AN: It's still Saturday so I'm gonna start the posting today. I've got another batch of chapters for y'all.

As Mikey helped Amelia set up her surprise for Doug in one of the labs, he couldn't help smiling a little. She stood on one of the tables with him to help attach Nora to the management rail.

"Thanks for helping me with this," Amelia said as she tried to hold Nora steady while Mikey focused on lining her up with the track. "I think Arin is still kind of bitter about me, uh, rejecting him.

"It's no problem at all," Mikey insisted. "I like to help in any way I can."

"Um…..How have you been lately?"

Mikey's heartbeat quickened as he tried to tame the joy that threatened to explode inside him. "I've been okay," he lied. "I mean, I've kept busy with developing Toby and getting him into his body."

"I don't know if I said it before but you did a really great job on him," Amelia said. "His personality is so genuine. It's extremely impressive."

He could feel his face turning red and he cursed internally that he couldn't hide this by looking down. "Thanks," he said. "He's been my hobby for quite a while now. He's the result of hard work and no social life." He laughed sheepishly.

Amelia laughed a little, too. "That's more than I've accomplished," she remarked.

"Your situation is entirely different," Mikey said. "You're our leader down here."

"Sometimes, it feels like that doesn't mean anything." All humor had left her tone but Mikey was too nervous to look over at her.

They were finally able to line Nora up with the rail enough for her to attach herself to it. Then they got down from the table to look up at the bot.

"How does it feel?" Mikey asked. "You don't feel like you might disconnect, do you? It doesn't feel crooked or anything?"

"No, it feels alright," Nora said quietly as she moved around a bit. "Thank you for helping me."

"No problem at all, Nora," Amelia said. "We're happy we were able to find you."

Mikey watched Amelia's face for a few moments. Her brow was furrowed like something was wrong. "Uh, Amelia?" When she looked back at him, he had to force himself to continue. "H-How have you been? I mean…..Is everything okay?"

She gave him an unconvincing smile. "Yeah, of course," she said. "I mean, I've been a little bored since I haven't been keeping myself busy like you have."

"No, I mean recently," Mikey said. It was easier to keep talking to her now that he was concerned for her. "Like, is everything okay right now? You seem a little distracted with something."

Her smile faltered for a second but she was able to recover it. "Sorry, I'm just tired from everything that's been going on for the past few days. Everything's been changing so quickly. But don't worry, I'm okay. I…I appreciate your concern, though."

Mikey had to smile back now. "Just…any time you need to talk to someone—well, besides Doug—I'm always around."

"S-So anyway." Amelia looked up at Nora. "Here's how I think the surprise should go down. We'll just flip off the lights before I come back with Doug and Nora will close her eye. Then when Doug comes in, we'll shut the door to make it all dark again and Nora will open her eye. At that point, I'm sure Doug will recognize you." She smiled up at Nora. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a good plan," Nora said.

"Yeah, and I like how you thought about the eye thing," Mikey chimed in.

Amelia smiled nervously at his approval. "Thanks," she said. "I'll go get Doug now. Remember to shut off the light before he gets here."

"I won't forget," Mikey said.

"Okay, I'll be back soon." And with that, Amelia left to retrieve Doug.

There was an awkward silence between the two introverts for a few minutes in which Mikey tried to figure out in his head why Amelia seemed so nervous. Was she uncomfortable around him now that she knew about his feelings for her? I mean, even if she thinks I'm over her, I guess she might still feel weird about it, he thought. I really hope I didn't screw things up. But she seemed happy to talk to me. What does this mean? I don't know how to decipher any of this.

"Um…"

Nora's sudden voice made Mikey flinch and he looked up at her.

"I-I know it's none of my business," she said quietly, "but it seemed like there was a tension between you and Amelia."

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about," Mikey lied.

"Um…Did you guys used to d-date or something?" Nora asked timidly.

Mikey laughed at this. "No, we've never been romantically involved."

The lids of Nora's eye retracted to express her surprise. "Really? Sorry to be so nosy but, um…..you two kind of seemed to have a history together."

"Yeah, we kind of do," Mikey said, looking away uncomfortably. "It's a long story that I don't want to get into right now."

"Oh. I'm sorry to have brought it up."

"No, don't be," Mikey insisted. "You didn't know."

There was another long awkward silence between the two awkward people until footsteps could be heard approaching. Since it was so late, it had to have been Amelia and Doug heading for the labs. Mikey suddenly remembered that he was supposed to have turned off the lights. Amelia knocked on the door just as he was getting up from his seat.

"One moment!" he called out as he hurried to the light switch by the door. He flipped the switch down as quietly as he could before he opened the door for them. "Come on in."

