Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.

Chapter 12

"Hey," Neo said entering the mess hall. Trinity looked up from her cup of tea and responded with a nod.

"You were in a while," she said reaching for his hand as he sat down across from her. "Saw the Oracle?"

"Yeah."

"Did she help?"

"Not really," he paused, shifting in his seat. "I don't know, maybe."

"For someone who has all the answers she sure does have a way with confusing people with them."

"Similar to a fortune cookie," Morpheus added, coming up from behind Neo. "Or how I remember fortune cookies to be. Handing out a few words with so many interpretations you might never know what she truly means."

"Until one day something happens that makes it all clear and you realize that somehow you knew what she knew all along," Neo responded.

"How long do you think we'll have to wait for that to happen with what she told you today?" asked Trinity.

"No idea."

"Well," Morpheus continued before turning to leave, "I'm sure it will come to you. It always does."

"Right," Neo mumbled to himself watching Morpheus walk out of the room. "She only tells us what we need to hear." He turned back to Trinity whose face broke with a wide grin. Morpheus believed so much in Neo, had more faith in him than he even did in himself. And though it may have seemed as though Neo's own faith was pervaded with doubt, she knew that Morpheus' expressed conviction had always helped strengthen his own, even if he refused to admit it.

"Did you find your hacker?" she finally asked, referring to the boy he had been searching for going on two days now.

"No," he responded guiltily, knowing that the only reason he hadn't was because he had been more preoccupied with finding the Oracle.

Trinity squeezed his hand and looked deeply into his eyes. He worried so much, too much. The weight of the world always seemed to be resting on his shoulders. But it was the individuals, not the world as a whole, that he tended to be preoccupied with. He had already saved all of Zion, why did he feel the need to beat himself up over the fate of one boy? He needed to relax, she thought, decompress a bit.

"What are you going to do with the rest of your day?" she asked suggestively, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I don't know, it's pretty late already."

She smiled at his innocent act. "I thought maybe…" she began, but stopped short when something caught her eye, a small figure entering behind Neo.

He turned, wondering what had made her go quiet and saw his sleepy-eyed daughter who walked toward him and proceeded to crawl up on the bench, snuggling beside him. "Hi," she said simply.

"Hi," he replied putting his arm around her.

"That was an awfully long nap for someone who wasn't even sleepy," Trinity commented.

"I never said I wasn't sleepy. I said naps are for babies."

"That's not true," Neo said. "I'd love to be able to take a siesta."

"A what?" Nysa's nose wrinkled in confusion.

"A nap," Trinity answered, rising from the table with her cup of tea and heading for the serving station.

"I saw you today," Nysa said to her father, successfully changing the subject. "When you were in the Matrix."

"Yeah? How'd I look?"

"Good." The little girl giggled as Neo pulled her close for a hug and kissed the top of her head, a big, loud, messy kiss. "Ewww," she squealed pulling away and wiping the back of her hand over her dark hair. "Gross."

Neo laughed and looked up as Trinity returned with a bowl of nutrient rich glop. He cringed as she set it down in front of Nysa. "No," he said sincerely, "that's gross."

Trinity reached across the table and slapped his shoulder. "That doesn't help." She turned to Nysa who was staring at the bowl in horror. "You need it, gotta keep up your strength."

"Yeah," Neo said more to Trinity than Nysa. "Those naps can take a lot out of you."

Trinity gave him a stern look that caused him to choke on a laugh he could not keep from rising. "Eat it," she told her daughter. "All of it." She then walked past the two, locking eyes with Neo as she moved through the door.

He smiled to himself and rose from the table. "Half," he whispered to Nysa, bending down to kiss her on her the head again, delicately this time, before leaving himself.

"Where are you going?" she asked just before he exited.

"Now that you're up Mommy and I are going to take a nap. Be good," he said and fled the room.

By the time he entered his own quarters Trinity was already lying on the bed waiting. He smiled broadly standing in the doorway before falling into her, locking his lips with her, letting his tongue mingle in her mouth. Sharing a room with a small child didn't leave much time for the more adult activities. Over the last five years they had become fairly adept at seizing any moment that came their way, never knowing when another might. But once on the Nebuchadnezzar those moments became even more infrequent. Between working on the ship itself, searching at the monitors for potential hackers, entering the Matrix in order to find those hackers, and caring for Nysa, most of the time they had together was spent in bed, sleeping. When the opportunity for something more came their way, they jumped on it.

It never failed to amaze Neo how perfect they were together, how every inch of their bodies seemed to be made for one another. They moved in rhythm, breathed in unison, almost truly became one body, one soul. Like pieces of an intricate puzzle, they fit together perfectly, beautifully, magically. Yet despite knowing every inch of her body as though it were his own, being able to predict nearly every wonderful move she made, somehow she always managed to surprise him. A slight twist here, an odd move there, a moan thrown in at just the right time. It was never anything big, just something she did that showed him she wasn't moving simply from memory but was truly there with him in that moment.

When they finally separated there was always a strange feeling of both emptiness and abundance. It was as though they had taken from each other all that they could, given all that could be spared, meshed with one another as much as possible, yet couldn't bear to let go. Trinity folded him into her, holding on tight, relishing the moment as he did the same. They clutched each other like this until falling into a fragile, though peaceful sleep. Again, as they both drifted off into a world of separate dreams brought on by separate subconscious realities, their breathing fell into unison.

The familiar metallic taste filled his mouth as he cringed and spit out a concoction of blood and saliva followed by a single white tooth. He turned and struck back hard, knocking his attacker into a wall. A wall, a wall, not just any wall, one of muddy slick cave rock, one he recognized, one of the Temple in Zion. Again, hit from behind, a powerful crack to the back, his spine tingling as he fell to his knees. Up, up, get up… he urges his body, his true corporeal self not the computerized version he was so used to fighting with. Grab the wall, careful, don't slip. The man to his right began to rise. He pulled something from his pocket.

"No!" The one from behind screamed. "Wait!" A familiar voice, a sweet voice, a voice he knew better than his own.

"It's the only way." The man was calm, collected, and moved swiftly charging Neo… a knife? He moved, dodged the attack, grabbed the man's arm and broke it, the knife falling, falling… caught. He stabbed his attacker in the neck, the carotid, twisted, pulled. Blood, blood everywhere.

That voice, the one from behind. Who? He turned and saw a young woman standing, staring down at the body on the floor. She looked at him, at Neo, looked at the knife he still held, looked into his eyes. Those eyes.

She approached him, took his head in her hands, gently, lovingly. He let her, but knew he shouldn't… should resist, move… kill. He was paralyzed somehow, couldn't move, was unwilling to. The knife fell.

"I'm sorry Dad," she said and twisted her grip violently. Crack! He crumpled…

And woke.