random idea hit me past midnight. jotted it down and now it's a mini chapter. think of it like if HN was a show and the chapters were the episodes, this would be a short released outside of the episodes.

Chapter Seven

"In the middle of the night."

ooo

she woke trembling, with a scream echoing in the back of her voice but falling silent as she registered the dark and quiet room she was in.

the pain didn't feel imaginary, but any trace of it had disappeared from her body.

her heart pounded. her hands were shaking. she sat up with a jolt.

it had hardly been a dream. it was more like reliving a memory that had been slightly distorted. the sights, the sounds, the sensations she had experienced once and never wanted to experience again, were coming back to haunt her in her slumber. feelings of being watched, being trapped, being endangered, being injured, shook her to her very core.

a sob escaped her lips. still under her blankets, she folded her arms on top of her knees and let herself cry. she hadn't had a nightmare like that in months. why now? but she could barely begin to think about why, because her brain couldn't let go of that image. that sound.

"are you okay?" a voice cut off her mind replaying those sounds. as chell looked up to the voice's owner, a wave of relief washed over her.

glados came in from the doorway and sat next to her girlfriend on the bed. "what happened?"

nightmare, chell responded simply.

"they're back?"

chell nodded.

"i'm sorry. is there anything i can do to help?"

chell didn't respond with signs but instead reached out her arms and pulled glados into a hug. glados was still learning how to be comforting, but this she was certainly familiar with. she returned the action with a gentle, comforting pressure. she felt chell relax in her arms. she thought she ought to say something comforting, too. in a tone so soft and so gentle and so soothing that it was barely recognizable as her own voice, she whispered, "it's alright. nothing is going to hurt you now. you're safe. i'm here. i love you."

chell felt the panic in her chest melt away, replaced with the warmth of love and safety. she didn't let go of glados for a long time. glados didn't mind at all. she had no sleep to get to, not being human, but even if she did, she'd stay awake and stay here to comfort chell for as long as she needed, because she cared about chell.

it still felt a little weird, saying that. admitting she cared about someone. she knew that it most likely felt weird because she was so used to pretending she didn't feel the way humans felt, and she was so often angry or mocking that she was used to being thought of as cold, as cruel, as a word i can't say here if HN is going to stay K+. but the truth was she wasn't any of those things, at the very least not all the time, one might even say not most of the time. and she was getting used to that. getting used to caring about people without feeling like she shouldn't. she was learning to accept the humanity in her. starting with this: her love for chell, which had led her to see things from others' perspectives, taught her that it was okay to feel things and probably better to accept them than to shut them out. honestly, she owed a lot to chell.

"you've done so many wonderful things, and i'm proud of you, and i'm grateful for you. i'll always be here for you."

glados's presence and warmth had comforted chell back into a state of sleepiness, and with the thought of her love in mind, she wasn't afraid to let herself go back to sleep.

ooo

gonna take this chance to say my writing has definitely slowed down a bit so i have no idea when the next chapter will be out. but it will exist at some point. i promise. i came up with a bunch of ideas when i first started this fic, and i really love it, so im not going anywhere it just might take awhile because i am both lazy and busy which is a less-than-optimal state. hope you liked this little minichapter, i love fluff, so more of these will probably be in here at some point