Written for Shoot week. Prompt : Shaw loses Bear and Root has to help her find him before Finch finds out.
I'm not sure the end isn't a bit OOC, but I'm out of time, so... Enjoy anyway :)
Shaw turned around, checking on the dog.
"Bear ?"
He was nowhere to be seen.
"Bear ?" she asked again unsuccessfully.
Shaw cursed under her breath. She had just let the dog wander in the park and play with some friends of his while she was watching the number, but apparently he had run away somewhere, something she hadn't even considered could happen. Bear was too well trained for that… Had he been kidnapped ? Shaw suddenly thought.
Getting up, she searched for him around the park, while still trying to keep an eye on the number.
Ten minutes later, Shaw had no clue where the dog could have gone, and the number was on the move.
The situation was becoming embarrassing. She couldn't tell Finch she had lost Bear, but she needed help. Preferably, the help of someone who could have access to the surveillance cameras of the park…
Shaw sighed heavily and took her phone out of her pocket before following the number. She called Reese first for backup. There was no point in lying to him, he would ask for Bear as soon as they met up anyway, but telling him she had lost the dog was one of the most humiliating things she had ever had to do. Of course, John couldn't help himself and he already started teasing her about it on the phone.
When Shaw finally hung up, her teeth were gritted, and the idea of calling Root for help clearly didn't improve her mood.
She was halfway through typing Root's number when her phone rang.
"Looks like you're in need of a hacker, Sameen. Could it be I'd fit in the role ?" she asked a bit mockingly.
Of course the Machine had already warned Root. Of course. But it wasn't even what unnerved Shaw the most. The sweet, almost honeyed tone the hacker had just used, mixed with the smirk her voice had betrayed ? Definitely was.
"Don't take so much pleasure in this or I'm finding myself another one", Shaw warned.
She was squeezing the phone so much she was actually impressed it hadn't broken yet.
"Well, good luck with that ! Finch will know you've lost Bear before you even find yourself another one, like you're saying", Root openly laughed, clearly not caring the least bit about how dangerously low the other woman's voice was.
The worst part of this was that she was damn right, and Shaw knew it.
"Moreover, aren't I the most fun to work with ?" Root added, her voice dropping and filling up with innuendo.
"Just get there, and I'm sure you already know where there is, as soon as you can", Shaw said, ignoring the hacker and forcing herself to stay calm – the tree she was near to and that got punched clearly helped with that last part.
She didn't wait for an answer and hung up before Root could say another annoying word. It would be bad enough once they were together, no reason why she should listen to the other woman's shit more than necessary, Shaw thought.
Reese finally caught up with Shaw about a block from the park, and she left before he could make even more fun of her than he already had on the phone.
She hurried back to the park and found Root sitting on a bench, a laptop on her lap, typing quickly on the keyboard. The hacker's eyes lifted to meet hers as soon as Shaw was in sight, and the smaller woman immediately rolled her own eyes at the camera at the entrance of the park.
Root smirked at that kind of childish reaction and gestured lightly for the other woman to join her, which she did, not having that much of a choice anyway.
"I'm currently hacking into the archives of the cameras' recordings", she explained.
"Couldn't your all-seeing other half just tell you ?" Shaw gestured angrily at the camera.
"Come on, Sameen", Root scolded as if she was talking to a little child, "that's not what She's been programmed for. She's here to do the things us poor humans can't."
"Awesome", Shaw sighed. "And how long is it going to take you to hack into this… Whatever ?"
Root went back to typing on her keyboard and her look moved back to the screen, but she still got a glimpse of the other woman's annoyed face in the corner of her eyes.
"Longer if you keep distracting me", she smiled.
Shaw leant back against the back of the bench and didn't add anything.
Soon bored out of her mind, she couldn't help herself but stare at Root's graceful fingers flying over the keyboard, noticing the painted black nails…
The hacker stopped typing and Shaw got abruptly brought back to reality. Looking at Root, she realized the other woman was staring at her.
