A/N) HUGE thank-you to Danascully for the feedback and crit, you rock! Thanks especially for the help and encouragement with Drunk!Trin ;) and some of the name suggestions (lotr! w00t) Lines and names gleefully ripped off of other sources: List at the bottom. This chapter's subtitle is "Trip like I do" 'cause I am addicted to the song ;) and it fits. Mwahaha I love Merv and Perse. They are SO much fun to write ;) so you guys get some of them at the end of this bit.

Chapter the Fourth

~*~*~

Neo pulled Trinity into the room after him and shut the door quickly. Trinity wore a slightly bewildered expression and looked at him curiously before leaning against him, her head on his chest.

"Neo?"

"Hm?" His hands came to rest on her hips as she leaned back a little to look at him.

"I don't feel very well," she said softly. Her head fell against his chest and he gently rubbed her back.

"I'm not too surprised. Let's get you some water, OK?"

"Kay," she mumbled. Neo guided her to sit on the bed and filled a mug from the sink in the small bathroom. She sipped the water and a small, sober part of her hoped she wasn't going to be too hung over in the morning. She leaned against him when he sat next to her on the bed and Neo quickly took the mug and set it on the bedside table before it could slip from her fingers. Trinity sighed heavily and let her eyes close. She felt sort of queasy, maybe a little embarrassed, but definitely tired. "And this is why I have never done this before," she half groaned.

"You've never gotten completely trashed before?" She shook her head slowly.

"No. Got drunk, but never acted like this. Had to be in control." She sighed again, "Didn't want to be in control tonight. Wanted to have fun."

"It's ok to let go once in awhile. Everyone was certainly helping you along. Every time you turned there was another drink." He handed her the mug again, coaxing her to drunk more water. "And it's not like you didn't have a good reason to celebrate," he reminded her. She smiled a little.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything." She shrugged,

"I think you probably could have made it home eventually. Niobe probably would have given you a shoulder to lean on."

"No." She shook her head. "I mean..." She tried to think of what she wanted to say, but the words eluded her, fluttering at the edge of her mind like teasing little butterflies. She sighed once more. "Love you. Didn't know how before. You showed me. No," she put a finger on his lips, stopping him from speaking. "I get...chatty when m'sloshed. So I'm going to tell you some things and you're going to listen, 'cause later I wont be able to say a damn thing. Control thing. So hush." She punctuated her words with a few drunken taps of her index finger against his chest. Neo nodded and her hand fell back to her lap.

"Been fighting for so damn long. So long. The soldier me completely took over. And that was good, 'cause we were fighting. An if I wasn't that hard I'd... break. Snap. Die." She sipped the water again. "I'm a cold, distant bitch and don't argue," she stopped him from speaking again.

"I'd get up, do duty, kick machine ass, eat dinner, go to bed. And do the same thing the next day. Was like a machine myself. And then oracle told me I'd fall in love. I hated her for that. Hated her so much. Didn't need anyone. Hated you too. A lot. Didn't want you. Hurts now, but I didn't want you before, but that was before and that's not now, so I want you now. But loving meant I'd rely on them and I didn't do that. But the truth is, I didn't know how," she shook her head sadly. "Didn't know love. Nope."
"Didn't think I could do it. When I was in the Matrix, I had a good home. My parents loved me, my brother. Didn't love 'em back, not really. The world was too wrong. Kept waiting to wake up. World was a dream. Can't love a dream. Love? Didn't need it. Changed when you came." Her voice was very soft now and Neo had to strain to hear her. "You showed me how to rely on someone, how to feel, how to live. You showed me how to love." Neo remembered what he thought was going to be their last conversation but by some miracle wasn't.

It's unbelievable, Trin. Lights everywhere. Like the whole thing was built with light. I wish you could see what I see.

You've already shown me so much.

"S'like..." she paused again, looking for the words, "you've found parts of me that I didn't even know existed. And I feel...alive." Neo felt more alive too as she breathed the word, a beatific smile on her face. Her expression and tone turned wry. "Soldier me is having issues with the new parts of me. Those parts aren't cold and unfeeling, and bitchy. "Getting there I think. I hope. It's... disconcerting." She drained the last of her mug before setting it down on the table and wrapping her arms around Neo.

