~ Part IX ~

~ Collision Course ~

1.

~ "I deserved that." Arthur admitted as he and Ariadne adjourned to the Cobb's dinning room to talk.

"You deserved that and more, sir. Faking your death so you could abandon your wife and child. Why not just seek a divorce? Lots of people do it and it would have been inder to me." she snarled as she looked at her refection in the large dinning room mirror.

She wished she had combed out her hair before seeing him. She was fresh off the boat with two small children. Dressed in her everyday blouse and her feminist slacks. She would have liked to have met him dressed nicely with powder on and her hair polished and swept up in the latest style.

Then slapped him in the face.

She saw her 'late' husband's reflection in the mirror. He was holding a napkin full of ice to his injured cheek.

"Stop acting like I hurt you!" she snapped at him as she smoothed out her hair better and wished she had looked more presentable.

"Well you did, madam. You did hurt me. I'm not used to being accosted by my wife and couldn't act accordingly to defend myself." he bit back.

"I'm not your wife!" she almost shouted.

Arthur said nothing but put the napkin and ice into a nearby bowl.

"I'm sorry, Ariadne." he said looking remorseful.
"Sorry?" she almost cried. "Arthur, you made me think you were dead. I mourned for you. We had a funeral for you. Do you have any idea what you put me through? Why didn't you just leave me if you were didn't love me anymore? Why didn't you just tell me you were unhappy?"

"I didn't abandon you and Olivia." Arthur said as he stood a little straighter. "I would never abandon my wife and child."

She gave him a cruel laugh.
"It's true." he said defensively. "I was on the Empress and it sank. I was on my why home to you. I had these teddy bears for you and the children. I had even bought a special one for..." he shook his head and seemed to grow angry at her.

"The shock of the cold water, it confused me for a long time. I was grouped in with the crew after the sinking and started drinking. I was thrown in jail for a while for fighting and even an asylum." he said bitterly

"Poor thing." she said. Her voice ripe with sarcasm. "How hard it must have been for you. Were you the one who had to tell your only child that her father was dead? I made Olivia kiss your picture every night while you were really alive and drinking and God knows what else."
"Ariadne, I wasn't well." Arthur pleaded. "I couldn't have come home to you like that. I barely knew who I was. I was sick all the time. When I saw your engagement in the paper to that Hays person, I finally called Cobb and told him I was still alive. I had him take divorce papers to you. You signed them thinking they were contracts for support."

Ariadne shook her head in disbelief.
"So were divorced?" she whispered. A terrible hole growing in her heart. "You divorced me?"

"I wanted you to be happy. I thought you might really love this man. That he was a man of your choosing. That he wasn't a man you were forced to marry. I wanted you to be happy." he explained.
"Arthur, I wasn't happy. I was grieving!" she shouted. "Do you have any idea what it felt like to lose you? To not even have a body to bury? To look at my child and to have her know that she will never know her father?"

Arthur looked at his shoes.

"Is Olivia here?" he whispered. "Is your husband... Mr. Hays... is he here?"

"Fredrick passed away a week ago from injuries he sustained during the fighting in Europe." Ariadne told him stiffly.

Arthur looked up at her. He was meet with the full force of her anger.
"Olivia?" he asked respectfully.

"You will not see my daughter." she said stubbornly.
"She's my child to, Ariadne." Arthur breathed. "I've missed the both of you more then I can tell you."

"She is not your child, Arthur." she said icily. "My child's father died on the Empress. I've never hid that fact from her. I won't reintroduce you to her as being alive. She thinks her father loved her and didn't abandon her!"

"I want to see her!" Arthur roared.
"No!" she shouted back.

Arthur looked angry and Ariadne realized she was breathing hard.

She was so mad herself now, she felt her rage was capable of anything. She wanted to kill him. Hurt him beyond repair for putting her through such grief.

She knew just how to do it to. How to wound him so deeply, he would never recover.

All it would take was the simple truth of her being with Eames. She knew how much her convenient husband loathed his cousin. If she told him the truth about being with him, Arthur would be crushed.

She wanted to say it, but her courage suddenly failed her.

Because after everything, he was still the man who taught her to drive. The man who scolded her for sneaking off to french museums. The man who showed her off on a luxury sea voyage and to his snobbish relatives in England. He was the man who held her new born daughter with such care and pride. The man who had married her and saved her.

"You... can't let Olivia see you." she whispered. "I won't have her thinking you abandoned her. It will confuse her. You can't ever contact us again."

"Just let me see her." Arthur whispered and took her hand.

~ Olivia slept the fearless sleep of children who had spent too much energy and needed to recharge.

Her cheeks were rosy pink in her sleep as Arthur ran a protective hand over her auburn hair.

"She's gotten so big." he said with a smile.

He tucked the child in bed more securely.
"Don't wake her up." Ariadne warned.

"I keep thinking she's just a baby." he whispered as they watched their daughter sleep.

He looked at the framed picture on the night stand.

"You really have her kiss my picture each night?" he asked.

Ariadne pulled him out of Olivia's bedroom.

"I thought you were dead. I wanted her to remember how much you loved her." she said and closed the door.
"I do." Arthur whispered as they went into Ariadne's bedroom. "I still love the both of you. I sent divorce papers with Cobb because I wanted you to be happy. I didn't want you to cancel your wedding because I was still alive. I wanted you to marry the man you loved."

Ariadne didn't say a word.

"You did love him. Cobb showed me some of the pictures of your wedding day. You looked so beautiful. It was the wedding you deserved." he said.

"Arthur, you should have told me. I can forgive you for being confused and afraid after the sinking. A lot of men in the war have back home with Shell Shock, but when you knew I was getting married, you should have at least let me know you were alive. I would never have married Fredrick if I knew you were still alive." she said sadly.

Arthur looked hopeful.

"You wouldn't?" he whispered as she felt his large, familiar hands on her arms.

"I wouldn't have married him or divorced you. You took the choice away from me." she whispered as he stepped closer and she could smell the inviting aftershave.

"Stop." she ordered.

"Would you have taken me back? After all I put you through?" he whispered as his lips were so close to hers.

She felt that pull she always had towards Arthur.

Her convenient husband was comfort, familiarity, safety and protection. She was never afraid or scared when she was with him. He was more assuring and sound than any man she ever knew. That female weakness of wanting a protective, capable man won out and she melted into him with ease and relief.

"Ariadne, I'm so sorry. For all I put you through. I tired to make it right, but I made it worse." his whispered as she felt his lips touch hers.
"Arthur." she protested.

"I'm a mess without you. I wasn't well... I wasn't." he insisted as she was feeling the fabric of his suit and smelling the wonderful scent of his aftershave and soap.

"We can be happy again." he whispered as he kissed her. "We can."