"What ?" she snapped.
"You are distracting me again, Sameen", Root smiled. There was a hint of a sheepish look in her eyes but it faded away immediately.
"Just… Hurry up !" Shaw let out a bit angrily while getting up.
She started wandering around somewhere behind the bench, where she was sure the hacker couldn't see her and subsequently accuse her of distracting her once again.
A few minutes elapsed and Shaw was starting to really tense up when Root finally called her.
"Here, I've found the good file. Wanna see where Bear went ?"
"Finally", Shaw grunted while going back to the bench.
"Whatever, don't say thank you, it's perfectly normal", the hacker said, acting all offended.
The other woman ignored her though and Root sighed dramatically.
"Would some recognition be too much to ask for ?"
"Find Bear and we'll talk about that", Shaw threw back at her.
"Have a little faith", the hacker smiled happily, clearly confident in her abilities.
She opened the file containing the video from the camera the nearest to Shaw back around the time Bear had disappeared and they both watched it attentively. Root hadn't turned the laptop's screen and Shaw hated how close to the other woman she needed to get in order to see what was happening.
By the way the corners of Root's mouth twitched up, it was very intentional.
It also added to Shaw's deep exasperation towards the hacker. A lot.
They watched as Bear played with some canine friends, until he went off the range of the camera. Root's fingers clicked on the keyboard then, and soon another video appeared.
This happened several times, until apparently Bear disappeared in a blind spot.
Root turned to Shaw, increasing the proximity of their heads even more.
"I'm going to hack into the cameras of the streets around the park, see if I can get a shot of him from there", she whispered, almost in the other woman's ear.
Shaw turned her head too, decided to stand her ground and show Root she wasn't going to be the one to back off. Their faces were now hardly inches from each other.
"You'd better do it fast", she half-spat.
"Or what ?" the hacker tilted her head and smiled, totally not impressed, while sneaking her hand on the other woman's thigh.
"Or I'm breaking this", Shaw smiled back predatorily, grabbing Root's wrist and squeezing powerfully.
"Understood", the hacker answered, hiding her grimace of pain the best she could.
She went back to typing on her keyboard, slightly shaking her wrist where hematomas were starting to show. Shaw just smirked when she caught sight of the gesture.
Eventually, Root let out a small cry of victory.
"Gotcha !"
This time, she turned the laptop's screen to Shaw. The hacker had stopped the video at a moment when Bear could be seen near an edge of the park, apparently licking someone's hand, but the quality was way too awful to be sure.
Shaw leant in closer and frowned.
"It's that guy ! The one I almost strangled in the ambulance !"
"Wanna elaborate on that ?" Root asked, amused and eyebrows raised.
Shaw glared at her, but eventually smirked a bit.
"Long story. It's that day I got killed," she answered, visibly enjoying teasing the other woman without revealing the full story : no reason why she couldn't have a small revenge after all !
Root's eyes lost focus for a second.
"I guess you can thank the atropine !"
"Are you kidding me ?!" Shaw asked incredulously. "The Machine won't say where Bear is, but She can tell you this ?!"
"She does work mysterious ways…"
Shaw briefly closed her eyes, the time for her to regain a semblance of self-control.
"Can you track him through the streets ?"
"Leon", Root answered automatically.
"Whatever", Shaw sighed with annoyance, feeling her newly-regained self-control fleeing far away yet again.
"And yes, I can. Who do you think you're talking to ?" the hacker smirked, acting all offended once more.
"A fucking pain in the ass", Shaw mumbled, loud enough to be sure Root heard her.
"I'm hurt."
"Good."
The silence fell between the two women.
Root finally tracked Leon down until what appeared to be his flat. Shaw was fast on her feet once she got the address, and the other woman followed her.
"In case you need my competences again… Or another one of them", the hacker only said.
Shaw rolled her eyes but didn't answer and started walking hurriedly.
