What? Two chapters in one day? Someone must love you! (Or is feeling guilty about being gone for a month. Or both. Both is good.)

3 Trin303

Time didn't have quite the same meaning in the real world as it did on the Matrix. Without the sun, there was no natural source of light and heat telling them when to work and, while with larger crews schedules were important, a crew of four didn't require such strict dictation.

Which was the real reason everyone was awake at three in the morning five days after pulling Tempest out of the Matrix.

Morpheus was sitting at the monitors, watching a new kid that Neo had found and wanted to release.

Link was repairing damaged wires after Neo's intense hacking had overloaded the system.

Neo was with Trinity in the infirmary, watching as she pulled the long needles out of Tempest's body.

He winced as she dropped yet another in a bin filled with alcohol and the blood started to diffuse. "This is disgusting."

"Yes."

"You did this with me?"

"Uh-huh."

"So…"

She glanced up. "So what?"

"So you saw…" His gaze dropped down to his crotch.

Trinity smirked. "Uh-huh."

"Wonderful." Neo sighed. "I remember a bit of it. I remember waking up and seeing your face."

"And asking if you were dead." She smiled, pulling out another needle.

"For all I knew, you could have been an angel."

She arched an eyebrow. "As far as lines go, that was weak."

"Good thing I already have you. Goddamn it!"

"What?" Trinity asked with a grin.

"I dropped another fucking stitch."

"Give me a second…" She told him, taking out the last few needles before rinsing her hands under water.

She walked over to Neo, who sat on the movable gurney with a dorky expression of pure confusion.

"It's pointless, anyway. I mean, no one even wears scarves."

"Knitting a scarf will teach you the basic stitches you'll need to make everything else."

"But I can't even knit the fucking scarf."

"Let me see."

She took the two needles in hand and examined his stitching. She reached down and tugged the small stitch back up and slipped into onto the needle.

"See? No big deal." She handed it back to him.

"Knitting's hard."

"Yeah but, from what I hear, freezing to death is worse."

"i'm not concerned with freezing to death. I have you to keep me warm."

"And while I appreciate the sentiment, you've never been on this ship without power for more than a few minutes."

"That happens?"

"Yes. It's an old ship. Sometimes the power doesn't come back on immediately just by hitting the button. Sometimes we have to hide from sentinels for hours at a time, days even. And sometimes, rarely, it just gives out."

"And let me guess: Zion doesn't see it as a priority that needs to be fixed?"

"It's never actually killed anyone so they don't view it as anything more than a mild annoyance."

"How annoying." He took the knitting and set it aside before taking her hand, remembering their second kiss (that he was conscious) for. Their third kiss overall.

He brought it to his lips and kissed it just above the knuckles.

"How are you so perfect?"

"Created by a machine. No room for human error."

"They must have slaved over you."

"I'm still making you finish the scarf."

He made a face. "I'll do all the cooking and cleaning in this relationship if you do the sewing."

"This isn't sewing. This is knitting."

"Why do I need to knit?"

"Neo, literally everyone in the army can knit. Morpheus can knit, Link can knit, Ghost, even Sparks can knit."

"I've dropped more stitches than I've made and this fucking scarf is taking forever. It's been four days and it isn't even long enough to fully wrap around a neck."

"It takes time to learn." She said gently. "You'll be a pro in no time."

He grumbled in response.

"I'll tell you what." Trinity wrapped her arms around his neck and lowered her voice to a sexy drawl. "For every row you finish, I'll give you a kiss. And when the scarf is done, I'll let you use it to tie me up and have your way with me."

He felt himself harden immediately and fought back the urge to swear.

"Where the fuck are my needles?" He said, a new found interest in the craft growing.

"Mhmm."

Trinity backed out of his embrace and returned to her patient. Tempest had been healing at an average rate, muscle spasming right on track. Plus, between the acupuncture and the machine created muscles and joints the girl would be walking and talking in now time.

She had been administered her last dose of tranquilizers just before Trinity began taking the needles out.

Trin picked up the clipboard she was using to monitor Tempest with and recorded the girl's vitals.

"Row." Neo told her.

She glanced up. "Already?"

"I"m determined."

Her lips twitched in response and she put aside the notes before crossing the room. "I knew you could do it." She told him, arms reaching around his neck.

Neo's hands found their way to her waist before hiking her up, like he had just weeks before, and onto his lap. Her knees found a place on either side of him and he took advantage of her slight disorientation to kiss her.

"Nnn!" She moaned into his mouth as her eyes fluttered shut and grip tightened, keeping her stabilized.

He slid a hand from her waist to the hem of her sweater, sneaking it just under. Anything to feel her soft skin.

"For the love of god, there is a teenage girl right next to you!" Morpheus sounded from the door.

The kiss broke apart but Neo did nothing to loosen his grip, keeping her on his lap. "More like adjacent. And she's sedated."

"Do neither of you have self-control?" He asked, more amused than annoyed.

"Morpheus, I'm literally supposed save seven billion people from an army of machines. I have an entire government on my back and Agents at every goddamn turn in the Matrix. Life is short. Self-control is over-rated. If I want to kiss my woman, I'm going to kiss my woman."

"Didn't we determine that I'm not yours, you're mine?"

"DIdn't you ever learn to share?" Neo countered, kissing the tip of her nose.

"I share. I share my expertise, my knowledge, my bed… What more do you want?"

"Your heart."

"It's already yours."

"You're both disgusting."

Neo made a face at his commanding officer. "Please. We're adorable."

"You're making out in what was a sanitary infirmary next to a borderline comatose teenage girl."

"You're making it sound a lot worse than it is."

"That's exactly how it is."

"To be fair, we work eighteen hours a day. We have a free two minutes, there's a ninety percent chance that we're going to be all over each other."

"Only ninety?" Trinity asked, a smirk gracing her perfect lips.

"We need to eat sometime. Of course, you're much more delectable." Neo pressed a kiss to her jaw, just underneath her ear.

Morpheus rolled his eyes. "I'm going to bed. Can one of you take over monitoring Havana?"

Havana was Neo's second find. A sixteen year old boy who had recently gone on a what-is-the-Matrix binge, going into the deep, dark web for answers and coming up with theories that weren't far from the truth.

Normally, Trinity had told him, the crew would try and get two or three kids at a time to bring back to Zion. He, yet again, had been an exception.

"I'll go." Neo said, wrappings his arms underneath Trin's legs so that he could hold her up as he stood up. "I love you."

"I love you." She told him, giving him a long, soft kiss before extending her feet towards the ground.

"I'll miss you."

"Mmm, I'll miss you, too."

"Focus." Morpheus told them, unable to stop a smile at their affection.

"Bye." Trinity said, stepping out of his embrace and turning her focus to Tempest. Someone would need to stay with the girl until she woke up. And for a while after, probably.

Babysitting was definitely going to cut into her time with Neo but it was, at least, not a chore.

She glanced up, noticing that Morpheus was still standing in the doorway. "Shouldn't you be off to bed?"

"Probably." he agreed. "I just... I want you to know that I'm proud of you."

"Morpheus, I do this every time we have a newbie." She said indicating the records in her hands.

"You know that isn't what I mean. You've grown up so fast. It seems like just yesterday it was you lying there and now... you're one of the best pilots, most talented fighters I've ever seen. You're in love. Talking about starting a family..."

"That's a ways off."

"Yes. It is. But I'm proud of you. And I love you."

She offered him a small smile. "I love you, too, Morpheus."