All Hands On Deck

Shaw felt warm all over, but not like sweaty warm; although, there were parts of her body that were overheating. She had a smirk because she could feel that she became the big spoon sometime during the night. Her smile faded when she realized one of the reasons for her overheating was that her hand was under Root’s shirt holding onto her breast. Yup, she realized that would explain all the sweeping tingly sensations running through her body and the soft whimpers that kept popping up from a deep trance-like sleep Root was in. Her other arm was under Root’s head and then tangled in her hair. Her face buried in Root’s hair, with her breathing on the back of her neck. Root still smelled good, whatever floral-scented resort soap she had used on both of them yesterday had a nice lingering scent.

Shaw’s eyelids still felt heavy; she didn’t want to wake up from this cozy cocoon. She heard a muffled voice talking far away. It was enough to alert her keen operative senses. She was bummed that sleep had overtaken her and Root before they could slip out of the room and do anything involving more exciting utensils like scissoring or forking instead of just bland spooning. However, she was surprised to find spooning had its own merits, which generated a low hum of arousal that lasted even longer. If Joan hadn’t been a few feet away, Shaw would already have her hand down Root’s pants or have them off completely, and she would be waking up the hacker in a more frisky way.

Instead, Shaw slowly pulled her hand away from Root’s breast, giving the nipple a slight squeeze. She then ran her hand all the way down Root’s torso and leg. She lifted up Root’s head as softly as she could to pull her arm out; she then lay down the wavy and mussed locks back on the couch cushion. There was still the muffled voice to investigate. She looked over and saw Joan was on the other couch, softly snoring away.

The beginning of sunlight was slowly streaming through the room as dawn was breaking. Shaw looked over to the balcony and saw Gina on her phone, she couldn’t hear the conversation, but the woman seemed to be stressed.

Root rolled over and tried to open her eyes. Shaw slowly came into focus above her face; she didn’t think she would ever get tired or bored of seeing Shaw next to her; in any capacity. Especially in a morning capacity with Shaw’s hair flowing down around her face in an adorable messy look.

“Hey…” Root said in a sleepy, hoarse voice as she stretched, she wanted to reach out to Shaw and pull her back down on the couch, then remembered Joan was nearby. She did see Shaw’s eyes rake over her body as she stretched; she wanted to pull her down now to the couch after seeing those eyes darken. Having Shaw massage her breasts all night did nothing but drive her totally crazy to the point of almost having to go the bathroom and rub one out herself.

“We’re meeting the guys at the buffet,” Shaw said as she looked over to Joan. “Finch has some news.” She brought her eyes back to Root’s then her eyes lowered and focused on Root’s lips. Shaw wanted to kiss her, but she also didn’t want Joan to wake up and make some idiotic juvenile ‘woooo’ noise, so she tried to control her lust for Root’s lips.

Of course, Root got the message. A night of mutual spooning Shaw had set her arousal on an even higher level if that was possible. She had to fight during the night at times, not to lower her hands or start sucking on the back of Shaw’s neck. Or even sucking on Shaw’s perfect ass, then Joan would snore and felt like a bucket of ice water was being poured over her head.

“Do we have time to stop off in our room to….change clothes,” Root asked, staring back at Shaw then focusing on those delectable lips. She didn’t want so much to change clothes, as she wanted Shaw out of clothes.

Shaw got this message loud and clear; she rolled her eyes with a smirk.

“No, let’s go.” She grabbed her shoes, stood up, and quietly moved to the door. She put her hair in a ponytail as they exited.

Root stretched again and got up from the couch, following Shaw out the door before Joan, or anyone else could stop them. She thought maybe there might be a chance for some alone time after meeting Finch.

“I’m right behind you,” Root said as she watched Shaw’s behind the whole time they sneaked out of the massive suite unnoticed by the sleeping Joan.

*****

When they got in the elevator, and the doors closed, Root reached over and pulled Shaw into a fierce kiss, smashing their lips together roughly. Shaw slammed Root against the opposite wall of the elevator, grabbing Root’s ass with one hand and her neck. Root let out a moan as Shaw’s tongue explored her mouth and licked her lips, then the doors were opening far too soon. Pulling away from each other was like pulling magnets from each other; two strong forces that pulled to get back together; for their lips to lock again. When they slowly exited the elevator, they looked dazed with slightly puffy lips and looked like they had kissed each other senseless.

The kiss in the elevator wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. Root couldn’t wait to get her hands on Shaw after what she had said last night in the group. Granted, she was just saying that for her cover, however, she didn’t have to use the word ‘rootless’ Root thought. She knew it wasn’t a declaration of love or anything, yet it made her heart flutter and beat even faster now when Shaw was around.

