Evening Out

Trinity sat at the table, a coin dancing across her knuckles as she had done for the twins earlier that day.

"Where'd you learn it?" Neo asked quietly, taking a seat next to her.

It was just after eight and they had settled the twins down for bed. Cass would be by to pick them up later but she was still making arrangements, along with Zee.

They wanted the funeral held the next afternoon before Dozer's body started to decompose.

"When are the other funerals?" Neo had asked trying to sound as gentle as possible.

"The others won't have funerals."

"What?"

Trinity shrugged, face blank. "It's how it is in Zion. Most soldiers are pod-borns fresh from the Academy. They stay on one ship, maybe two until they die. They don't have families or friends apart from those they serve with."

"What happens to them?"

"Cremation. Ashes are recycled however Zion see fit."

Trinity smiled, "Apoc. He always carried coins in his pockets, they were all over his room. It used to drive Switch nuts." She laughed, softly, before looking back at Neo. "The first time I went into the Matrix, on a mission, it was a disaster. We were collecting a drop from the Vigilant—they had left a package at a random post office in Chicago. Agents got wind of it, set up a sting."

She paused, looking down."Eight fucking SWAT teams— it was a bloodbath. Six went in, three came out. Morpheus, Apoc and I were the only ones who survived. There were just so many of them, there was nothing we could do. But I was so calm. Unbelievably calm—I had never felt so relaxed and in control than I did with a dead man's MP5 in my hand.

"When we got back to the ship, Morpheus and Dodson—she was the Operator before Tank—started telling me how great I did. That I handled the situation calmly, rationally and without error." She paused again, watching the coin roll across her knuckles. "I was afraid that I was becoming a machine. I was born from one, I had eletrical plugs all over my body and I could be inserted into a computer. I just—I didn't feel human.

"Apoc, he knew. Saw it in my face, I guess, and showed up to my cabin later with a small bag filled with these coins. And showed me the coin trick and told me I was going to learn it. He told me that he knew how I felt and that, when he was first unplugged, he felt the same way. And he said that the fact I was worried about it was as much proof as I needed to being human.

"He handed me one of the disks and said, 'Machines don't feel. Not the cold metal against their skin or the anger and frustration that will come every time you drop it. They don't feel the excitement when you start to get it and the pride when you realize that you learned something yourself.'"

The coin reached her pinky and she let it slip through her fingers, catching it immediately. "Just a coin—a thin scrap of metal welded down to a circle. But it keeps me human."

Neo reached for the hand not holding the coin. How was it that she could be so perfect?

She was level-headed and down-to-earth without sacrificing idealism. She had a gentle wisdom about her. He could see it every time he looked in her bright blue eyes. Her patience with the kids, hell—her patience with him was extraordinary.

That was as far as he got before he felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her. And there was so much more to her—her intellect, her ability to take control of a situation, her dry sense of humor and the strange things that would make her laugh. Her fucking looks. Christ, Trinity was gorgeous.

And she was his.

Or he was hers.

He liked to think it was a bit off both. They belonged to each other.

Neo edged his chair closer to hers, leaning forward to kiss her and…

Three succinct knocks echoed on their metal door. Trinity fought a sigh. There was no way it was Cass, not yet. And frankly, there was no one else she wanted to see.

She squeezed Neo's hand before standing up and going to the door and peaking through the peephole. Ghost and Sparks. The crowd from earlier in the day had mostly dissipated.

She undid the lock and opened it, just as Sparks was about to start knocking again.

She opened her mouth to tell them to keep it down, that the twins were asleep just a few yards off but she was unable to speak at the sight that greeted her.

Yes, most of the crowd had vanished although a few stragglers were still waiting patiently outside their door. But the floor all the way around their apartment was stacked with baskets upon baskets. Food, cloths, trinkets.

"Oh fuck."

"Can I steal some of that bread?" Sparks asked, gesturing at one of the closest baskets, stacked at waist level.

"Fuck!" She repeated.

"What?" Neo asked from the table.

"Trust me. You don't want to know."

He stood up and walked over to her, looping an arm around her waist and, "Jesus Christ. What the… how…?"

Trinity shook her head and moved to the side, "We'll deal with it later. Come on in."

"I wasn't kidding about the bread." Sparks commented, stepping into the apartment.

Trinity shushed him, "We just go the twins down to sleep."

"Hazel and Triton?" Ghost asked.

She nodded, "Cass is pretty swamped right now so we took them for the day."

