Birthday Surprise: One-Shot

Note: I do not own Inception or West Side Story. This little story idea popped into my head the other night as I was trying to fall asleep. So, I hope you enjoy it. Be sure to review and check out my other Inception stories as well.

Arthur sighed and stretched, allowing the cool winter wind from the ocean to clear his thoughts. The point man leaned against the metal railing on the ferryboat he was currently on. The ferry had just departed from Battery Park, in lower Manhattan, and was taking him, and numerous other tourists, to Liberty Island to visit the Statue of Liberty. It had been ages since Arthur had seen the famous landmark and seeing as how it was his birthday he figured he could justify taking a break from his research to go and visit the statue.

The point man was currently in New York City for an extraction job he'd taken with some old acquaintances. The job's extractor was a man by the name of Levi Bloom, he wasn't anywhere near as skilled as Dom Cobb, but Bloom was very personable and could sweep even the most heterosexual of men off their feet. Bloom had also asked his younger cousin Mike to join them, he was a thief by trade, but was trying to work his way into the extraction business. So, Levi had agreed to bring Mike in as a sort of learning experience for the boy. Arthur had worked with the kid a few times before, usually Mike just stayed in the real world to watch over their bodies as they slept, but this job would be his first real extraction. Finally, Bloom had hired an architect named Brutus, the man's design style was harsh, but he was quick and efficient. Arthur hadn't actually ever worked a job with the man, but he had consulted on a job that Brutus had been a part of, so Arthur knew his work.

The point man tied his scarf tighter as they neared Liberty Island; the wind was beginning to cause him to shiver, despite the wool jacket he wore. He smiled as the tourists all crowded to the railing now, with their cameras at the ready, trying to get as many pictures of the Statue of Liberty as possible. Arthur admired the crowd of excited tourists and then caught sight of a little girl. She was maybe 8 years old, and stood only a few feet away tugging at her dad's pant leg and trying to squeeze through the crowd to see what everyone was gawking at. Arthur let out a low quick whistle and caught the girl's attention. He waved her over and stepped back so she could take his spot by the railing. A giant grin broke out on the girl's face as she took in the awe-inspiring site.

At that moment the little girl's dad gave a quick glance behind him to check on his daughter. Arthur noted the look of panic and fear that quickly graced his features as he quickly scanned the area for his daughter. Arthur smiled and pointed to the little girl standing in front of him.

"Sir," Arthur called politely as he still pointed at the little red-head bouncing in front of him The father's face immediately registered relief as he spotted his child and he hurried the couple of feet over.

"Thank you," the man said sincerely as he placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder to pull her away from the railing and back over to his wife.

"No problem, but I wouldn't turn your back on her for too long. Remember you are in New York," Arthur warned the father, who nodded his head in understanding. The girl began to protest in a high-pitched whiney voice as she was taken back to her mother.

Arthur smiled and shook his head while he took a seat on one of the outdoor benches. He decided to leave the tourists to do their touristy thing. After all, he was just here for a break. The point man honestly believed that if he had to watch one more clip of their mark making a speech about world peace and endorsing green energy products his head would explode; not that Arthur didn't feel these causes were noble mind you, but he just couldn't stand to hear anymore about them today.

Soon the ferry was docked and everyone began to crowd towards the ferry's exit in a frenzy. Arthur lagged back, allowing the energized tourists to hurry off first. The point man felt no need to be crushed by the wave of excited passengers, after all he was here to relax and enjoy some of his birthday. Arthur nodded to the ferry attendant as he did finally exit the boat and walked towards the giant statue.

As Arthur began to make his round of the island he admired the statue, which was a gift to the United States from France, and his thoughts drifted to Ariadne. Since the inception job the point man had contacted the girl a couple times. Once shortly after the job to make sure she was okay and to just check in, and then once to offer her a job on an extraction he had been commissioned to do.

Arthur smiled at the memory. The girl had been so conflicted with wanting to live a normal life within legal boundaries and with wanting to create the world of the dream, which provided her imagination with limitless boundaries.

Of course with technology being what it was nowadays Arthur had managed to keep somewhat up-to-date on the day-to-day minutia of Ariadne's life as the two did frequently email one another to just keep the other informed. However, what had started as just quick "checking-in" emails had soon turned into long, well thought out accounts of their lives and troubles. Both had found it extremely helpful to unburden themselves to the other through lengthy emails and though Arthur didn't see the girl often, he still felt really close to her and couldn't imagine her not in his life. It was silly he knew, since they didn't have a real relationship per se, but yet after months of emailing one another Arthur did feel a close connection to her.

