They drove on in silence. Finally, they pulled up at their house.

"You live here?" GLaDOS questioned curiously, her optic swiveling to examine the garage they had pulled into.

Without answering, Glade pulled her out of the car and everyone trooped inside the house. Glade set the core on a table in the living room, and turned to her mother.

"So, when are we going back?" She asked.

Chell gave her a stern glare. 'You're not going back,' she mouthed silently, 'I'll help GLaDOS. Alone.'

"But-!" Glade started, but Chell gave her the 'I-don't-want-to-hear-about-it' look.

Chell sighed, and walked closer to Glade. She took her daughter's right hand to examine her injured arm. Glade immediately pulled away.

"It's fine," she muttered. Chell gave her another stern look. "Take care of Alex first," she suggested.

Alex had a lot more cuts, bruises, and burns than Glade did, but none were as serious as the cut on her arm. Regardless, Chell led Alex to the bathroom to clean him up.

"You know, you really should let her look at that," GLaDOS advised. Glade spun to look at her in surprise, not expecting such an AI to say something like that. But then she gave a dark chuckle, "Of course, I don't know how experienced she is in the medical field. You should probably let me look at it."

"I can take care of it myself," Glade replied defensively.

GLaDOS's optic swiveled toward the bathroom door, then back to Glade, and jerked to the side to urge her closer. Curious, the girl approached the AI, who told her to take the bloodied sleeve off her arm. It was dark red, and the blood had dried over it. However, GLaDOS only glanced at the cut before turning her attention back to Glade.

"Look, I know that she told you to stay here, but…" she paused, as if trying to choose her words carefully, "Alright, look, it's been 17 years. I could see it while she was there to get you and your brother out. She's lost her touch; she's not as skilled at thinking with portals as she once was." GLaDOS focused her gaze intently on Glade. "But you… You're just as good as she was, probably better. The point is, I want your help."

Glade was surprised by this. "But…"

"We can sneak out. You've done so before, haven't you?"

Glade allowed herself to smile. "Yeah, I've snuck out before."

"Then it's settled," GLaDOS replied, sounding pleased. Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and Chell and Alex walked out. The AI's attention suddenly snapped to the gash on Glade's arm. "That needs to be washed and properly bandaged," she said matter-of-factly.

Glade realized that she had used the cut as an excuse for them to be talking. "Uh… Thanks." Glade pushed past her mother to the bathroom. "I can do it myself," she muttered. She couldn't let Chell clean it; her mother knew her too well. She would know that she was hiding something and would be able to guess what it is.

Chell's POV:

Chell looked at GLaDOS suspiciously.

"Her arm should be fine," the AI said, like she was trying to sound reassuring.

Chell just rolled her eyes and grabbed a pencil and a note pad, assuming that GLaDOS couldn't read her lips. She set the paper in front of the core for a minute, then took it away. Of course the AI would be able to read it fast enough.

'We'll leave tomorrow morning.'

"Tomorrow? That core could blow up the entire facility by then!" GLaDOS protested. Chell just glared at her. "Okay, he probably isn't stupid enough for that, but who knows how much damage he could do in that time!"

Chell just mouthed 'tomorrow' and walked away.

Glade's POV:

Glade walked out of the bathroom with her arm wrapped in fresh white bandages. She had only washed the cut with water, since she couldn't find the disinfectant.

Her mother wasn't in sight, and GLaDOS jerked for her to come over again.

"We're in luck," the AI said softly, "Chell is planning on leaving tomorrow morning, so we can leave tonight."

Glade nodded, glancing around to make sure they were alone. "We'll wait until midnight," she suggested, and the core nodded.

Alex's POV:

Alex overheard his sister talking to GLaDOS. They were planning on sneaking out? It would be dangerous, which was why mom wanted to go alone.

Alex didn't want to help that AI, but he had to keep his sister safe. Sure, he was the youngest, and most people think the oldest should take care of the youngest, but still. He would have to follow them.

Besides, this was the most interesting thing that happened all summer!

Glade's POV:

It was well passed midnight, almost two o'clock. Chell apparently couldn't sleep, and was checking on Glade and her brother periodically; probably to make sure they didn't do exactly what Glade wanted to do.

Finally, Chell stopped coming. Glade glanced out her door to make sure. She must have finally fallen asleep.

Glade silently crept out of her room to the table where GLaDOS sat. A yellow light in the darkness let her know the AI knew she was there.

"It's about time," GLaDOS whispered, "I was wondering if that lunatic would ever sleep."

Glade remained silent and walked to her mother's room, carefully opening the door. Soft breathing from inside let her know she was asleep. She returned to the living area with the Long Fall boots and a portal gun. She picked GLaDOS up with the portal gun, and walked out the front door, careful to lock it behind them.

She ran to the edge of town, where the field began. They then started their long walk back to the facility, following the trail of broken stalks of wheat made by the car.

Finally, they made it to the shed and entered it.

"I've thought of some good news," GLaDOS said, breaking the silence, as the elevator descended, "That core isn't designed to be able to focus on multiple things very well. He should be trying to focus on several things, so he probably wouldn't notice us for a while."

Glade remained quiet, only nodding in response. The core rolled her optic.

"You know, you don't have to be like your mother to the point of being mute."

Glade, unable to help it, laughed. However, it abruptly stopped when the elevator halted in the same hallway they left in.

"Alright," Glade said nervously, "here we go."

Chell's POV:

"Seriously though, goodbye," GLaDOS said calmly.

Mechanical arms lowered turrets around the relaxation vault Chell was trapped in. This time, however, they weren't defective.

"I see you! Target acquired! There you are!"

In seconds, the bullets smashed through the glass…

Chell sat up, breathing heavily. It was just another nightmare.

This was why she was so reluctant to sleep. She and GLaDOS, in some bizarre way, were friends now, so she had to help her. She couldn't let petty nightmares deter her now that she made that promise.

She looked at the clock. It was nearly 4:30. Not wanting to fall back asleep, she got up again.

However, the blood drained from her face when she entered the living room to find that GLaDOS was gone. Frantically, she checked Glade's and Alex's rooms. Both were gone. Checking back in her room, she found that both pairs of Long Fall boots and both portal guns were gone as well.

Why did they always have to get themselves into trouble?