No one seems to pick up on Caroline's scarf like they would in other fandoms, so I thought I'd give it a go. This'll be a couple of chapters focusing on the women of Portal and Portal 2.

This is a story about women. More specifically, it's a story about mothers and daughters.

Or women who approximate mothers and daughters, anyway.

The first woman we're going to look at was Mrs. Renstone, a woman unremarkable in everything but her ability to wash her clothing really, really clean. Her daughter was the Persil child, white socks peeking out from under a pink frock which whipped in the wind as she pulled apart the flower, counting the stamens before scattering the petals into the wind.

"Caroline? Caroline! Inside!" the girl looked around before running into the house without question. Her mother sucked her teeth. "You've ruined your dress. I'd just pressed that." The girl looked up at her, defiant.

"I haven't!... Oh. I have, haven't I? I'm sorry, Mommy."

"Mother."

"What?"

"Pardon, darling, not what. I'm sorry, Mother."

"I'm sorry, Mother."

"That's better. Now come inside. It's time for singing practice."

"Yes, Mother." So Caroline followed her mother inside and stood next to the piano, correcting her posture. "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small… all things bri-se and wonderful, the lord God made them all- Mommy? Sorry, Mother?" Her mother looked up from the piano, faintly amused but largely annoyed.

"What is it, darling?"

"Well, if the lord god made them all, why did he decide he didn't like half the designs?"

"What on earth are you on about?"

"Well, Charles Darwin says that all the animal changed into what they are now, so maybe God just didn't like the designs because he chang-"

"Caroline! For goodness sake, keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself!"

"But science says-"

"Caroline, will you stop all this science nonsense? Your job is to find a nice man – a lawyer, or a doctor, and keep a clean house and tidy children. It does not involve upsetting every single person in the community with your deranged rambling!"

"But-!"

"No buts. I think that's enough singing for today. Go to your room. I shall speak to your father when he gets home."

"Yes Mother. Sorry, Mother." And the girl sloped upstairs to her bedroom.

…

"You know," Caroline said, speaking over a shoulder, "it would work a whole lot better if that gear was better oiled." The man at the table turned around.

"What?" He said, not angry, but not amazed either.

"That's threatening rust. It won't turn otherwise." He looked closer, eyes narrowing. For a moment, she thought she'd overstepped the mark.

"You know what? You're right. What do you want to do about it?" His eyes bored into hers. She considered. She could walk away and shake her head, but then an old phrase, one her mother had never approved of, reared its head:

Once you've dived off the cliff, the only thing left to do is push for the abolition of gravity.

Pulling up a napkin, Caroline began to sketch out a tiny mechanism. She rubbed bits out, considering as she changed bits. Finally, she looked up, satisfied in her knowledge of a job well done. "See, if you just connect this here and run the grease down a pipe – just a small one – then that's oiled and it'll run sweetly, just like you want it to! I love it when it all works out, don't – oh. I've upset you, haven't I? Sorry, sir."

"No, I'm not upset. That's… Jesus, woman, that's amazing." He picked up the napkin before planting a small card down on her table. "We're recruiting. Keep in touch."

Coins clinked onto the metal tabletop as he left, napking in hand. Caroline stared at her own coffee, studying the card.

Cave Johnson

Aperture Fixtures

"Moving towards a better tomorrow"

She tucked it into the side of her blouse – whatever he wanted had to be better than typing.

…

The dress was quite the whitest thing Caroline had ever worn, including the cotton socks of her childhood. The weather was lovely and the church was charming. Although neither of them were religious, Mrs Renstone had all but threatened to disown her daughter if the wedding wasn't carried out just so, and Caroline, who thought she'd seen the full extent of her mother's anger when she announced that she was now a scientist, was not willing to take the risk.

But despite her mother's anger, she'd still attended the ceremony, and found them a wedding gift; which she'd presented to her daughter alone earlier that day. Caroline tried to remember the odd, stiff exchange:

"I'm so glad you're finally settling down, Caroline. I must confess we'd all rather thought that you'd never marry."

"Mother!"

"Well I'm sorry darling, but people were beginning to gossip. And now here you are, and someone higher up than you too! I couldn't be more… proud."

"Cave's just my boss, Mother. He's hardly that much higher than me, you know."

"Sssh, Caroline. For goodness sakes, you should just be thankful that you've found someone. And I found you something. This is your wedding present." She pulled a box, wrapped in a square of red and white fabric, out of her bag and handed it to her daughter. "You can open it now." So Caroline opened it, laying the satin scarf down next to her, to find three crystal glasses, packed in together.

"Oh, Mom, Mother, you didn't have to! They're lovely, thank you." Her mother smiled briefly.

"The scarf is for you, too. It was my mother's, and she gave it to me on my wedding day. It still smells of her perfume, you know."

"I'm sure it does. Thank you, Mother."

I'm sorry about the character of GLaDOS, she's impossible to write. Also, I think this chapter moved too fast, so I'm sorry I skipped almost all their relationship, but otherwise I'd have really mangled the characters. Opinions?