Cooking Therapy
As Root and Shaw followed behind Joan down the hallway, the assistant kept staring at Shaw over her shoulder. Shaw was trying to hide a limp and failing.
“Sammy, I didn’t notice the bandage. What happened to your leg?” Joan asked with actual concern in her voice.
Root had noticed Shaw’s limp as well and thought she must be in some pain. Seeing Shaw limp just made Root even angrier at Finch. She wanted to reach out and help Shaw in some way, but also knew that would only make her angry and not the fun kind of angry. Root didn’t want to upset what had been going on this trip between them.
She got lost in her thoughts thinking how just minutes before they had been so tightly wrapped around each other that she felt something she had never felt before, a feeling that scared the shit out of her. She knew before coming here that she already had an attachment to Shaw. Root never wanted Shaw to get her hurt, and now she knew she would lay down her life if it meant Shaw never got hurt. She couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t include Shaw. Root didn’t want to even think about the possibility of the ‘L’ word.
Sadness washed over Root when she realized they could be leaving today or tomorrow, and then things would go back to the way they used to be with Shaw. The world would still have Shaw in it; she just wouldn’t get to kiss and have sex with her all the time. Yet it was a world with Shaw, and a world with Shaw in any form was better than a world without Shaw. Shaw’s voice broke Root out of her thoughts.
“It was part of the food poisoning incident,” Shaw said blank-faced in hopes that it was the end of questioning her leg injury.
“How, exactly, did it happen?” Joan pressed on; she stopped and made Shaw stop so she could look at the bandage closely. “Looks painful. Here let me help you. You did save my life…” Joan gasped. “Oh my gosh, this is from saving me, isn’t it? You just didn’t want me to feel bad.” Joan pressed her hand over her chest dramatically.
Wow, Root thought; this woman made it all about her. She’s good, real good. Root wanted to tase the woman and stuff her in a closet.
Shaw inwardly groaned; this woman was even more annoying. “No, I tripped getting to the toilet. I needed to get to the toilet immediately.”
Root noticed Joan staring at Shaw longingly, almost with literal heart eyes and smirked.
“There were massive amounts of diarrhea. There’s still some lingering around.” Shaw hoped this would scare off the annoying assistant from hitting on her anymore.
“It was all night long,” Root added with a double meaning subtext, of course.
Shaw caught the subtext and half-rolled her eyes. She only did the half roll, because it was the best sex she’d ever had.
As they continued their walk through the maze of hallways, both Root and Shaw looked annoyed to be following Joan to another silly ass therapy session.
“Joan, how are you doing after the attack yesterday?” Root asked, clocking the new clipboard. “And I see you have a new clipboard?”
“I’m doing better, thanks for finally asking,” Joan said, glancing over her shoulder at them. “We started to get worried about you two last night. You both disappeared as the storm hit, and we didn’t see you for the rest of the night.” Joan said accusingly. She glared over her shoulder at them.
“We were hunkered down, trying to stay safe and dry. We ended up wet though,” Root glanced quickly over to Shaw, who remained blank face, not even rolling her eyes at the salacious remark.
Shaw found herself not annoyed by Root’s remark because her distaste for Joan was so strong.
All three of them eventually made their way across the resort property to the room where the sessions were being held for the day. Everyone was on a break after the book therapy session. Tinswell was off in the corner, talking privately with the Roth couple. This raised both Root and Shaw’s eyebrows; they glanced at each other before Joan started babbling on again.
“Oh, look here are your husbands,” Joan looked over Reese and Fusco. “Wonder where they have been?”
Reese and Fusco arrived looking between Root and Shaw cautiously.
Reese leaned in carefully and kissed Root on the cheek, playing the dutiful fake husband. Root gave Reese her best-forced cold smile. Shaw gave Fusco the stink eye, so he just patted her on the back.
Finch and Zoe wandered over to them. The group was all together again, and Joan was the odd person out.
“Glad to see everyone could attend this session. That food poisoning incident must have been really bad,” Joan eyed Root and Shaw, both struggling to remain impassive. “I guess as bad as the storm.”
The whole group was starting to look tan on their seventh day at the resort. Root and Shaw, despite sleep deprivation from last night’s activities and injuries, had a small glow about them. That didn’t seem to go unnoticed by their fellow teammates.
There was an uncomfortable silence as no one was saying anything at all. Root kept glancing at Finch with a murderous glare in her eyes.
“So glad to hear Ms. Joan that you weren’t injured in your assault,” Finch said politely, “Did you get a good look at your attackers?”
“No, they were wearing masks. I still can’t believe they attacked me and only took my clipboard and not my purse,” Joan said, very puzzled.
There was more silence as the team just stared at each other, willing Joan to leave them alone. They thought they would get lucky when, surprisingly, Tinswell left the room, yet Joan still didn’t leave the room or the immediate area. Finch started getting annoyed.
“I’m sure you have to prepare for this next session. We don’t want to keep you,” Finch said, forcing politeness again. He did hope the annoying woman would leave so they could talk briefly before the session started.
Joan just smiled at him and made some notes on her new clipboard. Finch realized he needed to use another tactic.
“Ms. Joan, could I please trouble you for a cup of Sencha green tea?” asked Finch in his most polite voice.
