My dear Inception Readers,

I realize that there is no adequate apology I could make for the length of time that I have left this story without an update, and it is with the deepest embarrassment that I beg your forgiveness.

I confess to have been lured away by the siren-song of Joss Whedon and his enchanting Avengers. I actually had this chapter nearly finished quite a long time ago, but when I lost the original draft, which was in long-hand, I told myself I would just work on my Avengers stories until I located it. I admit, I lost myself in that 'verse, consumed with the thought that there would soon be a time when new installments of Marvel canon would come out, and I needed to post all the stories dancing around in my head before new movies destroyed my claim to fit within the bounds of canon.

I finally did accept the fact that I might never find my original of this chapter and have been slowly reconstructing it, and my hope is that you will find comfort in the fact that the delay has and will result in a much better product since the forced rewrite has come after a couple of years of actually working in law enforcement, leading to some minor but important changes.

I will, of course, promise to do a much better job updating in the future, and I do hope you can still find it in your heart to review.

With constant devotion,

Ballerina Terminator

Chapter 4

"So, how should I behave while we're in this dream?" Ariadne asked as they stood in the hallway outside the Renard apartment just behind her projections of Geoff and Marie.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"Well, do I summarize my statements, or do you want to hear my part of the script verbatim?"

"I'd like to hear it as close to word-for-word as possible," he told her. "Until I get an idea of what's important and what isn't, I need as much detail as possible."

"Lovely," she said with a complete lack of enthusiasm. "That won't make me feel foolish at all."

He couldn't help smiling. "It won't be so bad once you get used to it. It should start to feel like Deja vu."

She gave him a doubtful look, but she squared her shoulders, and, when the door opened, she stepped inside to greet her host and hostess.

Once the pleasantries had been observed, the party - and Arthur- moved into the apartment to mingle with the other guests.

"You don't mind if I speak to you between my responses, do you?" she asked as M. Renard poured a glass of wine for Marie-Claude. "There are a few lulls in the conversation over the course of the evening."

"No, that's fine, he assured her. "Just as long as we keep our eyes open."

When Marie-Claude had been given her glass of wine, Ariadne beckoned as Geoffrey led the girls to the next introduction.

Upon approaching two near-by women, the younger one, a tall woman with long straight dark hair, excused herself from the short, copper-haired woman and gave Geoffrey a polite nod as she walked away.

Now, the red-head's face took on an impish smile as Geoffrey greeted her and introduced his guests, indicating that they red-head, now known as Charlotte, was the honoree of the celebration.

Arthur noted the conversation at this point was friendly but necessarily brief, any potential depth the discussion had lost to the demands of other guests with their own offers of congratulations. Soon, their small party moved on, making their way to the dining room.

When Ariadne made her way over to collect a plate, Arthur said, "You don't need to get food if you don't want to bother."

"But I'll be able to taste it, right?

"Depending on how good your memory is."

"Then I want it. It was quite good, and I should get to enjoy the bright points if I have to do this," she said primly, selecting another pasty.

Once plates were filled, they returned to the living room and took up seats among the other guests. Ariadne took a seat in a soft arm chair and the projections of Marie-Claude and Geoff took the two remaining open seats near her on one of the two couches. She looked up at Arthur questioningly.

"You aren't going to just hover, are you? We'll be here a while, and you're going to make me nervous."

With a sly grin he sat down in the chair with her and pulled her into his lap when she threatened to be completely unseated.

"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't actually here if this is how you'd behave in civilized society," she teased.

"I don't have to have good manners in a dream," he retorted, still looking like the cat who got the cream.

After they had both cleaned their plates, Geoffrey, pointing out a chess board set on a small table next to the wall opposite the library, asked Marie-Claude if she would be interested in playing a game.

Ariadne, indicating her lack of interested in watching the chess game to Arthur, led him to the library for a glass of wine she would not get. It was from there that Ariadne turned to point out the latest guest with a sigh of resignation, and Arthur got his first look at Durant Tessier. At first glance, he appeared unprepossessing, but seeing Ariadne's deep discomfort at the sight of him, Arthur was still able to dislike him instantly. He did not get a chance to study the man as Ariadne almost immediately grabbed his hand and began to pull him toward the kitchen door. He pulled up short when she knocked into someone just on the other side of the door. He recognized the man when she did although he wouldn't have been able to come up with his name and was grateful when she identified him. She glanced at Arthur as he stood at her shoulder with a look of indecision before she addressed Etienne with a hopeful,"Hey, do me a favor, and I'll put in a really good word for you with Robert.

