A/N: Hey guys. Long time no gunfire. But finally here I am with a new Shoot fanfic for you. This takes place after 4x09, it's how I think Shaw's awakening should have been. May have spoilers if you haven't seen episode 4x10.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Enjoy.

She could feel the effect of whatever Root had injected her with starting to wear off, but she couldn't move yet. It felt like she had no body to move, really. And it was a dreadful sensation. She remembered that time when Hersh tried to kill her… what had it been that time? Etorphine? Her neurons tried to make the medical connections but even her brain still felt numb. Did Root use the same drug this time, even if her goal wasn't to kill her? Maybe she just used propofol or ketamine. If so, she'd be fully functional in a few more minutes. At least that was what she hoped. She tried opening her eyes, but her eyelids remained stubbornly still. She could hear voices, though. Distant, but familiar.

"Miss Shaw must be about to wake up. I'm not sure if you being here when she does is a that great on an idea."

"Probably not."

It was Finch speaking. Always with that pitch of concern in his words. And the second voice was Reese's. Was Finch addressing to Root or was it just John there with him?

Then she heard a low growl right beside her. If her face muscles could move, she'd be smiling. It was Bear. She was pretty sure the dog was laying by her side.

"I'm staying here." Someone else spoke and Shaw immediately matched the voice to the face. Root. She clenched her fists in anger, only noticing a few seconds later that she had actually done it. She slowly opened and closed her fingers again, her body meeting her brain's orders. Finally.

She noticed Bear shift besides her with a whimper, detecting her movements. But fortunately he didn't make a big scene of it and the others didn't seem to have noticed.

She remained still for a few more minutes, waiting for her whole body to recover from the strong dose of anaesthetic, meanwhile giving room for her anger to build even more as she kept listening to Root's voice. Eventually she decided her body was ready. She shifted suddenly, sitting on the low bed and causing Bear to bark as he wiggled his tail frantically.

"Miss Shaw. You're awake!" Harold immediately started limping towards her, walking past John and Root, with a water bottle in one hand, ready to give it to her. But Shaw's eyes instantly locked onto someone else in the hideout. Root was near one of the doors of the old and abandoned subway train. Unlike Harold and Reese who were now by Shaw's bed, the hacker didn't move one inch, but the fond smile that was now in her lips pissed Shaw off even more.

Ignoring what Finch was telling her about drinking water, Shaw slipped a hand between her boot and her leg, happy to still find the knife she had hidden there. As she took the blade out, she got up from the bed, almost running in the direction of Root, without even blinking.

"Hi Sam…" Root started but was cut off by the harsh push against the metal structure and by the knife pressed hard against her throat, blocking the air from entering or coming out of her lungs. Root brought her hands to the fist that Shaw had holding the knife tightly.

"I will kill you!" Shaw spat out. Her furious gaze penetrating Root's eyes. But Root didn't even flinch, she didn't look startled nor scared. Instead, she just matched Shaw's angry stare with deep and calm eyes. Shaw also noticed that Root's hands on her wrist weren't even trying to cancel the force with which she was pressing the knife to her flesh. They were just placed there, still. For a second Shaw could even swear those hands were actually caressing her.

"Miss Shaw, please don't do anything you will regret later!" Finch didn't sound so calm. And she could sense John with his gun drawn out. Would he seriously shoot her if she tried to slit Root's neck open?

Anyway, she didn't care. Her business was with Root now.

"I trusted you, Root. And you, almost literally, stabbed me behind my back!" the smaller woman said between clenched jaws. She forced the sharp blade harder against Root's neck. A trail of blood started running through the blade as the skin gashed underneath its pressure. Root gasped, her lips now slightly parted, but remained wordless, keeping her eyes locked with Shaw's.

The dark red fluid travelled down the blade till it reached the knife's handle and Shaw's fingers. Shaw felt the warmness of the blood in her cold hand and her eyes darkened as the desire to push Root harder against the wall and pierce the knife deeper in her skin grew inside her. She felt Root's hands now gripping a little bit tighter around her wrist. But instead of pulling it away, Shaw noticed that Root was helping, applying strength in the same direction as Shaw, against her own neck. Shaw was now confused.

"Do it." Root teased.

"Okay, that's enough!" John intervened, separating the two women and trying to take Shaw's knife from her. Reluctantly, she gave him the knife after a few seconds and stepped away, snatching the bottle of water that Finch had handed her and drinking it all at once.

Finch hurriedly handed Root his pocket square for her bleeding neck.

"Are you okay?" He asked the taller woman. Root nodded with a forced smile. She placed a hand on Finch's shoulder and then looked back at Shaw.

