(Sorry this is in italics, but the editor is being screwy and is making my whole story italicized if I try to change this...) So, halfway done! This is a really long chapter, so I hop eyou're all up for the haul. ;) I know it's up a bit early in the day, but I'm going to be busy tonight and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.

A HUGE THANKS to VergOfTowels for continually saving my literary bacon.

So, without further ado, Chapter 7!

November 10, 2013: 3:00 pm, 40 miles from destination

Ring, ring, ring…

Ring, ring, ring…

"Should we wake him?" Ariadne leaned forward to shake Arthur's shoulder.

"Don't. I'll get it," Eames said automatically. "Arthur hasn't been sleeping well lately." He sighed, a little sadly. Arthur had always been a little bit of an insomniac, but it used to be you put him in a car and turn on the heat, and pretty soon he'd be dead to the world. Eames supposed that it was understandable that he was a little slower to sleep, now. The conman reached over and tugged Arthur's cell out of his pocket, trying not to jostle him. Arthur only shifted a little before settling his head back against the corner of the seat.

"'Ello?"

For a long minute, the only answer was static.

"—llo? Arthur?"

"Cobb? Jesus Christ, Cobb. Are you all right?" Eames nodded for Ariadne to shake Arthur, and not five seconds later the hacker was grabbing the phone out of Eames's hand.

"Dom? Fuck you, Dominic Cobb." Arthur laughed, a startling sound in the quiet of the car. "Is everyone out? Please tell me everyone's okay." Arthur ran a hand through his hair as static cut out part of Cobb's reply, but he caught the confirmation the second time around.

Everyone was alive.

"We even got Mal out. She's tied up, but she's quiet. She isn't in range of anyone, before you ask, Arthur."

"Where are you?" Arthur had slumped back in the seat, hand clenched in the bottom of his jacket so Eames wouldn't see it shaking.

"Somewhere near the eastern border of Nevada."

Arthur could hear Cobb shifting the phone as, in the background, the children's voices floated out of the meaningless din.

"If it's all right with you, I'm putting you on speaker because the kids want to talk to you."

"Yeah, yeah, put them on." Arthur pulled the phone away from his ear to enable his own speaker option, knowing that Eames was also quite fond of the Cobb children.

"Uncle Arthur? Uncle Arthur is that you?" Phillipa's tinny voice streamed out of the speaker, loud and metallic but very, very much alive. Arthur had to fight to keep his eyes from tearing up as James's voice joined hers.

"Uncle Arthur? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm all right, kids. How are you? Everything fine?" He scrubbed the back of his hand across his eyes, not even caring about the wetness that greeted the skin.

Eames pulled his hand off the wheel and pried Arthur's hand of the bottom of his suit jacket, squeezing it gently.

"Maman is still…creepy, but that doesn't matter." Phillipa's voice shook a little, but Arthur could tell she was trying to be brave. "Dad says she'll be good as long as we don't go too close." Suddenly, her voice lowered, as if she was worried her family might overhear. "Don't—don't tell him I'm afraid of her, please, Uncle Arthur. He says I have to be a big girl and watch out for James, but I'm scared."

"It's okay to be scared, Phil," Arthur comforted. "But don't worry. Things will get better soon, I promise."

"You promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Phillipa raised her voice back to its normal level, seeming consoled by Arthur's assurances. "Grandma and Grandpa are good, too," she said, and Arthur could hear her small smile. "They still argue a lot, but they're still normal."/i

"That's good to hear, pet," Eames said. "That's great."

"Is that Mr. Eames? Are you there, Mr. Eames?"

"Yes, I'm here, James. Are you and Phillipa getting along? Not causing trouble for your dad, I hope."

"Phillipa's kind of annoying, but she's okay, I guess."

"Hey! You're whiny, James! You're bothering Uncle Arthur and Mr. Eames!"

"Look what you've started," Arthur chuckled, and it warmed Ariadne's heart to see him that happy. "World War Three. I feel bad for Cobb."

"Oh, come now, Arthur. It's not going to be all that bad. You'll be good for your dad, won't you, kids?"

"Yeah, okay," the kids chorused, sounding reluctant but assenting. "We'll be good." And Arthur knew they would. Anything else would be too dangerous.

"Oh, Dad wants to talk to you. Bye, Uncle Arthur! Bye Mr. Eames!"

"Goodbye, guys," Arthur said, and Eames echoed it, both still smiling.