"What can I do for you?" he asked obviously amused.

"Well, there's this man that I'm trying to avoid," she said.

"Ah, say no more, cheri," he said. "You need someone to run interference."

"If it becomes necessary.

"Your gentleman caller isn't here to fend off advances?"

"I'm afraid Arthur's not in a position to help me with this one. He's been in Kyoto for a few days visiting a business associate."

"That is a bit out of the way," Etienne agreed. "Well, can I ask who it is that we are avoiding?"

"Durant Tessier," she admitted. "We dated for a few months a few years back."

Arthur caught the look of distaste Etienne responded with. "Oh, well, I see why we are hiding. What a shame you don't have your new paramour with you. What better hindrance is there to an old beau than a new one?"

Arthur saw her eyes flick over at him before she answered. "Especially when the new one is so much... better."

When she blushed, Arthur couldn't help thinking that the hesitation was the result of an abridged statement.

When Etienne responded with, "Worth showing off, yes?" Ariadne's face turned an even deeper shade of red. Arthur realized the original statement was probably highly complimentary to himself, and he couldn't suppress a self-satisfied smile.

Ariadne did not meet his eyes.

"So, I guess it is safe to assume that it did not end well?" Etienne asked.

Ariadne turned and pushed the door out ever-so slightly and peered out into the library. "Unless he has changed greatly since I went out with him, I imagine that relationships never do end well with him. Oh, Lord, who is that poor girl he has with him? His latest victim?"

"What does she look like?" he asked, trying to get a look through the crack.

"Caramel-colored hair, not much taller than me… I can't see her face, no wait, now I can see."

"Big, sad eyes and a pointy nose?" he asked.

Arthur looked over her head to see the girl indicated. When M. Renard helped her off with her cashmere cardigan he could see she wore a long-sleeved and high-necked violet dress, and when she turned he saw those big, sad eyes had been made even bigger, if not sadder, by the dramatic make-up she wore.

"Heavens, yes."

"That 'poor girl' would be the current girlfriend. I believe her name is Astrid. I think they've been together for nearly a year now, but I'm not sure. I only joined the company last February, and he's technically part of the accounting department, so I haven't worked with him personally all that often, but I get the impression that he has a very sensitive ego."

"Very perceptive of you," Ariadne said, letting the door swing shut, and turning back to Etienne. "What is he doing here anyway? I thought this was a party for someone in the legal department."

"He's been working with legal for a while now, an internal thing. I'm not surprised he's here."

"I may never speak to Geoffrey again after this."

Etienne gave a sympathetic smile and gestured for her to join him in taking a seat.

"This is a good place to hide," he assured her. "People don't come into the kitchen very often."

Arthur examined the kitchen for the first time, and, bisected diagonally the high bar, Arthur could see how anything on the floor on the far side of the kitchen could easily be blocked from view by the counter and the island.

As Etienne procured Ariadne the drink she had been in search of before forced into hiding, the kitchen door opened again, and he turned to see the newcomer.

"Vivian!" Etienne cried jovially. "Won't you join us for a glass of wine?"

She agreed and returned a moment later with three wine glasses for the purpose.

"So, what are we doing tucked away in here?" she asked conspiratorially.

"Hiding from Durant Tessier. Mlle. Gray and he have some unfortunate history together, and she would prefer to avoid him," he said gesturing toward Ariadne before identifying the new woman as Vivian da Silva, M. Renard's personal assistant.

Vivian turned to Ariadne with a surprised look.

"Oh! That would mean that you were…" Vivian cut off with a flush of embarrassment.

"I was what?" Ariadne intoned, already knowing the answer.

As Vivian enlightened Ariadne on the details of the affair that would ultimately end her relationship with the man involved, Arthur watched Ariadne's face as she listened with real thoughtfulness, and it occurred to him that this revelation alone, without the later events of the night, would have been dramatic enough to warrant further contemplation. This was, he realized, the first time Ariadne had spent trying to process this information. He needed to make sure that she had the chance to deal with whatever emotional fallout this information might cause as it might easily be pushed aside and ignored in the light of the more immediate problems.

