The Third Level
3.
~ "It's alright!" Cobb was saying as she woke up screaming.
"Arthur!" She cried. "Please, please don't!" She screamed as she could feel Cobb's hands on her. Trying to pull her out of the nightmare.
She had dreamed her husband had discovered her in bed with Cobb. That the Point Man had changed into some dark phantom and stalked her in the night. Waiting to take some horrible revenge on her.
"It's all right." Cobb was saying as she fell into his embrace. Her small body wrapping itself into his. Her growing belly fitting neatly into the embrace the Extractor offered.
"Ariadne, what happened?" Cobb asked.
"I dreamed... Arthur... that he found out. He found us, like this." She stammered realizing her sentences were broken and child like.
"Shh." Cobb was saying as he allowed her to burrow deep in his arms. "It's alright now. It was just a dream."
"He hurt me." She cried. "In the dream, he was so angry."
"It wasn't real." Cobb said running a hand over her head. His voice steady and calm.
"We can't do this." She whispered as she had calmed down. "It isn't right."
"Ariadne." Cobb said pulling her away from the safety of his arms. "Arthur is dead. He's gone and he would want you to move on."
"Not with you." Ariadne cried. "Not so soon. Our child will think you're her father."
"I want to be her father." Cobb told her gently.
That handsome face of his drawing her back to him. His arms pulling her back to his body. A place that was warm, safe and free of pain.
"No." Ariadne said finding her strength. "Cobb, you know this isn't right. I appreciate everything you've done for me." She took a deep breath. "But I need to be on my own. Maybe after a little while... I don't know. Right now, it's too soon."
Cobb's face changed suddenly. She had never seen him angry. Had never seen him upset. She had seen him yell at members of the Team, but they were always quick burst of frustration that were never meant for her.
"So you want to leave me?" He growled. "You want to give me hope that you might love me? That my children might have a mother again, and now you want to leave me?"
She realized she wasn't breathing as Cobb's handsome face turned savage and angry.
"Cobb, please." She managed to say before he struck her. Her small body flipping out of the bed and landing hard on the floor. Her instincts telling her to protect her unborn baby from the wrath of the man she had trusted so much.
She heard the Extractor roll off the bed and come for her. She scurried away like a frightened mouse and tried to escape out of the bedroom. The shock at what just happened making her feel confused as she went into survival mode.
He caught her in swift, easy movement. His hands grabbing her hair.
"Cobb!" She screamed. "Please! Please don't!"
With a fist full of her hair, he forced her to stand before shoving her, face first, into a wall. She tasted blood as she slid back to the floor.
"When Arthur made his move, I told him it was fine. He was my best friend even though you and I both knew we belonged together. Now, you push me away? Now that we can be together, you push me away?" He growled as she felt a hard blow to her back. The crazed Extractor had kicked her.
She wasn't even able to scream as he beat her. She made feeble attempts to get away as he punched her and pulled her hair. Part of her was afraid if she fought back he would hurt her more.
It wasn't until she felt him pull her to the floor and rip her night dress over her head, covering her bleeding face, that she knew what he planned to do.
"Tell me you love me." He growled as she could feel his hands tear off her panties. His hands holding hers down as her face was covered by her night dress. Blinding her from seeing her attacker.
"Cobb! Don't!" She cried.
"Ariadne." Arthur called in his calm, steady voice.
"Say it!" Cobb demanded. His voice so angry and she was afraid he would hit her again.
"Please! Please stop!" She cried again.
"Ariadne!" Arthur was saying louder and she could feel gentle hands on her as Cobb hit her again.
"Ariadne, wake up. You're having a nightmare." Arthur was saying as Cobb forced her legs open and she felt sick at the idea of what would happen next.
"Cobb! Please don't!" She cried softly. She could feel something gently shake her body.
"Baby, wake up right now." Arthur ordered her in that collected way that she liked to obey.
~ She opened her eyes and, suddenly, the demon of her attacker vanished. The faces of men she knew and trusted were staring at her. Eames looked surprised and worried. Cobb's handsome face looked younger and concerned for her as he asked if she was alright. That kind voice of his back as he and Eames were knelt before her. Satio and Yuseff stood behind them and looked uncomfortable. Not sure of what to do.
Ariadne could hear jet engines. She was on a plane. She started to remember she was on a plane with the Team and they were going to Paris. She looked right beside her and saw a welcomed face.
"Arthur!" She cried as she easily latched her arms around his neck.
The Point Man too surprised to speak and she started crying softly. Her arms wrapped around him and her body closer to his than it had ever been in the waking world.
"Hey, it's alright." Arthur was saying as he carefully wrapped his arms around her. Cobb and Eames standing up as their Architect, once so fearless, was weeping into their Point Man's chest.
"You just had a nightmare." Arthur was saying soothingly. As if she were a little girl afraid of monsters under her bed.
~ Embarrassment drove Ariadne to the large bathroom. Her Team members were all looking at her with scared faces. Like she might start screaming and crying again at any moment.
"She was saying my name." Cobb whispered to Arthur as they waited for her to come back out. "Saying Please don't, Cobb."
"I know." Arthur whispered back. It wasn't necessary for them to whisper. Ariadne couldn't hear them in the bathroom.
"What do you think her nightmare was about?" Cobb asked worriedly. "That I was hurting her?"
"I don't know. You know how crazy real dreams can be once you start taking the compound." Arthur said remembering his own vivid dream of the Architect in bed with him. His body still aroused with unresolved want for her.
"I don't dream anymore." Cobb confessed sadly.
The two men waited for Ariadne to come back out and tell them what had made her so upset.
"I better make sure she's alright." Arthur whispered.
~ Ariadne was washing her face. Her cheeks had been stained with shameful tears and she couldn't stop crying. She didn't want them to see her like this as she tried to collect herself.
She jumped at a soft knock.
"Ariadne?" Arthur said through the door. "Are you alright?"
She rushed to the door and unlocked it. Her mind confused and her body was on auto pilot as she unlocked the door and pulled the Point Man in with her.
~ Arthur wasn't expecting her to force him into the small bathroom with her. He was hoping she would be back to her normal self. That resolve and brightness he so admired back and she would only complain about the nightmare. Instead, he was greeted to the frightened creature who sought his arms and body close to hers.
Her small frame cuddling itself into his as he realized she was very upset.
"Ariadne." He said as he held her close. Grateful she had closed the door and they were alone. "Ariadne, your trembling, what happened?"
"It was so bad. The dream." She cried as he felt how easy it was to hold her.
Ariadne had let him know long ago, she wasn't interested in him romantically. She wasn't looking for a boyfriend and he felt slightly embarrassed to have stolen a kiss during the Fisher inception. What he wanted more then anything was to hold her, just like he was doing now.
"Tell me what happened." Arthur whispered as the smell of her shampoo reached him. His body waking up to the feel and smell of her.
"No." She cried softly.
Arthur sighed.
"Cobb thinks you're mad at him. In your dream, did he hurt you?" Arthur asked gently.
"Yes. But that's not why I'm upset." She said sniffling.
he pulled out a white handkerchief and gave it to her.
Her lovely eyes were red and puffy as he cradled her closer to him.
"What happened?" He asked gently.
She seemed afraid to speak for a long time.
"Ariadne?" He asked. "It was just a dream. It wasn't real." he told her.
"I dreamed you died." She said and a soft whisper and then started crying again.