Doug appeared confused as Amelia led him into the dark room. Mikey closed the door behind them to make it completely dark.

"Why are the lights out?" Doug murmured.

"Go ahead and open your eye," Mikey told Nora.

Nora retracted her optic lids to reveal her glowing purple eye. Mikey waited a moment to build the suspense before turning on the lights again. He was startled as Doug suddenly rushed forward and jumped up toward Nora. She detached herself from the management rail just as he grabbed her. Doug held her close to his chest as he half-laughed, half-sobbed. It would've been a more emotional scene for Mikey if he hadn't been slightly annoyed by how long it had taken them to get Nora onto that rail in the first place.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed. "Nora, I searched for you for so long! I really did! I tried so hard! I can't believe you're here now!"

"I'm just as happy to see you, Doug!" Nora cried. "GLaDOS said that you had died!"

"No, I'm okay, Nora," Doug said, smiling down at her. "I'm even better now that I know that you're safe."

Mikey's bitterness toward Doug started to fade as he smiled a little. This happy reunion really tugged at his heartstrings. After so much they'd been through together, they're friendship had survived—even after being separated for a few years.

"I'm glad you're safe, too," Nora said. "They said that they're going to make an android body for me like Toby's. Isn't it great?"

Doug smiled more as he wiped his tears away with his sleeve. "Yeah, that's great," he said. "You deserve it, sweetie."

Mikey felt even more touched by this. The way that Doug called her "sweetie" was so paternal. Mikey was almost jealous of this. He'd never had a dad to call him nicknames like "buddy" or "little man"—let alone the feminine nickname "sweetie".

Amelia had never had a dad either. He glanced at her and met her gaze. How long had she been staring at him? She smiled nervously before turning to address her boyfriend. "Doug, we also found another human in Aperture," she said. "And another personality core."

"A human? Like a test subject?" Doug asked.

"Yeah, he was wearing an orange jumpsuit when we found him," Amelia said.

"He's Charlie," Nora said. "Remember that German boy that I told you about?"

"Oh, him?" Doug said. "I thought you said he died. Where is he?"

"In the cafeteria," Amelia said. "He's stuffing his face the same way you did when you first got here."

"Well, why don't we go join him?" Doug asked.

"Okay, but I kind of want Nora to stay in the labs for a while," Amelia said. "Mikey says he wants to check her files to make sure none of them are corrupt."

"It's just a safety precaution," Mikey assured Nora. "We don't want anything to happen to you. You can explore the facility once we get you into your android body."

"Okay," Nora said. "If you think that's for the best."

"I think that's a good idea," Doug said. Mikey appreciated this. Doug must have really missed Nora, but he was okay to part with her again as long as it was for her benefit. "Nora, I'm going to go eat dinner right now. I'll come back to see you tomorrow." He gently set her down on one of the lab tables.

"I'll see you then," Nora said happily.

"Your body is almost done," Mikey said. "Just a day or two and you can try it out. We'll have Toby show you the basic functions."

"Thank you, Mikey," Nora said.

"We better go eat," Amelia said. "I'm starving. We'll see you tomorrow, Nora."

"Bye, Nora," Doug said.

"Bye."

Doug and Amelia left the room, leaving Mikey to feel awkward again. He wished Amelia had stayed back. He was curious about the way she had been looking at him. Nora noticed the exhausted and frustrated look in his eyes.

"Um, you seem upset about something," she said nervously.

Mikey didn't look at her as he answered. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"It's, uh, n-none of my business," Nora said timidly, "but you seem to like Amelia a lot."

Mikey smiled a tiny bit at this. "I can't deny that."

"How long have you two known each other?" Nora asked curiously.

"Pretty much my whole life," Mikey said. "But if you want years, around twenty."

"Oh." Nora didn't seem to know what to say at first. After about ten long seconds, she said, "I'm sorry that she's dating Doug."

Mikey gave her a reassuring look. "Don't be sorry. If she wants to be with him, who am I to get in the way of her happiness? Here, let's check your files now."

AN: It's chapters like these that make me remember this bit from "Love As A Construct":

"Are you ready for me to detach myself?" Nora asked Rattmann. He nodded so she closed her eyes and detached herself from her management rail. She had never been off her rail since they first attached her to it many years ago. When she fell into Rattmann's arms, she trembled. She slowly opened her eye and was surprised at how close the floor was now. She looked up at Rattmann. "Am I too heavy?"

Rattmann shook his head and smiled at her as if she were an angel. If she had a mouth, Nora would have smiled back.

*sigh* Good times. Things were simpler back then for me.