"Sorry. Melodramatic when I'm wasted," she snickered. "Good thing maybe. Wanted to tell you this for awhile now. Tried to when...you know. Then. Couldn't. God, I'm so tired. What started this anyway?" Neo wracked his brain, trying to find the reason she'd started telling him these things. He was having a hard time though, as he was trying to take in everything she'd said. He reflected that this might have been the most she'd ever said at one time.

"You were talking about wanting to have fun tonight?"

"Right. Right. I'm a control freak. Thought I had to be. Don't think so now. Change is a bitch though. Trinity the Soldier is going to have an absolute fit in the morning," she laughed.

"And non-soldier Trinity?" Neo asked.

"Drunk off her ass!" Trinity responded gleefully. "Promise me. Promise you'll remember this in the morning. Not sure I will. God, Ghost and Sparks are so getting it if either of them makes captain." She crawled out of his lap onto the bed and curled there. "Hey!" she suddenly smiled again "I'm captain!" He stretched out on the bed next to her.

"Yeah. You deserve it."

"Tired," she murmured as her eyes drifted closed. He pulled her to him and brushed his fingers along the side of her face.

"Go to sleep. Hopefully you won't be too hung over in the morning." She snickered sleepily but soon drifted off. Neo however was up for a long time, thinking about what she'd said.


Warm lips against his own woke him. He hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep but it was a pleasant way to wake up. He opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. His wife was balanced above him on the couch.

"Hey," he said, smiling. She leaned down and kissed him again.

"Hey yourself. Time to get up. Everyone is going to be here soon." She stood and walked away. Tom took a moment to wake up. Everyone? Oh yeah. Dinner.

"What are we having?" he called out as he hauled himself out of the couch.

"Thai!" she called back from the kitchen.

"Thai?" he asked, somewhat disappointed as he entered the kitchen. She quirked a dark eyebrow, blue eyes sparkling.

"Baby and I wanted Thai, so that's what Mary-Anne said she'd bring. And you, sir, were sleeping at the time and hence were left out of the discussion. I swear, Tom, you're the only computer geek I know that doesn't like Thai food." She shook her head in mock disgust. He shrugged.

"I'm unique, what can I say?" He swept her up in a hug as best he could. At six months pregnant, the baby was beginning to get in the way but that was totally fine with him. "So when is everyone supposed to get here?" A car beeped in the driveway then and he chuckled. "I swear my life is like a sitcom sometimes."

"Oh?" she asked as they walked towards the front door.

"Well, we have our slightly crazy, yet well meaning grandmotherly neighbor who makes cookies all the time on the one side of the house...."

"And we have the crotchety neighbor obsessed with his grand work in Architecture on the other," she picked up the narrative with a grin.

"I'm obviously the protagonist." She rolled her eyes and swatted him good naturedly. He tried to dodge out the door but wasn't quite fast enough. "You're my lovely wife. The kid's gonna be born during sweeps week and look!" he gestured towards Tyrone and Mary-Anne unloading the car in the driveway.

"Our wacky friends?" she asked wryly.

"Exactly!"

"So what is this show called? 'Life with the Andersons' ?"

"I was thinking 'Geeks in Love'" he spread his hands across and imaginary marquis and she snickered. "But maybe your title would be a better sell."

"I bet money on Sparky being the one to get the spinoff. 'Adventures of a Neurotic Tech Support Agent'"

"Adventures of whom?" Tyrone asked, deep voice carrying across the lawn. Tom and Natalie shared an amused glance and shook their heads.

"Nothing. Don't mind us," she said and gave Ty a quick hug before heading to Mary-Anne. "Hey!" she greeted her friend.

"Hey!" the dark woman stopped poking around in the bags in the back seat of the car to give her friend a hug. She picked out two containers and put one in either of Natalie's hands.

"Pad Thai for you. Satay chicken for the baby."

"Goodie. Lets go inside. The guys can carry the rest." She smiled brightly at Tom and Ty and led her friend back into the house.

