Chapter IV

Each night she returned to comfort his fitful sleep with her sweet presence, and though he found himself unable to recall her name when he awoke, the impression of her beauty remained in his mind from morning until late at night when he sunk, exhausted, back into his bed at the end of the day. Her existence was in another realm that, although completely alien to his senses, was at once comfortable to his analytical mind. She offered him solace from the monotony of his days combined with stressful nights spent searching for answers to his seemingly never ending list of questions. There was no feasible way he could watch her and not be moved to want her. She possessed everything he felt he lacked: she was strong, quick, brave, and gorgeous to boot. He felt privileged to simply be able to watch her carry out her daily life, oblivious to him, but yet they were so closely tied by something he could not explain.

He had always been on the low end in terms of relationships. It wasn't that he was anti-social, but rather preferred to keep to his own and not be bothered by the problems of other people. He'd never been short on friends, though he never quite learned to loosen up enough to allow anyone into his private life. He certainly didn't mind living alone, but now found himself wondering what he was missing by not participating in the age-old dating game.

So where had this haunting woman of his nights come from? Though women had always seemed just out of his reach, there was something special about her. There had to be a reason her image continued to recur in his dreams. Something told him that she was not merely a figment of his imagination, and instead someone he was destined to meet.

Before these thoughts of any sort of "destiny" were barely able to form in his mind, they were banished by his rational intellect. Fate was a bunch of bull – a scam he'd never bought into – his mind told him. But… what if? was the question his heart cried. His body offered the more agreeable argument: Hey, you want her and some things can be foreseen, right?

His mind finally relented and let sleep take him away to a place where all he had to do was feel without worrying about why he was feeling.

***

The condoling warmth of her friend's arm enveloping her limp form was the first thing she felt when she came to. The last thing she remembered was seeing a picture of someone. Then everything went black. Attempting to open her eyes to banish the darkness behind her closed lids brought the realization of a throbbing pain in the back of her skull to the forefront of her mind. She moaned inaudibly upon feeling the dizzying nausea that she found to accompany the ache in her head.

Morpheus placed a healing hand on her head to comfort her. "Trinity," he said, his voice soft and caring, waiting for any movement to indicate that she'd heard him. "You passed out, are you feeling alright?" Forcing the pain to the rear of her mind, she willed her eyes to open. Upon seeing her lids flutter and her blue eyes looking up into his face, he smiled with relief.

She complained of a headache and Morpheus explained that she'd hit her head on the table behind her when she'd fainted. Continuing to look concerned, though not inquiring as to why she'd suddenly become so ill, he carried her to rest in her bunk. Smoothing her dark hair out of her eyes with his thick fingers, he covered her with a blanket and exited while she drifted to sleep. Her last conscience thoughts were spent appreciating just how lucky she was to have Morpheus for a captain, peer, and dear friend.

***

"Are you sure you want to continue with this? Trinity, I mean…" Morpheus still appeared apprehensive despite her conviction that she was fully recovered from her little episode of the previous day. The sharp pain in her head protested the words she spoke, but she refused to let it get the best of her.

After all, aren't dreams the soul's prophecy? She had heard that said at some time in the Matrix. For some reason it came back into her mind now. If that were true, there was no laudable reason why she should balk at the chance for hers to be realized. This thought caused her to hesitate as more questions than she could count flew through her mind and confused her logic. What if…? Just suppose…?

Inhaling and exhaling with deep, rhythmic breaths she managed to compose herself. This is it. Haven't you wanted this since the first time in that dream… she quickly cut short her thoughts as she felt her stomach flutter like it always did when she thought of him.

"Okay, let's get started on this, shall we?" Her tone authoritative, Trinity left no room for conjecturing as to whether or not she was ready.