Okay I finished. Didn't think it was going to happen but there you are. (There will be a sequel but I have no idea when I'll start it. I have two other massive stories on my plate and I need to finish several others. The trailer for the sequel is in my profile and will be called Out of Limbo.)

Enjoy.

Ten Hours Earlier – Ballroom

"You're more serious than usual," she observed.

"Am I? I'm sorry."

"Come on Dom, dance like you mean it," she said and he saw that they were moving a lot slower than all the other couples in the room. "And smile, it's a party. You are allowed to enjoy yourself."

"Sorry," he said again.

"You should be. You're ruining my good time." She whispered loudly.

"Am I really?" He asked pulling her a little closer than the dance warranted.

"Well not now," she said enjoying their banter.

"So about Eames and Arthur?"

Ariadne groaned, "stop. I don't want to hear about them or anybody else for that matter."

"You mean?"

"You know very well who I mean. Incidentally when were you going to tell me you talked to him?"

He smirked, "I thought you didn't want to talk about him."

She halted mid-step and the shades around them did too. "I didn't but since you brought it up, why did you hide that you talked to him and what exactly did you say?"

Knowing full well the violent nature of projections and how the dreamer's agitation would be picked up by them, Cobb swung her back into the rhythm of the song ensuring the groups around them did as well, "I didn't tell you because I wanted things to be perfect for you. I didn't want to worry you."

She rested her head on his chest and he fought the urge to caress her hair, "and the other thing."

Cobb didn't fight himself any longer and bent down lowering his mouth to hers. "I told him I wasn't going to make it easy for him."

Her eyes fluttered shut as he pressed his lips to hers. "You mean it?"

He shrugged, "it's true. I'm not going to let him have you."

Her face softened, "he can't have me if I belong to you."

'Not yet.'

The song ended and he pulled her off the dance floor and to an elaborate table that had to be theirs. The shade of hers really knew how to spoil her. "You want anything to drink?"

"Get a waiter." She said holding onto his hand. "This night is just for us, remember? You promised that you'd make it up to me for being apart all those weeks."

"I did, didn't I? So what does my lady want?" he asked bowing deeply.

"Talk about déjà vu. You remember when I first got to limbo and you were with me and you did that at the airport. All those women were just glaring at me because I had this ridiculously handsome man bowing at my hand. I missed that side of you. You've been so serious of late."

"I didn't realize." Cobb apologized though genuinely curious about the airport incident.

She waved away his apology. "It's my fault, we been trying so hard to get everything situated that I've been overworking you and look at what that got me. Now you really do look like Cobb. Smile for me, I don't like it when I can't tell the difference."

He wiped the scowl off his face and smiled but his mind screamed in fury at the idea that she couldn't tell the difference. 'Wasn't this exactly what I warned her about? Creating from memory and loosing yourself to it? Though it didn't look like she was losing herself to it as much as she was giving in to it wholeheartedly,' he thought bitterly.

Several projections came by and congratulated them on an excellent party and Cobb smiled charmingly until they were out of earshot and he could whisper fiercely. "That is exactly why you should be using your totem."

"I am using my totem."

"You know that using me for that is dangerous." He said running a hand through his perfectly coiffed hair. She eyed him and he dropped his hand. He had to be careful, Eames had told him not to act too much like himself.

'How the hell am I supposed to act? How much of my personality had Ariadne added to the shade and why does it bother me that she didn't want an exact duplicate when she's supposed to in love with me?'

"I don't want to argue. We had this talk earlier. I know it's dangerous but it's only for a little bit longer. I promise once we go back to the house, I'll use my bishop."

He shook his head at her teasing grin and escorted her up to the dais where their table was situated. "So onto the games? Or dinner first?" she asked him.

"Dinner sounds good right now."

He motioned to the waiters milling around and they instantly began circling their large table with delicious smelling dishes. Their guests oohed and aahed as the food was uncovered. The headwaiter, Raul, not to be outdone by his staff, kept the larger of the silver platters on its little cart and lifted the lids with a flourish.

An array of delicacies; everything from fried shrimp and clams to delicately thin sliced sirloin sat in several smaller individual covered dishes in the first platter while the second held a variety of side dishes like small potatoes and rice and a third platter held cornbread and bread rolls of almost every type that smelled heavenly and made hunger clench in Dom's stomach.

