"Dinner is now being served." Neo proclaimed upon returning to his and Trinity's cabin three hours later. Apparently, Morpheus had let them sleep throughout most of the day before coming to check on whether either was awake.

As his eyes lifted from the careful balancing act he was performing with only one hand, Neo saw Trinity sleeping peacefully. Closing the door as quietly as he could, Neo placed the tray on the floor and slowly took his boots off. Wincing, but never making a sound, Neo pulled them both off in less than five minutes, an accomplishment in his mind considering how bad his ribs felt. Slowly making his way under the covers, Neo felt Trinity move next to him and he froze, afraid of waking her. When she settled into a more comfortable position by stretching her arm out on Neo's pillow, Neo let out a small sigh.

Lying down, Neo lifted Trinity's arm and as carefully as he could, moved it down so he could lay his head upon the pillow. Once he had finished, he welcomed sleep much like a man welcomes the end to a good day of working in the fields. His sleep was a mixture of blues and reds, of yellows and greens. He couldn't focus on any one thing at any one time and as he woke from his fitful sleep, Neo saw a pair of ice blue eyes, softened by his awakening, looking down at him.

"Morpheus came in about twenty minutes ago, we'll be arriving in Zion in less than an hour." Trinity informed him.

"How long did I sleep?" Neo blinked at the bright lights above him, and only succeeded in regaining his sight by rubbing both hands over his face and eyes.

"All night, as did I. I saw the dinner you had brought back for me this morning and thought about waking you, but you looked so peaceful I decided not to. My stomach can live another hour without the lovely food of this ship taking up residence in it."

Neo held Trinity's hand as she was brought through the tunnels that made up Zion to the hospital. Morpheus had told him to stay with her, a command that didn't need to be voiced, and explained that as soon as Hunter was put in her room in the Academy, he would come by to visit. Tank had followed the pair out and was being whisked away by another group of doctors to the emergency wing. Within moments of being brought into a nameless room, Neo watched as Trinity was deftly picked up and transported to a medical bed, doctors swarming around her.

A nurse came over and gently began to bring him out of the room, much to his disappointment. He left without a struggle and merely nodded silently when the nurse told him that he would be able to visit her once the doctors were done. Neo stood looking through the glass pane in the door for a moment before wandering off in search of Tank's whereabouts. As he roamed down the corridors, obviously lost, Neo accidentally walked into Zee.

"Hey, sorry I didn't see you there." Neo placed a hand on her arm as she bounced backwards.

"Quite all right. Are you on your way to see Tank?" Zee looked up at Neo, smiling gently, hiding her fear.

"Yeah. I was told I couldn't visit Trinity right now so I decided to see how Tank was. Do you know where he is?" Neo explained quickly as they began to walk towards a lift.

"Next level, room 901." Zee stepped into the lift and pressed for level nine.

When they arrived a few moments later, Neo allowed Zee to exit first and promptly followed her down the hall. When they came upon Tank's room, several doctors were rushing in and out of it. Neo could see Tank's unconscious body lying still on the emergency table and noticed cuts already being made around the burn wound. Neo's medical knowledge didn't expand any further than knowing that gangrene wasn't a common cause of death anymore. Turning to Zee, Neo saw her as the loving sister that she was. Her hand was clutched against her chest, worry apparent in her eyes as she watched her only living brother being operated on.

Neo looked around the halls before he settled his eyes back on Zee. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Neo closed his eyes for moment as she jumped at the sudden realization that he was still there. Taking his hand away, Neo looked down at her with concern.

"Is someone coming by here so that you won't be alone?"

"Cas is coming now and Link will be by when his ship docks, which will be tomorrow." Zee rubbed her arms, warming them up slightly. "I know you want to return to Trinity. I'll be fine. Go on."

"Are you sure? 'Cause if you'd like, I'll stay." Neo looked Zee in the eyes, making sure she wouldn't mind him leaving.

"Love is an uncontrollable being. It will keep you warm and safe. Trinity needs that right now, as does Tank. I'm here for him, you need to be there for her." Zee smiled gently as Neo nodded and left. Turning back towards the window, Zee could only hope that the war would not claim another part of her family.

Neo tried his hardest not to run, but once he was back on the floor where Trinity was, he jogged to the nearest station. Upon asking for the room number where Trinity was staying, Neo walked swiftly down the halls, his eyes looking at every number as he passed each room. Coming to Trinity's room, he found the door halfway shut and a nurse sitting outside knitting. Her eyes flipped up to meet his and upon seeing him cast a longing gaze at the door, waved him in. Entering the room, Neo found Morpheus standing over her, talking quietly. They both turned to see Neo moving towards the bed.

"Tank's being operated on." Neo announced to the pair as he placed a hand on the table next to Trinity's bed. "After a nurse more or less kicked me out of here, I ran into Zee and we went to see Tank. All I could see was several cuts made around his wound. I don't really know what they're doing, but I hope he makes it. I offered to stay with Zee, but she told me it was all right because Cas was coming, so I left. After making several inquisitions around here, I finally found my way back." Neo took a breath and watched as worry spread over Morpheus' face.

