All Hands On Deck

Shaw shook her head in hopes of permanently deleting the file of seeing herself having a silly ass sex dream about Root. She headed towards the hacker's room as soon as she was able to flee the postmortem from Tinswell. Yes, she had a key card to Root and Reese's room, and she wasn't saying where she got it. She slipped into the room and didn't see Reese, but could hear his shower running. She barged into Root's room and found her asleep on her bed. The hacker couldn't have been asleep that long, although she did have about a ten minute gain since Shaw had to endure the ridiculous postmortem session on her sleep therapy with Fusco. Her brain was thinking of many ways to blow up at the hacker. Or maybe throw a bucket of ice on her. Or better yet, dump the bucket of ice down her own pants to stop lusting after the annoying hacker. Shaw shook her head; she hoped these were after-effects from the jellyfish sting; this constant need to be all over Root. Then, before she knew what she was doing, she kicked off her shoes, secured the door, and got on the bed. Root was curled up on her side, and Shaw didn't want to think how beautiful she looked. And how she wanted, needed to have the hacker's tongue back in her mouth and deep in other areas. Shaw crawled up behind her, as soon as she got close the hacker reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her so that her petite firecracker was spooning her.

Their bodies melded together like two Lego pieces fitting perfectly. The spooning happened so quickly, and naturally, neither one of them thought how they accomplished it so effortlessly for which they both laboriously could not fake with their other teammates.

Before Shaw's brain could fully comprehend what she was doing, she was spooning Root, sucking on her neck, one hand already down the hacker's pajama bottoms, and the other one underneath her shirt teasing her breast. Good gravy, she thought, this island was doing a number on her libido and brain. Her libido was definitely like one of their numbers; it needed saving because it was very close to being murdered by her. It was as if the floodgates had opened in concern to Root, and she had a quick worried thought that they might not be able to be closed again. She had managed for a long time to keep Root at arm's length despite the constant flirting, innuendo, and obvious attraction from the hacker. Shaw fought daily on her urges to jump the tall, lanky woman and reciprocate all those actions. The only goal now was to have Root so much that she wouldn't want her again. A Root overload seemed like the most logical course of action at the moment her brain thought. Root started responding immediately to Shaw's actions, she reached behind, slipped her hand down her favorite primary asset's pants to squeeze her ass hard, and dig her nails in a little.

"Oh god…Sameen, please don't stop… I'll kill anyone that knocks on that door," Root croaked out in between moans and gasps for air.

Root turned her head to lock eyes with Shaw; the petite primary asset used this opportunity to lunge for the hacker's lips. Root immediately slipped her tongue into Shaw's mouth, and the petite primary asset let a moan slip out, she regretted it as she could feel fell Root's lips move slightly into a grin.

"Shut up…you try sleeping next to Fusco all night," Shaw spat out while moving down to suck on Root's neck again and urgently roaming her hands all over the hacker's body.

Root wanted to mention how The Machine had already told her there was some footage of Shaw having a sex dream with what sounded like mentioning her name repeatedly and, more importantly, moaning her name. However, she felt like that would scare off the badass petite primary asset, so she didn't, and she filed away that information maybe someday for a later time. It made her heart feel ten times warmer and bigger, knowing she had gotten to Shaw in some way. Even if it was just sex, maybe that could be a start. Once again, her heart was hoping for something more than her brain was willing to see or compute knowing the target of her affections.

"Did Lionel get you juiced up?"

Shaw stilled her actions, "Wow, that's a real clit shrinker there. Can we not talk about Fusco right now?" Shaw moved further down Root's body, pulling off the hacker's pajama bottoms hastily and underwear in one fell swoop.

When she had the hacker pantless, she briefly admired the magnificent display before Root reached out. The petite primary asset pushed the hacker's legs farther apart and kissed hungrily along her stomach, aiming for Root's central motherboard of her lower regions.

Root was having extreme trouble holding down her louder moans as Shaw devoured her. The first moment Shaw's mouth landed where she needed it most, she thought she was going to scream. Then Shaw added two fingers, and she felt like she was going to blackout.

And then there was a knock on the door.

Shaw jerked her head up and was about to get off Root instead of getting her off. However, the hacker grabbed her hand and held on tighter and stronger than the petite firecracker thought possible of the bony armed woman below her. And Root coiled her legs so tightly around Shaw's torso that she restricted the petite primary asset's breathing a tiny fraction.

"Root? Are you in there? We gotta be on the beach area per Finch and the crazed therapist lady," said Reese, while knocking on the door again.

Shaw whispered to Root, "If you say you're coming, this never happens again."

Root had a pained look on her face mixed with extreme frustration, "Be right there," the hacker yelled back, then looked to Shaw in-between labored breathes and whispered to her, "…is that better?"

Root looked at the door to her bedroom and noticed that the big armchair with the ottoman pushed on top, barricading the room for privacy. Or another Joan intrusion.

"Sameen…" the hacker beamed out a smile, "…did you want some alone time with me?" The hacker's face couldn't stop smiling, thinking that her favorite primary asset went to the trouble to blockade the door so they could have some privacy, "That's kind of sweet."

"Shut up," Shaw once again struggled to break free, but Root had her legs around her favorite primary asset so tight it was like the jaws of life or the jaws of sex legs.

