Come Back to Us

by SunnyRea

"So this was a trap then?" Shaw snaps, flashing a look back at Root behind her and then to Reese in front of her again. "We just want to bring you home, Shaw." Shaw scoffs. "Home?" "Please, Sameen," Root says. **The team try to bring back Shaw from the influences of Samaritan.**

Shaw climbs out of the SUV as soon as the cars stop in front of the water front warehouse. The six agents accompanying her fan around her as she pauses and listens to the voice in her ear.

NO INTERNAL VIDEO FEED AVAILABLE.

Shaw glances up at the exterior camera and nods. "Okay, we've got no eyes inside so we're on our own on this one." She pulls out her gun. "Four around back, two with me. Kill shots only. Now move."

Shaw enters through the main door – standard shipping warehouse, concrete make, high ceilings, visible ductwork, four floors and one basement – on a straight line through, clearing each room as they go. The lights are dim and most of the spaces are bare save for a few crates.

"Rear team, two agents make for the fourth floor and two for the third, report back," Shaw commands over the coms.

She glances back over her shoulder at the two agents behind her then motions them forward. They clear the first floor after a few minutes then take the stairs up to the second. As they near the door for the second floor, they hear gunshots from somewhere above them. Shaw slides her back to the wall and holds up her hand to stop her two agents. The three of them freeze in the stairwell. Shaw keeps listening, hears five more shots.

"Status?" She asks over the coms.

None of her agents answer.

AUDIO CONNECTIONS SEVERED TO AGENTS SIXTEEN, TWENTY, TWENTY–TWO AND SEVEN. BODY CHIP MONITORS INDICATE PHYSICAL DISTRESS.

"The others are down," Shaw says. "The marks are confirmed in the building." She glances at the two people with her. "We check level two then continue up."

They open the door to the second floor then fan out down the hall, the light nearly gone. They check two rooms, both empty, then come to the third room. This room is not empty. Three laptops sit on a desk in the middle of the room, a faint glow coming from the screens in the dim lighting. Shaw takes point, moving closer to the table. There does not appear to be anyone in the room.

"Keep checking," Shaw orders and the other two stalk out of the room again.

Shaw comes around the table, gun still in one hand and looks down at the laptops. On each screen of the computers appear to be screenshots of camera footage, some clear and some more grainy. In each of the images she sees her own face. In one image she is running with a young girl, long curly blond hair, with Shaw holding her hand. In another she has her back against a wall beside a tall man – enemy target alias: John Reese – both of them with guns in their hands and wide grins on their faces. Another image has her pulling a woman out of the wreckage of a car on fire. The next image shows her speaking to a shorter man – enemy target alias: Harold Finch – beside the Hudson River. In another she is climbing onto the back of a motor cycle with a woman – enemy target alias: Root – and holds a helmet in her hands...

"We're going to steal a jet," Root says.

Shaw climbs on the back of the motorcycle as Root keeps taking to Reese, says something about Harold and then they are off and driving. Shaw holds onto Root as they drive through the traffic, Root exercising a lax knowledge of traffic laws. The wind feels cool as they drive but Root's body in front of her is a perfect warm counter point.

When they get close to the airport, Root taking them to a cargo area, Root finally stops the bike and they climb off.

"So, do you want to be the stewardess or should I?" Root quips.

Shaw frowns. "Service with a smile really isn't my thing."

Root pouts. "Too bad, guess we'll just have to go the old threat and intimidation route instead!" She grins, tosses aside the bike helmet and strokes a hand over Shaw's hair in passing. "Let's go get ourselves some wings!"

Shaw blinks hard, takes a step backward and hears a gunshot from down the hall. A woman's voice shouts quick and short and Shaw knows the voice is Agent Bellows.

"Status?" Shaw says.

"Bellows is down," says Agent Sparks. "We found –"

Then Sparks' voice cuts off with a shout and another gunshot.

"Sparks!" Shaw snaps but she knows he is not going to answer her.

Shaw walks silently back over to the entrance to the room. She puts her back to the wall beside it and scans the room she is in – little cover save the table, additional exits on both sides leading to other rooms, windows across from her. It is not the best location.

"Shaw?"

Shaw straightens up and listens to the sound of footsteps – no need to hide, they know her position. "That you Reese?"

"Your Samaritan agents are down; it's just us now."

