Authors Note:

I thought about this idea for weeks, thinking it through fully and now, the first chapter is finally complete.

Warnings:

Through out this story there will many couples discussed: (Cobb/Mal, Cobb/Ariadne, Arthur/Ariadne, Arthur/Mal, Arthur/Eames) but please know now, that this will eventually end with Cobb/Ariadne.

This story is also very much a spoiler on the television show 'Lost.' I am basing it, somewhat, on the concept (to a certain extent of course) SPOILER ALERT.

Disclaimer: I cannot, nor will ever, create a story with an idea as great as Mr. Nolan. I bow down to you, sir.

Please Review. I worked so hard on this, you have no idea.

Chapter One:

Post Film- Two Months Later

Los Angeles, United States of America

His eyelids tore open; a sudden spark of sunlight catching his blue pupils. He inhaled a gasp of fresh air as he lifted his head above the bank of the ocean shore.

He counted, first within his brain capacity, and then within the limits of his pitch. "1 Mississippi. 2 Mississippi. 3 Mississippi." He had to wait for the perfect moment; this mission was all about timing.

He glanced down at the salt water washing away underneath his half clothed body frame. And then he heard it. It was exactly what he was waiting for.

He leveled himself upward upon his knees, his arms throwing themselves upon a petite frame as he screamed out, with a gleeful laugh "Got ya!"

The little boy, James, 5, squirmed within the boundaries of his fathers arms and laughed as his father used his thick fingers to tickle his small underarms. "No, fair Daddy!"

Cobb smiled down at the boy, running a small hand through his golden locks. "What's not fair, sport?"

Suddenly, a weak wave hit the back of him and he turned around to see his daughter laughing, almost manically. She pointed at him, holding a lollipop within her left hand as she said, "You can't catch me!"

Phillipa, 7, chuckled and ran away from her father as he followed her, while shouting "Oh yes I can, Princess!"

Miles and his wife Angeline were sitting upon the sand and watching the scene before them unfold. Angeline was the first to speak "Vous faire croit qu'il est content?"

Miles took a sip of his afternoon vanilla bean tea, nodding and grinning while whispering back to his wife "I really do, Angeline." He chuckled, periodically, as he watched his son in law play with the sand upon the LA beach. "Yes, he seems genuinely happy."

Mombassa, Kenya

"Blow on it-" his brown eyebrows were scrunched upward as he held the two dice within his grasp.

Yusuf rolled his eyes as he observed the scenario before him. The young blonde did as he was told and she giggled as the Englishman threw his dice down upon the green felted game table.

The dealer almost sighed as he announced "Number 7."

Eames, along with the entire crowd that he had gathered, began to cheer immensely as the British man gathered his newfound fortune. He turned his head toward his friend and stated, "I believe that's fifty thousand pounds."

"I don't understand how you do it." Yusuf was dumbfounded, as he gathered he watched his friend gather the casinos chips within his hands.

Eames gazed at the pretty blonde to his right, smiling at her as he passed her one thousand pounds worth in chips. "Here you are, darlin'." He winked at her seconds later, smirking as he said, "You were a great help."

He turned his back to her moments later, neither caring nor noticing the blush on the young woman's face. The Forger let his face relax as he pointed towards the elevators "Let's go bother Arthur, shall we?"

Yusuf rolled his eyes but laughed shortly; Eames was certainly a strange fellow.

Paris, France

Ariadne's eyes narrowed dramatically. As she sat upon her bed, in the small dorm room, her hands rolled over the buttons of the remote control rapidly.

Books of Architecture surrounded her as if she was an island and they were her sea. She groaned softly, as her eyes almost blurred from the amount of horrible television that seemed to be playing upon her Panasonic.

As her eyes almost shifted closed from boredom, her cell phone suddenly gave out a ring underneath the endless amount of book covers. She bit down on her bottom lip and tried to push away the pages in time to pick up, or at least screen the call.

She smiled seconds later, pressing the talk button on the small gadget, holding it to her ear and greeting "Hello?"

"Hey. I hope I'm not bothering you. I know you have an exam tomorrow-"

Ariadne nodded at Cobb's statement, her irises peering over her textbooks before replying "No, I was-" she paused, lying "Taking a break."

"How's the new teacher treating you?"

"He's fine. He doesn't hold a candle to Miles though." She stood up, lifting herself onto her feet, her red and matching pajamas presenting themselves. "How are James and Phillipa?"

"Fantastic." There was a slight pause before he continued, "They miss you."

She smiled and turned off her television, manually, before saying "I miss them too. I'll send gifts through Arthur next week-"

"That's actually why I'm calling, Ariadne." He cleared his throat before asking, "Do you know where he is? Saito has been asking for him."

"Yeah." She ran a hand through her brown hair before replying "He's with Eames and Yusuf in Mombassa. Apparently he wanted a tour of the place or something."

"I'll let him know. Thank you." She could hear him breathing through the phone, almost in a sigh as he continued, "Well, I'll let you get back to your work. Take Care, Ariadne. Good luck with the exam."

She nodded as if he could see her and spoke into the receiver with a chuckle "Thanks, Cobb." Seconds later, she closed the conversation, her eyes painfully heavy as she gazed upon the enormous hill of books that needed to be memorized by the next morning.

