Chapter 10

" It feels great to actually have eaten solid food, for once, " Neo joked and Trinity nodded, agreeing. The whole sensation of feeling filled in the stomach was peculiar to them as well.

On the ship, the goop that they got to eat never left them feeling stuffed or so, but then again it never left them feeling hungry either. Neo had eaten it as his breakfast, lunch and dinner for a long time now, and Trinity years longer, and had gotten used to the whole feeling… as well as the even more peculiar taste of it.

But just having eaten bread, having juice to drink, and other things that tasted especially delicious after weeks on the ship, they both felt content as they walked away from the dining room, where many of the docked soldiers came to eat. Neo also knew that there would probably be tons of gifts outside their door when they got back, and that was a thing he never could get quite used to.

It had happened since they had announced that he was the One, and as soon as the public got to know of his residence in Zion, it was a fact that a great amount of baskets would be seen outside his and Trinity's quarters.

Most of them were just different bread and cookies and alike things; gifts. Some even had a note on them, wishing that he would look after various people, and mostly look after Zion as a whole.

But some of them, which Trinity had naturally been the first to discover, were not as innocent.

They were usually smaller than the others, and often bread or a small amount of cookies would lie on top of a wrap of cloth, making it look very average amongst all the other gifts. But underneath, having lifted the cloth and bread, other things would lie. It would usually be some self made underwear, with a note attached to them, usually with text that went something along ' You are very hot', some indecent proposals, and then their quarter numbers.

When Neo had first caught them he had just laughed and even felt embaressed about them, but since Trinity had been the first of them to discover these special baskets, as they used to call them, Neo had gotten a glimpse of something very rare, then…

… a jealous Trinity.

Even though she would never admit it, and she didn't exactly display it as other women did, Neo had felt the vibe at once. But like he always did, he reassured her that the only woman he had eyes for in the world was her… and that always soothed her. She trusted him.

" Morpheus told us to meet him after breakfast, down by the dock. We should probably head there now, " Trinity said and Neo nodded, following her to the elevators. They walked in, huddled amongst some other people, but never letting each others touch go. It wasn't even something they thought of, it was more of a habit to touch each other.

But as Neo thought back to the slightly jealous Trinity, he knew that some times, he had just as much to worry about.

It would be especially notable when they would go to a big gathering, or just a night out in one of the primitive clubs in Zion; where she would sometimes wear a more daring outfit. Neo could see the other men watching her, checking her out… and perhaps that was even one of the reasons why he was so reluctant of letting her out of his sight, out of his touch.

But they both always welcomed all the contact, since moments of displayed affection were usually scarce aboard the Neb…

10 minutes later they walked to the engineering level of the dock, looking through the crowd to see their ship. Usually it was never hard to see, because of its size, but there were at least 5 other ships docked, and all the people working on the various ships crowded the sight.

But Neo, thanks to his length, caught a glimpse of Morpheus standing and talking with Captain Niobe, and pointed it out to Trinity.

They made their way over to them, and Morpheus and Niobe saw them well before they approached them.

" Captain Niobe, Morpheus, " they greeted them and Neo extended a hand to Niobe who shook it, but only briefly. He knew she was short of courtaincy, and he had just met her the night before, and she reassured him everything was alright.

Cutting through it all, Trinity was right on point. " How long will it take to recharge and adjust her?" Morpheus motioned to the ship behind them, and handed Trinity a paper with a list of all the things they were going to modify it; he was too tired to rabble it all up again.

Neo inspected the list as well, and both looked up at Morpheus after finishing it, eyes somewhat widened.

" All of those things… must take at least 56 hours to do, " Trinity stated and Morpheus nodded, grabbing his paper again.

" Actually, at least 72, " he explained and Neo and Trinity looked at each other. Even though they wished that the Neb could be finished soon for Morpheus sake, 3 days of leave sounded like sweet, divine music in their ears. Both did their best to hide it, but it didn't go past Niobe, who chose not to comment on it.

" I'm supposed to get here tomorrow morning for a report on the progress, but we're looking at least 3 days of leave for us, here, " Morpheus explained again. He looked at Neo and Trinity, and was glad to see them so relaxed, probably having slept an extra hour of well needed sleep. He wished them all the serenity they could find, and he knew that 3 days of leave would only do the two good; even he had not been able to miss the growing frustration between them due to all the lack of displays of emotions.

Being alone in self puts things in perspective, he thought before he spoke again.

" I have to report to the Command Center about some reports now… But shall we say midday, here tomorrow? Then I'll know for sure when we're going to leave." Neo and Trinity nodded, declaring that they thought it sounded good. They said their goodbyes after Niobe had explained that she was too going to the Command Centre for some debriefing, and that she and Morpheus could as well go together up there. Neo and Trinity had shot glances at each other at this, but had also been quick with hiding it from the other two's eye sight.

Neo knew all about the love triangle between the two and Commander Lock, having asked Trinity after seeing the peculiar mood the two got in when they saw each other. He had also heard, and witnessed, Lock's jealousy and knew that as soon as Lock saw them together he would have a minor fit.

But thinking there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, he shrugged his shoulders as he walked away with Trinity.