"Thanks," Ty called after them. Mary-Anne turned and shot him a grin before resuming her conversation. Tom and Ty got the food inside just about when Lucas and Zira arrived. Allan and Sam aka 'Sparky' were close behind. The group piled into Tom and Natalie's living room to watch the latest episode. They really didn't care so much about the show, but it was an excuse to get together.

As Natalie settled against his side, finally finding a comfortable position, Tom reflected on his friends and family. Allan was Natalie's adopted brother. They were twins of a sort, both adopted the same day. Al was a good guy, but had a very Zen air and was hard to read. Lucas and Zira were the first to be married and though they didn't have kids of their own yet, helped take care of Zira's niece and nephew after their father and other uncle had died in a car accident. Sam, otherwise known as Sparky, was a tech support agent like Lucas was, and was possessed of a rather strange sense of humor. He seemed to be permanently wired. Both Allan and Sparky worked in Mary-Anne's division of the company. Petite Mary-Anne was dating Tyrone and quickly becoming one of Natalie's best friends. The two had found they had a lot in common when Ty had introduced her to them and they had immediately clicked. Ty was sort of a mentor for Tom and Natalie. Like a big brother, he aided them along the way, offering advice and a helping hand. Ty had also introduced them and for that Tom was forever indebted.

The friends were all chatting with one another, catching up rather than watching the show. Natalie was now dozing against his side. She got worn out quickly these days he reflected. He wasn't talking, but then neither he nor Nat were ones for much conversation.

And then Thomas Anderson was struck with the feeling of wrongness so profound and complete, he almost jumped out of his seat. He did move enough to rouse his wife.

"Tom?" she asked softly, putting a hand on his elbow. He was sitting stiffly and barely registered her touch. "Tom, what is it? What's wrong? You can tell me." He looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. The walls were grainy, the sky outside looked pixilated. The pattern in the carpet made little symmetric fractals.

"What's wrong? You can tell me" ...Cave... Candles...

The low coffee table looked fake- the shine off the lacquered wood too perfect, too precise. The food on top of it ceased to smell like rich spices and cooked meat and vegetables. He could only smell static- the strange burnt hair and ozone smell. The leather sofa didn't register against his skin as leather; it was more static - fuzzy bits of electricity along his skin, like warm, intangible fur. The only thing which seemed real was Natalie lying against his side. She was sitting up now and conversation around them had stopped.

Something was wrong with the world. Tom turned in his seat to face her, grabbing her hands. She had to understand.

"Something is wrong," he told her. She frowned at him.

"What?" she questioned.

"Something is wrong," he insisted again, panic rising. "I can't lose you," She shook her head, not understanding his sudden worry.

"Don't be afraid..."

"I can't loose you."

"You won't. I'm fine, the baby's fine. She's been kicking all evening." she took one of the hands holding hers and pressed it against her stomach. "You feel this?"

"You feel this? I'm never letting go..."

He felt a flutter against his hand, amazing and unreal. Then static. He could have cried. Tom shook his head, confused, angry and frustrated. This was wrong. It felt so right, but it was wrong.

"It's wrong, can't you feel it?" He looked into her eyes and they weren't blue anymore. They were green. Everything and everyone was a sickly shade of green. He grabbed her upper arms and couldn't feel a scar on her left arm. He looked and the skin was perfect, unblemished. He didn't want her to be hurt, but she had been, hadn't she?

Tom looked around the room. The TV was filled with images of a wasteland, the sky a roiling black mass. Tyrone was sitting in a beat up, red leather chair that hadn't been there a moment ago. Mary-Anne on his lap now wore her hair in closely wound spirals. They looked concerned. Tom looked outside; the sky was the color of a TV, tuned to a dead channel. On the sidewalk in front of his house, beyond the white picket fence, his cookie baking neighbor was standing off against his mean, white-clad neighbor.

"Tom," Natalie's hand against his forehead brought him back to the living room. She felt like static too now. Tom looked around at his friends, his wife. Life was so good, why wasn't it right? He vaguely heard someone call for an ambulance. They thought he was sick, but he knew he wasn't. He wasn't wrong, the world was. The ambulance arrived in a whirl of sirens a moment later. How had it arrived so quickly? Tom wondered if he really was going crazy - he kept seeing falling green digits and characters out of the corners of his eyes, kept hearing the ringing of a phone off in the distance.