A beautiful redhead in a slinky green dress came onto the stage and began to croon into the microphone. The music was low and hummed all around them while the lighting was dimmed turning the grand room into an intimate booth for two.

She picked out a couple of clams and he did the same. They ate off each other's plates cocooned by the darkness and romantic music. They took turns picking various entrées and cut them into bite size pieces to share. By the time they finished sampling a little bit of everything both were full and happily awaiting coffee and dessert.

"I don't know that I can really eat dessert right know." She said softly and he admired the way the light played off her face.

"We could always retire early." Slipped out of his mouth and she blushed appreciatively.

Thankfully Raul interrupted Cobb's sudden boldness by bringing out a cart full of decadent deserts that would have made Mal scream about her waistline. "You choose," she said.

He looked at the red velvet cakes topped with chocolate ganache, the cheesecakes surrounded with lush red raspberries and the individual cupcakes that looked like mini pieces of art.

He finally settled on a dessert tower called a crockenbush, it definitely would appeal to both of their Architect sensibilities and was something he had fond memories of making, when he and Eames had gotten stuck in that cooking class getting to know their target better.

Ariadne saw what he picked and smiled approvingly. She broke off a piece of the doughnut-like cream puff and bit into it. The liquid sugar that was drizzled on the little puff coated her lips and she leaned forward and planted a hot sticky kiss on him.

She moved back and popped the rest of it into her mouth with satisfaction. Dom followed suit and planted a sugary smooch on her inner wrist. Realizing that she was sorely tempting his control he ate the rest of treat quick so as to avoid any more affectionate displays to which she frowned.

Raul returned after dessert and the lights came back on full blast for the rest of the evening's celebration. Dom would have still been enjoying the afterglow of her kiss had it not been replaced by dread as a familiar shade caught his attention.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dom saw security escorting out an apparently inebriated man. He looked to Ariadne and she reluctantly inclined her head as if to say go deal with it if you must, but before he could get up and investigate why Mal was circling the man, Dom recognized him.

It was Arthur and upon closer inspection, Dom saw that he was moving sluggishly as if he had been drugged. He left his dessert and stood up to rescue his fellow team member but she beat him to it.

Mal was all smiles and charm as usual and he watched in shock as she spoke to the security and talked them into letting Arthur go. He turned back to see if Ariadne had noticed, because if she caught sight of Mal, she'd know for sure that he was the real Cobb and all their planning would be for naught and he wasn't ready for their night to end just yet.

Ariadne luckily was preoccupied with Raul selecting the night's next amusement. Cobb sat back down but kept a wary eye on his point man, he didn't trust Mal so close to Arthur or Ariadne not that he had much of a choice.

His companion gave a last set of instructions to Raul and he went on to deliver them to the singer, who announced that they would be starting the activities part of the program.

Cobb took one last look and realized that Arthur was now alone and Mal was heading towards their table. Knowing he'd only had one shot at doing this right, he tapped Ariadne on the shoulder and beckoned her to stand up and dance with him before the games started.

She tried to tell him she was too full but he gave her his most suave smile and talked her into it. Mal saw his move and disappeared into the crowd with an ugly look on her pale face.

Crisis averted for the moment, Dom settled into the dance and the lovely feeling of having his Architect in his arms. They swayed back and forth and her arms that barely reached his neck with her shoes on, wound around it and toyed with the fine hairs at his nape.

He shivered and she rested her head to his chest. "I wish we could stay this way."

"Why can't we?" he asked not bothering to think about Limbo and all the other reasons that told him that this couldn't work, ever. That they would fall apart after a few years and he would lose her as surely as he'd lost Mal and he wasn't strong enough to withstand the loss of someone he cared about for a second time.

"You know why," she said. "But it doesn't mean we can't enjoy it while we are here."

"That is certainly true. I enjoyed it immensely while Dom and I were here, didn't we dear?"

"Mal?" Ariadne twisted to see the French woman that she'd hoped to never see again looking elegant and regal as usual. The shade made no comment about their closeness but the venomous glare she was throwing at Ariadne made it pretty obvious what she thought of it.

"Hello dear." Mal waved her fingers at the stunned couple.

"Mal, why are you…why is she here…is she here with you…I thought…" Ariadne trailed off confusion settling on her features as she looked to Dom for answers.

