Extraction

Chapter 20: Confessions

Note: I do not own Inception.

Ariadne sighed as she finished brushing her wet hair. It felt so good to be clean and she couldn't wait to get a decent rest too. However, before she went to bed she wanted to check in with Cobb. So, Ariadne grabbed her hotel room key card and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans before she headed across the hall to Cobb's room.

She gave two quick knocks and waited. Cobb answered a few seconds later. He had a towel around his neck and wore a pair of baggy black sweat pants that said "New York" down the right pant leg.

"Been to the gift shop across the way I see," Ariadne said indicating his pants.

"Yeah, figured I'd worn my other clothes long enough. I, uh also have an I heart N.Y. t-shirt to go with the pants," he said sheepishly.

"Well you'll be styling then for sure," she joked.

"Come in," Cobb finally said stepping aside to allow Ariadne to enter his room.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," the girl explained.

"No, it's all right. I wanted to talk to you anyway." Cobb sighed as he ran a hand through his semi-dry hair.

Ariadne pulled a wooden chair out from a table in the corner of the room and took a seat, waiting for Cobb to work up the courage to say what he wanted. Finally, after pacing the room for a few seconds, Cobb came and sat on the edge of his bed across from her.

"I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of that dream."

"You would have done the same for me, or any of us for that matter," Ariadne replied modestly.

"Still, thank you," he replied as he scooped her hands into his and gave them a squeeze. Ariadne blushed and dropped her gaze to the floor, so Cobb released her hands a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm sure it must be difficult for you coming back. I mean, it's the second time you've lived a lifetime," the girl finally said as she re-trained her gaze on the man before her.

"Yeah, obviously that's left me with a whole new set of emotional issues I'm going to have to work through." The man rolled his eyes now.

"Have you spoken to your kids yet? For real I mean?" Ariadne asked.

"No," Cobb snapped quickly.

His expression softened. "No, I was afraid to contact them. I don't know how much Cobol knows. So, I got in touch with Miles and he's going to make sure his wife and the kids get on the next flight to Paris. I'm actually going to be leaving for the airport again in a few hours myself to meet them there."

"Oh. Well I'm glad! I wish you the best of luck," Ariadne said sincerely.

"I don't know what we're going to do after we meet up, but we'll see I guess. I'm just trying to take things slowly."

"Of course." Ariadne paused briefly before continuing. "Cobb, why do you think Cobol abducted you and then put you in a dream? I mean, back when we were working the inception job didn't the Cobol agents in Mombasa try to kill you?"

Cobb nodded his head. "I've been thinking about that too. I'm not sure they were so much trying to kill me in Mombasa, as they were just trying to slow me down and capture me. I suspect Cobol wanted to abduct me in order to pay for the failed Saito job. I'm guessing they felt I was more valuable to them alive than dead, perhaps they felt they could use my skills in the future."

"But why keep you immobilized in a dream? Why not just keep you locked up? It seems like a lot of work," Ariadne mused.

"I can only assume it was a kind of pay back, a way to torture me without actually physically harming me. I mean, while in the dream everything is fine, but it's when you come back to reality that you feel the full extent of what's been done to you. I'm still so angry with myself. I should have been able to sense something was wrong. I don't know why I ignored my totem!"

"Cobb, I think it's perfectly understandable! You'd just finished performing inception and working through some serious mental and emotional issues over your late wife. You couldn't handle dealing with any more at the time. I'm sure eventually you would have found your way back on your own. You love your kids too much; I know those projections wouldn't have been enough for you forever!"

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me," Cobb sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.

Ariadne stood to leave. "Well I won't keep you. I'm sure you'll want to get a little rest before you have to leave again."

"What will you do now? Arthur tells me you've taken a leave of absence from school?" Cobb asked before Ariadne could get too far towards the exit.

"I don't know." The girl stopped now and turned to face Cobb again. "When I left Paris to come find you my parents were visiting. They were suspicious about where I was going and about the 'work placement' I took with you a few months ago. I guess I'll probably give them a call. Find out where they are. See if they are still in Paris, or at home now."

"Good. You should try and smooth things over," Cobb agreed. Ariadne nodded and headed for the door again. However, before leaving she paused and then turned back to face Cobb who still sat on the edge of his bed.

