Ariadne had promised him that she wouldn't worry and she was keeping it. As much as she wanted to she kept her cool. He was gone for two days before she finally heard from him again. He called her saying he would be back in a day and would fill her in on when they were going under. Only problem is he didn't come back.

"He is going to come back. He promised me. Damn him. I swear to god if he doesn't come back I'm going to kill him." She talked to herself as she paced back and forth in there apartment gripping the dog tags hanging from her neck. Then it hit her, the perfect plan. "I will just pop by to say hello act like I missed everyone and just wanted to say hello. Well that's not lying really."

It wasn't she missed Cobb and Eames like no other. She even missed Yusuf more then she expected to. Only problem was she missed Arthur and wasn't sure what would happen if he saw her at the warehouse. She knew that he wouldn't lie to her so something must be keeping him. She couldn't convince herself to go over there and look because she knew it would tick him off. He hated worrying her and she hated worrying him. She knew he would understand though.

"One more day… That's it then I have to go look." She told herself and climbed into bed. It was weird not having his body wrapped in hers. She didn't like the empty feeling, she felt unprotected. When she was with Arthur it was like nothing could touch her but when he was gone she was at her most vulnerable. She really despised this feeling. She finally drifted off, she actually slept a good deal waking up at a reasonable hour. She threw her hand over to the other side of the bed only to feel sheets. She turned over and stared at Arthur's side of the bed, finally after hours of just laying there waiting for him to walk through the door she got up.

"I can't do it I can't wait any longer." She picked up her phone and began to dial his number but then remembered that Cobb or Eames could be snooping and see it was her calling. She slammed her phone shut and threw it across the room. She grabbed the dog tags and held on for dear life. They were the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. She went into his drawers and grabbed his favorite shirt, vintage long sleeved Smiths band shirt. It was his secret pleasure something she figured out while they were working together on inception. She put it on. The sleeves covered her hand and it hung almost to her knees. She took in his scent and a tear rolled down her face, she quickly wiped it away and threw on a pair of skinny jeans and her favorite pair of converse. She went to grab for one of her scarves when she remembered his tags around her neck. She looked down at them and decided to ditch the scarf this one time. She picked up her bag and walked out. It was only about a 20 minute walk to the warehouse. She slowly walked up the steps to the door taking them one at a time. When she got to the door she couldn't bring herself to open it. She let the tags fall under her shirt so they wouldn't see them and she opened the door. The sight before her was one she had only seen once before. Cobb standing in front of Eames yelling at him, the only other time she had seen Cobb lose his cool like that was when he and Arthur fought in the first level of the Fischer job. They all turned to face her when they heard the door close.

"Ariadne? What are you doing here?" Cobb asked with a quizzical expression.

"Honestly… I really missed you guys. I knew it was Cobb's last job and I didn't want the last time I heard from him or any of you to be me rejecting his offer of the phone." She said sheepishly. There faces dropped all with sad expressions she took notice and looked around the room. Arthur wasn't there.

"Umm this is a bad time darling and well Arthur's not here at the moment and I know that stick in the mud wishes he could see you again even though he would never admit it." Eames said when he said Arthurs name she noticed Yusuf cringe and Cobb closed his eyes and looked down.

"Well what's the problem maybe I can help?" She pressed. She was going to find out where Arthur was whether she ousted them as a couple or not. Eames and Yusuf looked to Cobb as if to say she probably can. He only nodded and turned to me. I absentmindedly reached for the tags around my neck.

"Come sit down and we will explain. You might actually be able to help." Cobb led her over to there old circle of chairs. She sat down cross legged in one while the all took seats as well. "Our mark is a drug dealer and so is the person who hired us."

She already knew everything but she listened anyways while playing with the end of the sleeves. Cobb took a deep breath before he continued.

"Anyways we were supposed to grab our mark and go under a week from now, only problem was our employer didn't like that we were taking so long. He wanted us to move faster when we told him it wasn't possible he took something for leverage." Cobb paused. She new what was coming, she new what he took and why but she couldn't believe it till it left his mouth. "He took Arthur. We got a call about an hour ago… They said that if we don't get it done in the next 3 days they're going kill him. Until then they've been beating him senseless."

