Archive of Our Own ^beta

No one needed to tell her just how dangerous their job was. Shaw knew. She had, after all, being shot, broke bones, twisted ankles and wrists, take things out of it’s place, hurt a muscle. She knew that they risked their lifes everyday, but it was not like she actually cared about it. It was a job – one that she was damn good at it, she wanted to add.

Shaw wasn’t very concerned about her safety, never was, to be honest, and she never lost nights of sleep thinking that her – or Reese, Fusco or Harold – could get hurt in the next mission, or even worse. They all knew that when they signed up for that and every action has a consequence or whatever. She knew all of that.

And yet, for the third time that week, Sameen Shaw found herself not being able to sleep. She looked at the green numbers of her simple watch, groaning when she realized it has been five hours since she layed down, but her eyes refused to shut long enough for the sleep crawn in her bones. Her mind was racing, showing her different scenarios and results, her muscles were tense like they were ready to start a fight or run a maraton and her heart was bouncing in her chest like he was trying to get somewhere else.

She was used to that by now. She didn’t had to get up and go check her pulse or anything like she did the first two times. It was the third time – only that week – that her body refused to rest and her mind kept playing games with her.

Root was gone.

It was silly, really. In the morning she would scold herself for being ridiculous, but at three in the morning, alone in her bed, in the dark and empty apartment, it sounded like the end of the world. If she payed attention for a second, Shaw could swear she could hear her own heart trying to rip her chest apart – probably to find Root.

Lame. Shaw rolled her eyes and huffed, turning around so fast that her back crackled with the sudden move. She burried her face between both pillows in bed, finding a way to cross her arms under herself and groaned. Psychiatry told her many times that she couldn’t feel the way she was feeling and, yet, there she was.

Shaw was about to free her arm to look at her watch again – it had become a habit to don't take it off to bed in the days the space in the other side of the matress was empty – when she hear the front door open. It was slowly, like the person was trying to be as quiet as possible, but Shaw could hear the keys wiggling together, so she knew it was Root. The relieved sigh that left her sounded like a bomb in the quiet room. Turning all her attention to the small noises, she traced down Root’s routine.

Take the boots off – the thud of the heels became a gentle noise when they were replaced by soft socks. Go to the kitchen. Open the fridge – Shaw couldn’t hear what she got from there, but the empty water bottle would be in the kitchen counter in the morning, dosen’t matter how many times she told Root to refil the damn thing. Metal hitting metal, the gun being placed in the sink while Root searched throught the cabinets for something easy to eat. Plastic. Metal again. Soft thud approaching the hallway. A switch being turned off – Shaw always let the hallway light on for Root. More steps. In the quiet apartment, Shaw could hear the chewing sound getting closer and closer to the bedroom door. As always, the door made a soft squeek when Root pushed her open.

Shaw made an effort to slow down her breath and relax her tense muscles. The last thing she wanted was Root to find out that she was worried about her, so she was going to pretend to be deep asleep. The chewing stoped, the steps got even softier agains the wooden floor, stoping just by the bed side. Shaw was proud of herself for not letting her breath get stuck in her throat like it wanted to.

Soft and cold fingers touched her shoulder blade, so gentle that she could barely feel it – the shiver down her spine confirmed that it was not in her head. Small nails traced a little path up to her neck to her cheek, before a thumb caressed the skin there. Shaw felt her heart skip a beat and she was sure Root could hear it too. The noise was loud against her own ears, the blood in her vains felt like hot iron.

Just when she thought her body was going to betray her and she would end up passing out, the fingers were gone and the soft steps started to make the way to the bathroom. The cold that stayed behind never failed to surprise her. The bathroom’s door opened and closed before the switch was turned and Shaw finally let a heavy sigh out.

Root was back. She was fine. She was walking around, eating her cookies, wasting her water. She was back. Shaw could finally rest.

Of course her mind didn’t agree with that idea completly. She heard the shower and counted the minutes in her head. Root only took more then five minutes to shower when she had to scratch dry blood from her skin. It didn’t meant it was hers, though. She got to 236 before the shower turned off. Root was going to brush her teeth and search for something to put on, before comming back to bed. She was back and she was fine.

Shaw sighed again, turning her body to go back to her side off the bed. Her side, Shaw scoffed to herself, fluffing her pillow with more anger than she needed. When the bathroom’s door opened, she stoped all her moves. Footsteps reached the dresser in the left corner. A drawer being open. Then closed. Footsteps to the bed. A soft thud – the cellphone being placed in the nightstand. The blankets were throw to the end of the bed, the matress dripped when a warm body slidded to the other side of the bed. A relieved sigh.

She was back and she was fine.

Root’s hand found the skin under Shaw’s tank top while the rest of her body slowly rested against Shaw’s. The smaller woman wanted to grimace at that. She wasn’t one to cuddle, specially if she was going to be the small spoon, and Root knew it. Yet, when she felt the warm breath agains the back of her neck, Shaw couldn’t care about it for longer.

Root was back and she was fine. And Shaw could finally sleep.

Shaw was used to be the first one to wake up – you could thank the army for that. They had rolled during the night and their position had changed, with Shaw laying down in her back, with Root’s head resting in her shoulder and arms around her waist. The younger woman sighed happily to the feeling, finding a way to turn her head down to kiss the top of Root’s head before she could stop herself. She was still kinda of asleep, she could blame that for the action.

That was what she kept telling herself while whipping the eggs to the omelet she was trying to make for breakfest. She left Root still sleeping in bed, hugging her pillow instead of Shaw, and the only thing that would make her ever do it was food, so she was going to make the best omelet she ever had to make it worth it. She had just put the pan in the stove when she heard a cellphone ring comming from the closed bedroom’s door. Even if she knew, Shaw still slamed her sweatpants pocket to make sure it wasn’t her own phone, before putting the eggs in the pan.