"Ari, I can explain." Ariadne tried to get out of his arms but he was holding her tightly and attempting to calm her down, "she is not the same Mal that you knew. She's trying to help me."

"You are not my shade, he would not know her. You're the real Cobb!" Ariadne whispered and betrayal and hurt spread across her face. "She still here and you were supposed to get rid of her. You were supposed to let her go."

"I came for you and she's different. She's here to help. She has nothing to do with us."

"What us?" she screeched.

"Us, here. What is happening right now, don't you see it?"

"You acted like…the whole time…I don't believe this, I don't. You lied to me. You pretended to be-how could you?"

"Ari."

"Stop calling me that!" She yelled and all the noise and movement stopped.

"They're looking at you. I'd change my tone if I were you. After all Dom here is not the dreamer." Mal said and sailed away from them, her job done.

"I'm fine. I'm fine but I think I…I'm not feeling…I may have hurt my foot," she said loudly so as to dispel the suspicious looks of her guests. Cobb lifted her into his arms and the projections parted to let him through.

She smiled benignly at her concerned partiers reassuring them all that she would be okay but dug her nails into Dom's neck painfully to show him her anger was not gone. He winced but didn't say a word since he figured he deserved it for lying to her.

One of the staff led them to a sitting room and asked if she needed to see a doctor. "I need to sit down that is all," she said and appropriately made a sound of discomfort as Dom set her down.

"Continue the music but assure everybody that Ms. Mace is ok but she twisted her ankle and will not be attending further. Go!" Dom shouted and the man scurried away closing the door behind him.

The music began anew and as soon as it was obvious the crowd had gone back to their festivities, she jumped up from the couch and slapped him. "That was for kissing me! How could you deceive me like that? How could I have not noticed?"

"Ari-" he said ignoring his stinging cheek.

"I knew something was off about you but I ignored it, like an idiot. Where is my Dom?" she yelled ready to slap him a second time if he didn't answer fast enough. "What have you done with him?"

Cobb looked back towards the ballroom. "He was baited to follow Eames posing as you and Arthur was to take him out so I could take his place and bring you home."

"Just like that. I'm supposed to go home with you? I have no say?" She began walking around forgetting that she was supposed to be injured.

"What choice did we have? You certainly didn't act like you were unhappy here. I warned you about this, didn't I? Didn't I tell you how easily you could become fascinated by it but its all hollow, its not reality and eventually it will drive you mad."

"I knew what I was doing. I can tell the difference."

"Really? You asked me to smile not more than an hour ago because you couldn't. How long have you been using him as your totem? How long have you been sleeping with it."

"That is none of your business," she snapped.

"Yes, it is. You're using my likeness. Its definitely my business." He said getting in her face.

"You know, I don't have to answer any of your questions." She said and began to walk away, embarrassed and humiliated that he'd seen her as she interacted with her own creation. 'During the whole of dinner and the dancing, that was all him? He played along. What the hell did it mean? Was it all for the job and if not then why the act?'

He grabbed her arm and hauled her back to him, "I want answers and I think I deserve them and you'll come back with us whether you want to or not. It is not an option. I won't leave you here."

"If I choose to tell you anything it will not be here and forcing me to do anything against my wishes will prove a lot more difficult that you think. So if you want to talk we need to do it elsewhere."

"Lead the way." He said keeping a painfully tight hold of her arm lest she try to make a run for it.

They exited the ballroom acting like the couple they were supposed to be, past the lobby and to the elevator hub. Once hidden away from her projections inside the elevator, they separated into sullen silence. She pushed the fifth floor button and he mentally filed it away.

The floor was completely deserted and he wondered whether she had designed it that way to keep her and her shade's privacy. She pulled out her room key and entered leaving the door open but didn't invite him in further.

She kicked off her shoes and rounded on him. "How long did you think you could lie me? Did you honestly think I wouldn't at some point know the difference between you and my shade?"

"Lying to you? Is that what you think I was doing?"

"Isn't it? Why else would you have to pretend to be my shade? And why the hell do you still have Mal following you around and don't act like it's not a big deal, because it is."

"We…" he backtracked, "I needed a way to get to you, a way that would let me get close enough to see if you really were in danger and if so to show you how to pull away from what you had built. I wanted to prove to myself that you actually were close to losing yourself in this world as Mal had, as I was close to doing, before attempting to extract you out of it."

"And Mal?" She asked quietly.

