This is stupid. She knows this is stupid but she's doing it anyway. It's December 24th and Shaw is out looking for a Christmas tree. The idea of having a live tree in your house is stupid on its own but the amount of people crowding the streets is unbelievable. Shaw never celebrated Christmas, she never believed in Santa and found this whole ordeal unnecessary. But since the defeat of Samaritan days have been calm - usual numbers, people getting themselves into shady things or deciding that murder is the answer, so Shaw had a lot of free time on her hands. The first thing she did was find a new apartment but not just a place to crash but one that she actually enjoyed. After a couple of unsuccessful tries she finally found it but it required some work so Shaw did it herself to make the place more… hers. And after Root's return she's been working on herself too. On expressing her feelings more, letting Root in, and she found that after all that's happened, it was easy. 9 months of torture, then coming back, not getting a breather before all hell broke loose but having Root by her side to help her get her bearings and then losing her has made her re-evaluate her priorities. No major changes except that Root is now at the top of the list. So when Root said she never celebrated Christmas because she had no one to celebrate with but she'd like to now, with her and 'a Christmas tree is important Sameen, we must have one' Shaw just sighed and went out looking for one. It's cold and snowing and normally Shaw would be inside cleaning her guns with a glass of nice scotch but this year she's pushing through families and trying not to step on any excited kids while looking for a piece of wood with pines that sting and why do people do this anyways?
She continued her path through the various people selling things until her eye caught a tree. A tree that actually looks quite nice and is the perfect height of their apartment. As Shaw purposely walked towards her chosen tree, she saw a man eyeing the same tree with obvious interest. Not happening fatty, she thought and went to the tree, picking it up right in front of the man.
"Hey! I was looking at that!" he yelled,
"Yeah? Tell that to someone who gives a damn." Shaw huffed out, threw 50 bucks at the salesman and turned to leave when the douche grabbed her by the arm and yanked her around,
"Listen little lady, I don't know who you are but I'm a very important person in this city and I'm on a very tight schedule and I'm gonna need that tree."
Shaw looked down at the hand grabbing her arm, her eyes turned cold and she slowly put down the tree, with a barely hidden snarl she grabbed his hand with one of hers and pushed down his elbow with the other which made the man yelp and fall to his knees.
"Listen jackass, I don't give a crap about who you are, I'm taking this tree with me and if you got a problem with that this little lady is gonna kick your ass all the way to Alaska."
Shaw released the man, picked up her tree, settled it on her shoulder and went home.
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Shaw opened the door, shuffled in trying not to bump the tree on anything and shut the door with her leg. She put the tree down, leaning it against the wall and started to take off her coat. Immediately Bear rushed to her, tail waggling, tongue out to the side and a Christmas hat on top of his head.
"Bear? What has she done to you?" Shaw murmured while toeing off her boots but the dog looked happy about his new accessory and after taking a quick sniff of the tree ran back in the room.
Dressed in black jeans, white t-shirt with a V-neck covered by an unzipped dark blue hoodie, and a pair of black socks, Shaw picked up the tree and went to the living room.
Just as she walked in, Root was taking something out of the oven. Root was a great cook, as Shaw had discovered when they started living together, and she seemed to enjoy is as well, so whenever Root was home, the apartment smelled amazing. And today was no exception.
"Hey, you're back" said Root with her back still turned to Shaw
"Yeah. You wouldn't believe the sea of people out there."
Root chuckled, "I would, I saw them myself. Got so frustrated I almost shot one."
"Glad I'm not the only one", Shaw said walking to the corner of the living room to put the tree down and saw that Root had indeed been out – there were all kinds of Christmas decorations scattered around as well as twinkle lights half hanging from the window aisle. There was also a tree holder in the same place Shaw wanted to set the tree down. Thinking there's no point in wasting time, Shaw bent down to set the tree in the holder (which turned out to be easier than it looked) and straightened back up to admire her work.
Tree seemed to be standing straight and solid. Shaw heard a gasp behind her and turned around. Root had put whatever she was making back in the oven and now stood shock still staring at the tree.
"Sameen… it's beautiful", she whispered and slowly walked towards it.
"It was the only decent tree in the whole market so I grabbed it." Shaw said quite proudly with a small smile on her lips.
"It's perfect."
Root reached out to touch the pines and let her fingers brush down several branches when she turned to look at Shaw.
"You're perfect." Root said as she leaned in for a kiss. It was slow but deep and Shaw could taste all the things Root wants to say. With Root's arms thrown around her neck and her hands on Root's hips, Shaw feels safe, content.
When they parted Root had that smile that didn't show any teeth but it made her eyes shine with happiness and Shaw felt herself smiling too.
"Gotta finish decorating. Wanna help?" Root asked, tilting her head
"Sure. What do you need me to do?"
"Grab those lights and put them up on the next window" Root instructed and went back to the window where she had started to put the lights up.
Shaw grabbed a pack of lights and went to the window, climbed on the windowsill and tried to reach the top.
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Shaw is starting to get the idea of a tree in the house. The light smell of pines is soothing and it's quite beautiful too. The fireplace is cracking, lights are twinkling (in the end Shaw wasn't able to reach the top of the window so she had to get the ladder, about which Root had teased her immensely), Bear is lying under the tree, Root and Shaw are full and sitting on a blanket in front of the fire. Root is leaning back against Shaw while Shaw is leaning against the couch, watching how the white lights brighten the apartment. Her arms are around Root's middle, hands resting in her lap and Shaw can feel her steady breathing. They are both dressed in big Christmas sweaters Root had bought for them on her shopping spree, leggings for Root and sweatpants for Shaw and a pair of fuzzy socks.
"It really is a beautiful tree", Root said thoughtfully
"I had to fight for it, you know?" Shaw said teasingly
"You did, huh?"
"Yeah. Some guy wanted it too, had to use force to get him to bug off. He was a very important person, we might be in trouble tomorrow."
"I got a feeling we're more than equipped to deal with him. Besides, he should be thanking us for all the people we've saved."
"True. Maybe Christmas isn't that bad. Except for the people, they were crazy, I almost got crushed", claimed Shaw, "can't believe I went through all that for a tree."
"My hero." said Root leaning her head backwards to look at Shaw
Shaw looked down at her and was stunned for a moment. In the dim light of the apartment, with fire light dancing on her face, emphasizing her features she looked unbelievably gorgeous. Shaw tightened her arms around Root and bent down to kiss her with everything she was feeling, she just hoped Root would understand it.
Judging by the look on her face when Shaw pulled back, she had.