Sweet Vendetta

The heat of the bar was stifling but Arthur didn’t care. There was an extremely important matter that he was taking care of. “The heat of the small Russian bar was stifling but Arthur didn’t care. There was an extremely important matter that he was taking care of. Eames, sitting on the other side of the table, was giving him nothing, not that this was anything new. Arthur had known Eames for more than five years and he still didn’t know the man’s tells. The blackjack dealer looked nervous as he stared at his own cards, the nineteen face up on the table. What had started as a small, meaningless game was now a tense moment, with a large pile of money sitting between them and spectators cheering for both players.

This was not an abnormal thing between the two of them. After a random meeting in a bar one night Eames was the person Arthur had worked with on his first dreams in the criminal underworld. After a terrible incident where they were used against each other and almost ended up dead Arthur and Eames decided not to work together anymore. If they would cross paths the plan was to act like they did not know each other. It went well for two years until Dominic Cobb and Mallorie Miles had called both of them in for a job. Cobb had pointed a gun at Eames and Arthur broke their cover story to save him. Arthur did not regret that, not for a second, and now a year later they had established themselves as one of the best pairs in the entirety of dreaming.

Eames smirked, as if he knew that Arthur was a little lost in his own head, and Arthur smirked back. The dealer looked between the two of them and waited.

“I’m ready,” Eames said.

“As am I,” Arthur replied. Eames got that look in his eye he always got when he either had a stupid idea or when he was going to do something that was awesome (but was probably illegal and/or was going to get them killed). He turned over his cards and smiled.

“Twenty,” Eames said and he reached for the money but Arthur snatched his wrist. Arthur grinned and turned over his cards.

“Twenty-one,” Arthur declared. The bar erupted into sounds of anguish and happiness as each of their fanbases reacted. Eames did not look annoyed or even upset by his loss as Arthur gathered the money. Eames threw back the last of his drink and the two of them made their way through the dispersing crowd to the bar.

“I hope you know the next round is on you,” Eames said.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Arthur replied but he bought Eames another drink nevertheless. Eames did not call him on it, not that Arthur expected him to, since they were more or less a duo that shared everything these days. It was winter out and the amount of vodka in his system plus the heat was beginning to get to him a little. Arthur sat down at the bar and cracked his neck loudly.

“Count on it? Like you weren’t just counting cards?” Eames asked with a grin.

“Like you weren’t too,” Arthur replied flatly. Eames’ smile did not falter but he did not deny it either. The two of them had had plenty of experience ripping people off in small bars. They had hustled their fair share of money over various games of pool and counted cards for small fortunes in gambling. Eames leaned back against the bar and looked out at the people that were wandering around. A few of them gave Eames these little looks, indicating how sad they were that he had lost his money. Arthur drank his vodka and poked Eames in the ribs. “The heat in here is too much, want to leave?”

“Sure, sounds great,” Eames replied. They finished their drinks and paid their tabs with generous tips. A few more people nodded as Arthur and Eames walked out but their eyes were glassy and they would forget Arthur and Eames’ faces soon. The job they had just wrapped up a few hours before had gone well and they were both several hundred thousand dollars richer. Between the two of them, there was no need to worry about money, but Arthur still kept an eye on their finances. They had a few places all over the world where they could stay, safe houses, some that they shared and some that the other did not know about. It was not a lack of trust, Arthur trusted Eames with his life, but more a need to make sure the other was safe. Arthur knew that Eames still felt terrible about the time someone had extracted Arthur’s location from him and nearly gotten them both killed, the reason that they had the reason that they had stopped working together to begin with.

“You’re looking very pensive tonight,” Eames said, knocking their shoulders together.

“This job went well so I’m not panicking or trying to sneak us across borders,” Arthur replied, knocking Eames back. “Just thinking. Where do we want to go next?”

“Well, we haven’t been to London in a while,” Eames suggested.

“You just want to raid your stash of tea in the pantry,” Arthur said and Eames had the decency to look offended.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I’m hurt, truly hurt, that you would ever suggest I would do such a thing.” To the outside observer this little tirade would read completely sincere but Arthur knew better. He also knew better than to indulge Eames when he was being a sarcastic ass so he just continued on his way. “Arthur, you can’t ignore me.”

“I absolutely can and I am,” Arthur replied, not even looking at Eames.

“Fine, I can work with that,” Eames said and he took Arthur’s arm. Arthur turned only to have Eames back him into the nearest wall so they were well into each other’s personal space.

“You know someone could see us,” Arthur pointed out but he was not fighting Eames off either. It was the logical thing to do, fight Eames off, but he never did. There was one person in the world that he truly trusted and that was Eames. They had been through too much together and they knew each other too well not to. There was something between them, something that did not have a proper name, and Arthur would not have traded it for anything in the world. Eames smiled, because there was no doubt in Arthur’s mind that Eames knew he was not going to fight him off, and leaned in. The kiss was chaste, barely there, because if they touched now with so much alcohol and adrenaline running through their veins they would not be able to stop. “That was stupid, you might actually be stupid.”

“No one saw us, there is no one around, and this is a blind spot for security cameras. You think I didn’t think that through?” Eames huffed. “I do have some situational awareness, thank you.”

“Of course you do,” Arthur said as Eames eased out of his personal space. They walked through the bitter night to their hotel. It was late and their flight was early. As they rode the elevator up to his room Arthur smiled.

“I know that smile,” Eames said. “I know that means you have an idea that is either going to do some lasting property damage or something very good is about to happen.” Arthur did not reply until they were walking into their hotel room and Arthur pushed Eames against the door.

“We need to be up in about four hours to catch our flights,” Arthur said, leaning in close. “And if we sleep there is a chance we could be hungover. None of these things are in our favor so I think we should probably just stay awake.”

“I’m going to assume you have a few ideas about how we could go about staying awake,” Eames said and Arthur did not let his smile falter.

“A few.” They met each other halfway for the kiss. It was hard, dirty, dominating, the two of them did not seem to know any way of being around the other unless there was some sort of fight going on. Eames wrapped his arms around Arthur’s waist and began to ease them both toward the bed. Arthur kicked off his shoes and went to work on Eames’ moderately bright shirt. Arthur did not fight when Eames pushed him down on the bed and kissed the breath out of his lungs. Eames all but tore off his shirt and threw it across the room. It landed on a lamp that tilted dangerously and eventually hit the floor with a crack. They both pulled away, looked at the broken lamp and then at each other. At the same time they both started to laugh and Arthur did not stop until he thought he was going to be sick.

“I can't believe that just happened,” Eames said, resting his forehead on Arthur's shoulder. “Considering all of the things we've done you would have thought we'd have broken a lamp before now.”

“First time for everything,” Arthur said as he got himself under control. Eames shifted and they began to kiss again. Eames had a very good mouth and the years had only made him more talented with his tongue. Eames swore that one day he was going to get Arthur off with nothing but his mouth. Arthur insisted it would never happen but as Eames sucked on his tongue Arthur was willing to concede that it could happen someday. Arthur unbuckled Eames' belt and almost had his pants off when the phone rang.

“Oh my god, we are never going to have sex,” Eames groaned as he leaned over and answered the phone. “Yes? Oh, yes, I'm sorry I had a bit too much to drink and tripped. You are more than welcome to add it to my bill. I apologize.” Arthur stared because he was not sure that Eames had taken a breath as he said that entire sentence and hung up the phone. Arthur raised an eyebrow when Eames looked back at him. “Well I'm sorry, Arthur, but you and your stupid 'no sex on the job rule' has made me very frustrated.”

“It is not a stupid rule. There is now an extractor that won't work with us anymore because he caught us having sex at the office,” Arthur said. He was not ashamed of the fact that he was having sex with Eames, Eames knew it, and that job had been a mess from the beginning but that did not mean that they needed to push the issue anymore. The rumors were already starting to get very interesting and Arthur really did not want anyone else asking if they were true.

“Jesse was a twat and a crap extractor.” Eames ran his fingers down Arthur's sides and smiled. “We have the time to kill so let's kill it.”

Arthur grinned and yanked Eames back down into a kiss and pushed Eames' pants off. Eames bit on Arthur's lower lip and Arthur lifted his hips to help get his pants off. Arthur broke their kiss and brought Eames' hand up, licking him from wrist to middle finger. If it was anyone else besides the two of them Eames probably would have been embarrassed by the noise he made but Arthur knew that they had nothing to hide from each other. After Arthur had covered Eames' hand with plenty of saliva Eames shoved their underwear aside and lined them up.

It was perfect, it was always perfect between them, they knew each other’s bodies to a terrifying degree. If there was a moment where Arthur was uncomfortable Eames would twist his wrist in a way that made Arthur see stars. When a certain line of tension appeared in Eames' shoulders Arthur would shift and the tension would fade away. It was not just in their sex life that they seemed to be able to read each other’s minds. There had been so many times in dreams when Arthur had been able to find Eames and vice versa that an extractor once asked if they had some sort of communicator that had not been invented yet.

“You think too much,” Eames said and Arthur tumbled over the edge like someone had drop kicked him. Eames followed soon after and all but collapsed on him. Arthur was strong and he could hold Eames' weight but that did not mean he wanted to. Fortunately Eames moved aside before Arthur had to say anything and they both tried to catch their breath. “You're very pensive today.”

“Is that from your 'word of the day' calendar?” Arthur asked and Eames countered by punching him in the shoulder. “The jobs always make me a little thoughtful. I like how well they have been going recently. Sometimes I wonder if we are just getting lucky.”

“I don't believe in luck. We're just that skilled is all,” Eames said and he looked very confident.

“You're also a cliché,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes. “We should take a power nap now that we're a little spent.”

“You promise me so much and give me so little, Arthur,” Eames complained but he rolled over to go to sleep nevertheless. They did not wrap their arms around each other or cuddle, that was not them, that was okay because Arthur had a friend in Eames that could never be replaced.

It had been too long since they had been to Vienna so that was their place of choice. They didn’t have any jobs lined up and they had enough money so traveling was a logical idea. Together they had seen every continent so far but there was still so much to see. Arthur had joined the army thinking he was going to travel the world when in reality he spent most of his army career learning how to build new worlds. It was not a bad thing, not by a long shot, and he did not regret signing up for the project, but now he only saw different places when the two of them had time to sit down and travel.

Eames was a perfect travel companion because he seemed to have a sixth sense for finding the 'hole in the wall' local bars where you could avoid the tourists. They would meet a variety of people and it was in one of those hostels that he found out that despite how well versed they both were in alcohol they had found out several weeks ago that they both had nothing on Australians. That night either went really well or really poorly depending on how they looked at it.

They were strolling down a street Floridsdorf area in Vienna when Eames suddenly took Arthur's hand and yanked him down a small street. That was not like him and it was even stranger when Eames pressed him against the wall and stayed close.

“What the hell, Eames?” Arthur asked because he was not fond of public displays of affection and he enjoyed being thrown into walls in public even less.

“I may or may not have made some enemies in Eastern Europe over the years,” Eames said nonchalantly.

“Right, how much did you piss these people off?” Arthur asked.

“Enough and they are also a bunch of bigots so let's give them something to look away from.” Eames kissed hi. This kiss was different this time because they were putting on a show for someone. Unlike their hard and dominating kisses this one was slow and dirty with lots of tongue. Eames moved his thigh between Arthur's legs and it felt good, it felt so good, despite the dirty looks he saw people giving them out of the corner of his eye. Arthur reached up and threaded his fingers through Eames' hair and if Eames moaned a little when Arthur tugged on the blond strands, well no one had to know. Eames eventually pulled away but they stayed close.

“Are we good?” Arthur asked.

“Always,” Eames said, his voice rough. “Oh, you were talking about the guys that want me dead, right. Yes, we're fine, they're gone, but we should probably get out of the city sooner than later.” Arthur nodded and they began to walk back to their hostel.

There was something Arthur had wanted to bring up with Eames but he was not sure how it would go over. On the plane was a bad idea because if this went poorly, not talking to each other would make the plane ride awkward and awkward plane rides were annoying.

“So I got a phone call from Dom Cobb,” Arthur said casually.

“Did you now,” Eames replied and he sounded annoyed.

“Yeah, he just wanted to see how we were and everything like that,” Arthur said.

“Did he want to shoot us in the face too? Because that's what happened the last time,” Eames grumbled.

“No one actually got shot in the face,” Arthur said and Eames gave him the 'are you serious' look. “Anyway he said he has gotten his shit more in order so the next time we're in the states we should have dinner with him and Mal. She wants to discuss forgery with you.”

“We'll see.” Eames did not sound convinced, probably about the 'shit in order' part and Arthur did not blame him because the last time had been a cluster fuck, but the fact that he was thinking about it was good enough for Arthur. They walked back to the hostel in comfortable silence.

It turned out that they did not have to wait long before a job came in. They were in the airport looking for the next flight to somewhere when Arthur's phone rang. It was an extractor named James that they had worked for a few times in the past. He was not the most competent man but he always seemed to find jobs that tended to pay extremely well. He was not so keen on giving Arthur any details over the phone though which Arthur thought was in bad taste. James knew that Arthur and Eames were a package deal these days and when you asked for one, you were asking for both. James was in Italy so he was close at least, but he was being oddly evasive when it came to the job.

“It's bothering you,” Eames said as they got on the plane.

“It usually does,” Arthur replied as he began to look into possible exit strategies. Eames did not talk to him for the rest of the flight and Arthur was grateful because by the time they landed, he had finalized three different ways to get out of the country in a hurry. Arthur just hoped he would not need to use any of them.

