Okiedokie, two-parter this time, an adorable little thing I decided I wanted to write to cope with If-then-else x]

Root.

Shaw wasn't awake yet, she could tell without even opening her eyes. It wasn't the sound of the woman's slow and steady breath, it wasn't that fact she was still in bed and not already halfway through making herself breakfast.

It was the arm draped over her waist and the warm body pressed against her back.

She could never tell her it happened; the mention alone would cause Shaw to lapse into silence for over a month. So Root kept it to herself, simply allowing herself to enjoy the comfort of it while she could until she had to slip out of bed before Shaw could wake up and find out.

She was away a lot, on her own private missions for the machine, so she rarely got a chance to stop by and see her dear Sameen and even fewer were the times when she could actually stay the night. When she could though, almost every morning, she would wake up to find Shaw cuddling her in her sleep. Even she cringed slightly at the thought that they were the kind of people who 'cuddled' but there was really no other word for it, aside from maybe spooning, but this position suggested Shaw was the 'big spoon' and that was just odd, given the woman's size. She smirked to herself at that thought, imagining the glare that would be shot her way for the height joke.

They would go to sleep facing away from each other, a rule Shaw enforced with glares that suggested a silent threat of eviction to the floor if Root should try to sleep too close to her. However, here they were again.

It wasn't an accident, no-one could wrap that perfectly around another person by accident; she'd even tucked her free arm under the pillow beneath Root's head so that it wasn't cramped up between them.

Shaw's subconscious was really very sweet.

The woman claimed to have no feelings, but that, in all honesty, was never exactly true. They were there, somewhere, like a whisper in a loud room. Shaw could hear it if she really tried, but she didn't often acknowledge that there was anything to listen for, so she never tried very hard.

Her subconscious clearly heard it though, and that was enough for Root. Waking up with Shaw wrapped around her, almost possessively, as though she was trying to make sure she couldn't leave in the morning, was rapidly becoming her favourite thing. She wasn't sure she'd fully admit it to herself, let alone mention it to Sam, but the gentle tickle of the woman's breath on the back of her neck and the strong arm pulling her back against an, almost too warm, body behind her was almost enough to make her wish she didn't have to leave.

But The Machine didn't sleep. She knew Root had to, so She let her get some rest, but as soon as she was recovered from whatever exhausting mission she'd just returned from, the AI had another ready and waiting.

This morning was no different.

Before she'd even opened her eyes there it was, the ever present voice in her ear telling her a place she needed to be, and right now, that place was out of here. Within the next ten minutes, in fact.

Carefully, she lifted Shaw's arm just enough so that she could slip out from under it, moving as silently as she could to avoid waking her. It would appear she was successful, with a sleepy growl of annoyance Shaw buried herself deeper under the covers, apparently stirred by the light now assaulting her face without Root's head in the way to stop the worst of it.

Quickly, Root moved to the curtains and drew them, partially to stop Shaw from waking up and partially because they were only on the second floor and she was not wearing anything.

After hunting down her clothes and taming her hair, she was ready to go, sitting down on the edge of the bed to zip up her boots before turning to look at the sleeping woman. She could wake her up and say goodbye. She maybe even should, but neither of them ever did, even on that one occasion where Shaw had woken before her.

It was one of those unspoken rules they shared.

Then again, Shaw broke rules too.

Gently, she leant down, hovering barely millimetres from the other woman's ear.
"Goodbye, Sam." It was barely even a whisper, and almost certainly not heard by the sleeping woman, but she couldn't help but smile as she pressed her lips to Shaw's temple, pausing only for a moment before standing and turning on her heel.

She had no idea when she'd be back here; it could be anything from a day to a couple of months (at worst). She often hoped The Machine would instruct her to seek Shaw out for help on a particular task, but that was rare these days. Mostly she had to move below the radar and, well, Shaw was less of a 'knife in the shadows' and more of a 'flash grenade to the face'. She smiled to herself at the thought as she reached the front door and paused to enjoy it for a second before sighing. With a shake of her head she wiped away her smile and let out a long breath.

It was time to go.

As she stepped over the threshold she was the Analogue Interface again, thinking about Shaw was not a distraction she could afford if she wanted to make it back here alive and see her again.

Part two already up ;) aren't I nice? x]