Robert rubbed his weary eyes as he looked at the computer screen. He should've known that this would take a lot of work yet he was still nearly overwhelmed with the load. Nevertheless, he must being doing something right what with the way everyone was praising him.
Suddenly, he could feel kisses on the back of his neck and he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. "I'm going to guess it went better this time?"
"Well, there's still a lot of unanswered questions but nobody died this time," Eames said cheerfully as he moved around and sat down besides Robert. "How are you doing?"
"Well, I've found about twenty people that I'm positive it can't be," replied Robert with a sigh. "Only million more to go."
Eames laughed at his sarcasm as he said, "Well I think I have something that might help. He's not from the U.S. and he lived in France for two years. I'd also check for anyone who's been in an accident recently."
"So you're sure the person is a male?"
"Pretty positive yeah," replied Eames. "Don't ask me how I got the information. The story is way to long."
"All right all right," replied Robert with a smirk. "I'll try to be to long here, then we can leave."
"Okay, I'll go look for restaurants that sound good in the area. How about I invite everyone else?"
Robert replied, "Sounds great," but he was already absorbed in his work again.
Eames smiled and then began to head to the door. However, before he could even open it, Robert suddenly said, "I've known you to long Eames for you to hide things from me. Something is wrong, I can tell. But you don't have to tell me, at least not right away."
Eames was silent for a moment until he finally said softly, "Alright." He wished Robert hadn't noticed, but he had and now he knew that he would have to tell him eventually. But he figured it was a better idea to wait until this whole ordeal was over.
Eames, Robert, Saito, Ariadne, and Cobb went out that night. At dinner, no one talked about work. No one really wanted to. Though Eames had looked at several restaurants, Saito was the one who actually decided on one and ended up paying for the entire group. The place was obviously expensive, as in one of those places the president might go to.
Saito actually was very good at table talk, asking how Robert and Eames had been doing. He also asked Cobb about his kids, laughing at one of the children's misadventures that Cobb told everyone. Saito also inquired about how Ariadne's schooling was going as well.
"Here we are telling you our life stories and we haven't heard anything about you," Eames suddenly said as he wiped his mouth.
"My life really isn't of very much interest."
"Well neither is going to school for the past few months, cooking, or playing with kids very interesting to anyone; at least at first. Now we're friends and we like to know what's been going on in each other's lives so start talking."
"I'm surprised you consider me a friend Mr. Eames," replied Saito with a smile as he took a sip of wine.
"Okay, you're more like an acquaintance. You can be Cobb's friend now start talking," Eames shot back much to everyone's laughter.
"There's no wife, anymore we had a divorce, or husband now," said Saito as he glanced at Robert and Eames, "but I do have a daughter that I adopted."
"Didn't see you as the adopting type," commented Cobb, his eyebrows going up. Now that he thought about it, he really had never known very much about Saito.
"Well, she was my younger brother's child, my niece. He was the one bad apple in the family I suppose you could say. His wife left him with the girl soon after her birth and he was later deemed an unfit parent. I adopted her and made it possible so that he could still at least see her. However, he quickly died from alcohol poisoning."
"I'm very sorry for your loss," said Ariadne.
"Oh, it's alright," replied Saito with a wave of his hand. "I didn't really care for him that much anyway. We may have been blood but that certainly doesn't mean I cared about him."
Anyone else and the group probably would've thought that they were lying. However, it was pretty obvious that Saito meant every word he said.
"Well what about the girl? You must care about her some. What's her name anyway?" asked Robert curiously.
"Her name is Shiori; I actually was the one to name her. As far if I care about her," now Saito looked a little uncomfortable for once, "I suppose I do. She's very . . . sweet, and understands what the word 'cleaning' means."
"Ah, so there is something you care about more than your company," Eames said with a laugh. "Well need to meet her sometime. Maybe introduce her to Cobb's kids."
"Cobb's kids maybe but if I'm able to you'll never get to meet her. Your bad spelling might run off on her."
Now the whole table irrupted into laughter, except of course Eames. He just sat, making a pouting face as he muttered about how his spelling really wasn't that bad though everyone of course knew it was.
The group kept on talking for nearly an hour more and as they did, Saito really did loosen up. It was interesting seeing him as a person and not just a business figure. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was obvious everyone would prefer for it not to end. However, the night was getting late and it was clear everyone needed to get home eventually.
No one knew what the next day would bring or if they'd be going under again. Neither did they know how long this would go on. Everyone wanted it to be over as quickly as possible but in all honesty, this could go on for months.
