InsaneJournal

Root tapped her finger down Sameen’s spine, counting the bite and nail marks and bruises on her back as she did so. Her own skin was about as bad, as though they’d both gone three rounds with a Klingon Targ. She sat up and stretched, unable to help the musical lilt in her voice. “You know, I know you’re all tied up, but I’m starving. I really should stop having my dessert first.”

“Mmm. I could go for a steak…” Which was true of almost anytime for Shaw, but post-bedroom-workout was a great time for steak. Even if part of her just wanted to stay in bed and watch Root moving around her room.

“You always go for a steak,” Root pointed out, incredibly chipperly. She wandered around, stretching some more. Really, she should get dressed before Shaw’s roommate returned. Wouldn’t this be embarrassing? She pulled a knife out of a drawer, and came over to cut Shaw free.

Shaw rolled her eyes and held out her zip-tied wrists to Root. “Good source of protein, means more energy for things like this.” And somehow, she couldn’t help but smirk a little at Root with the knife.

Root pressed the flat of the blade underneath Shaw's chin, the metal cold and the tip dangerously close to pricking skin. "My favorite past time."

With a quick slice through the zip-tie, Shaw was free, and Root took a moment to kiss her wrists. She'd never expected to care about someone the way she cared about Sameen (or the rest of their team). It still frightened her, though she'd never admit it. Almost as scary as the realization that Shaw felt the same way. At least in her own, muted fashion.

Shaw’s pulse quickened slightly at touch of the cool blade under her chin. That was one thing she really liked about Root--she got it.

The kisses Root placed on her wrists sort of made her pulse flop, which wasn’t anything she’d admit to, even if Root was the only person who could make it do that. Shaw flexed her hands and wrists before stretching her arms. She should probably get dressed on the off chance Beckett (or Castle) might be in the common area.

"Mm..." She enjoyed that view. And by that view, Root meant 'Shaw. All of her.' Her perfect, straight arrow. Well. Not that straight.

"Do you want to explore the Yorktown when we dock? Could you imagine the trouble we could get into? I wonder if we could get arrested."

“Getting off the ship does sound like a good idea. Give us some time to see what the rest of this universe is like.” Shaw stretched again. “And we can see what kind of trouble we can get up to. Try not to get arrested, though.”

"Sameen," Root said, rolling her eyes and draping herself over one of Shaw's shoulders. "Where's your sense of adventure? Here we are, out in the big black dark thing, having an opportunity that the little, imaginationless people who made us never would have thought of."

Shaw raised an eyebrow. “‘Big black dark thing’? We’ll see about adventure...might see if they’ve got any interesting things we can play with.”

“Space!” She swept her hand towards the window, beaming at her… whatever-they-were. Root wasn’t about to put down roots and make words for what they were. She didn’t want to risk losing whatever-they-were.

She loved Shaw. Someday she’d actually say it with real words. Until then, she’d show it. “Think they have anything like a helicopter? I just know you miss being our eyes in the sky.”

Shaw grinned and shook her head. “Should see if they’ve got some kind of...car or motorcycle or flying thing we can take for a spin, yeah.” She took one of Root’s hands and pulled her onto her lap. “Might see if they’ve got a shooting range, too…”

“Wouldn’t it be fun to fly a shuttle?” They were in the future, and the lack of insanely dangerous adventure was starting to get to Root. “I want to look into some more of their computer technology. I’m sure Yorktown has more resources, and I’m going to need more resources for my project.”

“Shuttle could be fun,” Shaw agreed. “And just how far do you think the Captain will let you take your project?” Shaw had to admit she was curious about what Root would manage to pull off.

“I’ve been candid with him,” Root said, slipping suddenly behind Shaw and running her hands down her back. Her voice took on an amused tone. “Mostly. After all, a girl need to keep some secrets.”

Shaw quirked an amused eyebrow as Root slipped behind her, tipping her head slightly as Root’s hands ran down her back. “If you managed to talk computers with him without looking at least a little like a kid who just won a whole candy store, I’d be surprised. But I do also know you can manage espionage without giving anything away...until you taze someone.”

She couldn’t get enough of touching Shaw. In their last life she hadn’t been able to near as much as she’d ever wanted to. But here, in this life, they could almost be normal and Root relished that feeling. “Don’t worry baby. The only person I’m tasing is you.”

“Good.” Shaw turned her head to look over her shoulder at Root...then kissed her cheek, close to her lips. She couldn’t quite reach her lips from her current angle. It was...well, more demonstrative than she used to be, but she’d lost Root once and wasn’t about to let that happen again. And Root liked it when she did little things like that.

Root loved it when Shaw did things like that. She delighted in it, to be quite honest. Oh, she knew that Shaw would never be at the same volume as she was. Root was stuck at 11, and Shaw might hit 4 on a particularly good day. But that never mattered to her. She knew how Shaw felt. And Shaw made her feel human.

"Wanna see what we can do with a low-setting phaser?"

That got Root a wicked grin in response as Shaw slipped out of bed to grab her phaser. “Fuck yes.”