Title: Will You Sleep With Me?

Summary: How Ariadne slept with Yusuf, Arthur, Cobb, and Eames and got away with it. Slight A/U since it happens after Cobb introduces her to dream-sharing.

Rating: K+

Notes: This idea hit me like a baseball bat! Took only twenty minutes to get it out. Hopefully it doesn't have too many mistakes XD I also just realized the nightmare idea is slightly similar to an Arthur and Eames fic I once read. The situation and circumstances in this fic are different however and I hope there isn't a problem. If there is let me know. I don't remember the fic name, just that there was nightmares involved.

Ariadne was ashamed of herself. She was a grown woman; grown women were not supposed to be afraid of nightmares. However, ever since she first shared dreams with Cobb she'd been having nightmare after nightmare. She made up her mind after the third time she woke up drenched in sweat that she was not going to tell the others. They already saw her as a kid; she didn't need to ground that idea in any further. Eventually, she stopped sleeping all together. No one noticed at first; she was good at hiding the bags under her eyes with makeup.

Indeed, it was not until she was putting the finishing touches on the first level that her problem was revealed. She'd fallen asleep in her chair and woke up on the floor, the whole team crowding around her. After constant pestering she finally revealed she hadn't been sleeping, that she was having nightmares. The reaction she got was not what she had expected. First, Cobb asked why she didn't tell him, then Arthur asked when the nightmares started, Eames got her something to drink to try and calm her down and Yusuf jokingly started rattling off the list of sleeping pills he could get her.

When she told them the nightmares started right after the first time she dream-shared with Cobb, they all let out some form of an 'oh, I get it now'. This confused her and Arthur then explained sometimes the side effects of first time dream-sharing can be nightmares. He and Cobb both went through them after their first time. That made her feel a little better; at least she wasn't crazy or being childish. However, when she asked how she could get rid of them, Arthur said in a serious tone that someone would have to sleep with her until the nightmares worked themselves out.

Ariadne laughed; he wasn't serious, was he? He answered her question by going to a monologue of how research was done; methods were tested, etc., etc. and the only proven way was to have someone literally sleep in the same bed and monitor the persons sleep. The whole point, Arthur told her, was that when the person with nightmares woke up, the other could ground them in reality. A half an hour, one shouting match, and Ariadne asking Yusuf three times to just give her drugs, they finally settled that every night, they would rotate staying with her.

The first night, Eames volunteered. Ariadne learned real quickly that he was snuggler. He'd fallen asleep long before she did and he unconsciously rolled over, pulling her to him. She snickered to herself when he threw a leg over her and buried his face in her hair and for the next month she would tease him constantly. She also learned he radiated heat like a furnace and lucky for her, she was cold by nature, so it didn't bother her as much. He woke her up twice that night from her terrible dreams, each time wiping her tears away, reassuring her everything was going to be alright and she was indeed awake.

The next night, Arthur took his turn. She was surprised at how unkempt he was outside the job. His sleepwear consisted of the shabbiest t-shirt she'd ever seen and red plaid pajama pants. She let out a loud laugh when he walked out the bathroom in the attire with his hair all messy. She of course, apologized when he turned red; she'd never seen him look so normal. He just rolled his eyes and turned out the light. Unlike Eames, Arthur was not a cuddler. However, the several times he woke her up; he'd hold her and run his hands through her hair to calm her down, rocking her gently in his arms.

Then it was Yusuf's turn. Yusuf didn't sleep that night; he wouldn't even get in the bed with her. Instead, he sat atop the blanket with a notebook and small light, calculating formulas. She pestered him repeatedly that she wasn't going to bite. He finally broke down but still didn't go to sleep. She only had one nightmare that night and much to her annoyance, he took notes on what it was about, how long it lasted, and how long it took to wake her. He said it was research for future people with the same symptoms. She told him to shove it and go to sleep.

Cobb staying with her was the most uncomfortable. She didn't know why; she'd never been uncomfortable around him before. She finally pin-pointed that he acted guilty; he thought it was his fault she was having nightmares. Granted, it technically was since he was the first person she dream-shared with. However, the side-effect wasn't something that could be helped or predicted. She scolded him for it and eventually convinced him it was in fact not his fault before they finally settle down and went to sleep. That night, she didn't have any nightmares. Instead, she dreamed of Paris and the coffee shop and about Cobb.

When they woke the next morning and she convinced him she didn't have a nightmare, Cobb still suggested they go another four days just in case. When Eames was asked to do it again he replied he doesn't sleep with the same woman twice but would make an exception for her. That night she had no nightmares. With Arthur, she had one but it was nowhere near as bad as the ones before. With Yusuf (who actually slept this time), she didn't dream at all and finally, with Cobb, she dreamed of Paris again but nothing close to a nightmare. Another four days later, they let her sleep on her own and she was nightmare free.

Despite being cured, every so often she'd sneak over to one of their rooms asking if she could stay. Humiliation of having nightmares was long gone and she felt no shame in telling them she couldn't sleep. What she wouldn't say however, was nine times out of ten she just missed the comfort of having someone next to her while she slept and nightmares had nothing to do with it. They all knew this of course; they'd never admit it, but they missed having her beside them just as much as she did and would eagerly accept her in.

And that, Ariadne liked to joke, was how she ended up sleeping with four men all at once.