This is my first Matrix fanfiction. I always wondered why there weren't more of them.

Especially about Trinity and Neo. They seem ripe for the fanfic pickings. But anyway. Here it

is. Let me know if you like it. I promise to not fall into the Matrix fiction sand trap of becoming

so enamored of my original characters that I forget entirely about the canonical characters. This

is all about Trinity and Neo, baby! And Morpheus, cause I like him. And Tank. And I really

wish Switch hadn't died, cause she was way hot, don't cha think? But I digress.
Xixie
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Don't want to. Couldn't possibly do them justice.
Deviance from the Norm
Neo paced the floor of the safe house for about the hundredth time in five minutes.
"Honestly Neo. She's a lot more capable of handling herself than any other person we

have. Sit down." Dust rolled his eyes at his superior officer. She jerked her head, indicating he

should join her in the other room.

Neo watched as the two disappeared into a library. He and Trinity had met up with Dust

and E5elyn in the Matrix for a joint mission. Usually Resistance members on separate ships did

not work together in the Matrix, but as the Neb's complement had been seriously cut because of

Cypher's betrayal, the crew of the Deviance was called in to assist. Unfortunately, the

admittedly tricky job of connecting a new hard line had been interrupted by a pair of very lucky

Agents. The four had split up, each knowing to reconvene at the nearest safe house as soon as

they were out of harm's way. After half an hour, Trinity had yet to return. She had not checked

in with Tank and Neo was beside himself.

*****

"Jesus. Will you look at the guy?"

E5elyn looked around her tall counterpart and smiled. "He's got it bad."
Dust nodded. "They all do. As soon as their eyes adjust to the real world. Every

male to wake up on the Neb has fallen hard for her."

"It'd be cute if I didn't know how much it annoyed her. I really didn't think

Cypher was going to make it through."

The two paused to reflect on Cypher's actions. Dust changed the subject.

"Well, it hasn't been that long in the grand scheme of things. We don't need to

worry for at least another hour."

E5elyn nodded. "I'm going to go talk to him."

******

As she entered the room, E5elyn's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you

doing?"

"I'm going to look for Trinity."

"The hell you are. You're going to sit right here and in no way compromise this

safe house. Trinity is a big girl and we know that the two Agents followed you and Dust,

respectively. So she'll be along shortly. Thirty minutes is nothing."

"I can find her."

"Who do you think you are? You've only been unplugged for, what, 4 months?

I'm your superior and I'm telling you to sit down before I make you."

Neo looked as if he wanted to say something. However, in the back of his mind

he knew that half an hour wasn't a worry worthy amount of time. He also knew that

Morpheus thought it important that noone know his identity as the One until they could

get back to Zion and meet with the Council. So he sat.

"Thank you." E5elyn walked back into the library. "He's sitting. I don't know

what he's expecting to do. Fly around and find her?"

"I can already tell. Trinity's gotta be ready to kill this one. He hovers."

"He'll learn. He's still got that Matrix chivalry thing going for him. He wants to

protect her. When she's far more capable of protecting his newbie ass."

Neo chose that moment to come into the library. "If I can't look for her, then the

least you could do is let me call Tank and see if she's checked in."

E5elyn and Dust exchanged a look. "Feel free. I can't really stop you anyway."

Neo's eyes narrowed, but he only opened his phone. "Tank. Have you heard

from her?" A pause. "Damn. Okay." Click.

"She hasn't checked in. I'm going to go look out the back entrance."

"Do that." E5elyn supplied dryly.

The second Neo made it out of sight, the front door opened. Trinity entered

looking slightly mussed and bleeding from an insubstantial knife wound to her left

forearm. She glanced perfunctorily at E5elyn and Dust before demanding, "Where's

Neo?"

"Trinity. Are you okay? What happened?" Dust asked.

"There was an accident. Where's Neo?"

E5elyn laughed. "Don't worry. He's around."

"Around where? I didn't see him get away from the Agents and I lost my phone,

couldn't call the Operator."

Dust opened his mouth to tell her exactly where her wayward charge was when he

entered the room.

Neo paused for less than a second at the sight of her, taking time to say "You're

bleeding." He then moved towards her purposely. Trinity relaxed visibly and moved

down the stairs quickly to meet him in the middle of the floor. This was the first time

they had been separated during a mission, since the whole Neo dying incident. Trinity

had been as frantic as Trinity could possibly get. Which, granted, wasn't that frantic, but

still. She had managed to run into an Agent who sliced her arm and made her drop her

phone.

Neo wrapped one arm around Trinity's waist and pulled her straight into him.

Their kiss was not chaste, gentle, or romantic. Trinity had been reliving the moment of

Neo's death since she had lost sight of him. Neo had been imaging horrible things since

the same time. When they finally pulled apart, Trinity wrapped her right arm around

Neo's neck and whispered, "I thought you were. . . well, I was worried."

Neo smiled, his face inches from hers. "I've been annoying your friends. What

happened?"

Trinity sighed and pulled back. "That's actually important. Everyone should hear

this. Especially Morpheus." Turning to E5elyn and Dust, she didn't move away from

Neo. "We need to rendevous with the Deviance. How far is your ship from the Neb?"

E5elyn looked from Trinity to Neo, but answered immediately. "About two days,

less if we can avoid any complications."

Trinity nodded. Neo moved slightly to his right, ministering to her arm. "Ouch.

Damn it."

"Sorry, baby." Trinity smiled at the pet name. She had originally railed against

it, on principle, but he hardly ever used it. And it made her feel so normal.

"Tank will look at it. We have to get back to the ship." She looked into his eyes.

"You go first."

Neo nodded. The receiver fell to the floor as his consciousness was removed

from the Matrix.

Trinity replaced it. As the phone began to ring again, E5elyn covered it with her

hand. "What was that? Baby."

Trinity smiled. "It's a long story. And I think you should hear it in person."

With that, she pushed the receiver to her ear.

E5elyn contacted her Operator, waiting for him to connect to the hardline, so that

they could return to their own ship.

Dust raised his eyebrows. "Looks like we misjudged Trin's reaction."

"Never thought it would happen." The phone rang.

Dust picked it up. "Wait until Pusher finds out." He pressed his ear against the
digital representation of plastic and disappeared. E5elyn replaced the receiver yet again.
"Yeah. I know."