Chapter 6
Arthur wiped his hands on his pant legs. BidenCheneyGoreQuayleBushMondaleRockefellerFUCK. Who the hell came before Rockefeller? Arthur closed his eyes and wrapped his hand around the loaded die in his pocket. Breathe in, hold it, breathe out. Ford. Right. Arthur focused on slowing his heart rate.
"Arthur! What the fuck, man?" came Ari's cry from outside.
"Yeah! Yeah, on my way." Arthur gritted his teeth and tried not to hate Ariadne, seeing as how she was here to help. When he finally unlocked the front door and opened it, Ari was standing there, bags at her feet and her arms spread in a wide 'ta-da!' gesture. Arthur felt his irritation at her slip a bit; she just looked so excited to see him.
"Arthur! God, you're a sight for sore eyes. Of course, anything that isn't the inside of an airplane looks pretty good, no offense." Ari grabbed her bags and pushed her way in.
"None taken. But what are you doing here? I thought you were getting a hotel room." Assumed, anticipated, hoped, Arthur grumbled internally.
"You did? Oh no, Arthur, I'm sorry! I didn't realize...jeeze, now I feel like an ass." Ari's cheeks flamed and Arthur felt like the worst friend on the planet.
"No, don't feel like an ass, I didn't even think to offer. It's just that I only have the one guest room and Eames..." Arthur gestured helplessly. See, now you'll have to get a hotel room, because all my available beds are taken and there's no way either of them might become unoccupied at some point tonight, so, unfortunately, you'll have to go away. Bummer, but that's just how it goes sometimes, I guess.
"Oh, Eames is here too? Great, I've been wanting to say hi!" She dropped her bags on the couch, next to Cobb's old PASIV. "Don't worry, I can just sleep on the couch. I'm short, couches don't bother me."
"Oh," Arthur said, "good."
"Do we have company then?" came Eames's voice and Arthur looked to see him leaning against the door jamb into the kitchen, looking cool and completely unaffected. He looked down at his own hastily tucked in shirt and still-askew tie and attempted to look less like he'd just been completely destroyed by a few kisses only moments before.
"You do, you lucky ducks. Arthur's going to let me sleep on the couch since I'm apparently a terrible listener," Ari joked.
"Brilliant," Eames smiled at her.
Was it Arthur's imagination, or did Eames's "brilliant" sound a little strained? He tried to catch his eye, but Eames was steadfastly avoiding eye contact and listening intently as Ari relayed her tale of delayed take-offs and awful flight attendants and horrible in-flight meals.
Alright, he could do this. Eames was right. Arthur was a professional, for god's sake. He didn't get to be the best point man in the business by thinking with his dick.
"Ari, it's actually a good thing you're here, we need to go over a few things for tomorrow." Arthur could absolutely do this, and he did not need to bang Eames to be happy, in fact, he was an expert at not banging Eames, he'd been doing it for years, and Spiro Agnew was the VP before Ford. He's got this.
"Ah yes, Arthur has an outline," Eames said, finally meeting his eyes. Arthur felt something zing down his limbs and knew the lightning he'd been waiting to singe him had struck. He didn't know how he'd be able to cap this off now that it had been loosed. He felt out of control, and it scared him.
"Oh, guyyyyys. Do we have to do it right now? I just got in, and I'm freaking wired, and I can't focus for the life of me."
Arthur knew he was staring at Eames and made himself stop. "Sure, ok. What did you have in mind?" When he dragged his eyes back to Ari, she was looking at him with an odd expression on her face.
"You know what? Jeeze, I just realized. Sorry, you guys are probably wiped out and want to go to bed. I didn't even think of that, my internal clock is all jacked and I'm just wide awake. You guys can sleep, I'll just watch TV or something." Ari backed up looking a little awkward. Arthur and Eames exchanged a look.
"Uh...that's ok, Ari," Arthur offered. "We actually were just saying how we aren't really excited about sleeping anyway." He sure hoped he was interpreting that look correctly.
"Right," Eames agreed. "It might make us feel better to go over the plan with you when you're ready. No rush, we've just got nerves of our own, you know."
