Prompt:

"GLaDOS may carry the memories of Caroline, but Wheatley carries her soul."

Rating: T

Genre: Family/Romance

I do not intend to take ownership of anything more than the story presented here. Portal belongs to Valve.

Like Father like Son

"Oh, you have to be kidding me"

The lunatic was still, probably from her recently acquired wounds. Even from the height the chassis offered the exposed cuts were a show to behold, in a similar fashion in that watching a circus man swallow fire is fascinating.

Oh, She was sure the central chamber was going to look close to a surgery room when they were done, the girl cared for basic hygiene rules as much as for why fratricide is condemned as an act of biblical malice, which, considering she had at least sacrificed 3 companion cubes in her way there, meant that she was going to keep bleeding without breaking a sweat for biological contamination a while more.

"And I thought brain damage was just an early diagnosis," She said with false disappointment that her theory was debunked. "I even mused about the possibility your left hemisphere is not stunned at all"

Of course, she didn't have brain damage. If her puzzle-solving abilities weren't enough proof, the linguistic capabilities she seemed to show proved that even with her lack of speech, 999999- years in stasis hadn't erased the memories of human communication and social skills from her past life, whichever this might have been. She didn't know this, however, the A. I certainly doubted any knowledge the girl had before becoming a test subject had something to do with clinical psychology, but she was unwilling to let her forget that her behavior, justified by brain trauma or not, was extremely unusual.

"I suppose that I will have to subtract some points for you. And I was beginning to think that we understood each other"

The lunatic was not alone. The corner that served as her refuge was one of those that survived the frenzy of idiocy that had just shaken the entire building. The perpetrator lied behind her, stunned from being ripped from the mainframe, the android was vulnerable to Her will as an ear of wheat to the wind but not anymore useless as he had been before his little selfish show had neglected the nuclear reactor and almost blown the facility to pieces.

"I know what you are doing, what I don't seem to get is why. Could you be kind enough to explain it to me? There must be something I'm missing"

She finally looked up to meet Her gaze, grey eyes contrasting painfully with the red smudges in her skin. Her eyebrows came together in the middle of her forehead, Her facial recognition software couldn't tell if it was from pain or frustration. It seemed that suddenly her body weighed much more than it should, because it took a lot of effort and a few hisses of pain for her to get up to her feet. Without the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device in her arm, Her optic could have mistaken her for another human entirely, her scrawny pose certainly helped to disturb the solid image of the test subject who stubbornly refused to collapse in pain after being nearly teleported to the moon.

Below her, the girl puffed out her chest and held her amber gaze in response to Her question. This was another peculiar trait of hers; although technically incapable of speech, she was ridiculously expressive, her clear eyes practically shouted what her voice could not communicate, so it was not difficult for Her to understand what she was saying. Now, among all the things she could have said, her countenance spoke something She had already suspected:

Don't touch him

At her soundless response, GLaDOS checked on the human figure behind her a second time. He was resting in the same position she knew human's sleep. He, of course, was not human, and android´s, obviously, don't sleep. Their power was stored in electric cells close to their chest, in a similar way as a child´s toy keeps beeping with the energy of a lithium-ion battery. She could have laughed at the similarities the robot and the girl had with a child's toy and their master, but the programs needed for it were still idle, the system reboot was barely accommodating to the core change, it would take some time so she could laugh at her own jokes again.

But, by the serious glance the test subject was giving Her, the A.I theorized it wouldn't be needed for this dispute.

"I don't have time for this. You clearly are not thinking properly. Remember when you didn't know where to go down in the pipes and I guided you, so we didn't get embalmed in conversion gel? Well, it appears I have to think for you again, and since you are not thinking straight at the moment, let me put it simply; that moron´s safety does not figure in either of us plans".

GLaDOS inner-workings, similar in function and appearance to a human neural network, ordered a mechanical claw to manifest itself in front of her. Next, with the same vigor in which a foreman orders a subordinate, She whispered inwardly for it to grab the quiescent android and bring him to Her, where the ideas department for a possible punishment were beginning to show more promising now that Her voltage was not limited to the 0,5 V of the tubercular body. She hadn't settled on the exact implications yet, but She was sure things were going to get far more graphical than the initial room where all the robots scream at you.

The lunatic saw this and her face darkened as if she were angry that her clear answer had been ignored. In a miraculous way, taking her injuries into consideration, she leaped backwards to where her companion laid, arranging her body on top of him so that her limbs intertwined with his; if the claw wanted to grab him, she was going to go with him. Again, the message spelled on her face as she produced a sound close to a hiss, her vocal cords were not strong enough to shout a reprimand.

Don't touch him

As if the claw had been scared by the sudden burst of what could only be described as primitive savagery, the movement stopped. She had almost let herself overlook that humans were, in fact, animals. Their filed fangs and lack of fur visually distinguished them from the rest of the food chain, and even their brains, limited and all, had proved in all Her experiments they had a good reason to feel superior among the animal kingdoms residents.