Root and Shaw continued walking to the buffet; they did look like they had been hardcore making out; they had both slightly swollen lips, messy hair in certain places, and were breathing heavily. They walked quickly to the buffet and smoothed down their hair on the way. Root reached and pulled on Shaw’s hair to even it out; Shaw swatted her hand away.

Fusco and Reese were eating at a table and saw their two female teammates enter, one swatted at the other and the other grinning in return. The guys turned to each other and smiled. Root and Shaw grabbed some plates and loaded them up at the buffet. They eventually made it back to the table, Root holding one of Shaw’s extra plates.

“Let’s not rib them just yet,” Reese whispered to Fusco, nodding as his two female teammates sat down across from them and started eating.

Both watched as Root reached over and snatched some fries without Shaw breaking her hand or slicing off one of the hacker’s fingers with a steak knife.

“You’re right. Cocoa Puffs just took some food from Shorty’s plate and didn’t get stabbed or lose a finger. It’s kind of cute.” Fusco smiled and whispered back to Reese.

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Reese had a warm smile and wistful look on face as he watched his two female teammates interact with each other. “It’s like watching wild animals interact in their natural habitat...which appears to be a buffet for Shaw.”

“It’s nice to see the two weirdos finally kind of together…or whatever they’re doing. Unless, of course, they break-up, I don’t think the city or any of us will survive. We will all be dead by their hands.” Fusco had a serious, somber look on his face.

Both men shuddered as they continued to watch their female teammates discreetly interact with each other.

“You might be right,” Reese said as he watched Root and Shaw, he made a slight grimace. “There’s not enough firearms or therapy in the world if that happens.”

Root and Shaw paused their eating and stared at their teammates across the table with curious looks.

“What are you losers whispering about?” asked Shaw as she shoved some pancakes into her mouth.

“I was just saying, I don’t think any of us belong at a wedding,” Fusco chuckled to himself.

“Even I appreciate a fairytale ending, Lionel,” Root smiled at the detective. “Family politics, overcooked meat, monogamy …what’s not to love?”

“Really? Just can’t picture you at a wedding,” Fusco scrunched up his face at Root.

“Please, I left a girl at the altar just last year,” Root snapped back to Fusco with the most adorable, actually honest look on her face.

“What?” Shaw asked, paused in between shoveling food in her mouth. Her brows creased and studying Root closely. Did Root just say she almost got married to some woman? That was a statement she didn’t like hearing, even worse than hearing Root had to marry Reese.

“No, need to be jealous. She was a job,” Root smiled back as she snuck another fry off of Shaw’s plate without losing a finger.

Shaw shook her head, rolled her eyes, and continued eating.

Root had stopped paying attention; she had the faraway Machine look in her eyes; the Machine was talking to her. Her eyebrows creased, and she looked around the restaurant.

Suddenly, Finch walked up quickly, looking very alarmed. “I’m getting information that something very bad is going to happen.” The man still looked so out of place in casual attire, which were long shorts and a floral button-up shirt.

“The Machine just told me the same thing, Harry. She doesn’t have the whole picture yet; it’s something very dangerous,” Root stood up. “And possibly, catastrophic on many levels.”

“I would consider having to marry Fusco on that level,” Shaw spat out in between bites of food shoveling. She thought this might be the last meal she gets for a while, considering the amount of drama Finch and Root were laying on.

“Hey, there Crabcakes, right back at you,” Fusco gave some side-eye to his fake wife.

“We need to join the others, keep an eye on everyone,” Finch said while Root had already walked off. “We have to be on high alert; the information the Machine gave me was very dire.”

Shaw dropped her fork in frustration in not getting to finish her pancakes. She grabbed some croissants and a banana to go. Her biggest concern was making sure she didn’t end up married to Fusco because that would be a dire situation indeed.

*****

All the couples met up near the beach area; there was a huge arch off in the distance on the sand, decorated with flowers and flowing pastel-colored fabric blowing in the wind. With the waves crashing off behind as the backdrop, the scene did look like a cheesy romance novel cover or a beach wedding dream Pinterest board.

There were bungalows off to the side of the large resort, nice changing areas for fancy beachgoers. Joan was standing by the entrance, telling people which bungalow to go to. She also instructed everyone to prepare and dress for the renewing vows session, continuing the corny tradition of not seeing each other until the ceremony.

Root and Shaw did a quick glance at each other as they walked up to Joan. This is where being fake wives finally came into good play; they both thought, they could go help each other undress then maybe stay undressed for a bit. Carve out some more alone time to get through this hideous renewing vows therapy session.

“Sorry, you two are not in the same bungalow. I tried to rearrange it, my friends,” Joan whispered to them. “Look, Keahi texted me this morning,” Joan shoved her phone into Root and Shaw’s face.

