Author's Note: Warning! Mild pairing stuff. This chapter's the longest one yet.


The group stood in front of the door, eying it carefully. It seemed like nothing would open it. They stood, staring for what seemed like hours. Muffled voices called from the other side.

"Any ideas?" GLaDOS looked at each person, narrowing her eyes at them expectantly.

"I could hack it." Wheatley folded his arms over his chest. "Could definitely hack it." Chell nudged him aside and examined the door. She dug her fingers into the one side, prompting Curiousity to do the same.

"Oh, oh, can we do it?" She cooed.

"Seems as good an idea as any." GLaDOS went on the opposite side and began tugging. Space and Wheatley did the same. The doors creaked, slowly moving apart. With one final pull, they retracted, sending everyone tumbling backwards. It was a triumph.

They walked into the chamber, looking around at the puzzle. It was fairly simple, if you had the portal device. Just pop a portal to the other side of the room, grab a cube and put it on the button. The two people currently testing, however, didn't seem to have one. Instead, they had a grappling hook. Which wasn't even part of the test protocol.

"Hello!" Wheatley called across the chamber. The two males looked over, with the other swinging over to them via the hook.

"Well, hello there pretty ladies." He grabbed GLaDOS's hand and give it a kiss. "Name's Rick." GLaDOS snatched her hand away, disgusted. He moved over to Chell, grabbing her hand next. It was quickly smacked away by Wheatley.

"Oh, oh, me next, me next!" Curiousity thrust her hand towards him. Rick obliged, giving it a light kiss. Space narrowed his eyes at Rick, not too happy about the advance.

"Don't mind him." The other came forward, having gotten himself untangled from the grappling hook's rope. "I'm Knowledge. Expert on all things... cake." GLaDOS stared at him, her skin beginning to crawl. She remembered his voice. Always filling her head with that terribly awful cake recipe. Knowledge caught her disturbed gaze, and stared back at her. His eyes were half-lidded, his stature hunched over slightly. "Problem?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Not in the slightest." She turned her head.

"So, what're a bunch of pretty ladies, and you guys, doing in a place like this?" Rick attempted to slide his arm over GLaDOS's shoulder. She shrugged it off, her anger staring to rise up.

"Trying to get to Morality." Curiousity beamed. "We're gonna put GLaDOS back in her body! Right?"

"That's correct." GLaDOS smacked away Rick's hand once more.

"No, kiddin'? So she got you, too?" Rick shuffled to her other side and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Sounds like an adventure if I ever heard one. Can a couple'a fellas join you?" He grinned, getting uncomfortably close to her face.

"I don't thi-"

"Yay!" Curiousity danced around Rick and Knowledge. "More friends! Of course they can come!" GLaDOS shoved Rick away once more. As much as she didn't want Rick anywhere near her... "Can I play with the rope? Please, please, please?" Curiousity tugged on Rick's shirt.

"Of course, little lady." He gave her his best lady-killing smile. She excitedly grabbed onto the rope and swung back and forth.

The group, now plus two, made their way through the next chamber. Rick trailed closely behind GLaDOS, every so often trying to cop a feel. Their next test involved much of what the last did. Cube. Button. Easy as cake. The only problem was the lack of cube. Instead, they were to use a Frankenturret. Wheatley kept his eyes off the poor thing, refusing to think about his time in control of the facility.

"You're going to have to grab it, you know."

"I think I'll pass on that one, mate." With the loud crackling of static, the monitor in the room came to life. Morality grinned, having finally caught them. The only response the group had was laughter.

"Hey, there!" Curiousity waved, though not at the woman on the screen. Instead, she waved to the two robots behind her. They waved back, beeping responses. Morality's face went red as she tried to demand their attention with no words.

"What's the matter?" GLaDOS folded her arms. "Cat got your tongue?" She grinned, prompting Rick to drape his arm over her. Morality angrily slapped at the monitor, frustration at not being able to speak rising. "We only have room for one mute lunatic." GLaDOS spun out of Rick's grasp and moved over to Chell, who only rolled her eyes.

"Nuclear meltdown imminent." The Announcer's voice silenced the chamber. Morality hadn't been in her core to stabilize the nuclear reactors. The entire scenerio was turning into a repeat of the last time a core had stolen GLaDOS's body.

