Ariadne woke up and snapped her head round. Her hands reached down to her stomach before crying out for Ysuef. He was only a few feet away, but it seemed to take him a while to get to her. He grabbed her hand and looked at her.
"Bloody hell, are you alright?" She didn't respond for a while. She went rather quiet.
"I'm fine now…but…it was painful."
"What do you mean?"
"I couldn't breath, my head hurt, then I felt this…feeling…rush through me…like acid."
Ysuef looked over at the jars of chemicals on his desk.
"I'm very sorry Ariadne. That was the new compound I was using. We wanted to test it out, I guess the combination was too strong. I'm so sorry." He looked genuinely guilty. Ariadne wasn't mad. She was relieved.
"It's fine. I'm just glad it's over. Now we know right?" She gave him a small smile. He returned it to her and gave her hand a squeeze, before walking to the PASIV to check the timer.
"They'll be out soon. Then I'll have hell to pay."
Ariadne looked down to see the needle was still attached. She gently pulled it out, wincing slightly. Then a loud crash woke her up. She flicked her head up to see Cobb, Arthur and Eames waking up. Arthur was jumping out of the sun lounger. Before she could blink, he was by her side.
"Ariadne, are you ok?" he asked, reaching for her back, just as he had done in the dream. She gave him a comforting smile.
"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry."
"For god sakes Ariadne, don't be sorry." He helped her up and they walked over to the others. Cobb was talking to Ysuef.
"Ysuef, you have to be more careful with the compounds. We don't want anyone dying on us."
"I know. I'm sorry. How did it go?" Eames was sitting on an office chair when Ariadne saw him.
"It went perfectly. No intruders. I'll have the information sent over tomorrow." he said.
"Thanks Eames." Cobb looked over to Ariadne. "You ok?" Ariadne nodded.
Cobb started walking to his office. "Nobody goes home tonight." Everyone looked at him, slightly outraged.
"What?" Arthur asked.
Cobb turned around to see his team's angry faces.
"What do you mean 'what'? Guys, we have a team chasing us with a very skilled forger. If I let any of you go, it will be like realising a sheep to a pack of lions. No-one leaves, understand?" He waited to receive some frustrated nods from his team. With that, he continued walking to his office. The rest did the same. All except Arthur and Eames. Arthur broke the silence.
"Great. Now I'm stuck with you for god-knows-how-long."
"Oh thank you darling. You know how much I appreciate our time together." With that, Arthur groaned and walked out the room, leaving Eames chuckling by himself.