AN/... Whooo reviews I feel loved again ^_^ you guys are all amazing! So, answering your many questions, no Chell and Wheatley won't break up, and well... The baby is kindaaa hurt... But you know something's going to go right at some point because I hate sad endings to a story! Apologies if this chapter makes you cry or something, dunno how sensitive you all are =) enjoy!

Chapter 11 - Gone

Chell POV - Pain shot through me relentlessly, and I clutched my stomach tightly. I had never felt a pain like it, it was worse than when my leg got broken and Wheatley had no choice but to straighten it, worse than when GLaDOS tortured me, cut me and threw me across the room. All of these casualties hurt for no more than five seconds, then dulled down to a mellow stabbing sensation in comparison. Not this time though, now I was experiencing the same unbearable red-hot feeling over and over and over again with no signs of it ever weakening. I didn't even want to think about what might be happening to the... the baby.

Rick ran over to me first, surprisingly, dropping to his knees and wrapping his warm arms around me whilst I shook and whimpered. Wheatley took a step forwards, but his friend turned to face him with a growl.
"You've caused enough trouble, don't you think?"
The hostility in Rick's voice was so noticeable that it caused Wheatley to take a step back, and his face crumbled. Using more force than necessary, Rick hurled his car keys at Wheatley, causing an unnatural red welt to protrude from his arm, where the throw caught him off guard.
"Go get my car. And if you so much as get dust on it, I will drown you."
Wheatley yelped and scampered out the room, deeply afraid of any watery threat.

I wanted to reach out to him, tell him to ignore Rick, and let him hold me and hug me and comfort me. But I was in too much agony to have the ability to speak for myself, so Wheatley was forced out of the house by pure intimidation. All I could do was try not to cry out or sob from the pain. I had to try and be brave for the others, I mean they used to be balls of metal - what would they understand about this sort of accident? I didn't want to know myself if I'm honest, all I kept doing was telling my heart and mind that the baby was absolutely fine. And he was. He had to be. He had to be.

Wheatley POV - Oh God, was that all my fault? I didn't mean to! I didn't know Chell was standing there, and now she's in pain and Rick is so mad at me and I have no idea what's wrong apart from I think it might be to do with the baby! I ran my fingers through my hair nervously, whilst the car fumbled and grumbled beneath me.

When the bloody thing finally started, I tried my best to edge carefully into the road. I turned the wheel - a little too far - since the left mirror smacked into a lamppost. My gulp could have been heard from two streets away, and I was shaking like a tiny leaf caught in a hurricane. Thoughts of water ran through my brain, sparking the fear and apprehension like an electric circuit. Slowly, I allowed the accelerator to inch closer to the ground, and Rick's car rolled at snail's pace to the front of mine and Chell's home. I clambered out of the vehicle in a state of terror, trying not to look at the dented left-hand mirror. Oh God, he was going to kill me.

As soon as I took one step through into the hallway, I noticed Rick, who pushed me back outside again, leaving Chell huddled up on the sofa.
"I'm taking her up the hospital in a minute," Rick told me in a tired monotone, not even bothering to glance at his car. Somehow I couldn't even bring myself to believe he had the energy to be mad at me anymore. For now at least.
"Is she going to be alright?" I questioned in a hushed, concerned voice.
"Well, in time. I think the... The foetus took a pretty hard hit."
"The what? Call it a baby, Rick," I replied in a choked voice. Because I knew that perhaps he had a good reason to no longer address it as a human.
"Well, it might not... Not be a baby anymore..."
"What is it then, a cat?" I tried to turn the situation comical, but I couldn't even fool myself. A lump invaded my throat, and warm liquid began to form along the bottom lid of my eyes.
"Well, a baby is a little human isn't it? A foetus is the developing unborn baby. But I think you kinda stemmed the growth... The growth of the... The... You know," he sighed, and turned to leave.
"Wait, like it's..." my mind scrabbled desperately for the right word. "...Dead?"
Rick shrugged, and left me alone in the icy wind. A deathly shadow ran its bony fingers along the ridges of my spine, and I shivered violently.