"Miles says she's helping me. She knows something that I'm suppressing."

"You don't know what she knows? How is that possible?"

"You tell me," he countered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about and it doesn't seem to matter what I say since you keep treating me like I'm as lost as she was. I am not Mal and never will be."

"I know you aren't. I never said you were. You are so much stronger than her, than me. You have a grasp of limbo that I have never encountered before. You make it do your bidding without really thinking about it and that is what scares me more than anything."

"Why? I can control it, you just said it."

"Exactly because you can control it. You can make a flawed fiction that plays like a reality and that is the mark of a truly gifted Architect. I told you once that there is a reason architects never go into the jobs unless it's absolutely necessary."

"It's why you promised Miles to keep me out."

He nodded. "Their abilities can drag down others and trap them. I did that with…"

"Stop comparing me to your deranged wife." Ariadne calmly stated. She was trying to listen to his explanations but his continual bringing up of his wife was not helping her be any more receptive to his reasons for deceiving her the way he had.

"I'd be foolish to compare you to Mal."

"Then stop treating me like I've lost my mind. I don't need you here to keep me sane. I didn't ask you to be here and I certainly didn't want you coming back in for me. What I choose to do here is my business and I don't want you here. This is my dreamscape and you aren't welcome into it."

"But he is?" Dom asked towering over her.

"He is not real. He is a part of me and yes, he is very welcome." She said pushing herself up to her full height. She was not going to be intimated by him. She had plans that wouldn't be completed if he continued in trying to get her out.

"He hides things from you."

"He does not!" She shouted pushing him back until only his hold on her shoulders kept her from slamming into his chest. He could see that she was concerned by what he was implying about her shade but she shook off his hold. "You have no right to question anything I do in or out of limbo and I will not be going back with you Mr. Cobb."

"He hid the fact that he talked to me. He feels different emotions than you do, enough to try to put a bullet in Arthur. He has a purpose that doesn't necessarily coincide with yours anymore. Ariadne, he wants to keep you here. Just like Mal wanted to keep me."

"That's not true. All his directives come from me," her voice held none of her earlier conviction and he could see she was cracking under the onslaught of his calm reasoning.

Dom not willing to give up the advantage he was slowly gaining pushed another more disturbing thought into her mind. "He saw Mal before you did. Why didn't he tell you?"

"He had to play along to get rid of Arthur and Eames."

"You don't really think that." He said coming closer and letting his frame fill her vision. "Look me in the eye and tell me you believe that."

She fiddled with her necklace to keep her eyes away from his not because he was right but because it was getting more and more difficult to fight him the longer they were together. She had loved her shade from the beginning but only because it was patterned after him.

But now having Dom here with her, Ariadne knew what a weak version of him it was. She knew how vulnerable she was right now and if she let him in, she would become dependent on him. "What I think is not your concern. I don't have to prove anything to you."

"Then we are at a standstill and I'm not leaving." He said cupping her face.

The breath struck in her throat as she tried to reclaim herself from his ocean filled eyes. "Why are you really doing this?" she asked the hitch in her breathing the only thing betraying her topsy turvy emotions. "Is guilt the only reason you are here?"

"No. I'm here because I care about you." He replied closing the distance between like he'd done in the airplane and before their relationship had gone to hell because of his inability to see his limitations.

"I know you do but how do you care?" she said moving her face to the side so that his kiss fell on the very edge of her jaw, though that didn't stop him from placing more on the exposed skin of her neck.

He paused and looked into her sad brown eyes. "I worry about your wellbeing."

She pushed him off her and stepped around him, gaining much needed room to breath and think clearly without him clouding her mind. "How can you stand there and look at me like I'm the only one that exists for you? How can you kiss me and not be able to answer how you feel about us?"

"Ask me anything else and I'll answer as honestly as I can."

"I don't want to know anything else. I want to know what you feel for me?"

"I don't know what I feel for you. It's all jumbled up."

"Because of the job or Mal? Is it the worry that you might be making the same mistakes as before?

"It's all of it."

"Fair enough. So when will you will know? When if not now? When you've had me? When we get out and you pretend nothing happened like in the plane? When you try to forget Mal but can't?"

"That's not fair, I'm being honest. Would you rather I lie and tell you what you want to hear?"

"You proved my point. I don't need you Dominic. I already have a Cobb that will do everything in his power to protect me. He'll tell me exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. He'll give me what I desire without any of the baggage you carry around with you."

