They healed eventually. It was two months and Root was finally able to eat again without issue. The bullet in her side caused a lot of damage. John healed more quickly than she and it bothered her. She had just finished defragging the machine while resting in her PJs. She lived in the old substation now. Going upside was a bit much for Root. She saw her everywhere...and the thought of seeing Sameen again for real was too much for her to bare really.

Martine said she turned on them. Sameen had called Root...she did come to the rescue and she was the reason the Machine made the deal. She told them about her implant. Root lifted her hand to touch the implant. She could hear with it but she missed the sound of the machine in her ear. She missed the feeling of being connected to something bigger. More than that, she missed the possibility that she would one day find Sameen. There was no chance for any of them now that the Machine was disabled. Root didn't speak for three days after leaving the power station. It was too painful to realize that she'd lost Her and Shaw. Martine admitted to torturing Shaw for a long while and she told her that Shaw resisted. She may have been lying but really Root knew she wasn't lying. She knew that Sameen had switched sides in some manner and now she was a pawn of Samaritan. Shaw didn't have the moral hang ups of Harold. She had no feelings really and eventually the pain would seem useless to her and she would give in to them.

Root understood. She didn't want Sameen to hurt. Root looked over to her comfortable bed in the Subway train behind her. Tucked under her pillow was Shaw's jacket. Before she settled down in their hideout, she returned to the facility where they kept her and took her jacket. It was riddled with bullet holes, she'd seen each of them penetrate her body through that fucking elevator gate. Root didn't dream much before Shaw but after she left, her sleep was pitiful and full of that damn elevator closing. When she held her jacket, she was able to sleep.

"You can't heal if you don't sleep Ms. Groves," Harold often said. So Root slept as much as she could the first few days and now she tried to get enough to make due. John returned to active duty on the force way faster than she was able to get up and move around on her own. He had been rather sweet actually, making sure she had something fresh to eat each day. He was a knuckle dragging neanderthal but he had his uses. He was chomping at the bit to get the Her back up and running. He didn't like that people are hurt all around him and he couldn't do anything to help.

She cared too...just not as much. She had to make herself care enough to get up out of that bed each day and tackle the Herculean task of reassembling the Machine. Maybe once the Machine was functioning, she could ask Her to find Sameen and then she could face her again. Root was almost positive that Shaw would kill her at that meeting. She accepted that reality. It didn't matter because she only had a few things to tell her.

Three simple phrases that she couldn't live anymore without saying to one Sameen Shaw. First- "I understand why you did it. I forgive you for telling them about my implant and most of all, I love you Sameen Shaw." Root mouthed the words softly to herself so Harold, who was feeding Bear didn't hear.

"You about finished Ms. Shaw? Mr. Reese is going to set up the link with the police department so I can bring the Machine online and test the surveillance and facial recognition," he said in his distracted voice that said he was ready to get back to programming.

"I'm all done," she said hitting the last keystrokes before standing up and walking towards her bed. "That took forever and I'm tired, the comfy chair is all yours Harold." He thanked her absently before sitting down in her warm chair and starting to type at his electric speed. Root reached the bed, crawled inside and pulled out the jacket from under her pillow. Right by the neck it still smelled like Sameen. So with her back to Harold, she buried her face there and inhaled the faint scent of her love.

"I'll wake you up when Detective Riley gets to work and texts that we can come online with the feed," he told her. Root shook her head in response and closed her eyes, hoping to dream of Shaw pressed close to her on her motorcycle and not how she looked when the bullets ripped into her body.

With a groggy voice, Root whispered into the warm coat,"Goodnight Shaw...see you soon," right before she fell off to sleep.

***A one shot perhaps. I had to get this one lil blip out for SHOOT so I can finish up my work writing. Let me know what you think. I am really tired of waiting on SEASON 5 from CBS. Peace, Fae***