Eames was not as paranoid as Arthur when it came to trusting other people but there was something about this job that had him uneasy too. While saying the details of a job over the phone was not a smart idea, it was rude to not tell your team what you were doing at all. Eames did not trust James but there were few people in the world that Eames trusted at all. It was one of the reasons he was armed when they got to the meeting place on the edge of Naples despite the fact that showing up armed was an insult to the person you were meeting. The weird customs of the dreaming community sometimes bothered him but there was not much he could do about it.

James was an older man in his mid forties who looked like he should have been running for political office not breaking into people's dreams. Extractors always had to be likable or no one would ever tell them anything but James seemed to manipulate more than other people. His hair had gray streaks that stood out against the dark brown and his eyes were a beady black. Usually he was walking around like he owned the world but he looked like he was trying to make himself as small as possible. Eames glanced at Arthur who narrowed his eyes.

“James, it's nice to see you again,” Arthur said, extending a hand. James seemed to visibly pull himself together and he got that air of confidence back but Eames could see the cracks through the facade.

“Gentlemen, thank you for coming out,” James replied. “I'm sorry I couldn't give you more details on the job but it is a little sensitive and I didn't want anything to get out.”

“They're all sensitive. It's kind of the point,” Eames said and did not react when Arthur discreetly stepped on his foot.

“Right, well, my employer didn't want me to say anything on the phone. He was very specific about that. The job is a basic extraction for a location of another person. They have tried to get him to just give up the information but he refuses. My employer is at the end of his rope, hence why he hired us,” James explained. That did not sit right with Eames. If they were trying to get a location of another person that someone was not just willing to give up that did not sound good. It reminded him far too much of the time Arthur's location was extracted from him so someone could kill him. Eames trusted his instincts and they had saved his life one too many times for them to let him down now. In front of James was not the time to bring it up, however, because the last thing they needed was the obviously already hired extractor finding out about his suspicions.

“I'd like the name of the mark and some time to look it over before we give an answer,” Arthur replied professionally. It was not exactly a ploy but if James would not give up any information on the mark then they would be in their rights to walk away immediately so Eames might have been a little disappointed when James handed Arthur a small folder.

“I'd like an answer sooner than later,” James said.

“You'll get one when I'm ready to give you one or you'll get a 'no' right now,” Arthur snapped.

“So it would be in your best interest to let us figure out whether we want to work with you in an efficient and timely matter,” Eames said with his best smile. There was only one person who could see through that smile and they were standing next to him. James nodded sharply and they both turned and left. Arthur did not look at the file until they were locked in the hotel room and Eames had checked twice to make sure no one was following them. Arthur was sitting on the bed looking over the file when Eames joined him. “So, do you have a bad feeling about this too?”

“The job is on one Ethan Tomas and they want the location of Lilly Tomas, his sister. The file doesn't say why our client, Adam Todd, wants this information but I'm going to look into it. You're right; something feels off,” Arthur said without looking up. Eames stood up and walked over to the hotel room coffee pot, knowing that Arthur was going to need it to get some work done. Eames busied himself with looking over Arthur's exit strategies and memorizing every single detail of each one. If it meant that it was going to save their lives at some point it was worth the sleepless night.

The coffee began to brew and it smelled like insomnia.

Arthur was a force to be reckoned with when he had a laptop and an internet connection. He was ruthless and seemed to have no problem looking into people's deepest and darkest corners of their pasts. Eames was fairly certain that Arthur knew who Eames lost his virginity to but was being polite enough not to say so out loud. Arthur was many things but outright mean was not one of them. Eames had all of the exit strategies memorized and was ready to get out of town quickly if they needed to. The longer Arthur seemed to look into this job the deeper he frowned. By the time the sun was coming up Arthur looked like he had just bitten into a lemon.

“What did you find?” Eames asked.

“Well first of all our mark has been missing for two months with a police report filed by his roommate and everything. His sister has been missing longer. From what I was able to find it looks like Lilly Tomas was a witness in a trial that never went to court and was not public. The records are very sealed and I haven't been able to crack into them yet but if I had to wager a guess I'd say that our client or someone close to our client was the person she was going to testify against. Her brother must have gotten her out of the country and paid someone to make her disappear. There's a paper trail but it's been covered up really well. Again, I'd need more time, but James wanted an answer sooner than later,” Arthur explained.

“So you think Todd wants to find Lilly to make her go away and Ethan is the only one who knows her location,” Eames said and Arthur nodded.

“I'd also guess that Ethan is being kept against his will.” Arthur paused as he looked over the information in front of him. “We would be directly involved with the killing of a young woman. Lilly Tomas is only nineteen years old. I know our morals are dubious at best but I don't think I can help someone pull the trigger on a kid no matter what the reason.”

“Agreed,” Eames said without hesitation. “I think we should stall them and find Ethan Tomas too before they just give up and kill him. I've never been tortured in reality for information but I imagined it hurts just as much as it does in a dream.”

“Stalling and rescue operation then; when did we become the good guys?” Arthur asked but he was smiling.

“We're the antiheroes at best,” Eames replied, grinning back. Eames liked it when they got to try different things and sweeping in to save someone was certainly different for them. Eames did not outright say it was going to be fun but it was heavily implied.

It took Arthur three days to locate Ethan. Eames went and turned up the charm to eleven whenever he would meet up with James. He spun a long story about other jobs and family problems that he thought should be a movie script. James was getting impatient but he seemed to be buying most of it. However there was only so much he would take before he told them they had to make the call. Taking three days to decide whether or not to take a job was rude but considering they were supposed to perform an extraction on someone that had been kidnapped they were probably more worried about accidentally killing their only link to the key witness. The more Arthur seemed to find the more Eames became convinced that Ethan was not going to be in good shape when they found him.

“Todd is one sick son of a bitch,” Arthur said by the end of day three. He had a picture of Adam Todd in hand. The man was in his late forties with jet black hair and eyes so brown they were almost black. They had done their best to avoid direct contact with Todd but there had been one phone call when they had met with James on day two. The man had a deep and dark voice that held a promise of violence. “The police have linked him to half a dozen murders but they can't find anything concrete. Lilly Tomas was a link to the last case, looks like her fiance was a victim, until she fell off the grid. She and her brother were close and they have no other family so it made sense that they would remain in contact on some level.”

“They are probably torturing him,” Eames said. Over the last three days when he had not been convincing James to give them more time he had contacted every shady arms dealer in Naples and they now had enough ammo to stage a rescue operation. The fact that they were doing a rescue operation made Eames laugh to himself. Arthur closed his laptop and stretched. They had a location and they were going in the following afternoon. They needed to get some sleep but they were both too riled up. At the same time they both set aside their things and sat down side by side on the bed. Usually they would have sex before something like this but Eames was not feeling it. They might be saving someone tomorrow but there was a good chance that the person they would be saving could be better off dead. It was not exactly a situation that screamed 'we should fuck like we're going to die tomorrow'.

After a long silence between the two of them Arthur got up, changed into more comfortable clothes and went to bed. Eames stayed awake a little longer, running the plan through his head a few more times, but there were no holes. Arthur had looked it over so many times now that he probably had it memorized. If there were any holes in the plan Arthur would have found them. Eames was confident in Arthur and that was enough to ease his mind. Eames changed, crawled in bed and closed his eyes.

They both got up and ate a decent sized meal. It took some time to get all of the weapons ready and hidden so they could cross the city without drawing too much attention to themselves. Arthur's phone rang just as they were about to walk out the door but he ignored the call. It was probably James pitching a fit that they were taking four days to decide whether or not to take a basic extraction job. They nodded to each other and walked out of the hotel room. The place where Ethan was being held was across town and they managed to make it across without anyone noticing them or their hidden weapons. The place was an old building on the water with lots of rooms. They would have to split up to cover the entire building and Arthur had developed an app on their phones so all they had to do was hit one button, it would beep once and vibrate twice and that was the signal to get out.

Arthur had the downstairs and Eames was going to take the upstairs. Arthur always took point, that was his job, and there was no use arguing over it. There was no way he was going to let Eames take the lower levels where he could get trapped. It was not an insult of any kind, it was just the way Arthur ran operations, and it had not gotten either of them killed yet so it must be working.

“Listen for the signal,” Arthur said as he took out his gun and checked it. “If we need to get out we'll need to get out fast. We'll need to make sure we get Ethan out of the country and then we can disappear too.”

“Sounds good,” Eames replied. In a normal partnership this was where he was supposed to tell Arthur to be careful but he did not need to. He was going to be fine, Arthur was going to be fine, because they were not called the best for no reason. Arthur nodded and they moved into the building.

Arthur closed in on the building and began his descent into the lower levels. There were lots of rooms down here, plenty that could be used to hold someone prisoner. Adam Todd had decided that taking someone and torturing them was a better idea than taking the chance that he might be convicted of any crimes. Arthur had done a lot of morally dubious things but he had never condoned anyone that thought torture was the answer.

He turned a corner and turned a corner and saw a guard. Within a few seconds Arthur could tell that he was armed and how much experience he had. Arthur put his gun in his holster and moved silently behind the man. A quick blow to the back of the head and he was out. Arthur dragged him around a corner and opened a closet door. He stripped the guard of his gun, ammo, keys, locked the door from the outside and left him there to fend for himself. The hallway was lined with doors and Arthur began to look them over. They were all identical but there were more scuff marks near a door about a fourth of the way down the hallway. When he tried the door it was locked; it took two keys for him to find the one that opened the door.

The smell was the first thing Arthur noticed when he stepped inside the small room. It was not the smell of death, Arthur knew that smell all too well, it was the smell of dirt. The room was underground for the most part but there was a small window letting in the barest of natural light. There was a small bed and a door that lead into a closet that had a toilet. On the bed was a frail looking body, far too skinny, in dirty clothes. It was a drastically underweight Ethan Tomas, Arthur recognized him from the pictures, and he appeared to be wearing the same clothes he was last seen wearing. He did not stir when Arthur opened the door and were it not for the fact that Arthur could see Ethan breathing he would have thought Ethan was dead. Arthur put his gun in the holster and walked over to Ethan, shaking him awake.

“Hey, Ethan, wake up. I'm getting you out of here,” Arthur said.

“I can't...” Ethan said. His voice was rough like he had spent the last two months screaming his lungs out.

“I got you, just help me as much as you can,” Arthur said as he swung Ethan's arm over his shoulder. Arthur hit the alert on his phone and held onto Ethan the best he could with one hand to get his gun in hand. “Can you hang onto me?”

“I'll try,” Ethan said. That was all Arthur could ask for from a dehydrated, starving, beaten man and he began to make his way through the building. Killing people in the real world was not his favorite thing but when he rounded the corner and had to shoot a guard with bloody knuckles in the head he did not feel too bad. That was not going to be the thing that kept him awake at night but more the feeling of dead weight on his shoulders. No one had thought anyone would come for Ethan so by the time he hit the road Arthur had only shot two people and knocked out a third. Eames was waiting for him at the door and he took Ethan as Arthur covered them.

It was harder to get Ethan back to the hotel than it had been to get across town with weapons. He looked like he had been stuck in a cell, covered in dirt and sweat and blood, but they managed to get a cab driver who looked the other way when Eames offered him some extra Euros. They pulled Ethan into their hotel room and he stumbled into the bathroom to shower mumbling a thank you.

“He needs a hospital,” Eames said and Arthur did not disagree but the city was not safe.

“There is a doctor we can trust in Rome. We'll get a car and get him out of the city as soon as possible,” Arthur said. Eames nodded and they both began to pack their things. Eames had a rather nice med kit and gave Ethan an IV in the back of the car. The man was asleep before the needle was even in his arm. Arthur got in the car and drove them out of Naples while Eames stayed in the backseat with Ethan. While at a red light Arthur sent a two word text to James; we're out. It was vague but there was still the chance that they could link Ethan's escape to them. It was not their MO so there was still a chance that no one would connect the dots right away. The light turned and Arthur tossed the phone into the passenger seat and focused on getting them out of the city.

It took three days before Ethan was steady enough on his feet to travel. Arthur did not ask where he was going; he just just wanted Ethan to get out of the country safely. Eames did his best to direct the conversation away from their motives and after the first day Ethan stopped asking. Eames got him a fake passport and everything he would need to go into hiding and vanish off the grid like his sister. Eames was back at the hotel room packing all of their things so they could vanish as well as Arthur drove Ethan to the airport. Ethan was a little older than his sister at twenty with long black hair that sat flat on his forehead and he was too thin after two months captivity. Arthur could see the signs that there were going to be nightmares for this young man but Arthur could not remember what it was like to have nightmares.

“Thank you,” Ethan said softly when they pulled up to the airport. “I know you don't want to tell me why you saved me but I appreciate it.”

“Just follow the connecting flights and switch passports like I told you to,” Arthur said, ignoring the statement almost entirely. Ethan did not look surprised but he nodded twice and walked away from the car. Arthur watched him go for a moment and then started on his way back to the hotel. He was coming up on the hotel when he caught sight of his tail. That was bad and Arthur could not lead him back to the hotel and to Eames. Arthur took a sharp turn and headed toward the main city. He parked his car on the side of the road and began to pick his way through legions of tourists in Rome. Arthur dialed the number without having to look at the phone.

“What happened?” Eames asked by way of greeting.

“Nice to talk to you too,” Arthur replied.

“Yes, you're hilarious, now what happened?” Eames repeated.

“I may have picked up a few strays,” Arthur said.

“How many?”

“Three. I'm making my way into the busier parts of the city near St. Peter's but also keeping my head down. Be ready to leave as soon as I lose them.” Arthur did not wait for confirmation before he hung up because he knew he could trust Eames to do what was needed for them to escape. Arthur picked up the pace to a light jog and slipped in and out of large crowds of people. Blending in was something that he was very good at and if he was going to lose these people he needed to vanish.

