A/N: This is unbetaed so all mistakes are of my own doing. Set before Samaritan comes online. Also I know nothing about hacking so if it's obviously wrong then please forgive me. Hope you enjoy this.
"You have taken the necessary precautions to protect your new laptop right Sam?" Root's voice practically purred in the other woman's ear as she invaded the shorter woman's personal space as much as possible.
Shaw rolled her eyes at Root's attempt at getting under her skin and swiveled her body and laptop away from the brunette's prying eyes. She continued to tape away at the touch screen learning the different nuances and features of her new toy while doing her best to tune out the annoyingly seductive voice of her fellow cohort on Finch's little team of do-gooders.
Though Shaw could not see it Root smiled at her attempts to block the screen. The hacker finding it amusing how Sameen was trying so unsuccessfully to prevent her from seeing anything. In truth Root had little interest in what Shaw was doing on the rather pedestrian toy. She was just enjoying messing with the other woman and seeing how far she could be pushed before she reacted.
When Root rested her head on Shaw's shoulder and leaned against her that was enough. With a frustrated growl Shaw snapped the laptop closed and abruptly stood. "Are you utterly incapable of giving me even an ounce of privacy!?" She snapped at Root. Her back was ramrod straight and there was fire in her eyes. Her voice was low and tinged with anger.
Shaw did not give her time to respond. Moving past Root she made her way through the maze of book shelves over to Finch's desk. The poor man looked a little pale from the look on the woman's face but managed to maintain his composure. After a rather terse discussion Root heard
"Of course Ms. Shaw I will call you if Mr. Reese needs any assistance. Enjoy the rest of your day."
Root remained at the library for the rest of the morning. Idly sipping her coffee and listening as the Machine kept her up to date in regards to their current number. The coffee was unpleasantly cold halfway through the cup, but she continued to sip at it. Her displeasure for it temporarily ignored as she continued to think over her latest fight with Sameen.
"It wouldn't really be that wrong, we are friends after all." Root mused aloud to herself.
Evidently the Machine thought her question was directed to Her. She was just starting to remind Root that hacking people's personal devices for her own fun was still technically against the law when she was stopped by Root.
"I know that, but she does need to learn that if you don't take the proper precautions then it is all too easy for someone to hack your system and find out all your deep dark secrets."
"That is true." The Machine hesitantly said. Her processors already laying out multiple scenarios and the possible ramifications/fallouts in preparation for what her human interface would say next.
Taking a long draw of her coffee Root instinctively winced at the cold bitter taste. The chalky taste of properly unfiltered grounds coating her tongue like the adhesive residue of a piece of tape. Making a sound of disgust she cocked her arm back and tossed the cup at the wastebasket next to Finch's desk.
The paper cup hit the edge of the rim on the inside of the basket. For a brief moment it hung there as gravity fought to pull it down. Then in one heart stopping moment the cup's momentum carried it over the edge.
'Oh Shit!'
There was a cry of surprise and then a metallic racket as the folding chair Finch was using as a temporary seat, Bear had decided his usual office chair was far more comfortable than the floor and refused to budge, crashed to the floor.
"Ms. Groves!" It was one of the few times she had ever seen Finch angry as he stared down at the mess that had come dangerously close to splattering the surge protector that his computer setup was run through. It passed very quickly as he took a single deep breath and silently counted to ten before focusing his attention on her once more. "Out of everyone here I would think you would understand the dangers of spilling liquids on or near computers. Next time please refrain from throwing your beverage from across the room."
Five minutes later Root excused herself from the Library. She had finished cleaning up the mess and had decided it best to spend the rest of the day elsewhere. There was a slight chill in the air, a leftover from winter's icy grasp, but not bad enough that she felt the need to close her coat. As she began the walk towards the subway entrance her mind was empty till the Machine suddenly spoke up.
"I have created several scenarios that I can send to Sameen to reiterate the hazards of failing to protect yourself from hackers. Shall I send them to her?"