Root was disappointed as she feigned interest in Joan’s text. She thought she heard Shaw grumble a few swear words towards Joan.

Shaw didn’t care what they were changing into, but she wanted to help Root get changed out of her clothes. Falling asleep with Root last night was a lot nicer than she ever expected. Shaw admitted that was a first, it wasn’t as gross as she thought it would be, it was just really weird. And being pressed up against Root for hours did not help quench her libido at all, just completely intensified it.

Tinswell appeared wearing another flowing robe outfit; she almost looked as if she floated over to the area. She hugged both Root and Shaw, then hugged everyone else and made some big arm gestures.

“We are going to break off in pairs to help each other dress and prepare for our renewal of…eternal love,” Tinswell smiled at them then moved on to greet the others.

Shaw thought she was going to throw up; she reached her ultimate maximum for flowered relationship talk.

Root moved over closer to stand near Shaw; she discreetly squeezed her hand with a knowing smirk.

Joan started rattling off the bungalow assignments to everyone.

“Zoe and Betty are in bungalow four. Sammy and Gina are in bungalow five. Sam and Rochelle in bungalow six.”

Reese, Root, Fusco, and Shaw all froze for a moment; they all turned and looked at each other. The unspoken dialogue between their eyes, ‘Rochelle?’ Then the younger woman from the younger couple, who they basically ignored the whole time, went and stood next to Root. The hacker turned to Rochelle and gave her best fake smile.

“Lionel and Craig are in bungalow seven. Mr. Bushtit and Fred in bungalow eight. And John and Brayden in bungalow nine.” Joan read aloud from her clipboard.

Again, the team all looked quickly to each other. Fusco even mouthed, ‘Brayden?’ to his other teammates with a confused look on his face.

The twosomes walked off to their assigned bungalows to get dressed for the renewing vows session. Bear trotted along next to Finch; he wasn’t going to miss this fun. Four people, in particular, were on high alert and looking around constantly for any incoming danger. Shaw and Fusco, who were assigned the Roths, were super focused on watching their every move.

Once Shaw and Gina got inside their bungalow, the petite primary asset started asking the woman rapid-fire questions. One big question she wanted to be answered.

“Who were you on the phone with this morning?” Shaw stared intensely at Gina.

“That’s not any of your business,” Gina said as she walked off to the bathroom to start getting ready. She went to close the door, but Shaw stopped it with her foot. She then pulled the woman back out to the living room.

Shaw jumped up behind Gina and put her in a headlock.

“Who were you talking to?” Shaw demanded in her most threatening voice.

Gina started yelling, “What are you crazy! Let me go!” She tried hitting Shaw’s arms.

Shaw did her best lethal growl, “Who…were…you…talking…to?” She held tight on her grip around Gina’s neck.

Gina started coughing and gasping for breath, “Hotel concierge, you psycho!”

Shaw let her go and stood back. “Why?”

“I wanted to surprise Craig at the renewing vows with his favorite cake, but they messed up the order. They made buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting.” Gina said in a harsh tone as she stood up and looked at Shaw like she was a lunatic.

“Oh…that uh, sucks. Uh, sorry about,” Shaw stared at Gina, the woman was telling the truth, her gut told her. She then walked over to the couch and opened one of the boxes waiting for them. “Shall we get dressed?” She said in the most normal tone, not as if she just threatened the woman’s life.

Gina shook her head in disbelief and stared at Shaw.

“I’m nervous about the ceremony,” Shaw stared back, hoping her lame excuse worked. “And I’ve taken a lot of Krav Maga classes lately…to uh, spice up the marriage.” Shaw inwardly cringed, thinking of being married to Fusco and spicing it up.

Gina studied Shaw closely; she walked over and invaded her personal space, really staring at her face. “You know what else might spice up your marriage. Can I give you a make-over?”

Shaw wanted to put the woman back in a headlock.

Meanwhile, in bungalow seven, Fusco was fairing a little better but not much with Craig. His detective skills had honed in that this wasn’t the guy. He studied the guy, and he didn’t seem to have an evil bone in his body. The two men went about getting dressed and talking about sports.

In bungalow six, Root was very preoccupied listening to the Machine and any possible threats instead of listening to Rochelle rattle on about renewing her vows and how excited she was.

“I can marry Brayden every day. I love him so much. It’s magical every day,” Rochelle had a real dopey look on her face.

Root stopped listening to the Machine for a second and stared at Rochelle; she admitted the dopey look was sweet. The whole thing with Shaw and their no fuss, no muss island agreement started bothering her. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to honor it once they got back to the city, as she promised before. She was afraid she moved into the dopey category and would never get over being dopey for Shaw. And she didn’t want to. She didn’t know if Shaw would be okay with that, and that was beginning to scare her.

