N.A: My beta had to go to bed and I know how hard it is to wait for a fic update, so here's the raw version. Hope you don't mind. OH! I also corrected Chapter 1, I had no idea dialogues in english were between "", in portuguese we use - to start a dialogue xD Sorry for that...
This one goes for my lovely beta reader! 3u!

Chapter 2

Cobb

"Once upon a dream, I was dying for you
Tating only sweet, drinking memories of you
Your hand touches my cheek as you whisper softly

Don't forget to breathe
Our love will be redeemed
And when you take my hand
You'll know exactly where I am"

~ Don't Forget To Breath by Bitter:Sweet

Sugar plum? SUGAR PLUM? Who the hell did he thought he was? Ariadne was beyond mad, way beyond. She hated Peter with an intensity all too new for her. How was it possible that Arthur had been friends with this so called Peter? Ariadne took a deep breath and continued looking at the maze Cobb had done almost seven years ago.

Seven years. That would have been more or less by the time Phillipa was born. She was going to be seven that year; she had asked Ariadne for a make-up box for her birthday. Cobb had been shocked; Ariadne had laughed and promised her that she would get her the make-up box.

It had been only last month and now it just seemed like decades ago. She took another deep breath and massaged her front-head a bit. She was tired and scared. She better started admitting it; after all, it wouldn't do her any good to pretend she had everything under control.

Two boys passed in front of her, laughing and running. They were wearing a red and green t-shirt and shorts; for the looks of it they were playing tag. Mere projections, shadows of real people or people made up by Cobb's mind. Ariadne smiled at Cobb who was not far behind her looking around, probably enjoying his work.

She and Cobb were looking first hand at the garden. Cobb always destroyed his physical mazes, but kept them in memory. He had trained it so well that he could recreate all his mazes. "Now, that's something." Ariadne though.

So they had plugged themselves to the machine and were now walking in a beautiful garden. It was spring time, flowers bloomed everywhere and there were butterflies, lots of them really.

It seemed like a fairy tale garden. One Disney would have created no doubt. She smiled again when Cobb approached her with a smile. "So what do you think, Ariadne?"

"It's a beautiful garden…" she smiled "straight out of a Disney animation…"

Cobb laughed. He had gotten younger, Ariadne thought, being with his children had done wonders to him and his personality. He was more relaxed, he could sleep without the machine, and even had gotten himself a normal job.

"Well, that was the point… You see, in that particular mission we wanted the target to believe she was sleeping…"

Ariadne blinked. "Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

Cobb nodded. He was wearing a blue shirt and had jeans. Which was odd but Ariadne didn't have the time to think about it.

"You see, the mission was supposed to be quite simple, we had to steal the plans to a heist that the mob was planning…"

Ariadne blinked. The mob? They had stolen things from the mob? Now that was something new. "Nothing too fancy, you see, the Godfather" Cobb smiled "had a granddaughter, he simply adored her, he took her everywhere, she helped him smuggle stuff in airports and other international spots, she had done so since she was four, first thing she smuggled was a living parrot on her backpack, looking trough the x-ray, the cops thought it was a stuffed toy…"

Ariadne laughed imagining a little girl with a pink Barbie backpack with a living parrot inside fooling the cops at the airport, Cobb continued talking "He told her everything; she knew every single plan, so we knew she was going to be protected against a dream heist…"

Ariadne nodded. That only seamed right, if it was her granddaughter she would do the same. Cobb took a deep breath and passed a hand trough his blondish hair. "That was why we created a dream garden, something she would knew immediately that it wasn't real, she would think it was just a normal dream… Arthur and I were sat in one of the parking benches pretending to be two friends having a chat. Peter was controlling everything, looking for a safe, while Mary was impersonating the girl's boyfriend…"

Ariadne blinked. "She was a forger?"

Cobb looked surprised at her "You didn't knew?"

Ariadne shocked her head. "I had no idea…"

Cobb raised his shoulders slightly. "She wasn't bad; Eames would take her down everyday of the week though…" Ariadne smiled and let Cobb continue "So, Mary was pretending to be the boyfriend and they were walking in the park, talking and laughing, Mary was pretty good at telling jokes, I'll give her that…"

Ariadne took a deep breath before cutting Cobb's conversation short "So basically, she was to believe she was safe and she could talk about everything because it was real a dream and not a fake dream…" Cobb nodded "But something went wrong, Cobb… What was it?"

