Summary:
Shaw is a new Doctor and is questioning her career choice when a mysterious woman named "Root" crashes into her life. An alternate timeline where Shaw becomes a Doctor and Root is just starting out her career as an assassin.
Chapter 1: Crash
The smell of roasted coffee beans filled the air as Shaw took the last sip of the dark liquid. She watched as a nurse shuffled in behind her to fill her own mug and smiled politely at her as she passed. Shaw nodded in acknowledgment and the nurse went on her way. She wasn't good at small talk and didn't really care to mingle with her colleagues. Shaw was a damned good doctor and that's all that mattered. She had only been at the hospital for six months but she was already gaining a reputation.
"Doctor, your patient is ready."
A nurse had walked in the break room with a clipboard and handed it to Shaw. She had already been working ten hours straight and could only afford a few minutes break. It was an unfortunately busy night at the ER, Shaw blamed it on being a Friday night. She didn't believe the other nurses and doctors when they blamed it on a full moon. She just rolled her eyes at them.
...
A woman was alone in a hotel room, the light of passing traffic bounced off the wall of the dimly lit room. She had a pile of clothes on top of the queen sized bed. She picked up a black wig and a simple black dress. The woman was meeting with someone important tonight. She knew her alias would hold, that wasn't what she was worried about. This was only the second time she had ever been out in the field. The woman was good at pulling the strings at a distance but she wanted something more exciting. Plus, she could add to her resume. It was a win win.
The woman placed a glock and silencer in her handbag.
"Hello, Miss Kwolek, we are so glad you could make it," An older man greeted Miss Kwolek who wasn't really Miss Kwolek.
The woman had made it to an expensive hotel via limousine and was led to the ballroom. Diner tables dotted the room and she found the table with her alias written on a card. Everything here was right out of a movie, she wasn't used to anything this extravagant but she didn't let it show. She chatted politely with the woman seated next to her and enjoyed the expensive meal that was provided by the hotel.
She had been planning every detail of this job for far longer than she had planned any other job before. She'd make more money than she'd know what to do with but that's really not what she was in this for. She wanted to challenge herself. She could care less about the people here, they were all greedy, scheming, assholes. The only thing that pushed her everyday was a new challenge. To see a hill, climb to the top and then find a bigger hill. If she died in the process then it didn't really matter.
"Excuse me, do you know where the restrooms are?" She asked a waitress who walked by. The waitress pointed towards the back of the room and gave her quick directions and Miss Kwolek politely excused herself from the table. She made her way to the fancy washroom and pulled a package from the inside of a broken hand dryer. She had made sure a waitress uniform was there waiting for her. Her plan had to be flawless.
Miss Kwolek or if anyone asked now, Katie Floyd, made her way to the main kitchen. She fastened the glock from her handbag with a silencer. Then, hid it under her uniform. She ducked into the kitchen and made her way to the back. No one paid any attention to her. She found a man in the back of the kitchen, alone. He was fussing over what appeared to be a cake.
"Hi there," the woman pulled the glock out and pointed it at him.
"Who the hell are you?" He turned around and starred at her in confusion. It didn't look like he really registered what was happening.
"I just came here to give my compliments to the chef."
"Wha-" It slowly dawned on him what was happening as his focus went to the handgun.
"The chicken was delicious but the mashed potatoes were a little dry." She cocked her head to the side and scrunched her nose. The man went down without a sound with a bullet wound directly in the center of his head.
That was easy enough, this new vocation didn't seem like it was going to be too hard. Quickly she pulled the man into an empty closet and opened the door, placing him inside. No one would find him for at least several hours and that would give her time to get out. Unfortunately for her, a bus boy had witnessed the whole thing. She didn't check if she had been followed and she didn't notice him as she exited the kitchen.
The rest of the night had been quiet, she walked out without anyone approaching her and managed a third change into some casual clothes. She got into the car that she had left parked for her getaway and was waiting on a red stop light two blocks away from the hotel. She was waiting for the light to turn green and starred up at the full moon. It wasn't a bad night, it was calm, peaceful, and she just succeeded in her second ever assassination attempt. Not a bad night at all.
The light turned green and she pushed on the gas, she didn't see a large truck cross the intersection until it was too late. It blindsided her car, flipping it to the other side of the road.
