A/N: Ahh! I'm so sorry that this is late! Life has apparently decided to catch up with me in the form of moving and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's new Pendergast book... To be honest, I had this chapter done for awhile, but I needed to take a short break in order to add some necessary tweaks. Chapter 5 is shaping up, and I think it'll be up next week. Thanks to all those who reviewed my last chapter! I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own the genius that is Inception. It and all its characters belong to Christopher Nolan, but the rest of these dreamers are mine :)

Arthur woke up with a strange sense of wrongness, but at the same time everything felt perfectly right. A feeling of serenity settled over him like a blanket, reassuring and vaguely familiar.

The first thing he noticed was that he was not in his bed. The pastel colored bed linens and pink camisole dangling from the headboard indicated that he wasn't even in his own room. This was confirmed when he glanced over to see two pairs of glass doors opened on one of the walls, admitting a gentle breeze and the first hint of sunlight into the room.

The second thing he noticed was that his pillow, which he had wrapped an arm around, was breathing, slowly and evenly. Its gentle warmth was pressed tightly against his chest.

And the third thing he noticed was the faint smell of vanilla and lavender tickling his nose. It was a scent that his brain had gotten used to long ago, but the lack of exposure until recently threw his head into a spin.

Arthur blinked a few moments to allow his brain to catch up and slowly looked to the "pillow" his arms had pulled back to his chest. A petite figure with tousled curly brown hair slept peacefully next to him, back pressed flush against his chest. The pale yellow sheets that adorned the bed had slipped down to reveal the purple and yellowing bruises scattered across Ariadne's ribs. Arthur's eyes narrowed at the sight.

He had remembered seeing them last night, paying close attention to them and being sure to treat the architect with extra care. But now, in the gentle light of the morning, they stood out in sharp relief, and he couldn't help running a gentle thumb over one particularly nasty contusion. Ariadne shivered and he halted his caress then smirked ever so slightly before leaning forward to plant a gentle kiss on the bruise.

"Mmm that tickles," mumbled Ariadne, her eyes still closed.

Arthur chuckled softly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"Uh huh I'm sure," she replied opening her eyes and rolling onto her back to look at him. "Morning."

"Good morning," Arthur returned and kissed her lips gently. God she was beautiful. Her mussed hair spread into a delicate halo across the pillow to frame a slightly flushed face and rich, brown eyes shining with contentment and something else that Arthur thought he might never see again.

She scrunched up her nose at him, "What?"

"Nothing," he said.

She knew him too well, "Liar." Arthur's smirk grew into a full grin as he once again brought his lips to hers, this time deepening the kiss far past the point of being chaste. He could feel her smile into his mouth as she brought her arms up around his neck to pull him closer. He was just running a hand up the inside of one of her thighs when a buzzing sound abruptly broke into the heady atmosphere.

Ariadne broke away with an apology and a smile and then let out a groan of annoyance as she rolled away from Arthur to pick up the still Blackberry on the bedside table. Arthur noticed with some amusement that next to the phone was an overturned bronze bishop. He contented himself by propping his body up with an elbow and watching the curve of the architect's spine disappear into a gentle curve into the sheets. Despite living in Italy under nearly constant sunlight, her skin was still as pale as ever.

"Shit," he heard her mutter. Immediately he was on the alert.

"What?" he asked, his professionalism coming out already.

"It's nothing," she said and sent a quick text before rolling back over to face him again. "Just… when we go downstairs this morning, you have to promise me not to flip out."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Why…"

"Just trust me, Arthur."

"Always." Her eyes softened and she reached up to kiss him. "We should probably get up."

Arthur nodded. With the last extraction team supposedly arriving today, the real work would begin, but that didn't stop him from placing a series of kisses along the column of her neck first. He left her sighing on the bed and began to hunt for the pajamas he was wearing last night. He really needed to get back before Cobb, or God forbid, Eames woke up to find him in such a disheveled state and out of his room. Arthur located his boxer briefs and pants soon enough, but the t-shirt eluded him. He was just about to cross over to the corner of the room piled high with sketches, when a small whistle beckoned.

