Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. It's been a busy week and I haven't had time to write, plus things are kinda uneventful so it's harder to write that...but that will change soon! So here is the next chapter. A little fast paced, but I want to get to the job already...Thank you for all the reviews! I love them! Keep reviewing! :D

I don't own Inception...but in a little over a month I will! (on DVD) hehe...


"Saito?"

"Mr. Cobb…is everything alright?" Saito worriedly asked.

"Oliaro, Saito…not that having a different last name matters now, Cobol knows where we are…" Dom clutched his cell phone and sighed.

"Oh, right. Sorry Mr. Oliaro." Saito apologized.

"Don't worry about it. However, I do need a favor. We're getting ready for our job, but Ariadne needs to talk to Brendan. She wants to meet with him as soon as possible. She'll need to meet with him throughout the week. The more time she spends with him and gets him to believe what she's saying, the easier the job will be." Dom told Saito.

"Sure thing. I'll have him over in an hour."

"Thanks Saito." Dom answered before hanging up.

Ariadne walked into the room where Dom was standing. "What did he say?"

"He'll have Brendan here in an hour. Is that ok?"

Ariadne nodded. "Yes, it should give me enough time to think about how I'm going to go about talking to him."

"Ok. If you need anything, we'll be here. Don't be afraid to ask." Dom placed a hand on her shoulder and she smiled.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine."

"Ok." Dom nodded and walked off to find Yusuf with the kids playing a board game.

Ariadne sighed and opened the door, making her way to her and Arthur's room. She sat on the bed and began to think of what she would say to Brendan. She had to really get him to believe that she wanted to leave with him. That meant she really had to be convincing. She knew that meant disowning her family in a way. She'd have to pretend to not want anything to do with Arthur, Dom, Eames, Yusuf, and Saito.

She shook her head. She wasn't sure how she was going to pull this off, but she knew she could do it. There was a sharp knock on her door and she quickly got up and opened it.

"He's here." Dom said and watched her carefully. She swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Bring him in." She whispered. Dom nodded and motioned for them to bring him in. Saito's men practically threw him into the room and Ariadne stared at him, her face expressionless.

Brendan glanced up at her and smiled weakly. "Hey Ari."

Ariadne crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. Brendan sighed and shifted from his position on the floor to a more comfortable sitting position.

"Look Ari, I know these past two weeks have been hard, but you gotta understand that I'm just trying to help you." Brendan explained, desperation dripping in his voice.

Ariadne uncrossed her arms and sat on the bed. "Hard would be an understatement. Do you know what I lost? You have no idea." She was failing to stay calm, and she knew that they had to get past this in order for her façade to be believable.

"Ari, you can't possibly want a kid from that criminal!"

Ariadne took a deep breath, anger slowly taking over. She inhaled and exhaled a few times before speaking up.

"Brendan why are you so against me being with Arthur?"

"He's dangerous. He has a price on his head and it's dangerous for you. If you come with me I can get you out of this mess and you'll be safe." Brendan practically pleaded.

"Why can't you just get us all out of this so called 'mess?'" Ariadne asked.

Brendan shook his head. "It's too complicated. But since you're my sister, Cobol will be more willing to drop your charges."

"Let me think about it. I can't just leave my family. My husband." She emphasized husband when she said it.

"Don't take too long, soon Cobol will be here and they won't show mercy."

Ariadne stared at him and called for Dom. Dom entered, his gaze instantly falling on Brendan.

"We're done for today." She told him.

"Let's go Brendan." Dom yanked Brendan up from his sitting position and tugged him along. Ariadne rubbed her face and slumped onto the bed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

She desperately wanted to talk to Arthur, to explain to him her plans and hear his voice. She missed him so much, but she wasn't sure if he would be able to talk.

Dom walked back into the room. "Are you ok?"

Ariadne looked at him and smiled softly. "Yeah. This is just going to be a lot harder than I thought."

Dom nodded in understanding. "Still want to go through with this?"

"Yes. I can do it, it's a good thing I have a week huh?" She snickered sarcastically.

Dom could tell she was nervous and frustrated, he also knew that she wanted this time alone to think and process everything. He smiled sympathetically and closed her door softly.

Ariadne laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, wishing Arthur was there. She had been wanting to call him and see how he was doing, but she wasn't sure if it was safe. She grabbed her phone and scrolled down to his number, sighing before closing her phone.

