Hello! I wanna thank you, Legal-Assassin-006! You made my day. First review.

Anyway, this chapter is a little... odd. I wasn't that excited anymore. Hope it'll pass.

Enjoy!

Love,

Isadora

Chapter 2 – Crazy girl around.

"Back to the same routine", Ariadne thought. She was heading to the park, it was a perfect sunny saturday.

After the job, she had to go back to University, and she hadn't seen anybody yet. She knew that after the Inception they would avoid to see, call or even know where the team was – except for Cobb. Everybody knew where he was. And she was happy for him. He was with his family, who thought that they had lost their daddy.

And she knew that if there was a new job they would call her. Eventually. However, three months had passed and she didn't receive a single note that they were, at least, alive. Ariadne was somehow frustrated. She thought that they cared for her, but apparently that wasn't enough.

Everyday she put her smooth bishop on a table and knocked it. It always to emphasise that that was reality. Boring reality. She missed Dreaming, but most of all, she missed that feeling of 'pure creation'. She could build an entire country, for God sake! And in the real world, she only saw buildings.

But she had never stopped drawing. Her desk was always full of papers, pens and books. She had a huge amount of sketches, impossible places to become real, at least, not in a Dream. She had drawn massive buildings, beautiful squares. Everything with tiny and immeasurable details. Her mind never seemed to stop.

And now the Architect realized that they would never see the Dream light. They would never call her. "Easy, Ariadne. You must be overreacting" she thought. Perhaps they would call. Someday.

She was passing by a cafée when she saw a tall, slender and tanned figure. It was a man. And he was familiar, very familiar.

"Eames!" she yelled. It couldn't be him, could it?

The man turned his head towards her. His lips curved in an appreciative smile.

"Hello, darling."

Ariadne moved forward. That couldn't be true! What was he doing there?

"May I...?"

Eames nodded, and she sat down. Her eyes were amused, but had a hint of... confusion? Eames laughed at her expression. Why was she so surprised? He was supposed to be there!

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Good to see you too." he played. Ariadne cocked her head. "We have a job, remember?" he continued.

Her face was pure astonishment. What the hell was he talking about? They didn't call her? They didn't want her as an architect anymore?

Before she could say anything, the waitress came with a huge mug of coffee. It smelled delicious and fresh. Coffee meant job. Otherwise he wouldn't drink it. It also meant that he wasn't playing with her. She hoped that he was playing with her. Yes, hoped. Past tense.

The waitress went to attend another costumer.

"What job?" she nearly tripped over the words.

"Have you hit your head recently?" Eames didn't understand it. She knew about the job, Arthur himself asked her. He said that he did. He wouldn't lie, would he?

Ariadne shook her head. And Eames sighed. Bloody hell.

"Darling, Arthur didn't call you, did he?"

"No. Nobody called." her voice was grave.

He sighed heavily.

"I knew that rocks couldn't talk! Bloody liar."

"Please, Eames. Enlighten me." she couldn't help her sarcasm. She was pissed.

"Well, we have a new job. An Extraction. Easy thing, I must say." he sipped his coffee. "Our Point Man said that he had called you. And you didn't want the job" she started to open her mouth, but he cut her off. "He said, that you said, that it was too dangerous and that you were starting to loose grab on reality."

She grasped the bishop, always in her pocket. Her nails hurting her skin. It was true, the reality part, kind of. But she definitely didn't think that it was too dangerous. She knew that it was, but she didn't care.

"WHAT? He did what? WHY?" her voice an octave higher.

"I don't know, darling. Ask him."

He had that sly smile plastered on his face. Challenging her.

Ariadne stood up, almost knocking the table down, and started running towards the warehouse. But before she left the cafée she yelled a "thank you" to the Forger. She really meant it.

Eames sipped his coffee once more, laughing slightly. Now, that was going to be fun.

Ariadne was out of breath, but she wasn't going to stop. She had to arrive in the warehouse the soonest possible. She needed to be their architect. And most of all, she needed to confront Arthur.

Why the hell he lied? she thought. Everybody knew that she was maddenly in love with that job. It was exciting, it was new, it was dangerous. She didn't seem to be one girl who like danger, but she was. She loved the thrill of doing something... unorthodox.

Every single person on the street looked at her, almost projection-like, but she didn't care. She didn't give a damn. Ariadne just hold her totem tightly. She wasn't dreaming.

When she was close to the warehouse she started walking. She didn't want to attract attention. But she circled the block just to make sure that nobody was paying attention at her. And then she opened the heavy door and entered the large room.

Once she was in, the three men looked at her with astonished expression. They weren't expecting her at all. They weren't expecting anyone. Earnes would only see them tomorrow, he said that.

Her cheeks were pink and she was out of breath, but she continued to walk in Arthur's direction. He was looking directly at her. His face was blank, but his eyes betrayed him. They showed utter confusion. And Ariadne glared at them, without hesitating. He was going to explain to everyone what stupid thought has crossed his mind! He was going down.

Ariadne stayed inches away from him. Both of them could feel the other breath.

"Fuck you!" she snarled. She was furious. She could cut his head off with her teeth.

Sadness crossed his eyes, but he composed himself. Not showing any emotion. "Of course",she thought bitter. She felt Cobb and Yusuf glancing at them, their jaws popped open. Arthur's mouth opened but he didn't say a word.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, still angry.

Arthur shrugged. He didn't want to admit why he lied. And it wasn't her business anyway. Well, not exactly.

"Are you in then?" his voice was calm and composed.

Ariadne let out a groan and shook her head. She loved that job, otherwise why she would be there? Arthur could be so annoying sometimes, and she noticed that he didn't explain why he lied. She was mad at she wouldn't let it go.

"Idiot." she murmured and turned away from him. Later.

The Architect hugged Cobb and waved to Yusuf.

"So, Eames told me that it is an Extraction..."

"Yes. An easy one. Arthur got the file, if you want to take a look."

Ariadne glanced at him, her eyes clouded with hatred. Cobb swallowed hard.

"Er, I'll grab it."

Arthur was hurt. Deep inside him, his heart shuddered with her words, he didn't know that she would be that mad. But he lied for her own good, even if he didn't know why. When he heard Cobb coming he handled the file without looking at him. His mind still numb.

The warehouse was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the traffic. Yusuf was occupied with his compounds and Cobb was helping the Architect with her sketches, his voice was no more than a whisper.

The Extractor was relieved that he didn't need to worry about that anymore. It wasn't as if he was scared, but he already have to think and plan about the extraction. And it required a huge amount of time, even if it was an easy one.

Arthur couldn't help glancing at Ariadne once in a while, but she caught him right on the spot. Their eyes locked and he could only see hatred. This job would be extremely unpleasant if he didn't fix this mess.

His mind started working, planning a way to have a minute with he, alone. However, he heard a soft knock and the door slammed open.

Eames was there, with a wide smile that made him shiver.

Oh, hell.

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