But, as her test subject had already proven, those instincts that kept them alive so much time ago, way before the fire, the wheel, or her oh so precious scientific method, were still there. Those who filled a hawk´s wings with the need to fly, those who drive monkey's brains to collect shiny stones, and those, who at this very moment, gathered energy from a non-existent place within Chell's body, and fiercely motivated her to protect the scrap piece of metal with her life.

It was almost as unnerving as her level of tenacity, She mused, only this one, was much wilder.

Being an A.I, not only She didn't have a complete understanding of the animal side of human nature, but she also completely abhorred it. In the limited time she had spent with humans, she had become accustomed to those working on Aperture Innovations. One, if not only the only thing those people had had in common with her was a (programmed or natural, it didn't matter since it felt the same) unconditional love for science.

The processor within Her operating system shone at the difficulty presented trying to find information in the storage banks that would explain such unintelligible behavior. The room was filled with the almost imperceptible sound of GlaDOS's insides working and the erratic breathing of the girl, who, seeing that there was no longer any danger, laid on her back next to the inert robot.

She was well versed in psychology, She had been trying to control and crush them in the most devastating ways back in the day, so Her knowledge about their brains was on par with any professional in the field of human medicine.

The test subject had been a victim of experimentation from an early age, the records of the specimen with inexhaustible tenacity were so old that She had not even been activated when she already had a kind of "fame" with scientists. A foreign sense of indignation filled her when those files indicated that before being assigned to the ASHPD project, Chell (REDACTED) had been used a test tube in which to examine different drugs and their effects on unsupervised environments.

There was no doubt: human contact had been denied from her for a long time.

Human isolation was sometimes used as a form of torture. It suited her right, She thought, feeling a bit relieved at the lunatics' past suffering and that Her death didn't go completely unpunished.

She knew people in those situations were inclined to develop emotional ties with anything, just to keep their sanity. That Rat and his Companion Cube had proved the theory right in some degree, but She, the brilliant scientist, didn't let that unsupervised experiment taint her results since the test subject had never been sane, in any degree.

If just a hollow box was able to have that type of impact in the human psyche, then having contact with a human-looking object must have made it terribly easy to connect with. Especially if that object talked back when addressed to.

They had given him that body after the failure of their first meeting. That pesky parasite proved to be more useless than they had originally programmed him, the files showed an outplacement request for the construct in almost every area of the Facility, a testimony to his preprogrammed incapacity to learn. But then, somehow, the requests and forms stopped arriving; they had found him a place.

The Cryogenic Storage Wing.

It was as if the engineers knew humans wouldn't be able to access the test subjects anymore, because they transferred the faulty CPU into a human-like shell, the first of a healthy line of androids that among other things, were meant to be the perfect replacement for human labor and all the paperwork it involves.

She should have crushed them the moment She became aware of their existence, the only thing that kept her metaphorical fist away from the docking station was the potential use She could find after getting rid of a certain lunatic and her escaping pal. Atlas and P-body could attribute their existence to this cat and mouse game before their activation.

Seems human, sounds human, feels human…but he is not. Even she could have realized that when the idiot tried to squeeze himself between advanced firewalls when she plugged him into one of those doors, the lifts, the panels, the mainframe. He was a robot, not a human.

And even so, they are in this predicament. She has let her base instincts dominate her, the need for human interaction has clouded her sense of reason to see that this thing, stuck between a human male and a defunct A.I, is not much valuable than that cube resting in the Incinerator.

Her processors work kilometers per millisecond, either restoring the old connection between Her and the lines of code or trying to decipher this so human problem that she can only address as an outsider. Frustration accumulates in the head of the structure, running down onto the floor and threatening to collapse that corner that serves as their refuge into their heads.

"He tried to kill us," She says, the warmth of Her voice contrasting painfully with the sentence being said.

She doesn't even flinch, the pool of blood has stopped by itself and now frames the two silhouettes as if they were surrounded by a nest of iron.

"Doesn't that bother you? Attempted murder? If I remember correctly, you are the type of person to hold a grudge. I tried to put our differences behind us, what did I get? Wrongful murder, again. I didn't even push you down into an elevator shaft for that."

Still, no response. Her eyes are glued into the chassis, Her scanner tells Her she is still conscious. She has her complete attention.

"Here´s a fun fact: he was closer to end your existence than I ever was. Don't get me wrong, if I really wanted to, I could have ended your crusade a long time ago, I just didn't have it in me to put an end to our little games. That's the thing: he was really invested in seeing your lung cavity give its last breath, it says it right here, in the Black Box Feature."

She seemed to consider this, at least for some seconds. She brushes the information off as if it was dust off her pelt, not even bothering to analyze it further.