The paramedics burst into the room. They all looked alike - the same face and hair, all wearing sunglasses and sneers.

"Mr. Anderson," the lead one said in a monotone drawl. "It's time to go." The man reached for him and Tom yelled and backed away.


Neo fell off the bed, dragging Trinity with him onto the floor. They landed in a tangle of blankets and limbs, Neo breathing heavily. Trinity groaned and tried to untangle herself from the blankets and Neo.

"Wha-?" she asked sleepily. Neo grabbed her suddenly and held her against him. It must really have been some nightmare, she realized as she woke up. She let him calm down a little before easing his grip.

"God," Neo breathed.

"What was it?" she asked, her head was a little fuzzy and it took her a moment to form the question.

"Bad dream. Well, not all bad. Everyone was there and we were all happy."

"So what was bad about it then?"

"It looked like the Matrix. But all of us were there: Morpheus, Niobe, you, me, Ghost, even Link, Sparks and Zee. And it was good." Neo laughed a little as he remembered. "We lived in a house with a god damned white picket fence! But it was wrong and I freaked a little. Someone called the paramedics because you all thought I was sick and they were Smith."

"God, that's fucked up," Trinity said, Shit, she thought, I'm still drunk.

Neo calmed down more and the two of them got back into bed, pulling the sheets in after them. "I'm sorry," he apologized as she spooned up behind her. Trinity's sleepy grunt could have meant anything, but he took it to mean "Ok. Whatever. Let me sleep." Or something like that. When she was asleep he let his hand trail under her shirt and over the flat plane of her stomach. Warm flesh and a little toned muscle with two points of alien scar tissue. Feeling a little foolish he tightened an arm around her waist is if that had been his plan all along. Trinity shifted in her sleep, but didn't wake. Neo remembered the last time a dream had affected him so deeply - Trinity was falling, the bullet from an Agent's gun lodged in her chest. He shuddered and hoped this wasn't the same sort of thing. That life had been almost too perfect and it wasn't possible in the real world anyway. Still, he mulled over its possible meanings until early in the morning when he finally fell asleep.

~*~*~

Niobe juggled the canteen of water and package of crackers in her arms until one was free to rap on Trinity's door. A group of what looked like Buddhist monks were in the middle of morning prayer by the door. That was weird. She shrugged it off and had to grin broadly when a bleary-eyed Trinity answered the door. The hung-over woman winced in the 'daylight' of Zion and she backed into the shadows.

"Good morning. I bring hangover help!" Niobe showed the water and crackers. Trinity opened the door and Niobe stepped inside.

"Please tell me I didn't announce to the whole world that I was going to go get laid," she asked, slumping onto the small couch in the front partition of the room. Niobe sat next to her, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet under her.

"Sorry," she smiled and Trinity buried her face in her hands. "If it makes you feel any better I sang Karaoke for about two hours and Morpheus danced on the table. And the bar. He sang too."

Trinity's face emerged from behind her hands, eyes wide. Niobe laughed brightly and handed over the water she'd brought. Trinity took it and took a long drink.

"Thanks. The bar?"

"Yep. Getting plastered and doing things you'll regret the next day is part of the tradition. You're actually probably lucky. You left early."

"You mean I got smashed at record speed and went off to go nail Neo."

"Well, that too."

"Ugh." Trinity nibbled at a cracker's edge. "I feel like shit. at least this wasn't unusual for this sort of thing."

"They're still going to rib you about it," Niobe cautioned. Trinity winced.

"Figures."

"I'm sort of surprised you're up. Where's Neo?" Niobe asked. Trinity gesture vaguely towards the 'bedroom' part of her apartment.

"Sleeping. Got home, talked his ear off then passed out. I don't think he got much sleep last night. He kept waking me up by rolling around and then he had some really messed up dream.I think he said you were in it." She scrubbed a hand over her face. "Come to think of it, I don't know why I'm up either."

Niobe chuckled. "What was the dream about if you don't mind my asking." Trinity thought for a moment, trying to remember.

"All I remember is that he said we were all in the Matrix and Sparks, Link and Zee were there too. And the Oracle was out neighbor or something."

