Title: Paths of the Past: Chapter One
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Matrix universe and associated characters: Wachowski brothers. ATS universe: co-owned by me and Mordax. Stef, Darth, Stevie, Cray, Jessica, Brad (and cohorts): Me
Total Word Count: 15641 Chapter Word Count: 3043
Summary: Stevie's changing, and it might not be for the best.
Notes: Does anyone need the physics of Stevie again? If you do, email me.
Just be warned that there is a lot of talk in here about the taking of drug and alcohol. This is bad behavior that destroys families. Please don't take drugs or drink excessively.
Please read and Review.
"Stef?"
"Hm?"
"Stef?"
"Give me a minute."
Smith sat down on the chair on the other side of her desk and looked across at her. Both her feet were up on her messy desk and she was busily typing something into a cell phone.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he looked at the half dozen or so folders strewn across her desk.
"Hang one second," she said as she finished and hit the 'send' button, "done."
"What were you doing?"
"Typing a text message."
"To who?"
"Stevie."
He looked up at the clock and then back at her, "she's supposed to be in class right now."
"And.?" Stef asked guilty.
"And I don't want her studies interrupted by annoying text messages."
"Did you just call me annoying?"
"No, just your messages. Like your emails."
She pouted, "so now you're telling me you don't want anymore jokes forwarded?"
"You are lucky out email isn't monitored," he said with a smirk.
"And I've seen you laugh at some of them."
"Give me the phone," he said and she reluctantly handed it over. "When did you get this anyway?"
"A couple of weeks ago. It's good for Stevie to have some way of contacting us. It's not like she can ring up and asked to be transferred through to her dad."
"Good point," he said as he held up the phone and read the message aloud. "School is boring it's a fact of life. Just drift away and think of something else. I suggest dancing chibis. Either that or fifty ways to torture a rebel with a plastic spoon." He tried to frown but it wasn't that convincing.
The phone beeped, Stef reached across the table and tried to grab it but he held it out of reach. "That message is for me Smith."
He shook his head and opened it, "Way one, bash them with it. Way two, bash them harder. You got any good ones?"
"Can I have my phone back?"
"No."
"Stevie," he said out loud as he typed. "This is your dad. Pay attention in class. No matter how boring it is."
"Go ahead," Stef dared, "spoil the fun."
He added something to the message and sent it.
"Give me," Stef ordered. "I want to see what you typed just then."
He chuckled and handed it over. "Way three," she read, "use tap-dancing spoons to send them insane." She blinked a few times and stood up. Walking around her desk she placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you feeling ok? No glitching, viruses? Anything?"
"No, why?"
"Smith you just wrote 'tap-dancing spoons.'"
"So?"
"Something like that would usually give me cause as to inquire about the state of your mental health."
"So why aren't you?"
"Cause I have the feeling that you have a ready-made comeback for it."
"Actually I don't. But spending time with you has had an effect on my sense of humor." The phone beeped again and she opened the new message.
"What did she say?"
She almost blushed, "it's not from Steves actually."
"Oh?"
"It's from Darth."
"And what does young Mr. Kinnell want?"
"He wants to know if I'm busy."
"I see."
"Am I busy for the next couple of hours?"
"Unless you would rather spend your time.what exactly is it that you're doing?"
"Studying exile files."
"Really? I'm proud of you."
She stopped and looked at him, "do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do," he said looking confused.
"Thank you. That means a lot."
"What does?"
"You being proud of me. No one has ever been proud of me before."
He smiled, "you're welcome. Do your homework later, go have fun. Just give me your cell number first."
"Why?"
"Since I very much doubt you'll have your earpiece in, I'll need some way to contact you. That is, without barging in on your privacy."
She blushed that time, "just knock next time."
"Number."
"001-5323," she said with a smirk.
He pressed his earpiece and thought something. Then her phone rang and she answered it, "hello?"
"You had to answer it didn't you?" Smith asked and she heard his voice echo.
"You expect any less from me?" she asked as she put her phone down and changed her clothes. She required a pair of dark blue pants and a light blue long sleeved shirt. "See you later," she said as she picked up her phone and shifted away.
"The answer is no," she said as she shifted into Darth's room.
