A/N: Another shorter chapter before Chell and Doug really start digging into Aperture's secrets.

Hope everyone is enjoying this so far. I know it's taking a little while to get going, so thank you if you're bearing with me :)

2005.
The GLaDOS Project.

Henry had fallen into the habit of barging uninvited into Doug's lab whenever the whim took him. He was a brash, confident man with a booming voice and a ready smile, (usually at his own jokes), and was, in almost every way, a complete opposite of Doug. Doug wasn't really sure why they got on as well as they did, since science was the only thing they had in common, but he found he did rather enjoy the older man's company. Henry was fiercely proud and enthusiastic about his work, a trait that was common among Aperture scientists. Somehow, working with the flexible rules that the company endorsed brought most employees' enthusiasm to the fore. The fact that they were able to take their projects to further levels than any other facility would have allowed often went to the scientists' heads. Their ideas became more wildly creative and ambitious.

"Doug!" Henry bellowed, marching through the door, brandishing a screwdriver and two pieces of curved, grey metal.

Doug inwardly flinched. He never enjoyed the jarring sensation of having his peace and quiet ruptured, although he tried to hide that from Henry. He suspected he wasn't always successful. Lowering his own tools, Doug straightened up at the workbench.

"Morning, Henry."

"I could use a hand with this if you have a minute," Henry said, holding up the bits of metal.

Doug never passed up an opportunity to examine what other people were working on. "Sure."

Henry brought the pieces under the beam of the overhead lamp that hung over the bench. Doug leaned in to look.

"What is that?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Core shell," Henry answered, as if it was obvious. "I need to line up these holes here so I can get the screws in, but they keep slipping. Hold them still, will you?"

Doug complied and Henry set about screwing the plates together.

"Core for what?" Doug pressed on, still maintaining a casual tone.

"GLaDOS," Henry muttered, turning the screwdriver.

At first, Doug thought it was a name: Gladys. But there was something in the pronunciation that made him change his mind. Before he could figure out how to proceed, however, Henry was finished, whipping the curved metal out of his hands.

"Thanks!" Henry said brightly, heading for the door.

"Any time," Doug mumbled in reply, annoyed to have missed an opportunity to find out more.

As he went back to his own work, he reconsidered. There was a chance that pushing for more information too much at once might cause Henry to clam up completely. Although he couldn't imagine Henry clamming up about anything, he didn't want to assume too much.

Later, he told Chell what had happened as they stood outside smoking herbal cigarettes. Doug had been concerned about their conversations being overheard inside, so they had both decided to fake a smoking habit so they could talk outside.

"I think it worked out okay," Chell decided, flicking ash on the ground. "He might have gotten suspicious, like you said. You can ask him next time."

"Yes," he agreed, reluctantly. "I can't help feeling like I passed up an opportunity, though."

"Don't. If he interrupts you as often as you said, there'll be another time."

He nodded at her wise words, exhaling a stream of smoke that the breeze immediately snatched away. He could see why people enjoyed their cigarette breaks. It was a chance to see daylight for a while, to take a few minutes out from the stress of work.

Chell had her eyes closed, a faint smile on her face as she turned in the direction of the sun. It picked out the sparse gold highlights in her dark hair, and her tanned skin seemed to glow under the light as she basked like a contented cat. The cigarette smouldered gently in her hand. She hated the taste, he knew, so she tried to let it burn on its own as much as possible.

Suddenly she stiffened, turning to shoot him a wide-eyed glance, her unusual grey eyes full of unease. "I've just had a thought," she said, sounding concerned.

"What?"

"My dad...when I used to overhear him on the phone, when he thought I wasn't listening, he'd talk about someone that I thought was a co-worker called Gladys."

Doug tensed, pressing his lips tightly together in a grim line as he realised where she was going with her speech.

"What if it wasn't a co-worker at all, but a project he was working on?" she finished.

"It seems likely," he admitted. "Can you run a search for employees named Gladys? You know, just to make sure."

Chell furrowed her brow, staring off into the middle distance as she considered. "I...could. But I'd have to think of a good reason why I was doing it. Marlene has a record of everything I do on my computer. Since Black Mesa got a hold of blueprints for some kind of gravity gun thing, Lazarus has been cracking down on any suspicious activity."

Doug quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "Black Mesa stole the gravity gun idea? I wondered why production got stopped. Henry said... Well, it's not important. He talks a lot."

Chell gave him a quick smile. "So I hear. So does Hannah, the woman I've been meeting for lunch. She works in the recycling department."

"We have a recycling department?" Doug asked, bemused.

"Apparently. Something to do with taking failed experiments and turning them into other, workable things. Yesterday she was going on and on about some kind of toxic ooze waste product that she didn't know what to do with. Kind of put me off my sandwich, to be honest."

Doug glanced at her in alarm. "We have that kind of thing sitting around?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I'm not happy about it either. I'm going to get updates from Hannah at lunchtime. Speaking of, if I don't get back downstairs now, Marlene won't give me a lunchtime." She dropped her cigarette to the concrete, grinding it under the toe of her shoe. "See you later."

"See you."

Doug stayed put for a few more minutes, finishing his cigarette. He had much more leeway with how he spent his time than Chell. It was looking increasingly likely that GLaDOS was the major project that had been ongoing for years, something that both Henry and Chell's dad were involved in. He made a mental list of departments involved: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Core Shell Development, plus whatever it was that Lazarus Grey specialised in. And most likely, many more that they didn't know about.

One thing was becoming clear. The only way they would find out for sure, if Simon continued to be tight-lipped, would be if Doug found his way onto the project. Maybe if his work on the portal gun went smoothly, he'd get promoted elsewhere. If he could persuade Henry to put in a good word for him...

He inwardly shuddered at the thought of purposely working on a project that he was sure he wouldn't approve of. He was also sure that gaining any higher clearance level would make it harder to talk to Chell. Aperture hadn't yet gone as far as dictating who their employees could and couldn't speak to while in work, but he wouldn't put it past them to try. There were one or two high-ranking scientists who frowned on those who were friendly with people of lower clearance levels. All it would take would be for one of them to make a convincing case to Lazarus Grey.

Concerned, and trying not to let it show, Doug stubbed out his cigarette and once more descended to the relative safety of his lab.