Ari sobered immediately. "Yeah, I suppose that would help, huh. I'm sorry, guys, of course you want to go over this as much as you can, just...just ignore me, god. I'm so sorry. Here, let's just..." She cleared her bags off the couch, making room for them, one on either side of her. It was probably a good idea, just the thought of having Eames pressed against the side of him was distracting Arthur. "Ook, let's hear about this outline. " She patted the couch, waiting for them to sit.
They spent the next several hours going over the plan. Ariadne plied them with a million questions, not the least of which was, "How do we know this is even going to work? How can you promise me that it won't be instead of losing two of my friends, now I could be losing four?"
"Ari, come on now." Eames pleaded. "You know as well as any of us that there are no guarantees, and you don't even have the horror stories Arthur and I have acquired after years of experience. Shite happens, but if anyone is equipped to handle it, it's me and Arthur."
Ari crossed her arms and refused to look at him.
Arthur flicked his eyes between the two of them. "O...kay, well anyway, just to make sure you're comfortable, Ari, let's go over your part one more time." Was she actually pouting? Did grown women really do that? Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hey. Ari. Look, you're right, ok? We're not arguing that. But you need to stop thinking about us and start thinking about the Cobb kids. Those kids don't deserve to lose two parents, and if there's something I can do to try not to let that happen, I will. I love those kids, but they need their dad, not me."
She sighed, then turned toward him. "Yes, you're right, of course. I'm with you."
"Good," he nodded at her. "Ok, it's better if you don't arrive with us. We'll each have our own PASIV, we can hook ourselves in. But we'll need you to come in and check on us right away after we go under. Check the lines and the Somnicin levels, like we talked about. Right?" He waited for her nod before he continued. "Make sure the door's shut and no one should bother us, then check on us every 15 minutes. You've got the layout of the hospital memorized?"
"Yes, Arthur, but-"
"I'll start the timer before we go down, so when it runs out, you do the kick," Arthur interrupted. She'd voiced her concerns, but as there was no solving them, he wasn't going to address them again. "The push should work, but you can try the chair drop if you want. We will try our damnedest to get out of limbo on our own, the way Dom and Mal did, we promise. If we do, great, we all go out for slushies afterward. Hell, we're actually really good at this, maybe it'll take five minutes and you'll be telling all your friends about the time Arthur made you fly to California for nothing. If not, though, the next failsafe is the kick. If we can hear the music, it'll give us a chance to be ready for the kick, and we can pull ourselves out the way you and Fischer did. Now, here's the part you won't like, but we are counting on you, Ari. So listen up. If we can't do that...are you listening? If we can't do that, I still don't want to be stuck down there forever. So you are going to give us as much time as possible to figure our shit out without the kick. Dom and Mal figured it out eventually, we might be able to also. So you leave us plugged into the PASIV as long as you can, preferably until visiting hours are over, but we'll understand if you get into some trouble. If by the end of the day, we still haven't woken up, well, by that point it won't matter."
Eames took over, and Arthur was grateful. He was so much better at people than Arthur was. He felt exhausted and allowed that maybe he should have gotten at least a few hours of sleep.
"Ari," Eames took her hand. "If we haven't woken up by the end of the day, we probably won't. And that's ok. We will be ok. But we don't want any of this to rest on you. So we want your word, Ari, that you will do as we ask."
She looked wary, and for a good reason. "Why? What are you asking?"
Eames met Arthur's eyes over Ari's head and they exchanged a moment's mutual understanding. They'd discussed this part at length and from every angle until even Arthur had admitted defeat, which he didn't do lightly.
"We want you to unplug us and run." Eames settled back on the couch and listened to Ari sputter for a few minutes.
"So, let me get this straight. If you're unplugged, then you definitely won't be able to get out of limbo. Like, ever. And you're both ok with this?!"
"Of course not," Arthur said, exasperated. "We have no plans on that happening. But what we do want is for you to Get. Out. We are walking into this with our eyes open, figuratively of course, and we need someone up top. That doesn't mean you have to devote your entire future to this endeavor, no matter how much you care about Dom. He wouldn't want that either, you know he wouldn't."