"I'm really beginning to feel sorry for Mlle. Astrid," Etienne said.

Vivian started to say something, but she stopped at the sound of shouts coming from the living room. They all exchanged quick glances before jumping up from their seats and heading over to the door. Etienne pushed it open just enough to see through into the living room where the shouts had already begun to die down. Ariadne crouched down to peer through the door without obstructing the view for Etienne and Vivian.

It was hard for Arthur to get a clear view, despite being the tallest in the room, but Ariadne shifted to give him a view of the disturbance going on in the main party.

"- not fair, and it is not true!" a middle-aged man was insisting to M. Renard.

"What's this?" Arthur asked Ariadne.

"Some kind of work issue. I'd nearly forgotten about it to tell you the truth. Just wait. We'll go into it."

Etienne let the door fall shut again and Arthur tried to help Ariadne back up from her kneeling position just as the shade of Etienne assisted her from the other side.

"I hope that was water in the glass that Jean-Louis was giving him," Etienne said. "I think the poor man has already imbibed enough this evening."

"What on earth was that all about?" Ariadne asked.

"That was Henri Noel, and I believe that he was suspended yesterday under suspicion of embezzlement," Etienne said.

"You aren't supposed to know that," Vivian said reproachfully. "It was supposed to be kept private."

Etienne shrugged and moved to the door that led into the dining room, and Arthur quickly realized he was trying to hear more of the conversation.

"-something wrong with the findings," one voice, the Henri Noel, was saying.

"If there was a mistake, then we will find the error," M. Renard insisted. "Until then, you are suspended, but if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm not sure that it was just a mistake!" Henri said adamantly. "I think that-"

"Do not worry, we will go over all of Tessier's findings again." Arthur was sure this was Jean-Louis who had interrupted. "I am sure that we will be able to find if there has been some kind of oversight!" Arthur's eyebrows rose at the mention of the very person they had been discussing, and he could see that Ariadne was seeing the conversation with a new perspective, knowing now that the man would be dead within the next hour.

"I want to be allowed to see them!" Henri Noel insisted.

"Of course you will be allowed to go over the audit yourself," M. Renard reassured him. "You don't have to worry about that! Come, M. Noel, why don't you relax, and enjoy the party. I can assure that no final decision will be made without-"

Etienne let the door fall closed.

"I don't like eavesdropping in on other people's conversations," Vivian snapped. "I certainly hope you don't do that kind of thing at the office!"

"It's difficult not to hear when people insist on having their conversations while speaking as loud as possible," Etienne said innocently. "I'm not putting a glass up to walls and placing my ear on it, if that's what you're asking."

Arthur hoped he actually had been. He was determined to get as much dirt on anyone remotely acquainted with Tessier as he could, and he thought Etienne would help.

"What does Durant have to do with this?" Ariadne asked dutifully with a glance at Arthur.

"You remember when I said he was working with the legal department on an internal matter?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Well, apparently, someone has been dipping into company funds, and he and Jean-Louis Morel have been working on finding out who is responsible."

"And they think that M. Noel was involved?" Ariadne asked.

"I suppose so," Etienne said.

The conference ended then as Vivian was called away for the host's speech, but she didn't leave without a final admonishment. "Please, don't tell anyone else about it. You're not supposed to know about it, and I really don't want it to get out.

"Don't worry," Etienne assured. "None of this leaves the kitchen."

Until now, Arthur thought wryly.

"Good."

"I suppose as this is Charlotte's party, good manners would dictate that we listen to the speech being made in her honor," Etienne said when Vivian left.

"Yes, it does," Ariadne said. "In fact, I believe it will probably start soon, as things have suddenly gotten very quiet out there."

Etienne and Ariadne stepped out into the crowded library, made warm by the press of bodies. Arthur could see into the next room where M. Renard began speaking.

Ariadne pointed out Marie-Claude and Geoffrey, still sitting at the chess table, pausing in their game to watch the speaker.

Then, Etienne hooked her arm around his and leaned in to whisper to her.

"Don't look now, but you've been spotted."

"Yes?"

"It looks like he's trying to stare you down. In fact, he looks a bit silly."

