Disclaimer: Inception does not belong to me.

"Would you please repeat that?" Blake leaned forward, his expression flicking from nervous to almost triumphant. "We do have a tape recorder present."

Fischer shrugged. "Ok. I bribed a student to burn down the school. Now, are you satisfied?"

Arthur looked at him, stunned. "Robert, I can't believe that you would-"

"Arthur. Do you think I care about a high school building?" he snapped.

"No," Arthur said, shaking his head. "You don't. But you do care about the fact that your father can offer to build something bigger and better than J.E. Fox High...and install you as the Principal."

Robert raised an eyebrow. "Can you prove that, Arthur?"

"Yes," Arthur replied, somewhat heatedly. "I can prove it. Because there is a trail of evidence."

"Where is it, then?" Robert replied. He was leaning back in his seat, acting as though he were still on vacation rather than in a police interview. "Where is this trail?"

Arthur looked at him. "Well, it all began when you got me suspended. For throwing ice cream over you. Because you were harrassing a female member of staff."

"It was a private date!" Robert snapped.

"Exactly! So why try and get me suspended? I 'll tell you! To discredit me properly. Because that way you could-" his voice trailed off, infuriated at Robert's unctuous smirk.

"No way I could what?" Robert scowled, glowering at him. "My father already had the plans drawn up, but we knew that you and Cobb would never agree to give in gracefully, so I had to-"

He stopped, lapsing into silence. Browning looked shocked. "Robert, how could you...?"

"I refuse to say anything else," Fischer muttered, leaning back in his seat. "Anything at all."

"OK," Blake said, nodding decisively. "Mr Fischer, you will go into a holding cell for tonight. I'll continue questioning tomorrow."

The young detective stood up, and began to leave. Browning turned to Robert. "I can fix this, I promise-"

"Save it." Fischer shrugged. White faced, the older man began to storm out of the room. Arthur and Cobb got up, and began to leave together.

"Come on." Cobb nodded. "I'll drop you at your place." In silence, the two men began to walk to the parking lot. As Arthur got in, he felt the silence weigh oppressively heavily. Cobb turned the key, starting the ignition.

Arthur leaned his head back against the head rest, his thoughts whirling. A clear path was beginning to be traced through all the seemingly random events, but he knew he had to sit down to think things through. He didn't even notice when Cobb pulled up in front of his building.

"Here you go," Cobb said, with a small half smile. "See you tomorrow."

Arthur looked at him. "Are you allright?"

Cobb sighed. "I'm all right as I can be, considering that I've just found out a member of my own staff was plotting to destroy the school building, get rid of you and me, and -" his voice trailed off. "Let's talk tomorrow, ok?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes." He began to unlock the door, and get out, and suddenly paused. "Cobb."

"What?"

Arthur paused, shaking his head. "Its ok. We'll talk tomorrow."

He began to walk back to his apartment. As he put the key in the door, it swung open. "Hey," he said, smiling tiredly as Ariadne pulled him down into an embrace.

"Hey." She kissed him on the forehead. "Come on."

At her urging, he walked into the kitchen, and he smiled as he saw that she'd prepared dinner. "Have a seat," she said.

"Thank you." He slumped down at the breakfast bar, watching as she began to toss sliced vegetables and meat into a pan. "I do appreciate this."

"What happened?"

Arthur swallowed. "I don't know if I can tell you," he admitted. "Its...complicated."

She nodded. "Oh." She looked at him. "Eames went home." She smiled. "Guess he really wanted pizza."

"I'm sorry." To his shock, he felt tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry-"

Ariadne turned off the gas as a sob escaped from the Vice Principal. She walked over, and put her arm around him. "Its ok," she said soothingly. "Its ok."

"No, it isn't." Arthur wiped his eyes. "I started all this."

"How?" her eyes narrowed in shock. "How did you start all this, Arthur?"

"By gatecrashing your date, it gave Fischer an idea-" suddenly, he broke off. "Wait a minute." Getting up, he hurried into the living room, and flicked on his laptop. Carefully, he began to pull up documents.

Swallowing, Ariadne began to continue to cook. Suddenly, she heard a shout "YES!"

"What is it?" she called.

Arthur hurried into the kitchen, his face flushed. "The guy from the district's office...the one who told me I was suspended..." he looked at her, swallowing nervously.

"Yes?" She shook her head, almost impatient. "What is it?"

"He works for Maurice Fischer." Arthur swallowed. "One day a week. In their production department."

"So what are you saying?"

"The date you had with Fischer - it was a set up." Arthur exhaled, slowly. "He wanted me to be there. He wanted to provoke me. And he did - and he used his Dad's employee to swing a suspension."

Ariadne's jaw dropped. "Arthur, he used me - you - all of us!"

"Yes," Arthur said, sadly. "He has." He rubbed his forehead. "To get me and Cobb out of the way so he could get a new school built, and have the staff at Fox discredited enough-"

"So he could be Principal." Ariadne slumped. "Arthur, we have to go to District."

"Oh, yes." Arthur said, nodding. "We do."

"But first," Ariadne said firmly. "We need to eat. You'll waste away otherwise!"

Arthur smiled, grateful that this beautiful young woman was in his life. "Thank you," he breathed, kissing her on the lips. "Thank you."

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