Reconstructing Humanity

Keeping Up

GLaDOS's patience was growing thin. It had been weeks since the robots went in for their special upgrades, but the bots working on them kept insisting they weren't ready. She had thought she might have made their new upgrades too perfect, but she put the thought behind her when a dinging noise rang throughout her chamber.

Despite the drawback, the last few weeks were treating GLaDOS pretty good. The test chambers were fixed up and testing continued on schedule. There were no signs of her rat problem as of late, and the dinging noise meant the upgrades were done. Her chamber walls opened and in came two relaxation chambers. The Party Escort bot chattered something and then left. "Perfect…" GLaDOS muttered.

She wasn't sure what compelled her to give them such drastic upgrades. Maybe the idea was too funny to pass up, but either way, GLaDOS had granted their secret wish, and she had a good idea on how to use it to her advantage.

In the City

The trees in the shopping district took on a lovely orange color on this brisk morning, indicating that fall was indeed here. Leaves drifted in the morning breeze and came to rest on the balcony of the apartment above the bookstore. The balcony door, which used to stay slightly ajar in the mornings, was now closed tightly and locked. The air outside was crisp and everyone was wearing long sleeves. In the apartment, the morning started out chilly until Lil turned the heat on. Today seemed like a pajama day; a day to lay around in only one's pajamas.

Lil had recently hired on some new people at the bookstore. Fearing what happened to Wheatley a few weeks before was a stress related issue Lil looked over the books and thought a few part-timers wouldn't be too big of a blow to the budget. It would give her more time to prepare for the wedding she was invited to, which was a few short weeks away. Lil had been upgraded to wedding party after one of the bridesmaids had an accident that resulted in a broken leg. Lil wasn't too thrilled, but she accepted the role.

Wheatley and Angie sat in the living room eating their cereal as Lil went about getting ready or the day. Lil didn't allow sugary cereals, so Angie and Wheatley made due with sneaking some sugar from the sugar bowl. Lil was just finishing her coffee when a knock came at the door. Wheatley was mesmerized by the cartoon he and Angie were watching. "Now, this cartoon comes from a country called Japan. I've read books and seen shows about it; it looks like a cool place to visit. Their cartoons are a little different than ours."

Munching his cereal, Wheatley nodded and watched happily. He swallowed what was in his mouth and dipped his spoon in the cereal again. "Interesting; the humans in this cartoon use small spheres to capture small animals that do their bidding. This concept is genius, though I'm not sure why it's wasted on a cartoon. Think of the scientific innovations one could accomplish if they harnessed the power of animals like those! The yellow rat thing must be particularly powerful if those idiots with the R's on their shirts keep trying to steal it." said GLaDOS, through Wheatley's implant. In the time he had been among humans, Wheatley had learned to ignore his implant, for the most part. GLaDOS usually got his attention again by shocking him.

"It's here!" shouted Lil, carrying a long white box into the apartment. Wheatley and Angie looked up from their cereal as Lil plopped the box onto the coffee table. "It was last minute, by my dress for the wedding finally arrived!" Lil undid the string and opened the box. Inside under all the packing paper was a bright orange full length orange bridesmaid dress. Lil lifted it out of its box and just stared at it. Wheatley cocked an eyebrow and adjusted his glasses.

Angie had thankfully already finished her cereal, or else she would have spilled it from laughing too hard. To Lil, the dress wasn't exactly a marvel of human understanding. She did, however, wonder what she did to anger the gods to want to punish her by wearing something so horrific.

"It's…not particularly ugly, Miss Lil."Wheatley reasoned, finishing his cereal.

"Don't lie to her. That thing is hideous. I should know; one of the scientists that designed me had a fashion degree from Paris, France. Something to fall back on in case being a scientist didn't work out." said GLaDOS.

Lil looked over it all around. It had a sash that tied in the back. "Just perfect. The last thing I need is to look like a bottle of orange juice wearing a belt." said Lil, putting the dress on a hanger. Wheatley thought about that and tried not to laugh. The last time he ate cereal and laughed, milk came out of his nose. It was horrifying (to him at least, to everyone else it was hilarious).

After breakfast, Wheatley decided to get dressed. He, Lil, and Angie were going to a place called the mall. "It's going to be a bit cold today. You might want to wear something warm." suggested GLaDOS, as Wheatley shifted through his clothing. Most of his shirts were short sleeved, but he remembered seeing a jacket among the clothes Lil had given him. He searched each dresser drawer until he found it.