She tried to stop thinking about everything and finally fell asleep.

Arthur and Eames had made it safely to Mombasa. It was just dangerous now that they were in Cobol's playground. Eames grunted as he looked around. They had to be as inconspicuous as possible. Because of this, both of them were dressed casually, Eames had even taken a picture of Arthur, knowing this probably wouldn't happen again.

"Where to darling?"

Arthur looked around and tilted his head to the right. Eames nodded and they quickly made their way around the town, finally reaching the Headquarters.

Eames whistled and looked at the large building with huge windows. "So this is Cobol."

"This is Cobol." Arthur nodded and looked around cautiously. They had to proceed with extreme vigilance. One wrong move or step and they will be caught. Arthur had studied the layout and the locations of cameras so that he knew how he had to move to avoid being on the surveillance cameras or set off an alarm.

Eames followed Arthur, holding his gun securely just in case. Arthur led the way and within an hour they made it inside without being noticed.

"Well that took longer than I'd like." Eames mumbled. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Do you want to get captured and possibly tortured to death? No. This is the safest way. Now start recording." Arthur told Eames as he turned on his own video camera.

They walked through the halls, slowly and carefully. Making sure to get every detail they could.

"I'm going to need a lot more time to study Mr. White." Eames told Arthur. "So I'm going to need you to cover me while I get as much footage as possible of him."

Arthur nodded. The more footage they get, the better their chances of succeeding with the job. And hopefully they would be able to go home soon.

Three hours later they were getting ready to leave. Eames was planning on coming back again tomorrow, but that meant Arthur had to come with him.

"Are you sure it's really necessary to come back tomorrow? You got all the footage you need, you studied him, and you know how he talks." Arthur asked, making sure Eames was absolutely certain on this.

Eames nodded. "Much like Architecture, forging must be precise and have exact details."

"Alright. Well I have everything I need. And with the footage you got Ariadne should be able to create this level."

"I'm starving, let's go." Eames said, pushing Arthur. Just as they were stepping out into the hallway they heard gunfire. Eames shoved Arthur into a small room and they pulled out their guns.

"Damn, I didn't hear or see anything. We didn't trip an alarm did we?" Eames asked.

"I would know if we did Eames. Shh!" Arthur moved towards the door and peeked out. "We need to get out of here quick."

Eames nodded and followed Arthur, they heard more gunfire and ran through the hallways as fast as they could. Eames didn't bother looking back, he knew that they had a meeting spot if they did get split up, but when he heard Arthur's shout of pain as he got shot, he stopped and turned around. Arthur was clutching his arm and Eames rushed to him.

"Come on darling, I promised Ariadne I'd keep you safe. Let's get out of here." Arthur was running as fast as he could, but the pain was preventing him from going his fastest. Eames gripped Arthur's good arm and pulled him along, dodging bullets and finding a way to sneak out without being seen.

Arthur leaned up against a wall as Eames looked out of the small underground maze they had discovered during research.

"Well it's a good thing you're good at finding things. Otherwise we'd still be within gunshot range." Eames chuckled. Arthur scowled and gripped his bleeding arm tighter.

"We better get that fixed." Eames said soberly. Arthur growled.

"You think?"

Eames chuckled and they headed to their hotel. "I guess we're making an early trip back, I should be ok with what I have. Hopefully it will be enough."

Ariadne sighed when she woke up, she knew that today she would have to "soften up" to Brendan and start to make him believe that she's considering what he's asking of her.

She got up and took a long hot shower, hoping that today will go a lot smoother than yesterday.

"Ari?" Dom called from her room cautiously.

"In the bathroom, I'll be out in a few minutes." She answered, brushing her hair wet hair and leaving it down to dry. She wrapped her blue scarf around her neck and opened the door.

She found Brendan sitting in a chair waiting for her.

"Ari." He smiled and she had to force herself to smile back.

"Hi Brendan. Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that." She painfully apologized.

"Don't worry about it sis." He shrugged.

"Ari, you gotta listen to me. You're not safe here anymore and you can't stay with these men. You have to come with me. I can protect you from Cobol." He pleaded.

She sighed and looked at him. "I know. I've spent so much time with them, it's not something I can just walk away from Brendan. What do you want from me?"

"I want you to be safe." Brendan ignored the first part of her sentence.

She nodded. "Ok. But you have to give me a few days to say goodbye. And you have to promise to get them off of Cobol's radar. At least so they can safely disperse and escape." Ariadne reasoned.

