italics= thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own the concepts of inception and extraction, Cobalt Industries, or any characters from Inception. I do own Maya, Mr. Morris and any other original characters. I do not own the story line of Inception either.

"You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you, Peter Pan. That's where I'll be waiting"

-Tinkerbelle (Hook)

When I was a little girl I used to read bed-time stories to myself. Hoping they could take me to another world. A world where anything could happen, where dreams could come true. And they did. At night when I went to sleep I would be there with the characters from my books. I would be at the ball with Cinderella, or falling down the rabbit whole with Alice. As I got older I discovered new worlds, more intense worlds. Around 12 I began learning about magic with Harry Potter, and at 15 I was fighting side by side with Legolas and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. Eventually though, even the infinite worlds that books could offer would not fill my dreams. I grew bored with same characters and story lines that I visited and inserted myself into countless times. Once I had reached that point I began to create my own worlds. They started simply, as most ideas do, but after time I could imagine cities and countries, with familiar faces and new ones popping up all the time. That new and growing world got me through those hard teen years, but soon enough even my world was no longer an escape from the everyday life I had worked so hard to extract myself from. I found myself wondering what other people were dreaming, and toying around with the idea of entering the dreams of others. I did achieve what I began to call "invasion" and once that was perfected began trying to take information from my subjects, "extraction". I was becoming quite good at extraction but unfortunately, life got in the way of these….experiments, and the 6 years that I spent working on invasion and extraction, beginning creating a new on a concept called "inception" were locked away in a steal vault. I thought that I would lead a normal life from then on, all my dreaming left behind. It wasn't until 2 years later that I was "approached" by a company called Cobalt that I realized I wasn't the only one who knew about lucid dreaming.

One year ago

"Ms. Green, you have a call on line two" the intercom on my conference phone blared at me. Pushing the button to speak back to my assistant Amanda I told her thank you. "Hello Ms. Green speaking."

"Hello Ms. Green. My name is Benjamin Morris, and I work for Cobalt Industries. A colleague of mine had mentioned that Burns and Myers was looking to merge with an up and coming corporation, and Cobalt Industries happens to be very interested."

The man's voice was quite deep and he had an interesting accent, one I couldn't put my finger on. But what I thought was odd, is that Roger, my boss, hadn't mentioned anything about a merger to me. In fact last time we spoke he seemed almost adamant that the company stand on its own two feet now that we were beginning to be successful.

"Really? Well that is interesting Mr. Morris. I wasn't aware about a new merger in the works. May I ask who you heard it from?"

"Oh just someone within the company, but I confirmed it with your boss Roger Leachman. You can give him a call if you like?"

Well I suppose if he confirmed it with Roger it must be alright. I'll be sure to check my e-mails later, it was probably a last minute thing.

"Oh no that's alright. I'm sure I just missed the e-mail. So how far along in the process are you with us?"

"Not very far, the offer came so quickly that I really didn't get a chance to look at most of the statistics. I was hoping we could set up a meeting, oh sometime this week, to go over the introductory details."

Pulling up my schedule for this week on my computer I saw that I had Thursday evening free, and relayed the information to Mr. Morris.

"Thursday evening sounds perfect. I'll make reservations at the St. Regis for 6:30 then."

The St. Regis. Fancy. "That sounds wonderful Mr. Morris. I will see you Thursday at 6:30 then. Thank you very much."

"Thank you Ms. Green. I look forward to our meeting." And with that he hung up.

It was now Thursday afternoon, and I was preparing myself for my meeting with Mr. Morris. I had created a file covering all of the basics about Burns and Myers, one of the new law firms that had sprung up. I had been working for them for about two and a half years, and the income was good. I wasn't a lawyer, and all I did was meet with potential assets to the company and try to reel them in. I suppose you could call me the salesman of the company.

I wore a simple light gray business suit, with a knee length skirt and a teal satin shirt. It was classy and professional, with an edgy twist. Perfect. My straight dark brown hair I decided to leave down, as it was more casual that way, and I didn't want a potential client and business partner to think that Burns and Myers was a stuck up, uptight company. First impressions always count, no matter what people say.

I had done my research about Cobalt Industries over the past two days, but couldn't find specifics about the kind of work they did. I found it odd at first, but then realized that Mr. Morris had said that Cobalt was a relatively new company, so didn't dwell on the fact. Cobalt was apparently a scientific development and experimentation company, what they were developing and experimenting with was the specifics I could not find.

I sat in the cab which was taking me from my apartment in SOHO to the St. Regis and checked over the file again, ran through my presentation again. I needed to get this deal, if I did, depending on the commission, I would have enough money saved up to quit and go back to my research. If I didn't then I don't know how much longer I was going to be stuck in Burns and Myers. The work was good, but it wasn't where I wanted to be. What I wanted to do was continue with what I had started with, master the art which would be "inception".

The ride to the St. Regis was only about thirteen minutes, and I arrived earlier than Mr. Morris. I decided that maybe ordering alcohol before making my presentation wouldn't be the best idea, so I ordered a club soda. I kept running through my presentation over and over again in my head trying to memorize every detail that needed to be relayed in order to close this deal quickly, but after going over this information for about then minutes, my thoughts began to drift. They went back to thoughts of how I wound up here at this point in my life. And by that point I seriously considered getting an actual drink. My childhood was not one filled with love and warmth. But everyone has a past, and you can't change who you have been, you can only control where you are going.

20 minutes and another club soda later, I began thinking how unprofessional this was. Mr. Morris had called a meeting with me, and was now almost half an hour late. At that point I began to consider leaving. After all, why would a business want to associate themselves with a company whose employee can't even be on time for a simple introductory meeting? Five more minutes then I leave.