It was a simple zip-up navy blue jacket with two pockets on the front. He zipped it up and looked around for his wallet. "You should buy your own clothes." said GLaDOS, as Wheatley put his wallet in his coat pocket.

"What's wrong with the clothes Miss Lil gave me?" he asked.

"Those clothes used to belong to her now deceased father. Do you think Lil likes to be reminded of her dead Dad each time she sees you? You've barely spent any of the money she has given you for working at the bookstore. You have so much of that green paper in our wallet it's about to burst."

GLaDOS was right about that. In his time living with Lil and Angie, Wheatley had barely spent any of the money he earned working at the bookstore. While Lil never asked him what he spent it on, if she ever did, he wouldn't have an answer. Though Angie had told him money goes in a wallet, he found it quite difficult to put any in there anymore. He felt around in the pocket he put his wallet in, and felt something. He took out a folded piece of paper. He didn't unwrap it; he just placed it back in the pocket.

"Hey, GLaDOS…?" Wheatley sounded scared when addressing her.

"What is it, Moron?" asked GLaDOS.

"What is a mall?" asked Wheatley as he brushed his hair.

Wheatley heard some clicking and some buzzing noises from his implant. "According to this, a shopping mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area. Basically, it's like the shopping district you live and work in, except indoors." said GLaDOS. "People frequent places like this all the time. You can learn a lot from this outing."

Wheatley left his room as the girls were putting on their shoes. Lil looked up and stared at him. "Where…did you get that coat?" she asked, pointing to Wheatley.

"It was in that box of clothes you gave me a while ago. I didn't have any long sleeve shirts, so I…" Wheatley stared at Lil, who just looked away.

"Whatever, let's go…" Lil left the apartment in haste.

Wheatley looked down at Angie, who just blinked. "You're wearing our dad's old coat." Angie said, softly.

Angie watched Wheatley take the hoodie off after taking his wallet from the front pocket. "I didn't know. It was in that box of clothes she gave me." Wheatley reasoned. "Tiny Human, does Miss Lil resent me for wearing your father's clothes?" he asked, as he and Angie made their way out of the apartment. Angie shrugged and closed the door.

The ride over to the mall was less awkward, as Lil explained why they were going to the mall. "The shopping district is a great place to shop, but it's good to get out of the neighborhood every now and then. The mall is a little out of our way, but it's good to get out among other humans, I guess." said Lil, as she stopped at a stop light. "When we get there, I have some errands to run inside. Wheaters, you and Angie are on your own until I get done. Can I trust you to stay out of trouble until I'm done?" she asked, as the light turned green.

Wheatley nodded and tried to enjoy the drive. He didn't like it when Lil was mad, so he tried to make things right. "Miss Lil, if you don't want me wearing this jacket...I can take it off…" he mumbled. Lil looked at him and then looked back at the road.

"No, it's alright…" Lil sighed and tried to concentrate on the road. "You didn't know…that jacket was the jacket he wore the night he died…"

A weird silence drifted through the car. Wheatley's eyes widened and he looked down at the coat. "Oh yeah…" said Angie, leaning forward from the backseat. "I remember he took that jacket with him the night he got in that accident…" It took everything Wheatley had to not scream out of freight. He heard GLaDOS laughing loudly in the back of his head. "I don't remember him wearing it though…" That did little to comfort Wheatley, who hastily pulled the coat off.

Finally arriving at the mall, Lil parked the car and helped Angie get out. Wheatley just stared at the big building in front of him. "It's bigger than the facility…" he muttered softly. He adjusted his glasses a bit and looked at it up and down.

"Please, I bet it doesn't even have an incinerator." said GLaDOS, in a somewhat jealous tone.

"Alright, rules…" said Lil, grabbing her purse from the driver's seat floor. "No talking to strangers, no playing clothing rack hide-and-seek, and stay out of the dressing rooms unless you're trying something on." Lil led the two into the mall, which looked like a windowed fortress. The inside was more impressive than the outside, and Wheatley could see the endless possibilities. Lil liked to enter through the food court entrance so she didn't have to try too hard to remember which parking lot she parked in. "Alright, we'll meet back here in the food court in one hour. Stay out of trouble."

With that, Lil left the two standing by the mall directory. "What kind of errand does Miss Lil need to run today, Tiny Human?" asked Wheatley, looking down at Angie.