"Keep in touch, okay?"

"I will," he agreed, nodding. Ariadne smiled and then opened the door, and nearly bumped into Yusuf in the process.

"Sorry," they said in unison, both obviously surprised.

"I was just coming to say good bye to Cobb," Yusuf explained.

"Where are you going?" Ariadne asked.

"I just got a call from an associate of mine. He has a job opportunity for me in South America."

Ariadne nodded, "Good luck. Oh, and what about your wounds?"

"I patched them up myself no problem," he explained. Ariadne gave the man a sceptical look, but he just grinned. "Anyway, good luck to you too," he said as he entered Cobb's room and she continued exiting. Ariadne removed her room key from her pocket, but paused half way to her door. She glanced at the door just down the hall on the right - Arthur's room.

Finally, she re-pocketed her room key and went to knock on the young man's door. She paused just outside the door and tried to work up the nerve to knock.

What's my reason for stopping by? she wondered to herself. Hey Arthur, I just wanted to check in, make sure things were okay? The girl shook her head wondering if that would sound too lame.

"Are you going to knock, or shall I do it for you?"

Ariadne jumped and nearly threw her neck out as she snapped it side ways in surprise, to look at who had addressed her.

Eames chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Where are you going?" Ariadne finally asked as she took in the forger's rather dapper appearance.

"Out. Figure I may as well enjoy a night out in the Big Apple. I fly out to London tomorrow," he informed her.

"Oh, well good luck," Ariadne said.

"You too, don't be a stranger!" Ariadne nodded and watched as the forger began to head towards the elevator.

"You'll regret not knocking. I can guarantee it!" Eames called before he rounded the corner and was out of Ariadne's sight.

"Right." She sighed. The girl then turned back to the door and quickly gave three sharp knocks before she lost her nerve. There was a long pause. Ariadne was about to head back to her room in defeat when the door was finally thrown open. Arthur looked a little dishevelled with wet hair dripping into his eyes, and a towel wrapped loosely around his hips.

"Sorry, I was just in the shower. Come in," he invited.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," she apologized as she stepped into the room, trying to keep her gaze on Arthur's face and not on other less clothed parts of him.

"Not at all," he said as he turned his body away from the girl to re-tie the towel around his waist tighter. Ariadne took a seat in a wooden chair like she had in Cobb's room.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked.

"No thanks," Ariadne replied politely. Her response was followed by a long silence. Arthur wiped some droplets of water from his face with his hand as he finally took a seat in the wooden chair opposite Ariadne.

"So, Cobb's leaving for Paris in a few hours," Arthur finally offered in the way of conversation.

"Yeah, I just came from seeing him actually. I guess Yusuf has a job opportunity in South America and Eames is leaving for London tomorrow."

"Yusuf's going to South America? Really? Well good for him." Ariadne nodded in agreement. "Oh, and sorry about the forehead," Arthur apologized quickly. Ariadne's hand flew to her bruised forehead in response; it had already begun turning an interesting shade of purple.

"It's okay. If it wasn't for you bashing my stupid head into those stairs I might have gotten a bullet in my brain instead!"

There was a slight awkward pause before Arthur finally spoke again. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Are we still in danger from Cobol?" Ariadne finally blurted instead, asking the question that been nagging at her since they had landed in New York City.

"I don't think so. We killed anyone at that farmhouse who got a good look at our faces and I don't think Leeson is going to tell Cobol anything, even if he does think he's had an extraction done on him. I mean, he probably assumes Cobol will kill him if they ever find out he gave us Cobb's location."

"But it's not like he had much of a choice. I mean we did use extraction on him," Ariadne pointed out.

"They won't care."

Ariadne nodded and finally answered Arthur's earlier question. "I guess I plan to contact my parents. See where they are at, and then explain things to them"

"Tell them the truth you mean?" Arthur asked.

"I think so. I can't lie to them anymore. They really have been so supportive and I doubt they'll be thrilled with what I have to tell them, but they certainly won't hand me over to the police," Ariadne explained.

"Good, honesty is always best between the people you care about."