"If you weren't so stubborn none of that would have been needed. Don't blame us." Root said and Shaw reacted in anger again, already clenching her fists till her knuckles turned white, ready to punch her right across the face. But John wasn't going to let her do it. Instead she heard the clicks of handcuffs being wrapped around her wrist and onto a nearby bench.

"Are you serious, Reese?!" She asked him as she tried to release herself from the cuffs, ineffectively. Reese just shrugged.

"We have a new number to which Mr. Reese needs to be attending, and considering your current state, we believe it's better to have you.." he paused for a second, thinking about what word to use, ".. Restrained." The small angry woman was about to protest, but Finch continued. "You are no longer safe from Samaritan's gaze and you wouldn't listen to reason."

"You turned on me, Harold." Shaw stated. She was about to retort something else but Finch didn't give her time, asking her what she wanted to eat instead.

"The Beatrice Lillie from Park's Deli, Pastrami sandwich, extra mustard, spicy and yellow, and pepperoncini. And if there's even a hint of mayonnaise I'll use my knife on you too, Harold."

Harold exchanged a look with Root and Reese, but both of them just shrugged back.

Reese and Finch got out of the hideout at the same time, Reese to take care of the number and Finch to get Shaw's special order. Root stayed there. Shaw wasn't sure if she just stayed to keep an eye on her or if she really didn't have anywhere else to be. She sat down on the bench to which Reese cuffed her. Root remained silent, still pressing the pocket square Harold gave her against her bleeding neck. Shaw watched her for a while, before finally sighing and breaking the silence.

"Let me have a look." The former doctor said. Root shot her a glance, surprised with the words. The hacker tried to contain the smirk that threatened to form in her lips. She thought about saying something about how Shaw cared for her, but she thought it was probably safer not to piss Shaw off anymore considering that she had almost slit her neck ten minutes earlier. Instead, Root just sat beside Shaw, her right hand still pressing the cloth against the gashed skin.

Shaw brought her free hand up, grabbing Root's one and removing it from her neck. The movement was kind of rough, like almost everything that was Sameen Shaw, but it was enough to lift the butterflies on Root's stomach for an instance. Root tilted her head back a bit as Shaw brushed her fingers over and around the wound, examining it. The hacker tried to keep her face neutral, forcing the urge to bite her bottom lip, but she was sure her breathing would give away the arousal that started building up inside her as Shaw's fingers lingered on her neck longer than she was sure was necessary. If Shaw noticed anything, she pretended she didn't.

"It's not that deep, it'll probably still leave a scar though." Shaw said, taking her hand away from Root's neck and staring at blood in her fingers. Root's blood. She thought maybe it would be polite to apologize to Root, but she was not sorry for what she had done. It had felt pretty good, actually. Root had lied to her and drugged her, again. Why would she be sorry?!

Root got up only to return a minute later with a small recipient with water and a small towel.

"Here, wash your hands."

Shaw looked up at Root, her brown curls resting peacefully on her shoulders as she knelled in front of Shaw and held the water bowl for her.

"You know, I could almost get used to this life. Having lackeys to bring me food and water…" Shaw grumbled.

"Want me to scratch your back in the shower too, Shaw?" Root teased with a smirk. Shaw sent her an annoying look.

"Did I mention that I might have a second knife hidden in my other boot?" Shaw warned, and Root backed off, the smirk still on her face. "You should put a dressing on that before it infects." her doctor-self added.

"Now you're worried that it might infect?" Root asked with one of those grins that Shaw hated so much.

As Shaw finished washing off the blood from her hands, Harold returned, handing her the sandwich which she devoured quickly.

The events of that day were everything but amusing. Samaritan was keen and determined to show herself to the Machine and speak to Her, so Root served as the intermediate for that conversation whilst Reese and Finch tried effortlessly to save some lives from the chaos that Samaritan turned New Your City into. Shaw clenched her fists as she watched the news and reports through Finch's monitors. She knew she had promised to stay there, to not put herself in harm's way with Samaritan's agents. But in that moment, none of them was safe at it seemed pretty stupid that she'd be the only one to live past that day if the worst came. And so she grabbed her guns and left. It was better not to warn them and just leave. They would try to stop her, to come after her if she did. So why give them the heads up? She needed to help them, all of them, and she wasn't doing so by sitting in front of a bunch of computers doing nothing. She wasn't a nerd, her place was not there, that was for Harold or even for Root. Not for her. Her place was outside. And if Martine and the rest of Team Samaritan wanted to end her, she was willing to put on a good fight. While they worry about me, they won't worry about them. That was her plan.