Small Moments Only We Know
"What are you doing?" Shaw asks Root, who is sprawled out on the floor of the subway car, long limbs outstretched like a starfish, eyes closed.
"Hello sweetie" she replies, opening her eyes. Shaw stands above her, expression neutral save for the slight arch in her eyebrow, indicating mild curiosity.
"That's not an explanation" Shay says, waving a hand to indicate Root's position.
"Can't a girl just say hi?" Root smirks as Shaw frowns, looking mildly irritated.
"Never mind, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know anyway" she replies, stalking off gracefully, presumably to the gun locker.
"Your loss" Root replies, shrugging as she closes her eyes again and lays back down. She hears a pause in Shaw's barely perceptible footsteps and she can practically feel her internal debate. She hears a sigh and the light footsteps make their way back towards her.
"Fine, what?" Shaw asks , irritated mostly at herself for indulging the hacker.
"Now there's no need to be like that" Root says, her smile betraying her amusement.
"Root I swear..." Shaw growls, causing Root's smirk to widen, something Shaw hadn't even thought was possible. She's in full on perky psycho mode now and though it's preferable to her Eeyore state, without the buffer of a number or mission it could only end one way.
Oddly enough Shaw isn't completely opposed to that but if they're going to have rough sex she'd rather not do it on the floor. Root raises an eyebrow, as if she can tell where Shaw's thoughts have gone though she's sure her face remained neutral the entire time. Shaw narrows her eyes in retaliation and Root looks her up and down in turn, undressing her with her eyes.
"You still haven't told me what it is you're doing" Shaw says. Root gives her a knowing look, probably because she's changed the topic, not that they had even been talking. Maybe that's what Zoe had meant when she said they were always having 'eye sex'. Still, it wasn't as good as the real thing, not that she'd tell Root that.
"Did the machine tell you to do this?" Shaw asks and Root shakes her head in amusement, giving her the look she often gives her when she underestimates the machine.
"No sweetie, she has far more important things for me to do, though not at the moment." Shaw sighs in frustration when she stops talking without actually answering her question. Root could be incredibly evasive when she wanted to be, which apparently she did much to Shaw's dismay.
"For the last time Root, why were you lying in the middle of the floor?" Shaw says, letting out a heavy sigh, wondering why she was still here having this conversation. Root did strange things sometimes, and sometimes those strange things were simply for the sake of doing strange things, at least that's what it looked like to Shaw.
"To distract you" Root replies casually, as if it had been obvious the entire time and she hadn't been completely evasive for the past five minutes. Instantly Shaw becomes suspicious-as far as she knew they were the only two here, so what was she distracting her from and why did that involve lying on the floor? There were far more enjoyable ways Root could have distracted her. Unless...
"Turn around" Shaw demands and Root's smirk turns down a few notches. Shaws bends down and Root backs away, Shaw following the movement until she hits the back of the subway car.
"Show me" Shaw commands and Root gulps at the seriousness in her tone.
"Root, if you're hurt and you don't let me help"
"You'll spank me?" she injects, receiving the classic but deadly Shaw glare in reply. She swallows, her smile disappearing as she tries again, this time in a more serious tone "It's nice to know you care."
Shaw opens her mouth to deny it but she quickly realises Root's right and if knowing that gets her closer to the truth sooner then so be it.
"it's not what you think" Root says and she sees Shaw relax slightly, the wound up tension in her muscles slowly easing. Her smile starts to drop, being slowly overcome by a frown, the first real grain of truth Shaw has seen in her so far.
"Then what are you so afraid to show me?" Shaw asks, her tone remaining neutral but the fact that she's here, asking in the first place instead of dismissing her outright after establishing her lack of serious injury betrays how much she really does care and it's more than enough for Root.
"It's stupid" she says quietly, eyes downcast and Shaw reaches out, lifting her chin with a surprising amount of gentleness. Root looks startled for a moment but a smile peeks out. It's a different kind than her usual manic smirk but it pleases Shaw in an odd way, knowing she's the cause of it. They stare at each other for a moment before Root sighs, reaching behind her head to pull her hair free from where it had been tucked into her jacket. At least three, maybe even four or five inches of her dark brown locks are missing, chopped off in a jagged, uneven line.
"Oh" Shaw says, blinking in surprise.
"One of Harry's latest numbers did it, he got the drop on me and apparently he has a thing for hair. I didn't think it bothered me but I just..." she trails off as she plays with one of the ends sadly.
"Come on" Shaw replies, holding out a hand. Root gives her a questioning look but relents, taking it and allowing herself to e pulled up and led to Harold's chair. Shaw reaches up and gently but firmly pushes on her shoulders, indicating for her to sit. She does so and Shaw spins the chair around so she faces the monitors. Root cranes her neck to watch as Shaw starts going through the med kit, eventually pulling out a pair of scissors.
"Oh" Root mutters in surprise, realising what she's doing. It touches her unexpectedly, no-one had ever gone to so much trouble for her. She sits quietly as Shaw goes to work, the gentle tugs as Shaw runs her hands through her hair every few moments comforting. Now and then she stops, putting the scissors aside to gently massage her scalp, soothing the sore areas and whenever she does Root sighs, leaning into her touch.
"Done" Shaw declares once she finishes, brushing the excess pieces of hair off Root's shoulders and back. She fetches a dustpan and broom while Root checks her appearance using the webcam. It's shorter than she's used to, reminding her of when she was a child but Shaw's done a good job and it definitely looks better than before. She finds that, despite the uncomfortable reminder of her childhood it gives her it doesn't bother her nearly as much because now, when she looks at it she can still feel Shaw's hands gently running through her hair.
"Thank-you Sameen" she says, her voice quiet but sincere. Shaw pauses her cleanup, looking up at Root from where she's crouched on the ground. Their eyes meet and Shaw nods, acknowledging her comment. It's more than enough for Root.