and it's hard to put it together with visiting Arthur…", her voice falters when she sees the doctor wants to say something.
"Miss Ariadne.", he starts "It can sounds cruelly but, in fact, there's no need for every day visits."
Ariadne stiffens. "I won't leave him alone."
"Taking Arthur home would be expensive.", Gordon warns her.
"I know.", Ariadne responses shortly. "Money isn't the subject of matter."
Truly, it isn't. Ariadne isn't sure how rich Arthur exactly is, as she never dared to ask him about it, but content of her account is more than enough to cover all the expenses.
It takes more than a week to prepare her flat for Arthur's coming back. Their bedroom resembles more a hospital room than anything else right now and Ariadne had to get rid of many things just to make a place for medical equipment, but she doesn't regret anything. She can't run between the reality and the Dream world, is too exhausting.
And a hurt look in Arthur's eyes, whenever she tells she need to go, becomes more and more unbearable.
She takes a deep breath, after putting the needle in her and Arthur's wrists.
Six hours in reality.
Seventy two hours in Dream.
ARTHUR'S DREAM
"Ariadne, you're late!", Mal shakes her head in disapprovement, but she's smiling. Ariadne exhales deeply to steady her uneven breath; she has been running all the way to the rented flat, when they have their work place.
"I'm sorry.", she apologies. "Hello, Arthur.", she adds, noticing Arthur, who stands with a coffee mug in his hand, frowning slightly and checking something in the neat pile of documents on his desk.
He raises his eyes at her greet. "Guess, the meeting was a successful one." There is almost unnoticeable hard edge in his voice and Ariadne is surprised for a moment.
And then she realizes; Arthur thinks that the reason of her hurry escape the previous day was a date. It takes no more than a second to decide.
"In fact it was a total disaster.", Ariadne shrugs. Even though Arthur doesn't respond to that she can see how his eyes soften.
They don't have much to do; the extraction is taking place tomorrow and everything is signed, sealed and delivered, so nobody protests when Mal announces that "pregnant woman needs some now clothes" and disappears.
There is a moment of awkward silence after Mal's left. Arthur seems to avoid Ariadne's gaze, while he sits behind his desk, tapping nervously on the top of it.
"Arthur?", Ariadne questions. "Maybe we should go somewhere too?"
Her words tear him out of his reverie. He takes a few quick steps and suddenly he's just a couple of centimeters away from her, his dark eyes focused entirely on Ariadne's face.
"Ariadne.", he starts, hesitantly. "Every time I see you, I feel like I've known you much longer than I do."
Ariadne holds her breath, when Arthur gently places his arm around her and then she's kissing him, fiercely, without unnecessary hesitations or doubts.
He responses with the same passion, his hand on her back pulling her tighter to him, so their bodies are pressed together, not a centimeter away.
"Ari…", Arthur gasps into her mouth and Ariadne feels a shiver going down through her spine. It's only when they pull apart her hope falters.
Life it's not a fairy-tale, she realizes. It takes more than a true love kiss to wake up somebody from coma.
She sees love in his eyes, the softness in his usual sharp gaze, which is so well-known for her. Yes, he loves her, but he still doesn't know why.
"Ari…", he says once again; the expression of confusion is clearly visible on his face. Ariadne silences him putting a finger on his mouth.
"Shh.", she murmurs soothingly."It's fine, it's ok. It's just a minute before perfection."
When he uncovers her neck from the bright red scarf and kisses it, firstly gently but then with more and more fierce Ariadne can only moan with pleasure.