AN: Alright, there is a little gruesome bit in this chapter; I tried to make it the least gross as possible. Again, I'm sorry about that…

Chapter 4 (Vulnerable)

Wheatley could have sworn a tsunami of relieve washed over him once she finally opened her eyes. He almost artificially yet calmly sighed out loud. He's been worrying the whole time. Although, he did stay at the distance that made her at least a little comfortable in his presence and he didn't "stare" at her. He heard that staring at humans made them feel uncomfortable and threatened if you glace at them for a while (He learned this the hard way, unfortunately. And ended up getting hurt.). That is why his optic seemed to fling all over the place whenever he was speaking to a human, so he isn't necessarily staring at them, that and he was really bashful and nervous all of the time. Gosh, how in the world can someone make a robot bashful? Well, again, he was an Aperture Science personality construct, meaning that he was more human than anyone would think, with that human personality and all. This made him think of a question. Was he a human before? And who exactly was he? Eh, he doubted his past and really preferred not to think about it.

After she woke up, the human stretched as much as she could without hurting her broken limb [which wasn't really a refreshing stretch, I should say]. She yawned slowly and rubbed her eyes, then glanced over at the muddy bank. She reluctantly took a drink from the heavily tinted, unfiltered water, giving out a disgusted expression right after. Ugh, he said it before and he's going to say it again: humans are gross. Who would drink mud? Just, ugh…The good news is that she hasn't noticed him yet, but he knows that it wouldn't stay that way. However, right at this moment, she looked at peace, and despite of all that was happening in her life right now, and despite the possible pain she was going through, she smiled to herself. He didn't honestly know why, it was probably the brain damage that caused that. After all, who would smile knowing that they are probably going to die down here? Well… Maybe she didn't know the odds of her survival… because that didn't make any sense. The smile was only brief, but the woman stayed surprisingly relaxed, leaning against a nearby oak tree that was behind her back. He had never seen her like this, he's seen her relaxed, but not this relaxed. And he wanted her to stay comfortable, she looked much better that way, when her eyebrows weren't furrowed in concern or stress, it reminded him of the time when they used to be friends… It didn't take her long to find Wheatley because Wheatley would not make a good spy or has good sheathe for that matter [be quiet, he wasn't spying on her!]. Her semi-peaceful expression transformed into the regular, old defensive position. Her eyebrows furrowed, her lips were pulled into a frown, her fingers clenched together, forming a fist and seemingly holding an invisible portal gun in her hands, and she was threatened alright. His least favorite expression of hers was now back, the one that read, "Stay away from me." Well, at least it wasn't the one smirk that read, "I'm going to kill you or I'm going to send you to the moon right now, you traitor, and you aren't even going to know a damn thing about it, and you're going to be confused as ever!" because that one was just brutally terrifying. He remembered that expression; it was the last one that he'd seen before he was sent into space. What was sad is that was the same grin that she gave GLaDOS when the core transfer was about to start. It showed that she hated him as much as she once hated GLaDOS, the one who actually imprisoned her in the first place. It was obvious that she still didn't trust him one bit. He hopes that would change. One day, he'll show her that he could be trusted, though. Maybe that day was today and maybe not. However, he is determined to show her.

"Oi! Lady! I got the medicine! Just found it few hours ago, really. You will be walking in no time! Uh, actually, in a few weeks to be exact… I'll also like to point something out: I'm not going to hurt you, so, don't worry. I know that you may not believe that, I understand. I'm just…erm trying to reassure you, in a way." Wheatley stated, showing her the bottle of gel treatment with his robotic hands. There was still a twenty-foot distance between them, and her expression was the same, however, she tilted her head curiously at the bottle.

He walked closer, as an attempt to give her the bottle and immediately regretted it, because her expression intensified until it read, "Okay! Back off! I'll tear you to pieces!"