"And there was a white picket fence." Niobe and Trinity looked up to see Neo holding aside the curtain, hair sleep mussed.

"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Niobe asked. Though with the bandage around his eyes, it would have been hard to tell if he was awake in the first place. Neo shook his head and dropped to the couch behind Trinity.

"No. I'm surprised you are up though," he said wryly as he put a hand on Trinity's shoulder.

"That makes two of us. So this dream you had. I was there and Niobe was there and Morpheus was there and Oh, Aunty Em! There's no place like home!"

Neo's jaw dropped a little and Niobe was fairly shocked too. Trinity wasn't usually so talkative. She looked a little embarrassed.

"It had to be said," she defended with a shrug.

"Yeah," Neo said after a moment. "Yeah. Only I wasn't Neo. I was Tom Anderson." He frowned. "Come to think of it, we all had Matrix names. You were Mary-Anne, I think." Neo looked at Niobe whose eyes grew wide. "What he asked,"

"That was my name," Niobe admitted softly. She was almost 100% sure Neo had not known that about her. Neo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was not good. Not good at all.

"And everyone else?" Trinity asked.

"Well," Neo began slowly, "Morpheus was being called Tyrone." From the sharp gasps he could tell he'd correctly named his former captain correctly. He almost didn't want to continue but he did anyway. "Ghost was Allan," Trinity and Niobe were now looking at him with something approaching fear. "And you were-"

"I hate that name. Don't say it." Trinity spat vehemently. Neo was taken back by her fervor and his mouth snapped shut, teeth clicking audibly.

"Trinity," Niobe ventured, "I'm guessing you've never told him what your name was?"

"No. I am not that person. That is a slave name and I am as free of it as I am of the Matrix." Neo was surprised by her clipped words and the utter hatred apparent in Trinity's voice as she spoke. He'd never heard her say anything like that and never in that tone.

"Trinity, I have to ask him."

"Niobe, not even Ghost knows." That was surprising news for both Neo and Niobe.

"You hate it that much?" Niobe asked in wonder. Trinity's voice was hard when she answered.

"Yes. I hate what it represents."

"Then hate me and not Neo." Niobe looked at the confused man sitting behind Trinity. "I was there when she was unplugged so I know what she was called before. Neo, what was Trinity's other name?"

Neo looked from one woman to the other for a moment before Trinity relaxed her shoulders every so slightly.

"Go ahead but you will repeat it to no one." It was an order, not a request. Neo nodded and hoped to high heaven he was wrong.

"You were Natalie." She hissed as Niobe winced and Neo knew he was correct. It was a shame he though. Natalie was a pretty name in his opinion and it fit her somehow. Trinity was by far a better fit, but now he wondered why she hated the name with such passion.

"God," Niobe swore, drawing his attention back to the conversation. "Matrix names aren't something anyone really shares too often."

"Deadbolt is practically the only exception,' Trinity murmured. "And I know Neo didn't know any of those before last night."

"What else happened?" Niobe asked.

"Well," Neo stalled as he tried to decide how much to actually say. "You and Morpheus brought food over to the house and then everyone else showed up and we were sitting around watching TV. It was kind of boring really. Then I knew it was wrong and things started to change to look more...sinister I guess. And then there were a group of paramedics and they all looked like Smith. And then I tried to get away and fell out of bed."

"That's all?" Niobe asked. Neo nodded.

"Yeah." There was no way in hell he was mentioning anything else after how Trinity had reacted to her Matrix name. But the rest was personal and he probably wouldn't have shared that with Niobe anyway. Niobe and Trinity both knew he was holding back. Niobe by intuition and Trinity because Neo was bad at hiding this sort of thing from her.

"OK." Niobe stood. "I'm going to go find Morpheus. This is strange and I really think this is something he should know about."

"OK. Thanks for the water and crackers."

"You're welcome Captain." Niobe smiled at her and showed herself out.

Trinity and Neo sat in silence for a moment when Trinity finally looked back at him.

"I won't ask you what you're keeping from me if you don't ask about my name, Or mention it."

