Author: SoThatHappened

Root was having an unusually good day. Not that posing as a french nanny and having a tragic blonde wig attached to her scalp was particularly thrilling but she as happy none the less. So maybe it had something to do with Shaw. And maybe it had something to do with that kiss, Shaw just showing up at her place yesterday morning. Maybe it had something to do with what happened after that kiss. And what happened last night. She was trying to keep her cool about it but everything inside her fluttered at the thought of Shaw. Root knew better than to get attached, I mean, she already was. But she couldn't let it show, she couldn't let Shaw know that.

This was meant to be a simple agreement, and she was fine with that. Because honestly she didn't think she was cut out for relationships, with an all seeing god in one ear, it just didn't seem like a possibility. She was normal enough for a life like that, she didn't deserve that kind of life, after everything she had done. And that didn't bother her, she made peace with that a long time ago, or at least she pretended she had. Old demons left in the closet to rot.

And now she had Shaw, or, was using her. They were using each other. Nothing serious. Just sex, and food, occasionally. She enjoyed Shaw's company, she enjoyed her nonchalance and her energy, she didn't mind Shaw was a little rough around the edges, a little dark, a little bruised. She liked that about her. She wasn't perfect, she was human. Shaw was real. And Root knew when Shaw was around her there was a slight change in the way she acted, her distance and cold shoulder seemed a little softer. There was something about Root that got to Shaw, that much she knew.

Root was still having a good day when she abandoned her nannying job, leaving the terror of a child in the incapable hands of his father as he threw paint at the walls. She was still having a good day when she got back to Finch's and he informed Root she would have to stay put for a while until this mess blew over. She didn't even seem phased when she checked up on Shaw and found out she too was midst switching cover jobs.

But her good day came to a crashing and abrupt end the minutes after Reese walked in and dropped his gun on the table.

"I think Shaw's got a crush" he said with a frown and Root automatically looked up.

"No doubt" Finch said from behind her and Root's head whipped around almost spinning off her shoulders.

"Sameen?" Root asked curiously looking back at Reese.

"I know" Reese said "it's weird seeing her...flirty"

Root raised an eyebrow with a small smirk appearing on her face.

"Well whatever you do Mr Reese, please do not encourage her." Finch said. Root could feel her heartbeat. "This is hardly the time or place."

"I don't think she needs encouraging, Finch" Reese said "She couldn't stop looking at him with those...eyes" Reese almost shook his head as he processed what was seemingly a memory of his adopted little sister making eyes at their number.

"Him?" Root echoed her heart immediately plummeting as she sat up a little straighter. "Who are we talking about here?" she asked and Reese raised an eyebrow.

"Tomas" Reese said and dropped his photo onto Root's lap. Root picked up the photo and frowned. Shaw wouldn't, not after they finally came to an agreement barely 48 hours ago. And he was there number, he wasn't even that cute. Her frown deepened.

"Something the matter Ms Groves?" Finch asked catching glimpse of the look on her face.

Root quickly tossed the photo onto the desk and shook her head.

"No," she said "no it's fine, where is she now?"

"Sameen set up a meeting with Mr Koroa through her criminal connections" Finch said. "She should be meeting with him now, and on that note, I have some other business to attend to."

Root just frowned and got to her feet.

"Yeah" she said "I should...I should go"

"Ms Groves" Finch said pulling his coat on "I do advise you stay here, at least for a few more hours, keep an eye on Ms Shaw for me if you get that bored."

Root quirked an eyebrow and watched Finch and Reese leave. She let out a loud sigh and fell back down into the chair, propping the photo of Tomas up and staring at it silence surrounding her until finally she looked away. Getting up from her chair and walking off. You're not attached, Root told herself she's not yours. She can do whatever she wants.

That didn't work. She had specifically told Shaw if they were going to do this there was going to be no one else, Root had her reasons and she knew Shaw wouldn't ask questions. Shaw had said yes. Said she wasn't going to fuck anyone else while Root and her had this agreement standing. But now she was off flirting with their number?