Arthur turned and found himself smirking at Ariadne, who was currently drowning in his t-shirt. "Looking for something?" she grinned impishly. In a quick motion, he leaped onto the bed, automatically locating that sensitive spot just beneath her ear, and running his hands up the shirt to remove it. He allowed them to just barely graze her breasts as she arched into him and he removed the t-shirt from her with a flourish. Another buzzing sound interrupted the two lovers, and this time both groaned at the sound.

"Careful," Ariadne admonished. "The point man is starting to slack off."

He didn't answer but nipped her bottom lip in response before moving off to pull on the shirt. As she checked her phone, Arthur reached into one of his pockets to remove his totem and rolled it across the matching bedside table. The loaded die verified his query of reality with its six stark white dots.

"You're just now checking?" the architect inquired.

"You already did?"

She grinned sheepishly, "I may have tipped it a couple of times after the shower earlier." Arthur smirked and leaned forward to give her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"I'll see you later," he said and she nodded as he headed toward the door, trying to avoid the mess of papers on the floor that they had knocked around and stepped on in their earlier enthusiasm. Arthur looked back once more to see Ariadne already out of bed and wrapped in a sheet, and at that moment, he could almost see the Greek mistress of the labyrinth of legend standing there and heading toward the bathroom. He shook his head once and then turned to open the door and hurry toward his own room, muttering a prayer under his breath that his team would still be asleep.

As luck would have it, Arthur's team was still sound asleep that morning when he crept past their rooms to enter his own. He was able to shower (the shower with Ariadne a few hours ago really didn't count considering there wasn't much bathing involved), shave, and dress in another one of the tailored suit and shirt sets. Just like the suit from yesterday, the three-piece Armani fit perfectly. Ariadne really did know him too well, although she really was the only one who knew the man behind the point man. Even Cobb had never reached the same level of confidante as his successor. Arthur stopped quickly to thread in a set of cuff links and check his carefully gelled hair in the bathroom mirror before heading down to the kitchen in search of coffee.

Arthur entered the kitchen to find two of his teammates, Cobb and Eames, in conversation with a few members from another team at a small table set off from the rest of the kitchen. The point man remembered them from last night's rapid introductions as Graham and Lee. Another pair of men, Demetri and Kai, were just passing through the kitchen doors to the outdoor terrace, plates laden with food. After a quick scan, he found the woman he was looking for.

Ariadne stood with a cup of coffee next to the kitchen island, which was covered in various breakfast items. She wore similar clothes to those he had seen her in yesterday, but she had swapped out the sneakers for low heeled calf-high boots and the black scarf for a white scarf to contrast her royal purple t-shirt. Her still-wet hair was pulled up in a bun at the back of her head, a few tendrils escaping to tickle the back of her neck.

At the moment, the architect was attempting to have a quiet conversation with Nikki, but an unfamiliar man kept cutting in. The irritation was clear on the faces of both women, but the egotistical smirk on the man's face indicated that he was either completely ignorant of the situation or just didn't care. Arthur was guessing the latter.

"Aw now, sweetheart," the man addressed Ariadne. "You can't keep denying your feelings for me. It's unhealthy."

Ariadne snorted and Nikki rolled her eyes. "Nikki, have you heard from Jael? I heard she was in New Zealand somewhere, but I haven't heard from her lately," said Ariadne.

"She sent an e-mail my way about a week ago but—"

Nikki was cut off by the goon to the side. "I'm not accustomed to being ignored here," he growled.

"Sam, don't you have some place better to be? I don't know, like taking a long walk off a short pier?" suggested the petite architect coolly.

The man's eyes darkened and leaned in to leer at her. "Why don't we take this conversation somewhere more private, baby," countered Sam.

"Go fuck yourself," she returned loudly. Conversation in the kitchen ceased immediately, and Arthur could feel more than see the eyes of Cobb and Eames turn to focus in hostility on the brash man. The point man was too focused on the creep across from him, who was reaching out a hand to take hold of one of Ariadne's wrists.

