DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INCEPTION.

"Artie, my boy, so glad you could meet me," Eames smiled. Arthur rolled his eyes and quickly dodged the open arms of the forger. "How are the kids?"

Arthur pulled out a chair and sat down as he began tapping his fingers on the table. "They're great. Thomas turns 5 on Wednesday," he smiled.

"Ahh, little Tom becoming a man."

Arthur frowned. "Eames, we've talked about this before. It's Thomas not Tom. Samantha, not Sammie."

"They don't seem to mind me calling them that."

"Well I do. I'm just glad they have nice names. Not weird ones like Eames."

Eames smirked. "This coming from a man named Arthur."

"There is nothing wrong with my name," Arthur retorted.

"Sure, sure."

"Ariadne seems to like it," came Arthur's defence.

"Ariadne likes anything about you…she's your wife…she has to."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "You know, it's not like that. Ariadne loves me, if she didn't, she would have gone for someone else."

"Yeah, I would have gone for her," Eames smirked.

Arthur paused. "Did you…like her? During the Inception?"

Eames nodded. "Of course I did. Everyone in the bloody room did. We were a group of men Arthur, and she was a hot piece of-"

"Everyone felt like that?" Arthur asked.

"Hell yes!" Eames saw the look on Arthur's face. "Relax, nobody was going to do anything. We all knew she was yours. From the second she walked in, she belonged to you."

"How do you figure that?"

"…The way you looked at her everyday."

Arthur was silent. Eames released a long deep sigh, as if returning from a deep thought. Arthur silently thought of how that was incredibly unlikely. "Think of it Arthur, in a few more years, we'll be teaching Tom how to be a man."

"No, I'll be teaching Tom, I mean, Thomas how to be a man," Arthur snapped. "And besides, it'll be more than a few years."

"Don't argue with me, Arthur. I know what I'm talking about."

"Please," Arthur scoffed. "What do you possibly know about kids?"

"You mustn't forget Artie, I was one." Eames placed his feet on the table. "There are 5 basic stages of growing up."

"Oh yeah?" Arthur asked, eyebrow raised. "Like what?"

Eames held up his fingers. "One, the puberty stage."

"All kids go through that, it's a part of life," Arthur said quickly.

Eames rolled his eyes. "Yes, but how are you going to deal with it when Tom is wondering why his voice is changing and Sammie is wondering about her bre-"

"Eames!" Arthur snapped, angrily. "Just…don't."

"Then there's stage two. The experimental stage," Eames continued. "This is when kids start asking questions and making changes."

Arthur paused. "…What kind of changes?"

"Well. That's when boys start drilling holes to see into the girls changing rooms and girls started dressing in shorter skirts and lower tops…"

Arthur swallowed. "…That's not true…"

"Then stage three. This is the best one." Eames smirked. "The sex-"

"I'm done talking about this," Arthur said, shooing the idea from his head.

Eames simply smiled and continued. " That was my favourite. Samantha will have boys climbing into her window at night, and Thomas will be out picking up girls in bars."

"Shut up!"

"Then stage four, the depression stage. Kids start listening to slip knot and lock themselves in their rooms worshipping satin…"

"Stop it-"

"Then stage five."

Arthur waited, but after Eames stopped talking, he rolled his eyes. "Well! What's stage five?"

Eames paused. "…They finish growing up, pack their bags and leave."

Arthur grew silent. "Don't say that. They're only kids, they won't be even thinking about leaving for a long time." He paused. "Besides, I don't want that idea in my head."

"Sorry, mate."

"It's fine," Arthur sighed. "It's just…ever since I started working with Cobb, I instantly crossed out any prospect of a normal life. I knew that the chances of me ever even trying to have something like a family were too slim. But then I met Ari, and suddenly all those chances arrived. And when we got pregnant with Samantha, all I could think of were the risks, the consequences….but as soon as she was born, I didn't care. All I cared about was finally having something that I never thought I could have. So for now, I'm enjoying it for as long as I can." Arthur stood up and threw a note down on the table.

Eames raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"To put bars on Samantha's window."