"Playing house?" Sparks asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

She rolled her eyes and led them into the kitchen, smiling to herself as she glanced at the counter. She could feel Neo's smirk behind so she walked up to it, turned to face the guys and used her arms to hike herself to sit on top of the counter.

"How long do you have the kids?" Ghost asked, staring directly at her.

"Don't know. Cass said she'd get here when she could but it would probably be later. Why?"

"Because we are going to get fucking trashed!" He sang the last part, "Wanted to see if you guys wanted to come with us."

"I need to stay here with the kids but," She looked to Neo, "Why don't you go?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly, cocking his head to the side, "I don't mind staying here with the kids."

"They're asleep. Both of us don't need to be here."

It wasn't a suggestion, Neo noted looking into her eyes. It was a request. Go out with the guys, get drunk with my brother. Bond.

Despite wanting to stay with her, Neo nodded, "Alright. That sounds great."

She rewarded him with a soft smile. Thank you.

"Good." Sparks said with a nod, "Trinity, where do you keep your liquor?"

Trinity tilted her head in exasperation. "You don't have alcohol?"

"I have plenty of alcohol. Mostly cheap shit. I know you got some good stuff up in here."

Trinity slid off the counter, rolling her eyes. She went to a cabinet across the way. "Scotch, vodka or whiskey?"

"How old's the whiskey?"

"Older than you."

"Sold!"

Trinity grabbed a large bottle of whiskey and handed it to Sparks. Reaching up on her tiptoes, she gave Neo a short kiss. "Have fun."

"I will." He promised, giving her another quick kiss.

"Ewww." Sparks stretched out. "Don't be mushy."

Trinity rolled her eyes, giving Neo a slight nudge to follow Ghost and Sparks. Neo quickly threw on his too-big boots and, with a final kiss goodbye, left the apartment. He visibly stiffened as the few stragglers vied for his attention and he walked around the piles of goods left for him.

"Has it been like this all day?"

"Yeah," Neo sighed out.

"Must piss Trinity off." Ghost commented.

"She deals with better than I do, to be honest. She's much more patient."

"Perhaps, but I don't imagine she's happy with it."

Neo glanced down at the ground as they walked towards the elevators. He already knew that their situation in Zion wasn't ideal. They had to fight for just a few hours of time, had to fight to be together. And now they were the focus of the entire city, it seemed.

"No." Neo agreed, "Not happy. We can't eat out or sit in the park without being stared at. We had to fight through crowds to get home today. But she's very understanding—to me, to the people staring. Hell, to the woman who tried to molest me."

"Wait, what?" Sparks asked, suddenly finding the conversation interesting again.

"Uh, earlier today we took the kids to the Market. We went to this bookstore and Trin took the kids to the back to look at the children's books. And, while I was looking around this woman, she—uh, kept trying to hit on me."

"And Trinity was understanding?"

Neo nodded, "I mean, she thought it was hilarious but yeah."

"Hilarious?"

They reached the elevator door and Ghost hit the button calling it to their level.

"Yeah. Laughed about it for a good ten minutes."

"She wasn't pissed?" Sparks asked, growing more surprised by the second.

Neo shrugged as the door opened and they stepped inside, "Why would she be? She knows that I love her. That I don't want to be with anyone but her."

"So, all the girls in Zion want you and you don't care?"

"Not all the girls in Zion…"

"Last night, I had girls coming up to me asking if I could introduce them to you." Sparks face lit up as an idea popped into his head, "You could send all the girls you reject to me!"

Neo paused, thinking that out. "You want me to pimp out girls to you?"

"You'll learn very quickly that Sparks lacks class." Ghost casually commented as the doors opened on a new level and they exited.

"Hey, I'm deployed for months at a time and the only woman I get to see is Niobe. I need to take what I can get when I can fucking get it."

"That's gross, Sparks."

"I am what I am and I do who I can."

They stopped in front of a metal door that Sparks opened with a key.

The apartment was similar to his and Trinity's. There was a table on the same wall as the door, pushed into the corner. It was pulled out slightly to accommodate four chairs. A tower of various alcohols were in the middle of the table and four shot glasses were stationed at each seat.

"Make yourselves at home." Sparks said, plopping down in one of the chairs and setting the bottle of whiskey on the table. "What a fucking day."

"Everyone has their time." Ghost said, sitting next to him.

"That's bullshit." Sparks said shaking his head. "He didn't deserve to die. None of them did."

He opened the whiskey and began to fill the shot glasses. Neo walked over and took a seat next to Ghost, across from Sparks.

