Author's Note: Another chapter for everyone. Hope you all enjoy. I really struggled with it... Anyway, a note about Cobb's mother-in-law, the grandmother. I've decided to keep her name as Josephine in this story. I feel like, for now, it would confuse a lot of people if I changed it now. Perhaps, in the future when the story's done, I'll go back and change it. But for my sanity's sake (and the giant clusterf^$k I see it being if I did change it right now), her name stays.

Thanks to all my awesome readers, reviewers, and the people who favorite/alert me. You're the best.

I wrote an interesting one-shot the other day called Our War, so check it out! :)

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Disclaimer: I own my own plot only.

"So we were right, then? She tried to commit suicide?" Ariadne watched Arthur and Dom both pace back and forth in the tiny meeting room they'd requested. Eames sat back in his chair next to hers, quiet and watching as well.

Dom rubbed his eyes wearily. "Yes. She's not awake yet, so we don't know why, though. She's weak."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. Miles was out for the morning, he came back and she was passed out in the kitchen. She didn't have any marks or anything. The doctor's pumped her stomach but didn't find anything, either. I'm not definite on what's going happening, for sure. They won't tell me everything, since I'm not Miles. And Miles..." Dom paused, eyes glancing out to the hall towards Josephine's room. "He's a wreck. He's in no shape to talk about it right now."

The four of them sat in silence a moment.

"You know what I just realized?" Eames asked to the room. He didn't wait for any of them to answer. "We talked to Yusuf and he admitted to providing her with the sedative to spike our belongings with. But we never asked him if he provided her with any other concoctions."

"Like things that are virtually undetectable or leave no trace..." Arthur muttered, eyes narrowing in thought. "Son of a bitch."

"Yusuf's sneaky like that. He knew we were too preoccupied to ask if he'd made more than the single sedative," Eames sat up in his chair and leaned his elbows on the narrow table. "Granted, he was also a bit preoccupied with his daughter, but everything he does is well thought out and given a purpose."

"Like if we knew what he'd given her, her figurative blood would be on his hands if she actually decided to use it?" Ariadne asked, confused.

"It's the idea that all fingers could point to him. The more people that know, the more fingers, the more guilt. If we didn't know, then if she decided to use it, we wouldn't possibly know it was something of his that did it. However, if he'd told us and she used it, then we could automatically assume it was his poison," Eames confirmed.

"Did she ask for this or did he just give it to her?" Dom asked Eames, who shrugged.

"No way to tell unless Josephine wakes up and she tells us. Yusuf's long gone by now."

"He has three days, though," Ariadne interjected.

Arthur shook his head. "There's no way he'd take that chance. The minute we left his place, he'd have started packing. If he's still in Mombasa, he's hiding out until he can get a flight out of there with Saira."

Dom looked to Arthur, confused. "Who's Saira?"

"His daughter," he said dismissively. "And there's absolutely no way to get a hold of him. He's smart enough to know how to cut all ties."

Dom stared at the others, bewildered. "Yusuf's got a... Wait. Off topic. What do we need right now?"

"We need for your mother-in-law to wake up so we can talk with her," Eames said, frowning. "As we told you, we can understand her reasoning with wanting revenge with you—and you agree—but we want to know why she would attack us like this. At this point, she's killed two extractors and a point man. Their deaths are pointless, Cobb."

"I know!" Dom said, throwing his hands in the air. "I don't know what to do, Eames. Seriously now. The only thing we can do is wait and hope she talks. You can't force it out of her and she's too fragile to be taking under with the PASIV. It would kill her."

"Dom," Miles stuck his head in the room, leaning heavily on the door. His eyes flickered to the others, settling back on his son-in-law quickly. "I need to speak with you a moment."

Cobb looked to the others before following Miles out the door to the bright hallway. "What's going on?"

"Phine's vitals have been...improving slightly while you were with the others. She's awake, but is barely talking. After she visited with the kids, she asked to see you."

Dom gave him a bewildered look. "She wanted me?"

"She specifically asked for 'that man', but it's clear on who that is." Miles gave him a somewhat apologetic grimace.

"Alright, I'll go now, I suppose. You've had your time with her already?"

Miles nodded. "I was with her when she woke up."

"And... Did she mention anything about what happened to you?" Dom grimaced at his own question.

"I-I'd prefer if you go speak with her now so I can sit with her, Dom."

Dom placed a hand on his shoulder a moment before heading into Josephine's room. The chairs were still near the bed, evidence of James and Phillipa's short stay, the monitors lit up and beeping told him something wasn't quite right. Her eyes, only open a touch, watched him walk in and stand at her side.

"Josephine," he whispered, looking down at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "Dominic. You took too long. Sit." She barely waited for him to comply before her raspy voice continued. "The solution I've taken is eating me alive. I've sacrificed time I'd rather spend talking with my grandchildren to waste on you. You will listen to me, and you will listen well. If you interrupt me, I will say nothing more and you will have nothing."