Mombassa, Kenya

"Been flying a lot."

"What?"

"That Golden pass that they gave us, I've been using it."

"Look who's got, 'Nyama Choma." Eames shouted, closing the door behind him as he watched Arthur shush him back instantly.

Eames squinted, watching the television set that Arthur was clearly too obsessed with.

"Every Friday night, I fly from LA to Tokyo or Singapore, Sydney. And I get off and I have a drink and then I fly home."

"Why?"

"Because I want it to crash, Kate."

Used tissues and empty tea mugs surrounded Arthur as he glared at the episode of 'Lost.'

"Have they died yet?" Eames asked, ripping apart one of his ribs from the box of food.

Arthur glared up at him, with a sour look, before he asked through a baffled sneeze "They die?"

"Oh." Eames grinned widely before saying "Spoiler Alert. But anyway-" he sat down on the living room recliner before asking "How are you feeling, mate?"

Arthur almost scoffed. "I've obviously been better, Eames."

Eames shook his head, sighing as he muttered "How one gets sick on this humid climate is beyond me." He licked his fingers from the peanut sauce and then said "Saito's been calling for us."

"I know. Cobb just called." Arthur replied, a hand running upon his forehead to try to measure his fever, medieval style.

Eames crossed his left leg over his right, his eyes wide as he asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing." Arthur replied, picking up a tissue and wiping his running nose "We are not infiltrated with this. We are just tourists. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Tourists who apparently have a chemist friend in the dream sharing business?" Eames questioned, his eyebrows knitted.

Arthur looked over at the door for a moment "Where is Yusuf anyway?"

"I don't bloody well know." Eames paused, taking another bite from his rib before continuing, "Probably with his family. Why? Do you miss him?"

Arthur almost smiled. "He sure beats hanging out with you."

"Stop breaking my heart, darlin." He turned his attention towards the screen and then once again to Arthur who seemed to be sucked back into the action of the television show. "Well-" It took almost three full seconds before the Englishman stood up, threw out his garbage and murmured, "This is boring me. I'm going to find our wonderful Chemist."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't be of any entertainment to you." Arthur rolled his eyes, coughing, sneezing and running his Kleenex underneath his nose between intervals.

But when Arthur turned around to see why it was taking Eames so long to produce a come back, he noticed that he had already left. He smiled quickly and jumped off the sofa, pushing the tissues off of himself before grabbing the apartment telephone.

"Hello operator? Get me 'Proclus Global'. Tell Mr. Saito that Arthur is calling." There was a small pause before he stated, a smirk on his mouth "Yes, he'll know exactly what this is regarding."

Los Angeles, United States of America

Dom bit down on his bottom lip as he curved the top brick of the building he was creating; on paper, for the first time in a long time. His pencil ran through his fingers as he sketched, frustrated as he tried to remember how to start a bargeboard.

He tried it once and then twice but soon quickly gave up, throwing his pencil down onto the table of his workshop.

He pulled out his cell phone and wrote a quick message before sending it into the digital universe.

Minutes later, after attempting to re-draw the landscape (perhaps that's what was missing) he received a message back:

To: D Cobb

From Ariadne

RE: They hang from the projecting board of a roof. Try drawing it from the top first.

Dom glanced over at the piece of paper, his penciled fingers following the specific directions of his young Architect.

About ten minutes later, he had finished his first blue print in almost three years. He sighed happily, weighing his head in his hands from relief before texting back a quick 'thank you' to Ariadne.

"Comment pouvoir nous gardons ceci de lui?" Angeline's loud voice screamed from the ceiling above his head.

He could hear, faintly, Miles answering, "Angeline, we cannot. Non nous ne pouvons pas."

"What can't you tell me?" Cobb asked, leaning against the frame of his kitchen doorway.

Miles and Angeline looked at each other, holding grocery bags in their hands as Miles whispered, bewildered "Dom, I didn't know you were home."

"What's going on, Miles?" He asked the question, firmly but calmly. When he didn't answer, he looked over at his ex-mother in law. "Angeline, please."

The woman shook her head and pointed to her husband with her free hand, before saying in her thick French accent "He must tell you." She walked away from them quickly, going upstairs to say goodnight to her grandchildren.

"What's going on?" Cobb asked, feeling slightly impatient and worried.

Miles exhaled lightly, placing groceries into the fridge and upon the counters of the kitchen before replying, "Yusuf is missing."

"Missing?"

"Yes, since last night." Miles answered. "He took him."

Cobb looked at him in worriment "Who took him?"

Miles closed his eyes briefly before saying quickly, in a most angry fashion "How could you even, possibly, begin to think that your actions would not have any consequences?"

Cobb took a took breath inward, pondering as Miles continued "The man was militarized, Dom!"

"Wait a second-" Domenic broke the yelling, asking in a quiet tone "Fischer took him?"

"Yes." Miles spoke softly, his light eyes glaring down onto his son-in-law "He knows."

"But-" Cobb caught his breath, running his hands through his blond hair before saying, "How is that even possible?"

"I'm not sure exactly, Dom. But he wants a favor in exchange for Yusuf."

"What kind of favor?"

Miles sighed briefly, his eyes almost closing as he whispered "Inception."

Authors Note:

So, what do you think so far?

Please let me know in a review.

Take Care!