Author: SoThatHappened

"Well, a little, so I guess it depends" Root replied and Shaw almost smiled at the fact Root had picked up, but the smile quickly faded when she heard Root's breathing. A little fast, heavy.

"Why are you panting?" Shaw asked immediately and there was a pause.

"I'm kind of in the middle of some physical activity" Root said and Shaw raised an eyebrow.

"Do you need backup?" Shaw asked.

"No" pause. "It's not that kind of activity."

Shaw's frown deepened as she realised what was happening.

"Oh" Shaw said awkwardly. "Um, you didn't need to pick up"

"It's fine" Root said her breathing still a little ragged. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah...no, it's nothing, don't um...don't worry about it" Fuck. Shaw thought mid sentence. She sounded like an actual idiot. She took a breath.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Root's voice asked in her ear.

"Totally" Shaw said "I'll uh, let you back to...it"

"Sameen" Root's voice said but suddenly Shaw could hear another voice on Root's end.

"Sam, come back in here" it was Adina. She was calling Root Sam. Shaw's jaw clenched. "If we try another position I'm positive you'll be more comfortable."

"Okay" Shaw said abruptly. "I get it, and I'm going."

Shaw quickly tapped off her earpiece before Root had a chance to reply. Idiot she practically screamed in her head and kicked a stone in front of her, watching it fall off the curb and clink down the drain.

She downed the rest of her coffee and tossed the cup into the bin, storming off down the road towards Finch's. When she walked in the door slammed against the wall at the accidental force she used, Finch jumped in fright and Reese turned around slowly with a questioning look on his face.

"Hurricane Shaw" Reese said and Shaw rolled her eyes.

"I'll kill you" Shaw said and Finch just frowned.

"Are you okay?" Finch asked with concern and Shaw folded her arms and stared at their board of numbers pretending to concentrate.

"Stop asking me that." Shaw said and Finch glanced at Reese who sighed.

"What did you do?" Reese asked and Shaw just stared at him.

"I have guns" Shaw warned him and he held his hands up in surrender. "Tell me about our number Harold."

*

"Do you even know anything about DJing?" Reese asked for the millionth time as he and Shaw sat in the car watching their number get coffee with someone they couldn't recognise.

"Yes" Shaw said. "I have hobbies."

"You can understand why that's shocking, right?" Reese asked and Shaw turned to him slowly, rolling her eyes.

"What's shocking is how many times you have to ask the same question and not have the brain capacity to take on the answer" Shaw said and Reese just stared at her unfazed.

"What did you do?" Reese said. "Because this anger is not directed at me."

"I do not want a shrink session from you, John" Shaw said and Reese just watched her.

"Let me rephrase then, with my tiny brain" Reese said. "What did you do to Root?"

Shaw froze, and forced herself to keep looking out the window unfocused.

"Oh, now there's something" Reese said still looking at Shaw's unusual reaction.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Shaw said and turned to him finally once she'd mentally gathered herself.

"Don't lie" Reese said.

"Don't pry" Shaw shot back. Reese just smirked and Shaw frowned. "What?"

"I called it" Reese said. "I knew something was up with you two"

"Nothing is up" Shaw said. "It's nothing."

"Does she know that?" Reese asked and Shaw glared at him.

"Stop it" Shaw said.

"What are you like dating?" Reese continued and Shaw slammed her hands onto the dash forcefully jolting the car.

"I said stop" she growled and Reese arched an eyebrow and just waited for her to calm down. She sat back in her seat and let out a frustrated huff.

"We're not dating" Shaw clarified. "We're not anything, I don't even think we're friends anymore."

"I didn't know you were friends to begin with" Reese shrugged and Shaw rolled her eyes.

"Friends has a loose definition in my book" Shaw said and Reese smirked.

"You sleep with all your friends?" he asked and Shaw hissed.

"Can we just focus" Shaw asked and Reese looked out the window where the number was still having a conversation with some other guy.

"Does Root know you're going undercover in a club run by the mob?" Reese asked and Shaw just glared at him.

"No, she doesn't" Shaw said "Why would she care?"

