Disclaimer: I own none of the Matrix.
A/N: So sorry for the amount of time this has taken me... I had no time in the holidays, but I'm back at college now, so yeah! Regular updates.
Angela sat up till dawn that night, despite her weariness. She sat there, brooding in the dark, looking up at the clouds as they floated serenely above her.
She simply sat there, trying to think of nothing, but instead thinking of everything. Her mind was racing, beating at her consciousness with emotions she did not want to feel.
Angela glanced nervously at the sleeping figure that was Smith, her stomach churning as her heart filled with a reluctant, nervous affection.
Grimacing at the bitter wind which blew at her face, Angela put her hands over her face, and waited for these irrational, unwanted feelings to disappear.
From the feel of it, she would be waiting in the cold all night.
When the sun rose over the horizon the next day, Angela was able to put last night's gibbering into some sort of perspective.
Of course I'm feeling for him, she thought as she walked in the tangy freshness of the forest at first daylight, I'm only human, after all. Mostly, anyway. A little crush means nothing; it'll blow itself out, like a briefly passing storm. Just like when you were younger and had a crush on your teacher.
Stop kidding yourself, a bitter voice spoke up in her mind suddenly, right now. You know what you're feeling, and no amount of rationalising is going to change it.
"Morning" A voice said from over her shoulder, and Angela had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming.
She whirled, teeth bared in a desperate, dog like snarl, expecting some enemy standing there in the brightening light of dawn, but saw only Smith, looking at her calmly.
"Smith... you scared me" Angela breathed, once her heart had started beating again.
"Sorry" He said smoothly, and smiled thinly. "I wouldn't have expected you to be the jumpy type."
"Oh, I'm not, normally. I was just... you know, lost in my own world."
Smith made no reply to that; he only stepped closer to her, so close that she could begin to smell the scent of his skin and hair. She swallowed, and put an arm around herself, as if she were cold.
"I just realized I hadn't thanked you..." He drawled, growing closer to her still.
"For what?" She asked nervously, looking up at him as he drew closer, her heart thudding against her rib cage.
Silence from the ex-Agent, he only drew closer, so close the smell of him was all but surrounding her, and she could feel his hand brushing against her as he moved.
Every part of her, every part of her rationality, was rising up against this, shouting, screaming at her, to stop this, stop this RIGHT NOW, before something irreversible happened, but her legs stood still, she was frozen into place, she could not take her eyes from his.
Smith drew closer, the leaves rustling as he moved, and simply looked at her.
"What?..." Angela began, but before another breath could even be drawn, Smith had stopped her lips with a kiss.
Her eyes widened as his soft and full lips made contact with her own, her breath stopped in her throat. After a few seconds, her coil of surprise disappeared, and she closed her eyes, kissing him back while taking in his scent.
She didn't know what he smelled like, but he smelled fresh. That much she was sure of.
The kiss broke, and she looked up at him, her breath pluming out in front of her as they stood there in the cold silence of dawn.
"That was my thank you" Smith said, and put his arms around her, kissing her again.