[Part 3 of the 'Sameen Shaw Is A Giant Nerd, Pass It On' arc]
"Shaw?"
She raised her head in vague interest at the sound of Root's voice. After all, maybe there was a jet to commandeer or a terrorist on whom to turn the tables. She glanced down at the cast encasing her lower left leg and grimaced. Anything that did not require walking would do.
"Yeah?" Her voice betrayed curiosity, but it was restrained; it would not do to alert Root to the fact that the mind-crushingly boredom of being benched was making her desperate.
"Do you know staff-fighting?"
That did not directly indicate that Shaw's violent aid was needed, but there was still hope.
"Yeah, I guess," Shaw answered. "You need me to prove it?"
Root's next question abruptly shattered any hopes of rescue from the overwhelming crush of time to fill.
"Do you think we'd be drift compatible?"
Shaw exhaled noisily. "What the hell does that even mean?"
"C'mon, Shaw," Root wheedled disappointedly. "Pacific Rim? Giant robots? Mind melds?"
"Never heard of it," Shaw huffed dismissively as she put the phone on speaker. "Get to the point." She shifted awkwardly on the couch and lay down with the phone on her stomach. She planned to keep Root talking as long as possible. At this point, anything was better than sharpening her knives again and thinking about everything she was missing.
"It's a movie," Root started.
"No, really?" Shaw muttered sarcastically.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Shaw demanded angrily.
Root considered the question for a moment, her head cocked to the side and sporting a shit-eating grin that Shaw wanted nothing more than to knock off her face.
"I'd like to say it's because I'm trying to cheer you up, which is true," she shrugged, "but also because you can't move and I'm going to enjoy it very, very much."
Shaw glared at Root.
"Give me back my crutches."
Root shook her head virtuously.
"You're supposed to stay off that leg for two days."
"That's why I need the crutches," Shaw spat. "So I don't have to put my weight on my left leg while I'm kicking your ass with my right."
Root had already knelt in front of the television to put the disc into the slot.
"So eloquent," she commented before standing. She regarded Shaw's inelegant manner of sprawling on the couch. "Care to share, Sameen?"
Shaw almost grinned, but she was still a little too pissed.
"Nope," she responded, popping the 'p' sound with relish. She waited for Root to settle on the floor, her back nestled against the couch, before making her next demand. "I want popcorn."
Root sighed heavily and stood up again.
"Anything else, since I'm up?" she asked with cheerful sarcasm.
"I'll let you know," Shaw answered agreeably.
Root shook her head on the way to the kitchen. Shaw was only agreeable when she was about to strike.
Half an hour later, when Shaw had finally tired of letting Root sit down only to make yet another forceful request, she allowed Root to start the television. The comments started immediately after Root refused to give her the remote.
"Skip the previews." The command was punctuated by a none-too-gentle nudge from Shaw's cast-encased foot to the back of Root's head. Root rolled her eyes and shifted sideways to make it harder for Shaw to do again before she complied.
"What is this about again?" Shaw whined in a bored tone as the menu came up.
"Be patient," Root chided.
A piece of popcorn hit her in the ear, and she gritted her teeth.
"People fighting huge monsters in giant robots."
"Well, hurry up and play it then, get it over with." Thirty seconds later, she was at it again. "Turn the volume up."
"These are the studio credits, there's nothing to hear yet. It starts out loud," Root argued. More popcorn peppered her face and shoulder. "If you don't stop, you're going to run out," she reminded Shaw with pique.
"Then I'll just make you go get me more," Shaw shrugged.
"And if I refuse?" Root inquired sweetly.
"Then I'll chug all this water," Shaw threatened, hefting the gallon container, "and you'll have to give me my crutches back so I can get to the bathroom. And trust me," she emphasized in sneering reference to Root's somewhat annoying refrain, "you don't want me to have my crutches when I'm pissed."
Root sighed and turned up the volume, simultaneously dialing her implant down in preparation for the imminent blast of sound.
As hoped, Shaw's comments tapered off as the movie gained her attention. Over an hour into the plot, Root chanced a quick glance at Shaw's face. When this garnered no reaction, she let her eyes linger. Shaw's face, lit by the battle sequence flickering on the large screen, remained as rapt and attentive as it had been for the last twenty minutes. At first, Root had suspected a plot to lull her into a false sense of security, but nothing had transpired.
Cautiously, Root rose from the floor and slipped into the kitchen. When she returned, she carefully lifted Shaw's legs and sat down on the sofa cushion while simultaneously passing a new bowl of popcorn to Shaw. The smaller woman accepted the silent bribe without ever removing her eyes from the jaeger wading in all its glory across the screen, although she did settle her legs more comfortably onto Root's lap.
Root let out the breath she had been holding and turned back to the movie. She did not want to miss any of the final battle.
"Do you copy? Uh, guys?"
Root switched off the television set. Shaw, who had been so engrossed in the epic fight that she had not seemed to notice Root tracing patterns on her bare leg for the last ten minutes, suddenly turned her attention back to Root.
"Hey!" she snapped, kicking at the remote. "Turn it back on, there's still the after-credit scene with Chau and the shoe!" She pointed at the screen and waited, staring at it like a setter fixed on its master's prey.
Root grinned her best gotcha smirk.
"I thought you didn't like 'nerd' movies, Shaw," she commented pointedly. "And that you'd never heard of Pacific Rim."
Shaw glared at her, caught out in her lie.
"Reese might have made me watch it once," she allowed grudgingly. "It's okay, I guess."
"That's funny," Root remarked airily. "He said you made Harold pull strings with the suppliers to get you the special-edition Blu-ray before it was officially released." She hit play, aware that Shaw was pointedly not looking at her.
"Actually," Root continued, "that's what we're watching now. I found it in your stuff when we moved."
"Root—" Shaw menaced, snapping her head toward Root and leaning forward threateningly.
"Shh, you're missing it," Root exclaimed. She spoke along with the man emerging from the monster. "'Where is my goddamn shoe?'" Her eyes sparkled at Shaw. "Don't you love that?"
Shaw growled angrily from the back of her throat.
"I've heard this version has some really cool special features, too," Root observed gleefully.
"Shut. Up."