...
Sameen Shaw was on her eleventh hour at the hospital, she was about ready to clock out but an ambulance just pulled into the front of the ER. A car accident had taken place just moments ago and a woman had been pulled out of a sardine can.
"She's not breathing," one of the nurses pushing the gurney down the hallway informed Shaw as she rushed up to the scene. They pulled her into one of the emergency rooms and several more nurses followed them in to assist.
It was going to be a long night.
Light filtered into the windows when the woman was finally listed in stable condition. Shaw had done everything she possibly could to keep the woman alive and it had paid off. She had been moved to a hospital room and Shaw was finally ready to go home. The nurses cleared the room and Shaw was left alone with the woman who was still unconscious. She was writing on her clip board, updating all of the woman's information for the next shift to come in.
The only noise that could be heard was the steady beeping of the EKG and the woman's soft breathing. It was a nice shift from the chaos from earlier, Shaw finally had a chance to study the woman laying in the hospital bed.
"Who the hell are you?" Shaw said under her breath, they found so many different ID's on her they couldn't tell which one was the right one. The car she was driving was also under a name that definitely wasn't hers. For now she was just Jane Doe.
Nothing about her was particularly remarkable, she was somewhere in her late twenties to early thirties, brunette hair, long legs, came in dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. She had suffered a broken rib and collapsed lung, abrasions to the face, and a broken wrist. The car that she was in had been completely totaled. The woman had been sideswiped by a supply truck. The driver of the truck was not wearing a seatbelt and had been ejected from the vehicle. He had been pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was a little luckier, despite having flipped her car.
Shaw was done updating her clipboard and placed it down at her side, she looked down at the woman one more time and noticed the woman looking up at her. Her eyes where barely open and she shifted uncomfortably on the bed.
"Hi gorgeous," the woman smiled, "Where am I?"
This was the part of the job that Shaw hated. She was going to have to interact. "You're in the hospital," Shaw said bluntly.
"Oh, you sure? There was this nice bar," the woman closed her eyes, "I didn't meet you there?"
"No." Shaw couldn't believe this woman had the energy to flirt.
"That's too bad, at least I got to wake up to a beautiful woman," She smiled wider and then grimaced, "I'm having a hard time breathing." She changed the subject.
"You were in a car accident, you were hurt pretty bad," Shaw replied.
"You're my doctor?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm your doctor, my name is Shaw," Sameen said, "and who are you by the way?"
"Just call me Root," the woman said.
"Ok." Shaw shrugged. It was an odd name. The woman probably wasn't one hundred percent together after a wreck like that so Shaw would just drop it for now. She could get one of the nurses to gather information about this woman and just focus on the technical stuff. She didn't need to know the personal details.
"So, doctor, how bad is it?" Root interrupted Shaw's thoughts.
"You'll live." Shaw was telling the truth. The ambulance arrived just in time for her to work on Root's collapsed lung and as far as everything else was concerned, it was just going to take time to heal. "Your just going to feel like shit for awhile."
"As long as your going to be here to make me feel better," Root managed a smile, "Well, goodnight, Shaw," Root winked… or tried to, anyway.
Shaw ignored her, it was probably all the morphine that was currently pumping through her veins. She had had stranger patients.
"Yeah, goodnight," Shaw said as she watched Root settle in to the hospital bed. It didn't take long for Root's breathing to even out and seconds later she fell back asleep. Shaw was sure Root wasn't going to remember this in the morning. She took the clipboard and then exited the room.
"Hey, you look like shit, hard night?" Martine, one of the other doctors walked in, fresh for the start of a new day as Shaw walked out.
"Fucking understatement," Shaw huffed under her breath, it had been nonstop patients all night.
"What?" Martine caught up with her.
"Nothing, don't kill my patients while I'm gone," Shaw walked passed Martine without another word. She didn't care if she was being rude. Unfortunately, Martine was the only one that cared about Shaw's attitude out of all the doctors and nurses she worked with. Shaw didn't care, she could deal with Martine later, right now she needed to get some sleep.
...
The drive back to Shaw's apartment was difficult. She was exhausted and as soon as she got to her apartment she stripped down to her underwear and collapsed on her bed. She didn't dream of anything and woke up staring at her ceiling. She looked at her clock and was thankful she didn't have to be at work. Her next shift wasn't until 10pm.