"Sorry about that," Cobb laughed. "They mean well. So, you two are traveling together? I'm not sure whether to be surprised or bragging that I knew it would happen. You're pretty impossible to predict, Arthur, and at the same time I always seem to know what you're going to do before you do."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm taking you off speaker." Arthur did so, shooting a playfully warning look at Eames, who was wiggling his eyebrows. Ariadne was cracking up in the back, and Nash was shaking his head with a smile.

"So, who was that I heard laughing in the background?" Cobb asked. "Not Eames, surely? A bit too high pitched for him, unless there's something I don't know about."

"No, that's my friend Ariadne. She's with us, along with Nash Archer. You remember Nash, right?"

"Reputation only. Sounds like an odd crew, to be honest. Hey, listen, where are you?"

"We're about two hours outside of Bonanza, Colorado. I can be in Nevada in—"

"No. You get to Bonanza with Eames and your team. We'll meet you there in two days, maybe longer depending on whether or not we stop to gather news in some of the refugee camps along the way."

"All right. I'll wait for you in Colorado. Call me later, okay? You're going to check in with me periodically, whether you like it or not, Cobb."

Cobb chuckled. "Yeah, okay, Arthur. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."

"Bye." Arthur hung up, but stared at the phone for a long minute afterward. Finally he sighed and put it back in his pocket.

"So, that's fantastic. That's fantastic, Arthur!" Ariadne leaned forward in her seat, mouth stretched wide in a grin. "I'm so happy for you. He's alive. That's great."

"Yeah, it's..." Arthur sighed again, happily, too relieved for words. One hundred miles ago, Cobb had been a dead man, he and his family only ashes under the remains of a once-great city. Now they were alive, safely at the border of Nevada.

"That means you're coming to Colorado with us, right?" Nash asked, fidgeting a little in his seat. "I mean, it's not that I don't trust these guys, but—"

"Yes, Nash, I'm coming to Colorado. I—" he shot a glance over to Eames, and chased it with the shadow of a smile. "I may stay a while."

-ooo-

4:30 pm, 10 miles from destination

"Okay, if no one else is going to ask, I'm going to," Ariadne finally declared, fed up. "Who the hell are we going to see?"

"We'll be at my contact's house in about six minutes," Eames announced. "His name is Yusuf. He was a chemist for the government's medical research department, but he left during the middle of the vaccine's test trials. He wouldn't tell me why."

"We'll get him to talk," Nash said confidently. His hand strayed to the gun tucked into his waistband, but Arthur was already shaking his head.

"No. Threatening him will do no good. People faced with the threat of violence or death can never be trusted to say anything reliable." Arthur drummed his fingers on the dashboard. "We'll need to try something else."

"What about blackmail?" Nash suggested instead.

"With what?" Eames snorted. "What use is a reputation in the apocalypse? You actually worked with this guy, Arthur? Must not have been for his intellect. No, what we need to do is—"

"Why not just try talking to him?" Ariadne said suddenly. "He's your friend, isn't he?"

"More of an estranged acquaintance to tell the truth. If he knew we were coming and had any particular fondness for guns, he'd have one drawn on me before I even finished climbing his porch steps." Eames shook his head. "We didn't part on the best of terms."

"What on Earth could be so bad that you'd torture him? Honest to God."

"He sold me out for a double share. It put me in a…bad spot, shall we say, that even I had trouble getting out of. The way I see it, he owes me."

"I would have thought you'd choose your teammates more carefully, after Bahrain," Arthur muttered, scolding. "Wasn't nearly getting shot by Wilkinson enough for you?"

"That's not really the point, darling. Yusuf is the best at what he does and I needed that. Betrayal or not."

Ariadne sighed. "Okay, so he betrayed you. But that's in the past, isn't it? We're all fighting to survive now. Let's leave the past out of it. Besides, Rob always says the way into someone's confidence is through force of personality and a nice smile. If we want this 'Yusuf' to help us, you should try that, first."

"Rob?" Eames asked, glancing at Arthur out the corner of his eye. He was surprised by the chagrined expression on his ex's face. "Who is Rob, Arthur?"

"Robert Fischer, rising star in the energy business. He's her boyfriend." The hacker rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I'm sorry I never asked, Ariadne. How is Fischer? Still…?"