Joan gave them a fake smile, “Of course, Mr. Bushtit,” she said as she put her pen away and clutched her clipboard to her chest. She moved away from the group to exit but then paused and turned around to stare at Reese and Fusco. “You two might want to keep a better eye on your wives. Make sure they don’t eat anything inappropriate.”
Reese and Fusco just smirked to each other. It was unspoken that no one, not even Root or Shaw themselves, could keep an eye on each other, although those two were the most likely to succeed.
Root followed after Joan quickly, opened the door for her, grabbed her arm, and whispered something in her ear. Joan smiled at Root as she left the room to get Finch’s tea. Root walked back to the group with a fake smile.
“Ms. Groves, what did you say to Joan?” Finch asked Root.
Before Root could answer, Shaw spoke. “I’m going to shoot that woman.”
“Not in the shoulder, though,” Root stared at Shaw with unabashed heart eyes. With Joan out of the room, she didn’t need to pretend so hard. Root felt protective over the shoulder area. It was their thing.
“Fine, I’ll shoot her in the knee...Reese style,” Shaw shrugged.
“It’s a classic and gets the job done,” Reese replied with shrug and tug of a smile on his lips.
Finch sighed, resigned to not getting an answer from Root. He switched topics. “We have to talk quickly before your next session starts.” He glanced around to the whole team.
“What do you mean ‘your session’?” Root asked with disdain to Finch.
“I’m going to do some research. Ms. Morgan and I will talk with Dr. Tinswell for excusing ourselves for the rest of the sessions,” Finch said this quickly and hoped there would be no discourse.
“Over my shot leg. No way,” Shaw said firmly, crossing her arms.
“I’ll do the research. You’re staying,” Root also crossed her arms and glared at Finch.
Finch looked back and forth between his two female teammates, completely intimidated by them.
Shaw didn’t like Root’s idea. “No, we are all staying. Get the Machine to do the research,” Shaw said quickly, and under her breath so no one would hear outside their team. Although, it looked like the other three couples weren’t paying attention to them at all.
“I checked the data before we came over here. The cable is back up and running with no glitches.” Root stared scarily at Finch. “So, you’re not going anywhere, Harry.”
Reese leaned into Finch and whispered in his ear, “I think she knows you shot Shaw in the leg. I would watch your back.”
Root walked over to the circle of chairs, Reese followed behind is fake wife.
Fusco stepped closer to Shaw. “Hey, honey. Feeling better?” The detective asked cautiously.
“You better watch it too honey,” Shaw seethed at Fusco.
“What the hell did I do? I didn’t even tease you about wanting to have a threesome in the car or wanting Root to call you baby.” Fusco pleaded his case passionately; he looked pretty scared of his fake wife.
Shaw’s eyes went wide open. She then grabbed Fusco’s arm and twisted. “What?”
Root looked over at Shaw twisting Fusco’s arm so she slowly, without drawing attention to herself, walked over to them. “Sweetie, I would let go of your hubby.”
“Root, why didn’t you tell me that apparently, I did more jellyfish antics stuff again under the influence?” Shaw gritted out between her teeth.
“You didn’t really want a threesome with Fusco and me, that was his distasteful male gaze interpretation,” Root said while putting her hand on Shaw’s arm and turning her around to walk towards taking a seat in the circle. Then Root whispered in Shaw’s ear, “We’ll go shoot something later.”
“WHAT?” Shaw enunciated the ‘T’ harshly as she glared harshly at Root. She continued to stare at Root with a completely bewildered expression on her face, which also morphed into a rage very quickly. She didn’t want to hear anymore, apparently being under any influence while on this island. Within a four-foot radius of Root, she caused her mind and libido to go into hyper overdrive.
Shaw sat down in a chair next to Root. She couldn’t help but keep thinking of Root’s warm breath on her ear, her hand on her arm, and her general close proximity and how those things sent a shiver down Shaw’s spine. Shaw gritted her teeth despite the pleasant sensation in her body, her plan of getting Root of her system with copious amounts of sex didn’t seem to be working. Over the course of two and a half days, they had sex twice as many times as Shaw’s normal rule, and she still wasn’t tired of Root yet. If anything, she wanted her more. There had to be more of a logical explanation Shaw thought; she suspected prolonged after-effects from the jellyfish. Or she thought maybe it was the Hawaiian heat and humidity. Or the fact Root keeps wearing shorts and bikinis. The biggest suspect was that damn jellyfish. Shaw thought that once she was safely back in New York, things would be different, and she would be able to think more clearly. Root would be wearing big coats and scarves. And perhaps even that dorky snow-stocking hat. And at least there won’t be some awkward talk with Root since they have an arranged user end agreement. She hoped this session would quickly end so she could grab Root and continue their sex quest.
Tinswell entered the room, looking serene as always. She was wearing another demure slacks and blouse set with a sheer flowing type of robe thing over both of them, a real Dorothy Zbornak style going on. She looked around the room and smiled warmly to all the couples. All the couples sat in the circle of chairs.
Finch was grateful chairs had replaced the pillows.
