Disclaimer: Inception does not belong to me.

"Mom, please don't cry. Please. Its so hard for me to see you like this. I know you can't bear this. I know this is the first time you have seen me in nearly three years. I should have visited. I should have called more. I should have insisted on taking Ariadne back with me for a weekend. She could turn up any minute, and you'd have no idea that the stranger is actually my fiancee. I'm sorry, Mom. God, I'm sorry. I know you thought I was trying to keep you out of my life - now I'm locked out of my own and I can never go back."


"Mr and Mrs Ogilvie?" Cobb's voice was almost timid; the Extractor knew he had to tread carefully. "Do you want to get some coffee or something?"

Arthur's father looked over, and nodded, dumbly. "Sounds...good." He was stroking his wife's hair, whilst she sobbed silently against him. "Shall we, Angela?"

She nodded, silently, and Cobb watched as they began to wander down the corridor, two lost souls in search of refuge. He rubbed his forehead, and turned back to look at Arthur.

"Art, I'm taking your parents..." his voice trailed off, realising that whilst the Point Man could hear, he couldn't respond. Exhaling slowly, the Extractor began to walk down the corridor, in search of Arthur's parents. The conversation he'd had with Eames was floating through his mind. Was keeping Arthur alive worth all this pain? The thought was tugging at his mind, persistently.

He stopped. Where had that come from? He blinked. He couldn't. Arthur was - he stopped again. Where was Arthur, anyway? Where was the essence of the Point Man, where had he gone? Rubbing his forehead again, he began to walk, his mind swirling with questions he felt unable to answer.


Ariadne swallowed as she signed the visitor's register. The receptionist smiled at her. "Just down the hallway."

She nodded, her hand firmly clutching the PASIV case. She had to go into the dream. She'd designed it - together, in the dream, they'd have a marriage, home, children, family. All the things she was sure she would have with Arthur. All the things that had been so cruelly ripped away.

She began to walk down the corridor. Pushing open the door, she saw the Point Man, lying immobile. She walked over, and after hesitating, kissed him on the mouth.

She stood up. Arthur's lips were usually warm. Or hot, and demanding. These felt slack, and almost cold. She shivered slightly. It was a kiss without any reciprocation, a kiss which showed no exchange of affection. Swallowing, she stood over, and looked into the Point Man's open eyes.

"Hello, Arthur."


"Please don't kiss me. Don't kiss me. I can't kiss you back, I can't do what I used to. I used to be able to trace over your body with kisses, I sometimes felt that kissing you was more erotic than anything else. And now I can't. Please, don't kiss me."

"I - I'm sorry its taken me so long to come back and see you."

"Don't be. This is your former future husband, a useless lump of flesh. You're sorry you haven't visited? I wouldn't be. All I can do is listen. I can't talk back. I can't tell you how worried I am about you, that you look pale, you look thin, you're obviously not sleeping. I can't hold you, I can't rub your back, I can't tell you everything will be all right. Because it won't be."

"Arthur." Ariadne sat up straighter in the chair, leaned forward, and began to brush his cheek with her fingers. "Arthur, I want to bring you back, to the house. We have plenty of money, I don't need to work. I can be with you, I can -"

"Don't. Oh, God. No. No. You can't. You cannot give up your life, and spend it entombed with me in that house, living on the memories of what we once had. You cannot give up your job, your friends, everything, for me. You'll be my nurse. You'll do things for me that are humiliating and undignified. You won't love me. You'll find me a burden, a bore, a chore. Please don't. Leave me here. Please."

"Arthur, I've brought something with me." She held up the PASIV, its sleek case glinting in the harsh electric light. "I want to go into a dream with you. We could-" she swallowed. "We could dream what we wanted. We could create a life-"

"No. Its fake. All of it. You'll be with me, but you'll know in your heart that it doesn't exist. That I simply am not there."

"But, its worth a shot."

"Oh, God. Ari, do you have any idea how many times I've thought about what I did on that job? I rose your hopes, and then we started dating...I wish we hadn't. If I'd known it would end with me in a hospital bed, rather than by your side in our own, I would never have done that."

Ariadne unlocked the case, and began to withdraw an IV.

"We need to do this," she said, her voice shaking slightly. Taking Arthur's arm, she began to plug in the IV.

Suddenly, she stopped. Footsteps were behind her, along with a voice.

"What are you doing?"

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