"Not this again." GLaDOS shook her head. "I thought only that mor- Wheatley would be idiotic enough to forget about the facility's vital processes." Morality snarled, and disappeared from view as alarms sounded throughout Aperture.

"Is she going to let everything burn down?" Curiousity whimpered, clinging tightly to Space. GLaDOS shook her head.

"No." She said softly, though she unsure herself. "Let's hurry, just in case."

"Hurry where?" Curiousity pointed to where the door once stood. All that was there was a panel. Morality had trapped them. Not far from the group, a panel moved away from the wall, revealing another of the maintenance halls. On the screen were ATLAS and P-body, who motioned for the group to get going.

"Thank you!" Curiousity waved at them, and took the lead. GLaDOS smiled to herself. She owed Blue and Orange one.


Rumbling filled the halls. The group ran through, avoiding falling panels and walls.

"She's a natural." Rick watched as Chell dodged debris and placed portals in the greatest of spots.

"She is rather brilliant, isn't she?" Wheatley grinned, close behind her. GLaDOS was tiring fast, her legs burning. She didn't know how they did it. It was a chore just keeping up. Her heart raced, her mind spun. Would Morality really allow a meltdown? Or was she just toying with them? There was no possible way to read her. Their only hope was either getting her back into her body soon, or Morality going back to her core. Her thoughts were interrupted by Curiousity's scream from behind her. She came to a stop, and spun around. Curiousity had tripped. A pipe from the Pipe Network fell towards her, alarmingly fast. She struggled to get to her feet, her face pale with terror. GLaDOS attempted to run to her, only to have her wrist grabbed by Rick. Hazy words came from her lips, sounds muddled together creating only noise. Time felt as if it had slowed. Is this what the test subjects felt as they fell to their deaths? What the employees of Aperture felt as they breathed their last neurotoxin-filled breaths? Dizziness brought her to her knees as feet moved past her. The last bit of noise she heard were Curiousity's.

"Why did you do that?" All she could process was screaming. Screaming that sounded an awful lot like her own voice. Her eyes closed as the vent came crashing down.

"GLaDOS?" The haziness had stopped. "Hey, GLaDOS?" It took her a moment to recognize the voice. That moron. "You alright, mate?" She didn't want to open her eyes. What had happened? The last she remembered was-

"Curiousity." She whispered, her voice hoarse.

"What the bloody hell happened back there?" Wheatley asked, his own nerves frayed. "All the screaming, and that vent, and-"

"Where's Curiousity?"

"She's fine. Scared, but fine." Knowledge shook his head. GLaDOS managed to open her eyes against the bright light. She appeared to be lying on a table. Had they found an office? "Can't say the same for Space." GLaDOS shot up, the blood draining from her face. Why did you do that? Curiousity's words ran through her head. She couldn't have meant... No.

"Poor bloke pushed her out of the way." Wheatley frowned. "That bloody vent came and..." Their words faded away. Why was she so concerned? She'd killed people. Why should this frighten her so? The reason dawned on her. GLaDOS wouldn't have cared. GLaDOS would have said some snarky, sarcastic comment. Caroline cared. Her entire body shook. "...Got him in here, but it doesn't look too good." Caroline cared. Caroline was going to fix this.

"Where is he?" GLaDOS stared up at the two. They motioned towards the next office. She quickly got up, ignoring the fiery pain in her legs, and ran to the door. She was stopped when Chell put a hand on her shoulder. Their eyes connected, and she pressed her finger to her lips.

"Can you tell me more about space?" Curiousity held Space's hand in hers. She seemed to be fighting back tears.

"I was there. In space." Space smiled a bit. "Stars everywhere. So much space."

"Could you see Earth? Was it pretty?" Her fight with tears was a losing one.

"It was beautiful. Like Curiousity." His smile widened a bit. Outside the room, GLaDOS had taken off to the computer, leaving Chell to listen to the conversation. She clicked away at files, folders, typed in usernames and passwords. She was going to fix this. With science.

"Well, now we have one more reason to take down Morality." Rick scowled. GLaDOS looked down at the keyboard. For a split second, she hadn't cared if she ever got back in her body. All she had wanted for a tiny moment was revenge. The feeling passed as quickly as it came, however. In the reflection on the monitor she noticed Chell had walked away from the door. All pairs of eyes were on her. Chell simply shook her head.

"So, that's that?" Knowledge frowned. GLaDOS opened a new file. No, that would not be that. Not if she had anything to say about it.