The baby can't be dead, I... I didn't mean to... No, no Rick was just joking, or being pessimistic. Of course the little human is still hanging on in there. Perhaps a little injured, the doctors will fix that up, and the kid will be right as rain again. Right as rain... Rain isn't even right - that's a stupid phrase. Right as... I dunno sun. Right as sun. I mean, I got stabbed in the chest before - right by my heart and my lungs and whatever other vital organs lay nearby - and as much as I hated to admit it, the hospital cleared my wounds up pretty well. Chell's too. My hand moved to my chest of its own accord, I could feel the slightly raised, jagged dot where the claw impaled me, the scar that would remain forvever.

Sirens whizzed past somewhere in the far distance, forcing me to heed a feeling of foreboding doom, which was odd because they weren't for me. However they did get me thinking, which rarely ends well. What if I did... Kill him or her... Would I be a murderer? The emergency services; they would have to arrest me or something. Chell will never forgive me at any rate. I should never have been made into a bloody human. It's not right, I don't even make a decent one. Used to call humans smelly... Maybe that was partly correct on behalf of my damned human persona. The stress built up, higher and higher, engulfing me in a thick fog, disabling my vision and choking my shallow breathing. I raised my head, hoping for more air, glancing mournfully at the grey clouds floating away in the light breeze. The hail had deceased, only a chilly breeze remained, hovering unsurely in the atmosphere. A flock of birds flew overhead, their whole family just completely uprooting themselves and moving away. Usually I would be frightened of the horrible creatures, but I couldn't bring myself to be afraid this time. At the moment they were the least of my worries. In fact, the little things actually gave me an idea. Tears welled up in my eyes, a lump jutted painfully in my throat, and I looked away from the suddenly unwelcoming house. I had never felt more like an outsider in my life, never felt so alone and unloved and hated.

Rick POV - Helping Chell to her unusually wobbly feet, I hoped she would be okay. Of course I also knew I was kidding myself, I had never seen a face so ashen, so sunken in before... Except maybe once... I shook my head angrily. No, the past needs to learn how to stay the hell out of my head! It didn't seem so much of a crime to borrow the house keys off the shelf and lock up for Chell, so I did just that. House locked and secure, I turned around, half expecting to see Wheatley desperately reasoning with a now crying Chell. But, funnily enough, he was absolutely nowhere in sight. Then my intelligent brain pieced everything together, and the result disgusted me. The stupid moron must have run away.

Forget babbling idiot, Wheatley is the biggest wuss I have ever been unfortunate enough to meet. Ugh, why am I even friends with him? Why is anyone? He's a total wanker. Perhaps lobbing him into space wasn't a good enough punishment after all. I should have killed that big-headed scrap of metal when I had the chance. Now he's reduced to breaking a girl with pure clumsiness and idiocy, then smashing her heart by running away and leaving her to sweep up the broken pieces. Not once did I ever use to think even Wheatley could be that low.

Anger rolled off me in thick red waves, smoke practically pouring out of my ears. Fists clenched tightly, my fingernails made little dents along the edge of my pale palms. The green of my irises sharpened, eyelids narrowing around them threateningly. I can't believe he did that. Just ran away. It didn't solve anything, it made things worse. Humans must have some sort of sixth sense (yes, they have so many! As a core all my senses were simulated, and I still only had three!) that allows them to detect the mood of others, because Chell eyed me warily and avoided the front passenger seat of my car. Yet still I was agitated by everything, making snarky, sarcastic comments against anything that 'got in my way', which was very easy to do due to my fury. I knew I had a wild uncontrollable temper, but this was bad for me. Deep down I knew my nasty experiences from the past were heavily to blame. One in particular, which, oddly enough, didn't relate at all to Aperture. But still it haunts me.

