Chell was finally going home. She'd made sure the scientists were carrying out her exact idea, and now she could finally go home knowing her revenge was complete.

The best part was that no one suspected, they just thought she was helping science. They didn't know what he'd done and how this was all vengeance, and they never would. Chell had just ensured that no one besides her was getting a happy end.

Wheatley had been in GLaDOS's chamber for hours talking to Her. He was truly enjoying himself, and hopefully She was too. Neither had noticed the time that had passed until Wheatley checked his watch.

"12:30?! It's gotten so late"

"Time doesn't matter to me."

"Well…that's very true. I, however, am very much affected by it. Kind of part of the whole being human thing."

GLaDOS looked at him a minute before realizing what he had meant

"Oh, you mean you need sleep"

"Yeah. Preferably back in my own bed where I don't have to worry"

"What's to worry about here?"

"Well, lots of stuff. Turrets, for example. I don't have exactly a pleasant past with them, with their whole shooty thing. And coworkers. Some of the people here," he shivered, "really scare you. Also, literally anything here can kill you. Besides, You, I know You won't be killing me."

"No I won't"

"Of course not, but anything else here most likely would without a second thought, especially at night. I mean, this place could be the setting of the horror movie the way it looks at night. And I am not very brave. A coward, really. Not brave in any way whatsoever."

Wheatley was rambling, one of the things he did when he was nervous. He was also lying, but She didn't realize it. The real reason Wheatley wanted to go home was because he was really confused internally. He put it off as the stress of being in this whole situation, but that wasn't it really. He wasn't confused about Chell or anything; that had been cleared up. He was confused about himself and…Her as well. Wheatley knew GLaDOS had been growing on him- it was the reason he'd stayed here this long. But he didn't realize until now that he felt something, well, stronger. And he didn't really understand what yet. Wheatley had never been very good at understanding emotions, especially his own. What he needed was a night to think it all over, to sort out what was up and then decide what to do about it. Of course normally this would take him quite a bit longer, but he didn't really have the luxury of taking that time- of fleeing like he always did when he was scared or didn't understand something. Wheatley knew he had to come back in the morning- not just for himself, but for Her as well.

"Wheatley, you're rambling"

"Sorry, probably just stressed out"

Lying again. He always lied to get away.

"You know, I should probably go do that sleep thing. I'll be back tomorrow."

Wheatley walked toward the door. He was running again, being his old cowardly self. He hated it- and yet…

He realized it was inescapable. People who tried too hard to change themselves often lost themselves along the way. He was a coward- that was the thing. If you were something you just- were that. That wasn't changeable. GLaDOS was a robot. He was a human. Chell was a horrible person. He was falling in love with GL-

….

"Why are you just standing there? I thought you were leaving."

"Y-yeah, I am. Just lost in thought I guess."

His mouth was working without his mind, which was sort of frozen at the moment in realization. His feet walked on their own, his hand acted by itself when it reached out to grab the door handle.

"See ya"

His hand turned the handle..turned the handle…tried again, let go, tried again. His mind was back. It was locked, but this door was never supposed to be locked.

"Did you lock this door?"

"No, how would I? Only scientists can, it takes handprint scans to lock and unlock it."

Scientists…but why would they lock him in? She wasn't going to kill him anytime soon, nor make him a test subject. So why?

GLaDOS didn't understand what was going on for once. Firstm Wheatley was acting strange, like his mind was elsewhere, which made Her think he was in a shock of some sort from the ordeal, but he refused to tell her what. Second, he had just found the door locked. The only time that door locked was when a scientist was left in here to turn Her on, which usually meant certain death. But She wasn't gonna kill Wheatley, the scientists would've seen that by now. The only thing that door was doing was keeping him from going home. Maybe they wanted him here to study. But for what?

Suddenly an alarm came on in Her robotic head

GLaDOS's system gave Her the warning a good 30 seconds in advance:

Warning: Neurotoxin systems online. Room will be at capacity in 5 minutes

She went to turn it off without a second thought, but it blocked Her out. She couldn't turn off the neurotoxin..

