Way Back Into Love
Title: Way Back Into Love
Fandom: Inception
Pairings: Cobb/Saito, background Ariadne/Arthur/Eames, past Cobb/Mal
Author's Note: Technically a tie-in to my Three Is More Than Just Company A/A/E series, but I think it can be read alone. Also, Saito's past is taken from one of my other favorite films, in which Ken Watanabe also starred.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: After inception, Saito has a job offer for Cobb, but business is not all that's between them, not really.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past
I just can't seem to move on...
I've been looking for someone to shed some light
Not somebody just to get me through the night
I could use some direction
And I'm open to your suggestions...
All I want to do is find
A way back into love
I can't make it through without
A way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I'll be there for you
In the end - Way Back Into Love, Music and Lyrics soundtrack
“Take a leap of faith, yes. ... Go back, so we can be young men together again. Come back with me. Come back.”
Dom spins the top, but when he hears James and Philippa, it suddenly doesn't matter anymore. After everything, after a second fall into limbo and three years of running before that, after finally letting go of Mal, all he wants is to hold his children again. A few hours later he will look back and see that it's stopped spinning, lying innocuously on its side. But right this second, it doesn't matter.
“Daddy! Daddy!” James runs right to him and Dom lifts his son up into the air like he did when James was a toddler. He's older now, in first grade, but still small enough to lift like this. Philippa hangs back, which doesn't surprise him, really. He could tell, that last time on the phone, that she was starting not to trust him. It's partly Marie's influence, and that upsets him, but some of it's only fair, what happens when you leave your children for three years straight.
“Pippa?” he asks, keeping his voice gentle and undemanding.
“Daddy? Are you really staying this time?”
She looks so much like Mal, only with lighter hair, that it hurts. But he pushes the thought of his wife aside, focusing on their daughter. “Yeah. I'm back, and I promise I'm staying.”
Philippa stands there for a moment longer, and Dom holds his breath. He's already trying to figure out ways to fix this with his daughter when she launches herself at him, arms wrapping around his waist. “You're back, you're really back,” he hears her saying, muffled against his stomach, and tears sting his eyes.
~ ~ ~
Saito is not certain what to expect when he rings the doorbell at the Cobb residence. Normally he would not do this; he would contact whoever he wished to speak to over the phone (or rather, his assistant would) and arrange a meeting, not go to their home and ring the doorbell. However, Dominic Cobb is different. This is the man who traveled to Limbo for him. Yes, it was because of their arrangement, so that Cobb could go home again, and yet... There was still a connection forged, wanted or not, because of that place. Because of this, he feels that Cobb deserves a more personal touch.
The door opens, revealing the former extractor, whose eyes widen when he realizes who's at his door. “Saito, this is... unexpected. Uh, come in.” Cobb steps aside to let Saito in. The businessman walks into the house, finding himself glancing around surreptitiously. He doesn't know why he feels this sudden curiosity to know more about the man he hired to do the impossible. Perhaps it's that, while the extraction Cobb and his point man - and that slimy architect, whatever his name was - attempted on him failed, Cobb still knows much more about him than Saito knows about the extractor. Some part of him would like to even that score, but if Saito's honest with himself, he's also simply curious.
They go into the kitchen, Cobb waves him to a seat and offers him coffee that he declines - Americans seem to assume that the only ones who choose tea over coffee are the English, but the Japanese love their tea as well, and Saito's never understood the lure of coffee, really - before taking a seat himself. “What can I do for you, Mr. Saito?”
“You seem to be settling into retirement very well, Mr. Cobb.”
“I am, for the most part. I get a little... Well. What I did could be exciting, there was a lot of adrenaline and it takes getting used to, being out of it. I might get work as a real-world architect again, once things settle, but right now I admit it can be a little dull when the kids aren't here.”
“Ah yes, your children. In school?”
“Yes. Philippa's in third grade now, James is in first grade. It's quiet right now, but I prefer the noise when they're home.”
“My brother and his wife found it hard to let go, when their children began school.” Saito smiles fondly - he was close to his brother and his little family - before shaking it off and returning to business. “As for your working in real-world architecture, do not take this the wrong way, but I feel that would be quite a waste, Mr. Cobb.”
Cobb raises his eyebrows. “And what would you suggest instead? I don't exactly plan on continuing to work in mind crime when my kids need me.”
“No, no, that is not what I'm here to speak with you about. I have been thinking, dreamscape could be used for other things.”
Cobb leans back in his chair, and the sharpness in his eyes only makes Saito more certain that he's made the right decision. Cobb might not know it yet, but he wants to get back into dreaming; it's there in the interest that flashes briefly through bright blue eyes. Saito prides himself on his ability to read people; the talent is part of what's made him such a success in the business world. He knows how to talk to people and when to make his move. Now is a good time to make a move with Dominic Cobb, he can sense it.
“What kind of 'other things'?” Cobb wants to know, suspicion and curiosity warring for control of his voice.
“Well, the possible therapeutic uses for it should be obvious, but I could also see more recreational uses. Yes, I know,” he says, holding up a hand to cut off the furious outburst he sees coming, “it's risky. Too much time in the dreamscape causes a person to forget what is real. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about having architects who know what they are doing design the world of a client's dreams - quite literally, in this case - for a sort of... retreat, or vacation, if you will.”
“That's dangerous,” Cobb objects immediately. “The therapy, you might have something, but dream vacations... No.”
“What sort of legal uses would you suggest then, if not that?”