It took him almost thirty minutes of ducking and dodging before Arthur turned a sharp corner and pressed his back against a wall. Three men burst from the crowd and Arthur could see that they were all armed. He had a small vantage point where he could see them but they could not see him. Arthur took in every detail of their faces, how they walked, where they kept their weapons, which arm was dominant, and cataloged it all so Eames could paint a life like portrait if need be.

They took off in the direction that Arthur wanted them to and vanished from sight. They did not have much time before someone figured out where he and Eames were staying. Arthur slipped back into the crowds and took the long way through the city back to the hotel. He looped around several times and made sure that he was not going to make it easy for anyone to follow him. Arthur was confident that he was alone when he took the stairs two at a time and used his key to open their hotel room. Eames was standing at the door, clearly armed, and supremely annoyed.

“We knew they would retaliate,” Arthur said as he gathered his things. They did not travel with the PASIV often and there was a courier that Eames trusted that they paid outrageous amounts of money who would take it across borders and not on planes. Eames must have done that while he was gone because the case containing the PASIV was gone.

“We really need to sort out our allegiances. I'm not too keen on getting killed for some kid I don't know,” Eames said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“They were going to come after us the second we turned down the job and James knew that. If we had said 'no' he would have told us some sob story about how this was not his fault and he was being forced to do this job against his will. They were going to kill us regardless.” Arthur put his bag on his shoulder and checked his gun that was well hidden underneath his jacket. Once he was sure that everything was set they left the hotel without a backwards glance. Arthur described each of the men that were following him to Eames as they made their way across the city. It was too risky to get into a cab and public transportation put too many people in danger. They were going to have to steal a car but it was the middle of the day during peak tourist season so trying to find a car where no one was nearby was not easy.

Arthur turned a corner just as a bullet ricocheted off the brick half an inch from his head. He ducked and Eames returned fire before they took off running down the street. When Arthur got a look at the men he realized they looked like henchmen in a movie. It made him laugh even as they ducked from incoming bullets. There was a dumpster in an alley that provided the cover Arthur needed to return fire.

“Four o'clock,” Eames said and Arthur fired without really having to look. Eames would not guide him wrong, not in a firefight, and certainly not with their lives on the line. “Nice shot.”

“Thanks, 11 o'clock,” Arthur replied and Eames shot another of the henchmen through the shoulder. More of them were coming and they ducked the incoming fire. “We need a car or they're going to run us down.”

“Can you cover me while I get us one?” Eames asked.

“Naturally.” Arthur looked around the corner and fired a few shots at the men trying to kill them so they had time to race down the alleyway and around a corner. Eames knelt down next to a car and began to pick the lock while Arthur covered him. The men were using the dumpster as cover now and they kept popping out. All Arthur could think about was how he wished he had a giant hammer and could play a real world version of whack-a-mole. “What's your ETA, Eames?”

“Door is open. Two minutes at the most,” Eames called back. Arthur turned to fire when a bullet clipped his arm. It did not hit him directly, just a graze, but it still hurt.

“Indirect hit,” Arthur said over a burst of fire. There were sirens in the background now, the police were on the way, and if they were taken by Interpol it would be a bitch to get out again.

“Got it, let's go,” Eames said. Arthur did not waste any time and he climbed into the passenger side of the small car. They sped down the road and away from the sounds of gunfire. Eames eased off the gas enough that they would not rouse suspicion as they pulled away from the city. No one was chasing them and if they were lucky the police would take care of the men that were trying to kill them. Arthur rolled his sleeve up and tried to get a good look at his injury. “How is it?”

“Not that bad. I think I'll need you to stitch me up. I'll make sure not to bleed on anything,” Arthur replied.

“Sounds good.” They drove for an hour before they ditched the car and got another one and it was a half hour after that that they had time to stop and have Eames stitch up Arthur's arm. It hurt, he firmly believed that anyone who says that stitches don't hurt is lying, but Arthur did not complain. The sun was starting to go down and they sat on the hood of the car passing a bottle of wine between the two of them. Their hotel room was around the corner and the town they were in was small enough but it was on a major travel route so strangers were not uncommon.

“So is there a place we can go where you aren't wanted?” Arthur asked.

“You already know the answer to that,” Eames said as he took a drink of the wine. Arthur did know that but he had long since figured out that people like it when you ask. “Let's just keep moving for now. I think if we sit too long they'll catch up with us. The sooner we're out of Italy the better.” Arthur took the bottle from Eames and took a long drink. There was still some blood underneath Eames' fingernails and Arthur wondered if it was his or someone else's.

“Sounds like a plan.” Arthur replied and they finished off the bottle of wine and half of another before they turned in for the night. Arthur was tired; being on the run was exhausting.

Eames did not mind running when it was with Arthur. When they had separated and pretended not to know each other Eames had hated running. It was annoying and it left him drained. Running with Arthur also left him drained but they also laughed a lot. They drank local booze and found back alleys where they could sleep in the car. They crossed borders and time zones and there was one point that Eames was not sure what country they were in until he listened to the locals to see what language they were speaking.

It was in the south of France that Arthur answered a call and took it off to the side to talk. There were not many people that Arthur was not comfortable talking to in front of Eames and during the two minutes and fifteen seconds that Arthur was gone Eames compiled a list of every single one. Arthur sat down and Eames knew that he was about to be asked a question that he was not going to like very much.

“Okay, out with it, what's going on?” Eames asked. They were sitting in a dark pub tucked away in the corner where no one could hear them talking.

“That was Mal. She and Cobb have set a date for the wedding and they want us to come,” Arthur said. He looked a little bewildered as if Arthur was more thrown by the concept of being invited to a wedding than someone trying to put a bullet between his eyes.

“Does she know that a few weeks ago someone was trying to kill us?” Eames asked slowly.

“I told her and she said some nasty things about being a terrible friend and some questionable things about my character.” Arthur took a deep breath and released it slowly. “She said she really wants us there and it would mean a lot to her if we went. She said she was not above sending a picture with her looking sad to guilt us into coming.”

“She's not supposed to tell us she is trying to guilt or manipulate us, though I suppose Mal is many things but conventional is not one of them,” Eames said. “Is Cobb still crazier than a bag of cats?”

“She said he promises not to point any guns at your head or anywhere else,” Arthur replied. “We haven't had an incident since Italy so I think we've thrown them off our trail. I'll make sure to cover our tracks and we won't stay long in the area. It could be interesting and we would have the opportunity to ask someone who works in the business if their wedding lived up to their dreams.”

“You have the weirdest sense of humor,” Eames said dryly and he took another drink of his beer. “Could be interesting but if Cobb points any guns at me I'm taking back the gift.”

“Oh shit, we have to get a gift.” Arthur looked so surprised and panicked about something as silly as a wedding gift that Eames almost did a spit-take with his beer. Arthur shut him up by yanking Eames into a rough kiss and the rest of the night was a pleasant blur.

Apparently they were the last two to find out about the wedding because when Arthur called back to tell her that they were coming Mal had neglected to tell them that the wedding was in two weeks. Eames was annoyed but mostly because that gave them almost no time to find something that could pass as a gift. Arthur did not want to show up and look like an idiot but between the two of them they had no idea what passed as wedding gifts. There was no registry that they could find and there was no one they could call to get any information. They were not just flying blind, they were flying blind, deaf, and under the lingering effects of general anesthesia. Then there was the awkward moment where neither of them were sure if they should get one card or two.

“Can I get a card that says 'congratulations and thank you for not shooting me in the face'?” Eames asked as they drove to the airport.

“And you say my sense of humor is questionable,” Arthur replied. They were flying out of Paris to a wedding that was being held in Los Angeles and that meant a stay over in New York. Eames sat back in the chair and smiled.

“Do you remember the night we met?” he asked.

“Yes. It was January, cold and a total accident,” Arthur said without looking up from his paper. “We went back to your place and you took a sip from both glasses of brandy because you knew I was paranoid and wouldn't drink out of something I didn't see come out of a sealed bottle.”

“Your paranoia has indeed saved our lives quite a few times.” The silence that followed was comfortable and Eames watched the people around them, taking in the details and trying to decipher their stories. “We make a good team, Arthur.”

“We're a great team, Mr. Eames,” Arthur said and he was smiling now. The rest of the flight was comfortable even when Eames dragged Arthur into the first class bathroom to make out like teenagers. It was probably a good thing that the wedding was the following day because they were both extremely frustrated and tired by the time they landed. Arthur let Eames pin him to the bed and kiss him until Eames' lips were numb. They were both too tired and too jet lagged to do anything more than kiss and some heavy petting and when Eames rolled to his side of the bed he passed out, sedated and content.

Arthur had never been to a wedding. He was an only child and his friends from high school and the army had gotten married after he had been declared dead. It was not like he could just show up at a wedding and say 'by the way I'm not dead do you have an open bar?' Within twenty minutes the government would have scrambled a team and put a bullet in his head. So this was his first wedding and he was not sure what the protocols were. Weddings were all about tradition and that meant that each one was different. After much debate he and Eames decided to go with one card from the two of them and some money. It was not exactly the most thoughtful present in the world but it was better than nothing.

If there was one thing about this entire endeavor that Arthur was really looking forward to it was the fact that Professor Miles was going to be there. Arthur very much wanted to pick the Professor's mind because he was one of the founding members of Project Somnican. There were probably things that he knew that neither of them could have even begun to comprehend. Whether or not these were things that someone would be comfortable enough to talk about at a wedding Arthur had no idea but it was probably worth a shot. The wedding was in the early afternoon so they had to drag each other out of bed because of the jet lag. When they were satisfied that they both did not look like they had traveled halfway across the world they set off to the church.

The first thing Arthur noticed when he walked into the church was that Cobb seemed to be having some sort of nervous breakdown. He was fluttering around wide eyed and panicked and spouting things about how Mal could do better and he could not go through with this. Arthur really had no idea how he was supposed to react to something like that, and when he glanced at Eames he looked surprised as well.

“Ah, good, you must be Arthur and Eames,” said a man with a posh accent and white hair. “As you can see my soon-to-be son in law seems to be having some sort of meltdown and I cannot tend to him and my daughter at the same time and keep this wedding from falling apart. Mr. Arthur, would you please calm Dom down and Mr. Eames could you go make sure my daughter does not drown herself in champagne? Thank you.” As quickly as he had come Professor Miles, Arthur could only assume that was who he was just talking to, was gone and talking to four different people at once.

“What just happened?” Eames asked after a beat of awkward silence.

“We just got delegated tasks despite the fact that we have no idea what's going on,” Arthur said as Eames nodded and followed women in bridesmaids dresses down a hall to where Mal was. Arthur watched Eames go for a moment and then went off to find Cobb. It did not take long; all he had to do was follow the ranting. By the time he had arrived three other men had seemingly given up and left Cobb to freak out on the front steps of the church by himself. Arthur sat down and let the silence hang uncomfortably for a moment or two.

“I can't go through with this,” Cobb whispered.

“Why not?” Arthur asked.

“She can do so much better than me.” Cobb sounded wrecked and Arthur wondered why he was here when Eames was probably much better at reading subtle cues than he was. Arthur also knew that he was good for something in this scenario and that was not sugar coating anything.

“You're right. She can do better,” Arthur said and Cobb looked horrified. “And you don't deserve her either but you also have to remember that Mal is a brilliant woman and you couldn't tell her what to do if you tried. So if she agreed to marry you it's because she wants to and you don't want her to find out that you tried to make her decisions for her. She'd probably throttle you.” Arthur paused and ran that image through his head. “On second thought you should tell her; that would be a hell of a show and I'd make a killing selling tickets.” Cobb laughed for the first time even if he still looked very uneasy.

“What if I mess it up?” Cobb asked though he sounded less panicked and more terrified now.

“You will mess up but that's inevitable. Nothing is perfect but you have to want to fix it. If you're worried about ruining her life and not concerned with your own you're ready to get married.” Arthur watched Cobb carefully as the slump in his shoulders began to slouch less, as he visibly pulled himself together and Arthur knew Cobb was going to be fine.

“You're right. I mean, you and Eames are basically the perfect couple--”

“--wait, what?--”

“--and you still fight like cats and dogs so I think we're going to be okay. Thanks for the pep talk, Arthur.” Cobb patted Arthur on the shoulder and strolled back into the church like he could take on the world.

“You're welcome?”

Eames made his way through dressing rooms filled with women changing who did not seem to notice or care that he was there at all. He was also disappointed by the lack of reaction because it was comedy gold if nothing else. Eames found the door that people kept tapping on and that no one was answering. He knocked on it and was met with a slur of very nasty words and the door flinging open to reveal Mal in her underwear with a crazed look in her eye. The look melted the moment she laid eyes on him and before Eames could ask if she wanted to cover up Mal hauled him into the room by his shirt.

“When did you get here?” Mal asked as she walked further into the room.

“Yesterday. Are you okay?” Eames asked.

“Peachy. Did my father send you in?” Mal was moving around the edge of the room like a vulture ready to pounce as soon as a helpless animal had the gall to not keel over and die.

“Yes, he wanted to make sure you were okay. Now let's start getting you into that lovely dress,” Eames said. The two of them worked quietly and\ Eames knew a thing or two about putting female clothing on. Mal let him work and was even compliant when he made her sit down so he could work on her hair.

“Dom and I, we're two halves of a whole, we complete each other and I know that, so why am I so scared?” Mal asked.

“It's in our nature to be scared of things that make us happy,” Eames said as he got a rather stubborn curl under control.

“Because we're afraid of being happy?” she asked dubiously. “That sounds like a lot of crap to me.”

