Chell was sitting on the couch talking to her Companion Cube when Wheatley woke up that morning.
"Chell luv, you spend too much time talking to that cube. If I didn't know better I would think you loved it more than me." Wheatley yawned.
"I don't want to be mean Wheatley but my Companion Cube never tried to murder me." Chell answered. Wheatley looked embarrassed.
"You know that wasn't me. That was her emotion." He sat down beside her and kissed her cheek. Chell smiled.
"I never did tell you the story behind my Companion Cube." Chell said.
"I know she made sure you were close to the cube then she forced you to incinerate it. I saw you right after she emancipated the one cube. I did feel really bad." Wheatley explained.
"My Companion Cube always reminds me of Bring Your Daughter to Work Day." Chell was a little sad already. Her head was on Wheatley's shoulder.
"Why?" Wheatley asked.
"I remember my project was right by a girl named Katharine. We talked for a while then we were best friends, telling each other secrets and boys that we liked." Wheatley smiled at that part. "We were like sisters. During the assembly where she presented her cat experiment we sat together and mumbled about the cats. That was when the neurotoxin started pouring into the room." At that point Chell was completely crying. "I saw a scientist find a way out in the paneling. Neither of us could find our parents so I ran after him pulling her after me. She was doing a lot worse than I was. After so long she completely stopped moving and I had to drag her."
"Chell, you don't have to continue. You look awful. Well you don't look awful but you're um, crying awful. You actually look nice, if that makes you feel better." Wheatley said to try to make her stop crying. He had never seen her cry that hard before.
"There isn't much left." Chell told him. "I know it is killing you, not talking, but please be quiet for me." Wheatley sighed.
"For you." He said. Chell smiled then continued with her story.
"Katharine let go of my hand and just laid on the floor. With tears in my eyes I left her there. I don't know what happened next but I woke up from the cryo-pod. I didn't remember her at all until test chamber 17, when I met my Companion Cube. Having to incinerate it was just her way of making me feel like I was all alone When she gave it back it felt like a sorry." Wheatley patted her on the back. He wasn't sure what else to do, he wasn't used to seeing people experience strong emotion.
Chell looked up and hugged him. Wheatley always loved it when she hugged him. She turned her attention back to the cube. He would never feel the same way about that cube. He felt like he should do something for her. Eventually Chell got up and continued with her day. Wheatley got up too and went to bed early, before Lucas got home from school.
Wheatley woke up at midnight and left the house with the cube. He began to run to Karla's house. His plan was to go to Aperture and see if GLaDOS would do anything to help. When he got there he ran the doorbell until he heard someone complain. Someone opened the door.
"What do you want?" Karla asked him. She was still half asleep and had no idea who she was talking to.
"I need you to drive me to Aperture." Wheatley said. She recognized his accent.
"I'm not driving anyone anywhere at this time. Wait, you said Aperture. Why would you want to go back there?" Karla would have been yelling at him if she had been completely awake.
"I need to do something for Chell." Wheatley said to her.
"Can't you drive yourself there?" Karla yawned.
"I can try, if you don't mind if your car is wrecked or not returned at all." Wheatley was somewhat excited about being allowed to drive. Karla just nodded and went back inside. Wheatley smiled and ran toward the car.
"First part to successfully starting a car is keys but I don't see any. I could rewire it but that would take too long." He tried to figure out how to start it. That was about the time that Karla came back out.
"Why would you want to go back?" Karla yelled at him. She probably woke up most of her neighbors but she didn't care.
"I told you, for Chell." Wheatley looked at her. He was confused that she didn't seem to understand.
"That is very kind but why do you need to drive? All the spots we know about were in walking distance." Karla said.
"Well, while I was in charge I found another location. It's far away and I need to get there quickly." Wheatley told her. She sighed and got in the car.
"Which way is it?" Karla asked him.
"Oh right, I'm the navigator." He smiled knowing he was helpful. "Um, that way." He pointed toward the place Cherrie and Craig were living. The entrance was in the basement of an abandoned house in a town that was somewhat far away. It took them an hour to get to the town.
"Now which house was it?" He asked himself. "This could take a while. We'll have to search every house."
"Why not try the house that has the car with an Aperture science logo on the side?" Karla said in the way that sounded like how a children's show would give the correct answer.
"That's brilliant!" He picked up the cube and took it over to the house. "How do I open the door?" He asked her.
"I don't know how you survive in this world." Karla told him. She went over and turned the knob. The door swung open. "It wasn't even locked!" Wheatley had stopped paying attention to her and found his way down to the basement. There was an elevator down there.
"I want you to stay here, Karla. I need to do this by myself." Wheatley said as he stepped into the lift with the cube.
"I wasn't going to come with you. Now get down there. The quicker you go in the quicker you come up. If you come up."
"If?" Wheatley asked. He was a little scared now.
"Yes, if. Have fun!" Karla told him encouragingly as she hit the button that took the elevator down. It hit the bottom hard enough that is bruised him. He stepped out into a testing track.
