"Hey, y-you alright?" Wheatley asked as he turned his flashlight towards the tiny portal-gun-wielding human who had suddenly stopped to lean tiredly on one of the paneled walls, her portal gun dangling heavily from one hand. For the last hour or so he had begun to notice that she wasn't acting quite like her usual endless-puzzle-solving self. He was worried she had started to malfunction, or else-
"Oh! Are you- are you tired?" he asked, remembering that the human creatures only had so much energy to expend before having to recharge by eating and/or sleeping. In her case at least it probably also didn't help that now, since she wasn't in Her test chambers, she didn't have the constant supply of adrenal-vapor-saturated-oxygen that would otherwise keep her going longer.
For personality constructs like himself, as well as most everything else in the facility, having to recharge was something they did only on the rare occasion as their batteries could go for months at a time without getting worn down; perhaps even years if they really needed them to.
But he knew from experience that running on a low battery was no fun at all. In the years previous to this strange adventure, when all he could do was tend to his duties as the Relaxation Center attendant while the facility kept decaying around him, his usual recharger unit had just up and broken down one day. Since most (if not all) of the maintenance bots in the facility had also stopped working by then, it was nearly six and a half years before he found another working one. He found himself entering sleep mode quite often during that time, which he found to have been helpful in saving energy, but unlike the amazing little humans it did nothing to recharge his batteries. What a relief it had been to finally get his energy back!
In answer to his question, the human looked up at him with eyes slightly clouded with fatigue, and gave a small nod.
"Oh, alright then. Uh…" Wheatley looked around for a good place for them to stop, shining his flashlight beam along the large hallway. "Oh! There's a nice corner over here. 'Fraid we don't have any cots for you to sleep on back here. Is, uh, is that ok?"
The little human just shrugged in reply as the two of them hunkered down near the corner at the end of the hallway. She curled herself up as far as she could get into the corner while Wheatley sat himself down nearby so that his back was leaning against the wall. Knowing that humans tended to fall asleep easier when the lights were off, he switched off his flashlight, but his bright blue core in the middle of his chest still let off a glow from behind his android jumpsuit.
"Is, uh, is this alright? My glow's not going to bother you is it?"
The little human shook her head as she laid her head on her arms, trying to get comfortable.
"Alright then," Wheatley said, looking back down the hallway into the darkness from where they'd come from. "You just rest up and I'll keep watch, although it still looks as if She can't touch us back here. Well, that is, She at least can't squash us with panels or moving test chambers or neurotoxin vents or things like that. Hopefully she doesn't even know where we are exactly. Apparently she can feel every single hallway and catwalk and chamber within the facility. Ugh!" he said with a small shiver (although to Chell it felt like a small tremor through the floor). "Creepy, right? And how bothersome that must be to feel all the little footsteps of the smelly humans running up and down your facility and- er, sorry, I didn't mean smelly…that is…just-just the humans. Sorry about that, I, uh…"
Scratching the back of his neck with embarrassment, Wheatley turned to see if his comment had offended her somehow. When he looked he could see from the glow of his core that she seemed to be shaking all over. Was she crying? He didn't think his comment was that bad – he thought GLaDOS's taunts had been much worse, and even those didn't seem to phase her – but then again humans were so hard to figure out often times, and she had been really tired. He knew humans could get a bit sensitive our touchy when tired.
"Oh d-don't take it like that! I really didn't mean- …er, you ok?"
He bent a little closer to her to get a better look at her. She was tucked into as tight a ball as she could manage, her arms were wrapped around her shoulders, hands balling into fists at her shoulders. And as she turned her face up towards him he saw her jaw was set tight, but he could hear a very small chattering noise coming from her as well. He furrowed his brow in confusion. She wasn't crying, but he had no idea then what was wrong with her. And he knew she wasn't about to tell him.
As she let out a shaky sigh, he saw her breath ever so slightly form a cloud in front of her face. Then it dawned on him.
"Oh! Are you…are you cold?"
She replied with raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah sorry. Of course you must be cold. Guess the heaters are broken back here or something. Or it wouldn't surprise me if She just turned them off. Like I said, nasty piece of work She is."