He tried not to be angry, tried not to be jealous. He hadn't meant to get involved in her fantasy and he had and now he was paying the price for it. Everybody had warned him that he was going to hurt himself or her or both if he kept pretending that she wasn't important to him.

He knew now that he should have not pushed her into this heart shredding talk with him, though exactly who's heart was getting shredded right now was hard to say, until they were out of limbo and in the real world. Where she was safe and he could escape into the lives of his children and the memory of his wife if and when she rejected him.

They had agreed to let him come with the catch that he'd get the team together as soon as he separated her from her shade. He wasn't supposed to be alone with her, Eames had told him to stick to the plan and not deviate or he'd give into his emotions but he ignored the sound advice and now he was facing the spitfire that had taken residence in his mind since she first invaded it.

So he faced this beauty that didn't seem to want him but the romanticized flawless version of him. A woman he couldn't or shouldn't want wearing a dress that left little to his imagination, which was quite an accomplishment considering that he'd created worlds with it, in a room that she'd no doubt shared with her aforementioned shade.

That alone should have made him carry her out and back down the lobby and to the ocean that awaited their return, not striding to where she stood frozen and pulling her into his arms to remind her that what they had was real.

She was his and he was hers and he was determined to prove it to her in actions since he couldn't do it in words. He would kiss her until she took back every single one of her words and she saw just how much of his baggage, as she called it, was Ariadne shaped.

He'd miscalculated her stubbornness and she miscalculated his resolve. "I can't leave without you. I can't leave you here with him. I can't bear how he makes you laugh and what you have with him that you don't with me."

"He is you."

"No he's not. I haven't gotten to kiss you properly. I haven't calmed you or given you the love you so deserved. I didn't and he did and I can't stand it. I don't want him touching you." He said this last bit with so much force that Ariadne was backed into the wall behind her, "I want to be the only Dominic Cobb to touch you."

This embrace was different from all their other ones. It was sure and had none of the hesitation of the one in the airplane. It had all the power of her screaming his name when she fell into that storm and the part of him that was still decent, that was still aware of his responsibilities, begged him to stop.

He was only there to get her out and give her a chance to remain whole and without another part of him in her mind, his conscience shouted at him. But he hadn't been prepared for her words to ignite his desire to prove her wrong.

His hands should not be running down the fine line of her spine. They shouldn't be traveling underneath the straps and covering the firm breasts barely concealed from his gaze. She shouldn't be lifted onto his waist and curling her surprisingly strong legs around it.

But what he should and shouldn't be doing was no match for what had been building up for so long, the tension that had begun when he first asked her to make him a maze.

He couldn't stop himself from exploring her mouth or caressing the skin of her back anymore than he could stop her from tugging the jacket off his shoulders.

He swept aside the decorations on the table closest to them and swiftly grasped her and set her down on her beaded covered bottom. If she was surprised she didn't show it and she certainly didn't mind as she immediately went about undoing the buttons of his shirt while staying glued to his mouth.

Urged on by her response, he quickly shrugged out of his shirt and dumped it on the nearby couch. His hand left her back and glided under the strap of her dress and lowered it down her shoulder until his mouth could cover up what he touched earlier.

She leaned back and his blonde head dipped below her neck as his kisses traveled from her throat and down the front of her body.Her hands gripped his hair tighter and his name came out in breathy moans that spurred him to continue exploring the essence of her.

His tongue expertly lapped and swirled around each breast and she struggled with his belt in a lust-induced haze to get her hips closer to the hardness pushing against the smooth material of his pants. The belt came undone and pooled beside his shirt, jacket and her stockings on the couch.

"This doesn't change anything." She said turning his face to look at her. "You have to trust me."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead then one to her nose and finally her mouth. "I always have."

"What is this place?" Eames asked touching the dark paneling.

"It was our house. Our dream house." Mal replied stepping out of the elevator and into the corridor. "Though this is a new addition," she said indicating a bay window.

Dom, Arthur and Eames crowded around her and saw a balcony that overlooked the streets of Paris.

"Why are you here?" Mal asked Dom, her eyes on the dark gleaming peak of the city's famous monument. "She won't leave. Not yet. She's running away from you."

"Ignore her, where is Ariadne?" Arthur asked.