"Good," he said as turned around and smiled. He was wearing a crumpled gray shirt that he had slept in, loose combat pants that seemed to be old even though all of the collaborator's clothes were new. Maybe he'd gotten them second hand. He ran his hand through his brown hair and looked down at her. To him she was perfect.
Like an angel who had flown so close to the earth she had become a part of it.
He walked over to her and kissed her. "I'm still expecting to wake up," he mumbled as they broke apart.
"Why leave the dream?" she asked rhetorically.
"I don't think I will," he said with a grin. "Want to hang out?"
"Of course I do."
"What do you want to do?"
"The mall?"
"Sounds good," he said as he opened his wardrobe and looked for something to wear. He shuffled through his shirts and chose one with some binary code on it. He pulled his old shirt off and threw it toward the laundry hamper, it missed.
Stef felt a guilty grin pull at her face; he was just as good looking without a shirt on. He went to pull on his new shirt but she held out a hand and stopped him.
"Wait."
"What?"
"I never knew you had a scar there," she mumbled as she traced a finger over thin scar on his upper arm.
"Oh, that," he said dismissively, "I got that when I was a kid."
"How?"
"When you're nine and obsessed with Star Wars and you find a sword in your grandfather's attic.can you put the pieces together?"
"You dropped it?"
"Nah, I tripped and landed on the damn thing. It hurt like hell."
"I can imagine."
"So what about you? You got any scars?"
"A couple." She said as she withdrew her hand.
"Come on, let's see them," he said in a playful tone.
She lifted up her shirt just above her bellybutton and turned to the side. "Slipped in the rain and landed on a piece of glass."
"Ouch." He said as he knelt and looked at it. He pushed his face forward and gently kissed it before standing. He slipped his shirt and spread his arms wide. "Well?"
She looked at the binary code and snorted, "maybe you are, maybe you aren't."
"You can read it?"
"Of course I can." She said with a nod, the shirt read 'I am the best' with one letter per line of code.
"Sorry, stupid question."
"It's code, like I am." The words tumbled out her mouth before she knew what she was saying. Turning away she picked up the gray shirt and put it into the hamper, slowly closing the lid. Delaying the time until she had to look at him.
"Do you honestly think I have a problem with you being a program?"
"Don't you?" she asked in a whisper.
"No. And I say that without hesitation."
"You do realize that a couple of months ago I would have shot you in the head without having to think twice. I'm an agent. I will always be an agent."
"I know exactly what you are and I know exactly how I feel."
She smiled, maybe this could work "then let's go." He picked up his wallet and put it into one of his pockets. "Hold on."
"To what?" he asked with a grin.
"To me."
They appeared in a quiet part of the mall and started to walk around. Stef caught him stealing a couple of glances at her. "Something you want to ask me?"
"Actually there is, if you don't mind."
"As long as it isn't 'are you ticklish?'."
Darth grinned as they stared into the game store window, "It's a bit more serious than that."
"Here it comes," Stef muttered, knowing what the question would be. "I'm not answering it here," she said looking around, "somewhere less public."
"I didn't even ask it yet."
"You didn't need to. You know somewhere quiet?"
"Stonehenge keeps a lot of secrets," she nodded and shifted them away. They walked down the creaking stairs and Darth booked a computer.
Morse smiled, "welcome back, I thought you'd left us forever Lord Vader."
"You still remember me Morse?"
He nodded, "you want anything to eat to go with your web time?"
"Not right now," Darth said nodding to Stef who was standing a few feet back.
"Fe-male," he said in a Dalek-like voice, "you know we don't get a lot of them down here. Isn't she going to get freaked out?"
"Nah, she's one of us."
"Anakin and Amidala?"
That got a reaction.
"There is no new trilogy," Stef and Darth said at the same time, making crosses with their fingers.
Morse chuckled and nodded, "she defiantly belongs down here. Number eight." Darth nodded and walked over to the computer.
Darth hooked up to the net and relaxed back against the booth. "Now can I ask?"
"Sure," Stef said.
He streamlined the complicated question down to one word, "how?"
"I was a recruit. Very nearly wasn't but I managed to get Smith not to shoot me in the head. I had a malfunctioning real world body, it's what happens when the cloning process doesn't go right and I died. A month later I was an agent."
"You died?"
"I didn't expect to come back, I didn't ask to. It just happened."
"That's pretty heavy. Any regrets?"
