Chell had gotten used to life outside of Aperture. She had a part-time job at the local supermarket which paid for Chell's apartment. Chell loved her job. After years of having nobody to talk to besides a homicidal computer and a ditzy ball that later turned into a homicidal computer, it was nice to have some real people to be able to chat with.
Since Wheatley and Caroline didn't know much about the outside world, Doug was telling them everything he could remember about it.
"This is a supermarket." Doug told the pair as they were walking past it.
"What exactly is so super about this?" Wheatley cluelessly asked.
"Well, it sells almost anything you can think of. That's pretty super in my opinion." Doug laughed, looking up at the supermarket in front of them, thinking about how modern they were compared to what he remembered. He was so distracted that he didn't notice the girl in front of him until he walked right into her. The girl, who was equally distracted, toppled over backwards and landed on her rear.
"I'd say look where you're going, but I wasn't doing a very good job of that either." The girl laughed.
"Ahaha, I'm sorry." Doug laughed apologetically, holding out his hand to help the girl up. She was at least 10 years younger than Doug and Caroline, was wearing a floral patterned black dress and had her hair tied up in a messy ponytail.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just as clumsy." The girl laughed.
"Hey, maybe she knows Chell. Girls tend to all know each other somehow, right?" Wheatley asked Caroline under his breath
"That's not technically true, but it wouldn't hurt to ask." Caroline whispered back.
When she came out of the supermarket, Chell saw a butterfly and was watching it fly across the sky. She didn't notice the people walking in her direction until they crashed into each other and she was on the ground.
"I'd say look where you're going, but I wasn't doing a very good job of that either." Chell laughed.
"Ahaha, I'm sorry." The older man laughed apologetically, holding out his hand to help Chell up. The man looked to be around his late thirties, but his eyes looked worn and tired. The woman looked to be about the same age, even though her clothes would suggest she'd walked right out of the sixties. The third member of the trio was a younger boy who looked about Chell's own age. He had scruffy black hair and thick, black glasses framed his bright blue eyes. He was at least a good half foot taller than Chell.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just as clumsy." Chell laughed. The younger boy whispered to the woman, who whispered back.
"We're looking for a girl, would you be able to help us?" The younger boy had a distinct British accent that Chell somehow recognised.
"Uh, I do know some girls, what's her name?" Chell asked nervously.
"Her name's Chell." The woman spoke up in a voice that Chell also seemed recognised.
"The name rings a bell, what are your names? If she's ever brought them up, I might recognise them." Chell asked nervously.
"I'm Caroline, the man over there is Doug, and this moron is Wheatley." Caroline said before thinking.
Wheatley. Moron. Caroline. She recognised the woman's face from somewhere. She even seemed to recall seeing the man. And that voice. Both the boy's voice and the woman's voice were hauntingly familiar. Then it clicked.
"GLaDOS." Chell whispered in a voice only just audible for the trio to hear before taking a few clumsy steps backwards in shock as Caroline nodded.
"Chell Johnson. That's your birth name, am I correct? You know who else has the name Johnson? The former CEO of Aperture Science." Caroline said.
"I remember him." Chell was unsure as to where this was going.
"I heard he married his assistant. You know Caroline? The woman who became me? The woman I'm trying to turn back into? Well I heard they had a child before he died and everything happened. A little girl. Do you know what they called her? They called her Chell." Chell was speechless. Caroline pulled Chell into a close hug.
"I'm your mother and I'll never let any more harm come to you." Caroline whispered.