Arthur didn't even feel his feet moving, but before Sam could get a hold of Ariadne, Arthur found himself between the two and giving her a quick peck on the lips. A strangled sound from past her head somewhere gave good indication that Eames had choked on his coffee. Arthur smirked at Ariadne's somewhat stunned expression before snatching her coffee out of her hand to take a sip.

"Hey," she protested with a small laugh.

Arthur made a face, "I'm sorry, I was looking for a cup of coffee, not a cup of milk with a dash of coffee." Ariadne stuck her tongue out at him and then moved to the coffee pot to pour him a cup; her grateful glance was not lost on him. Arthur heard a sputtering sound and turned to look at Sam. The man probably would have been considered handsome if his face wasn't twisted in fury.

"Who the hell are you?" Sam spat.

"Her boyfriend," Arthur returned.

"Ariadne doesn't have a boyfriend."

"Sam's right. I don't have a boyfriend," interjected Ariadne. Arthur turned to look at her, and she grabbed his tie to pull him down and give him a full kiss on the lips. "You're certainly not a 'boy,' and you're definitely more than a friend."

Arthur resisted the urge to chuckle and accepted his cup of coffee with a nod of thanks. A choked sound of anger prompted them both to look at the rejected suitor. He sputtered indignantly before abruptly turning on his heel and striding out of the kitchen. There was a beat of silence before a peal of laughter from Nikki broke it. Ariadne grinned at Arthur and re-straightened his tie.

"Excuse me, but can someone please tell me what the hell just happened," demanded Eames. Arthur turned to the table to see Eames with a stunned expression on his face. Arthur had to hold back a snicker. Eames probably couldn't have looked more stunned if a stampede of elephants ran through the room. Cobb, on the other hand, just had a bemused expression on his face and shook his head slowly.

"Problem, Eames?" Arthur asked with a small smirk.

"Yeah actually. I'd like to know why exactly you two are snogging."

"That's what people who are seeing each other do, Eames," said Ariadne slowly, as if she were speaking to a small child. Eames gaped at them.

"Well it's about time," muttered Cobb. The architect and the point man both turned to stare at him. "Oh come on!" he said. "You two were so miserable without each other, it was agonizing to be around. It was only a matter of time before you got back together. Although, Arthur, your timing sucks."

Arthur opened his mouth to protest but stopped when he felt Ariadne start to shake in silent laughter.

"He's right you know," piped in Nikki. "Ariadne, you could be an absolute nightmare sometimes—moping around and listening to that awful jazz music for hours." This time when Ariadne started to respond, Arthur started to quietly laugh, and she sent him a glare.

"Pay up, Eames," Cobb said, holding out a hand.

"Bloody hell…" complained Eames, pulling out his wallet. "Really, Ariadne, you couldn't hold out for one more night?"

"You two were betting on us?" exclaimed Ariadne.

"The bet started the day after you two called it off," the forger replied and placed more than a couple of twenties in Cobb's hand. Arthur scowled at them both, but after a moment, Ariadne shrugged and reached to grab a bagel off one of the platters. "Glad to see everyone was so concerned," she sniped.

"Ariadne, don't be like that," started Nikki. "I mean at least they didn't lock you two in a closet like Henry was planning on doing." Ariadne spun around to stare wide-eyed at the woman.

"What?"

Tiny strains of music suddenly broke through whatever tirade Ariadne was about to unleash. As Nikki pulled her phone from her pocket, the music resolved into Juvenile's "Back That Ass Up."

"Speak of the devil," said Nikki and answered the phone. "Hi, baby. Mind telling me where the hell you are?" Her slightly too sweet voice promised a sound rebuking later.

"Henry," called Ariadne loudly. "I'm going to kill you."

Nikki laughed, "Did you hear that?" There was some silence as he replied. Nikki turned to Ariadne. "He says what else is new."

Ariadne rolled her eyes and began to slather cream cheese on her bagel. Nikki continued the conversation while Arthur quietly bickered with Eames about being appropriately professional, and Cobb and Ariadne struck up another conversation with Graham and Lee. A few minutes later, Nikki ended her conversation and walked over to the group. "Henry said to go ahead and call Maurice to send on the others from the Campania house," she said to Ariadne, who nodded in response.

