Disclaimer: I don't own Inception nor any of it's characters.

Warnings: Graphic and Non-graphic scenes of torture. Non-graphic allusions to sex later in the story. Slash, Eames/Arthur

Rating: T for now, maybe M occasionally, I'll keep you updated.

Summary: Eames looses himself in a forge and both he and Arthur are left to try to help him remember who he is and why he lost himself in the first place.

Shout out to Reviewers: Kiraling, Eshlyn Kar and Wolfenmoon, thanks so much for the reviews.

Notes: Wow, this story has taken over my life. It is allot longer and far more involved that I had originally planned. Reviews encouraged and welcomed. If you have any questions, or if you are confused at all gimme a message on my profile or review. I will now be able to update this thing much more regularly now that it's completed. Thanks for your patience.

Back to the Beginning

(Two months earlier)

"Danny! Your cat has gotten hair all over my suit again," Arthur yelled over his shoulder to his lover on the couch. Eames peeked his head over the back of the couch looking over his right shoulder with a charming smile.

"He's your cat too darling. You can't just say he's mine every time he does something you don't like. You are the one who named him," Eames said and turned back to the television. The culprit of their discussion was curled possessively in Eames' lap. He stroked the cat's sleek black fur and the cat snuggled in closer.

"Who names a cat Dolos anyway? What did you expect when you named him after the Greek spirit of trickery and guile? He is merely living up to his name and punishing you for being such a nerd. He just missed you love, we have been gone for two weeks," Eames mumbled the first part to himself and to the cat but was soon addressing Arthur again. He continued to coo to the cat.

Arthur went to go pull out a new suit, "When are we going to go pick up the boys? Two weeks is a long time to be away. Can we leave them with someone they know next time?"

"Whom would we leave them with? Dom is on the other side of the country and doesn't have the time to look after them with Pippa and James. Everyone else is too much far away."

"I know, I just feel bad leaving them for so long. Maybe we should stop taking them with us and just leave them at the house with the housekeeper."

"We don't have a house keeper, or a house for that matter."

"We can get one," Eames grumped.

Eames and Arthur were talking about their two dogs. A Red Pharaoh hound dog named Twyrch** and a Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog with a blue-leopard coat named Llydd.** Llydd was still a puppy, only seven months. He was a mottled dark grey, light grey, strawberry brown and white pup with enough energy to keep even Eames on his toes, whereas Twyrch was a deep red, quiet dog with dark amber eyes. He was their first pet, nearly six years old. He was great with the puppy and both dogs loved Dolos. Surprisingly enough the three of them thrived together. Eames had named both dogs after characters in his favorite book series, a books series that Arthur had read to him aloud because Eames really didn't like reading.

"We'll get the boys after we meet with the client, alright babe?" Arthur yelled. He missed his dogs and wished they didn't have to leave them so often. He and Eames hadn't been able to live in one place in nearly three years. They had been living out of house in New Orleans for a couple years when they had gotten first Twyrch and then Dolos. That house was where they had wanted to settle down for good but fate had intervened and Mal had died. Killed herself. Arthur had left to help his brother Dom leave the country and then spent the next two years keeping his brother alive. That had been the hardest time of Arthur's life. It didn't look like Arthur and Eames' relationship was going to make it through that very difficult time.

Eames had stayed in their house in New Orleans till he couldn't stand being alone there anymore. He packed up Twyrch and Dolos and had left for Mombassa. His sister lived in Mombassa and he decided to stay with her for a while. After months of no communication, the inception job had come. He left both pets with Andre, his sister, and taken off to help Arthur get Dom home. Arthur had been ecstatic to work with Eames again after so long, though their relationship at that stage was strained and bitter.

After inception had been completed successfully and Dom was back with his kids and Arthur and Eames were able to settle their fight and move back in together. It'd been a year since inception and the two of them had planned on permanent residence. Planned but not executed, the two of them had decided that they were much too young and wealthy to stop working right this minute. So they kept working, which meant they were constantly on the move. The pets were going from neighbor's homes, to kennel's, to traveling with their owners but they never complained. The five of them were a happy family. They were currently staying in a flat in New York for this job. All three pets were able to make the trip with them.