“Cops could use extraction to back up witness statements, especially for traumatic situations where the mind doesn't want to remember. It's a lot more effective than hypnosis, that's for damn sure. Learning a language would take half the time, and you could do total immersion a lot more easily. Just create a dream where everyone's speaking whatever language the client's...” Cobb trails off, suddenly realizing what Saito had triggered.
Saito keeps the pleased smirk from his face, because his strategy worked. He'd seen it, during the preparations for inception. Cobb loved what he did, even though he resented having been forced into the criminal element, away from his family. He is an artist, and Saito was raised by an artist; he understands them. He understands that they have to pursue their art, whether it is dreaming, like Cobb, or the art of beauty his mother had always spoken of. Without it they are diminished.
“And this, Mr. Cobb, is why I wanted to speak with you. You know this world; I do not. I need someone who does to be my partner in this new venture.”
“I'm retired.”
“You're retired from criminal dreaming, and since you have responsibilities as a father, that's the right decision. This job is perfectly... above board, as you would say, and the facility I have purchased is also right here in San Francisco. You would simply be one more working parent.”
Cobb leans back in his chair, surveying Saito with those rather startling eyes. Saito's never quite noticed how distinctive the American's eyes are before, and he wonders with slight unease why he is doing so now. He tells himself it is simply something left over from limbo at most, and more likely the understandable tension of waiting to see how the other man will respond to his offer.
“If I do this, you're going to have to be willing to listen to me,” Cobb says firmly. “You might be the one with the money, but I'm the expert here.”
“I feel I proved my ability to do that during inception,” Saito says, more than a little insulted. Cobb's mouth quirks in a slight smile, and he nods.
“I'll give you that. All right, we have a deal, Mr. Saito.”
They shake hands, like any other businessmen who have successfully completed negotiations, but Saito can't help but feel as though something more momentous is beginning. Inexplicably, he finds himself thinking of shaved ice. A simple treat, bought by a kind man for a young girl, set a chain of events in motion that led to his own existence. Why he should think of that now he has no idea, but he can taste the flavored cherry syrup of the shaved ice his mother would share with him - the woman who had been that girl - on his tongue. It feels like an omen of something. He's just not sure what.
~ ~ ~
Dom isn't sure what he expected of this new partnership with Saito, but it wasn't having a business meeting at a teahouse in New York City. The kids are with Miles, for a week in Paris that he promised them before inception. It's hard for him to let the kids go alone, but he tells himself it's good for them and him. Still, this is not the sort of place he would expect Saito to frequent, and he says as much.
“I inherited this from my mother,” Saito says evenly, sipping his tea. “She died several years ago.”
Dom's not sure what to say to that, not sure why Saito is sharing that, so he moves on. “So, what are your exact plans for this... new program of yours? We discussed possibilities before, but nothing too specific.”
“I thought to concentrate on the therapeutic and investigative uses for now. From what you said last month in your kitchen, they seem to be the most useful. I was wondering, however, about one thing. Coma patients. Could lucid dreaming be used to wake them up?”
Dom shakes his head. “Perhaps, but it's risky. Riskier than limbo in some ways. Limbo is created because someone went too deep into a dream, but it's essentially unnatural. Comas are... They're something else, and surfacing them almost never works. I can only recall one case where it worked and everyone got out of it with their sanity intact.”
Saito nods. “Well. It was an idea. Tell me, do you think the rest of the team would be interested in this? I imagine you know people who you will suggest that I hire regardless, but...”
“Arthur and Eames are actually waiting for Ariadne to finish college, and then the three of them are going into extraction.” Something's going on there, but Dom isn't sure what, or if he even wants to know. “I don't think they're ready to settle down into legal work, not just yet. But I can probably get Arthur to help with the planning at least; he's at loose ends until Ariadne's done.” Dom thinks for a moment, toying with his teacup. He knows Arthur keeps in touch with Ashley Stafford and Daniel Moran, as well as Ianto Jones, from the old days at Dreamscape, but he's not sure what's happened to the rest of them. Jules Sinclair would be a great one to track down again, and there are others too. Finding them will be the hard part.
The next meeting's at an Italian place in San Francisco, and Arthur's there this time. He's there a lot over the next six months, as he helps Dom track down former Dreamscape members as well as those on the illegal side who, for whatever reason, no longer feel drawn to a life of crime. Dom's aware of Arthur's eyes on him and Saito during the meetings where they catch up on things - Saito has been busy finding new people, college students mostly, and gathering together the necessary resources to make the dream facility top-notch. He doesn't know what his friend sees, and doesn't ask.
Really, though, with all the recruiting they were doing among Dreamscape alumni, they should have known that DESI would take an interest in the project.
~ ~ ~
“Are you going to try to shut this down, Ms. Shepard?” Saito asks, studying the woman who sits on the other side of his desk. The woman in question,. DESI Assistant Director Alexandra Shepard, doesn't seem fazed by his cold tone. She leans back in the chair, crossing her ankles and giving him a sharp look.
“Believe me, Mr. Saito, if we wanted to shut you down there would be no trying involved. We would simply do it.”
“Is that so?” He can see Cobb, who's standing over by the door, tense up, and Saito suspects that he's playing a dangerous game with this woman. He knows little of DESI, though the agency's name isn't unfamiliar. He also knows that Cobb worked for them once, that they were the original group in charge of shared dreaming, and that Arthur was one of their agents - he is annoyingly closed-mouthed about them, though he did warn Saito this would be coming, at least, before going off to meet Eames and Ariadne in Paris.
“It is, but hardly the point. I'm not here to shut you down, merely to ask what it is you're planning to do with dreamsharing.”
