Reality is not enough

"I look inside myself and see my heart is black,

I see my red door and it has been painted black.

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the fact,

It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black."

Paint It Black, by The Rolling Stones

Cobb- The Extractor

Arthur- The Point Man

Ariadne- The Architect

Eames- The Forger

Saito- The Businessman

Fischer- The Young Businessman

Yori- The Doctor

Braker- The Australian Forger

Sybil-The Girl/ The Control

Hecate- The Chemist/ The Beast

Alexander- A&A's son/ the Baby

Circe- The Witch

Saint Cloud, France.

Four years after the Fischer Inception,

Five months after the Fischer kidnapping

Morning broke open the French sky. It chased away the darkness with it's welcoming light and sounds.

Sybil was pouring cereal into her bowl that last morning. The night before had been her graduation. The Team had had a small but very nice party for her. Saito had flown down form Japan with her new shinny red Bentley. He had honored the arrangement they had made. Sybil had graduated the top of her class. The Girl had taken summer classes and, despite the stress of the kidnapping, she excelled easily over her contemporaries.

The Girl looked up from her untouched cereal.

On the mantle piece, above the tacky large TV, were arranged fashionable picture frames. Ariadne had used her formidable photography skills to capture the 'family' and hold them there. Large artistic photographs of Alexander, James and Phillipa. An old but still prominent family photo of Cobb, Mal and their Children (taken before her tragic death of course). A nice candid photo of Ariadne and Arthur, snapped sniper like by Eames, only a month before. The Point Man, holding the Architect in his arms, smiling at her. It was something he could never pose for. Professional family portrait of Saito, Yori and their two year old son Shin. A rouge, candid photo of the Girl and Eames. Making goofy faces for the camera. Happier times. Front and center, was a lovely photo of the Team at her Seventeenth Birthday Party last month.

Like her graduation party, it had been a home affair. Sybil admitting that the nature of their lives gave her no time for friends. Ariadne had engaged a famous bakery in Paris to create a splendid birthday cake for the Girl. It had been a magnificent cake. Pink and gold, to match her beautifully wrapped presents and the decorations of pink roses the Architect had put around the parlor. Ariadne had outdone herself with the elegant little family party and had the pictures to prove it. She had dressed the birthday girl in a fashionable pink party dress, perfectly matching the party's colors.

Sybil had to shake her head at the poor girl in the pink party dress. What a horrible predicament to find herself in. In the photograph, the girl in the dress smiled bravely, surrounded by people posing as her family. The Architect had her arms around the Girl's waist, their faces were side by side together, in an attempt to squeeze everyone in. Sybil could see how easy it was for people to mistake them for sisters. With their matching hair color and similar facial features. Even their height was roughly the same.

Ariadne had finally managed to get everyone in that picture, including Saito and his family. Even Miles had drove in from Paris to attend. She had judged it an impossible feat and proudly displayed the results in a large frame that over powered the other photos. Anyone on the outside looking in, would assume they were a happy family.

"Did Arthur take the baby?" Ariadne had asked coming into the parlor from downstairs.

"I think so." Cobb had told her coming into the room from the downstairs. He shared a small wing of the house with his Children. Their lives separate from Ariadne, Arthur, Alexander and Sybil. Who lived upstairs. Only Eames had the luxury of a small apartment in Paris that had once been Ariadne's. He still spent most of his free time with the Team in the Saint Cloud house.

The Extractor and the Architect went to work on making coffee and a light breakfast as the Girl stood looking at her cereal. They ignored the Sybil, not out of any meanness, simply because they were focused on the busy pace of domestic life.

"Are you still picking up James and Phillipa from the airport?" The Ariadne asked. Cobb shook his head.

"No, Mal's parents want to keep them a few more days." Cobb said with a sad shrug. Sybil's had managed to graduate before the Christmas break that had taken Cobb's Children back to the States to see their other Grandparents. Ariadne put an hand on the Extractor's shoulder.

"I'm sure their having a lot of fun." She told him trying to be a comfort. The front door opened and heavy footfalls cut across the sounds of the morning. Arthur had come in caring his 9 month old son Alexander. The Forger had come in behind them.

Ariadne gasped when she saw her son.

"What did you do to him!" She cried. Alexander, sensing his mother's distress started to cry. Arthur held the baby high in his capable arms.

"He got a hair cut." The Point Man had said proudly.

"His hair!" The Architect cried taking her son away from his father. She looked at Arthur and Eames. The Forger shook his head and pointed at her husband. Not willing the share any blame.