Ariadne's head never turned and was, therefore, unable to recreate the memory of something she had not seen for herself, so Arthur didn't get to see Tessier looking silly, much to his disappointment. "Well, he can keep on staring, and I shall continue to pretend that he isn't there."

After the speech, Etienne looked around.

"I've lost sight of him," he said. "It has gotten awfully crowded in here." Etienne looked down at his watch.

"What's up?" Ariadne asked.

"It's getting a bit late for me," he admitted...

"Nine-thirty is late for you?"

"Well, not usually, but Robert asked me if I wanted to go for a run with him tomorrow morning," he explained.

"Oh, second date?" she teased.

"Sort of," he said with a grin. "Normally, I don't care for early morning runs, but we're going to get breakfast after the run."

"And you were going to get to bed early tonight," she finished for him.

"It's fine. I can stick around if you'd like," he insisted. "I can make sure Tessier doesn't bother you.

In Ariadne's next statement, her voice was hard and filled with regret. "That is very chivalrous of you, but it will be all right. He may not find me again, and I can deal with him if I need to. It will be good for me to not be such a coward."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it," she said with resignation, obviously hating the words as she said them. "It is kind of you to worry, but I want you to have a good time tomorrow. Give Robert my love when you see him."

"If you're sure," he said. "We must hang out again soon."

Etienne left, and Ariadne was left alone with Arthur.

Arthur followed Ariadne as she wandered apparently aimlessly through the party, clearly not in the mood to talk. He watched her become more and more anxious as the expected confrontation drew nigh. He could tell she was expecting humiliation, and he didn't like the thought that his presence was the source of the embarrassment. He could only stand by and watch with as much objectivism as he could muster when it came to her and wait.

Arthur stood at Ariadne's side as her gaze fell on Marie-Claude and Geoffrey playing chess while not really seeing the moves, and then he became aware of someone approaching from behind. He got a scent of cologne before seeing Ariadne tense.

"Bonsoir, Ariadne. You are looking very lovely as always."

"Go away," she muttered darkly.

"And how have you been?" Tessier responded, his tone all too familiar for Arthur.

"Obviously better that you as you seem to have lost the ability to understand simple statements such as 'I never want to speak to you again!' or even 'Go away!' Did someone finally hit you over the head with a tire iron?"

"Surely you don't really expect me to believe that you don't miss me even just a little bit?" Arthur thought about shooting the shade, but refrained. He knew that it would have been a useless act of machismo, and Ariadne would hardly appreciate him trying to fight her personal battles for her or having to go through this charade again because he interrupted the first run-through.

"Monsieur, I couldn't care less about what you would like to believe, but what I expect for you to do is leave me alone." Ariadne tried to move away, but he moved to block her exit, forcing the confrontation.

"Still as uptight as always," he insulted her.

Ariadne rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh, for the love of all that is holy, why couldn't you have just left me alone? Did you really have to have the last word? Even now?" she demanded of the shade of Tessier, and Arthur could tell she had gone completely off script.

"Not so loud," he hissed. "You're making a scene."

"Oh, a 'scene.' God forbid! Well, we can't have that, so you just go your way, and I really must be on mine."

Once again, Ariadne made to move away, but Durant grabbed her wrist and gripped hard, keeping her at that spot.

"I don't think you understand what a mistake you've made," he growled. "Do you really think you could do better-" The way he said it, the way he had emphasized the words made it sound as Ariadne couldn't possibly be worth anyone's time, that by noticing her in the first place, he had been doing her the greatest of favors.

Had he continued, Arthur knew he would have laid Tessier out right there even if it was just a projection, but fortunately, Ariadne interrupted, putting an end to that nonsense herself.

"You are the one here who has failed to understand the situation," Ariadne said in a quiet, controlled voice, as she started to pry his fingers from her arm. "I already have found someone else, someone so much better than you... But, of course, finding someone worse than you would have been a real trick. However, even if I had not found someone else, being alone would still have been better than you, so let go of me, and get lost."

She punctuated the end of her statement by giving his fingers a final twist in a very unnatural direction, and Arthur was pleased to hear his grunt of pain. When she kicked Tessier in the shin with her heel and Tessier did not react, Arthur suspected that had been added as a vent to her frustration. While Tessier was still caught off guard by the movement, she ducked away and into the dining room, Arthur close on her heels.

