"Miss Caroline."
There was an awkward five seconds of nothing. Caroline was frozen.
"Miss Caroline," said the heavy set woman at the check-in window, louder than before.
She came back to life with a slight twitch.
"I'll be right back, Chell." She assured the child beside her, and got up to meet the receptionist.
The girl sat perfectly still, a thumb halfway in her mouth and her other hand gripping the chair cushion.
"Come to the door so I can open it for you," The woman instructed. "Dr. Matthysen needs to discuss Cave's condition."
The doctor cleared his throat as she walked in. Her eyes were lined in red and the mascara that was previously on her bottom eyelashes had smudged a bit.
"We couldn't do anything else for him, he's gone. I'm truly sorry, ma'am." The lack of sincerity was disparaging.
Caroline's stomach turned from the news. She ran out to find a bathroom, but the trash can by the receptionist's desk was closer. Her hands gripped the sides and her throat burned as everything she'd eaten that day came back up.
Dr. Matthysen and the woman ran to her. They both rubbed her back and helped her up when she was done. She went to the bathroom to clean herself off and have a moment alone.
She thought of her previous visit, the last time she saw Cave alive.
Cave was half asleep when Caroline and Chell snuck into his designated sleeping chamber. No doubt there were cameras watching his every breath, but Caroline knew Aperture Science like the back of her hand, and how to avoid being caught by security.
If she was alone it would have be easier to sneak in, but he was dying. She had to bring his daughter.
Cave's painful coughs could be heard from the next building. She used to treat it like a cough you'd get with a cold, always suggesting he drink syrup like a child, but it was not just a passing sickness. His lungs were withering away from what was equal to smoking nine or ten packs of cigarettes a day.
On that last day, there was little spoken word between the nearly torn family. They cried and held each other close.
"We'll see you soon, love."Caroline promised him. She couldn't hold herself together, and neither could Chell.
He nodded and fell into another coughing fit.
Caroline gave Cave a kiss goodbye, and picked Chell up so they could leave.
"Ch-Chell." He whispered.
Caroline walked closer to the bed.
"Daddy loves you."
His last words did not bother her until she knew he was gone forever.
Caroline left the restroom and found Dr. Matthysen again.
"There's a man in the back waiting for you to sign some forms. Do you want me to find someone to watch your daughter?"
She nodded. He dialed a number, and pressed the phone to his ear.
"Yes, this is Dr. Thomas Matthysen. The other lab boys are away right now, so I need you to find someone to watch Mr. Johnson's daughter until Miss Caroline is finished signing some paperwork."
There was a pause.
"Thank you." The doctor set the phone back on its receiver.
Chell was sitting by herself in the waiting room. She turned her head when a large man burst through the door. He was very tall, with wind blown dirty blonde hair.
"Oh, um. Hello."
She stared.
"I...uh. I'm Joe." He smiled and pointed to the name tag on his right bosom. "What's your name?"
She lifted a writing pad from her lap that had her name in bold, black letters.
"Chell?" He pronounced incorrectly.
She shook her head.
"Like shell?"
She made a thumbs up, and stuck that same thumb back into her mouth. Her eyes fixed to the clock above the door her mother left through.
"I'm from accounting. Your dad and I are good friends. I hope he gets better." Bringing her father up was nothing short of inappropriate, but he had no idea that Cave was already gone. "Y'know, I've never been down here before. Everything is so bright and... and clean."
She didn't respond to him. Her eyes were watching the clock, waiting for her mother to come back and take her home.
"Um, I'm sorry, can you not talk?"
She shook her head again.
"I'm very sorry."
He didn't know what to say after that, so they sat together in silence.
Caroline was in a room not so far from the one Chell was in. She sat at a metal desk under a naked light bulb hanging from a wire. It was as if she was being interrogated for homicide.
"Alright, I believe that's the last of the forms you have to sign. Unfortunately your husb-er..." The sketchy looking man corrected himself. "Cave is behind a wall of plastic so that his radiation fumes can't be spread."
"I said goodbye and so did his daughter. May I leave now?" Caroline was staring down at her hands on the table and holding back tears.
"Ma'am." His tone was darker than before. "We still have to discuss his final wishes. You're the key to project GLaDOS."
Caroline jumped out of her seat angrily.
"I did not come here to be treated like an object. I'm human. Cave could order you to do anything yesterday, but now i'm in charge of my life. Forget about GLaDOS."
There was a long silence, and Caroline found her way back to the cold, metal chair. The man's expression was blank. He didn't react to her outburst.
"I'm sorry, but Cave-"
"No, you're not sorry. I can see that you're not. He payed you every damn cent he earned to make his dying wish more than just a wish. He's gone now and he won't know if this little project doesn't happen." Her eyes were red again, and her cheeks were wet. She was scared for her life.
"You're right. He did pay us every cent he had, but I've also dedicated my career to this revolutionary idea, the one you seem to think is just a little project."
The man rose from his chair.
"See, you're the key because you know Cave better than anyone, and you'll run this facility with his intentions. It'll be like he never left." Now he smiled, as if this was a good thing. "Can't you see how important you are to us?"
"I can control everything as a human. You don't have to pour my brain into a computer. I... I have a daughter..." She sniffled.
"Believe me, we've thought of every possible stipulation more than once, Miss Caroline." He made his way over to her, and rested a hand on her left shoulder. "One of Aperture's employees will take care of her in your absence."
Everything was thought through. There was a solution to every excuse she came up with to stay alive, but she couldn't give up.
"You're crazy if you think you're going to do this to me. " She snapped. "I'll go home tonight and pack to leave this country." Caroline scooted the chair back and walked to the door. "You can't take away my life because you think you deserve to."
She thought she was free, but the door wouldn't open.
"Did no one tell you when we were doing this?"
Chell and Joe were still waiting silently. They were oblivious to what was happening only two rooms over.
"Wow, this is taking so long." He complained to himself quietly.
She was nervous now. It wasn't like her mother to take so long without checking in. It had been more than an hour since Caroline left, and she said she'd be right back.
They were probably out of pens, or maybe there was an issue with the printer so they had to wait to print the forms. Chell even considered that her mother was flirting with the doctor, he was sort of good looking for an older man. Anything was possible to her now that she was scared she might lose two parents in one day.
One large tear rolled over her bottom eyelid and slid down her face. Joe noticed, but pretended he didn't and tried to think of things to distract her from whatever was making her cry.
"So, I hear there's going to be a big surprise at Bring Your Daughter to Work Day." He immediately realized what he said. "I mean..."
She started to sob uncontrollably.
A/N: This was a sort of prequel. More to come next week when I make some finishing touches on the real first Chapter. Thank you for reading!