A/N: Finally managed to get the full chapter put back together. Sorry about the delay. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, bookmarked, gave kudos to the last chapter or the story up to this point. It's really appreciated. I hope you readers are still enjoying this. Funny thing apparently some site held a March Madness TV Couples bracket for most popular couple on TV. Somehow Shaw & Root won. Thanks in advance for taking time out of your day to read this.

(POI-POI-POI)

Archival Log Date: Three Months 2 Days after the Capture of Sameen Shaw

Shaw's sleep was fitful. Her dream was plagued by a woman crying out to her for help. Samaritan operatives hindered her progress through the labyrinth of dark corridors in search of the woman.

'Sam! Help me!" She heard cried out in a mixture of agony and fear. "Why won't you come!?"

Sameen Shaw wounded another couple of enemies as she threw open a locked door. Gun at the ready she swept the room to make sure it was safe before quietly closing the door behind her. There handcuffed to a bed was a woman with light brown hair that was matted with blood. Her clothing was torn in several places that looked to have been done with knives. Half healed cuts and bullet wounds decorated the woman's body in a macabre picture seemingly straight from a horror movie.

At the sound of the door closing the woman tiredly lifted her head. Her face was pale from the loss of blood and her brown eyes looked dull. The spark of life in them dulled down to a near burned out flame. Her eyes took a moment to focus on Shaw and then a ghost smile of a smile appeared. "Sameen." She breathed out as she struggled to rise only to collapse from lack of strength.

Rushing to her Shaw pulled the woman into a tight hug. The woman's body was thin from lack of food. Sameen Shaw could feel the woman's rib bones through her skin and that sent a pang of hurt and rage through her at what her lover had endured and at the monsters that had done this to her.

"It's alright I'm here now." Shaw said her voice thick with tears. "I'll get you out of here safely Root."

(Back in the waking world)

"Hold it right there." David ordered the technician as he watched the video monitors. "I want those settings saved." He smiled triumphantly at his success.

For days now they had been broadcasting voices no louder than a whisper into Shaw's cell while the woman slept. Patience had been needed as they awaited triggering a subconscious reaction from the woman that would give away vital information that she had stubbornly refused to reveal.

Great pain had been taken to subtly alter the pitch of the voice in a desperate effort to mimic the voice of the woman that appeared in the photograph with Shaw. Sometimes it would be days between experiments since there was the very real fear of Shaw discovering the audio devices and dismantling them. Which if that happened would make further testing entirely impossible.

Effort had even gone towards changing the pitch of the voice. Under the belief that it would generate a noticeable response from their captive. Every twitch, sudden alertness, and anything that invoked a reaction from the slumbering woman had been recorded, catalogued and gone over with a fine toothed comb.

It had all led up to this moment, and David could not be happier with the results. Here was another piece of the puzzle. One that would be instrumental to breaking the woman and remaking her into a weapon to be used against her former allies.

As an extra precaution David wrote the numerous settings down on a scrap of paper that he tucked into the notebook that he carried with him. His time working under Samaritan teaching him the importance of keeping some information either in his head, or stored on paper.

Once that was done he pulled a phone out of his pocket and dialed a number from memory as he exited the room. The phone rang once before being picked up. The person on the other end said nothing.

"We finally got a reaction from Ms. Shaw. I believe we now have enough information to move onto stage two now."

Walking towards his office David listened carefully to what the other person was saying. "I'm not sure that is the best idea." He said once there was a lull in the conversation. What was being said was not to his liking as his face darkened and his grip on his phone tightened till his knuckles began turning an assortment of red and white.

"The risk is quite possibly too great. Not to mention the possibility of it being found out before everything is in place." After a few moments of silence his face began to lighten once more as he put a hold on his temper. "Very well then. I will update you when there is something to report." Hanging up the phone he put it into his coat pocket and sat down at his desk with a sigh. Taking his glasses off he rubbed at his tired eyes.

'Well I certainly wanted my life to have an impact.' He thought sarcastically. 'Hopefully if everything goes to plan then I can at least see the look on that bitch Martine's face before she kills me.' That brought a smile to his face as he relaxed and drifted off to sleep.

ARCHIVAL FILE: Day 5 after the Retrieval of Sameen Shaw

"Not a whole lot has changed since Samaritan captured you." Root said somberly as she dipped the spoon deep into the broth bringing up a bite that was laden with vegetables with bits of chicken laden in broth. "We've still been doing our best to survive daily against Samaritan and get what few licks in we can." She leaned forward slightly and smiled slightly as Sam willingly opened her mouth and took in the bite.

Proven to be too dangerous Sameen's hands were bound 24-7. As a result the short woman was incapable of feeing herself. The only time she was ever allowed to stand was when all three of them were there and Reese had a gun trained on the woman in preparation of unprovoked attacks. Finch and Reese, still hurting from their injuries, were somewhat reluctant to come to close to the dangerous woman. For that reason Root had taken up the task of feeding Shaw.

Everyday each of them would spend a little time with the woman. Reese would be reminiscing about the good old days in an effort to remind Shaw of their shared camaraderie. Finch would talk about the relevant and irrelevant numbers that the team had saved during the dark haired woman's absence. His hope of reigniting the flame that had burned within her at the sense of duty and importance of saving the lives of innocents was commendable, even if Shaw spit in his face half the time.

Root however chose to interact with her far more than the other two. The taller woman would make idle chatter with Sam apparently trying to engage her in conversation. The topic of discussion for Root, since more often than not she wound up talking to herself, would vary and jump from world events that occurred during Shaw's absence to the daily grind and some of the more boring aspects of life in general. Each discussion shed a little more light on Samaritan's enemies though each was careful to avoid giving too much away in the event Shaw somehow managed to escape.