"I think I can safely say not one. Anything else important you want to ask me?"
"I don't think so. What did you tell your co-workers?"
Stef grew serious; she hadn't realized that she hadn't told him that yet. "They can't know. None of the other agents can know or I get deleted."
"They'll kill you for being in love?"
"Agents can't love. At least they aren't supposed to."
He took a moment taking this all in, "am I worth that chance?"
"Yes," she whispered as she kissed him.
After spending an hour at Stonehenge, her phone rang and she had to leave. "I'll come tonight if I can," she promised before disappearing.
*****
Stef shifted into his room about one am, and found him slumping at his keyboard. "Come on," she said, "I think you need some sleep."
He smiled blearily at her, "I tried to stay awake."
"You almost didn't succeed."
"I knew you'd come tonight, I missed you last night."
"I wish I could be here every night. I really wish I could. It's not my fault that I don't have set hours when I work." She paused and smiled up at him, "you are very cute when you're asleep in front of your computer."
"I don't fall asleep in front of my computer." He said as he flopped onto the bed, pushing some books off the end. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at her.
"Yes you do. I shifted in like three this morning, after everything got finished. You were sound asleep with your head on your mouse pad." Stef said as she required some pajamas and crawled in beside him, laying her head on his chest.
"How come you didn't wake me up?"
"I wasn't sure if you wanted me to or not."
"Always wake me, I want every moment I can have with you."
"Don't you dare get sappy or I'll shoot you."
"I wasn't trying to be sappy"
"In that case," Stef said as he flicked off the lamp. "I promise to wake you at odd hours when I can't stay."
"Good," he said as rested back onto the pillows. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Always," she promised as she stretched out and closed her eyes.
He reached across and held her hand, "I think I can get used to this," he whispered before he went to sleep.
It was the early hours of the morning when Stef opened her eyes and listened to a sound. Looking around Darth's room there was nothing out of place. The noise was coming from the floor below. Slowly crawling out of the bed so she didn't wake him she opened the door and slipped down the stairs.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs she listened to the second floor wing. The stairs up to the attic were through a short alcove on the right side of the stairs, the same side as Stevie's bedroom. To the left of the stairs were Cray and Niq's rooms. There was another wing to the house, with another four rooms where the rest of the Exodus crew or any guests could stay, along with the kitchen, lounge room, bathrooms, den, rec room.it was fair to say that they had been given a good deal.
Stef listened for the sound, which seemed to have stopped, turning to walk back up the stairs she heard it coming from Stevie's room. Knocking lightly on the door and not getting a response she twisted the handle and walked in. The room was much better than what it had been when they had first woken back up in the Matrix. The room now looked like it belonged to a teenager, covered in posters and messy.
Stevie was tossing and turning in her bed in the middle of a nightmare, muttering stuff every so often. Stef sat beside her and lightly shook her awake. "I'm burning, I'm burning," Stevie said she looked blindly around the room, still not fully awake.
"Stevie wake up," she ordered the teenager. Stevie whimpered as she looked around her room. Seeing Stef in the low light she threw her arms around her.
"I was in a fire. I was burning."
"Shh," she said as she rubbed her back, "it was just a nightmare, it's ok."
"No, it was real. I could feel the fire."
"I'm here, it's ok." Stevie nodded and dried her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Do you want me to go get your dad?"
"No, it was just a dream. Just don't go yet ok?"
"I'm not going anywhere. Do you want to try and go back to sleep?"
"No, I'll dream if I'm asleep. I don't want another dream like that." She said up and crossed her legs, grabbing a hair tie and tying her hair back from her face. She caught a glimpse of her clock, "it's two forty-five am, what are you doing here?"
Oops, no one else (besides Smith) knew about her and Darth yet. "I was upstairs watching Darth hack a system, you know computer types, they don't keep regular hours like you do."
"Oh, ok."
"Here, drink this," she said requiring a white mug and handing it to her.
"Warm milk?"
"Trust me, it'll make you feel better."
"Can I have a hot chocolate instead?"
"Sugar is not good this time of morning," Stevie gave her a look and sipped the milk.
"Just like the old times hey?" Stevie asked as she flicked on her lamp and rested back on her pillows.
"Except I'm not plaiting your hair and you're not giggling over a guy's picture in a magazine. This is a pretty bad slumber party."
