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Root perched herself on the kitchen counter and watched as Shaw slammed her laptop shut. After the aggressive searching she'd been doing for the past hour, Root was a little impressed it had survived as long as it had, but she knew well when the limits of Shaw's patience had been reached. It was time for a new tactic...
"Maybe you should draw up a list of pros and cons, sweetie."
"Why would I ever do that?"
"So you have a list of the pros and the cons," she answered helpfully, earning her a stern look.
Sliding off the counter, Root took away the offending technology and replaced it with a notepad. "Humor me," she said as she wrote 'New Apartment' at the top. "What's a negative of finding a bigger place?"
"I never needed a bigger place before any of this," Shaw answered, waving her arm towards the kitchen and coffee tables, which were both covered with laptops, tablets, phones, a pair of discarded sweaters, and a dozen or so empty mugs and glasses; Root's stuff, in other words...
"Before you met me, you mean," Root answered with a coy smile. "So I'll just go ahead and list that as a positive."
She quickly scrawled 'Met a Goddess' on the pad under the 'pro' column, earning her another look from Shaw, which Root readily ignored.
"Alright," Root continued cheerfully. "What's another 'con'?"
"Root..."
"Come on, Sameen... It'll help. I promise..."
Shaw crossed her arms and growled under her breath, but when Root cocked her head and smiled in just the right way, Shaw shook her head the way she had at a thousand other of Root's games. "It's going to cost me a lot more money," she answered tersely.
"But you know finding money has never really been a problem for either of us," Root said. "It's usually even fun, so I'll just add 'Fun and Games Taking Money.'"
Shaw's eyebrow shot up. "Taking? I thought we were supposed to be going legitimate."
"Only as far as Harold knows," Root answered with a coy smile, which broadened when Shaw grudgingly nodded. "Go on. What's another?"
"I'm going to have to find a new Indian place. The one downstairs is why I picked this apartment in the first place."
"So we'll have to try restaurant after restaurant until we find just the right new one. Check."
Root added 'Lots of Date Nights' to the pro column and though Shaw's other eyebrow arched up, Root pretended not to notice; she scrutinized the list with a deeply furrowed brow instead. "Hmmm.... I don't know, sweetie. That's three positives in a row. I'm having trouble seeing the problem here."
But Shaw shook her head and stormed off into the kitchen. "The problem..." she said, pulling a drink from the whiskey bottle. "Is that I'm not making decisions based on what you want. This is supposed to be my new place."
"You're right," Root said as she moved to join her. She took Shaw's bottle and then a slow pull of her own. "I think we need to start a new list, then."
"Root..." Shaw warned as she took back the bottle.
"Exactly." Root flipped to a new page in the notepad and wrote 'Root' at the top."
Shaw shook her head and started to walk away, but Root expertly caught her arm, stilling her. She moved in quickly to wrap her long arms around Shaw's middle and use her chin to move Shaw's ponytail aside before running a gentle line of kisses up her neck.
"Would you say this is a 'pro' or a 'con'?" she whispered just shy of Shaw's ear.
"...pro," Shaw grudgingly answered.
Root smiled at her answer before slowly moving forward, continuing the line of kisses across her shoulder and, as Shaw tilted to give her access, to the edge of her collar bone before working back up along Shaw's throat. She could feel the gooseflesh start to rise along Shaw's skin, perhaps urged on by the gentle nips she occasionally made or perhaps because of the slowly wandering hand that had made its way into Shaw's jeans and tucked a thumb in the top of her panties.
"And this?" she breathed against Shaw's skin. "Pro or con?"
"...pro..." Shaw managed to say after swallowing hard. Root had felt it against her lips - both the swallow and the vibration of her words - and it left her tingling. She kissed Shaw's throat again in response and slowly pulled Shaw around to face her and let her lips find their mates.
Pressing her hips flush against Shaw's, she let her arms slip up the back of Shaw's shirt and slowly dragged her nails along the skin until she found and unhooked her bra.
"And this?"
Shaw pulled her into an aggressive kiss rather than answer, so Root pushed her away with a mock-pout and quiet 'tsk tsk...'
"That's not really an answer, Sameen, so I don't think we can count it. Let's see what else we have..." She slipped further away, reached for the last drawer in the counter, and pulled a pair of handcuffs. "What about these? Pro or con?"
Shaw stared at her hungrily, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "With you? Could go either way."
"Are you saying I... straddle both columns?"
Shaw took a couple of steps towards her, but Root backed away in equal measure.
"I need an answer, sweetie. But if you're unsure, I bet we could put it to a test." She dangled the cuffs up at eye level. "These might help me pick a firm position..."
And then Shaw advanced on her faster than she could back away. She lifted Root from the floor and started carrying her towards the bedroom.
Giggling with delight, Root wrapped her legs around Shaw's middle and allowed herself to be hauled away. "Does this mean you've made a decision?"
"Yeah, you're going to need to start packing."
"For you, sweetie? I always am..."