“So very nice to have everyone back in the session. We’ve had quite the last twenty-four hours. The storm. Joan’s attack. And then Sam and Sammy’s food poisoning,” Tinswell let out a dramatic sigh, she smiled warmly at everyone again. “I’m very grateful and thankful we are all here together again.” Tinswell let out a long breath, a true breath of relief for all that had happened over the course of the last day. She put her hands over her heart and took some deeper breaths.
Joan entered the room, holding a cup of tea. She walked to Finch and gave it to him. He mouthed a thank you to Joan and then took a sip. Root and Shaw were closely watching when he took a sip. As soon as Finch took a sip of the tea, his face became distorted with disgust and revulsion that he didn’t hide very well.
Shaw leaned over Root’s chair to whisper in her non-Cochlear implant ear and get a good whiff of signature Root smell. “What kind of tea is Finch gagging on?”
“Cilantro peppermint tea,” Root turned her head slightly, she then realized her mistake, as her lips were mere inches from Shaw’s mouth; she wanted so badly to kiss her again. She could make kissing Shaw a full-time job; the petite primary asset did have the most alluring, amazing lips she had ever seen.
Shaw made a disgusted face at the tea. She noticed how close Root’s lips were to her lips. And she noticed that Root was staring hard at her lips. Then Root bit her lower lip. That Root lower lip bite was fast becoming her undoing. She stared back at Root’s lips until Tinswell’s voice broke her out of her lip lusting haze.
“We are going to share the wonderful stories on how your unions came together. We will go around the circle and share how each couple got engaged.” Tinswell clasped her hands together and leaned forward on her elbows, her eyes wandering over all the couples.
Six certain people did not look excited about this storytelling exercise at all. And they held off as long as they could, letting the other three couples go first in sharing their proposal stories. Fred and Betty’s proposal story was pretty standard; he asked during a moonlight stroll after securing her parent’s blessings. Craig and Gina Roth didn’t have a proposal story as they met and got married within a few days of meeting in Vegas on a whim. The younger couple had the most traditional proposal and engagement with a big wedding and reception at a country club.
Shaw tried hard to stay awake, all the stories were pretty boring, and Root had kept her up all night. Every time she almost dozed off, Root would brush up against her ‘accidentally.’ The touch would set off her senses, and memories of last night would flood her body, thus, jolting her more awake. She wondered if Root knew she had this effect on her. Of course, she did, the hacker had a smug look on her face every time she did it. Root was going to pay for these accidental brush-ups later alone in private.
Root was struggling hard at staying awake during the rather dull proposal stories of the other attending couples. Was domesticity really this uninteresting and uneventful? The only thing keeping her awake was teasing Shaw, bumping into her ‘accidentally’ on purpose, running her fingers down her arm or along her bare thigh where her shorts stopped and showed off her lean muscular legs. She couldn’t stop thinking about last night and dared to dream of a repeat performance tonight, although that seemed highly unlikely due to the fact they were in another session and had one more after this one. And then, the team needed to meet and strategize on figuring out what was going on the island and figuring out how Samaritan was involved. One highlight from last night was Shaw falling asleep in her arms, she would probably deny it, but it did happen. Root could feel the warmth spread through her body, just thinking of having Shaw in her arms again.
Tinswell’s voice startled Root, and she turned to the therapist quickly. She didn’t have enough time to hide her sheepish grin at having been caught daydreaming and not listening.
“Sam, could you please share your and John’s proposal story now.” Tinswell smiled warmly at Root, who returned the smile.
Root paused for a moment; she turned to Reese and studied him. She decided she could have a little payback fun right now. She sat back in her chair, had her hands in laps, and got a big grin on her face.
“John, went all out. It was like out of a Youtube video that goes viral, so romantic,” Root started, she could tell Shaw perked up a little and everyone else seemed intrigued.
“Let me guess…flash mob proposal?” Coached Shaw with an evil glee in her eyes, she could have some fun at her Mayhem Twin’s expense.
Reese’s not completely forthcoming take on how she got shot in the leg to Root pissed her off.
“Yes! He just looks like a flash mob kinda guy, right?” Root’s face lit up with Shaw adding to her fake marriage proposal to Reese.
Reese couldn’t even hold down his cringing at all. He had a huge annoyed look on his face; he raised his eyebrows to his fake wife. He remained quiet, though, fearing any interruption would cause more payback from his two female teammates.
“It was so wildly romantic. One afternoon, I was walking along…” Root paused with a sly grin as she turned to Shaw.
“Disneyland,” Shaw interjected again with an evil twinkle to her eyes. She didn’t even care if the fake couple had any close relationship to the magical place on earth, she just had a feeling Reese wasn’t a fan.
“Will you let my wife tell the story,” Reese politely said to Shaw, he didn’t want any more of her additions to his fake proposal story; even despite the possible payback.
“I did already share this story with Sammy here…” Root made a motion of putting her hand on Shaw’s thigh as a friendly gesture, too friendly of course, “…while we were sipping some Lava Lube drinks.”
“Flow…Lava Flow drinks,” Shaw corrected Root quickly while giving her best fake smile to the group. And hoped no one would notice Root’s lingering hand on her thigh; although, she saw Joan scribbling down notes on her damn clipboard.