"Alive? Thankfully, yeah. He and his dad were hiding out at Saito's compound in New York last time we talked. Turns out that even big businessmen have hearts, for which I am eternally grateful. I think if I ever meet Mr. Saito, I'll have to kiss him. I'm just glad that Rob had his childhood baseball bat on hand, otherwise—but anyway, we were talking about your contact. I still say the best way is conversation."

"You know, darling, I think she's probably right."

For a second, Ariadne could have sworn Eames looked a little uncomfortable. That sounded awfully like trying to end the discussion, but she really couldn't fathom why he wanted it over with, all of a sudden.

Then Eames turned to Arthur and grinned, and the moment passed. "Can we keep her? Having her around keeps us human, have you noticed? Talking. That's a novel idea. We never would have thought of that."

"The sad thing is, we never would have," Arthur agreed. "How about it, Ariadne? Want to stick with us for a little while longer? When we get done talking to Mr. Yusuf, I'll lend you my phone to call your boyfriend. Who knows, maybe New York will be our next stop."

"Really, Arthur? That'd be great! Thanks!" Her smile could have powered a small country. Arthur took a moment to let it sink in, to feel bad for everything she'd never have, everything she'd gone through. She was only seven years younger than him, but Arthur had lived a lot in seven years.

He'd made good friends, met a man and fallen in love, bought the biggest mistake of his life in several payments of humiliation and regret over a series of too many months…but he had learned a lot. He prayed that she would get to do that; to make friends and mistakes and live her life outside of the constant threat of mutilation.

One day.

He shook his head and checked his Glock's magazine as Eames pulled into the driveway of a surprisingly unassuming house.

"We're here," Eames announced, and cut the engine.

-ooo-

5:00 pm – Bonanza, Colorado

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting visitors. Especially not you, Eames. Honestly, I was hoping I'd never see you again," Yusuf said, handing the bottle of beer over to the Brit with a dry smile and a nervous shift of his weight.

"Well, the world works—"

"If you say 'in mysterious ways', God help me, I will shoot you myself," Arthur warned, drawing a real smile from Yusuf. "I'm sorry about barging in like this, but we have a few questions about the vaccine."

"Ah yes. I figured that's why you're here," the chemist said with a small sigh. "But honestly, I'm afraid I don't think I'll be of much help. They kicked me off the project once I started speaking out about some of the adverse side effects that were emerging in the test cases."

"What kind of side effects?" Nash asked, leaning forward from where he sat on the couch. "You mean that things like this were happening even in the study?"

"Well," Yusuf hesitated, but Ariadne cut him off, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"That's awful! Why didn't anyone do anything?"

"I did," Yusuf sighed. "They removed me from the project and threatened to hurt my family if I said anything."

"But—but how could something like that actually happen?" There was a kind of shocked depression in her voice, her shoulders tense and her eyes horrified.

"In all likelihood, Global MedCare paid off my department to give their vaccine the green light. They were competing with Angelic Med for the honor of releasing first, and I guess they won." Yusuf shook his head sadly, but turned a tired smile on Arthur. "Where'd you pick her up? Her naivety is endearing."

"She gives me hope that there're actually normal people in the world," Arthur said. "But I'm afraid we really must get to business. From Eames's reports, we've come to the conclusion that you may be able to synthesize a cure for the vaccine, a way to reverse the effects. Do you think it's possible?"

"Well, in theory anything's possible. I would need the exact formula for the vaccine, but I probably have all the chemicals I need downstairs…"

"The formula will be no problem. Give Arthur a computer and two hours' time— maximum—and you'll have it," Eames said, shooting the hacker a wink that was answered with a small, fond smile.

Yusuf's eyebrows went up. "You must really have a high opinion of him. The last time we worked together you kept making our tech run and rerun everything."

"Well, Arthur is the best," was all Eames had to say. Yusuf nodded, accepting Eames's evaluation, and asked Arthur whether he would prefer to use the home computer or his own laptop.

"Both," the hacker answered, rising to grab his computer case from the couch next to Nash. "Lead the way."

As she watched Yusuf get Arthur situated, Ariadne finally voiced the question that had been bothering her. "Eames, you said you've worked with Yusuf before. What exactly were you two doing?"

"Oh, you know, illegal things," the conman hedged, shooting Yusuf an unreadable glance as the chemist opened his mouth.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. But come on, you can tell me. What am I going to do? Arrest you?"

