AN/... I'm ill in bed so thought I'd crack down and write this for you New Life fans out there ;). I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 13 - Wasted Words
Chell POV - A few hours had passed since Rick told me his story. In that time, I had let him be, and gone for a shower. The warm water smoothed out every tense muscle in my body, relaxing me completely, till even Wheatley was off my mind temporarily. I decided there wasn't much point in rushing, Rick needed time alone, and if I wasn't distracted I would pine for Wheatley. So, I shaved my legs, and brushed my teeth slowly, counting each one for no other reason than pure distraction. After drying myself, I brushed out my long hair, noticing how much darker it looked when wet, and pulled on navy skinny jeans accompanied by a black t-shirt. It took me a while to dig through everything in the cupboard under the sink, but eventually I emerged with the hair dryer, plugged it in, and spent ages styling my hair as it dried. After a few minutes, I deemed myself insane, because over the loud dryer, I thought I could hear shouting downstairs, which was crazy. Although... No. I needed to stop thinking about Wheatley! He'll return when he's ready, I needed to give him time. Still... I wasn't very patient, and my heart ached copiously.
Rick POV - I started seeing my life in a new light, as I pranced around downstairs bare-footed, scooting around on the wooden floors and all in all acting like a kid. I can't change the past, I can't live with it, but I can shove it in a locked chest deep in the realms of lost thoughts, where it will rarely rear it's ugly head. So that's what I did. Hesitation could not hold me as I heard a pitiful knock on the door. I assumed postman, door-to-door salesman, everything but the one person who I knew would have to return sooner rather than later. I pulled open the door, and the smile fell from my face and shattered on the floor like glass.
"Wheatley..." I said, mouth agape.
"Hi...? I was actually expecting Chell to answer, it's really early in the morning for you," he smiled weakly, pushing past me. It would seem the moron wanted to act like nothing ever happened. Fat chance. I grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. "Get out."
"What?" He laughed nervously.
"You heard me. You've done more than enough damage."
"This is my house! You can't kick me out!"
"Watch me!" I spat, giving him a hard shove out of the door, and shutting it firmly. Phew, that was close. Chell must never know he returned today, it would break her heart knowing I made him go. But what I did was better than him breaking her heart again. Or so I told myself.
I didn't credit Wheatley with any more intelligence than a pea, so felt both shocked and enraged when he charged angrily through the back door, headed for the stairs, for Chell. I caught him in the kitchen, both of us completely fuming.
"Get out of the way!" He hissed, pushing me aside. I stepped into his path.
"No. I won't let you hurt Chell again!" I shouted, shoving him in the chest with all my might and causing him to stumble slightly.
"What are you even doing here?" Wheatley cried, regaining balance.
"Chell let me stay the night, to help her recover from what you did!"
Wheatley looked aghast, most likely imagining 'stay the night' to mean 'stay in Chell's bed all night'. Overprotective old sod.
"Did she have nightmares?" Wheatley asked casually.
"Yes."
"Ha, bet you couldn't stop them. Because only I can stop her suffering. She needs me to release the past, and all of this is not helping her, it's helping you!"
"That's it!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Get out!"
"I'm going to see my girlfriend!"
"That wasn't an option!" I screamed, and gave Wheatley a hard push into the back garden, this time following him. This ended now.
Wheatley POV -
"You think you can just appear out of the blue and everything will go back the same as before? Because that's sick. You're sick," Rick shouted at me, his eyes harsh and unforgiving. I tried anyway, for our friendship.
"Please, I'm sorry!" I begged helplessly.
"That's not good enough!"
"Chell will forgive me! Why can't you?"
"You don't deserve to be forgiven! She's too good for you! Any girl is too good for you!"
"You're just jealous!" I yelled, not expecting Rick's next move. His face turned down in disgust and rage, and before I had a chance to even comprehend the situation, his rock-solid fist walloped into my gut.
"Ow!" I cried out, stepping backwards. I didn't want to fight, I'm far too lanky and uncoordinated for it to ever end well for me. "Stop it! Can't we just talk about this?"
