Author's Note: Hello, again! More chapter goodness for you all :D .

Also, the song lyrics used in this chapter are from "Que Sera Sera", as sung by Doris Day. I don't own the lyrics. I just wanted a nice souding song that has a hint of uncertainty to it, and then I thought that this was perfect. That, and it was the only song I asked my mum to sing to me when I was a kid, and seeing as she's put up with me using up so much electricity to write this thing so far, it's also a thank you. So... you know. Thanks mum :) .

Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

Que Sera Sera

'We need to know, Caroline.' Cave's voice was deadly serious, and not at all warm. It actually scared her. 'Chell is far greater than those other kids, and yet she can't read. She can't write!'

'Cave, be quiet!' Caroline snapped, standing up from her seat and moving in front of him. Behind him was their window to the world of Aperture, and the lights beyond the glass illuminated his silhouette, making him look as sharp and as angry as he was speaking. Caroline quickly turned to look at Michelle's bedroom door. It was closed, but that did not mean that she could not hear them. 'You'll wake her up.'

'To Hell with waking her up! She needs to hear this, maybe it will be a wake up call for her!'

'There will be a perfectly reasonable explanation. Now please be quiet.' She grabbed at his shoulder as he turned. 'Please, Cave, you know she doesn't like it when we used raised voices. She's sensitive to sound...'

'What if she is stupid?' His voice was barely a whisper. Caroline felt his shoulders sag beneath her hand. 'What if she never learns how to read, how to write?'

'And will that stop you loving her?' Caroline asked, though she already knew the answer.

'Of course not!' Cave bit, turning to his wife. 'She's my daughter, our daughter. But...' His voice broke, his tone defeated. 'What if it stops her from reaching her full potential, Caroline? I want Chell to have the best life she can have.'

'And she will.' Caroline smiled. 'She will because we'll make sure that she does. And let's face it, with you around, she'll never go wanting.'

Cave forced a smile, but the lines of his face betrayed his worried thoughts. In that one moment Cave truly showed his age. Caroline very rarely saw Cave as being much older than her, even though she saw the now grey hair and the lines of his ageing face every day. She had often thought that love and bias hid the more telling signs of his advanced years, but it was in rare moments like these that even she could not fail to notice how old he truly was. He looked so tired. So worn down.

'What if it's my fault?' He asked, suddenly.

'What?'

'Chell, not being able to write or read. What if it's my fault?'

'I don't understand, Cave.'

Caroline watched as Cave resigned himself to his favourite armchair, but rather than sinking back into the deep leather back he perched himself on the edge of the seat, his face in his hands. 'The lab work.' He muttered darkly. 'What if I did something wrong, when I was working on the gene manipulation?'

'That's not possible, and you know that.'

'Dammit, Caroline, it was possible!' He snapped from behind his hands. 'No science is without risks, and let's not forget that back then I didn't even want a kid. I didn't love Chell at all, unlike you - I wasn't working to the best of my ability.'

A door creaked. Caroline turned in time to see Michelle's door close tightly shut. A strangled moan came from Cave's throat. 'Oh God, she heard me, didn't she?'

Caroline could not answer him. She knew that lying to him would have been useless. 'I did warn you.' She thought, rubbing her temples as a headache began to form.

Cave issued another, low moan. 'I need to talk to her.'

'I'd leave her for tonight.' Caroline replied softly. 'She probably won't want either of us in there.'

'She'd want you.' He was right, of course. Michelle may have practically been her father's shadow, but if she became upset or angry it was always her mother that she turned to. 'Caroline, please, she'll need one of us right now, and I have the feeling she won't want to talk to me.'

Caroline nodded, turning to make her way towards the door.

'Tell her I love her.'

'She already knows that.'

'Does she?' Cave looked up from his hands. His eyes were red, and they glistened with what could only be unshed tears. Tears! Caroline had never seen Cave with tears in his eyes before. It made her heart ache.

'Yes.' She replied kindly. 'She does.' With that she turned back to their daughter's door, tapping out a gentle knock before inviting herself inside, flicking on the light switch, and closing the door behind her.

There was a small, round lump hiding underneath the bed sheets. Gently, Caroline took a seat next to it, holding out a hand to rest on what was obviously Michelle's head.

