A/N: Somehow I can see Root doing this to Shaw if for no other reason than to push the woman's buttons and see what she would do in retaliation
Shaw's body felt unusually light yet heavy at the same time. Root walked beside her on Shaw's left side. Each woman had an arm draped over the other's shoulder both in friendship and for support as they drunkenly made their way down the street back to Root's apartment. The hacker's apartment was closest to the bar they had been drinking at and as such was the obvious answer when the two had chosen to leave the bar.
In truth they had to leave after Root dislocated the shoulder of a man that had made the mistake of openly hitting on the drunk Shaw in front of the woman. From there things had dissolved into chaos as the man's friend's tried to come to the aid of their friend. Shaw had seen it as an attack against a woman she considered a close friend first and a fuck buddy on the nights when either lady felt lonely and needed bedside company. The fight had been over quick with only a few destroyed tables and neither woman was injured. Thankfully it was a bar they had never frequented before so after Shaw had tossed a few hundreds to the bar tender to cover the damages the two made their escape before the police were notified.
A shiver ran through the shorter woman from the slight chill in the night air. Instinctively she leaned closer to Root and a warm feeling went through her as Root's arm wrapped tighter around her trying to share as much of her body heat as possible.
Shaw felt her consciousness drifting and the next thing she knew Root was holding the door open for her. Stepping inside a sigh of pleasure came out of her as the heat of the apartment began to warm her chilled body.
"I know it is not much, but its home." The quiet voice of Root reminded the former assassin that she was not alone in the room.
Frankly Shaw knew as much about décor as she did fashion. It was bare bones décor much like Shaw's own apartment. There was a queen size bed taking up a corner by a window overlooking the street. There was obviously a bathroom behind a darkened doorway. Several blouses and coats hung in a closet next to an oaken dresser. The main feature in the room was a desktop computer equipped with three monitors. Even though the computer did not appear to be anything fancy Shaw instinctively knew it had to be top of the line and likely equipped to be one of the best that money could buy. In a way the apartment reminded her of hacker. There was a façade to it, well hidden, that made it appear to be an open book regarding its occupant. Yet Shaw knew all too well ever since her first encounter with Samantha Groves aka Root that the woman could put up any front she wanted in order to lure people into letting their guard down around her.
Her attention was drawn back to the other woman when she closed the door. Looking at Root Shaw felt arousal burn through her. She was not certain if it was her feelings for the woman or the alcohol in her system that had her pinning the taller woman against the door.
Shaw growled as she left Root's mouth and trailed a line of kisses down the woman's neck. Her teeth then sunk into the woman's shoulders. She was inwardly thankful that she was strong enough to keep the woman upright when Root's legs began to quiver from Shaw's ministrations.
The passionate moment was cut short when a queasy feeling roared through the former assassin. A quick moment of clarity hit her and Shaw pushed away from Root and rushed to the bathroom where her meal from early that evening graced the towel bowl.
She continued to cough and hack as the foul taste threatened to bring more stuff up from her stomach. At some point Root joined her in the bathroom and held Shaw's hair back as she continued to retch into the towel bowl. Eventually the retching came to an end and the former assassin allowed herself a moment to enjoy the feeling of Root rubbing her back in an effort to help the woman get through this bout of nausea.
"Ok you are going to bed." Root said forcefully.
Shaw did not protest or resist as the woman helped her to her feet and led her over to the bed. Still not feeling the best Shaw made no effort to resist as Root sat her down on the bed and began divesting the former assassin of her clothes. Left sitting in her underwear Shaw tiredly watched as Root went over to a dresser and pulled out a large T-shirt.
Once the shirt was on Shaw curled up in Root's bed and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
As the former assassin slept wheel turned in Root's mind. The attention the woman had received earlier from men and women had caused a spark of jealousy to flair up in Root. While Shaw had not flirted with any of the people that had hit on her Root still wished there was a way to let people know that Shaw was hers and to keep their hands and eyes off her. That was when her drunken mind had an idea. It would be so simple and easy to pull off. Especially with the woman sleeping.
Not once did Root stop to consider if what she was doing made any sense. Even the thought of what Shaw would do when she found out did not occur to Root in the slightest. It was over in a few minutes though and Root sat back pleased with herself. With that business taken care of she curled up beside the woman went to sleep.