After half a dozen flirty remarks from Root's part, Shaw was more than relieved to turn at the corner of the street leading to Leon's flat, the hacker on her heels.
Root being taller than Shaw, she was the first one to notice the man walking to them on the other side of the street. The latter stopped dead in his tracks not long after, a scared look crossing his features.
"Oh, this is going to become really interesting…" Root let out, laughing slightly.
"What ?" Shaw asked, clearly bored out of her mind.
The hacker didn't answer, waiting for the other woman to figure that out by herself. It didn't take much longer for Shaw to notice Harold, standing still in the street.
"Oh fuck", she cursed when he saw her too less than a second later.
She felt Root get closer to her, their bodies almost touching.
"Looks like he will know you lost Bear after all", the hacker whispered in Shaw's ear, her smirk obvious in her voice.
So much for recovering Bear before Finch found out… The smaller woman let out a very annoyed groan when she realized she had had to bear with the hacker for, in the end, nothing.
"Shut. Up." Shaw growled, her voice dangerously low.
She didn't wait to find out if Root was going to obey or not and started walking towards Leon's flat again. On the other side of the road, Finch imitated her, his gaze on the hacker, a suspicious and not that reassured look still on his face.
They finally met up in front of Leon's home, both of them a bit awkward. Root didn't have such a problem though.
"Harry ! How nice to see you here", she smiled.
"Hello, missGroves", he just answered soberly before turning to Shaw. "Weren't you the one taking care of Bear today while watching the number ?"
"Won't happen again, Finch", she mumbled under her breath.
"What happened exactly ? I had a phone call from our friend here, saying he had found the dog alone in a park."
"I let Bear wander around while I was watching the number and apparently, Leon found him and decided to take him home", Shaw explained.
At that precise moment, it hit her how that whole situation was happening only because of Leon's initiative to consider Bear as lost, and the urge to punch him in the face – or straight out use him as a punching ball would do too, she thought – washed over her.
"This is nothing more than a huge misunderstanding", Shaw said as a conclusion, before taking a deep breath to try and calm down, without that much success.
"Who's keeping an eye on the number now ?" Finch asked suddenly, concern appearing on his face since he had just realized Shaw being there could be a major problem.
"Your faithful watchdog, who else ?" Root answered with a smile.
Harold startled a bit when he heard the hacker's voice.
"I'm going to get Bear back", he said quickly, turning to the stairs leading to Leon's flat then climbing them hurriedly.
Root laughed lightly at his reaction, though Shaw noticed a hint of sadness too. Would Finch ever feel comfortable around the hacker again ?
"I take it you don't need my services anymore, which is good since I'm needed elsewhere", Root then said, drawing Shaw out of her thoughts. "That's too bad, I really enjoy working with you."
"Well, I don't", the smaller woman stated.
Root leant in until she could whisper in Shaw's ear.
"I don't believe you, but you can keep on trying to persuade yourself, I don't mind. You're cute when you scowl", she delivered, her voice low and dripping with flirtatious undertone.
Root straightened up again right after saying that line. Shaw had a murderous look on her face, but the street was packed and the smaller woman couldn't have hit the hacker the way it was clear she wanted to without starting a human dominoes.
Using it to her advantage, Root smiled, turned on her heel and started walking away, blending into the flow of passer-bys.
"See you soon, Sameen ! I'm looking forward to our next fun encounter", she winked over her shoulder before being out of earshot.
Shaw closed her eyes for a split second, the time for her to muzzle the voice in her head that had wanted to answer "me too, kind of".
"I don't. At all !" she finally shouted, and yelling at Root made her feel just a tad better.
"I still don't believe you !" the hacker answered at the same volume, decided to have the last word.
Shaw heard Root's cry with difficulty due to the distance and the surrounding noise and knew it was useless to shout back.
Rolling her eyes, she started climbing the stairs to Leon's flat. She had a bone to pick with him, and he was definitely not getting away with it after the day she had just had. Definitely. Not.