That sparked Root's mind to life and she recalled what she had been musing before the coffee incident had occurred. "Hmm…that probably won't work with Sam. She's…not really interested in book learning anymore from what I've observed. She'd understand better if it was personally tailored to her."
"It would be an easy thing for me to send false emails, fake computer issues and even send her spam emails given the backdoor access Father gave me into her laptop. I'm sure he would be willing to forgive me that kind of trespass."
Root had to smile at that. Even after everything Finch had done to the Machine, some of which she understood a little better now given some of what she had learned about his past and his previous attempts at artificial intelligence, she was still a little miffed at the restraints he had imposed on his creation in the first place. Yet still the Machine saw him as her Father and like many children strove to make him proud.
She remained silent a little longer as she moved past a group of tourists animatedly chatting amongst themselves as the exited the subway station. Root took that time to finish formulating her response to the Machine. She had already decided upon a course of action and needed to convince the Machine that she was doing this entirely for Shaw's own well-being. Any fun or blackmail material she came across would simply be a happy accident that she would certainly not use as ammunition to tease and potentially seduce Sam with. Even she chuckled at that thought and hoped that she could maintain her composure. It would hardly do to try and lie to the Machine if she burst out laughing midway through her explanation.
"Nah, you don't need to do that. Sam already has a little trouble fully trusting you at times. She still isn't wanting to fully accept the reality that the world she knew is already a thing of the past. Plus it would be easier for me to earn her forgiveness."
"Root." There was a warning tone to the Machine's voice like one would hear from a Mother lecturing her naughty child. "I've run those simulations also. Do I need to tell you the percentile risk you run at resetting your relationship with Sameen back to square 1? Perhaps you would rather hear the probability of you misusing any and all information you come across. Or the danger you run at falling back into old habits and becoming the woman you were before Mr. Finch rescued you. If that were to happen then there is a dangerously high probability of either you and/or Sameen winding up dead. The majority of course at each other's hands."
'Thanks Mom.' Root thought sarcastically as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'll be careful if that is what you are worried about. Besides needing to learn to be careful online Sam could do with a reminder that I've got more skills than being a good shot.
The Machine said nothing in response to Root. Instead She went back over the various scenarios she was continually running. The odds of this endeavor of Root's going well were a little under 50%. However there was one scenario that had little chance of ending badly. The only fallout being the potential for Root to be a little miffed at Shaw. That one was probably the best course of action.
Her decision made the Machine ended her contact with Root as the woman bought her ticket and got onto a train headed back for her apartment where her equipment was located. She had a few things to take care of in a short amount of time. Nothing too arduous, certainly not when compared to keeping a close eye on her family and making sure they remained safe along with the rest of this somewhat suicidal species.
30 Minutes Later Root's Apartment
Root was stretched out on her couch. A pillow underneath her feet and head made her feel quite comfortable. There was a blanket spread across her lower body and folded neatly below her chest serving to keep her warm. Her laptop was perched on a rolling table that was designed for use on a couch. With a little table that stuck out on an arm that could be swiveled to either side whilst the base was set to the side of the couch.
A nearby bowl, filled with some of her favorite snacks, was set on a nearby coffee table. Root would need to lean over to reach it, but it was still close enough to not be too difficult to reach. A glass with the beginning signs of condensation was filled to the brim with iced tea. A small wedge of lemon floated amidst a sea of ice cubes. It had already become helplessly pinned between two of the larger cubes, formed from three small cubes melting together and then refreezing to form a miniature iceberg, and was starting to take on water. Anyone looking at it would probably have given it the nickname Titanic and like its namesake it was soon going to be descending helplessly to the bottom of the glass. Near the glass the laptop's power cord slithered and coiled about the table before slithering off onto the floor to lay in a constricted bundle awaiting helpless prey that it could entangle and trip.
