Title: And You Are Not Me
Fandom: Person of Interest
Pairing: Root/Sameen Shaw, Samantha Groves/Hannah Frey
Categories/Genres: Flashbacks, Established Relationship, Romance, Action/Adventure, Drama
Length: Medium (10821 words)
Warnings: Canonical Character Death

Author on LJ: kesdax
Author Website: kesdax

Summary:

She feels her humanity like a knife in her chest. It stings and bleeds and hurts and sometimes she can’t remember how to breathe.

Review:

It's always struck me as rather incongruous that the most private character on Person of Interest is the character whose past we see the most of. For every other character, we only catch the occasional glimpse, those turning points in their lives that led them to that one place at that specific time for that important purpose.

Atypically, Root's backstory does not appear in brief plot-relevant flashbacks, but as an episode all its own, the number begrudgingly given in the face of Reese's obstinate refusal to continue on his mission while Root absconds with Finch. From there, we learn about Hannah Frey and the origin of the young hacker who later became the Machine's analog interface.

And You Are Not Me is a remarkable character piece that delves more thoroughly into Root's past. kesdax takes the bits and pieces of information from that episode and fleshes them out, introducing a young Root, her sick mother, and the girl who was her first friend and first shy love. Woven into the narrative of her past are moments from the present: conversations with Shaw about God and religion, a mission from the Machine that reveals the limits of Root's obedience to its commands, the contemplative aftermath.

And You Are Not Me