12.

~ Ariadne let him in.

"I don't think I am. I've been having cramps all day." She told him irritably.
"I need to know before you leave town and we never see each other again." He said just as crossly.

She snatched the test from him and went into her bathroom, slamming the door behind her. When she came back out, she looked tired.

"It'll take a few minuets." She whispered.

"Have you been sleeping?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"I keep thinking that their coming to get me." She laughed. "What's worse is that I know if I had kept my window shades up, you would have seen me. You would have saved me."

The Point Man said nothing as the two of them sat on the edge of her bed. It was the closest he had been to her since her rescue.

"Course, it's because of you that I was in that situation to begin with." She added bitterly.

"I'm sorry. For everything. I should have just left you alone." He told her.

"I wanted to talk to you." She told him sadly. "I wanted to see you. To be with you."

"What do we do if the test is positive?" He asked after a long silence.

She blinked tears out.
"Have it. Have it under my new name and social security number. I can support us. We'll be fine." She told him.

"You won't do it alone." Arthur told her.

"Cobb said I can't be around you anymore. It's safer for me." She said sadly.

"I can disappear to. We can disappear together." He told her.

"I don't want to disappear at all." She said sniffling.

He nodded.

"I liked my life. It was simple. Easy." She told him.

He nodded.

"If it's positive. We can leave together." He told her.

"I don't want you to stay with me because we have a baby together. That's not the right reason." She told him.
"I want to stay with you because I love you." He said.

She didn't anything. Her teeth biting her lip as she tried to hide tears behind her eyes.

"It's time." She whispered looking at her watch.

Arthur stood and looked around her room as she went into her bathroom. Her shades were drawn now. She was too scared lately to not keep them closed at all times.

"Arthur?" She said coming back into the room.

He turned and waited.

Her eyes were big as she looked nervous.
"It's negative." She whispered holing up the test stick.

Six Months later...

~ Ariadne was sitting on the screened in porch Arthur had built for her as a work studio. The former Point Man had impressed even himself with the carpentry skill he didn't know he had.

The two of them had settled in a very rural part of New Mexico. Their new names and identities suiting them and giving them a new and unexpected life.

One, where they were just another pair of transient, young hippies who had somehow found themselves here. They were accepted and ignored by the population as just another couple fixing up an old house.

The New Mexico dessert was much kinder then the constant downpour of Seattle. Arthur and Ariadne woke with the sun and she want to her job teaching English to fifth graders.

Arthur was a freelance bookeeper and life was free of the ghosts from just a few months ago.

~ Arthur had just finished re-tiling the bathroom. It was job that introduced him to the exciting new world of plumbing and he found a certain confidence in building things he never thought he would love. He had convinced Ariadne to buy this house with him and they had been rebuilding it room by room till it would soon be a showplace.

He had easily given up the work in dream extraction. It paid well and they didn't need money. He gave it all up for her. He didn't want her to go into hiding alone.

He had been sad and happy their was no baby. At least this way, she knew he was staying with her for her. He had mentioned the other day that maybe they should think about having a family soon.

She only smiled and gave him a secretive look.

~ He went out on the porch to see Ariadne. Her dark hair pulled into a bun. A paint brush keeping it up. Bob Dylan was blaring on the radio as she worked her pottery wheel into making yet another pot. She had been getting good at it. Sometimes working late at night and early in the morning. She had even been apart of a few shows on local talent.
"Come and see what your new bathroom looks like." The former Point Man announced happily after he had watched her work for a little while. He never grew tired of watching her.

"Finished?" She asked brightly.

Her skin becoming tanned from the New Mexico sun. Even her hair was tuning lighter. Her dress was much more bohemian and she looked lovely in the flowing peasant skirts.

He nodded and stooped down to kiss her as she finished molding one of her pots.

"Arthur, that tickles. When are you going shave?" She scolded him. She didn't care for the facial hair he had let grow out every few days. Even the hair on his head had grown out longer.
"I was thinking I might grow a beard." He said running a hand over the scraggly hair she hated so much.

"No." She told him. "I'm going to stop shaving my legs." She threatened.

He grimaced.
"I'll shave after dinner." He relented. "Come and see."

~ The new bathroom was very well done. Arthur had used reclaimed items to make it look like it had always been so attractive.

"Arthur, it's so pretty!" Ariadne said with a smile.

She smiled so easily theses days.

Arthur felt proud of himself as her arms wrapped around his waist.

"You're so sexy when you're building things." She whispered in his ear.

"That's the only reason why I do it." He told her loving the feel of her lips on his neck.

She giggled.

"Wanna fool around after super? Before you destroy our room?" She asked.

"Always." He told her. Their cozy little bedroom was next on his project list.

"Good. I'll start cooking. You shave that beard." She ordered him.

He smiled as she slipped away from him. Her bare-feet dancing on the hardwood floor he had sanded, smoothed and stained. Daring him to chase her.

She was giggling as he caught her and started kissing her.