Arthur sighed and finally decided to head into the gift shop to get out of the chilling breeze and warm-up. The young man squeezed through tourists and browsed through the various knick-knacks. Finally, he picked up a couple of small replica's of the Statue of Liberty. He squeezed them in his hand and then took them to the cashier. He decided he would buy these for Cobb's kids. Arthur reasoned that he could go visit Miles in Paris, who could pass the presents onto the kids, since Arthur didn't actually know where Cobb and the kids had moved to after Cobb had returned home after the inception job. It would also give Arthur an excuse to go and visit Ariadne too, he thought with a smile.

Arthur soon handed the cashier his credit card and pocketed the souvenirs and then his receipt. Arthur then weaved his way through the sea of tourists again to make his way to the exit. Once outside Arthur took in a deep breath of the fresh air and decided he'd go and find a free bench to sit on and just relax for a bit. However, Arthur hadn't gone far when he spotted a familiar small brunette girl sitting on a bench and sketching away on a note pad. Arthur had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things and finally walked over to the young woman.

"Ariadne, what are you doing here?" Arthur asked as he approached his target.

The girl looked up from her sketchpad startled and then smiled when she saw it was Arthur who had addressed had. "Arthur! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"

"I asked first," Arthur pointed out as he slipped his hands into his jacket pockets.

Ariadne chuckled. "I'm visiting my parents. I'm on Christmas break now at school, so I decided to come home for the holidays at the last minute."

"That's right, I forgot your parents lived here," Arthur admitted.

"So, what are you doing here?" the girl repeated as she closed her sketch pad

"I'm in New York for work."

"Oh, are you following a mark or something?" Ariadne asked quietly as she glanced around.

"No, I'm taking a break actually. I was starting to go a little stir crazy being crowded into a small New York apartment with three other guys."

"Oh," Ariadne laughed. "It's nice to know that even Arthur the workaholic is human."

Arthur chuckled too. "I don't think I'm that bad."

"Sometimes you can be," the girl countered.

"Well, it's my birthday so I figured I'd indulge myself," Arthur finally offered.

"Your birthday! Really? I had no idea, well Happy Birthday!" the girl congratulated the point man.

"Thanks, it's not a big deal though really," Arthur admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"So, how old are you? Are you the big Three Zero yet?" Ariadne asked

"Thirty?" Arthur asked with a laugh. "Not quite."

"So, are the guys you're working with going to throw you a party, or do you have other friends in town who you're going to party it up with?" Ariadne asked curiously.

Arthur laughed good-naturedly again and shook his head. "I'm not really the 'party it up' kind of guy in case you didn't get the memo."

"So, you have nothing planned?" the girl guessed raising her eyebrows.

"This was pretty much the plan," Arthur declared as he indicated the area around them. "I just wanted to get away for a couple of hours and then I planned to head back to work."

Ariadne shook her head. "Come on, you can't work on your birthday!" The young woman looked at her watch. "How about I take you out for an early dinner and then we catch a Broadway show?"

Arthur began to shake his head in protest. "No, I have a lot of work to do and you're here to visit with your parents. I don't want to interrupt your time with them-"

Ariadne quickly cut the point man off. "Nonsense Arthur! I'm not going to let you work your birthday away. Besides, I actually came here to get away from my parents! What with all the relatives beginning to filter in from out-of-town for the holidays I'm starting to feel a little suffocated."

Arthur began to protest again, but Ariadne raised a hand to silence him. "Seriously Arthur, if I have to listen to any more off-key Christmas tunes and eat any more burnt Christmas cookies I'm not to explode! Think of this as saving me from a gruesome death and not of you shirking your work responsibilities."

Arthur grinned and sunk his head in defeat. "Well how can I argue with that?"

Ariadne returned his grin with one of her own. "Exactly, now shall we catch the next ferry off out of this place?"

"Sure," Arthur agreed and so Ariadne stood and tucked her sketchbook and pencils into her bag and then linked her arm through Arthur's as they headed to go join the line of tourists ready to board the next ferry.

"That was a delicious meal, but I still can't get over the fact that they gave me an entire chicken!" Arthur stated shaking his head in disbelief. Ariadne laughed. "I mean, I can eat a lot, but that was ridiculous. That chicken could have fed a family of five for one meal if not two!"

"Well at least you can't complain that you didn't get your money's worth," Ariadne informed him.

"I suppose, but it was such a waste. I feel like I should have demanded that they pack the rest up and send it to some starving kids in Africa."

"I didn't know you involved yourself in humanitarian efforts?" the girl asked seriously.

"I probably should, but actually the person I'm researching right now for my job is really involved in human rights, and environmental issues, I guess some of her ideas are rubbing off on me."