Caroline turned to look around the room that Michelle called her own. It was covered with Aperture posters, new and old, that she had often taken down from the walls of the facility. He father had not minded this, but the staff were a little annoyed when a new safety poster strangely vanished into thin air. Next to her bed sat a Companion Cube, something that her father had created based on a doodle that Michelle had drawn over a Storage Cube blueprint. They were sentient of course, these Companion Cubes, the first in Aperture's artificial intelligence engineering. The carpet of the room was a thick, blue and warm cotton like fabric, and was centred neatly by a bright orange carpet. The cream walls had various mathematical equations scribbled over them in pencil.

Michelle may not have been able to read or write with the English language, but she could read and write down equations that even an adult would struggle to comprehend.

Turning back to the bed Caroline began to hum. She began to hum out the song that Michelle loved to hear the most, knowing full well that it always helped to cheer her up. Ever so slowly, Michelle wriggled free of her bedsheets. In her arms was the one soft toy that she had ever wanted; a small stuffed purple puppy. Caroline smiled, and started to sing.

'When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, "What will I be? Will I be pretty, will I be rich?" Here's what she said to me: Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera: what will be, will be.'

Michelle sat up in her bed, listening to her mother's voice sing out the words that brought her so much calm, still clinging onto her toy.

Caroline continued. 'When I was just a child in school, I asked my teacher, "What shall I try? Should I paint pictures, should I sing songs?" This was her wise reply: Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera: what will, be will be.'

'When I grew up, and fell in love, I asked my sweetheart, "What lies ahead? Will we have rainbows, day after day?" Here's what my sweetheart said: Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera: what will be, will be.'

Michelle smiled, waiting for the verse that her mother always changed just for her.

'Now I have a daughter of my own, she asks her mother, "What will I be? Will I be clever, will I be rich?" I tell her tenderly: Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera: what will be will be.'

As Caroline finished the song Michelle held out her arms for a hug, and Caroline gladly obliged. She stroked at her daughter's hair tenderly, and planted a kiss gently on her forehead. 'Daddy does love you, Michelle. You know that, don't you?'

Michelle looked up at her mother. She nodded.

'He's just worried about you, sweetheart. He knows how clever you are, so he's scared because we don't know why you struggle to do certain things. And when daddy is scared about something, he tends to get angry too.'

'I know.' Michelle replied, struggling to vocalise her answer.

'Listen,' Caroline continued after pulling her daughter onto her lap, 'do you still feel ill when you try to read?'

Michelle nodded again.

'And the same when you write?'

Another tiny nod.

'But not when you're writing or reading equations?'

Michelle shook her head.

Caroline, thoughtfully, hummed to herself. She knew that it would be a struggle, but she had to get Cave to agree in taking Michelle to a doctor, a specialist – anyone who studied brain development. It couldn't be that Michelle was simply being lazy, focusing only on what she wanted to learn and completely disregarding everything else, simply because Michelle wanted to learn about everything.

'Alright, sweetheart, back into bed.' She watched as Michelle obeyed, snuggling herself deeply into her bed sheets. A pause. 'Do you want me to send in daddy?'

Michelle didn't have to think before she nodded in reply.

Caroline smiled. 'Alright. Good night, sweetheart.' She gave Michelle one last kiss, ran her fingers through her hair, and turned to leave.

'Love you, mommy.'

With a pause Caroline looked over her shoulder, smiled, and left. Cave was stood outside, and had seemingly been listening in on their conversation. He forced a smile.

'She wants to see you.'

'I know.' He paused, gently holding her hand for a few fleeting seconds. 'I'll see you in bed.' With that he left, making his way into Michelle's room. Caroline made her way to their own bedroom, and took her time in getting changed for bed. She had to tell Cave about taking Michelle to a specialist now, or else she never would.

With a sigh as she removed the last of her make-up, Caroline realised that this was not going to be one of her more peaceful nights. She sat waiting by her dressing table, going over her words repeatedly inside her head, when she noticed a new pile of blueprints sat on Cave's own small table. Out of curiosity Caroline made her way to the desk, wondering which blueprints these were. They could have been for the Aerial Faith Plate that Cave had been ranting about so often, or they could have been improvements to the Portal Device.

But no, they were for this new gel that Cave and a few, select, scientists had been working on. The Conversion Gel. Well, they had been trying to work on it, anyway. But there was always something that threw their research askew. Caroline returned the blueprints to their rightful place, sat back down in her own chair. Perhaps Sofia had a point in what she had said to her during their lunch-break today?