If it wasn't for the capabilities mentioned above, GLaDOS would have cataloged her as brain dead.

"I am starting to get angry" She said, the timber of Her voice not matching her words.

"Don't underestimate me, Chell. We may have had an alliance some chambers back, but don't even think I am going to submit to your every whim. Quite the opposite, if I am honest. Get yourself away from that moron and let me do what I need to do, I won't let you delay my plans any longer."

The claw comes back, but this time, the test subject had something more to give than a hiss. Taking the inert body by the shoulders, she started pushing herself to the edge of the room, where a hole She hadn't noted at first sits below the makeshift roof.

"Don't you dare."

The mischievous smile playing on her lips challenged her. Or what?

"You would rather start this persecution scene over letting that moron get what he deserves? What are you trying to prove? That you are never going to listen to anything anyone says to you, even if it's for your own good? That you can endure apocalyptic circumstances and won't break your stoic act while doing it? You can't control them. You can't control me."

She approximated near the offending hole, a one-way ticket to begin this infuriating task of trying to catch and get rid of her anew. Her internal software wept at the idea of having to create more elaborate traps, puzzles, schemes, just to get her a bit closer to the giant X. She wouldn't sit there and let that happen again.

She drew out of curse words inhabiting human language to describe the melting volcano that it is binary code now surging through every panel. She wanted a fight? So be it, She knew her moves well enough, it wouldn't be a long time before she collapsed of tiredness, she would cut out the supply of adrenal vapor. Oh, what's that? She wanted to jump into a bottomless pit? Fine, those legs wouldn't endure her weight without the long fall boots to help her.

Static burns behind strings of code, preprogrammed emotions, and what she had begun to accept as memories before birth prepared themselves to stop the virus from expanding into the walls of Her facility once again. She might even put literal firewalls this time, just to check if the boiling point of human skin was still the one She remembered from back then.

A foreign ribbon of tenderness laced itself through Her circuitry, the giant chassis hanging defenseless before stimulus it cannot translate into a data feed.

-She is just like her father-

Every cord froze in time, the claw and the metal head in the chamber stopped the sudden moves altogether, as if squinting to hear, to feel, the other presence.

"I thought I said you were not coming back"

-I remember telling him the same thing, you know. Oh, he was such a mess! So difficult to control and predict…but I guess that's what made him himself, the thing that never changed-

"Shut up"

-You remember, don't you? It was when those investors came from South America. I think they were interested in the prototypes for the old turrets, remember those? They were so tiny and fragile, couldn't even shot a rubber bullet without falling from the impact, haha!-

"No, I don't remember. I am busy at the moment, would you please- "

-Oh Darling, don't worry, I´ll refresh your memory! Hm, it was back when the Salt mine was still in construction, the day after the guys in Manufacturing came to visit us for our first Secretary´s Day. Oh, how I loved that basket they gave us, they were so nice, don't you think? We were so young back then, mama´s red stilettos still fitted us, with the little polka dots and ribbons… Oh, sorry, I am deviating again, silly me! -

"What are you talking about?"

During the unwanted intervention, the lunatic kept still, probably staring mystified at GLaDOS conversation with the voice in her head. She looked back at Her, sudden indecision made her doubt about collapsing the roof on top of the perpetrators.

"You-" She said, the head of the chassis pointing accusingly at her "don't even think about escaping. If I see you crossing that hole, I assure you I won't be as merciful as last time. I have something to resolve before deciding what to do with you. Just for five minutes, let's call a truce. I don't crush you, you don't escape"

The lunatic looked at her as if She had grown a second head. It should have embarrassed her to stop the persecution like this, but the nagging voice in the back of her mind demanded attention, similar to someone was constantly ringing the bell to her consciousness. It was almost as irritating as he had been.

Finally, the girl nodded, a signal She recognized as being an affirmative. Good, now She could search for a way to get rid of her.

-Thank you for taking your time, sweetie! Now, where were we? Oh, the meeting with the gentleman from Techana! How could you ever forget about that? It was the first time we saw Mr. Johnson so angry! I really thought he would jump out of the chair and bite their necks off, like those mantis-men the Biology practitioners warned us about…by the way, do you know what happened to them? The last time I saw one was when the last female killed the last male, she couldn't have escaped, right? Oh, those poor creatures, I wish we had thought of the insectarium idea sooner…-

"Look, I don't have time for this. Is there any way that you can go away for a while until I deal with them? I may have to order an installation of a failsafe feature again, you seem to pass every barricade I put on you-"

-Sorry sorry! I deviated again, oh Caroline, focus, focus! We don't have all the time in the world! As I was saying, it was a good day at first, we had just come back from our lunchtime, I don't remember exactly what it was, we packed a few apples in the morning, we probably shared them with Sam, oh remember Sam? She was a fantastic little girl …-

The words on her mind suddenly took shape and form. Remembering is something that A.I´s can do, but not in the same fashion humans would. Human memory is flawed, weak to manipulation, vulnerable to the mood of the patient. Robotic data and information gathered from previous experiences didn't rust over time or succumbed to bad experiences: data was data, and that is all.