The room was decently lit thanks to the overhead florescent lights and the sun peeking through the closed blinds creating prison stripes across the carpeted floor. A couple of shafts of light danced and wove across the computer screen their distracting dance interrupted only by the movement of Root's head and hair.
Root had left her hair hanging loose brushing her shoulders. She still wore the same blouse and jeans that she had on at the library, but had kicked off her heeled boots. Focused on hacking Root crossed her feet and idly tapped her bare feet together. The pedicure she had gotten a few weeks ago had mostly chipped away by now. It had been good quality and she planned to book an appointment with them for herself and Shaw. Using Shaw's laptop and email of course.
It was rather a mild prank, when compared to her usual antics in the past but it was a decent place to start. Only trouble she was running into was the unusual lag in her internet provider. It was more annoying than anything since she was used to a near instantaneous response from her computer so the 1-2 second delay was a minor annoyance. Since hacking came second nature to her Root contemplated various things she could do to Shaw's computer.
'Turning it into a brick would certainly make my point about some of the real bad stuff that can happen, but Sam probably wouldn't talk to me for at least a month. I probably should do something that does identify it as me, otherwise Shaw would get Finch involved and my entertainment shouldn't be at the expense of either of us getting lectured by the guy. Plus Finch would talk and then Reese would never let us live it down.'
After a few more minutes the wall of commands on her computer screen disappeared and a progress bar labeled 'Connecting 1%' appeared in the middle of the screen.
Shaw's Apartment
Sameen's phone vibrated in the pocket of her jeans. She groaned in annoyance as it continued to buzz incessantly for a couple more seconds before finally falling still.
'Figures it has to happen at the worst possible moment.' She thought as she balanced the takeout bag containing her rare New York Strip on a knee as she fished the keys to her apartment out of a pocket. She shoved them with more force than necessary into the lock and threw the door open. Planting a foot inside to prevent the door from swinging closed she picked up the six-pack she bought and headed inside.
Once her food and beer were safely and securely set on her dining table she pulled her phone out of the pocket and saw the little light flashing indicating she had a new message.
"Reese better be in serious danger of being mortally wounded if he's expecting me to forgo my Lunch after that incident with Root." She growled out as she unlocked her phone and pulled the message up.
"Huh." A delicate eyebrow arched as she noted that it was an email she had received that had been sent to her personal account. Thanks to linking her phone to the account she was able to access her email without having to use her computer.
Curious as to what the contents of this unknown email was she opened it up. Her lips moved silently as she read over the short message. Once through it she blinked and read through it again to make sure she understood it correctly. Her lips curved upwards in a smile as she finished reading through it the second time.
Root's Apartment
The remote connection to Shaw's laptop took longer than Root expected. After the first five minutes she got up to use the restroom hoping it would be finished when she returned. To her dismay it was only at 60% connected so she had turned the television on to find a show that was at least interesting enough to serve as background noise. By the time she found one the connection was finally complete and she had access to Shaw's personal life and secrets.
Having spent the vast majority of her life uncovering the dirty secrets that people wanted to keep hidden there was little that surprised Root anymore. Truth was the last time she had been surprised or uncovered something that had truly piqued her interest had been when Harold Finch had interfered with her plans a couple years back. Hunting the man down had led her to uncover the greatest secret of her entire life. So while hacking Sameen's laptop was going to be a fun diversion for her Root had little expectation for coming across anything that would surprise her or add to the thrill of her illicit activity.
So when a picture of Root and Shaw appeared as the image on her desktop Root understandable thought she was imagining things. So when that image pixilated away to be replaced with a standalone image of Root.
In the photo Root wore a dark green cocktail dress with a plunging neckline. A sapphire necklace with a silver chain hung low and drew the eye directly towards her cleavage that had been enhanced thanks to some padding and a pushup bra. Though she was smiling in the photo anyone who really knew her knew it had been forced in order to keep up her cover. Root had worn the dress only once while attending a dinner at a foreign embassy that the week's number had been working at.
