Sameen Shaw's heart pounded as she raced down the sparsely lit corridor. Her chest hurt from the increased oxygen deprivation from running for so long. The fatigue in her legs sent jolts of pain shooting up her nervous system and it took a concentrated effort to ignore the signs that she was quickly reaching her limit. Thanks to her years of medical study Shaw knew that she would probably collapse before she left the building even if she were to try and walk if she did not get some rest first. But her safety was secondary at the moment.

'Stupid woman. You should have at least waited for backup before going inside.' She was uncertain if her mental tirade was aimed at herself or the person she had come inside to save.

The minute Shaw had received the address for one of Decima's holding she had set out to rescue the hacker. She understood why Root had done it, they could not let Samaritan come online or else everything they had worked for, everything they had sacrificed for would be undone in an instant. Thoughts of what she might find, fears of being too late were dealt with as harshly as the Decima agents who'd made the mistake of getting in her way.

The former assassin had fallen back on her military training and had executed anyone who had stood in her way as quickly and efficiently as possible. It had long been decided that she would concern herself with Finch's disapproving looks and John's quiet silence after everything was said and done.

The sound of her running feet echoed ominously off the corridor walls. The rust stains doing little to dampen the sound. It was almost a minor miracle that the building was still standing and this well intact given the years of neglect atop the structural damage that had rendered the building condemned.

Finally the end of the corridor was in sight. The simple wooden door marked 'Information Retrieval' being the only indicator that she was on the right path.

Shaw did not slow down for a moment. When she was only a few feet from the door she turned and slammed her shoulder into the rotting wooden frame. The door splintered from the impact and flew open, the unengaged lock doing nothing to hold it closed. Her weapon was already drawn and sweeping the room for enemies even as she frantically scanned for Root. Then her eyes settled on the simple metal folding chair set up in the middle of the room.

Its frame was more reddish brown then gray with flecks of metal littering it and the floor. The back right leg had snapped off completely and been replaced with a simple two-by-four that kept the chair upright and prevented it from falling over.

The figure in the chair was motionless. Her head hung limp and a trickle of blood flowed from an open wound. Her chocolate brown eyes, usually full of mirth and cleverness, were glassy and blank. Devoid of life and emotion they still seemed to burn into Shaw's soul with accusation as if it was the former assassin's fault for her fate. The bullet wound in her temple only appeared to add to the grim décor of the room.

Shaw's fingers felt numb and her weapon clattered noisily to the floor closely followed by the emotionless woman's knees. A feeling of despair welled up in her. She cried out in a mixture of pain and rage as she slammed her fists down onto the floor. Hot tears flowed freely onto the floor as she continued to wail from the pain of having a part of her, which she had not even known was missing, was now ripped permanently from her.

She did not hear the footsteps approaching so caught up in her sorrow. Shaw did feel the press of cold metal against the back of her head. Biting back her pain she turned and looked at the blond woman with hate in her eyes. "Well what are you fucking waiting for Bitch?! ARE YOU GOING TO PULL THE FUCKING TRIGGER OR DO I HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOU!?"

The woman gave no indication that she cared about what the broken woman said. She simply breathed in slowly and pulled the trigger.

The bed sheets were damp and clammy over her bare form. Raising her body up Shaw switched on the bedside light and slumped back onto her pillow. She lay there for a second before growling and sitting up and throwing it across the room. It impacted against the wall with a wet FWUMP before falling to the floor.

Falling back onto the uncomfortable mattress Shaw placed an arm over her eyes. The dream that had awakened her was already fading fast but it still was seared into her memory. Especially the emotional memory of what she had seen in that room. It was something that she was not particularly comfortable admitting to herself.

As much as it loathed Shaw to admit it she knew quite well why her nightmare had featured Root's death. The woman had a way of attaching herself to people's lives without them noticing until it was too late. Considering how the hacker had managed to even befriend a lone wolf like her spoke volumes about the woman's inherent talent.

It had started off simple like most things do with idle chatter while they were waiting for information from Finch. From there one of them would sometimes bring the other coffee when they were teamed up for some assignment or another. Then it had somehow turned into meeting at a bar for a drink after a particularly troublesome number. Shaw could still remember how they had knocked back shot after shot matching each other in some pointless contest. Sameen had won the drinking contest, but when the two woke up in bed together the next morning it felt at the time that Root had been the true victor.

With a grumbling groan she fell out of bed to the floor catching herself and beginning her usual exercise routine starting with pushups. The chill of the night air raised goose bumps along her entire body and felt oddly pleasant against her wet skin.

Normally Shaw would not bother herself with getting up this early, but after that nightmare it would be difficult for her to calm her mind down enough to fall back to sleep. Her exercise routine was designed to work her entire body and help keep her in shape with the added bonus of clearing her mind of anything that was troubling her. An hour later she began her exercise routine again angry that her mind was more worked up than before.