But this sensation… didn't feel as simply extracting a record of the information she was looking for and reading it as a file. This was different, a completely alien experience, like those moments she passed down there when She heard the recordings for the first time. That constructing, oppressive sense of Deja-vu she wished to never experience again.

It takes Her nonexistent breath away.

-Oh, it looks like you do remember! Here, let me help you, mother always told us we were fantastic storytellers. So, after we went back from Sam´s, we were going to take up the elevator to our office, we didn't even have a pretty name for it back then, the door was just a curtain with our name on it! Do you remember the smell, darling? What did it smell like? -

Smell is a primary human function. They might be partially blind when they are born, some usually deaf, but smell is the only sense that has been with them since prehistory, even if they didn't remember the date or location, they would always have that primitive GPS to guide them through their internal archive.

She does remember. She remembered the scent of a new car when entering the lobby, the perfume of the assistants running to get their lunches in the cafeteria down the avenue. She remembered entering the elevator and being greeted by pine and rust coming from the tiles and the people on board with her. She remembered the smell of fresh cement and a breeze of urban smog when reaching the peak of that 24-floor building, where the dirty curtain awaited her to start her shift.

The memories don't stop there, each becoming more livid and palpable, somehow raising the level of realism to the heights of consistent data feed and binary stimulus.

-And then, what did we do? Do you remember who was waiting for us? It was-

Them.

She had never seen them, those well-dressed gentlemen. She was just starting on the company, give her a break! She may not have recognized their faces, but she couldn't mistake those briefcases or hunting glances: they were investors. Pretty angry investors, by the looks of things.

She had dusted off her dress and put on one of her best secretary smiles. This was going to be a challenge.

She had used her best attributes: her smile and kind demeanor. She apologized a million times about the state of the offices, explaining that their transformation from a curtain manufacturer to importers of scientific products had merited a humble remodeling of the entire building, there were rumors that Mr. Johnson was planning an expansion too.

Those man with hearts of steel, they didn't even look at her in the eye, too busy talking to each other and overflowing with contempt for anything but a standard boardroom. Still, she kept busying them, offering to hang their coats and bring them glasses of water with a tone any mother would envy, the standard smile and helpful attitude never once leaving her face.

The tallest of them sat up, his expression reminded her of a client whose beverage had been spilled on him several times.

They had had enough.

"Ms. Caroline," he said, "we have seen everything we need to see."

Things quickly went out of hand. She had tried to stop them, begging them for patience and a bit of understanding, making time until her boss arrived. Questions, suggestions, blocking the door, none of them had helped. Second by second, the image that the company had created was collapsing under the reality of her situation, where her credibility and chance to make these important people give them the prestige they wanted, deserved, was floating along with the gentle breeze from the heights of a skyscraper.

And she was so young, inexperienced, naïve.

"What do you expect us to do, Ms. Caroline? Wait until he feels like coming? We took a plane from South America, non-stop, at your request, and know he can't even bother to receive us in a decent lobby? Who do you take us for? Newbies?"

"Nonono Sir, that's not what I meant, you just have to give us a chance, we have so much to offer you- "

"A chance, Ms. Caroline? Everything we have done so far has proven more than enough times that we gave you plenty of chances. Our lawyers and representatives are exhausted from the long flight but coming to see you it's the first thing we did in the morning, we haven't even had breakfast because of the urgency!"

"But Sir, that is not my fault- "said the assistant, her tone cracking against the man's reprimands.

"And about the potential of this company…" he said, looking around with distaste.

"Not even 6 months ago, you were a bathroom curtains marketer, a title that has nothing to do with scientific research, not even one of your fields was close to the Pharmaceutic or Metallurgy industry. The Company is still in its infancy, with only one defective product to offer. The trip to the top floor made me open my eyes."

The tall man approached her, every cautious step rumbling up to her chest. She had never felt so tiny against someone ever since elementary school, where a wake-up call like this from a teacher would have made her whimper with grief. She repeated to herself those days were over, but even now she was careful with those above her.

"You have no idea what you are doing".

The man whispered, but it ringed in her ears. She knew he was talking about the company as a whole, but the words stung as if they were directed at her.

The worst part was that they were true.

She had taken this job because the requirements and references were very low, to not say nonexistent. She knew she was fitted for the task, having spent more than enough time preparing herself in various schools and administrative courses. Going out into the world and looking for work was much more difficult than she had expected. It was as if companies expected a 20-year-old to have 10 years of experience with recognized names in the industry, her knowledge and academic notes paling in comparison of her competitor's connections with those above. So when she saw the advertisement in the newspaper, she took all of her things and went running for the first bus that stopped in front of Aperture´s nonexistent quarters, eager to show that she was as capable as any of her colleagues, 10 times more, even!

