Chapter Text
The week after Christmas was back to normal. Root left briefly for a relevant in Canada.
(“Canada? They have terrorists in Canada?” Shaw asked. “You should know not to perpetuate stereotypes, Shaw.” Root replied. “I’ll perpetuate whatever the hell I feel like perpetuating.” Shaw grumbled, as she shoved a heavy coat into Root’s arms.)
Irrelevants came for the home team, and Gen helped. She went with John to take pictures a couple times, provided directions and research with Harold over the coms, and even assisted Shaw in preventing a woman from murdering her husband.
Early the Friday before Gen had to get back to school, she was woken by Shaw flicking on her bedroom light. “New number.” Shaw said. “Come on.”
Gen nodded and rolled out of bed. When she got to the living room, dressed and armed, Shaw tossed her a granola bar.
“What have we got?” Gen asked.
“Pete Michaels. IRS agent. As far as John can tell, his problem is that he sidelines by doing accounting work for the Irish Mob.”
“John’s doing the research?”
“Yeah, Harold is away at another conference.”
“Okay. So how did Pete piss off the Mob?”
“Dunno yet. We’re going to follow him until something happens.
Shaw parked the car outside his house. “His apartment is that one up there.” Just as she pointed to it, a light flicked on behind the blinds. Shaw frowned. “He’s up early.”
“Want me to bug him?” Gen asked eagerly.
Shaw shook her head. “Not yet. Keep an eye on him. I’m going to sweep the perimeter.”
The next two hours were pretty boring. Shaw did sweeps every half an hour, while Gen amused herself by messing with her camera, getting used to different aperture sizes and shutter times. Once the morning rush started, Pete exited his apartment building. “I can follow him on foot,” Gen suggested. “and you can meet us at his work.”
“Sounds good. Try to bluejack his phone while you’re at it.”
Gen slipped out of the car, grabbing her backpack. Shaw watched for a few minutes while Gen casually walked down the street, keeping their target in sight. Then she started the car and hurried to get to his work place as soon as she could through the morning traffic.
He worked in a large office building. By the time Shaw got the car parked in a nearby parking garage and made it to the building, Gen was sitting at a table, munching on a bagel and playing tetris on her phone. Shaw sat down beside her and opened the box from the bakery. Gen pushed a cup of coffee towards her as Shaw bit hungrily into a doughnut. “Bluejacked his phone.”
“Good. Where are we on the security cameras?”
John’s voice came through their earbuds. “Couldn’t get it, and I just got called to work. You’re on your own for now.”
“Not entirely alone.” A chipper voice butted in. “I think I can get the camera feeds.”
“Root.” The corner of Shaw’s mouth twitched up.
“Miss me, sweetie?”
“Like I miss the avian flu.”
“Hey, Root.” Gen butted in. “How was Canada?”
“Hi, Gen.” Root replied. “It was cold. How was New York?”
“Good. Not ready to go back to school.”
“School is overrated.”
“You think I could . . .”
“No.” Root said. “But we’ll come visit a lot, right, sweetie?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Shaw muttered. “You got those feeds yet?”
“Of course! Anything for you.”
“Root.” Shaw growled.
“I’ll send them to your phones.”
Pete stayed in his office, working industriously all morning. He left for lunch, and Shaw and Gen followed him to a cafe a couple of blocks over. Root met them there, her feet on up on a table, and a set of sandwiches ready for them. The afternoon was spent watching Pete work and betting on the office drama. (Gen smoked both of them. “It’s just like school drama” she explained.) After work, Pete went out to a bar for dinner and drinks with some coworkers. Shaw went in to watch him while Root got dinner with Gen at a nearby restaurant. Pete ended up bar crawling for most of the night, Root and Shaw taking turns going inside with him. Eventually, Pete took a cab home. Shaw called John. “Hey, he’s home. Can you take watch him for a few hours while we get some rest?”
“Sure.”
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They relieved John about 8 the next morning. “Anything happen interesting?”
“He’s still asleep, but he has at least 10 messages on his phone. All from his mob contact.”
Shaw nodded in acknowledgment.
John left, and they spent the next few hours playing poker in the car, Root unsuccessfully attempting to win kisses from Shaw. Their phones beeped as Pete woke up and checked his messages. A scant few minutes later, he ran out of the house and pelted down the street. Gen immediately hopped out of the car and hurried after him. Root smirked, getting out of the car. “I’ve got her, sweetie.”
Shaw rolled her eyes and started the car. Stashing it in a nearby parking garage, she tapped her earbud. “Where are you?”
“On the subway headed south.” Came Gen’s reply. “If you hurry, you can catch the train right after us.”
Shaw grunted, and sped walked to the nearest subway station.
She caught up with Gen outside a warehouse. At Shaw’s raised eyebrow, Gen explained. “Root’s around the corner watching our guy. He’s been pacing back and forth in front of the door for like half an hour.”
