A/N: Wow, another chapter already? XD Well, it is just an interlude. My rule about interludes is that they're short (most no longer than a page) and have no direct effect on the plot of the main story. 'Chapters,' in contrast, are much longer and can have plot-affecting things.
(Technically Chell being here affects the plot. She'll still be around in the future story, this particular incident is just not really relevant.)

Interlude: Deja Blue

She woke up to find herself in a familiar room. Everything was lit with a pale ambient light. The walls were paneled, the ceiling painted cream colored; the carpet matched the the bedspread and the curtains matched the sheets. It looked like a tacky motel room: pleasant enough, but completely generic.

It wouldn't be frightening, except she had the awful déjà vu feeling of having been there before. She knew this place. She knew this room. She'd relived the last time she'd awakened here in her dreams a hundred times.

But she couldn't be here. It wasn't possible. There was no way she could really be here in this room.

There was a knock on the door. She relaxed. A dream. It was only a dream again.

She heard a familiar voice calling her name. "Chell? Hello? You awake in there? There's supposed to be an alarm, but She's not sure it's working properly."

Wait. That wasn't what he was supposed to say. He'd never said anything like that before. He didn't know her name, and he asked if she was alive, not if she was awake.

Both suspicious and curious, she went to the door and opened it to look outside.

She stared. A tall, thin, man with copper-colored hair was standing outside her door. His bright blue eyes watched her through a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. "Oh, hello!" he said in a British accent as his face broke into a huge smile. "Good! You're up! I tell you, am I ever glad to see you! This is gonna be brilliant! D'you have any idea what things are like her without you? Absolutely dreadful—nothing interesting happens, and She's in a foul mood all the time. Well, used to be. She made a new core—ah, you'll see later." He paused, blinking. "Everything alright?"

"Wh-wh...wha?" she stammered, struggling to speak in her confusion? "What's...going on? Wh-who are you?"

That was a stupid question; she knew who he was. He appeared to be human now, for a reason undiscernable to her, but she recognized his voice and his manner even so.

"Don't you..." he began, and then seemed to remember. "Oh! 'Cos I'm human now, that's right. It's me! It's Wheatley!" He beamed at her, spreading his arms and stepping aside, to let her see the hallway beyond. "Welcome back to the Enrichment Center, luv!"