Cobb looked at the sky before taking a deep breath and saying "The water fountain, Mary passed too close to it…"

Ariadne looked at the fountain; it was in the middle of the park. The surface was plain; it would work like a mirror. "The girl saw Mary's reflection…"

"Yes and since her subconscious was trained to attack that's what it did…" Ariadne knew the feeling of a angry subconscious all too well, she still had nightmares with Mal stabbing her from time to time, Cobb was still talking "And well, seven years ago, Arthur and I didn't have the same stamina we have today, we did our best, but it was rough, Peter found the vault took the information and escaped into the crowd, we where trying a new sedative, not as strong as the one we used in the Fisher job, but one that worked almost the same, dying there, in that dream, would lead us strait to limbo" Cobb took a deep breath "They got Mary first, I tried to get to her, but she would only scream for Peter as the girls Private Security would chase her with guns" Cobb grinned "Arthur tried too, to help her, the subconscious understood that he was a treat too so they shoot him, almost trough the heart, he bleed a lot…"

Ariadne looked at Cobb, his eyes were distant he was replaying the whole scene in his mind. "Anyhow, I manage to keep him alive until the kick so we both got out of the dream…"

"But Mary didn't…"

Cobb nodded, his hands in his pockets. "We tried to wake her up, Peter was nowhere to be found, he packed and leaved while we where trying to get to Mary. Sakura, our chemist, started yelling that the girl we were heisting had shot herself in the dream, or something, because her vital signs were getting stronger; she was going to wake up. We packed as fast as we could; Mary was still connected to the machine, we knew that if we disconnected her, she would die on the spot; we didn't know what to do…" Cobb seamed sad, Ariadne knew that Arthur and him didn't knew Mary all that well but she appreciated the fact that they were human, and that they felt sorry for her. "Sakura had some strong sedative, which would keep Mary dreaming without the machine, she's as good as Yusuf in that sort of things. We sedated Mary, anonymously called an ambulance saying that a girl in the street had had a stroke. And we shamelessly left her on a bench for the ambulance to take her…"

Ariadne looked at Cobb that smiled. A sad smile but a smile, "We tracked her to the hospital and found that Sakura's sedative had worked, she was in a coma, but still alive. There was nothing we could do, she was in limbo and she only wanted Peter, so there was no use in Arthur, Sakura or me to go and fetch her, she wouldn't come…"

"And you would put yourselves in danger for nothing…"

"Exactly…"

Ariadne took a deep breath. "But Cobb, even if you disconnected her straight from the machine, no sedative at all, she would still go to limbo…"

Cobb nodded. "Back then, we didn't know half the stuff we know now…" Cobb raised his shoulders slightly "Dream heisting was only beginning to get a name and being recognised as a 'job'…" He smiled at Ariadne "We were amateurs, really… Except maybe for Sakura and Peter… They were good…"

Ariadne sat on a bench and looked around. The garden was alive, butterflies, children playing, and water falling. Looking at Cobb that was still up she said "You're really talented…"

Cobb shocks his shoulders and his head.

"I gave up on this Ariadne, after Mal… You know it better than anyone else; this is just too much for me…"

Ariadne nodded. Yes, she knew what he was talking about.

"Did you talk with James and Phillipa when you arrived?"

Ariadne smiled remembering James and Phillipa running towards her and asking for a hug and a kiss and if she had brought them candy. She loved her nice and nephew. And yes, she had brought them candy. Even thou Professor Miles and his wife disapproved entirely of sugar. She was almost sure that was the reason she and Arthur always brought the kids candy.

"A bit…"

Cobb smiled, the smile didn't last thou. "They asked me where Uncle Arthur was, it's strange for them to see you without him…" he looked at Ariadne "They asked me if you had a fight and if that was why he didn't come."

Ariadne looked back at Cobb, she smiled sadly. Had it been that simple and she would be talking with her best-friend, not Cobb.

"I know, when you were talking to Professor Miles about the machine, Phillipa asked me where Arthur was…"

Cobb rolled his eyes. He didn't like the idea of his in-laws living so close but Phillipa and James were too found of them. So Cobb had no choice but to almost live with them. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that he was working and that I was going to pick him up later, and that one of this days we would go and catch a movie all the four of us…"

Cobb grinned. "Trying to convince her?"

Ariadne shocked her head. "No. Trying to convince myself actually…"

"It can't be that bad Ariadne…"

He was trying to reassure her but she wasn't in the mood for it. She was sad and feeling lost but she didn't want pity. "Well, it isn't good, Cobb… Can you assure me that it's even possible to enter an unconscious person limbo? Her brain activity is down to a minimum…"

Cobb smiled. "Sounds as easy to do as an Inception…"

Ariadne laughed.

"So, you are going to pick Arthur and take my kids to the movies…"

Ariadne nodded. "That's the plan…"

"And if you can't get Arthur?"

