AN: Iowa is already experiencing really cold weather so my depression is coming back with a vengeance. This is good news for my writing, though! I had pretty severe depression when I started "Love As a Construct" and I feel like I thrived with that story. I especially like writing about Doug when I'm feeling down. You can expect some juicy stuff coming up soon.

By the way, the reviews don't hurt either.

Doug could hear Wheatley and Spencer enter the apartment as he was brushing his teeth. Wheatley was gushing about how amazing it was to ride in a vehicle. Doug let out a huffy sigh at this. He didn't really want to have to go out there and be nice to the annoying man. He still had ill feelings toward him.

"I'm not going to start a fight in front of Valentine's daughter, though," he muttered. "That sure wouldn't keep me in her favor."

"Although he does deserve a good kick in the butt," the Cup said, "I agree that this isn't the place for that."

"Not that I could ever bring myself to actually hit him. No matter how mad I get at him, I wouldn't want to lower myself by becoming violent."

He rinsed his mouth and brought the Cup out to the living room with him. Wheatley was now chattering about the nice people of the town that they had visited. Doug went into the kitchen where Valentine was pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Don't say anything, Doug thought to the Cup.

"What? I was only going to remark on how cute her bed hair is."

He rolled his eyes.

"What's up?" Valentine asked as she mixed cream into her coffee.

"Not much," Doug mumbled. "Still tired."

"Me, too. Do you want me to pour you some coffee?"

A little smirk appeared on Doug's face. "Sure," he said, holding the Cup out toward her. "I think that would nice."

"Doug! What are you doing?!" the Cup protested. "You wouldn't dare!"

"You want me to pour hot coffee into your friend there?" Valentine asked.

Doug gave her a confused look. "My friend?" he asked. "How did you…?"

"Well, I could hear you talking to it in the bathroom," Valentine said, a little embarrassed.

Doug's face flushed. "Y-You could? Um, w…what did you hear?"

"I couldn't really hear what you were saying," Valentine admitted, "but I could tell from the tone of your voice that you were having a conversation with it."

"Oh," Doug said. He was a little relieved but was still pretty embarrassed.

"Don't worry," Valentine said. "I'm pretty sure no one else heard you. The kitchen and the bathroom have connecting air vents so that's really the only reason I could hear you at all." She turned around and opened a cupboard. "Here, let me pour you some coffee."

Doug awkwardly looked up at the air vent above the refrigerator. He felt lucky that she hadn't heard him talking about her.

"I can't believe you were going to let her pour hot coffee into me!" the Cup shouted. "Don't be mad at me because you can't admit that you have a crush on her! Are you really going to let a woman get between our friendship?!"

Doug let out a short snort of laughter at what the Cup had said. Valentine looked at him curiously.

"Hm?" she asked.

Doug looked down. "Oh, uh, nothing," he said. "It was just….nothing."

"Doug!" Wheatley said, coming into the kitchen. "Have you ever ridden in a car before?"

"Yeah, I have," Doug said. "Most humans have." He turned to Valentine. "Forget the coffee. I'm going to take a walk."

"But I just poured you a cup," Valentine said with a mug for him in her hand.

"Ooh! Can I try it?" Wheatley asked. "I've never had coffee."

"Would you mind if I went with you?" Valentine asked Doug as she handed the cup of coffee to Wheatley.

"I'd rather go by myself," Doug said. "I won't be gone long."

Doug looked down as he walked along the sidewalk. He hadn't brought the Cup because he didn't want to hear it tease him. Maybe he did have a crush on Valentine, but he wasn't going to act on it. She had a daughter to take care of and her own personal problems to deal with. He wasn't going to bother her by adding a relationship to her worries.

Besides, Doug thought, getting involved with her would only make it harder to go back to Aperture for Nora. I don't need the stress any more than she does.

"Doug!"

He stopped and sighed with frustration as Wheatley caught up with him.

"I said I wanted to be alone," he said to Wheatley. "Didn't you hear me say that to Valentine?"

"No," Wheatley said. "Must have missed that. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about going back to Aperture. When do you plan on doing that?"

"Hopefully soon," Doug said. "I wanted to stay here for a few more days to regain my strength and try to find some help."