"I'm not sure. I think she is just doing some clothes shopping, probably for some new jeans. She does that around this time of year. It depresses her because she doesn't like to admit she's got a big butt." said Angie, as she took Wheatley's hand.

Wheatley blushed thinking about Lil's behind. Admittedly, he sometimes snuck glances when she wasn't looking, but he reasoned it was for science (his own personal science, anyway). Wheatley believed Lil's behind wasn't as big as Angie liked to embellish it, but Wheatley would be lying he said he didn't like the way Lil's hips and behind filled out her jeans. If asked, Wheatley would have described Lil's figure as something of an hourglass shape, if not a little fuller. He figured human society would label her as "fat", but he wouldn't.

"Let's not think about bad things, Mr. Wheatley! We have a whole mall of interesting things to do! What do you want to do first?" she asked cheerfully as Wheatley regained his composure.

"Well, I was thinking about getting some of my own clothing. Not that I don't appreciate the clothes you and Miss Lil gave me…" said Wheatley, as he and Angie looked at the mall directory. "Do you think we can find a clothing store here?"

Angie giggled and pointed to the directory. "It's a mall, Mr. Wheatley! It's almost all clothing stores. The question should be which one is the one for you." Angie tugged on his hand and he followed. "Lil told me once that buying clothes should depend on three things: style, size, and cost."

"Style size and cost…got it." said Wheatley, nodding confidently. "What do you think she means by that, Tiny Human?" Wheatley gazed down at Angie as they walked.

In a matter-of-fact way, Angie smiled and put her finger in the air. "Style I think means whether or not the clothes look good. Lil says everyone has a different style. Just because one person's look is good doesn't mean it's the look for you. Size means whether or not it fits. Clothes that are too big or too small look bad and can get uncomfortable. Cost means…well, cost. Is it on sale or is it too expensive or is it just right?"

Wheatley nodded and followed Angie. "Cost shouldn't be a problem, considering you never spend your money. Style and size might be though." said GLaDOS. "You're unusually tall, for one thing, and you're wearing a dead man's clothes. People already stare at you enough as it is, so try your best to blend in."

"I think it might be best to buy some essentials." said Angie, sounding like Lil. "You need warm clothes for the colder seasons like long sleeve shirts, boots, warm socks and a coat. I know a place near where Lil buys my clothes that you might like." With that, Angie tugged on Wheatley's arm and they ran down the wide corridors of the mall. According to the directory, they were in the north wing. Angie happily ran past the children's clothing store and pointed to a store next to it. "A lot of people come out of this place." She said, happily.

The store had a dark overtone and a lot of teenagers and young adults walked around inside. Most of them had on very dark clothing, multiple piercings, and dark make-up. Angie looked slightly amused at the store. "Lil told me she used to shop here at lot when she was still in school. Mom didn't like it, so Dad usually took her shopping." Angie pressed her face against the shop window and smiled. "It's like Halloween all year!" she shouted happily as she pulled Wheatley into the store.

It became obvious to both of them that the pants there wouldn't fit him after trying on every size they had there. Some were too tight, some were too short, and some had chains on them that were just uncomfortable. Angie stood outside the dressing room against the wall. "Mr. Wheatley?" she shouted, knocking on the door softly.

"Do I have to?" he whimpered softly through the door.

Angie folded her arms and tapped her foot, something Lil had done to her many times in similar situations. "Come on, Mr. Wheatley! It's not so-"

Wheatley left the dressing room wearing a shirt with fishnet sleeves, spike bracelets, and boots with numerous buckles on them. Angie started laughing hard as Wheatley walked around. "I look like I fell out of one of the horror movies Miss Lil watched the other night." Wheatley looked over at the mostly female staff of the store looking at him and giggling. "Maybe this isn't the style for me, Tiny Human." He whispered, as he walked back into the dressing room.

After a few minutes, Wheatley and Angie left with a small bag. He may not have liked the clothing there, but there was a hat with a green dog on it that he liked a lot. "Well, that place is more for older kids anyway. Lil avoids it at all costs."

"Probably for the best; the clothing in there was pretty pricey." said Wheatley, as Angie took his hand.

"You looked even stupider in those clothes anyway. Clothing like that requires too much maintenance. You'd have to put holes in your ears, draw on your arm, make your hair an odd color. Too much work." said GLaDOS, as if she wasn't actually paying attention. Wheatley had a feeling GLaDOS was preoccupied with something unpleasant, but tried to ignore the thought as they arrived at another store.