“Stop moving or I'll poke you in the eye with a q-tip. We're not scared of being happy, we are scared of the things that make us happy because we're afraid of losing them,” Eames explained and he went to work on her make-up. Mal closed her eyes and let him work his magic; Eames could apply makeup better than most women, and he also knew that she was not done yet. “I'm not a romantic, Mal, but you two seem to work. If it works then just let it work and if it needs fixing then you fix it.” Mal stilled his hand and opened her eyes; she looked radiant.

“Thank you,” she said. “You and Arthur already work so well and I hope that someday my relationship with Dom will be as steady as yours is--”

“--our what?--”

“--but I need you to leave so I can finish getting ready.” Mal ushered him out of the room and closed the door in his face. Eames blinked because he did not really remember getting manhandled out of the room by a French woman but here he was.

“Okay?”

Eames allowed himself to take some credit for how beautiful Mal looked when she walked down the aisle. They said some very nice vows and kissed and it was like something out of the movies. After the ceremony was the reception which thankfully had an open bar. Eames stood next to Arthur as they watched the happy couple have their first dance. The way they looked at each other was so lovey dovey that it was almost a little sickening. Professor Miles walked over and joined the two of them at the bar.

“Thank you both for calming them down,” Professor Miles said.

“It's fine, sir, we were happy to help,” Arthur replied as the first dance came to an end. In a fury of white and lovely curls Mal came over and took Arthur by the hand, pulling him out onto the floor.

“Come dance with me, Arthur!” she said and Arthur barely had time to put his drink down. He quickly took back control of the dance and expertly led Mal across the dance floor. Eames knew Arthur could dance, he had charmed his way into the minds of too many fancy ladies not to, but it was different to see it in person. Eames watched, so mesmerized by the sight that he was a little surprised when Professor Miles spoke again.

“Mal has told me so much about the two of you,” Miles said.

“I sincerely hope not,” Eames replied reflexively.

“Well she told me that you two work on the less than legal side of dreaming and that is pretty much the only side of dreaming left,” Miles said. “I know my daughter and I know Dom Cobb so I’m certain they will continue to pursue dreaming no matter what.” This conversation felt like it was taking on a much heavier tone than Eames had been expecting. He put his drink down and looked at Miles. “Mr. Eames, there is only one thing I'd like to ask of you and Mr. Arthur; do not get my daughter or her husband mixed up in anything that would jeopardize their safety.” Eames knew how to read people, how to read between the lines, and he knew something was being implied but not outright said. And the unspoken 'or else' hung heavy in the air like smoke.

Professor Miles was exactly like his daughter: brilliant, calculating and terrifying.

Arthur turned Mal on the dance floor and she laughed when he dipped her. She looked happy, so happy, and that made Arthur smile. He knew Cobb and he had come to know Mal very well in the time they had worked together. She must have trusted him to invite them to the wedding. It was not often that personal lives and the kind of lives in their business mixed often, and even then a wedding was not something Arthur had ever thought he would see. Yet here he was and he was glad that he had come.

“You and Eames should have a dance next,” Mal whispered into his ear.

“Why would we do that?” Arthur asked and Mal smiled brightly like there was some sort of joke going on that he did not understand. “No, seriously, why would we do that?” Mal did not answer as she broke away from their dance, interlaced their fingers and led Arthur back to the bar where Eames was talking to Professor Miles. Mal took his hand, placed it in Eames' and laced their fingers together, beaming.

“Dad, it's your turn to dance with me,” Mal said and she took Miles and dragged him out onto the dance floor. Arthur watched them go and then looked at his hand holding Eames'. It was a little strange and more than a little uncomfortable and when he looked at Eames he saw the same expression on Eames' face. They released each other’s hands and watched as Mal danced with her father and Dom danced with his mother. About halfway through they broke away from their respective parents and gravitated back to each other like magnets.

“Professor Miles is a terrifying man,” Eames said.

“I am Jack's lack of surprise,” Arthur replied and they both ordered another drink.

At some point during the reception and after far too many drinks Mal managed to convince both of them to stay in the city. Arthur was not sure when that happened but before he knew it they were sending Cobb and Mal off to the airport. Arthur was hungover, Eames was worse, Cobb looked like Mal was the second coming and he was too proud to ask for a miracle, and Mal was thanking him for hanging around until after the honeymoon and breaking a few of his ribs in the process with her hug. Then they were gone and suddenly he and Eames had a week to kill and not much to do.

They traveled around the general area. They went to Northern California, they hiked in the redwoods, made their way through San Francisco, and walked along a cold beach in Point Reyes. It was a nice break because it was not long after Cobb and Mal vanished into the airport that Arthur got a message from her that the reason she had wanted them to stick around was for a job. Every time Arthur asked for details Mal sent him back a message that said 'ON MY HONEYMOON <3' and nothing else. He was beginning to think it was an automated response and wanted to hack it just to prove he could.

It was a nice week off until Mal called him and Arthur found himself once again having his ribs crushed by a French woman. She told them about the lovely night they had spent in a hotel right after the wedding and how the honeymoon had been amazing. Cobb and Mal looked at each other with these expressions of adoration that Arthur could not really wrap his mind around. It seemed dangerous the way they were so wrapped up in each other. It was not quite co-dependency but to lean so heavily on someone else seemed risky. There was a difference between Cobb and Mal and what he had with Eames. They depended on each other, trusted each other, but they worked with other people and they would be okay if separated. If Cobb and Mal were separated Arthur was not sure either of them would come away the same person.

Mal had rented a small apartment that paid by the week and had two bedrooms. Arthur wanted to chastise her for not letting him do this part of the job but arguing with Mal never seemed to work out well for him so it seemed better to just leave it alone. On the first night they sat around the small living room and passed around a bottle of whiskey though Mal declined any. She said she was not a whiskey drinker which left the bottle to Cobb, Eames and Arthur, and when it was gone Arthur felt relaxed and loose. Mal whispered something to Cobb and they both smirked.

“What's so funny?” Eames asked and Arthur did not remember when he had pressed his back against Eames' chest but there they were.

“Nothing, my dear,” Mal replied. Eames clearly did not believe her and neither did Arthur, but he decided it was best not to push the issue.

“Tell me about the job,” Arthur said, changing the subject.

“A chemist that we knew back when we were true academics called us just before the wedding and asked Mal if she could put together a team for an extraction,” Cobb explained. “Said we would need a forger and someone to work point so you two would be the logical choice.”

“Who are we extracting from? Can you give us any details?” Eames asked. Cobb and Mal knew how much Arthur hated going into jobs blind and the fact that they had accepted a job without asking more questions just revealed how naïve they both were.

“A lawyer wants to know which of his partners is taking bribes,” Cobb said without giving any names which was really irritating.

“Doesn't sound strictly legal,” Eames said casually.

“It isn't,” Mal said firmly. “Dreaming is not legal anymore and we still have so much that we want to see out there and we cannot do that without funds.”

“So you're doing this for the money,” Arthur summarized, which made sense if he thought about it.

“We have some interesting ideas on extreme depth we want to explore and Javier is willing to give us this low key job,” Cobb said and he and Mal smiled at each other again. Arthur glanced at Eames who was frowning deeply which Arthur could understand. They were meeting this Javier for lunch the next day and would be getting more details then. If they were not comfortable Arthur was fairly sure that Mal would only hate him a little if they pulled out and she would not talk to them for awhile if Arthur told them to get out as well but she would follow his advice. Arthur closed his eyes and listened to the steady sound of Eames' heartbeat.

Eames did not trust this job. He knew most of the chemists out there if only by name and he had never heard of a Javier before. This did not mean much if he was an academic now but it still made him uneasy. Arthur was as well but it was not just the job that had him uneasy. He kept looking at Cobb and Mal like there was something about the two of them that bothered him. Eames was sure if pressed Arthur would not be able to put it into words what was bothering him but it was there. They had not done anything physical the night before though Eames had considered it just to get back at Cobb and Mal who made no attempt to silence themselves on their behalf.

The next morning they all sat around a coffee pot in near silence. Eames had nothing else to add to this job and Arthur had plenty that he was not saying. They were both armed while Cobb and Mal were not. This was not entirely surprising considering they thought they were just going to lunch but it did point out just how little they knew about this business. It reminded Eames of the night of the wedding and how Miles had warned them to keep Cobb and Mal safe. It was not a job Eames wanted to be saddled with but here they were.

Javier was a small man, Eames would have been surprised if he broke five feet, with big eyes and greasy hair. Mal greeted him like an old friend but Eames could see the nerves in the corner of his mouth, the way he hung his shoulders, and it made Eames want to reach for his gun. Eames glanced at Arthur who also looked like he was about to pull a gun on someone, almost twitchy, and Arthur was always a steady presence.

“What is this?” Arthur asked. Cobb, Mal and Javier were all sitting at a tiny table outside a small cafe but the streets seemed strangely deserted. Everything was too quiet and Eames could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“Lunch now, take a seat, boys,” Mal said with a flick of her wrist. But Arthur was not so easily swayed, neither of them were, and it had saved their lives too many times to not trust their instincts.

“I will only ask one more time; what is this?” Arthur asked and now he was angry. Eames was his back because Arthur was a point and he was always the first one forward. Cobb stood and seemed to realize that things were about to get out of control.

“Come on, guys, let's chat about this first,” Cobb said, which was rich coming from the person that had shoved a loaded gun in Eames' face when Mal got hurt the first time they worked together but Eames kept that to himself. It was not going to help.

“This is a job,” Javier said but his voice was an octave too high and it had been minutes since a car had driven by. This was LA, which was not a quiet city, and now everything was quiet. Eames had a terrible feeling they were well and truly in trouble.

“I can see that but who are you working for?” Arthur asked. Javier looked at the table and Arthur slammed his palms down hard enough that a glass fell to the ground, shattering on impact. Javier kept his eyes on the table but he flinched. Mal seemed to realize that Arthur would not act this way unless something was truly wrong.

“Javier?” she asked and his face crumbled.

“I'm sorry,” Javier whispered. The world around them exploded; there was a deafening crack of a gun and a hole in Javier's forehead. Mal screamed and Cobb pulled her down to the ground under the table.

“Stay down!” Eames screamed at the Cobbs and he turned his attention back to the streets. They were empty but there were too many vantage points for a sniper. Arthur caught the movement behind some cars first and fired a few shots. There were no screams or grunts of pain so he must have missed. Suddenly there were people moving all around them, too many and too fast to hit them all at once. Arthur kicked one of the small tables and used it as cover and Eames did his best to do the same but they were small and not too effective. Bullets rained down on them like a hailstorm and over it all he could hear Mal sobbing. She was tough, they both were, but this was not their world.

“We have you surrounded so it would be in your best interest to stand up,” a voice called out and Eames knew that voice. He had heard it over the phone during meetings and it made him want to kick himself. He glanced at Arthur who looked angrier than Eames had ever seen him. Eames looked at Cobb and Mal, shaken and terrified, and they really did not have any choice. Arthur tossed his gun over the table and Eames did the same. The four of them stood up slowly, hands in the air and Eames stared down Adam Todd. “Lovely to meet you boys in person finally.”

“Your issue is with us, not them,” Arthur said. If they could get Cobb and Mal out of here then Eames and Arthur could focus on themselves and they wouldn’t have to protect civilians.

“I'm afraid it is far too late for that,” Todd said. He glanced at a gunman to his left and nodded. Eames opened his mouth to say something, anything, to keep this from happening but the gunman fired a shot. Mal screamed and for half a second Eames thought she had been hit but it was Cobb that crumbled to the ground, a hand over his side. Cobb's shirt was already stained with blood but it was the sight of Cobb's blood on Mal's hands that made Eames see red. A quick glance at Arthur and Eames instantly knew that Arthur was going to tear these people apart. “We don't need him for this,” Todd said with a wicked grin. “And we don't need you either.” Eames was about to tell them not to shoot Arthur, that of course they needed him, he was so important, but pain knocked the words off of Eames' tongue. Getting shot never got easier no matter how many times it happened and Eames pressed a hand to the wound to stop the blood flow as he stumbled to the ground.

“Eames, Eames, look at me,” Arthur said. His voice sounded steady but his eyes were wider and more panicked than Eames had ever seen them. Eames wanted to say something but when he took a breath all he tasted was blood. “Don't close your eyes, you hear me? You've survived worse than this, I know you have, so keep your eyes open.” There was another voice in the background, it was Mal and she was crying, and something else that was in the background that Eames could not make out. Eames held onto Arthur's hand like a lifeline and Eames was sure if he let go he would never wake up.

“Stay the fuck away--” Arthur said and the hand was gone. Eames could see three or four men pulling Arthur away. He was fighting, Arthur was a fighter, and vaguely Eames could see someone dragging Mal away. Todd was taking them, just like he had taken Ethan Tomas, and Eames knew what happened to the people that Todd took. Someone yelled out in pain, not Arthur or Mal, and another table fell over with a crash.

Through tables of the cafe Eames could just see two men throwing Mal into the back of a car and moments later he saw four more that were barely containing Arthur. One of them raised a gun and Eames tried to warn Arthur but nothing came out. The sound of a gun cracking against Arthur's skull echoed and Eames could do nothing as Arthur collapsed. He was bleeding out and Todd was taking Arthur and Mal and he could do nothing. The world began to fade and the last things he heard were doors slamming and Mal screaming Cobb's name.