"No, but you may get mad at me," Eames admitted, shooting Arthur a nasty glance when the hacker snorted. "And that is not something I look forward to, especially if we're going to be traveling to New York together in a car in the near future."

"Are you seriously going to make me beg? The suspense is killing me! Just tell me already!" Ariadne's puppy-dog eyes were as irresistible as Phillipa's, and Eames found himself succumbing to their charm in much the same manner.

"Fine. It was corporate espionage. Are you happy?"

Ariadne tilted her head to the side confusedly. "Is that all? Why on Earth would I be mad about that? I don't really care about some big company…wait. Who were you working for?" She studied his face.

This was the same look Eames had had, back in the car.

Eames thinned his mouth, but then shrugged. It was the most uncomfortable Arthur had ever seen him, when he took a minute to glance over at the two of them. "We were hired by a man named Saito. He wanted intel on his rival's business, so he could exceed, and possibly ruin, his competition."

"Oh." It was small puff of air expelled in surprise. "Freakin' small world, huh? What are the odds?" She shook her head wonderingly. "So, that big scandal, that was you? Rob was swamped with calls and meetings for weeks."

"Yes, pet, that was us. Yusuf helped with the technical jargon I spewed to encourage the takeover of the fake medical business, and also the fake trial products. I really hope this doesn't damage relations."

For a long minute, all Ariadne did was stare at him. Then, she smacked him hard in the shoulder. "There, now we're all squared away for, you know, you saving my life and all that."

"Deal," Eames said, and though his demeanor never changed, Arthur could tell he was relieved.

He turned back to the computer and focused on saving the world.

-ooo-

7:10 pm – Bonanza, Colorado

"Eames, for the last time, would you stop hovering behind me? It's distracting!" Arthur snapped, not even looking up from the screen, fingers dancing furiously over the keyboard.

"Sorry, sorry," the conman soothed, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace that was lost on Arthur's back. "What's wrong?"

"I keep running into opposition, and I can't—I can't—dammit!" He slammed his hands down on the desk and spun the swivel chair around, launching up from it when his back was to the screens. He paced frustratedly around for a few minutes while Eames leaned in to look at the computers. They were covered in lines of numbers and letters that didn't mean anything to him so he turned his attention back to Arthur.

"What is it? What's going on?" Yusuf asked, jogging up from the basement, followed by Nash and Ariadne. "Problem?"

"Insurmountable firewall," the hacker hissed. "It's a kind of content-filter proxy that I've never seen before." He ran an angry hand through his hair, tugging at in irritation. "I've tried everything I can think of, but short of hacking it directly from the source—"

He paused, and then spun on his heel to face Yusuf.

"Where were you working out of? A military base? Or were you working at Global MedCare?"

"Global," Yusuf answered, "on a government funded project."

"In the US?"

"Yeah. The headquarters is only about three hours from here." Yusuf watched, bemused, as Arthur started to pace again.

"Okay," Arthur said suddenly, halting. "If we could get in there—get into the computer room, I could directly enter the system with no problems. But I can't access the files we need from here."

"You need an in, darling?" Eames asked with a devious smile. "Give me your picture, a computer, a printer, and half an hour, and you'll be all set to get in to wherever you want to."

Arthur grinned, frustration melting away. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

Luckily, the rest of the team was too busy with their own lives to notice the way Eames stiffened in surprise, or the way Arthur's face flamed as he turned away to grab a drink from the kitchen.

When he returned, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"So it's settled, then. Tomorrow we impersonate members of Global MedCare. Yusuf, I need you to stay here and go through your chemicals. See if there's anything else you think you'll need, and call us if you find something we can pick up for you. Nash, you'll be accompanying me and Eames to the compound. At present, we'll start going over the finer points of acting important while Eames makes our IDs. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one. Why the hell are you leaving me behind?" Ariadne's glare could have set a lesser man scurrying to do her bidding, but Arthur stood his ground.

"Because this is a criminal operation, Ariadne, and I won't have you becoming—"

"Becoming what, Arthur? I've come this far with you, holding my own, to be treated like a child now? I think I can handle a little breaking and entering! I think I can handle a bunch of normal people after beating in my neighbors' heads!"

"That's just it, Ari. These are normal people we may have to kill. Rational human beings. Can you do that? Do you think you could?"

Ariadne hesitated. "I—I could. If I had to, I mean." Then, with more conviction, "If I had to."

