I awoke with a start and listened to the

Wrin: Sound of Matrix trying to make coffee in the kitchen.
Wrin: <Matrix> *SMASH*!
Wrin: <AndrAIa> What was that?!
Wrin: <Matrix> Nothing!

dark room. It was a few nanoseconds before I realized

Wrin: Exactly what day it was, what I had drunk, and what day it was!!

what exactly had woke me up: I was alone in the large double

Wrin: -doored closet because I had fallen asleep looking for my shoes. Them paralyzing spines can really suck.

bed because Matrix was standing at the

Wrin: Kitchen sink.. Oh is that a scene I'd pay to see.

window, looking out at Mainframe. Stifling a

Wrin: Scream, I realized he had not shaven or showered in several days.

sigh, I stood up and cautiously approached him.

"What's wrong, Lover?" I asked even though I had

Wrin: Rarely called him Lover in the show.

a sneaking suspicion what it was.

Wrin: That impotency problem was really getting to him. Fortunately for myself, Gun provided some sort of relief...

Surprisingly, he didn't fall

Wrin: Flat on his ass from sheer shock that I, Matrix's Plaything, could speak.

into an attack position at the sound of my voice,

Wrin: Cos I mean, Matrix normally wants to kill anyone who sounds like AndrAIa.

but looked at me over his shoulder, the dim light

Wrin: From where, we're not sure...

glinting off the gold hoop in his left ear.

Wrin: *sighs exasperatedly* It's bad already...

 "AndrAIa," he began in a troubled voice. "I

Wrin: <Matrix> Want you to know, I'm having your child.
Wrin: <AndrAIa> So *that's* what it was....

don't want you to go with us to the Super

Wrin: <Matrix> Market. You're much too fragile and feminine for that.
Wrin: <AndrAIa> Okie dokie Matrixy sparky lover hon! I'll just sit here and knit and do girlish feminine grandmotherly things while I sit around in a top that spills my cleavage over it like so many overstuffed cookie jars!

Computer."

I felt my temper rise. "And why?" I

Wrin: Pleaded in my trademark whining voice.

demanded, straining to keep my voice level.

Wrin: With your mouth I suppose...

He turned his back to me and gazed out the window again.

Wrin: <Matrix> Man, I love it when she's that simple.

"I don't want you to get hurt when we go fight Daemon," he replied.

Wrin: <Matrix> You're still a little girl, and not big enough to take care of yourself, even though you were raised in the tumultuous world of the games.

Grabbing his arm, I spun him around

Wrin: Around in circles until he got so dizzy he passed out. I was thus able to escape my Mainframe prison.

and glared at him. "Listen," I growled, barely keeping my temper under control.

Wrin: <AndrAIa> I'm not a child anymore, Matrix. I'm not your baby. You don't have to protect m-- AACK! *gets up on chair* A NULL! GET RIDOFIT!!

"I am not going to sit around Mainframe and worry about you

Wrin: <AndrAIa> And taking care of our many pre-marital or knowing many fanfics post-marital kids!

while you, Bob, Dot, Mouse,

Wrin: The word 'everyone' comes in handy in sentences like these.

Ray Tracer, and Hexadecimal are off fighting Miss Big Shot Web Virus.

Wrin: ... Jealous, are we?

Matrix, I'm hardly a weak sprite that needs the protection of every big, strong male

Wrin: I'm offended. Women are just as capable of being big and strong as men are. I mean, just look at Mouse! You couldn't get much more butch!

sprite to keep her safe from viruses and Game Cubes.

Wrin: <AndrAIa> I mean, I love being protected from the things I know best, but this is ridiculous!

So you can forget about me staying here where it's safe since

Wrin: <AndrAIa> I lack complete utter and total reason and fully intend on running out into danger in the middle of a battle thereby endangering my life and yours!

the only way you're gonna keep me here

Wrin: <AndrAIa> Involves a cat, duct tape, a whip and edible underpants!

is stop filed in a stasis lock, but I promise you this:

Wrin: <AndrAIa> If you tie me down, I *will* hold the rope burns against you. Interpret that however you like.

if you attempt this, as soon as I get free, I'm heading after you."