Night shifts were the worst.
"Fuck," Shaw mumbled to herself, she knew late nights at the ER were part of the occupation especially since she was so new. Thats really not what bothered her. She enjoyed the technical aspects of the job, she hadn't lost a patient the entire time she was there but her patients and co-workers were what got her thinking. She felt different than them, it was always on the back of her mind. She knew she had a personality disorder and she knew that everybody else working at the hospital knew it too. It wasn't a secret.
"You're not meant to be a doctor, you must know this by now," Shaw remembered Greer.
Greer was the doctor that had pulled her aside when she was in her residency. She almost gave up right then, after that shift. Later that day, she went to a military recruitment agency and sat in her car for two hours thinking it over. Was this what she was meant to be? A doctor? This didn't feel right. She had started her car and drove away, she thought she still had time to think it over.
The next day at the hospital Hersch asked to speak to her during her lunch. He was another doctor at the hospital during her residency. He bought her a sandwich and didn't particularly say anything meaningful. Well, it wasn't a grand speech or anything, just three words.
"Greer's an asshole," He waited until Sameen nodded her agreement and walked away. It was what Shaw needed to hear at the time.
Hersch was the only one who seemed to understand her learning style. He never pushed her to be more emotional. He became somewhat of a mentor to her and even wrote out Shaw's letter of recommendation to get her to were she was now. She didn't know if he knew what Greer told her that day but it came at the right time. She finished her residency despite her doubts and it was probably those three words that changed her mind. Now, it had been almost a year and she didn't know if Greer had been right all along.
Shaw finally got out of bed and pulled on a black tank top, some workout pants, and running shoes. She opened her fridge, got out the milk, protein powder, and mixed it together. She'd go for a workout and feel better. Self doubt wasn't really her style and what she needed was an adrenaline rush. Hardly anything beat an adrenaline rush lately. Shaw wished that the gym wasn't the only place she could get one.
Quickly, she drank her protein powder and exited out her apartment door.
"Hi, Shaw," Shaw's instructor greeted her when she got inside the gym. He was one of the people that she could actually stand to be around.
"Reese," She acknowledged him, "Any sparring matches going on today?"
"We have some waiting on the sign up forms," He pointed to a clipboard on the gym's office. "You don't look so good, you okay?"
"Yeah, peachy," She probably just looked extra angry than usual.
Shaw walked to the clipboard and signed her name in. Some woman named Natalie was waiting for a match up. Shaw had never seen her there before but she'd spar with her once one of the rings where open.
"Ready to get your ass kicked?" A woman was sitting in the locker room alone. Shaw guessed it was Natalie.
"Are you ready?" Shaw smirked. This girl was new and a smart talker, she'd be on the floor in less than a minute. Shaw knew her type. She was all hype and no bite.
Shaw put on her gloves, mouth piece, and headgear and walked back out to the main training floor, taking her gym bag along with her. One sparring ring was open and Reese waived to her and pointed to it. She walked over to the ring and got in. She bounced on her toes and started warming up, waiting for Natalie to join her.
"Remember, hands up," Reese said from the sidelines. Shaw threw a few more punches. "Pivot, punch with your hips," Reese continued to give advice while she shadow boxed.
He'd do the same for Natalie during their match. She knew he'd favor her though, even if he didn't say it. She considered him to be like a big brother, he had kept an eye out for her when she first moved to the area. He was like a silent watch dog, even if she was perfectly capable of handling herself. At least she actually had one friend in this city.
"Ready to lose?" Natalie walked in the ring and smirked at Shaw.
"Are you sure you're talking to me, or are you giving yourself a pep talk?" Shaw put her gloves out and Natalie did the same, they pumped gloves before the match. Natalie warmed up briefly, giving two quick punches to the side before Reese called for the match to start.
They danced around each other for a few seconds, Shaw giving a few test punches while Natalie blocked. Shaw wasn't too sure exactly what Natalie's skill level was, she had never seen this woman in the gym before. She didn't want to K.O. her in the first few minutes. She knew Reese wouldn't like it if she K.O.'ed all his first time customers every time they walked in. They'd never come back.