"This is the store Lil shops at. It's for ladies only so you won't find anything in there. The guys inside look bored anyway." Wheatley looked at the mannequins in the window. They were a bit bigger than the other mannequins he had seen in other stores, but still pretty. Lil has slightly bigger too, but Wheatley believed she was beautiful. Of course, he remembered he didn't have much experience with women as far as he knew. He did know that there is a certain time of month that Miss Lil doesn't want to be bothered and he learned that the hard way (the flyswatter shaped bruise on his behind was testament to that).

After a little while, Wheatley and Angie found another store. It was a big store, with large pictures of young people in poses. "Miss May from the café next door shops here at lot. She says the guys who shop here are cute and no one is cuter than you, Mr. Wheatley!" said Angie, excitedly. Wheatley smiled and walked into the store with her. They immediately left only a few minutes later.

"Those clothes are worse than the last store!" shouted Wheatley, softly tugging Angie along. "The style on everything was bland and the prices were outrageous! Who's ever heard of forty-five dollars for one shirt? And it was torn up! I could do that for free with the clothes you and Miss Lil gave me."

Angie just stared at Wheatley, not sure of where all this was coming from. Wheatley felt the back of his head pound and decided to lean against a wall. "Okay, let's try somewhere else. Tell me if anything catches your eye." She said, as she grabbed his hand again. Nothing really caught Wheatley's eye. Everything looked mostly the same as far as he was concerned. He could feel Angie's tugging getting stronger, as if she was as determined as he was.

Eventually, they came to another store. "This place has been around for a while. Lil doesn't like it because the mannequins scare her." Angie led Wheatley inside with high hopes. He looked around. This place seemed normal enough. Wheatley avoided the overly helpful female staff and just looked around on his own. The clothing was pretty normal, nothing too outrageous or standoffish and some even happened to be on sale. Wheatley looked over from a rack of jeans and saw a stack of shirts coming at him.

Before he could recoil in fear, He heard Angie's voice. "I found some shirts you might like, Mr. Wheatley!" she said, happily. Wheatley took those along with some jeans he picked out and made his way to the dressing room. He watched the female staff swoon over him. It was starting to get scary.

From his pile, Wheatley grabbed a blue button down short and stared at it. He sat down on the chair in the dressing room and tried to focus.

Everything had to be perfect, right down to the outfit he was going to wear. Wheatley was sparing no expense on his one year anniversary. Getting off early from work was working out pretty well for him. He spent the entire day with Pam and now they were running errands at the mall. He decided it was time to freshen up for the big day while she was at another store returning an outfit. Being unusually tall meant his options for clothing were limited, but the big and tall store seemed happy to help him each time he came in.

The suit was simple. Black slacks, black coat and a blue button down shirt. He wasn't sure why, but he had always liked blue. The suit was perfect and reasonably priced. After buying it, he started to make his way toward the food court where he and Pam agreed to meet up. He was almost there when he heard a ringing noise in his pocket. It almost scared him half to death. He reached into his pocket and flipped open his cell phone. It was from Harvey. "'Ello?" he answered, as he made his way through the mall.

"Pendleton! Where are you?" shouted Harvey.

"I'm running errands with Pam. What's wrong, mate?" Wheatley could hear the concern in Harvey's voice. Harvey was breathing hard, as if he had something important to say. "Well, out with it, man!"

"I just spoke to our Instructor to see if he was going to come in tomorrow, and he told me he already looked over your program. He told me to tell the others not to bother with theirs, that Mr. Johnson himself saw your program executed on another core and liked what he saw!" Harvey sounded happy at not having to work on the program. Wheatley knew he was going to hear it from Smith tomorrow. What struck him as strange was that Mr. Johnson was pretty much bedridden at this point. Wheatley felt honored that Mr. Johnson, the head of Aperture Science, would actually take time to see his program at work.

Wheatley smiled and felt somewhat pleased. "Mr. Johnson saw my work? I was under the impression that he was pretty much a vegetable and that Miss Caroline was running things." said Wheatley, as he sat down in the food court.

"Well, that's somewhat true. Those nanobot things that the engineers worked on are being pumped into him. I'm not sure why, but I think he hopes the nanobots will fix him up. The engineers say it's only delaying the inevitable. But look, the point is whatever Mr. Johnson has planned is happening because of you! Our instructor said you pretty much have a job there now!"