Root removed her hand from Shaw’s thigh, almost missing the contact.
“So, I was strolling through…Disneyland, I can’t even imagine the planning it took for getting permission at the happiest place on earth. And my John made it even happier, which I didn’t think was possible,” Root said while leaning into Reese and squeezing his hand as he did his fake best smile.
“Because he took you on the It’s A Small World ride,” Shaw really couldn’t control herself, she loved seeing Reese squirm and Root almost giddy with her additions to the fake story.
“Yes, John led me to the ride…” Root paused, then smirked. “… It’s A Small World After All…I would have preferred the Pirates of the Caribbean ride…” Root stared at Reese then added with a smirk, “…but It’s A Small World After All is John’s favorite place in the whole world.”
Reese did his best fake smile, which his teammates knew was basically him chewing the inside of his mouth.
“Well, my world has never been small since John entered into my life. He’s made my world so full of life,” Root smiled at John, then her eyes betrayed her, and she glanced very quickly at Shaw.
Shaw could do without these kinds of embellishments; she wanted more Reese doing silly ass stupid things.
“Beautiful sentiment Sam,” said Tinswell while smiling genuinely and nodding to Root to continue.
“We were going along the ride when things looked a little different than last time I was on it. Suddenly, all the robot children came to life and started serenading us. It was like a G-rated version of Westworld with no guns, buckets of bloodshed, or gratuitous nudity.”
Everyone seemed a little surprised by this turn of events in the proposal story.
“They weren’t really robotic children, John had gotten a children’s choir to serenade us through the ride,” Root reached over and grabbed onto John’s hand.
“Let me guess, the kids of the world were throwing flowers at you and blowing kisses?” asked Fusco with a mischievous grin on his face.
Root’s face lit up; she was, after all, the least angry with Fusco. “Yes! They were Lionel. Did John tell you this story?”
Reese shot Fusco an angry, frustrated look.
Root ran her fingers over John’s hand. “John had tears in his eyes; he said to me that his world was small, indeed without me in it. The children of the world all came together and sang to us all the way through until we got outside.”
Shaw interrupted very quickly and added with a smug grin, “Then they broke out into a Coldplay song.”
Reese let out the biggest sigh as he snapped his head to Shaw. “Uh, Sammy…you ruined my wife’s surprise there.” The fake husband looked completely exasperated by this fake proposal story.
Root sent a high wattage smile to Shaw, “Who knew that It’s A Small World morphs so seamlessly into Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.”
“Coldplay? Really?” asked Fusco with a scrunched up nose face; clearly, he was disappointed with the fake proposal’s music selection.
“It was the perfect song. ’Every siren is a symphony…you can hurt me bad…but still I’ll raise the flag’ ,” Root glanced over and did a sly grin to Shaw, of course, this time the Mayhem Twins together tried to hold down grimaces with fake smiles towards the group.
“That pretty much wraps up the story,” said Reese, he clapped his hands together as if this motion brought the fake story to a close.
“Did the kids do the whole song? Did John dance with them?” asked Shaw with a smug grin; she wasn’t done with Reese yet.
Root gave Shaw a wicked smile. Reese looked like he was passing a kidney stone. Tinswell seemed intrigued by this elaborate proposal, as well as the rest of the group. Joan sat off to the side, taking notes, giving side-eye to the whole group.
“Actually, John got all our friends and family there too. They were all dancing and singing in the Disneyland streets. Oh! I almost forgot the other best part, John brought along some of his rescue cats there, and one special guy, Pookie, walked over to me with the engagement ring tied his neck,” Root leaned into Reese who looked as if he was leaning away from his fake wife.
“How did you get a cat into Disneyland?” asked Fusco, the look on his face it was apparent the story went off the rails or jumped the shark at this point.
“Pookie was smuggled inside a Pooh Bear costume,” Root said, solving the fake story predicament.
Shaw jumped in once again, treating the telling of this fake proposal story like a live-action game of mad ad-libs. “Then John put the Pooh Bear costume on.”
“He did! Then he serenaded me with Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ while dressed as Pooh Bear, holding Pookie in his arms and openly sobbing.” Root loved the additions Shaw was adding. “John has a lovely voice. It was a very special day.” She then squeezed Reese’s hand as he sat there looking like someone was stabbing him in the leg.
The whole room sat for a few minutes, a little speechless by the grand scale of the fake proposal. Before Tinswell could pick the next couple to go, Fusco spoke up unexpectedly and very loudly.
“I know the man is supposed to propose, but my Sammy is a real feminist,” Fusco pointed to his fake wife with a proud smile.
Shaw yanked on Fusco’s arm so she could whisper in his ear, “Lionel, don’t you dare come up with some silly ass story like Root.” She threatened her fake hubby.
“Hey, you derailed her story,” Fusco whispered back to Shaw.
“And you’re about ten seconds from a bullet in your knee,” Shaw growled at Fusco before he leaned back in his chair to continue his fake proposal story.
Shaw shot Root a glare with her eyes squinted a few times for added effect. She was trying to convey that if Root added silly ass embellishments to make her look goofy, she would pay big time later.
“We went out bowling one night, Sammy was already knocked up with our second child Lionel Jr.,” Fusco said as he looked at his fake wife fondly.