"Is that all you got?" Natalie came in for the offensive. She threw two straight punches and a hook. Shaw blocked each of them but Natalie came in with another hook just under Shaw's defenses, connecting with her jaw. Shaw stumbled back slightly.
"Keep your jaw tucked, you got this Sameen," Reese said from the side of the ring. Shaw was having enough of this. She was done dancing around and came in with her own offensive. Five seconds later and Natalie was kneeling on the floor, unable to keep up with Shaw's onslaught of punches.
"Ok, thats enough, I'm calling the match," Reese jumped into the ring and helped Natalie up. Shaw went to the side of the ring and grabbed Natalie's water, climbed back in and handed it to her.
"Good match," Shaw said as Natalie took the water and appeared to be out of breath.
"Yeah, good match," Natalie took a drink and smiled, "You're good, but I did get one on you," She pointed to Shaw's lip. Shaw didn't notice until that moment when she ran her arm across her mouth. Shaw's lip was bleeding.
"You busted up my champ," Reese smiled, and helped Natalie to her feet. "Good job on your first go, I've never seen anyone get one in on Shaw on their first match."
"Yeah, lucky break," Shaw shrugged.
"Just remember don't drop your hands when you go on the attack," Reese said to Natalie, he was going into coach mode as Shaw took off her gloves and head gear. She went back to get her own water and a towel to clean up her lip from her gym bag.
"Hey, well, nice to meet you," Natalie was done talking to Reese and walked over to Shaw to shake Shaw's hand one last time before heading out to the locker room. Shaw just nodded.
"Tough day?" Reese walked up to Shaw after Natalie left, "You looked sloppy out there," He said.
"Shit day, but getting better," Shaw put her gloves back on, "I think I'll work the bag for awhile."
"Ok, if you need me, I'll be coaching the next fight," Reese nodded and walked away, he wasn't going to push her for information on her day. Thats another reason why they got along so well.
Shaw took out some earbuds from her bag and picked out a punching bag that wasn't in use. She wanted to drain out what was left of her restlessness before she got in to her night shift at the hospital. She still had a few hours to get home, eat, shower, and drive to work.
...
Everything hurt. Root woke up and didn't recognize her surroundings, the last thing she remembered was a beautiful woman standing over her. Ok, she had worse nights… well, maybe not. This was the first time she had woken up in the hospital. She remembered the woman that introduced herself as her doctor. Her name was Shaw and she had told Root that she had been in a car crash.
Last night had gone horrible but at least she wasn't dead. She had no indication that she had messed up at any time last night but Root knew that that truck coming across that intersection was no mistake. She couldn't believe that she missed it, she'd have to be more observant next time. Root also knew that she had to get out of here. Whoever tried to kill her last night would probably already know that their own assassination attempt had failed.
Hey, your awake, thats good," A nurse walked into the room to check Root's vitals and change out her IV. The nurse stood at the doorway for awhile as she clicked away at her phone and then slipped it back into her pocket.
"You're not Shaw," Root turned and glared at her.
"Nope, not Doctor Shaw," She took the nearly empty IV bag and replaced it with a fresh one on the metal stand, "Don't worry Doctor Shaw doesn't bite, even if she acts like she's going to."
"Thanks for the heads up but she doesn't really scare me," Root smiled, eyeing the pocket that the nurse had slipped her phone into.
"Well, that makes one of us," The nurse said, "You need anything else?" She didn't look like she was really paying attention to Root, probably ready to go back on her break or clock out for the day.
"Yeah, could I get another pillow? This one is kinda getting flat," She asked and put on her best smile.
"Sure," The nurse said and looked through some empty drawers and pulled out another pillow. She motioned for Root to sit up a little as she placed it behind Root's head. Root took that moment to reach into her pocket. She took the nurse's phone and hid it under her blanket. "Anything else?"
"No, thats all, thank you," Root smiled again and watched the nurse leave. She waited a couple of seconds before daring to take out the phone. She took it out and starting scrolling through the screen.
One thing that was nagging at Root was that she was feeling an increased sense of danger. She was worried that she wouldn't have the energy to get out of the hospital. She barely had the energy to sit up for a pillow and take the phone. Root needed to get out unnoticed and somehow make her way back to her hotel before anyone else tried to kill her. Maybe, if she could just find the layout to the hospital everything would be slightly easier. If she just planned this one step at a time she could do this.
