Harold, Lionel, Grace, and Sameen Shaw all stood in the kitchen speechless and bewildered, awkward silence passes for little over a minute, but to them it seemed like an eternity. They all must have thought it was a cruel joke. If it was a movie this would be the part where dramatic music plays then comes to a complete halt.

Grace was the first to break the ice "Honey, who is this woman, is she another one of your friends?"

Root tries to ease the tension "I know this is a lot to take in Harry, but you need to let me explain" she said.

Lionel finally chimes in "Cocoa Puffs, this is impossible, you're dead. I saw you, uh, her on the slab in the morgue."

"Ms. Groves is dead, I don't know who you're trying to fool here, but I saw her die in the car" said Harold.

All these skeptical responses, did not effect Root. She lets out a devious smirk and walks over to the most important person in the world to her, trademark hip sway in ful motion, Root stands directly in front of Sameen. Both study each other.

"You're awful quiet Sameen".

Root proceeds to run her fingers through Shaw's delicate black hair, and smiled. "You've gone a little gray" indicated Root as she grasped a slight gray hair.

With unbelievable agility Shaw brings her hand down and hits Root over the head with her gun, and knocks her out.

"Lionel grab her, Harold, Grace, I need something to tie her up with." Shaw ordered taking full charge of the situation

"We have zip ties in that drawer over there" remarked Grace.

"Ms. Shaw what has gotten into you? I want answers! You all just come here and bring a trail of destruction, and not that we're not grateful for the rescue, but I still want answers" said Harold.

"Here Lionel" said Shaw as she throws the zip ties over to Fusco, who has Root propped up against a chair.

Root is starting to come back into consciousness.

"You want answers Finch, fine, long story short your number came up, Fusco and I hopped a jet, and came to rescue you. As for "her" this has to be a bad soap opera, a twin sister or relative, but it's not her, and I am going to do a little blood test here" says Shaw, as she flicks a needle.

Taking all the information in, Harold remarks to Grace that she should probably sit down. "My number came up? I thought the machine was destroyed" said a perplexed Harold?

"Against all the odds she survived and rebooted with her core code" said a now re-conscious Root.

Root tries to break free from her restraints as Sameen approaches her with a needle "really takes you back to the CIA safe house days, doesn't it sweetie" chirped Root.

And with that, Sameen Shaw drew the blood from Root's arm.

"Who are you, really" asked Harold?

"You guys, I'm Root, I can explain all of this" Root said.

"No, Root was killed by a Samaritan agent" remarked Shaw.

"No" Root said desperately shaking her head.

"They faked my death. I was shot, yes, and when they took me to the hospital Samaritan agents took over, brought me back from the edge of death" she explained.

"Bullshit, I saw Fruit Loops on the slab, dead and lifeless" quipped Lionel.

"Yes, and please stop interrupting me! Yes you saw me on the slab, they gave me a shot that would stop my heart for a few minutes. It was a fifty fifty shot that I'd survive it."

Catching her breath, Root continues "they faked my death, so they could torture me for the location of the machine, eventually they cut out my cochlear implant, and threw me in a deep dark hole in Sri Lanka, coincidentally the same place they put CONTROL, which by the way Caroline and I are in a good place now.

"I'm sorry, but no, the machine adopted Root's voice and even used her as its own physical manifestation, if what you say is true, why go through all that trouble" asked Harold?

"Harry, she needed, to convince all of you, if there was any doubt that I had died, she knew you all would use her to look for me. She took my voice and appearance, to remove any shred of doubt or reason to investigate further. It was for the greater good. Samaritan needed to be stopped, and a rescue mission would have resulted in all of your deaths, it chose the greater priority. Run my blood, and you'll find that I'm telling the truth, I'm Sam Groves" pleaded Root.

"Oh believe me, I will, Grace, I'm going to need your help to break into the Yale med building" remarked Shaw.

"Let me give you my key card", said Grace.

"Grace no, don't encourage her", said Harold.

"Oh come on honey, you know I love a good mystery", she said.

"I was at the grave, they dug it up, I saw the fresh dirt", Sameen said.

"The Machine sent Joey Durban and Harper to do it", Root retorted.

"I'll be back, this will take a while", Shaw commented.

"Sameen, you're wasting your time, I've already passed the most basic test", Sameen Shaw merely looked at her, their nonverbal communication was in sync.

Shaw didn't need to asks her to elaborate.

"What does your heart, tell you, Sameen" mused Root?

Lionel asks another question "Did you do that" pointing to and referring to the bullet hole.

"No, it was me, we needed to trigger your number. Sorry Harry, it's the rules of the game" said a mysterious man who now stands in the doorway.

Harold, Grace, and Lionel, all look at Root. Their body language all asks the same question. "Ask Shaw" Root says.

"Ms. Shaw, who is that man", Harold wonders.

"My cousin" she said.

"Everyone, meet Oded Shaw, former SEAL, and CIA", says Root.

"He rescued me and CONTROL, from that Sri Lankan hell hole, the past three months the three of us, have been doing work for the machine", says Root.

"I'm sure you've noticed a mysterious man on a motorcycle, Sameen. I needed Odie, to check up on you all, to be sure, it was really you guys, before we proceeded" said Root.

Sameen Shaw leaves the reunion, she takes the car and heads off to the Yale campus. close to an hour pases, and the team at the house ask questions, get re-aquatinted, and muse over what to do.

