Author: Genna Gray
Fandom: Inception
Pairing: Pre Arthur/Eames
Warning: NA
“Screw you Dom,” Arthur hissed into the phone as she watched his God-children giggle to each other in his small backyard, it wasn’t the sprawling one that Mal’s home had but it would sue since it was either this small patch of grass or her condo high-rise downtown. “What the hell did you think I would say?"
“Arthur-"
“No, no,” Arthur whispered as he kept a smile on his face so the children wouldn’t hear. or understand that Arthur was upset. “You took off like a coward, a guilty coward, and left me holding the bag with Mal’s children – I can’t drop everything just because you say so.”
“Arthur,” Dom’s voice was desperate and panic threaded through it. “I didn’t have a choice then, you know how Mal is!”
“Yes,” Arthur’s smiled slipped and he glared at a tree. “I do know how she is – which is why if it wasn’t for the fact you had run you might be a free man right now! It makes you like guilty as fuck
Arthur closed his eyes as she restrained the urge to throw his phone across the room in anger, Goddamn Dom, Arthur thought viciously, as he heard his God-children laugh freely in the backyard, goddamn him to hell and back. It was his fault that Arthur was now in this mess as it was - Mallory wouldn't kill herself, it wasn't in her to abandon her children that way, and Arthur was damned sure that Dominic Cobb did something.
And Arthur was going to protect those children or die trying so help him God.
"This is what we are going to do Dom," Arthur said pleasantly. "We are going to hang, pretend this never happened, and go our support ways and never interact with one-another again. If you fail to do this not only will I turn over everything I know about you to the cops but I will also burn you bad enough in the Dream Share that you will never get work there again - are we clear?"
There was a pause on the phone before Dom hung up on Arthur.
"I'm glad to see that you do, have a good day Dom." Arthur hung up his phone sharply and wished for a land-line so he could have slammed it off - it would have been more satisfying that way then hitting a tiny chirping button. "That's one problem taken care of."
And a thousand others left for Arthur to fix up.
After a moments pause Arthur opened his contacts list and scrolled down until he reached an old classmate of his back in the day and pressed call. He would be upset, Arthur freely admitted since it was ass-crack early back on the east-coast, but time was of the essence and Arthur was running out of time to ensure his Godchildren were safe.
"It's midnight - someone better be dead and you have been arrested for their murder otherwise I will be the one calling somebody about a dead body." Harvey's sleep-heavy voice was thick but aware - a trait that Arthur always liked having in his lovers, both former and present. "Arthur. What's wrong?"
"I need your help and I'm calling in that favor of yours that you owe me." Arthur began with preamble. "Dominic Cobb pulled a runner and I've been left holding the bag in regards to my Godchildren; the Will cannot be found, their care seeking custody all the way from France, and I need a way to ensure they are safe from both Dom and Mallory's parents."
"Well, now, that is a bit of a problem." Harvey sounded more awake now and Arthur could hear the sheets rustle. "I can tell you that off the bat that even if Cobb comes back, is cleared of Mrs. Cobb's death, that it would be a long-shot if he ever got more then visitation - not unless her parents or you were taken out of the running."
"My history is clean," Arthur said ignoring Harvey's snort and the soft murmurer of another voice in the background. "This one at least since it's the one I use for the front-of-house work. Mallory's parents...they could cause problems for me - they adore Dom, more then they loved Mallory I think."
"And you worry that they would take the children, hide them in France and contact Dom to pick them up, and never see them again?" Harvey said and Arthur cleared his throat. "Yes, it's...not the top concern of mine but in my field of work I need to consider every possible outcome - and that's one of them and I can see them doing it."
"Don't worry about anything and don't do anything stupid." Harvey advised Arthur. "I'll set Michael on the case, he will make damned sure that you'll get full custody without Cobb or Mrs. Cobb's parents getting within two states of them."
"Thank you," Arthur said gratefully and Harvey laughed, soft and warm, and if it wasn't for the fact that Arthur wasn't into threesomes he would have taken both Harvey and Michael up on their offer years ago to join them. "If there is anything-"
"It's fine," Harvey assured Arthur. "Just act normal, don't do anything stupid, and stay in the goddamn country - preferably California but I know you - we will handle the rest of it, no worries."
