Hello again POI fans! I'm glad that you've been enjoying my fics so far. Here's another one for ya. This one actually takes place sometime during the final chapter of Coming To Terms, which is why Reese will be absent here. I wanted to show a glimpse of Shaw taking point on field work. Anyway, please R & R!

The air was thick with the scent of sweat and the sounds of exertion. The moisture dripped down Root's brow as her lungs burned with an exquisite protesting effort to keep up with her movements. Around her, the ground was littered with sporadically placed articles of clothing; shirts and pants tossed aside haphazardly to reveal the tank tops and boy shorts donned underneath for this occasion. Root deftly sidestepped a punch and took a quick moment to wipe the sweat from her brow.

She was being put through the workout of her life.

They had been at it for hours and still there seemed to be no end in sight. Root knew, of course, that training with Shaw would be no walk in the park when the arrangement first came into being. Lately, though, Shaw had made it a point to be a particularly difficult taskmaster. Once Root's leg had healed, Shaw had intensified the training regimen; even going so far as to install a gym down in the subway like she'd always sort of wanted to do. It was a safe bet these days that—in between numbers—they could be found down in the base of operations; Shaw pushing Root to sweat herself to exhaustion. Many times they wore each other out.

That was one of the more immediate benefits of all of this training: The sex.

These training sessions frequently led to physicality of a different sort. Root still wasn't sure if Shaw's demanding schedule was intended to be a punishment for being kidnapped, but if it was, it was well worth it.

The routine varied.

Some days were devoted entirely to weight training, others to cardio, and more to sparring. Some were a mix of all three. Today was one such day. Shaw was currently drilling her on new techniques. Root narrowly dodged a punch thrown at her head when The Machine's whispers in her ear distracted her. She had made no secret of Her disapproval toward having Her analogue interface so thoroughly worn out on a regular basis; it wouldn't be good for the numbers. Root quickly found out that Shaw wasn't quite on the same page the one time she'd tried to voice The Machine's concern, and that had been the end of the discussion, but the protests had not stopped.

Root countered the punch Shaw had thrown. She grabbed the other woman's fist before she had a chance to retract it and swiftly pulled her closer, maneuvering herself behind Shaw and placing her in a choke hold with one arm around her neck and the other wrapped behind her head. The palm of that hand rested across the back of Shaw's head.

They were only paused like that for a short moment, but it felt much longer. Their bodies were both hyper sensitive; highly attuned to the tiniest bit of pressure from the other body against them. There was a smug grin of satisfaction on Root's face as she held Shaw in the hold, her breath coming out in shallow pants against the shorter woman's ear in a way that raised goosebumps on her arms and sent shivers racing up her spine. When their relationship had first become physical in the romantic sense, it surprised Shaw a great deal just how much her body seemed to respond to the hacker. Now it was a feeling she could scarcely get enough of.

It was the sweetest drug.

They both struggled in that second of pause to keep their minds on the business at hand until it was Shaw who made a move. She reached up to grab the arm around her neck and pull it a bit more tightly, to Root's surprise. Next, she repositioned the hand on the back of her head. Normally, these silent gestures were Shaw's way of correcting Root; saying "Here. More like this", but she knew that this particular technique was one of the first she had perfected under Shaw's teaching several months ago. The smile on her face widened at her suspicion that Shaw was just taking every opportunity to keep the physical contact between them. The way that her normally rigid body swayed unnecessarily against Root just the tiniest bit as she moved her arms added further to that theory.

Or it could've just been a ploy.

Just when Root was beginning to get excited, she made the mistake of allowing her guard to falter the smallest bit. It was the moment Shaw had been waiting for. If Root could've seen her face, she would've seen the devilish smirk played out on her lips.

Before Root could react, Shaw grabbed the arm around her neck and pulled as she kneeled down sharply. The movement brought Root's face just above Shaw's left shoulder and her eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. Just as quickly as she'd grabbed Root and lowered herself, Shaw raised her stance and brought her left elbow to Root's face as she did so.