“Shepard... Isn't there a Jennifer Shepard who is head of a different American agency? NCIS, I believe? I saw her on one of your news shows when she took the position; they said she was the first woman to run an armed federal agency. Your resemblance to her is marked.”
“She's my sister, and that's not an answer to my question.”
“Alex, do you have to do this, really?” Cobb asks impatiently, and Shepard turns to look at him.
“I'm the Assistant Director, on orders from the Director, and you know how Broyles feels about dreaming, it's why Dreamscape got shut down in the first place.” Shepard smiles wryly, then turns back to Saito. “As it happens, I'm actually supposed to give you the all-clear, provided I like what you have to tell me about your plans. Our agency is hoping that if things like dreamshare go mainstream, it could be useful for us in the long term.”
“And why is that?” Saito asks, knowing that, technically, this woman almost certainly does not have to tell him. But he asks anyway, because there is no harm in it.
“Everything we deal with is like dreamshare, Mr. Saito. It's the sort of thing that sounds like it shouldn't be possible, but it is. Every bit of it that can go mainstream without inciting trouble is a good sign for us, in the event that any sort of major disclosures are one day necessary.”
So Saito and Cobb tell her of their plans, and neither of them notice that they're finishing each other's sentences some of the time. And Alex Shepard, who has seen so many people go from coworkers to so much more, hides the smile she can feel tugging at her lips. Even now she doesn't know if she pities them for not seeing what she can see is forming, or envies them for how they might be heading toward something she herself still has never had.
She clears them, just as she'd wanted. Saito doesn't know what Cobb does, that it was the woman before him and Cobb's own father-in-law, Stephen Miles, who started DESI's program, and that it was her sole focus, her only passion, for years. But he can see that she's glad to tell them that they can continue with their work, and he can also see something else in her eyes. It's a knowing look, but the cause of it is something he can't guess. So he puts it from his mind, deciding that it's not relevant to what he needed from her. He needed approval, and she gave that. It's all that matters.
~ ~ ~
The Dream Institute opens in January, ten months after Saito first approached Dom to set the program up. Dom is the head of the Institute, answering directly to Saito - and only to him. His first day in his new office, Dom isn't sure what to do, and then the phone rings. And it keeps ringing.
What they are is sort of a half therapy center and half private detective firm, and Dom finds that the work suits him. When he goes into the field himself, which is rare, he does more detective-type things. It's very like extraction, and he certainly knows how to handle that. Ironically, one of the other highly talented extractors of his acquaintance oversees the therapy department. Somewhere between Dreamscape and now, Jules Sinclair picked up a doctorate in psychology and is working toward one in sociology. She's who he goes to for information on that side of things.
The place is a success within the first few months. Dom refuses to be the spokesperson, leaving that to their PR team - and they have a full one, which is no surprise when he really thinks about it. Everyone wants to know about lucid dreaming, and of course a lot of them want to know about the sort of thing Saito mentioned, dream vacations and such. The 'and such' includes every sort of sexual fantasy imaginable, among other things. Dom rolls his eyes at that, but feels his stomach lurch when he sees one news segment in which the reporter wants to know about reliving past events, maybe telling lost loved ones things you never got the chance to say.
He's relieved when the expert being interviewed - Kaitlyn Parris, a find of Saito's from Temple University - firmly explains that doing that sort of thing can actually cause more damage than good, making someone dependent on a dream or worse, confused about which world is reality. Dom knows he would have frozen at that question.
There's a day when James and Philippa get out of school early, and while James is at a friend's house, Philippa doesn't have anywhere to go. It's unexpected, and while Dom would like nothing more than to just be home with his daughter, he has to be in the office, because he's waiting on information from the FBI. He's the only one cleared to read it, at least before he picks the team who will be working on this with him, so he can't just go home.
Philippa doesn't mind, to his relief. She's curled up in one of his office chairs, drawing in the sketchbook he bought her for her birthday. She's good, he notes with pride, especially for her age. It's not just that he's her father; he knows talent when he sees it.
It's a surprise when Saito comes into the office, and he's clearly taken aback by Philippa's presence. But she waves happily at him and says, “Hi, Mr. Saito!” before going back to her drawing. Over the months of planning, Saito was at the house enough to have met both of Dom's children.
“Hello, Philippa,” he says pleasantly, before telling Dom, “There is a problem with the Kendrick case; the client is determined to speak with you, since apparently you were her original consultant?”
Dom sighs. Elena Kendrick is a private detective and a pain in the ass, but she pays well and she does have a decent grasp of how dreamshare works. He would love to know where she picked up the things she knows, but he's probably better off if he doesn't know. He's the only one who can talk her down when she gets particularly bitchy; even Saito, who is surprisingly good at soothing everyone from irate police officers to hysterical children, can't get through to her. He glances at Philippa, but Saito shakes his head.
“I can stay here, Dominic, but I think Julianna will murder Ms. Kendrick if you do not intervene.”
Julianna - or Jules - is another one from the old days at Dreamscape, and she does have quite the temper. So Dom nods, because he does trust Saito to keep an eye on Philippa, then heads off to stop potential bloodshed.
When he gets back ten minutes later, though, he stops in the doorway. Philippa's not drawing anymore, instead she and Saito are talking intently.
“So did Chiyo ever become a geisha? And did she find the man who was so nice to her?” Philippa asks eagerly, bouncing a little in her seat. Saito nods solemnly, a fond smile on his face. It's a look Dom has never seen on his business partner's face before, and he can't quite understand the effect it has on him.