"He also said, and I quote 'Bruised ribs my ass. Get your shoes on and be ready to go in ten, you complete and total pussy'."

Ariadne's eyes narrowed in anger. "Oh is that what he said," she spat through gritted teeth. Nikki nodded. "Nik, your husband is an asshole."

"Oh, I'm well aware."

With a huff, Ariadne marched to the sink to deposit her mug and then stalked to the door, disappearing without another word. The men watched her leave and turned to Nikki in curiosity. The Boston native laughed and said, "Oh ignore that. She and Henry have always been like this. He used to always say the most horrible things to her to get her to go running with him, but then again, she's also the only person who can keep up with him most of the time."

"Running?" asked Arthur.

"Yeah. It's actually how I met them," she replied. "Ariadne and Henry were both in Philadelphia doing research for a job I guess, but I was walking home and Henry literally ran into me—spilled my groceries everywhere. He blames Ariadne for distracting him, but she takes credit for introducing us since she picked the route."

"I never pictured Ariadne for the running type," Eames said, looking pointedly at Arthur.

"I think it helps calm her nerves or something," said Nikki. "The only times she's gone out without Henry are when she's stressed out about something."

"Or spent an entire night consuming about a million calories worth of tequila," Ariadne drily interrupted. The architect had changed into a loose t-shirt, running shoes, and a very short pair of shorts. She pointedly ignored the point man's gaze running slowly up her bare legs

"That was totally not my fault," claimed Nikki.

"It was totally your fault," Ariadne shot back. "It was your bachlorette party!"

"Oh whatever," Nikki waved her off. "Go burn off some energy… that is if you have any left after last night," and the woman smiled wickedly at Ariadne. To her credit, Ariadne kept her blush to a slight flushing of her cheeks, but that didn't stop Eames from roaring with laughter and Cobb soon joining in. Arthur sent a death glare toward his two teammates, which unfortunately just made it worse. With her chin held high, Ariadne shot the taller woman a one-finger salute and turned on her heel for the door.

"Gentlemen, I guess I better round up the rest of the troops," said Nikki, and she also turned for the door. "The other teams should be here by early evening, so I'm guessing Henry will wait until then to call a meeting." The five men nodded and watched their hostess leave, dialing as she went.

"Any idea what di Rossi has in mind?" asked Eames.

"Absolutely no idea," said Graham. "We've been here a week already, and Henry's barely dropped any clues as to what he's got up his sleeve. Not even Nikki knows what's going on."

Eames let out a huge breath, "Well then, I guess we wait."

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, Arthur wandered around the villa. Although he had taken a quick walk around last night, it was mostly to see if he could catch a glimpse of Ariadne, and he hadn't really taken anything in. So in typical lovable "Uncle Arthur" fashion, he had submitted to Phillipa's and James' whirlwind tour of the castle with patience. He made sure to appropriately nod in approval at the swimming pool and exclaim in subdued delight at the children's tower bedroom. He did shoot a genuine smile at Ariadne though as he spied her breathing heavily on the back veranda, face flushed in exertion, and crowing loudly over her victory beating Henry back to the villa. The man Arthur assumed was their host lay sprawled out on the steps of the large porch. The grin she sent him in return nearly took his breath away.

A short while later, Arthur found himself in the large salon of the northern side of the villa. He walked in to find about a dozen people, most of which he had met the night before, including two others he had worked with on previous jobs—Yahn (a mechanic) and Petra (an extractor). He gave slight head nods to both in a polite greeting before heading over to an unoccupied couch on the far side of the room. Conversation in the room was light, mostly concerning the tricks of their respective trades or possible ideas they thought di Rossi might have for dissuading Cobol.

Shortly after Arthur walked in, Eames, Cobb, and the Greek twins entered the salon. Upon seeing Petra, the twins let out a huge shout and promptly swept her off the couch into enthusiastic arms. Eames and Cobb continued into the room to take seats on the couch next to Arthur amidst yells of delight in rapid Greek. "Hello darling," greeted Eames. "Enjoy your tour?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Kids?" asked Cobb.

"Wanted to go to the pool, but convinced them to wait until after the meeting was over," replied Arthur.

