The Future of Half Life and the Second Coming of Gaben.

For Freeman, home was not the warm studios at Valve software. If he could have moved away from the place, out of Washington altogether, then he would have done so, however he was still intellectual property of Valve. The only knowledge of physics that was needed at that place was how to program a physics engine.

Besides, when a problem had emerged in the past, he'd usually shoot it dead, which solved the said problem. All that studying, and the only work he had ever done as a scientist was push a button that caused the Black Mesa incident, and that was over twenty years ago. Gordon groaned out loud, the memory made concrete by the cold December sky.

For Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, home was a rusted trailer three blocks down in an equally rusted trailer park.

By this time, Alyx sitting over her cereal, steadily eating her way to the bottom of the bowl. She noticed Gordon step meagrely in through the thin metal door, so she allowed a small smile to flicker onto her face, extenuated by the deep black hair band that held her dark hair at bay. After all this time she still liked to wear it, as a good luck charm that had see her through all her battles. Including the one she was fighting now, the one that was ever present in Gordon's face.

From experience she had learnt that it was hard work making conversation with her fiancée. True, Gordon was the best listener a women could ask for, but she felt that he was merely collecting what she had to say, storing it deep down inside himself, never to be mentioned again.

"Hey sweetie, I was just having a late breakfast. Didn't have much of an appetite is all..."

Gordon nodded, changing his green work and overalls for a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt which had Gaben's sexy multi-chinned face printed on it.

"Did they have any openings at Valve today Gordon?" Alyx asked, a little worriedly.

"It would probably be best for you to have a less physical job, what with your wrist and all. "

But Freeman merely shook his head.

All day at that shitty job that Gaben called work, and THIS was the subject Alyx continuously brought up. Didn't she understand that he just wanted to get away from it all? Didn't she realise that he wanted time for himself sometimes where he could abandon the scent of lemon jiff?

There was a sound of metal on china. Alyx had dropped her spoon into her cereal.

When Gordon's eyes finally flickered back, Alyx was wearing a bitter grimace on her normally sunny face.

She arrested Gordon with her bright green eyes.

"Look, you're a man that prefers action to words, I get that, and in fact I think that's a better kind of man..."

Alyx looked down at the floor.

"But what am I supposed to do when I don't get action OR words from you Gordon? Where does that leave me? Cos as far as I can tell, I'M ALONE!

The shaking had begun, and from what Gordon could tell, it had been building up steadily inside her beautiful brown skin for weeks, perhaps even months.

Alyx hid behind one of her hands, the tears flowing freely now.

Gordon touched her shoulder, but immediately had it shrugged off. Lost for words couldn't even begin to describe his feelings. He had let her down, badly, and getting her trust back now would be a harder thing to do than grasping anti-matter from air.

Without any warning Alyx had decided air was exactly what she needed. She grabbed her purse lying spilt open on the table top and yanked open the trailer door.

Gordon tried to move over to her but stopped abruptly as Alyx turned round in the doorway.

"You don't have to be a hero anymore Gordon, all you have to be is my hero..." She stammered, smudging her mascara with the back of her hand.

"I've already let go of my glory days, you call me when you're ready to let go of yours!"

The door slammed with the force of a supernova, leaving Gordon alone in the broken down lunchbox he called a home.

The Freeman had previously saved an entire nation, but now it seemed he couldn't save the person he most cared about from hurt.

As the late afternoon began to slide into evening Gordon decided the best way to clear his head was for him to take a walk.

He rummaged around the cramped living space and presently found a woollen pullover that he pushed over his head before setting out into the cold twilight.

His breath formed thin clouds of vapour that mixed with the orange glow of the horizon, and a great jealousy over came Freeman of how it could mingle into nothingness, where as he had to stay behind and try to loose himself in the busy streets.

He walked onwards, ever onwards, past an ocean of nameless faces until he came to one of Washington's less affluent neighbourhoods. Boarded up windows surrounded him on either side, stitched up eyes that had once belonged to the faces of many store fronts, but which like his own franchise, had been undersold and neglected to the point of ruin.

Turning a corner Freeman came face to face with a familiar sight. It was a shopping complex of sorts, or had been several years ago. A large, churned up parking lot sat decaying on top a large hill, hemmed in by a dozen two storey buildings that prevented it from falling down the slope.

It was all coming back to Gordon now. There used to be a P.C World up there in the late 90's and (He was jogging towards the derelict site as the memories came thick and fast) it was there he had attended the store release of the first half-life.

Stamina was becoming an issue now, but Gordon kept on jogging toward that reminder of happier times, the where he had but for a few short hours been king of all P.C gaming. All this and more was waiting for him, just beyond this final hurdle, he imagined to himself. That was if he didn't run out of steam… No. He mustn't ever run out of steam.