Reese opened his mouth but Shaw was quick to cut him off.

"Don't answer that actually, if you want to keep your balls."

Reese raised an eyebrow but kept his mouth shut. Shaw stared out the window at their number and couldn't help but wonder if Root would actually care or not.

Clearly she wouldn't. She couldn't get the sound of Adina's voice out of her head since this morning. It had counted for something that Root had answered though right? But what followed. Ugh. Ugh. Shaw could barely even think about it without a fiery rage swarming her veins. She knew this is what it would have felt like for Root. And she hated that she had ever fucking made such a stupid mistake. What Root was doing to her wouldn't hurt her as much as it had hurt Root. But she got the point. Loud and clear.

*

Root spent the rest of the day annoyed at herself. Shaw had called this morning and Root had no idea why. It wasn't her fault Adina had come looking for her and cut their call short. But it was obvious that Shaw had heard her and immediately jumped to conclusions, upset, hurt. Exactly what Root had felt.

But what amazed Root the most was that Shaw was actually feeling those things. She was angry enough to hang up on Root, because it hurt her to hear Adina with Root.

But Root was still annoyed that she couldn't bring herself to call Shaw back. It had been a few days now and she had fallen into a routine of not pestering Shaw throughout the day, of holding back every time she went to call her or check in. Giving the cold shoulder was just starting to come easier, dulling out those instincts to reach out to Shaw. But now that itch was back. She wanted to call Shaw, ask why she had called this morning. Talk. Figure this out. Root knew she couldn't stay angry forever. And she wouldn't.

The initial hurt from this was over. She could feel herself moving on already, with or without Shaw. She was getting past it. Yes it had shaken her. Shaken her because she never expected Shaw to do something like that. To be so disloyal to a promise so quickly. But she also understood why Shaw had done that. It was because she was scared. Shaw would never admit that but Root knew. She could tell from everything that happened afterwards. Shaw didn't know what she was doing, she didn't know how to handle feelings. Or whatever it was that was suddenly shaking her out of her comfort zone.

She could tell that's why Shaw got drunk and came over, maybe why she called this morning and didn't say anything in particular.

And Root wasn't meeting her in the middle. She wanted to but she wasn't. So maybe she had gotten a little flirty with Adina today, but it was nothing. It didn't even make her feel better, eye for an eye and all that. It didn't help. Adina had kissed her, well, not quite. It was the corner of her mouth but still. She had let it happen.

Root wondered whether she should go and find Shaw. The Machine had just given her a new mission though, some gang run club in Brooklyn. She hadn't specified what Root needed to do yet, just that she had to be there. Root was tired. What with being awake late with a drunk Shaw most of the night, she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep even after they had said goodnight. She had lay in bed for and endless amount of time thinking how close Shaw was to her. But how far at the same time.

Root had settled with a sound amount of leather to help her blend in at the club. Annoyingly high heeled boots, leather shorts, almost transparent white top and her leather jacket. Not completely revealing. But just enough to get her through the doors.

It was hot inside the club, she could feel the leather making her sweat almost immediately. It was crowded but she didn't feel claustrophobic, yet. The music was thumping, the bass shaking the walls. People were drunk, dancing, half naked. She could see Al in the corner, on a velvet couch surrounded by women and guards. Al was the right hand man of the gang leader. The Machine had informed Root he wouldn't be making an appearance tonight, so she would go completely unnoticed. It was Al that was more of a problem anyway, not that The Machine seemed to care. She still hadn't told Root why she was here.

Root wandered through the club narrowly avoiding any run ins with drunk girls, she leaned against the bar and ordered a drink. As she waited for it her eyes scanned the club looking for anything out of the ordinary that The Machine might have picked up. So far everything seemed like the usual chaos of a night club. And then she saw it. The crowd parted just enough in the middle for Root to see the DJ.

That wasn't just a DJ either, that was Shaw. Shaw who was wearing practically nothing except a black bralette and ripped shorts. Root stared at her from the bar, her mouth was open in shock. Her heart immediately started rushing. This was why The Machine had sent her here. It had to be. She had been tricked. By her God.