"Hurry up, Finch needs to see us before we head down to the beach," Reese spoke again, both women gritting their teeth at his interruption.

"Shaw…you better finish what you started, or I'm going to release the video of you singing 80s karaoke for the world to see," Root threatened while bucking her hips up towards Shaw.

"You know…blackmail kind of turns me on," Shaw said, and she started back up again on Root at a faster pace, severely aware that possible team members were on the other side of the door.

There was something so beyond intoxicating about Root, and she couldn't pull away despite foreseeable consequences and silly ass jokes from said team members. Only a slight twinge of guilt fleeted across her brain about the possible mission, and technically if it was just a debriefing or lecture by Finch, that could wait. And she did spend all night working; she needed at least a fifteen-minute break. And if that break included having as much sex as possible with Root, she really needed the work break.

Another knock on the door, "Root, let's go. You know I hate being late." Reese had no idea how close he was to getting shot by one reformed killer for hire.

"JOHN!!! I'll meet you there!" Root yelled out, angrily to Reese on the other side of the door.

"You know what else turns me on…you being sassy with Reese," said Shaw while she placed more open-mouthed sloppy kisses on a trail back down Root's body.

"Sometimes he only responds to butch," Root smirked back to Shaw.

When Root heard the outer door to the hotel room close, she let out the moans she had been desperately holding down. And before she knew it, she screamed out Sameen's name and felt like there was no blood at all flowing to her brain. Before Root completely caught her breath, she started tugging down Shaw's pajama bottoms.

"Root…" Shaw squeaked out and got pissed at how ragged and affected her voice sounded, "…we gotta go…you heard the man," and she let out a few grunts and moans she couldn't control.

Root continued to struggle to get Shaw's pajama pants off while the petite primary asset had her pinned down on the bed. The hacker was successful despite the fake protests from her favorite primary asset; she ran her hand down Shaw's body and felt the hot moist vagina volcano eruption going on.

"Hot lava is just pouring out of you," Root had a wicked smirk on her face.

"You're such a nerd. Is that your version of saying I'm really wet?"

"How about…there's a typhoon in your panties? A tsunami crashing in your vagina…" Root continued on with the ridiculous innuendo and placed sloppy, kisses along Shaw's neck.

"Stop," Shaw barely got out as Root slid inside, and she closed her eyes, which brought a smug grin from Root.

"Stop this…" Root said while thumb circled Shaw but never quite hit the sweet clit spot, "…or this…" as the hacker added another finger.

Root pulled her hand away slowly from where Shaw needed it the most right now.

"Root…" growled out Shaw, who was about to get furious when she realized that Root had torn off her top and was struggling to get hers off.

Shaw pulled up and yanked her sports bra off; then, Root pulled Shaw back on top of her finally without anything between them. They both stared into each other's eyes, feeling mixed shudders and sparks between them as they molded together with full-body skin on skin contact finally.

"That was a bad idea," Shaw hoarsely croaked out while her whole body ignored her words and moved on its own accord, reacting to every inch of Root. Shaw ran her hands over as much as Root's skin as possible.

"Some of my bad ideas are the best," Root breathed out while closing her eyes, administering her fingers so deftly into Shaw that she was unable to control her own moans. "Like reading your file." The hacker very quickly rolled them over so she could top her favorite primary asset.

Then Shaw rolled them over again, not realizing they were close to the edge of the bed where they both rolled off with a loud thump and a loud gasp from Root on the carpeted floor.

"UH," grunted out Shaw, who somehow took most of the brunt of the fall despite having almost been the one on top. "I think you just broke my back," Shaw smirked with not even a trace of anger, surprisingly.

"There's no better way to break a back than in bed," Root rolled them over, so Shaw was on top of her.

"Technically the floor," Shaw said as she looked down in Root's eyes, those damn brown magical eyes that were looking back at her in such a way that she felt the air sucked out of her chest, although she could chalk it up to having the wind knocked out of her because of the bed drop fall.

Root reached up and pushed Shaw's hair out of her eyes, ran her hands through the dark, adorably sexy messy hair, and couldn't stop staring at her petite primary asset. They stilled for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes while moving against each other, this made Shaw's stomach tightened, she put both her arms down trapping Root's head, leaned down and started kissing the hacker again. Her stomach stayed tightened but in a more aroused way and less in an uncomfortable way that the hacker seemed to bring out in her with those damn mesmerizing eyes.

Then Shaw's phone rang (even though she knew her ringtone was off), then Root's phone rang, and then the hotel resort phone rang, all at the same time. Both women stopped kissing and looked around.

"I'm going to kill them all," whined Root.

"Except Bear," warned Shaw as she moved off Root and started looking for her clothes, avoiding getting stuck in the hacker's jaws of sex legs again.

"Never Bear," said Root as she stood up and watched Shaw gather her clothes from the floor and bed.

