"And the lovebirds made it back. About time." Eames commented.
He looked at our face and immediately stopped smirking.
"What happened?" he asked, getting off his stool.
"Someone is messing with Ari." Arthur informed him as he laid out the pictures face up in the order we first saw them.
Eames, Cobb and Yusuf all gathered around them and gasped.
"Someone left these in my apartment on the coffee table like this." I said with my voice quivering.
Arthur shot me a sympathetic look, but I ignored it as I took out the note from my bag.
"And my brother left me this."
I handed Eames the note and they all read it.
"How do you know it's your brothers? It's not signed." Yusuf said.
"I would know his handwriting anywhere."
"Someone could have forged it." Eames commented.
I shook my head, trusting my gut.
"You just know." Cobb told me in understanding.
I nodded; relieved someone knew what I meant.
The guys looked from Cobb and me, trying to figure out our little moment.
"Alright, say this is your brother. Why didn't he sign it? Or add something a little more personal." Eames asked me.
I shook my head, not knowing the answer to any of his questions.
Taking a seat on the couch, I ran my hands over my face and laid my elbows on my knees.
"I gave her the note." Jase told me, sliding on the bench next to me.
I looked up from my sketchbook and smiled.
"What did she say?"
He shook his head and looked at his feet.
"I didn't sign it." He muttered.
Turning to him, I let my mouth open wide.
"You wrote the girl who is supposedly the 'love of your life' a note and you didn't sigh it?" I said incredulously.
He blushed furiously and shook his head. "I didn't want her to come and hunt me down at school!"
"Well what did you put?" I laughed.
"I like you." He said.
Waiting for more, I looked at him and realized that was it.
"That's it?" I asked him.
He shrugged and looked at me. "Thought it would be best to be blunt."
I shook my head, laughing a little.
"Smooth."
Chuckling, I ran my hands over my face again.
"He wanted to be blunt." I said.
Everyone turned to me confused.
"The note." I said.
"He wanted to be blunt." I repeated.
"When he was 14, he finally wrote his crush a note. He always told me that she was the 'love of his life' so I suggested he write one. Well one day while I was sketching in the park, he came and sat down on the bench with me and told me he wrote her a note. When I asked him what he wrote he said 'I like you.'" I let out a laugh and continued.
"At first I thought he was kidding, but when I looked at him, he was seriously serious. Anyway, long story short, I asked him why jus those three words and he responded saying it was better to be blunt."
"But why didn't he sign it?" Yusuf asked.
"Because he was afraid she would find him."
As I said those words a light went off in my head.
"He didn't want her to find him…" I whispered.
Arthur looked at me, knowing what I was getting at.
"He's alive." He stated.
"So we don't have her to the job." Eames said like it was obvious.
"It's not that simple." I said, flipping over the pictures.
The guy's faces went grim.
"What will happen exactly?" Yusuf asked.
"You die." I whispered.
"So what do we do?" Eames asked Cobb.
"We go through with this." I said.
Cobb looked at me curiously. "You want to go against your brothers wishes?"
"If it's really my brother, then he would know I wouldn't listen to his threats; especially without proof of anything. So yes, I want to do this."
Cobb and Eames looked to Arthur who was looking at me.
"When can we go in?" I asked Cobb.
"When can you be ready?" he retorted.
With a smile I got up. "Give me two days."
The team broke up, some still looking at the table.
"You sure about this?" Arthur asked me from behind.
I turned to him and nodded. "I'm not letting you…die." I said with a bitter taste in my mouth.
"We wouldn't." he said.
"But you could." I responded. "And I don't even want that to be a possibility."
Arthur stared at me for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright. Fine."
Giving me a kiss, he let me get back to work.
I worked harder than I had ever worked before. At the rate I was going, I predicted to finish sooner than planned.
"Done!" I exclaimed.
A day and a half had passed and I was finished with all the layouts.
I showed the team, telling them secret exit strategies and such. Cobb approved and said we would be ready by the next day.
"You're sure about this darling?" Eames asked me as I came out of my room to say goodnight to everyone.
"I am."
He nodded and kissed me on the cheek. "Alright. See you in the morning."
"You coming with me?" I asked Arthur as he sat in front of his laptop.
"Huh?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to me.
Gazing at him, I could see the dark circles under his eyes.
"You need to sleep."
"I will." He said and went back to work.
I hung my arms over his shoulders and watched him work.
"Arthur." I whispered.
He gave me a grunt but I ignored it.
"Arthur." I said stronger.
"What?" he asked, reading some files.
"I love you." I whispered.
He turned to me and a smile grazed his face.
"I love you too." He said.
I kissed him briefly and then pulled away.
"Ok, come on. Time for bed." I told him, taking both of his hands.
"I will Ari. I just want to look over a few more things."
Analyzing him, I found something wrong.
"What are you afraid of?"
His body froze and went tense. Running my hands over his shoulders and down his arms, he relaxed slightly.
"I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything."
"It will be there in the morning." I told him.
"But we wont." He replied.
Sighing, I ran a hand through his hair.
"It's going to be fine. I promise." I whispered softly.
His eyes closed briefly as he listened to my voice.
"I love you." He told me again.
"I love you too."
Finally, after a few more minutes of convincing, I got him to come to bed with me.