Feeling somewhat accomplished, Wheatley thanked Harvey profusely and hung up. Everything was going perfectly. Wheatley was finally getting the recognition he worked so hard for, and in just a few days, he was going to ask for Pam's hand in marriage. He had no doubts that she would say yes, due to all the hints of marriage she was laying around their apartment (bridal magazines, calls from Pam's mother insisting that Wheatley and Pam "Stop living in sin" whatever that meant, and of course Pam making vanilla cake the other night).

It was all going to be worth it soon: the crappy internship, the unpleasant man-to-man talk with Pam's father, the small apartment, and Pam's struggle with her illness. Wheatley couldn't be happier. Well, he became much happier when Pam walked up to him holding a tray of food. "I had a feeling I'd find you over here." She said happily, as she sat down. Pam looked down at the bag Wheatley had set in the chair next to him.

"You bought a suit? What for?" she asked, as she opened the container with her salad in it. The doctors told her to stay away from processed foods.

"Well, aside from our one year anniversary being this coming up Saturday…" said Wheatley, slyly. Pam's eyes widened and she giggled.

"Oh, it is, isn't it?" she giggled.

"You forgot, didn't you? And you yell at me when I forget to throw my clothes in the laundry basket." laughed Wheatley, picking up and unwrapping his sandwich.

"Well, things have been pretty exciting lately. As I recall, things got pretty exciting about a few weeks ago when you came home from work and just grabbed me and…" Pam looked at Wheatley who was blushing deep red.

"Well, I had a good day at work and wanted to keep it going…that and you look like you just wanted to be ravished with that outfit you were wearing." he said, trying to eat his sandwich.

Pam giggled and stirred her salad around. "I was wearing a beat up old t-shirt and I had been cleaning all day. I smelled like bleach and soap!" she said excitedly.

"You look ravishing in anything, Pam." Wheatley reassured. "Don't worry, love, I have a lot of excitement planned for Saturday."

Wheatley didn't notice the worried expression on Pam's face as he ate his lunch. She looked like she had something she wanted to tell him, but she just ate her lunch. The doctors warned her and it was probably her own fault for not being better prepared for Wheatley's libido, but she smiled anyway and ate slowly.

She had something big planned for Wheatley as well…

"Mr. Wheatley!" shouted Angie, as she pounded on his dressing room door.

Wheatley snapped out of his flashback and looked at the clothes he had. "Umm…yes, Tiny Human?" he asked, through the door.

"Do you like the clothes or not? We have to meet Lil soon!" she shouted.

Wheatley must have been unconsciously trying on the clothes, because he didn't remember putting his current shirt on. "Just about done. A bit longer…" he shouted, looking over the clothes.

Wheatley seemed happy with his new purchases. The sales lady at the front desk looked happy too. Angie helped him carry his new purchases toward the food court. Wheatley was trying to make heads-or-tails of what these flashbacks were trying to tell him. He remembered GLaDOS telling him about her quick-save feature, but it sounded more like a curse than a good thing. Maybe the human body had a type of quick-save feature. He'd have to ask GLaDOS about it later.

"Ever had a big pretzel, Mr. Wheatley?" asked Angie, as they made their way to the food court.

"No, is it like those little pretzels Miss Lil buys in those bags?" he asked as they got in line.

Angie giggled and shook her head softly. "Not really. These are big and soft and some have cheese in them!"

That sounded very appetizing to Wheatley, who licked his lips and ordered two. The pair sat happily eating their pretzels as Lil walked up to them. "Well, I'm done." She said, happily, setting a few bags down. Lil looked over and saw the bags that Wheatley had near his feet. "What is all this?" she asked, placing her bags down.

"Well, Tiny Human and I believed it was high time I bought my own clothes. Not that I don't appreciate the ones you gave me…" Wheatley struggled to speak, but Lil just smiled and sat down.

"Did you get one for me?" she asked, pointing to Wheatley's pretzel. Wheatley knew he had forgotten something. He happily shared his pretzel with Lil after he playfully put the green dog hat on her head.

That Evening

Angie and Lil helped Wheatley put his new clothes away in his drawers and the closet he had just found out about. "Well, what did you think this door went to?" asked Lil, sliding the closet door open. "I figured whoever designed this flat made a mistake and it was part of the wall." Wheatley reasoned, as Lil hung some of his new clothes on hangers.

