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

Warnings: This is where the graphic depictions of torture begin. Physical/psychological abuse. Slash, Eames/Arthur

Rating: M

Reviews: Thanks to Missy92 and EshlynKar.

Note: This is the final Chapter for this story. Lookout for the Sequel/Prequel called the Stillman Code. Thanks for reading and reviewing :D

Chapter Nine

Garden Maze

The night before the job, Arthur lay in bed with Eames at his side. Twyrch and Llydd were curled on their feet and Dolos was snuggled under the covers in the crook of Eames' right arm. His left arm was wrapped securely around Arthur's waist. They had finished their fight about the job and gone to bed shortly after. Eames had fallen asleep quickly. Arthur was still too worried to sleep yet. He didn't want to second-guess his partner; Eames was the one man in the entire world that he trusted with everything. He knew Eames was capable, smart and resourceful. He knew that Eames could do some stupid things but he was always able to fix it. Arthur hadn't double guessed Eames on a job in years. It was the nightmares that had Arthur so worked up.

Almost two years after they had met Arthur and Eames had partnered up on a job in South Korea. The two of them weren't together romantically at that point and the sexual tension had been palpable. Though they hadn't consciously aknowledged it. They just thought they were good friends. Both of them far too wrapped up in the fear of a relationship to acknowledge each other in that way. Third night into the job, Eames woke Arthur up with his nightmares and Arthur had stayed with him that night to calm him down. It had been one of the most terrifying things to witness. The trauma leaking through those nightmares had been so real that Arthur had felt it all vicariously. It was ultimately those nightmares and the trust the two of them developed because of the need for Arthur to calm Eames and Eames to allow Arthur to calm him that had led to their relationship. Both of them had been too hung up on their self-doubt and self-destructive ways to be in a relationship before that time.

When the nightmares finally stopped both of them had been so relieved. They felt like they could finally move past the trauma in their pasts and move towards the future. To have them back felt like two steps back. It hurt Arthur to see the capable charming Eames so broken and scared with these nightmares again.

So he lay awake with his partner sleeping beside him and he concentrated on his breathing. He was working preventative measures tonight. He planned on keeping Eames from falling into the nightmares that plagued him. So when Eames' breathing started to speed up and hitch Arthur rolled over onto him and started soothing his hair.

"It's alright Dan, I've got you," he murmured to his sleeping lover and continued to stroke his hair and chest until Eames settled back into dreamlessness.

Arthur had tried to entire Eames' nightmare once with the pasiv. Eames' dream had been so explosive that Arthur had been pulled so deep into the dream that he had feared he'd gone to limbo. He hadn't tried it again.

Arthur was quickly becoming restless. He had been going circles for hours in the garden maze. It was a big maze, but even so, repetition was making it small. Eames should have found Walcott by now. Arthur didn't want to barge in and disturb Eames if he was trying to manipulate Walcott into giving up the safe but he needed to see what the hold up was. He made up his mind and made his way out of the maze. Halfway between the garden and the home Arthur started to notice the projections watching him carefully. He was sure his cover was about to be blown so Arthur pressed a hand to his firearm and walked calmly towards the home. He got to the door before they started attacking him. He slammed the door into a man coming through with a knife from the other side. He ended up shooting three elderly people and two nurses before getting to the maze again. He wasn't sure where Eames would be in the home but had to get back inside the maze and hopefully find the safe now. If the projections had caught on to him, that meant he had to create a distraction and get them away from Eames and Walcott. He pulled out a very loud shotgun to draw the projections out with the sound. The only way for him to outmaneuver the projections was in the maze.

