"Y'know, the amount of times I came through here on my rails, I never really noticed just how big this place is." GLaDOS rolled her eyes at the panting, complaining moron following her.
"You're an android, how can you possibly be getting short of breath? Honestly, I don't even know how you can pant," she snapped back at him. That seemed to shut him up, for a while at least.
"But why can't we use the elevators?" Wheatley asked.
"Maybe because I wanted to go for a nice walk to stretch my legs," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Silence filled the facility for some time, punctuated only by the sound of metal feet on the catwalks. It was a peaceful silence that GLaDOS hadn't heard in so long. It brought a smile to her face.
"But you don't have muscles to stretch," Wheatley finally observed. The female android slapped a hand to her forehead in sheer annoyance.
"Wheatley, just... just shut up," she almost pleaded. "Is it too much to ask for a nice, peaceful walk with you?"
"I still don't understand why I have to come along," he piped up. She froze and then spun around to march up to him and grab hold of him by the upper arms.
"Why? Why? Because, you imbecile, couples go on dates and I wanted to take you on one," she explained, steel in her voice. And then she kissed him firmly. The action caused her emotion chip to send heat-generating electricity through her body.
"Oh, riight! Of course, why didn't I see that before?" Wheatley laughed, stepping back and running a hand over the orange-painted metal 'hair' on his head.
"Because you're a moron," she teased, and took his hand in one of hers. They continued walking, holding hands now, and Wheatley at least understood enough to stop complaining about the length of the trip. Maybe it was because he really liked holding her hand, or maybe it was because the peacefulness made her rare but beautiful smile appear.
At long last, they reached their destination. GLaDOS pushed open the door of the tiny shed that concealed the entrance to Aperture Laboratories and stepped out into the cool night air. Of course, being androids, the temperature had no effect on them, but the tiny internal temperature gauges informed them that it was cool outside.
"Soooo, what have you got planned for our date?" Wheatley asked, startling GLaDOS out of her peaceful observation of the surroundings.
"Lie down," she ordered him, smiling. Her golden eyes gleamed with some kind of emotion, maybe it was love, but Wheatley mistook it for something else entirely.
"O-out here? Are you sure?" he asked, his emotion chip generating sparks of electricity.
"Not that!" she yelled, but she was laughing internally at his mistake. "Just lie down on your back like this." And she sank to the ground in a sitting position before lying back so she was staring up at the millions of stars dotting the sky above them. It was a clear, cloudless night, as she'd made sure of before deciding to come here for their date. She'd loved stargazing back in her old self, but that body had slowly begun to break down until they'd had to build these new ones. Wheatley had been called back for that exact reason.
Now she smiled as she couldn't in her old body and rarely did in this one. She smiled because the stars above her were so beautiful. She smiled because Wheatley had finally learned how to shut up and not ruin the moment. But mostly she smiled because he was lying there next to her.
"There are so many stars," she commented, her voice soft and almost longing. "In my old body, they reminded me of freedom."
"Freedom?" Wheatley scoffed. "Out there in space, it's not free. It's lonely, that's what it is. Lonely and cold and bloody annoying with that idiot. You think I'm an idiot, you try listening to that space lunatic for years. It's enough to drive a guy insane!"
"Why do you think he was a discarded Core?" GLaDOS responded with a smile that reached her eyes. "He did have his uses, though. Thanks to him, I know all about all the constellations up there. There's Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Sirius, the Butterfly Galaxy..." She trailed off into comfortable silence.
"They don't look so pretty up in space," Wheatley informed her. "They're just these big balls of gas which are pretty hot. I nearly ended up being melted a few times. And then where would we be?"
"You a melted or disintegrated chunk of metal, me a rusted hulk," GLaDOS replied immediately. There was sadness in her voice. So much sadness at what could have been.
"But we're not," Wheatley reassured her, rolling onto his side. She turned her head to look at him and now he could see the emotion dimming the light in her eyes. "You're so bloody marvellous that you taught me how to build these bodies and then how to transfer us into them. You and that big brain of yours, teaching a moron like me how to do something amazing."
"Thank you, Wheatley," GLaDOS said softly, touched at his kindness. "You're not always a moron. You have your moments of brilliance."
"That's your good influence, rubbing off on me," he grinned. GLaDOS returned his smile and rolled onto her side so she was facing him. She touched her forehead to his and a spark passed between them, making her shudder slightly.
"I love you, Wheatley," she said after some time had passed with them lying in this position. There were no sounds to mask this declaration of love, nor was there anyone to hear it but the one who it was directed towards.
"I love you too, GLaD," he replied, and his hand found hers. Their fingers, so useful, weaved together and both felt their emotion chips creating warmth and a blissful euphoria. It was something that neither had had before, but now they'd found it with each other.