She was holding her knees to her chest and staring at the ground. This couldn't be happening to her. She refused to believe it. "He promised me" she whispered to herself. She hadn't realized anyone had heard until Eames spoke up.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter. I will try my best to help you. What do we –"she was cut off by Eames standing up and glaring at her.

"What did you say Ariadne…" She held her breath and shook her head. She couldn't let it slip they wouldn't let her help and she needed to help. She couldn't go back to sitting in her apartment waiting she couldn't keep waiting. Eames grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. His eyes were soft pleading as if to say its okay, she stared for a minute longer and then she lost it. She shook herself out of his arms and paced back and forth tears spilling out as she mumbled.

"He promised me…he said nothing bad was going to happen… he fucking promised me god damn it!" She fell to the ground sobbing she couldn't believe she could lose the most important thing in her life because of a damn job. "It's all your fault! You shouldn't have even taken the damn job without having him look into to this guy first. You're risking his life for a damn pay check! He's you're best friend and this is how you repay him? What happens when he doesn't make it and I have to go home and sleep in an empty bed for the rest of my life? When I have no one left because you took the most important thing from me?"

When she finished it dawned on her what she actually said. She felt her face go red behind all the tears and then she did the only thing she could do, run. She took off back towards her apartment. When she got there she sat on the floor next to her bed. She stared out of the sliding glass doors that led to there balcony. She didn't know how long she was staring but she was quickly shaken out of it when she reached to grab the dog tags around her neck and they weren't there. She quickly shot up only to run into someone. She looked up and saw Eames face. He opened her hand and laid the dog tags in her palm.

"I thought you might want that back." He said softly and then they sat leaning against her bed again staring out at Paris. It took a while for Eames to muster up the courage to say anything but when he did he made sure she was calm enough to explain.

"How long?"

"Going on 6 months, he came looking for me two weeks after the job." He watched her fiddle with the necklace as she spoke.

"Does he know you where someone else's dog tags?" He said shyly, like he was afraid of the answer he might get.

"There his." She said softly.

"They can't be his last name is Williams not Reece and he wasn't in the army." Eames whispered more to himself then to Ariadne.

"No there his."

"But he-"

"It's not my story to tell Eames." She said cutting him off. He stared at her for a moment and when he realized he wasn't going to get more then that he dropped the subject.

"I'm guessing by the looks of this place your living together and I can assume then that you're screwing each other which in your case I must say means you're utterly in love with him." He watched her crack a small smile and it made him relax a bit. She nodded and turned to face him.

"I can't loose him Eames…" She said while wrapping her arms around Eames neck and burying her head in his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her waist and began to speak.

"We are going to bring him back alive. I mean I can't lose that stick in the mud. Whether he is boring or not he has always had my back and saved my life more times then I can count. And I owe it to him to save his ass at least once." When he finished he stood them up and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Come on we have some work to do."

The slowly walked back to the warehouse taking in all the sights of Paris that they were sure they wouldn't be able to appreciate for a while to come. Once they got to the warehouse Eames immediately went to talk to Yusuf leaving Ariadne with a silent Cobb.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for what I said. It was all wrong. At the time I meant it but right now as I look back it was all wrong. I'm so sorry Cobb it's not your fault at all. I'm sorry I blamed you." She said sitting down next to him. He turned to her and put an arm around her and smiled.

"I know you didn't mean it. It's okay sweetheart. If I was in your position I would probably say the same thing to myself. In fact I have, but right now all that matters is getting Arthur back and trust me we will." He explained. They shared a smile and walked over to Yusuf and Eames to begin planning. They looked at the layouts of the two levels and Eames began to explain.

"Okay Ari, you're going to have to familiarize yourself with Arthur's level since you are going to take over his part." He explained.

"I already know it." They all gave her strange looks. "I helped him create it. I know it inside and out."

"Well then I assume you know all about the case?" Yusuf asked

"Yes I know all of it. The only problem is…I don't know how to shoot. Arthur never taught me. And this guys mind is supposed to be filled with who knows what right? I don't want to die in the dream leaving Cobb all by himself." She said nervously. Eames smiled and nodded to Cobb.