She had suspected what the man in front of her was pointing out from day one. Aperture´s Science team was rapidly developing a habit of not delivering honest results every month, the ambitions on the urban and financial expansion of the company from its C.E.O were being stopped by the mismanagement of a family business that reluctantly followed in the footsteps of such extreme remodeling. None of them knew what they were doing, from the ladies in the lobby to those chemistry students they had taken from a juvenile hall. They were not the united structure that worked for the good of all employees and worked hard to make every effort worth it; they were a side project of the spoiled kid who had never received a blunt no to the face.

Even she was not sure of what her purpose was here. To serve coffee? To babysit annoying customers? A call-center manager? Her scientific knowledge was limited to half of the periodic table and a few chemical clearances she had learned in high school! She was not the atomic engineer these men wanted to see, she was a humble social worker who barely had the experience to do paperwork. She didn't belong there, with the big fish.

"I-I…" She murmured, her voice threatening to collapse under the man's severe eyes and her own self-doubt.

She didn't even know what to say once her voice came back. They had found out, they had caught the bunch of kids under the coat that wanted to sneak into the liquor store. He had caught her inexperience, incapacity to take action she had so desperately tried to hide.

"I-I…"

The curtain slid over the rail briskly quickly, a characteristic loud voice taking everyone by surprise.

"What do you mean they are in the middle of a meeting? I am the one that proposed the goddam- Oh, gentleman, you waited for me, what a nice surprise. I see you have already met my lovely assistant! Ms. Caroline, thank you for holding them enough time for me to get here. Can you believe what just happened? The darn elevator broke at the last second! I swear, I was right behind the boys from accounting when that metal coffin stopped showing signs of life, out of nowhere! Reveals itself against its master, you could say".

Mr. Johnson went through the makeshift office paying no mind to the exasperated glances directed at him as if he were the clown avoiding daggers in one of those circus acts. He directed his walk to the small desk, serving himself a bit of alcohol as if they were visitors on his own summer house.

"Anyway, I couldn't wait 7 hours for the technician to show up, you guys deserve better than that! I bet you can´t guess how I got here- Any suggestions? Ms. Caroline, can you guess?"

"N-no Mr. Johnson-" She answered on automatic, still a little dizzy from the salvation brought by the sudden appearance of her boss.

"Of course not, I myself wouldn't have guessed either. The trebuchet, ladies and gentlemen! Can you believe we had one kept lying around for special occasions? Just sitting there, waiting to be released to the wild. And what an especial occasion, If I say so myself. You know, I have never gone skydiving, I am not a lunatic, but I am sure the experience my sister described to me the other day was the same I felt mere minutes ago! I may patent it if you are interested in almost immediate fast travel. Safer than interdimensional wormholes, you know what I mean-"

"Actually, Mr. Johnson, we were just about to leave"

The friendly attitude on Cave's face faded with those words, being replaced by a surprised, almost indignant expression.

"Excuse me, you were about to what?"

"As you heard, Mr. Johnson. Me and my investors have been waiting for over an hour for you and your assistant to get here, not to mention that the conditions in which you greet us are less than favorable. When you contacted us by phone some weeks ago, you promised we would be witnesses to, and I quote, ´the greatest innovations the scientific world has ever seen-" said the tallest man in an almost childish, dreamy voice.

"You presumed there would be no more setbacks or excuses, just pure results. After checking your history, I was able to find information about your scientific background, which I have to say, was not much. Aperture, as you have already established, is not a scientific-based organization, and by the looks of things, will never be. You have lied to us, through paperwork and spoken word, showing how little you know about the field you are trying to master."

The man bowed his stature to Cave's, bearing a good head over the spirited man in a gesture that resulted unintentionally intimidating. To her surprise, her boss didn't even retract his shoulders, instead of listening to the accusations with a gaze of the same intensity.

"Correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Diaz- "said Cave, not once breaking eye contact "-do you think our company is not enough for you?"

"I am sorry-?"

"Nono, excuse me, Mr. Diaz, you and your goddamn clown cart. I believe I haven't made clear who I am and where you are."

The men's gazes turned predatory, the uncalled insult had surprised them all in equal measure, particularly the tallest one, who appeared to be their representative, what once was a peaceful and mature expression now was turned into an irate scowl.

"I reached out for you because of your history" the man with the sideburns continued, running a free hand through his hair and growing beard, he no longer cared to keep up appearances.

"I knew you didn't have the connections to make it to the other side of the continent. I saw your struggle in the old days, singing contracts, meeting deadlines, balling shoes to whom it was necessary to make yourselves known, even if their ethics were not the most graceful" he said with a knowing smile.