Reese and Brayden had finished getting dressed fast, then sat quietly and awkwardly waiting to be called to the session in bungalow nine. There was no talking; there was just sitting. Brayden had the same dopey look on his face as Rochelle. Reese looked over at him and smiled.

Soon it was time, Joan wobbled up with her crutch to get everyone to accompany her down to the beach, to the altar set up on the sand under the arch. Everyone started slowly exiting their bungalows in their wedding dresses and tuxedoes.

Fusco walked out and saw Shaw walking towards the beach. She looked beyond stunning.

“Cocoa Puffs is going to foam at the mouth when she sees Crabby pants.” Fusco said to Reese quietly when his teammate came up to stand next to him. Both men smiled.

Root had just stepped out of her bungalow when she spotted Shaw, in a wedding dress. Shaw was in a wedding dress. Shaw’s hair was down and flowing over her perfectly sculpted shoulders. Shaw was in a wedding dress. This last statement was on repeat in Root’s brain. Root stood frozen; Shaw looked like a vision. Root was so awestruck by her beauty and completely smitten with seeing her petite primary asset in a wedding dress she slipped and nearly fell flat on her face. Instead, she knocked down a flower display, which caused a loud crash. She nearly lost her bouquet, trying to hold on and not fall. It was quite a loud spectacle. And her bouquet of flowers did end up mangled, but she didn’t care; she saw Shaw in a wedding dress.

Fusco looked over and let out little chuckle watching Cocoa Puffs lose her shit over Shaw.

“Called it,” he whispered to Reese.

Root continued to stare at Fusco’s fake wife and wasn’t able to walk at the same time. When Fusco took a look over at his fake wife, she pretended pretty hard, but he could tell she was stealing glances left and right at Cocoa Puffs. Root looked stunning as well; they all cleaned up nicely. He thought to himself, those two could not keep their eyes off each other, which probably meant the very bad thing that might happen probably would happen since these two idiots can’t stop staring at each other instead of checking perimeters.

All the couples continued walking down the beach. Tinswell stood at the altar, waiting for everyone. When everyone finally arrived, Root knocked over a rope stand because she was staring too hard at Shaw again. And Shaw not paying attention to anything Fusco said at all had to be told several times where to stand. The couples were lined up in front of the altar. Even Zoe and Finch were forced to partake in this ceremony. Finch was finally relieved to put on a proper suit again. Zoe kept watching John; he was quite dashing in his tuxedo, much more so than the casual shirts he had been wearing on the island. And she hoped never to see him in a bowling shirt again.

“Hello, everyone. Today is a truly wonderful, blessed day,” Tinswell smiled warmly at everyone at the table. “One last therapy building exercise…our big finale. We might have saved the most difficult, challenging, rewarding relationship-building exercise for the last.”

Root put her arm through Reese’s arm; she squeezed and stared up in his blue eyes. Suddenly, she felt heat behind her, a spark too.

“You don’t have to be so convincing in love with John,” Shaw whispered behind Root, under the guise she was fixing the back of her dress.

Shaw moved her hands down Root’s back, pretending to fix her unbroken zipper. Her warm fingers brushing up against Root’s smooth skin sent shivers up and down both of their bodies.

Root smirked, “When I was Caroline Tuning, he saved my life, gave me chocolate, and held my hands.”

Shaw seethed. “He what?” She looked at Reese, who only raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“He was protecting Caroline Tuning. The chocolate was nice. I like your hands better,” Root turned around under the guise of helping Shaw with her flower bouquet, she said the last part in Shaw’s ear.

Root then reached for Shaw’s hands, she slowly linked them together, intertwining their fingers and was surprised the petite primary asset complied. It only lasted for a moment; then they had to part and stand by their fake husbands.

Thankfully, Tinswell didn’t give another long speech. She instructed the couples to pair up and get ready to exchange their vows.

“Fusco, switch places with me. The sun is in my eyes on this side,” Shaw pushed her fake hubby so she could stand facing the opposite direction.

Fusco squawked a bit; he didn’t want the sun in his eyes either, yet he was a gentleman, and more importantly, Shaw could seriously kick his ass, so he traded spots with her.

As soon as they switched places, Fusco didn’t notice the sun being in his eyes, what he did notice was his new view looked out over the water. His original position had a direct view of Cocoa Puffs, which was now Shaw’s, he smiled. So maybe his hot-headed, grumpy partner had a huge soft romantic side after all. If they were going to have to do this ridiculous exercise, maybe the angry firecracker wanted to be able to look at the one person she might mean these words for one day.

“Let’s begin our vows….deep breathes,” instructed Tinswell, making big movements of dramatic breathing, “one…two…three…four…five…inhale….exhale…deep breathes…cleanse your lungs.”