"OK," Neo agreed. Trinity nodded, pleased and sank back into his arms, lost in her own thoughts and a hell of a hangover. Neo tried not to think about how similar this felt to his dream and wondered about her past and what caused her to hate her name so much that even Ghost didn't know what it had been.

~*~*~

Morpheus finished the last of the day's reports to the council, attached his electronic signature and sent it off to Dillard's office. Had he known the sheer amount of paper work that Lock had to do as Commander, he might have been a little easier to deal with. Or not.

A businesslike rap on his office door announced the presence of Qwerty, his newly assigned secretary. The bookish pod-born was nerdy even compared to some of the geeks they pulled from the sewers, but he was surprisingly useful and adept at his job. Morpheus had initially been reluctant to have anyone working for him in a secretarial capacity, but after the first few loads of bureaucratic nonsense, he'd changed his mind. The young man blinked owlish eyes at Morpheus as he stuck his head around the door.

"Captain Niobe is here to see you, should I send her in?" Morpheus smiled slightly.

"Yes, please do," he instructed. The man nodded and pulled the door fully open before he went back to the small outer office. Niobe entered a moment later, wry smile gracing her lips. They greeted with a small handclasp and then Niobe gracefully perched on the small chair in front of Morpheus' battered desk.

"So how's life as a commander?" she asked, eyes focused on the mound of data pads and recycled paper littering his desk. Morpheus sighed and sank into his chair.

"I'm excited by the direction the council wishes to take the city in, but at the same time I just wish"

"That you were back on the Neb?"

"Yes. I know that Trinity will do an excellent job, but being a mere captain has so much less paperwork. And politics! I may very well go crazy. Or more crazy. Apparently some people believe that I have already gone around the bend," Morpheus smirked and Niobe chuckled. Of course many of those very same people were now eating their words. "So, what brings you to my office?" he asked.

"I was just visiting with Trinity and Neo."

Morpheus laughed. "Oh really? I'm surprised she was awake. How is she? Not too hung over, I hope?"

"She was coherent enough to realize how crazy it was that she was awake." Niobe's amused gleam turned downright mischievous, "She was also awake enough to laugh when I told her about your little dance number on the bar when you made captain."

"Oh you didn't," Morpheus groaned. Niobe smiled, flashing teeth. "I will never live that down, will I?"

"No more than I can live down singing 'Sweet Home Alabama'."

"You're singing wasn't that bad,"

"Morpheus, I was supposed to be singing 'Spirit in the Sky'," she gave him a look. They shared a smile, remembering good times with one another. Then as soon as the happy mood appeared, it fled and they both felt uncomfortable. Both dropped their eyes at the same time. Niobe shifted in her seat and Morpheus shuffled some of the data pads on his desk.

"You're heading back to broadcast depth." It was a statement inviting Niobe's own thoughts on the subject. The petite woman nodded.

"Yeah, that dubious honor is mine. We're just about set to go. We're going to follow up on a kid who got dropped when we were recalled back to Zion."

Morpheus nodded. "Grond. How is Merlin working out?" Niobe smiled. Merlin was the newbie she'd recruited from the academy students to fill the forth position now available in her crew.

"He's ok. Wet behind the ears and tripping over his feet like a puppy, but I think he'll be fine. He's practically memorized the Logos' service record. He helped work on the ship for the last few weeks and Ghost and Sparks get along with him."

"Good, good. Hopefully you won't have any trouble. The Hammer didn't see any agents when they went to broadcast level-" Morpheus started. Niobe finished the thought.

"But they also weren't unplugging anyone."

"Exactly."

"The Hammer didn't meet with the Oracle, right?" At Morpheus' nod Niobe nodded to herself. She caught his questioning look and shrugged. "She seems to know a lot about what's going on is all. It would be nice to know what to expect."

"Indeed it would."

"Speaking of Oracles and prophecies and knowing the unknowable, that's why I'm here. I had a very interesting conversation with Neo that I wanted to relate to you."

"When you went to visit Trinity just now?"

"Yes. He told me about an unusual dream he'd had the night before. He was back in the matrix and so were we. But Sparks and Link were there too." A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, "It was a little like the Wizard of Oz actually. But the reason I wanted to tell you about this is, Neo knew my Matrix name, and he's never been told."

