A/N: The Machine hasn't spoken to Root in nearly two weeks, feeling alone and without a purpose is bad enough, but when Harold gets a message from the Machine, shattering all ideas that she wasn't talking to her because she was having to hide, or upgrade, or repair or just any good reason, it sends Root over the edge leaving her a sobbing mess. When John is called away on business it is left to Shaw to try to comfort Root, and it would be an understatement to say that kind, compassionate and caring are hardly her strongest suit...

Root sat with her knees pulled to her chest, the plate of food Harold had placed beside her sat untouched. She hadn't moved in over an hour.

"well at least she's not crying anymore" Shaw said in a low voice, Harold had assigned her and John to watch Root. The machine hadn't spoken to her in nearly two weeks, leaving her irritable and unstable. That had been bad enough, but when Harold received a new number it had been too much for Root. The machine hadn't been forced into hiding, or had to go offline whilst repairing some part of herself, it just was ignoring her calling out to her, begging for a mission, a purpose.

She had screamed. She had cried. Knocked half the books off their shelves. In short she had lost her shit, which ended in her a sobbing mess curled up in the corner. Harold had asked John and Shaw to keep an eye on her whilst he researched their latest number. Root had made no attempt to communicate with them, they just leant against the wall, ready to step in if she was about to hurt herself.

"John, can I speak to you," Harold asked, then lowering his voice, "It's about our latest number," he obviously didn't speak quietly enough because tears started rolling down Roots cheeks again. "Now, Mr Reese." Harold urged before throwing another glance at Root and hurrying back to his computer. With a sigh John straightened up, just as he was about to follow Harold, a hand shot out and grabbed his forearm. It was Shaw.

"She's crying what do I do?" Shaws gaze didn't leave Root's hunched over form, a look of concern on her face. John smiled, Shaw could take down half an army by herself, but when confronted with someone in tears, she was at a loss.
"Go comfort her." John went to leave again but Shaw's grip tightened, through Shaw's somewhat clenched jaw he heard,
"How do I do that?" This caused John to smile, the two women didn't always get on but it seemed that Shaw had warmed slightly to Root since their first meeting, otherwise she wouldn't have cared that Root was crying and probably would have asked if she could taze Root to stop her wrecking the library.
"Start with hugs." Shaw's eyes snapped to his,
"With what?" John laughed, pulling his arm free from Shaw's grip he gave her a push towards Root and promptly left.

The movement had caught Root's attention, her eyes, bright with tears, were now fixed on Shaw. After a moment of awkward silence Shaw moved closer to Root, crouching down next to her, giving her an equally awkward pat on the shoulder, mumbling some form of 'there, there," as she did so. Root's eyes, which were still fixed on Shaw, began to fill up with tears. Shaw watched them spill over, down Root's cheeks, dripping off her chin. Sighing, Shaw sat down next to Root, switching between looking straight ahead and down at her hands.

"Look, Root, I'm sure the machine has a reason for not talking to you, you know what it's like, better than anyone, who knows what it's thinking." She could hear Root still crying next to her but didn't look round, not until she felt something on her shoulder. Root had shuffled closer, her head now resting on Shaw's shoulder, her arms and knees still tucked tight to her chest. Tears were still rolling down her face, now falling onto Shaw's shirt.

Root could feel Shaw tense up upon contact, but she was exhausted and an emotional wreck, feeling the warmth and stability of another person, even someone as uncomfortable with physical contact as Shaw, helped a little.

After a few minutes she had calmed down enough to speak, muttering an apology to Shaw she pulled away. Less than a few seconds later full on sobbing returned, leaving Shaw sat, awkwardly watching, playing out her different options in her head, considering what John and Harold would tell her to do, she reluctantly reached out and put her hand on Root's turned back, slowly she started to rub her back. Upon this contact Root turned back to face Shaw, this time leaning on her chest. Shaw stiffened again, bit eventually relaxed a bit when she realised that Root was not going to stop crying anytime soon. She even went as far as putting her arm round Root, waiting for her to cry herself out.

Eventually she did, exhausted from hours of upset Root quickly fell asleep, her head slipping onto Shaw's lap. She let out an exasperated sigh, but didn't have the heart to wake her up; she had had a rough day.

A few hours after leaving with Harold to conduct re-con on their new number John returned to the Library… everything seemed in place, which left him suspicious, maybe Shaw had tazed Root after all. Cautiously John pushed open the door. To his surprise Root was curled up on the ground, using Shaw's lap as a pillow she was peacefully sleeping, whilst Shaw absentmindedly weaving her fingers in and out of Root's brown hair. Smiling to himself he slipped out unnoticed.