"You won't have to learn. All you have to do is create Arthur make up a projection. It won't really be Arthur but it will be close enough. The only thing is… you can't get close to it okay? It's not really going to be Arthur its going to be more of a body guard that looks like him." Cobb explained and she nodded. They continued to talk for another half an hour. They agreed that they would snatch Xander on his train to Sancerre Cobb bought tickets for the same cart that way no one would bother them.

"Okay so we have the tickets all we have to do is get the formula and be done with it." Ariadne said more to herself then anyone in particular. Cobb's phone rang and he stepped out of the room. He came back not a minute later with the phone on speaker and set it on the table.

"What do you want we are going to grab him in less then 48 hours you have nothing to worry about." Cobb said loudly into the phone. They all heard a nasty laugh on the other end.

"Well it turns out he also has a secret stash of cocaine. I want you to find out where or I will do more harm to your little friend." They all looked around at each other.

"Then give us more time. We would need about 2 more hours in order to do that." Cobb replied only to be greeted by a scream of pain none of them knew was possible. Ariadne put a hand over her mouth as she tried to compose herself.

"Does it sound like your friend has two EXTRA hours? No it doesn't you will stick to the plan I gave you or your Arthur here wont be showing up with a pulse." They heard a loud crack like a whip and another scream.

"Fine it's a deal but let me talk to him please that's all I'm asking." Cobb begged. They heard some shuffling and then a weak voice.

"Cobb?" The minute Ariadne heard his voice or lack there of she slapped her other hand over her mouth and placed her head on the table and sobbed.

"Arthur! Are you okay?" Eames gave Cobb a look as if to say 'are you serious'.

"Just dandy." He replied with a small chuckle. Cobb handed the phone to Ariadne.

"Arthur…" She said softly.

"Ari…are you safe?" he said with a cough at the end. She bit back tears as she answered.

"Yes. Were going to find you okay? I promise!" She said but the line went dead before she could finish. She looked around at the guys; Cobb was staring at the table like it was the best thing since sliced bread. Eames had his head in his hands and dare she say it might have even been crying. Yusuf was looking at her. He stared at her as she set the phone down on the table. He gave her a small smile and she returned it. That smile gave her the hope she needed to get through the next 48 hours.

Arthur watched as the man closed the phone before Ariadne could finish. He couldn't believe she was there. Her voice made him feel like he was on top of the world not held up in some building beaten to a pulp. He looked around as three of the four men left the room. The other one was tall with jet black hair he stayed. He held the long leather rope they had been using on him. Arthur could barely feel his arms anymore; he had been cuffed to a railing with his hands hanging above his head for over two days now. They only let him down when they were done beating him. This wasn't as often as he'd hoped.

"Who was she?" The unknown man asked.

"Does it matter?" Arthur replied. The man looked up at him and shrugged his shoulders while leaning back against the wall. "Why aren't you hitting me?"

"Because I'm being nice and giving you a break. You've been more tolerant than any one before you." The tall man replied with a small smile.

"Well let's just say this isn't the first time I've been in this situation. On the giving or receiving end unfortunately." Arthur said looking up at his hands. He grabbed the rope and squeezed this offered him more feeling back in his arms.

"Why am I not hearing screaming? Did I tell you it was time for a break?" The voice came from a different part of the building. The man looked up at Arthur and frowned.

"I'm sorry man." He said softly and Arthur just nodded waiting for the pain to come. And it did again and again till the man was told to give him a break. Arthur was let down off the railing his hands still tied. He slumped down onto a wall near by. He looked up searching for the man who beat him. He had noticed earlier that he had a gun on him. When he finally caught his eye he nodded for him to come over.

"Can you at least knock me out for a while?" Arthur said to the man while nodding to his gun.

"Are you sure? Your gonna have on hell of a headache." He replied

"I just want a couple hours of not feeling anything." He said slowly. The man nodded and grabbed the gun from his belt. Arthur thought he saw a tear run down the mans face before everything turned black.

Please review it would mean a lot to me! I will probably update tomorrow if I can! This story is just flooding out of me! :)