A/N: So, this idea came to me a long time ago and I wrote this blurb…I have a complete story in mind, though I'm not sure how often I'd be updating with school and all. I just thought I'd put this out there and see what everyone thought about it. Enjoy! Let me know if you want to see more.


At some point it had begun to rain. Nathan hadn't heard the storm arrive; in fact he hadn't even realized that it was pouring until he was standing beneath the dark sky. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked frantically and hot on its tracks was a young woman wearing a long black duster similar to the one that Nathan himself wore.

Nathan surveyed the barren landscape. The golden wheat was doubled over from the force of the wind. In the distance, an abandoned old shack stood out as the single eye sore in an otherwise endless view of serenity. Near the shack Nathan made out the two figures he had been searching for: his dog and his sister.

Nathan took a deep breath and let it out before launching into a sprint. The raindrops blurred his vision and the wind whipped at the skin on his face. He squinted in order to stay focused on the shack as he drew nearer and noticed that there was a third figure lying face down.

It was a petit woman with dark matted hair. Her white tank top and orange jumpsuit were smeared with mud. On her feet was a peculiar pair of boots of which Nathan had never seen the likes of before. Once he was close enough, he dropped to his knees at her side and flipped her onto her back. The front of her shirt was marked with the Aperture Laboratories symbol, earning a curious look from Nathan. He placed two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse and noted with great relief that she was, in fact, Still Alive.

"What's wrong with her?" Nathan's sister Melissa screamed over the roar of the wind.

Nathan pursed his lips. "She seems malnourished."

The dog walked over to the woman and began to lick her face gently. Nathan pushed him away firmly and said, "No, Isaac!"

Isaac sauntered away and sat down at Melissa's feet. The woman stirred slightly, her eyes opening just a crack to meet Nathan's gaze. Confusion and fear immediately showed in her facial expression and Nathan tried to soothe her with a smile.

"It's alright, you're in good hands. You're going to be okay," Nathan reassured the woman. She turned her head toward Melissa, who had bent down to ruffle Isaac's ears, and noticed the bright silver Aperture logo emblazoned across the back of Melissa's coat. The woman's eyes snapped back to Nathan's in alarm.

Nathan shook his head vigorously. "You're going to have to trust us. We are not your enemy."

The woman stared him down for a long moment with a furrowed brow, but the minimal amount of energy she had had left her as quickly as it had come. Her face relaxed and her eyes closed as she once again slipped into unconsciousness.

Nathan scooped her up into his arms and began to head towards the house. Melissa caught his arm and pointed at a peculiar cube sitting close to where the woman had been lying. Nathan shrugged and nodded his head in its direction, indicating to Melissa that she should bring it with them.

Isaac barked with glee and ran in circles around Nathan as he carried the woman towards shelter. Melissa quickly caught up to them with the cube clasped tightly in her arms. She shot a distrusting glance at the woman in Nathan's arms and sighed heavily.

"Why is she alive, Nathan?" She asked with an edge in her voice. "What was so special about her that allowed her to survive when everyone else…?"

Nathan found himself looking down into the woman's face. She seemed like just another average girl. "I honestly don't know," he replied softly.


In the days that followed Nathan and Melissa's strange discovery in the wheat fields they didn't make much progress with the woman. She was rarely conscious and when she was she didn't say a word. She jumped at the slightest sound and avoided the touch of both Nathan and Melissa whenever possible. The only thing she seemed to respond positively to was Isaac, whom she allowed to lay on the bed with her whenever he wanted.

They tried to feed her, but she refused their offerings. She always watched them with a cynical gaze and examined each meal and drink skeptically. If Nathan didn't know better, he'd think she was expecting them to poison her. The suspicion shouldn't surprise him after he had noticed her staring at Melissa's Aperture jacket, but it was frustrating nevertheless. If she didn't eat or drink, she was going to die.

It was because of this life-threatening situation that Nathan decided to sit down with the woman and tell her straight up exactly who they were and what their role was in Aperture Science. If he didn't, she would never be able to trust them, and they would lose her.

"How are you feeling?" Nathan started off with awkwardly. As expected, the woman just stared at him unblinkingly and didn't give him an answer. He sighed and continued. "I'm going to be frank with you: if you don't eat or drink, you will die. That's all there is to it."

The woman's face expressed fear for a moment but she obviously tried to hide it. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had frightened her. This stubbornness only frustrated Nathan further.

"I know you won't touch anything that we serve you unless you know that you can trust us. I understand that, I was just hoping you would be able to sustain consciousness for more than ten minutes before I tried to explain this," Nathan told her politely. She waited silently for him to continue. "Melissa and I are Aperture Science Reintegration Associates."

The woman raised an eyebrow. She seemed to recognize this term somewhat, which was kind of a relief to Nathan. "You see," he continued, "our sole purpose is to reintegrate test subjects into society. Our job is to help you, not harm you. You can trust us."

The woman still seemed skeptical, but she glanced down at the plate of mashed potatoes in front of her and seemed to consider them for a moment. A brief smile flickered across her face as if she had just remembered a joke before she slowly picked up her silverware and placed a spoonful of potatoes in her mouth. Her entire face seemed to light up as she chewed, and before Nathan knew it, she had devoured the entire plate.