Her words dripped acid, which made goosebumps rise on his skin. He nodded, poised on the edge of his seat. He was worried not only for the words, but for what this ravenous poison she insisted she'd ingested was doing.

"You were a good man. Once upon a time. You were the kind of man I was proud to say was with my Mal, who was the father to my grandchildren. And then you got farther into the dreamscape Miles taught you. You went into that filthy extraction business. I did not mind the security, as long as you stayed safe for the children. But stealing, breaking into peoples' minds. It is like rape. You rape their subconscious for another person's profit. And you took Mal into it. You showed her something she should not have known. Just those few times, she told me about them, but with her mind... She wanted to push the boundaries. You knew this was how she was. You let her, and you went with, right to the edge.

"You took her to the edge of madness. You cultured her love of curiosity with the dreamscape and suddenly whisked it away. To take away something so addictive, so maddeningly beautiful was so cruel of you. You are the reason why my daughter went mad. You pushed over over that building's ledge that night, Dominic." Josephine's voice hitched, her breathing labored as she finished. The monitor next to her head picked its pace up, but leveled out as she controlled her puffs of breath.

"But... Why did you attack all of the dreaming community, Josephine? If I'm your problem?" Dom whispered, watching her eyes for something, anything. He hoped he could glean something extra from them, perhaps.

"Because you are all guilty of crimes. You all steal, you deceive, lie. You molest the minds of people you worm your way into. Whether they deserve it or not is not up to you to decide. I want all of you to know the same pain I do. My greatest nightmare was that I would lose my family. You and your hobby took away my family, Dominic. I should not have had to bury my daughter."

Dom shook his head. "I don't understand. Why are you punishing Phillipa and James like this? They love you and you're making them lose you like this..."

Josephine sniffed disdainfully. "They will lose me eventually. Do not guilt me. I have lived the last several years in unending pain. Even though this is not the ideal way to go, it is a way that I can guarantee you suffer. Mal has helped me plan this out. She knows what she is doing."

"Mal?"

"She visits me in my dreams. The one last place I can see her before crossing over. The last place on earth she can stay and you cannot get to her and kill her again."

– –

Ariadne left the others in search of the bathroom.

And that was how she came across Phillipa, who was sitting against the wall there, crying. Ariadne blanched slightly, unused to crying children. Taking a deep breath, she tiptoed to her and crouched down.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Phillipa looked up, blue eyes watery, cheeks pink and heated. "You were talking to my dad," she said instead of answering her.

Ariadne nodded. "I've worked with him, yes. I'm Ariadne. Is everything okay?"

"No," Phillipa stated, staring at the woman in front of her. "Everything is weird again."

"How do you mean?"

"Grandma is sick. That's why we're here. And I heard her talking to my dad. She said she sees mom. But mom is gone." Phillipa hiccuped. "She was yelling at him, saying it was his fault she's here. Said you're all bad too."

Ariadne frowned. This had obviously been a heated discussion, neither of them paying any attention to if anyone had been listening in. Hadn't Miles told them after he'd finished with Cobb that he was going to watch the children? She wondered where he and James were.

"She said I was bad?" The little girl nodded. "I don't think I'm bad... I just design buildings and stuff for a living. And go to school."

Phillipa looked down at her shoes. "I don't like it when grandma is like this to dad. She talked bad about him when he was gone working, too."

"I'm sorry," Ariadne sighed. "Sometimes people just will think whatever they want. No matter what."

"I don't like it. I think she's wrong too. Dad didn't do anything," she said again firmly. "But I'm sad that she's here, sick. Grandpa says she might have to stay here."

"How come you were listening to them talk, Phillipa?" Ariadne asked.

The little girl blushed and tried to look past Ariadne. "I was looking for dad."

Ariadne cocked her head, sensing a lie. "Really."

Phillipa's mouth puckered, her jaw set. "Yes."

"So you weren't trying to get a peak at me or any of the others your dad works with?"

Another flush of her cheeks. Ariadne decided to leave it alone.

"Let's go back to your brother and the others, okay? Just remember that sometimes people say things they don't always mean. Have you done that before?"

"Yes. I told dad once I liked his food. It was really bad, really," Phillipa frowned, serious. "Don't ever eat my dad's cooking, okay, Ariadne?" She stood and scrubbed the tears from her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

Standing, Ariadne promised she wouldn't. "Let's go find them now. Does that sound good?"

"I guess. Can you not tell dad that I heard them? He'd get mad, I think."

Ariadne nodded and opened the door. Stepping out, she bumped into Arthur, who let out a barely audible grunt.

"Ariadne, I've been looking for you..." He looked down and saw Phillipa, who was blushing again hotly, standing next to her. "Phillipa, Miles is looking for you."

"Where is he?" she asked, stepping past the two adults.