“She did. She grew up, took the geisha name Sayuri, and she was known as the most beautiful and talented geisha of them all. And then she and the Chairman found each other again.”
“It's like a fairy tale! Did they get married and have a family?”
“They had two sons. One of them chose to live a quiet life, and he had a family of his own with a beautiful daughter who he named Chiyo. The other decided to be like his father and he does not have a family, unfortunately.”
“Maybe he'll find someone!”
“I do hope so, Philippa.”
And Dom happens to know that Saito's niece is named Chiyo, and he can't help but wonder if the story he's only half-heard is a true one. If it is... Well, he's not sure, but something about Saito's way of saying that he hoped so left Dom feeling rather odd.
~ ~ ~
Saito had been aware of Dominic's - Cobb's - presence all along. He always seemed to know where the American was. That unsettled him greatly.
Leaning back in his chair, Saito sighs, rubbing his temples. He knows very well that one cannot choose who to love, because he knows the entirety of the story he watered down for young Philippa. He knows about the people who were left brokenhearted, and how his parents both regretted it, especially his mother. She felt responsible, in some ways. Still, raised on the tale of his parents, Saito had always had a small romantic streak. He had married his wife in the first blush of what he'd thought was love, and once he truly believes that it was love. It was simply not the kind that lasts, the kind his parents had, or that his brother and sister-in-law have.
This, this is real, despite how unconventional it is. And he knows that convention does not govern love; while he does not see much of them, he knows that the architect, forger, and point man from the Fischer job have it between themselves as well. Their relationship is even more unconventional than his attraction to Dom Cobb, but he knows love when he sees it. He has just never managed to truly experience it.
If only it had begun as simply as his parents had, with a cherry snow cone. But no, it began with dreams and an impossible job, bargains and gunshots and the terrible stretching of time in limbo. It began with him becoming an old man, and even though he is relatively young again, he still does not know how to prevent regrets. He's still waiting to die alone, in some ways.
“Was it all worth it?” he asked his mother once, when he was young.
“Love always is, Kiyoshi,” she told him in that quiet way she had. Now is one of the times he misses her most, because she could always find the positive in things. It's a trait his brother inherited but he did not, and so he cannot find the positive in a situation this hopeless.
Because he remembers a woman he first met in his own dream, who offered to help him. The last time he saw her, she killed Robert Fischer in front of his eyes. She was lovely, mysterious and beautiful. And Dominic Cobb loved her, never stopped, because she haunted his mind even after she was gone. He half-remembers the conversation between Dominic and Ariadne on the first level of the Fischer job, remembers that it was Ariadne's belief that guilt created Mal.
Saito can't argue with that entirely, but he also suspects that love played its part. Dominic didn't want to let go of Mal, he loved her too much. And he probably always will, leaving no chance for a foolish man who can't seem to stop himself from falling for the wrong person.
~ ~ ~
Dom wonders idly if his guest bed is actually big enough for Arthur, Eames, and Ariadne to all fit, but then he figures that they'll manage somehow. He's not entirely sure how they've made it work, the three of them, but he's happy for them.
He's also trying very hard not to think about something Arthur said to him earlier, while Eames kicked him off his own grill and Ariadne was playing with James and Philippa, at ease with them in the way only a parent or someone who was the big sister could be.
Arthur spoke about him and Saito, comparing them to his own relationship with Eames and Ariadne. Dom's not sure how he feels about that, not sure what it is that Arthur sees that he, so far, hasn't. He sighs, sitting on his bed and running his hands through his hair until it's sticking up. He doesn't know what to do.
He's started dreaming again, mostly vague things he can't remember, but tonight it's different. He's back on the familiar beach of Limbo, and he turns to see Mal walking up to him. She's in a flowing white sundress, her curls tumbling around her face. “Mal?” This isn't the shade his mind created, this is Mal as she was before they went too deep, this is the woman he loved, the woman he married.
“Hello, Dom. We need to talk.”
“This... This isn't real.”
“Of course it's not, but we still need to talk. I don't want you to be alone, just because I'm gone. It's not wrong to love someone else, to move on from me. It's what you would have wanted me to do if our places were reversed.”
“Mal, I...”
“Shh,” she says, her fingertips on his lips. She kisses him softly, then steps back. “I love you Dom, I always will, but I'm not there anymore. If you can be happy with him, you should be.”
He wakes up with tears burning in his eyes, but it's as though a weight's been taken from him as well. His friends can tell something's different about him, but they don't ask. They also don't ask when he says he has something to do, and can they watch the kids for a little while. He gets in his car and drives, not sure what he's doing or why.
Saito only keeps a condo in L.A., the fact that it's a penthouse doesn't change the fact that next to the palace he had in Limbo, it's not very impressive. He answers the door himself, shock clear on his face when he sees Dom. “Dominic - Mr. Cobb, is something wrong?”
“Why do you always correct yourself?” Dom asks, because he can't think of anything else to say. “You can call me by my first name, it doesn't bother me.”
Saito glances at him then away, and Dom sees, suddenly, what Arthur was talking about, and he knows. Impulsively, he reaches out, his hand resting on top of Saito's. “Kiyoshi...” he says quietly, using Saito's first name, which he's known for a long time but never once used before.
When they kiss for the first time, later that day, once things have been said that needed to be, Dom thinks Saito tastes like cherries, and when he says so, almost unthinkingly, the other man just grins, a wry grin that nonetheless lights up his face in a way Dom's never seen before, and he just has to kiss him again.
He's not sure where this is going to lead, but he's going to take a leap of faith, because he doesn't want to have any regrets.