Shaw found the hacker's shirt and threw it in her face, which then caused Root to grab onto Shaw's shorts before she could put them on. Then Shaw found Root's underwear, she sat on the corner of the bed and held them, hostage, for exchange of her shorts; they were not trading any more clothes. Root twirled the shorts in hand while she sauntered up to Shaw; she had managed to put her shirt back on. The petite primary asset decided to take the initiative and lowered the underwear out for the hacker to step into them. Root couldn't help the smug, sexy smirk that spread across her face watching Shaw do something almost kind of romantic, although she knew she was only really doing it to get her shorts back. The gesture was like an R-rated version of Cinderella if Cinderella had lost her underwear to Prince Charming instead of her shoe. Root stood for a moment in between Shaw's legs, so the petite primary asset ran her hands up and down the hacker's long legs.

At first, Root thought these interruptions were just frustrating, but now every time one of these infuriating interruptions happened, it might be her last time with Sameen. With every interruption was the chance the threat would be eliminated, and they will all return to New York. Their island deal would be over. She ran her hands through Shaw's hair, running her fingernails across her scalp. She needed to talk to The Machine, see if she could stall them a few more days; she didn't want to give up Shaw just yet. Okay, maybe never, but at least she could push for a few extra days, depending on the threat level and how things were going in New York without the team there to help save people.

Shaw did not want to admit that Root massaging her scalp was comforting or how damn good it felt; she felt dazed. Then she forced herself to snap out of it; they had work to do. Hopefully, they could isolate the threat quickly or get through any stupid therapy session fast so they could come back to the room. Shaw didn't want to admit that it was very rare for her to look forward to being with the same person multiple times; there was always that risk of the other person getting attached. She knew Root was already attached, so at least that was out in the open. She wasn't sure what attached felt like, yet she did know she wanted to have sex with the hacker a lot more times and got angry when she thought of someone else having sex with her. Shaw shook her head and went over to her suitcase and rummaged around for her toothbrush; she remembered she wanted to kick Fusco's ass for bringing her suitcase and leaving it in Root's room; however, it has come in handy with her stuff being here. Shaw did not want to admit that she had spent almost every night and every waking hour with Root. Also, she had managed not to maim or kill the Root yet, only kissing her entirely too much.

Shaw pulled out her toothbrush and headed towards the bathroom, where she started brushing her teeth. Root followed along behind her, making sure to brush up and lean against Shaw several times while retrieving her toothbrush and using the petite primary asset's toothpaste. They stood silently for a few moments while both brushing their teeth and eyeing each other in the mirror. Each time Root looked at Shaw; the petite firecracker would roll her eyes. As soon as Shaw went to take a spit take, so did Root; she did this several times until the petite firecracker grabbed her waist and held her back until she was finished.

Root pushed back. Soon they had their hands all over each other, and they were kissing despite toothpaste smeared all over their mouths, which caused an even more tingling sensation with a slight actual burn from the strong mint-flavored toothpaste. As soon as their kissing got deeper and more heated, with toothpaste smeared all over their faces and hands wandering way too low into nether regions, all three phones rang again at the same time. They both turned their heads and looked out into the room. Root looked at Shaw, brought up her hand to wipe off some toothpaste from the petite primary asset's check, which brought a half eye roll.

As soon as they made themselves presentable, Root and Shaw headed for the door to leave.

"Wait, we can't arrive at the beach area together. It will set off Joan and the guys," Shaw grabbed Root's arm before she opened the door.

"Let me go first since I have a fastidious on time fake hubby waiting to berate me for being late," Root left the room and headed towards the beach area.

As soon as Root arrived, she spotted Fusco and Reese by a table set up with snacks under a small tent near the beach area.

"Figured this would be the first spot my wife would hit when she arrived. Where's your almost as crazy other half?" asked Fusco of Root with a smile.

"Do I look like a Shaw locator?" said Root as she reached over and got a bottle of water and an apple.

"Yeah," both men replied at the same time.

"Cocoa Puffs, what do you have in your hair?" Fusco spotted some white stuff in the tall hacker's hair.

"Oh, I must have missed while brushing my teeth. I didn't sleep well last night. Somebody didn't want to cuddle," Root pouted to John while reaching up and trying to dislodge the toothpaste out of her hair. She finally gave up and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

Shaw jogged up to her teammates with a slight glean of sweat on her body, pulling out earbuds from her ears.

"Where are you coming from?" asked Fusco in between bites of a bagel.

Shaw shot Root a very harsh look not to respond verbally, so the hacker opted for mouthing a discreet 'me' to the other woman.

Root looked too adoringly at her fellow female teammate, she spotted some toothpaste in Shaw's hair and reached to pull it out or hide it before Fusco could see it linking the two of them together.

"Root…what are you doing?" said Shaw as she tried to swat the hacker's hand from her hair.

"You have some bird poop in your hair," Root dug in, trying to get the chuck of toothpaste dislodged from Shaw's hair.

"Sure, it's not toothpaste?" smirked the detective.

Root had to give it to Fusco; he was a damn good detective who could spot details. "No, it's bird poop. Here, Lionel, she's your wife. You take care of the bird poop."

"Nah, you're already there," said Fusco with a disgusted face.

Shaw continued to swat away Root's hands in her hair. "I'm sure it's fine, leave it."

Soon Tinswell had brought all the couples together to stand in the sand for their next exercise.

"We are going to do more deep eye contact exercises. Keeping eye contact can be very challenging. It opens up raw honesty—two people looking directly into each other's eyes and speaking their truths. You can tell your partner everything…deep breathes…. let's begin," Tinswell instructed while roaming around the room and watching the five couples. "Don't break eye contact with each other. Stare deeply into each other's eyes and tell them anything."

