Author: SoThatHappened

When they got home Root walked in the door first, pulling off her jacket and flexing her wounded hand, her bandage covered in fresh blood. Shaw went straight for the stairs, before she could even consider talking to Root about anything she needed to stitch herself up and throw back some painkillers, or whiskey. Whatever was closer. She could feel herself fading as she made it to the upstairs bathroom, pulling the first aid kit from the cupboard she sat on the floor leaning back against the sink. Slowly pulling off the make shift bandage, she gritted her teeth together. It went deep, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Root appeared in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest.

"You're gonna pass out before you get that finished" Root said and Shaw shook her head.

"You're pale" Root said "I'll do it."

Shaw looked over at her. "I can do it myself, don't worry."

"I'm not worried" Root said "But you're about to lose consciousness and you have an open wound."

"You'll stitch me crooked" Shaw said "because you're mad."

Root smirked and walked into the bathroom pulling a pair of latex gloves from the box on the sink.

"Now who said I was at that level of anger?"

Shaw stared at her. "Your face."

Root glanced at her. "Let me do it."

Shaw was reluctant, she could see Root was still mad. It was behind her eyes, but she could also tell Root had calmed down a little from how worked up they had both been earlier. Calm, or just exhausted. Probably the latter.

Root sat on the tiled floor next to Shaw and put the med kit between her legs.

"We always end up here" Shaw said quietly, her lips barely moving. She wanted to shut her eyes, but she knew she couldn't.

"Bleeding in the bathroom?" Root said and Shaw just looked at her and nodded, a slight smile creeping onto her face.

Root inspected the wound, grabbing the forceps and glancing at Shaw before she pulled out the bullet.

"I'm irritated" Root said and Shaw looked into her eyes.

"I know" she said softly.

"I just wanted you close today, but I ended up feeling more abandoned than ever" Root said. "and you didn't seem to care, it felt like you were trying to drive me to the snapping point."

Shaw frowned. "That's not what I-"

"Let me finish" Root said and delved the forceps into Shaw's shoulder, all her muscles tightening at the red hot pain. "I know we have our differences, and sometimes it can feel like we've entirely lost our common ground, but we keep doing this to each other"

Root carefully extracted the bullet and reached her arm over into the sink letting it drop with a clatter.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with, I have an AI in my fairly psychotic brain and way too many high running emotions" Root continued, she was moving slowly, it was obvious she was tired. Shaw was starting to go numb from the pain, her head rested against the sink as she watched Root closely.

"It's not that" Shaw said and Root just looked at her curiously. Shaw continued. "It's when you get into those moods where you shut yourself off from everyone, including me."

"I was trying to stay out of your way" Root said quietly as she cleaned the wound and Shaw tried not to wince in pain, it was by far not the worst thing she had felt, but it had been a fucking long day and she was so tired.

"I don't want you out of my way" Shaw said "I want you to tell me when something is bothering you."

"You were bothering me earlier" Root pointed out as she jabbed the needle into Shaw's shoulder to start stitching it up. Shaw rolled her eyes to mask the flinch of pain.

"You and your fucking double standards" Root muttered as her dark eyes fixed on the needle, knowing she had to make the stitches to Dr Sameen Shaw perfection.

Shaw sighed. "That's what was bothering you?"

Root stopped and looked up at her. "That and about twenty other things."

Shaw frowned. "I was just trying to do my job this afternoon. That's all it was."

"Are you sure?" Root asked.

"Yes" Shaw said "So I slept with him once, that doesn't mean that as soon as I see him again the same thing is going to happen. Things change. So do people" Shaw said. "And relationship statuses... if this is a trust thing again"

"It's not" Root interrupted her "It's a timing thing."

Shaw just stared at her, watching her carefully pull the thread back and forward through her shoulder in a perfect line.

"I'm not saying you should be able to predict everything I do, Sameen" Root said "But fact you still left so quickly when you knew..."

"Am I not allowed to be annoyed?" Shaw said with a slight tone, but Root just tugged at her stitches before neatly tying and trimming the end. Shaw sighed loudly.

"I'm really too tired for this" Root just said quietly wiping a antiseptic across the stitches before taping a gauze lightly over the top. She got to her feet, pulling off the gloves and dropping them into the rubbish, filling a glass of water and handing it down to where Shaw was still sitting.

"When was the last time you slept?" Shaw asked "The beds been empty for the past couple of nights."

Root just shrugged and sat on the edge of the bathtub.

"Will you come to bed now?" Shaw asked.

"You're on the couch, remember?" Root said with a small smirk and Shaw just rolled her eyes.

"Don't be a bitch" Shaw replied with a slight smirk as she looked at Root, who seemed even more exhausted now they were home. Her eyes seemed dull, her shoulders rolled forward in a slouch, every movement slower than her usual lighting speed as she tried to keep up with her brain.

They stared at each other too tired to speak, too tired to be able to figure out what they were meant to say to each other. Too tired to know who was right and who was wrong. Too tired to point fingers.

Shaw took a sip from the glass of water Root handed her, not realising how dehydrated she had become. Root pulled herself to her feet.

"Come on" she said softly "you need to get off the floor."

Shaw was pale, she'd lost a lot of blood, a lot of energy literally drained from her body. Not to mention emotional exhaustion that was piled on top of things she wasn't used to. Root hadn't seen her like this before, so fragile, so tired.

She grabbed Shaw under her good arm and pulled her up to her feet. Shaw swayed and Root steadied her, before directing her towards their bedroom. Root guided Shaw to her side of the bed and sat her down, then Shaw fell back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Fuck" she grumbled, her eyes heavy, everything heavy and exhausted.

"Sameen you can't sleep in skinny jeans," Root said but Shaw was already shutting her eyes. They flashed open again as she felt Root undoing her zipper and button.

"I know you're tired" Root said "but we're almost there."

She moved her hands under Shaw's ass and started tugging the waistband of the jeans down, grabbing them from the sides once they were over her ass and wiggling them off her muscles and down her legs, letting them drop into a black pile on the floor.

"You just wanted to touch my butt" Shaw said sleepily and Root rolled her eyes moving Shaw's legs onto the bed then climbing over the top of her, and collapsing into an exhausted heap beside her.

"Today sucked" Root said in a breath and Shaw turned her head to look at Root. Root's leg was half over Shaw's, her long hair touching Shaw's arm, Shaw could feel her warmth even if they weren't pressed against each other.

"But we made it" Shaw said and Root looked back at her. "And you got to kill a guy who thought flirting with a married woman was a good idea."

"I didn't kill him" Root said softly.

"I know" Shaw said.