Disclaimer: See Ch 1.
Trinity came awake slowly, clinging to the last shreds of some beautiful dream, only to find that reality was even better. She was lying curled up in Neo's strong arms, with his breath gently fanning the back of her neck. Her time- sense told her that hours had passed since she finally fell asleep, and it had been a very good sleep. She shifted in his arms, stretching slightly, and felt him stir against her back as he mumbled something in his sleep.
Her muscles were sore, unsurprisingly, but it was a good, weary feeling, rather than the incessant injury-ache she'd had. That seemed to have stopped for the time being. She gave a sleepy grunt of satisfaction.
Their lovemaking had been frantic at first, with all the fervour of people who have been deprived for too long, lacking in finesse somewhat, but with plenty of enthusiasm. Then slower, more gently, taking time and pleasure in the feel of it - it had been at about that point when the bell had gone for the change of shift, she thought, but they had both been too far gone to pay any attention. Then at last, when both were exhausted, they simply held each other, twining as close together as they could as if to make up for all the time they had not.
Neo was awake. She could hear the slight hitch in his breathing. She turned in his arms to look at him, and crinkled her nose.
"Morning."
"I think it's more afternoon, but close enough," he replied, tightening his hold on her. She grinned and twisted around so she could kiss him, and made a small noise of satisfaction as he kissed his way along her jaw and down her neck. She lay back, enjoying the sensation until he sank his teeth into her collarbone.
"What was that for?" she yelped. He smiled up at her angelically.
"I've been wanting to do that for weeks." She gave him an odd look. "You remember that day you took Flip into the construct 'cause he wouldn't leave you alone?"
She nodded slightly. Flip was one of their new crewmembers, a Briton of about twenty-five years old. He had been three years out of the Matrix, released just before Neo, and had been very cocky and sure of himself. After looking at his new crewmembers, he had decided that he wanted Trinity, misinterpreting or simply choosing to ignore the bond she had with Neo. In all fairness to Flip, their relationship had at that point been at the strained and uncomfortable place of getting to know one another again after a major catastrophe had ripped their lives - and a good portion of Trinity's lower body - apart, but she had told him no, very firmly, more than once, before he decided it would be a fantastic idea to accost her in the mess hall in the middle of the night. After disabling him in a manner that left him groaning on the floor in agony, she had plugged herself and him into the construct the next day and proceeded to systematically beat the crap out of him. He had transferred off the ship at the next available opportunity.
"Yeah, I remember that," she said with a smile.
"Sadist," he accused her gently, and she gave him an innocent look, which is difficult to do when one is naked in the arms of one's lover after a night of mind-blowing make-up sex.
"Me? You're the one that's doing all the biting in this bed," she protested. "Which you still haven't explained, by the way."
He pouted, and she took the opportunity to nibble gently on his outthrust lower lip until he kissed her, laughing.
"Well, you were lying there, and Link was over at the controls, and I was supposed to be ready to pull you out if it looked like you were going to go too far and actually kill the bastard. So I was just standing there looking at you lying there, and god, you looked so beautiful. I thought to myself, I thought, 'Self, she looks good enough to eat. I want to eat her all up.'" He wrinkled his nose at her, and she laughed. When he was relaxed, he had a sort of offbeat, goofy sense of humour that never failed to get a laugh out of her. "You were in there for ages, so I had plenty of time to muse on exactly where I'd take the first bite out of you. I had it narrowed down to either your hip" and here he reached down and gave her sharp hipbone a squeeze "or your collarbone, because you've got such beautiful shoulders." He looked very pleased with himself.
"So, you picked collarbone?"
"No, I hadn't decided yet, but it was just too convenient. I still want to bite your hip, though." He paused and grinned at her. "Maybe I'll give you a hickey," he teased, before ducking his head beneath the covers and kissing his way down her belly. She gave a soft cry of protest and twisted away from him teasingly, and then he froze.
"What? What is it?" she pulled the blanket away from his head, trying to find out why he had stopped, and shuddered at the sudden rush of cold air against her sleep-warm skin. His head was hovering just over her navel, and his hand still cupped her left hip.
"Uh, Trin? It's been a while since we did this last, so maybe my memory's gone funny. Didn't you have a bunch of scars?"
She swallowed. "Yeah." Her voice came out on a squeak.
"Did they heal?"
"They were still there last night." His breath was warm against her skin.
"Jesus." His voice shook. "What did I do?"
She placed her hand over his on her hip.
"You did this?' she asked, marvelling at a sight she'd never thought to see again - her own body smooth and unscarred.
"I don't know. Maybe." He slowly relaxed against her, laying his head against her belly. "Last night, when we were - you know. You didn't like it when I touched the scars. Like you were ashamed." He lifted his head and looked into her eyes sadly. "I didn't want you to be ashamed. I hated those scars for making you feel that way, because you're beautiful." Suddenly he surged up to her and kissed her hard. When he broke away, they were both gasping for air. He pressed his forehead against hers. "You're beautiful, and I didn't want you to feel ashamed. So I think I made the scars go away." She stared at him, speechless. "Sorry. Did you want to keep them?"
That was too much for Trinity. She let out a strangled sob and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Thank you. God, thank you so much," she whispered, holding him as close to her as she could.
"You're not mad?" His voice was muffled by her neck.
She shook her head. "No. How could I be? I hated it, hated those damned scars. I thought you didn't want me because of them."
He shook his head violently, almost concussing himself against her jaw. "It was driving me crazy. It got so that the littlest things would turn me on - you'd walk into the room and I'd have to go jack off."
She laughed incredulously. She had thought he didn't want to be around her anymore. "Oh, god, I love you Neo."
He held her tighter. "I love you too," he whispered.
A/N The story can be safely finished here. It goes on after this, with no foreseeable end. I'll probably just get bored and wander off. But you can stop here.