Eames was surprised when he woke up. Everything hurt and the air smelled too clean. As his vision swam into focus Eames realized that he was alive, he could feel all of his limbs and he was in a hospital. He ignored the wave of nausea when he sat up and looked around. Cobb was in the bed next him, hooked up to machines but alive, and they were alone. Mal and Arthur were not there waiting for them to wake up and that meant that he had not hallucinated what had happened at that cafe. Eames closed his eyes and did his best to slow his pounding heartbeat. Arthur and Mal had been taken by Adam Todd and had mentioned a job. He and Cobb were alive and he knew nothing beyond that. The sound of Mal screaming Cobb's name and the sight of Arthur trying to fight off four men and looking like a wild animal ran through Eames' skull on an infinite loop.

The door opened and Eames half expected to open his eyes and see the barrel of a gun but Miles walked in. He looked pale with dark rings around his eyes but he also looked steady. They stared at each other for a moment until Cobb groaned and began to wake up. Without being told to do so Miles walked over and pinned Cobb to the bed. It was a good thing he did so because as soon as Cobb was coherent he began to thrash against the weight of his father in law.

“Where is she? Where is she?” Cobb screamed.

“We don't know yet, now calm down before you tear your stitches,” Miles replied sternly. Cobb stopped thrashing but he looked ready to defy all odds and bolt for the door. “Tell us what happened, Mr. Eames.”

“The chemist we were meeting set us up. The man that took Arthur and Mal is Adam Todd. Arthur and I turned down a job from him when it became apparent that he was going to use the extraction information to kill someone. He did not take the rejection well but we thought we had lost him,” Eames explained.

“He said he didn't 'need' us,” Cobb whispered. “What does that mean?”

“I'm assuming Todd wants them to do the job and at the end of the day you need an extractor and a point to get a job done. Arthur is well trained and could build a basic level,” Eames said. He did not apologize because there was really nothing he could say that would make this okay. Cobb looked sick but Miles looked a little thoughtful.

“He'll kill them after they do the job,” Miles said. Cobb made a choking sound but Eames nodded. “Mr. Arthur will know that so he will stall as long as possible so we can get to them.”

“We're going after them?” Cobb asked.

“He will keep Mal safe. I won't let Todd get away with this,” Eames said quietly. Cobb stared at him like he had never seen Eames before but Miles nodded.

“You two have been asleep for a day and a half and we can get you released from the hospital the day after tomorrow. No sooner, I'm afraid, but I will use my connections to get any information I can in the meantime. You focus on getting better and we can hope your Arthur is as strong as you think he is.” Miles turned to Cobb and the two of them began to talk quietly but Eames was not listening. Arthur was strong, stronger than anyone could ever predict, and Eames would burn the world down to get him back.

Arthur was not sure when he woke up entirely. He had vague memories of waking up once in a car but someone hit him over the head again and the world went black. He spent the next hours or days in and out of various states of unconsciousness. He was being moved around a lot and he had no idea where he was anymore. Arthur knew that he was not alone because he caught glimpses of pretty eyes and dark hair. It was enough to keep him from losing himself in the darkness completely. His limbs were heavy, he was probably drugged, and it was like swimming to keep himself awake.

“Rest, Arthur,” a soft voice said and Arthur listened.

The next time Arthur opened his eyes he was on a cold floor staring up at a single light bulb hanging from a ceiling. His head was pounding and it felt like there was dried blood in his hair. Arthur sat up slowly and took in his surroundings. He was in a small concrete room with no windows. There was what looked like a small bathroom off the side that was nothing more than a toilet the size of a closet. The door was metal and let in only a tiny sliver of light. Along the wall was a small cot barely big enough for one person and Arthur was surprised to see Mal asleep on the cot. Arthur scrambled over to the bed and had to take some deep breaths to keep from blacking out. Mal stirred and she was there to catch him before he fell. She held him up and hugged him tightly.

“Thank god you're awake,” Mal whispered into his neck. “I wasn't sure you were ever going to wake up.”

“I'm okay,” Arthur said, hugging Mal back. Arthur pulled back and began to look her over; there was some blood on her hands and clothing but she did not look hurt. “What happened?”

“They took us,” Mal said. “They moved us around a lot, made sure you were unconscious the entire time, and put a bag over my head so I couldn't see anything either. I don't know why we're here or what they want.” Arthur clenched his fists and closed his eyes because this was the last thing he wanted. It was one thing for his and Eames' problems to get them in trouble but now they were dragging other people down with them. Arthur squeezed Mal's upper arms and they helped each other sit on the bed. “Arthur, Cobb and Eames, they were--” Mal choked because she could not finish that sentence.

“They're strong,” Arthur said as Mal leaned against him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He hugged her tightly and did not want to lie. Arthur had no idea if Eames and Cobb were even alive but he knew that both of them would fight until the bitter end.

“What is happening?” she asked. Mal was involved now and that meant that she had the right to know.

“A couple of months ago Eames and I were hired to perform an extraction on a gentleman to find out the location of his sister. It became frighteningly apparent that Adam Todd wanted to find this girl so he could kill her. We didn't want any part in a kid dying even indirectly. Todd already had the brother so we broke him out and got him out of the country. Todd didn't take it well. We thought we had lost them but now we've dragged you into this mess,” Arthur explained. Mal did not blame him or scream at him, she just went deadly silent. After a long moment of silence, Mal whispered, terrified,

“Arthur, I have a confession

“What is it?” Arthur asked. She was silent for a long time as if she was having trouble finding the words. He gave her time, all that she needed, because time was all they seemed to have.

“I think I'm pregnant,” she said. Arthur felt his blood run cold because that was pretty much the worst thing she could say. There was literally nothing else that could make this situation even more dangerous for her than this. “I'm not far along, the 'danger zone' as they call it, but I took the test and it was positive. I was actually just going to consult for this job and have Dom and Eames handle the extraction. I was going to tell everyone after lunch. Not even Dom knows.” Mal was shaking and Arthur took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“I'm going to keep you safe,” he said.

“You can't make that promise,” Mal replied. Arthur released her from the hug and knelt down in front of her.

“I can and I just did. I'm going to keep you safe so you can tell Dom yourself that the two of you are going to be parents, okay?” Arthur took her hands and squeezed them. “I'm going to get us out of here.” Mal stared at him for a long time until she finally nodded slowly. Arthur was not sure if she strictly believed him but she seemed calmer. “Get some sleep and I'll keep watch, okay?”

“Okay, thank you, Arthur,” Mal said as she kissed him on the cheek. Mal climbed into the cot, wrapped the thin blanket around her body and fell asleep. Arthur sat down on the floor, his back against the bed, and watched the door. They would not be left alone for long and Arthur was not going to be taken by surprise when they got visitors.

Arthur was not sure how much time had passed but Mal woke up after several hours of restless sleep. She did not sit up and they did not talk, however, and Arthur kept his eyes on the door. As more time passed he decided that his time might be better spent elsewhere so he began to look around their room.

It was cold and dark with little natural lighting so more than likely they were underground. He could smell that slight odor of mildew that came with concrete bunkers and there was a chance that they were in some sort of abandoned military storage unit. The door was steel and the latches were firmly in place so there was no way of taking it off the hinges or breaking it down. The blanket and pillow smelled like the rest of the room did but they looked old not dirty. The bathroom was little more than an alcove with a tiny toilet that Arthur tried not to think about too much. It flushed but it sounded like the pipes were going to burst whenever they did. It was all bolted down so there was nothing Arthur could use as a weapon. There was nothing else in the room and no way out. He checked every corner and every cranny but there did not seem to be any bugs or recording material in the room. They were not being watched and Arthur was not sure if he was insulted by that or not.

It was all a mess of time and Arthur was not sure how much had passed when the sound of the lock turning nearly took him by surprise. Arthur was on his feet in seconds and Mal stood behind him. This was not her fight and he would not let it become hers. The door swung open and Todd strolled in with two guards flanking him on either side. All three of them were armed and there was no way he could take all of them without getting shot in the process.

“Mr. Arthur, you're looking better,” Todd said, all smug superiority but Arthur held his tongue; someone else’s life was also on the line.

“What do you want, Todd?” Arthur asked instead.

“I want you to perform an extraction on Mr. Tomas. He's not feeling very well these days, but as long as I get my information, I don't really care,” Todd said.

“I won't do it,” Arthur said firmly and Todd did not look surprised. He nodded to the two guards who took Arthur by the arms and pulled him away from Mal. The first blow was straight to his solar plexus and knocked the wind from his lungs. It was enough to make him stumble and that was all the opening they needed. The two guards were strong and they made sure every blow hurt. They hit him in all of the soft places that would bleed and bruise. Vaguely, over the punches, he heard Mal telling them to stop, please stop, but they were not listening. Arthur groaned on the ground and ignored the flare of pain throughout his entire body.

“Mr. Arthur, you have to know that this isn't going to end well for anyone,” Todd said as the two guards yanked Arthur back to his feet. “You're protecting your lady friend. That's lovely, and I know that she can't go under for very special little reasons. If you do the job we'll set her free and she can go raise her baby as a single mother.” Arthur wanted to punch him for that comment and judging from the angry sound behind him Mal did as well. “How about you think it over?” The guards shoved Arthur back a few steps so Mal had to put her hands out to steady him. Todd left two water bottles and two supermarket sandwiches on the floor near the door, smirked at the two of them and slammed it shut, the lock sliding into place.

“If we do the job, if I do the job, they're just going to kill us,” Arthur said as Mal helped him sit on the bed. “The job is what Todd wants and nothing else.”

“They're just going to keep hurting you,” Mal said. She had picked up the sandwiches and water bottles and set them on the floor. She tore a piece of cloth from her shirt and pressed it against his head. Arthur felt the sting of his reopened head wound and did not even notice that he was bleeding again.

“I can handle it,” Arthur said and it did not taste like a lie. “I can do this while we wait for Eames and Cobb to find us.” Something in Mal's expression wilted and Arthur hated himself for putting it there, for putting her in this place at all, for getting both of them involved.

“He said--”

“He lied,” Arthur interrupted fiercely. Mal nodded slowly and pressed the cloth to his head. Arthur let Mal have a third of his sandwich and some of his water on top of her own. Despite her protests Arthur lay down on the floor instead of sharing the bed and closed his eyes. Everything hurt and the floor was going to make it worse but he was not going to let Mal sleep on this floor. Not when this was his and Eames' fault to begin with. He had to endure and Arthur knew he could do that. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the aches and pain.

Three days after Mal and Arthur were taken, the hospital discharged Eames and Cobb, but Eames knew it was going to be tough to get by. He was still in a considerable amount of pain but there was no way he could just leave Arthur and Mal to Todd. He had seen the kind of state Ethan had been in when they rescued him and just thinking that the two of them could be going through something similar or worse made Eames want to put his fist through a wall. Apparently he was not the only one because Miles met them outside the second they were released with a rather large pile of information about Todd and everything he was involved in.

"What are we going to do?" Cobb asked as the three of them sat down at a table. While Arthur was the one that normally did this sort of thing that did not mean that Eames was incompetent.

"Professor Miles has provided us with a lot of information regarding Todd and his movements. Give me a pot of coffee and a few hours to go through all of this and I'll see if I can find a location for us to start with," Eames said. Cobb nodded enthusiastically and darted off to make the coffee but Miles did not leave, which was unnerving if nothing else. "I'll find them."

"I'm sure you will," Miles replied. He sounded calm and collected but there was an undercurrent of violence there that set Eames' teeth on edge. This man was truly a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately Cobb swept in with coffee to relieve the tension and Eames threw himself into the papers to try and find something, anything, that could lead them to Arthur and Mal before it was too late.

Twelve hours later and Eames knew a frightening amount of information about Adam Todd. He was linked to a string of murders and incidences of torture where the victims never recovered and never uttered a word about what had happened. The information about the Lilly Tomas incident was scattered but it looked like he was more determined than ever to find her. It did not take long for Eames to find out that Ethan was missing again which could only mean that Todd wanted Arthur and Mal to perform the extraction.

"She can't," Cobb said urgently.

"I know. We already went over this; the second they do the job they're dead so of course they can’t do it," Eames said without looking up from his papers.

"No, no, it's not just that Mal shouldn't do the job, she can't," Cobb repeated which made Eames look up at him patiently waiting for an elaboration. "She doesn't know that I know but she's pregnant."

"She's what? How could you not mention that before now?" Eames asked.

"She doesn't even know that I know and I've been a little out of my mind on painkillers, thank you very much," Cobb snapped. "She can't go under because it could hurt the baby and she isn't very far along."

"Not to mention that the shit that Todd puts people through could cause plenty of complications." Cobb made a sound like a dying animal and Eames took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "If Arthur finds out he'll do anything to keep her and that baby safe. We need to keep looking." Cobb looked a little relieved and they went back to looking over the information. Todd did not seem to have a huge presence in the states but there was enough information pointing to Phoenix that there could be something there. Todd did some drug smuggling on the side and Phoenix was one of the stopping grounds for getting it over the border.

"Then we will go to Phoenix," Miles said and he got on the phone booking a flight right that moment. Eames was about to argue that he did not need someone to pay his way but Miles did not seem to be the type of person that would accept that objection lightly. Instead Eames made a few phone calls to a contact he knew in the area and put in an order for guns. By the time they got there Todd would have had Arthur and Mal for four days. There was a chance they were already dead but he could not even think that was a possibility. Eames knew that Arthur was strong and he would hold out until help was on the way. Arthur knew that Eames would not let him rot in a cell and Eames hoped that was enough to keep Arthur and Mal alive. Eames managed to grab some sleep before their flight but for the first time since the program Eames thought he had nightmares.