"Let me guess, whole lot of knee caps feeling the burn right about now?"

"We just want to talk to you, Shaw."

Shaw smirks and keeps her finger tight against the trigger of her gun. "We? Got a few friends I know with you?"

"We want to help." Shaw hears the footsteps getting closer down the hall. "We're not going to hurt you."

"That's a shame, because I'm going to hurt you."

Shaw flips around the door frame and fires three shots in the direction of the sound of Reese's footsteps, calculated height to match for his six foot two size. She sees Reese for a moment, hits the wall beside his head with two shots and another just misses his shoulder into the space of the doorway behind him. Then she swings back around into the room, back against the wall again.

"Pretty close there, Reese. Got you interested in the fight yet?"

"I'm not going to fight you, Shaw."

She laughs once. "Oh yeah? Just going to let me shoot you now because that's all that's going to happen here."

"You don't have to do this. Samaritan is not who you work for."

"And who do you work for now, Reese, cause last I heard your Machine was out of play?" She whips around the corner again, fires two shots but Reese is no longer in the hall way.

She flips back around, scans her room quickly then turns and steps out into the hall. She walks slowly with her gun out in front of her, close to one wall and eyes scanning quickly. "Where are you, Reese?" She calls. "Decided to play hide and seek instead?"

She turns into the next room and someone suddenly grabs the end of her gun.

"Guess I found you," a female voice says.

Shaw lashes out to the side and hits Root with an elbow to the face. Shaw hears her gun go flying across the empty room and Root stumbles backward. Shaw jumps back to put space between them then a hand touches her shoulder. Shaw whirls around and hits Reese in the face before he can say a word. Reese moves back a step into the previous room with the computers but he does not try to fight her.

"So this was a trap then?" Shaw snaps, flashing a look back at Root behind her and then to Reese in front of her again.

"We just want to bring you home, Shaw."

Shaw scoffs. "Home?"

"Please, Sameen," Root says.

Shaw glances at Root again then back to Reese. She shakes her head. "Maybe I did fall into your trap but I'm not staying stuck in it."

She pivots forward, kicks Reese in the knee with one leg so he stumbles backward. She follows him as he keeps moving out of her way but he only puts up his hands defensively.

"I told you I'm not going to fight you."

"You just want to go down, is that it?" She smirks. "Kind of a bitch way out, Reese."

She lashes out to punch him in the face but his blocks with one forearm. She goes for a cross shot but he blocks her again.

"Bit better now but don't you want to try a few of your own, tough guy?" She says, this time faking a left hook and smashing him in the neck with a right instead.

Reese groans, coughs and stumbles back, his voice croaking. "We're here to help you, Shaw."

Reese has his hands up across from her, punch left then right as she blocks each blow. They turn in a slow circle as they spar. Shaw fakes a low hit then goes for Reese's face. He ducks out of the way and gets her with a sharp punch to her shoulder.

Shaw laughs with a feigned hiss of pain. "Ouch, gonna give a girl ideas with that baby punch."

John smiles and tilts his head. "Didn't know I was being graded today."

"Always, Reese, gotta keep you up to speed. All that gray in your hair might start slowing you down."

Reese smiles again and jabs for her arm but she dodges. "Decided to resort to trash talk now?"

Shaw nods a head toward the subway car. "Find me a real gym and I'll skip the talk for more knock outs." She swings up a kick and just barely catches Reese in the side.

Reese dodges and suddenly gets her in the cheek with a hard punch so she stumbles back. She shoots him an impressed look.

He smiles yet again. "Doing pretty good right here."

Shaw blinks rapidly and stares at Reese's face, his hands up to block her still but not moving toward her.

"Shaw?" Reese says. "Let us help you."

"Listen to him!" Root says suddenly from behind Shaw. Shaw flashes a look back at Root in the door way. Root holds up her hands like she wants to pulls Shaw against her. "This isn't you!"

"No?"

Shaw turns back, knees Reese hard in the stomach as he is still looking at Root then smashes his head against her knee as he doubles over. She sees blood fly from his mouth and he crumples to the floor, just barely missing the table with the line of computers as he falls down. His head hits the cement with an audible crack and he groans in pain. She pauses as he blinks, puts his hands under himself as he tries to push up but only falls back down.