Matrix gently held my arms

Wrin: Hopefully they were still attached to AndrAIa...

and looked at me, his cybernetic right eye glowing in the dim light.

Wrin: That's gotta be a tad creepy.

"I nearly lost you once, AndrAIa," he whispered. "If we hadn't found Bob when we did, you would have been deleted."

Wrin: And of course AndrAIa's jus' gonna listen to whatever Matrixy-dahling says, sparky-chan and lover and whatnot, and just gonna stay at home like a gooood little housewife barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. *snorts* Right.

"But I wasn't," I countered, wrapping my arms around his waist and held his muscular body close.

Wrin: Wrapping and held. Do we have a slight problem with mixing the past and present here?

"Don't expect me to live in a glass dome. Especially

Wrin: <AndrAIa> With all the times i walk around nekkid.

after all the Games we survived together." I laid my

Wrin: Whoo boy.

cheek against his

Wrin: Oh.

light green skin and felt the tension run out of him.

Wrin: <Tension> Damn. Out of big Enzo. Shall we hunt some more?
Wrin: <Tension> Of course, brother. Off to Frisket!

His hands caressed the scales along my spine and I smiled.

Wrin: In understanding as he became paralyzed and fainted.

"I'm sorry," he murmured into my sea blue hair.

Wrin: 'Cos she's always aware of the color of her hair. Nice 'n Easy. Easy enough for AndrAIa the Natural Blonde to use.

"I just don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you."

Wrin: Probably not clean your room half as often.

"Enzo Matrix, you willingly

Wrin: <AndrAIa> Took me wih you into those games. Was that never on your mind when you took me in there?

accepted the upgrade to Guardian Cadet-Class," I began, softly.

Wrin: The reader, sighed slowly. Anticipating, the end of this, fic.

"And we both knew what might happen in a Game Cube if we lost the Game,

Wrin: <AndrAIa> At least you.. did know.. you were *aware* of that.. right?

but both of us have sacrificed a life of safety to live happily."

Wrin: *appears confused* ... *runs thru a few thoughts* ... *appears to make half-assed sense of them* *shrugs*

I laid a

Wrin: Whoo boy.

tan finger on

Wrin: Oh.

his lips. "True, we did spend a lot of time looking for Mainframe, but not all the times were sad."

 Matrix grinned down at me.

Wrin: *opens mouth for sick comment*... Wait, he *is* taller than her... nevermind.

"You're right," he confessed.

Wrin: Anytime men confess with a grin in my experience it's always been a bad thing.

"It seems that both of us have sacrificed so much,

Wrin: *mocking sniffling* Oohhhhh sappy! *snffsnff* It's so sad..

but you have to admit that we rarely had a dull moment."

Wrin: *cheesy tearful applause*

With a slight shift in his stance, he scooped

Wrin: Two dollops of rocky road ice cream into the bowl, but he missed, and they landed with a satisfying 'plop' on AndrAIa's breasts.
Wrin: <AndrAIa> You'd better clean that up, little boy.

me up into his arms.  "Now that everything's been settled between us,

Wrin: *snortlaugh*

let's not  waste any more time on 'might have beens' and get some sleep."

Wrin: ... weren't we supposed to go somewhere? Didn't they wake up at the beginning of this fic? You mean they wasted an entire second's worth of ARGUING?!?

Giggling, I let him carry me back to our bed

Wrin: Only reason why they're goin' there during the *daytime..*

but a sense of determination settled over me.

Wrin: <AndrAIa> I was not going to let him come first this time. That was simply inexcusable.

I was not going to be left behind on this mission. No matter what the sacrifice.

Wrin: *snickergzzt*!

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