Chapter 5: Look After You
Chell was the last one to the breakfast table, and she didn't look happy. In fact, though Wheatley would never say as much, she looked pretty awful.
"You alright?" he asked her. She shrugged, folding her arms and hunching her shoulders. He wanted to pursue it, but it was pretty obvious she wasn't in a talking mood, and he knew he would get nothing else out of her.
Coffee brought out Chell's morning cup of coffee and set it down. "What do you want to eat?" she asked politely.
"Whatever," Chell mumbled, staring at the table. She took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes. There were shadows under them, showing the exhaustion she tried to hide, and the smile that normally softened her face when she had her coffee did not appear. Wheatley watched her, concerned, certain that something really was wrong. She set down her coffee and, with a quiet whimper, curled in on herself to rest her head on the table, knees drawn up as far as they could be.
"Chell?" he asked, touching her shoulder. She didn't react in the slightest. "Chell, what's the matter, luv?"
"Nnnh,"she groaned, and he saw her jaw clench. "Hurts."
"What's wrong with you?" GLaDOS asked, frowning.
Chell lifted her head to fix the AI with a death glare. "Gonna kill you," she muttered darkly.
GLaDOS looked back, unapologetic. "Oh, you don't really mean that," she said sweetly. "You're just in a bad temper. Cramps, I suppose?"
Chell nodded. GLaDOS smirked slightly. "How...unfortunate."
"Please tell me you are not going to make me test today," Chell said, burying her head in her hands and bracing her feet against the edge of her chair. "I can't test today."
"If you're in that much pain, maybe you should spend the day in the medical wing," GLaDOS said drily.
"I do not need to go to the medical wing," Chell snapped. "I just want to go back to bed."
"You can't make her test if she's not feeling well," Wheatley said on Chell's behalf. He was sorely tempted to hit the smirk off of the AI's face. "Let her go back to bed."
GLaDOS gave him a condescending look. "Fine," she said after a moment. "If you're willing to get her whatever she needs." She turned away, her eyes closed. "I don't have time to go running around for her sake."
"Not a problem," he said cheerfully. "Come on, Chell, you ought to head back to bed and get some rest."
"Have a glass of juice first!" GLaDOS called as she stalked back to the mainframe chamber.
As if he'd already known about the order, Intelligence brought out a glass of orange juice and a plate of pancakes. "One and one-half cups flour, one and one-fourth cups milk, one whole egg," he mumbled as he set them down. Wheatley shook his head at the cook. Mad. Brilliant, yes, probably a genius, but completely mad.
"There are chocolate chips in these pancakes," Chell said, and for the first time that morning she sounded pleased. "Thank goodness for that."
She ate her pancakes, and finished both juice and coffee, before getting up from the table and shuffling off to bed. Wheatley followed her anxiously.
"Anything I can get for you?" he asked her, looking around the edge of the door.
She shook her head. "Not really. There's nothing as normal as painkillers in this place." She laughed weakly and sat down on the edge of her bed, pulling her legs up to curl into a ball under the covers.
"Well," he said nervously. "I'll, ah, come back later and make sure you're alright. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good," she said, wincing, and he left.
When he returned, she was curled on her side, looking miserable. She raised her head slightly as he came in, and tried to smile. "Hey," she mumbled.
"Thought you were going to sleep," he said.
"Can't sleep," she replied. "It hurts too much." Her mouth tensed, and for a fraction of a second she looked like she might cry.
An idea occurred to him, and after a moment's consideration he decided there wasn't any way for this one to grow wrong. "Tell you what—I'll be right back. There's tea to make in the kitchen, I'll bring you some. Help you sleep. Alright?"
She nodded, closing her eyes, and he sprinted down to the kitchen. Intelligence was making something for lunch, and Coffee was perched on the counter, the usual deer-in-headlights look on her face.
"Ah, hello," Wheatley said. "I've got to get some tea. 'Scuse me for a moment."
He looked in the cupboards and found the tea he was looking for. "Don't suppose you could boil the water, could you?"
Coffee jumped up and filled the Aperture Science Instant Water Boiler and Insulation Maker with water. He watched the heating fluid shoot through the pipes, and steam hissed out of the top. Coffee took the water out and poured it into a mug. Wheatley added the tea. It filled the water, and he carried it carefully back up to Chell's room.
"Got it," he said, and set it down on the table. Chell sat up slowly and leaned against the pillows as she picked up the mug and took a sip.
"Thanks," she said, managing a smile. He grinned back, pleased that he'd been able to help. She took another sip of tea and lowered the mug to hold it against her abdomen, breathing in the steam.
"Is that a bit better?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. She nodded. "Oh, good," he said. "Drink all of it, mind, it'll help you sleep."
She drank half of the tea and curled herself around the mug again. "You're a good friend," she said, and smiled at him. "Nice to have someone who brings you tea."
"Well, I try," he said modestly. Silence fell, and Chell closed her eyes for a moment. He started to stand. "I, ah, I'll be going then. So you can sleep."
She grabbed his arm before he could leave. "Stay," she said. He hesitated, then sat down again.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked, determined to make her as comfortable as possible.
"Talk to me," she said simply, taking another sip of tea. "Until I fall asleep." She paused. "If you don't mind, that is," she added, a hint of color rising in her cheeks.
"Course not," he said, and cast about for something to say. "So—this happens every month?" was the first thing he thought of.