"Who died first?" Sparks asked after filling all their glasses.

"Mouse." Neo said, remembering the screams and the gunfire.

"To Mouse." Sparks and Ghost said together, raising their glasses.

Neo hurried to catch up with a delayed, "To Mouse" before downing the glass. It scorched his throat. Mouse hadn't even been old enough to drink, by Matrix standards.

"I'm going to miss that little pervert." Sparks said with a bittersweet smile and a sigh. "Alright. Who was next?"

"Dozer."

"To Dozer!" The three said, lifting their glasses. Another shot down. Was the room getting warmer? Jesus, that stuff worked fast.

"Apoc." Neo said without being asked. Apoc's death had been one of the worst. Trinity had been trying to talk down Cypher when all of the sudden she turned to look at Apoc, fear visible in eyes. Neo had been so confused, barely understanding what was going on. And then the plug was pulled and he was dead.

"To Apoc!"

"Switch." Her death tied with Apoc's for the worst. Kneeling next to her dead lover's body, knowing that she was about to meet the same fate. Begging for another ending, to have her death mean something.

"To Switch!"

Neo felt his shoulders slump as he reached for the last glass. He raised it slowly as they solemnly said their goodbyes to Tank.

"To Tank."

The glasses chinked and they downed the last shot.

"Trinity nearly died." Neo commented as Sparks poured out another round. "When Cypher gave us up. He got back to the Neb and pulled the plug on everyone else." He swallowed the first shot before Sparks had finished filling Neo's next glass. "She jumped out a freaking helicopter!"

"For real?" Sparks asked, words starting to slur.

Neo nodded starting to feel the effects of the shots kicking in, "Yeah. And then, an Agent shot at her just as she picked up the phone. And then," Neo informed them, "The sentinels attacked us. It was this close," He held out his hands about eighteen inches apart. "Could have killed her."

"It didn't." Ghost said.

"But it could have. I don't want to lose her."

"Yeah. Trinity's fucking hot."

"B-be respectful! That's my-my… what's'it called?"

"Girlfriend."

"No." Neo shook his head, "That's not it. She's more 'en that."

"Lover?"

Again, he shook his head and slurred out, "Not enough. Know what she is? She's everything." He banged the table with his fist. "Tomorrow we've been together a week."

"You should get her a present. Chicks dig that shit, when you do the thing… the remembering."

Neo gasped in surprise, "That's a goood idea. What do girls like?"

"Jewelry?"

"Wouldn't wear it. Would get in the way of work."

"Flowers?"

"Flowers die." Neo explained, solemnly. "S'gotta be better than that."

"Well, wha'does she like?" Sparks asked, taking a swig from the bottle to finish it.

"Weapons." Ghost mumbled, sipping at his latest shot. "She likes sharp things. 'Nd loud things."

Neo shook his head, "Weapons don't say I love you." He turned to look at Sparks, "I think I might throw up."

Sparks tossed his arm in the air and pointed at the door to the bathroom. "Toilet."

Neo nodded and rose to his feet, feeling a little unsteady. He stumbled his way to the bathroom before falling to his knees and losing the contents of his stomach.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, sure that he was done throwing up. He used the sink to gain some leverage standing up and he made his way back to the table. Sparks was on his third line of shots.

"Can't hold your liquor, Messiah?"

Neo collapsed back into his chair, "Haven't exactly had the time to build a tolerance."

"Cause you've been busy with Trin-i-ty." Sparks sang, "Neo and Trinity, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i… what comes after I?"

"J." Said Ghost, knowingly.

"That can't be right. There's no juh in kissing."

"H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P."

"He can still say the alphabet!" Sparks cried, opening one of his own bottles of whiskey. "We need more alcohol!"

"S'a bad idea." Neo commented.

"Prob-ley." Sparks agreed. "Here's t'bad ideas."

He raised his glass in toast. Neo and Ghost copied his motions and they all downed the shot. It burned on Neo's throat after vomiting but he was getting to the point where he didn't care.

"Another!"

Neo shook his head. "Don't want to go home too-too drunk."

"She'll make you sleep on the couch?"

"Don't have a couch. Think we're going shopping for one soon." Neo sat up a little straighter, "I could get her a couch for our week-iversery."

Sparks scrunched up his face and shook his head. "No good. Women… they like to make those kinds of d-decisions. Pick the wrong pattern, you'll never hear the end o' it."

Neo nodded, solemnly. "I don't want that." He sighed, "This is hard. Nothin' seems good enough."