Ariadne's eyes widened at Arthur's words. She then dropped her gaze to her hands, which she was clutching tightly in her lap. Arthur gave the girl a confused look, unsure of what he had done to elicit this sort of reaction from her.

"Can I be honest with you then?" Ariadne finally asked.

"Sure," Arthur agreed as he leaned forward in his chair intently.

"So," she fiddled with her fingers again, her gaze going to her lap. Arthur waited patiently while the girl composed her thoughts.

"In case you didn't already know, I like you Arthur and I don't know if I LIKE like you. I don't know if I'm looking for a serious relationship, or if it would even work out between us, but what I do know is that if I let you go for a second time without telling you how I feel then I'd regret it."

The architect's confession was met with silence, which made her even more uncomfortable. Furthermore, Arthur's face was completely unreadable, at least to her. Finally, she jumped up out of her chair. "So, I'll just go then, cause that was all I wanted."

However, before she could move Arthur was out of his chair and blocking her way to the exit. "Well, if we're being honest with each other then I have some things I want to say to you."

Arthur took a step towards Ariadne who backed up the short distance to her chair and sat back down in it, feeling light-headed as she took in Arthur's words. Arthur quickly closed the short distance between them until he was right in front of the girl. He then squatted down in front of her and took both her hands in his, pulling them close to his chest.

"Now in case you didn't already know, I like you Ariadne, and I do know that I LIKE like you. I also know that I am looking to explore the possibility of a serious relationship with you, and I don't know if it will work out between us, but what I do know is that I have regretted not telling you how I felt everyday since we parted ways in LA."

Ariadne sat motionless too shocked to respond, the light-heated feeling seemed to only grow worse. For a moment she wondered if she were dreaming, because this very scene was one she had played out in her day dreams dozens of times since she had parted ways with Arthur after the Fischer job months ago. Then she began to vaguely wonder if the light-headed feeling wasn't some sort of side effect of her head having been smashed into a wooden floor earlier.

"This is probably about the time you should just throw your arms around my neck and kiss me," Arthur finally offered, breaking through Ariadne's foggy thoughts.

The girl laughed now and did just as he suggested. After a few more short kisses Arthur stood and pulled Ariadne to her feet. He then reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled her t-shirt up over her stomach. Ariadne soon lifted her arms to help him completely remove the article of clothing from her body.

Arthur pulled the girl to him again kissing her hungrily as he slowly led her forward to the bed. The point man then placed several feather-light kisses on her lips as he lifted her onto the mattress. Then, Arthur loosened the towel from around his waist and allowed it to fall to the floor, before he finally lifted himself onto the bed and positioned himself over Ariadne, his lips never leaving hers. Finally, Arthur trailed a few kisses down her chest as he reached for the button on her jeans.

"Arthur," Ariadne whispered breathlessly reaching for his hands.

"I have protection," he whispered softly in response. After a moment Ariadne released Arthur's hands in consent.

"You expect us to believe that you built dream worlds for this man, Dominic Cobb? A-a-and that you implanted the idea into Robert Fischer's mind to break up his father's company?" Ariadne's father snapped in disbelief. Ariadne nodded her head sincerely.

"Sweetie, you understand this all sounds a little far-fetched don't you? I mean invading people's subconscious through their dreams, and then extracting information from them. It's just not possible," the girl's mother explained softly.

"Well I have a question for you, sir, if I may?" Arthur asked turning his attention to Ariadne's father now. The man nodded his permission has he squeezed the bridge of his nose trying to ward off a headache.

"You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on."

"I guess, yeah," the man agreed shaking his head in annoyance.

"Then I have one more question for you, sir. How did we end up here?" Arthur asked.

The question took the older man aback. He blinked for a moment and then shook his head. "This is ridiculous, we just came from the uh . . ." he paused as he tried to recall how they had all gotten to the park they were now sitting in.

"Think about it, Dad. How did we all get here? Where are we right now?" Ariadne pressed. There was a long pause.

"Are we dreaming?" Ariadne's mother finally asked quietly.

Cue Epic Music

THE END

Note: I hope you all enjoyed this story. I really enjoyed writing it and hearing from everyone! Check out the first chapter to the sequel, which will be up later today (hopefully).

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Thanks for reading!