Rick's knee came up, and I sidestepped deftly, prepared that time. His bony knee still hit my thigh, but that was far better than where it was aimed.
"Do you get some sort of kick out of beating innocent people up?" I shoved him away from me, and began returning for the house.
"Only cold hearted murderers."
I stopped dead in my tracks, fury washing through me in violent quakes. Moving so quickly I didn't have time to stop myself, my own fist connected with Rick's nose. He staggered slightly, and a tiny trickle of blood began to form under one nostril. He wiped it shakily, inspecting the blood.
"I'm not a murderer!" I shouted angrily, although deep down my heart ached from the sting of the insult. It was true, I am a murderer. However I didn't want to admit it to anyone - it hurt too much.
"You are a murderer! A murderer and the world's biggest wuss! Only you could make that possible!" His insult angered me further, but I didn't have the energy to fight back physically anymore. Rick's words hurt too much, they were like knives slowly slicing my heart into two jagged halves.
"At least I came back, and I know Chell will forgive me! Because she loves me! Nobody could ever love you, you're mean and selfish and vain and big-headed! I bet if you had a child they would run away from you, if you didn't kill it first! I bet you would cause a miscarriage within two days of getting someone pregnant, because you're so wrapped up in your own stupid self!"
I really deserved what came next. As soon as I shouted my mini speech, I regretted it. Pain filled Rick's eyes, but he tried to hide it gallantly.
"Shut up!" he hollered, and walloped me across the jaw. It made a strange thwack sound, and pain shot through it in fiery spasms. Blood gushed from the newly opened wound, and I tried to stem the warm liquid with my quivering fingers. It was hardly a Good Samaritans act, but I didn't hit back. If I'm honest, I deserved that punch so much. No, I would be the better person. Trying to look brave and failing, I retreated back into the house, shutting the door behind me, slightly scared. I peered out of the window, to see Rick curse violently and leap over back gate. That was when Chell entered the kitchen
"Wheatley..." She whispered, frozen like a statue. I looked away anxiously, then held my arms open. She ran into them, and I hugged her tightly.
"I'm so so so sorry Chell! Will you ever forgive me? I've been such a jerk and I ruined everything! I'm sorry!"
"Don't be silly, of course I forgive you," she smiled, eyes full of love, to my relief. A grin lit up my own face, and I kissed Chell happily, wishing Rick would be as easy to win over.
Chell's lips were soft on mine, and I pushed my body against hers, wanting to be as close as possible. My long arms wrapped all the way around the small of her back, and then some. I smiled through the kiss, and I could feel Chell doing the same thing, as we stayed interlocked like matching puzzle pieces. Her hands clung around my neck, our foreheads touching. Gently, I pulled back, and kissed her nose.
"I love you," I whispered, nudging into her cheek a little.
"I love you too."
"I'm sorry, I-"
That was when she silenced me with another kiss, and I lost my train of thought completely.
"My life would be nothing without you, please don't ever leave me," Chell whimpered, and I shook my head, kissing her jawline directly by her ear.
"Never. You're like... What an orange portal is to a blue portal - we need each other to work," I murmured, thinking of the best explanation I could. It seemed to work, because she smiled.
"Are you getting shorter?" I asked jokingly as I made a point of having to bend over simply to hug her.
"Are you getting taller?" She laughed, and stood on her tiptoes. Scrap that, I lifter her completely in the air, holding her against me like a parent does a little human. Her legs wound around my waist like a little monkey, and I chuckled.
"Aren't I heavy?" Chell questioned, looking down at the floor worriedly. I did have a record of dropping plates and glasses.
"No, not at all. I carried you all over Aperture, and then home."
"True. To think, I used to be able to carry you as well. Now you're double the size of me."
"I like it, it wasn't very nice being so tiny with no limbs. I felt useless for half of my existence as a core."
"You were actually extremely helpful to me," she whispered, resting her chin on my shoulder.
"At the time I hated myself, but now I'm just glad my stupidity allowed your escape. It would seem GLaDOS replaced her hate for you with an even stronger hate for me."
