Root x Shaw: Post 4x11. Shaw was taken by Samaritan operatives and brainwashed. A year or so later, Shaw's mission is to kill Root's new number. They finally come face to face and Root can't believe it, but Shaw doesn't remember her. Eventually Shaw remembers. Much angst, but happy ending.

Shaw slowly blinked her eyes open but her vision was blurry and her head pounded. Eventually her vision cleared enough for her to see the back of a man in a suit with grey hair standing outside her room apparently talking to a blonde woman.

Shaw tried to remember anything before she woke up, but couldn't and every time she did her head hurt more. Shaw didnt recognise her surroundings nor the people in the corridor yet strangely She didn't feel worried or scared. The grey haird man entered the room holding a certain air about him.

"I see you're awake Miss Shaw" The man said with a small smile that seemed forced.

"Who are you? Where am I? Who am I?" Shaw questioned confused.

"Your name is Sameen Shaw and you're in Decima's medical facility. As for who I am, well I'm John Greer, your boss" Greer answered her questions with authority.

"What happened?" Shaw asked, trying to remember something, anything.

"Let's start from the beginning shall we?" Greer answered, sitting in the chair next to Shaw's bed "You work for us, Decima Technologies. You're an agent; you and Agent Martine Rousseau were trying to save our company on a mission when our rivals interfered. They got away but not before Samantha Groves, codename Root, shot you several times. We managed to bring you back here in time to save you. You lost a lot of blood and suffered a head injury when you fell after being shot."

"When can I get back to work?" Shaw asked.

"Soon, but for now you should rest. Get your strength back. You can't go after Root or her allies while you're still weak" Greer told her.

1 Year Later

Shaw and Martine were standing in front of Greer with folders in their hands. There were pictures and information about a man who posed as a threat to Decima Technologies.

"This is Mr. Dracavia he has been trying to hack his way into our systems and now he knows too much. Samaritan has identified him as a high risk threat that you need to eliminate" Greer instructed.

"Yes sir" Martine confirmed and she and Shaw walked out of the building.

Shaw drove them to the location given to spy on the target. As they watched Shaw noticed a tall man and a broody brunette following their target. They followed at a further distance, but kept their target in sight. Mr. Dracavia seemed oblivious to them and their rivals. They kept eyes on him for several hours until they followed him back to his hotel room.

The tall man and broody woman seemed to disappear but Shaw wasn't worried about them, she was confident she could take them in a fight. Shaw and Martine got the room next to their target and set up a camera. They watched him until he fell asleep, they wanted to see what was on his laptop before killing him.

As soon as Mr. Dracavia was asleep, Shaw crept into his room and found his laptop. She took it back to her room so that Martine could look at what was on it. Shaw was better at stealth, so she was the one to retrieve the laptop. Shaw made sure her gun was clean and had enough ammo in it while he waited for Martine to find what was on it.

Once Martine had confirmed that there were files Mr. Dracavia shouldn't have on the laptop, she was given the order to kill him. "Finally" Shaw mumbled to herself just before leaving the room once again and heading next door. Just as she got to the door however, bullets flew at her and hit the wall a couple of centimeters from her head. She raised her gun and turned to face her assaulter.

She expected to see both of her rivals, but found only the broody woman, who looked surprised to see her and there were tears in her eyes. Shaw was confused, why would her enemy be near to tears to see her? "Sameen?" the broody woman asked, hope and confusion evident in her voice.

"How do you know my name?" Shaw asked, stepping closer to the woman she had come to hate. Root put her gun away and put her hands up in surrender, yet took a few steps closer to Shaw. "Stop right there!" Shaw demanded before Root could get too close.

"Sameen…please listen to me ok? I know you because you used to work with me. The people who you're with now took you from us. We thought you were dead. We tried to find you, I looked all over the country! I looked for several months but couldn't find you. I finally gave in to the idea that you were dead and I shouldn't have, but please Sameen believe me. We were friends and kind of more than that…I love you" Root told her, taking two more steps towards Shaw without her noticing as Shaw stared at her face, confused and taking in all the new information.

"You're lying!" Shaw accused.

"You know I'm not Sameen, you know me" Root replied as a small smile came onto her face.

"Stop saying that! I don't know you!" Shaw was nearly yelling now. She didn't know where Martine was and why she hadn't come to see why Shaw was shouting at someone instead of killing their target. Root was an arm's length away from Shaw now and tried to take another step, but Shaw punched her in the face.