Fandom: Inception
Pairings: Cobb/Saito, background Ariadne/Arthur/Eames, past Cobb/Mal
Author's Note: Technically a tie-in to my Three Is More Than Just Company A/A/E series, but I think it can be read alone. Also, Saito's past is taken from one of my other favorite films, in which Ken Watanabe also starred.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: After inception, Saito has a job offer for Cobb, but business is not all that's between them, not really.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past
I just can't seem to move on...
I've been looking for someone to shed some light
Not somebody just to get me through the night
I could use some direction
And I'm open to your suggestions...
All I want to do is find
A way back into love
I can't make it through without
A way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I'll be there for you
In the end - Way Back Into Love, Music and Lyrics soundtrack
“Take a leap of faith, yes. ... Go back, so we can be young men together again. Come back with me. Come back.”
Dom spins the top, but when he hears James and Philippa, it suddenly doesn't matter anymore. After everything, after a second fall into limbo and three years of running before that, after finally letting go of Mal, all he wants is to hold his children again. A few hours later he will look back and see that it's stopped spinning, lying innocuously on its side. But right this second, it doesn't matter.
“Daddy! Daddy!” James runs right to him and Dom lifts his son up into the air like he did when James was a toddler. He's older now, in first grade, but still small enough to lift like this. Philippa hangs back, which doesn't surprise him, really. He could tell, that last time on the phone, that she was starting not to trust him. It's partly Marie's influence, and that upsets him, but some of it's only fair, what happens when you leave your children for three years straight.
“Pippa?” he asks, keeping his voice gentle and undemanding.
“Daddy? Are you really staying this time?”
She looks so much like Mal, only with lighter hair, that it hurts. But he pushes the thought of his wife aside, focusing on their daughter. “Yeah. I'm back, and I promise I'm staying.”
Philippa stands there for a moment longer, and Dom holds his breath. He's already trying to figure out ways to fix this with his daughter when she launches herself at him, arms wrapping around his waist. “You're back, you're really back,” he hears her saying, muffled against his stomach, and tears sting his eyes.
~ ~ ~
Saito is not certain what to expect when he rings the doorbell at the Cobb residence. Normally he would not do this; he would contact whoever he wished to speak to over the phone (or rather, his assistant would) and arrange a meeting, not go to their home and ring the doorbell. However, Dominic Cobb is different. This is the man who traveled to Limbo for him. Yes, it was because of their arrangement, so that Cobb could go home again, and yet... There was still a connection forged, wanted or not, because of that place. Because of this, he feels that Cobb deserves a more personal touch.
The door opens, revealing the former extractor, whose eyes widen when he realizes who's at his door. “Saito, this is... unexpected. Uh, come in.” Cobb steps aside to let Saito in. The businessman walks into the house, finding himself glancing around surreptitiously. He doesn't know why he feels this sudden curiosity to know more about the man he hired to do the impossible. Perhaps it's that, while the extraction Cobb and his point man - and that slimy architect, whatever his name was - attempted on him failed, Cobb still knows much more about him than Saito knows about the extractor. Some part of him would like to even that score, but if Saito's honest with himself, he's also simply curious.
They go into the kitchen, Cobb waves him to a seat and offers him coffee that he declines - Americans seem to assume that the only ones who choose tea over coffee are the English, but the Japanese love their tea as well, and Saito's never understood the lure of coffee, really - before taking a seat himself. “What can I do for you, Mr. Saito?”
“You seem to be settling into retirement very well, Mr. Cobb.”
“I am, for the most part. I get a little... Well. What I did could be exciting, there was a lot of adrenaline and it takes getting used to, being out of it. I might get work as a real-world architect again, once things settle, but right now I admit it can be a little dull when the kids aren't here.”
“Ah yes, your children. In school?”
“Yes. Philippa's in third grade now, James is in first grade. It's quiet right now, but I prefer the noise when they're home.”
“My brother and his wife found it hard to let go, when their children began school.” Saito smiles fondly - he was close to his brother and his little family - before shaking it off and returning to business. “As for your working in real-world architecture, do not take this the wrong way, but I feel that would be quite a waste, Mr. Cobb.”
Cobb raises his eyebrows. “And what would you suggest instead? I don't exactly plan on continuing to work in mind crime when my kids need me.”
“No, no, that is not what I'm here to speak with you about. I have been thinking, dreamscape could be used for other things.”
Cobb leans back in his chair, and the sharpness in his eyes only makes Saito more certain that he's made the right decision. Cobb might not know it yet, but he wants to get back into dreaming; it's there in the interest that flashes briefly through bright blue eyes. Saito prides himself on his ability to read people; the talent is part of what's made him such a success in the business world. He knows how to talk to people and when to make his move. Now is a good time to make a move with Dominic Cobb, he can sense it.
“What kind of 'other things'?” Cobb wants to know, suspicion and curiosity warring for control of his voice.
“Well, the possible therapeutic uses for it should be obvious, but I could also see more recreational uses. Yes, I know,” he says, holding up a hand to cut off the furious outburst he sees coming, “it's risky. Too much time in the dreamscape causes a person to forget what is real. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about having architects who know what they are doing design the world of a client's dreams - quite literally, in this case - for a sort of... retreat, or vacation, if you will.”
“That's dangerous,” Cobb objects immediately. “The therapy, you might have something, but dream vacations... No.”
“What sort of legal uses would you suggest then, if not that?”