"Rick!" Chell's voice reached me, shocking me out of my daydream. "Are you still mad at Wheatley?"
"Mmm," I nodded vigorously, desperate to prove my point by clutching the steering wheel even harder, so much so it groaned in a strained reply. Somehow she had managed to forgive him, and suspected he was simply afraid of the hospital. She assumed he would be home in a few hours, apologise, and everything could go back to normal. That wasn't going to happen, I mean she's still whimpering in pain clutching her bump on my back seat, Wheatley is God knows where feeling sorry for himself, and the baby, well it's depressing that you can't give a foetus a grave. Yes, I had no proof as of yet that Wheatley actually caused a miscarriage, but the signs weren't in his favour. All I knew was that it was going to be rocky afternoon. And evening. And night. And week. Possibly also month.

Parking agilely in one of the public hospital's small gravel car spaces, I gently aided Chell as she stood up, and together we hobbled through the automatic glass doors, the generic pale walls seeming to swallow us whole into the heart and stomach of the hospital. Injured people, visiting people, old people, young people, they all ran around the place, either on errands or crying or trying to walk - whatever. Can't say I particularly cared. It's not like I knew them. Okay, that's harsh, I'm mean, I'll own it. Right then all I cared about was making sure Chell was going to be alright. I felt heavily inclined and dutiful to do so. So far I wasn't doing a very good job, her skin held a worrying ghostly-pale, clammy pallor and she kept trying to hold back sniffs and groans in vain.

Leaning over the reception counter as far as possible, I whispered frustratedly to the receptionist, hoping Chell was out of earshot.
"I think she's having a miscarriage! She needs a doctor now!"
"Of course sir, but please step back," she replied, looking slightly scared. I noticed how close I was to her, our noses almost touching, and I pulled away quickly. Of course I was close, I didn't want Chell to hear and get worse. Basic psychology much, this woman was obviously an idiot. Although she did do her job, and began using her desk phone to call across to some sort of ward that must have housed available doctors, because several minutes later one came jogging out of a room. He had short mousey brown hair that constantly flopped across his hazel eyes, glasses that seemed to be covered in oil (they kept sliding down his snub nose) and an irritating smile on his face. We had to be fobbed off with one of the optimists, didn't we?

"Do you want your... Boyfriend?... To come with you miss?" He asked in a soft tone, as he turned to lead Chell away to some ward. I raised my eyebrow in a proud arc, and snorted.
"She's not my girlfriend. Her boyfriend is-"
"Away with work," Chell cut me off, stopping the abuse that was about to pour from my mouth. I could hardly say anything now, so I simply nodded.
"I can go by myself," she said haughtily, dignity intact even now. Can never put that past Chell. Hugging her quickly, I retreated, allowing the doctor to help a struggling-to-keep-from-crying Chell to a ward somewhere, and plonked myself down in the waiting room. The sofa was orange, the floor shiny wood, the walls still white. They had at least tried to brighten the place up a little since I last came here.

My eyes wandered for a while, then I curled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on top, closing my eyes. Not sleeping, not at all, just blocking out all of the beeping and yelling and crying and giggling and God knows what else out of my poor head. It wasn't comforting to know that every cry, every beep, every yell probably signalled the end of someone's life, maybe even a child's, someone who had barely begun to live. No, I preferred to shut it all out and stay locked up in my perfect world, a world of adventures and not much else. Wheatley was definitely not welcome. It would be strictly a half-decent people only zone. Unfortunately day-dreaming could only keep the horrors of life out for a while, and I heard someone coughing in front of me, trying to get my attention. It was that doctor again. Scrap my thoughts on his optimistic appearance, his grin had morphed into a grim line and frown lines persisted on carving themselves upon his forehead. Was that a spot of blood on his previously pristine white coat?

"I'm sorry sir, but your friend has lost her baby."

AN/... Not a happy ending to this chapter guys =/. However, the story in general does have a happy ending, so wait a few more chapters for the happy stuff to return! This is just the tragic middle of New Life.. ;P please review =) I'll update ASAP. Next chapter: bit more about Rick ;) =D