A/N: A year later and I finally have the courage to put these two chapters because of the AU divergence here. It was something I decide to go for it, and I ope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Recognize it? (c) VALVe

Session # 10: Touch

Cold droplets slipped under Gordon's neck, skin shivering to such a contrast. Any other time, such a sensation would've been enjoyed due to his hypersensitive skin. He didn't understand why he had such a condition but it was not helping in getting out of the freezer rooms. In fact, it was getting painful and speeding up any initial hypothermia that began a few minutes ago.

So the moment the physicist found the exit door, he hauled ass and practically destroyed the rusty metal with whatever he could find. Screw the incoming Bullsquids and Vortigaunts, he sprinted right past them only to grab as many lab coats as he could and locked himself in an office. "H-holy n-ninth level of Hell...that was too fucking cold!" The Green Apocalypse can wait, Gordon Freeman was huddled in a corner, trying his hardest to warm his skin and regain his sense of touch.

Two weeks prior...

The physicist was only doing his job when he felt the most glorious tickle along his spine. He groaned and shuddering involuntarily, grabbing the edge of his desk. "Holy shit, you really ARE sensitive!" Barney exclaimed, clearly amused by such a reaction. "Fucking hell, Barney! I told you I had a condition!" Freeman yelled annoyed at the experiment. "Hell yeah you do!" Like the prick that he was, Calhoun managed to repeat the action, managing to mix in a scream of pleasure. Worst part? Gordon wasn't alone, at least there were only three other scientists heard the mess.

As the chase carried on, Barney spotted small bruises along his best friend's wrists and instances on his neck. "Someone went to Leather Heather!" he mused along. Leather Heather, unlike Shock-tastic Heather from Biology, was a secretary from Customer Relations that was infamous for her more obscure bedside practice. This included BDSM and it was rumored that even Administrator Breen paid her a visit to "de-stress". "I did not!" Today, Gordon was not feeling like getting grilled over this particular condition so he pursued his best friend into a hall with no exit. "How good was it then?"

"...The woman's too eager with her whip, "Ack, too much information, Freedork!" "You should try her, get all the bullshit out of you in one session!" "Uh, no thanks, I'd rather do this," the officer said as he dragged his fingertips down, making the scientist's eyes roll involuntarily. "You know what, Barnes? Come closer, I have something for you," Gordon said seductively, after enjoying that little moment of bliss. He pulled on the cop's tie, pulling him close enough to feel his friend's shaky breath. In another instance of Barney questioning his sexuality, their lips drew closer, causing them to close their eyes in anticipation...

"The hell happened to your face, Calhoun?" Sergeant Otis Laurey asked as Barney entered. Sure enough, his left eye had become a swollen purple mess. "I let my guard down for a second and, uh, hit a door, sir," he answered as he pressed a cold pack to his eye. Beware of the geeky ones...they may know how to bop someone's eye out!

Session # 11: Sunlight

Two months prior...

"Oh I know you're not tanning up there," Calhoun yelled to the familiar figure laying on top of a security outpost within Sector B. "You're right, I'm napping," Gordon shot back with a smirk. "The fuck, bro? Don't you have work to do? And it's 100 degrees out here!" the guard scolded, nonetheless climbing the maintenance stairs to meet his friend. "Psh, it's 89 degrees and I overloaded the server trying to run simulations of black hole thermodynamics. I am on break until Dr. Rosenburg sets new parameters." "Dude, you know what happens every time you run more than one black hole in these computers," Barney scolded, proving once again that scientists were not the only smart guys in Black Mesa. Freeman preened happily and laid back down, Calhoun following suit.

After a while, Barney checked his cell phone, noting a missed call from Lauren and a text from Otis about taking the Blue Shift. "Gotta pick up milk for the missus?" the nerd taunted, relaxed under the warmth. "I wish. That always ends in me licking her-" "It's almost lunchtime, don't make me regret coming out here," Freeman stopped that line of thought. "What are you doing out here?" the guard inquired, getting a shrug as a response. "I spend my whole day in a lab or a cubicle. Gotta enjoy the little things, Barnes," Gordon answered truthfully. This gave Barney pause to think, "Yeah, I guess so." "Besides, I'm so pale, I can take down helicopters from the glare." "So much truth, Gordo."

Present Day...

As soon as Gordon got rid of those nasty-ass space bees (FUCKING BEES), he sprinted past the pile of dead soldiers and turned around to check his perimeter. Okay, no one's following me, he was pleased with himself at the moment, finally on his own. His new surroundings were decidedly a change from what he'd been used to; he was finally at the Black Mesa main lab entrance! There was no need for artificial lights, the window panes let in all the illumination the room needed from the New Mexico sun. To feel the sunlight against what little exposed skin he had felt amazing and the physicist realized...just how much he missed it. A little creep of homesickness took over Gordon and, for once, he chose to give in. He quickly scanned the area for any witnesses or video cameras, this would be very private. Okay, no one's watching, I can finally do this, he assured himself as he pressed the dismissal button on the HEV suit torso.