"I've got one organized for two weeks away, all my new friends from my new school."
"How many?"
"Seven others."
"That is so going to piss Cray off, all those giggling teenage girls, he'll go nuts."
"He'll probably flee to Darth's room or hide under his sister's bed."
Stef smirked, life was returning to normal. Everyone was finding their level. "Do a Lisa Simpson."
Stevie broke into an open grin, "give him a makeover, evil! We could do that." She drank some more of her milk, so Stef made another requirement and laced it with something to make her sleep. As she finished it off and put the cup on her beside table she yawned. "Maybe I will go back to sleep."
"Just try. You probably won't have another dream." Stevie settled down and pulled the blanket back up over her, Stef reached over and clicked off the lamp.
"Don't go yet."
"I'll stay till you're asleep," Stef promised as she moved out of the way so Stevie could get comfortable. It only took five minutes for her to fall asleep.
She shifted back up to Darth's room and found him awake, he smiled as she snuggled back up to him. "I thought you left again."
"Sorry, Stevie had a nightmare."
"She's had a couple, sometimes when I'm still up at six in the morning and decide to stay up I go downstairs to pour a coffee and she's already up. She says her dreams wake her up cause they're so real."
"She's been through a lot."
"We can talk about this later in the day. It's three in the morning," Darth said as he yawned.
"Just cause you're a pathetic human and need sleep," she said jokingly before brushing her lips over his.
"Goodnight again. Wake me before you go."
"Always," she said as he closed his eyes. She closed her eyes and snuggled close to him, feeling safe and warm in his embrace.
She couldn't sleep, that was quite possibly the only thing that bothered her, it hadn't really mattered before, she had spent her nights surfing the net, chasing rebels, annoying Smith and studying files. Now she had somewhere else that she felt she belonged.
But she found that if she didn't concentrate on anything in particular she could just drift in and out of old data and such, and it made the time pass. It wasn't that she minded being there of course; she'd stay forever if she could. But something was bugging her at the back of her mind; she'd have to figure out what that was.
It was probably nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
YAY! Finally I got this finished. I'm breaking it up into sections cause it's so long but it's all been uploaded.
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Matrix universe and associated characters: Wachowski brothers. ATS universe: co-owned by me and Mordax. Stef, Darth, Stevie, Cray, Jessica, Brad (and cohorts): Me
Total Word Count: 15641 Chapter Word Count: 3043
Summary: Stevie's changing, and it might not be for the best.
Notes: Does anyone need the physics of Stevie again? If you do, email me.
Just be warned that there is a lot of talk in here about the taking of drug and alcohol. This is bad behavior that destroys families. Please don't take drugs or drink excessively.
Please read and Review.
"Stef?"
"Hm?"
"Stef?"
"Give me a minute."
Smith sat down on the chair on the other side of her desk and looked across at her. Both her feet were up on her messy desk and she was busily typing something into a cell phone.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he looked at the half dozen or so folders strewn across her desk.
"Hang one second," she said as she finished and hit the 'send' button, "done."
"What were you doing?"
"Typing a text message."
"To who?"
"Stevie."
He looked up at the clock and then back at her, "she's supposed to be in class right now."
"And.?" Stef asked guilty.
"And I don't want her studies interrupted by annoying text messages."
"Did you just call me annoying?"
"No, just your messages. Like your emails."
She pouted, "so now you're telling me you don't want anymore jokes forwarded?"
"You are lucky out email isn't monitored," he said with a smirk.
"And I've seen you laugh at some of them."
"Give me the phone," he said and she reluctantly handed it over. "When did you get this anyway?"
"A couple of weeks ago. It's good for Stevie to have some way of contacting us. It's not like she can ring up and asked to be transferred through to her dad."
"Good point," he said as he held up the phone and read the message aloud. "School is boring it's a fact of life. Just drift away and think of something else. I suggest dancing chibis. Either that or fifty ways to torture a rebel with a plastic spoon." He tried to frown but it wasn't that convincing.
The phone beeped, Stef reached across the table and tried to grab it but he held it out of reach. "That message is for me Smith."
He shook his head and opened it, "Way one, bash them with it. Way two, bash them harder. You got any good ones?"
"Can I have my phone back?"
"No."