Root picked up her drink and immediately downed it. Oh god she thought. What was she going to do. What could she do but go over to Shaw. She could leave. But that would defeat the entire purpose of her coming here. She swallowed hard, tasting the vodka in her throat.

Root watched Shaw for a few more moments, she clearly knew what she was doing with the set up. She had headphones on, one on an ear, the other sitting just behind. She looked concentrated as she moved the sliders, Root watched her hands, her fingers. Then suddenly she was out of her seat.

*

Shaw looked up when she felt the presence of someone standing right in front of her. Probably another asshole recommending bullshit songs, she thought as she lifted her head but almost choked on her saliva when she saw Root standing in front of her. Root didn't seem to look quite as startled to see her, but there was still something on her face that told Shaw this was unexpected for her too.

"So this is how you spend your evenings" Root said over the music, Shaw adjusted a few controls and pulled the headphones off, letting them sit around her neck as she gestured for Root to come behind.

Root seemed hesitant for a second before she climbed up onto the platform Shaw was on and slid around her set up.

"I could say the same for you" Shaw said watching Root closely wondering what the fuck she was doing at this place. They stared at each other for a moment in silence.

"This is a pretty shady place" Root pointed out "You're surrounded by pretty dangerous people"

"Search me" Shaw said and Root just looked at her. Was she serious?

"I'll take your word for it" Root said and Shaw just raised an eyebrow at Root, who then moved closer slipping her hands around Shaw's waist and immediately knocking her fingers against two 9mm that were sticking out of her shorts.

"Subtle" Root said and took a step back from Shaw who just smirked.

"So is this where Adina hangs out?" Shaw asked and Root rolled her eyes.

"Adina lives on the Upper East Side" Root pointed out.

"Of course she does" Shaw said and stared at her laptop.

"Sameen," Root said "We were at yoga."

Shaw looked over at Root and arched an eyebrow.

"What?"

"This morning, after breakfast" Root said "She took me to her yoga class"

Shaw just stared at Root blankly, she blinked a couple of times.

"You're fucking with me right?" Shaw asked. "You went to yoga?"

"I'm just saying" Root said lowering her voice a little and dodging eye contact with Shaw. "Whatever you thought you heard this morning was just me, being tortured."

"You didn't deserve that" Shaw said and Root looked up at her, their eyes meeting.

"No," she said. "I didn't."

They both knew they weren't talking about yoga anymore. Another gap of silence stretched between them and Root looked at Shaw's DJ set up.

"So you actually know what you're doing?" Root asked and Shaw glanced at her.

"Why is everyone so surprised I can do more than just shoot people?" Shaw asked and Root smirked.

"I think you're probably capable of a lot of things" Root said and a frown twitched across Shaw's forehead as she realised again, Root was almost in a different conversation.

After a sensible beat of silence Shaw spoke.

"What exactly are you doing here?" she asked and Root just shrugged looking off into the crowd of sweaty people dancing and grinding up on each other.

"The Machine," she said tentatively "I think she wanted me here" Root said and then turned to look back at Shaw who was watching her. "Now I get why."

Shaw raised an eyebrow as she stared at Root, somehow entranced by the way the harsh blue and red contrasting lights were hitting Root's face and making her look even more beautiful.

"The Machine is meddling in our relationship now too?" Shaw said and rolled her eyes as if it were expected but still unbelievable.

Our relationship. Root heard it. Shaw didn't notice. The smallest slip. The biggest difference.

In the silence that fell between them Shaw turned back to her set, adjusting a couple of levels and looking at her laptop screen. Root watched her.

"So, what time do you get off?" Root found herself asking unable to stand the silence between them any longer. For a place that was so loud, their lack of words was almost more deafening. Shaw immediately turned to look at her. There was confusion behind her eyes but that quickly got drowned out by the relief that replaced it.

"Club closes at 3," Shaw said and glanced at the time "I don't think you're gonna hang around that long for me."

We'll see" Root said with a small smile. She was losing her grip on her anger towards Shaw. It was slipping through her fingers like sand and she couldn't stop it, and honestly, she didn't know that she wanted to.