"OH! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't-um mean to make you uncomfortable, lady." Wheatley called out timidly, giving out a nervous laugh as well, while quickly moving back 10 feet until she started calming down a bit. He didn't want her to tear him to pieces one by one today…

"So, how exactly is this going to work? Do you want me to throw it to you? Woah, woah. Not in a violent way, of course. Bare with me, this might take some trust if you can't apply the medicine to yourself though; I'm just going to point that out there. Also, if you don't like the whole throwing idea, then we're going to have to get rid of this, um… lovely (very lovely, isn't it?) distance for me to at least give you the medicine. Might need some trust, I'm not asking too much, just enough trust where I could give you something. I just- I want to help you, I don't want to leave you here like this, lady. You don't look to keen about the idea of being stuck here, either. I just want to help…" Wheatley explained to the slightly disturbed and vulnerable woman in front of him.

She seemed to settle down at that statement and was lost in thought for a few seconds, biting her lip as she was thinking. Her gaze went back at him, it was less aggressive and defensive, and then she lifted her head up a little with a quick motion. At first he thought it was just a twitch, like the electrical ones he would usually get.

"Sorry, but um… what exactly was that?" He questioned. She then used her hands to motion him to her. He was nothing more than surprised.

"Do you… want me to go over there? Are you sure? Maybe I should have asked that one first, the first question was kind-of obvious." Wheatley muttered. In response, the woman sighed solemnly and nodded a yes, or her way of saying, "Sure, it's the only option we got." He found an audio file that imitated the noise of clearing a throat before stating, "Um, okay." Then, obviously, he walked over to her to about an arms distance away from her and brought the bottle of gel medicine that was the solution to her broken leg. Alright, he was no moron, he could tell that she didn't want to do this and that she was afraid of him. He especially noticed this when he went closer, the poor woman in front of him was looking at him with a fearful and timid expression, and yet, she was still also alert for any sudden movements. It was so unlike her, though. This wasn't the same woman he met back at Aperture, because the woman he met back there was never afraid, especially of him. The lady seemed more afraid of Her than she ever was of him. Even then, she approached both of them without showing a speck of fear. He remembered that he sort of wished he had her courage and more importantly, her courage when she was facing Her. However, right now, she looked like a scared puppy and he didn't really know what to do about it. Why now, though? Why is she afraid or not hiding the fact that she was afraid? She is frightened of him, most likely that he will hurt her, since she had nothing right now. Nothing could help her in this situation. That was the fine line between the rebellious and seemly fearless lionhearted woman he met in Aperture, and the timid one he's seeing here, and it was all just based on her defenses. If she has her trusty portal gun, she'll never act afraid and never give any drop of artificial satisfaction to the insane AI's around her. However, she is defenseless and (if he really wanted to) he could kill her or harm her in a sort of act of revenge. Although he's said it a million times, he's going to say it again: he isn't going to hurt her. Not even if on the chance that corruption takes over him again, he'll find a way to not harm her. He doesn't want to go through a situation like this ever again.

"Hey. I'm not going to hurt you! Don't be scared of little old Wheatley here. I'm just going to give you some medicine so you can walk again, nothing painful. In fact, who knows? Might make you feel better! You'll be able to walk again, that's for sure. Walking's fun, isn't it? Being able to move your legs and that sort of thing. Just being mobile actually… Just d—don't scared okay?" He tried his best to calm her and showed his way of smiling, which wasn't really a smile, given the fact that he doesn't have a pair of lips or a mouth for that matter.

The woman didn't react one bit but she did take a deep, drawn out breath, and tried to calm herself. This, by the way, was hard considering her past companion who was once insane and tried to kill her, was at an arms distance away from her. She did notice that he talked differently, it was big difference, and he talked as if he was the same bashful, optimistic, and very nervous core he once was, correcting what he thought was wrong or rude and reassuring her (sometimes by lying) in times of emergency. However, this woman had really bad trust issues. Hey, if all the people you known or knew attempted to kill you and force you into tests that you didn't want to be apart of, there's not a doubt that you would have trust issues as well. She still didn't forgive him, not one bit, and she hopes she never will. Sure, she may have forgave that potato a little bit when she was forced down that pit, but that was because she needed her desperately in order to gain her revenge on that horrible traitor that was previously a companion. You know what they always say, the enemy of your enemy is your ally. That was a dire emergency and without her former rival's help, they would have both died, that was how big the emergency was. Well, this was an emergency in its way and she needed him, I guess. She had to admit, it was kind of him to go back into Aperture to give her some medicine. Without him, she would be stuck here for a long time, until she dies. So, she didn't know what was the difference between these two dangerous situations that caused her to not forgive Wheatley already. God, she didn't want to forgive him… Although, maybe it was the fact that this person was once her best friend, the only one who made her smile, the only one who really help her gain freedom, and the only one who wanted that freedom as much as she did. And he broke her trust. He used her. He betrayed her. He even tried to kill her when he didn't need her anymore and instructed her to commit suicide, but that was a different Wheatley, a much darker Wheatley, in fact. However, she still somehow trusted him a little bit, even though she was scared of him? It didn't make any sense and it perplexed her. Wheatley was able to do a thing that she thought was impossible: confusing her.