"We're meeting the client at 2:00 Eames, you'd better be ready," Arthur yelled half hour later. When Eames didn't answer right away Arthur walked over to the living room. Eames was napping on the couch now, Dolos curled up on his stomach sleeping. When Arthur walked in, Dolos slowly opened his eyes and looked at him coyly. The cat reminded Arthur so much of Eames with the look that he smiled and pet the cat's ears. Eames, sensing someone near, cracked open his eyes and gave Arthur the exact look that Dolos had given him a few seconds before.

"You have to get ready now," Arthur smiled at him, pushed some hair off of Eames' forehead and smoothed it back, letting his fingers ghost to the back of his head. Eames smiled and leaned in to give Arthur a chaste kiss.

"Right away love," he picked up Dolos and placed him back on the warm couch and walked to the bedroom to get dressed. Arthur nuzzled the cat back into sleep, careful not to get any hair on his suit, while he waited for Eames.

The two of them arrived at 2:15 but Arthur wasn't worried about being late. He knew the meeting wasn't really till 2:30. After working with Eames for the past eight odd years and living with him for the last six he knew how to get Daniel Eames to a meeting on time. After ordering coffee the pair went outside to the patio and waited for the client to show. Soon a well-dressed man with wispy brown hair arrived at their table and shook their hands.

"Edward Rickard, nice to meet you Mr. Eames and Mr. Arthur," Edward was a balding man in his fifties with an expensive fitted blue suit and black wire frame glasses. An air of weariness clung to the man. Eames wasn't too firm with his handshake fearing the man's frail worn bones would break in his hand. He looked wasted and lean. Slightly sagging skin but an ill-fitting expensive suit told Eames that he had lost weight recently. His eyes were dark and slightly puffy underneath, telling a story of sleep loss. His hands shook slightly another sign of food and sleep deprivation. The man pulled out a cigarette from a package in his front pocket. No cigarette stains on his hands or teeth, so a chain smoker meaning recent stress causing the habit to be picked up. A man like this would have a fancy cigarette case if he had a life long habit and the fact that he just had the original box affirmed the chain-smoking hypothesis. His knee bounced restlessly, the man was nervous or angry, too much adrenaline in his system making him squirm and fidget.

"Just Eames and Arthur works for us. Nothing as formal as Mr.," Eames says sitting back down at the table with Arthur on his left and the businessman in front of them.

"Can we order you anything Mr. Rickard? A coffee perhaps?" Arthur asked.

"Um, Edward please. Rickard is… was my father's name. No on the coffee, thank you. I'd like to get to the point as soon as possible gentlemen," Edward says with an awkward flourish of his hand.

"Of course sir. How can we help you?" Arthur asks politely and Eames sees appreciation in his eyes and in the way he leans slightly towards the other man. Arthur loves getting to the point. Small talk and formalities grated on his nerves, though you'd never know with his nearly perfected mask of neutrality. Eames knew Arthur's tells in and out. The way his mouth would twitch at the side when he was amused, or how his eyes would gleam when he was excited. He would swipe at his bottom lip with his thumb and he would bite at it nervously when he was worried or horny.

"My father died nearly eight months ago in a retirement home outside the city. Well not so much died as was brutally murdered," Edward said awkwardly with less than concealed grief.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Eames said softly, a little taken aback by the bluntness of the statement. Edward nodded his thanks and continued, looking impatient and uncomfortable. He didn't like being open like this but he needed them.

"The murderer was never caught but I think that it was one of the workers at the home, a man named Geoff Walcott."

"Why do you suspect Walcott?" Arthur asked.

"My father had broken his hip three weeks before the murder and I suspected abuse but my father was adamant that it was an accident. My father always flinched when Walcott was around after that. I was going to make a formal complaint but then…" The man let the sentence hang and he cleared his throat audibly. "It was a brutal murder but expertly done. There wasn't a scrap of physical evidence that would conclusively lead the police to Walcott but when I was there cleaning out my father's things I caught sight of the man. The way he looked at me, his eyes, I can't describe it really. He seemed proud," Edward cut off abruptly and looked away for a minute. "You have to tell me if he did it. I have to know," the son had said with a thick voice looking back at Eames and Arthur. "I also need to know why."

Twyrch** means boar in Celt and is pronounced Turk.

Llydd** comes from the Celtic Lyd ap Dicter that means rage, son of fury.