She laughed. "Sometimes it's twice, every once in a blue moon. Not always this bad, though." She winced and drank more of her tea before pressing it into her stomach again.
"What do you do when you're at home?" he asked. "Does...does someone bring you tea then?"
She shook her head. "It's just me. I try to keep some chocolate in the apartment."
He felt guilty for being glad that she lived on her own. "Are you lonely?" he asked, hoping the answer was no, so he could feel better.
"Sometimes," she said, and he felt worse instead. "It's my choice, though," she added. "I haven't met anyone I like well enough to live with for long."
He wondered if that meant she had a boyfriend, but he decided not to ask her that. Instead, he asked, "Is that why you came back here, even after She let you leave?"
She shrugged and finished her tea. "Maybe. It's nice to have the company." Her eyes closed and she laid back down on her side.
"Even though She puts you through day after day of testing?" he joked.
"Didn't mean her company," she murmured. Her voice was getting sleepier; the tea was working.
He hesitated. "What about mine?"
She opened one eye. "You ask too many questions," she said, but he hoped her smile meant yes. "Tell me about what things are like here. When I'm home. Tell me about you."
"Well," he began, and stopped. "It's alright," he said. "Sort of boring I suppose. I mostly run errands for Her. She doesn't think I'm useful as a test subject, so I get stuck doing whatever happens to need done. It's not that bad, though. I manage, at any rate. Could be worse, you know? Could be dead, or in space, or something." He stopped, thinking. "It's a bit lonely here, too. I mean, I know the other cores are around, but they...well. Don't talk to them that much. They all think I'm...you know, a moron. Nobody ever listens to anything I say." He sighed. "Mostly I miss you. I mean, you're my best friend. My only friend, really, to be honest."
He glanced at her and saw she was asleep. A part of him was a little disappointed that she hadn't heard that last bit, but mostly he was glad to see her looking more peaceful and less in pain. She looked quite lovely in her sleep; her face seemed softer, without her mouth set so firmly and that serious look in her gray eyes.
Smiling slightly to himself, he got to his feet and left the room.
An hour later, he returned to find that she was awake again, lying on her side in the fetal position. He sat down next to her, pushing her bangs out of her face. "How are you feeling, luv?"
"Like someone's stabbing me with a kitchen knife," she said, and managed a weak, strained laugh. "But otherwise I'm fine."
He shook his head at her, feeling immensely sorry for her. "Anything I can get for you?" he asked, and put a hand on her shoulder, since that felt like the right thing to do.
"Some more of that tea would be nice," she said. "Or some chocolate?"
"Right away," he said, jumping up and heading towards the door.
"Hey, Wheatley?"
He stopped and turned. "Something else?"
"Could you maybe fill a bottle—a plastic one, not a metal one—with hot water? That helps too, sometimes."
"Absolutely," he agreed, and rushed to the kitchen for the things she'd asked for. It took him somewhat longer to get back; he had to be extremely careful to carry everything and not drop it all. "Here you are," he announced as he came into her room again. "Got a cup of tea, some chocolate, and not one, but two plastic bottles filled with hot water." Things did fall out of his hands as he set the tea on the table, but he didn't spill any tea, and that was what counted.
She smiled at him. "Wheatley, you're the best friend I've ever had," she said, and unwrapped a piece of chocolate.
He swelled up inside with pride. He never got that sort of compliment. It was practically unheard of! "Well, I do my best," he said, trying to sound modest.
Chell sat up to drink a little of her tea and grabbed the water bottles to rest them in the curve of her abdomen. "Could you..." she began, and hesitated. "You've already done a lot. Thank you. But if you don't...mind...could you rub my shoulders?"
"Not a problem," he said, his heart rate rising a little. A problem? There was nothing he'd rather do than make her more comfortable.
Well. There might have been one or two things he'd rather do, but they weren't important right now. Her immediate happiness was really his top priority.
He sat behind her, gently massaging her shoulders and back, marveling that he could possibly be so close to her, be in contact with her. It occurred to him that maybe he was dreaming, which would rather conveniently explain the whole situation. That thought alarmed him; weren't you supposed to wake up from a dream once you realized it was a dream? He didn't want to wake up from this! But when a few minutes passed and he didn't wake up, he relaxed again. It wasn't a dream. It was real. This...this was all really happening.
What had ever happened, he wondered, to make tiny little Wheatley so bloody lucky? He'd had the worst luck in the world once, but now...
And GLaDOS, he thought smugly, had intended it as a punishment when she'd charged him with making Chell comfortable. Well, he'd turned that around! For once in his life, exactly when he needed it—and, more importantly, when Chell needed it—he'd had a really, honestly good idea.
"Thanks," Chell said softly, leaning her head back as she set down her cup of tea. "It isn't usually this bad. It's just—you know, being somewhere new, going through tests again for the first time in months—it'll get better. I hope."
"Well, if it doesn't, you've always got me," he said helpfully.
"Yeah," she said softly, closing her eyes as the tea started to make her sleepy. "I've got you."
With that said, she fell silent, and he stayed right beside her until she drifted off to sleep.
A/N: So I absolutely loved writing this chapter. So much Chelley sweetness :DDDDD For those of you who aren't as obsessed with this fluffy nonsense, I'll have a silly non-fluffy story next chapter. (So far all of those seem to involve coffee...xDD) Hope you like it~
DG out!