Phoenix was stupidly hot and Eames hated it right away. He had never been to this city before and while it was a dry heat, 100+ Fahrenheit was still like walking into an oven. He refused to let it bother him though and walked with Cobb and Miles through the airport. All of the evidence pointed to Phoenix but there were a dozen locations where Todd could be holding prisoners. Miles strolled through the airport like he did not have a care in the world and Cobb looked like he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. This was his backup and Eames idly thought about how he wanted Arthur as his backup to find Arthur.

Eames took a cab so he could meet up with his arms dealer while Cobb and Miles followed behind in a rental car. Eames knocked twice and was let into a small basement apartment that smelled strongly like gunpowder and explosives. Ben was in the middle of the living room, a young man with horn rimmed glasses and messy hair, mixing chemicals while eating a poptart. If Eames was in any other business it would have been surreal.

"What brings you to my corner of the world, Eames?" Ben asked without looking up.

"Looking to cause a little trouble and get something of mine back," Eames replied. Ben took another bite of his poptart and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the chemicals.

"Do you need anything else besides guns? This one is going to pack quite a punch when I'm done," Ben said.

"I don't need to blow anything up, Ben, thanks though," Eames replied. "Do you know anything about Adam Todd?" To his credit Ben only flinched a little and it would have been missed by anyone else but finding people's tells was Eames' entire job.

"So you and Arthur were the ones that spit in Todd's face," Ben said as he finished off the poptart. "The only thing I can tell you is that he's been after blood since that whole incident happened. You might find whatever he has of yours alive but there might be a few pieces missing." Eames was not going to let anyone see his reaction to that, least of all someone who had shifting loyalties. Ben looked up from his chemicals and smiled because Eames' silence was all he really needed. "Back room has your order; do you have my money?"

"Wouldn't dream of trying to stiff you, Ben," Eames said, dropping an envelope on the table and walking toward the back room. He found a duffel bag with several guns and extra rounds of ammo. When he had made sure that everything he had asked for was in the bag Eames turned to walk out.

"You be careful, Eames," Ben said as he was walking out. "Just remember that Todd could always hire another team that doesn't have your moral code." It was the thing that Eames was trying hard not to think about. There was the chance that Todd would just kill Arthur and Mal and hire someone else who had no problems with extracting the location of a kid so they could be killed. Eames did not dignify Ben with a response and joined Miles and Cobb in the rental car.

"Do you know how to shoot in the real world?" Eames asked Cobb when they arrived at a small apartment complex that rented by the week. Eames took the guns out of the bag and began to clean and load them. "I know you can pull guns on people in the real world and not practice trigger discipline."

"You're never going to let that go," Cobb grumbled. "Yes, I know how to shoot."

"Have you ever killed anyone in the real world?" Eames asked though he already knew the answer. Cobb, however, did not reply right away. Instead he picked up one of the unloaded guns and looked it over.

"If it means I get Mal back I'll do whatever it takes," Cobb said. Eames nodded though he was not sure if Cobb really understood what he was saying. Instead he finished loading the guns as Miles looked over the information.

"I believe I have narrowed it down to a location," Miles said. "This warehouse here seems like the most likely place where Todd would keep Mal and Arthur. It looks like there are people guarding it."

“I can take care of it,” Eames said. He strapped a gun to his ankle, a shoulder holster and a thigh holster. Cobb actually seemed to know what he was doing now and did not do something stupid like stick a gun in the back of his pants or in a pocket. Miles drove them to the warehouse and left them alone because he did not want to get caught in the crossfire. “Stay behind me and cover my back. Once we’ve confirmed hostiles don’t hesitate to shoot.”

“I can do this,” Cobb assured him, though Eames was not sure who he was trying to convince. They moved forward quietly and Eames could hear people talking. They were saying something about a room in the back and how it had to be kept safe. They mentioned Todd’s name and Eames decided that he had had enough of this and he was getting Arthur and Mal back. He looked at Cobb, nodded, and raised a gun to fire.

From there it was a burst of chaos and bullets. Eames fired without hesitation at each of the guards that had automatic weapons. Eames was fairly sure he saw Cobb shoot a guard straight between the eyes without blinking which was surprising considering he had never killed anyone in the real world. It was a good thing, in some ways, because Eames was no longer worried about watching his back. There were not that many guards and by the time they reached a large metal door Eames had only wounded six men. That did not seem like enough but they were all scrambling to protect this door.

“It’s locked,” Cobb said when he tried to open it but Eames shoved him aside and began to work on picking the lock. The door was too thick to hear if there was anyone on the other side but the guards had been protecting this door and there had to be some reason for that. Todd was not present and Eames was disappointed. He began to think of how he and Arthur were going to hunt the man down when the lock clicked. He pushed the door open to reveal an empty cell. “Where are they? Why aren’t they here?” Cobb asked as he walked around the room. There was nothing here, not even any evidence that someone had ever been here, save for a single piece of paper taped on the far wall.

“Watch the door. We don’t want someone to run over and lock us in,” Eames ordered. Cobb looked wrecked but he nodded and stood near the entrance. Eames crossed the room and took the paper off of the wall and joined Cobb at the entrance. He opened it to reveal a picture of Arthur and Mal in an identical cell time stamped for the day before. Arthur was bloody and bruised but he was alive and standing in front of Mal when the picture was taken. They had been played, and Eames swore loudly. They had been alive, as of the day before, and Eames and Cobb were no closer to finding them.

For two days no one came to Arthur and Mal except to bring them food and to take a picture, no doubt to show Eames and Cobb. After four days Arthur was beginning to feel the effects of not enough sleep and hardly any food. Since the first day they had brought them one water bottle and half a sandwich, most of which Arthur made Mal eat. He was exhausted in a way that felt bone deep and he had a touch of nausea that never really went away. Fortunately for them it seemed that Mal was not suffering from morning sickness yet but she was weak as well. His injuries were on their way to healing which is why he knew that they would come for him soon. Mal was asleep, curled under the thin blanket that did not seem like enough. Arthur was keeping watch and he was on his feet in a second as soon as he heard the lock turn.

"Mal, wake up, someone is coming in," Arthur said. Mal stirred awake and quickly jumped to her feet. She stood behind Arthur but not enough that she could not see over his shoulder. The door opened and Adam Todd walked in, all smug conviction. Arthur wanted to punch that expression off of his face and he had to clench his fists to keep from doing just that.

"Mr. Arthur and Mrs. Cobb, I must say it is lovely to see the two of you again," Todd said.

"Can't say the same about you," Arthur said.

"Today someone shot quite a few of my guards in a truly futile attempt to find you two," Todd explained which made Arthur's blood run cold. Todd did not seem worried at all which did not bode well for them. "It's so hard to find good help these days so I'm a little annoyed about this. Do you know what would make me less annoyed?" Arthur knew when he was being baited and Mal was smart enough to figure that out on her own so they said nothing. When pressed, Arthur blamed exhaustion for why he had not seen the blow coming when Todd backhanded him. Mal made a small sound behind him and Arthur tasted blood. "I asked you a question and now I expect an answer."

"It would make you less annoyed if we agreed to do the job. My answer is the same so I guess you're going to stay annoyed." Arthur must have had some sort of death wish because he did not think twice before he spit blood all over Todd's shoes. Todd blinked once, slowly, and looked down like he could not believe what had just happened. A heavy silence passed and the two enforcers behind Todd fidgeted as if they were not sure what to do now. Todd nodded to the two of them and took a step back.

Arthur was not going to roll over for them no matter how exhausted he was. Arthur blocked the first punch from one of the guards and sucker punched him straight in the kidneys. The man grunted, stumbled and Arthur turned his fury on the other guard. Arthur threw a volley of quick punches that the guard was only able to block a few times before Arthur felt skin beneath his knuckles. Arthur was a little out of his mind between the exhaustion and how hungry he was so he excused himself for how brutally he tried to smash the guard’s face in. The other guard must have regained his composure because Arthur fell to the ground when someone landed a sharp blow on the back of his head. He stumbled, hit the floor, and his body was not responding the way it should and he could not get up as fast as he liked.

They were holding him down, punching, kicking. Arthur tasted more blood and the world seemed to blur along the edges. Vaguely he could hear someone in the background screaming for them to 'stop, stop, please, stop' so it was probably Mal. Arthur wanted to tell her that she should stop yelling. He had to keep their attention on him so they would not hurt her and if that meant a boot to the face Arthur was willing to do that. The fists and boots were suddenly gone and Arthur struggled against bruised ribs to catch his breath. Soft hands were on him, touching him, and he knew that was Mal.

"Mr. Arthur, I'm afraid that my patience is running short," Todd said from above him. The mere thought of moving to look up at Todd made Arthur struggle against throwing up. "The next time I ask will be the last and if you still refuse I'm going to put a bullet in Mrs. Cobb's head." Arthur tensed at the thought but Todd left with his two guards a moment later. The sound of the door slamming and the lock sliding into place seemed louder over the ringing in his ears.

"I can't believe you did that," Mal chastised as she struggled to help him sit up. Arthur groaned as the world spun and Mal must have been a psychic or something because she dragged him over to the toilet so he could lose the contents of his stomach. It was mostly bile and blood that stung the back of his throat and made his eyes water. When he was done Mal put his arm over her shoulder and helped him walk back to the bed.

"No, no, it's your bed, you lie down," Arthur said through split lips.

"Arthur, you're hurt, I can sleep on the floor," Mal said.

"No, no, you need it more, I'll be fine," Arthur insisted. This was not something he was going to give any ground on, because Mal was pregnant and not nearly far enough along that she was not in danger of miscarrying. The last thing Arthur wanted was for something to happen to her. Mal sighed and helped him lie down on the floor next to the bed. His blood was on her hands, underneath her fingernails, and Mal was not a person that should have blood on her hands. Arthur closed his eyes and wondered if he should sleep. His ears were ringing and he probably had a concussion but when he closed his eyes Arthur could put the rest of his pain out of his mind. He was cold though and he did not fight the shiver that ran down his spine.

"This is stupid," Mal said. "Get up here."

"I said I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, Mal," Arthur replied.

"Then get up here with me. We can share," she said. Arthur froze because that was not something he could do. Mal was a married woman and while his morals were dubious at best, sharing a bed with a married woman was not a line he wanted to cross. Mal moved so she was looking over the bed and down at him. "I know you won't do anything and we're both cold. You know I trust you and I want you to be more comfortable. I know what you're doing." What she meant was that she knew Arthur was provoking them so she would not get hurt.

Arthur said nothing because this did not seem right and he wanted Mal to be as comfortable as possible. When she climbed off the bed again and nearly dragged him onto it with her Arthur found he really did not have much of a choice in the matter. Mal laid on her back and wrapped Arthur's arms around her stomach, tangled his legs with hers and adjusted so his cheek was on her chest. It was much warmer and much more comfortable than the concrete floor and it got even better when Mal pulled the blanket over the two of them.

"If Cobb shoots me for this I'm coming back and haunting you," Arthur said. Mal chuckled, tucked his head under her chin and began to rub his back. "I'm getting blood and god knows what else all over you."

"I should probably get used to having gross things on me," Mal said and Arthur smiled against her skin. If he was with someone else this would have been intimate and sexual in a very uncomfortable way but the way Mal was holding him felt almost parental. She was going to make a good mom. Arthur trembled whether it was from the cold or his injuries but once he started he found that he could not stop. The last four days of waiting, not knowing, the pain, not enough food or water, waiting for the hammer to come down, it had felt like he was splitting open. Arthur tightened his hold on Mal a little because she needed to be safe, he had to keep her safe, that was all that mattered.

"I'm getting you out of here," Arthur whispered. "I won't let them hurt you."

"I know you won't and that worries me most of all," Mal replied. Arthur closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. It felt a lot like the first time he had gotten killed in a dream so many years ago, how it had felt like the room was caving in and his heart was going to explode, but Mal kissed his forehead and began to hum. It was soothing and slowly Arthur relaxed and stopped shaking. Her humming filled the silence in the cell and they waited. Todd might come back tomorrow and demand that Arthur do the job or he might wait a week. Either way they were running out of time.

Eames wanted to burn the warehouse down. They were being toyed with and there was no one left for them to interrogate. The injured guards were gone by the time they walked back out of the compound leaving nothing but the bodies of their fallen comrades and bloodstains on the floor. Miles was waiting for them when they walked back out to the car; he did not look impressed. Cobb did not say anything as he climbed into the back of the car which left Eames the passenger seat. Miles started the car and they drove in silence for nearly ten minutes until Eames thought he was going to crawl out of his skin.

"This man knows that you two are alive now," Miles said.

"He knew before that," Eames said. "Todd left us a picture of Mal and Arthur time stamped to let us know that they are alive. He is playing with us."

"How much time do you think we have left?" Miles asked. Cobb made a pained sound in the back of the car; Eames ignored him.

"Arthur and Mal aren't looking too good. I'd say they're being held in a similar place," Eames said as he took in the details of the picture. Arthur looked angry, furious even, but worn around the edges as well. They were both pale and there was blood on Arthur face, hands, and clothes and he had injuries but they looked like they were healing, like it had been some time since someone had hurt him. Mal did not seem to be injured but Eames was not surprised by that. He had known from the beginning that Arthur would do whatever he could to keep Mal safe. Miles cleared his throat and Eames realized that he had cut himself off mid thought. "Let's get back so I can look this over for anything that could help us."

Once they were back in the room Eames sat down at the desk, folded his hands, and stared down at the picture. Instead of looking at Arthur and Mal he took in the details around him that he could see. The photo was not altered in any way; the pixels and everything else were untouched or it was a fantastic fake job. The date was from the day before and Arthur was holding a cell phone to show the time. Eames could make out four bars on the screen, the provider and that there was a 4G symbol in the top corner so it was in an area that had service. Behind them was a blank concrete wall with a tiny window near the ceiling and there did not seem to be any streetlights nearby. The setup of the room looked a lot like the one they had found that day but now they had too many more locations to look for and not enough time.