Shaw gritted her teeth. She didn’t know if it was carrying Fusco’s SECOND child out of wedlock or bowling together, which made her angrier.
“We bowled our first set; then, when the balls returned back to us from the machine thing, I noticed they looked different. One ball had ‘Marry’ written on it, and the other ball had ‘Me’ written on it. I said sure, and we both bowled strikes,” Fusco said with a smug smile.
Shaw would have never thought she would ever want to be a part of a flash mob marriage proposal in Disneyland of all places, but Lionel’s fake story actually had her wishing that. She shook her head.
“Lionel, you’re forgetting the best part,” Root smiled at Fusco and then to Tinswell. “Sammy shared her story over those Lava Flow drinks too.”
Fusco looked dumbfounded at Root.
“Sammy had told me after she proposed to Lionel, the bowling alley was held at gunpoint, and she single-handedly took down the two robbers with the skills she learned at her Mommy & Me Defense classes.”
Shaw looked slightly less angry now after Root’s addition to the fake proposal story. She crossed her arms against her chest and shrugged. Shaw thought to herself; it would not be hard to take down two idiots who decided to steal from a crowded bowling alley.
“That’s so impressive, Sammy. You’re like Wonder Woman without the lasso,” Tinswell proudly said as she gave Shaw a little clap.
Root spoke up one more time, “And then to show his appreciation, Lionel here did a Full Monty dance show to the whole bowling league and all the other patrons of the establishment for his wife to be.” Root shot Fusco a mischievous deadly stare. “Of course, using a bowling bowl in place of a hat.”
Tinswell stood quiet for a moment, processing both stories. “That was quite a night at the bowling alley. Thank you for sharing Lionel and Sammy.”
All the eyes room landed on Finch and Zoe, the last couple to share how they got engaged. Finch looked uncomfortable, Zoe looked cool as ever; nothing got under that woman’s skin.
“Hey, Bushtit. Spill it,” barked Shaw to Finch, who looked mildly horrified at her brute-forced question and his vulgar sounding cover name.
Finch sat frozen for a minute and then turned to the group. “Oh, it’s such an intimate story. I’m not sure anyone would want to hear,” Finch’s mind went blank. He had proposed to someone in his life, and she said yes. He didn’t want to share that story. He stayed silent for too long; everyone stared at him.
Root then realized this actually might be hard for her fellow teammate; even though she was mad at him, she knew he desperately missed Grace, and this hit a hurtful spot. She looked over to Zoe, who took the cue.
“Harold is modest. He flew us to Paris for a week. We had the most amazing day together, and then he proposed at the top of the Eiffel Tower with a small quintet playing ‘Moon River’ as we stared out over the city,” Zoe smiled to the group of people, she patted Finch’s arm gently.
“Moon River? Seems a tad cliché choice,” Finch scoffed a bit.
“Do you want to tell the story…sweetheart?” Zoe vaguely threatened Finch.
Shaw got that rare surprised look on her face, which was truly adorable even though it usually meant that she was gleeful at someone else’s embarrassment or torture.
“No, thank you…my darling. Thank you for sharing the story.” Finch put on a very forced smile towards his fake wife.
Thankfully, for the team, the session ended, and they got a break. They all went outside discreetly as possible so they could talk. The outside bar made for a good cover. Shaw ordered food and drinks for herself, and then Fusco nudged his way in too to place an order. Root walked over to stand next to Fusco and pick food off his plate, which the detective grumbled on and on about.
“Finch, the undersea cable is fixed. We might not have any more threats here. Samaritan could have moved on,” Reese said to the team while looking at Finch. “Maybe we head back to New York?”
Hearing Reese say that statement was a hard, hurtful punch in the stomach to Root. She didn’t want to leave Hawaii yet; she didn’t want to lose Shaw yet.
Shaw hadn’t expected Reese’s statement to get to her. New York. She didn’t want to leave for New York tomorrow; she wanted to have sex with Root a few more times. Even being almost superglued to the annoying hacker for a week wasn’t that terrible.
Before she even knew she was responding, words starting shooting out of Shaw’s mouth. “There is still something here. I think we need to get to the bottom of it before we go back to New York.”
“I agree,” Root said, she might have replied too quickly, so she tried to cover her enthusiasm for staying on the island in a casual shorts attire Shaw. “Samaritan took Joan’s clipboard for a reason. We need to know why before we leave.”
Before they could say anything else, the person Root was just talking was descending upon them fast. Joan walked briskly to the outdoor bar, where three of the couples were conjugating.
“Well, the six of you have formed fast friendships like this was summer camp,” Joan said in a snotty tone. “I do hope all of you keep in touch when you go back home.” The assistant came up to stand too close to Shaw. “It’s time for the next session, hope you didn’t eat too much to spoil your meals.”
The team looked around at each other confused, afraid to know what the next session entailed. They all started to follow Joan back inside the resort.
Root followed behind Shaw; it was her favorite view. Root watched Shaw walking unevenly.
“Hey, if you need to rest and get off the leg…” Root had leaned into Shaw to whisper; she was getting concerned that Shaw hadn’t gotten much rest from her injury just earlier this morning.