"Just around the corner, talking to a nurse," he told her, pointing. The girl thanked him, smiled at Ariadne, and walked away quickly, rounding the corner.

"You were looking for me?"Ariadne asked Arthur, turning to him.

He nodded. "Cobb just left Josephine's room. She admitted to it. But unfortunately, it doesn't do much good. She also admitted to taking a poison." He put his hand on the small of her back and started walking. "Let's go back to the conference room and talk this out with Eames and Cobb. We've got to make a decision."

"What kind of decision?" she asked worriedly. They reached their small room and opened the door as she spoke.

"The kind that could get Cobb killed," Eames said, watching them walk in. "If all the other extractors and the like know it was Cobb's family that did this for something he did within his personal life, they will hunt him down in retribution."

"That's absurd. It would be a never ending cycle."

"It's how the game of crime is played, Ariadne," Arthur said, sitting. He gestured for her to do the same. "This may not seem like it, and at times, we forget. You've been told this before. This is a crime network. A well-organized, high standard crime network. We all have to work together, but given the right opportunity, we'd sell each other out. Just like any other."

"There wouldn't necessarily be anyone who would avenge me, though," Cobb said from his seat, busy studying his hands in front of him. "I don't expect it, nor ask it. In fact, I would be a little angry if you did. It would be a waste and an unnecessary risk."

Ariadne gaped at him. "We can't just let them get you. Your children! You fought so hard for them! You risked our lives for them!"

"That's what we needed to talk about," Eames said, leaning in close to her. "You need to listen for it to work. We need you to agree to it."

Ariadne leaned away from him and the table. "Enlighten me."

"We want to tell everyone who it was, once she's passed on. Tell them that she is gone and the whole story, if they ask. They will, no doubt about that. They will all immediately call for Cobb's death; His life for the three Josephine took and the two who are damaged beyond repair. We will all pretend to wash our hands of him, but I will stay behind and take care of the job the others will want done. A mercy, really. Some, like Barty, are quite sadistic." Eames watched Ariadne's face as he spoke, waiting for her to crack and shout, spout one of her speeches.

Nothing.

"We'd make it look very convincing and we'd let Eames deliver the news of his 'conquest'. Cobb will disappear and his family will move, go under the radar after a certain amount of time," Arthur added.

"You expect your kids to go without you again for some undetermined amount of time while you shake off extractors?" she asked Cobb.

He shook his head. "Arthur said I would disappear. I could altar my appearance and identity and be around the children. Just for a month or two, then they would leave the house and we can all start over somewhere new."

"I'll put the entire plan together tonight so it doesn't sound so half-baked, Ariadne. The details will be there. I'd never let this happen otherwise," Arthur reassured her, watching her worriedly. "Dom and the kid's safety is important to all of us."

"This is insane," she said, shaking her head. "This had better work. I don't see another option if you insist on telling everyone her identity. Why not just say you found the person and say they've been dealt with?"

"Arthur's not the only point man out there. There are other many capable people out there. Granted, he's the best we've got, but there's a reason the others are in the business. They can track things down and put clues together. It would take time. Months or years, maybe, but it could be done," Eames explained.

"And Yusuf's not always the best with tying up loose ends," Arthur muttered. "I found quite a few things when I checked earlier. I've erased them, lucky him."

Ariadne stared at Eames and Arthur as they spoke to her, switching her attention to Cobb when they finished. She watched his face for any signs of worry. There were none. He trusted them completely with the plan.

Sighing, Ariadne said, "Fine. If you need help with this insane plan, let me know. But right now, I am scared out of my mind. Which, I don't know why or how that is possible. I've gone from being scared of my own subconscious to being scared of people who do what I do and who could kill me for nothing that I've done in less than thirty-six hours."

"It's best not to think too hard about all the schematics, Ari. And you've got nothing to worry about. There is some honor in it all," Eames patted her on the back. "No one will kill you over this."

Outside the conference room as they spoke, several people ran past, a light overhead flashing. Worried, Cobb stood and opened the door, letting in an alarm. "What's going on?"

A nurse pushing a cart shouted at him as he passed in broken English. "Come, Monsieur Cobb. Your family."

Throwing open the door, Cobb rushed out, leaving the three in the room to glance at each other worriedly.

"I... I should get started on the plan," Arthur said quietly, pulling his discarded legal pad to him.

A/N: And that is the latest chapter. What did you think? Reviews are lovely ways to tell me what you think, good and bad and everything in between.

Of course, reviews do give birth to dragons. The unicorn train has left the station. Welcome to the Dragon Express. The fare? One review. (What is with me and mythical creatures?)

We're coming on the home stretch, guys. Not sure if I actually can wrap this up in one more chapter. If that's the case, this is definitely going beyond the holiday... YAY. haha. We'll see. Now, I'm off to go catch up on my favorite stories. :)

Anyway, story recommendation is Matryoshka by mixed. vinyl