[Inception] "Waking World " (PG)
Author's Note: Written for "fic_promptly"'s any, any, “I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time.” (Calvin & Hobbes)
Cobb had just switched out the room light in Phillipa and James's room: his daughter, clearly used to her 'big girl bed', had wanted him to linger a bit, while James, still sleeping in a large crib and not ready to move on to a 'real bed', had already conked out. The nightlight shone on them softly, as they slept. It had been so long since he got to watch them like this that he wasn't ready to step away and back to his own room. And he had a feeling that, despite the fact that the kids weren't entirely used to having him around, they would rather have him keep an eye on them while they settled into their dreams.
He leaned against the door jamb, watching the two, till he heard a footstep in the hallway behind him. He turned to find Miles watching him from a few feet away.
"Not accustomed to tucking them in, are you?" the older man asked.
"Been away from them for so long, I guess I'm not ready to spend much time apart from them," Cobb admitted, glancing back to them. "Making up for lost time."
"Have you thought about what comes next?" Miles asked.
"I'm looking at a few architecture firms who need a junior designer," Cobb replied. "Saw a listing for an instructor's aide at a design school."
"Designing gas stations and attic conversions or teaching drawing classes to dilletantes won't feel the same after the work you've been doing," Miles noted.
"It won't, but it will be good to be humdrum after the past three years," Cobb said.
"It might not be my place to ask, but I was wondering if you'd thought about finding another mother for your children?" Miles asked, looking past Cobb into the children's bedroom.
"There really hasn't been anyone since Mal," Cobb said. "Haven't exactly been a monk, but there's been no one I felt ready to start that kind of relationship with."
"You had trouble letting her go?" Miles asked.
Cobb looked back to his daughter and son. "She haunted my dreams like a ghost in a ruined Queen Anne mansion," he admitted. "I couldn't let her go and her shade wouldn't let me go so easily. I think I dreamed just so I didn't have to let her go."
"Did you dream of your children?" Miles asked.
Cobb wagged his head. "Yes, not as much as I dreamed of the woman who helped me create them."
"Maybe that humdrum life which you're dreaming of now isn't such a dry prospect. You sound as if you're longing for the waking world, Dom. Don't lose sight of either one," Miles warned.
"Considering that I can't dream on my own, without some chemical assistance, I don't think I'll be leaving the field any time soon," Cobb admitted, his eye on his children. "But it's time I paid more attention to the loved ones in the waking world."
Cobb had just switched out the room light in Phillipa and James's room: his daughter, clearly used to her 'big girl bed', had wanted him to linger a bit, while James, still sleeping in a large crib and not ready to move on to a 'real bed', had already conked out. The nightlight shone on them softly, as they slept. It had been so long since he got to watch them like this that he wasn't ready to step away and back to his own room. And he had a feeling that, despite the fact that the kids weren't entirely used to having him around, they would rather have him keep an eye on them while they settled into their dreams.
He leaned against the door jamb, watching the two, till he heard a footstep in the hallway behind him. He turned to find Miles watching him from a few feet away.
"Not accustomed to tucking them in, are you?" the older man asked.
"Been away from them for so long, I guess I'm not ready to spend much time apart from them," Cobb admitted, glancing back to them. "Making up for lost time."
"Have you thought about what comes next?" Miles asked.
"I'm looking at a few architecture firms who need a junior designer," Cobb replied. "Saw a listing for an instructor's aide at a design school."
"Designing gas stations and attic conversions or teaching drawing classes to dilletantes won't feel the same after the work you've been doing," Miles noted.
"It won't, but it will be good to be humdrum after the past three years," Cobb said.
"It might not be my place to ask, but I was wondering if you'd thought about finding another mother for your children?" Miles asked, looking past Cobb into the children's bedroom.
"There really hasn't been anyone since Mal," Cobb said. "Haven't exactly been a monk, but there's been no one I felt ready to start that kind of relationship with."
"You had trouble letting her go?" Miles asked.
Cobb looked back to his daughter and son. "She haunted my dreams like a ghost in a ruined Queen Anne mansion," he admitted. "I couldn't let her go and her shade wouldn't let me go so easily. I think I dreamed just so I didn't have to let her go."
"Did you dream of your children?" Miles asked.
Cobb wagged his head. "Yes, not as much as I dreamed of the woman who helped me create them."
"Maybe that humdrum life which you're dreaming of now isn't such a dry prospect. You sound as if you're longing for the waking world, Dom. Don't lose sight of either one," Miles warned.
"Considering that I can't dream on my own, without some chemical assistance, I don't think I'll be leaving the field any time soon," Cobb admitted, his eye on his children. "But it's time I paid more attention to the loved ones in the waking world."