"Okay." Sparks sat up straighter. "What's the cry-cri-cra-cry…"

"Criteria." Ghost mumbled.

"Cry-tear-ee-ah." Sparks repeated.

"Somethin' to tell her that I love her. That she's everything to me." He paused, another idea popping into his mind. "I've got a really good idea!"

Neo woke up wincing. Jesus Christ, his head hurt. He reached up to rub his temples, hoping it would ease the pounding in his head. It didn't.

"Morning." Trinity said, sitting on the opposite side of the bed, leaning against the curved wall with a book in her hands.

Neo groaned as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. "Fucking hell."

"Did you at least have fun?" She asked, grinning as she set down the book.

"I…" He stopped, wracking his memory. "I don't remember much. Jesus, I hurt everywhere."

"How much did you drink?"

"A lot. When did I get home?"

She tried to contain a smile at that before replying, "You and Spark stumbled in a little after three, completely wasted. You proceeded to sing "The Unicorn Song." Twice. At that point, I called Niobe to come and deal with Sparks."

"Tell me, at least, the kids weren't there."

"Cass picked them up around ten."

"Thank god."

She was grinning, now, "I'm not even done yet."

"Jesus."

"While waiting for Niobe, you two decided to have a contest on who was stronger. You two attempted to do push-ups but were both so inebriated you kept landing on the floor. You, then, tried to convince me to let you bench press me. I told you that I'd let you try if you could walk in a straight line. You took two steps and fell over. At that point, Niobe got here and took Sparks back to his apartment."

"Fuck."

"Still not done." She said with a smirk. "It was then that you decided we should get a puppy. I told you that we couldn't have animals on hovercrafts. That was when you entered the five stages of grief. Denial: You insisted that I had to be wrong, that maybe an exception could be made because we really, really wanted a dog. Anger: You said that the Council should go fuck themselves. That a dog isn't too much to ask for. Bargaining: You tried to convince me that we could keep the dog in secret and that no one would ever know we had it. Depression: You sank down onto the floor and pouted for about five minutes, mumbling about how all you wanted was a dog. And Acceptance: You, grudgingly said 'fine' and that we could wait to get a dog until the war was over. Then you climbed on to the bed and passed out."

Neo let out a long breath, still feeling a bit sick to his stomach. And he hurt all over, especially his chest.

"I'm never getting drunk again."

Trinity closed her lips, tightly, trying hard not to laugh.

"What?" He asked, "That was it, right?"

"Oh, you wish."

"What does that mean?"

Trinity swung her legs off the bed and walked over to a brown paper bag on the table.

"You guys showed up with this. I figured it was Sparks replacing the whiskey he took because of the bag so I went to put it away after you fell asleep."

"What is it?"

She pulled a bottle out of the bag that was filled with a translucent liquid. "It's an ointment that, apparently, should be applied to your new tattoo every four to six hours for the next week."

His mouth dropped open at the news. He started searching his mind for any memories from the night before. They had toasted their fallen comrades. They talked about Trinity. He threw up. They talked about Trinity some more.

Had he almost bought a couch?

No, that couldn't be right.

Wait. He had been trying to think of a present to get her for their first week together.

"Something to tell her that I love her. That she's everything to me… I've got a really good idea!"

"What?"

"Do they have those places in Zion… with the," He pounded on his arm with the opposite hand, "The ink, tattoos!"

Sparks had lit up with excitement. "Yes!"

"We need to go t'one." He had slurred out, rising to his feet.

Neo's eyes widened at the memory. That couldn't have happened, right?

But even as he thought it, he could feel the soreness and dull ache on his chest. Slowly, he reached for his collar and pulled the shirt forward so that he could peak down.

And there it was.

He let go of the fabric, letting it rebound before looking back at Trinity.

"Funny story…"

"I'll bet."

"It seemed like a really good idea at the time."

"Jesus, how bad is it?"

"Come here." He replied, gesturing for her to come back to bed.

She walked over, warily, and threw a leg over his to straddle him. Trinity reached for the hem of his sweater, "Let me see it."

He caught her hand. "I feel like there should be some kind of explanation."

"What is it?" She asked, dropping the ointment and using her other hand to try and get his sweater off. He caught that one as well, intertwining both their fingers together. She laughed pushing his hands back. "Come on! It can't be that bad."

"Not bad, per se. Just… an idea that seemed genius last night… well, I realize now that it might now have the desired effect."

"The desired effect being…?"