“No, I’m fine,” Shaw replied, annoyed. She wanted to shoot a metal dart into Finch’s leg just about now.
The next session was set up in one of the resort kitchens with six different cooking workstation areas for each couple. There were all kinds of ingredients and food all over the counters for each workstation area. Each couple found their labeled workstation area and went to go stand by it.
Reese raised his eyebrows to Root, looking at the pounds and pounds of cheese on their cooking area. Shaw noticed a lot of familiar ingredients in her and Fusco’s cooking area. And Finch looked aghast at some of the items placed at his and Zoe’s cooking workstation.
Tinswell stood in front of all the cooking workstations and got everyone’s attention.
“I’m going to quote from the wonderful, fabulous Chef and Therapist Kami Redd,” Tinswell put on her reading glasses and began reading from a notebook:
’Cooking Therapy is a way for people to experience a heightened relationship with each other through food. It helps couples connect on a deeper interpersonal level. Stimulating the five senses leads to great brain development and better physical contact.’
The team looked around at each other. Root stared hard at Shaw, who was too busy scanning all the cooking areas and cataloging all the ingredients at the six different workstations. Root couldn’t help think how much Shaw loved food, and that brought a warm, genuine smile to her lips. She wished she were cooking with Shaw.
Shaw glanced over and saw how much cheese was on Root and Reese’s cooking workstation and wanted to be over there. Not because she necessarily wanted to cook with Root, she liked cheese.
Tinswell carried on reading again:
’Cooking Therapy makes use of our ability for touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. All of these senses get a workout in the kitchen and with each other.’
Root couldn’t let her eyes hungrily track all over Shaw’s body. Shaw caught the tracking mid-way through and squinted her eyes at Root. And then slowly ran her tongue over her bottom lip for Root’s punishment. Root definitely wanted to touch, taste, smell, see and hear everything about Shaw again right now.
’Eating together as a couple and the satisfaction of having created a meal while effectively working on your relationship. Improving communication skills and deepening intimacy.’
This part got a big eye roll from Shaw. Her fake hubby was watching her and chuckled to himself.
“According to the questionnaire everyone has filled out before the retreat, your partner is going to prepare your favorite dish,” Tinswell smiled delightedly at the couples. “We have set up each cooking area fitted with all the ingredients and utensils you will need to craft your partner’s dream culinary delight.”
All of Team Machine turned to Finch; he looked a little scared. “The Machine helped fill in that part on the questionnaire for everyone. Basing on your past purchases and how many times you mention certain food items or meals,” he whispered.
Everyone on the Team inwardly groaned. Then Shaw looked at Root, who returned a sly grin to her.
Root walked over to Shaw, feigning interest in their cooking workstation and ingredients. She leaned into Shaw’s ear, “Some adjustments have been made since this morning,” she whispered.
Shaw narrowed her eyes. She didn’t want Fusco ruining any of her favorite dishes. And she didn’t want to eat any of Fusco’s cooking. Yet, she did hope that Finch got the most complicated meal to prepare.
Tinswell walked over and stood in front of Fusco and Shaw’s cooking station.
“Lionel, you will be preparing Sammy’s beloved Persian dishes. Tahdig, a lovely Persian dish of crunchy fried rice along with Soltani, marinated beef in a yogurt blend with onion and lemon juice. Basted with a saffron butter mixture.” Tinswell put her arm around Fusco’s shoulder and gave a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
Fusco had a completely baffled look on his face; it’s the look he usually saves for Root when he’s completely bewildered by her complete cuckooloo ramblings.
“Did you know that soltani means royal in the Persian language, a royal dish that your partner is preparing for you.” Tinswell smiled warmly at the fake couple as she looked down at her iPad and then called over Joan to look at something on the electronic device. Tinswell had a confused look on her face reading from her iPad.
Shaw looked amused. “Considering Fusco is cooking…more like peasant dish. Ain’t got be nothing royal about this,” she looked over all the ingredients that were lined up on the counter.
Tinswell looked down at her iPad more closely, Joan shook her head too.
“Sammy, you will be making Lionel’s favorite…microwave popcorn,” Tinswell seemed surprised by this food item as it required nothing of Shaw except to hit a button and wait two and a half minutes.
Shaw had a shit grinning smile on her face; Root looked rather smug too.
Root walked over after Tinswell moved onto the younger couple. She whispered to Shaw. “You were assigned to prepare Lionel’s favorite Baked Alaska, ice cream and cake topped with a browned meringue, along with boeuf bourguignon,” Root said in a terrible French accent. “Turns out Fusco is a Julia Childs fan.”
The detective overheard them, “My ma was a big fan of Julia Child, she was always making her recipes. Okay, she was always ruining her recipes.”
Shaw was relieved to dodge two super complicated recipes. Now she could heat up Fusco’s microwave popcorn and eat it while he cooked for her; this therapy session wasn’t so bad after all.
Tinswell moved onto Reese and Root’s cooking workstation set up. They both stood looking down at the ingredients and all the piles of cheese, Reese didn’t look happy.
“John, you will be preparing Sam’s favorite nachos grande with a fourteen layer dip and all the extra toppings for your life mate. Tasty tortilla chips dripping with decadent cheese topped with jalapenos, tomatoes, bell peppers, two kinds of onions, and many other veggie accouterments. Plus, queso, of course.”