Root put a hand to her cheek and looked at Shaw with hurt and something else Shaw couldn't read in her eyes. Shaw punched her again and kicked her in the stomach making Root double over in pain. "You're my enemy why aren't you fighting back?" Shaw questioned.

"I won't hurt you, not like this" Root told her, clutching her stomach. Shaw elbowed Root in the back while she was still bent over and kneed her in the chest. She kicked the back of Root's knee making her fall to the floor in a way that made her head hit the floor hard, bringing tears to Root's eyes. Shaw grabbed the front of Root's jacket and pulled her up slightly to get into her face.

"You're my enemy and if given the order I will kill you" Shaw growled out and punched Root twice more in the face before letting her fall to the floor again. Shaw kicked Root a few times in the stomach and ribs hard enough to crack them. She then raised her gun to Root's head. "Don't follow me" Shaw threatened, shot Root in the shoulder and left the building down the staircase.

I killed our target while you fought that psycho. Meet you back at headquarters. Martine told her through her ear piece once she had left the hotel. Shaw hoped on her motorbike and fled the scene.

Root lay on the floor where Shaw had left her barely conscious until Reese found her and carried her back to the subway. Root had lost a lot of blood and by the time they got underground she had passed out. When she woke up her shoulder was bandaged and her ribs wrapped, her other bruises and cuts seemed to be unattended though. "Good to see you're awake Root" Finch greeted as he saw her struggle to sit up on the small bed in the subway car.

"Hey Finch" Root greeted in a small pained voice.

"Let me see to your other wounds" Reese requested walking over to the bed.

"No leave them" Root refused "they're proof she's alive". Reese and finch shared a look of understanding and left her alone. Root leaned against the wall, closed her tired eyes and smiled as she remembered what Shaw had looked like at the hotel, thankful that Shaw was alive. She fell asleep with memories of Shaw running through her mind.

6 Months Later

Root had recovered from the injuries Shaw had inflicted on her and was back to work like normal. She had abandoned the Machine not long after Shaw had gone and still wouldn't listen to her. Root had even had her implant removed. Finch, Reese and Root were in the subway, having just saved another number, when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs into the subway. They didn't know who it could be, so Root and Reese raised their weapons at the intruder.

Shaw came into sight and they lowered their weapons, unsure as to why she was there. Was she there under Decima's orders? "I'm here on my own…" Shaw started hesitant "I need to talk to Root". Shaw shuffled her feet feeling awkward under their gazes. Root looked her over wondering why Shaw was there.

"What do you want?" Finch asked before Root could say anything.

"Just to talk I promise. I think I got some things wrong. I think I might have been brainwashed or something I need to find out the truth" Shaw answered. "From Root" She quickly added when Finch was going to say something else. Root walked towards Shaw and took her hand, leading her far enough away from her friends so that they couldn't hear but still in sight so that Reese could help her if Shaw started hitting her again.

"My heads all fuzzy and I'm not sure what's true anymore. You said you know me that we were friends and we worked together? Is that true?" Shaw asked.

"Yeah it's true Sameen. You worked with me and those two. The tall man is called John Reese and the man with the limp is called Harold Finch. We work with an ASI called the Machine to save victims and stop perpetrators. We were friends yeah, but we were sort of more than friends" Root answered and blushed lightly at the end.

Shaw looked at her confused. "What do you mean by sort of more than friends?"

"For about a year we would have sex a few times a week, when we were in the same state, but you always told me there were no feelings involved, yet I started falling for you and you knew but you ignored it. I would always flirt with you no matter where we were and you would deflect it, but then just before you got shot by Decima, you kissed me in an elevator. It was the single best and worst moment of my life" Root explained with a big grin on her face, one that she always used around Shaw and that hadn't been there for over a year.

"That does sound like me" Shaw mused to herself "wait, worst moment of your life?"

"When you pulled away from me, you shoved me back into the elevator and shut the wire shutter, then went to push the button to get it working…I had to watch as Martine shot you and I was losing the most important person in my life" Root told her, looking at the floor, smile now gone and tears in her eyes again. She was lost in the memory of it and was surprised when she felt Shaw's lips on hers again.

Root closed her eyes and brought her hands up to Shaw's face as Shaw put her arms around Root's waist. They parted when they needed air and looked at each other. "That does feel familiar" Shaw told her. Root grinned and kissed Shaw again, pulling her closer by her shoulders. They would figure everything out together.