"Well, that's not a good thing, Wheatley. I can beat all you oversized computers, but you probably wouldn't do so well."
"She isn't coming after us anymore luv, I ripped half of her wires out, remember? Oh yeah, that means I can beat oversized computers!"
"After I saved you from being impaled through the heart!" Chell objected, mock punching my arm and sliding down my chest to the floor. I shrugged, and wiped her cheek softly, pretending to caress it, because some of the blood from my wound had smushed onto her flushed skin.
"Anyway, happy reunion over, what happened to your face?" Chell demanded. She hadn't given the cut a miss after all.
"Well... I... I... I triiiiiped?" I said, dragging my words out till they sounded almost like a question.
"You're a terrible liar Wheatley. Also, have you seen Rick, he was here earlier."
"Mmm, I've seen Rick... But he was... just leaving."
"After fighting you?" Chell guessed, lifting my chin up to the light so she could inspect the wound. Damn, she was good at figuring stuff out.
"Well... He started it! And I only hit him once, he hit me three whole times!" I whined.
"Where did you hit him?" She asked curiously, grabbing some kitchen roll and mopping up the blood.
"The nose. It bled. Then he punched my jaw, which, as you can see, also bled."
"What were you arguing about?" Chell wondered aloud, putting some antibacterial alcohol wash thing on my face that made me wince.
"You," I shrugged matter-of-factly, rubbing my sore chin.
"Don't touch it! And I hope you don't mean arguing over me as arguing over having me," she said fiercely, a warning of how nobody should ever get in her bad books.
"No! Course not! Rick thought I would keep breaking your heart, and he was mad I ran away. So I apologised, then he attacked me, then we started shouting insults at each other, then he punched my face, then I came back inside to end the fight, then he cursed and jumped over our back gate."
"Oh, okay," she muttered, holding my hand. "You need a shower and a change of clothes if you slept rough all night."
"Yuck, water!" I grimaced, but after kissing her forehead one more time, I ran off upstairs to wash, leaving a laughing Chell far behind me.
It wasn't until I looked at myself in the mirror I realised how grimy I truly was. My hair was all over the place, and a smudge of dirt rested on my left cheek. The cut didn't help, it was a gash stretching out from the corner of my lips to halfway down my chin, lined with dark red blotches. My palms were dirty too, and I washed them hastily, slightly disappointed in myself. Chell lost her child too, and she didn't run off, she only got stronger. I seemed pretty pathetic in comparison.
I. Hate. Water. It was trickling into my ears, shampoo ran into my eyes and it burnt, ugh. Human life wasn't giving me a warm welcome home, let's just say that. As I managed to tip the last remnants of bubbly water from my ear, I couldn't help but keep wondering: what would I be doing now if none of the past day or two had occurred? Rick would still be my friend, that's something. I wouldn't have this ugly slice on my chin, and Chell and I would probably be snuggled up watching a film right now, me being extra careful not to lean on her pregnant tummy. Then I would wander around aimlessly getting in the way whilst Chell tried to make us lunch. Mid-afternoon-ish, Rick would probably finally wake up, and trudge over here to be a loveable pain to everyone. Unfortunately, I didn't realise how bliss, how special that life was until my clumsiness and stupidity lost it. Now, well there's hardly any going back.
"Do you plan to stay in there the whole day?" Chell called through the bathroom door as she walked past.
"No!" I replied defensively. "The shower attacked me violently and went in my ear and then the shampoo went into my eyes, that stuff is like acid, I swear!"
"The shower hasn't been on for half an hour, Wheatley," she chuckled.
"Well... Oh I'll be out soon anyway!"
"Have a shave whilst you're at it, you're all... Stubbly."
Oh God, not again. For some reason male humans have to carve their facial hair off with these mini knife things, and if you slip - as I often do - then you get cut.
"Do you want me to do it for you?" Chell sighed softly, acting like she minded. I don't think she did. Although I couldn't accept, it would hurt my pride so.
"Nonono, I can do it," I claimed hastily, brandishing the shaving cream and a razor.