Root found a layout to the hospital on the main website and found a picture of the nurse's schedule in her camera roll. The nurse was probably assigned to her for the next couple of hours but she was unsure about the rest of the hospital staff. If Root had her laptop she'd be able to find out every single detail but she could barely move and she also didn't have the time to mess with this nurse's phone.
"I really screwed this one up," Root sighed.
"Well, from my position, yeah," Root heard another voice from the doorway. The voice was coming from a small woman and Root immediately recognized her as Shaw.
"Thanks for your vote of confidence Doc," Root hid the phone back under the blankets.
"Just stating the facts," Shaw shrugged and looked through her notes, she didn't seem to have noticed the phone.
"You want to know how it happened?" Root wiggled her eyebrows at Shaw.
"No, I know how it happened," Shaw looked up and pulled a chair over to Root's side, she sat down and placed the paper work to the side, "You had a green light and some asshole ran a red."
"It's a little more complicated than that," Root watched as Shaw pulled aside her hospital gown to check the bruises on her side, "I'm an assassin."
"Uh-huh," Shaw stopped for a second and covered Root's side back with her hospital gown, Shaw met Root's eyes "And part time, I'm the tooth fairy." Shaw said sarcastically.
"I killed a man yesterday," Root ignored Shaw's comment and watched as Shaw continued her examination. Shaw didn't seem to flinch at anything Root was saying. She just continued on and put her stethoscope in her ear. Root wanted to get some kind of response out of her.
"You also hit your head yesterday," Shaw placed the head of the stethoscope under Root's gown and to her chest, It was cold and Root's breath hitched from the contact. She hadn't taken her eyes off Shaw the entire time and for the first time Root got a reaction. Shaw's breath caught after Root's. Their eye's locked and Shaw's eyes had darkened from Root's reaction. The doctor immediately played it down and met Root's eyes again but this time with a glare. As though Shaw was silently saying "don't you dare".
"Very unprofessional of you, Doc," Root smiled and leaned back on the hospital bed. Shaw ignored her, moving the stethoscope off of Root and warming it up with her hands.
"Shut up."
"You know, I like that sort of thing. With ice cubes, a knife, or have you ever played with candles?"
"Shut up," Shaw repeated.
"You have to ask nicely, Doctor," Root glanced down at Shaw's lip, the corner was scabbing over. It looked like the good doctor had been in a fight but Root wasn't a hundred percent sure. The topic would be a good button to push regardless. Root decided to file that away for later. She knew she was already pushing Shaw to her limit. She looked back towards Shaw and just caught the end of an eye-roll.
"Are you always this annoying?" Shaw said.
"I make exceptions," Root smiled.
"Take a deep breath in," Shaw ignored her and continued. Root took a shaky breath in. She wished that it had something to do with Shaw but unfortunately it wasn't. The car wreck really did a number on her.
"Hurts," Root said to Shaw who nodded in understanding.
"Its gonna hurt for awhile," Shaw moved away and took out a pen from her pocket. She started writing more things down on her clipboard.
Root watched her and really took her in. Shaw looked grumpy every time she'd seen her and she had a busted lip that looked fresh. What was that from? Was it really from a fight? She had a short temper so Root could definitely see that. She waited for Shaw to get done writing and watched as she set her pen back in her front pocket.
"You going to be here tomorrow, Doc?" Root said as their visit was nearing its end.
"Sure," Shaw shrugged and tucked the clipboard under her arm, "Get some rest and stop pretending to be some kind of bond villain the next time I check up on you, ok?" Shaw got up to leave.
"Ok," Root replied and watched as Shaw opened the door to her hospital room. She caught a glimpse of another woman in a white doctors coat in Shaw's path. She was blonde and had her hair up in a bun, she almost seemed to pull her lips up in a snarl at Shaw as she stepped out of her way. Then, she looked back at Root before the door shut behind Shaw.
"Dr. Rousseau," A nurse interrupted as the door clicked shut and the woman shifted her attention.
Whoever she was, she seemed like bad news.
End Notes:
A special thank you to Hufflepufflovespizza for looking over this chapter.