"I swear, I'll never hear the end of it about that pool," muttered Cobb. "What the hell did you convince them to do instead?"

"They're building a fort in the parlor. I promised them Mr. Eames would be the first to try it out." Eames' smile disappeared pretty quickly.

A few minutes later, Deacon, seemingly recovered from his terrifying ordeal the day before, walked in and began walking toward his extraction team. But upon seeing their matching scowls and icy stares, he abruptly did a ninety-degree turn and settled uneasily in an empty armchair.

Space was rapidly filling up in the room as more people flooded in and took seats, but there was still no sign of any of Henry's team, including Ariadne. At one point, Arthur noticed Sam skulk into the room, taking a seat as far as possible from the suited point man. The volume of conversation began to increase until it suddenly came to a halt as a tall man in his early thirties appeared in the doorway.

His old-fashioned, regal bearing clearly indicated his entitled upbringing even if no one was able to tell from his thick black hair, olive complexion, and small, black goatee, neatly trimmed. Arthur had to hold back a grin. The Italian nobleman was dressed in jeans and a striped button down, long-sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His skinny tie bespoke of a casual hand toward formality. He looked considerably better than the nearly unconscious figure Arthur had seen earlier that afternoon.

Following Henry came Nikki, Ariadne, McAllister, Tim, and the man Arthur had seen Ariadne in the hall with last evening. The six of them brought the final number in the room to twenty-two, probably the most extractionists in one place ever. Di Rossi gave a small jerk of his head, and with the exception of Nikki, his teammates fanned out to take seats throughout the room. Ariadne smoothly crossed the Persian rug of the parlor and squeezed onto the couch between Arthur and Eames. Arthur edged slightly to the side to make room for the architect, and he was amused to see her try her best not to sit on the edge of his suit jacket. In a smooth motion, he casually placed an arm along the back of the sofa, allowing his fingers to gently play with the curls at the nape of her neck. The scowl Sam sent Arthur's way was not lost on him nor was the way Ariadne just slightly leaned into him.

"Evening," Henry greeted. Despite his heritage, the Italian had only the slightest hint of an accent in his smooth English. "Everyone comfortable? Good. Hopefully, you've all become somewhat acquainted with each other. If not, well I suggest you do so before the night is over. That is, if you're interested in staying on."

"I'm sorry, but what exactly would we be staying on for?" interrupted a portly Russian. He had introduced himself as Mikhail to Cobb before the meeting and was considered to be an architect with some considerable reknown. Arthur had never worked with the man before, but that was of no surprise considering the point man's selectivity of associates.

Henry nodded at the Russian. "I'm sure you've all been curious as to why I've asked you here. As many of you know, Cobol Engineering has been looking to procure an extractionist team." There were murmurs of assent throughout the room.

"Most of you," di Rossi continued, "also have become acquainted with this man." The speaker picked up a small remote off a nearby table and depressed a button to reveal a large plasma screen TV, hidden by wooden paneling. A picture had popped up on the screen of a familiar face: Williams. Next to him, Arthur could feel Ariadne stiffen, and he glanced over to see her lips thin into a single line.

"In every case, this man has appeared to show no scruples in getting what he wants, using threats, hired guns, kids… Essentially, Cobol is desperate—desperate for a team willing to do something completely insane."

He clicked another button on the remote to bring up another picture on the TV. It was of an older man, rail thin, with silvered hair and a hooked nose. "Meet Dr. Micah Levinson, the world's foremost expert on shared dreaming. He's also currently in the employ of Cobol Engineering." That provoked a bout of whispering.

Di Rossi waited for the low conversation to die before continuing, "Cobol has tasked Dr. Levinson with the job of creating a new device, one that would retire PASIVs."

"I'm sorry, what?" interrupted Lee, his brows furrowed.

"Wireless PASIVs," continued Henry. "And by wireless, I mean completely so. No cords, no wires, and no sedatives."

"Oh shit…" Arthur heard Ariadne murmur.

"I don't think I need to tell you how disastrous such a device would be." There were more than a few nods.

"Pardon, but did I miss something? How could it be that bad?" spoke up Deacon.

