Hello all! Okay, so this is a special birthday story for AtlantisGirl12! She wanted hurt!Arthur in reality and I couldn't resist :p I've had this idea in my head since the second time I saw the movie but the request really got me around to writing it ^.- Hope you guys like it! :D

"-thur...?"

"Arthur...?"

"Arthur!"

The words were echoing in his head, far away and faded, and Arthur struggled to grasp them, understand what they were saying. It was hard though...hard to concentrate on much of anything besides the unbearable throbbing in his head.

"Arthur, love? Can you hear me?"

Something was touching him; someone actually. There was a hand on the side of his face (at least he thought it was probably a hand) and he was leaning against something solid and warm. It would have been comfortable if it didn't feel like his head was trying to split open. Slowly, he opened his eyes, wondering why it was such a chore, and blinked up at the worried face of Eames hovering over him.

"Arthur?" The Forger said, his accent a bit thicker in his concern. "Can you hear me?"

Arthur thought about that for a second; it was a stupid question with a needless answer and he wondered why Eames would be asking such a thing. And he was still wondering why his head hurt so bad. It was only then that he realized he was leaning against Eames' chest, his upper body carefully cradled in the older man's arms. This day just got better and better...

"Of course I-" He tried to sit up but a sudden, unbelievable wave of veritgo ricochetted through his throbbing skull and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly, sinking back against the Forger again.

"Easy, love...no sudden moves for a while..." Eames was speaking above him but his words sounded like they were echoing again like they were trapped in a subway tunnel.

"How is he?" Another voice asked suddenly and Arthur opened his eyes long enough to see Saito appear over Eames shoulder, looking down at him in concern.

"He's conscious...that's about all that can be said." Eames muttered, glancing back down at Arthur. Saito nodded briefly and passed something to Eames that Arthur couldn't see. The "something", cold and wet, was suddenly pressed to the side of his head, the Forger's hand holding it in place. Natural instinct told him to recoil from the cold but the movement made him dizzy all over again and he gave up, a frustrated noise grumbling in the back of his throat as he resigned himself to lean against Eames once more.

"Easy Arthur...try not to move..." The Forger said softly, keeping firm pressure against the younger man's head with one hand and rubbing his arm with the other.

Arthur blinked a few times, the cold thing covering one of his eyes almost completely. He'd come to the conclusion it was probably a wash cloth though why it was pressed against his head he still hadn't figured out. He tried to remember how they had gotten to this point; as Cobb told him when they first started working together: "try to remember how you got here in the first place." He thought back as far as he could, his mind drawing a blank, and if he could have moved at all without feeling like he was falling off a building, he would have made a grab for his totem.

"Relax love, this isn't a dream." Eames said above him, obviously catching on to what the younger man was trying to piece together.

"What happened?" Arthur asked finally, surprised at how weak his voice sounded. He looked up again, catching a brief glimpse of Yusuf in the background talking to Saito. Through the haze he remembered that Ariadne and Cobb were downtown, gathering information on their next target. The rest of them had met up here, started going over the plans for the next mission, and-

"-and when Yusuf initiated the kick, the chair slid out from under you and your head hit the table." Eames finished above him and Arthur was abruptly pulled back to reality.

"What?"

Eames frowned in concern before repeating. "We were testing the new drug, remember? Yusuf said it was supposed to increase the clarity of dreams so you volunteered to try it first. When it came time for the kick, Yusuf was just going to nudge your chair enough to wake you up but the chair tipped over completely and you hit the table." Eames nodded over his shoulder to the overturned chair a few feet away, dangerously close to a desk holding the PASIV device and a stack of papers. The papers had ended up all over the floor in the fall, some speckled with smears and flecks of something crimson.

"Arthur, I'm so sorry." Yusuf appeared suddenly, crouching down next to the Point Man. "Had I known the chair was going to move I wouldn't have-"

Arthur waved his hand dismissively (though it didn't get much higher than a few inches off the floor). "It was my own fault." He mumbled, the words feeling heavy and foreign in his mouth. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open as well which couldn't be good. "I shouldn't have been sitting so close."

"I think we should take him to the hospital." Yusuf said quietly, the words directed at Eames. The two were talking quietly and Arthur shook his head in refusal, immediately regretting the action.

"No hospitals." He muttered, squeezing his eyes closed as another wave of vertigo swept through him. He felt like he was stuck on a raft in the middle of the ocean being tossed around by the waves. It was not a pleasant feeling. "I'll be fine."

"Darling, I'm not a doctor but I'm nearly certain you have a concussion." Eames said matter-of-factly, looking down at the younger man in concern. "And the amount of blood on this towel isn't a very encouraging sight either."

Ah, that explained the rag. Still, Arthur was adament about not going to the hospital and tested shaking his head again. The results were about the same as the previous attempt.

"Arthur-" Eames tried but Saito stepped in instead.

"I have a good friend who happens to be a physician. Perhaps I can call him and have him come here instead?" He looked between Eames and Arthur, shrugging a bit. "Its a good compromise."

There was a brief silence before Eames nodded. "Alright, call him and give him the address." Saito nodded in return and stepped away before Arthur had a chance to protest.

The Point Man let out a frustrated sigh and tried to push himself up but was held back by Eames. "Eames, this is really unnecessary." He sighed in exasperation but the Forger was unmoved.

"Arthur, you were unconscious for nearly two minutes and you can't even sit up by yourself without assistance. I believe calling a physician to come have a look at you is entirely necessary." He shifted his grip on the younger man slightly, looping his arm around Arthur's waist as if he were preparing to lift him up. "Besides, Cobb would be pissed if his favorite Point Man's brains turned into scrambled egg, don't you think? And don't even get me started on the lecture we're going to get from Ariadne." He lifted suddenly, keeping Arthur close, and standing until they were both upright. Arthur's hand instinctively gripped Eames' arm as they rose, holding on for dear life as the world shifted into a more vertical position. His head was reeling, the room spinning sickeningly and the floor shuddering beneath his feet (at least that's what it felt like). Dizziness came in relentless waves and his stomach lurched suddenly and for a split second he felt like he couldn't breathe. Hot bile burned the back of his throat and he gagged reflexively. He vaguely heard Eames curse beside him just before Yusuf kicked a trashcan toward the pair, skidding to a stop next to the Forger's feet. It had no sooner come to a stop before Arthur lost what little he had in his stomach, coughing and gagging violently into the empty trash bin.

Eames kept one arm around his waist, holding him up to keep him from falling on the floor completely, his other hand rubbing the younger man's back soothingly. "Easy love...you're alright..." He muttered, keeping his voice soft and comforting. Yusuf appeared beside him with a glass of water and they both waited until the spell was over before trying to offer it to Point Man.

Arthur was trembling all over by this point, his hair hanging over his eyes and his skin a sickening pallor from the exertion. He could hear Eames talking to him, Yusuf's voice in the background, but it was hard to make sense of any of it. There was a ringing in his ears now, dull at first and growing louder with every second that passed. His knees locked suddenly and he started to fall to the ground but Eames was a bit faster, moving just in time to catch him before he crumpled completely.

He found himself clinging to the Forger again, gripping his arms in an attempt to ground himself to something physical. Everything was swirling and spinning around him and it was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open. Eames was holding him still, not moving, letting Arthur grip him like a child who had just woken up from a nightmare. It was embarassing and degrading but Arthur could really see no other option at this point, not when he couldn't take two steps without throwing up. Maybe a physician wasn't so unnecessary after all.

Poor Arthur :( This will be in two parts so the next chapter will be up soon! ^.-