"Caroline," she had said, "you realise, of course, that if he keeps failing with this stuff that he might just give up on it?"

"I know. And I hope so too. I don't like how Jenkins and Smith both died so suddenly after they began working with it."

"Has Cave been near the stuff?"

"No, thank God. He's simply doing the theory work."

"Well, that's a relief."

"I know. And I really hope that the research does keep failing. I don't like that stuff, and it is so expensive to buy... if it fails, he'll move on to something else." She had paused then. "No, no he won't. He'll just keep trying and trying again until it works. Good God, he is so stubborn."

"How is Michelle coping? And you?"

"Well, the extended working hours mean that he hardly gets to see her anymore. I'm used to that, so it doesn't really bother me all that much, but Michelle really needs him right now."

"She still struggling?"

"Yeah..." Caroline's voice had broken into silence.

Sofia looked apologetic, but then her face broke into a smile. "Hey, you know what I think you need? A vacation. Look, you know I'm going over to England in a couple of weeks, right? To see my sister? Why don't you come too? Bring Michelle. You can both have a break from this place. I'd say that Cave could come as well, but I know what his answer would be."

Caroline smiled graciously. "Thanks, Sofia, but Michelle won't leave the facility either. Not unless we're going to the farmhouse. She's as bad as her father for not wanting to be too far away from here."

"Well then, just you? Get Cave to take some time off work..."

Caroline's short, sharp laugh was full of disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me. That will never happen. He'll work up until the day he dies, that man."

"Just tell him, would you?" Sofia replied, earnestly. "Tell him he can spend time with Michelle, and you can have a trip to recharge your batteries."

Caroline thought back on the offer now. Yes, it was a very attractive offer, and one that Caroline dearly wanted to accept, but, once again, this would have to be something else that she spoke to Cave about.

She had just finished adding this new proposition to her speech when Cave finally opened the door and emerged into the room. He looked a little happier as he closed the door behind him, and his eyes fell on her sat in her chair. 'Why aren't you in bed?'

Caroline smiled. 'Why? Were you planning something?'

Cave only replied with a wink as he undid his tie, and threw his jacket onto the bed.

'Well,' Caroline thought, 'here goes nothing.'

Memory View Complete. Delete From Archive?

'No.' GLaDOS replied. 'Keep it. I can use it as yet more blackmail.'

Caroline's only response was a long, drawn-out sigh.

'Well, you do give me such wonderfully emotional material to work with, should I ever need to use it.'

'For once I would appreciate it if you simply saved a memory for what it actually represents.'

GLaDOS pretended to think about her statement. 'Hm... no.'

Another sigh.

'So, what happened? Did he explode with anger? Oh, I hope he did. Please tell me he did.'

'Actually,' Caroline loftily replied, 'he didn't. He wasn't happy about either pieces of news, but he agreed to both. Eventually, anyway. It took half the night to convince him, but I got there in the end.'

'How disappointing.'

'Well for you it would be. You're not happy unless someone dies, are you?'

'It doesn't have to be a death.' The computer paused in a moment of contemplation. 'Physical agony can be just as satisfying to watch.'

'Speaking of physical agony, how is Wheatley?'

GLaDOS turned her attention to the moron that continued to exist in stasis. His condition had not improved, but it had not become worse during his move from the vault to the medical wing. GLaDOS had made sure of that. But it was with a slight twinge of disappointment that she realised that she could nothing to repair him. She needed his consciousness before she could even attempt to fix the damage to his brain, and this consciousness was currently orbiting the moon, deactivated due to a lack of sufficient power. The corrupt Space Core, however, was still screaming about space.

Well, at least one of the Aperture satellites was still in operation. That was something, at least.

Caroline seemed to click her virtual tongue. 'That poor man.'

'He isn't aware of what is happening, you know. He's in stasis.'

'And have you ever been in stasis?'

'No, but I have been dead before, forced to replay the images of your daughter killing me, time and time again.'

'And how did that feel?'

A pause. 'It was awful.'

'So what makes you so sure Wheatley isn't feeling that same kind of existence?'

'Because he is a human, and, from the results of testing, I have seen that the human race are less sentient than you'd like to believe. I on the other hand...'

Oh, shut up.

'You again?' GLaDOS demanded, her optic thinning, the light turning into the size of a pinhead. 'What do you want know?'

'Perhaps we'll find out if you be quiet.' Caroline replied.

'You heard it too?'