"How was your near death experience in the last test chamber? Did you like it? I enjoyed watching you scream as- wait. You are not a test subject. You are a moron. How did you of all people find a way back?" The robotic voice clicked on.
"I looked it up. But, I need you to do something for me." Wheatley said.
"Why would I-" the voice suddenly stopped and was replaced by a more human voice. "What do you need me to do?"
"Could you check if any conscious was uploaded to this cube? And, see if there is anyone named Katharine in cryogenic storage. Please." Wheatley pleaded.
"-help you? You aren't worth my time. I should just-" The voice was cut off again. "I checked the files and found four Catharine's with a C and one with a K. What letter was it?"
"K." Wheatley guessed. Chell hadn't been very specific with spelling.
"-kill you now. You will just cause me trouble in the future. If you come back once-" GLaDOS stopped again. "The one with a K was a girl at Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. Is that the one you are searching for?"
"Yes!" Wheatley said. He was excited.
"-you will come back again. So what did you come here for? Unless it is-" She stopped. "I found her in storage. Her conscious was uploaded to that cube, surprisingly."
"Can you put it back into her body?" He asked.
"-to kill Chell I won't-" It stopped one last time. "I think so. Step back into the elevator and I will take you there." Wheatley hopped back into the elevator. Then he heard GLaDOS laughing. "My Caroline impression must be fairly good if I was able to fool you. You are probably wondering why I needed to get you in the elevator. It is because I couldn't pump neurotoxin into that room but I can assure you that this one will kill you almost instantly. I'm going to fill my chamber with the toxin so as soon as I open the elevator you will die. That will take a while though so lets chat. I know how you love to talk." He was terrified.
"Was everything you said true?" He asked as he looked for a way out.
"Yes. Katharine has been alive. I thought she would be useful when I saw her choking so I put her in storage with a few others. Later when I ran Chell through the tests
I saw footage of her with the girl so I uploaded her conscious to the cube you are holding. The funniest part was she was with her the entire time and had no idea." GLaDOS told him.
"Can you at least put her conscious back into her original body?" He asked hopefully. The elevator shot up another floor and the doors opened.
"As a dying wish I suppose." She said. He put the cube down and she picked it up. It went out of the room and a cryo-pod came up. Katharine stepped out of it. "Now both of you get in the elevator so I can take you to your death." After surveying the room for a way out they both sulkily got on the lift. Wheatley began hitting the sides of it trying to find a weak spot. The lift stopped and the doors began to open.
Karla could hear the noise the elevator was making. She looked around for a button to bring it back up. After searching for so long she went with the red button that said 'Manual Override'. She heard the doors to the elevator swing shut and it shot back up. The doors opened to show Wheatley and Katharine gasping for air. They both fell out of the elevator.
"Come on you two." Karla said as she helped them up. She led both of them out of the house. Karla pushed them into her car and buckled their seatbelts. It wasn't until the car started that either of them said anything.
"That was the most scared I have ever been in my life! I thought we were going to die!" Wheatley exclaimed.
"I never thought I was going to get out of that cube. It was so odd not being able to move around on your own after being accustom to walking." Katharine told Wheatley. The two of the continued like that for the rest of the way home. If you didn't know what they had been through you would think they were completely insane. Karla knew what they were talking about and she didn't understand everything.
She stopped at the apartment Chell, Wheatley, and Lucas had moved into and kicked both of them out. Her head hurt from listening to them talk. It was almost three in the morning and she was exhausted. Wheatley and Katharine were completely awake from almost dying. They ran up and knocked on the door because Wheatley forgot to take his key. Chell repeatedly told Wheatley to go answer the door before she realized he was gone. Eventually she got up and stumbled over to the door. Lucas followed behind her like a cat.
"Chell!" Katharine yelled when Chell opened the door. She immediately hugged her.
"Katharine! But you died. How are you here?" Chell asked her, she was wide-awake then. That was when she noticed Wheatley standing beside her. "You found her!" Chell yelled. She kissed him on the cheek. Wheatley turned bright red.
"Happy Birthday, Chell!" He said.
"It isn't my birthday." She told him. He smiled.
"I know." He hugged her tightly. "You thought you lost your best friend when she was with you the whole time. I just took the cube to Aperture and had the conscious re-uploaded."
"You went back to Aperture for me." Chell said.
"Well, you went back to Aperture for me." Wheatley pointed out. That made Chell kiss him again. Karla watched from her car quietly. She thought it was so sweet.
"That was the best romance movie I have ever seen." Karla yelled. "You both have risked your life for one another so much. It is just amazing."
"Goodbye Karla." Chell said waving to her. Karla bit her lip and drove off. They went inside and Wheatley began to make coffee.
"My parents always told me the best gift to give is friendship but giving someone their best friend back is unheard of." Chell said to Wheatley.
"So, Chell is he on the list of boys you like?" Katharine asked her.
"Yes, he is." Chell responded, she was smiling at Wheatley.