Tank slipped into the med lab, his eyes carefully watching the sleeping Axel. Moving around the table, he sat on a stool next to the sink. Wincing, he pulled up his shirt to reveal a dirty bandage covering his wound. Peeling it off, Tank bit his lip as he felt the newly formed skin being pulled off with the bandage. Letting out a ragged breath once the bandage was off, Tank tossed it in the trash before he grabbed a nearby sponge. Dampening it with water and soap, he gently cleansed his wound. Looking down at it, he could see his wound was clearly infected.
Groaning at the new knowledge, Tank leaned back to calm his nerves. Standing up, he grabbed a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and poured it on a cloth. Pushing it on his wound, he gasped at the pain, knowing it was cleaning the wound. Doesn't make it feel any better knowing that. Goddamn, I'm going to have to tell Morpheus now if I want to survive. Tank shook his head before dumping the red tinged cloth in the trash and grabbing a clean bandage. Rubbing healing ointment on it, he placed the bandage on the wound before carefully taping it in place.
Dropping his shirt back down, Tank turned to leave, only to find Axel's eyes watching him silently. Tank moved towards the table slowly, almost casually.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm all right. Everything feels kind of fluffy right now, but I'm quite sure my eyes weren't lying to me just a moment ago. That was a nasty wound you have there, Tank. I don't want you to go home under a blanket because of your chivalry. I know you well enough to know that you would let yourself get gangrene before you spoke a word to Morpheus." Axel replied, his words slightly slurred due to the high doses of medication in his system.
"I know. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow. Don't worry about me Axel. Now you get some rest, it won't do you any good to be bedridden any longer than you need to be. Night." Tank placed a hand on Axel's shoulder, patting it twice before moving around to the door.
"Night man."
"That's the girl?" Soren asked Neo, looking over his shoulder at the consoles.
Neo had heard his entrance, so he wasn't unsettled by Soren's sudden appearance. Not taking his eyes from the screen, Neo nodded.
"What's her name?"
"Hunter. Pretty good at hacking too." Neo replied, tapping a corner screen to pull up her file.
"You like watching her don't you?" Soren asked solemnly. Neither heard Trinity's silent descent down the ladder to the core as Neo shrugged.
"I've actually never watched someone before. This is new to me. I don't know what's normal to see for a person searching for the truth."
"You should. You did once. That's why you're sitting here, watching her. We have all been there, and seeing yet another mind searching for what we did with the same kind of passion, it stirs hope in one's soul." Soren continued, obviously just conversing with no real motive, just to talk with someone.
Neo had never been one to talk much. He spoke when needed, and even then only as much as he had to. His voice never rose a single octave- something Tank told him was odd- and not much upset him. But he sat here now, talking freeing with a captain of another ship.
"I guess. Trinity and I have never really spoken about that." Neo remarked. It seemed to him lately that most everyone wanted to talk to him about his relationship with Trinity. Not in a bad way mind you, but just to talk about it, in general. He was getting to the point where he just didn't want to talk to other people about it anymore.
"I'm sorry. I'm sure many people have already made many inquiries about you two. I'm quite happy for both of you; I would like you to know that. I'll retire to my quarters for the night. Oh and, Neo?" Soren paused, waiting for Neo to look up at him. "Don't get too consumed by the coppertop to forget what you hold in your arms each night. No enslaved mind is worth forgetting what you have."
Neo felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards for a brief moment as Soren left. Soren turned around to see the ever-vigilant eyes of Trinity looking at him. Nodding once in her direction, he made his way to the ladder and climbed down to the lower decks. Neo sat silently in his chair, watching the rain of coding fall down the screen before feeling Trinity behind him. Amazing, I can feel her presence now. A hand dropped to his shoulder, warm breath tickled his ear. No words were needed at the moment; just the calming presence of the other was desired. Minutes passed in silence until Neo felt Trinity's body tense slightly. Turning at the change, Neo looked up into her face, his eyes searching hers for any answers even before he spoke.
"What's wrong?"
"You're watching her the same way I watched you." Trinity answered simply.