Reese scrunched up his nose, slightly disgusted; he then turned to Root with raised eyebrows.
“What? I am from Texas, remember? I love melted spicy cheese over tortilla chips. Texas forever.” Root smiled at her fake hubby, who looked miserable.
“And also, her favorite dessert…churros,” Tinswell added while looking up from her iPad to give a reassuring smile to Reese.
Reese rolled his eyes, a rare roll from the stoic tall man.
“What? I love churros, c’mon John they aren’t that hard to make. Who doesn’t love churros?” Root asked in an innocent, puppy-dog way.
Shaw was almost drooling over the possibility of queso and churros, hey, she thought; she was from Texas too.
Tinswell looked down at her iPad and then focused on Root.
“Sam, you will be preparing John’s favorite, a grilled cheese sandwich. A traditional, comfort food favorite. Plain white bread with American cheese, buttered on both sides for toasty perfection.” Tinswell smiled at Root and gave her arm a gentle squeeze before moving on to the next couple.
“John, you really can’t get more vanilla than that. Do you want the crusts cut off too?” Root tilted her head to Reese and gave him a smirk.
Reese raised his eyebrows to Root.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Root admitted that John was kind of adorable when he looked annoyed at her.
There was a lot of cheese going on Root and Reese’s table. Root got busy, pulling the bread and butter out to get started making the grilled cheese sandwiches.
Fusco leaned over to get Root’s attention. “How come Reese only has to dump some cheese on tortilla chips, and I have to make hard stuff?”
Root turned to look at Fusco with a serious stare. “Lionel, there is a tad more skill to queso. It’s Tex-Mex, there’s veggies and sometimes meat. Not everyone can make good queso. Great queso is an art form.”
Tinswell and Joan had reached Finch and Zoe’s cooking workstation now. The rest of the team waited to hear what was in store for the culinary adventure.
“Mr. Bushtit, you’ll be making Zoe’s favorite dessert Gateau Saint Honore. A classic French torte named after St. Honore, the patron saint of pastry chefs,” Tinswell said while reading from her iPad.
“Is that who we pray to for more donuts?” asked Fusco in a teasing tone.
Shaw jabbed Fusco in the ribs with his elbow.
“I think an American invented the modern-day donut Lionel, good question though,” Tinswell seemed pleased that everyone appeared to be paying attention. “Gateau Saint Honore doesn’t really have a cake foundation. The torte has a puff pastry base, topped with a caramel-filled cream and a rich chocolate center, surrounded by profiteroles dipped in caramelized sugar, with sweet tops resembling the halos of a saint.”
Tinswell looked to be very excited by this recipe.
Finch stood very still and very confused. Once again, Shaw couldn’t hold down a sly grin while watching her team leader figure out how he was going to make a difficult recipe without any electric help. Root looked extremely smug. Reese looked on with a sympathetic nod to Finch.
Then Tinswell continued on; Finch wasn’t done hearing what he had to prepare for his fake wife Zoe yet.
“You will also prepare her favorite main entrée, Sloppy Joes, with chili cheese totpops.”
Finch did not look happy. Then he asked more confused and slightly disgusted, “Sloppy Joes?”
“The loose meat sandwiches,” Tinswel offered up, looking back down at her iPad. “They usually have the dripping sauce, making the hamburger bun soggy.” The therapist seemed less enthused about this recipe.
“Wear a bib Bushtit,” Shaw looked on, amused. Score another one for Root’s revenge hacking plan on Finch. “They get really messy.”
“What are totpops?” Finch asked, yet not really wanting to know the answer.
“A cross between tater tots and jalapeño poppers,” Root jumped in and answered with an evil grin on her face. She then leaned over to whisper to Shaw. “Shaw you will love them. You’ll like a totpop.”
Shaw pointed a finger at Root. “Do not describe me as a strong puffy potato with a spicy center.”
Finch looked glumly over the counter at all the ingredients and let out a big sigh, a real depressed Charlie Brown sigh.
“What a refined palette you have, my darling,” Finch said, dripping with sarcasm to Zoe, who shrugged in return.
“I can be high maintenance and low maintenance at the same time, sweetheart,” Zoe gave a sly grin to her fake husband.
Tinswell then spoke up again, “Zoe, you’re be making Harold’s favorite meal…pre-packaged Chef Boyardee’s Beefaroni.” The therapist seemed confused by this food choice, coming from the man who kept wearing pressed shorts and crisp, super clean shirts.
“Boyardee’s Beefaroni is a good choice,” Fusco said without a hint of sarcasm and thumbs up to Finch. Nearly everyone looked at him with a scrunched up nose with disgust and disgusted eyes, even Reese.
As the couples all got busy working on their meals, it was clear three of the women who didn’t have much to cook were having too much fun watching their partners struggle tremendously with complicated and intricate recipes.
Root gave Shaw and Zoe each a half of Reese’s grilled cheese sandwich she made for him. Shaw didn’t share any of Fusco’s popcorn. Although, Fusco did eat most of Finch’s Beefaroni after Zoe heated it up in a pan on one of the kitchen stoves.