“More deep breathing?” Reese whispered to Root, who smiled warmly at her fake hubby.

“Do you think any of these exercises might help you with Zoe?” asked Root to Reese, who raised his eyebrows and stole a glance over to Zoe.

Zoe looked stunning as well and, with her heels, towered over Finch. They did not make the most believable couple.

Shaw turned to look at Fusco; she pulled a piece of paper out from her dress.

“I got us covered on the vows. I heard this song at the gym one day while working out; I think it will be romantic enough while also not being completely gross.” Shaw smoothed out the piece of paper and flashed it to Fusco. “Plus, it mentions Batman.”

Fusco looked down at his fake wife with actual adoration. “Shorty, I’m not sure it’s a romance song if it mentions the caped crusader.”

“Did you write up anything smart ass?” Shaw sassed back to her fake husband.

“I can think of more romantic songs; there’s this song Lee used to sing…goes something like…” Fusco tilted his head, closed his eyes, and started singing. “..Love You Like A Love Song Baby…see that sounds more romantic.”

“Fusco, I already have this one written down. But believe me…” Shaw sang in a soft voice to her fake husband. “No one compares, you stand alone to every record I own, pain in my ass; that’s what you are. A pain that goes on and on.” Shaw made a motion with her hands while glaring at her fake husband.

“That’s not half bad,” Fusco was impressed with his fake wife’s singing ability. Shaw just rolled her eyes at him.

They were the first couple to have to do their vows; Tinswell instructed them to speak from deep within their hearts.

Fusco read off the paper that Shaw handed him, “I’ve been reading books of old, the legends and the myths. Achilles and his gold, Hercules and his gifts. Spiderman’s control, and Batman with his fists…” Fusco paused at this and glanced over to Reese, then turned to Shaw and continued with a serious look on his face. “…And clearly, I don’t see myself upon that list.” That part kind of stung Fusco, he related to that lyric.

Shaw motioned for Fusco to stop reading; she took the paper from him.

She breathed in deeply, started her part. “But She said…” Shaw paused for a moment because someone’s phone beeped at that exact moment; Shaw smirked to herself, thinking of course, that pesky AI is so vain she thinks this vow is about her. She continued on, “…She said …where’d you wanna go? How much you wanna risk? I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts…some superheroes…some fairytale bliss. Just something I can turn to…somebody I can…kiss.”

Shaw’s eyes betrayed her, and she looked over at Root, who stared back at her intensely with unabashedly heart eyes. “I want something just like this.” The last part, Shaw said in a very hurried tone as she looked back into Fusco’s eyes.

Tinswell smiled so very warmly at Fusco and Shaw. “That was so lovely and beautiful.”

“You may kiss your life mate now,” said an over-exuberant Tinswell.

Shaw rolled her eyes, leaned in, and gave a quick kiss to Lionel; it was the type of kiss if someone was being forced to kiss a distant relative.

“Not much spark for a firecracker like you,” smirked the detective to his fake wife.

All eyes now turned to Root and Reese. They stared into each other’s eyes. They stared so long everyone started to get a little uncomfortable except Tinswell, who just smiled warmly and kept nodding at them.

Finally, Reese said softly. “I love you.” The sentence sounded heartfelt as he gazed into Root’s eyes.

“Ditto,” Root responded quickly to Reese as she smiled at him and then touched his cheek.

Shaw rolled her eyes and then turned to Fusco, who also rolled his eyes. They shook their heads in unison.

Tinswell and everyone else waited for more. Root and Reese just stood still and silent after a few awkward moments.

“Well, very clear, brief and concise,” offered Tinswell as she watched the curt declaration of love between Root and Reese.

Reese and Root continued their stare contest. Root was pretty sure she could beat her fake husband.

“You may kiss your life mate now,” said an over-exuberant Tinswell pointing to the two fake couples, which all four teammates inwardly cringed.

“Well, John…” Root was surprised when Reese brought his hands up to her face, cupped both sides, and leaned in for a tender, sweet kiss. It was payback time.

Root stood stunned for a second then kissed back very briefly for the show of it. Shaw looked on with the meanest scowl she could muster, which was pretty damn mean. She then turned to Zoe, who had a highly amused look on her face, as if she and John had some kind of payback plan for all of Root’s teasing.

Suddenly, every single person’s phone sent off high-pitched alarms. The kind of high-pitched alarm that isn’t programmed into anyone’s phone, the kind of alarm that screams panic and breeds fear. People were shouting from the resort and starting to run around. Everyone looked around at the ceremony, completely baffled mixed with some fearful expressions.