"People at Sybil's graduation said he looked like a girl. His hair was to long." Arthur told her matter of factually.
"No they didn't!" Ariadne said angrily, inspecting her baby's cropped hair that had once been so long and shining. Arthur sighed

"Regardez la petite fille." He said. "Fille is girl."

"No it isn't." Ariadne told him. "Your French is horrible. It's always been horrible, right Sybil?"

"I think it looks nice, he looks like a boy now." Arthur retorted

"You cut my baby's hair off without my permission." Ariadne said smoothing out Alexander's hair who had stopped crying by now.

"No." Arthur said calmly. "I gave my son is first hair cut. It's a father's privilege and duty, right Cobb?"

"Don't bring me into this." Cobb said with a smile. Secretly he agreed that Ariadne had allowed Alexander's hair to become to long. The baby had soft brown waves that reached his shoulders and it would have been forgivable to mistake him for a girl.

"You had no right to take him for his first hair cut without even telling me." the Architect said finally. She smooth out his hair some more. "Do you have the lock of hair for his baby book?" She asked.

"What?" He asked. Her face became stern.

"The lock of hair from his first hair cut so I can put it in his baby book." She said to him as if he were to young or stupid to understand. Arthur looked to Cobb and Eames for help. He turned to his wife and shook his head. She gave him a dirty look and turned away to take the baby upstairs.
"Were in a fight!" She yelled once she had reached the landing.

"Alright." Arthur said casually and with a slight grin. As if it didn't matter to him.

"She took it much better then I thought she would." Eames said. "Since the Misses is mad at you, I think we should have a boys night out."

"It's eight in the morning." Cobb told him.
"Day out then, Mr. Picky." Eames amended.

"Sounds good." Arthur said with a laugh. He knew spending the day away from his wife would be a good thing. Occasionally they had a fight, like all married people. It never meant anything serious. She just need time to be mad at him for a while.
"Sybil." Cobb said to the Girl "Don't forget you have a meeting with Miles this afternoon at the college." He was heading out the door as he finished his sentence, The men leaving for the day.

The quite of the morning, coming back down on her again. Like an oppressive weight. Sybil had been to tired to even speak during the entire exchange and everyone had been to busy to notice.

She looked down at her untouched cereal. It had become to soggy to eat. She looked back at the family photographs. The Brave smiles, the happier times. She felt a sudden compression of her chest. Hard to breath. She dumped her uneaten breakfast in the trash and went upstairs to her room.

It was later that evening, that Arthur's phone went off. He, Cobb and Eames were out at a Cafe, ready to enjoy another few hours out. The Point Man looked down at the caller ID. He smiled.

"What is it? The Misses?" Eames chuckled. Arthur nodded and gave the phone to the Forger who answered it.
"E'llo Darling." Eames said. "Can we come home now?" He asked as the men laughed. They had been drinking that night and even Arthur was feeling relaxed.

"Eames." Ariadne came back over the phone. "You guys need to come home."

"Were having fun." The Forger whined.

"Sybil never showed up for her meeting with Miles today." Ariadne told him "She's not in the house and she left her cell phone here."

Eames stopped his joking for once. The situation was serious.
"Right, we'll be right home." The Forger said. He hung up the phone and handed it back to Arthur. "Time to pay the tab and hail a cab boys." He said.

There were few basic rules that applied to everyone on the Team. Keep a bag packed at all times, and always keep your cell phone with you. There were others naturally, but those two were so basic and obvious for their safety. It made no sense that someone as responsible as Sybil would ignore one of them. Saito had given the Team experimental global cell phones that could not be hacked or corrupted. It made things much...neater.

"Her clothes are still in her room, her go bag is still by her door." Ariadne told them. Arthur gave his wife a hug and whispered

"I'm sorry" into her ear. She nodded and tried to wipe away a stray tear.

"Her car?" Eames asked.

"It's still in the garage. She doesn't have a French Driver's license yet." Ariadne told him.

"I'll check the security cameras." The Point Man said going to the little hall closet.

"There's something else." Ariadne said almost in a hushed tone. They turned and looked at the Architect. She was shaking.

"I was in her room and I found those." She pointed to a pile of towels, all covered with blood. Now dry and the color of rusted red. "There was also fresh blood in the bathroom." She said

I know... I can't let them be happy. But if they stay happy, then there is no conflict and the story ends. Also this story has Sybil going out on her own. But you have to trust me, I have great plans for her that I think it will make a good story. There will be an (A) story and a (B) story.

There will be plenty of A&A in this don't worry.

Sybil is almost grown now and I can no longer call her "The Girl", so I will try to phase that out and call her "The Control".

Arthur and Ariadne's fight is based on a real fight some friend's of mine had over their own son's first hair cut. The mother is still mad about it. Her "baby" is almost 20 now.