Tinswell was circling to Root and Reese, "John, sometimes I feel I need you to be more in the moment like when picking up coffee," the hacker looked intensely into the tall primary asset's eyes with a smirk, the big lug sometimes got her coffee order wrong.

"Sam, when you borrow my things, put them back," Reese stared at Root, definitely referring to his guns and bombs.

"Keep sharing everyone…keep staring into your partner's eyes…keep communicating, communication is the key to life," Tinswell kept spouting off instructions while walking around and watching all the couples, Joan following behind her taking notes on her clipboard.

Fusco noticed the doc wouldn't be back to them for a few minutes, "Let's try and say the same thing at the same time while staring at each other," said the detective in an effort to help with the boredom of this exercise.

"Whatever," replied Shaw with a half eye roll.

"Okay…one two three," Fusco counted down.

"Steak," Shaw said.

"Boots," Fusco said, they both shook their heads.

"One two three."

"Pancakes," Shaw said, staring at Fusco.

"Bacon," replied Fusco staring at Shaw; they both shrugged a not half bad.

"One two three."

"Beatrice," said Shaw.

"Lillie," said Fusco, they both smiled goofy smiles at each other. "Hey, that was cool!" Fusco said too loudly, everyone in the room turned and stared at the fake couple. Shaw high fived her fake hubby then continued the exercise.

After the staring truth exercise, then came a short yoga session on the beach in the sand, much to the horror of the teammates.

*****

Thankfully, it was announced the next activity would be watching a video with snacks; something Shaw could finally not completely snarl at, she wanted more food. Root sat next to Shaw, telling her she would share her snacks for the seat, the petite primary asset grunted back a shrug. When everyone was settled with a few snacks, Tinswell began the video introduction.

"We are going to watch a Ted Talk now by Esther Perel because I'm a big enough person to admit, I can not teach you all everything; there are far better teachers in some areas. So relax, deep breathes and let's listen and absorb these words and ideas in this talk about desire in long term relationships," Tinswell made big deep breaths gestures, then settled down in a chair off to the side and signaled to Joan to start the video.

"One of the big reasons I like our jobs is because it prevents long term relationships," whispered Shaw to Reese, who leaned over Root. The tall primary asset gave his fellow petite primary asset a sad smile.

Fusco, on the other side of Shaw, reached out for her hand and held it in between both of his. "Let's pay attention Buttercup, although we don't need help in the desire area. We've got four strong, healthy boys," the detective smirked to his fake wife, who desperately wanted to yank her hand from her fake husband.

Root leaned forward to smile at both of them. If the lights had been darker, Shaw knew Root would probably have taken the opportunity to try and hold her other hand.

Everyone sat there as the video played on. Coming from the video talk, "You know, this is the first time in the history of humankind where we are trying to experience sexuality in the long term not because we want 14 children…"

Fusco took this to rib his fake wife, who scowled back at him.

The video continued on, "…for which we need to have even more because many of them won't make it, and not because it is exclusively a woman's marital duty. This is the first time we want sex over time about pleasure and connection rooted in desire."

And now Root was poking Shaw in the ribs. The petite primary asset did not like being sandwiched between these two. And she then realized that she desperately wanted a sandwich.

The talk went on for about twenty minutes, then Tinswell recapped it extensively when she stressed the word 'rooted,' which made Shaw squirm and Root beam out a smile and a non-wink at her.

****

After the hour-long video session, it was time for another more physical activity. When all five couples walked out of the slightly darkened room, Reese looked like he had just woken up from a nap.

A few golf carts were lined up to take everyone over to the beach bar next door for the next session. Shaw raced forward and got in the driver's seat before Fusco much to his grimace. Reese and Root sat in the back seat. Shaw sped the golf cart off toward the off-site property next door.

"Hey, we're going back to that karaoke bar where Shaw did that legendary 80s performance to Cocoa Puffs," Fusco said while pointing to the bar off in the distance.

Shaw gripped the steering wheel harder, "I'm sure I wasn't singing to Root," she snapped back to her fake hubby.

"How are you sure? I thought you didn't remember anything from your blackout jellyfish crazy period? Reese back me up here, was Shorty singing to Cocoa Puffs?"

"Sorry, Shaw…you were singing to Root. Because of the jellyfish," agreed Reese to Fusco, yet tried to let Shaw down easy.

Surprisingly, the hacker stayed quiet in the backseat, jellyfish sting or not; Shaw sang to her; that's all that mattered.

When they walked into the beach karaoke bar, both Root and Shaw lowered their heads as not to be recognized by the owner once again, once for the memorable performance and for last night's saving.

The five couples were seated up near a small stage, thankfully not the main stage. A smaller stage was in the back that still had a view of the ocean and not enough tables and chairs for a large audience. As soon as everyone was seated, Tinswell instructed the couples were doing karaoke therapy.

"How in the hell is karaoke supposed to help anyone?" seethed out Shaw to Fusco.

"Why do you keep asking me these insane questions? Do I look like Cuckoopedia?" barked back Fusco to his fake wife.

Tinswell gestured with her hands for everyone to take deep breathes.

