Disclaimer: The Matrix and all its characters belong to Wachowski brothers.


Rain kept pouring outside the small cozy café, which was virtually deserted, apart from a handful of customers. She watched the rain, while sipping her latte and daydreaming into a sweet oblivion. Almost a week to herself with all the luxury of the Matrix and no discomfort of running from Agents was a delightful vacation. Of course, on Monday she would once again return to the real world of Zion and once again resume her usual rebel activities, but at the moment, Monday seemed very far away and she had every intention to enjoy each minute spent in this comforting illusion. She told Morpheus that she would stay plugged in to hone her skills in the Matrix; however it was a little white lie to get the permission to stay away from her duties at Nebuchadnezzar.

She finished her latte and saw a familiar black Audi pulling in the parking space just outside the café. Her lips curved as she watched the grumpy looking Agent entering the café. He was her enemy for the last nine years and by now she memorized every wrinkle on his face, every curve of his perfectly tailored suit and every movement of his body. She kept reminding herself that he was an Agent, the most deadly of them, yet she found herself being somehow intrigued by his personality. He was undeniably masculine.

"Miss Edwards" he greeted her in his trademark monotone voice.

"Oh, this seat is taken" she gestured at the empty seat beside her. "And that one, too. In fact, they are all taken."

He ignored her remark, sitting himself opposite to her.

"I hope that you are not planning for a big brunch" she said cheerfully. "I'm saving my appetite for tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yes. Tonight. Your place. You cook. Remember?"

The Agent produced a low guttural growl. "Keep telling yourself that, Miss Edwards. It's not ever going to happen."

"Awww Smith…" she pouted.

He sighed and gestured for the waitress.

"Tomorrow night?"

"No."

"After tomorrow?"

"No."

She crossed her arms and arched her brow. "I won't give up so easy, Mister Nazi."

"I know that you won't, Miss Edwards. I know."

The waitress returned and placed two cups of latte on their table and the Agent started pouring a considerably large amount of sugar in his cup.

Trinity observed Smith's sweet obsession with interest. "I've never seen an Agent put so much sugar in his coffee."

"I doubt you ever had a coffee with an Agent, Miss Edwards" he finally replaced the sugar bowl back on the table.

"The Big Bad Agent Smith has a sweet tooth. Who would have known? Zion would be shell-shocked."

"You tell them and I'll shoot you" he snarled.

She chuckled. "Cheers."

"I do not find this amusing" yet his lips curved in a half-smile and he took a sip of his extremely sweet latte.

They sat in comfortable silence, the rebel and the Agent, listening to the heavy rain outside and unsure of how to start the conversation. Not being used to him in any other situations besides their usual gunfights, Trinity was uncertain of how to approach this certain scenario. He promised to stalk her for the rest of the week, so this might be just one of his daily check-ups on her. Her thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitch baby scream across the room. Trinity's eyes followed the noise to see a lonely young mother trying to soothe her newborn.

The mother's efforts to quite the baby were however futile and soon another high-pitch baby scream followed. And another one. Smith winced, furrowing his brows. The screams continued.

Trinity's attempts to start conversation failed as her attention was now fully brought to the baby across the room. The young mother placed the baby on the café table and opened the baby's covers. Trinity coughed in her latte, realizing that the young mother began to change the baby's diapers. Right there, in the middle of café. Smith clenched his fists.

The baby screamed hysterically and many pairs of eyes were now following the incident, as the stressed mother struggled to replace the dirty diaper. The foul smell filled the café. Smith, who was itching for his Desert Eagle to end this miserable scene, has made a decision. Gesturing Trinity to remain sitting, Smith got up from his chair and headed towards the source of this spectacle. Trinity sunk in her seat, dreading the Agent's intentions.

"Miss" the Agent approached the young mother. "I would kindly ask you to remove your offspring and your own person from this café. As you might have noticed, you are disturbing the public peace."

The young woman looked up at the suited man and paused, holding a foul-smelling diaper in her hand. "How dare you! How dare you come here and order me what to do!" Her voice was nasal and high-pitched, with a trace of hysteria. "This is a free country, Mister! Do you have any idea of how hard it is to be a single mother? The Republicans and Democrats promise you this and promise you that and yet there is no change. No promised raises in children support. No lower taxes. How dare you, Mister?"

Smith remained standing like a statue, as Trinity watched the scene unfold, sinking deeper in her seat.

"You go have a child on your own" the young woman's hysteria continued. "And then you'll see how hard it is" she said, while waving the dirty diaper uncomfortably close to the Agent.

"And yet I must remind you that your offspring was originally your own choice, Miss - not your duty" Smith clenched his teeth, putting a murderous expression on his face. "I must remind you that when you humans breed, you do have a choice to breed or not to breed. And yet you choose to breed, blaming it on your 'biological clock' and other idiotic circumstances. Only to take away the self-responsibility. The responsibility for your own actions. You, Miss, are responsible for bringing your offspring into this world. And yet, you selfishly claim that it is your right to disturb the public peace and you blame your government for not providing you with enough money to raise your child."

"What? How dar.."

The Agent cut her off, placing an arrogant smirk on his features. "Children are a choice, Miss, not a duty. Stop blaming everyone and everything else for your own unfortunate decisions. And while so many of your kind tend to believe that bringing a child to this world is a miracle, I must remind you that there are some six point eight billion of these so-called miracles on this planet. Every cute little child is yet another consumer. The planet is already overpopulated. The climate and nature suffers a great burden because of your ever-growing desire to breed. Increase in global warming. Increase in world poverty. Why, Miss, why bring yet another replica of yourself to this planet? You believe that you are contributing to your ever-precious human gene pool? You believe that your offspring will contribute to the better future of humanity?"

The baby stopped crying and every conversation in the café ceased, as many pairs of wide eyes were glued to the Agent, who seemed unaffected by this sudden attention. The young woman stared at the suited man in disbelief.

"You and your girlfriend have children?" the woman, now teary-eyed, asked in a croaked voice, gesturing at Trinity.

"Um, he's not my boyfriend" Trinity spoke across the room, wishing that she could make herself invisible.

Smith crossed his arms and stood his ground. The young mother cursed and quickly packed her belongings, tucking her baby in her arms. Giving the Agent a look that would freeze a volcano, she dramatically stormed out of the small café, while the stunned audience followed her with their eyes. The Agent was quite satisfied with this outcome and returned to his seat.

Trinity rubbed her temples. "Smith. You're such an ass."

He smirked. "I made her leave."

"Smith, you scared the living daylights out of her! And you insulted her!"

"So?"

"Well, that's just rude."

"You humans take things too personally."

"Of course she took it personally!" Trinity raised her voice. "You verbally attacked her and her baby!"

"So?"

Trinity sighed loudly. "You are embarrassing me."

"Why do other humans' opinions matter to you, Miss Edwards?"

"Well, they just do."

"I see."

"What?"

"You are so much above them, Miss Edwards" he cocked his head. "And yet you busy yourself with possible thoughts of others, humans who have no influence in your life. Yet you consider what they might and might not think of you. The very same humans, who you fight for. Who you would die to protect. The very same humans, who change diapers on their offspring right in front of your nose, the very same humans who would judge you and tell you that having children is a duty and not a choice. And yet you fight for them."

Without giving her an opening to respond, Smith sighed and rose up from his seat. "Have a good day, Miss Edwards. Next week, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Trinity, as well as other café guests, watched the Agent. Smith paid for their latte, tipped the waitress and after giving Trinity one last glance, he finally made his exit.