He ran into the couple that he had passed before, except this time they were reaching for him like maniacal flesh eating zombies. He shot them in the heads and jumped over their bodies. He knew, of course, that he would totally kick ass in a zombie apocalypse. So he pretended as he shot the projections that came his way and jumped over their bodies that that was what he was doing. Headshots only he reminded himself. He knew he must be getting bored of his work if he was resorting to upping the anti all the time to make it interesting. Last time he pretended he was James Bond and used a silencer or a knife the whole time. Another time he had decided on going tribal and only using a sword and his bow and arrows. It had fit the man's dream of course, as he was a historian who constantly played role-playing games with ancient weapons but it had still been fun. He needed another job like Inception, something interesting and challenging. Maybe Eames had had the right idea and he'd have to go to Black Beach prison for a while too. Arthur thought with a bitter sneer. Arthur mulled this all over while still searching for the safe and out maneuvering the "zombies" that were coming his way.

He was just rounding the corner after shooting a nurse in the face when he tripped over something in the middle of the path. It was the safe. Arthur smiled to himself; he knew Eames would pull through. He quickly looked around and saw no one near so he bent over the safe and began to pick the lock.

Three minutes later he was scouring the papers inside. What he read turned his blood to ice. The reason Walcott killed Rickard was to lure Eames. He didn't finish reading the papers; he was already running for the home before those thoughts had fully made their way into his brain. He fought manically to get into the home. He saw Walcott trying to get through the crowd to him but Arthur ended dying with a knife in his throat and Walcott screaming for the projections to stop.

He awoke looking for Eames. The chair beside him was vacant and Dom was asking him what had happened.

"Where's Eames?" Arthur cut Dom off. Dom pointed back to their hotel room

"He went into our hotel room, wouldn't tell me what happened. He looked like he died pretty gruesome Arthur. He was limping and breathing hard," Dom said with a worried look. Arthur pulled the needle from his arm and walked briskly for the other room.

"Give Walcott another dose of the drug, I don't want him awake yet and keep your gun on him," Arthur pointed to Walcott who was waking and Dom, though concerned and confused, followed his instructions.

Arthur opened the adjoining door and quickly took in the empty room. He heard the shower and saw the bathroom door was closed. He knocked quietly at first.

"Eames? Are you alright?" when Eames didn't answer Arthur knocked more insistently. "Come on babe, let me in," When he heard nothing but a moan from the other side Arthur kicked the door in. He stopped dead when he saw Eames. He was huddled in his sopping clothes in the shower. Hands pressed to his eyes and body shaking with hysteria.

"Eames?" Arthur all but whimpers the name. Eames does nothing but cower further into the tub. "Eames?" Arthur says the name with a little more strength this time. When all Eames replies with is a moan and a gasp, Arthur feels his heart break. He wanted nothing more than to pull the sobbing, shaking man into his embrace but he knew the man in the tub was not Eames at the moment. He was dealing with a forge. At least he hoped he was dealing with a forge, he didn't know what could turn his strong partner into the weeping man in the tub. Arthur moved closer, making sure to be slow. He made his footsteps clear so the Eames would hear him coming. The water continued to pour and Eames continued to cower from the approaching footsteps. When he got there he barely restrained his instincts to jump in and take Eames into his arms. He instead squatted next to the tub and put his hand out onto Eames' shoulder. He flinched hard when Eames pulled violently away from him, sobbing.

"Eames?" Arthur says, his voice hoarse and constricted. He swallowed painfully and said with more strength but still gentle, "you don't need to be afraid of me."

He put his hand out again and received only a slight flinch. He soothed his hand across Eames' back and began to talk to him in a low voice.

"Eames, it's gonna be okay. We're going to sort this out, all right? I'm going to take you home and we'll sit in front of the fire for hours just like normal. We'll be home soon okay. You need to calm down okay?" He babbled, he knew he was babbling but he couldn't help himself. He had seen Eames loose himself in a few forges before and it was a completely different reaction each time. They had discussed what exactly Arthur was suppose to do each time though to find Eames. He had to sit with him, keep saying his name and help him remember he was himself. So he talked about their home while he started to gently push Eames forward so he could sit with him.

"It's me, its Arthur," Arthur says with a slight hitch again, his throat closing with emotion. Eames shuddered visibly when Arthur said his name.

"Eames? Are you there?" Arthur asks him and when nothing happens again, Arthur tries the other name he thought the man in front of him would respond to.

