16th December, 2014

Shaw drove to Gen's school with Root riding shotgun, both of them sniping at each other on the way. Root enjoyed Taylor Swift, which Shaw emphatically did not.

Root sang along to 'You belong with me', making doe eyes at Shaw at the chorus, and Shaw steamed silently, keeping her eyes on the night road. At the end of the song, Shaw leant over and rifled through the stack of CDs Root bought for the road trip. She pulled out a Steve Miller CD and popped it in.

"My dad liked him, OK?" Shaw said defensively, and Root smiled, filed that away with her other information on Shaw, knowing that Shaw wouldn't admit that to anyone else.

Shaw handed Gen an armful of presents.

"We all wanted to give you something. Must be hard, being alone in a boarding school for the holidays." Shaw knows that Root has given the kid a state of the art laptop she picked up somewhere, and Shaw is a little embarrassed of the portrait of Bear that she bought for the girl. "I wish we could take you somewhere, but I'm not supposed to even be here. If they find me..."

"I know," Gen said, eyes shining. "It means a lot that you came."

Root knocked on the door then, stepped inside.

"We have to hurry," Root said. "Sorry kid."

Gen looked Root over for a moment, then pulled in Shaw real close. Shaw crouched so Gen could speak to her quietly.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Gen asked, and in this moment Shaw was thankful that Root was half deaf.

"That's your... aunty Sam, I guess?" Shaw said, shrugging at Root, who rolled her eyes and nodded. "She's the one who updated me as your guardian when my identity changed. Paid your fees this year, too."

"Oh. Thank you... aunty Sam." Gen said, half behind Shaw still, a little wary of the stranger.

"Gotta go, Shaw. The cameras will be coming back online in two minutes and we need to be out of here by then. Can't write off any longer in downtime."

"Bye kid. Be good." Shaw said, and Gen flung herself at Shaw, who awkwardly patted Gen on the back.

Shaw and Root slipped away into the night, and Gen heard a car start before seeing the glow of the red light of the camera in the hall.

16th December, 2017

Shaw wandered through the house, making herself a coffee. Gen appeared a little later, rubbing at her eyes, feet warm in fluffy purple slippers.

"Can I have a coffee?" Gen asked.

"It'll stunt your growth. Trust me," Shaw said.

"I'm nearly a grown-up," Gen pouted.

"Gen, you're 13. What kind of parent would I be if I let you drink coffee?"

"An even better one," Gen said, smiling. "Coffee?"

Shaw sighed and made a very weak coffee, with a lot of frothed milk.

"This is good!" Gen said.

"Wait until you taste the coffee," Shaw said, watching Gen's face and laughing as she hit the bitter liquid. Gen smacked her lips, then shrugged.

"I mean it. You are a good parent," Gen said quietly, still sipping at her coffee.

"I'm not a parent. Not really. I'm just a guardian. I don't know what I'm doing."

"You're doing well. I know your work is dangerous and you've always been responsible about keeping me safe. Better than anyone else did."

Shaw looked over. "It's easy to excel when the bar is so low. Go put something warm on. Snow's melted and I was thinking about going to the park. Got spare beanies and scarves on the coatrack."

Gen nodded and took her coffee with her to go get dressed.

"Do you need a new coat?" Shaw asked after her. "Looks like you've grown again."

"One came in the mail last week, care of Thornhill Industries." Shaw smiled. The Machine buzzed happily in her earpiece, followed by a quiet "she's growing so fast, I'm keeping L.L. Bean in business"

"Thanks," Shaw said quietly. "I'll take her shopping this afternoon."

"I checked her search history and got the one she liked," The Machine said, Root's voice sounding hurt.

"Sometimes you just have to take your kid clothes shopping," Shaw said kindly.

16th December, 2014

Root eyed Shaw as she drove through the night.

"Thanks for taking the cameras out. That poor kid, stuck there over school break," Shaw sighed.

"Finch says she enjoys her studies, that she's highly intelligent."

"Yeah, she is, but it must suck, being alone in there over the holidays." Root thought back to the previous night, to what Finch had said about Shaw's kind heart. Remembered how Shaw's father had died while she was young, wondered what, if anything, Shaw was feeling.

"You did what you could," Root said finally. "She understands."

"She understands too much. She's just a kid," Shaw huffed in frustration.

"And she knows that the further away from her you are, the safer she is," Root said placidly.

Shaw nodded finally. She looked over at Root.

"Really, thanks. I know Finch worries about her."

"It's easier to hide you than him. You're a good guardian. And as for the cameras, you can owe me," Root said, resting her hand on Shaw's thigh. Shaw ignored the come on and let the hand stay; at least it was warm. "I'm behind on patching. Come to subway tomorrow night and give me a hand?" Shaw nodded and removed Root's hand from her knee, changing gear as sped away from a recently red traffic light.

They were halfway home before Shaw realised she didn't say no to Gen's question.

Notes:

You might have noticed the year change; I need this to be in 2017 now to match the age I imagined Gen to be.

I'm planning on daily updates but we'll see how we go - I'm julietteverne on twitter and will tweet how I'm tracking (look for the pink bird). I'm finally enjoying writing something again.

If you're enjoying this, please let me know.