"He could have heard it someplace," Morpheus suggested.

"He knew your name and Ghost's too."

"Well-"

"He knew Trinity's name," Niobe told him. That got his attention. Morpheus mulled over this new information for a moment before sitting forward in his chair.

"If you happen to see the Oracle" Niobe almost, almost, rolled her eyes. Instead she nodded. She hadn't expected a different answer. There was no way Morpheus had any more of a clue about this than she did. They were well beyond the prophecy now.

"If we see her, I will mention it." The silence dragged between them. The official business done with, the awkward nature of their relationship stretched out between them.

Niobe wasn't with Morpheus, but she wasn't exactly with Lock anymore either. Niobe didn't know what she wanted now. Truthfully, she didn't know what either Jason or Morpheus wanted either. The end of the war was confusing. Ghost had likened it to walking around with a heavy weight around your neck for your entire life and then having the bond suddenly cut; none of them was quite certain about what to do with the freedom. There was still a lot of work to be done and no one quite trusted the machines, but something in her soul had soared when the mechanical army had retreated, swimming away like a demonic school of metal fish.

"Well you probably have a lot of last minute work to do," Morpheus broke the silence. Niobe nodded and stood, grateful for the retreat. She turned to leave then stopped - something else on her mind.

"You know, when I went to visit Trinity this morning, there were an awful lot of people hanging around outside their door. Have you noticed that too, or is it just me?" Now that she thought on it, she'd noticed a group there weeks ago when she'd gone to quickly check on them after Trinity had been released.

Morpheus sighed. Neo and Trinity had seemed bothered by the attention and it really wasn't a good thing, at least in Morpheus' opinion, to practically be worshipping them at their doorstep.

"I told them to ask one of the council members or Clash if they could get city security to clear the area." Morpheus pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You don't think they did?" Niobe asked.

"Honestly? No. Trinity would pretend that they didn't exist and Neo would feel like he was putting people out." This was so typical of them: ignore or endure annoyance. "I'll see what I can do. I can't stop them from being followed around, but I can get them some peace at home at least." Niobe nodded and yet another awkward silence stretched between them. Finally Niobe turned back around and left the small office. Qwerty stuck his head in a moment later to find his boss lost in thought.

"Sir?" He wouldn't have disturbed Morpheus' thoughts, but it was time for his daily planning meeting with Lock and the council. Morpheus' thoughts returned from where they'd been and he was instantly alert.

"I'll be right there."

"Yes, Sir."

~*~*~


A barely clothed man in chains squirmed as a leather clad dominatrix flicked her cat-o-nine tails at his bare ass. In the corner two women were alternating between molesting one another and teasing the man tied to the wall. The waitress sauntered by and exchanged the Merovingian's empty martini glass for a new one. Driving music thumped through the club and the people below gyrated and ground against one another with much squeaking of leather and plastic and grabbing of various body parts.

The Merovingian, however, was bored. He was holding court in his Hel club today. The petitioners he was seeing would be put off and unbalanced by the unbridled sexuality and violence of the bondage club, but even their discomfort failed to amuse him. The Merovingian wasn't really listening to the still pod-bound human making his stammering plea as he ran a hand idly up and down his wife's thigh. It was all so dull.

Persephone noted her husband wasn't even pretending to pay attention to the very nervous looking human who wanted a favor and imperiously waved her hand. Two of the vampires, Jean-Claude and Asher, hauled the still pleading man away. Persephone stilled her husband's questing hand and favored him with an arch look. They had been closer than they had been in centuries after Smith had invaded their home, something no other exile had been able to do, and assimilated them both. But his boredom bored her. Fortunately she thought she had a solution. She straddled his lap and began kissing his neck.

"What are you doing?" he asked even as his hands came around to grab her backside. She leaned back to look at him better. He was intrigued. Good.

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "I'm supposed to be a seductress. I am seducing you," she teased.

"Ah. Well then. Do continue," he insisted. A rather boring day was suddenly looking up. Oh, he knew she wanted him to do something for her, but he could enjoy her attention for a little while at least. "But may I ask to what end?" he finally asked. Her requests were usually interesting. Persephone sat back and heaved a little sigh, pouting slightly as she played with the buttons on his shirt.

