Title: Divide and Conquer
Author: MTS

Summary: Every Matrix-turned-SG fan wants court-martial fic. So, here's an attempt at it that dissolves into fluff, damnit. Wonderboy and His Lady.
Timeframe: Agent Smith was destroyed seven days ago. Or at least, they think he was. Tank is in a coma, plasma gun wound was harsher than they realized. Captain Ballard of the Caduceus is on route to fix the ship.
Pouring herself a precious glass of water (supply was limited until the Caduceus arrived in two days), Trinity drank the lukewarm liquid slowly, trying to ignore the recycled metallic flavor. She eyed the sleeping figure of a man tired beyond belief at the mess hall table. Neo was exhausted but there was no time for real sleep, even two hours of blessed ignorance of the nightmare they were living. This nap would be all he could have for the next 24 hours.

---

She was used to these hours, used to the stimulants that kept her awake, used to the pins and needles in her muscles dulling as her mind forced her to concentrate on the work at hand. But Neo… he maybe superman upstairs, but down here in the dirt…

"Trinity."

She flinched and looked at the figure in the doorway. Morpheus looked tired, angry. She had seen him like this years before when Niobe left – this was a subdued version, nothing she couldn't parry and strike. Another gulp of water down the throat and she'd be in prime condition for whatever it was –

"Sir."

He eyed the sleeping savior of the human race and then looked pointedly at her. "I can't condone this."

A laugh rose out of her throat as she felt a tingling sensation fill every fiber of her being (human and machine alike). She expected this, she knew to expect this, she even had prepared a speech to the Commander on this subject – but now, when her body was screaming for food, sleep and to wrap her body around the sleeping creature beside her, now was a ridiculous time for this completely ridiculous conversation.

"Morpheus, don't pull that shit with me. Don't even try." Her fury kept her focused, kept words spinning into her mind, new arguments and rationalities forming and building as she watched him with guarded eyes.

"But they'll try." He wasn't phased. But she had other cards to play.

As her fists clenched, she said, "I don't fucking care. We're the flagship, he's the One, I'm damn useful and this is not going to get in the way of things." She felt Neo stir slightly and kept a hand calmly at his back, willing him to stay asleep.

"Oh?" Morpheus raised an eyebrow.

She smiled, cruel and tight. "I am not Niobe. My choice of bed partners doesn't slow down my game, captain"

He reacted to form. "That was uncalled for."

Her chin raised as she took a quick breath, keeping her eyes on his. "My record is spotless, ask any one of my lovers." She paused. "Ask yourself."

Morpheus's face fell and he said, words even, "I need you focused, Trinity."

Tactics can change midway through a battle that is already won. "We are not known for following rules and regulations, sir, and it all comes down to my own little private fortune cookie from the lady upstairs."

Her smile crew colder and she enjoyed how he shifted his weight, eyes blinking. "You and the goddamned Zion Navy rulebook can take it up with her." She swallowed the last of the water in her cup. "In the meantime, we have work to do and little time. Why are we wasting smoke and air on whether I'm sleeping with our messiah or not?"

He was unsteady now, his back leaning against the door frame. "We have work to do," he repeated. "So let's get to it. Wake him up, we have another corpse on our hands."

It was a cold way to say it, but she understood why. She refused to let it affect her, shutting out all images of Tank from her mind, she would not cry, would not show weakness – weakness that would be readily acceptable at this point. Neo was alive, that was all that mattered.

Watching him turn to leave, she tried to keep her voice steady and calm. "Don't you ever think that I can't handle this. Don't you ever lose faith in me again."

He didn't turn to look at her. "You're right, Trinity. You've never failed me. Not once." He hesitated slightly. "So, don't screw up, lieutenant. I'm tired of losing my crew." And he was gone.

Neo rose his head and looked at her, almost as if he wasn't daring to breathe or blink. She pursed her lips and grunted softly. "You weren't supposed to hear that, Neo. But don't forget it."

She looked back at her tin cup and tried to ignore that he was now staring at her, a hand gliding up her back to nestle into her left shoulder as he leaned his forehead against her right. "I can't let this fuck up …" Trailing off as her mind begged her heart to rethink everything, re-stabilize, she waited for him to say something, anything.

"Your career? I doubt that stampeding elephants could keep you from being who you are." His voice was sleepy, husky, rattling against her. Breaking while rebuilding. Neo pulled her closer to him.

He took a deep breath and continued. "Being with you, Trin," – she flinched – "hearing your voice and touching your hair and smelling you—"

"I smell?" she quipped quietly and he nudged her, chuckling.

"I won't lie to you. You make me want to stop time, quit this new day job and marry you. Find some thing resembling a white wooden fence in Zion to surround our perfect little home. Kiss your face every morning as you wake up, bring you a hot cup of tea—,"

"And make babies, right?" She couldn't help the smile.

"Oh yes—" He grinned and she could only define the expression as goofy. "Definitely twins." His smile faded as she chuckled softly. "I want that. But it's—"

"Not what I want," she said point blank, not even wanting to mention the fact that she couldn't even have children.

Neo nodded. "And it's not what I can have. I'm this .. One…business…" As he trailed off, she shifted to see him better, her hand snaking down to hold his. "But who's to say I can't have this?"

She squeezed his hand. "Well, I'm not going anywhere, am I?"

He shook his head. "No, I mean – what if being the One is 'just like being in love'?" There was an intensity in his eyes that she was beginning to recognize as the creature that wasn't Neo, wasn't Thomas Anderson – it was Him.

"What?"

Licking his lips, he eyed her carefully. "What if this is what being the One is. Loving you. I mean, part of the whole shebang was you loving me – wasn't it you who basically made me wonderboy?"

"Wonderboy…" she repeated, blinking while filing the nickname for later.

He put his hand on top of hers. "And well, I don't get the fence or the babies or the bills that say Mr. and Mrs. Anderson which we pay with our dexterously devious hacking skills."

Stiffening, she looked down at his hands, his thumb rubbing her palm to calm her. "Instead, you get blood -- only it's not blood but you feel it all the same. Days of fighting, fixing the ship, playing the politics, drinking bad moonshine and playing cards, sex until you can't see straight and nights so cold that no matter how many people you cling to, you'll never get warm."

His lips were surprisingly on her own in a heartbeat. It was calming to feel his chapped lips against hers, and she felt stronger at once even though her knees were weakening.

She sighed against him. "You'll save the world."

He clasped her face in his hands, caressing her cheeks with his fingers – still soft from being newly unplugged. "And you'll be on my six."

"You bet your ass on that."

She followed with a kiss, of course. It was an unfocused kiss, almost casual but it meant more than either intended.

Smirking, eyes closed, he pulled away. "Well, we have work to do -- right, lieutenant?" And it was in that moment that Trinity felt she had made all the right choices to reach this point.

"Indeed."

They stood, moving towards the door, her hand lazily holding his.

fin-