The next morning when Shaw awoke she felt slightly awkward to wake up wearing one of Root's shirts and with her arms wrapped around the woman. She was used to waking up to the both of them naked making this somewhat uncharted territory for her. Getting up her foot collided with the pants and underwear she had worn last night. At that some of her memory of last night returned. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she recalled getting sick in front of the other woman. Not one of her proudest moments and inwardly she hoped that Root would not see her in such a vulnerable state anytime in the near future. Once Shaw was fully dressed she gently shook Root's shoulder till the other woman was awake. Her heart beat slightly faster as the hacker gave her a tired smile.
"Morning gorgeous." The woman said tiredly.
"Morning yourself." Shaw replied back allowing herself a rare smile. "I need to head off another number to take care of and whatnot." She made to go before stopping. "Sorry about last night. I'll make it up to you this weekend."
"I'll hold you to that." Root said before snuggling back under the covers and falling back asleep.
LATER THAT DAY
'Damn it. This is not how I wanted this day to go.' Shaw managed to dodge out of the way of the incoming knife thrust. What would have been certainly lethal managed to leave a nasty gash along her side and through one of her favorite shirts. The former assassin was forced back several more feet as she ignored the burning pain in her side and focused her attention on her would be assassin.
It has seemed like an easy job when Harold had first sent her the message about the new number. Some shy woman that simply had the misfortune of witnessing a rather brutal crime and obviously needed protection till the perpetrator was safely behind bars. Instead it turned out that she was a hired assassin hunting down a man in witness protection. So of course once Shaw found out the truth she couldn't just stand by idly and let the woman do her job.
She mentally cursed the fact that she had agreed to go out drinking with Root last night for two reasons. Firstly and while not the most important because the hangover was certainly impairing her ability to kick this woman's ass with the ease it would have normally taken her to deal with a rank amateur. Secondly and of far greater importance than her current life or death situation was because it had left her so utterly wasted that she couldn't even enjoy her stolen night with the woman.
She had plans for that night. Had gone to the painstaking trouble of actually buying flowers and a rather expensive brand of perfume, which Root liked, to give the woman as an apology gift. To make up for being forced to skip out early on their last night of passion due to some situation or another involving Reese. It was getting to the point where she did not even bother keeping track of all the times she had bailed him and Finch out of trouble.
For a brief moment Shaw took her eyes off the woman as she spied a potential weapon hidden behind a wooden crate. Sadly her brief distraction had given the woman an opening and she lunged at Shaw with a vicious smile just as the shorter woman went diving for the metal pipe. Shaw's dive once more kept her safe and she heard a quiet rip as the woman put a large tear in her jeans, right across the top of her buttocks, which went from one side of her hip to the other. When Shaw's hands closed around the pipe she rolled to keep her momentum going and put additional distance between her and the woman. This put too much strain on her jeans and with a loud tear they ripped displaying her bare backside to the world.
Now equipped with a weapon Shaw went on the offensive and the fight was soon over. She was not the least bit gentle about pulling the woman's hands behind her back. As she tightened the zip ties down her ear piece buzzed to life.
"Ms. Shaw." Harold's familiar fatherly voice came over the com line.
"I'm fine Harold thanks for asking." Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she drove her knee into the woman's back as she turned around to secure her feet.
"It's not that Ms. Shaw."
This time she picked up on the nervous undertone in his voice. Getting to her feet Shaw pressed on the ear piece so she could hear Finch's voice more clearly. "What's wrong?"
It-it appears that someone…has apparently marked you." Harold Finch finally managed to get out with a slight stutter.
A low chuckle could be heard in the background followed by "That's one way of putting it Finch."
"John can you please translate for Finch. He's not making much sense at the moment and I don't have the time to puzzle out his meaning." With a grunt of annoyance Shaw removed the shirt the woman had been wearing, without destroying it too badly, and wrapped it around her hips to cover her tear in her jeans.
"He means that you've got a tattoo on your ass Shaw. And by the sounds of it you weren't aware that it was there."
John's deep calm voice sent a rush of embarrassment throughout Shaw as she processed what the man had told her. She tuned out the minor squabbling that was going on over the earpiece as Finch berated John for being so blunt.
'When…how…WHAT THE HELL DID SHE DO!' With little thought to the consequences Shaw stole the assassin's purse and made her way to the vehicle she had driven the both of them here in. While the logical part of her brain argued for heading to whatever location was closest and had a mirror that she could use to find out what tattoo looked like her emotional side was dead set on heading back to her apartment, over thirty minutes away, to find out without having to worry about anyone else seeing it. In a rare case her emotional side won out and Shaw had the pedal to the metal as she broke all speed limits heading back to her abode.