Once his top half was freed, the theoretical physicist took one deep breath and, for once in almost six months, let his wings unfold from his back. He let out one pure, unfiltered sigh of pleasure, arms wrapped in his chest. His body immediately relaxed as the feathered limbs stretched and spread out. There were six wings in total but only the main pair got to remain whilst the others disappeared again into the doctor's back. Regardless, they were all gray, speckled with a defined pattern of black and brown feathers and tips. It suited them to be called "owl", that's what his dear younger brother called them. To feel like this, Gordon couldn't help say, "This is better than sex." For this brief moment, he was in his true form.

"HOLY SHIT," a slightly muffled voice startled the physicist into hiding. He quickly took out his pistol aimed to where the sound originated. It was a masked soldier, suitably dressed for a HECU mission. Cautious green eyes glowed, trailing the man as he slowly walked over to the spot, apparently dumbfounded by the sight. "It-it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," the stranger attempted at communicating, making the mistake of confusing whatever he saw to be like a dog. Gordon's reaction to scream in an unfathomable voice was not helping matters but it did disrupt any tracking and comm-link devices in the immediate area. He wasn't himself at the moment, he was acting on a primal drive, like that of a cornered animal. But the scientist knew that, had it been Barney or Dr. Kleiner, he wouldn't be so aggressive.

The soldier held out his hand and stated, "I'm Corporal Adrian Shepherd, HECU and you?" "I'm not telling you," Freeman finally answered in a growl, "you want us dead." "Orders are only to capture you and I'm sure I didn't hallucinate what I just saw," Adrian's voice tattled his tries at civility and Gordon had no choice but to comply. "Yeah, you don't kill me but you'll send me to the CIA for experimentation. I do enough of that here," the physicist hissed, refusing to come out of the shadows. "Look, I can tell you're one of the scientists from the Incident; you left half your HEV suit out here." That was true and Freeman had no protection against the all-mighty bullet. "Fuck." That last word made Shepherd laugh in his mask and ask, "Aren't angels not supposed to curse?"

Gordon immediately stood up and stepped back into the sunlight, silently walking past the HECU soldier and picked up the armor. He sneered at Shepherd as his wings closed and disappeared back into his body so he could dress himself properly. "I should kill you but the aliens might just do a better job at it," the nerd threatened. "Yeah, they probably will. So..." the sight of shyness in a hardened soldier made Freeman grin a bit condescendingly until Adrian said, "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

The theoretical physicist sighed and rattled, "No, I haven't seen God or Elvis, every person has their own personalized Heaven, and I cannot grant wishes nor smite your enemies." The soldier shrugged and smirked, "Good to know but those aren't the questions I want answered." The scientist let out an annoyed huff and retorted, "Then what?" "Why are you here? Why don't you fly away?" Adrian asked the very questions plaguing the doctor. His mind, rational as ever, was telling him to forget Black Mesa, go home. "I...was curious. About everything." And of course, he couldn't forget him. "I can't tell you any more or I'd have to maim your throat."

Adrian shrugged and leaned against the reception desk; his squadron had either bailed or died in the ensuing chaos of the Resonance Cascade. He was alone and to see the strange winged man was a bizarrely comforting sight. His military training de-constructed the 'dangerous monster' angle Freeman was playing up; Shepherd saw a cornered creature, back to the wall and rendered defenseless in this situation. Which brings him to ask, "What's it like to be, you know...?" "Me? Damn awesome," Gordon couldn't help himself. "I don't even know you personally and I think you're a prick." the HECU soldier rolled his unseen eyes, "I meant that in a purely objective point of view." Suddenly, Shepherd hissed in pain as his patch-up job on a bullet wound caved to the rigors of survival.

As per his hidden nature, the nerd immediately shoved the soldier into a chair and examined the rapidly bleeding hole. "Stay still and bite something," was Adrian's only warning as Freeman dug his fingers into the wound and painfully extracted the projectile. "This is for all the civilians your teams have killed." "FUCKING HELL, WHAT IS WRONG-" the curse died in the soldier's mouth, pain replaced by a sense of euphoria. When he looked down, smooth skin replaced the damage along the strange man's fingertips. "You really are the real deal." "Shut up," Gordon's voice had considerably lower, back to that defensive tone. He really hated doing patch-up jobs to humans; it totally messed up the whole 'mortality' experiment he'd been running for a while now. No use griping about it though. "I miss it."

"Huh?" Shepherd managed to pry his attention away from the healed wound to say. "Home," If he could have Barney with him, in those infinite wild fields, safe from the world... "Any other questions you want to ask?" The soldier shook his head and extended his handshake. "Just one more; you think I'd get my own Heaven if I died?" Gordon shook his hand and noted that, although his comrades had shot down dozens of his coworkers and friends, Adrian Shepherd had killed no scientist and was not a bad man. A loyal soldier if anything. "Can't make any promises but, from my highly misinformed opinion, I'd say yes." "Cool," that was the last Dr. Gordon Freeman heard Corporal Adrian Shepherd speak, a final salute before he went back into the pit that was Black Mesa. Freeman had no hopes for his survival but he did towards that last promise.

At the edge of darkness and completely disregarded by the powers that be...a man's voice dripped with hunger. Yummy, yummy.