Chapter Six

Time was of the essence. With as much time as Juliet had left, Cobb was worried about one thing: Limbo. What he had said to Arthur was the truth: he was hoping to be able to glean a bit of information from Juliet without the others around, but the other reason was far more important. If she tried what most dreamers would try to waken: killing themselves, his nanny would end up in Limbo. Cobb wasn't sure he was ready to explain to his children why another woman in their lives had died.

Whoever had constructed the dream needed some guidance. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't the work of his protégé. Not everyone had Ariadne's skill, but Cobb expected more from the people who had given them quite the run around. Either the architect wasn't used to on the fly construction, or he just didn't care. Cobb figured it was a combination of both. Too many people were getting in on the business without the right training, or mind set.

Finding Juliet's building wasn't hard. At least the architect got that building right; it screamed Juliet's favoritism of old world style. He burst into the building and swore at the long, spiral stairs up to the top. Why did she have to like towers?

Mildly out of breath, he tried the only door there. It was locked, at least on first try. A swift kick that stung his ankle a bit, was all that was needed to persuade the door to open. The room it revealed was a mish-mash of Victorian style that almost hurt the eyes. A chair was in the center, but Cobb focused on Juliet.

She wasn't sitting in the chair anymore. Instead, his nanny was standing by a side table, toying with a letter opener. The scene was eerily familiar to Cobb and his chest tightened. She didn't have the conviction that Mal had, but he knew what she was thinking: if she killed herself, she would be back in reality. The truth was, if she did that, Juliet would wake up to find herself in Limbo and honestly believe that she was home. Cobb couldn't have that; not again.

"Juliet," she started and he moved into the room, "Don't do that."

Surprise registered in her eyes before she recognized who he was and how he got there. Juliet gripped the opener more firmly. "Why not? I'll just wake up. You die in a dream and you wake up, right?"

"Not this time," Cobb held out his hand for the weapon. "They used a stronger sedation. Arthur's working on a kick."

She was confused. Her hand wavered. "It's been a week. I counted. A week, Mr. Cobb. I want to wake up."

"You will," He was close enough to stop her hand with his. Cobb uncurled her fingers and set the opener down. Under his hand, he could feel her shaking. "Have you been outside this room?"

Juliet shook her head. "No."

"Alright," it was like talking to one of his children after a nightmare. "Let's use this as an exercise."

"Some exercise," she snorted in disgust but it sounded more like the Juliet he knew.

Encouraged, Cobb used her shoulders to steer her out of the room. He only hoped that Arthur was working on a kick. He hadn't told the other man to do so, but his former pointman was meticulous that way.

"Wait," she pushed back against him, "How will we know? Cobb, seriously. How much time is on that clock." The grad student was looking at him, no, relying on him to give her good news.

With a sigh, he stepped back. His children dug their feet in the same way, probably picked it up from Juliet no doubt. They weren't going anywhere, so he moved on to the second part of his plan: getting the information from Juliet. "Enough. A couple days more, if we're lucky."

She looked defeated, or resigned, Cobb wasn't sure which he was hoping for. Silently he hoped that Arthur would figure something out quickly. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Cobb, really. This wasn't how this was supposed to go."

"In this world, Juliet, nothing goes how you think it should. Remember that." He was looking around for a place to sit and settled on leaning against the window sill.

Juliet nodded and dropped to the floor, using a wall as a back rest. "I'm getting that. How could David do it? Use me like that again."

Cobb narrowed his eyes. "David? The man you were researching for? He did this."

She nodded and hung her head. Her voice was muffled but he could still hear her. "Yep. He didn't really want any of the information I painstakingly got for him. And it was fine work. So organized."

He didn't care much about her research, but he knew from working with Arthur that when people like his Pointman and Juliet put in all the effort, it was best just to let them be. Early in his team up with the younger man, Cobb had mistakenly gone through the files only to earn himself a lecture after. It brought a nostalgic smile to his face.

"He wanted the meaningless things. Or at least I thought so." She went on, berating herself out loud.

When she didn't go on immediately, he prodded her gently, "What sort of meaningless things? To a dreamer, nothing is meaningless."

"Right, I know." There was a youthful rebelliousness in that admission. "I was just so… How could I…"

Cobb didn't like the direction the conversation was going. His entire body was tense but he made a show of making it look relaxed. For all the world, Cobb looked like a man who was just waiting for the kick.

"Addresses. I shouldn't have even thought about them. Stupid extractors." Juliet was muttering but Cobb heard her well enough.

It took a moment for what she said to sink in. When it did, Cobb was kneeling infront of her, hands on her shoulders to force her attention on him. Her eyes were rimmed in red. "Juliet, what did you tell them?"

Juliet shook her head, closing her eyes and closing out Cobb's face. "It isn't what I told them."

"Damn it." Cobb was on his feet one more, pacing and running an anxious hand through his hair. His mind was going dozens of directions. They would know where he lived, who he was still in contact with even if they were just PO boxes. One address could lead almost anywhere. How many times had he and Arthur gotten everything they needed just by finding one series of numbers. Even if they didn't have a thing on him, they had gotten too close to his children. Cobb couldn't have that; it was the whole reason he didn't do dreams anymore.

"Mr. Cobb," Juliet was looking up at him with her young eyes, begging for his forgiveness.

Cobb wasn't so sure he could give it, not where his children were involved. "Arthur…" He growled under his breath, urging the kick on.

Author's Note: Ok, so not as climatic as I would like it to be. It's kind of disappointing to me, but I think it might lead to something a little interesting down the line. Now and then you have to have chapters like this that just set up other things... As much as they are a pain to get through. But now on to some good stuff, so I'm pleased with that... Plus, I've practically envisioned the next chapter already.