“Cops could use extraction to back up witness statements, especially for traumatic situations where the mind doesn't want to remember. It's a lot more effective than hypnosis, that's for damn sure. Learning a language would take half the time, and you could do total immersion a lot more easily. Just create a dream where everyone's speaking whatever language the client's...” Cobb trails off, suddenly realizing what Saito had triggered.
Saito keeps the pleased smirk from his face, because his strategy worked. He'd seen it, during the preparations for inception. Cobb loved what he did, even though he resented having been forced into the criminal element, away from his family. He is an artist, and Saito was raised by an artist; he understands them. He understands that they have to pursue their art, whether it is dreaming, like Cobb, or the art of beauty his mother had always spoken of. Without it they are diminished.
“And this, Mr. Cobb, is why I wanted to speak with you. You know this world; I do not. I need someone who does to be my partner in this new venture.”
“I'm retired.”
“You're retired from criminal dreaming, and since you have responsibilities as a father, that's the right decision. This job is perfectly... above board, as you would say, and the facility I have purchased is also right here in San Francisco. You would simply be one more working parent.”
Cobb leans back in his chair, surveying Saito with those rather startling eyes. Saito's never quite noticed how distinctive the American's eyes are before, and he wonders with slight unease why he is doing so now. He tells himself it is simply something left over from limbo at most, and more likely the understandable tension of waiting to see how the other man will respond to his offer.
“If I do this, you're going to have to be willing to listen to me,” Cobb says firmly. “You might be the one with the money, but I'm the expert here.”
“I feel I proved my ability to do that during inception,” Saito says, more than a little insulted. Cobb's mouth quirks in a slight smile, and he nods.
“I'll give you that. All right, we have a deal, Mr. Saito.”
They shake hands, like any other businessmen who have successfully completed negotiations, but Saito can't help but feel as though something more momentous is beginning. Inexplicably, he finds himself thinking of shaved ice. A simple treat, bought by a kind man for a young girl, set a chain of events in motion that led to his own existence. Why he should think of that now he has no idea, but he can taste the flavored cherry syrup of the shaved ice his mother would share with him - the woman who had been that girl - on his tongue. It feels like an omen of something. He's just not sure what.
~ ~ ~
Dom isn't sure what he expected of this new partnership with Saito, but it wasn't having a business meeting at a teahouse in New York City. The kids are with Miles, for a week in Paris that he promised them before inception. It's hard for him to let the kids go alone, but he tells himself it's good for them and him. Still, this is not the sort of place he would expect Saito to frequent, and he says as much.
“I inherited this from my mother,” Saito says evenly, sipping his tea. “She died several years ago.”
Dom's not sure what to say to that, not sure why Saito is sharing that, so he moves on. “So, what are your exact plans for this... new program of yours? We discussed possibilities before, but nothing too specific.”
“I thought to concentrate on the therapeutic and investigative uses for now. From what you said last month in your kitchen, they seem to be the most useful. I was wondering, however, about one thing. Coma patients. Could lucid dreaming be used to wake them up?”
Dom shakes his head. “Perhaps, but it's risky. Riskier than limbo in some ways. Limbo is created because someone went too deep into a dream, but it's essentially unnatural. Comas are... They're something else, and surfacing them almost never works. I can only recall one case where it worked and everyone got out of it with their sanity intact.”
Saito nods. “Well. It was an idea. Tell me, do you think the rest of the team would be interested in this? I imagine you know people who you will suggest that I hire regardless, but...”
“Arthur and Eames are actually waiting for Ariadne to finish college, and then the three of them are going into extraction.” Something's going on there, but Dom isn't sure what, or if he even wants to know. “I don't think they're ready to settle down into legal work, not just yet. But I can probably get Arthur to help with the planning at least; he's at loose ends until Ariadne's done.” Dom thinks for a moment, toying with his teacup. He knows Arthur keeps in touch with Ashley Stafford and Daniel Moran, as well as Ianto Jones, from the old days at Dreamscape, but he's not sure what's happened to the rest of them. Jules Sinclair would be a great one to track down again, and there are others too. Finding them will be the hard part.
The next meeting's at an Italian place in San Francisco, and Arthur's there this time. He's there a lot over the next six months, as he helps Dom track down former Dreamscape members as well as those on the illegal side who, for whatever reason, no longer feel drawn to a life of crime. Dom's aware of Arthur's eyes on him and Saito during the meetings where they catch up on things - Saito has been busy finding new people, college students mostly, and gathering together the necessary resources to make the dream facility top-notch. He doesn't know what his friend sees, and doesn't ask.
Really, though, with all the recruiting they were doing among Dreamscape alumni, they should have known that DESI would take an interest in the project.
~ ~ ~
“Are you going to try to shut this down, Ms. Shepard?” Saito asks, studying the woman who sits on the other side of his desk. The woman in question,. DESI Assistant Director Alexandra Shepard, doesn't seem fazed by his cold tone. She leans back in the chair, crossing her ankles and giving him a sharp look.
“Believe me, Mr. Saito, if we wanted to shut you down there would be no trying involved. We would simply do it.”
“Is that so?” He can see Cobb, who's standing over by the door, tense up, and Saito suspects that he's playing a dangerous game with this woman. He knows little of DESI, though the agency's name isn't unfamiliar. He also knows that Cobb worked for them once, that they were the original group in charge of shared dreaming, and that Arthur was one of their agents - he is annoyingly closed-mouthed about them, though he did warn Saito this would be coming, at least, before going off to meet Eames and Ariadne in Paris.
“It is, but hardly the point. I'm not here to shut you down, merely to ask what it is you're planning to do with dreamsharing.”