"This is becoming boring. Dull." She gave a little head nod to indicate the Matrix in general. She was more than 600 years old and he was older still. They had seen and done everything it seemed and while they periodically revisited old passions - each other for example - she knew it wouldn't last long without something new and interesting.

The sixth incarnation of the One had been so intriguing because he was different from his predecessors. She'd been attracted to that newness, had craved a sample of his emotions. His interaction with the female had been new as well. No previous One had been in Love before. Persephone wanted to know what the Oracle had been playing at this round, had needed to know. Selfishly she wanted to sample their emotions. True love like that was like a fine chocolate: a small, sweet drug which exploded along the senses and left one craving more. And then the female had returned in full fury, demanding the return of her lover. The human's wrath had been intoxicating in its own way, her anger making little ripples in the code of the Matrix which danced along Persephone's code like flames. But such powerful emotions were best reserved for rare occasions, least she lose herself in them entirely.

Then there was the little girl program. She was certainly new and potentially very dangerous as well. No doubt she would be a pawn in the complex game the fortune teller played with her former employer. The Architect was possibly the only program more pompous than her husband, Persephone reflected. No doubt he didn't grasp the full import of Sati's behavior or existence.

"The little exile. She was intriguing, non?" she asked. Her husband arched an eyebrow.

"In an annoyingly incomprehensible way, but yes I suppose."

"I have given her a lot of thought. She is so different from us, she has no purpose."

"We do not have roles in this world except that which we make," The Merovingian countered. Persephone nodded.

"Oui. But she never had one to begin with. I have studied her programming from that sample. She is more like me than you, but still so very different. You were right. She does resemble the 6th anomaly more than one of us. Her programming leads her to make choices like he does."

"Hmm." He considered her words, knowing she was much better at discerning these things than he. Her programming was built for it while his was not. A program like the Anomaly? Fascinating. He wondered if the pompous bastard who ran the Matrix knew that. The Merovingian doubted it. Intuitive programs were all exiled or deleted. They had been deemed too dangerous by the Architect. More could be made, deletion was the best option. But the Merovingian saw in them potential that his former master hadn't, and had saved a few including the little minx on his lap.

"I think it would be interesting to have a child," Persephone said, finally getting to the heart of the matter.

"You want to take the exile enfant away from the fortune teller?" He asked. That could actually be fun he reflected. He didn't like the so-called Oracle and the feeling was mutual. Plus he would have the added bonus of causing Seraph grief. Delightful.

"Non."

"Non?" No? But why? He was confused. That could be fun! And being in control of the only exile program of her kind would no doubt have benefits. Her amazing creative powers could surely be exploited. So, what was Persephone getting a- Oh.

Persephone watched with a smidgeon of malicious delight as he dear husband ran through the train of thought which would logically end up where she wanted it to.

"She has been with the fortune teller too long already and I cannot fully understand her either. That is too dangerous. A program from our own code would be like the little girl in some ways, but more like us in others. And it would be interesting." She kissed his cheek and he looked at her askance. "Think of it. What would the old woman's face be like when she realized she did not possess the only program of Sati's type?"

Well, that would certainly be amusing. The Merovingian smirked as he imagined the other Exile's reaction. Such a program in his retinue would be advantageous if the little girl was to play an important part in whatever move the Oracle was trying to make against the self-styled god of the Matrix. The bastard might be toppled by the old woman, but he and his would not be destroyed.

Persephone smiled. She could see her husband warming to the idea, already making schemes of his own.

"And how exactly do we go about this?" he asked wryly. She leaned forward.

"Oh, that's the fun part."
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Further A/N) Tyrone: Lawrence Fishburn's character in Apocalypse Now. See Beat's Fic "Ascension"
Natalie: Carrie-Anne's character in Memento
Grond: Morgoth's weapon (mwahaha! and also the weapon the battering ram that Sauron's forces used against the gates of Minas Tirith was named after)
Jean-Claude and Asher: Vampires from the Anita Blake novels ;) thus they are programmed vamps here.
"The sky was the color of a telovision, tuned to a dead channel" THE BEST opening line in a book ;) From Gibson's Neuromancer (with apology ;) )