By the time she had gotten inside Shaw had worked herself into a frenzy. Sure she had a number of scars all across her body, but she had drawn a line at tattoos and facial piercings. They just were not her thing. What possibly made things worse was the knowledge that Root might be behind the mark on her body and knowing the woman she was capable of just about anything.
Heading into her bathroom Shaw tore through the assassin's purse till she pulled out the woman's compact. Dropping the woman's shirt and her pants Shaw turned her backside to the mirror and used the compact to look at what the tattoo was.
"ROOT I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Far away from Shaw's apartment a sense of dread fell upon Root. For some reason she suddenly had the sense that her very life might be forfeit from her pissing off the wrong person.
Shaw's body nearly vibrated from the rage she was feeling. Neatly written in perfectly legible print on her right ass cheek was written 'Property of Samantha Groves' all put neatly in a little heart. The entire thing was written in black permanent marker.
She was going to get the woman back for this. Sameen's mind had already decided that if Root felt it was appropriate to do this to her, then she should have no problem with Shaw giving her a real one to mark the hacker as hers.
But that was for the future. For the time being Sameen had a date with the shower. Giving a sigh she hoped that the tattoo would wash off.
One Week Later
The tattoo that Root had given Shaw had mostly faded by now. The morning Shaw had discovered the marking she had spent an hour in the shower cleaning up and trying to rid herself of the mark to no success. That failure had made her all the more determined to see her revenge through to completion this night.
The two women had once more gone out to a bar to have a girl's night out. Shaw made sure that Root's glass was always full and had to hide her devious smirk several times by drinking her beer. After two hours both women were quite buzzed and Shaw had innocently suggested they head back to her place for a night cap. Shaw purposefully chose a route that led by a tattoo parlor and when it came into sight she had grabbed the hacker by the arm and dragged her inside.
The shorter woman could not remember what excuse she had made up to explain her interest in going inside. Thankfully Root had not questioned her at all. From there it had been all too easy to talk the woman into getting one.
The next thing Shaw knew she was clad only in a pair of lacy black boy shorts and being pushed back onto her bed by a naked Root. She hissed quietly as her rear made contact with the bed and assumed it was simply her muscles protesting the amount of work she had done the past week in her mission to save as many numbers as possible.
As Root nibbled on her pulse point Shaw's hands found their way to the woman's hips. From there she raked her nails down the woman's body till she had a firm grip on Root's ass with both hands. Beneath her left hand she felt the tell texture of gauze and she smiled knowing that her mission had been a success.
A squeak of surprise came out of Root as she was pulled forward by Shaw who had lain back fully on the bed and covered her own face with Root's womanhood. Then the hacker began moaning loudly as the former assassin began to lick and nibble at her folds. Her drunken mind knew that the beauty beneath her was simply teasing her, but at the moment Root did not care. She was quite content to let the other woman do all the work tonight.
The Next Morning
As the sun began peaking over the horizon there was a loud crash from Shaw's apartment. The blankets were wrapped as tightly around the two woman as they were to each other. At the moment Root was on top and she was trying ineffectively to bash her lover's head in with a pillow.
"I can't believe you actually did that Sam! How could you convince me to get that tattooed on my ass!"
Shaw was laughing, for one of the rare moments in her laugh she was actually laughing, at the absurdity of the situation. She knew fate could be a fickle mistress at times, but apparently it also had a nasty sense of humor. She had succeeded in convincing Root to get a gun tattooed on the left side of her ass with 'Property of Sameen Shaw' neatly stenciled in bold capital letters along the gun's holster. What she had not planned for, and the reason for why she was laughing, was for she herself to end up with one.
Root had been the one to discover that Shaw had been inked when the two had shared a shower that morning. It had prompted Shaw to hope out and to check her bathroom mirror. Once more on the right side of her ass was neatly written the words "Property of Samantha 'Root' Groves" spelled out in black and red ink with the monitor of a computer acting as a background.
"Root!" Shaw managed to finally get out between her laughing fits and her lame attempts to stop Root's pillow assault.
The woman paused in her battery and looked down at the shorter woman wearing a mischievous smile.
"We are so not telling John and Harold about this."
The woman's words brought home the reality of the situation to Root and she found herself laughing alongside the woman before leaning down and giving her a deep kiss.
"That is a promise I'm willing to keep. Though next time you want me to get inked. Just ask as opposed to getting me drunk, cause as nice as it is, I would have preferred remembering the experience.
Shaw simply nodded and smiled as she kissed Root once more.