"Right, so I'm sure you don't want me to, um, apply the medicine, judging from your fear. Again, nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be afraid of, lady. Uh, just let me know if you can at least touch your leg. Can you do that for me? Just want to make sure, because as I said earlier, I might need at least a little more trust from you if you can't reach your leg without any pain." Wheatley rambled a bit.

The woman sighed. She exposed the broken bone by tugging on her pants with the hand on by her thigh. The former test subject didn't attempt to sit up yet, she was afraid that she will hurt herself in the process. However, she saw glimpse of her injury in the sunlight and she grimaced at just the little sight of the bruise and bent bone under her skin. "What in the world did you get yourself into, Chell?!" She thought to herself. At least bone wasn't exposed and didn't tear through her flesh; she heard that was much worse. However, that didn't stop it from looking disgusting. Wheatley even did his own little cringe at the sight of the wound. Once she looked at his expression, he changed it, and he just reassured her by stating, "Ugh, that looks horri—…You know what, ignore that, love. Looks better than I thought it would be. Looks okay, not exactly normal, but it looks decent, I suppose..."

It was then that she tried to sit up, she didn't know what happened but it was a pitiful attempt, and because of the aches in her muscles, she fell back down. She bit her lip in concern and worry. Seriously, how did she get herself in this? She survived so much in the world with a heart of lion and a pokerface. She survived through every deathtrap that any artificial intelligence threw at her and here she is, barely surviving this?! Ugh… it wasn't at all fun.

She tried many attempts to get up, in fact she counted four but she was strangely never able to reach her leg. It was probably because of exhaustion, she hasn't slept well these past few days, and she's only gotten at most three hours of sleep last night. It was then that Wheatley offered help, just to apply her medicine. She didn't trust him, nor liked him for that matter but what other options did she have at this moment? She needed him right now, well, at least until her leg finally healed. The former test subject took a sigh and then handed him the medicine bottle.

"Are you sure? Because it is clear that you don't trust me, lady. I don't want to make you uncomfortable as well, because it says here on the directions that you have to straighten the bone here, and I'm not exactly sure if you would trust me enough to do that…" Wheatley stated ruefully, causing the poor woman next to him to cringe and mouth some unfriendly language at the idea of putting her bone back where it was supposed to be. Straightening it would undoubtedly be painful, and he didn't think about that. It would hurt her, completely. However, it would help her at the same time. Good thing he wasn't a doctor though, or that is, he didn't have to be. You didn't have to straighten it perfectly, like it mentioned before, it didn't need a professional doctor or a genius to heal this leg with the gel. He continued talking though, "Probably be easier if you did it. Might be painful, as well. However, I did notice that you cannot get up, so maybe we're out of options here. So with your permission, I'll go ahead and begin. Only with your permission, of course." He looked at her leg and frowned. It looked repulsive and must be very agonizing, God. He just wished that she could get up and do this herself; he really didn't want to do this. It would mean that he will hurt her, without a doubt and he doesn't know what type of pressure he should use anyway. He didn't want to pop the bone completely out, they would be in more trouble than right now. He also didn't want to make it like a slow torture scene. Wheatley just flat out didn't know what to do, as always.