She stood silent for a minute, a world of possibilities running trough her mind and then she replied "Don't you dare try to pick us Cobb…"

Cobb raised his shoulders slightly. "If I can get Saito…"

Ariadne shook her head. It was not comparable and they both knew it. "Saito was your ticket to your children, had he died and everything would be for nothing…" she took a deep breath "Now, if Arthur and I don't come back you don't lose much… Movie tickets are what? 25$ for the three of you plus popcorn?"

Cobb sighed. "I would lose two good friends and James and Phillipa would lose their favourite aunt and uncle…"

Ariadne laughed. She was trying to keep a light mood.

"Don't you let Eames hear you say that! You know he has to be the favourite uncle."

Cobb smiled and nodded, it was true, every time Eames came to visit he always said to James and Phillipa that their favourite uncle had arrived. Looking at Ariadne who was lost in her own thoughts Cobb said "I'm only asking Ariadne, if you are 100% sure you can go there, do the job, pick Arthur up and don't lose yourself…"

"I'm 100% sure that I'll succeed or get stuck in there trying…"

Cobb nodded and sited next to Ariadne before saying "You know, the first time I saw you, I knew you were a smart girl" Ariadne smiled back at him, "Miles wouldn't introduce me to you if you weren't, but I never imagine that you were this strong or courageous…"

Ariadne smiled. "I have this innocent look…"

"Yeah, you look a lot like that girl from 'Juno'…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. She could recall her mother, her friends and even Arthur commenting the same. "Argh! Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Maybe it's the true…"

"Bah!"

Cobb smiled again and looked at the garden.

"You know, Arthur was lucky to see trough your innocent look, before anyone else, I mean…"

Ariadne lost herself in memories while replying to Cobb. "He was there when I awoke from my first dream experience…" Cobb smiled. "And he comforted me after Mal stabbed me…"

"Sorry about that…"

She raised her shoulders slightly. "It's ok, it's not like you could control it and you did your best to stop it… Anyway, Arthur was there all along, he taught me about totems, showed me his, told me how to create one…" she could feel her bishop in her back pocket, she never left him, if she could shower with it, she would, she smiled a bit "He taught me paradoxes and how to create perfect mazes… When we arrived in America he had all planed for me, where I was going to stay, who I was going to visit, it was so strange and freaking scary, but at the same time, it felt like it was his way of showing me he cared… In the end he saw it because he was with me every step of the way…"

Cobb nodded before adding "Probably the fact that he's a Point-Man and has learned to study and read people at a glance helped…"

Ariadne smiled. "Probably…"

They stood silent for a couple of minutes before Cobb asked "So what does Peter want?"

"Something only Mary knows" Ariadne answered "Apparently Mary believed that 'Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead', so you can see Peters problem…"

Cobb whistled. "Now that's unexpected, I never imagine Mary to be a murdered… In real live at least…"

Ariadne looked Cobb in the eyes, he could see she was shocked, like it had been him telling her that Mary was a murder and not the other way around. "I know! When Arthur first told me about her, I pictured her almost like a damsel in distress, waiting for Prince Charming Peter to come and pick her up, now she doesn't seam so innocent at all…"

The boys passed them again making Ariadne smile. She wondered for a minute if she lost Arthur, would he become another Mal? Cobb took her away from her thoughts saying "As far as I know, Arthur and I only worked with her that one time, so we couldn't have guessed that either…"

"I wonder what she knows…"

"Not the mobster's plans, Peter took those, and he's not going after her for love, that I can assure you…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. "You don't need to, I know that…"

Cobb stood silent for a minute, probably analysing all he knew about Mary and what she could possible have found out. "She must know something really big… How much is he paying you?"

Ariadne took a deep breath. "He's giving me the chance to go and get Arthur and if I succeed he's never going to bother us again…"

Cobb blinked. "You believed that?"

"No" Ariadne said with a smile "that why I asked for a big fat pay check to go along with it…"

Cobb laughed. "That's always nice…"

"Cobb?"

Her voice was serious. He didn't like it. "Yes?"

"If Arthur and I don't return I want you to have the money, I want you to have everything we own…"

He blinked. "Ariadne…"

She smiled, silent tears running trough her eyes. "So you can give it to James and Phillipa… I mean they are what? Two years apart? How are you going to put them trough College, that's expensive, go by me…"

He wanted to reach out to her and comfort her, but he didn't know how. This wasn't the architect student he had met four years ago. This was Ariadne, Architect, and Arthur's wife. She wasn't a kid he could hug, like Phillipa or James and give a kiss in the front head and tell her that 'everything was going to be all right'. "Ariadne…"

Ariadne cleaned her tears rapidly. "And I bet you wasted a tone of money trying to go back to them, you mustn't have that must left…"

"Even so…"

"How do you think Mary's limbo looks like?"

