Disclaimer: Inception does not belong to me. All readers and reviews appreciated, thank you!

Cobb took a deep breath. He looked at the Point Man.

"You do realise that Fran is on the other side of that door."

Arthur nodded. "Oh, I know." He looked at the Extractor. "Time we all started to be honest with each other, isn't it?"

Cobb swallowed. "Arthur, is it possible you could be mistaken?"

"She's lying to us, Cobb."

"Maybe so, but-" Cobb sighed. "OK, lets go outside."

Arthur nodded, opening the door. Fran was sitting in the kitchen, sipping coffee. She stood up when both men entered.

"Arthur!" Her tone was warm. "How are you feeling?"

Arthur's lips curled. "You're very good, Fran. Very good. I guess its part of your training."

She frowned. "Excuse me?"

"You heard." He turned his back to her. Cobb's lips tightened.

"I did." She stood up, and walked towards the Point Man. "Will you explain to me why you're behaving like this?"

"I will," Arthur stood toe to toe with her, looking down. Normally he didn't try and intimidate women, but he felt a pulsing wave of anger. "Why don't you tell me this – what is your connection to Rafe Lloyd?"

"My connection?" She looked at Arthur. "I'm afraid you're being a little too subtle for me, Arthur. Would you go into some more detail, please?"

"OK," Arthur looked at her. "Rafe told me, in the dream, that he'd been married. He has an ex-wife. Here's my question – is it you?"


"Eames?" Ariadne wandered into the living room. "You still here?"

"Yep." Eames was drinking coffee, and sitting in the kitchen. "You ok, princess?"

She sat down at the table. "I guess so." She looked at the tabletop. "Do you reckon Arthur's going to be ok?"

"He's with Dom and Fran," Eames said, gently. "He'll be fine."

"Do you-" Ariadne paused, not sure of how to phrase the question.

"Do I what?" Eames picked up his mug and took another swallow.

"Like Fran?"

Eames put the mug down, and grinned. "Immensely."


"Are you trying to be funny?" Fran looked at Arthur. "Or did you take a really hard blow to the head?"

Arthur's eyes never left her face. "Just answer the question, please. Are you Rafe's ex-wife?"

"Does it matter what I say?" She looked at him. "You'll disbelieve me."

"I might do, but I respect people who tell me the truth." He folded his arms. "So try."

Fran narrowed her eyes. "Rafe Lloyd is not my ex-husband. You can comb my records for proof – I've never been married."

Arthur felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. "Oh…Jesus…"

Cobb was shaking his head. "Well done Arthur."

"Fran, I-" Arthur swallowed. The psychiatrist's face was inscrutable. Cobb looked at her. "Fran, I'm-"

"Don't." She looked at them both. "Rafe Lloyd is not my ex-husband."

Arthur felt uncomfortable. "But-"

She looked at him. "He's my ex-brother-in-law."


"Listen, Ari, I'm going to head out for a while, OK?" Eames was already pulling on his jacket in the hallway. The Architect looked slightly surprised.

"Are you going to be back soon?" She asked.

"Oh, hopefully. Why don't you give Arthur a ring?" He said, gently. "I think you two need to talk."

Ariadne nodded. "I think I will."


"Your ex-brother in law?" Cobb said, disbelievingly. The three were sitting in the kitchen. Fran nodded.

"Yep. My ex-brother in law. He was married to my sister for six months. The marriage was annulled."

"How did they meet?" Cobb asked.

"College." Fran looked at both men. "They were both scientists. He flirted with her, she reciprocated, then they got married."

"Whilst still in college?" Arthur's eyebrows drew together.

"Yes." She nodded. "And without my parents' permission. When they found out-" she shivered.

"Go on." Cobb's voice was gentle. "What did they do?"

"Well, they gave her a choice. Either the marriage was annulled, or she was disowned. She agreed."

"And what did Rafe do?"

Fran shrugged. "He was given a document to sign. It told him that if he came near my sister again, or contested the agreement, he'd be in serious trouble with the university. My sister had found out that Rafe was pagiarising his research. He was using a TA to write his papers. If the university had found out, he would be thrown out. End of his chemistry career."

"What happened then?"

"He transferred. Disappeared. Never heard from him again. On a personal level, at least."

"So how did you know he was involved with Jensen and the Caddick case?" Cobb's interest was piqued.

"Because of what happened to a couple my sister knew." Fran picked up her coffee mug. "Both classmates of theirs. Rafe was known for flirting with men- my sister decided it wasn't worth worrying about. Until, he went out drinking with them one evening – and they never returned home."

Arthur's eyebrows went up. Cobb gripped the table.

"What did the Police do?"

"Nothing. They interviewed him. He told them that they'd been driving back from a bar, and been flagged down by a man. Before anyone could move, the man had pulled a gun on them. Rafe claimed he'd managed to escape, and try and get help. By the time the police arrived, the damage had been done."

"Did they find the bodies?"

"No. But they never found the alleged perpetrator, either. The case was too clean, too clueless. No crimes had been reported in the area that night- so why would anyone flee? And where was the damn car?"

"So you think he murdered them – and dumped the bodies?"

"Yep." Fran nodded. "And when the Caddick case hit the headlines…I had a feeling he was involved."

"Why has he left your family alone?" Arthur spoke.

"Because he's not stupid." Fran's voice was hard. "You may have gathered, Arthur, that Rafe is a classic sociopath. He doesn't feel empathy. He doesn't feel anything. He doesn't care. About anyone. But killing my sister? Me? My parents? Little too obvious. He covers his tracks. He picks victims where if he is connected, its only tangentially."

"Like Chandra," Cobb nodded. "But he told Arthur he didn't know her-"

"And he was telling the truth." Fran looked at them. "He only knew her as a colleague. It wasn't her he was interested in."

"So my theory…" Arthur said, slowly, "that he goes after the men and uses women as a gateway-"

"Is completely correct." Fran nodded. "Getting married was a way for him to mask what he was concerned would be perceived as perversity."

Cobb exhaled. "This guy – he's twisted."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Arthur demanded. Fran raised her eyebrows.

"What could I say? That I had my suspicions about my former brother-in-law? Embarrass my family? My sister – who had to move out of state and change her name to cover her tracks? I didn't think Rafe Lloyd was anyone to worry about."

"Until the Caddick case. And you had your suspicions."

"Yep. I did. And then when I interviewed Jensen, it was obvious he was hiding something." She paused. "And then the Caddick's contacted you guys, and its all been from there."

"So we helped confirm what you suspected, but couldn't go to the police over." Arthur finished. "So what do we do now?"

"We find out the truth." Fran looked at them. "And if that means doing another extraction on Rafe, we'll have to. But this time, we all go in."

"Except Ariadne." Arthur looked at them. "I won't have her exposed."

"You'll have to talk to her about that." Cobb stood up. "Lets go and find the others."


Eames entered the bar, scanning it. He saw him immediately. Dark hair, head thrown back, teasingly running a finger down another man's chest. Eames looked at him. A feeling of revulsion rolled up his throat.

He approached him. Rafe turned, smiling.

"Do I know you?" His face started to split into a grin. "Because if I don't, I really do."

"Yes," Eames replied softly. "I bet you do."