"There will be times in life when impossibility is felt, but then there are dreams- and dreams allow us possibility." –Jeffery David Lang

Ariadne- Chicago, IL

I woke up suddenly, with a rush in my head. I remembered only vaguely the bar that Arthur had brought me to. I remembered that I was impressed- I didn't think that a stiff like him would be up for such a grungy little place. But somehow, he knew the place well enough that he was able to order without even looking at the menu.

When I flipped over on my side, I withheld a yelp when I realized that I was in bed with Arthur. He was still asleep. Instinctively, I patted down my own body. I was relieved that I was still in my jeans and boots, although I realized that my shirt was on the floor and I was only wearing a bra. So maybe we had gotten somewhere last night.

I pounded my head with my fists trying to remember everything that had happened. I had definitely had a few drinks at the bar, but I couldn't remember much past then. I sat up and saw that my totem was sitting on the table next to me. Funny, I usually kept it in my pants pocket unless… I… was… shit.

I looked back at the bed again- Arthur's silver case was sitting there, the IV leads strew across the bed, one towards him and one towards me. We had shared a dream while we were both absolutely wasted? I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to remember what that dream was all about.

But then Arthur rolled over onto his side and I heard him groan a little- a sure sign that he was waking up. I practically fell out of bed in a rush to get my shirt back on. I had a gut feeling that sober Arthur would react very differently to my shirtless-ness than drunk Arthur probably had.

"Holy shit! Ariadne!" I realized that I was way too late to save this moment. I turned around at a painfully slow rate, my arms through the holes in my shirt.

"Hi Arthur," I squeaked. He stared at me shamelessly for a moment before turning his head and staring off into space. He remained this way for almost a full moment before putting his head in his hands.

"Oh my God," he muttered. I couldn't decipher whether he was angry, embarrassed, or guilty-sounding. I pulled my shirt on fully, but kicked off my boots while I waited for an explanation. It never came.

"Arthur? Wha- What happened?" I asked hesitantly. He looked up at me slowly.

"You don't remember?" He asked. His voice was totally devoid of any emotion. He was looking at me, a dull shock registering in his expression.

"Do I want to?" I asked with a nervous laugh. He just kept looking at me. "Arthur? You're kind of freaking me out."

"I can't just tell you what happened!" Arthur said. He looked thoroughly unhappy. My curiosity was piqued.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"No, oh my god, Ariadne, you… I can't just…" he sighed angrily at me and then grinded his knuckles into his eyes. He looked up at me miserably. "Just try to remember." He commanded. I sat down on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to recall the previous night's dream.

Heat. Body on body. Grabbing his hair with her hands, him with his hands around her waist.

"Quick," Ariadne hissed. "Give me a kiss." And he did. But before she knew what was happening, he was inside her. His body was moving rhythmically with hers, and she could hear him moaning. There was more heat, and they repeated this again.

I screamed. It was not a well thought out reaction, and it was not in horror of what I had done. In fact, I have to say it was one of the best dreams I had ever had. No, I was just shocked that we had gone so far so fast. It was against everything that either of us stood for.

"Oh my god, Arthur, did we…" I faltered, but his face was still stony.

"Yes."

"In the dream last night…"

"Yep."

"Three times?"

"Oh yeah." Arthur almost smiled at this, but then quickly reverted to his more serious expression. I couldn't help but look down towards my pelvis.

"But it was a dream."

"Yes." Arthur was very rapt in answering that question. This was getting uncomfortable. Was I technically still a virgin when I did it three times in one night in my head? I mean, physically, I was still pristine. But mentally, I was already gone. I had done it, known how it felt.

"Shit." I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. This was not going right for me at all. I looked back up at Arthur, whose face was an unreadable mixture of emotions. Neither of us said anything. But we both knew that we had crossed a line. Arthur's phone rang and we both dove at it, eager to distract ourselves from what had happened. Arthur grabbed it and put it on speaker.

"Cobb?" He asked.

"Arthur," Cobb confirmed. "Listen, we have a problem. The good news here is that the last anyone heard of Eames was that he was going for coffee with Darcy Gilligan two days ago. The bad news is, that's the last anyone heard of either of them. They've both gone missing." Arthur and I looked at each other, a dull sense of shock spreading over both of us.

"Do we have any idea where they are?" Arthur asked. His voice was completely collected.