Arthur looked at her, calculating. He didn't want to bring her. He'd much rather she stayed here, safe, with Yusuf. But Ariadne had already proved she wouldn't stand for that, and Arthur decided it was better to have her along with them rather than risk her coming out after them, alone.

"Fine."

She smiled, relieved. "Thanks, Arthur. Really."

"Okay, any more questions?"

He sighed, wondering if maybe the end was closer than they'd thought. It'd been only eleven days since the vaccine had finished its work. Eleven days and most of the world was quarantined or infected or lying in a pool of their own blood, heads blown away.

Oh, the wonders of modern science.

He surveyed his team for any raised hands or confused looks, and then knocked back the shot of the whiskey Yusuf had so kindly provided.

"No? All right then, to work."

-oooxooo-

November 11, 2013: 9:25 am – Global MedCare headquarters, Pueblo, Colorado

"Everyone ready?" Arthur asked, adjusting his tie. They had left Yusuf at six that morning, and along the way to the headquarters they had stopped by a clothing store to pick up some professional, non blood-splattered clothing.

They now stood staring up at the slate-gray building, fighting the anxiety they all felt creeping over them. The sky was overcast, threatening rain as they shifted anxiously and examined the parking lot across the way for any lurking dangers. The fact that there didn't seem to be any reflected in the metallic coating of the cars was not even remotely comforting.

"I don't like this," Arthur said quietly to Eames as the conman handed him his ID badge. "This is a big town, but there are no zombies. And yet, there are still guards at the door? Where is everyone?"

"I know. It's very odd. But we need to get into the building, don't we? I'll take any blessing we can get, and having zombie-free streets seems like a pretty big one."

"You're right," Arthur sighed. "Okay, let's go," he said, raising his voice to include Ariadne and Nash in the conversation. "Let's get this over with."

Together, the four of them approached the guard, each of them taking out their Eames-provided IDs to show to him. He smiled at them and waved them through the doors, not even bothering to check their papers.

"Have a pleasant day," he said to them, eyes slightly unfocused. Perturbed, the four infiltrators entered the building. Arthur rounded the strangely empty check-in desk and pulled up a map, locating the computer labs in the basement.

"Okay, the safest and most direct way down to the basement is the service staircase; fourth door on the left," he said, nodding toward the corridor on their right. "I don't want to risk an elevator, even if this building seems to be okay. Shall we?"

They jogged to the door. It was a dark affair, black and heavy and lacking any kind of window. Nash pressed his ear to it. "I don't hear anything moving on the other side," he said, and they pulled it open.

The stairs were clear, and they each breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"All right," Arthur said softly, just in case there were any people around on the other landings. "Lab's in the basement. Let's go." He nodded to Eames and moved forward to take point. Ariadne followed him, then Nash, and Eames brought up the back. They made it down two flights before Arthur froze and held up his hand for the others to do the same.

Arthur's free hand dropped to his Glock, and he thanked whatever God there was that he had brought six extra cartridges.

The stairs before them we covered, completely packed with zombies. But all of them were immobile, simply staring off into space, almost like they had been drugged. They hadn't even looked over at the footsteps or the motion of the approaching intruders.

Arthur motioned for them to turn around, to go back up the stairs, and Eames drew his gun and silently lead the way. When they had reached their original point of entry, Nash grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.

Cold, dead eyes stared back at him.

Nash let go of the handle and stumbled back away from the silent crowd that had gathered outside the door. There were at least thirty of them—in lab coats, security uniforms, civilian clothes…all just standing there. For a long second, everyone held their breath and waited for the attack.

It never came.

Go up, Arthur mouthed finally, gesturing to the ascending stairs. We'll try another floor.

Eames shook his head grimly. We're boxed in. He pointed to the next landing, and while they couldn't see much, they could see at least twelve pairs of feet waiting there.

Arthur's head spun. What the hell were they going to do now? There were zombies on every side, no way out. He didn't want to risk firing any shots at any one group in case the other infected became aware of their presence. They didn't really have a lot of options, though.

What now? Ariadne mouthed, eyes wide and frightened. She was staring at the zombies on the upper floor. They seemed to be moving closer.

We go down. We're trapped anyway. Might as well try. Arthur knew it was a bad choice either way. What else could they do?

They were half way across the landing when the door finally snicked shut on its pressure hinge, and the sound reverberated softly around the stairwell.

All of the zombies looked up.

