AN: Thanks again to all of my loyal readers for being patient! You all deserve a donut. With Christmas coming up here soon, I will not be able to update too much (I gotta make gifts for all of my friends/family, so most of my writing time will be pushed to the side, you always got to start early) Anyway, I split up the best part and the climax to few chapters since it's pretty long but I'm sure you'll guys will eat it up. …Sorry if it's too cheesy in some parts though… :I

Chapter 8 (You've Helped Enough: Part 1)

He stayed there for a minute, with Chell that is. She was getting much better at her old concepts of walking normally and with great balance even though it's only been about a half an hour since her leg was useless. They walked for about a mile or so, with Wheatley rambling as always and talking about things that seemed mostly pointless to say. The sun was in the sky and it felt warm and great even though the leaves on the many trees in the forest were falling. He noticed that they were all in beautiful shades of orange and red. It could only mean one thing, winter was coming. Which meant that Chell needed to find civilization soon before it got too cold. She'd freeze in that weather, with nothing really on her but her old jumpsuit. He didn't worry about it too much though for it was a problem in the future. A good note for someone who is awfully stressful about everything is to not live in the future or the past because anything can change. To live right now is to have all of your worries wash away. Unless, if you are in a stressful situation currently, then feel free to panic.

Wheatley knew that he had to say goodbye soon, he wasn't that stupid. She could now take care of herself and he had full confidence that Chell had nothing to stop her. He thought about this while Chell finally washed up about four months of dirt, dried blood and science gels off of her in a clear stream (of course with her jumpsuit on… He never really got why humans were so picky about that.) Saying goodbye would be extremely difficult for him, for some ridiculous reason. Chell, obviously, was a human, he would have to say goodbye one day, wouldn't he? And it would hurt the most if he was going to be with her for eighty or more years. He put those thoughts behind him; they were too depressing for a matter that was not supposed to be. It was supposed to be a happy one, she would finally be free. She walked up to him; with all of the mud finally of her she looked clean and healthy. As she twisted her hair to get the water out, she smiled happily at him. She looked beautiful. Wheatley laughed nervously and sighed in reply, causing her smile to fade. When Wheatley doesn't talk for about fifteen minutes and then sighs, you would know that something is wrong.

"Look, love. It's…uh… I don't know how to put this…" He started. Chell tilted her head a bit, a common habit she did when she was confused or curious. When he continued to stutter, she did a hand gesture that he recognized as "Go on, Wheatley."

"Don't rush me, Chell. This is actually difficult. Look, the point is, I got to leave. And by leave, I mean…uh…I…" He scrabbled on his words and Chell still looked a bit confused yet calm and extremely patient. "Ugh! Why is this so hard!? Chell, I got to say goodbye. Uh I hope you find what you are looking for… Uh, yes, I—"

She interrupted him, not by words of course but with her arms she hugged him and a smile grew on her face, it was a grim sort of smirk. He hugged her back for the last time, and felt sad and happy all at once. Once they released, she looked at him and then her gaze slowly went to the ground and she exhaled. "Well, I wish you luck, love! It's been a blast, hasn't it?" Wheatley finally said but before he started walking away, she grabbed him by his 'wrist' to stop him. "I gotta go, love. Can't you see that? Old Wheatley's leaving now; he wished he had the choice." She mouthed "one moment" and started writing with a stick on the ground, she was going to communicate in the only known way that she could. So in that amazing handwriting of hers, she wrote, "Thanks for everything, Wheatley. I'll never forget you!" That warmed up his heart and he 'smiled' back at her. Wow, in the matter of a few months, they went from "afraid that one of them was going to kill the other" to "hard to say goodbye."

As he walked away, he waved and shouted a goodbye as they parted and walked in separate directions. He was happy that she would be safe and free from any harm, for there has to be civilization close, right? However, he was mostly a bit depressed about it. He will quite possibly never see her again. He looked back after a few minutes but she already was starting her search for civilization, and she was becoming smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased, until he couldn't even see her anymore. She was buried far away in the fall trees now. The woman who sacrificed her blood, sweat and tears to get her freedom finally got it. Nothing could stop her now, and nothing will ever stop her. As he walked away, he could feel the chances of ever seeing the intelligent and very brave human again slip way. If he had the choice to go with her, he would turn around and take it in a heartbeat.

