Chell pushed the cart along the refrigerated aisle in search of milk. Hope stood at the front of the cart, riding along and watching the shelves slowly pass by. Chell knew Wheatley wasn't with her, but she wasn't too concerned. He'd catch up eventually. Plus, she was too busy enjoying the tranquil silence that floated around her in his absence. Soon enough it'd be gone and it might not return.

The cart happily squeaked along, already filled with most of the items on the list. All that was left to get was paper towels, and that darn milk. They must've rearranged the store again, because in place of the milk's usual spot there was now cheese. Slightly annoyed by this unfortunate discovery, Chell pressed forward through the refrigerated section of the store, determined to locate the milk. She picked up the pace to a brisk march, causing the cart to squeak louder and the items in it to shift slightly. The refrigerated aisles only stretched so far, since the whole section was only three aisles long.

She reached the end of aisle four. No milk. Chell turned the cart down the next aisle, approached the end, and still found everything but the milk. Fed up, her brisk march became much quicker, and louder. She came down the aisle, and glanced around at the shelves. Out of nowhere a certain idiot materialized in her path, and the cart struck him. Wheatley hit the floor with a painful thud which completely knocked the air out of him. Luckily Hope jumped off in time to avoid the impact, so she was completely unharmed. The same couldn't be said for poor Wheatley though. Chell pulled the basket away and knelt down to see just how hard she hit him. He was sitting on the ground, holding his arm.

"agghhh... why?" he groaned. "I just wanted to find you luv. I wanted to help you with your shopping, not get hit by it!"

She pulled his hand away from his arm to find nothing but a light bruise.

"You'll live." she sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Oh, that's lovely then. Good for me I guess."

Chell rolled her eyes and helped him up.

"Where were you headed in such a hurry? I don't mean to pester you about it, but it seemed urgent with how fast you were going."

"We need to find the milk!" Hope explained. "It's always in the first refrigerator aisle, but this time it wasn't there."

Wheatley straightened his glasses and placed a hand to his chin in thought.

"Hmmm, well that does seem like a bit of a problem, doesn't it?"

He thought for another moment, concentrating on the floor until an idea finally came to him.

"Why don't we split up?" he suggested. "That way we can cover more ground."

"It's just milk. It's not that important." Chell grumbled.

"Well it must be if you're this angry about it."

Chell gave an annoyed huff. Why was he so bent on assisting her in this oh so simple task? She could handle it just fine on her own.

"Thanks, but I don't need help. It's probably gonna be just around the corner anyway."

Wheatley perked up.

"Just around the corner, eh?" he asked, a smug grin creeping across his face.

Chell narrowed her eyes at him. He knew exactly what that look meant.

I don't care if you can do it on your own, miss. he thought. I came to help, and that's exactly what I'll do.

Hope watched her mother's stare-off with Wheatley, wondering just what actions either of them would take. She'd never seen her own mother so annoyed with someone before. How could that be? Hope didn't think Wheatley was annoying, so why should her mother? In Hope's eyes, Chell had always been so calm and collected. She was the most patient person the girl knew, and she knew nearly everyone in town (thanks to her overly enthusiastic and friendly demeanor).

Without warning, Wheatley bolted around the corner and down the final aisle. Chell shoved the cart forward, giving chase.

"Wheatley, you idiot! Get back here!"

He didn't listen. He sped past the shelves, frantically searching for the milk. He almost ran right past it. Wheatley skidded to a halt when he caught sight of the bright red labels plastered on pearly white jugs. It read in bold white letters: "2% milk" and he smiled triumphantly. He stayed put and waited for Chell and Hope to catch up. The squeak of the cart's wheels announced their presence.

"Damnit Wheatley," Chell panted. "How can you be so damned fast?"

He ignored her and proudly held out the milk.

"Look, I did it! I found the milk! Not too bad for an idiot, right?"

Chell grabbed the jug and placed it in the cart.

"Great, good for you. Now quit running around the store before you get us kicked out."

Wheatley hung his head as if he were a puppy who'd just gotten in trouble for chewing the sofa.

"Oh- alright then." he muttered.

She pulled out the broken pencil and the list, then checked the milk off.

"Okay, all we need is paper towels and then we're outta here." Chell declared. "They should be in aisle seven, unless they moved those too."

Chell folded the list back up and shoved it into her pocket, then continued forward. Hope ditched riding on the front of the cart and fell into pace beside Wheatley. Whenever she wanted to make friends with someone, she normally got to know them as soon as she saw them. What stopped her from doing so with Wheatley was his strange manner. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something a bit odd about him. It might've been the way he walked, how he acted around Chell, how he spoke, or even how he screamed at the shower that morning. Any of those and more could've been what was so off-putting. Either way, Hope liked to think she had a great sense of judgement. She liked people in general. Though, there were very few that she decided she didn't enjoy sticking around, but Wheatley wasn't one of them. In fact, he seems to have already been ranked pretty high on her potential friends list. How couldn't he? He was quite friendly, and it looked to Hope as if he really enjoyed her mother's company. Why that could be, she had absolutely no clue. Despite Wheatley absolutely adoring Chell, the lady didn't seem to like him at all. Hope simply didn't understand how her mother disliked him.

Wheatley felt a light tug on his arm, and looked down to find Hope staring up at him.

"Mister? I want to tell you something." she whispered.

"Uh, okay? What is it, what's this all about then?"

She motioned for him to crouch down, and he reluctantly obliged. Hope stepped back, brushed off her shirt, and held out a hand.