"No one has any idea. But it was proposed that you two meet with Darcy's team to try and straighten this out." Cobb said. I could hear the discomfort in his voice. He wanted to be here with us. Arthur must have sensed it too because he smiled at the phone.

"Will you be joining us, Cobb?" He asked. "You know the Gilligans better than either of us." There was a pause on Cobb's end of the phone.

"No, I… I have to stay with the kids." He said finally. But there was resentment in his tone. Arthur nodded at me to signify that Cobb would be here.

"Then can we get the number to contact the other group?" Arthur requested. It was given to us and after a few short words, the call was ended. We looked at each other again. We had Eames to worry about now, but what we did last night was weighing heavy on our minds.

Eames- Chicago, IL

2 days Earlier

I recognized her immediately when she walked in. She had a strong presence and she carried herself with confidence despite her young appearance. She didn't have that maniacal gleam in her eye that Cobb did, either. It would be satisfying to have someone bloody sane in charge for once. She sat down at my table without ordering anything, without saying a word. She just looked me in the eye and waited for me to initiate the conversation. I did the same to her and smiled winningly. Her eyes were intense and blue, and strangely detached.

"Darcy?" I asked finally. Her lips upturned very quickly.

"Eames?" She responded. I recognized her voice from over the phone. It was mature, but overly so, almost cold.

"It's a pleasure," I said, extending a hand to shake hers. She shook my hand briefly before retracting it to dig through a backpack she had with her. She pulled out a folder and handed it to me.

"Inside you'll find the most basic information about my team and about this case. I've also included an estimated paycheck if you complete the job," Darcy said seriously. I raised an eyebrow and cracked a smile at her. She just looked back at me blankly, waiting for me to read the file. I dropped my smile and put on a more serious face as I opened the file, taking a sip of coffee. I nearly choked when I saw the paycheck estimate. Darcy looked concerned.

"Are you alright?" She asked, cocking her head to the side like a curious puppy.

"Bloody hell, are you sure this is the right figure you've got down on this piece of paper?" I asked, holding up the yellow post-it. She nodded, looking slightly amused.

"You'll find, Mr. Eames, that with my team, your pay will be substantially better than just about anywhere else." Darcy said, finally cracking a small smile. I decide to humor her.

"And why is that possible, Miss Darcy?" I tease. She suddenly became very serious again.

"Because I don't take any of the total accumulated paycheck." She said. I raised my eyebrows and leaned in towards her.

"And why is that, love?" I asked. To my surprise, she leaned in to.

"Because I don't need it," she said simply. I was about to ask why she didn't need that much money when I saw someone watching us. He was in a booth by himself, a hood drawn over his head. I could make out his tan hands gripping a coffee cup but not much else. Darcy noticed I was staring immediately and followed my gaze. She must have recognized him, because she let loose a quiet stream of very unladylike words.

"Care to repeat that out loud, pet?" I asked her lightly. She took the folder back from me and crumpled it in her hands.

"Shut up and come with me if you want to keep your brain matter inside your head," she snapped at me. I raised my eyebrows but followed her out, instinctively shielding her from the guy in the hoodie. I saw him stand and follow us out. I turned back to Darcy and found her with a .22 caliber pistol in one hand. She didn't seem to really care that she was handling the gun, she was much too preoccupied with ripping up the paper in the folder.

I was both surprised and a little nauseated when she chose a few small strips of paper and shoved them into her mouth, swallowing them.

"Hell, Darcy, what the fuck was that?" I asked her in a hushed voice. She didn't answer, she just threw her backpack and the rest of the paper into a trashcan. I grabbed her shoulder and stopped her, ignoring the fact that the hoodie guy was advancing on us.

"Eames, we really don't have time for this," she begged. I didn't let go of her shoulder.

"You want me to work for you? And you won't tell me bloody anything?" I asked. She sighed and gave a quick look towards the guy advancing towards us.

"Listen, I know this guy. His name is-." She was cut off as something lodged itself in the side of her neck. She seized momentarily before falling limp on the sidewalk, her gun clattering uselessly beside her. I hardly had time to look up before I felt something sting my bicep and I involuntarily submitted to darkness.

A/N: Although it's a shorter chapter, a lot was going on, especially for you A/A lovers! Anyways, review are always appreciated and they certainly help me get the chapters out faster! Thanks for reading!