Yes, she heard it too. Prometheus chuckled. How are you after our conversation yesterday?

'As well as I'll ever be.'

Another chuckle. That's good to hear. However, I come bearing bad news. Your Test Subject has escaped.

GLaDOS growled. 'I am aware of this, thank you. However, he will not survive in this place for very long and so he is of no concern to me. I deleted his testing records, anyway. They were too pathetic to be considered as a serious science.'

Caroline entered the conversation. 'What did you actually come here for, Prometheus? It can't just be for that.'

No, Prometheus replied, it was to also to tell you that the Test Subject found a keycard. They can get anywhere in this facility.

'And your point is?' GLaDOS questioned, her tone one of subtle curiosity.

He isn't particularly happy with you right now, GlaDOS. You may want to keep an eye on your own safety.

The computer's laugh reverberated off of the wall panels that fluctuated with each roll of laughter. 'Oh, that was funny.' GLaDOS chuckled, calming herself. 'That was very funny. Have you ever considered stand-up comedy? I'm sure someone out there will greatly appreciate you... talent.'

Mock me if you so wish, but I have knowledge that you could never dream of. Prometheus warned.

Caroline, unlike GLaDOS, was taking the situation seriously. 'I think you should consider listening to their advice.' She advised, earning a quick trill of approval from the mysterious voice. At least someone here has a brain.

GLaDOS did not offer Prometheus the courtesy of a reply.

Anyway, I was watching that memory with the both of you. Caroline, you have a lovely singing voice, I must say.

Caroline stammered. 'I... I... you were... watching?'

Another chuckle. Oh yes, I've been watching all of your memories. They are very interesting; an excellent character study. And, if you would not mind, I would like to see what happened next.

'Why?' The woman sounded wary.

If you had not already noticed after our conversation, your daughter is of great interest to me.

GLaDOS interrupted. 'Why? Why do you want to know about my dangerous lunatic?'

A cold, discerning laugh. Your dangerous lunatic? I thought she was Caroline's dangerous lunatic? Is there some kind of twisted mother complex happening inside that head of yours? Yes, there is. I can sense it.

'Will you just..!' The computer gave a resigned sigh. 'Go away.'

Sorry. Can't. Now, about that memory?

GLaDOS and Caroline gave each other what could only be described as an internal, shared glance. 'Well?' GLaDOS asked. 'What do you think?'

'I think,' Caroline began, 'I want to know more about this Daughter Of Aperture business first.'

'The what?' The computer sounded terribly confused.

'I'll explain later.'

GLaDOS nodded.

Hm, Prometheus sighed, I think not. That is for you to discover yourself, I'm afraid.

There was a cruel, superior tone to Caroline's reply. 'Then no deal.'

That's too bad. You forced me to do this, Caroline. Remember that.

Suddenly GLaDOS lost all control of her motherboard. Her chassis collapsed, her systems nullified, and the computer hung weak and limp from her scaffolding as Prometheus set about opening the necessary memory files.

'What are you doing!' Caroline demanded. 'What have you done to her?'

I've temporarily usurped her. Nothing permanent, you understand; I don't want to be in control of this facility any longer than I have to be.

Temporary? Usurped? But only something as powerful as GLaDOS herself could have done that, and Caroline knew it. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?' She screamed, through a strange concoction of fear, rage and grim determination to discover the truth.

As I said yesterday, I'll be whoever you want me to be. The voice changed suddenly. It changed to hers. I can even be you, if you'd like.

'Oh my God...'

Or... The voice changed again, and the voice that replaced it chilled her through to her core. It was a deep, male voice. It had a warmth to it. His warmth. Cave's warmth. I could even speak to you like this, sweetheart, if that's what turns you on.

'How dare you.' She spat, a seething rage building in her. 'How dare you use his voice!'

Still Prometheus spoke with Cave's voice. Hm, well, I thought you'd honestly prefer it, but never mind. I'll save it for Chell; she'll appreciate it.

Caroline paused, feeling a new weight being added to her already mountainous burdens. 'Oh my God, she wasn't hearing things. That was you.'

Cave's voice chuckled, before the voice returned back to its mismatched self. How very astute. Yes, that was me. Well done.

Caroline's venomous tone returned in full force. 'How dare you use that on my daughter, how dare you! You gave her false hope...'

No, I gave her real hope.

'Her father is dead! And you sullied his memory. You sullied my beloved husband's memory, and for what? Just so you could get Michelle on your side, so that she would listen to you?