Eames slammed his fist on the table and relished the pain. Miles and Cobb were not in the room, they were probably asleep, but Eames could not let himself sleep knowing that Todd could be tearing Arthur apart. How could either of them be sleeping knowing that? He thought about Ethan Tomas and how he had looked when they had found him in that cell. The thought of Arthur beaten, bloody, stretched so thin made Eames want to kill everyone.

The sound of his phone ringing was a surprise and when Eames checked the number he was even more surprised to find Ben's number flashing at him. There was really no reason for Ben to contact him directly at four in the morning and arms dealers rarely did unless they had just realized that the bomb they had sold you would explode in two minutes and not twenty.

"This is Eames," Eames said even though he did not have any bombs that could explode at the wrong time.

"Hello, Eames," Ben said. "You don't sound very happy, so I'm assuming your operation didn't go so well?"

"You could say that. Are you trying to sell me some more ammo, Ben? Because if I get anymore the Yankees are going to think I'm trying to invade them." Eames was not really in the mood for this but hanging up on someone who could probably launch a heat seeking missile at him seemed like a bad idea.

"I'm not entirely surprised, considering who you're dealing with. I'm at a diner just down the street from my place, why don't you come down? I have a feeling that I have something you'll want to see," Ben said, chuckling.

"You can't just tell me over the phone?" Eames asked.

"Sorry, Eames, you know I'm an in-person kind of guy. You probably want to get here sooner than later though," Ben replied and the line went dead. By now Ben probably knew that it was Arthur that Todd had and it was a well known fact that Eames and Arthur were partners. It made sense that if Ben knew something or had found out something about Arthur he would tell Eames even if he did not want to get involved. Scary people like Todd were not good for business; they kept prospective buyers out of the city. The smart thing to do would be to wake up Cobb and go in as a team but Eames did not have time to deal with that. Instead he grabbed his gun, an extra magazine, took the keys and raced down to the car.

The diner was easy enough to find, a hole in the wall local place. It was still hot, too hot considering the time, so all of the windows and doors to the diner were open. There were a few people at tables eating, talking, laughing; most of them looked very drunk. Eames spotted Ben alone in a booth. He was eating what looked like a large plate of pancakes with a pile of bacon off to the side. Eames sat down carefully, unsure of where this was going.

"Morning, Eames, want some coffee?" Ben asked as he took a bite of his pancakes.

"Normally I'd say yes but I'm sort of in the middle of something important, as you know," Eames replied. He was trying to keep his temper under control, he really was, but if Ben had asked him out for breakfast Eames was going to throttle him.

"I know you are and that's why you're here," Ben replied. He picked up a piece of bacon and gestured to a man that was sitting alone at a table. He looked so drunk that he could barely stay awake and more than once he started to list off to the side like he was about to curl up and go to sleep right there. He looked like any other drunk that had decided to try and sober up before driving home. "I was in here getting food as I often do at four in the morning when he walked in. Fortunately for me he is either too drunk or did not see me because if he did he would have probably shot me in the head."

"I'm sorry that you've pissed someone off, Ben, but--"

"Let me finish," Ben interrupted. "I did piss someone off and that guy over there works for that someone. In fact he is pretty high on the list of people that work for this someone. This someone is the same person you're trying to find." There was a reason Ben was being evasive because no one in this town wanted to say Todd's name. "The thing about these people is that they are taught through very interesting methods not to talk. You, however, specialize in getting people to talk without talking."

"I don't have the equipment for that," Eames replied without taking his eye off of the man.

"I might have something you could borrow," Ben replied. Eames glanced at him and Ben shrugged. "In exchange for it I just need you to get rid of our mutual problem. It would make my life easier and last much longer."

"Usually you lot don't like to get involved in this sort of thing," Eames said.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We're just meeting for some coffee then I'm going home. Whatever happens when I leave is not my business," Ben said grinning. "Have that cup, Eames, we might have to kill some time." The waitress came around and Eames drank some burnt coffee while Ben ate his breakfast like they were not looking at a man through a scope. Ben paid for their food and was on his way out the door when the man stumbled to his feet and walked out the door as well. Eames stayed a few steps behind him and could smell the alcohol on him. He was beyond drunk so it was easy to trip him in the dark parking lot, to silence him with a hand over his mouth and make him go to sleep. When Eames looked up Ben was gone but in the passenger seat of his car was a familiar silver case. As Eames put the man in the back seat of the car he remembered why Ben was a good ally to have. It was worth the 4AM coffee at least.

"How in the hell did this happen?" Cobb asked when he walked out into the living room to find Eames sitting at a desk and an unconscious man on the couch. Eames barely looked up from the information on this man that he was trying to gather. They did not have much in the way of time to figure out exactly whose head they were going into but Eames did not really care right now. He barely looked up but he heard Miles join Cobb and he could feel the two of them staring at him as if they were not sure if he had gone off the deep end.

"His name is John Williams and he is the third in command of Adam Todd's enforcers. My arms dealer called me last night and told me where to find him. He should know where Arthur and Mal are. However, he is not going to just tell us where they are so I figured we should save the time and just go in and take it," Eames replied. He turned in the chair and saw that Cobb looked surprised while Miles looked thoughtful.

"Dom, please figure out a maze that would work for this since you will be the dreamer. We don't have time for Mr. Eames to memorize a new dream," Miles said. He walked further into the room and knelt down next to the PASIV, opening it up and looking it over. Cobb seemed to come out of his surprise at the situation and began to dig through his suitcase until he found a notebook.

Eames went back to ignoring the two of them in favor of using every dirty trick that Arthur had taught him over the years to find every bit of information on this man. He was not surprised that there was not much; this was the high ranking henchman of a guy that had no problem kidnapping people but there was enough that Eames had a feeling that he knew what they were getting into. This was also a man, though, who was heavily trained in how to keep quiet.

"No, I'm going to be the dreamer," Eames said.

"But I'm just an architect--" Cobb began.

"No, this guy is pretty brutal, wanted for several counts of murder. A mind like that is going to be hostile and I can hold my own against the projections much better than you can. You're going to have to extract, Cobb," Eames said.

"He's right, Dom," Miles said after a beat of silence. "Mr. Eames is much more capable of fighting than you are. You are married to my daughter and she is one of the best extractors we saw in the program. Surely you must have picked up some tips from her."

"Obviously," Cobb said as he closed his notebook. "But this is Mal. What if I mess it up?"

"Simple," Eames said as he sat back and began to remember a dream from a previous job. "Don't mess it up." Cobb did not look convinced about that but he began to talk quietly to Miles nevertheless. Eames turned his attention back to finding information on John Williams but every moment that passed made him more and more uneasy. Eames hated going in blind but there was no possible way they were going to find Arthur and Mal if they did not do this soon. He had a level now so they just needed to make sure that Cobb was not going to botch it.

Nearly two hours later and they were finally setting up the PASIV to go into the dream. Eames might have had something to do with it mostly because they were running out of sedatives to keep Williams asleep and also because Mal and Arthur had been prisoners for five days now. Eames had a good feeling that they were not going to last longer than a week. Miles finished setting up the machine and Eames did not wince at the sting from the needle in his arm.

"We have enough to put you under for ten minutes," Miles explained. "After that we will have to find more somnacin and try again. You both know that a mind can adapt to a second attempt rapidly and I'm sure Mr. Todd will be missing his comrade soon."

"Basically you're saying we only have one shot at this," Cobb said and Miles nodded. "Okay, let's do this, we can do this." Eames did not think Cobb sounded that confident but he lay down on the floor anyway. It was not like they had much of a choice. Miles glanced at the two of them, nodded and pushed the button. Eames could feel the chemicals rushing through his veins and the world faded into white.

The dream was a city block that looked a lot like New York but not quite. There was a bar where Eames made sure that Williams was sitting. Cobb would have to sweet talk the man into giving up his secrets while Eames kept his distance. The dream felt stable but he had been unable to find out whether or not Williams was aware of dreaming or if he was militarized. If he was trained then things were going to get very interesting very quickly. Eames caught Cobb's eye as he walked into the bar and Eames entered a few minutes after him.

Williams was at the bar drinking what looked like straight whiskey with no regard for taste. Getting a mark drunk in a dream was not the best plan because some people got more paranoid the more they drank but it looked like this was not something they were going to have a choice about. Cobb ordered a drink and sat down next to Williams. The projections around them acted normally, as if they did not have a care in the world, and Eames watched them.

"Whiskey straight? Jeez man, are you having a bad day?" Cobb asked.

"Bad life," Williams replied as he finished another drink.

"I hear you, man. My wife just up and vanished the other day, left me the car and the house and all of the bills, can't believe the bitch did that," Cobb grumbled and Eames snorted.

"Mine is more job related," Williams said and he ordered another drink.

"Need anyone to vent to?" Cobb asked and Williams tensed. "Stranger in a bar is about as close to a therapist as you can get only without the $500 bills."

"It's not exactly something I can talk about," Williams said.

"Ah, well, we all have our secrets with work and what not," Cobb mused.

"Yeah, work, right." Williams downed another drink but he still looked uncomfortable. A waitress in the bar dropped a beer bottle and swore when it crashed to the ground. A few minutes prior she had been peppy and grinning. Eames wanted to tell Cobb to hurry it up but there was no way of doing that without drawing attention to himself. Williams probably knew who Eames was and they were lucky so far that he had not placed Cobb's face.

"We just need to keep them safe," Cobb finished. Williams narrowed his eyes and looked at Cobb directly for the first time. Eames could practically see him trying to place Cobb's face from somewhere. Eames stood up and made his way through the bar and snuck into the backroom where the manager’s safe was. He just hoped Cobb had seen him. Moments later Cobb joined him in the manager’s office and Eames locked the door.

"Did he recognize you?" Eames asked as he pulled out his gun.

"I think he was starting to," Cobb said. The safe was in the corner of the room and Cobb knelt down in front of it. Outside the door Eames could hear people moving around and the dream warped into the maze leading from the bar to the office. The projections would come after them now but the maze was well done enough that he did not think they could get to them in time. "Got it," Cobb said and he began to go through the safe. Eames knelt down next to him and they looked through the piles of papers. Maybe this was going to take longer than they had thought.

"Apparently this guy has a lot of work related secrets," Eames said as he looked through paper after paper about people who owed protection money, where bodies were buried, who was going to get their kneecaps hit with a crowbar, all things he was not very happy about knowing. Outside the door began to shake as the projections raced through the maze but Cobb did not even look up.

"You said they were looking for someone named Lilly Tomas right?" Cobb asked.

"Yes, they want to extract her location from her brother Ethan. We can assume that Todd already has him as well," Eames replied. The projections were getting closer and he was going to have to lead them away soon if they did not hurry this up.

"This looks like a transcript of an email or some text messages. 'Todd told me about this point man and architect we have,'" Cobb read from a paper. "'The architect won't go under, we think she's pregnant, but it's been great at keeping the point subdued. He's been taking all the beatings so we don't touch her.'" Eames fantasized about how he was going to put a bullet in Todd's head. "'He's weak though and we're going to ask him one more time tomorrow to do the job or we're going to kill her. He'll say yes because he's a fucking idiot but Mr. Todd knows that since he's starving and dehydrated his body won't be able to handle the job. He'll drop into limbo or go into cardiac arrest. Mr. Todd will kill the woman and leave her as an example to everyone else.'"

"Is it dated?" Eames asked very carefully because letting Cobb see just how angry he was was probably not a good idea for the dream.

"Yeah, yesterday, they're doing this today," Cobb whispered as he dug through the papers some more. Eames did as well and he did not flinch when the projections threw themselves at the door. He turned the door to metal because it did not really matter now that they were caught. They had to find a location, it was nine in the morning topside and they might already be too late. Eames threw papers aside until he found another text message written on a piece of paper. It was from a week ago and Todd's name was at the top. It just said 'take them here' with a location. It was around the same time that Arthur and Mal had been taken. The door cracked and they were out of time.

"I have the location," Eames said as Cobb looked up.

"Are you sure?" Cobb asked as the door began to cave in.

"I have to be; we're out of time," Eames replied. He picked up his gun and shot Cobb between the eyes. He did not have time to dwell on the irony that he was the one that had put the gun in Cobb's face this time. The door burst open just as Eames put the smoking barrel to his head and pulled the trigger.

Eames blinked once, twice, before his head was clear enough that he could get to his feet. The drugs were still in his system and he could hardly stand but that did not matter. There was literally no time to stop and wait because they were going to drop Arthur into limbo or let him die today. Cobb was quickly explaining what had happened in the dream as Eames gathered his things. The address was across the city and it was rush hour. It could take them up to an hour to get there. It did not matter that he had not slept naturally in over a day, it did not matter that somnacin was still rushing through his system, they had to go and they had to go now.

"The car is ready. Let's go," Miles said. They grabbed the last of their things, dragged Williams out to a dark alley where he would wake up eventually with no keys, wallet or phone and started across the city. If they were too late Eames swore to himself that he would destroy Todd’s empire.

Arthur had a beautiful woman in his arms and that was not normal. There had been only a few people during the time when he and Eames were not working together but it had been a long time since he had been with someone like Mal. Even if she was just asleep and using him for warmth. She was gentle, wary of his wounds, but held on tight nevertheless. Arthur ignored his ribs in favor of letting Mal hug the life out of him. It was in no way a bad thing, and he knew that she was beginning to feel the effects of everything that had happened over the last five days. It was nearly nine in the morning judging by where he could see the sun through the window. It had only been about a day and a half since they had come to ask him to do the job and Arthur had a feeling they would come again today. He was weak from the previous beating and no one had brought them any food or water.