"You should know that it hasn't been the same without you around. We spent months trying to track you down. I was positive you were not dead." Root's smile faltered for a moment before becoming affixed on her face once more. "Even after the first five months when Finch was all but certain and Reese began to have doubts I remained certain that we'd find you alive and rescue you."

'You really have some gall.' Shaw thought darkly as she quietly and obediently ate another spoonful of soup. Her reluctance to eat what she was being given somewhat averted by it tasting quite good and the pangs of hunger coming from her stomach. 'If you'd truly been hunting for me, then you would have found me. With your skills you could find anyone.' Sameen allowed herself a bitter chuckle and tried to keep her tone light "I have no doubt of that Root." The lie tasted bitter on her tongue but Root seemed to accept it without question.

"I…" Root paused and stared down at the soup in her hands for a moment as she gathered her strength before continuing. "It was difficult at times. I threw myself into the Machine's missions more than once with little regard for my own safety. Those were days when my hope was weakest and…a part of me…believed that I would be reunited with you one way or another."

A lump formed in Sameen's throat at that. For a moment the tempest of anger and hate that swirled almost constantly through her mind whenever she was close to the woman died down. 'She…is she telling the truth?' The little ray of hope and light was quickly quashed as the tempest returned fiercer than before. The memory of Root's teasing casual smile as she toyed and flirted with her oh so many times coming to the forefront darkening the skies once more. 'Consummate liar. Better than so many government agents. How else would she have survived this long doing the Machine's work and her own?'

Still looking down at the bowl of soup Root spooned up another helping for the captive woman. Her mind still dwelling on the long lonely months spent trying to find any trace of Sam keeping her attention focused inward and not outward like it should have been.

Seeing her chance Sameen Shaw acted. Leaning forward as though to take another bite of the soup she suddenly lunged forward. Her mouth opened wider in preparation of ripping and tearing.

With a SNAP Shaw's teeth closed on empty air. Shrunken eyes the size of drops of the blackest ink seemed to vibrate with anger. She had been so close this time. Yet somehow at the last instant Root had sensed her intentions and managed to pull back in time.

'Damn. All that and for nothing.' Her mental grumbling continued for a little while interspersed with further gripping and annoyance at what she had been forced to do all in a single attempt to harm the taller woman further.

Root's eyes were downcast like was common these days as she set the bowl of soup down on the floor nearby. Her knees were red and slightly scrapped up from the rough subway car floor but she seemed to pay them no mind. "I guess we'll have to find another way to feed you." She said simply as her eyes looked at the spoon she had been holding less than a minute ago. Her gaze lingered on it. Likely replaying the few seconds when she had given into Sameen's soft look and mistakenly thought that the plea to be fed had come from her lover and not from a woman who'd seen it as an attempt to bite off Root's finger.

Picking up the spoon Root walked away from the bound woman and did not look back. If she had Shaw would have seen the look of determination on her face and the set of her jaw that would have alerted her to the fact that the woman was far from done fighting.

'Why is she doing this? She knows well enough what I've done to Finch and Reese. Their wounds have still not fully healed yet. Yet everyday she is in here talking to me.'

A/N: Took a little bit, but here is the full chapter. Sorry about the delay. Hope you guys enjoyed this. Feel free to review and let me know what you thought.

POI – Preview – POI – Preview – POI

Nothing matter at the moment. Not the Machine desperately trying to talk her out of this course of action. Not Reese who had taken one look at her expression and cried out a command in Dutch hoping that Bear would be able to stop her in time. Not even Harold, eyes large with fright behind his glasses mouth open in a cry of "Ms. Groves try and be rational!" Was going to stop her.

In a heartbeat the knife was in out of its sheath. It's blade a dull beacon of light as the obsidian reflected the glare from the overhead light into the eyes of the person helpless before her.

Still that calm almost bored expression remained. The only reaction being a slight tilt to the head as they looked disinterestedly at Root even knowing they were seconds from death.

Root tasted blood in her mouth from her split lip. It had been so long since she had killed anyone, yet that emotional void eagerly pulled her inside like an old friend. The earlier trembling in her hand was gone now. A sadistic smile befitting the person she once was came upon her face as the knife swung downward.

Like a surgical instrument the blade cut easily through flesh. It went deep and skipped off bone but did not break. For long seconds it remained buried then like a proverbial drill it struck oil.

Reese and Bear had hold of her now, but the damage had already been done. A fountain of red had risen and now stained her hand. Root could hear someone screaming and it took her a moment to realize it came from her own mouth.

"You bastard! I would draw your death out for months making you suffer a hundred times over for what you did to her!"

Her hand was jerked free of the blade. The hilt of the knife had been engraved. The words now cut deep into the palm of her hand and outlines in red. 'To Root. The surgical tool to my blunt force.'

The man gasped in pain. Cuffs rattled against the metal folding chair as he instinctively tried to take hold of his wounded leg. Yet still that damnable smirk remained on his face. Through gritted teeth he managed to get out "You've grown weak Root. The woman I've learned about would have killed me without a thought." David then sucked in a breath as he looked towards Reese.

A silent war of wills raged between the two men that was broken by a strained voice.

"You're wrong." Root's brown eyes stared through her curtain of hair at the man. Even as tears ran from them there was strength behind them and her voice that grew with each word. "I've grown stronger. Strong enough to survive everything your puppet has thrown at me these last several weeks. I am more than strong enough now to bring Sameen back to me. You will tell me what you've done to her, and I will undo it all."

END PREVIEW