“Shepard... Isn't there a Jennifer Shepard who is head of a different American agency? NCIS, I believe? I saw her on one of your news shows when she took the position; they said she was the first woman to run an armed federal agency. Your resemblance to her is marked.”
“She's my sister, and that's not an answer to my question.”
“Alex, do you have to do this, really?” Cobb asks impatiently, and Shepard turns to look at him.
“I'm the Assistant Director, on orders from the Director, and you know how Broyles feels about dreaming, it's why Dreamscape got shut down in the first place.” Shepard smiles wryly, then turns back to Saito. “As it happens, I'm actually supposed to give you the all-clear, provided I like what you have to tell me about your plans. Our agency is hoping that if things like dreamshare go mainstream, it could be useful for us in the long term.”
“And why is that?” Saito asks, knowing that, technically, this woman almost certainly does not have to tell him. But he asks anyway, because there is no harm in it.
“Everything we deal with is like dreamshare, Mr. Saito. It's the sort of thing that sounds like it shouldn't be possible, but it is. Every bit of it that can go mainstream without inciting trouble is a good sign for us, in the event that any sort of major disclosures are one day necessary.”
So Saito and Cobb tell her of their plans, and neither of them notice that they're finishing each other's sentences some of the time. And Alex Shepard, who has seen so many people go from coworkers to so much more, hides the smile she can feel tugging at her lips. Even now she doesn't know if she pities them for not seeing what she can see is forming, or envies them for how they might be heading toward something she herself still has never had.
She clears them, just as she'd wanted. Saito doesn't know what Cobb does, that it was the woman before him and Cobb's own father-in-law, Stephen Miles, who started DESI's program, and that it was her sole focus, her only passion, for years. But he can see that she's glad to tell them that they can continue with their work, and he can also see something else in her eyes. It's a knowing look, but the cause of it is something he can't guess. So he puts it from his mind, deciding that it's not relevant to what he needed from her. He needed approval, and she gave that. It's all that matters.
~ ~ ~
The Dream Institute opens in January, ten months after Saito first approached Dom to set the program up. Dom is the head of the Institute, answering directly to Saito - and only to him. His first day in his new office, Dom isn't sure what to do, and then the phone rings. And it keeps ringing.
What they are is sort of a half therapy center and half private detective firm, and Dom finds that the work suits him. When he goes into the field himself, which is rare, he does more detective-type things. It's very like extraction, and he certainly knows how to handle that. Ironically, one of the other highly talented extractors of his acquaintance oversees the therapy department. Somewhere between Dreamscape and now, Jules Sinclair picked up a doctorate in psychology and is working toward one in sociology. She's who he goes to for information on that side of things.
The place is a success within the first few months. Dom refuses to be the spokesperson, leaving that to their PR team - and they have a full one, which is no surprise when he really thinks about it. Everyone wants to know about lucid dreaming, and of course a lot of them want to know about the sort of thing Saito mentioned, dream vacations and such. The 'and such' includes every sort of sexual fantasy imaginable, among other things. Dom rolls his eyes at that, but feels his stomach lurch when he sees one news segment in which the reporter wants to know about reliving past events, maybe telling lost loved ones things you never got the chance to say.
He's relieved when the expert being interviewed - Kaitlyn Parris, a find of Saito's from Temple University - firmly explains that doing that sort of thing can actually cause more damage than good, making someone dependent on a dream or worse, confused about which world is reality. Dom knows he would have frozen at that question.
There's a day when James and Philippa get out of school early, and while James is at a friend's house, Philippa doesn't have anywhere to go. It's unexpected, and while Dom would like nothing more than to just be home with his daughter, he has to be in the office, because he's waiting on information from the FBI. He's the only one cleared to read it, at least before he picks the team who will be working on this with him, so he can't just go home.
Philippa doesn't mind, to his relief. She's curled up in one of his office chairs, drawing in the sketchbook he bought her for her birthday. She's good, he notes with pride, especially for her age. It's not just that he's her father; he knows talent when he sees it.
It's a surprise when Saito comes into the office, and he's clearly taken aback by Philippa's presence. But she waves happily at him and says, “Hi, Mr. Saito!” before going back to her drawing. Over the months of planning, Saito was at the house enough to have met both of Dom's children.
“Hello, Philippa,” he says pleasantly, before telling Dom, “There is a problem with the Kendrick case; the client is determined to speak with you, since apparently you were her original consultant?”
Dom sighs. Elena Kendrick is a private detective and a pain in the ass, but she pays well and she does have a decent grasp of how dreamshare works. He would love to know where she picked up the things she knows, but he's probably better off if he doesn't know. He's the only one who can talk her down when she gets particularly bitchy; even Saito, who is surprisingly good at soothing everyone from irate police officers to hysterical children, can't get through to her. He glances at Philippa, but Saito shakes his head.
“I can stay here, Dominic, but I think Julianna will murder Ms. Kendrick if you do not intervene.”
Julianna - or Jules - is another one from the old days at Dreamscape, and she does have quite the temper. So Dom nods, because he does trust Saito to keep an eye on Philippa, then heads off to stop potential bloodshed.
When he gets back ten minutes later, though, he stops in the doorway. Philippa's not drawing anymore, instead she and Saito are talking intently.
“So did Chiyo ever become a geisha? And did she find the man who was so nice to her?” Philippa asks eagerly, bouncing a little in her seat. Saito nods solemnly, a fond smile on his face. It's a look Dom has never seen on his business partner's face before, and he can't quite understand the effect it has on him.