Mal shifted and Arthur could feel her slowly waking up. So far as the two of them could tell, the baby was okay. There was no bleeding and that was the major thing they were worried about. Mal tucked herself under Arthur's chin and sighed.

"They are going to come again soon," she said,

"Yes," Arthur replied.

"Probably today," she said and Arthur nodded. "Don't lie to me, Arthur, I'll know if you're lying. Are we going to die?" Arthur thought about lying because he wanted to reassure her, but it did not seem fair to sugar coat it at this point in the game. That was not how he worked and she had asked for the honesty.

"Cobb and Eames are alive and they're looking for us," Arthur said. "I'll do everything I can to stall for as long as possible."

"It's a 'yes' or 'no' question Arthur," Mal said.

"I don't know," he said. She nodded against his neck and held onto him a little tighter. It twinged his bruised ribs but Arthur ignored it. He was not going to deny her comfort even if it hurt him a little. The locks on the door began to open. Mal helped him out of the bed and Arthur put himself between her and the door. She took his hand and held on tight and Arthur squeezed her hand. The door opened and Todd walked in, flanked by the same two guards.

"Mr. Arthur, you're not looking so well," Todd said, smiling. Arthur was not going to allow himself to be baited by this man so he said nothing. "I see how it is. Well, it has been five days so I think you know what I want by now."

"And you know my answer," Arthur replied. Todd sighed and walked forward casually as if he was not walking over Arthur's bloodstains on the floor. Mal released his hand just as Todd took Arthur by the collar and jerked him forward.

"If you don't agree to this job I will put a bullet in Mrs. Cobb's head," Todd said as one of the guards pointed a gun at Mal.

"If you touch her I will find a way to kill myself," Arthur replied coolly. "You need someone with a delicate touch for this job, someone who knows Ethan Tomas better than most and who knows what to look for, and that's me. The entire community knows exactly who you are, Todd, and even those with no morals at all aren’t going to work for you for any price. Above all else, dreamers are selfish and none of them are going to risk their necks to do a job for you. If you kill us Cobb and Eames will make sure no one will work for you ever again. So, Mr. Todd, you need me and that means you don't lay a finger on her."

Todd still looked smug, like he had the upper hand somehow, and Arthur was done with that. Without thinking twice he slammed his forehead into Todd's nose and he felt the bone shatter. Todd cried out in pain and stumbled back, a hand over his broken nose. One of the guards came over and hit Arthur in his cracked ribs hard enough that he saw stars.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" Todd screamed. Arthur could hardly catch his breath so it was not hard for the guards to subdue him. Arthur was not sure over the ringing in his ears but he thought he heard Mal chuckling behind him. Todd pulled his hand away and Arthur enjoyed the sight of blood running down his face. If he was going to die then he was going to make sure Todd had something to remember him by, and if a crooked nose was all he could do Arthur was okay with that. “We’re plugging you in today, Arthur, and you’re going into that dream whether you like it or not.”

“Wait,” Mal said as the guards began to drag Arthur away. “You can’t do that. He’s physically weak and his body can’t take it.” Mal ran toward them as if she could stop them but one of the guards shoved her back. Arthur glanced over his shoulder and saw Mal staring at him like it was the last time she was ever going to see him. The door slammed and she was gone. Mal was right, he was too weak physically to go under, and if he did there was a very good chance he could drop into limbo or his entire body could shut down. Ethan was probably not in any better condition. The job would kill the two of them and get rid of any evidence. Then they would be free to hurt Mal any way they pleased. Todd was wheezing as they walked down the hallway and he sounded furious. The two guards pulled Arthur into a small room and forced him to sit in a chair. There was a design in front of him and nothing else.

“You have one hour to memorize this maze and then you are going under,” Todd said through his teeth. “You will find that information or I will make you watch as I torture that bitch, got it?”

“Crystal clear,” Arthur snapped. Todd looked like he was ready to put a bullet through Arthur’s head but he nodded to his guards and walked out of the room. There was the all too familiar sensation of the barrel of a gun to the back of his head.

“Get to work,” the guard said. Arthur looked down at the maze; he had one hour to stall as long as he could.

The traffic was not terrible but it still took them almost an hour to get to the warehouse where Mal and Arthur were being held. Eames hoped that was where they were being held because they were officially out of time. Eames spent the entire time making sure they had enough ammo and trying to get himself in the right frame of mind. Contrary to what everyone might think it did not get easier for him to pull the trigger on real people but Eames' skin itched with the idea of killing Adam Todd. This was the type of man that was going to keep hurting people no matter what happened.

They were just about to arrive at the warehouse when Eames' phone rang. He picked it up and saw Ben's number.

"It went well, Ben, thanks, but I'm kind of in the middle of something," Eames said.

"I figured you would be but I wanted to let you know that I got some interesting calls this afternoon. Apparently people are talking about this whole thing. The dream community is not pleased with how Todd is handling this. If nothing else we can take pleasure in the knowledge that Todd's name is being dragged through the dirt so no one else will take jobs for him. You dreamers are such gossips," Ben replied. "Good luck and let me know if you need anything else. I will come pick up my machine while you're gone."

"Thanks again, Ben," Eames said. They would not have been able to do this without the PASIV.

"Just do what we agreed upon and everything will be fine," Ben said, hanging up. Miles nearly ran a red light but they did not get pulled over fortunately. There was no way they could explain all of the weapons in the car right now.

"Our first priority is extraction. We need to make sure we get Mal and Arthur out of there as soon as possible," Eames explained. "Once they're safe we'll assess whether or not they need immediate medical attention. If we can wait I want to take care of Todd."

"Yes, he needs to be taken care of," Cobb said. There was an edge to his voice that Eames did not like but there was nothing he could do about it now. None of them were going to come out of this situation the same. Eames knew that he and Arthur could deal with it but he was not sure how Mal and Cobb were going to handle it. Miles stopped in front of the warehouse and Eames gathered his things.

"Be careful," Miles said. They nodded and the car drove away.

"Can I trust you to have my back?" Eames asked.

"Yes," Cobb replied. "We need to get them back."

"And we're going to. Let's go." Eames drew his pistol and they made their way toward the warehouse. As soon as they slipped through the door a bullet missed going through Eames' head by an inch. He turned and fired hitting the guard in the chest. These people were not shooting to incapacitate, they were shooting to kill. Eames did not really want to kill anyone but there did not seem to be much choice now. From behind him he heard Cobb fire a few rounds and they made their way through the warehouse. There were guards everywhere and Eames shot each one without hesitation. In Williams’ dream he had discovered that Todd hired murderers and rapists to be his bodyguards so these people were not innocent. There was still blood on his hands though and that was not something he was proud of.

Eames turned a corner and saw a metal door at the end of a corridor. He walked toward it a little faster than was wise and turned the bolt lock. It echoed in the room behind the door and he nodded to Cobb to watch his back. Eames opened the door and raised his gun. He lowered it immediately when he saw Mal staring back at him. She was covered in dirt and blood, her skin was pale and she looked a little too thin, but it was her and she was alive. She was also alone.

"Cobb," Eames said and he took Cobb's place at the door so he could make sure that no one snuck up on them. Cobb raced forward and threw his arms around Mal. Eames was surprised, and a little proud, that Cobb did not drop his gun right there.

"I've got you, I've got you," Cobb whispered into her hair. She was not crying but she pulled away from Cobb quickly.

"They took Arthur, they took him and they were going to plug him in. Eames, he isn't strong enough, he'll die, you need to find him," Mal said so quickly that it almost sounded like it was all one word.

"Get her out of here," Eames said to Cobb.

"Should you go alone?" Cobb asked but he did not look so keen on leaving Mal's side anytime soon.

"I'll be fine, just get her out of here," Eames said. Cobb nodded and Eames did not stick around to see if they were going to be okay. If he had to jump into limbo to pull Arthur back he would but it was not something he was looking forward to. There was no telling if the man he found in limbo would be the same man he had known for all these years. Time did not work normally in limbo, was the theory, and Eames could be seconds behind him and Arthur could have spent 100 years alone.

The warehouse was strangely quiet though Eames heard a few stray gunshots. None of them were at him so he could only assume they were Cobb. They did not sound like they were behind him but in front. Eames picked up the pace a little and turned a corner. There were no more doors on this end save for one at the end of the hallway. It was where the shots had come from, he was sure of it, and Eames clenched the gun tightly.

Eames placed his ear against the door but it was too thick and he could not hear anything. The door swung inwards and Eames held his gun tightly in hand as he kicked the door open. There was a single light hanging from the ceiling and a table in the middle of the room. On the floor were the bodies of two guards with gunshot wounds in their chests. In the middle of the room was Todd, his head twisted at a horrible angle, his mouth open in shock. Arthur stood in the middle of the room, blood on his clothes and his face, a gun in hand, and he looked up when Eames kicked open the door.

"Looks like you didn't need me," Eames said as he lowered his gun. Arthur dropped his gun on the ground and smiled, though it must have hurt with his bleeding lip. It was not normally a compulsion that Eames felt but he did not fight the instinct to pull Arthur into his arms. His gun was safely in its holster and Eames wrapped his arms around his partner, mindful of his many injuries. If Arthur held on a little tight it was not like there was anyone else to see.

"I got tired of waiting," Arthur replied.

They found Ethan Tomas a few doors away, and Ethan, Arthur and Mal spent three days in the hospital receiving IV fluids and getting their bodies in working order. There was a collective sigh of relief when a doctor came in and told everyone that the baby was fine and everything looked good. Cobb cried, Mal didn't, Arthur looked thankful and Eames felt the last bit of tension leak from his shoulders. Arthur got stir crazy after the first day and spent the next two ignoring his doctors and putting together a detailed identity for Ethan. The doctors could not explain how Ethan just up and vanished from the hospital one day as if he had never been there and they did not notice how smug Arthur looked.

Cobb rarely left Mal's room but Eames was not as lucky. He spent a good part of the next three days catching up on sleep, returning unused ammo to Ben, and covering their tracks. He left Adam Todd's body in the middle of the desert so that there would be nothing but bones left by the time the police found him. Considering all of the things Todd was wanted for, Eames did not think they would investigate too much when they found his remains.

Arthur told Eames everything that had happened. He considered himself fortunate that they had only beaten him three times during the week and that there had been a bed for Mal to sleep on. He told Eames about how he and Mal had held each other without shame and punched Eames in the arm when Eames made a comment. They both decided that Mal would tell Cobb about that when she thought he could handle it. Arthur and Mal were close now, Eames could see it, and he supposed he had some sort of connection with Cobb as well. He had a feeling that they would be seeing Cobb and Mal a lot more in the next few years.

The four of them spent a week at the Cobbs’ house outside of LA. Miles had to go back to Paris after they got out to the hospital but Eames was fairly sure he had an ally in Miles. The four of them were very domestic which made Eames feel very strange and he could tell that Arthur was not quite comfortable with it either.

"I guess I'm just not cut out to be a homemaker," Eames said the night before they were going to leave. They were sitting on the back porch drinking beers.

"Make me a sandwich, Mr. Eames," Arthur said. Eames knocked their shoulders together and Arthur grinned. His ribs were going to take some time to heal but everything else was bruises and cuts that were slowly healing. The first few nights Arthur slept curled around Eames but as the week progressed he slowly migrated back to his side of the bed. The status quo was slowly returning and while Arthur cuddles were not a bad thing Eames was more happy that his friend was back on his feet again. Eames finished his beer and held out a hand to Arthur.

"Come to bed, honey. You need to go to work early in the morning," Eames mocked. Arthur laughed brilliantly and took his hand. They dropped their beer bottles off into the recycling and made their way to the back guestroom. As soon as the door closed Arthur pulled him into a hard and dirty kiss. Arthur was not quite feeling well enough to do anything more than make out but Eames let him guide the two of them to the bed. Arthur pushed Eames down and crawled on top of him.

"Thanks for coming for me, Eames," Arthur said.

"You had it covered," Eames replied, shrugging. Arthur smiled again and Eames pulled him down to kiss it off his lips.

They left the next morning and when Mal held onto Arthur a little longer than anyone else Cobb did not look worried. That was good because Cobb being jealous of the friendship Arthur and Mal had developed was ludicrous but Eames did not put it past Dom Cobb. They had a few hours to kill before their red eye flights so Eames found them a small pool hall so they could get drinks. They drank in comfortable silence for about ten minutes until Arthur broke it.

"I was lucky," Arthur said.

"What do you mean?" Eames asked.

"You said I had it covered but I got lucky. They let their guards down when you and Cobb started shooting up the place. If you hadn't I would have gone under to do that job and died or worse," Arthur explained, tracing the top of his glass with the tip of his finger. "You know, I never doubted for a second that you would come for me but thanks for coming anyway."

"You never have to thank me for something like that, Arthur," Eames replied. Arthur looked up from the table and his brown eyes seemed brighter than normal.

"I know I don't," he said. There were other things being said here, more than either of them was saying out loud, and the moment felt oddly tense in a way that Eames had not experienced in a long time. It felt like both of them wanted to say something else but neither of them were sure what or if it needed to be said. A loud whoop from across the bar broke the moment. They both turned to see two frat boys bump fists at one of the pool tables.

"We are unstoppable, man," one said.

"Kings of the tables, bro," said the other. Eames turned to Arthur and they both grinned. They downed the rest of their beers and both made their way over to the pool tables and the self congratulatory frat boys.

"Evening, gentlemen," Eames said smiling brightly. "Care to make a friendly wager on a game?"