They dosed off in front of the television, still coiled in each other's arms.
By the time they'd awoken, infomercials were playing on their early morning loops.
It was nearing 4 am.
"Kitten." Robert kissed the top of her head and she 'Mmm' 'ed at the softness.
Ariadne has been awake longer then Robert, motionless; apart from her mind.
Her thoughts were racing, and she had let the guilt take hold. It had gripped itself for her sternum and ribcage and was weighing her down. It pressed on her chest and made it hard for her to breathe.
She had to tell him everything. About the Inception, about Cobb and Arthur and Eames... Everything.
"How are you?" He whispered.
" Relieved." She joked. "I was so anxious to see you."
"Me too," Robert remembered his eagerness, and his insides flared with sudden joy at the feeling.
Ariadne's thoughts were still jumbled when all of a sudden she vomited... words.
They came out of mouth so fast that before she could stop herself, she'd gone too far.
"What?" Said Robert, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What did you say?"
"I said 'We made you do it.' "
"And what does that mean? Who's 'we' ?"
"Me, and my team.. We performed Inception on you." Her voice was low, but not quiet. Her sincerity rang true in her voice and Robert didn't doubt for a second that she was telling the truth.
"You?" Robert shook his head. "But how, Ariadne?"
"The plane... Saito... It was all one heist. We stole away into the depths of your mind and planted an idea." She sat up, away from Robert arms, but his fingers dragged across her skin, as if she didn't want them apart. "We used our knowledge about you and our resources to inspire you to destroy you father's empire, creating for yourself. We went in not expecting complications, but your subconscious had been trained to kill us, so we had to work fast. You died in there, but I saved you." She smiled half-heartedly, watching the different emotions flicker in Robert's eyes.
"And Uncle Peter helped you?" It was Robert's turn to sit up now. "But he worked so hard for this company, to make us what we'd become."
"No... actually, that was Eames."
"The gay guy from McDonalds?"
"Gay? No! Eames is far from gay, he was just out to lunch with Arthur."
"So explain how, please." His words were sharp, and Ariadne's heart deflated. She'd expected him to be mad, but he was never sharp with her.
"Eames is what we call a forger. He can change his shape in a dream, to be whoever he wants."
"How did he play Uncle Peter so well?"
"You've met Eames before, he just used an alias." Ariadne bit her lip. "Do you remember the young man who worked closely with him, for only a few weeks, then disappeared?"
"Uncle P goes through a lot of assistants." Robert sighed.
"He would have been quiet, more examining then doing, maybe taking your coffee runs and filing paper work and such"
"Ariadne." He stared at her blatantly. "That's what they all do."
"Oh.. well yes." She mused a moment "... British. Eames is British."
"Yeah.. uhh. um.. James. His name was James Carver." Robert closed his eyes to remember, and recalled the man's face. "It was him."
"Yes. He studied to be like Browning, to be enough like him to make you believe it really Peter Browning."
"The torture." Robert thought out loud. "That was Eames."
"Yes, we already had you dreaming. Eames took your taxi, and we tied you up and brought you Browning, who was actually Eames."
"Strategically speaking; well done." Despite the current situation, Robert had to admit, it was pretty well conducted. "So Eames, is like Mystique... A shape-shifter."
"Only in dreams, of course, yes." Ariadne nodded, watching Robert grasp the concept.
"What can the others do?"
"Well Saito was just there watching, to make sure we incepted your mind. Cobb was there to do the incepting, he's the best extractor there is." Ariadne smiled proudly. "Arthur is our research officer, of sorts. He does all the background information and helped me build some of the levels."
"Build the levels?" Robert tilted his head to the side.
"Yes. I was the architect." Ariadne curled around to face Robert, taking a blanket with her to cover her naked body.
"Architect..." Robert nodded.
"In each level of the dream, you need to be somewhere, and I had to create that. The warehouse on the first level, the hotel on the second, and the snowy mountains on the third."
"Next time, a beach would be appreciated." Robert joked. "Wait... what about the fourth?"
"After you were...- After you were shot, you dropped into Limbo: endless dream-space. Cobb had already been there, so we dropped into the world that he and his shady wife Mallory had created. It was terrifying, but I went down with him,against all the odds, to save you."
"She shot me?"
"Yes Bertie. You died." Ariadne had tears in her forlorn eyes. "I watched as she shot you, and I vowed then to bring you back, safely. You went back up to the third level and saw your father on his deathbed. You saw the will, the inception had been completed, then we simultaneously rode a kick on every level back up to the surface... That's when you awoke on the plane and we met in the airport."
"You and your team did all that for a job? You planted an idea in my subconscious just so my company wouldn't take over the energy business?"
"Yup." Ariadne's 'p' popped, and her eyes watched Robert's face wearily.
This whole time, his emotions had flickered. She'd seem rage, sadness, hurt, anger, confused, dumbfounded, respect, but the one his face had settled on was acceptance.
"I understand." He then said.
"Hmm?" The sound was high pitch from her tight throat.
"Ariadne, I understand. It was good business, and to tell you the truth, before I got on that plan I had planned to destroy it. All of it was going to be mine, and I was going to do it my way. That dream, that I now find out was plotted and planned, just made my mind up for certain."
"Really?" Ariadne seemed doubtful.
"I tried my whole life to please that man, my father. Everyday, I tried, and I did what I could to make him proud of me, but never did I receive praise. Not once did he tell me 'Good job, Robert. You did good.' .So when he appeared to me in that dream, I knew it was too good to be true. I decided I'd do whatever I wanted anyway. I send of, a 'Screw You' to the old man."
Ariadne laughed out loud a little. "I'm so relieved to have finally told you."
"I'm glad you did too." Robert stroked her hair and coddled her to his chest for a sweet hug. "Ariadne, we've gotten very serious very fast, but we're both adults and we know exactly what we're doing. Yes, a lot of said passion has come out in form of lust, but Ariadne... I think I've falling in love with you." He voice quavered with an unsteady breath and he brought Ariadne back to look into her hazel eyes.
"I'm in love with you Ariadne Jones, forever."