A/N: short chapter, I know. I was going to make it longer, but since I'm getting pretty busy I decided just to upload what I already had. well, enjoy. let me know if anyone seems OOC or anything, I feel like Arthur gets a bit like that sometimes... thanks!

Arthur was the first to arrive at the warehouse, of course. He had stopped by a quaint cafe to get himself some breakfast and a coffee. As he walked through the empty warehouse he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the days they spent in the same exact warehouse while preparing for the inception job.

Arthur set down all of his belongings on a dusty desk and took off his coat. This place was in desperate need of a little bit of cleaning. He walked over to a storage closet and started dragging out ratty lawn chairs. The screeching of the chairs against the cement was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

Arthur starting speaking before he turned around. "Eames, I swear to god, if you knew about our Mark I'll-" he turned around to face who he thought was the Forger behind him, only to see the small frame of Ariadne. Arthur went stark white. She smiled at him.

"Hi." That one word that came out of her mouth almost sent Arthur to his knees. His hand quickly dived into his pocket to retrieve his totem. This had to be a dream. It had to. His hand clenched around his red die, though it was not enough to assure him of reality.

Arthur realized how odd he must look, staring at the Architect with wide eyes. "Hello." He croaked miserably. He swallowed, trying to retrieve his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm working. Eames came to me with a job offer, and I accepted."She told him. Arthur's face contorted in confusion. Wait, she said she was working? Wasn't that the whole point of banishing him from her life, so she could forget about dreams all together? Now she was taking jobs like it was nothing, and that made Arthur angry.

"But I thought-" He started to say, but Eames burst through the door of the warehouse.

"Hello Ari, Arthur." He walked in between them and over to an unoccupied desk. He dumped his things onto the desk before turning to face Arthur and Ariadne, who hadn't taken their eyes off of each other. "Arthur, I got your voicemail last night, and I honestly had no idea our mark was such a trouble maker, truthfully."

Ariadne broke eye contact when she heard Eames's statement. "What? I thought he was just some harmless old man?" Eames raised his eyebrows to Arthur, urging him to speak on the topic. It took Arthur a second to adjust his brain to start streaming topics on the job now, rather than confused and angry thoughts aimed towards Ariadne.

"Well, he has been charged with numerous felonies over the past seven years. Crimes including breaking and entering, harassment, rape, and one case of grand theft auto. Quite a few family members have filed restraining orders against him."

Ariadne put her hands on her hips and stared at the floor before looking up to Arthur again. "Wow. And you said that this started seven years ago? What's the significance in that?" She asked Arthur directly. Arthur took a deep breath. She seemed totally unaffected by his presence, and by the fact that they were discussing the job. Arthur didn't know if he was going to be able to function as neatly as she.

"Well, he and his wife retired seven years ago and moved to Paris. His wife died shortly after that of breast cancer." Arthur answered her, but he didn't look her in the eye. It was too weird.

"I don't know about you guys," Eames started as he walked closer to them, "but it sounds almost as if he threw his perfect, moral filled lifestyle out the window when his wife died. But we can't be sure."

Ariadne nodded. "I agree, we can't be sure." She paused for a moment, leaving an awkward silence in the wake. "Well, I can't start up the designs until we know more about his personal life, so I'm going to go get some breakfast. Arthur? Eames? Want anything?" She asked innocently.

"Just some coffee, darling." Eames smiled before turning back towards his desk.

Ariadne looked over to Arthur, who was stiff. "Uh, I'm good. I already have some." He said slowly. She nodded, grabbed her coat, and walked out of the warehouse. Arthur let out a long sigh he'd been holding in since she'd gotten there. "What. The. Hell." He ground out, slowly walking over to Eames. The Forger looked to Arthur dumbfounded.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"What is she doing here?" Arthur cut straight to the point. "She's supposed to be damaged, shutting out everyone and everything that has to do with dreams. Why is she here, and why is she working with us? What did you do?" Arthur's voice got louder and louder, causing Eames to look at him with a look of utter confusion.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Arthur, this is her second job this year. She's done a hell of a lot more than you with her life since the inception. Maybe you should take notes." He started to turn away, but stopped. "What made you think she was rotting away in a corner somewhere?"

Immediately the image of Ariadne shoving him out of the door appeared in Arthur's mind. Her tear stained face, so broken and unbearable. "Shortly after the inception I went to check up on her. She was a wreck. A complete wreck. She told me flat out that she didn't want to see me again, and she never wanted to work in extraction again either." Arthur told Eames, leaving out all of the parts that involved romance.

Eames wiped his mouth. "Bloody hell. Is this why you've been hiding out for a year? Arthur, that's ridiculous."

"I had some personal issues." Arthur tried to explain, though Eames had stopped listening. "Eames," Arthur's voice was pleading, "why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me she was okay?"

"Because no one knew anything was wrong in the first place. She's been hard to get in contact with, but apparently she's been getting offers from extractors far and wide to be their architect." Eames said simply. "She was probably just experiencing the repercussions of going down too deeply during her first go-around when you two last spoke. You should've known better than to think she was never going to recover-"

"She seemed so sure." Arthur said vaguely. The conversation was over. Arthur and Eames returned to their own areas of the warehouse, though Arthur couldn't shake the feeling of guilt. He had just left her there, alone when she needed him the most. But what else could he have done? Trying to wedge himself into her life when he wasn't wanted would have just upset her even more so than she already was. He couldn't help but think how different the past year might have been if he had simply stayed when he should have.