Disclaimer: See Part 1.

What if....? Chapter 5 - The Truth

As they stood in the subway, waiting for the phone to ring, Trinity tried to tell Neo what she knew and felt. Something stopped her though and she used his momentary distraction at the passing train to grab the phone. Her eyes locked with Smith's just as she was pulled out.

****

Facing Smith in the subway was like hell for Neo. He knew that he had to get out of there soon before he was killed. Watching Smith getting hit by the train gave him a moment of satisfaction. It was short-lived though as the train ground to a halt and Smith stepped out of the carriage. Taking Cypher's advice, Neo ran his ass off.

He followed Tank's directions to the hotel fire escape before abandoning the phone. He ran through the building towards the ringing phone. He kicked open the door to Room 303 and felt it.

The slight shock of something entering his body. His fingers automatically went to his chest. When he pulled them away he noticed the blood on them. It reminded him too vividly of when he had failed the jump program. "The body cannot exist without the mind" Morpheus had said. The second bullet made him stumble back a little. He didn't really feel the others at all. He could only feel his body going cold as his blood seeped out onto the old hotel's corridor.

Trinity looked in shock at the monitors while they flat lined. He couldn't be dead. Summoning everything she had in her she bent down over his still form and whispered everything she had wanted to tell him since she had seen him in that club. She kissed his lips gently and was shocked when he gasped for breath.

"Now get up!"

She didn't see him fight and destroy Smith but she didn't need to see that to know that he was the One. The sentinels were coming closer and she knew that they'd be killed unless the EMP was used now.

"NEO!"

She threw herself over his body as the EMP surged. When it had finished, she gingerly lifted herself off him and absently ran her hand over his cheek. She wondered had he heard everything she had said. He lifted his hand up to hold her neck and kissed her. She knew that he had heard.

****

Neo sat alone in his room thinking. The events of the day weighed heavy on his mind. He was so lost in his thoughts that he never heard the first knock at his door. The second though was too loud for anyone to ignore. "Yeah, come in."

The door opened and Trinity was standing there. "I just wanted to check that you were ok."

"I'm fine Michelle, and you?" Neo's voice was laced with sarcasm, and it didn't fail to affect Trinity.

"Michelle?" 'Oh God he knows.' Trinity thought. 'How? When?' She didn't know but she used the only tactic that she could think of, feign ignorance.

"Don't bullshit me; I can't handle it right now. You know damn well who I mean."

The look in Neo's eyes warned Trinity that one wrong move now could destroy whatever hope she held for a relationship.

"How did you know? When?"

"It was the kiss. After I was pulled out. Everyone kisses different to someone else. Let's just say that it brought back memories. But what I want to know is why you never told me."

"I wanted to tell you since we unplugged you but something held me back. I guess I didn't know how you'd react."

Neo nodded. "Good answer but not the one I was looking for. I meant why you never told me about your double life while we were together."

"You didn't tell me about yours."

"True."

Trinity sighed. She needed to tell him. She sat down on the bed he had vacated and leaned her back against the wall. Closing her eyes, she began to talk. "I had already been hacking about a year before I met you. I had been searching for Morpheus since about the same time. I didn't do much for the first few weeks we were together. You kinda pulled me back into reality. Well what we thought was reality. But then...one of the other hackers made a bet with me and I couldn't resist." She paused for a moment, realising that it had been this that had ultimately destroyed their relationship.

"Bet you what?" Neo asked gently. Trinity felt the bed shift slightly under her as he settled himself beside her.

"Bet me that I couldn't crack the IRS-dbase. That's where I was all those times I canceled on you."

"I did wonder. But hey, you got it in the end."

"Yeah two days after we broke up and mainly coz I spent those entire two days trying. Morpheus found me about a month later and I was freed."

"I did wonder why I never saw you around."

Trinity smiled at Neo's obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"Nine years went past and I admit I didn't think about my former life too much but then Morpheus announced that he had found someone he thought could be the One."

"Me."

"Yes. The first time I saw you on the computer screen, I nearly passed out. I had known you liked computers but I had never thought that you lived another life within them. I told Morpheus about us, but no-one else. We made contact with you after watching you a while. You know the story from there." Trinity opened her eyes and sighed.

"I always wondered why you seemed so familiar. There was something about you. I could never quite place it though."

"Now you know."

Neo just nodded.

"Neo...back then you said something...you said that maybe in another place we'd work. Do you think that we could? Work that is?"

Neo turned his head and looked her in the eyes. Her voice had been its usual strength but there was vulnerability in her face. He loved her. He had back when they were in the Matrix, even though she was never there, and he would now. No questions asked. He'd make this work.

"Hell yeah. Hell yeah."

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A/N: So there you have it. I know some of the chapters were short but that's the only way it would let me post it (don't ask, my computer is having one of its fits). Once again please R&R.