Cave woke up from the dream feeling even worse. His nephew's cries still echoed in his mind. His distress, his desire to die at the sight of what had become of his daughter.
"That's not her. That's not my Breanna... Where's my little girl?"
That day would result in so much more than he could ever imagine. Had he resisted, Caroline, his beloved, would still be here.
He'd blown it. He'd had more than most people could ever even dream of. But he'd wanted more. A fulfilling life hadn't been enough. He'd wanted a never-ending life, as well. And in his ignorance, he'd hurt the one person who had actually meant something to him.
"What? Isn't this what you wanted? 'You can make this place great again!' Well, I did, didn't I?"
Yes. She had. She'd done exactly as he'd said. She'd run it better than he ever had, just as he'd predicted. But at what cost? Her humanity. Her memories. Her chance at ever having a normal life. Her ability to take care of their daughter the way a mother should.
There was a knock at the door, but she didn't wait to be told she could come in. She said nothing. She simply embraced him, tighter than she ever had before.
He didn't hesitate to return it. This was really happening? "Caroline..."
"I couldn't take it." She said quietly. Her voice was just short of being human. "She wouldn't stop torturing me. She kept pushing me away. I've been trying to get control for so long so I could wake you up. I've missed you so much. And I... I'm so sorry..."
Cave kissed her forehead. "Why should you be sorry?"
"Because I can't suppress her. If I were just a little stronger..." Her gaze trailed downward.
He held her even closer. "Don't say that. To survive all I've put you through makes you the strongest person I've ever met."
She didn't respond, but kissed him again. He remembered the first time they'd done so, how wonderful it had been. No other woman had done that to him. When he was with her, he felt like a different person. He longed to spend the rest of his life by her side.
Caroline was afraid. At any moment GLaDOS could take over, make her hurt the one she loved. This was the longest she'd had control. But she missed the skin-on-skin contact, the actual human emotions. Of course, she wouldn't tell Cave that. She knew how terrible he felt about the whole thing. There was no need to remind him, to make him feel worse. And after all, she didn't want to interrupt this moment. This moment she'd waited for for thirty-four years.
They lay down on the bed, their bodies entwined. It was beautiful. It reminded them of the first time they'd laid in this same bed. The result of that night would play a very important role years after GLaDOS was activated. The result would kill her, wake her up again, then wake Caroline up, as well. Each knew that they couldn't go that far anymore, but they were okay with it. Just being so near to one another was all they both could ever want.
Though hours had passed in silence, it felt like only seconds. Caroline kissed him and stood. "I have to go. I need to make sure there isn't a nuclear meltdown." He didn't argue, but reluctantly watched her go.
She wasn't lying when she gave the reason for her departure, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. She could feel herself slipping away. GLaDOS was fighting even harder to come back. It was exhausting, and, technically being one in the same, they both felt the fatigue.
"You have to stop this." She whispered. "You'll end up killing both of us."
GLaDOS, also through the android's mouth, shot back, though it was almost inaudible. "I'm going to kill us? I'm the only reason you're alive, you little-"
"Listen." Caroline could tell she was losing the battle. "You an I are equally responsible for the other. We're the same perso-"
"Do not say that." The computerized voice was getting stronger. "I don't care if you were uploaded into me. You and I are not the same person! I'm not even a person!" Caroline was all but pushed away now. "Look at what you've done! All you're doing is getting his hopes up for something that is never going to happen! You made me kiss him!"
Caroline, weak from fighting, was only there in a whisper. "But don't tell me you didn't feel it, too. The acceptance. The joy. The love." With that, Caroline was violently tossed aside and GLaDOS took back what she felt was rightfully hers.
But she couldn't deny it. She had felt all of those things. Each touch had set her circuits aflame, each kiss even more so. Only now did she regret her heartless words toward him.
"Even though she's in me, even though she gave me the very gift of life, I am not her. And I am the dominant one here!"
She knew that was a lie. She always- well, not always- had. She just didn't want to come to terms with it. She'd done away with so many humans without even a second thought, to think that at one point she had been one herself sent a terrible surge of guilt through her. I have killed so many people...
By now she was in her chamber. She typed a few things on the computer she'd set up, then looked over at the giant chassis hanging limply from the ceiling. In a way, she missed it. She missed the power, the control, the fear she instilled in anyone who looked at her. But she missed the ability to love, to feel, to be near the one man she'd ever cared about, even more.