"Yes, I can see by your faces that this particular exercise is baffling. Trust us; there is something about singing that sets the soul free. Something about dancing like no one is watching that sets the soul free."

"She's always watching," Root whispered to her teammates. All her teammates groaned.

The teammates were sitting at adjacent close tables. They endured Betty singing Patsy Cline's 'Crazy,' which was pretty decent until Fred broke down into a sobbing mess. Sadly, Fred also cried while singing Alessia Cara's 'Outlaws'; which struck Root as a really weird song choice for the older man. Next up, was the young couple woman belting out Celine Dion's 'Love Can Move Mountains,' the young couple man butchering Drake's 'Best I Ever Had,' the Roth woman talk singing through Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' clearly the woman was a little tipsy. Then the Roth man sang all the parts to the Beastie Boys' Sure Shot' to a lot of confused faces.

"Sweetie, I'll pay you a thousand bucks if you sing a Sinatra," Root said to Reese, who just raised his eyebrows to her. Shaw rolled her eyes at both of them. "Five thousand to you," Root then stared at Shaw. Her petite primary asset's response was to shove a chicken finger in her mouth; the hacker smirked back and excused herself from the table.

Then Tinswell called up Fusco to the stage. The detective looked like a deer caught in karaoke headlights with wide eyes and curly hair from the humid beach air.

"Since I got stung by a jellyfish for you, I should get to pick your song," Shaw followed Fusco up to the small stage and grabbed the tablet to scroll the song list.

"Hey, that's not fair. At least pick something by The Boss or The King," Fusco tried to look over his fake wife's shoulder, but she kept turning to block his view.

Tinswell walked up to the front of the small stage and looked to both Shaw and Fusco.

"Actually, I'll pick the song." The therapist warmly smiled. "A song that hopefully reflects our inner joy and journey…something that we might need expressing." Tinswell reached out her hand to take the tablet from Shaw, "Lionel, I think you have enough masculinity in your life …let's channel your feminine side."

"Uh, I'm not sure I want to see that," said Shaw with a scrunched up face.

"Ditto," said Reese from the table.

"A queen instead of a king," Tinswell's face lit up, and she looked to have entered a song choice on the tablet.

"Queen, nice, I love them. Give me We Are The Champions," Fusco said, slapping his hands together.

"A queen, Lionel…a true feminine groundbreaking woman," Tinswell reached over and patted Fusco's shoulder, "And she shares a similar hairstyle to you, well her 80s look."

Fusco made a wildly confused face to Tinswell. Shaw and Reese looked to each other and shrugged.

"My husband has a secret love for disco," Shaw spoke up just case she could get Fusco good with an absurd song choice.

"Disco? Shaw, that's a new low even for you," whispered to his fake wife out of earshot of Tinswell.

"Yes, that genre is here," Tinswell squinted at the tablet, scanning over the song titles again, "Oh, I love that one…and that one…" the therapist then closed her eyes and tilted her head singing softly, "… I've always dreamed I found the perfect lover…enough is enough…hmmm," she suddenly opened her eyes, "Got taken away to the past briefly." Tinswell grabbed onto one of Fusco and Shaw's hands, "My apologies for not staying present. Okay, back to you, Lionel, and your song." The therapist kept scanning then called over Joan to consult a list. "Yes, I think something with a bit of a fight in it."

Fusco thought that sounded promising, he was terrified since Shaw suggested disco.

"Still going with my original queen choice for you, what a delight. You both share hair attributes and a love for disco," said Tinswell while she walked over to cue up the song. Fusco made a huge grimace face to Shaw.

The detective groaned as he got up from his chair and headed towards the stage area and microphone.

"Knock 'em dead babycakes!" Shaw hollered at her fake husband.

The music started. Fusco squinted and read the monitor's scrolling lyrics, along with the song title and original performer.

"Barbra Streisand? Are you kidding me?" Fusco looked like a kid that just lost his favorite toy and was told her would never have cake again; he looked severely bummed out.

"This is going to be painful," said Reese, who appeared to be already scooting down in his chair. "Where's Root? She's going to want to see this."

Shaw stared up at Fusco with an evil glee shining on her face, "I think she's in the bathroom. I'm sure the Machine will record it so we can torture Lionel for years," said petite primary asset with almost a giddy response.

Fusco grabbed onto the microphone so hard it looked like his knuckles were turning white. Tinswell and Joan sat at one of the front row tables next to The Roths, the younger couple, Betty and Fred. Everybody looked very intrigued to see what the auto parts dealer from Jersey was going to sing.

♪"Ooohhhh…uh…mmmm…mmmm…"♪ Fusco turned his head, "They actually put these as lyrics?" The song started off slow. Sweat poured off the detective's face.

As the off-key intro continued, even Tinswell shifted in her chair and tried her hardest for a forced smile to Fusco up on the small stage.

♪"Extraaaa…Extraaaaa… I'm in looove...I gotta thank my lucky staaaaaars aaaaaaabooooove…"♪

Fusco took a deep breath and powered on even though he had a sad puppy dogface going on.

♪"Huuuuurry, huuuurry dooooon't be late…."♪ The music was painfully slow at this point. Fusco wondered if it was going to pick up; it had to right, he thought. It was stupid disco, weren't all disco songs fast? Fusco then gave Shaw the biggest puppy dog, sorry eyes, and all the petite primary asset could do was look at her fake husband with evil glee in her eyes and hold down a gust of laughter.

