Thanks, as always, for the endless positivity! Your Reviews and Favorites etc are always appreciated. Chapter Twenty Seven will be up Wednesday or Thursday, so check back then! Enjoy!
Root spent hours following the Machine's instructions. She was tired from sleeping poorly on the couch in the Queens apartment, and found her mind straying back to the conversation she'd had with John the night before, even as she dealt with illegal arms dealers, stole the dry cleaning from outside of an apartment, and carjacked a dark blue four door sedan- nothing flashy, an intentionally ordinary make and model.
When the late afternoon rolled around, the Machine told Root to head to the subway station. She called Reese to tell him where she was going, and was pleased and amused that he understood immediately that she meant that she was going to see Shaw, and would prefer it if the others would stay away. Evans and Tasha were safely tucked away for the night, and John said that he was going to stay with them, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious because Evans still seemed anxious. He then told her with a smirk in his voice that he would tell Fusco he didn't need to bring Shaw dinner.
Root hid the car in a nearby parking garage that She pointed her to, and then made her way through Manhattan on foot again, stopping in a pet store to pick up a dog toy for Bear that required him to figure out how to get treats out of the center. She knew that Shaw was probably antsy being in the subway station, and that repeatedly ending their conversations on an uncertain note would probably have left her irritated. With Shaw, even though it had been a full day since the transgression had occurred, Root knew that she should be prepared to apologize.
Then the Machine gave her a phone number, which she called up, not sure what to expect. It was the Angus Club Steakhouse. Root fumbled for a second when she was asked if the order was for pick-up or delivery, and then the Machine gave her an address for the steakhouse to deliver to and directed her a few blocks out of her way. When she was asked if she wanted the usual, she said yes, not sure what that meant. She made her way to the address, curious to see what She was leading her to. The building was far from the nicest on the block.
It ended up being the apartment of a drug dealer and his 'coworkers', who were just starting a gunfight with some Aryan Brotherhood goons. She let them shoot one another and then entered the apartment, shooting the remaining drug dealer in the knees and exploring the apartment while waiting for the delivery person from the steakhouse to arrive. She wondered if whoever was on their way for 'the usual' was coming for drugs or money or something else entirely.
Root went into the bedroom and found that the entirety of the double bed was covered in stacks of money. The Machine pointed her to a duffle bag from the dresser, and she started scooping stacks of hundred dollar bills into it. Once she'd tested the weight with her good arm, she filled the pockets of her jacket as well, then put the bag down on the coffee table, sitting on the couch to count it while she waited for whatever was coming next.
There was a knock on the door, and Root picked her gun up, taking a deep breath. She looked through the peephole and found herself looking at the magnified face of a kid no older than eighteen, an insulated cooler bag in his hands. She couldn't see any sort of weapons, so she opened the door a little, just enough that he could see her but not into the apartment where the bodies of the drug dealers were laying haphazardly.
He looked confused, and tried to look past her into the apartment, then checked the number beside the door like he thought he was at the wrong place.
"Uh- did you order food? Is Julien here?" he asked.
"Yes, I called in the order," Root said firmly, still trying to size up what this kid was doing with the drug dealers. He looked as anxious as she felt, but seemed to decide to just get it over with. He unzipped the bag and started to pull out a couple of takeout boxes in plastic bags.
"Open it," Root said stiffly, her gun just out of view. The kid looked startled, but opened the top box with fumbling hands, almost dropping the rest of the containers.
Root shifted the pistol in her hand.
The lid popped up and she saw that inside, there was a large sirloin steak. She blinked in surprise as the kid explained what each box contained, double checking the receipt as he went. A twenty two ounce sirloin, a rib eye, grilled chilean sea bass, asparagus, broccoli, steak fries. Root swallowed and flicked the safety on the gun, stuffing it into her jacket pocket.
It was food. Nice food, from one of the highest rated steakhouses in the city. She never stopped being impressed by the Machine.
She paid the kid in cash and tipped him two hundred dollars to leave the insulated bag as well. As soon as she was sure that the kid was well on his way, she made her way downstairs, loaded down with food and the large bag of cash.
Her elbow grew sore as she reached the last few blocks.
The closer that Root got to the entrance of the subway station, the more she could feel a smile growing on her face.
She shifted the bags she was carrying as she made her way down the steps. Before she had rounded the corner, Bear came sprinting towards her, hackles raised and ears up like he was ready to attack. When he saw that it was Root he immediately relaxed, sniffing with interest at the food she was carrying.
She stepped off the bottom step and rounded the corner with Bear in tow.
Shaw was exiting the subway car with the flip knife in hand, looking ready to go to battle. Root smiled playfully at her and watched Shaw's determined expression melt into mild annoyance and surprise, approaching Root with interest. Root couldn't help but note how similar Shaw and the dog were- always ready to fight. And then once they realized that there wasn't a threat and it was something they knew and liked, they could flip their internal switch back into relaxation almost instantaneously.
"You shouldn't be carrying stuff that's heavy with your arm healing," Shaw scolded her, taking the bags from her hands. She sounded and looked annoyed, but Root was touched by the sentiment nonetheless.
"Nice to see you too," Root teased as Shaw turned and walked back into the subway car with the bags.
Shaw quickly put them down on the desk and turned to shut the laptop sitting on the built-in seats before Root could see it. The action did not escape Root. She remembered the day before when Shaw had closed a window she'd been looking at and wondered what Shaw was up to.
Root still had the duffle bag of money over her shoulder, and tried to lift it off over her head but her elbow was sore from carrying the food. She was dismayed that she felt weak. It took Shaw no time to step forward and help, lifting the bag and then holding it in her hands, looking at it curiously as she weighed its contents.