Cobb blinked. He knew she wasn't going to bring the matter of 'The Will' again. Ariadne took a deep breath; she had said what she wanted to say. Cobb raised his shoulders slightly. "I have no idea… Limbo is a shared dream state, you saw the city Mal and I constructed because I was connected to the machine, and because we took fifty years build the whole thing, it was a very strong limbo, when I returned there, Saito had been there for sixty years so limbo was then constructed by him and his ideas…"

She nodded. "So there's no way to know what Mary's limbo looks like…"

Cobb sighed. "Yes."

She looked at the clouds, so fluffy that they could almost be made of candy. "It can be anything…"

"Yes."

Ariadne grinned. "Even the world?"

Cobb nodded. "Even the whole world… She has been there for the past seven years… Seven real life years, that's too much time in limbo…"

"Hmmm… Maybe she took this garden with her…"

Cobb raised from the bench and looked at her. "Ariadne?"

She looked curious at him. "Yes?"

Cobb smiled. "More than the money, Phillipa and James want their aunt and uncle back, and they want to go with you to the movies, so do see if you return, or we'll have to go and pick you up…"

Ariadne blinked. "We?"

Cobb was still looking at her. "Off course or do you think Eames and Yusuf are going to stand back and wait while I go down there all by myself? Yusuf had that major crush on you…"

Ariadne sensed her face heating and got up from the bench as well. "Don't you remind me of that…"

Cobb laughed before adding, "And you know Eames! He adores you and Arthur, that's why he teases you two… You don't see him teasing me…"

Ariadne nodded. It was true; Eames never teased Cobb, well, not as much as he teased her and Arthur anyway. "I'll do my best Cobb…"

Cobb looked serious at her. "Let's hope, that your best is enough Ariadne…"

Peter looked around; he seemed surprised, in a good way. "Perfect" he said "even Cobb wouldn't have recreated it better…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. It was the second time in less than five hour that she was in that garden and she was growing sick of it.

She looked at Peter and tried to control her rage as she said "When are we going in? And why do you want this garden for? If she's in limbo, that's where we will be going…"

He looked back at her, looking her in the eyes. "Ariadne, dear, are you afraid that dear Arthur will die? That's sweet, sugar plum, but don't worry, Mary's been in limbo for seven years…"

She controlled herself as best as she could. She hated "sugar plum" more than she hated "lover" now. "I know how much time she has been in coma! And I know that makes her older than freaking Dumbledore…"

"Had he not been killed, he could have lived longer…"

Aridane rolled her eyes. "I'm not amused…"

Peter smiled and fixed his tie. That man had a thing for his ties. "Ariadne, Mary's still alive, for all we know she might as well have uncovered the secret to immortality, so relax, will you darling?"

Ariande closed her fists. "I don't believe she's alive in limbo…."

Peter rolled his eyes. "She has to be or her mental activity would have stopped, she's dreaming…" he raised his shoulders slightly "believe it if you wish or if you prefer to imagine Arthur lost in a big black whole, that's up to you, sugar…"

After a while and seeing she wasn't going to reply Peter added "Don't be like that Ariadne, it took you less than twelve hours to create this after I took Arthur…"

Ariadne crossed her arms, her lips tight, her face all too serious. "Actually, it took me eight hours and forty five minutes…"

He blinked. She knew he wasn't expecting it. "Really? Now, that's impressive…" he laughed "I'm starting to think I made a bad arrangement with you, I truly regret saying I would let you two go…"

"It's not like it takes too much talent…"

Peter nodded. "True, but it takes a strong passion…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. "Don't play sweet with me…"

"I'm trying since the begin sugar plum, you haven't fallen yet…"

She looked at his grin, her stomach wanted to puck. "I would be happy if you stopped…"

"Last time I checked you weren't married…"

"Last time I checked I wasn't interested…" she looked him in the eyes "how much time before we go in?"

He looked at his watch. "Two hours, given or taken… Some arrangements are still in order…"

Ariadne nodded. "You just get me there!"

He laughed. "Why love, I'll even shoot you straight to limbo… If you are in a hurry…"

She smiled at him, a fake smile, so fake that it even hurt her face to do it. "Don't bother; I can get there myself after shooting you…"

He smiled back at her. "Oh my, so cooperative… I'm starting to like you even more…"

End of Chapter 2

N.A: I hope I didn't make a lot of mistakes =/