It's been a few months since Shaw and Team Machine has been reunited. Root's been delicate, afraid Shaw might break, but she knows that she's stronger then that. Or maybe it's her that's about to break, months of keeping it all in, not allowing herself to fully cry. So many months fighting to get her back, going against the Machine's wishes. But here she is with a slightly different Shaw but still her Shaw.
Shaw's staring out the window of Root's new apartment, this is one of the slightly different things about her that Root has noticed. Shaw seems to always gravitate towards her, seeks her out, before she couldn't wait to get away from her. She finds comfort in Root's presence now.
"Maybe there's more to life then just surviving."
Root's typing away at her laptop, "Huh, what was that, Sameen?"
"Life, I'm just so tired of trying to survive. I want to live, Root. Is there anything but grief in this life?"
Looking up from her work she pauses and stares at Shaw with a tenderness that she wishes she could wrap Shaw up in, "There's love, Sameen."
Rolling her eyes Shaw walks back to the couch and sits, resting her feet on the mahogany coffee table, "Tch, love, I don't even remember what love feel's, like."
"After Hanna disappeared and after my mother died, I thought I'd never learn to love again. Everyone was just bad code to me. And then the Machine taught me to love again. But if just trying to survive is the only way to keep the people I love alive. Then I guess I'll just have to keep fighting till the day comes where we can stop surviving and finally live."
"I've been fighting my whole life, Root. I don't know how to live very well."
Smirking Root closes her laptop and decides that maybe now is okay to get a little bit closer to Shaw, she's not going to break right?
I'm not going to break right?
"Come on, Sameen, you've pretty much died twice. You know exactly how to live."
"What if my living kills the people I lo— care about?"
Crossing the room to sit next to Shaw, not allowing herself to make any eye contact.
"Then that just means they cared about you enough to die for something that they love. Besides if we're living that doesn't mean we're going to get ourselves killed. There could be a day where we do all the domestic things that ordinary people do."
Coming off a bit unsure of herself Shaw places a hand on Root's and squeezes, "Do you really think we're built for domestic? You and I, we're…"
Squeezing back, finally allowing herself to look Shaw in the face, "….a four alarm fire in an oil refinery?"
Shaw nods.
"I don't know, Sameen, you could work cases with Fusco and I could help Harold with some computer project, I'm sure, 9 to 5. Though I really don't think we're the white picket fence type. But it would be nice for Bear to get out and stretch his legs, wouldn't it? Do some ass kicking on the weekends or for vacation. Come home and I could cook you a steak or five. Bring you a beer while you play with Bear…..but we've still gotta take Samaritan down."
"So maybe someday, someday we won't just be surviving, we'll be living, you and I?"
"Yeah, Sameen, someday."
Resting her head against Root's shoulder she smiles lightly, yet another thing that Root is trying to get used to. Sameen's tender smiles, her affection for touching her in the littlest ways.
"I could do domestic. If it was with you, Root."
Root smiles and leans in to kiss the top of Shaw's head, "I wouldn't want to do domestic with anybody else, Sameen. As long as you're with me, we can survive anything. We can live."
