Okay... So I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I really don't have a good excuse, but thank you sooooooooo much for all the reviews! Y'all are awesome!

P.S. I don't own Inception...

"Bye Arthur. I love you." Daphne hugged him.

"I love you too Daphne." He hugged her.

"And please be careful, and tell Nick to be careful too."

Arthur chuckled. "Alright. I will." He turned to Ariadne who was watching the departure boards. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

She giggled. "Arthur."

"I'll see you soon alright?" He whispered in her ear.

"Alright." She turned to face him. She hugged him. "Be careful."

"I will." He kissed her.

"Ari, they're about to start boarding. Let's go." Daphne said.

"Alright. Bye for now Arthur." She kissed him.

"Bye for now." He grinned.

"So just to warn you…" Daphne said. "We're supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight."

"Warning? Should I be concerned?" Ariadne asked.

"Has Arthur told you anything about them?"

"Not really. Only that they didn't know what really happened to you."

"Yeah. They were both really upset, but not upset enough to come see me apparently. Dad has always been distant. I think that's why Arthur is the way he is. Mom was closer to us than Dad, but we were never a normal family. They were very strict and always expected a lot of us. I don't know how they would react if they knew the truth – That their children who were raised in luxury are now professional thieves who steal secrets from people's minds and destroy their lives." She swallowed hard. The truth seemed to bother her as well.

"But with Fischer…" Ariadne began.

"His life wasn't destroyed, but his father's company was. Remember that it was inception that ultimately destroyed Mal. What we do isn't nice. I've helped ruin lives of people who weren't necessarily innocent, but didn't deserve what we did. Arthur and Nick tell me that I shouldn't think of it that way. It's only business. Maybe I should treat every target as if he or she was a malicious criminal." She shrugged.

"I never thought of it that way." Ariadne said quietly. Daphne made it sound like the criminal act it was.

"Hi Mom." Daphne smiled.

"Daphne." Her mom hugged her. "I'm so glad you're here."

"I am too. This is my friend Ariadne." Daphne gestured to Ariadne.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Allison Livingston." She smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too." Ariadne said. Mrs. Livingston was dressed as if she was going to a dinner gala. From the look of the décor in the house Ariadne guessed she dressed that way all the time.

"The house looks nice Mom. Did you redecorate?" Daphne asked.

"I rearranged the furniture. I moved one piece at a time so your father wouldn't freak out. You know how he hates change." She chuckled.

"Yes, I know." Daphne looked at Ariadne and rolled her eyes.

"We're meeting your father for dinner in about an hour." She glanced at her watch.

"Alright. I think I'll go upstairs and change." Daphne headed to the staircase.

"I changed the sheets on your bed. I changed Arthur's too because I hoped he would come with you." She seemed disappointed.

"He had to work. I know he wanted to come." Daphne smiled. "Is the extra bed still in my room?"

"It is. I changed those sheets too."

"Thanks Mom." Daphne hugged her. "I'll show you my room Ariadne." Daphne walked up the stairs. "So if you didn't know, Arthur is three years younger than me. Mom never treated him like her baby, but he was. Do you have any siblings?"

"No. I'm an only child."

"Do you have a dress to wear tonight? If not you can borrow one of mine." Daphne asked.

Ariadne was glad she changed the subject. "I bought one when I was in L.A." She pulled the dress out of her suitcase. The dress was dark green with a modest neckline and short sleeved.

"Perfect." Daphne smiled.

"Daphne." Her dad smiled when he saw her.

"Hello Dad." Daphne smiled.

"It's good to see you." He hugged her.

"You too. This is my friend Ariadne."

He shook her hand. "Richard Livingston. It's nice to meet you." He smiled and sat down.

"Nice to meet you too Sir." She smiled.

Their dinner conversation was mostly polite chit chat. Mostly.

"Daphne, your mother and I are sorry that we weren't able to visit you when you were in the hospital." Her Dad said.

"Well, I know how busy your social schedule keeps you." Daphne said coolly.

"Daphne. It wasn't like that." He said.

"Dad you could have lied and told me that you came to see me right afterward. I don't remember the first couple of weeks in the hospital. I wouldn't have known that you weren't there." She fought back tears. She wasn't as close to her parents as she used to be, but it still hurt that their social schedule was more important.

Her dad cleared his throat. "Ariadne. Where are you from?"

"Sacramento." Ariadne smiled. She didn't like talking about her past.

"That's lovely country. What do your parents do?"

