Glade's POV:
Glade slowly opened her eyes, only to close them again at the bright light. She felt strangely hot, and she heard a dull, repetitive beeping. As she opened her eyes again and became more aware of her surroundings, the beeping sped up. Looking to her right, she saw that she had been hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV.
She was in what looked like a hospital room. In a corner across from her to the left was a TV monitor that was turned off and appeared to be on some sort of rail that would allow it to move along the left wall closer to her. Trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach, she raised herself up a bit to look behind the small bed she was in. There was a camera watching her from the wall behind her, and covering the back wall were numerous mechanical arms of different sizes and functions. Some were like the much larger ones in GLaDOS's chamber, with two claws on the end, but others had three or four. Some weren't meant to grip at all, but had tools on the end like knives or injector needles, which made her shudder.
Turning away from them, she checked over herself. The cut on her right arm from the turret was freshly bandaged but stung hotly. She still felt sick and hot, but other than the multitude of small cuts and burns that were also treated she seemed to be fine.
Glade let herself relax a bit, and wondered what had happened and how she had gotten here. Luckily for her, she was about to find out.
The TV monitor turned on, showing GLaDOS in her chamber.
"Oh good, you're awake," the AI said in a sarcastic sounding voice. Glade tensed, being trapped in a hospital-like room controlled by a science craving AI isn't always a good thing.
"What… what happened?" Glade asked, sitting up.
"That cut on your arm became infected," GLaDOS explained calmly, "I noticed it before, but it didn't seem to affect you until now."
"You should've said something…" Glade muttered, giving the computer a small glare.
"I honestly doubt it would have made a difference."
With a heavy sigh, Glade laid back down. Suddenly she remembered something.
"What happened to- Ugh…" she had to stop when a wave of dizziness passed over her, making her collapse back down on her side.
"Take it easy," the AI urged, the monitor sliding closer to the bed, "That infection gave you a fever and I don't want you vomiting on the floor." A fever. That explained why Glade felt hot and sick.
"What happened to my mom?" the girl finally mumbled.
"She's fine," came the reply, "Well, to be honest, she will be fine, but right now her condition is quite serious. It's stable, but still serious. She's in the medical room next door."
Glade curled up, worry setting in. "…And Alex?"
"He's in a much better condition than you and your mother," GLaDOS said, "At least, he doesn't have to stay in a medical room. I'm even letting him interact with my two testing robots."
Glade, feeling just a little better, closed her eyes and let herself slip into a hot, feverish sleep.
Chell's POV:
Chell ran down a hallway in a test chamber, turned a corner, and found herself face-to-face with a row of turrets. She turned around, but the hallway she was just in was gone; replaced by a wall and more turrets. There was no way out!
"Surely you can do better than that," GLaDOS mocked cruelly.
"I see you!" The turrets began to fire, and she felt an intense pain on the right side of her back.
"Keep still!" GLaDOS growled, "Do you want me to cut something important?"
What…?
It didn't feel like turrets were shooting her. It felt like she was being held down by a bunch of mechanical arms. She felt something pierce the back of her neck; she immediately went limp, the pain faded, and the nightmare slipped away.
Chell finally woke up completely.
"Do you normally thrash around in your sleep?" she heard GLaDOS ask, "Or should I check for something?"
Chell's initial reaction was to jump up and see what the heck was going on, but pain immediately shot through her right shoulder and she fell back down.
"Keep still!" the AI ordered. Chell saw a TV monitor showing GLaDOS slide closer to her along the wall to her left. "You've lost over two pints of blood and yet you're still thrashing around? Don't you ever relax?" she asked exasperatedly.
Chell felt something pierce her neck again, and looked around to see a mechanical arm with an injector needle on the end pulling away. She whipped back to face the AI again, the question of 'What was I just injected with?' obvious on her face.
"That was a slow-acting sedative," the AI explained, "It'll give us a few less painful minutes to talk before it kicks in completely."
Chell noted that the pain was ebbing, but it felt like she was relaxing involuntarily. To be honest, being in a hospital-like room run by a homicidal AI, even an AI that you were on somewhat good terms with, wasn't a situation she would feel comfortable relaxing in.
"Since we don't have that much time, I'll just cut to the chase and tell you what you probably want to know," GLaDOS said before launching into an explanation on Glade's and Alex's conditions as well as Chell's own. Towards the end of the explanation, her mind started to feel fuzzy, and the sedative kicked in.
Glade's POV:
A few days later, Glade and Alex had completely recovered, and were allowed to wander around, as long as they didn't go too far from the Central AI Chamber. However, it wasn't until a week later that their mother had healed enough for them to go home. Despite the kid's protests, their mother had ordered that they leave as soon as possible.
'GLaDOS probably has better things to do than keep an eye on you two,' she had said, 'She has an entire facility to fix up.'
On the day that they had to leave, Glade sat beside her mother on the bed. The TV monitor was currently turned off.
"So… Do you think we'll be able to come back here?" Glade asked quietly, "You know, just to visit?"
Chell looked away from her for a minute, then looked back and mouthed, 'You'll have to ask GLaDOS about that.'
"Wait, you mean you're okay with it?" Glade asked excitedly. Looking a little embarrassed, Chell nodded.
'But,' she reminded her, 'you still have to ask her about it.' Glade nodded and ran off.
Unsurprisingly, the AI was a little reluctant to let them come back. However, she said that after a week of repairs, perhaps she'd let them come over for a little while. Of course, the only problem with that was, after a week the kids would have to go back to school and summer vacation would be over.
The three said goodbye to GLaDOS and finally left for home, Glade and Alex wondering if and when they would be able to come back.
A/N: Right, wasn't sure how to end this…
Anyway, was this story any good? Constructive criticism on it is accepted, especially since I'm planning on there being a sequel that will hopefully be much better. It probably won't come for a while though, since school's starting and progress on all of my fanfiction will slow WAAAAAY down.
Speaking of which, those of you who read Average Life at Aperture Science, have any of you realized that the real Chapter 23 has been updated? It doesn't show that it's been updated on the website when you replace a chapter, but it is there. Also, remember that really soon Chapter 19 will be updated as well.
I hope that you've enjoyed this story and thank you if you've read it all the way to the end.