“She did. She grew up, took the geisha name Sayuri, and she was known as the most beautiful and talented geisha of them all. And then she and the Chairman found each other again.”
“It's like a fairy tale! Did they get married and have a family?”
“They had two sons. One of them chose to live a quiet life, and he had a family of his own with a beautiful daughter who he named Chiyo. The other decided to be like his father and he does not have a family, unfortunately.”
“Maybe he'll find someone!”
“I do hope so, Philippa.”
And Dom happens to know that Saito's niece is named Chiyo, and he can't help but wonder if the story he's only half-heard is a true one. If it is... Well, he's not sure, but something about Saito's way of saying that he hoped so left Dom feeling rather odd.
~ ~ ~
Saito had been aware of Dominic's - Cobb's - presence all along. He always seemed to know where the American was. That unsettled him greatly.
Leaning back in his chair, Saito sighs, rubbing his temples. He knows very well that one cannot choose who to love, because he knows the entirety of the story he watered down for young Philippa. He knows about the people who were left brokenhearted, and how his parents both regretted it, especially his mother. She felt responsible, in some ways. Still, raised on the tale of his parents, Saito had always had a small romantic streak. He had married his wife in the first blush of what he'd thought was love, and once he truly believes that it was love. It was simply not the kind that lasts, the kind his parents had, or that his brother and sister-in-law have.
This, this is real, despite how unconventional it is. And he knows that convention does not govern love; while he does not see much of them, he knows that the architect, forger, and point man from the Fischer job have it between themselves as well. Their relationship is even more unconventional than his attraction to Dom Cobb, but he knows love when he sees it. He has just never managed to truly experience it.
If only it had begun as simply as his parents had, with a cherry snow cone. But no, it began with dreams and an impossible job, bargains and gunshots and the terrible stretching of time in limbo. It began with him becoming an old man, and even though he is relatively young again, he still does not know how to prevent regrets. He's still waiting to die alone, in some ways.
“Was it all worth it?” he asked his mother once, when he was young.
“Love always is, Kiyoshi,” she told him in that quiet way she had. Now is one of the times he misses her most, because she could always find the positive in things. It's a trait his brother inherited but he did not, and so he cannot find the positive in a situation this hopeless.
Because he remembers a woman he first met in his own dream, who offered to help him. The last time he saw her, she killed Robert Fischer in front of his eyes. She was lovely, mysterious and beautiful. And Dominic Cobb loved her, never stopped, because she haunted his mind even after she was gone. He half-remembers the conversation between Dominic and Ariadne on the first level of the Fischer job, remembers that it was Ariadne's belief that guilt created Mal.
Saito can't argue with that entirely, but he also suspects that love played its part. Dominic didn't want to let go of Mal, he loved her too much. And he probably always will, leaving no chance for a foolish man who can't seem to stop himself from falling for the wrong person.
~ ~ ~
Dom wonders idly if his guest bed is actually big enough for Arthur, Eames, and Ariadne to all fit, but then he figures that they'll manage somehow. He's not entirely sure how they've made it work, the three of them, but he's happy for them.
He's also trying very hard not to think about something Arthur said to him earlier, while Eames kicked him off his own grill and Ariadne was playing with James and Philippa, at ease with them in the way only a parent or someone who was the big sister could be.
Arthur spoke about him and Saito, comparing them to his own relationship with Eames and Ariadne. Dom's not sure how he feels about that, not sure what it is that Arthur sees that he, so far, hasn't. He sighs, sitting on his bed and running his hands through his hair until it's sticking up. He doesn't know what to do.
He's started dreaming again, mostly vague things he can't remember, but tonight it's different. He's back on the familiar beach of Limbo, and he turns to see Mal walking up to him. She's in a flowing white sundress, her curls tumbling around her face. “Mal?” This isn't the shade his mind created, this is Mal as she was before they went too deep, this is the woman he loved, the woman he married.
“Hello, Dom. We need to talk.”
“This... This isn't real.”
“Of course it's not, but we still need to talk. I don't want you to be alone, just because I'm gone. It's not wrong to love someone else, to move on from me. It's what you would have wanted me to do if our places were reversed.”
“Mal, I...”
“Shh,” she says, her fingertips on his lips. She kisses him softly, then steps back. “I love you Dom, I always will, but I'm not there anymore. If you can be happy with him, you should be.”
He wakes up with tears burning in his eyes, but it's as though a weight's been taken from him as well. His friends can tell something's different about him, but they don't ask. They also don't ask when he says he has something to do, and can they watch the kids for a little while. He gets in his car and drives, not sure what he's doing or why.
Saito only keeps a condo in L.A., the fact that it's a penthouse doesn't change the fact that next to the palace he had in Limbo, it's not very impressive. He answers the door himself, shock clear on his face when he sees Dom. “Dominic - Mr. Cobb, is something wrong?”
“Why do you always correct yourself?” Dom asks, because he can't think of anything else to say. “You can call me by my first name, it doesn't bother me.”
Saito glances at him then away, and Dom sees, suddenly, what Arthur was talking about, and he knows. Impulsively, he reaches out, his hand resting on top of Saito's. “Kiyoshi...” he says quietly, using Saito's first name, which he's known for a long time but never once used before.
When they kiss for the first time, later that day, once things have been said that needed to be, Dom thinks Saito tastes like cherries, and when he says so, almost unthinkingly, the other man just grins, a wry grin that nonetheless lights up his face in a way Dom's never seen before, and he just has to kiss him again.
He's not sure where this is going to lead, but he's going to take a leap of faith, because he doesn't want to have any regrets.