Note : This is an alternative end for "Root Path" (3x17) that will continue in 100% Shoot. Just because it popped into my mind last night after re-watching the episode. Oh BTW, this is my first fic ever and English is not my native language, so be nice :) I originally wanted to write a one-shot but then I had ideas to make it longer, so it will end up in a multi-chapter fic. I don't know how many - I will write until I'm satisfied with the end.
Just so you understand where we begin : It's just before Root goes to save Cyrus, but for the sake of it let's say Shaw has got rid of Vigilance earlier than in the real episode and Root is not going to get shot in the shoulder… But elsewhere. That's what the whole fic revolves around, you'll see :) I'm firmly a Shoot shipper. So the goal of this is, well, just to write these two together. Don't search an elaborate plot here, that's not the point ^^
I always appreciate critics, as long as they're constructive :D

Root had left for a little while when a noise caught Harold's attention. He turned around, just to see Shaw come in a few seconds later.

"What happened to you guys ? You missed all the fun."

"Miss Shaw ! Glad to see you're fine. But I'm afraid you're going to be needed elsewhere."

"Oh. I guess you didn't miss all the fun after all. Where am I going ?"

"To save Cyrus Wells. Long story, but I think Mr Reese and Detective Fusco could use a hand."

"Oh no, no, no ! This is not the plan ! This can't be the plan !"

The sound of gunshots filled the room, causing Cyrus to panic.

"Oh god !" he screamed, before taking refuge behind a chain link fence.

"What did you say to him ?" Fusco incredulously asked John, who didn't bother to answer. They were forced to take cover and they energy was soon focused on shooting the guys working for Decima.

Root made her way into the building, shooting everyone with her two handguns, Decima's countermeasures now inefficient. When she reached the retinal scanner that opened onto the room containing the chip, she heard gunshots on her left.

Shaw entered the building and saw the people down on the ground, wounded or dead. A spark lit in her eyes as she walked past them, appreciative of having her way cleared. That would save her some time for the real action.

"Let's hope I'm at least not late to the party over here", she whispered as she climbed the stairs, gun out and ready to shoot.

"Let's go", John finally said to Fusco. "I'm gonna try to get to Cyrus. Be ready to cover me."

"He'll just run away again", noted Root behind them. "He doesn't like guns."

She handed her two guns to Fusco, who looked sceptically at her but took them anyway.

"You think the machine's gonna help you dodge bullets ?" John asked.

"No" she simply answered, before walking to Cyrus. "It's okay, I'm coming to you."

One of Decima's men emerged from behind something that looked like servers at the other side of the room. Taking John and Fusco by surprise, he managed to shoot Root, who collapsed on the ground without a sound, hitting the desk next to her during her fall.

John moved forward to have a better aim but he was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot behind him. The man that just wounded the hacker fell and stopped moving, dead within a few seconds.

"Nice to see you, Shaw."

She didn't bother to answer and kept on shooting, following Root's way a few moments earlier. Cyrus was curling up a bit more with each step she took. When she reached the hacker, Shaw knelt and rapidly assessed the situation, leaving it to the boys to finish clearing the room.

Root was hit in the abdomen and there was no way to tell if anything vital was touched or not. She was losing a lot of blood and her eyes were closed. She had probably passed out either from shock or from the impact with the desk her upper back had impacted when she had fallen.

"Dammit !" Shaw cursed. Right now she was clearly regretting not having any medical equipment on her.

Hadn't she been that worried, she would have smiled at the turnaround. A year ago, Root was willing to torture her and she was willing to kill the hacker. Besides, she had taken a shot at her not long afterwards. And now here she was, wanting to patch her up and, well, not worried, she was never worried, but at least not indifferent to the fact that Root could die.

Fully aware of the insecurity of their situation, and in spite of knowing that she shouldn't move Root in her state, Shaw dragged the other woman behind the desk, so that the men shooting at them couldn't reach them anymore. Then she bent over the hacker to take a better look at her injury. Definitely not looking good. She was removing her jacket to compress the wound when Root opened her eyes. Wanting to take a deep breath, she ended up half-coughing, half-crying in pain. Dizzy, the hacker tried to sit up, not really knowing what was happening.

"Bad idea." Shaw tried to push her gently back down. "You lost enough blood, don't make it worse than it already is. No way I'm letting you die under my watch. So stay -"

She was interrupted by something she wasn't expecting. At all.

Root kissed her. And Shaw froze.

It was short, but intense and soft at the same time. When it came to an end, the hacker didn't look hurt by the fact that the other woman didn't kiss her back, simply pleased that she didn't push her away.

"Sorry, 'bout that. I just didn't want to die without knowing how that felt", she said with a fond smile.

And just like that, she passed out again.

It took a few more seconds for Shaw to be able to move or think rationally again. This scene reminded her too much of the death of her old partner, Cole, for her to act as if nothing happened. Soon though, her reflexes took over and she began to compress Root's wound, just as she had intended before the other woman… She'd think about that later.

John's voice behind her made the ex-agent jump. She had totally lost focus on what was happening in the room and didn't realize it was now filled with silence.

"How bad is it ?" John asked, too concerned to make a remark about Shaw's reaction.

"I don't know if anything vital is touched, but anyway, bad. She lost a lot of blood."

"Then let's get her somewhere you can patch her up."

Root was now lying on a hospital bed in a room of the library that Shaw wasn't even aware existed.

"I had it built after Mr Reese's escape from the hospital a few month earlier", Finch had just said before going back into the main room, to explain to Cyrus what his new life was going to look like. The latter had been brought back by Fusco while John ran all the stoplights on their way to get Root to the library as quickly as possible.

Now the ex-wannabe-surgeon part of Shaw was using all the equipment – and there was a lot – in this room to save the hacker. Gladly, the bullet hadn't touched any vital organ. I would take time for Root to recover because of the blood loss, but they had managed to bring her back fast enough for it not to be life-threatening. She was lucky though. If something vital had been touched, Shaw wasn't so sure the other woman would have been alive at the end of the operation.

She turned the hacker on her side to take a look at the bruising on her back, where she had hit the desk when she fell. It would probably be painful for a while but didn't need to be patched up, so Shaw lay Root on her back again, verified her vitals one last time, and went back to the main room.

"How is miss Groves ?" Harold asked immediately as she entered the room.

"She'll be fine. Where's everyone ?" Shaw asked, kneeling so she could scratch Bear behind the ears.

"Well, Detective Fusco is driving Mr Wells to the airport and Mr Reese is trying to track Decima, even though I'm quite doubtful he will find anything useful. We lost the chip."

Shaw got up.

"The what ?"

"Oh, sorry. You weren't there when we understood Decima's plan. They wanted, and succeeded, to steal a superconducting processor three times faster than anything previously available."

"Sorry I asked", she rolled her eyes. She realized they lost this round to Decima and it annoyed her, but she didn't understand a damn word of what Finch had just said. "Anything to eat here ?"

"I'm afraid not. You can go buy something, I'll watch over miss Groves."

"No offence, Finch, but you're not a doctor. No way I'm leaving anytime soon. Not until she's at least awake."

He sighed. "Fine, I'll get you something."

"Better be a steak", she just added before going back to what she had already named the hospital room.

Note : That was my original idea, because I can DEFINITELY see Root kiss Shaw if she thinks she's going to die. Just because, well, let's be honest, she's soooo into Shaw.
I tried to capture the characters the best I could. It will probably be harder in the next chapters because their drift away from the real storyline but anyway, stay tuned, I'll update as soon as I write some more :)