"Drug money," Root said by way of explanation. Shaw raised her eyebrows.
"Of course it's drug money," she said under her breath, and put it down in Finch's desk chair. Then she turned back towards the remainder of the bags. Bear was sniffing at them with excitement.
"Los," Shaw commanded him, and Bear immediately withdrew his nose. He came over to her feet and sat down, pushing his head against her hip so she would pet him. "He's been going nuts. I think he got even less exercise with Fusco than he does when he's stuck down here."
Root looked at him sympathetically and went to the table, opening one of the bags and handing Shaw the dog toy and treats.
"Marcia from the pet store tells me this is great for bored, smart dogs," she said with a little smile and tilt of her head. Shaw looked genuinely pleased, and that made Root's stomach flip. Maybe Shaw wouldn't be angry about the limited and stressful conversations they'd had in the last thirty six hours after all.
Root watched Shaw unwrap the dog toy and put some treats inside of it. The dog was watching the process as well as soon as he smelled the treats. When Shaw threw it out the door of the subway car he lunged after it, chewing with vigor. Both Root and Shaw could tell that it was going to take him a while to figure out how to make the treats fall out.
"I also brought something for you," Root said, looking over at Shaw. Shaw was watching Bear with the smallest hint of a smile on her face, tucking her lower lip into her mouth when she looked over at Root. Root tipped her head to the side, one side of her mouth curving into a smirk as she stepped over to the table and the insulated bag.
She unzipped it and pulled out the bags of food. Shaw immediately turned fully to look at Root and stepped towards her when she saw the name on the bags.
"Are you kidding me? This place has the best sirloin in the city," Shaw said, impressed and pleased. Root pursed her lips to keep from smiling wider.
"The Machine has good taste," she joked. She could see Shaw's eyebrows pull together and her mouth twisted down at the corners for a moment before she masked her dismay with a blank expression. Root wondered what had caused the shift, but Shaw had looked away, out towards Bear, who was snuffling excitedly at the toy Root had bought him, still desperately trying to work out how to get the treats from inside.
"It's too bad they don't make those for humans," Root said, stepping closer behind Shaw. Root joked, "I need to find you something like that to keep you from going crazy."
She could sense Shaw stiffening, and then Shaw turned back to Root, stoic.
"I thought that was you. Isn't that the Machine's plan?" Shaw asked, her words bitingly blunt. Root was stung and confused, thinking to herself that they'd already cleared this up. She recoiled like a snake and then struck back.
"For someone who doesn't have feelings, you sure need to be reassured a lot," Root said bitterly. Even with all of her stoicism, Shaw's eyes gave away how hurt she felt. They stared at one another for a few long seconds, and then Root looked down at her hands, turning away, letting Shaw win the stare-down.
"I told you before- I'm here because I want to be here," Root said, and then paused. "Would you rather I stay away?"
Shaw didn't answer.
Root nodded, then looked at Shaw, who was chewing on her bottom lip.
"I guess it doesn't matter either way. I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get back," Root told Shaw. She watched Shaw's eyebrows scrunch together in concern.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Wherever Evans says that Samaritan is," Root told her. They were both quiet for a minute. Root could tell that Shaw's mind was racing through the possibilities of what that meant. Root started towards the stairs. She had a feeling that Shaw would stop her, and as immature as it was, she wanted to make her do so. She'd only made it a few steps across the platform when Shaw spoke.
"Fusco brought me beer yesterday. I saved it…" Shaw's voice bounced off the hard surfaces of the subway station. Root paused and looked over her shoulder towards Shaw. "I figured I didn't need to be completely pathetic and drink alone."
Root remained still, waiting for Shaw to saw something more akin to an invitation. Shaw took a few steps toward Root.
"Stay," Shaw said, more like a question than a statement, moving to stand in front of Root. Despite the note of annoyance in Shaw's voice, Root could feel her eyebrows tug upwards, giving away the hurt she felt. Shaw looked into her eyes hard. After a few beats, where Root could tell Shaw was trying to find something more to say and coming up empty, Shaw took a deep breath. "You look tired."
Root figure this was as close to a 'please' or an apology as she was going to get, so she smiled a small, sad smile and gave a little nod of her head.
Shaw put a hand on Root's good elbow and gave it a reassuring squeeze before heading back to the subway car, passing by the dog. Bear was shaking the toy vigorously, still having a great time. Root watched him for a moment and then followed Shaw.
"So what? You stopped by a steakhouse on the way back from busting a drug dealer?" Shaw asked. Root could tell she was trying to dispel the tension between them and found herself smiling.
"Something like that," she said lightly, hoping she sounded more carefree than she felt. Shaw opened the box on top and when she saw the steak inside, she turned to give Root a look like she wanted to kiss her she was so happy.
"Your robot knows its stuff," she said sarcastically. Root closed the distance between them, stepping squarely into Shaw's space as she smiled playfully down at the shorter woman.
"Not a robot, remember?" Root scolded with a smirk, her voice low. Shaw cracked a smile and leaned against the table, reaching out and grabbing the pocket of Root's jacket. She pulled Root into her. Just as Shaw was about to kiss Root, she paused and looked confused. She looked at her hand in Root's pocket and pulled out a stack of bills. Root took the money from her pockets and tossed it onto the table. Shaw watched with amusement as the hundred dollar bills hit the table top. While Shaw was still shaking her head, Root put a hand on the shorter woman's cheek to still the motion and kiss her.