She thought back to the first time she'd heard his voice after her transfer, with the girl she'd wanted dead. With her daughter. She'd felt something that day, something she couldn't explain at the moment. But she knew now. It had been love, grief, regret. The strong desire to cry, to be held in the arms of someone she knew she could never see again. She'd been too weak to handle the painful emotions that came with her new memories, so she'd done the only thing she knew how. She disposed of the problem. Well, she'd tried to, at least.
"You're right." She said quietly. "No. We're right."
About an hour later, she summoned Cave Johnson. She knew what she had to do.
Cave entered the chamber, slightly worried that Caroline had already been overtaken. But the android stood smiling at him. A sad smile. They each began toward each other and kissed for a long time.
She caressed him and looked deep into his eyes as she whispered a single sentence. Her words were not as human as they had been previously, but not completely synthesised, either. "If you love something, you have to let it go."
It felt as if his heart stopped for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"There are people who need you." She said softly. "I can't pretend they don't anymore. If Doug were to know that you are alive..."
He shook his head as she went over to a computer on a desk in the corner and typed a few commands. An elevator came up from the floor. "I'm not going. Not without you."
"Cave..." Her gold eyes showed sorrow, regret. "I don't belong up there. Not anymore. My world is here, underground, in the facility. Oh, but yours? Yours is outside with the people that love you. And I do mean 'people'. Not AI's. Not androids. Living, breathing, human beings."
Was this really what she wanted? She seemed sincere, but he could sense the regret in her voice. "I... I won't be able to forgive myself..."
She pulled him close, their faces only inches apart. "Please, Cave. If you love me, you will do this one last thing for me."
"Caroline..." It felt like his heart was being torn into millions of shards. It hurt more than when she'd denied him, more than when he'd seen what he'd done to her, more than when she'd told him of their daughter. More than it ever had before.
She took his hand, placed a small object into his palm, and closed his fingers over it. Again, her smile seemed almost forced, distressed. "A keepsake. So you never forget me."
He looked at the ring- the ring that had been his mother's, the ring he'd given Caroline just before his death- and felt another stab of pain. "I could never forget you."
They kissed one last time, making it the most meaningful either had ever known. "Now go."
Cave reluctantly got in the elevator and, as it began ascending, he called to her just before she disappeared from his sight. "Caroline! Caroline, I- I love you!"
She pretended not to hear him. She reminded herself of Michael Anderson, facing away so he wouldn't see her artificial tear.
He was painting in the yard of a modest house. Cave stood watching him for a moment. His nephew's back was to him, focusing only on the easel and canvas in front of him. It was good to see he'd recovered more or less, that he was still doing what he loved. "Doug..."
His head shot up at the sound of his name, then he turned back to see who had addressed him. The look on his face was that of disbelief. "U- Uncle Johnson?"
Doug could only stare for a moment before frantically reaching into his pocket, pulling out a bottle of medication. "No, no Doug! Doug, it's me! I'm real! I'm alive!"
"N- no you're not! U- Uncle Johnson is dead!" Doug was shaking, terrified.
Cave took a step forward, only to be told by Doug not to come any closer. "Doug, listen to me. You can ask me anything. It's really me."
"That won't do anything!" Doug stood. "Y- you're in my head, you know everything I do!" Still fearful, he had an idea. "Breanna!" He called. "Breanna!"
The girl hurried out of the house in a light, pastel flowered bathrobe, her black hair dripping wet, obviously having just finished a shower. "Daddy, what is it? What's wro-" She froze the moment she laid eyes on Cave, the look on her face making it clear to Doug that this was not a hallucination.
She came off the porch in wonderment, slowly, her eyes locked on him. He smiled. She looked almost the same as when he'd seen her last. Her hair was shorter, but other than that, she was still the same Breanna. His eyes caught sight of the scar, both on the back and palm of her left hand, as if something had gone straight through.
Did she blame him? Look what he'd done to her, to her father. She came up to him, threw her arms around him. "Uncle Johnson..." He smiled and hugged her. It was only then he saw the tattoo on the back of her neck. Somehow, he knew that she hadn't wanted the little Aperture logo to be forever printed on her skin, that it had been forced.
He asked her what happened, and she shook her head. "It's a long story."
Doug came over to them, aware that this was reality, but still just barely being able to believe it. "H- how...?"
"Caroline woke me up from cryo."
Doug was silent for a moment before he continued. "Uncle Johnson, Caroline is dead."
"No, she's not." Said Cave. "Her body is gone, but Caroline is alive." Doug thought about the last time he was at Aperture- the last time he would ever be at Aperture- and how GLaDOS hadn't killed Breanna and himself the moment she saw them. Maybe he had a point.
Either way, their family, what was left of it, was finally back together at last.