"My dad was an architect and my mom was an art teacher and very active with the arts commission." Ariadne smiled.

Daphne noted Ariadne's use of past tense.

"Excellent. What do you do?" He asked.

"I'm studying architecture in Paris. I have a few courses left." She poked at the remaining food on her plate.

"Paris is a long way from home. How do your parents feel about that?"

"They always pushed me to go after my dreams. My mom always told me that wishing never gets you anywhere. I'd like to think that they are watching over me and are proud of me and what I've accomplished. My dad died when I was 16. He had a brain tumor. One of the last things he was able to do was teach me how to drive. My mom died of breast cancer a couple months before I graduated from college. After I graduated I moved to Paris." She drank some of her water.

"I'm sorry Ariadne." He said. "I'm sure they would be very proud of you."

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Ari. I forgot to warn you that they also ask a lot of questions. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Daphne felt horrible.

"It's alright. It's not your fault." Ariadne smiled. "It was hard for a while, but now I can enjoy the happy memories I have of them."

"Does Arthur know?" Daphne asked quietly.

"No. Unless he found it in the research when they recruited me." She said. "I don't like to talk about it."

"I can understand. Ariadne I am so sorry." Daphne hugged her. "Do you have any other family?"

"I have an aunt in Sacramento. She is dad's sister. I should have gone to see her when I was in L.A. There was just so much going on. I haven't talked to her since before I met Cobb. I need to call her." Ariadne rubbed her face.

"Ari if there is anything I can do…" Daphne said.

"Don't feel sorry me. I'm okay." Ariadne hugged her. "I do need a friend."

"Then you got it." Daphne hugged her.

"You wanna go into the city?" Daphne asked Ariadne.

"Sure. Sounds fun."

"Definitely. And we can take Arthur's car." She grinned. "But you have to swear you won't tell him. He is such a control freak." She giggled. "Oh I forgot. I haven't driven a manual shift in years." She frowned. "Can you?"

"It's been a couple years."

"Let's take the train. I don't want to introduce you to New York traffic if you aren't used to a manual shift."

"Good idea. I don't want to wreck it or grind out the gears." Ariadne cringed. "I don't think I could handle Arthur being mad at me."

"He wouldn't be able to stay mad at you." Daphne smirked.

Ariadne blushed.

"Uh huh." Daphne grinned.

"So what is your aversion to Newark?" Ariadne asked Daphne while they rode the train.

Daphne chuckled. "JFK is closer. Arthur and I were supposed to be on the same flight to JFK. The airline overbooked and I got bumped. Arthur offered to swap, but I told him I'd be fine. I was supposed to be on the next plane, but it got delayed and I sat in the airport for three hours. Then they sent me to Newark instead. I got into Newark at ten that night. I had to take a taxi and the driver was trying to beat his best time. I didn't speak to Arthur until the next evening. It wasn't his fault, but I needed to be mad at someone." She rolled her eyes.

"Daphne?" Someone called.

Daphne cringed. "Oh great."

"What?" Ariadne asked.

"It's Icky Vickie." Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Who?" Ariadne asked.

"She's a friend of mine…and Arthur's ex-girlfriend." She muttered the last part. "Hey Vickie." She said as Vickie walked up.

"Oh my gosh. Daphne you're okay." Vickie hugged her. "Your parents told me what happened. That's horrible."

"Yeah. Losing your memory isn't fun. At least I don't remember the attack. If you came to visit me I don't remember a lot from my hospital stay." Daphne said knowing full well that Vickie didn't visit.

"Oh, um I didn't visit. I'm sorry." Vickie cringed. "I'm glad you're okay though. How's Arthur?"

"Oh he's fine. You know Arthur." She grinned. She was going to have some fun with this.

"Has he changed his number?"

"I don't think he did. Of course I don't know if he still has his phone." Daphne looked at Ariadne. "Does he still have his phone?"

"He called me when we were in L.A." Ariadne said. This was awkward.

"Then apparently he does." Daphne said.

"Who are you?" Vickie asked Ariadne.

"Oh this is Ariadne. She's Arthur's girlfriend." Daphne grinned.

Ariadne blushed.

"Oh." Vickie said. "Uh, it's nice to meet you."

"You too." Ariadne smiled.

"I have to go. See you later." Vickie said and walked away.

"I can't believe you did that." Ariadne said.

"You basically are though." Daphne grinned. "Just think if Nick was here what he would have said."

"Oh gosh." Ariadne blushed just thinking about what he might have said.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought. Any ideas for the next chapter?