Reese had a very pained expression on his face as his buddy continued on.

Root was returning from the bathroom when she caught sight of Lionel on stage butchering a Barbra Streisand song. The detective looked truly miserable on stage, even more than when he had to walk on the hot coals or that one time when all the donuts were gone. Root didn't like her nickname captain and fellow teammate looking so embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Root jumped up on the small stage with Fusco, put her arm around his shoulder, leaned into the microphone with him, and belted out the next line very loudly and very excitedly along with the detective music picked up to a fast pace.

♪♪"I CAN'T WAIT!!!"♪♪ The hacker had a huge grin on her face while the detective looked at her like she was more batshit crazy than ever, however, this time loony tune was helping with the tune, and Fusco was so grateful.

They both sang into the microphone, ♪"I gotta celebrate… It's a fact…"♪

The hacker shook her hair free from her ponytail, swayed her hips, and outstretched her arms to the detective in a silly dramatic gesture.

♪"We got a first rate act… It's evident…when we make loooooooove"♪

Root ran her hands up Fusco's arms then ran them through his curly hair with a huge wattage smile at him.

Shaw and Reese turned to each other with a mixture of disgust and shock on their faces. Tinswell seemed to like this turn of events. Joan scribbled away notes on her clipboard.

♪"The Maaaaain Eveeeenttt!!!"♪ Root sang directly to Fusco, who was getting more into the song now that he had a duet partner in a non-duet song.

"Not sure Fusco and Root making love would be considered a main event," deadpanned Reese.

Shaw continued to stare up at the stage and be completely dumbfounded by the goofy woman singing, the woman for some insane reason she sleeping with. Root was basically serenading a disco song to her; Shaw shimmied down a little in her chair. Yup, Shaw decided; she knew the hacker, she was going to sing this silly ass damn song to her; covers be damned.

♪"You're my every thought…"♪ Root turned back to Fusco dramatically and looked straight into his eyes while singing.

♪"You're my one attraction…♪" Root glanced and shot a quick sex eye dart to Shaw.

The lyrics made Shaw's stomach turn a little, or maybe it was the bar food that was making her feel queasy.

♪"You must be heeeeeeeaven sent, you give me so much satisfaction…"♪

Root turned her head slightly and did her trademark non-wink to Shaw, emphasizing the word 'satisfaction.' However, she also glanced at Reese in case Tinswell was watching her too closely.

Fusco was getting into the song now; he swayed his hips more and snapped his fingers. Root was bouncing all around the stage with him; her luminous hair flowing in multiple directions. Fusco even belted out a backup singer line, ♪"You're the one!"♪

Pointing at Root and then to his fake wife. He yelled out to Shaw, "You're the one babycakes!"

Shaw did her best fake plastic smile, showing her teeth, but most people couldn't tell if she was smiling or about to bite the head off of someone. She then did slide even further down in her seat a little; she wished she had her hoodie to pull over her head.

"Shaw, your husband, is singing his heart out to you," Reese leaned over and whispered to his fellow primary asset. Shaw wanted to smack him.

"And your wife to you," Shaw mumbled out so only Reese could hear through her gritted teeth.

Reese looked over to Shaw and gave her a warm smile; he knew Root was singing to Shaw. The hacker wasn't even acting up on the stage. He wasn't sure how his fellow primary asset was going to take this over the top show of affection, which thankfully was hidden to most people.

Then Tinswell shouted over the music, "Sammy, smile with your eyes."

The therapist smiled warmly at Shaw, but all the petite firecracker could think about was smashing the karaoke machine into bits. If the karaoke machine was smashed and ruined, this horrid cow screeching would stop, and then she wouldn't have to sing.

♪"You make life worth fighting for…you're the ooooooooone-aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. Cause there's nobody quite like yoooouuuuu!!! Sweetie, you're the one"♪ Fusco and Root sang to each other with huge goofy smiles across their faces.

"This must not be big Streisand song," Reese leaned over and said to Shaw.

"It's from the movie The Main Event," Shaw replied while keeping her eyes glues to the stage, a train wreck with so much tone-deaf carnage she couldn't look away.

"Didn't figure you for a Babs fan Shaw," Reese shot back with a smirk.

"The movie is about a boxer Reese," Shaw snapped back, "Plus, they just sang the movie title."

"Sounds like more romance than boxing. I'm guessing not like the Rocky movies?" asked Reese.

Shaw rolled her eyes.

♪"Extra! Extra! I'm in love! I gotta thank my lucky stars aaaaabooooooove. Hurry, hurry don't be late. I can't wait. I gotta celeeeeeebrate. It's a fact, we got a first rate act. It's evident when we make looooooooove….The Maaaain Eveeeent!!!"♪

"I'm not sure how much more I can take with them singing about making love," Shaw said to Reese.

"Are you jealous, Shaw?"

"No, I'm going to hurl," Shaw did look uncomfortable. "Can you imagine the mental image of those two?" The petite primary asset pointed to the small stage.

Reese shook his head as if a shiver went up his spine. "Good point."