"And you think he'd be all hot to trot about you and Eames sacrificing yourselves for him though?"
"Would you stop saying things like that?" Eames asked. "It's not a foregone conclusion, or are you forgetting whose idea it was to go get Saito and Fischer in the first place?"
"Well, obviously I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about! Aren't you at least a little mollified by the fact that I'm, I don't know, bowing to the voice of experience, or listening to my elders, or whatever?"
Eames looked unimpressed. "Ta, very much. Do you even know how old I am?"
"Look, stop it, both of you," Arthur cut in. "Ari, if two unconscious men are discovered in the same room as two men who had previously been discovered unconscious, that will raise some eyebrows and you need to be as far away as possible. We will NOT be ok with you being suspected of any wrongdoing. This is a deal breaker for us, and if you can't do this then we will do it without you. Now, are you with us?"
Ari took a steadying breath, then pursed her lips. "I hate this. Truly. This is the worst plan of all time." But she had relented and they all knew it.
"Come on, the worst plan?" Eames teased. "Were you there on the Fischer job?"
Ari grinned reluctantly. "Touché. So...question. If you don't make the kick, and I give you until the end of the day, how long is that in dream time?"
Arthur shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Time works differently in limbo. But...years, I'd think. Maybe a lot of them."
They lapsed into silence after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Arthur felt the familiar tension in his back from having sat too long and stretched his hands above his head, sighing as the ache eased. He ran his hands through his hair. "Ok, the sun is coming up and we need to get ready. Ari..." Arthur rose from the couch and grabbed the package off the kitchen counter. "This is for you. Bathroom is down the hall."
Ari stood and took the package, opening it in front of him. "Scrubs? You mean I have to pose as a nurse?! Ugh, you guys are so sexist. Why can't one of you stay up top and pose as a nurse? There are male nurses, you know, and-"
She broke off as Arthur hugged her, a big squeeze before pulling back to look her in the eyes. She stood with scrubs held awkwardly in her hands and tears held awkwardly in her eyes. Then Eames rose and hugged her too and she relented and hugged back. He said, "I'll steal you a coat and a stethoscope when we get there if you'd rather pose as a doctor." He rubbed her back and they heard her stifle a sniffle. She pulled back and regarded them.
" Alright, ok, fine, but you're both assholes and I hate you both."
"As you should."
She gave them a watery smile. "Is it ok if I take a shower? I just...I need a minute."
"Of course, I'll show you where the towels are," Arthur said.
"That's ok, I'll find them. Hey? Thanks. I'm actually really honored that you guys trust me with this. I won't let you down."
"We know."
She headed down the hall and as the door closed behind her, he could feel Eames's presence at his back. Arthur stayed still as Eames pressed himself against Arthur's back and placed his wide hands on Arthur's hips. His eyes slid closed as Eames nosed the back of his neck, drawing in a long breath. Arthur melted a little.
"So much for fulfilling your last night on earth fantasies," Eames rumbled directly into his ear.
"Hmm..." Arthur hummed. "S'okay. I have plenty of other fantasies you can fulfill." Then he froze and his eyes snapped open. Had he crossed a line? What if Eames hadn't wanted anything more? Was it presumptuous to assume he'd get another chance? He wished he could see Eames's face, but he didn't dare move out of his light embrace. "I mean..." Shit. Well, that was short-lived. This might be technically his shortest relationship in his history of short relationships. He had been insane to even hope for anything more, this was exactly why he hadn't done this before.
"I would love to, darling," Eames interjected. "How many other fantasies do you have? I'm going to need some specificity here."
Arthur craned his head around to see Eames's smile and answered with one of his own. "Specificity?"
"Specificity," Eames murmured, then pressed a kiss into Arthur's cheek, exactly where he knew his dimple was.
Arthur turned in his arms and ran his thumb over Eames's ridiculous mouth. "God. You better fucking wake up, because when you do, I am going to drag you to bed and not let you up for a week."
"Promises, promises, pet."
Arthur looked at him seriously. "Yes, lots of promises."
Eames kissed him then, lips and tongue and teeth and promises.