Arthur took a deep breath and nodded.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
“Doctor Darling,” An Asian man in a suit said and Arthur
barely flicked an eyelash as he tucked her book away, the children playing a
scare ten feet away in the sandbox. “I am Saito Yamamoto and I have an offer-“
“As I told Dom Saito-san,” Arthur interrupted the man and
waved a hand at Mal’s children. “I have responsibilities right now, if Dom
wanted me back into the field and working for him – he should not have run when the police were coming
to arrest him.”
“I understand,” Saito nodded and gave a glance at the
bench and Arthur nodded his consent. “I do but I think you should hear my offer
out first before saying no.”
“You have,” Arthur glanced at his wrist-watch before
nodding. “Thirty minutes before I take my Godchildren out for lunch – that is
all I can afford to give you and I won’t do more.”
“Have you heard of Cobal Engineering?” Arthur nodded
cautiously. “Dominic Cobb preformed a job for them, his Architect couldn’t make
the world realistic enough so the Dream did not work as Cobal hoped. He is
currently on the run and I had made him an offer – if he could break Fisher
Industries stranglehold on the green-energy sector I would clean his record and
he could home to his children.”
“And that concerns me how?” Arthur crossed his legs
amused as James knocked over his sandcastle and began again. “I’ve already done
that much – it took only four months and he refuses to come back for whatever
reason.”
“He fears it will not work, he would be arrested and
placed into jail for the rest of his natural life,” Saito shrugged. “The
actions of a guilty-conscious I can only presume.”
“Yes.”
“He had told me he would need to assemble a team, you
were at the top of his list and when you repeatedly turned him down he did
something rather…foolish.” Saito said and Arthur got a sinking feeling in the
pit of her stomach. “He’s putting pressure on you – he said that you were one
of his crew that he used-"
Arthur held up a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose when Saito fell silent. Wasn't it typical of Dom that when he didn't get his way the man threw a fit bad enough to get others in trouble? Arthur had always told Mallory that this was his failing, that it would get him into trouble one-day, and was she sure that Dominic Cobb was the one for her?
Mallory couldn't help but smile, happy and glowing as a result, and that was all the answer she needed.
Fuck.
"I see." Arthur took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It seems it was up to him to haul Dom's ass out of the fire once again. "I understand. Thank you for the forewarning Saito-san."
The older man merely bowed his head briefly before turning to watch the two children run about and play in the nearly deserted park. Arthur leaned back against the bench and let his mind wander over his choices - he had precious few right now, not if Cobal was coming after Arthur. [He would have packed up the kids and gone to a safe house but Arthur had lived that life as a child and he wasn't about to do the same for his Godchildren - it was no life for a child.]
"I cannot send the children away," Arthur told Saito quietly. "I'm currently in a custody case over them with their grandparents in France - I'm not even supposed to leave the city according to my attorney's."
"I understand," Saito nodded his hand as he folded his hands on his knee. "Is there nothing...?"
"There is something you can do for me," Arthur told the Yakuza Father - in his line of work it would stupid not to. "I will need a protection detail set up for my Godchildren - I do not trust the Miles' to not try something if they thought I wasn't around - and I would owe you a favor."
"Having the great Arthur owing me a favor?" Saito was surprise, that much Arthur could tell even if it was deeply hidden. "Consider it done. Are you...are you agreeing to work with Cobb? Even after turning him down."
"Working with him? No. Finding out what exactly happened to Mallory? Oh yes," Arthur grinned, all teeth and darkly pleased, and Saito looked away from that deadly grin. "I'm going to find out what he did to Mallory, depending on what he did either beat him or kill him for it, and then I'm going to ruin him afterwards until not even Mafia would be willing to touch him."
"Ruin him? For what?"
"I don't take cowards and liar well nor will I tolerate back-stabbers," Arthur said. "He threw me under the bus with Cobal - if I had the time to deal with them...since I can't right now I will take my pound of flesh from Cobb, and I will enjoy every last ounce of it while I carve it out of him."
Arthur was many things but he rarely, if ever, was vindictive but when he was? God help that poor soul because Arthur wouldn't have it in him to be merciful - he wasn't born and raised that way, God bless his parents, and it made it easier for Arthur to move through life as a result.
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