The dining room was empty, and instead of going into the kitchen, she went through the pair of French doors that led to the balcony. She held the door open behind her just long enough for Arthur to follow through before she pulled the curtain back in front of the door, and closed it behind them.

He saw her step into the shadows and watch through the gap in the curtain as Tessier entered the dining room and headed through the door to the kitchen. She continued to stare into the apartment as though she expected Tessier to come bursting through the door any minute.

He started to say something, but she cut him off. "Please, don't comment on what a jerk he was. Believe me, I know, better than you can imagine, and it only makes the relationship more embarrassing to recall. I feel foolish enough about it as it is."

Arthur thought about trying words of comfort or reassurance, thought about insisting that she was not to blame, but it all seemed so trite he couldn't bring himself to say any of it. Instead, he just shrugged and said casually, "I just wondered, since we are alone now, if you wanted to make out or something."

This statement startled a laugh out of her that gave way to giggles, and she met his eyes for the first time since they had first entered the living room, her expression a blend of disbelief and amusement. He grinned back at her, relieved that humor had worked sympathy had been unwelcome. She leaned into him still chuckling, and he wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on the top of her head

"Hell of a view you got, but, damn, it's cold out here," he said looking around. "Was it this cold when you were out here last night?"

"It was worse. I didn't have anyone to huddle up next to."

They sat down with their backs to the wall, and he pulled her closer as much for his warmth as for hers.

"You want to warm it up a bit for the sake of convenience?"

"What happened to the 'as accurate as possible' rule?"

"Did I say that?"

"When you were setting up the machine."

"I may have made a slight error in judgment."

He was momentarily distracted when he felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. Shifting, she pulled it from her pocket, and he saw his own picture and number lighting up the screen.

"Good evening," she said as she answered the phone, with a coy smile at him.

"You can ignore that guy and talk to me instead," Arthur told her taking the phone from her. "I think we were talking about the weather."

"Oh, if I could handle it, so can you," she told him, but he could soon tell the wind had stopped and the temperature began to creep up slowly. They sat there huddled together and, when it started, watched the Eiffel Tower light show in silence, pretending for a few moments that this was just a planned romantic interlude instead of the calm before the storm.

When the light show was over, Ariadne sighed sadly, and looked up at him. "It's time."

He helped her up, and after straightening her dress and taking a few calming breaths, she headed determinedly to the door to the kitchen.

As soon as she touched the door handle, Ariadne looked sick, but she still pulled the door open and stepped inside. Even paying close attention, Arthur nearly missed what happened next. Ariadne was obviously trying to tread carefully, but the moment she stepped around the door it was as though her feet had been forcibly yanked out from under her. By the time he had moved around the door, he saw Ariadne desperately trying to push herself away from the corpse of Tessier and covered in blood, not just dampened but drenched in it. The warm metallic smell of it almost made him choke.

Even before the room began to shake, Arthur knew she had lost control of the dream. As the room around him dissolved into darkness, her panicked screams sounded like a distant echo.

He awoke just before she did, in time to see her eyes slam open as she took a hard, gasping breath. The short physical jolt that had accompanied her return to consciousness didn't even faze the sleeping toddler in her arms, but Ariadne was clearly rattled. Truth be told, he was rattled, too. It was no small thing to personally experience someone else's trauma, and that had been...

"Wow," he breathed. For a while, that was all he could think to say.

"Yep," she replied, eyes still fixed on the ceiling.

"I think we've had enough of your personal point of view for the moment."

Her eyes slid over to meet his. "It must be our deep emotional connection because I was just thinking the same thing," she said. Her voice shook, and her tone was sarcastic; but she was smiling, and there was humor in her eyes. He was relieved to see the humor. As necessary as it had been for him to get her view of the crime scene, he still felt like asking her for it had been a bad idea in retrospect. Even so, the process had given him a few insights, and there was one point that had occurred to him during the dream that he wanted to ask her about before the thought slipped away.

"Ariadne, when you went back inside, you went through the kitchen. Why that door and not the one you went out?"

"I tried it first, but it was locked."

"It was locked?" he demanded.

She nodded.

"Do you know who locked it?"

She shook her head slowly, clearly giving the matter some consideration for the first time.

"And that was why you had to go back in through the room with a dead body," he said flatly. "Ariadne, you didn't just fall over that body. You were practically pushed."