Shaw cursed the stupid wedding dress that didn’t have pockets; she yanked Fusco’s phone away from him. She looked over at Root as most of the color drained from her face. She looked down and read the message on Fusco’s phone, the message that was sent to everyone’s phone in the entire state.

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The entire team turned to each other in horror.

“This couldn’t have happened five minutes earlier? BEFORE I was forced to kiss Fusco!” Shaw shouted.

“Well, we know what the very bad thing is now,” Root tilted her head and watched everyone around them running around in mass chaos.

“Guess it goes without saying Finch, this truly is an all hands on deck situation now,” Reese said in a somber voice, he reached out and squeezed Zoe’s hand. “Except you Zoe, I want you to take Bear to the hatch and wait for us.”

“No, John. I’m staying with you,” Zoe said in a very determined voice, and she looked deeply into his eyes and kissed him quickly as the chaos around them grew larger and more frantic.

Bear barked very loudly, he jumped up and almost knocked Finch down.

“Bear ga zitten!” Finch said, trying to hold onto his leash.

Bear kept barking, his eyes focused off in the distance to the side of the resort.

Shaw looked in the direction of where Bear was barking.

“That’s my boy.” She scratched his head. “Over there, I think we have something. There’s a helicopter about to take off. I’m going to stop them.”

Root looked off to the resort, “Harry, I have an idea on how to stop the missile, but we need some mainframe server strength.”

“Let’s go to the server room of the resort, it’s closer. I’m not sure we would make it to the hatch in time,” said Finch as he started to walk off.

Shaw then threw her silly bouquet of flowers into Fusco’s chest and stormed up to Root.

Root stopped before walking off with Finch; she wondered if her favorite primary asset had thought of her while saying the cheesy vows. As soon as Shaw stopped and turned around to face Root, she thought maybe that Shaw did think of her. Shaw looked up into her eyes, then trailed down her face to Root’s lips. Root returned the look and then feasted her eyes on Shaw’s lips as well. They both moved like a well-rehearsed orchestra as their lips played a symphony.

“At long last! Love wins!” yelled Tinswell excitedly and very loudly with her arms outstretched over her head as she ran back to the resort for shelter amidst all the chaos and screaming going on. She beamed over at Root and Shaw and then started running again.

Root threw her bouquet of flowers at Reese so that she could wrap one arm around Shaw’s wedding dress wrapped waist and one arm in her thick, gorgeous hair running down her back. She thrust her tongue in Shaw’s open mouth and was rewarded with an unexpected moan.

Shaw meant to just kiss Root briefly before running off, but now her tongue had its own agenda. Damn it Root for tasting so good, this morning it was like a mix of blueberry pancakes and apples. Shaw pulled her lips very reluctantly away from Root’s lips.

“Had to get that Fusco taste out of my mouth,” Shaw smirked to Root. “I’ll go get the bad guys. You go stop the missile. Deal?”

“Deal,” Root pulled Shaw into one more passion, possibly the end of the world infused kiss before letting her go, she needed one more kiss in case it was the last. She bit down on Shaw’s lower lip before letting go.

Shaw pushed her hands against Root’s chest; they had a job to do. People to save. She stared up into Root’s eyes, nodded, grabbed Bear’s leash, unhooked it, and watched the greatest dog she knew sprint off toward catching the bad guys. She followed after her canine teammate; she tore the middle part of her wedding dress to run faster. Her hair and dress blowing in the wind as she ran as fast as she could towards the helicopter before it took off. Her leg wasn’t even hurting that bad; Keahi’s Hawaiian poultice was a magic cure.

Root stood mesmerized watching Shaw run off in a wedding dress; it was quite the sight to behold, the ultimate runaway bride.

“JOAN! JOAN!” Keahi came barreling down the beach, looking frantically for the pesky assistant. She then saw her sitting down on the sand with her crutches next to her.

“Oh my gawd! Keahi!” Joan started bawling, “I love you!” She latched onto Keahi and was never letting go.

The tall, muscular Hawaiian woman swooped up Joan in her arms and carried her off. “Get to safety!” She yelled at Root and the others and pointed to the resort.

“That’s kind of sweet while being overly dramatic and corny,” Root said while getting disgusted looks from her teammates. “What? We’re going to fix this. Let’s go, boys.”

Root and Finch went off to the resort server room. Fusco, Reese, and Zoe went about helping everyone else that was in need, which was a lot considering people were making very poor decisions at the moment in the midst of possible decimation of the immediate area.

Root was about to enter the resort building; she turned to look out, and far off, she could see Bear knock down someone and Shaw in the wedding dress lunge and tackle someone. She smiled, took a mental picture, and continued hurrying towards the server room.