"Stevie," he said out loud as he typed. "This is your dad. Pay attention in class. No matter how boring it is."
"Go ahead," Stef dared, "spoil the fun."
He added something to the message and sent it.
"Give me," Stef ordered. "I want to see what you typed just then."
He chuckled and handed it over. "Way three," she read, "use tap-dancing spoons to send them insane." She blinked a few times and stood up. Walking around her desk she placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you feeling ok? No glitching, viruses? Anything?"
"No, why?"
"Smith you just wrote 'tap-dancing spoons.'"
"So?"
"Something like that would usually give me cause as to inquire about the state of your mental health."
"So why aren't you?"
"Cause I have the feeling that you have a ready-made comeback for it."
"Actually I don't. But spending time with you has had an effect on my sense of humor." The phone beeped again and she opened the new message.
"What did she say?"
She almost blushed, "it's not from Steves actually."
"Oh?"
"It's from Darth."
"And what does young Mr. Kinnell want?"
"He wants to know if I'm busy."
"I see."
"Am I busy for the next couple of hours?"
"Unless you would rather spend your time.what exactly is it that you're doing?"
"Studying exile files."
"Really? I'm proud of you."
She stopped and looked at him, "do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do," he said looking confused.
"Thank you. That means a lot."
"What does?"
"You being proud of me. No one has ever been proud of me before."
He smiled, "you're welcome. Do your homework later, go have fun. Just give me your cell number first."
"Why?"
"Since I very much doubt you'll have your earpiece in, I'll need some way to contact you. That is, without barging in on your privacy."
She blushed that time, "just knock next time."
"Number."
"001-5323," she said with a smirk.
He pressed his earpiece and thought something. Then her phone rang and she answered it, "hello?"
"You had to answer it didn't you?" Smith asked and she heard his voice echo.
"You expect any less from me?" she asked as she put her phone down and changed her clothes. She required a pair of dark blue pants and a light blue long sleeved shirt. "See you later," she said as she picked up her phone and shifted away.
"The answer is no," she said as she shifted into Darth's room.
"Good," he said as turned around and smiled. He was wearing a crumpled gray shirt that he had slept in, loose combat pants that seemed to be old even though all of the collaborator's clothes were new. Maybe he'd gotten them second hand. He ran his hand through his brown hair and looked down at her. To him she was perfect.
Like an angel who had flown so close to the earth she had become a part of it.
He walked over to her and kissed her. "I'm still expecting to wake up," he mumbled as they broke apart.
"Why leave the dream?" she asked rhetorically.
"I don't think I will," he said with a grin. "Want to hang out?"
"Of course I do."
"What do you want to do?"
"The mall?"
"Sounds good," he said as he opened his wardrobe and looked for something to wear. He shuffled through his shirts and chose one with some binary code on it. He pulled his old shirt off and threw it toward the laundry hamper, it missed.
Stef felt a guilty grin pull at her face; he was just as good looking without a shirt on. He went to pull on his new shirt but she held out a hand and stopped him.
"Wait."
"What?"
"I never knew you had a scar there," she mumbled as she traced a finger over thin scar on his upper arm.
"Oh, that," he said dismissively, "I got that when I was a kid."
"How?"
"When you're nine and obsessed with Star Wars and you find a sword in your grandfather's attic.can you put the pieces together?"
"You dropped it?"
"Nah, I tripped and landed on the damn thing. It hurt like hell."
"I can imagine."
"So what about you? You got any scars?"
"A couple." She said as she withdrew her hand.
"Come on, let's see them," he said in a playful tone.
She lifted up her shirt just above her bellybutton and turned to the side. "Slipped in the rain and landed on a piece of glass."
"Ouch." He said as he knelt and looked at it. He pushed his face forward and gently kissed it before standing. He slipped his shirt and spread his arms wide. "Well?"
She looked at the binary code and snorted, "maybe you are, maybe you aren't."
"You can read it?"
"Of course I can." She said with a nod, the shirt read 'I am the best' with one letter per line of code.
"Sorry, stupid question."
"It's code, like I am." The words tumbled out her mouth before she knew what she was saying. Turning away she picked up the gray shirt and put it into the hamper, slowly closing the lid. Delaying the time until she had to look at him.
"Do you honestly think I have a problem with you being a program?"
"Don't you?" she asked in a whisper.