"Check the elevator. She has a very similar designing style, doesn't she, Dom." Cobb nodded. "You'll find her down there," she said directing the two men back to the elevator.

Eames and Arthur got in and closed the rusting gate. "How far down?"

"All the way darling." Mal produced a gun and shot both in the chest.

"Mal!" Cobb shouted as the two men fell lifeless to the ground.

"We need to talk. You want to save her, then come or she dies down here and up there." Dom stood torn between following his still apparently murderous wife and looking after his group. "Fine. Don't follow and we'll see how far you get without my help."

Mal walked into the direction of their kitchen leaving Dom alone. He looked behind him but there was no need. The bodies were gone. Eames and Arthur should now be waking up in Stephen's university dream.

He walked into the room weary of what she could be planning but without whatever information she had, he'd be risking that much more. "Do sit. I have much to say."

He pulled a chair and sat. Same as before she grabbed his hands and leaned so close that their foreheads practically touched. "I didn't lie. She does have many similarities to you. I can see the attraction. She builds like you and pushes herself like you do. She is however not in denial like you."

"No more games."

"All right I'll speak plainly then. She knows that she loves you and will do whatever its required of her to get you free of me and of this place. She wants you to dream again but more importantly she wants you to build with her."

"Why? Why does it matter to her if I build or not?"

She touched his face tenderly but he pulled away same as before. Rebuffed Mal drove the symbolic knife home, "she wants you to be free so she can be free of you. You scare her with your tragic desire to be loved, with your compulsion to please those that will never appreciate what you can do. She can never build again until she has thrown off your shadow."

"How could you know that? You aren't her."

"I can pick up emotions same as her shade. It's why it detests you. Its why its gotten so much freedom and been able to get some of her love for itself. He doesn't scare her; he is safe and will never hurt her not like you. It is everything you aren't and never will be. You can't save her!"

"I have to try."

"She already has you!" Mal cried and real tears fell down her face.

"I love her."

"No you don't. You want her because she's different but it won't last."

"Mal, please understand. I have to do this."

"No. I won't let you."

"You won't have to." Ariadne said from the doorway.

"We need to go, Ari. Now." Cobb said from behind her.

"Go on. I'll be right there." He gave her a kiss and disappeared past the veranda where Fischer had waited once and down a staircase to the city streets.

"Ariadne put the gun down. Let me help you." Dom said approaching her carefully.

"Did you mean it?" she asked staying just out of reach of his hands while advancing closer and closer to where her shade had gone.

"Mean what?" he asked.

"You love me. Did you mean it?"

"Ari…"

"Answer me Cobb. Answer honestly. Just once."

Dom hadn't counted on his little Ari being stubborn and demanding a straight answer from a man that lied for a living, he should have but he hadn't. So he snapped and told her what he'd been unwilling to confess to himself. "I care for you in every way possible. In every way that is wrong and have no right feeling considering the hell I've dragged you through."

"It's a simple question. Why can't you answer it?" she said tears in her eyes. "Is it so difficult for you to see a life with me up there? It is so unimaginable?"

"I can't offer you anything."

"I'm asking for a fucking chance, Cobb. One chance to see if we work not for a goddamm marriage."

"I can't give you a chance." He said ignoring the one outstretched hand on his chest and the other pressing the gun to his stomach. "I'll never let you go if I give you a chance."

"I don't want you to let go ever but that's what you fear isn't it? That I'll want to marry you and you'll agree. That's why you keep pushing me away." The gun shook but she kept a hold of it.

"Congratulations. You've figured out what he buried deep in his mind, the reason I'm still here. He'll always compare you to me. I'll always stand in your way. You will never have him, not the way you want him. You might as well keep to your little friend."

"Shut up, Mal!"

"As you wish darling but you know I'm right."

He could feel Ariadne's grip on his shirt loosen but he had to tell her the truth, had to explain what Mal was talking about. "I knew that Mal and Arthur had been having an affair all along. I knew but I didn't care. I loved her so much that I was willing to pretend that it everything was okay."

"Dominic...don't do this."

"I knew and when she asked me to stop dreaming I was willing to because she asked but I wanted one last adventure. One last dream to last me a lifetime."

"You didn't know. How could you have known what it would lead to?" She couldn't help coming to his defense despite what Mal had just revealed.