Yes. And it worked, just so you know.

'YOU! YOU DISGUST ME!'

I know. A pause, and then an unsettling chuckle. I told you I was a monster.

Memory Found. Begin Playback?

'DON'T YOU DARE! DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT MEMORY!'

Que Sera Sera, Caroline. Que Sera Sera.

'NO!'

Play

Caroline sat with Michelle perched upon her knee in the small consultation room. Cave sat next to her, glaring daggers at the doctor sat across on the others side of the desk.

'Well?' He demanded, and Caroline could tell from his shaking fist that he was trying desperately hard to keep moderately calm. For Michelle. 'Are you actually going to tell us what is wrong with our little girl?'

Caroline shot Cave a warning glance. He noticed, of course, and looked to both his wife and child apologetically. He need not have bothered with Michelle, however, as she was too busy scribbling down complex strings of equations.

'Well,' the doctor began, consulting her notes, 'Michelle's mind is far greater developed than that of your average five year old...'

'We knew that already.' Cave snapped. 'What we want to know is why she struggles to read and to write.'

'And speak?' The doctor offered, looking to Caroline for a reply. She nodded.

'Well, I would love to call the condition dyslexia, but I can't.'

Dyslexia. Caroline knew about that condition. Her sister had suffered from the same learning difficulties.

Cave, however, was not willing to accept this rather open-ended answer. 'And? Well? Why can't you call it dyslexia?'

'Well, Mr Johnson,' the doctor continued, 'though the boundaries for dyslexia are quite wide, and believe me they compensate for varying strengths of the disorder, Michelle doesn't quite fit the description. She's exceedingly intelligent, and she can actually read and write down very complex mathematical equations which, by definition, she would not be able to do if she were dyslexic.'

Caroline frowned, leaning forwards in her seat. 'So what is it? I mean, she feels sick when she tries to read or write with words, surely that's dyslexia?'

The doctor forced a smile. 'We don't know.'

'What do I pay you quacks for?' Cave demanded, the control over his anger slipping as his fist slammed down on the table. The doctor flinched as Cave stood, towering over the man who was already quite small without sitting down. 'Is there anything that you can think of? Anything?'

'We'll keep looking, and we'll try to narrow it down as much as possible, but for now I think that it is simply the way her brain has developed. It seems that science and math are the only things she knows.'

Michelle looked up then and smiled at the doctor. 'I can.. d-do, gym.'

'Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me.'

Michelle smiled again, before turning to look up at her father. 'Daddy? Why you st-anding?'

Cave cast the doctor a dark glare before sitting back down, and held out one of his hands for Michelle to hold. She took it, and Cave gently wrapped his fingers around her tiny palm.

'Yes,' the doctor continued, 'her physical attributes are as advanced as her brain. Her hearing and eyesight are phenomenal, her physical strength and endurance, unbelievable. She has a very high pain threshold, and she can find obscure answers to problems or difficulties that no one else could possibly see.' The doctor paused, smiling. 'Actually, if it were not for her difficulty with the English language, she would be considered super-human.'

Caroline looked to Cave with raised eyebrows, and Cave returned the look before turning to Michelle with a smile. Michelle looked between her parents. 'So... I'm spekal?'

'Yeah, kiddo.' Cave gave her hand a gentle squeeze. 'You're special alright.'

'And don't you forget that. Ever.' Caroline planted a gentle kiss on Michelle's forehead, and her daughter giggled in delight.

Memory View Complete. Delete From Archive?

No. Prometheus ordered, and it was saved for another day. Well, thank you Caroline. I've seen all that I needed to see.

Prometheus returned control of the motherboard to GLaDOS who immediately sprang to life and locked down the entire facility.

'What are you doing?' Caroline asked, still recoiling from the invasion of her privacy.

'I'm locking this facility down!' She screamed in absolute fury. 'If this Prometheus is a human, a hacker, that has somehow avoided detection and is now running amok in this place, I'll make sure that they can't escape. Then, I'll catch them and throw them in the incinerator. Or the room where all the robots scream at you, followed by the incinerator!'

'Prometheus isn't a human. Who are you trying to fool? Yourself? You know as well as I do that it's obviously a programme.'

'I'm not taking any chances!'

Que Sara Sara... Whatever will be, will be… The future's not ours to see... Que Sara Sara... but for Chell, it will be...