Nathan chuckled softly and shook his head. "That's better," he said kindly. He looked back up into her eyes as she took a sip from her glass of water. "What's your name?"

The woman seemed to be perplexed by this question. She frowned in concentration and continued to drink her water. Nathan waited patiently and studied her facial expressions carefully.

After a few minutes, Nathan grew concerned. "Do you know your name?" He asked.

The woman looked annoyed at this second question. She nodded and frowned again. After another minute of contemplation, she tapped her throat with her forefinger.

Nathan was shocked as he heard himself speak his next words: "You can't speak." It wasn't a question; this time it was a fact.

Sadness washed over her face as she nodded solemnly. Nathan pitied her. He reached out to touch her hand, but she instantly pulled away and eyed him warily. He sighed, but then he thought of an idea and got up to leave.

He quickly returned with a notebook and a pencil. He handed them to her and then sat down again. She stared at him questioningly.

Nathan smiled. "What's your name?" He asked again.

Realization sparkled in the woman's grey eyes and she turned to a fresh page. As she moved the pencil across the surface, Nathan noted how sloppy her movements were. He felt as if he was watching a child write, and he wondered just how long it had been since she had had the opportunity to use a pencil and paper.

When she was finished, she held up the notebook. Scrawled at the top of the page was the word 'Chell.'

Nathan thought on that for a moment. "Is that pronounced like 'shell'?" He asked curiously.

She shook her head, underlined the 'Ch' in her name multiple times and then wrote the word 'beach.'

Nathan nodded to indicate that he understood. "Chell," he said gently. "Chell. It suits you."

Chell smiled and wrote 'thank you' on the paper before settling back in her pillows. Nathan took that as his cue to leave. Just as he was about to close the door, he turned back to look at her one last time.

"It's nice to meet you, Chell," he said politely.

Chell nodded in agreement and closed her eyes as Nathan stepped out of the room.


Nathan did not sleep well most nights after Chell's arrival. Her constant thrashing in her sleep normally startled him enough to wake him, and if that didn't do the trick, her eventual yells certainly did. Nathan knew that she had to be dreaming about Aperture, and he could hazard a guess as to whom exactly she was being tormented by.

Nathan's blood turned to ice when he thought about the stories his father had told him about Aperture's downfall. The employees being forced into testing, the neurotoxin, the innocent young girls…it was a terrifying image that Nathan didn't like to think about. Chell, unfortunately, had lived it.

One night he just couldn't take it anymore. Melissa had become very good at tuning her out, but Nathan could not ignore Chell's pain. He had to do something.

When she began her thrashing one night, he went to her bed and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. Still asleep, Chell seemed to see this as some sort of an attack and began to move even more violently. Nathan gave her a firm shake in order to wake her, and finally the movement stopped. Chell opened her eyes and looked up at him with an expression of confusion.

"I think it's time for us to talk about these dreams," Nathan whispered. Chell sighed heavily and nodded reluctantly.

Nathan handed her the notebook and the pencil and waited to see what she did with them. Even though he was expecting a written explanation, he received a detailed drawing.

Despite her childishly sloppy handwriting, Chell's artistic skills were actually quite impressive. She drew a sign with the number '19' written upon it. Next to it was a cake and the cube that Melissa had brought in from the wheat fields.

Nathan stared at the cube. "What is the significance of that cube?"

Chell glanced up at him in surprise before writing the word 'companion' beneath the cube drawing. Though this still left Nathan rather perplexed, he did not interrupt her again.

Chell's expression darkened as she flipped to another page. She drew flames. She drew a strange looking ball with handles and the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Next came the turrets, next to which she wrote phrases such as "There you are!" and "Are you still there?" Finally, by itself on a separate page, she drew Her.

Nathan had never seen Her before, but the drawing Chell was making fit the description he had been told time and time again.

"GLaDOS," Nathan said breathlessly, his tone seething with hatred.

Chell flinched at the mention of the AI as she continued. There was more.

Below the drawing of GLaDOS, Chell drew a sole potato. Nathan raised an eyebrow as Chell added surprising detail to the potato before adding wires and a strange circular piece that Nathan didn't recognize. As Chell drew the potato, a peaceful expression settled on her face. There was something about this potato that was important to Chell.

Once she was finished with the potato, she stared at it for a long while. Sadness seemed to creep into her eyes as she examined her drawing. After a few minutes, she took the pencil and violently crossed out the potato.

Nathan jumped back in surprise as she flipped back through her other drawings and drew giant Xs over everything except for the number 19 and GLaDOS. Chell breathed heavily as she stared down at GLaDOS. Nathan had no way of knowing what was going on in her mind.

Nathan placed a hand on Chell's shoulder and she immediately jerked away. He could see that she was fighting to stay strong and to not cry. He looked down at her drawing.

"If you're ever going to get through this and move on, you'll need to confront what happened to you. GLaDOS can't hurt you anymore except for in your mind." Nathan sighed. "You need to find your own way to get past this or you'll never be able to live in this world. If you can't, you'll always be living in Hers."

Nathan got up from the bed and walked towards the door. "Tomorrow Melissa and I are going to go into town to get some things, but the next day we will begin your reintegration. You have many things to learn." He glanced back at her over his shoulder, but she was still staring at her drawing. "Keep in mind what I said, though, or nothing we do will help."