"No. And I say that without hesitation."
"You do realize that a couple of months ago I would have shot you in the head without having to think twice. I'm an agent. I will always be an agent."
"I know exactly what you are and I know exactly how I feel."
She smiled, maybe this could work "then let's go." He picked up his wallet and put it into one of his pockets. "Hold on."
"To what?" he asked with a grin.
"To me."
They appeared in a quiet part of the mall and started to walk around. Stef caught him stealing a couple of glances at her. "Something you want to ask me?"
"Actually there is, if you don't mind."
"As long as it isn't 'are you ticklish?'."
Darth grinned as they stared into the game store window, "It's a bit more serious than that."
"Here it comes," Stef muttered, knowing what the question would be. "I'm not answering it here," she said looking around, "somewhere less public."
"I didn't even ask it yet."
"You didn't need to. You know somewhere quiet?"
"Stonehenge keeps a lot of secrets," she nodded and shifted them away. They walked down the creaking stairs and Darth booked a computer.
Morse smiled, "welcome back, I thought you'd left us forever Lord Vader."
"You still remember me Morse?"
He nodded, "you want anything to eat to go with your web time?"
"Not right now," Darth said nodding to Stef who was standing a few feet back.
"Fe-male," he said in a Dalek-like voice, "you know we don't get a lot of them down here. Isn't she going to get freaked out?"
"Nah, she's one of us."
"Anakin and Amidala?"
That got a reaction.
"There is no new trilogy," Stef and Darth said at the same time, making crosses with their fingers.
Morse chuckled and nodded, "she defiantly belongs down here. Number eight." Darth nodded and walked over to the computer.
Darth hooked up to the net and relaxed back against the booth. "Now can I ask?"
"Sure," Stef said.
He streamlined the complicated question down to one word, "how?"
"I was a recruit. Very nearly wasn't but I managed to get Smith not to shoot me in the head. I had a malfunctioning real world body, it's what happens when the cloning process doesn't go right and I died. A month later I was an agent."
"You died?"
"I didn't expect to come back, I didn't ask to. It just happened."
"That's pretty heavy. Any regrets?"
"I think I can safely say not one. Anything else important you want to ask me?"
"I don't think so. What did you tell your co-workers?"
Stef grew serious; she hadn't realized that she hadn't told him that yet. "They can't know. None of the other agents can know or I get deleted."
"They'll kill you for being in love?"
"Agents can't love. At least they aren't supposed to."
He took a moment taking this all in, "am I worth that chance?"
"Yes," she whispered as she kissed him.
After spending an hour at Stonehenge, her phone rang and she had to leave. "I'll come tonight if I can," she promised before disappearing.
*****
Stef shifted into his room about one am, and found him slumping at his keyboard. "Come on," she said, "I think you need some sleep."
He smiled blearily at her, "I tried to stay awake."
"You almost didn't succeed."
"I knew you'd come tonight, I missed you last night."
"I wish I could be here every night. I really wish I could. It's not my fault that I don't have set hours when I work." She paused and smiled up at him, "you are very cute when you're asleep in front of your computer."
"I don't fall asleep in front of my computer." He said as he flopped onto the bed, pushing some books off the end. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at her.
"Yes you do. I shifted in like three this morning, after everything got finished. You were sound asleep with your head on your mouse pad." Stef said as she required some pajamas and crawled in beside him, laying her head on his chest.
"How come you didn't wake me up?"
"I wasn't sure if you wanted me to or not."
"Always wake me, I want every moment I can have with you."
"Don't you dare get sappy or I'll shoot you."
"I wasn't trying to be sappy"
"In that case," Stef said as he flicked off the lamp. "I promise to wake you at odd hours when I can't stay."
"Good," he said as rested back onto the pillows. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Always," she promised as she stretched out and closed her eyes.
He reached across and held her hand, "I think I can get used to this," he whispered before he went to sleep.
It was the early hours of the morning when Stef opened her eyes and listened to a sound. Looking around Darth's room there was nothing out of place. The noise was coming from the floor below. Slowly crawling out of the bed so she didn't wake him she opened the door and slipped down the stairs.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs she listened to the second floor wing. The stairs up to the attic were through a short alcove on the right side of the stairs, the same side as Stevie's bedroom. To the left of the stairs were Cray and Niq's rooms. There was another wing to the house, with another four rooms where the rest of the Exodus crew or any guests could stay, along with the kitchen, lounge room, bathrooms, den, rec room.it was fair to say that they had been given a good deal.