"Oh, shit," Nash breathed, and then they attacked.

"Move!" Arthur screamed, shoving all of them forward, towards the descending stairs. "Go, go, go!" He spun on his heel, firing rapidly to cover their escape. He tried to ignore the rapport of Eames fire behind him, tried to tell himself that they would all get out of this alive.

There was nowhere else for them to go.

Arthur stumbled over one of the fallen bodies and almost lost his balance as he followed Ariadne down the stairs backward, into the chaos of writhing bodies and snapping teeth.. He didn't know where Nash was. He couldn't see Eames. He flinched and half-turned at Ariadne's gasp of pain, shoving her suddenly out of the way so the zombie that had been coming at her tackled him, instead.

One set of stairs away from his destination, Arthur got the breath knocked out of him as an infected man in a guard's uniform pinned him to the wall, railing digging painfully into his back. Arthur's elbow between them was enough to keep the zombie's snapping jaws away from his neck, but he could feel himself slipping as another assailant—this one a woman in a gray pantsuit—took hold of his other arm and yanked with the still surprising strength of the infected. There was a sharp pain that told him the bones in his wrist hadn't liked the tug-of-war.

And then the guard's head exploded.

A second later, the woman's followed suit. Arthur whipped around to see Eames at the bottom of the stairs, gun still raised.

"Well, don't just stand there, Arthur," he snapped. "Get down here!" Arthur did.

A few minutes later, they were all gathered in the dark of the computer room. The familiar hum of the machines soothed Arthur's nerves, and he loosened his tie to ease his breathing.

"Is everyone all right?" Eames asked, and one by one they all nodded. "What the hell was that?"

"I'd say that it was probably the last thing any of the scientists of Global Med did," Arthur said, quickly activating all of the computers, his fingers flying over the keys so fast they were almost a blur. "They probably hit them with a high-dose sedative or something, to cover their escape. It probably wore off by the time we got back up to the landing. This launch code time stamp—" he gestured to the screen that flashed EMERGENCY PROTOCOL, "—indicates that they left about fifteen minutes ago."

"But we didn't see anyone out there," Ariadne whispered.

Arthur sighed. "I know." He shook his head sadly, then ran a critical eye over the computers in front of him.

"Nash? You know how to get past a basic security firewall, right?" he asked, and beckoned the man over when the confirmation was given. "Good. I need you to hack this one while I get started on the inner security on this computer."

Arthur crossed the room to another bank of computers, inserting his flash drive to upload the helpful virus he had created to aid him in situations like this. He worked with it easily, calm though his hands were shaking.

One minute, basic firewalls down. Five minutes, encryption code bypassed. Eight minutes, password found and entered…He lifted a hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, cursing the sudden headache that had developed behind his eyes.

"Got it!" Arthur declared triumphantly after about ten minutes, startling Ariadne where she tensely waited by the door, watching the hallway.

Eames grinned. "I think that's a record, even for you, Arthur."

The hacker chuckled. "No. I took down a system faster than this the last time we were in Somalia, remember? Now all I need to do is set it to transfer—"

Suddenly, every speaker in the lower floor of the compound came alive.

"Non, rien de rien. Non, je ne regrette rien…"

"What the hell is that?" Arthur demanded angrily. "Nash, what the hell did you do?"

"I—I didn't do anything!" the other man protested. "I didn't!"

"Ni le bien qu'on ma fait, ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal!"

Eames swore and went over to Nash's console, roughly pushing him aside. He read over the appearing lines of text.

'Shift change initiated…Please have a nice day. Shift change initiated…Please have a nice…'

"Shit," he spat, "he activated the damn shift-change music. Now every zombie in this entire place is going to gather right here."

"Then we need to leave," Ariadne said. "Right now. Otherwise we'll never get out."

"Non, rien de rien. Non! Je ne regrette rien…"

"James, catch."

Eames looked up in time to grab the object Arthur had tossed to him. Closer inspection revealed it to be the hacker's BlackBerry. Eames glanced at Arthur in confusion.

"Darling, what do you want me to do with this?"

"I've programmed the computer to email the files to my phone. Everything Yusuf needs should be in the folder."

"C'est payé, balayé, oublié…Je me fous de passé!"

"Ariadne, come here and look at this blueprint. I need you to memorize the way out of here. When I tell you to, I want you to take Eames and Nash out through there, that side door. It leads to the lab's emergency evacuation tunnel, the one that can only be opened from inside. There shouldn't be too many infected lingering inside it."

