Trinity stared at him in shock. Pregnant? That was the last thing she was expecting! Well maybe not the last, after all it really wasn't surprising. Just...not what she'd planned. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly.

Tank nodded. "Congratulations. When you're ready, we'll run some tests and figure out how far along you are." He figured that Trinity and Neo would want time to themselves so he left the infirmary, heading to check on Christala again.

Trinity turned to leave also and found her way blocked by Neo who was beaming. "We're having a baby," he said softly, a huge smile on his face.

Trinity nodded. "Yeah." She tried to walk past him but found herself blocked.

"Trin, don't you want to talk about this?" Neo asked. "About what it means for us?"

Trinity shook her head. She didn't want to talk, not now, not until she figured out how she felt about it. "I have to go fix that...thing." She was supposed to fix something, she knew it. But her head was so full of other thoughts that she didn't remember what. All she knew was that she had to get away. She brushed past Neo while he stared at her in obvious confusion and hurried through the ship, looking for something, anything to distract her.

Neo watched Trinity walk away, confused about what had happened. They had just found out that they were having a baby! They were going to be parents and she didn't even want to talk about it? She'd barely looked at him but the look he'd seen in her eyes wasn't the look of elation that he was feeling. But he wasn't sure what the look was. It was a mix of anger, disbelief, frustration, and at least one other thing that he couldn't identify. Neo sighed. He'd give her some time and try to talk to her again that night.

Trinity wandered the ship until she found herself alone in her room. Instinctively she locked the door behind her and sat on the cot, staring at the wall. How could she be pregnant? This wasn't in the plan, not even in the alternate versions that she'd come up with. She was supposed to destroy the Matrix, it was what she'd been working towards for the last 20 years of her life! She knew what being pregnant would mean. She couldn't go in anymore, it was too dangerous. She couldn't help fight, she couldn't finish her job. But there was nothing she could do, she was having a baby.

Trinity sighed and curled onto her cot. She knew Neo was going to want to talk, and from what she'd seen he looked happy about it. Of course he looked happy, she thought crossly. He wasn't the one having his whole existence rearranged! She couldn't deal with him, not just yet. She couldn't deal with anyone, she just wanted to be alone. But some little part of her mind disagreed. You want to have Neo here, it reminded her softly. You want him to hold you and tell you it'll be okay. Trinity shook her head. No, she couldn't. If he knew how unexcited she was about the baby it would hurt him and she'd promised never to do that.

Not knowing what else to do, and suddenly very exhausted, Trinity laid down on the cot and fell asleep.

Neo gave Trinity half an hour before setting off after her. He figured that it was shock and fear that made her run. He knew her well and knew that she wasn't as happy about the baby as he was. But he also hoped that she'd come around. Being 99% sure was pretty good, but he'd rather be 100% given the chance.

Neo poked around the ship looking for his girlfriend. He checked the medical bay where Mouse was standing over the newbie, watching her. Neo decided that he'd worry about that later. She wasn't by the tracking system that she'd been so keen to work on which only solidified Neo's suspicion that it had just been an excuse to get away. He checked the kitchen which was empty and the bathroom, in case she was throwing up again, both to no avail. Finally he came to her room and found the door closed. This was unusual. Since becoming intimate three months before, Trinity had unofficially moved into his room. They shared a narrow twin-sized cot and her clothes were lined up next to his on the floor since they didn't have closets. And since they'd moved in together, the door to Trinity's old room was always open.

Neo reached out a hand and tried the nob, not expecting anything to happen. Sure enough, it didn't. He sighed. She'd locked herself in. Well fine, he'd just wait for her. Neo sat down on the ground and stared at the door. As worried as he was about Trinity, he couldn't keep a smile off of his face. They were having a baby!

For the next week, Trinity did an amazing job of avoiding Neo, especially since he was trying just as hard to find her as she was to avoid him. Finally Neo gave up. He was desperate to talk to her. Morpheus had keys to everyone's room in case of an emergency but refused to give Neo the key to Trinity's. Switch, who was in charge of arranging shifts and deciding who worked on what, made sure that Neo and Trinity were on separate sides of the ship at all times. But a week was long enough to play that game, at least in Neo's mind. So he did the last thing he would have ever thought to do. He staked out the bathroom.

Remembering when she'd gotten sick before, Neo made it to the bathroom before her and stood behind the door, waiting. Sure enough, within 15 minutes Trinity rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, bending over the toilet without noticing Neo. He moved quietly and stood in front of the door before he couldn't take watching her be sick anymore and walked to her, crouching silently at her side.

