AN: I've had this in a forgotten note on my iPod and thought: screw it. I'll post it here. I wrote the first 3 1/2 chapters, but with all the formatting crap and everything, I'm not gonna post the whole thing now.

CHAPTER 1

Aperture Science. That's where it all started. The name that used to fill her with hope and excitement, but that now only triggers a hollow feeling in her chest. And that's where it was going to all end.

Caroline was standing by her balcony with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand overlooking the inner workings of the facility. She had come to know the entire inside like the back of her hand, imagining where every staircase and hallway led that disappeared into darkness.

Most employees never even knew where half of the passageways led. In fact, most of the employees didn't even know where half of anything was, and that was why they had the small apartments under the test chambers. The only reason she had the slightly larger and fancier apartment adjacent to the CEO's old office was—she bit her lip and looked down, holding back tears.

There was a hesitant knock at the door, and she quickly wiped at her eyes. Still holding her coffee, she went to the door and took a sip, expecting one of those newbies to ask where their offices were or something. What she saw made her choke on her coffee.

She forgot what today was, and cursed herself for not trying to run when she had a chance.

At the door was Doug Rattmann, here to take her to her...scanning of sorts.

He saw her expression of utter hopelessness, and said," You know, you could..." He gestured down the hallway that went down a bunch of other hallways that got her the hell out of here.

She laughed humorlessly and ran her hand through her hair. "Believe me. I've thought about that too many times to count. But I can't. It's what he wanted..." Her voice trailed off and her expression was somber and her eyes dark, reliving unwanted memories. Doug snapped her out of her reverie by saying, "I could let you see him." She looked at him. "What?"

"Five minutes can't hurt."

"Thank you so much," she said, hugging him tightly as she put her coffee down on her nightstand. "I just have to get something first.

She walked into the old office, half expecting him to be there, to wipe the scowl off his face and smile that smile that he reserved only for her, and to pick her up in his arms and kiss her. But he wasn't there now. Not anymore. She walked behind the large mahogany desk, averting her eyes from the giant framed portrait of him and reached inside the drawer of the desk. She took out the folded, tear stained envelope and carefully removed the slip of paper that was inside. She reread it for the umpteenth time, her tears blotching the already smudged words, and she put in inside the pocket of her dress. She wiped her face and walked outside, faking a smile or at least attempting to not look like she watched everything happen all over again.

They walked down hallway after hallway, each with the same sterile air about them, with the same lab coats swishing and the same noises. Finally, they got to the hallway that wasn't totally perfect and new, because the elevator to the surface was generally unused. Doug pushed a button and the lift opened. She gripped his hand and they walked inside.

Each time she used the elevator it seemed to take longer to go up. She kept checking her watch every few seconds, making sure she wasn't late to her appointment. The doors opened and they immediately took a left, toward the single form silhouetted by the sun.

She ran towards it and Doug hung back, not wanting to bother her. At the rock, Caroline collapsed and hugged it tightly. It was a beautifully crafted stone with his name inscribed in it. She had to do all the work herself, since nobody else seemed to care. She was surprised at this hardness she still felt after all this time, and softened at the sight of the form in front of her.

"Oh Cave," she whispered, scooting closer to it. "Why did you have to be so damn ambitious?" She smiled weakly and continued talking. "I know you're not really here, but I still feel it in the building. The halls, the-my office. Everywhere. It's like we can't get rid of you." She sighed and rested her head against the rock. "I know this is what you wanted, but I just can't imagine running this company without you. Forever, I might add."

By this time, there were uncontrollable tears streaming down her face and her whispers had turned fervent and rushed."I just want you to know that I love you and I always will. And that whatever you want for the company, no matter how much self sacrifice I have to put in, I'll do it. It's not my company, and never was. It's yours." She added in almost to herself, "Should I really do this?" She kissed the stone that signified Cave Johnson, and added as an afterthought, "Doug's taking care of her. Goodbye Cave. I'll talk to you again next week, the day-" Her throat caught on the words and she could feel new tears running down her face.

It was kind of stupid that she went here, not even where his body was. It was down below in the way lower levels of the facility, where even she wasn't allowed to go. But right here just seemed the place where he was most prominent(besides his office of course). Maybe it was because they would sneak away and have picnics at that exact spot. Or because it was where they had their first real kiss, watching the stars. Or it could just be because she was crazy and wouldn't have it anywhere but there.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Doug was standing next to her, a sympathetic smile on his face. "Come on." he said. "We shouldn't be late for something like this."

"We shouldn't show up at all." Caroline muttered, but followed him anyway.

