That's Good Enough For Me

AN: Don't get excited by M rating, there's no actual sex, but there are references to the kind of thing they enjoy, so I'm erring on the side of caution.

You adore on Shaw, you can't help it and you don't care that whenever you see her or speak to her you light up in a way that you was once reserved just for the Machine. She's a petite, violent powerhouse who is happiest when she's fighting, shooting, eating, fucking or hanging out with Bear. She is also intelligent in a way that she does not really get to utilise and you fantasise about getting to meet the person who told her she was not cut out to be a doctor and hurting them in creative ways. In your opinion anyone who values empathy over competency is injudicious.

At first you assumed that she shared your misanthropy, but you learnt that whilst she lacks empathy she does value people and is capable of sympathy towards the few people she likes. Shaw's behaviour is not driven by love or guilt, fear or desire. She has made a choice to help people and to be on the side of good, because she wants to do the right thing. To you that makes Shaw's moral code superior to that of most other people.

Since Hanna was murdered you had avoided getting attached to other people, you saw them as weak and flawed and not deserving of your affection, but Shaw was different. Even so, you hadn't intended to fall for Shaw; you were fascinated by her, but viewed her as someone to toy with for your own amusement, flirting with her to get under her skin. At some pointed flirting turned to caring.

You sometimes wonder if falling for Shaw was part of the Machine's plan, part of Her desire for you to care about other people. After all She is the one who told you you needed Shaw; She is the one who left you together in a CIA safe house with a collection of zip ties and ten hours to kill; it was at Her behest that you became more and more a part of Harold's little gang of misfits and got to know Shaw better as a result.

You'd had casual sex with people before and not got attached, but that was always under a false persona. With Shaw it is different, with Shaw you are always Root. You like making her come undone, in that moment she loses her blank gaze and something different flickers across her face. Afterwards she lets you lie touching her for a while until she recovers enough to remember to push you away.

Shaw insists that you are just someone with whom she has compatible kinks, but nothing more, that she is incapable of any of the feelings that come with a relationship. She claims the sex means nothing, but it means something to you that she will let you tie her up and trust you to hurt her only in a good way. It makes you proud that Shaw, who is otherwise tough and feisty and will not let anyone tell her what to do, will willingly submit to you during sex.

You enjoy letting the others know the kind of thing the two of you get up to and Shaw tolerates it. One time when you go out of your way to bring Shaw her favorite sandwich whilst she's tailing a number Fusco makes a comment about you being whipped when Shaw is out of earshot.

"Oh Lionel, if there was going to be any whipping I'd be the one holding the whip" you inform him, smiling sweetly.

He splutters briefly before seeking verification.

"Hey, Miss Congeniality," he calls to Shaw. "Your girlfriend reckons you'd let her whip you."

"She is not my girlfriend" Shaw clarifies, scowling as she heads over to join you both.

Fusco smirks at you. On seeing his smirk Shaw adds, "But yeah, maybe, it does sound kinda hot."

You know despite all her denial that Shaw does care about you in her own way. She doesn't experience emotions in the same way as other people and you don't really know what the world looks like from her perspective, but you know she feels something, even if it's not the same as what you feel for her. You look out for each other, you have her back and she has yours. She does other things for you too. One time she appeared in the subway with a coffee from your favorite place which she said she was just passing; the Machine told you that she took a detour of several kilometres to "pass" the store. When you're injured she will go to a drug store and by brand new dressings, even though the supplies in the subway are in date and are what she uses to patch herself and the others up with.

You are unsettled by Shaw's attraction to Tomas, but he goes and she stays and the Machine tells you nothing happened between them. At this point you decide that you and Shaw will definitely be a couple someday, whatever she thinks. You suspect she thinks that having a personality disorder makes her less of a person, but you don't think that. You don't want hearts and flowers and romantic speeches and Sunday mornings in bed reading the paper, stealing jets and shooting bad guys together is a lot more fun.

You don't ever want Shaw to feel like the fact she doesn't feel things in the way you do makes her not good enough, the two of you are perfect for each other. But sometimes you can't help wishing that she was more willing to demonstrate that she cares. Right up until the point that you're in an elevator and she makes an overt demonstration of how much you matter to her. And then you wish she didn't care, because you'd much rather have a Shaw who doesn't care but who you know is alive and not being tortured than the alternative.

AN: Comments are always appreciated.

I don't really know if it's worth posting Shoot stuff on this website, as there don't seem to be that many Shoot fics, so it'd be good to know if people are reading.