Excited chatter filled the halls of Aperture Laboratories as scientists walked to and fro, attending to their daily business. On this very day, the air of the place appeared to be simply bursting with joy, along with the people inside if it. There was one lady; however, who was the happiest of them all because amongst the chatter, inside the Extended Relaxation Center, a cry from a newborn baby girl could be heard.
The young woman lay in bed, she was beautiful, raven black hair cascading down her back, and her eyes a soft gray blue. Barefooted, she dawned a white nightgown and cuddled her baby girl in her pale arms. She was so happy that she was practically glowing. Her husband stood by her side, equally as happy as his wife. He himself, had messy blond-brown hair, light skin, and brown eyes. He wore a lab coat with Aperture's logo in black on the left of his chest, along with black pants and black dress shoes. It was quite obvious he was one of the scientists who worked there.
Yet, even with her parents looking down at her with joy filled eyes, the baby girl continued to cry.
"Ssh" The young woman cooed softly. "Everything's okay Alice, Mommy's here"
She then proceeded to rock the baby gently in her arms. The baby girl's cries soon became whimpers, until she stopped crying all together.
"She's so beautiful Sarah" her husband said softly, looking down at his newborn child, his eyes gleaming. Sarah raised her head, her eyes held a gentle expression. "I know, Jack" she replied, her tone soft, like his. "I know" With this, a smile crept its way across her lips.
Even so, with Aperture being, well, Aperture there was always something crazy going on, and quiet, touching, moments like this never lasted for too long. The couple had been staring down at their baby, when the door burst open.
"Well congratulations!"
In the doorway, stood a sickly looking elderly man, with gray hair and brown eyes. He wore a black suit, matching tie, white dress shirt, and black dress shoes. He had pale skin since he was ill, but nevertheless, he seemed quite energetic at this given moment, and he held a grin that spread all the way across his face. He strolled into the room without a second thought. All Sarah and Jack could do was shake their heads and smile, it was just like him to come bursting through the door in a sickly state such as this.
Jack continued to shake his head and he clicked his tongue. "Stubborn as ever I see, Shouldn't you be in bed?"
The elderly man scoffed, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted.
"Sir."
Another voice, This time it came from a woman. She took the man's former place in the doorway. A look of great concern on her face
"Sir please go back to bed, it's not healthy for you to be running around in this kind of state." There was a pleading in her eyes "We can come bring the baby to see you later on, Now please go get some rest."
Her age was starting to catch up to her, but that didn't detract from the fact that she was beautiful. She had brown hair, with streaks of gray that went down to her chest, and brown eyes to match. Her skin tone was the same as Sarah's, and she wore a red and a white ascot around her neck, with a sleeveless white dress that cut off at her knees and had a wide yoke.
The old man smiled and shook his head. "Caroline, I'm fine." He insisted, only for him to contradict himself by coughing right after. "Besides" his smile turned into a grin "This area if off limits at the moment, only a select few are allowed in here." The grin seemed to keep growing by the minute "You can call me Cave, those who don't already know, can't hear us." he gave her a wink.
Caroline blushed, and let out a small giggle, but it wasn't enough to convince her that he was going to be alright. "Cave, please." She said softly "You've started to cough again, you really need some rest."
"Caro-"
"Please?"
Cave Johnson let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine."
Caroline's expression lightened and she smiled.
"You shouldn't worry about me so much Caroline."
Caroline's expression then softened "I'm your wife. It's second nature for me to worry about you" She turned to Jack and Sarah, "I'll come back to see my niece in a little while, I need to get Cave back in bed before he makes himself even sicker than he already is"
"I heard that."
Jack, Sarah and Caroline all let out a laugh
"It's fine Caroline, we understand, you go." Jack said with a smile, Caroline smiled back in return and headed towards the doorway. The head of a small girl peered inside the room and Caroline stroked her hair lovingly as she passed.
Jack shook his head again
"Typical Cave."
Sarah laughed.
It was then, that out of the corner of his eye, Jack caught a glimpse of the little girl peering into the room. She was the age of five, her Davy's gray eyes were filled with curiosity and slight fear. However, the reason she looked slightly fearful was due to that fact she was quite shy. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders and her skin was tan. She wore a white shirt with Aperture's logo on the front in black, orange pants, and white Velcro shoes that had black stripes on the sides, with two black Velcro straps on the top.
Jack's lips formed a smile
"Hello Chell, would you like to come see your new baby cousin?"
The little girl nodded her head and ran up to the bed. She held her small finger out to the baby in Sarah's arms, and the newborn wrapped her hand around it, Chell smiled.
"Would you like to hold her?" Sarah asked with a gentle smile. Chell nodded again. "Okay, make sure you support her head" She handed the baby over to Chell, and she held her just like her aunt had asked her to. "Her name is Alice"
"Hello... Alice..." Chell said shyly.
The baby giggled.
AUTHORS NOTE: Hello everyone and thank you for reading my story! I've had this idea for a while and I've always wanted to do something with it, so I figured why not turn it into a fanfiction. I've always loved the theory of Cave and Caroline being Chell's father and mother so that is what I will be using. I enjoyed writing this chapter and I plan to try and write one each day. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do!