"Be careful then honey..." I vaguely heard Chell mutter, but she was already leaving to go do more stuff around the house.
As gently as possible, I nudged the button on the can of shaving foam, and loads of the stuff spurted everywhere. Good start. Slowly, I began wiping it all over my lower face and under my chin, smothering all the stupid stubble in feather-light destruction. That was the easy bit, and I found it challenging, so I assumed the next step of actually removing the hair would be a disaster, or even catastrophic.
Fear consumed me, my hands began to shake, and I lifted the blade to my cheek. My eyes automatically squinted, for I could hardly bear to watch, then my hand pulled the sharp metal down my face. Somehow, I managed to survive without cutting anything except the stubble off; now I just had to repeat that several times more until my face was smooth again. Easier said than done. Unless you're Chell and you're inside Aperture, in which case for some reason you don't speak, therefore things are easier done than said. Which is odd and confusing so I decided to stop thinking about it. I mean, okay even I can figure out she didn't talk to GLaDOS because that would give the evil hunk-of-junk more to judge her with, but why didn't Chell talk to me? It just didn't make sense. Was it a good idea to ask her that later? Well, I didn't see why not.
Luckily, I managed to get away from shaving with only one tiny nick on my neck, right by my 'adam's apple' as humans called it. I sniggered at the word apple, because I still remember the day Chell and I first met, in her little test suspension storage... Room. Although it was more like a box, and I would know, I had to be in charge of ALL of them. Although, Chell happened to be the first - and the last - person I ever helped.
When I emerged downstairs, I found myself with an opportunity to sneak up on Chell, for she had her back to the kitchen door, cooking something on the hob. Smiling, I tiptoed over, and wrapped my arms around her waist suddenly, causing her to squeal like a guinea-pig in shock.
"It's not funny!" She wailed, causing me to laugh even harder.
"Get off or I won't feed you," Chell grinned objectively, gently yet firmly elbowing my ribs.
"Okay, okay I'm going, I'm going," I mumbled, taking a step back and trying to muffle my laughs in such a way they ended up as snorts. I couldn't decide what was worse.
A few seconds later, I got bored of staying out of the way, and stood directly behind Chell, bodies touching. My chin rested on her scalp of its own accord, and I began to play with a strand of her soft hair innocently. She didn't shoo me away.
"Chell...?" I began uncertainly, teasing her hair around my finger in a complicated curl.
"Mmm?" She replied, stirring food around in a saucepan.
"How come you... You didn't talk in Aperture?"
"You know why, Wheatley."
"Yeah, I know why you didn't talk to GLaDOS but I wasn't judging you, how come you didn't chat to me?"
"Because then I would run a risk if GLaDOS hearing me..." She whispered shiftily, appearing to be hiding something.
"What else?" I whispered anxiously, kissing her hair.
"Because if we talked then I worried we would both get attached to each other. And there is no point making friendships or allies or relationships in Aperture, because death can so quickly occur. I could have failed in a test and died at any point, you almost got crushed into oblivion by GLaDOS, I thought if I held a huge blank for a personality in your eye, then it wouldn't hurt at all if I died."
"It was always going to hurt, because you have such an intricate personality that I could slowly unravel and reveal pieces. I became pretty good at reading you before long."
"I suppose," Chell muttered, turning off the hob and edging around me so she could grab a couple of plates. Yum food, I had missed the stuff overnight.
"Wheatley, get out of the way!" Chell moaned, as she turned around with a pan full of boiling water and nearly burnt me. I yelped in protest, and sat on the counter instead.
"You're like a little kid, you know that?" Chell smiled, patting my hand as she walked past. The very mention of children set off a pang of guilt and pain in my chest, and I rubbed it woefully. My imagination went wild, I could imagine a little child running around the house - our child. He or she would look just like Chell, and have zero of my stupid personality defects. I would play with them every day, and they would have the best life possible. I think I could do it, I think I could be an alright father. Even if that failed, I know Chell would have been an amazing mum. My breathing thickened, turning into deep sighs. If only.