Root couldn't possibly work out what had changed so quickly. Or maybe this was just Shaw, maybe she got bored that easily, despite any stupid assumptions Root had always had about Shaw being different around her.

Fuck it. She thought and connected herself to Shaw's line immediately tuning into the conversation that was taking place.

"...nothing unlocks doors like a beautiful woman" Root practically rolled her eyes.

"Ooh he's hot" she said with a smirk as she pulled yet another photo off him of the wall and ran her fingers over the edges. "I mean not hood and zip ties in a CIA safe house with 10 hours to kill hot, but I kinda get it" Root said to Shaw who she knew was listening.

The reply came seconds later, Shaw's voice low. Root could almost picture her sitting there, an awkward grimace crossing her face as she heard Root's voice, trying not to give herself away. Lips barely moving as she spoke.

"Root" Shaw's voice was low. "What the hell are you doing?"

Root smirked to herself and settled back down in Finch's chair, kicking her feet up onto the desk and propping the photo up against the computer screen.

"Harold wanted me off the streets for a while after my latest brush with Samaritan, so I thought I'd help keep an ear on you" Root stared at the photo of him. Ignoring the feeling her in heart. "He is a dangerous criminal after all, I just couldn't bare it if anyone hurt you, I mean...besides me"

Root waited for an answer, she knew it was a stretch to get another reply from Shaw. Especially since she was probably face to face with Tomas at that exact moment.

A moment of silence passed.

"So," Shaw said, but not to Root. Root shut her eyes and gave herself a mental pat on the back for keeping her shit together. She could feel frustration starting to seep through her bones the longer she stared at that fucking photo of Tomas. She knew she couldn't blame him, although she was going to regardless. He wasn't exactly being subtle, about anything. Their chemistry was obvious. Root could hear it in the way they were talking. She even mentioned it out loud so Shaw heard.

Root tried to find amusement in commenting on their conversation, hearing Shaw flirt with someone else made her...kind of turned on but mostly angry. She had no right to be but she was anyway. For a lot of reasons. She wanted Shaw to say those things to her, she wanted that unsubtly laid down on her.

She listened to what Tomas was saying to her, the worlds most unsubtle sex innuendo ever. She wanted to vomit. She wondered what Shaw was thinking, she wondered how she was looking at him. She wanted to believe she had a smirk on her face and an eye roll lined up.

"He's good" Root said once he finally shut up "But a line like that would never work on a trained operative like-"

Suddenly the line went dead. Root's hand shot up to her ear and she frowned.

Shaw hung up on her. Root froze. Her fingers touching her ear. Her eyes fixated on the photo of Tomas. Shaw had just hung up on her. Shut her up. Cut her off. Ended whatever it was...

Root went numb immediately. Was that it? Her hand slowly fell back into her lap and she forced herself to look away from that photo. Did Shaw really not want Root anymore? Had she just discarded her that easily?

Root's jaw clenched and she desperately tried to blink back tears that were prickling behind her eyes, glad that no one was here to see her moment of vulnerability. Over Shaw no less. She wiped away a stray tear and shook her head. She was never yours, Root she reminded herself. This was nothing but a loose agreement.

*

Instant regret. Shaw had never felt that before. She felt it rising up inside her, gripping every muscle, every nerve, every goddamn vein in her body and squeezing until she was entirely uncomfortable. It wrapped around her brain and alerted her to the fact she had made a shitty mistake. It acted slow like a poison but she know it was there immediately.

They had barely made it to the car before they were all over each other. He was hot. There was that. Everything about him was exactly the type of person that Shaw would go for. Had gone for, in the past. But as soon as she pulled her dress back down and leaned her head back against the head rest of the car, her eyes shutting for the briefest moment. She felt it. Usually there was nothing, usually she would just move on. Done. Finished. That was a thing that happened. Great, now where was she. But no, not this time. It lingered, unnecessarily. And then a weird unsettled feeling starting swirling around her stomach. She ignored it. He drove. Their night got more interesting. A heist gone wrong.