Shaw punched and punched until the guy she tackled lost consciousness. Then she stood up and stormed off to stop the remaining people from hopping onto the helicopter. She ran as fast as her good leg and injured leg would take her, she barely missed the take-off of the helicopter. She jumped for the landing skids of the helicopter; she got it and hung on as it lifted off the ground. Bear on the ground barked after her and stayed put over the unconscious bad guy. She pulled herself up to fully grasp the landing skid with her arms and legs; the helicopter was getting further away from the ground.

Root and Finch got to the server room and were relieved it was deserted. They began hacking their way into multiple agencies and systems to find a quick solution.

“Is there a drone we could hack to intercept the missile?” asked Root to both Finch and the Machine while she furiously typed on a keyboard. “A satellite?”

Finch concentrated hard on his computer screen. “The US Military and Intelligence agencies have satellites in high earth orbit scouring the globe for anything amiss like this,” his eyes continued to scan through enormous amounts of data. “I can’t believe there isn’t more chatter about this. All the chatter seems to be on social media.” Suddenly, Finch pulled back and readjusted his glasses. “Until now…everything just went black. Everything is offline.” He looked over to Root with a wild, concerned expression.

Root leaned over and looked at his screen. “Someone is controlling the undersea cable. We didn’t fix it,” she said sadly.

“Or that was a diversion for the missile,” Finch said while typing away. “I found something.” He pointed to his screen. Root squinted her eyes and nodded.

“I’m on it,” Root began to type away again on her keyboard furiously.

Meanwhile, Shaw pulled herself into the helicopter cockpit and smacked and punched the two goons in the back seat. She had lost her gun; it had fallen off into the ocean. She couldn’t see the faces of the two people in the front seat. She did manage to steal a gun from one of the guys from the back seat and pointed it at the two masked people after she knocked the guys in the back seat.

“Land this thing now!” Shaw yelled at them as she pointed the gun, about three seconds from knocking them out and commandeering the helicopter.

“No, we would all die,” said a raspy male voice from under a ski mask in the front seat.

Shaw paused for a moment; that was a good point. She refused to believe a missile would hit, that her whole team could be gone, that Root could be gone. She gritted her teeth.

Back at the server room, Root stood up, her flowing wedding dress catching on everything. She tugged and pulled it away, tearing parts of it.

“I’m going, Harry,” Root turned and headed for the door.

“Root…don’t. It’s too dangerous,” Finch said with worry in his voice. “We still aren’t certain there is a missile, this could all be some grand ruse. And if it’s true, you’re safer here.”

“Harry, we can’t take that chance,” Root pulled her hair back into a ponytail with a scrunchy. “If you could give Shaw a message for me…” Her shoulders were tense; in the strapless wedding dress, it was more obvious, along with the pensive look on her face.

“You need to deliver the message yourself,” Finch knew he wasn’t going to change her mind. “As we learned this week, it’s all about communication.” He gave her a weak smile. “Be careful.”

“Will do, Harry,” Root walked and disappeared amongst the chaos. “This might be the only chance of stopping it.” She said only to herself.

The most stressful three minutes of the team’s life went on for what felt like three decades until Shaw heard Finch’s voice over the communication links.

“The missile has been disarmed,” Finch said with a huge wave of relief.

“Copy that Finch,” Shaw turned to the pilot of the helicopter. “Land this now, because y’all are going to prison after I kick your asses.”

As soon as the helicopter landed, Shaw hauled the two masked individuals out of the helicopter. Reese, Fusco, and Zoe came running up to help her. Shaw yanked off their masks, revealing Fred and Betty.

Everyone stood surprised for a few seconds.

“You two?” Shaw asked with raised eyebrows to Fred and Betty, who scowled back at her. “You two disrupted the Internet and launched a ballistic missile?” She was still confused about how this older couple got everything accomplished or if Samaritan had a senior citizen brigade.

“And we would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling middle-aged people!” Betty yelled at the team. Bear trotted up and barked at her. “And your stupid dog!”

Bear growled at Fred and Betty, while Shaw smiled down at her best buddy.

“Where’s Root?” asked Shaw looking around for the hacker.

Finch walked up to the group. “I’m not sure where Root is…” he paused, “…she had a more difficult task of stopping the missile.”

Shaw looked at Finch with a cold, intense glare.

Root awoke with a start; she gasped for air. She had been electrocuted and knocked out, but she had stopped the missile. She looked down at her wedding dress and saw black stains covering it, she smirked. She felt her hair; it was wild and slightly singed in parts. The Machine had just sent her photos of Shaw’s wedding dress, it was covered in blood, oil and ripped in several places. Now their wedding dresses seemed more appropriate and more fitting for the two of them.

She slowly shook her head and got oriented again. She stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof, she could see her team down below, and she felt tears well up in her eyes.