His fingers curled around her wrist but the gun remained against his gut. "I knew. Stephen and I talked about it. Speculated about undiscovered dream space. He said we should try it and we did, I didn't tell Mal the dangers. I wanted to punish her for her betrayal, for taking away my love of dreams. For making me choose while she couldn't remain loyal."

"You killed me?" Mal asked her face awash in misery.

"Yes. I didn't realize it would be for real. I wanted her to die just once down there. I wanted her to feel the same agonizing pain I'd been hiding for years. I can't let you be tainted by that. I will destroy you, Ariadne. I destroy everything I care about. I can't help it." He looked down at her hand, her small delicate hand still holding a gun.

The same hand that a few hours ago had been buried in his hair as he moved against her.

"I can help you and I will but you have to trust me." She said and shot him.

He fell backwards and she opened the door. "What are you doing?"

"Please go," she shouted.

"I told you she couldn't be saved." Mal said cradling his head on her lap. "I'll stay with you darling."

"I know." He said and passed on.

Ariadne made it to the city street and was just about to cross when Arthur grabbed her from behind. "I told you that you were coming with us, whether you liked it or not." Arthur shot her and she slipped out of his arms and was gone.

"Did you do it?" Eames asked noticing the blank look on the Pointman's face. Arthur nodded and escorted them to the bridge. "See you up top."

Level 3 - Stephen's Dream

The school campus was deserted when they got there and both Eames and Arthur pushed on the timer. "Can you end it sooner?"

"We'll have to, the others have gone on ahead."

Level 2 - Saito's Dream

Saito was pacing back and forth on his terrace. "She's here," Cobb said.

"Excellent. I hope you enjoyed my home."

Cobb smiled and bowed. Saito did the same and jumped straight onto the rocks. "Will he survive?" Mal asked looking down at the crashing waves.

"No."

"Then you've done what you had to do. She won't thank you for it." Stephen said coming up behind them. "She might hate you the rest of her life."

"Better than her living in misery with me." He responded and the pagoda crumbled beneath them.

Level 1 - Yusuf's Dream

He shot up from the bed and fell onto the floor on all fours. "Are you okay? Eames was concerned since you went on ahead of schedule."

"It wasn't by choice, Yusuf. Are the others here?"

"Yes and we have a problem."

As soon as they stepped out of the building both men ducked as a hail of bullets sprayed over them. Cobb lifted his head and saw that the wall behind him had been peppered indiscriminately.

"What the hell is going on?" he yelled over the gunfire.

"It appears Miss Ariadne is not going without a fight." Yusuf pointed at Ariadne struggling to get out of Arthur's grasp.

"Let me go! Let me go!" she shouted and succeeded in lifting herself so high up in Arthur's grip that they toppled and she was able to punch him in the stomach hard enough to get him to release her. Cobb got up to follow but he had to keep ducking as more gunfire erupted over his head.

He saw her hailing a cab and immediately recognized the driver. It began to rain and he looked for Eames and the rest of the group. "Dominic get in," Stephen said opening the door of a nearby car.

"I can't. I have to stop her." He shouted and took off running in the direction of the cab. Eames and Saito had her pinned and she was crawling to the taxi idling at the curb. Her military fighters turned and fired with extreme prejudice and Eames and Saito had to drop to the ground behind their vehicles giving her time to slip in to waiting car.

"Ariadne!"

She paused and in that second everything stopped. The bullets froze in midair, Eames and Saito remained on the ground, Arthur was up and had a scope trained on her driver. Yusuf was perched against another car, assault riffle half cocked and Miles was still leaning out of the car his hand outstretched to Cobb.

But Cobb and Ariadne were not still. Cobb was still walking to Ariadne and Ariadne was standing with one leg in the car while the rest of her stood holding onto the door like a bird about to take flight. "Come back," he implored.

"I can't…"

"Ariadne…" came the same voice from inside the car. "It's up to you, my love."

She shook her head and the voice grew silent. "I have to go, Cobb."

Cobb took another step and she pressed closer to the car. For every step he took, she folded more and more of herself into the waiting vehicle. "Don't."

"I have to." She said, closed the door and locked it.

He pounded on the glass and she pressed her hand to the window. "I won't lose myself. I promise."

"Stay with me." He shouted desperation leaking into his voice but Ariadne just covered her ears and the other Cobb put the car into drive.

"GO!" she screamed as a shower of glass exploded into the car.

