Only a moment
She didn't like looking at the stars anymore. She couldn't stand it. It had been four years since leaving that... horrible place. Four years since losing her only friend in the entire facility. Four years since she found a town with friendly people who helped her. Three years since she had been asked out on a date by a man from the town. That man had had amazingly blue eyes just like her lost friend's optic had been. It had been only one year since that man had proposed to her and she had said yes. Ten months since she accepted a job offer as a nurse from the local hospital. Only six months since that man had died beneath the very stars that her friend had been lost in. And only three months since she discovered she was carrying the child of her dead husband.
But it had only been a half an hour since she had been called in for a case where a pedestrian had been hit by a drunk driver.
Only a moment since she saw who her patient was.
iWheatley Addams./i Even the same name was a painful reminder. But she had to treat any patient.
"Okay, Mister Addams," she spoke sadly as she entered her newest patient's room. "Seems you-" She was cut off.
"Chell!" The man smiled when he saw her. He had tawny hair, a bruise along his jaw line, freckles over his cheeks, a cast on his left arm, and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen.
Chell gave him a puzzled look. "Do I know you?" she asked slowly, a bit unsure.
"Oh, right, uh... New body and all... It's me! Wheatley! I was a robot. Remember?" he smiled.
She stared at him, an almost disbelieving look in her eyes. "Wheat..ley?" she whispered.
"Yeah. That's me!" he smiled at her again, not a bit of insincerity on his face.
"How did you get here? And human? How are you human?" she asked bewildered. She set her clipboard down on the little bedside table and took the seat besides the bed.
"Y'see, GLaDOS ran outta test subjects! So she pulled me back from space, don't ask me how, but then she downloaded some scientist's entire life onto my mainframe! It bloody hurt too! But it musta been so I could be a better tester. After that, it's more of a blur... But I woke up as a human! Can you believe that! I'm not sure how, but I managed to escape." He paused to breath, and Chell gave him a small smile. He was definately Wheatley. "I'd been wandering around for a while and finally found that highway where I was hit. And now... you're pretty much up to speed now. Yeah, that's about it." He nodded. Finally taking a moment to look at her, he noticed her nurses uniform, as well as the growing bump on her belly. "You're a nurse... And pregnant..." he stated, trailing off at the end.
"Yeah," she replied sadly. "My husband died... Going on six months now. We hadn't even been married a year..."
"Oh, uh... I'm so sorry I mentioned it! It must be hard to be without him, er.. Bloody hell! I'm sorry!" He frowned as he fought to fix what he had said.
Chell looked at him with another smile, though this time, the smile seemed to hide some pain. "It's okay, Wheatley. I think about him anyway."
"Well... I'm also sorry for all that crap I put you through back in the facility! The tests, the pit... All of it."
"Like I said. It's okay. Now," she stood, and picked the clipboard back up. "I need to get you pain killers. Think you swallow pills? Or do I need to give you a shot?"
Wheatley cringed a little at the word 'shot' and said quickly, "No, no. No need for any needles. I'll take the pills."
"I'll be right back." She walked out of the room, and sure enough, she was back about five minutes later with a small bottle of pills in her hand as well as a glass of water. "Take two."
He followed her instructions and popped the capsules into his mouth and chased them down with a gulp of water.
"This says you can be released tomorrow," Chell informed. She thought for a moment, knowing how he had just escaped from Aperture. "Do you have a place to stay?"
Wheatley smiled sheepishly. "No.. No, I don't..."
She gave him a soft smile. " You can stay with me for a little, if you'd like."
"Thanks, Chell."