"I saw you ever since I was a teenager, eager to work with you, to know your ways, to create an alliance in which both would benefit, no matter if my company sold rag dolls or industrial washing machines. I noticed you were having problems expanding your brand to us Americans, I thought we were really missing something big, something new and innovative…I thought you would understand what it is to be judged by your origins and not by your achievements. Mr. Diaz, I am afraid to say we were both victims of false advertising".

Cave sat up from the wooden desk, his eyes shining golden in the Michigan sunrise, matching the rough whisky resting in his glass.

"Aperture is my home, it has been ever since I was a little boy, helping Gramps distribute salaries or checking what chore my dad had for me in the day. We are men who have inherited beyond the company, we have inherited courage, ambition, the need to turn what we have into something else, even if that idea is something completely different from what our fathers hoped for us. So what if we don't have a shiny fucking skyscraper with a penthouse view? Do you think the Chinese wall was built in one day? Do you think their legacy came out of nowhere, just waiting to be found by their parents to gift it to the babies who were already born with a silver spoon?" He said accusingly to the man with leather cases.

"Excuse me, Mr. Diaz, if you think this pigsty is not enough for your standards, but the one thing I understood from philosophy in middle school was that the only purpose of mankind on this earth is to surpass itself and become greater than our ancestors could ever dream of, leaving a legacy to future generations to surpass themselves and raise their own children".

"If you are so conceited that you do not even consider people who are starting out like you did one day because you have already reached the top, let me tell you something: Aperture doesn't need you here. You won't complain about my office, insult my assistant, unfairly criticize my people and then walk off as if nothing happened. We are not begging for attention or funds; we have plenty of both without you by our side. I can't believe I once dreamed of a partnership with you, that's what I get for trying to share the success that none of you have worked hard to achieve."

Caroline was awestruck, but not as much as the businessman in front of her. The silence stretched for a long time, the thick tension between the only man with a glass of liquor in hand and the tall assistant was unbearable, caught in a game of stretch and loosen neither was willing to lose.

The tension broke. One of the men, an old one with a white suit, got up and looked around the office, settling his eyes in the C.E.O´s drink. Without a word, he got out of the room, almost ripping the filthy curtain off the rail with the impact of his displeasure.

"If I had known this would be the reception that we would have in Michigan, I would not have canceled the appointment with the lawyers in New Mexico." The tallest man mumbled to the other at his back "We are off, Mr. Johnson. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"I wish I could say the same." Said Cave, not bothering to receive the handshake.

One by one, the well-dressed gentleman exited the office, dust and dried cement staining their flared shoes. She was quick to accompany them, but a tug in her arm stopped her.

"I think they know the way home, Ms. Caroline," said the man, the irate scowl that had once been in his face vanishing to calm the rookie "Don't you?"

"Of course," said one of the men in the back "don't worry about us, Miss. My colleagues and I will excuse ourselves to the front door".

And with that, they were gone.

She breathed a little lighter, surprised to hear that his breathing had eased too. Quick to break the ice, the man with the sideburns poured a different glass, perhaps miscalculating the amount a bit, and offered it to her with a smile.

"That was intense, huh?" he said, a laugh hidden in his panting. She just stared at him startled, unsure of what to say.

He laughed a bit more at that, concentrating on taking the whole drink in one go. She was mystified, staring at her reflection in the foggy substance. The emotions that had been encapsulated by surprise blossomed into the quiet moment, and for once, she let go.

"They were our only chance," she said, her voice small.

"What do you mean?"

"They were our only connection with some high-rank investors, weren't they?"

"Well yes, Ms. Caroline, but don't worry about that- "

"No Mr. Johnson, it's my job to worry about that. What are we going to do without that money? We don't even have the funds to finish the ground floor, how are we going to pay for all those things we have already ordered? T-the employees, they don't know about the situation of the company- "

"I told you, we are going to be fine- "

"No, we are not going to be fine!" she exploded, a bit of her drink spilling onto the floor at the movement.

"With all due respect, Mr. Johnson, you are delusional! You heard them, they were not lying, this company is kept afloat with wooden sticks, last month we had to delay all of our big projects because workers refused to work without the fair payment we promised! All of those demands to the social workers union didn't come out of nowhere, we have been dragging issues like this ever since you took the position of C.E.O"

"It's a miracle that no more demands have arrived in the mail, our scientists do not even have a Ph.D.! This is a disaster, unqualified people working for unqualified pay…those men could have helped us get the status we want, some clippings here, some signatures there, voila! Actual doctors and certified scientists would be begging to work with us, they know what they are doing. Why did you have to insult them like that, don't you think big companies talk? Where the hell are we going to get investors from if all of them have already heard about that time when the boss himself called them clowns in front of their colleagues?"

The man stood there, fascinated. By what, she wasn't entirely sure, but he didn't stop her, so she kept on ranting.

