Disclaimer: I do not own Person on Interest
"Just order pizza."
"No, Lionel, I can't do that. I've outlawed all ordering of pizza in my home."
Lionel looked stunned, and turned to John questioningly.
"Sameen thinks that the pizza delivery people take to long to get here, and as we all know, incompatence is the bane of her exhistence."
"Exactly, how hard can it be to get here before the pizza's so cold I have to take a blowtorch to it, to make it edible?" Sameen added, as she turned up the volume for the game.
Harold looked up from his computer screen, where he was set up doing who knows what, at the kitchen table.
"I apologize, I hate to ask, but as I know you, I feel the need to clarify. You were joking about the blowtorch?"
Sameen just smirked.
"Oh, dear. John, there really is no chance of Joss joining us?"
"Sorry Harold, you're stuck with us. Joss says she's swamped, apparently being a teaching assistant isn't a walk in the park."
"Joss is a nerd, just like you guys. She should ditch school, and spend the day with us."
"You do know, it takes the sting out of calling somebody a 'nerd' when you're just as big of one, right?" John said, managing to keep a straight face as Sameen glared threateningly up at him.
"Whatever. Let's talk about what's really the issue here. Food." Sameen looked seriously at John and Harold, as Lionel groaned in the next room over as the team opposing his own continued scoring.
"Give up your eternal pizza ban."
"Not gonna happen, John."
"Pizza and hotwings are necessary for football watching, Sameen."
"I don't care."
"Yes, you do."
"No, I really don't."
"Ye-"
"If I may cut in. This is obviously of the utmost importance to the both of you, for some reason, so I propose a compromise." Harold interrupted diplomatically.
Sameen and John didn't relax their stubborn stances, arms crossed, glowering, but they both nodded reluctantly at the same time towards Harold, for him to continue.
"Sameen will lift her ban just tonight. I have an...aqcuitance who has begun working at a place nearby. If she doesn't get here at a satisfactory time, then we will never bring up pizza at your home, again. John and I will find a solution before next sunday, instead. If she does arrive within the promised half hour, then the 'Eternal Pizza Ban' will be removed. Does this arrangment seem fair to the both of you?"
Sameen and John stared at each other for a few more moments, before relaxing and nodding their acceptance.
"Alright, you have my permission to contact your person on the inside. They better not fail me, Finch."
Sameen maintained eyecontact with Harold for several long seconds, to make sure that he understood just how much she meant it, before turning and throwing herself gracefully into an armchair in the living room.
Harold looked at John incrediously. John just gave a half-smile back, and shrugged, heading towards the other room as well. Harold sighed, and called his sometimes friend/sometimes enemy. He hoped that everything smoothly, Root could be rather unpredictable.
The doorbell rang fifteen minutes later and everybody stopped.
Sameen blinked. "There is no way that is our order. Nobody has ever gotten here this early before."
"My...friend has an even lower tolerance for incompetence than I believe you do, Sameen. It's very likely that it is indeed her at the door."
She rolled her eyes, and got up, grabbing her wallet on the way to the door. She swung it open, and was stunned to find that Harold had been right.
An attractive brunette with a weirdly big smile, and a nametag proclaiming her 'Root,' was indeed holding two large pizza's.
"Harry called, said a tiny, pretty, grumpy, woman would be very grateful if could get here quickly."
"Did he?" Sameen asked, dubiously.
"Not in so many words, but basically."
"Right." Sameen rolled her eyes, and grabbed the almost uncomfortably warm boxes, and set them aside, payed the woman, and went to close the door, before being stopped by Root's shoe.
"What?"
"Just wondering about the absurdly large tip, not that I don't appreciate it." Root answered, head tilted to the side slightly, and standing weirdly close. Sameen didn't back away, though, not wanting to admit to being bothered by the intrusion on her personal space.
"Trust me you've earned it. Now can you go?"
"It was lovely meeting you, Sam. Tell Harry I was surprised, but pleased to hear from him."
"Fine."
Root grinned, and turned to walk back to her car the with a skip in her step.
"I certainly feel special. This is the third time you've requested me specifically, sweetie. People are going to start talking."
"The first time it was Harold, so techincally this would be the second. And I've told you the before, only reason that is, is that you're the only person around who knows how to do their job. How do you get here so fast anyway, I've timed the drive, do you have a shortcut?"
"How much of a stickler for traffic laws are you?"
Sameen had to smile a little at that, but reigned it in when she noticed that Root looked like she was well on her way to becoming a puddle a of goo on her front porch. Root gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment, and left slowly, and cheerfully.
"Now, I don't mean to cheapen what we have, but.." Root handed Sameen a thing of coupons, and winked, well more scrunched up half her face in what she probably thought was a wink.
"That was so lame."
Root raised her eyebrows as if to say, 'But was it really? Because I don't think so.' Root made a move to leave, before bringing a hand to her forehead and shrugging, in a classic 'silly me' gesture.
"I almost forgot, I left you something."
"What is it?"
"Just something to help make the first move, as you're apparently to shy to do, so."
"I only request you for efficency, Root."
"Sure, of course, sweetie."
"Seriously."
"I know, right, totally. Just efficency."
Sameen swung the door shut in Root's face.
She was sitting next to Joss on the couch with a slice of pizza in hand when John called for her. Sameen sighed and stood up in annoyance.
"What do you want?"
"Just thought you would want to take a look at this." John answered with a smirk, and gestured to the inside of the lid of the second box, he had just opened.
Of course. A bright pink heart had been drawn on it, and Roots number was written right in the middle of it, with a winking smily face under that. Harold walked over to see what the fuss was about, and stopped surprised, and turned to Sameen.
"So, I see you and Miss Groves are getting along, then?"
"No."
"Oh."
Harold looked at a loss for what to say, as Sameen glared at the offending box, before she left the room in a huff.
"What are you smiling about, now, Root?"
"Just thinking about that huge, flattering, and a little embarrassing, crush you have on me."
Sameen had learned by now to ignore her. Any acknowledgement was taken for encourgaement.
"I'm taking your silence as agreement with my statement."
"How would you take being punched?"
"Well, if it was by you, probably not too badly."
Sameen thought about walking away, but felt compelled to stay.
"So, how's that computer system, thing, you and Harold are working on, going?"
Root looked unspeakably touched, for a moment, before turning, almost arrogant, as she thought about her latest project.
"Very well, that 'AI Apocolypse' you are waiting for is still in the far distant future, though."
Sameen leaned against her doorway and crossed her arms, getting more comfortable.
"That's exactly what you would say, if you were in on a plot to take of the world, via supercomputer." Sameen noted, drily with a smile.
"Good point. How about this, if I ever make anything capable of destroying the world, you'll be the first one I tell. Promise."
"Alright, as long as you don't leave me out of the fun."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"My Apps are doing very well."
"Not surprising, congratualtions Root."
"Sweetie, Sameen, this is my last delivery, I quit my job. I'm going to be working with computers full time,from now on. I guess this is goodbye." Root looked like she was rying very hard to seem careless, but it was clear that she wanted Sameen to say something.
Sameen paused for a moment, before opening her door widely.
"Want to watch the game?"
"Not really, but if it means spending time with you..." Root trailed off, her smile the brightest it's ever been.
"Don't make me change my mind." Sameen gently grabbed her arm, and yanked her into the house.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed.