Mikey suddenly gasped a breath of fresh oxygen. He looked around with confusion as he continued to hyperventilate. Everybody else seemed just as confused that they could suddenly breathe more easily. He looked toward the box made of floor tiles and was surprised to see Toby looking around in utter shock. How the hell did he get out of there?

"W-Why can't I move?!" GLaDOS suddenly exclaimed. It was her turn to panic now. "What have you done to me?!"

"What happened?" Natalie asked. "Where did the glass go?"

"How did I get out of that cube?" Toby asked.

"Nevermind that," Amelia said. "Let's just leave." Toby didn't need to be told twice as he hurried to one of the tiled walls of the chamber.

"Stop!" GLaDOS commanded. "You can't just leave me like this! I'm stuck!"

Toby ripped a tile off of the wall and gestured for everyone to go through. Mikey still hadn't fully caught his breath yet, but he did his best to keep up with the rest of the group. Toby seemed to know exactly where he was going as he led the team down hallways. He was sure to keep everyone at a quick pace to ensure that everyone made it out. He even scooped up Kurt and carried him as he ran. Toby was pretty fast, and Charlie was the only one of the humans who could keep up with him. Mikey had to say that he was impressed with Toby's ability to seize leadership when the situation called for it. Amelia didn't seem to mind this as she just tried to keep up along with Mikey.

They came to a large elevator that could fit all of them. Nora detached herself from the management rail so that Charlie could catch her and carry her in. Once the doors were closed, it made a slow ascent.

Toby turned to look at the group. "So," he said, panting. "How is everyone?"

"Exhausted," Natalie said. "Thanks for asking."

"Just tuck yourself into my backpack and I'll carry you," Jon joked. Natalie smiled at this.

Mikey just braced himself against the wall as he took deep, even breaths to calm himself. He looked over at Amelia who also seemed pretty worn out. There was relief evident on her face, though, as a corner of her mouth pulled up slightly in a small smile.

Once the elevator stopped, they happened to end up very close to the hallway that led to the testing tracks. Their luck as almost uncanny to Mikey. He followed the rest of the group through the door to the lobby, but Toby stopped at the door with a puzzled look.

"Wait," he said. "We didn't leave the door open this wide, did we?"

"Who cares?" Arin said, running past him. "Come on! Let's just get out of here."

Arin stopped at the hole leading outside to watch the downpour of rain. Natalie went outside to dance in the rain and was quickly followed by Jon. Mikey felt a little awkward as everyone else spoke with each other and got ready to leave. He looked around the lobby and his gaze stopped at the desk that he'd grown so familiar with the first time. He remembered the metal headband that was in the bottom drawer. What if it actually was something functional and not just scrap metal?

He made his way over to the desk and opened the bottom drawer. The headband was still there, but this time, he noticed there was a scrap of paper lying beneath it. He picked up this paper and skimmed the scribbled handwriting all over it. They were instructions on how to use the device. It was hard to read it all at a glance, but it said something about the multiverse theory. Does this let you travel to other universes? he wondered. He picked up the device and tucked it safely into his backpack along with the instructions.

"Mikey, come on!" Amelia said. "We're going home now."

"I'm coming," Mikey said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. Joy rushed through him at hearing her address him. "We're safe now. Don't worry. We have no rush."

"We still have the Combine to worry about, you know," Amelia said.

As they walked, everybody seemed to enjoy the rain despite getting soaked. Charlie carried Nora who was wrapped up with a canvas tarp to keep her dry. Toby walked along with them and was making light conversation with Nora. She didn't seem to mind making a new friend with the android. Jon and Natalie continued to dance around in the rain with Jon occasionally singing a random song from a musical that Mikey wasn't familiar with.

Mikey continued to walk next to Amelia who looked around at the rain falling through the leaves. Now was his chance to talk to her and be sure that he was on her good side. But what would he say? This was always the problem; he didn't know how to start a conversation with her. He finally decided to just gather up all the courage that he had and just say whatever came to mind. Saying something stupid was better than saying nothing at all at this point.

"So you and Doug are an item now, huh?"

Amelia looked at him a little awkwardly. "Um, yeah," she said.

"It's kind of weird, isn't it?" he continued. "I mean, how old is Doug?"

"I don't know and I don't care," she answered sharply. She looked down in annoyance, and Mikey felt his heart sink a little.

"Sorry, I don't mean to get you upset. I was just curious to see if it really didn't bother you. It's none of my business, but I actually think it's kind of cute. He's a lucky guy." Mikey had no idea why he blurted this last part, but it was too late now as Amelia's expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement.

"Is he?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Mikey went on awkwardly. He didn't know how to fix this so he decided to just say it. "I never thought I'd tell you this, but I…had a pretty big crush on you….like, three years ago."

Amelia looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. Mikey felt his stomach knot. "For real?"

"Yeah." Mikey laughed nervously. "It was just puppy love, though. I'm over it. Anyway, I just want to say that I'm happy for you two. He's a pretty cool guy. Do you think he'd collaborate with me on a coding project or something?"

"Um….Yeah, maybe," Amelia said.

They were quiet for a little while and Mikey panicked on the inside, wondering what had possessed him to run his mouth.

Later on in the train, Mikey was alone in a compartment with Toby and Stevie. He told them about how he'd confessed his feelings for Amelia but had said that he was over his crush by now.

"And for some reason, I said that they made a cute couple," he concluded. "What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing!" Toby said cheerily. "I'm proud of you, man!"

"Yeah, it was brave of you to confess any amount of your affection toward her," Stevie said with a grin. "I'm glad you were able to talk to her at all."

"I don't know," Mikey said, leaning back in his seat. "I just feel stupid. I lied to her about being happy for them. I mean, I'm not as upset as I was earlier, but I still don't like that she's dating anyone else."

"Don't feel stupid," Toby insisted. "She probably really likes that you approve of them. That's more than can be said for Arin."

"Don't drag Arin into it," Stevie said. "He's really not that bad of a guy."

"He is to me," Mikey mumbled. "Hey, uh, Toby. I'm sorry about being so cold toward you before. You know, when I was just pouting."

"It's cool," Toby said simply. "I know you were just upset. No harm done."

"You really have no hard feelings about it?"

"It's in the past," Toby said. "Seriously, there's no bad blood between us. I don't even have any blood."

Mikey let out a chuckle and Toby smiled.

AN: I think this is a good place to stop for a while. I'm having both writer's block and artist's block so I think I need some time to just do whatever. I won't take long with this hiatus. This isn't like Steven Universe or Rick and Morty. I have some more chapters written but I want to pause this story at a good place, ya know?