THREE

Juliet arrived early after leaving David, grumbling about the whole situation, in the kitchen. She expected to see the two blonde children in the living room, watching their morning cartoons like always, but found Cobb instead. He was sitting with his fingers steepled and pressed against his forehead. When she came him, he sat up. The look he gave her was far from comforting.

"Where are Phillippa and James?" She asked, tentatively.

He let out a long breath before standing. "With their grandfather. Come on. Let's go." Cobb swept by her, picking up his jacket as he went. Juliet spun around to follow him, bewildered. By the set of his shoulders, she kept her mouth shut until they reached his car, which he held open for her like a gentleman.

Once they were on their way, her bag tucked neatly on her lap, Juliet ventured a question. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to meet some people and you're going to spend the day extracting information from them." He didn't look at her, not even a glance in her direction as he spoke. At the stoplights, he kept his gaze forward and hands on the wheels.

They ended up in a suburb and pulled into the driveway of a plain looking house with a sale sign in the front yard. Juliet shot him a look but Cobb just climbed out. She followed suit, trailing after him to the door and inside the home.

It was bare except for a few cots and a chair or two. A table was set up with a silver briefcase. No one was immediately visible until Cobb shut the door and turned the lock. A man came out from around the corner, lazily stirring his coffee. He had a patterned shirt under a plain blazer and a look of lazy confidence. Or maybe it was just carefully practiced.

"Ah, there you are." He greeted them. The man sipped at his coffee, peering over the edge of it at her. "When you said 'nanny,' I did not picture that, old boy."

"Eames, Juliet. Juliet, Eames." Cobb waved their introductions, checking the house over.

Juliet stepped forward, offering her hand to shake. "An honor."

Eames smirked, a sideways look to Cobb and slid his form into one of the chairs. "Where did you pick this one up from?"

She bristled. If this was the man she was supposed to work with, Cobb was not in his right mind and didn't know her one bit. "I'm standing right here."

Another sip of his coffee. "I can see that."

Juliet made a growling sound in the back of the throat. She had half a mind to slap him across his smart, English face. Instead, she used that energy to walk over to one of the cots and set her bag down. She didn't bother to take anything else out, just sat down herself, sinking further than she originally thought. Eames snorted in amusement.

"Miles recommended her," Cobb answered the other man's question. He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the far walls, by the front door. If someone walked in, he wouldn't be the first thing they saw, giving him some advantage. "She does her research. Almost as much as Arthur. Less organized."

That made him smile. "Probably not as tightly laced."

"Less organized?" Juliet took some offense. "I have a system. Makes perfect sense to me."

"Yes, love, but we've got to understand it too."

Her jaw tightened and she struggled not to clench her fists. "I dumb it down for everyone else."

Eames laughed. He turned to Cobb, gesturing with his stirrer at her. "Oh, she's a sharp one."

"I know." He agreed from his secure location. Then he started at the sound of a car door, and then another. A few seconds later and a key was shoved into the lock. The door swung open to reveal not one as Cobb was expecting, but two people: a man and a woman.

The woman was short, at least compared to Juliet who was considered tall. She had a friendly face that smiled easily at Eames. The man beside her was dressed impeccably, his hair slicked back and a jacket draped over his arm. He spotted Cobb first, exchanging nods with him. Cobb greeted the woman warmly, even going so far as to hug her tiny frame. His smile was genuine for the both of them, the first time Juliet really saw him do that to anyone other than his children.

"Ariadne, I didn't expect to see you." Cobb shut the door behind them.

"I didn't know I was coming until a couple hours ago when Arthur showed up on my doorstep." She tossed a thumb in the well dressed man's direction. Juliet almost thought she saw the man blush a little.

"I thought we could use her help," came his excuse. It was the same excuse David had said about her at one point. Now she was neck deep in the dream world with no intentions of leaving it for shore.

Near her, Eames stretched out in his chair, obviously without a care in the world. "And no good word to me? I'm hurt."

The man's face had an annoyed hardness about it that Juliet could relate to. "Hello, Eames." Apparently she was the only one he rubbed wrong.

"Ariadne, Arthur, this is Juliet."