About fifteen minutes later Shaw returns "DNA confirms it, it is Root" she muses.

Detective Fusco walks over to the chair and cuts the zip ties, thus freeing Root. He remarks "Jesus Christ, Cocoa Puffs, it's a goddamn miracle or somethin."

Root stands up, "thank you Lionel."

"Now let us explain why we're here. Since Samaritan was disbanded, most of its followers were reassigned, except for a select few who have taken it upon themselves to continue its legacy", explained Root.

Oded Shaw then takes over, he pulls out a phone and shows them pictures of a familiar face! "You all know her as Claire Mahoney, Samaritan's shining star, with a chip on her shoulder. You and the LATE John Reese destroyed all she worked for, and now she's been working to refigure, Ice-9, and destroy your machine, and fit all of you with a toe tag"explains Oded.

"Why do you need me, and all of us" asked Harold?

"Because Harry, the machine's been crippled badly, and you and I, are going to rebuild it, expand her reach, and stop Claire, before she ushers in another dark age, and then all of us are going to stop her" Root explained.

She walks over to Sameen, and hugs her "why the long face baby? We're back."


The crew settled in at Harold and Grace's house. They reminisced and caught each other up, talked about John, then they all agreed to get started rebuilding the machine the next day. Then another couple of hours passed and it was bed time. The sleeping arrangements were agreed upon, and Lionel and Oded agreed to share a room. Sameen, however declined, much to Root's dismay, to share the room with her.

Root sat in her room on the bed with her door open, she was buried in a laptop. Shaw walked by to her room right across from Roots. Shaw snuck a quick glance, hoping Root wouldn't notice, she was still peering down at her laptop. Shaw reached her door handle.

"Come in here, we need to talk."

Shaw heaved a sigh, and turned around and walked into Root's room. "What do you want", Shaw said?

"Close the door", ordered Root.

As Shaw complies Root continues "I know this is a hard pill to swallow sweetie, and I know you're mad deep down, just know that "she" did it to protect you."

Shaw gives a slight roll of her eyes "just go to sleep, you and Harold have a busy week ahead of you."

Root closes the laptop "I missed you too."

Sameen merely gives her a blank cynical stare.

Root looks her dead in the eyes "Why don't you just say it, Shaw?"

Sameen smirks and gives into her anger "you were gone 3 months Root! 3 months! John needed you, Harold needed you, Fusco needed you, and I-, the point is, when the critical moment came you weren't there."

Root merely looks at her "Sweetie, believe me, I never wanted that."

Shaw continues to lay into her "Stop with the sweetie, pet name bullshit, Root. There is no "us" and there never will be. All those times I let you kiss me, fuck me, hold me, ended up being for nothing, and what's worse is deep down somewhere, I was starting to give it a chance, I reciprocated, and even wanted the affection at times. I shed a tear for you Root, you got to me that much. Now I've realized that feelings only lead to pain, Root. Not the pain I enjoy, but the kind of pain that doesn't ever go away."

Root's eyes begin to water, "I know you missed me."

"No, Root, I got over it", shaw mouthed back.

Root stands up walks up to Sameen, and yanks down the part of her shirt, covering her shoulder, and looks at Shaw's tattoo, the tattoo of an arrow, both women stare at each other for several seconds.

"Don't think I didn't notice you wearing my leather jacket too, which by the way I want back, leather is my thing Sameen", retorts Root.

"Good night Root, get some sleep", is all Shaw says as she starts to walk away.

"10 minutes, you'll be back in 10 minutes, Sameen."

Sameen looks behind her and sees Root holding up 10 fingers as she mouths "10 minutes" with a devious smile on her face. Shaw storms off and walks back into her room.

5 minutes and 15 seconds, stop it, I'm not giving into that nerd, and letting her win. Shaw mulled as she kept looking at the time. Sameen walks over onto her bed and sits down, she looks down at the time; 6 minutes. Although...the sex always was incredible, the few times we did do it...It has been little over three months since the last time I was able to get off. 7 minutes 25 seconds, No, she needs to learn that her actions have consequences.

Shaw walks over to her door and goes to open it, but she stops herself and walks away from the door. 8 minutes, no, stop checking the time. Why does she have to be annoying and hot, why does this woman get to me? Shaw walks back to the door and then stops herself and walks back to the other side of the room, and keeps mulling it's just sex, I'll just go to get off a few times, then I'll spend time torturing her. 9 minutes 40 seconds, here we go. Sameen storms over to her door flings it open and walks across the hall and barges into Root's room!

Root is buried back in her laptop, but smiles acknowledges Sameen's presence "you made it, with twelve seconds to spare."

Shaw slams the door shut and walks over to Root's bed "shut up!"

Root let's out a devious smile and says "gentlemen start your engines."

The rest of the night went by with period crashes and thumps, and Harold having to assure Grace that the girls weren't fighting, then things settled down, and Root and Shaw's intimacy was quite tender and sweet and not as kinky as it had been known to be.

After several hours the two lay next to each other, completely exhausted. Root takes a huge risk and rolls over and wraps her arms around her beloved and proceeds to cuddle with her.

"I'll cut your throat, Root", Shaw whispers in her ear.

"Then do it if you hate it so much." And Sameen just gives in and appeases Root, and closes her eyes, and eases into sleep.