Stef listened for the sound, which seemed to have stopped, turning to walk back up the stairs she heard it coming from Stevie's room. Knocking lightly on the door and not getting a response she twisted the handle and walked in. The room was much better than what it had been when they had first woken back up in the Matrix. The room now looked like it belonged to a teenager, covered in posters and messy.
Stevie was tossing and turning in her bed in the middle of a nightmare, muttering stuff every so often. Stef sat beside her and lightly shook her awake. "I'm burning, I'm burning," Stevie said she looked blindly around the room, still not fully awake.
"Stevie wake up," she ordered the teenager. Stevie whimpered as she looked around her room. Seeing Stef in the low light she threw her arms around her.
"I was in a fire. I was burning."
"Shh," she said as she rubbed her back, "it was just a nightmare, it's ok."
"No, it was real. I could feel the fire."
"I'm here, it's ok." Stevie nodded and dried her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Do you want me to go get your dad?"
"No, it was just a dream. Just don't go yet ok?"
"I'm not going anywhere. Do you want to try and go back to sleep?"
"No, I'll dream if I'm asleep. I don't want another dream like that." She said up and crossed her legs, grabbing a hair tie and tying her hair back from her face. She caught a glimpse of her clock, "it's two forty-five am, what are you doing here?"
Oops, no one else (besides Smith) knew about her and Darth yet. "I was upstairs watching Darth hack a system, you know computer types, they don't keep regular hours like you do."
"Oh, ok."
"Here, drink this," she said requiring a white mug and handing it to her.
"Warm milk?"
"Trust me, it'll make you feel better."
"Can I have a hot chocolate instead?"
"Sugar is not good this time of morning," Stevie gave her a look and sipped the milk.
"Just like the old times hey?" Stevie asked as she flicked on her lamp and rested back on her pillows.
"Except I'm not plaiting your hair and you're not giggling over a guy's picture in a magazine. This is a pretty bad slumber party."
"I've got one organized for two weeks away, all my new friends from my new school."
"How many?"
"Seven others."
"That is so going to piss Cray off, all those giggling teenage girls, he'll go nuts."
"He'll probably flee to Darth's room or hide under his sister's bed."
Stef smirked, life was returning to normal. Everyone was finding their level. "Do a Lisa Simpson."
Stevie broke into an open grin, "give him a makeover, evil! We could do that." She drank some more of her milk, so Stef made another requirement and laced it with something to make her sleep. As she finished it off and put the cup on her beside table she yawned. "Maybe I will go back to sleep."
"Just try. You probably won't have another dream." Stevie settled down and pulled the blanket back up over her, Stef reached over and clicked off the lamp.
"Don't go yet."
"I'll stay till you're asleep," Stef promised as she moved out of the way so Stevie could get comfortable. It only took five minutes for her to fall asleep.
She shifted back up to Darth's room and found him awake, he smiled as she snuggled back up to him. "I thought you left again."
"Sorry, Stevie had a nightmare."
"She's had a couple, sometimes when I'm still up at six in the morning and decide to stay up I go downstairs to pour a coffee and she's already up. She says her dreams wake her up cause they're so real."
"She's been through a lot."
"We can talk about this later in the day. It's three in the morning," Darth said as he yawned.
"Just cause you're a pathetic human and need sleep," she said jokingly before brushing her lips over his.
"Goodnight again. Wake me before you go."
"Always," she said as he closed his eyes. She closed her eyes and snuggled close to him, feeling safe and warm in his embrace.
She couldn't sleep, that was quite possibly the only thing that bothered her, it hadn't really mattered before, she had spent her nights surfing the net, chasing rebels, annoying Smith and studying files. Now she had somewhere else that she felt she belonged.
But she found that if she didn't concentrate on anything in particular she could just drift in and out of old data and such, and it made the time pass. It wasn't that she minded being there of course; she'd stay forever if she could. But something was bugging her at the back of her mind; she'd have to figure out what that was.
It was probably nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
YAY! Finally I got this finished. I'm breaking it up into sections cause it's so long but it's all been uploaded.