"Wait, Eames and Nash?" the girl questioned. "What about—oh, God, Arthur. You're bleeding."

"Avec mes souvenirs, j'ai allumé le feu. Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs, je n'ai plus besoin d'eux…"

"What?" Eames snapped, almost dropping the phone in his haste to get to Arthur. "Darling, show me."

"We don't have time for this," Arthur warned as there came a loud bang from behind them. "That door won't hold very long. However, the emergency evacuation route is fitted with computer controlled, air-tight steel doors that I can close behind you from here."

"Except that you're not staying here," Eames interjected. "Now show me. Where are you bleeding?"

"Balayées les amours, avec leurs tremolos. Balayées pour toujours, je repar à zero…"

Arthur gritted his teeth against the throb from his head and the stab of pain from his wrist as he lifted it to show Eames the bite.

"Holy shit," Nash swore, and leveled his gun at Arthur's head.

"If you shoot him, I will tear you apart with my bare hands," Eames promised, glaring at Nash over his shoulder. Turning back to Arthur, he silently begged the younger man not to do this, not to stay behind.

Arthur glanced back at the computer screen.

"The transfer's fifty percent complete. It's time for you to go." He pulled his arm away from Eames gently, pressing it slightly to his chest in a protective manner.

"No. Arthur, I am not leaving you here," the conman protested, placing his hand on Arthur's cheek. "I'm never leaving you again."

"As sweet as that is, James, I'm afraid I insist," Arthur said, heart breaking, trying not to back down and let Eames endanger them all by taking him with them. "I wager I have about five minutes left, maybe less. You need to get out of here before I stop caring enough to help you."

"Non, rien de rien. Non, je ne regrette rien…"

"Come on!" Nash said from the tunnel's doorway. "He's already gone. We need to go!"

"No! Darling, Arthur, look at me. I'm not leaving you. If you're staying, then so am I." Eames pulled Arthur closer to rest his forehead on Arthur's feverish one. Like Ariadne had predicted those (eternities) days ago, Arthur was turning quickly, too quickly…

"For God's sake, James," Arthur whispered. "Can we not fight, just this once? Go with Ariadne and Nash. There's nothing more you can do for me, short of shooting me. When you get out of here, call Cobb and tell him what happened, so he knows not to make any plans to meet with me in case I get a hold of a phone somewhere."

"Ni le bien qu'on ma fait, ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal!"

Eames's slid his hand down to rest on Arthur's neck, feeling the too-fast beat of the hacker's pulse race under his palm as he rubbed Arthur's jaw with his thumb. Arthur raised his uninjured hand and placed it over Eames's, before gently but firmly pulling it down.

"Go, James. Go bring Yusuf his data. If he makes a cure, come find me, yeah?" Arthur leaned forward and kissed Eames, once. It was short, but full of everything they had ever been to each other—full of peaceful dinners and dangerous gunfights, crime and visits to the theatre…Full of dark nights in a nameless hotel and clasped hands and just holding each other.

Full of the words they said that they never meant, and the words they meant that they never said.

"Non, rien de rien. Non, je ne regrette rien…"

"There's something I should have told you a thousand times over, Arthur," Eames whispered. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Arthur said back, pressing his lips once more to Eames's. "Now go. Go. Ariadne, get him out of here."

"Car me vie, car me joies. Aujourd'hui…"

Ariadne pulled Eames toward the door, and after the first few steps the conman stopped resisting.

"He'll make a cure, Arthur. We'll see each other again! I promise!" When he reached the doorway, he paused and looked over his shoulder once more, and then tossed something back at Arthur. "And then I'll marry you."

And Arthur laughed, fevered eyes turning slightly glassy and skin paling under the harsh electric lighting on the room. He leaned back against the computer table and watched Eames take the last step into the escape corridor, his hand warming the metal of the object Eames had given him before he slipped it into his jacket pocket.

"Goodbye, James."

"Ça commence avec toi!"

Valiantly, Arthur held his tears at bay as he closed the door behind them. And then…

Then he felt nothing at all.

...Okay, so on a scale of 1 to 10, how badly do you want to kill me? I'm really sorry for leaving it there, but it's a good, dramatic place to stop, and I love cliff-hangers. Sorry! :)

Anyway, a huge thanks to my reviewers! Please review some more! ;)