In the main chamber, there were scientists milling about, chatting excitedly about the upcoming project. Not only were they going to attempt to copy someone's brain into an artificial intelligence, but they were actually planning it out first by taking a 3-D model of her brain. It was fantastic, to say the least, and nobody could wait for the procedure. Except Caroline.

She was walking down the hallway with Doug, as slow as she possibly could.

"You know," he said, "This isn't the real thing. It's just a brain scan."

"I know. But that means I only have a week left to be normal."

Doug smiled. "Did you seriously just say that? No one is normal here."

"Don't try to make this a joke. It's not funny."

"Sorry," he said looking down, obviously hurt.

"No, I'm sorry. It's just that this week has been so stressful, and then when he–god, just have mercy on my soul."

They walked in a palpable silence down the hallway, neither wanting to come to terms with what was about to happen. All too soon, the end of the hallway sped up to meet them and they had no other choice than to go through the door.

"Ready?" Doug asked.

"No." Caroline responded. "But we're doing it anyway aren't we?" It wasn't so much of a question as it was a statement.

Caroline, head held high, walked purposefully into the room. Anyone who would have seen her would have thought that she was taking the responsibility gratefully and proudly, but the few who really knew her could tell that her smile was strained and her eyes weren't shining from happiness.

She saw Wheatley out of the corner of her eye, and he waved. He walked-no stumbled-over to her and his face was lit up with excitement. She twirled the ring on the finger of her left hand absentmindedly.

"Hello Wheatley." She tried to keep her voice light but she couldn't help the despair from creeping in and lacing her words.

Wheatley's smile lost a little of its glow, and he said, "Don't be upset. It's all for Science. You still have a while to see her." Caroline tensed at the sentence. Of course. Her. Caroline never forgot about her, she was always at the back of her mind, but today Caroline managed to push it far back enough to accomplish something of the stack of papers she had on her desk.

"At this point, Science can-" she started to say, exasperated, but she was cut off by Doug running toward her.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you next time?" When Caroline was supposed to do the "scientific breakthrough" next week she was required to bring someone to escort her to the central AI chamber. Doug had asked repeatedly to be the one, but she always turned him down with a smile.

"It's ok. I don't want you to be the one to do this to me," she always said, as if the procedure didn't bother her. This was partially true, and she almost believed it herself. But deep down she knew that she didn't want him to be there, to see her kicking and screaming and crying.

One of the scientists-Greg?-motioned to her to get onto the table that they were going to do the scanning on. She gave her friends a final backward glance and stepped up onto the platform.

She climbed up and looked around. It really was amazing. The detail and work that had gone into the AI was unprecedented. She could barely see some of the smaller pieces of the faceplate that they attached together with screws so small that they were, well, hard to see. Under any other circumstances, Caroline would stand under the machine with Cave, and marvel at their work. They then would go out for a celebratory dinner, and stay up until midnight thinking of the next scientific breakthrough.

It was her idea to make the Propulsion and Repulsion gels. Against her advice though, he decided to make the repulsion one into a pudding. The substance had to be recalled and Caroline tried talking to him again, to successfully convince him this time to use it in testing.

"Two minutes," a scientist said, tapping at a screen without looking up.

Everywhere she looked, there were people setting up equipment, plugging in wires, or flipping switches and typing at a keyboard.

Caroline walked very slowly up to where the table was and ran her hand along the banister that went around the sloping platform which encircled the robot. That last time she had done that, she had looked down and smiled at Cave, whose eyes were alight with a glow that said: WE DID THIS, despite his steadily worsening condition. When she looked down this time, her face was strained, trying not to cry and Doug and Wheatley were both giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up.

She looked away, and a memory overcame her. Cautiously tiptoeing down a dark hallway, glancing around and freezing if she heard a sound. Stopping by a seemingly empty room, the third one to the right, number 125. Tapping the door three times. The door opened an inch and Doug was there, younger and less stressed. He let her in and she saw Cave there, sitting on the worn couch, cradling something in his arms. She ran over to him and kissed his cheek. She looked down at the beautiful baby the memory cut off and Caroline let out a choked sob which she tried to disguise as a cough.

She assumed she did a good job because nobody was looking at her like she was crazy. She climbed onto the table and lay down. She could feel droplets of wetness traveling down her cheeks but she was too tired to care. Too tired of everything. Before she could even utter a syllable, even if she wanted to, a group of people swarmed over her and attached wires and tubes and things to her and analyzed screens.

"3...2...1." An unseen voice said. Caroline saw from the corner of her eye someone flip a switch. Then there was nothing.

AN: How's it so far? Don't forget to R&R! (Side Note: If you think it sucks, just tell me. I'm good with criticism, so I appreciate any negative comments, even flames {as long as the flamer has a realistic reason for being pissed at my writing)