{ No Way Back : Log 02 } - for artfulforger

[bamf_pointman]

Right after this.

It wasn't very much longer until they were entering the hotel room that Arthur had reserved - one bed - and he dropped his bag down onto a chair. He ran a hand over his face. "No more people randomly popping in and out, right? No shifting hallways or hammers. If I see another hammer, it'll be too soon

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[artfulforger]

Settling into the other chair in the corner, Eames leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Trying to clear his mind, work it all out.

"I..." He sighed, lifting his head and looking at Arthur. "I don't have a bloody clue and no idea what to think. It was real, wasn't it?"

[artfulforger]

It was easier perching on the chair than the bed. On the bed it was too easy to follow ideas in his head, those tiny thoughts that he shouldn't be having. Not now. Not after all they'd dealt with. Instead he looked to the laptop. It didn't stop him from stealing glancing at Arthur. At least until the article caught his attention.

"So you're telling me we saw two women that have been missing for years on years. Like a hundred of them, and look just like they do in this picture?" And they were sane. That was the part he kept telling himself.

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur nodded. "Looks like Ellen disappeared in the 50s and Sukeena before then." Arthur frowned and shook his head. "Men typically were found dead while the women disappeared without a trace." He remembered something the woman...Ellen had said. "Well that seems to make sense - she really seemed to have something against men."

He sat there quietly for a minute. They were sane and yet this, this entire thing made absolutely no sense. But -- they were sane.

Arthur scrolled down through the article. "Says that at the time of this article, a group of "psychics" were planning on visiting the house before it was to be tore down for condominiums."

[artfulforger]

"The fifties," he repeated in a low voice. "So like sixties year before we got shrieked at by her," he noted, sitting back as if the distance could help. Definitely not liking how this all sounded.

"So you're telling us people believed it to be haunted and maybe that it was actually seeking us out to what? Help add on to a house that somehow texted me," he said, as if trying to convince himself as much as anything.

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur didn't like it anymore than Eames did. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at the screen, thinking the entire thing over. "I have to admit, that seems like the case." Arthur paused. "And, sent me a written invitation."

He stood from the bed and walked over to the chair and found the invitation he had been handed before walking back over and handing it over to Eames. "That's what I was given," he said, looking at him.

Arthur returned to his spot on the bed. After finding this out - if he were truly being honest - he didn't want to look up any more information. He didn't want to know more about this fucking house and it's former occupants. He just wanted -- well, he wanted the man sitting next to him but that wasn't right. At least not after everything they've been through that night.

He ran a hand over his face and clicked back to find another article that would be a little more recent than the last.

[artfulforger]

Eames sighed, biting at the inside of his lip. He could handle a lot but this had him a bit rattled. Reaching for the invitation, he read it once, twice, a third time as if he could figure it out.

"Arthur... this is my handwriting," he admitted in a low voice. "One I use often enough anyway," he said, hand shaking slightly as he let it fall onto the bed.

"Dammit, I don't want to believe in haunted house. I don't want to deal with that," he admitted, sounding petulant and a bit whiny.

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur nodded. He knew it was Eames' handwriting. It was exactly the reason he went in the first place. He shot a glare at the invitation for everything it had put into his life before he turned his attention to Eames.

"Where do you want to go for vacation?" He'd tell the extractor in Bolivia he wasn't doing it; it wasn't a hardship on his part. It was, more or less, his way of saying that he didn't want to either and didn't want to know more about this house for the first time in his life. It was no wonder, considering an article he had briefly scanned about the house being demolished years prior.

[artfulforger]

Playing over the invitation before tossing it aside and letting it skitter up and under the bed. No more interest in it, not wanting to think as he rocked back onto two legs of the chair and watched Arthur.

"You want beaches? What about Skiathos, Greece?"

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur tilted his head and considered the place. "Haven't been to Greece in a few years. It would be nice to hit a beach or some place far away from here." Arthur paused and looked at Eames. "You're not wanted there, right?" his lips quirked up, giving him a teasing look.

Turning back to the laptop, he saved the searches and pulled up his trusted site for flights. "When do you want to go?" Personally, Arthur was more than wanting to leave as soon as possible - or tomorrow.

[artfulforger]

The saddest part was, it was a needed question for Eames as he wasn't entirely welcome in so many places. Shaking his head though, he paused, seemed to consider, then shook his head harder. "Nope. Not in Greece. Do you just assume I'm wanted everywhere," he asked, arching a brow.

"I... I've got time. Now. Anytime we want to go. I'm relative free, between jobs."

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur allowed a grin to curve on his lips. "No, not automatically. But you have to admit, you aren't exactly welcome in a lot of places for various reasons. I rather not be interupted on our vacation."

Yes, our vacation.

Arthur nodded. "I'm calling Gustav in the morning about dropping from the Bolivia job. How does tomorrow morning sound?" he asked, arranging flights out to Greece.

[artfulforger]

"Our vacation is it," he asked, not willing to let that one go. "I'm only unwelcome in one household in Monaco and the state of Utah." Which was a long, and kind of ugly story.

"Arthur, you don't have to drop a job if you don't want. I'll stay around. Promise."

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "I think we deserve it after tonight," he muttered, keeping his eyes away from Eames'. He raised a brow but didn't ask about this story concerning the state of Utah.

He could do both - spend some time in Greece and make his way out to Bolivia. "You'd want to go to Bolivia?" he asked, looking over at him - wondering if that was truly what Eames meant. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly given their circumstances, Arthur didn't want to be split up from him.

[artfulforger]

"I'm not wanted there," he said cheerfully, winking at Arthur. For a moment he smiled before sobering slightly. "Would I go with you? Of course. Do you want me to is the question. I won't invade on your job, Darling."

[bamf_pointman]

Despite himself, Arthur chuckled and returned Eames' smile. "That's promising," he mused.

Eames was leaving it in his court, Arthur realized. He knew this was changing their entire game - their entire relationship but after what they've been through that evening, Arthur knew what he wanted. Had known since even before that night. "I want you there, Eames."

[artfulforger]

It felt odd and different but not in a bad way. It was just a new adjustment between them both. It could ruin everything but they'd never known if they didn't take those first steps.

"Then I'll come to Bolivia with you. Before or after a vacation," he said, moving to kiss Arthur's cheek softly. "Tell them I'm your bodyguard."