Sameen Shaw was a loner. She was incapable (at least she had told herself so many times she had come to believe it) of feeling any real emotional attachment to any other human. She had neither the time nor the inclination to let anyone in.

Then Root came along and things got complicated. At first she was just annoying. Shaw thrived on dealing with annoying. Whenever someone got too close, she could shut them down with a glance, at worst with a sarcastic comment. It never failed to work- anyone who got close, or tried to get close would invariably be done once Shaw decided it was time for them to leave.

Then Root came along and things got complicated. Shaw went into shutdown mode almost from the jump with Root and all it did was encourage her. It was almost as if Root thrived on Shaw's rejection and used it as fuel to come at her even stronger. So Shaw decided to experiment with Root and after one encounter knew something was different. She had a hard and fast rule as far as physical relationships went- the 'Three Night Rule'. After three nights with anyone it was over.

Then Root came along and things got complicated. After the third night with Root, Shaw watched her leave Shaw's apartment with something gnawing at her that she'd never encountered (felt?) before. She didn't know what was going on but decided to up her game as far as sarcasm and rejection was concerned.

Root took it in stride and it never seemed to phase her. The worse Shaw treated Root, the more Root responded as if it were a game that she, Root was destined to win. She deflected Shaw's sarcasm, ignored her rejections and continued to feed whatever was gnawing inside Shaw.

Today's encounter was typical but it triggered a response from Shaw that was atypical. As she left the subway Shaw was determined that this had to stop- she wanted, no she needed to stop the troubling sensations that disturbed much of her waking hours and left her sleepless more and more. Root's invasion of Shaw's consciousness bothered her like nothing since she lost her father over 20 years ago.

She wandered aimlessly around the city, eventually ending up in the park. She saw a kids' playground and went over to sit and watch several young children playing on a carousel and when they had left she got on it and rode in circles for fifteen minutes or so. Leaving the park, she had a sensation of being followed, but dismissed it as dizziness from the roundabout.

She continued to walk aimlessly, the sensation of being followed continued. Fearing Root was tailing her, she headed toward one of the crowded markets teeming with people of all ages as the afternoon headed toward evening. She slipped into a shop and silently watched… a familiar figure came into view. Eyes searching the crowd, looking for someone or something, Shaw knew her senses were dead on- as usual.

Tomas!

She slipped back into the crowd and followed him for a couple blocks as he attempted to reacquire his target. Finally, tiring of the game, Shaw walked right up on him and grabbed his arm.

"Lose something?"

Tomas spun around, ready to attack, then as he realized he'd been made, he smiled his old, charming smile.

"Shaw, I knew it was you."

"Well, your tailing skills suck- I made you in the park. If I wasn't working on something I would have shut you down a lot sooner." Keep telling yourself that Shaw, you might believe it. Shaw looked Tomas up and down. He's still hot, maybe even hotter than last time.

"So what are you up to, Shaw? I haven't seen or heard from you since you stood me up on the plane ride to Barcelona."

"I didn't stand you up, I told you I wasn't coming."

"And I told you you wanted to come and I'd have your ticket waiting. I can't tell you how disappointed I was that the seat next to me was empty on that flight. And you didn't answer the question, what are you up to?"

"A little of this, a little of that. I keep busy."

"Listen, I'm only in town for a few days, why don't you have a drink with me tonight. We'll go back to the club where we got acquainted and get reacquainted. What do you say?"

Shaw hesitated but only briefly. "Why not? How about 7:00. I'll meet you there."

"Later Shaw."

And he was gone. As he left, Shaw wondered why she'd agreed so fast and why she didn't call him back and tell him she had a previous engagement. The more she thought about her agreeing to meet Tomas, the more conflicted she felt. She headed back to her apartment determined to stay home and figure out what the hell she was doing.

But at 6:30 she was locking the door and heading out to grab a taxi. She wore the same dress she'd worn the first time she'd met Tomas at the club, the black number that showed an interesting amount of cleavage and an almost obscene amount of leg. Truth be told, the dress would have been more appropriate on a pre-teen than a grown woman, unless that grown woman was looking for one thing, and one thing only.

Arriving precisely at 7:00 she found Tomas waiting for her at the bar. He surprised her by not directing them to a booth, preferring to sit knees touching as he came on to her. And he came on strong. His lines were just as good as they had been, and Shaw seemed determined to play along.

Finally, after several drinks, Tomas leaned in, placed his hand inside Shaw's left thigh way too high to be misconstrued and whispered, "Want to get out of here?"

Shaw, still trying to sort out everything, decided to continue the game.

"Let's go."