She elbowed Root two more times, knocking her further back toward the wall with each one before she rounded on her and pushed her the rest of the way, slamming her into the wall and pinning her hands above her head. She had that look in her eyes again. The one she wore the first time she kissed Root after her return, and countless times after that. The possessive one that said she was about to stake her claim on something and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do to stop it. It was the look that never failed to make Root's blood run hot in her veins with anticipation.

"And that's how you get out of a bear hug." Shaw rasped in that low whisper that only Root ever heard; the voice that meant she was feeling hot and bothered. Root smirked at Shaw's attempt to keep up the charade that this was still a training session, even as the intensity of the shorter woman's gaze burned through her core and the feel of Shaw's nails digging into her wrists amplified the delicious pressure she felt below her waist.

The smirk faded from Root's face as the distance between them slowly closed, but her eyes were still bright with need, anticipation, and mirth.

"Really now?" She teased, playing along. They were so close now that their breath mingling and their faces were the only parts not touching…so far. "And, what if there's a hold I don't want to get out of?"

The words escaped her mouth and into Shaw's waiting breath, releasing themselves in the diminished space between them. Then there was stillness. For a moment, neither one moved, spoke, breathed. They simply stood with their eyes fixed to each other's in silent communication. Their eyes flitted to each other's lips in a synchronized movement. Then, Shaw launched herself the rest of the small space.

There was an audible click as their teeth collided roughly before they found their rhythm, and that rhythm was fast and furious. They panted heavily as their tongues clashed for several tantalizing seconds. The spark in the oil refinery had been lit and the fire was threatening to consume them in a wonderful lust-fuelled blaze. Shaw broke away from Root's mouth to trail scorching kisses along her jaw and neck.

The breaths were at her ear again.

They spurred her on as she felt her way down the curves of Root's body with her free hand. She bit and sucked at the pulse point on her neck as her hand slipped under the tank top and lavished attention on the hacker's breasts. Root's head rolled back into the wall and her chest heaved under Shaw's rough touches. She twisted her wrists in an attempt to free them, but Shaw's grip was like a vice. Furthermore, she lacked the control to fight against the restraint with all the sensory overload that Shaw's efforts were causing. Her arms went slack in their grip as Shaw's busy mouth migrated down toward her chest.

A moan escaped Root's lips as Shaw bit at her sensitive breast and sucked at the nipple before biting at that too. Her free hand continued to knead at the other breast. She worked her way down Root's body, eventually being forced to let go of Root's hands. As soon as her hands were freed, she immediately took fistfuls of Shaw's hair, pulling in ways that would be painful to most people, but she knew Shaw like the roughness. Besides, Shaw was torturing her. It was a pleasurable torture, but torture nonetheless. Her breath hitched in anticipation as she watched Shaw pause when she was eye level with her hips. She waited with intense desire for Shaw to burn this fire even hotter.

That moment didn't come.

She watched the teasing smile spread over Shaw's face as she stood up. The desire coursed deeply in Root's veins as she struggled to process just what was happening in her hazy mind. Even now, she could see the effort it was taking for Shaw not to take her right there and she wondered what exactly her game was.

"Sameen?" It was meant as a question, but her voice betrayed her. The sound of Shaw's name was a breathy plea on her tongue. Shaw only smirked wider at the sound of it, understanding what she was being asked perfectly.

"Shower first."

Root groaned in response and her head fell forward from the wall. This woman was going to be the death of her. She shook her head and joined Shaw in gathering their discarded clothes from the subway floor before following her toward the exit.

"You're such a tease."

Shaw shrugged, tossing a reply over her shoulder.

"I guess you've rubbed off on me."

They had decided on Root's apartment since it was closest to the subway. In truth, it was only her place in the sense that she still paid the rent on it—she had ingratiated herself into Shaw's living space several months ago—and now the apartment sat vacant in case the team ever needed an extra safehouse. Though, it was more frequently used for a somewhat different purpose.