Root wandered back into the resort, making her way through the lobby cautiously as all the chaos was still being calmed down. She was suddenly pulled into a warm, fierce hug in the lobby.

“I’m so happy you’re okay,” Tinswell pulled back and studied Root’s face; she had tears in her eyes. “The others are down by the beach; the police are arriving. She’s there, and she’s okay too.” She ran her hands down Root’s arm in a comforting gesture.

“Thanks,” Root said softly to Tinswell. “I learned a lot this week.”

“It was the two of you,” Tinswell said while looking at Root, her eyes had squinted, which made the therapist look all the wiser.

“John and I were the co-workers who didn’t get along? You knew we were phonies?” A smirk spread across Root’s face. Root studied Tinswell’s face, a wise face with beautiful lines of wisdom and experience. She remembered the mysterious overview Tinswell had given over the couples during one of the sessions. Once again, she would blame John for their couple’s performance issues.

They both smiled at each other.

“No.” Tinswell smiled, looking at Root then squeezed her hand.

Root was impressed with this woman.

“Every therapy task…the two of you have this rhythm…this almost unspoken nature or melody or code with each other.” The well-spoken therapist seemed at a loss for more coherent words. “It doesn’t happen often. Hang on to it.” This last part was said with sadness in Tinswell’s eyes. “Give her time and space, she’ll come around.” She squeezed Root’s arm before walking off to check on others.

Root smiled specifically at the usage of the word code, yet she also felt awful at the same time because she wanted more time with Shaw. She didn’t want some temporary agreement; she wanted a full time everywhere all-inclusive package agreement. She wanted a whole life or whatever they might have ahead of them in the uncertain chaotic world with this shared code they found. Root finally felt like she had found a place where she belonged, a place where she didn’t have to hide anymore. Shaw was that place. And so were the rest of the team to a lesser degree. And Bear. She felt there was no way she could face Shaw right now if she knew that she would never get to touch her again. Kiss her again. The overwhelming sadness hit harder than getting electrocuted. Tears welled up in her eyes. Then she heard the soft voice in her ear.

“Yeah…sure…” Root wiped her eyes, “... I’ll leave now,” Root said out loud to no one but herself and the Machine. “Thanks…” She nodded and walked to the entrance of the resort.

Outside the resort, there were police, fire trucks, and all kinds of emergency vehicles. People walked around in a daze. There were lots of tears and hugs.

Shaw walked up in her war-torn wedding dress, somehow looking even more gorgeous and stunning.

“How come Root only had to say ‘Ditto’ during the vows thing?” asked a curious Zoe as she looped her arm through Reese’s arm.

“We flipped a coin. I lost,” Reese smirked to Zoe then to Shaw.

“So, Coldplay, huh?” Zoe turned her attention to Fusco and Shaw.

Fusco walked up eating a slice of wedding cake, from a table that was miraculously not knocked over to the ground during all the chaotic stampeded of people in and out of the resort.

“That was a Coldplay song? Geesh, you really have a hard-on for them, Shaw.” Fusco made a disgusted face.

“I do not asshole, in our line of work, it’s hard to keep up to date with current music. I wouldn’t be talking Mr. Selena Gomez’s fan club,” Shaw snarked back to her now thankfully teammate and no longer fake husband. “Where’s the cake?” She grabbed Fusco’s second piece of cake in his other hand.

Joan walked up to Shaw while she was stuffing some cake in her mouth.

“Hey, Sammy, or whatever your name is. Thanks again for saving my life and ass. And I can’t believe I met my own Sammy…thanks to you and Sam,” Joan nodded over to where Keahi was standing talking to Fusco and Zoe.

“Just doing my job,” Shaw said in between big bites of the wedding cake.

“I so get it now. You and Sam are the ones that are actually married. You should have just posed as yourselves; Tinswell is very open-minded. I knew you two were together,” Joan said too smugly while watching Shaw, who just scowled back at her.

“We’re not married,” Shaw huffed back to a smug Joan.

“Not yet,” replied Joan back, knowing the remark would further ruffle the grumpy shorter brunette’s proverbial feathers.

Shaw wanted to punch the annoying woman; clearly, getting laid hadn’t made her less annoying. She wanted to punch Root too for obviously doing something vague and dangerous, where the hell was she?

Root looked out the window as the Hawaiian Islands faded down below her as if they were a magical dream. She felt her heart beater faster and tears brimming to rain down her face. The flight attendant had brought around coffee and snacks; she took a bite but couldn’t swallow. All she could think about was Shaw. And how Shaw would most likely be relieved that she had left, so they didn’t have to have an awkward end to their temporary agreement. She knew going in that Shaw had a three-time rule. Root had meant it when she said she didn’t want to change anyone; she loved Shaw for who she was, even if that meant she could never be the sole person in Shaw’s life.