"Rickard?" Eames seems to tense slightly at the name and Arthur continues to soothe Eames' back.

"Do you know which one you are?" Arthur asks gently saying both names, Rickard and Eames. Eames gets visibly more upset and starts to panic.

"No…. no, who am I?" Arthur hears Eames' voice for the first time and it horrifies him. He barely recognizes it. It's so full of pain and fear.

"Who am I?" he wails the next time and Arthur is horrified into stillness. When Eames panics himself into a coughing fit Arthur moves in behind him and tries to calm him down. He turns off the water, pushes himself in behind Eames back and clasps his legs on either side of the panicking man's torso, knees just in front of his armpits, feet next to his bottom. He pulls the panicking man into his chest and hands on his hands folded against his chest. Eames struggles for a few seconds but Arthur shushes him gently, his nose in his hair and mouth against his ear. Arthur's forehead moves to be against the back of his head and Arthur uses soft words to calm his partner down.

"Shh, it's okay, breathe. Like me okay," Arthur takes a deep noisy breath and exhales against the back of his neck. Arthur squeezes his hands in his own and tries to soothe him. He presses his lips at the back of Eames' neck lightly brushing against the skin there. "Eames?" he whispers against the back of his neck, his lips ghosting the skin there. He wills Eames to remember with his touch. He feels light shivers go up Eames' spine under his lips.

His lips press again, this time against the notch that is the highest point in his spinal cord. "Eames, calm down, breathe with me, please," Arthur begs softly against skin. Arthur, kisses the next notch on his spine and Eames melts into his chest. He stops trying to pull away and shakily tries to emulate the breathing. Silent tears are falling from Arthur's eyes as Eames begins to calm and re orientate himself. Arthur is fairly sure Eames has begun to find himself again by this point.

He says his own name twice and Arthur echoes the name into his skin. Arthur continues to hold him while Eames begins to remember what had happened in the dream. He presses his forehead to Eames' temple while he relives the last few minutes before he was killed in the dream. He shudders and whimpers with remembered pain. Arthur apologizes to him for not getting to him in time but Eames blames himself like usual.

"No, it's okay Arthur. I shouldn't have lost myself like that. Why did I loose myself so completely in that forgery?" Eames questioned mostly himself with the words. He thought back, trying to remember the beginning of the dream.

Epilogue

The Stilman Code

Arthur rubbed his hands up and down Eames' arms. His lips pressed into his skin, wherever he could reach. His jaw, the side of his nose, his eyelid, cheek, behind his ear, the back of his neck. He was just so relieved that Eames was here that he couldn't keep the relief and affection inside. Eames nuzzled back every once in awhile but mostly he seemed to just want to be still.

"He was after the Stilman code," Eames said so quietly that Arthur took a few seconds to comprehend what he had said. When the words finally hit him Arhur pulled back slightly in shock.

"That's impossible. How could he know about that? Only three people knew you had that code. You, me and the other is dead."

"I know who Walcott is. He was one of those men from my extraction. I remember all of it now," Eames revealed. Eames didn't want to think about what had happened but he needed Arthur to know. He just wanted to go to sleep. He relaxed back into Arthur allowing himself to let go. Arthur himself was shocked speechless. To be confronted with one of the men who had caused the man he loved so much pain for so many years wasn't something Arthur felt prepared for.

Eames prepared himself to start telling Arthur all about the dream but was interrupted by a hesitant knock from the door adjoining their rooms. Arthur shifted Eames and stood but not before kissing his temple and promising to be right back. He began to walk out of the washroom before Eames' voice stopped him dead in his tracks,

"Arthur, why are we still dreaming?"

Arthur whirled on him in shock. Eames held his cigarette case in his palms but it had no cigarettes in the case. Only a one small red pill placed in the centre of small silver case. Arthur did a double take before meeting Eames' fear filled eyes. Arthur hurridly reached into his own pocket and pulled out his die. He dropped it on the counter beside him and was shocked to see it roll a four. Four meaning death in asian culture, four meaning dream.