Shaw poked her head around the wall. Root was some feet away, behind a dumpster and Pete was, indeed, pacing in front of a dingy door. He stopped suddenly, faced the door, took a deep breath, and opened it. As soon as it shut behind him, Shaw waved Gen forward. Root carefully cracked the door open to reveal a dim hallway. They watched as Pete knocked on door at the very end of it. He apparently heard a response from inside, because he opened the door and entered.
Shaw and Root drew their weapons and moved silently down the hallway. Gen quickly pulled her gun and followed. They were half way down the hall when Root began sprinting towards the door. The other two were close behind.
With no warning, Root slammed through the door and tackled Pete. He was standing in front of a desk, and was surrounded by five large and well-armed men. The men had all their guns pointed at Root and Pete when Shaw stomped through the door and started kneecapping people. They didn’t have time to swing their guns towards her before they were all writhing in pain on the ground.
Gen tucked her gun back into her pants and helped Root and Pete up. Unfortunately, the man behind the desk had hit a panic button, and, as they moved to go out the way they came, they saw men running down the hall.
“Other way.” Shaw said, throwing the door shut and bolting it. They made for the other door in the room. Leaving it, they entered the main floor of the warehouse.
“Which way out?” Shaw said.
“Left or right.” Root replied. “She can guide us either way.”
“Okay.” Shaw said. She turned to Gen. “Go left. Get out and take a cab home. We’ll meet you there.”
“What?” Gen turned to Shaw, startled.
“You’ve got homework.”
“Ah, come on!”
“Two assignments, due before you get back from break. You will be back at school in,” Shaw glanced at her watch, “30 hours and you haven’t even started. It shouldn’t take you long if you go home and do them.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“You’re just saying that because we’ve got the entire Irish Mob after us. I started this, I should see it through!”
Shaw shook her head.
Gen frowned, then turned to the other woman in the room. “Root? Back me up on this?”
Root cocked her head, and turned to Shaw. “You know, sweetie, it won’t take long to finish this up. I’m sure she’ll be safe with us and she can do her homework afterwards.”
Shaw looked at Root. “Really? What happened to ‘one of us needs to be responsible’?”
Root pouted slightly, and Gen gave Shaw puppy eyes.
“Fine!” Shaw snapped. “But don’t blame me if you get shot, or don’t finish your homework in time.” She grabbed their number’s arm and began dragging him to the right. “Directions, Root.”
“Sure, sweetie.” Root smiled and happily trailed after Shaw.
Pete looked at the trio in bewilderment. “Who are you people?!?”
“Concerned third party?” Gen chirped.
“Huh?” He looked bewilderedly at Gen as Shaw and Root opened a door, cleared the hallway, and motioned them forward.
Gen took pity on the man and explained. “We help people who are in trouble.”
“What, is this your job?”
They walked down the hall behind Shaw and Root.
“Yup.” Gen said.
“You get paid for this.” Pete sounded skeptical.
“Not really.” Gen said. “I’m still in school. And training. So, I have an expense account, but no paycheck. Mr. Boss Man said he’d start paying me once I graduate high school and that I’ll get a full time salary once I have a college degree. Or some other form of education subject to his approval.”
The man looked over to Shaw and Root, who were efficiently rigging an explosive to a set of doors. “Do they get paid for this?”
“She does.” Gen pointed to Shaw, who waved them behind a corner. A large bang made Peter jump a little. As they stepped carefully through the door debris, Gen continued, gesturing at Root. “She doesn’t work for Mr. Boss Man, so she’s just here because we are.”
They both looked at Root, who was casually kneecapping their pursuers without looking. Gen added. “And for fun.”
The man looked stunned. “What kind of weird ass people are you?”
Gen was interrupted in her answer by Shaw’s command to call John and get the narcotics unit down there before Root blew something else up.
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Gen toted her duffel into the living room. She’d made her bed, packed her clothes, and hidden her gun as best she could in preparation for unpacking at the dorms. She dumped the bag on the floor and flopped on the couch, waiting for the two women. As they were about to leave, a thought occurred to her. She casually tossed out a sentence. “You know you two are living together, right.”
“What?” Shaw said. Root just turned and stared at Gen.
Gen sighed. “You two are living together. Cohabitating. Sharing an apartment. In a domestic relationship.” Could she be any plainer?
Gen was met with blank looks.
She sighed. “Seriously? This is where you come back to after your trips. This is where you keep the things that are important to you. This is where you have surveillance and security up the wazoo. This is the where you spend time with each other. This is home for both of you.”
Root silently mouthed “home”, a stunned look on her face. Shaw stared for a moment, then shrugged. “I guess so. I’m okay with that. Root?”
Root jerked her head towards Shaw. “Yeah. I’m okay with it.”
“Cool.” Shaw nodded and picked up Gen’s bag. “Come on kid, let’s get you back to school.”
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“How was your vacation, Gen?” Ms. Cooper asked. “Did you have a good time with your family?”
Gen paused on the stairs, staring at Ms. Cooper. Slowly, a grin spread across her face. “I had a great time with my family.”