"How's that?" Neo could hear the pain in the statement, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
"Even when someone enters the room, you never break your gaze from the screens. It's just odd I guess to see you doing it." Trinity shrugged, her calm exterior a mask of the inner turmoil.
"Hey, I won't fall for Green Code Girl behind me, okay? I already fell for the woman in front of me." Neo replied, standing from the operator's chair in the process. Placing his hands on her shoulders, Neo drew Trinity closer.
Trinity moved her shoulders slightly, causing Neo's grip to loosen. "How hard?" Her eyes flicked up to meet his, uncertainty escaping the ice-blueness of them.
Neo was slightly taken aback at the question. Trinity? Uncertain? "She's no older than fifteen, give me a break." Neo pointed out, watching a smile play with Trinity's lips at his statement.
Neo looked up as he heard the approach of Morpheus. A silent understanding passed between them before Neo and Trinity left the core, their captain taking Neo's vigilant position at the console.
The cold of the night brought about a tighter grip of the others' body in Neo and Trinity's cabin. When morning broke through in the form of overhead lights, Trinity blinked the sleep from her eyes before feeling Neo stir next to her. Nudging his body against hers slightly, Neo allowed a lazy smile to unfold across his face.
"Hey, I wanted to say something more to you last night, but sleep seemed more important." Neo began, sitting up slightly, pulling a blanket with him.
"What was that?" Apprehension was hidden in the question, as Trinity wrapped another blanket around her shoulders and sat with her back against the wall, Neo's legs across her thighs.
"When I was still plugged into the Matrix, there was one thing I always believed in even after I stopped being religious. Faith lies in your heart, not your mind. Many things must be decided with your mind daily, but faith never will be one of those things. My faith in you, in us, is something that will never waver, never weaken. I love you, I always will." Neo's eyes had been glued to the floor until his last sentence, where they flicked up to Trinity's eyes, unwavering as the final words left his mouth.
It wasn't the truth in Neo's words, or the love in his eyes that caused the final wall of fear in Trinity's mind to collapse. Rather, it was the emotion causing his voice to carry a tremor in it as he spoke and the way his body shook slightly with raw passion barely being controlled. We definitely need a trip to Zion soon. The thought bounced sarcastically around in Trinity's mind before she leaned forward to envelope Neo in a tight embrace.
"Time to go- oh, sorry, I just thought you two would be up by now." Tank's bright face flushed upon seeing Neo and Trinity hugging.
"We are up Tank." Trinity replied shortly, pulling from Neo to grab her boots. "We'll be down in the core right after we eat." Tank nodded once and left, a quick smirk gracing his features before the door shut completely. "Now I know what Switch meant."
"What do you mean?" Neo turned from buckling his boot to look at Trinity.
"She used to tell me how Tank would barge in on them in the most embarrassing of times, without knocking. I never understood what she meant by it until now. He really does know how to pick the perfect time to walk in." Trinity shook her head in humor before standing.
"Well, at least we weren't…" Neo trailed off, his eyes darting around Trinity before meeting her gaze.
"Oh no, he won't walk in on us and live to speak of it afterwards if he does. Are you ready?" Trinity turned to leave as Neo stood.
"That should do it." Vector turned off his torch and lifted his helmet, a smile gracing his face.
"Are we done?" Soren asked, appearing on the ramp, a bin of metal scraps in his hands.
"Yeah." Vector climbed down, carrying the torch onto the Vigilant.
"Good, I'll go inform Morpheus." Soren handed Jax the bin and left, calling over his shoulder, "Make sure Axel's settled before I return."
Climbing the ramp of the Nebuchadnezzar, Soren saw a chaste kiss from Trinity placed on Neo's lips before she left for the med lab, most likely to re-bandage the wound he had been told she had received the day his ship was attacked. Moving through the ship, Soren found Morpheus at the console, watching for sentinel activity as well as watching Hunter.
"Well Morpheus, thanks to you and your crew, we are as good as new. I am indebted to you. Good luck with Hunter." Soren placed a strong hand in Morpheus' and shook it.
"Good luck. Take care." Morpheus smiled kindly as Soren turned and left.
The Vigilant shuddered to life after several days of rest and left the Nebuchadnezzar within moments.