Amelia got home in the early hours of the morning. Wheatley was staying in Arin's apartment, but before they had parted he had thanked her about a billion times for making him feel better. Now she was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, but she froze when she noticed Doug sleeping on the couch. He was wearing a neat, clean shirt and there was a bouquet of paper flowers resting beside his hand on the couch. Amelia's face turned red and her insides felt jittery. It was obvious what his intentions were. She wasn't sure if she should wake him up. She really wanted to talk to him about this, but she was so very tired. Eventually, she just decided to gently shake him awake.

"Hmmmm," Doug groaned as he slowly awoke. He looked up at Amelia and his eyes widened. He sat straight up on the couch, glanced at the paper flowers, then back to her and he blushed. "I, um….You see, I-I was going to, uh….You know…."

"Come with me," she interrupted. She started heading for her bedroom.

"W-Why? D-D-Do you, uh—Do you need something?" he struggled to say.

"I just enjoy your company. Now get your butt over here."

She stopped in the bathroom briefly to take off her bra so she could be comfortable while she slept. The cotton of the long-sleeved shirt felt nice on her breasts. The bra had gotten so constricting and uncomfortable. It felt liberating to take it off. She went into her room to find Doug standing there awkwardly.

"Take off the formal shirt," she commanded.

Doug cleared his throat nervously. "Um, w-why?"

"So it doesn't wrinkle," she says simply. She pulled back her blankets and climbed into bed. "Do you want to cuddle and fall asleep with me?"

Doug was a flustered mess. He kept stammering but couldn't get a coherent sentence out.

"Listen, Doug," Amelia said. "I know why you were all dressed up. I know why you had the paper flowers. I know why you waited for me in the living room. And I know that no matter what you say, you do want to cuddle and fall asleep with me in my bed. I'm very tired right now so could you please just take off the fancy shirt and get under the covers with me?"

Doug's fingers trembled as he clumsily tried to unbutton his shirt. Amelia sat up and reached over to help. She got two and looked up at him, but she stopped as she noticed that he was staring at her. There was something in those blue eyes of his that she couldn't quite name. There was an extremely brief moment where they both knew what was going to happen next. And then it happened. Doug leaned down and Amelia moved forward so that they could meet lips. This kiss was much better than their first. It was a two-way kiss this time. Doug's lips were soft and he tasted like the dozen mints he had eaten to ensure that his breath would smell great for tonight. Amelia found herself grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down with her. She was now lying on her back while a confused Doug was on top of her. He was confused but he didn't dislike this. He put a hand on the back of her neck as he got more into the kiss. She pulled him closer to her and rolled him over so that now she was on top of him. She finished unbuttoning his shirt and he took his arms out of the sleeves. He rested his hands on her hips now and gently pulled her waist closer to his. He felt a primal instinct pumping through him, and it reminded him of when he would just lose it and act like an animal. But this felt so much better. She was real and warm and comforting while Aperture had felt so opposite. He wanted this feeling to last an eternity as his hands slowly moved down.

Amelia finished the kiss, though, and looked down at him with a smile. "I think that's enough for now," she said. She could feel Doug's bulge in his slacks, but she managed to control herself so that they didn't move too fast with this relationship.

"I love you!" Doug said in a rush. It felt good to finally get the words out. "I love you, Amelia! I-I've been trying to find a way to tell you all day, but I'm just going to fucking say it! Alright? I love you and I….I n-need you in my life. I need you to know how god damn important you are to me, and that I wouldn't be able to have a second chance in society without your help."

Amelia got off of him and lied down next to him. She gave him a kiss on the nose, and said, "I love you, too. Let's get some sleep now. You look exhausted." Then she snuggled her face into his chest and fell asleep in his arms.

Doug was still extremely astonished. What the hell just happened? he thought. Is this real? Did I….Did I really just make out with her? Did I really confess my feelings for her? Wait, she did the same for me….Oh, please tell me this is real. She's so warm under the covers. I can still taste her on my lips. He couldn't believe his luck yet again. Who could have guessed that his savior would turn out to be the love of his life? He tried to go to sleep but he had an uncomfortable swelling in the front of his pants that wouldn't go away. There was a wild impulse to just unclothe her and seduce her, but she was already asleep and he didn't want to disturb her. He settled for moving her hair away from her face and kissing her lightly on the forehead before practically forcing himself to fall asleep.


It was nice to have Doug sitting in the cafeteria with her again. They hadn't spoken much that morning, though, and their silence was uncomfortable. It mostly felt awkward because they hadn't really mentioned what had happened the previous night. Doug was trying not to pig out this morning and had a modest-sized bowl of Frosted Flakes. Amelia was able to eat more today. She had a plate of French toast with cinnamon mixed into it.

"Amelia?" Doug suddenly said.

She looked up from her meal. She already knew what he was going to talk about. "Hm?"

"Um…..Could we talk about last night?" he asked. "I guess I'm little confused about what happened. I mean, that actually happened, right?"

Amelia nodded, nervously looking down at her food.

"How long did you know?"

"Know what?"

"How long did you know that I liked you?" Doug laughed a little. "I sound like a kid. I have to substitute 'like' for the other L-word."

"To be honest, I didn't know until I saw you sleeping on the couch last night."

"So you really had no idea? I wonder how long it would have taken for you to realize if I hadn't told you."

"Well, you didn't know that I liked you."

"I had a suspicion," he said, smiling a little. The smile didn't last long as he looked down at his cereal. "So...where do we go from here?"