"That doesn't sound like such a bad thing," Ariadne said as she bumped Arthur jokingly. Arthur laughed as the two walked down the bustling street in Times Square. Ariadne reached for Arthur's hand and clasped it in her own. She then rested her head on Arthur's arm. The point man gave the girl a surprised look, but she didn't notice as she was watching the sidewalk ahead of them.

"The theatre we're going to isn't far," she finally told Arthur when she felt him shiver due to a sharp cold wind that blew past them. The girl snuggled closer to Arthur in response to try and warm her freezing cold body too.

"You know I'm not really a fan of musicals," Arthur admitted.

"Oh, this is not a musical! It's Broadway!" Ariadne cried in exasperation.

"But there's going to be singing and dancing is there not? In my books that is the very definition of a musical, which I'm not a big fan of," Arthur continued.

"We're going to see West Side Story! It's a classic. You can't not want to see it!" Ariadne defended. "Have you ever been to a Broadway show before?" she interrogated.

Arthur sighed. "No."

"See, it's something everyone should do before they die. So, no more protesting we're going!"

"But it's my birthday. Shouldn't my opinion count for something?" Arthur asked in a defeated tone, though he was more joking now than actually upset.

"If you had your way you would have gone back to work hours ago and missed out on trying to eat an entire chicken by yourself!" Ariadne pointed out.

Arthur laughed as he once again recalled the incident. "True enough."

"So, you'll go see West Side Story with me?" Ariadne asked glancing up at Arthur innocently.

The point man's face softened. "Of course."

"Good, the theatre is just ahead!" The girl said pointing at the theatre, whose banner advertised the play going on inside, West Side Story.

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and bright. And I pity, any girl who isn't me tonight!" Ariadne sang as she danced and twirled on the Times Square sidewalk just ahead of Arthur who smiled, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his wool jacket.

"I feel charming, oh so charming," Ariadne sang as she took up the next line in the song and turned to grab Arthur's hands.

"Come on Arthur sing with me!" the girl begged as she swayed trying to get Arthur to dance with her.

"No," the man said firmly.

"Oh come on! Just one line!" she begged as she released one of Arthur's hands so he could twirl her.

"We're in the middle of the sidewalk," Arthur stated looking around to see if people where staring at them yet.

"Trust me, people see stranger things than a couple dancing and singing a Broadway song in the streets!"

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "It's alarming how charming I feel," he finally mumbled quickly in a low voice.

Ariadne smiled and laughed. "That's the spirit!"

"I can't get over how much you like musicals," Arthur finally said to distract her.

"You can't tell me you didn't enjoy that! It was wonderful! There was a love story and gangs and fighting!"

"Dancing-fighting," Arthur pointed out.

Ariadne laughed again. "Come on. Admit you liked it!"

"It wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be," he finally relented.

"Ok, I'll take what I can get," she conceded as she finally stopped her dancing and merely took to walking beside Arthur again.

"So, are you staying at the apartment with the other guys you're working with?" Ariadne finally asked.

"No, it's the architect's place, we're just using it as a base of operations. I'm actually staying in a hotel not far from here," Arthur explained.

"Well, shall we go back to your place then? I mean, it's your birthday and you still haven't had any cake. I'm sure we could order some through room service, right?" Ariadne asked coyly.

Arthur studied the girl a smile pulling at his lips. "Sure," he finally agreed as he led them in the direction of his hotel.

"Mmm," Ariadne moaned as she set her empty plate on the night table of the hotel room. "That was the best cheese cake I have ever had!"

"Yeah, nothing like authentic New York cheesecake," he agreed as he finished off his own cake.

"So, did you have a good birthday?" Ariadne asked at last.

"I did actually. The best one I've had in a long time," Arthur admitted as he put his empty plate on the floor.

"Good," Ariadne said a grin etching it's way onto her face. "Now, shall we get you out of those clothes?" she asked as she crawled towards Arthur on the bed. A look of surprise briefly crossed the point man's face before he grinned moving back on the bed to give Ariadne and him more room.

The girl giggled as she leaned forward and loosed the tie around Arthur's neck, as Arthur moved to accommodate her he felt his loaded die totem fall from the pocket of his pants. He absently reached for his totem to place it on the night table out of the way, however, as he lifted the die he stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Ariadne asked feeling the change in Arthur.

"I'm dreaming," he whispered.

"Don't be silly," the girl said as she leaned towards Arthur, who pushed the girl away in response, causing her to fall off the bed.

"Ow! Geesh, Arthur you don't have to be so rough!" the girl's voice now sounded strangely deep and British.

"EAMES!"

THE END

Note: I hope you enjoyed. I had a lot of fun writing this little one-shot. Some of Arthur's experiences were based on a trip I took to New York City a couple of years ago for New Years. So, it was fun to re-live some of it again through Arthur. Please review and let me know what you thought.