Figuring It Out

It was strange to see the two men who bickered more than anyone else she knew act so…well, brotherly. She didn't know they were so close. She knew the two cared for each other, but never realized the extent of their friendship. Thinking back, she tried to remember any inclination that she had been given to what had occurred today. Suddenly, she recalled a brief conversation with Arthur shortly after the Inception job.

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It was the slow part of the job, when she had nothing to do besides waiting for the actual extraction to start. So she had gone around trying to get to know her teammates just a bit better. Every advance was met with uncomfortable silence and then a suggestion that she should go bother the next person. She was brushed off several times and now stalked over to Arthur.

"Everyone on this team is too damn secretive," Ariadne stated with a huff.

"Well, that is part of our job description. Or maybe you're simply being too curious for your own good," Arthur had replied with his patented smirk.

"Well sorry that I didn't get the memo. Apparently anything other than 'what kind of takeout do you want for lunch?' is off limits." She threw herself into the chair by his desk.

"If I allow you one question, will you please leave me to my work? I had only just gotten rid of Eames before you strolled over." Arthur looked up from his laptop, settling an annoyed gaze on the Architect. Regardless, Ariadne knew that she had to make this count. One question only. Hmmm.

"Tell me about your family," she simply stated.

"That's not a question. Sorry, your time is up." Arthur was feeling especially snarky today, and Eames followed by prying questions seemed to be setting him more on edge.

"No, no, no, come on Arthur." Ariadne quickly backtracked knowing that any family questions would probably make him lose his patience completely. "Fine, one question: what's the deal with you and Eames? I mean you guys act like you hate each other, but sometimes, like during the Fischer job, you aren't that bad."

Arthur watched her, his head now resting on folded hands, until she finished speaking then chuckled slightly. "It's almost funny that you would ask about him instead of just rephrasing your family question."

"What?" Ariadne tilted her head sideways, looking at Arthur confusedly. He was making absolutely no sense. Until it clicked. "You mean you and Eames are family?"

"As close to it as I've ever gotten." Arthur looked pensive for a second. He shook his head slightly. "Now, I have work to do, and I assume you can go ask questions elsewhere."

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Family. She guessed the word certainly explained how Eames got under Arthur's skin so easily. It also helped make sense of the fact that Arthur was so well equipped to handle Eames' bullshit. They did seem to have that comradery that almost all brothers seem to possess. But it was something more than that. She knew that a relationship like that had to have been forged through something life threatening, and given what Eames and Arthur had just told her and what she had just been witness to, it seemed that is exactly what had to have had happened. She could remember times that were already telling her this, times she was only now starting to put together. Ariadne could have kicked herself. She had never truly realized everything except for now, in the context of what had just occurred. Her mind flashed back, remembering instances revealing that same brotherhood that, for her at least, finally stood in the open:

Eames reaching a blood slicked hand out, and Arthur grasping it without hesitation after a job gone terribly wrong. Even after the Forger passed out, Arthur refused to leave the chair beside his bed until Eames had woken up.

Arthur having nightmares, even after days of using the PASIV, waking up coughing and gasping for air. Eames staying awake all night just to make sure that the Point Man was woken before they reached that point again.

The way the two worked together in the dream world. Knowing exactly what the other would be doing, where they would be going. Even Cobb, who had been living in the dream realm far longer than either of them, was never in sync with the two men.

It made so much sense. She just had never seen it. Checking back in on the boys, she could see Arthur now laying with his head in Eames's lap, the older man gently pushing his hair back with one hand and continuing to rub out Arthur's headache with the other. She couldn't hear the faint whispers but knew they were soft reassurances. As unsettling as it had been to see the usually controlled Point Man so, well, out of control, she knew she was leaving him in good hands. Funny, she thought, never thought I would see the day where those 'good hands' were Eames'.

She chuckled quietly to herself before standing and brushing the dirt off the knees of her jeans. I still have a lot to finish, she thought tiredly as she started back to her models. She had been working for an hour or so when there came the noise of a door closing followed by a deadbolt slamming shut. The new Extractor? She watched as a tall woman with light hair and dark eyes examined the wide space. Noticing Ariadne, the newcomer gracefully approached.

"Where's Arthur?" she asked with a light Scandinavian accent.

"With his brother. Can I help you?" replied Ariadne, wishing one of the men would come out but knowing that neither probably would.

"Yes, I am here on a favor for Corporal Darling. Perhaps you, little girl, could fetch him for me."

"Well, that was extremely rude Sergeant Major Pain in my Ass," a voice rang out. Both women, including one extremely relieved Architect, turned to find Eames discreetly closing the door behind him and then leaning against it carelessly.

"Oh, Sergeant Eames, how I haven't missed you over the years. Now, where is Darling? This favor is to him and him alone. I haven't all day to stay and chat with you," the woman announced snidely.

"Let's get one thing straight Silje, I don't care if the favor is owed to him. You will be doing it for his team, our team," he said, gesturing to Ariadne. "You will not speak to him because it is your fault, bitch, that he became so addicted to this business in the first place. It is your fault for the, shall we say, complications, he has experienced." Eames was deceptively calm for someone who had just seen his brother go through what was essentially an Arthur-version of a mental breakdown.

She watched the woman stare at Eames, and Eames not giving in even the smallest amount. Silje nodded, going to the other end of the office block to start setting up her base of operations. Ariadne gently approached Eames, who was glaring at the Silje's back.

"That's her then?" Eames nodded.

"You're right; she is a bitch." Ariadne joined him in glaring for a few seconds before looking at the door at Eames' back, safely guarded by his broad torso.

"Arthur still in there?" she asked quietly.

A smile appeared. "Yup," he replied gleefully, "Sleeping like a baby."

Ariadne grinned in response. For all that they fought and teased each other, she doubted there was anything either wouldn't do for the other. After finding out about their military past, she had become privy to something few knew. They had gone through all the tough shit together; they were brothers. And though she was younger than both by more than a of couple years, she couldn't help but be proud of her boys.

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This is the final chapter. I hope you've enjoyed.

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