Shaw grins and turns back to Root. "Yeah, that seems like me." She takes a step toward Root and tilts her head. "Ready for your turn?"

"Shaw..." Root looks at her with an expression like devastation.

Shaw scoffs again. "Cry me a river."

Shaw snaps forward, punches Root in the jaw then grabs her by the shoulders and slams Root in the midsection with her knee. Root groans in pain, half falls over, but instead of fighting back she holds fast onto Shaw's hips, keeps herself from falling all the way by using Shaw as an anchor.

"We came to get you, Sameen," She says with some blood on her lips. "We thought you were dead; we shouldn't have... I shouldn't have given up on you."

Shaw punches Root in the face again and grabs one of Root's arms off her hip, twisting it back at a painful angle but not quite breaking it. Root cries out in pain again but she does not kick or hit or even try to pull away. She keeps holding on with her other hand to Shaw's hip, finger digging in so Shaw can feel it.

"You sacrificed yourself for us," Root says staring up at Sameen, her knees on the cement floor. "We didn't come for you in time but we are here now."

Shaw slams the gate of the service elevator closed and flips over the metal lock by the floor with her feet. She can still feel the moisture of Root on her lips, the taste of another person indescribable, delicious and she sees the pained shock in Root's eyes as she falls back against Fusco.

Shaw shakes her head hard, blinks three times. "Stop it."

Shaw lets go of Root's hand and instead pulls at the hand Root still uses to cling onto Shaw. Shaw rips Root's hand off, breaking one of Root's fingers as she does so. Root screams but instead of flinching or pulling away or finally hitting Shaw back, she squeezes Shaw's hand and does not let go.

"They did this to you; they hurt you and turned you against us and I know you fought them, I know you did!" Root says desperately. "You would never have hurt us; you would never have betrayed us if they didn't break you down and warp your mind."

"Think what you want," Shaw snaps though her voice sounds alien and weak to her own ears. She tries to pull her hand out of Root's but the other woman has a vice grip. Shaw finally kicks Root in the stomach so Root falls back and their hands snap apart.

"I sometimes wonder how you don't break your knuckles all the time," Root says as she reaches out and takes one of Shaw's hands. She purses her lips and taps the finger tips of her other hand over each knuckle of Shaw's. "All the punching you do its amazing these still look so..." She smiles. "Delicate."

Shaw watches Root's black nails as they tap out a pattern – Morse code for beautiful – and she frowns. "That's why you need to know how to punch properly."

Root grins and folds her palm over Shaw's hand in hers. "You offering a private lesson?"

Shaw frowns more and pulls her hand away. "No."

Shaw breathes hard, shuts her eyes and opens them again, shakes her head once in a sharp way. "Stop it."

Root coughs once, some more blood on her face then she heaves herself up to sitting and grips Shaw's leg.

"You can fight it, Sameen," Root says, her voice sounding ragged, "you can get past what they did to you!" Shaw tries to step back, to pull away from Root's hands. "We are not leaving you again."

"Stop it!" Shaw snaps and she punches Root in the face once more, slams her knee up into Root's jaw with a crack.

"Shaw!"

She looks up as Root falls back onto the cement, coughing and bleeding and still one hand loosely curled around Shaw's ankle.

Reese stands again behind Shaw, a gun in his hand. "Please, Shaw, you have to listen to us."

"I don't."

"You don't want to kills us."

"I do. Those are my orders."

"You could have shot in me in the hall. If you wanted to kill me you wouldn't have missed." Shaw's lips twitch but she says nothing. "You could have killed Root by now if you wanted to; she hasn't fought back and you have enough skill to do it without any weapons but you haven't."

Shaw looks down at Root suddenly as Root grips tighter to Shaw's ankle. "Please, Sameen," she says in obvious pain. "Don't let them break you."

Shaw yanks her ankle away and steps closer to Reese. "You want to bet your life on that, on your theory that I missed?"

"You're one of us, Shaw," Reese says and does not back away as she steps closer.

"Not anymore."

"You are one of us and You are not one of them."

Suddenly Shaw jerks forward and grabs the gun out of Reese's hand – it's as if he wanted her to, as if he never intended to try and stop her. She flips it around, cocks the gun again and puts her finger on the trigger.

"Let's fix that right now then. If I shoot you both then there's nothing to question."