Only one minute passed before she heard the bed’s springs making noises and then a muffled noise when feet met the ground. Footsteps. The bathroom’s door open. Water running.

Shaw’s shoulder dropped. It could only mean there was a new mission that required Root’s presence. She checked the watch on her wrist. Seven. The hacker didn’t had enough sleep. Shaw didn’t even had time to check if there was any new bruises or cuts. It was too soon, she wasn’t ready.

Shaw wasn’t ready. Shaw wasn’t ready to watch her walk out the door to risk her life for one more day. She’s not used to feel like this, to worry about any of this. For her safety, for anyone’s safety. Her hands started to shake when she grabbed the spoon to move the eggs around. Suddenly she wasn’t hungry anymore.

She might have spaced off, because the next thing she realized was that Root was standing right behind her, slidding her slender arms around Shaw’s waist while resting her chin on top of her head. Shaw bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself to react to the domestic scene she just entered.

“Morning, sweetie.”

“Morning.” Shaw greeted back, turning off the stove just before the eggs started burning. She was almost sorry to have to walk out of Root’s embrace to grab a plate to place their breakfest.

“It smells amazing.” Root said with a smile.

“Grab a fork, then.” The shorter woman turned away quickly to put the pan in the sink so she didn’t had to look at the other woman. Look in Root’s face before she walked away to a mission was always the hardest part.

“I can’t.” The hacker sighed before grabbing some old apple from the table. “I have to go.”

“I’m sure you can eat first.” Shaw shot back. “You’re not stoping the apocalypse.”

“Oh, man.” Root giggled. “Now I wish I was, because that sounds fun.”

Shaw rolled her eyes, shaking her head to mask her amusement. “It won’t take two minutes.” She pointed at the plate with her thumb.

Root’s hand rested on her shoulder with so much care that she almost melted to the touch. “Sorry, Sam. We can have dinner together, I promisse, but She’s telling me I need to go now.”

Suddenly the hand in her shoulder weighted more than a ton and her heart dropped to her stomach. Shaw swallowed hard the big knot that formed in her throat, but nodded her head to let Root know she was listening. The taller woman bent a little to kiss her temple, quickly avoiding Shaw’s elbow trying to hit her ribs with a chuckle. Root walked back to the end of the hallway and Shaw finally turned around to face the rest of the apartment, crossing her arms to hide her shaking hands.

Root was back in less then three minutes, black pants and leather jacket in place, a gun in each hand. She watched while Root threw her left foot in the closest chair, tugging the smaller gun in the holster hidden under her pants, a smirk in her lips. Root was the image of danger and sexy and it usually made Shaw feel different levels of arousal, but not that day.

Shaw is not used to feel worried, but when she watches Root putting her gun in the waistband of her black pants there is this weird feeling in her guts and suddenly her mouth is dry and a bitter taste rush throught her tongue. Root walked over at her when she was done arming herself, throwing her arms in Shaw’s shouders and stepping between her legs. The shorter woman sighed, before letting a grin turn her lips up. Shaw dropped her arms to her sides, shaking her head when Root’s smile got wilder. She finally placed her hands in Root’s hips, accepting the intrusion on her personal space.

“See you at dinner, sweetie.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Shaw rolled her eyes, trying to sound bored, but failing miserably at it. “You better be here, because you’re paying.”

Root laughed. “I will be, don’t worry. I know not even death is going to release me from a promisse of buying food to you.” Shaw shrugged and the taller woman laughed again. “Bye.”

Shaw pulled her in at the same time Root started to get closer and they met midway, soft lips against soft lips. Root felt Shaw’s hands grabbing her hips a lit bit thigher, almost desesperate trying to keep her there, but didn’t said anything about it. When they took some space to breath, Root smiled happily.

“Hello.” She joked.

The smaller woman scoffed, barely resisting the urge to pinch Root’s sides. “Did you bumped your head when rolling off bed today?”

It was Root’s time to roll her eyes. “It only happened once.” She tried to take a step back, hearing The Machine starting to get a little impatient with how long she was taking to get out of her house. Screw her, she thought, I don’t get to see soft Shaw all the time. But before she could finish her move, Shaw’s hand kept her in place and even pulled her just a few inches closer. The shock in her face made clear for Root that it was not a voluntary move.

Shaw cleared her throat, a pink tone in her cheeks, before releasing Root from her grip. She ran one hand throught her hair while placing the other one in the counter behind her. The hacker wanted to ask her what was going on, but she also knew that Shaw didn’t looked like she wanted to talk about it.

“Pizza?” She asked instead.

“Huh?” Shaw frowned and the taller woman smiled at how cute she looked.

“For dinner. Pizza?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Great.” Root clapped once and turned around, grabbing her phone from the table and throwing a last sad look to the eggs in the counter. “See you around, sweetie.”

“Root.” Shaw’s voice called her just when her foot had slidded in her boot.

Root looked over her shoulder, almost jumping away when she realized the shorter woman was much closer then she thought she was. “Yes, babe?”

“Take care.” Shaw’s face was quickly turning a deep shade of red, but Root was too busy to notice this, her jaws slacked in shock.

Finally, smiling as big as she could, Root walked back to Shaw, limping with only one boot on. She stoped in front of the other woman, not touching her, but close enough so they could feel the warmty in each other’s bodies. Root didn’t had to think twice before bending to kiss Shaw one more time.

“Always do, sweetie.”