The dinner had been boring and she'd been tempted too often to use the toys she had smuggled inside on a few of the men who had gotten a little too hands on for her taste. Thankfully she had not needed to resort to Pepper Spray or her trusty Taser due to Sameen's efforts. The Machine had managed to get Shaw in as Root's personal security. Though the former assassin had spent much of the evening grousing about babysitting duty Root knew she had enjoyed the evening. Every time Root had looked Sam's eyes had been fixated on her. The highlight of Root's evening had been after dinner. There had been a live orchestra and dancing allowing an opportunity for people to mingle. Not one to pass up an opportunity Root had accepted an offer from a couple of men for a dance. When the third man's hands had 'accidentally' slipped from her waist and groped her ass Shaw had been on the man even before Root could give an outraged cry. In short order Sameen had gotten the man kicked out and then had been 'forced' to spend the rest of the evening dancing with Root in order to protect her.
Root smiled at the memory of the initial awkwardness as both women tried to lead before finally agreeing to alternate between songs. Something about having the shorter woman's hands around her waist, and at times hand in hand, had felt right to Root and she suspected the same was true of Sam.
'I didn't know she had managed to snag the professional photographer's photo of me. Much less that she kept it.' Root felt herself blushing as memories of that night began dancing through her mind. Refocusing on digging through Sameen's laptop she got back to work while quietly humming the melody of her and Sam's first dance.
She was midway through the forth song, which Shaw had led, when she came across a hidden word document. It had been encrypted and secreted away behind several other files that related to system operations. The file was a simple Word document that was accessed three to four times a month. It was almost forty pages long and thanks to archival data, leftover from when Shaw had transferred files over from her old laptop, looked to have been created around a year ago.
Thoroughly curious Root opened the file. She was near tears after going through the first page and felt emotionally torn. She quickly scrolled through the rest of the document and saw more of the same. The entire document was poetry. Poems, haiku, free form, rhyming just about every type. The first couple had been about Root. The third one was about Shaw and how she felt emotionally about Root. The hacker felt dirty reading about Shaw emotionally crying nearly daily at how Root was apparently oblivious of her feelings. Having seen more than enough Root closed the file refusing to read any further.
Root poked around the system a little more trying to decide how best to screw with the system when she noticed that apparently Shaw's laptop came equipped with a webcam.
'Hmm now that could be fun. Perhaps I can access that feed and get a couple of embarrassing photos of her. That would be perfect.' Root chuckled as she turned the webcam on. As the feed was loading she took a drink of her iced tea.
"Gack!" Root chocked on her drink and was coughing and sputtering. No…no way." He voice was shaky and deeper than normal as she struggled to purge the liquid from her lungs. Her face was tomato red as she drank in the image.
Shaw was reclining on her bed. She wore a white T-shirt and nothing else. Her legs were slightly spread and Root couldn't tell if she could see anything. She had a paper back in hand and seemed to have difficulty focusing on it. As Root watch Shaw would cross and re-cross her legs. Every so often her finger would tap against the book and she would shift around uncomfortably.
As Root watched Shaw apparently had enough. She closed her book and tossed it across the room. She then leaned over and opened a bedside drawer. To the taller woman's surprise Shaw pulled a dildo out of the drawer. Root was enthralled and could feel wet heat building between her legs. Subconsciously she licked her lips as she watched Shaw treating the toy like she would a lover.
Shaw's Apartment
Shaw closed her eyes and gave a muffled groan of pleasure as she took the dildo into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around the tip at the same time her free hand went down and began pulling up the hem of her shirt. Taking a risk she opened her eyes a fraction of an inch and chanced a quick glance at her laptop. This time when she moaned it was derived of pleasure and not faked. There on her screen was a small 5X4 live video feed from Root's webcam. While the image was not perfect she could see that Root's lower half was completely nude and that the mousy haired brunette had only managed to get partway out of her blouse before giving up out of frustration.