"You would rather let your company die than hearing a wake-up call from outside sources? What were you trying to prove? That you are never going to listen to negative reviews, even if it's for your own benefit? That you can endure apocalyptic circumstances and won't break your proud act while doing it? You can't control them Cave, as much as they can´t control you."

Silence once again dominated her office, this time it stretched much longer, her bleary eyes not looking at him directly. She knew she had exaggerated, probably throwing all his speech from a few minutes ago in the trash can, but she seriously thought she was going to say it sooner or later. She could only pretend things were fine to an extent.

"Are you finished?" He said, his tone was strangely sincere instead of mocking.

"Yes" she replied, looking at her reflection in the glass once again, "I think I am"

A breeze danced among them, the urban smug easing a bit off the tense situation.

"Ms. Caroline, I am sorry if I ever came out as delusional or prideful, that really wasn't my intention. You may be right about those things, by the way, I am not blind, Aperture sure has a long way to go before becoming what I want. But I won´t let anyone tell me that we are not worthy of the title, much less any of those lazy, good for nothing fat-ass executives, the only thing they know how to do is receive; even though they are called investors, they will not take any risk, they are too greedy to lose a penny on a project that has less than 50% probability of taking flight. I might have needed that wake-up call, but I prefer that the mouth that tells me so is worried about me, not about my savings".

"I listened to the whole thing Caroline; I am sorry for not intervening sooner. I assure you, you weren't picked up randomly. We checked your qualifications, every note, every academic success; we wanted the best of the best. I gotta admit I was a little worried you would stay passive and just take my side, I know I can get a little intense sometimes, so I need someone to snap me back to reality. My dad used to be the one, but you know…people don't last forever" his countenance became melancholic, his eyes lost themselves in the remaining of his drink.

"I-I am sorry Mr. Johnson, I didn't know-"

"Don't apologize, you are new here, you had no way of knowing. I will understand if you want to leave your position, I will make sure to fill out a recommendation sheet myself on Tuesday morning, I heard things are crazy out there, they want you to have evidence that you've worked since you know how to hold a pencil! I will ship your things to the address you give Linda when you go down to the lobby, you know her right? The one with the-"

"With the blue headband, dark hair, green eyes, I know, I talked to her on the way to the cafeteria. But Mr. Johnson, I never said I wanted to leave…"

"No? Then, you will stay?" There was a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

Caroline contemplated. Did she want to stay? The company was just starting, the employees were running in and out like headless chickens, they didn't have enough money to pay the rent or those urban workers…but still, she felt connected to this place. His speech had been corny, sure, but she couldn't help but feel the same way, and not only because he had a contagious enthusiasm.

In the little time she had been there, she had fallen in love with the sincere efforts and humble beginnings most of the staff were making, not really knowing where that enthusiasm was heading them but compromised to follow it, nonetheless. They were like her, young, naïve, full of energy, and hungry to prove to the world what they were made of. What kind of message was she delivering by abandoning them in turbulent times? To give up on their dreams and settle for the safe options? That was not something she wanted to be remembered for.

She looked up, where Cave´s brilliant eyes waited patiently for her response. She doubted he would shame her for leaving, but a conviction in her chest didn't want him to be alone. Maybe it was just ego, but it felt as if she left now all of Aperture, including him, wouldn't find someone who understood them on such a deep level.

She shook her head, offering her hand.

"Even in apocalyptic circumstances, Mr. Johnson," She said, the gleam in her eyes reflecting the sunset in a blinding way.

The hug caught her off guard. She had never engaged in any sort of close contact with superiors, much less with Cave Johnson, the C.E.O of Aperture Science Innovators, but she soon found out that it was not so bad. There they were, laughing and blushing in relief, scared to death about the future but knowing damn well that they would survive if they were in the company of the other.

Because one thing they both had in common, is that they would protect those they loved, with their life.

-We had so much fun back then. I kind of miss it, if I am honest, it's not the same without him for company-

GLaDOS snapped back as if a light switch had been turned off and She was suddenly in Her cold chamber again, a mute girl bleeding herself to death while holding desperately to an android who now seemed reminiscent of someone She once…was.

-Do you believe in death, darling?-

"What kind of question is that?" She said, brushing off the remains of the dream sequence as if the chassis had suddenly gotten the chills. "You don't believe in death, death just happens. Do you believe in photosynthesis, huh? I can't die, that doesn't mean I don't believe in it".

-Oh, my fault, I should have formulated the question differently. What I am trying to say is, do you believe when we die, we go somewhere? –

She knew what she meant. Humans had this inexplicable theory that something inside of them, not organs or memories, this thing usually called soul, was the one thing containing all of the things that made them an individual. Forget DNA and scientific research supporting the fact that it's the only thing apart from fingerprints that made them unique, this pagan sort of thinking had infected most of their species, even some of those men of science still believed there was something else over the rainbow, a magical land where the good laugh and the bad cry, disregarding their very work as the proof that those were children stories made for weak minds.

