The night bristled around Chell as she stared into the fire that she had created an hour ago. The long, orange tendrils of the Sun's last attempt to stay in the sky reached over the horizon to the West, and the Moon made a show of dominating the sky by becoming larger than usual. Around Chell and her campfire, the grasshoppers sang their songs along with a chorus of sounds emanating from the large trees nearby. But, Chell was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice any of these noises.
Earlier, Chell had danced through the wheat field, and bent down to smell the dirt for the first time in a very long time. She had ran over to the trees and the stream of crystal clear water that flowed through the grove. She had tenderly touched the gruff bark of the trees, and had let her hand dangle into the stream of water, making her skin cold. Chell had been so happy to be out of the anally clean environment of Aperture Science, and to be alive. She had slept for a while, how long she did not know, and she had felt refreshed when she awoke. Afterward, Chell had taken a small bath in the water stream, all the while cleaning her orange and white Aperture Science clothing. The day had been waning by the time she had dressed herself, and she had delegated her time to picking up sticks for firewood. After that, it had only been a matter of using her portal gun's pent up energy to create a small flame, which she immediately fueled with her stockpile of increasingly larger sticks and pinecones. Then she had sat and waited for… something.
Chell had always had a plan: A plan to complete the test, a plan to destroy GLaDOS, and a plan to get out of the hell-hole that had been her life for too long. But the success of her plans had ended with completing the numerous tests. GLaDOS had disarmed her with the whole "Caroline" aspect, and Chell had almost not made it out of Aperture Science. Now that she was out, Chell wanted back in… for some reason.
Now, sitting on a large log in front of her fire, Chell put her head in her hands and sighed. What was with her? Why did she show compassion for a computer that had ruined her life and detained her for only God knows how long? She didn't know.
Chell took her head out of her hands, and tried to find a comfortable place next to the log and her fire where she could rest for the night. Her thoughts drifted to her portal gun. After using it for a fire starter, Chell had placed it in a bird hole that had so conveniently presented itself to Chell when she had needed a place to store the gun. Chell wanted nothing to do with Aperture Science now, but just in case she needed it, Chell didn't want to destroy the gun. Chell would have ripped her Aperture Science uniform off of her body if her human morality and embarrassment had stopped her when she had started to do so.
Staring into the fire now, Chell started to drift off to sleep as the weight of her day made its entrance into her mind. She smiled to herself. It wasn't every day that someone got to go to the Moon. Over to her right, Chell heard a twig snap, and she sat bolt upright. She patrolled the dark with her eyes, only finding more darkness and silence. But Chell knew that something had stepped on a stick; a stick that was very near to her.
Gordon cursed himself. He though he was better at this thing! He had been all the way through Ravenwood without getting killed and had basically destroyed the entire Combine army, and couldn't even avoid stepping of a stupid twig. His ear radio crackled and Alyx Vance's voice intruded into his ears. "Hey! Gordon! Watch where you step!"
Gordon smiled. Alyx was his friend and she was just teasing, but he knew that the tone of seriousness in her voice signaled professionalism and a disposition of "I won't be messed with". Gordon nodded over to Alyx's darkened silhouette, and clenched his Colt Python tighter. Even though he probably wouldn't need it, the Python made his heart race at a slower pace. He hadn't seen Chell for over twenty years, and now she was here, ten feet away. He wanted to reach out and touch her; to hug her and tell her that he would never leave her again. But there would be no promises at this time. There would be no heartfelt apologies. There would just be business.
Gordon took his foot off of the now-broken twig and carefully moved forward. He could see Chell clearly now. She had obviously heard him. Chell looked different in a way that Gordon could not figure out. There were the obvious differences in age and height, but there was a certain… weariness that plagued her face and body that made him angry; angry at himself for leaving her.
Alyx was clearly watching Gordon as he observed Chell, and he looked over to her. "What?"
Alyx just shrugged and silently signaled Gordon to move forward. He steadied his gaze back on Chell once again, and started to notice what she was wearing. It was an orange and white Aperture Science uniform. So she had been pressganged into becoming a test subject. Gordon cursed himself again. He would probably never let himself live that failure down.
Gordon sneaked over to where Alyx was crouched and told her to stay put for a bit, which earned him a weird look from her, but no reply. Gordon carefully sneaked over to a bit of a high ground that allowed him to see what was around Chell. He had to find the thing that everyone thought he was coming for, or his secret would be out about Chell. The portal gun was nowhere to be seen. Where had she put it? Gordon looked over to the silhouette of the metal shed in the distance. He sure hoped that it wasn't down there.
Gordon decided that it was high time for a little bit of action on his part, and no more hiding in the shadows. He had to confront Chell. Gordon motioned over to Alyx to stay put, and stopped crouching. He put away his Python and stepped into the light of the fire. At first, Chell didn't notice him on account of looking past him, but she quickly did a double-take and scooted backwards with a cry of surprise. She scrambled to her feet and then turned to run. But she stopped.
Chell turned back towards Gordon and squinted at him for a moment before her eyes lit up wide. "Dad!" She exclaimed.