The image of Root dead in that chair continued to haunt her. Inadvertently her mind cast back to roughly two months ago when she had rescued the hacker from the woman calling herself Control. For several hours it had been touch and go trying to keep the woman alive long enough for her heart rate to slow down enough for Shaw to adequately treat Root's wounds. It had scared her seeing someone she cared about in that bad of shape and being almost helpless to do anything. The hour she had spent sitting beside Root while the woman attempted to slumber had been agonizing. The whole while she had desperately wanted to give her something for the pain or to simply help her relax yet the medic stubbornly refused to let that happen.

The roller coaster ride that Control had put Root through had taken a heavy toll on her body and the part of her not ruled by emotions knew that giving the hacker anything more could kill her as it would help her. Sure both women had put on brave faces and joked about it later. But it was the cold distant type of humor usually shared by ex soldiers and law enforcement officers who had seen just a bit too much of the dark side of humanity.

The nightmare had brought that all roaring back to the forefront and as Shaw rolled over onto her back and began her customary four sets of twenty-five crunches she silently vowed to herself that the woman she cared about would not be in that kind of danger ever again.

5 Days Later

"I don't know what has gotten into you Sam. I've known you to be reckless in the past, but reckless and stupid. That's a whole new level for you. Course maybe your just being stupid." Root grumped as she jammed the needle deep into Shaw's arm.

The fair haired brunette continued muttering to herself as she stitched up the latest bullet wound in the shoulder of her erstwhile companion. Thankfully it had been a through and through but it had still been enough to drop the former assassin.

Shaw said something but it came out as unintelligible gibberish leaving Root uncertain if the tanned beauty was simply talking in her sleep or actually beginning to come out of her drug induced coma. Her eyes continued to move rapidly beneath their lids and with a quiet wordless grumble the woman became still once more.

Root had been puzzled by the actions of her sometimes lover over the past week. She knew the woman could be temperamental and outright anti-social on a good day. Yet it was almost like she was trying to protect Root. At one point Root had walked in on Shaw actually yelling at Harold and John about sending her undercover to keep an eye on their latest number. Saying that they shouldn't risk someone on an assignment when they did not know if the person was going to be a victim or a perpetrator.

She had actually turned around and left deciding it was better to be elsewhere till cooler heads prevailed. In the end Root had not been barred from doing her job trying to protect the numbers, but she had found herself with an unlikely chaperone. At odd moments she would get the sense she was being watched or receive a message from the machine warning her about someone stalking her. The few times she had managed to lose the tail she had been surprised to discover that it had been Sam following her. As a result Shaw had become a sort of unofficial backup for her. At first it was somewhat comforting to the hacker to know that someone had her back. But then it began to become tiresome.

After the first couple of days Root felt like Shaw was acting more like a babysitter than anything else. Treating her like a child or priceless and fragile item that would shatter from the lightest impact. She had finally confronted the woman about it. The heated argument that had followed had drawn more attention than either had desired.

They had managed to disappear from sight before the dispatched patrol car had come to a full stop. It had been tense for a few minutes as the officers searched for them. Either to make sure the lover's spat wouldn't turn into a homicide, or some of the few members of HR hunting for the people trying to put them permanently out of business.

She had thought the matter settled at the time till today. Someone had come gunning for the number, whom Root was busing protecting, and had managed to pin her down. She had been trying to concentrate on what the Machine was saying in order to formulate a plan of attack, but it had proven unnecessary. Shaw had come in guns blazing and had grabbed hold of Root and the number trying to pull them out of harms way. That had been when the bullet struck her left shoulder causing it to go numb and her weapon to drop. Though Shaw had still been determined to fight and protect Root and had put herself between the shooters and the hacker. Were it not for the Machine's warning of "Drop her." She would have caught one between the eyes as opposed to it simply grazing her scalp.

The memory of downing the former assassin a second time with her taser brought a sad smile to her face as she finished patching up Sam's wound.

"There that should keep you alive and kicking for the time being." She said with mock cheerfulness. Packing up the first aid kit Root leaned down and planted a chaste kiss on Shaw's cheek. "Maybe after you've healed we can grab a drink." Getting up to leave Root stopped when Shaw mumbled something.

"Don't die Root. I still need you."

It was barely above a whisper and it took the Machine playing it back for Root to fully understand what the dreaming woman said.

There were a few tears in her eyes and Root took a deep breath to try and squelch the warmth growing in her chest at the woman's admission. She then set the first aid kit back down and sat back in her chair and took hold of Shaw's hand.

"Don't worry Sam you'll never be truly rid of me. I'll stay around though for a bit longer just for you."

A/N: Well that is it for the moment. Please leave me a comment letting me know what you thought and what I can do to improve future stories and chapters for your enjoyment. As always feel free to give me ideas and who knows they might end up as chapters like this one did. Thanks again for reading.

Here are the choices for next chapter.

Shaw has let Root talk her into going clothes shopping. Bound and determined to endure this torture Shaw does not like the smirk Root has and is certain the woman has something planned for this day of relaxation.

Root manages to contract a nasty cold and is now stuck with Shaw taking care of her.

It Halloween. You know what that means. Candy, parties, and costumes and Root and Shaw stuck crashing a party in costume all in the name of protecting the latest number.