Trinity heaved again, hating morning sickness with everything in her. And who came up with the bright idea to call it "morning" sickness anyway? Neo's kid apparently didn't know that it was well into the afternoon. Suddenly she felt one hand gather back her hair while the other rested gently on her back. Trinity jumped, frightened and spun around, ramming her elbow into the toilet. "OW! Neo what the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me! And why are you hiding in the bathroom?"

"I'm hiding here because I'm waiting for you," Neo said crossly. "You've been avoiding me for over a week, ever since you found out that we were pregnant."

Trinity continued to rub her elbow, annoyed that she'd hit the funny bone. "We're not pregnant, Neo. I'm pregnant. I don't see you worshiping the porcelain...well metal goddess five times a day. I don't see you having to get fat and put everything that you've worked on for the past 20 years of your life on hold!"

Neo stared at Trinity, shocked. "Trin, sweetheart, aren't you happy about the baby?"

Trinity sighed and stood up. "I have to go," she answered.

Neo stepped in front of her. "No. You're the one who's always trying to get me to open up and talk Trinity. Now it's your turn." He stepped forward and cupped her cheek with one hand. "Talk to me honey."

Trinity sighed and shook her head. "Not here," she answered. "Not now."

"Trin..."

"Neo, I have work to do. I'll see you later."

Trinity pushed past Neo and made it out the door before he could catch her. Neo sighed sadly and leaned his head against the door. She wasn't happy about the baby, apparently. Now if only he could find a way to reach her...

Christala lay in her bed, sleeping. She'd recovered far faster than anyone had predicted and was nearly ready to be told the truth. Feeling like she was being watched, she rolled over and opened her eyes. When she did she was surprised to find that someone was watching her. "Hi," she said softly.

Mouse smiled shyly. "Hi. Um...how are you feeling?"

Christala struggled to sit up. "I guess okay. Where am I?"

Mouse looked around guiltily. Morpheus should really be the one to explain everything to her. But he wasn't there. "You're on the Nebuchanezzer. It's a ship."

Christala raised an eyebrow. "Like a boat?"

Mouse laughed slightly. "No. Like a hover craft. You know what the Matrix is, right?" Christala nodded. "Well we freed you. This is the real world. The Neb is our ship. You're actually really lucky."

"Why?"

"Morpheus, our captain, is the best there is. And, most importantly, we have Neo."

Christala's eyes grew wide. "The One?"

Mouse nodded. "Yep." He paused. "Do you want to go look around?"

Christala nodded. "Sure. Are there other members of the crew?"

Mouse held out a hand and helped her up before leading her to the door. "Sure there are. Besides Morpheus and Neo there's Trinity who's Neo's girlfriend. Then there are Tank and Dozer. They're our operators. Both of them were born outside the Matrix, so they can't go back in to fight. Switch and Apoc are dating, but if Switch knew I knew, she'd kill me. You should stay out of her way, at least for a little while. And I'm Mouse."

"Mouse?"

Mouse blushed. "Well, I'm the youngest, or at least I was until we unplugged you."

Christala nodded. "I'm Christala. But I usually go by Tala."

"I like that," Mouse said, grinning.

Christala smiled back before noticing part of the ship that was pretty much destroyed. "What happened there?" she asked, pointing.

Mouse sighed. "It's a long story. Are you hungry? You could sit down and rest and eat while I tell you."

Christala nodded. "Sure."

They walked into the kitchen and Mouse got her a bowl of goop. "It doesn't look that good...okay it looks nasty," he amended at a disbelieving look from Christala. "But I swear it doesn't taste that bad. Like really badly made oatmeal. Or runny eggs." He decided not to mention what Apoc thought it tasted like.

Christala looked at it doubtfully, then back at Mouse. "Are you going to tell me?"

Mouse nodded and sat down across from her, watching as she poked at the goop, apparently trying to make sure it wasn't alive. "About three months ago we had another crew member. Cypher. He wasn't happy being out of the Matrix, he couldn't handle it. So he made a deal with the program that if they put him back in the system, he'd give them Morpheus. They wanted to get codes that Morpheus has, codes that could destroy Zion."

"What's Zion?" Christala interrupted. She took a bite of goop and waited.