But he owed a debt to GLaDOS, and planned to keep it (if he still wanted his artificially crafted life, anyway) Also, it was obvious to see that he had to say goodbye someday, he couldn't be there for her forever, right? She was an actual, blood pumping, living person and he was just artificially created to be the dumbest AI that ever lived, that sort of friendship would not be long-term, indeed. He needed to get over it. It was somehow hard to, but he needed to get over it. After all, he didn't give a damn about her when he was in control of the facility that long ago, why should he give a damn right now? He couldn't figure it out why he just disliked the feeling of letting her go. He thought about it the whole way back to the facility, but he didn't know the reasoning all about it. Was it because he has a lifetime of punishment to go through? Or was it because all of the positive emotions he had felt with her he would probably never feel again for a long time? It was constantly annoying him. Did he grow that attached to her even when he knew that he would have to say goodbye? All he wanted to do was help and prove to her that he was sorry for all of the things he had done in the past, he didn't really care about being friends. All he wanted to do is show how sorry he was.

Throughout his life he has experienced many emotions (that were all programmed in the wires of course.) He has felt rage and wrath, envy, greed, and guilt, to which he would never want to feel ever again. However, he had never felt such an emotion as he felt with Chell. It was a positive, fluttery experience. It grew, starting small and then spreading like an infection or deadly but passionate virus within his wires. He could not stop it and he had no sort of idea of what it was. Even emotions that were like it (such as happiness and joy) didn't quite feel as powerful as this was. Wheatley grew entirely confused at the emotion, especially since it started growing within him; thoughts of her showed up everywhere like long lost pictures from the past. She was brilliant, more brilliant than he'll ever be. He sighed. He'll have to figure this one out on his own.

Maybe when he gets home, he should do a Google search on this situation… It was a very Wheatley idea but it was the only thing that he could think of at the moment. So, that was exactly what he did. He plugged himself into a nearby Aperture Science outlet and searched up the keywords in the search engine, which probably hasn't even been used since the scientists were everywhere in the facility. Surprised that it was still fully functional, he "typed" up the keywords that best described the emotion that he was in. The first piece of information that he found that best answered his question was an emotion such known as love. Wait, no, that can't be right. No, that wasn't right at all, he couldn't 'love' a human, there's no way. He hardly even knew what love was anyway so that can't be correct. However, he checked and searched everywhere and got the same results, "love", "infatuation", "passion" and "adoration". Ugh, did he really love her? Was this actually love? It is, isn't it?

Wheatley didn't really want to accept it, but when he did, it became more apparent that it was true, that he loved her. He didn't want to believe it because he was ashamed to even think about it. He was hidden in his own shame at the fact that he loved a human, a human that cannot even be his. A human that he had to let go, to say the least. He wasn't supposed to fall in love with her, that wasn't his fate. He knew he had to say goodbye. After all, that was his plan the moment he first met her, to let her go and set her free. Ugh! Why don't his plans make him have a happy ending? He knows it's a wee bit selfish but nothing ever turns out the way he initially wanted it. Why is he thinking about this in the first place? He should be happy for her, because that's what a positive teammate does, and he will forever be her teammate; no matter how far she goes with that newly healed leg. He'll always be rooting and betting on her in the metaphorical bleachers.

He was thinking with much difficulty that his internal mechanics were making a deep loud whirring sound. He didn't even bother to exit out of the browser that he currently was on. He looked at the one typed word, "love" one more time before he heard a low echoed voice that he grew to fear say the following words with much anger:

"You moron, you weren't supposed to fall in love with her!"

God, he screwed up this time, she was livid, but for once in his life, he had agreed with her and he can say those words for himself.

AN: Sorry it's a little short, after all, you guys would be waiting until new year to get this if I didn't split it up a bit. I just wanted to show you that I was actually doing something and I haven't given up on this story yet…