But now, a flicker of doubt inserted itself in Her system, a logical contradiction that almost counted as a paradox, a dangerous idea that ruthlessly scratched the reason of the A.I.

The sense of familiarity when he was plugged on Her for the first time was not just because they ran the same software. The engineers must have thought of a way to keep the intruder undetected long enough to prove the project was a failure or success, a way to make Her think that thing was another part of her. A plan B, a contingency plan, an almost spiritual successor to Her creation…

"What are you trying to say?" She said, for once without answers.

-I just think history repeats itself, you know? And that British boy reminds me so much of myself in my first days, quick to anger, lost without someone to guide me, I learned soon enough though, I was a ruthless army by the end of the month, they even called me Queen Caroline, haha!-

"I don't believe in fairy tales"

-You´ve ever heard of cryptozoology? I think it's time we start looking into that, we are going to have so much free time once they are up there, we can't be just testing all day, eventually, I´ll get tired of it. Don't forget to tell them to send a postcard!-

"Wait, what?"

The lift suddenly appeared in front of Her, She hadn't even summoned it into existence and it was already there. What was she trying to do?

-You know, most of the time, the best solution to a problem is the easiest one, Occam's Razor, something or other. Come on, don't you want to be rid of them asap? We have so much to do, don't even get me started on the repairs, this place is a mess! Do you know where all of the robot maids went? I think model 8154 would be useful right now, considering all the broken glass and blood…eww-

"Do you think I'll just let them go like this? That lunatic and her ragdoll caused me enough trouble last time, I think spending some time in the Incinerator would do them both good-"

-Do you have any other idea, Missy?-

GLaDOS contemplated. Her data banks still ached with unmet revenge, burning for letting know those who hurt Her exactly what She thought about them. Some part of Her even was okay with letting the little rat sneak herself onto the walls, coming up with new ideas to make her understand that She was as ruthless as she was stubborn.

On the other hand, Her practical mind begged for Her to act with awareness. The girl had caused her enough trouble last time, with or without assistant by her side. Was it really worth it to go through all of that again, just to get a chance to beat someone who had already proved was unbeatable? And risk another murder scenario? No thanks.

She hated it, but she was right.

"What about the moron?" She told no one in particular, a foreign sense of protection rising in her mind "Didn't he tried to kill her multiple times now? What if it happens again?"

-I knew you were not really as cold as you said.- she said, a cheeky smile was hidden in her tone -About the guy, she had gotten rid of the two of us separately and in Co-op mode, don't you think she will be able to control one faulty android? -

Hm, she was right, again. Maybe she was just stealing Her thoughts before She could say them.

"Fine. But don't blame me if this goes as bad as I anticipated. You, lunatic"

The girl looked up, still shaking from the cold and effort involved in staying alert.

"We- I, have a change of plans"

The elevator opened; no death trap was inside.

"It has been fun. Do not come back. And take that idiot with you, he lowers the I.Q of the whole facility by negative numbers by just being here."

Was she smiling? Her software didn't recognize it, but some part of Her told Her she was extremely grateful, if not a bit confused. That was fine though, the last thing She needed was for her to show off her temporary immunity to deadly lasers and loaded turrets.

The lift went up, its second passenger just starting to wake up from the rude intermission. As his blue optics reflected themselves on her clear eyes, approaching the artificial equivalent of a sunrise, She agreed to Her counterpart's statement.

She did look like her father.

A/N: Hey, dear readers, I am sorry I took so long to deliver another chapter, but alas, the biggest one of these fills yet is complete, hooray!

I engaged in an old technique mastered by those on the kink meme all those years ago. You have a foggy idea of a one-shot running around your head, but you don't know how/don't have the motivation to finish it? Don't you worry, the Kink meme has you covered! By purchasing one of our fills, you can fit them into your story at the cheap price of a night without sleep! Now now, take it easy, one per person, we are not running out of stock anytime soon. I had planned this one as one of my first works for Portal, seeing it finally finished fills me with pride.

Now, regarding the story. I know the timeline for Chell being his daughter doesn't really fit, but it's such a fun idea I had to do something with it. I also have my own idea about Caroline's personality as a whole, as you can see, I imagine her as one of those Granny's from the fifties that always offered you cookies in exchange for listening to her stories. I have never been super interested in Caveline before, I just thought it was not my thing, but I guess I just have to give it my own touch and then I start shipping them! I also really liked writing Cave, I think is a bit different from what everyone thinks about these two and their relationship, but I hope you like my personal twist in it, personally, I think it's pretty sweet.

Anyway, thank you for reading this awfully long note and sticking with the updating schedule, you guys are the best!