Reese does not move, does not back away. Shaw hears Root move below her, glances down and sees Root dragging herself back closer to Shaw, blood seeped into her hair and dripping from her chin.

Shaw clenches her jaw and her hand starts to shake. She looks up and stares at Reese standing in front of her, arms at his sides. Shaw pulls up her other hand and slams it under the butt of the gun to steady it. She shakes her head but cannot say anything.

"Ms. Shaw."

Shaw turns her head in surprise – she was too focused on Reese and Root, not even thinking, how could she miss his distinctive sound – and stares at Finch now standing a step behind Root.

"I've disabled the wireless connections within a five block radius. Samaritan cannot hear us anymore, it cannot hear you."

Shaw swallows and suddenly remembers – strapped to a bed, a screen in front of her with a red triangle blinking out words over and over; Martine, a blond, a brunette, and pain and a needle in her neck again and again, 'listen to me.'

"Finch?" Shaw says quietly.

"I know you don't really want to do this, Ms. Shaw."

Shaw shakes her head and turns the gun around to point at Finch – no words, nothing she can say. Finch keeps looking at her just waiting her out – their genius, their father, the one you want to save at all costs. She swallows carefully and tries to blink herself back into concentration. Harold does not back down with the gun pointed at him.

"We know you tried to hold out, you tried to fight as long as you could. It's not your fault what has happened."

Shaw shakes her head and pulls one hand off the gun to point at him. "Stop."

"We do not blame you."

Root reaches up and touches Shaw's hip again – Shaw flinches but feels trapped, frozen in place. "We are not leaving you, Sameen." Root looks up at Shaw. "I am not leaving you."

"Ms. Shaw, please." Finch steps closer and takes Shaw's hand in his, the gun nearly touching his chest. "Come back to us."

Shaw spinning the wheel of the yellow sports car as Reese shoots a would–be assassin out of the passenger side, the rush of right and pride in her heart.

Finch holding up the bug she hid inside one of Finch's computer monitors, glaring at her in that way that is only half hearted and more pleased.

Root smiling and touching Shaw's cheek.

Reese and Shaw each throwing a ball for Bear to see which of them he will choose to bring the ball back to. Reese secretly encouraging Bear to go to Shaw.

Finch in the subway car helping Shaw to dress her shoulder wound and though his eyes are angry, are worried, he stays silent for her.

Root holding Shaw close to hide in the shadows.

Root's voice over the coms – flirty and happy and clever so even Shaw's turned down emotions flicker and spark.

Root's smile, her perfect 'only for you' smile.

Shaw's gun arm falls suddenly loose at her side and she tightens her hand fiercely around Harold's. "Harold... I... I don't... I don't want to hurt you," She gasps. "I don't want to hurt you."

Finch smiles at her. "Welcome back, Ms. Shaw."

Shaw lets the gun drop from her hand and she suddenly crouches low in front of Root.

Root smiles with blood on her teeth and she chuckles in the back of her throat. "Hey there."

Shaw pushes hair out of Root's face, assesses the damage – bruises starting, lacerations, cracked jaw, at least one black eye, possible internal bleeding. "Shit," Shaw hisses and Root giggles again. "I really did a number on you."

"But I liked it just a bit," Root whispers.

"You say the sweetest things," Shaw says but her tone has none of the annoyance or disdain of the last time she said those words.

Reese crouches down beside them and picks up Shaw's gun. "Glad to have you back, Shaw, but let's save the kiss and make up for somewhere a bit more secure.

Reese takes one of Root's arms and Shaw takes the other. As they stand – a white screen flashing, obey, a red triangle, authority, pain in her neck and a brunette saying 'trust me' – Shaw shakes her head and blows out a breath.

"I... I think... I keep seeing..."

"It's all right, Ms. Shaw," Finch says and her focus snaps back into place on his face. "It will take time."

Root's hand slips into Shaw's and squeezes tightly. Shaw does not pull away but squeezes Root's hand back. She sees Root smiling out of the corner of her eye.

Shaw looks at Finch again, nods but she cannot find the right words to say.

"Don't be afraid, Sameen," Finch says – Reese standing nearby ready to fight with her, Finch speaking with the voice of a captain she can follow and Root's hand in hers solid and real and a three alarm fire Shaw knows burns just for her – Finch says, "We are not letting you slip away again."