"Well, I'm glad you followed the advice I give Angie about clothes. They look nice, they obviously fit you, and from the tags, they weren't a bad price." Lil carefully cut the tags off of each garment and hung them up. "Well, I'm glad you finally used some of the money I've been paying you."

Wheatley had set the jacket he wore earlier on the bed as he folded up some shirts for Angie to put away. As he got up, the folded piece of paper fell out of the pocket. "What's that?" asked Angie, as Wheatley picked it up.

"I don't know, it was in my coat pocket but I figured it was a wrapper or something." said Wheatley, sitting down on the bed. Lil gently took it and unfolded it. Wheatley didn't see her smile wide. He did, however get a sense that something was coming.

Lil handed Wheatley the picture and smiled. "Do you know what this is, Wheatley?" Lil asked excitedly. Wheatley shrugged as Lil fawned over the picture. "It's a picture of our last family vacation before Mom and Dad died! He must have kept it on him at all times. Dad was so corny but a total sweety!"

A knock came at the door as Wheatley was about to look over the picture. Lil had gotten up and left the room to see to the door as Wheatley pondered the picture. He put down the picture without even looking at it when he heard the front door open. He heard other odd noises that usually didn't coincide with meeting familiar people at the door.

Wheatley heard Lil squeal with delight and run to him happily as he left his bedroom. Lil was holding a bouquet of roses. "Oh Wheatley! They're beautiful!" she kissed his cheek and put the big bouquet down on the kitchen counter. Wheatley didn't know what she was talking about and pondered this as Lil rummaged through the cabinet above the stove for a spare vase. Lil, after putting the bouquet in the glass vase full of water, took the card from one of the flowers and read it.

"'To Lil, you are the sweetest woman in the world. When I saw these flowers, I instantly thought of you. Their beauty can't match your grace, your intelligence, or your kindness'..."

Wheatley watched Lil swoon over the card and flowers but didn't have the heart to tell her he had no idea where they came from. He decided to bask in Lil's undying affection, as it felt nice. "There's more!" she shouted happily. Wheatley felt a horrible feeling of dread.

"...'please give me the honor of taking you to dinner tomorrow night'."

Lil smiled happily and hugged Wheatley tightly. "Oh Wheaters! Of course you can take me to dinner!" Lil released Wheatley from the hug and took the bouquet to the balcony. Wheatley's eye twitched a bit. Someone was playing Cupid and doing a better job than him.

"Mr. Wheatley, the delivery man wanted you to have this." said Angie, handing Wheatley a golden envelope. Wheatley opened the envelope and looked inside to find a letter.

No Need to thank me, Mr. Wheatley! Just have a good time! Love, Annie from the flower shop

Wheatley sighed softly and leaned against the kitchen counter. He watched Lil fawn over the roses on the balcony, next to the big vase of sunflowers from a little while ago. His new life was changing so fast around him. In what seemed like no time at all, he had gone from being a bumbling personality construct to a bumbling human. The resurgence of memories wasn't helping much either.

As he sat up in bed later, Wheatley stared at the ceiling and sighed. "Who were you, Wheatley Pendleton?" he asked himself softly as he listening to the sounds of the city outside his window. "Were you a happy person? What happened to you that turned you into a..." Wheatley found the thoughts too painful and decided to just try and get some sleep. He felt torn between who he was now and who he apparently used to be.

"Who am I...?"

N'cha you guys!

So, I got the idea for this chapter while at my local mall. You probably already know the stores I described, but in case you didn't here's the lay down; Hot Topic, Aeropostle, and Old Navy. I used to shop at Hot Topic religiously until it got all main stream. Oh well, the Goth part of me is buried under years of maturity (or lack thereof lol). My cousin loves Aeropostle, but I hate going there each time we go shopping. And Old Navy…their mannequins scare me.

So, I semi-lied about the surprise. I changed the ending to this one and I deleted my latest chapter 11 because, honestly, I couldn't get the concept to work. I'm terribly sorry everyone for all the mix-ups lately. I am going to use the android concept, but they'll just stay around the facility for now.

What is it with me and the number 11? The almost identical thing happened with my other fic (Reaver's Servants).

Well, as always, review and be merry, I enjoy criticism and questions, so please don't feel bad. Please don't flame, I implore you and have a great time! Again, I want to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts; it means a lot to me. I appreciate everything you guys do for me, my story, and my self-esteem lol.

GLaDOS and Wheatley belong to Valve.