Wheatley of course had sensors in his synthetic skin that simulated the sense of touch, but other than being able to tell of something was rough or soft, hot or cold…or painful…he didn't really think much of what he picked up with that particular sense. When it came to temperature, he had been built to withstand quite a wide range of temperature change and intensities. He may feel that something was hot or cold, but he wouldn't feel the burn or sting or numbness that would otherwise accompany it. He wondered what that must feel like.
Apparently, from what he could tell from the way Chell reacted, it must be rather unpleasant.
"Anyway, I guess we can't have you turning into a human popsicle. Would really put a dampener on our escape plans that. Ok, let's see…" he began to look around him, wondering if there was anything around that could be used as a blanket or a heater. "Hmm…something warm, something warm…Huh. 'Fraid I don't see anything, what do you think we shou- ah!"
Wheatley let off a small yelp and jump of surprise as he felt something move beneath his hand that had been on the floor beside him. He whipped his head round to look and saw that Chell and crawled underneath it, curling once again into a ball, with her head sticking out partway, looking up at him as if to say, 'Is this ok?'
"Oh…uh…er, right. Ok. Yeah, I guess my hand is a bit warmer than, than…uh, well, I have nothing else to compare it to really, as we've already concluded."
He couldn't help but watch her for a little while to make sure she was getting warmed up all right. Although she did seem to be getting warmer, she still tossed and turned and bit, as if she were finding it hard to get comfortable. He supposed the hard metal floor wasn't very ideal for the task of sleeping, at least when it came to humans. He could park himself anywhere and enter sleep mode without a problem, but apparently humans needed a softer surface for some reason in order to get to sleep. At least, it made it easier for them.
'And if anyone deserves anything to be a bit easier,' he for once merely thought to himself, 'it would be her.'
"Hey, uh…I have another idea. Uh, c-can I pick you up, for-for a sec, please?" he asked hesitantly. She seemed surprised by his question for a moment, but then nodded her head in agreement.
Most would figure that if anyone should have been terrified by the current situation then it would have been Chell, having just agreed to let a giant android pick her up in his huge hand. But in fact it was Wheatley who felt fear go through him as he felt her step onto his open palm. He still couldn't get over the fact that she – this tiny little human – had once taken Her down. And although he hadn't been able to see a whole lot of her testing as had been working behind the scenes looking for the opportune escape route, from what little he did see he knew that she was both amazing in how she handled any situation, but also extremely frightening in how ruthless she could be with other pieces of hostile machinery. Being of the robot variety, it was only natural (well, as natural as robots could get anyway) that he would feel hesitant towards being too close to her, let alone touch her.
As he held her in his open palm, he shifted his position a bit so that he was more horizontal, with only his head and shoulders braced up against the wall. He then gently set her down on his chest where his jumpsuit puckered a bit, thinking it would suit as a cushion, and then covering her lightly with his hand.
"Uh…S-sorry if this is a bit, uh, awkward, but I figured it beats sleeping on the hard metal floor right? I mean, uh, I know I'm no fluffy pillow, by-by any means but…I dunno. It's-it's the best I could think of."
He looked away from her in embarrassment. 'The best you could think of?' he thought to himself. 'You know thinking isn't your strongest point mate…Man, I'm such a moron!'
He cringed at his own thoughts, eyes shut tight. He then felt small arms wrap around his thumb, and risked peeking one eye open to see her hugging it like a little stuffed animal or pillow. She was no longer curled up in a tight ball, lying more in a relaxed fetal position. He could feel her side rise and fall slower and slower, until it reached a very slow and steady rhythm.
His face gradually went from a cringe to a wide smile. For a long time he used words like 'terrifying' or 'smart' or 'scary' or 'brilliant' to describe her, but strangely he found himself thinking, 'Blimey…she's-she's actually really cute.'
He also felt something flutter in his stomach, and it felt as if his face got a bit warmer. He also felt strangely giddy. He had no idea what caused such a reaction. Maybe it was a sort of glitch in his system. Yes, that must be it. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of having a possible glitch in his system like that, but...this one didn't feel bad. He had no idea what was going on - with this little warm glitch - but at least the idea of not entirely knowing what was going on wasn't a new thing for him. And as long as she was around, things would turn out ok, right?
Seeing her sleeping there then gave him an idea. 'Maybe-maybe if I also sort of switch off and restart, things will clear up and make more sense for me too. Yeah, worth a go anyway.' He closed his eyes and began to set the timer for sleep mode, but before powering down, he couldn't help but whisper with a smile, "Sleep well luv."