"It's the last human city. We'll probably be going there pretty soon, so you'll get to see it. Anyway, Cypher betrayed us and we all could have died. Tank brought him out of the Matrix first and Cypher almost killed Tank and Dozer. If he'd done that, then he could have killed all of us. Thankfully, Tank fought back and killed Cypher before he could hurt anyone. Or at least hurt them badly enough that they wouldn't live. Everyone's been kind of depressed and on edge since then. Especially the older members of the crew. Neo and I were the last two taken out so we knew Cypher the least. But Trinity and Morpheus had worked with him for 20+ years."

Christala nodded softly. "That must have been awful," she whispered.

Mouse nodded. "It was," he answered just as softly. "That's why we freed you, we need another person on the crew."

Christala smiled. "I'm ready to start whenever."

The next morning, Christala woke up early, ready to begin learning everything she could so she could help with the fight against the machines. She left her room and ran a hand over her head, which felt strange. All her life she'd had very long hair. Now it looked like a buzz cut. She found Mouse sitting at the screens, watching green numbers flashing by.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

Mouse turned and beamed. "Hey yourself. What are you doing up so early?"

Christala shrugged. "Too excited, I guess. What are you doing?"

"Watching the Matrix."

Christala stared at the code. "But what does it mean?"

Mouse laughed. "It would take me months to teach you everything the code means because it means everything. It's everything that goes on inside the Matrix."

"Oh," Christala answered softly. "Wow."

In another wing of the ship, Neo pulled Trinity closer to him while he slept. She felt herself tense and tried to force herself to relax. The night before, he'd come up to her in the kitchen and, looking very shy and embarrassed, asked if he could come to her that night when he got off his shift. Trinity tried to say no but the idea of having him hold her while she slept, of feeling safe again won out. When he'd gotten off duty, Trinity was already asleep so Neo curled next to her and gathered her in his arms. Now, he felt her tense also and woke up. "Hey," he whispered with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

Trinity shrugged. "Okay."

"You ready to talk?" Neo asked hopefully.

Trinity sighed. "I guess."

It was quiet for several minutes, Trinity waiting for Neo to speak, and Neo waiting for Trinity. Finally Neo caved. "You're not happy about the baby?"

Trinity shrugged. "I don't know," she said softly, honestly. "It's not as easy as that. I mean maybe I planned to have kids, someday, after the Matrix was destroyed. But not now. I'm not ready. I know I'm not."

Neo nodded. "You're angry?" he asked.

"I don't know," Trinity answered as she looked at the blanket, unable to meet Neo's eyes for fear of seeing the anger and disappointment she anticipated. "I didn't plan this, not now. And I don't know what to do. It's frustrating too. I've fought for 20 years to destroy the Matrix and now that we're getting so close, I can't fight anymore. We both know that Morpheus won't let me inside. He probably won't even let me stay on the ship."

Neo reached out and covered her hand with his. "Trin, sweetheart I know it's frustrating..."

"No!" she exclaimed. "You don't know! You're not the one who's going to be told that after spending almost 2/3 of their life fighting for something, you have to sit on the sidelines and watch other people."

Neo sighed. "You're right, I don't know what that's like. But there are still things you can do to help us fight." Neo smiled, hoping to cheer her up.

"Like what?" Trinity asked crossly. She had never been one to sit on the sidelines, she liked being right in the middle of the action.

Neo paused. He wasn't prepared to give her specific examples. At least not right then. "Well...we're going to Zion soon, after we get Christala trained. We could drop Dozer off and let him have some time with his kids while you take over his job."

Trinity sighed. "I'd rather go in..."

"I know you would," Neo whispered. "But it's something. You'll still be involved in the fight, you just won't be inside."

Trinity nodded. It wasn't what she wanted, but what she wanted wasn't an option anymore. "I suppose we should tell Morpheus."

Neo nodded. "Yep. Are you feeling better?"

"I guess a little."

Neo smiled and kissed her gently. "We'll get through this, I promise. And at the end we'll have a baby. It'll be okay."

Trinity nodded. "Promise me something?" she asked softly, fear lacing itself into her voice. "Two things actually?"

"Of course," Neo answered. "Don't let them make me stay in Zion. I know Morpheus will try and I don't think I can go through this alone. I know I can't."

"And I won't make you," Neo promised, gathering her close. "I don't want to be away from you for any of this." He paused. "What's the other thing?"

Trinity took a deep breath. "Don't leave me," she whispered.

"Trinity, I'd never leave you!" Neo exclaimed.

"No...I mean take care of yourself while you're inside. I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you."

"It won't," Neo promised. "It won't."