I had just lift my glass up to my lips to take another sip of soda, when from behind a deep voice questioned, "Ms. Green?" Turning in my seat I looked upon who I assumed was Mr. Morris. He was a tall dark skinned man, wearing an expensive navy blue business suite. He carried a black leather suit case, and on his wrist was a shiny new Rolex watch. He was older, probably in his mid to late forties, with had a clean shaven head and his dark brown eyes were hidden under heavy, slightly graying eyebrows. Signs of ageing marked his face with small wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and making their way across his forehead.

"Mr. Morris, it's a pleasure to meet you." I stood up from my chair and held my. I noticed as he accepted the gesture, that his hands were quite soft. "Please let's sit down."

I retook to my previous position in my chair while he took the one across from me. "Pleasure to meet you as well. I hope I haven't kept you waiting long. My boss wanted wished to speak to me before I left and it took longer than I anticipated." He said to me.

"No not long at all, thank you for asking. I thought we could go right into the basics of the company and at the end you could voice any concerns or ask any questions you had. Is that alright?" As I asked this I began reaching for my briefcase, which contained my well rehearsed presentation.

"That sounds fine Ms. Green. Perfectly fine." He flagged down a waitress and ordered a scotch straight up, and asked if I wanted anything besides club soda. I decided that I had waited long enough for alcohol, and ordered a glass of white wine. After all I didn't want to get out of control when I was trying to do a business deal.

I went through my presentation quickly enough, pausing at moments to gauge Morris' reaction. It was unfortunately hard to read him though, and whenever I paused he simply nodded that he understood and motioned for me to go on. When I was through, I was quite surprised that he had not interrupted once; usually there were quite a few interruptions. "So what do you think Mr. Morris?"

He was quiet for a moment, and nodded his head one more time before speaking. "You are quite the saleswoman Ms. Green. Your reputation precedes you."

"I wasn't aware that I had a reputation. But thank you." I sipped my second glass of wine.

"Yes, quite the reputation." He said nodding his head again. "I must admit if I was indeed looking to merge with Burns and Myers, I would do so as soon as I got into the office tomorrow morning."

I admit that surprised me. "I'm sorry Mr. Morris I must have heard you wrong. Did you just imply that you have no interest to merge Cobalt with Burns and Myers?"

He lifted his third scotch and took a sip. "No Ms. Green you heard me quite correct. My boss has no interest in merging with Burns and Myers. But he is interested in merging your skills with the work being done at Cobalt." He swirled the scotch in his glass before taking another sip. "Tell me, Ms. Green, how much information were you able to find about Cobalt?"

"Not much. Only general facts and statistics. What did you mean my skills?" I was getting suspicious and somewhat uncomfortable with where this conversation was going.

"How far were you able to get Ms. Green?"

"Get? Get where…with what?"

"How far were you able to get with inception?"

My heart stopped for a moment, and then sped up so fast I was sure that he could hear it fluttering within my chest. How could he know of inception? It's impossible. No one else even knew about "invasion". "I don't believe I have any idea about what you are talking about, Mr. Morris. But if you aren't interested in my company then I believe it is time for me to leave." My voice was shaking and my palms were starting to sweat.

He continued on as if I hadn't said anything, "My boss has an interesting offer for you. If you would be willing to listen to it."

"I'm sorry but I really don't know what you are talking about." I began to rise from my seat and reach for my briefcase. "It was nice to meet you though Mr. Morris. Have a nice night"

And as I began to quickly, and hopefully what appeared calmly, walk away he called out from behind me, "What if I told you that it was possible to have two levels? Or three? Would you consider the offer then?"

I had to stop. It was like I had no control over my legs, and as much as I wanted to move forward I simply couldn't. Two levels was impossible, three was unthinkable. I turned around and told him this. All he did was chuckle, as if a child had just said something amusing, before gesturing towards my empty chair.

Retaking my seat I decided to listen to this seemingly insane, yet intriguing offer. "I'm listening"

He leaned forward and began to explain his proposition. "What if I told you that everything you once worked on has been enhanced? What if I told you that you are the only person who can remotely perform inception? And what if I told you that Cobalt Industries is willing to permit you to do as much research and experimentation with lucid dreaming as you want, all for one simple service?"

I narrowed my eyes, not knowing if I wanted to know the answer to my next question.

"Which would be?"

"Teach inception to our extractors." And he leaned back in his chair, finishing off his scotch.

My breath had caught in my throat and I brought my hand to my head to brush back the hair which had fallen in my face, before releasing an amazed sigh. This was my chance. Probably my only chance to return to doing what I love. Could I really say no?

I realized then that there was a single flaw that could destroy the entire opportunity. The nervousness I felt that my one chance could slip by was blatant in my voice, "Inception isn't taught. It has to be learned through experience. It was an accident that I stumbled upon it. I'm not sure how to teach it."

"Well I suggest you figure out a way to make it teachable. Because if you can't hold up your end of the agreement, then you will leave us no choice."

"No choice? What do you mean no choice?"

"Cobalt is a very exclusive company, as you found out through your research. Anyone who leaves Cobalt can simply no longer be trusted."

This was a big decision and I knew it, but I felt as though I had already made up my mind. "How long would I have?"

"Two years. Cobalt Industries is located in Mombasa Kenya, relocation would be required. Any other questions?"

I nodded my head, "Just one," then looked him the eyes, "When do I leave?"

Mr. Morris smirked and held out his hand, which I did not hesitate to accept. "Welcome to Cobalt Industries Maya."

I didn't even ask how he knew my name, for it seemed the little information I found about Cobalt Industries, they had found immeasurable amounts on me.