"Bloody hell, that man is an idiot," muttered Eames under his breath.

"Imagine for a moment the implications of a wireless device," answered the unnamed man from di Rossi's team. "Uncontrollable access to any dream anywhere. A remote device but with the full capabilities of a PASIV device, including extraction. In the hands of a regular extraction team, it probably wouldn't be so much of an issue, but in the hands of a massive corporation like Cobol…"

"Complete and unrestricted access to any mind. Cobol would make a monopoly of not only just energy and resources but also people," finished McAllister.

"That's absolutely insane," erupted Graham. The Texan's face was flushed with fury.

"Exactly," responded di Rossi. "And they're looking for a team to perfect it."

"You mean they're looking for a team of guinea pigs," interrupted Ariadne angrily.

Henry nodded. "There's no way they think they can pull this off without sending more than a few of us to limbo, and I guarantee, Cobol doesn't give a damn what happens to any of us, including whether or not we make it back. They don't seem to be huge fans of extraction teams…" Henry shot a quick look at Cobb and Arthur.

"So what do we do? I mean we can't just walk in there and extract the idea," put in Konstantine.

"Inception," answered di Rossi. There was a moment of silence before a flurry of sound erupted, most consisting of words like "insanity" and "not possible." Cobb's team, including Ariadne, stayed quiet.

Henry held up a hand for silence and waited for the dull roar to die down. "Well you're all right about one thing—it is completely insane. But I assure you, it is possible." This time, the look he sent to Cobb remained steady until it caught the attention of everyone in the room. Cobb met di Rossi's stare, and after a long moment, he nodded once.

"I had heard the rumors…" murmured Kai off to the side.

"Hold up a second, Henry," Ariadne interjected. "I've worked with you for years now, and I can tell when you're leaving something out."

Henry met her glare levelly before turning his attention back to the TV. The picture of Levinson had been replaced with the photo of a middle-aged woman. If it weren't for her grimly set mouth and power suit, Arthur thought she rather resembled a stereotypical housewife. "Meet Christina DePaul, Cobol executive." He clicked the remote again, and the picture minimized to make room for a dozen more pictures. "Now, meet the board of directors of Cobol Engineering."

"… Oh hell no," spoke up the unnamed man again and suddenly all five of di Rossi's team were yelling at their leader. At one point, Arthur had to grab Ariadne and stop her from rising up from her seat.

"Sorry mate, but for those of us that aren't gifted with ESP?" spoke up Eames over the tumult of voices.

"A group inception, Eames. The simultaneous inception of not just one but a dozen individuals," ground out Ariadne. She let out a slightly hysterical laugh. "Henry, you really have lost it."

"I know, I know. You all think I'm nuts, but the way I think about it, this is the perfect opportunity to get Cobol out of our hair permanently," said the Italian.

"Let's pretend for a moment that I believe inception is even possible," started Demetri. "How would we even think to approach this?"

"The key here is our board of directors," said Henry. "These thirteen people are Cobol. Without them, Cobol ceases to exist, which means…"

"This project ceases to exist," ended McAllister.

"Exactly. So what I propose is yes, complete and utter insanity, but this may be our only shot."

"And your proposal?" inquired Graham.

"Turn them against each other. Dissent in the ranks will lead to dissent in the company. Simple," Henry said.

"Nothing is simple about inception," added Eames, and Arthur was struck with a sense of déjà vu.

"So I've heard," Henry replied and nodded at Ariadne. "Start with the basics, yeah?" He clicked the button again to reveal a circular graph divided into thirteen equal shares. "This is the breakdown of Cobol's shares. As you can see, each member of the board has equal pull… except for Ms. DePaul. In the event of any tie votes, it falls to her to break the tie. Recently, Ms. DePaul has expressed interest in leaving the company to spend more time with her family and husband with terminal cancer, and with her retirement, her share will be divided up among the remaining members. Unfortunately for them, there is no guarantee as to how she'll divide up her share."

"I'm guessing that makes for fun board meetings," added Eames.

"Oh I couldn't even begin to guess at how fun," Henry said smiling. "But the fact of the matter is, each one of these men and women are now lobbying for the majority share of Cobol."