"He must be in more critical condition than I thought. I'll go keep an eye on him. Depending on how long his recovery is, we may have to either stay here quite some time or take on another operator until he has healed. Take care." Morpheus moved to leave, his face expressing the worry he was experiencing over the health of his two oldest crewmembers.

Once they were alone, Neo turned his attention towards Trinity. As she looked up into his face, she saw the sadness written across it and instantly became worried herself.

"What's wrong?"

Neo shrugged as he moved slightly away from the bed. Arriving at the foot of the bed, he placed his hands on the metal end, resting his weight. "I just can't stop thinking that all of this is my fault."

"Neo, you can't blame yourself for Tank's choices. Nor can you blame yourself for my current state of well-being. You chose to trust that Tank would make the right choices. It's not your fault, you trusted him, as you always do. Day in, day out, you put your life in his hands. What else would you expect? As for me, my choices led up to certain injuries, and the one that Jones gave me because of you wasn't your fault. You didn't know that he would shoot me just because you moved." Trinity allowed her comfort to seep into her voice, relaxing Neo.

"He seems to have found my weakness." Neo murmured.

"Me? In the Matrix?" Trinity scoffed at the idea until Neo lifted his eyes to meet hers and nodded. "Really? Oh God, Neo. You can't let that happen. Just because I get hurt doesn't mean that you can forget what your own mission is. You have got to stay focused at all times in there."

"What if I can't? My mind will, but my heart doesn't." Neo shrugged, moving closer towards the head of the bed.

"You have to. Just remember that it's your mind in there, not your body." Trinity reasoned, watching him steadily as he inched forward until he sat on the edge of the bed, next to her arm.

Neo slowly interlaced his fingers with hers, his uncertainty still flowing in his words. "I put my heart into what I do, Trinity. My heart's a part of me in there. It's not that easy to just switch off my emotions."

"You have to learn to. Who you are in the Matrix is a completely different person from who you are outside of it. You have to learn the difference, and you have to learn soon. Put it this way, you are split into two people, and each one only exists in one place. All you need to do is learn how to distinguish one from the other."

"How can I distinguish them?" Neo asked, pushing a stray strand of hair out of Trinity's face.

"I don't know. Each one of us acts differently when we enter. I don't usually let any weaknesses be expressed and I don't let my caring for the other fighters get in the way of either their job or mine. That could slow me down one second and I or the entire group could be killed because of it. You can't let anything but what you need to do be on your mind when you are inside the Matrix. It's the only way you will survive."

"So basically become a machine, except you just hide your emotions instead of not having any at all." Neo surmised, his eyes searching Trinity's for agreement.

"Basically, but hide them well. Once an agent knows what makes you tick, they will lovingly exploit it until you have been eliminated."

Neo nodded before changing the subject. "What did they say about you?"

"They as in doctors?" Off of Neo's nod, Trinity continued. "I'll be out of here in five days. I'm pissed."

"About which part?" Neo cocked his head to one side in question.

"When you are told you have to stay in the hospital, it's pretty much an unspoken statement that you are to be kept in Zion until they decide you can leave, instead of when you must leave, such as when your ship leaves. No offense to the 'last human city' or anything, but I tend to get itchy after three days here."

"Why? You're saving this place."

"I have lived on a hovercraft for fifteen years, and only visited Zion for a few days at a time, a couple of months at a time. The only bad part about being here is that even though we are the last free humans, some of the Zionists still look down upon the pod-born. It has something to do with us not being normally born and they think they are better than us, but it's only a small group of people. Not nearly enough to make a dent in Zion's council, but the fact that there are people who are like that bother me all the same."

"Well, we may be the last free humans, Trinity, but we're still only human. We all have flaws and opinions, you can't keep some people from thinking differently about you, even if you are the reason they're alive." Neo reasoned, choosing his words with caution.

"I know, it just bothers me that the fact that I have plugs and they don't is the reason they would despise me. I mean, come on, can't they find a better reason to not like me? Shouldn't be too hard." Trinity smiled at her argument before watching Neo lift her arm and kiss the plug on her forearm and then the one on her bicep.

As he moved over her body, he allowed his lips to come dangerously close to where the top of her shirt began before speaking. His eyes flicked up to meet her surprised ones as he spoke. "I like your plugs. They make you more special because it shows that we actually fought and were freed from a controlling entity. I think that's more special than being born normally."

"I know, but..." Trinity was about to continue before Neo interrupted her.

"Do I need to prove my point further?" His hand slid up her side to the top of her shirt and slowly pulled it down to reveal the plugs above her breasts. As his lips came dangerously close to kissing the right one, Neo could hear Trinity's quietly ragged breath. The sudden sound of someone loudly clearing their throat caused Neo to jump from Trinity just moments before his lips would've touched metal and skin.

"Time for lunch. Neo, you can bring food from the mess hall back for the two of you." The nurse smiled knowingly at the embarrassed pair. "I'll try to give you warning the next time someone cares to enter here."

Neo turned to Trinity whose only reply as to if he could leave was a nod. Exiting with the nurse, Neo cast one last glance into the room before the door shut behind him.

"Can you tell me how to get to the mess hall from here?" Neo asked the nurse.

"I'm going there myself, I can show you." The nurse smiled up at him as she began her walk down the hall.