Chell woke, barely holding back a scream.
Today was the day. The 19th anniversary of Chell's arrival in Eaden. The cube was singing, as it did every year, to remind her of how far she'd come.
"Oh, it's you."
And apparently, all she had suffered along the way.
"It's in the past." Chell reminded herself firmly as the red LED on the radio caught her eye. "She can't hurt you anymore."
"Correction, she doesn't feel like hurting you right now." Her brain shot back as she walked upstairs to the bathroom. "And that doesn't account for the walking, talking memory minefield sharing your bed!"
"Wheatley is a good person. I'm not afraid of him!"
"Gah! Come back here you stupid bee! Stay. still. Please!" Wheatley came running out of the bedroom, almost knocking her over. All at once, she was back in That Place, dodging crushers as the voice she once considered a friend demanded she just die already-
"Chell...I-" Instinctively, she pulled back, only to realize too late that she was safe, in her house, with her husband of nearly 20 years. Her heart was racing, and she barely registered Wheatley fleeing downstairs
"Not scared, huh? Keep telling yourself that."
Today was the day. The 19th anniversary of Chell's escape from Aperture, and the day her PTSD was strongest. While they both tried their best to focus on the positive aspects of that day, the woman he loved still had flashbacks.
"A good chunk of those flashbacks feature you in the starring role."
"Shut up." Wheatley told his brain firmly. Chell didn't need him to feel sorry for himself. She needed something to cheer her up. But what?
"Breakfast in bed? No, been there, burned that."
"A massage? No, touching her is probably a bad idea. Plus, I have no idea how to give massages."
"Maybe if I-"
Bzzzz
Wheatley's face hardened as he frantically swatted the air around his face. "Maybe I'll start by getting this pest out of our bedroom!"
Wheatley steeled himself for the coming battle, flyswatter in one hand and plastic cup in the other. He crept up on his prey, inch by incredibly stealthy inch, and poured 18 years of hand-eye coordination practice into his lethal swing.
He missed completely.
"How many eyes do these things have?" Wheatley thought furiously as he chased the bee around the room, swinging blindy every 5 seconds. He hit the window, he hit the bed, he almost hit the pebble lamp, but he couldn't hit the damned bee!
"Stay. Still. Please!" Wheatley griped as he swung again and again and again. The bee, sensing an escape, flew out the open bedroom door, and Wheatley barreled after it. This was the fight of his life, of the century. It was Holmes versus Moriarty, Aristotle versus-
"Gah!"
Wheatley stopped just short of crashing into Chell. All at once, it hit him what this must have sounded like. Chell was looking right at him, but her eyes were 12 miles away, and thousands of feet underground.
"Chell...I-"
She flinched. She flinched, and Wheatley panicked. He bolted down the stairs, out the door, and into the storm cellar.
"Way to go triggering her, Wheatley!" He yelled at himself, alone in the dark. "Husband of the year everyone!" He buried his head in his hands. "Maybe the best thing you can do for Chell today, is let her be alone."
"Mr. Wheatley?"
"Gah!" Wheatley turned around to see Alex holding the Companion Cube, followed by Sophie chasing after her. "I told you not to touch that!" She turned to Wheatley, "I told her not to touch that."
"S'alright, she was bound to find it eventually." Wheatley turned to Alex. "Let me guess, you heard it singing?"
Alex nodded. "I didn't know they could do that."
"GLaDOS rigged that one to play a lullaby every year on the day Chell escaped." Wheatley explained. "Either sentiment or Her idea of a joke."
Alex wrinkled her nose in confusion. "But why keep it? Didn't you want to forget Aperture?"
"Well it can't all be sorrow, can it?" Wheatley responded patiently. "Today's also the day she came to Eaden, and met all the nice people here. And as horrible as Aperture was, there were some good moments."
"Like the Great Cake Incident?" Alex beamed.
"Exactly. Say….did I ever tell you girls about the time I saved Christmas?"
After a relaxing shower, Chell had regained enough composure to begin berating herself. The nightmare she'd experienced that morning had been the worst one in years. And then she'd flinched, in front of Wheatley. She had never been scared of him, not even when he first came to Eaden. She felt pathetic, and now Wheatley was going to be mopey all day and she couldn't deal with that. Not now.
As she trudged down the stairs, Chell saw the three most important people in her life talking and laughing around the kitchen table. She had no clue what could possibly be funny about today, and so she asked them.
"Mr. Wheatley was just telling us about the time he fought a bird!" Alex piped up innocently.
"What?"
Wheatley noticed the confusion and alarm on her face, and rubbed his arm awkwardly. "I just thought, with all the bad memories that come with today, we should try to find some good ones."
Chell smiled. "I think that's a pretty good idea." With that, she launched into a tale of the first time she met Romy Hatfield, while taking guesses on why exactly she called her "Michelle." And so, the scars of April 18th began to be soothed, as the unlikely family swapped stories long into the night, and the Companion Cube played it's yearly farewell.
Aperture Science Enrichment Center
Caroline watched from her metaphysical perch in the mainframe as GLaDOS exploded the co-op bots for the 10th time that day, and with 5 times more force than usual.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she began, reaching through the not-space of GLaDOS' neural network, "but is there something you want to talk about?"
"Oh thank heavens. I thought you'd never ask!"
Happy anniversary Portal 2!