"Warning: Neurotoxin systems online. Room will be at capacity in 5 minutes"

The announcement had just come on over the speaker.

"G-GLaDOS..?"

"It's not me, I'm trying to turn it off!"

"Neurotoxin system shutdown unavailable at this time. Room will be at capacity in 5 minutes"

Wheatley started to panic. That was only natural, after all. Someone had turned on the neurotoxin in a room he was locked in.

"Oh god, oh god. Why?!"

"I don't know…"

She did know. They were gonna kill him, because She liked him, because he was the one employee She wouldn't kill. He was panicking, his breaths were quick and shallow, which would only kill him faster, Since She couldn't do anything else, she had to calm him down.

"Wheatley, please calm down"

"I can't! If you hadn't noticed, I am going to DIE!"

"If you panic, you'll just die faster!"

He slipped to the floor, coughing as the fume level increased

"Wheatley?"

Wheatley got back up, calmer.

"I'm fine…"

"Room at capacity in 4 minutes"

"I'm sorry, I can't do anything."

"That's fine. At least I'm not gonna be a robot. I never liked the idea of the whole immortality thing "

"But you're still gonna die…"

That was true, but maybe he was okay with that. After all, his life had never been really that good. The only regret he had…

He had less time than he thought… 4 minutes to be exact. After that, waboosh. No more Wheatley. Sure, he'd probably be happier off. But GLaDOS..

"Hey…now that I'm dying, I may as well tell you."

"What?"

"Well-and I'm probably putting this the worst way I can-I'm glad I messed up. Because I got to know you. And now I get to die by you; the one person who could stand me. The one person who wants me alive."

She didn't understand what he was saying- like it was another language. If She was more human, maybe She would. Maybe She would know what the right thing to say was. Instead She had no clue about anything not science, or human failure.

"Wheatley…"

"You don't have to say anything"

He wasn't making sense.

"Room at capacity in 3 minutes"

Wheatley fell to the floor. He didn't really hurt; everything was just getting so much harder to do. It was hard to stand, hard to breathe, hard to keep his eyes open. That's what dying was. When living became too hard, you just died. It all just ended.

His breathing was raspy, shallow. He couldn't take deep breaths anymore. He let himself lie down, but kept a smile. After all, a person should die happy.

"Hey…"

"You shouldn't talk, it wastes your energy"

"I'm not a person to stop talking. Anyways, I have things to say. I like you GLaDOS… but I think its more than that. I don't know though."

"Like Chell? Like how you liked her?"

"Yeah…but more"

He let his eyes closed. It was too hard to keep them open any longer.

"Wheatley?"

"Don't worry…I'm not dead yet."

"I know how you feel."

They didn't need to say the exact words, they knew what each other meant.

If GLaDOS could feel sad, She'd be overwhelmed by it. Instead She was angry- angry at those scientists for killing him.

"You do?"

"Yeah."

He had so little time left, and She could do was watch. Watch him die.

"Room at capacity in 2 minutes."

He'd be dead before the two minutes was up- She'd watched these deaths a million times. Most would have died already, but he was holding strong. No one could hold out forever though.

He blacked out for a good 30 seconds. When he came to, GLaDOS was calling his name.

"I'm here"

"You scared me."

"Sorry…hey you know something?"

"What?"

"I never finished that song for you."

"That's fine, I can find it."

"No…I'll sing it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah"

"Room at capacity in 1 minute"

"Hurry then"

"Mr. Blue you did it right, but soon comes mister night"

His breaths shortened. It was so hard, but he had to finish

"Creeping over, now his hand is on your shoulder"

He could barely get a word out per breath, btu he'd finish. He had to

"Never mind, I'll remember- I'll remember you this way"

He found breathing impossible. It was time… he had to let go. So he opened his eyes to look at Her one last time-

Everything went black

She heard his last breath, but not much more. She didn't even have time to call out before She had been shut down.

For Her, too, everything went black

Somewhere, Chell got the call. It was practically done. When the call was over, she laughed.