"Um…I guess if you want to…..If you want to go steady, we can."

"Do you?"

"I wouldn't mind."

Doug smiled again but he kept his gaze on his bowl. "Sounds good to me then."

"Hey there!" Toby said as he suddenly pulled up a chair to their small table. He turned to Doug. "You must be Doug Rattmann," he said. "My name is Toby." He held out his hand and Doug shook it. Toby seemed very likeable even though they'd only just met. He was nicer than any other person he'd met in this facility—excluding his Amelia, of course.

"I don't know if you can tell," Amelia said to Doug, "but Toby is that android I told you about."

"You've got to be kidding," Doug said, eyebrows rising. "He looks like any ordinary human."

"Look at my pupils," Toby said. "You'll see it."

Doug didn't particularly like eye contact, but he did notice the difference in Toby's eyes just from a glance. "That's such a small detail," he said. "You're very well-built—not to mention well-programmed."

"You flatter me, Doug," Toby said jokingly. "I mean, I know I'm awesome but there's no need for a reminder."

"Toby!" Wheatley called from around the checkout station. "Hello? Where did you go? I don't know where to sit!"

"Do you mind if Wheatley and I join you guys here?" Toby asked.

Amelia looked at Doug who didn't look comfortable with the idea of Wheatley sitting at their table. Then she watched the realization form on his expression. "Wait, what do you mean about Wheatley sitting here?"

"Did you think they were only going to have a body for me and not the only other AI in here?" Toby asked.

"Go ahead and bring him over," Amelia said.

Toby stood and went to retrieve Wheatley.

"Behave yourself, Doug," Amelia said in a low voice. "You have both been given a second choice so I think you should make up."

"Okay, I'll try to play nice," Doug said. "But I'm only doing it for you."

Wheatley followed Toby to the table and Doug's eyes widened in surprise. Then he suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Wheatley asked. He was already annoyed with him.

"Sorry," Doug said. "It's just that they didn't hit too far off the mark of what you used to look like."

"Really?" Wheatley asked. "I did give them some details that Nora had told me about my human body."

"It's really weird to hear your voice coming out of that body, Wheatley."

"Same with you," Wheatley said. "I didn't get the chance to mention this the other day, but you cleaned up very well."

"Thanks," Doug said. "I kind of appreciate that."

"Hey, Amelia," Arin said, coming up to the table. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Amelia said. "A little tired."

"Well, you better get more sleep for the next couple of days," Arin blabbed. "Anyway, when is the meeting tonight?"

"Around seven," Amelia said. "Spread the word."

"Okay. Nate said he would be around soon to look at Missy so I really need to get going. I'll tell him when the meeting is." Arin left and Doug got a bad feeling about this meeting.

"What's the meeting about?" Doug asked.

"Nothing important," Amelia said. She tried to come up with a good lie but nothing believable came to mind.

"Really, what's it about?" Wheatley asked. "Could I go to it?"

"No," Amelia said. "It's only for members of the organization."

"Can't I be a member of the organization?" Wheatley asked.

"Amelia, what are you hiding?" Doug asked.

Amelia sighed. "I guess you would have found out eventually," she said. "I'm putting together a team to….go back into Aperture."

"What? Why?!" Doug demanded. He was suddenly angry with her. "Why would you ever want to go back into that hellhole?!"

"We left some very important equipment there that we need to retrieve." It wasn't a great excuse and she didn't like referring to Nora as equipment, but Doug didn't seem to suspect that she was lying.

"Do you absolutely need this equipment?" he inquired. "Is it really worth risking your life for it?"

"It's vital that we get it back."

"Well, what is it?" Wheatley asked. "What could be so important?"

"It's confidential," was all that Amelia would say.

"Amelia, you really don't want to go back there," Wheatley said. "I'm serious, love. She won't just let you run in, grab whatever you want, and run out. It doesn't work like that in Aperture. Not at all. She doesn't care for humans that evade her. Doug and I should know all about this by now."

"For the first time in a while, I have to agree with Wheatley," Doug said. "She'll either kill you or make you test, and I'm sure you don't want either."

"How about this?" Wheatley chimed in again. "Why don't we make a new whatever it is that's so important? Can't you do that? I'll help you make a new one. I'd like to consider myself to be pretty handy. Or look elsewhere for a new one. Anything but going back to that prison would be a fantastic alternative."

"This piece of equipment is irreplaceable," Amelia said.

"Well then, let me go with you," Doug said. "You need me to navigate your way around the facility."

"Bring me, too!" Wheatley said. "I really want to repay you for bringing me back down to earth."

"Neither of you are going," Amelia insisted. "I don't want to risk anything happening to you."

"But you're willing to risk your own life?" Doug asked.

"I'm going to go to Arin's to see how Missy is doing." Amelia got up and left her food on the table. She hurried out into the hall but Doug quickly caught up with her.

"What are you trying to hide so badly?" he asked, walking up next to her.

"Nothing, Doug," Amelia said.

"Then why won't you let me come with you to Aperture?"

"Because it would kill me if anything happened to you." She stopped and looked at him. "Now that I know how you feel about me, there's no way I could bring you back to that personal hell."

Doug glared at her. He desperately wanted to say something to her about how he would feel even worse if something happened to her. But he felt that if he kept arguing with her he might start crying. He swallowed a lump in his throat and said shakily, "We'll discuss this later. Go ahead and go to Arin's. While you're there, you might as well tell him about us." Then he turned around and headed back for the cafeteria, wiping his eyes discretely.