Shaw had been true to her word.

Actually, it started with the shower. Then gradually, the fire reignited and spread throughout the apartment with a vengeance. The pair blazed a path through the place in the midst of their passions. They started out first in the bedroom, then on to the kitchen for a food break which quickly led to an interesting use of the kitchen table and some chocolate sauce painting on a very organic canvass…Shaw always did love food.

From there, they continued their lustful path through to the living area before circling back to the bedroom. They brought each other to exhaustion over and over and over again before finally collapsing in a tangle of limbs on the bed. It was nearly five hours since they'd arrived back to the apartment and certainly well past any sensible bed time. Given that, and the extreme training session that preceded their extracurricular activity, Shaw was not the least bit surprised when she woke to find that it was past noon. It did surprise her that Root hadn't already woken her.

"Root?" She called out, sitting up in the bed as she looked around with a curious gaze. Her phone and weapons were still here. Clearly she didn't go far. What was missing, Shaw noted, was her phone. She distinctly remembered having set it on the bed side table the night before and now it was gone. Irritation swelled in her at the implication.

Right on cue, Root casually sauntered back into the bedroom brandishing the missing cell phone with a peculiar shit-eating grin on her face. Shaw didn't particularly care about that just yet.

"Looking for something, sweetie?" Root teased, holding out the phone and Shaw yanked it from her grasp, fixing her with a warning gaze and speaking to her sternly.

"Root."

The hacker knew that tone well; the one that said 'don't push it'. Shaw had come a long way with her feelings in general over the last couple years, and had opened up to Root a great deal since her return after the NYSE and the ordeal with Anarchy Council. But, as the saying goes, some things never change. Shaw greatly valued her independence. There were some things that she absolutely would not yield on no matter how much Root or Finch or anyone else pushed. One of those things was privacy. She would give it up to an extent, but she drew a firm line in the sand at anyone using any piece of technology that belonged to her.

Still, there were times that Root just couldn't resist the old urge to get under Sameen's skin, even if she told herself she only answered the phone from time to time to allow Shaw to rest.

The grin on her face broadened into a full smile at Shaw's familiar expression of irritation. "I didn't know you had a kid, Sameen."

The irritation gave way only slightly to confusion as Shaw processed the information. "Last I checked, I didn't." She snarked, tilting her head down toward her phone in a flicking motion. "Did someone call?"

"Who's Gen?"

'Just a spy I know."

Shaw had her reasons for being so cryptic, not that it would do any good with the machine in Root's ear. She knew how precocious and excitable the young spy could be. If she learned of Root's abilities, she would no doubt take to hacking, as well, and Root would gladly show her the Ropes. It wasn't that she didn't trust Root; she did—immensely. It had more to do with Gen. At the age of twelve, she was proving to be well versed in espionage, but she still lacked understanding of one very crucial concept of spying:

Don't get caught.

Over the past couple of years since gifting the young spy her number, Shaw had received no less than four calls in addition to the occasional check-ups she would do on Gen. This was the fifth. Usually, it was simple; just a case of the young girl getting a bit too carried away with herself. Nothing Shaw couldn't fix or show Gen how to fix on her own. Had she bothered to think about those calls more, Shaw might've realized that Gen simply called because she wanted to see her. Still, there was always the chance that she could've gotten into something serious. It had happened once before, after all.

"At such a young age? Impressive." Root commented with a trace of awe in her voice and Shaw nodded her agreement as she looked for a shirt.

"What did she want?" Shaw asked, having already gotten out of bed to start dressing at the mention of Gen's name.

"Nothing she would tell me over the phone." Root shrugged.

"Well, let's go find out." Shaw pulled a Baretta 92 FS from the bedside table and shoved it into her pants behind her back. She knew it was probably nothing, but she never could be too careful. In the back of her mind she wondered what Gen would've told her if she'd picked up the phone instead.

'What did you get yourself into now, kid?'

That's One. Thanks for reading as always! I hope you enjoyed it! Please R & R!