♪"Fight! Fight! Fight! Come on and fight, fight, fight!! Fight for what you want, Fight for what is real,"♪ sang out Fusco and Root while making punching gestures to each other while continuing to bounce up and down on the small stage.

"If only this was a simulation," Shaw said with a pained expression on her face. Reese looked over and nodded to her.

♪"Fight to keep the one you love, If love is what you feeeeeeeeeeel"♪

"I think the feeling is more like creepy or repugnant," Shaw waved over the waitress for a refill on her whiskey, she gestured with her fingers to indict four glasses were needed. It was hard for the waitress to hear over the screeching from the small stage.

♪"Aaaaaaand Loooooooove, don't try to KICK me when I'm down!!"♪ Root stole a look at Shaw, who squinted back at her.

"I wish someone had knocked or kicked me out so that I didn't have to listen to this any longer," whispered Reese to Shaw.

Finch, Zoe, and Bear entered the beach bar off to the side, looking on with great confusion and concern. Reese had not been overly thrilled when Zoe's cover had to be extended, so the only logical explanation was that she was the fiancée of Harold's.

"Oh my," said Finch when he looked up at the small stage and saw two of his teammates belting out a disco song. "This whole retreat is literally the ultimate torture for an introvert."

"I kinda had a feeling Fuco would be a good singer," replied Zoe as the trio slowly wandered over and took a table on the outskirts but still close enough, unfortunately, to hear the scream singing from the small stage.

"I'm not sure about Root; she's much better suited to hacking."

♪"Looooooove-aaahhhhhhh, you're gonna give up without a sound,"♪ Root and Fusco kept belting out.

Bear tilted his head, it almost look as if his ears were in pain.

Fusco looked at the screen, pointed to Root then pointed back to himself; then only Fusco sang, taking the role of backup singers, ♪"Keep it comin, Keep it comin!"♪

Then Root sang, ♪"Look out, kids cause love is a comin',"♪ and she looked out to Reese and Shaw.

Fusco now had gone into a punching and kicking dance move, ♪"Keep it going, Keep it going!"♪

"How did Fusco become a backup singer on his own song? That's not fair. Root can sing ours too then," Shaw crossed her arms across her chest and glared at the small stage and her two idiotic teammates performing.

♪"Come a knockout, so put up your dukes and fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggght-aaaaaaahhhhhhhttt,"♪ Root looked directly at Shaw.

Shaw whispered to herself, "Oh, I'll knock her out all right."

Joan glared at both of them and scribbled notes violently on her clipboard; she caught the eye contact between the two women; that wasn't normal eye contact. That eye contact had major subtext, the assistant thought and scribbled down in her notes.

♪"Extraaaaaa…Extraaaaaaa… I'm in looooooooove…"♪ The music slowed down. Root and Fusco switched to soft singing, and they were both clearly out of breath. Root turned to Fusco and sang directly to the detective. Shaw inwardly let out a sigh of relief that Root didn't sing that line directly to her.

Tinswell was certainly getting into the groove even though she meant this to be a solo activity. The therapist stood up and clapped her hands with a look of pure joy on her face while she danced.

♪“Huuuuuuurry, huuuuuuurry dooooon’t be laaaaaaaaaaate…”♪

Then boom the music picked up the pace and back to the fast paced disco beat with the two singers jumping up and down.

♪"Cause I can't wait!! I gotta celeeeeeeebrate. It's a fact, we got a first rate act. It's evident when we make looooooooooove-ahhhhhhhaaaahhhhhhhhaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaahhh"♪

Fusco once again took backup singers' role while giving Root the solo, ♪"Hurry, hurry don't be late!!"♪

♪"I can't wait! I gotta celeeeeeeebrate. It's a fact, we got a first rate act it's evident…"♪ Root sang out loudly, mostly on key; missing a few major ones here and there. However, by this time, the hacker and the detective had won over the audience. Tinswell clapped and whistled for them.

"You might want to brace yourself, long refrain coming up," said Shaw to Reese, she wished she had her wax earplugs from last night.

♪“When we make loooooooooooooooooooooove….the maaaaain eeeeeeeveeeeentaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhh”♪

The refrain indeed seem to stretch out for an almost unbearably long time with both Root and Fusco taking mini breaths and continuing to sing until the karaoke machine told them to stop singing. Bear tilted his head and whined a little at the high octave screeching from his human teammates.

The canine teammate then hid under a chair.

Despite the odd sounds coming from the stage, it was hard to not be charmed by the two mismatched people singing, giving their best go at a very difficult song to sing.

For the rest of the fade out of the song, Fusco and Root did a pretty seamless job of alternating lyrics between backup singers and main solo, almost as if they had practiced this part before.

When Root and Fusco walked off the small stage, Tinswell congratulated and hugged them. Fusco headed towards the bar to get some drinks, Reese got up and went over to help him. Root returned to their respective tables, she sat next to Shaw and leaned over out of breath with sweat pouring off her.

Shaw scoffed as Root stared at her, "You think I'm going to put my mouth on the mouth that sang like that?" Shaw wasn't asking a question; she already knew the answer. Yes, she was going to put her mouth on a mouth that sang like that, and she wanted to right now. Yet, she needed to keep her cover up and it was too much fun to tease Root.