"We're talking heavy fire. I need a way out."

"Why is he doing this?" she shouted over the bullets and rain pouring into the car.

"He loves you. I told you he did." The shade responded. He spun the car around but he was stopped by another car plowing into him.

The back window of that taxi was broken and Eames appeared at it. "Hi sweetheart. Sorry about this."

"Get us out of here!" She screamed at the shade. He complied and put the car in reverse but Arthur and Eames followed with Cobb pulling up the rear. Her militia pulled up beside her and began blocking the intersections with their cars to give them time.

Arthur plowed through them and kept chasing.

"He's not going to give up," her shade said swerving to avoid Eames' deadly accuracy.

"I'll make him give up."

A train suddenly came barreling out of a side alley that had no been there a few seconds ago and Arthur slammed on the breaks just in time to avoid being splattered onto the side of it.

"That was close."

"Yes it was."

Arthur turned off the car disbelieving that the woman they were chasing was the same one that had gone into Limbo to save Fischer. "What the fuck was that?" Arthur yelled.

"Well at least you stopped in time. Be grateful for the small things."

"Grateful? She tried to kill us with a fucking train!"

"But she didn't. So be grateful although from the thundercloud on Cobb's face, perhaps we would have been better off if she had succeeded."

Cobb got out of the car at the same time as Arthur and Eames but the Forger moved out of Cobb's line of fire. "What the hell was that?"

"That was me avoiding becoming part of that train." Arthur answered sarcastically.

"You lost her, this is all your fault." Cobb said shouting right into Arthur's face.

"My fault? Are you kidding me? You slept with her; you let her believe something that couldn't be true. You are so full of guilt and denial about what you feel for her that you can't see straight. If it's anybody's fault its yours so get the hell out of my face."

Eames moved to intervene but Stephen stopped him, "this has been a long time coming. You need to let them sort it out themselves."

"I don't give a shit what you want, you are just as big a part of this as I am. If you hadn't been screwing around with my wife behind my back, maybe things wouldn't have gotten so messed up, did you think about that?" Cobb said shoving Arthur against the car. "All you had to do was be my friend."

"I was your friend. I kept your marriage together. I made sure you never saw divorce papers. I made sure that Mal gave you a second chance."

Cobb slammed Arthur against the car and braced his arm across Arthur's windpipe. "I know all about that. Scott was my friend too and he told me all your dirty secrets so don't pretend to me that you're so squeaky clean. I know for a fact that Mal despite all her talk would never have left the children even if it meant putting up with me the rest of her life and you know it."

"You only think you know everything."

"You know what I don't care about what you've hidden from me or what went on. I do however care about that girl, I care that you are trying to use her to make up for what happened between you and Mal and I'm not going to let you." Cobb said cutting off more air.

"Hypocrite," Arthur wheezed. "You did the same thing when you bedded her in this place. She is a woman who doesn't need or want your help and you can't stand that."

"Cobb let him go, he's suffocating." Yusuf said pulling on the Extractor's arm.

"I don't care, he'll only end up in the real world anyway."

"Dominic. Arthur has been a great friend. He has been there for you through everything. I don't agree with happened between Mal and him but it's in the past. Keep it there; it can't hurt you if you leave it behind. Arthur is your friend, he always has been and you'll need him if you plan to come back." Stephen put a hand on Cobb's forearm and the younger man let go of his friend.

"We will get her back." Eames said helping Arthur off the floor.

"You don't deserve her." Arthur rasped.

Cobb turned and looked at him. "Neither do you."

"I know that, do you?" The point man responded.

Cobb gave no answer and they took the last kick to the surface. The group awoke with their bodies stiff and minds full. "How long until I can go back under?"

"I'm sorry."

"How long until I can go back under?" Cobb asked.

"It will be at least a few days to stabilize the effects of the chemicals on your body…"

"How long?"

"Three days." Eames said. "It will be three days otherwise your mind will be turned to mush."

"Fine. Three days. If I don't succeed then, I will keep going back, no matter how long it takes. I will get her out." Cobb said getting up gingerly to sit at her bedside. He smoothed down the hair around her face and bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her mouth. "I'll get you out."

The room was quiet as they took in the strange and tender display from the usually private Cobb.

"You'll have to take turn with the others, alone you'll die. You can't keep going under." Yusuf protested.

"Yes I can." Cobb replied.