Over an hour later she heard Root's voice again alongside Finch's. It wasn't anything specific. It was about some damn rogue virus. That was what was important here. The mission. Finding those viruses. Tomas was still at her side, she could still look at him. But that weird feeling was still pestering her.

They had a drink in the safe house, she agreed to help Tomas. Again. The feeling disappeared when she looked at him. But the second she looked away it was back. They spent the night together in the safe house. The next morning, the feeling was still there, stronger, gripping her now. She didn't know what it was, so for the time being she ignored it. She hadn't heard from Root again. She didn't make much of it. Although she was surprised she hadn't been called and yelled at for hanging up on her. Or maybe Root didn't care.

*

Root's day had been washed up from the shore's of hell. She hadn't spoken to Shaw, there was a virus on the loose, The Machine wasn't talking to her, and she had been denied the only opportunity she had to shoot someone. But now she stood and watched a building go up in smoke and wondered if maybe that was the climax. Maybe now she could crawl into her bed and not come out for a month. God that had to be it, she didn't know if she could take anymore.

As she went to walk home suddenly she felt someone by her side. As she glanced over her shoulder she saw Shaw beside her with an amused smirk on her face.

"I like being able to sneak up on you" Shaw said and Root rolled her eyes.

"I live to amuse" Root said and Shaw smiled. "Where's Tomas?" The bitterness in her voice was apparent and Shaw looked away from her. Root frowned. That was unexpected.

"Halfway to Barcelona" Shaw said quietly and Root looked at her with an eyebrow arched.

"You didn't go with him?"

"Root" Shaw said softly and Root just sighed. "No."

"Maybe you should have" Root said keeping her eyes fixated ahead of her, feeling that anger bubbling inside her again, her eyes stinging. As much as she had been glad to see Shaw was still around, she really didn't want to be around her right now.

"Root, don't be like that" Shaw said and reached out for Root, her fingers grazing Root's arm but she stopped and let her hand drop back to her side, unsure how far she could go.

"Like what?" Root hissed and glared at Shaw. Shaw just frowned.

"I wouldn't have ever said yes."

"That's a lie" Root said "Just admit to me you considered it."

Shaw just stared at her, jaw locked. "So maybe I did"

Root looked away.

"But I'm here now" Shaw said "doesn't that count for something?"

Root shook her head in disbelief and kept walking. The night air was cold. Her skin prickled. But inside her blood was boiling.

"I'm going home" Root said and Shaw followed her.

"Was that an invite?" Shaw asked and Root stopped, swinging around to glare at Shaw.

"It sure as hell wasn't" Root said "Just go."

Shaw frowned deeply, staring at Root wondering if she had possibly hurt her that much. One mistake. And this explosion.

"Go where?" Shaw asked quietly.

"Anywhere" Root practically shouted "Go to Barcelona, Sameen, I don't care, I just don't want to talk to you right now."

Shaw opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. She was shocked. She had never heard Root yell at her like that again. There was such an anger in her voice, in her eyes. Like she was shutting off from Shaw all together.

"I stayed because of you" Shaw said.

"And what about the other part?" Root asked harshly.

"What other part?" Shaw asked feigning innocence that made Root roll her eyes aggressively.

"Stop fucking lying to me" Root said "I know you slept with him."

"You don't-" Shaw started and Root just walked off mid sentence. "Seriously, stop." Shaw called out and ran after her.

"I'm so mad at you" Root said turning around to face her, her eyes red from the strain of holding back tears, her lip practically quivered as she tried to bottle the anger that was ready to explode fire over Shaw. Shaw stared at her, eyes dark, watching Root, concerned but helpless.

"I made a mistake" Shaw said her voice quiet. "Can you please...just let this one go?"