"I don't think we've had time to greet each other properly just yet." she said. "My name is Hope. Hope Clairese McEllens. Pleasure to meet you sir."

Wheatley shook her hand, chuckling lightly at how polite and proper this strange little kid had just spoken to him.

"Pleasure to meet you too, miss. My name is Wheatley, er- just Wheatley. And I'm pretty sure we've met before."

"But I didn't have time for an actual conversation with you then." Hope pointed out.

"Well, now's your chance, huh?"

She thought for a moment before actually proceeding with a question.

"You knew my mom before, didn't you?" she asked. "I just know it."

"Umm, let's start with a more casual question, shall we? I'm not quite- not very sure I'm ready to answer that one to be honest."

Hope shrugged.

"Okay. Where did you come from? I've never seen you around town, and I've certainly never heard anyone talk like you. Why do you have a funny accent?"

"Oh, what? I don't have a funny accent!"

"Yes you do!" Hope giggled. "You talk so weird!"

"Well if you must know, I'm not from your odd little human town here! I came from somewhere else that's far better than all this."

He gestured to the whole store, throwing his hands up over his head. Wheatley wasn't yet sure if Aperture was any better than this town, but he felt strangely proud to say it.

"Odd? You haven't even been here before, silly! How could you say that it's odd?"

Wheatley pondered for a minute, then shrugged.

"I dunno. Probably because of the extreme lack of any smart and dignified-"

Chell interrupted him with a mix between a laugh and a snort.

"Yeah, very dignified Wheatley."

"Oi, you didn't let me finish! I was gonna say dignified facilities, such as- well, you know which one I'm referring to."

"Yeah, and that place was just the same. Not very dignified in my eyes either." she scoffed.

Wheatley didn't even attempt to argue. Aperture really wasn't very dignified, was it? Maybe once upon a time it was, but that definitely isn't the case anymore.

"Is the facility thing the place where you work? Is that your job?" Hope asked.

Chell and Wheatley exchanged uncomfortable glances for brief moment.

"Ummm... that's where- it's where I used to work." Wheatley stuttered. "Yeah- not my job anymore. I don't like to talk about that place much."

"Did you get fired?"

"Well no. I uh, quit. Very unjust workplace, it was."

Hope frowned.

"That must've sucked."

"I guess you could say that."

Chell tossed a few paper towel rolls into the cart, then sighed.

"Finally! Now we can check out."

"Check out what, luv?"

"Uh, the groceries?" she said, as if it were already obvious. "As in buy them."

"Oh that makes sense. That actually- yeah."

Chell rolled her eyes and led the way to the checkout, where they arrived in a line behind one other person who was just finishing up. Aaron greeted Wheatley and the two struck up some casual small talk. Chell pushed the cart up to the counter and began stacking items for Aaron to ring up and bag.

"So, you're really from outta town huh?"

"Well, yes. Already established that." Wheatley said. "I don't understand why this is such a surprise for you people."

Aaron shrugged.

"You gotta understand, we don't get strangers here very often. Just know you're gonna have a lot of people to talk to before you get comfortable."

"Oh, brilliant. I'll keep that in mind."

Aaron leaned over the counter, a sly grin creeping across his face.

"So, what's with you and the lady, huh?" he whispered, pointing to Chell.

"Who, Chell? I'm just staying with her- uh, on account of being without a home at the moment."

"I dunno, seems like a big step for Chell. She never so much as invited anyone over to her place since-"

He trailed off, frowning. Then Aaron chose his next words carefully, just in case Chell could hear him.

"Just don't mention him okay? Not if you don't want to live on the streets again." he whispered, even quieter. "That is, if she allows you to live. If you end up a ghost, don't expect me to avenge you."

What was this kid talking about? Wheatley partially agreed that Chell was in fact, pretty scary, but he didn't think she could be scary to that extreme. Aaron returned to bagging groceries, leaving Wheatley to internally question the information that was just conveyed. Who was 'he' and why should the mention of this 'he' set Chell off so easily? Was the 'he' Aaron was referring to a leftover of the time Wheatley had nearly killed everyone? God, he hoped not. There's no way anyone knew about that beyond Chell and himself. She couldn't have told anyone. Chell seemed too closed off from anyone else (apart from Hope) to talk about her past. Even then, not even her own daughter seemed to know a thing about what Chell's life was like before her time here. As far as they knew, the lady lived a happy healthy life with two parents and a perfect mindset. If only.

Looking at Chell now, it's a miracle she's managed to create life of any kind after what happened.

How is it possible? Wheatley mused. After everything this woman went through, how can she simply pretend it never happened?

Wheatley tried to imagine what it would be like if he were in her position. What would he have done if he were forced to test, day in day out? What if he never knew the joys of the outside world, and instead were confined to the facility's bleak walls and static air? What if he were betrayed by his closest friend? What if he were the one who tried so desperately to escape that life, and struggle to leave it behind once he did?

All these 'what ifs' began to cause him a headache, so he stopped. Every one of those things and more happened to Chell, yet here she was. What kept her going through all that?

Must've been bloody powerful if she were able to escape all that absolute hell.

Chell caught Wheatley staring at her and raised an eyebrow. He quickly glanced away, searching for something else to think about.

What's his problem? Chell thought to herself. He's been so squirrelly.

She shrugged and simply dismissed it as Wheatley just continuing to be Wheatley, and finished placing groceries back into the cart to be taken home.

Nothing some pedal to the metal can't fix.

Chell grinned at the thought of him absolutely losing it at the speed of the truck, then bid Aaron good day.