He opened his mouth but was at a loss for words. The desired effect had been to show her how much he loved her, how much she meant to him. But what if she took it the wrong way? Thought he was going overboard or that he went too far, too soon?

Neo looked at her, positioned slightly above him. Her hair was brushed away from her gorgeous blue eyes. She was wearing her devil-may-care smile as his thumbs ran across hers.

"Do you know how much I love you?" He asked softly, staring up at her.

Her tongue darted out across her lower lip and she nodded, "Yes."

"I want you to keep that in mind when I show you this."

She laughed, letting go of his hands so that he could pull the sweater and undershirt off with one go.

He set them to the side, gauging her reaction as she saw the large triquetra tattooed just above his heart. The corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile before she forced it back down in a straight line again, blinking furiously. She shook her head and looked back up at him.

"You know you're an idiot." She whispered.

He nodded, "Oh, yeah. That's been established."

She laughed shakily. Neo leaned forward and kissed her, slipping his tongue between her lips, fighting a groan at the taste of her. How was it possible for someone to be so perfect?

Trinity moved up his legs until she was pressed against him, careful to lean just right of his tattoo as an arm wrapped around his neck. She grazed her teeth along his tongue as he pulled out of her mouth to nibble on her lips.

Trinity's mouth slid over to his jaw, pressing kisses until she reached the end. Her mouth slid to his neck while a hand held his head in place as she grazed the tender skin with her teeth. Neo groaned, tilting his head to the side, both to give her better access and to reach her neck.

Like a couple of fucking teenagers… Neo thought as they necked. Except he'd never actually done anything like this as a teenager. He chuckled at the absurdity, the cool air on Trinity's wet skin made her shiver.

He grasped the back of her head and angled her mouth to his own. An orally fixated attack that only ended when the fear of asphyxiation took over. They broke apart, breathing heavily. Their noses were touching, neither willing to pull away from the other.

"You taste like cheap whiskey." Trinity informed him, her voice low.

"You taste like heaven." He replied, nipping at her lips.

He could feel her lips turn in a smile against his.

Is this real? Neo wondered. Was this magnificent woman really sitting in his lap, kissing his lips, breathing his air?

Every sense he had told her she was. He could see her in front of him. Could feel her arms around his neck. He could smell the scent of smoke and dust that was so very Trinity, with a hint of a sweet soap on her skin. Her could hear every breath she took and damned if he could still taste her on his tongue.

She was the only thing that felt real, both in the Zion and in the Matrix.

Neo smiled, kissing her again. Because he could. Because she was real and she was right in front of him.

Trinity pulled away with a sigh, "We should really get up."

"Should we really, though? There's still a lot to be done in this bed."

"Like what?"

"If you're honestly asking me that question, we need to work on your creativity."

Trinity rolled her eyes and climbed off of his lap. "Come on."

Grudgingly he did so, taking the bottle of ointment with him. "I'm going to wash up."

"I'll get lunch ready."

"Lunch?"

"It's nearly noon."

"Seriously?"

"Mhmm."

He groaned, heading towards the bathroom. His stomach was feeling much less queasy although his head still hurt a bit.

Neo showered quickly, desperate to feel somewhat human again after his mad night out. The water pressure made his tattoo sting but he couldn't bring himself to care after the reaction he had gotten from Trinity.

Smiling to himself, he shut the water off and reached for his towel. He wrapped it around his hips and went to brush his teeth.

There was a knock on the door and then Trinity pushed it open. "I grabbed some dark clothes for you. For the," She shifted uncomfortably.

"The funeral." Neo finished.

She nodded, handing him the clothes. He took them, setting them on the counter before pulling her fully into the room to hug her.

"Neo, no!" She complained, although a smile was on her face, 'You're going to get me wet!"

"That's usually the idea."

Trinity laughed, reaching up to give him a kiss. "Get dressed."

"That seems less than productive."

She rolled her eyes and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Neo quickly applied the ointment to the tattoo before quickly throwing some clothes on. He checked the mirror quickly before heading out to get food.

As promised, it was already on the table. Trinity was playing with her spoon, not really interested in the food in front of her.

He took her spare hand, which was resting on the table, and sat down next to her. She looked up, meeting his steady gaze.

It'll be okay.

Trinity gave a half-hearted attempt at a smile. I know.

Neo let go of her hand and moved his chair so that it was pressed against Trinity's. He moved his bowl over, slightly, and had a seat next to her. He wrapped an arm around her and she relaxed into him, letting out a long breath.

"We're going to end this, Trinity. I swear."

A small smile appeared but at least this one was real.