There was a chorus of 'hellos' and hand shaking. Ariadne was friendly, coming right over while Arthur's was firm and to the point. As soon as he let go of her hand, he went to work setting the place up. He had her move a couple of times while he arranged everything.

Cobb wasted no time explaining to them everything, making her fidget and blush several times. They all agreed that practice was needed before they did any more planning. Whether that was to test her or to simply dive in to figuring everything out, Juliet wasn't sure. She suspected the first though. She'd expect no less from individuals of their caliber.

The better part of the afternoon was spent in and out of dreams. Ariadne constructed dreamscapes that made all other architects she'd worked with look like children. Eames and Cobb were suitably impressed with the subtly in which she'd make changes, praising her growth. Juliet just tried not to seem star struck by how well they worked together.

She was learning that Cobb was a more step-back-and-watch sort of instructor, allowing her to make her mistakes and experiment before pointing out what she did wrong. Juliet preferred that method, though Arthur was a careful instructor. Thankfully Eames simply played his part, observing more than interfering unless called upon. But they were good. Extracting even the most basic of information was like finding a needle in a haystack, which was to say: nearly impossible. Juliet didn't once succeed before the projections took her down.

After the last session, one in which she took a steel bar to the face, Juliet jumped into reality. She instantly felt for the ring she wore on a chain around her neck, feeling the inside for the tell-tale scratch that told her she wasn't in a dream anymore. Firmly in reality, she yanked out the IV, shot to her feet and wandered into the kitchen before the others said anything to her.

Juliet poured herself a glass of water, drinking half of it before she realized she wasn't alone in the room. Cobb leaned against the counter beside the sink. Dreading what he was about to tell her, she put down the glass with a loud clank. "You don't need to remind me how that went."

Cobb shook his head. "It wasn't bad."

"Were you not there? I took a pole to the face. I'd say that was pretty bad." In Juliet's book, anything that didn't end in success was bad.

"It could be worse, love." Eames joined them in the doorframe.

The two men exchanged a look and Cobb drifted out, patting her on the shoulder before disappearing. Juliet was left alone in the kitchen with Eames and that made her even grumpier. She snatched up the glass of water again.

He eyed the glass like she might just crush it and he'd have to rush in to stop the bleeding. "You have to loosen up a little bit. Just let it happen. You're a woman, use that to your advantage."

The water was gone and it didn't help her one bit. "I'm not using my sex."

"Hmm. A feminist." Eames acted like he knew her, watching her and probably taking little notes in his head.

"No. I'm just not going to sell myself. I have brains." Juliet couldn't believe she was even having the conversation. While she wasn't above flirting in a bar to get a free drink, using that to get her way in a job? It seemed somehow cheap and wrong. She had more pride than that.

Eames shrugged. Apparently it didn't matter to him either way. "And a body. Rule number one: use what you've got."

"Cobb!" Arthur was calling from the other room in what sounded like alarm. Curious, both Eames and Juliet went back into the living room where Arthur was peering out the window. There were two cars pulling up out front with men filing from them in suits. Instantly, both Arthur and Cobb were gathering their equipment. Eames was trying to hide some of the furniture.

"Come on," Cobb snagged her arm as they made their way to the back of the house.

Juliet fought against it. "My bag. My research."

"Forget it." He ordered her and it did sound like an order. For a few steps, he dragged her along until got her balance. As soon as he let go, Juliet dove for her bag. Just as she reached it, the door slammed open. Stuck in the open room, Juliet stared at them and they stared at her.

This time, Cobb's grip was like an iron vice. He hauled her away as the men snapped to attention to pursue. As soon as they were out the door, they were running, full sprint, hopping the fence into the next yard. Everyone split, going separate directions. Juliet stayed with Cobb.

Author's Note: THANKS for the reviews! They make me so very happy. Alright, so here we are, which is nothing where I thought we'd be. So many things happened in this chapter that I didn't expect or see coming. Like this: I honestly thought Juliet and Eames would get along. Apparently I was very wrong. The end of this also caught me by surprise. Now I'm scratching my head and going: well, what was that? I guess we'll see.