"Don't wait too long," Wheatley said. "I'm worried about Nora."

"Well, so am I," Doug said, continuing to walk without looking at Wheatley. "It's been on my mind since I left Aperture."

"I know," Wheatley said. "Listen, I'm….I'm sorry about accusing you of leaving Nora on purpose. And I'm sorry about calling you crazy. And….I'm sorry about trying to kill you."

Doug looked at him. Wheatley looked embarrassed and actually ashamed. He was sincere.

"It's fine," Doug said. "I'm sorry for constantly reminding you of your mistakes."

"Do you really think that we can find Nora?" Wheatley asked. "I don't know how well I can navigate the facility without an internal map for reference."

"I know my way around the facility by memory," Doug said. "You don't have to worry about that."

"What about GLaDOS?" Wheatley asked. "She'll kill me if she discovers me in Aperture. I can't imagine what she'd have in store for me if she found me in human form."

"I can think of a few things she'd want to do," Doug said.

"Don't tell me!" Wheatley said. "I don't want to know! I don't even want to think about it anymore!"

"Yeah, I don't either."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Nothing scared them more than returning to Aperture. It would be so easy to stay in this town for the rest of their lives, but they'd feel sickeningly guilty for leaving Nora in danger.

"I miss Nora," Wheatley said.

"Yeah, me, too," Doug said.

"I didn't properly apologize for putting her in that cage," Wheatley continued. "I know it was you who took her away. That was pretty obvious. Thanks for getting her out of that."

"Um….No problem?"

"I honestly don't know what I was thinking. How could I have done that to her? What was I thinking?"

"Stop beating yourself up about these things," Doug said. "The mainframe's drive to test could make anyone lose themselves. It's no surprise that—"

"Excuse me," an old man interrupted as he approached Doug. The man's face was chamois-creased and lightly freckled by age. His head looked very round under his thin, short hair that was white like a marshmallow. His beard was bristly and white with gray peppered in. His eyes were a vibrant shade of blue and they stared at Doug in amazement.

"Um, yes?" Doug asked awkwardly.

"You look…just like my son," the old man said in a scratchy voice. "His name was Doug."

Doug's eyes widened. This man had aged so much in fifteen years. "Dad?" he whispered. "What happened?"

The old man smiled. "It is you!" he exclaimed. He hugged Doug tightly, and Doug was surprised how short his dad seemed now. "I can't believe you're alive! This whole time we thought you were dead! No one ever came back out of Aperture so we assumed that you hadn't made it out either!"

"Yeah, it's….It's great to see you, too, Dad," Doug said blankly.

His dad pulled back to look him in the eye. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You don't seem happy to see me."

"No, I am," Doug said. "It's just….Mom…"

His dad sighed.

"Doug, are you going to introduce me or what?!" Wheatley cut in. He had been pretending to clear his throat for a while now and it was beginning to feel sore.

"Dad, this is Wheatley," Doug said. "He's from Aperture, too. And Wheatley, this is my dad Robert Rattmann."

"Hello," Robert said, holding his hand out to shake Wheatley's. "It's good to meet a colleague of Doug's."

"I wouldn't say he's my colleague," Doug said.

"That's right!" Wheatley said, shaking Robert's hand. "I'm more like his superior. In fact, I was in charge of the facility for a while."

"Is that so?" Robert asked. "Good for you! Doug, you and your friend should come around for lunch tomorrow. It would be nice to have you home again."

"I….I don't know if tomorrow is good for me," Doug said.

"What are you talking about?" Wheatley asked. "What would you be doing tomorrow?"

"Doug, please," Robert said, his eyes becoming wet. "Your mother is different now. The Combine takeover changed her significantly."

"I don't care," Doug said. He clenched one of his hands in a fist. "I don't want to see her."

Robert sighed. "Then can I at least have lunch with you?" he asked. "It would mean a lot to me. Please."

"Dad, I have no problem with you," Doug said. "Really. We can have lunch tomorrow."

Robert smiled and clapped his son on the shoulder. "How about that diner that you used to eat at all the time?" he asked. "Did you know about its reopening?"

"Yeah, I heard," Doug said. "I'll see you there around noon."

"Great!"