"So why would we need to intervene," asked Petra.

"Well, they don't know who's getting the majority share," said Henry. Smiles of comprehension slowly spread throughout the room.

"Use greed and insecurity to dismantle a company," said McAllister slowly. "I like it."

Henry laughed, "I figured you would, Saul. Questions? Concerns? Run screaming for the hills?"

"Before I agree to anything," began Cobb, "how do we know this information about the wireless device is even accurate?"

"Because I used to work for them," interrupted Nikki softly. All eyes in the room swung around to stare at the woman in disbelief. "Until recently," she said, "I was employed by Cobol in R&D. I turned in my resignation once I realized what was going on."

"And they haven't come after you?" Konstantine asked in disbelief.

"Oh they certainly did," laughed Nikki humorlessly.

"What happened?"

"They left," interrupted her husband.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Henry answered tersely. Arthur knew that tone, and by the stiffening of Ariadne's posture, she knew exactly what had happened to the representatives from Cobol and wasn't particularly happy about it.

"To make a long story short, ladies and gentlemen, to pull this off, we need more than one team working on this. It needs to be a group effort, otherwise, well… we can kiss employment and most likely our asses goodbye," finished Henry. There was a long moment of silence.

"I'm in," called Nikki and sidled up next to her husband to slip and hand in his.

Ariadne sighed. "Me too. I still think you're crazy, but I'm in too." Arthur turned to look at her for a long moment before removing his hand from the back of couch to lace her fingers with his. She looked down at their linked hands and then up at his face, giving him a small smile. One by one, more of the extractionists spoke up in agreement. Cobol needed to be stopped. Sam was the last to speak up, but at the collective stare of his colleagues, he readily caved.

"Anyone else feel like they've just joined the Avengers?" quipped Titus.

"I was thinking more the Justice League," added Katya, and few male glances flicked over to her in appreciation.

"Right, well now that that's out of the way, it's time to get to the real work," Henry said. "As cliché and primary-schoolish as this sounds, I think it would be best served for us to temporarily divide up and figure out our plan of attack." Nods of agreement were seen throughout the parlor.

"But before we get started," interrupted Nikki, "may I suggest we break for dinner? We're going to need all the energy we can get."

At Nikki's suggestion, there was an overwhelmingly positive response, and the large group started to slowly migrate toward the main dining room. Arthur stood up first from the couch and tugged Ariadne up after him. "What have you gotten me into this time, Ari," he whispered in her ear.

"Oh, shut up." She grinned at him, and then led him out of the room to follow the mass of people.

Dinner was a loud affair. Despite Nikki's suggestion of taking a break, most conversations consisted of shop talk. Cobb's team in particular found itself fielding the most questions concerning the Fischer inception. Arthur let Cobb answer most of the questions, preferring to keep an eye on Sam, whose wandering eyes kept searching out a certain architect. Ariadne, on the other hand, was engaged in a lively conversation between the other architects present, concerning the best way to design each level.

After dinner, Arthur found himself pulled into the largest group of people consisting of extractors and other men who called themselves "point men." To Arthur's chagrin, Sam was one of the latter. Most of the meeting was spent taking inventory of the research that needed to happen, particularly concerning background on the board of directors. The sun had long since set, giving rise to a waning crescent moon, when Arthur exited the dining room. Arthur knew that this job would need more than his usual meticulous attention to detail, and he had already filled several pages of his Moleskine notebook with concerns to resolve.

The architects had disappeared some time ago, Kai only appearing briefly to run in and ask for a few minutes of Harvey's time. Harvey returned alone a half hour later, shaking his head and muttering about the neuroticism of architects. When Graham asked what was going on, Harvey only rolled his eyes and said, "Auditions," and the conversation resumed.

At the end of the meeting, Arthur found himself responsible for researching Director Randolph Tywin, the man likely to be the most distrusted of the board. The others would handle the rest of the research, but Tywin was critical for the job to work. Therefore when Cobb volunteered Arthur for the background research, no one opposed him—Arthur was just too good a point man, and his reputation preceded him.