The whole idea of placing her broken bone in a way so that it will heal correctly, only made her more terrified than she was before. Although, the pain will stop, won't last forever and this will help her anyway. He isn't going to hurt her because he wants to. Heck, he even is asking her permission to assist her; it's not like she is defenseless and doesn't have a choice anyway. She could say no, she could and all of this would stop, however that won't help her get out of this situation, and she will choose a death penalty. What other choice did she have though? Besides just dying anyway, there was not another solution. The woman couldn't sit up to manually move her broken bone; she didn't even want to do that. It would be quicker and the pain will die down much faster if he had the job and not her. Her brows furrowed, she closed her eyes, and she bit her lip as an expression of facial contortion and then gravely nodded, looking away from the direction of her leg. Oh, she hoped this was worth it…

"What? Was that a yes? Uh…I have to admit; this is going to really hurt, most likely. So, just hang in there, love. You can…um, hold my hand if you want to," Wheatley stated, for he heard that holding hands was a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry I'm not being at all optimistic about this but I don't want to lie right now… So, let's begin. On the count of three," Wheatley declared, very, very nervously. Although, before he could count to just one, she started kicking him with her unbroken leg. "Ow, what?! What is it?... Oh… Is it because you don't want a countdown? Is that it?" Wheatley asked her. She nodded, and looked almost at the point of tears. Wow. Is it going to hurt that much? Her reactions didn't reassure him at all. As he said before, he didn't want to hurt her like he did before when he was insane, he doesn't want a repeat of that. "Alright… Let's go on one this time. Ready? Here we go. One!" Nothing happened, and he didn't move the bone one bit. He was a nervous wreck. "Oh for God's sake, Wheatley just get it done and over with," He thought to himself and then apologized, "Sorry. I'm just—I'm nervous and I'm in pretty hot water here, I don't really want to hurt you. Maybe I should shut up now for once. That is a good idea… Um… Here we go… On one," Wheatley started to get ready, and the woman looked away, still biting her lip. "One!" He explained, as he moved the bone back into place. She screamed a "Gah!" sort of noise and him repeating, "Sorry, sorry, sorry," with unnatural speech speed didn't really help the situation. However, in about ten seconds, it was over. The woman grimaced and was panting with her breath. The hard part was over. "See, all done, all done! Uh, let's pray to God, or whoever you worship, that we don't have to do that again, huh? That wasn't necessarily fun in my books. Not literal. Don't pay attention to that, that was a metaphor." Wheatley said nervously. He was relieved that that was over. And he could tell that she was glad that was over as well.

"Alright. I'm going to get out the medicine right now. I'm not quite sure if it is going to hurt. So, brace yourself on the off chance that it does hurt." Wheatley, in his own sort of way, somewhat calmed her, despite the pain she was in right now. Oh, please don't let it hurt, she was sick of hurting right now. She never knew how great having no pain felt like until she has been in a situation like this one. The former test subject wanted all of her nerves to be washed out, because it was more annoying than troubling now. The only thing she didn't like in her situation right now besides the pain is that he was touching her. Not anywhere that made her uncomfortable, thank God, but he was still touching her leg. Everytime he held her leg without warning, she flinched. She was still absolutely terrified of him. It was silly of her though. She never thought that she would be scared of bubbly, not-so-bright, nervous Wheatley.

He was wrong about the medicine, though. It felt like a warm massage to her and all the pain seemed to wash out from her leg. She brought out a slow, peaceful exhale and then got into a comfortable position. The woman barely even noticed that she wasn't even glaring at him anymore. She continued to relax and Wheatley nervously laughed. Great, it wasn't hurting her! That was the good news in all of this. He 'smiled' at her.

The woman continued to relax, until while Wheatley was rambling, he realized that she was fast asleep (again, he was afraid that she just died…). "Oh… Well, g'night, love! See you tomorrow, maybe," Wheatley confirmed. He could have sworn that she somewhat smiled, in her way of saying goodbye, either that or she was dreaming peacefully. He gave her a few apples so that when she got up she was able to eat, before he left. However, he still couldn't believe it took him this long to realize that she's not bad for a human. He'll visit her again. That is without a doubt.

AN: Bleh, I don't like the ending, I'm slowly getting a writer's block again. I'm sorry if there are any grammatical errors here, I was a little too lazy to reread five times (that's also the only way to prevent errors for me, I don't know why). So, yeah. I'm sorry if that popping-the-bone-back-in-place thing made you cringe, it's the last time I will ever write something like that. Adios.