As all the cooking progressed, Tinswell noticed that harmony wasn’t on the menu or one of the ingredients at all. There seemed to be a pinch of hostility instead of salt added to three couples recipes. While the therapist was paying attention to Betty and Fred, she looked up to see Sammy smear yogurt all over her Lionel’s face. Then heard Sam complain how her queso wasn’t good to her partner Reese. She then dumped the whole bowl of queso over Harold’s head while he stood trying to roll his pastry dough. The cheese slid down his head; some cheese flowed onto his glasses and some underneath.
Before she knew it, Tinswell looked up to see Lionel grabbing a handful of the cold queso and throwing it in his wife’s hair. Then Sammy grabbed handfuls of queso and threw them at her husband. Lionel grabbed a chunk and smeared it all over Sammy’s face. It seemed no one left the kitchen without large amounts of cheese in their hair and smeared all over their clothes.
There was a large amount of mediocre queso wasted during the cooking therapy session, and Shaw wasn’t happy. Food was meant for eating, not throwing or wasting, especially cheese made into queso damn it.
*****
Root and Shaw went to the bathroom to wash some of the food off their faces. As soon as they got inside the bathroom, Root pushed Shaw up against the wall and licked some of the cheese off her neck. Root ran her tongue up and around, licking as much cheese as she could. Shaw let out a moan; she had no idea Root licking cheese off her face and neck could send such massive pleasurable waves through her whole body.
Before Shaw thought about returning the gross favor, they both heard footsteps heading towards the bathroom door.
“In here,” Root pulled Shaw into a bathroom stall. She then spun them around, so she was standing in front of the toilet, and Shaw looked up to confused, liquid cheese still running down her neck, smeared all over her face and dripping from her hair.
The bathroom door opened, and someone walked into the room. Running water echoed from the sink, then napkins were heard being pulled from a dispenser.
Root reached behind her and got a seat cover from the dispensing on the back wall. She placed the seat cover over the toilet seat and sat down. She pulled on Shaw’s arms to get her to sit on her lap. Shaw rolled her eyes and shook her head. Root glared at her, pointed down at their feet, then Shaw’s bandaged leg and then to the door of the stall; indicting, the noise from the incoming person in the bathroom. Shaw reluctantly lowered herself to Root’s lap to straddle her; they were both mindful of her leg.
Shaw brought her legs up to rest on the toilet base so her feet couldn’t be seen on the floor. She had her arms spread eagle, bracing one hand on each side of the stall. Root took this opportunity to wrap her arms into a hug around Shaw, she held tightly to her waist; under the guise of course of helping petite primary asset not fall off her lap. They both were completely still, listening to the person who entered the bathroom. Their eyes darted around, working hard to decipher if the person was just using the sink or something more. Root’s arms were wrapped around Shaw so snuggly; she never got to hug Shaw like this, if this was considering hugging of some sort.
The stall’s door next to them opened and then slammed shut. Root and Shaw’s eyes went a little wide with the door’s slam since it shook their bathroom stall as well. There was a long sigh and rustle of clothes as the supposed woman next to them went about her business. Some tension drained from Root and Shaw when they heard the familiar sound of someone relieving oneself from a full bladder. They stared at each other as they listened to the woman next to them. Root leaned her head down and very softly kissed Shaw’s chest, where her shirt took a dip. Root’s arms were still so tight around Shaw’s waist and back; they were pressed together so firmly that it was as if they were super-glued together.
Shaw shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Shaw couldn’t believe Root sometimes. She grabbed a handful of Root’s hair and tugged. She felt something sticky and thick on her hand and pulled it away. It was cheese. She realized there was even more cheese in Root’s hair than expected. She brought her hand, pushed her hand between her and Root’s chest so she could wipe her hand on the hacker’s shirt.
Suddenly, there was the toilet’s flush, and the stall’s door next to them slammed shut. They could hear the faucet running now again.
Root took this chance of slight noise to place more kisses along Shaw’s chest and neck. Shaw held one hand firm on the bathroom stall wall, and then the other hand yanked again on Root’s hair to pull her lips away from her neck. Those damn distracting lips.
Shaw knew she had her own sticky, liquid situation going on in her underwear because of straddling Root and having her lick cheese off her body. Damn it, Root. Why does everything the woman does have to turn me on, Shaw wondered. Again, she was blaming the island. Shaw stared at Root’s lips; they were both distracted with each other to be listening to the bathroom occupant too closely. Root leaned back down and started kissing Shaw’s neck, slowly moving her upwards towards her lips.
Then Destiny’s Child ‘Independent Woman, Pt. 1’ song filled the bathroom.
Root tore her lips away from Shaw. Root and Shaw had perplexed looks on their faces. The song stopped after the ‘All the honeys, who making money. Throw your hands up at me’ part. There was a brief silence before someone spoke.
Joan’s voice filled the bathroom.
Root and Shaw both looked to each other with serious faces. The two teammates turned their heads to hear anything that might be spoken. They listened very closely.
“Hey, it’s me. Yeah, give me like forty-five minutes. Samaritan better behave this time,” Joan said quickly.
The bathroom door slammed shut as Joan left.