Deciding to turn up the heat Shaw released the dildo with a wet pop. Sitting up in her bed she dropped the dildo to the bed turned to face the monitor and ran her hands up her sides in a gentle caress. "Hmm Root that feels so good. God I can't believe you find me that attractive." Bunching her hair up she tilted her head to the side and moaned as sexily as she could, which wasn't too difficult given how turned on she was by knowing Root was watching her. 'Maybe I'm secretly an exhibitionist' she thought. "Hmm be gentle with me it's my first time….with a woman. Especially one who makes me as wet as you do."
Taking another sneak peak Shaw saw Root had both hands buried between her legs frantically fingering herself. Her back was arched sharply and Sameen was fairly certain the woman was currently climaxing. She let out another deep moan of desire as she removed her shirt and lay down on her hands and knees. Picking the dildo back up she started fucking herself with it while moaning out "Root you are so good at this. Keep fingering me please!"
Root's Apartment
Root masturbated while watching Sameen pleasure herself. The taller woman was unaware that her own actions were on display. Hearing the woman she had feelings for pleasuring herself while moaning her name was too much for her self-control.
Root managed to bring herself to one last orgasm as she watched Shaw lick her climactic fluids off the dildo. Both women's bodies glistened with sweat and they were both out of breath. Stretching out on the couch Root felt thoroughly relaxed. She had not planned to observe Shaw's private moment, but she had certainly enjoyed it and now had plenty of material to tease Shaw about.
Before breaking the connection to Shaw's laptop Root watched as Shaw put the dildo back in the drawer. The lithe woman stretched languidly and picked up her phone. She fiddled with it for a moment as she walked towards the laptop. Then to Root's surprise she bent down gave the webcam a cheeky smile followed by the finger and held her phone up to the camera.
Root is hacking her way into your computer.
The text came from an unknown number, but Root knew instantly who it had been from. Her face went red with embarrassment as she realized that Shaw had put on that sexual show knowing full well that Root had been watching the entire time.
'You Bitch!' She thought with a smirk. 'Playing me at my own game. I knew there was a reason why I liked you so much.' Shutting her laptop down Root headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
Two Days Later
Sameen set the bag of takeout food down onto her dining room table. Her mouth watered from the delicious aroma a perfectly cook steak and hot from the fryer fries. Cracking open a beer from the fridge she got the table set in record time and unloaded the food from the bag and onto a plate. With deadly precision she cut any remaining fat off the stake and cut off a piece. Blood and sauce dripped off the rare meat as it was lifted off the plate.
Before Shaw could take that bite her phone her phone buzzed indicating a new text message.
"Seriously!" she gave a feral growl and disappointedly set down the uneaten bite. With a sigh of dejection she unlocked the phone. Her disappointment dissipated quickly when she saw who the message was from. With a grin she read the message.
Sam,
Congrats you go me. Not sure it was really fair of Her to help you though.
But victory by cheating is still victory.
I'm waiting for you to claim your reward.
Root
Below was an invitation for a private chat on Skype.
Taking a look at the invite Shaw did not even spare a glance at her food. Now hungry for desert first she picked up her dinner put it into the stove and set it to a low heat. Satisfied that her food would not get cold she headed back into the bedroom.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It turned out a little longer than I originally planned given how much fun I had writing this. Please let me know what you thought. Suggestion and recommendations on what I can change or improve upon are always welcome. Below are your options for the next chapter.
1. Root gets a surprising new number from the Machine. It is one that she quickly identifies as belonging to Sameen Shaw. So while Reese and Finch try to figure out who might want to harm their fellow team member Root takes it upon herself to be the former assassin's personal bodyguard for the day.
2. Root gets a cavity filled and dope up on Laughing Gas she is unable to drive herself home. Thankfully she managed to get Shaw to be her designated driver. Only problem is the other woman is not prepared for the rather more erratic and flirty than usual.
3. Christmas time with Shaw and Root.