"Uh huh," Root licked her lips and lustily stared after Shaw's lips, "and your mouth can go many places besides my mouth." Root put her hand on Shaw's thigh. The hacker smirked because she was pretty sure she heard her favorite primary asset's breathing quicken, and her eyes darken.

Reese and Fusco came back to the table with drinks.

"Sweetie, what song are you going to sing?" asked Root while she sipped on her fruity cocktail in a huge pineapple.

"I'm not singing," growled out Shaw as she grabbed her beer and knocked it back, not bothering to remove Root's hand from her thigh.

"I wasn't talking to you, Sweetie, my other Sweetie," Root smiled over to Reese and squeezed Shaw's thigh, digging her fingernails in a little.

"The Machine better pull all electricity to this island or have Samaritan agents shoot me before I go up on stage. Me and Shaw," Reese put his fist up, and Shaw bumped it.

Root and Fusco raised their eyebrows to each other, then clicked their glasses together. "Well, Lionel, in some areas, you and I are tougher than the Mayhem Twins."

They both took sips from their drinks, then Root added with a sly smile, "I bet the bar here can just replay Shaw's performance from the other day on a big screen, and that would make Tinswell happy."

Shaw rolled her eyes, and Reese squinted his eyes at his fake wife.

"Looks like the doc is busy, let's go check in with Finch and Zoe," said Reese, so Root followed behind her fake hubby and walked over to where Finch, Zoe, and Bear were seated. "Finch, any updates?" The tall primary asset instantly put his hand on the back of Zoe's chair.

"Combing through the data on the drone proved to beneficial. We found extensive drone footage of one area over the ocean, again and again, the area above the underwater sea cables. The area has to be a target. I'm just not sure if the drones are going to destroy it from up above or if there's a plan to destroy it from below." Finch was discreetly talking as he could while sipping on a pina colada.

"And we still don't know who exactly is behind the possible technology blackout," Reese said seriously.

Root bent down to pet Bear since the singing had stopped at the moment, the canine teammate had crawled out from under the chair. Root then noticed that Tinswell and Joan were headed towards them; she decided to try and intercept the whole exchange.

"Dr. Tinswell, do you know Mr. Harold Bushtit from the resort?" asked Root, she put one hand on Tinswell's arm and the other on Joan's arm.

"I have not had the pleasure yet, hello Mr. Bushtit," smiled Dr. Tinswell warmly to Finch.

"We were fortunate enough to meet Harold Bushtit and his fiancée Zoe here by sheer accident the other day at the resort," Root looped her arm through Reese's arm, then held onto his hand, "We felt like we bonded with them straight away, right John?"

Root's fake hubby had a pained expression on his face; he was desperately trying to conceal.

"It was very nice to see the two of you again," Reese said while watching for Zoe's reaction to being pulled further into the fake couple's charade.

"Dr. Tinswell, I just had an idea," Root's face lit up as if she just won the lottery. "As a wedding present to Mr. Bushtit and his fiancée Zoe, could John and I sponsor for them to join us for some couples therapy exercises?" asked Root in her best, most completely charming disarming way to Tinswell.

Joan eyed Finch and Zoe warily while making notes on her clipboard, then Root reached and grabbed her hand in excitement, and the assistant's eyes softened to the tall brunette.

Tinswell's face lit up, "Of course! No need to sponsor them, maybe a pro-bono sort of case. A wedding gift of marital stability; we would be delighted for the two of you to join us for the rest of our sessions," Tinswell went over and hugged Finch, who maintained a very stiff posture; then Zoe who was softer but in shock from this new development.

Tinswell and Joan then walked away, headed back to talk to the other couples.

"Root, what the hell are you doing?" asked Reese of his fake wife.

"Relax, John, this way, you get to spend more time with Zoe. And Harry can get a taste of what he has been putting us through," smirked Root to Reese then over to Fusco, she wondered where Shaw had gone off to.

Suddenly, Tinswell was back on the microphone. "One last song everybody, we have a new addition to our sessions, soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Bushtit."

Tinswell waved at the fake couple with their forced smiles.

"I've heard that Mr. Bushtit has a classic he likes to serenade everyone with on special occasions," Tinswell smiled warmly at Finch. "Please, Mr. Bushtit come to the stage and enlighten us with your beautiful rendition of 'We're Not Gonna Take It,'" Tinswell said honestly and genuinely clapping her hands and motioning for Finch to join her on the small stage.

Root looked around and saw Shaw strolling back over to their area with a shit eat grinning on her face, she stood next to Root and leaned over, "The man thinks he's going to make us endure all these therapy sessions and get out scot-free, not on my watch."

"Thank you, Sweetie," Root beamed at Shaw. If no one was watching, she would have smooched the petite primary asset hard, yet Joan was always on guard concerning their actions in particular.

Fusco did a light smack on Shaw's buttocks, "Way to go babycakes."

There was literal steam coming out of Shaw's ears; this time, she was definitely going to knife her fake hubby. The petite primary asset raised her arm just as Root pulled Fusco out of Shaw's harm.

"Lionel, do you want to lose a hand before we leave the island?" Root asked seriously to the detective.

"Thanks, Shaw, for not throwing me under the karaoke bus," Zoe said warmly to Shaw with a smile, hoping to calm down the murderous look in the shorter woman's face toward her fellow teammate.