Moleskine in hand, Arthur ascended the grand staircase toward his room. He paused on the landing briefly to take a quick look in the direction of Ariadne's room. "Lost, darling?" asked Eames, coming up behind him. Arthur rolled his eyes and then turned right to walk to his own room. The forger's long strides quickly caught up to the point man and casually strolled along with him down the hallway.

"Can I help you with something?" asked Arthur in irritation.

"Not going to see the architect this evening I see," noted Eames. The point man shot him a glare but didn't say anything.

"Tsk tsk, Arthur. I didn't see you for a one-night stand kind of guy."

Arthur stopped and turned on Eames, his right hand clenched into a fist. "Eames…"

Eames closed his eyes and smirked slightly while raising both hands up in mute surrender. "No offense meant, Arthur." Abruptly the forger's demeanor changed. His eyes snapped open but remained narrowed in icy threat. The forger's hands lowered, clenching into fists, and his body remained tense in a clearly offensive position. "But," he continued, "if I ever hear of you breaking that girl's heart again… Well Arthur, you and I are definitely going to have a problem."

Arthur drew back slightly, stunned. And just as suddenly as Eames tensed, he relaxed, grinned, and patted Arthur on the cheek just a little too hard to be considered gentle. "Good night, darling," the forger said and disappeared into his room. The point man stared for a moment at the forger's closed door and then moved to his own room.

When Arthur opened the door to his room, he knew something was off, especially when he noticed the small body curled up under the sheets of his bed. Ariadne's pale, white skin formed a stark contrast to the dark bedclothes. Arthur couldn't remember a time when a bed looked more inviting. Dropping his notebook on the desk, Arthur moved over to the bed, shrugging off his suit jacket on a nearby chair.

"Hey," Ariadne said. Arthur looked over to see her looking sleepily up at him.

"Hey," he returned and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I thought you were sleeping."

She shook her head. "No, I think I'm still too wired from earlier."

The point man nodded in mute understanding. "I think Eames just threatened me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah… I think he was actually serious too."

Ariadne laughed, "Well, when you left Paris, he did threaten to go find and knock some sense into you." Arthur looked at her skeptically.

She pushed herself up to lean against the headboard. Arthur smirked when he noticed her oversized t-shirt with Dunlop Academy scrawled across the front. "You still have that?"

"It's comfortable," she whined and brought the collar up over her chin and nose. Her eyes were smiling, and she reached forward to undo his tie. "How'd it go," she asked.

"We've got everything squared away for the moment," said Arthur. "The real work is going to begin tomorrow. Di Rossi said he'd have workstations available tomorrow." Ariadne nodded, moving from the now undone tie to the top buttons of his shirt. "How'd it go with you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Well enough I suppose. We decided that with the complexity of the situation, the biggest thing we need to focus on is cohesiveness."

"One architect," Arthur concluded.

"Yeah, the rest will serve as consultants and researchers for the designs."

"And did you pick an architect?" Ariadne stopped her progress on his shirt to glance up at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Should have figured," he said.

"Well I am the best."

Arthur laughed softly and leaned in to give her a kiss. "You know this idea and your 'boss' are completely crazy, right?"

"Henry's always been kind of nuts, but this one definitely takes the cake," she said.

"You're sure you're up for this?"

She glared at him and then grabbed him by his open shirt to lay him out on the bed. In a quick motion, the architect threw a leg over him to straddle his waist and pin him, although they both knew he could easily throw her off. Ariadne leaned down to bring her nose to nose with him.

"Now you listen to me, I've been doing this for nearly seven years now. I helped pull off an inception on my first time out of the gate, and I've completed dozens of successful extractions since then. I'm the best damned architect in the business, and that's including Cobb. Now, do you want to ask me that again, please?"

Arthur stared up at her, and he could see the resolve in her eyes, not that he expected anything otherwise. "Well," he began, "I suppose you were trained by the best."

Ariadne's mouth dropped open in disbelief and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Best my—" but anything she was about to say was cut off as Arthur dragged her down into a kiss. Needless to say, conversation came to a halt for the rest of the evening.

A/N: Well, that's it for this week! Please review!