Ariadne thought she made the right choices, until one man re-enters her life, the point man. She finds what horrible mistakes they were. There is only one thing in her life that she will never call a mistake, her Hope. A/A

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inception

Ariadne stared at the ceiling. The circling fan above her head was bothering her. She contemplated getting up to shut it off, but she was felt too exhausted to even lift a finger. Breathing was a hard enough task, she had to remind herself to do it every once in a while. She tried to shut off her mind, but it buzzed with a thousand thoughts. Among breathing there were other things she had to worry about. No matter how tired she felt, she couldn't dismiss them. This stupid case of insomnia had kept her awake for days now. She was sure that soon she would have to take sleeping pills to get some peace of mind. That was just one more thing she had to think about.

"Mommy?" The voice made her shiver. Every time she heard the voice new thoughts burst into her mind.

"Yes sweetie?" she turned to her side and tried to see in the dark.

"I had a nightmare," the small figure whispered. She was obviously frightened, but very tired.

"Come here baby," she moved over in the bed and made room. Small feet tapped as they ran towards the bed. She climbed in and nestled into the covers quickly.

"I couldn't sleep and when I did… the monsters were there," the little girl whispered.

"Don't worry," Ari said quietly, "You're safe here, with me." She wrapped her arms around her daughter and let her snuggle in closer to her. Ariadne ran her fingers gingerly through the long wavy black hair. She relaxed slightly and waited for the three year old's breath to slow. She fell asleep quickly, safe under her arms.

It was times like these she wished that he was still around. She wished that he were there to experience the roller coaster that was parenthood. The thought had run through her mind a million times. Insomnia was a blessing as much as it was a curse. It was her mistake though, it was her fault he wasn't there. Everything was because of her, and she would never be able to take it back. That last night. That last blissful night haunted her. Everytime she closed her eyes she remembered it. This, of course just made it harder to fall asleep.

"Long day?"He slipped into bed and wrapped his arms around her.

"Too long if you ask me," she answered softly turning to see his face that was only a shadow under the moonlight. He kissed her and they both relaxed, "Well… just forget about it now."

"I can't go to sleep," she admitted.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I was waiting for you," she breathed. Their fingers danced along each other's skin. Ariadne's fingertips touched his face, sending a shiver down both their spines.

"Well why can't you go to sleep now?"

"Because now that you're here I'm more…"

"Energetic?" he supplied.

"Oh yes…" she rolled her eyes sarcastically, "Now I can have my way with you!" Quickly she took both his wrists and got on top of him, pinning him to the bed. He laughed as she leaned over and gave him a small teasing kiss.

"Eh…." He laughed. Her eyes widened but he just sat up and kissed her again, this time a real kiss. The kind that made her want to melt, the kind that made everything else unreal. With a sigh she fell back onto her side of the bed.

"Not interested tonight… I guess," he laughed. "Go to sleep my little insomniac."

"Good night…" she whispered, letting him wrap his arms around her again, "I love you."

"I love you too Arthur."

It had seemed like it was just yesterday and yet it had been so long. Years… almost four to be exact. Ariadne sighed again, thinking about what to try to do to get to some much needed sleep at last.

RING! RING! Of course, that was going to help her get to sleep. The little one didn't stir, which she was thankful. Her hands opened the phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" she was forced to whisper.

"Ari!" the other line seemed surprised to have gotten her.

"Hey Cobb…" she relaxed again, leaning against the pillows in the dark.

"I didn't expect to get you… I'm sorry for ringing so late…"

"It's fine. I couldn't really sleep anyway,"

"Oh… well. I was just calling to ask you… I was wondering if you might consider… doing a job," he was as unsure as she felt. This wasn't the first time he had asked of course. Though he was understanding as to the circumstances of why not. He probably thought she was going to react the same way as the other times.

"Well… I guess…"

"Hope's a lot older now. She can stay here with Miles and James and Phillipa. This is a simple two if not one level extraction. By the book…" he cut her off, "wait did you just say I guess?"

"Yeah… I did," she said looking back to her daughter who was curled up in the covers.

"Oh…" he didn't know what to say. He probably had a whole speech prepared that was now wasted on nothing. There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Just inbox me the place and time ok?" she said quietly.

"Of course…. You're the best Ari."

"Don't you forget it," she teased lightly. There was a small laugh before the line went dead. Cobb was a lot like her, never really good at goodbyes. Working with Cobb had always been something Ariadne treasured. Though whenever she saw him it brought back more memories of the past, happy ones that made her so nostalgic she wanted to scream. Times of when she and Arthur were together.

Author's Note: Sorry about my other stories, currently experiencing horrible case of writer's block. I have been working on this for a while, so I have more chapters. But I thought, during my dry spell why not upload this? Thank you for reading reviewing. Tell me, should I keep posting? (its almost done already but I want to know if you actually want to read it… lol)