"I'll see what I can do." Brendan nodded and stared at her. "I'm glad you finally came around."

Ariadne smiled painfully and looked away. "Well you're family right?"

He grinned and stood up, walking over to her to hug her. Ariadne uncomfortably hugged him back and rubbed the bag of her neck awkwardly when he pulled away.

"It's been a while huh?" He asked.

"Yeah. Five years." Ariadne confirmed. Brendan frowned.

"I'm sorry. We're going to have to leave at the end of the week."

"So soon?" She asked anxiously. Brendan nodded.

"Cobol's probably been looking for me. The sooner we get to them, the better."

"Ok." She whispered. She wasn't sure how this was going to work out. She needed to get a hold of Arthur and Eames. It didn't matter if they didn't get everything, right now time wasn't on their side.

"Saito's men can drop us off at the airport. I'll talk to him." Ariadne told Brendan.

"Can you talk them into letting me go?"

"I don't think they'll be too happy about that. I would suggest that you just go along with them until we leave." Ariadne told him. Brendan nodded.

"Ok…"

There was a loud knock on the door and Dom rushed in. "Ok time's up." He told Brendan and shot Ariadne a panicked look.

Ariadne became alarmed and said goodbye to Brendan. Once he was gone Ariadne turned to Dom.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"Arthur's been shot."

"What! Is he ok?" Ariadne watched Dom carefully.

"I think so. Eames didn't say much, he did say that they're on their way back now." Dom told her.

"Do they have everything they need?"

"Yes. Eames said that the footage should be enough, and we don't have time for them to stay much longer anyways."

"Yeah, Brendan wants to leave at the end of the week. Which only gives us five days to learn everything. So we have no time." Ariadne replied, running a hand through her hair.

"We can do it, I have faith in us. I just hope Arthur can make it."

"He'll be ok." Ariadne said to convince herself more than Dom.

"They'll be here soon. Rest up and think about what we need to go over. I can build the second layer if it makes it easier on you." Dom suggested.

"I'll help you. But you can start it. I have to think some things through. Brendan seems convinced enough, but I need to make sure he believes me."

"Ok, I'll call you when they're on their way." Dom closed the door.

Arthur didn't notice the other wound he had until after they arrived at the hotel. His arm was bleeding profusely and he was in pain. His left leg was also shot, but it didn't hurt as much as his arm.

"Bloody hell Arthur! How on earth did you manage to get shot twice?" Eames asked.

"We were ambushed!" Arthur seethed. Eames shook his head and bandaged his wounds. They quickly gathered their things and headed to the airport.

"Don't pass out on me, I'm not carrying you around." Eames told Arthur. Arthur frowned and winced as he followed Eames as quickly as possible.

"I won't." Arthur mumbled and followed Eames. Luckily Saito let them use his private jet so they didn't have to wait long and they were on their way back to Tokyo in no time.

"Ariadne is going to be pissed." Eames told Arthur.

"She's going to kill me."

"She'll probably kill me first." Eames chuckled. "How are you doing?"

"I've been better, but I've also been worse." Arthur shrugged and flinched in pain.

"Just relax ok?" Eames patted Arthur's good shoulder and leaned back to sleep. Arthur sighed and allowed himself to fall asleep too.

"Ariadne, they're here!" She heard Dom calling. She quickly got up and rushed out the door. Eames and Arthur were walking in the hall. Arthur was leaning against Eames.

"Arthur!" She ran to him and examined him carefully before kissing him gently. "Are you ok? What happened? I'm going to kill you Eames." She huffed out too fast for anyone to get another word in.

"Calm down Ari. I'm fine. Just got shot. Eames wasn't at fault here…surprisingly."

"Hey!" Eames defended.

"We were ambushed. But we should have enough footage."

"It's going to have to do. Brendan wants to leave at the end of the week." Ariadne told Arthur.

"Leave? What?" Both Arthur and Eames exclaimed at the same time.

"I guess I better explain things to you huh?" Ariadne blushed.

Eames and Arthur stared at her curiously.

"First let's get you fixed up and we'll talk in Dom's room." Ariadne told Arthur.

Alright, as I said, fast paced. I hope it came out ok...I'm not too happy with this chapter...hopefully the next chapter will be better. Let me know what you think...

3 Again by heart...(or in this case reviews) ;)