"You okay?" Chell asked sweetly, placing plates of pasta with some kind of tomato sauce on the table and laying two sets of cutlery beside them.
"Yeah, never better," I smiled weakly, and went to sit opposite her. "Just hungry."
Which was true, but not the reason for my gloomy mindset. Still, Chell accepted this excuse, and looked into my eyes for the truth instead. I hoped I wasn't too easy to read.
"You really ought to make it up to Rick," Chell suddenly pointed out about halfway through the awkwardly silent meal.
"He hates me though, and with good reason."
"No, he thinks he has good reasons, but you've done nothing wrong, Wheatley. Accidents can't be helped, and you can place them in a positive light by learning from them. Rick will come around, he needs his sidekick back."
"Yeah, he does," I grinned. "Thanks luv."
"How are you going to play it then?" She asked curiously, looking at me with affection and respect.
"Erm... Well I already tried saying sorry. That didn't work as I planned," I chuckled, pointing at my chin. "Can I just lie and say the baby is still... You know... Alive?"
"No!" Chell objected, shaking her head in a bemused fashion. "Why don't you just explain?"
"Explain what?" I questioned, leaning back in my chair till it balanced haplessly on just two legs.
"Why you ran away. How much of an accident it really was. Just tell him the truth Wheatley, and if he won't hear your honest story out then he's not worth it," she shrugged, standing up and kissing my hair as she lifted our plates into the dishwasher.
"Yeah!" I agreed enthusiastically, standing up to my full height bravely. "I'm going to do it right now!"
"Well that was fast," Chell smirked, kissing my cheek fondly as I pulled on my jacket and shoes.
"I don't like it when he hates me, the sooner he forgives me the sooner my mind can be at rest," I admitted earnestly, squeezing her hands quickly then turning to leave. He had to listen, he had to forgive me.
Rick POV - I lay aimlessly on my sofa, playing a violent video game and wriggling my sore nose pitifully. I managed to get it to stop bleeding, but it still throbbed like hell. On screen a monster ate me alive, and I threw the controller frustratedly. Everything was annoying me this afternoon, I was like an aerosol can, one tiny puncture and I'd explode. I clenched my fists and my toes, and hunched up sulkily, so much so I nearly jumped out of my skin when the doorbell chimed loudly.
"Who is it?" I called through the door, as I began to fiddle with the lock and release the latch.
"It's me," a voice called, muffled by the thick door between us. I had no idea who 'me' was, so instead finally managed to wrench the door open and investigate.
"Go away Wheatley," I muttered, looking away. He had insulted me so much, I couldn't even bring myself to be angry. I was just hurt.
"Please, hear me out?" he begged, putting his shoe in the door discreetly just in case.
"Hear what out? How sorry you are? Because that hardly changes anything does it?"
"No, just listen to me explain. Please, I'm begging you. Please? Please? Please please pleeeease? Please? Plea-"
"Okay, fine!" I gave up, opening the door wider for him to come in. Wheatley shot through the doorway like a bolting hare, not wanting to give me a chance to reconsider. Unfortunately, I couldn't help but smile, he was just like old times and I think part of me really wanted us to be friends again.
"Okay, I'm listening," I muttered, folding my arms. Wheatley shifted nervously, running his fingers through his hair.
"Well... I... Erm... Basically... It's sort of like... I'm sorry, okay! I know that doesn't help, but I am! And everything I said earlier was a lie because I was angry and wanted to hurt your feelings! Yesterday, well yesterday was all an accident, Rick! I didn't know Chell was standing in the doorway, so I kicked the ball. By the time I realised, it was too late! Then, I tried to help Chell, I honestly did, but you stopped me! After that, you sent me to get your car even though that's illegal on your behalf because you know I don't have a licence and can't drive for toffee, and so I accidentally scratched one of your side mirrors. But hey, surely you're just lucky I didn't blow the whole car up or get caught or anything! Of course, I know running away was the completely wrong thing to do, because Chell needed me... Maybe, maybe even you needed me. But I was just so afraid, afraid that Chell would hate me forever. Afraid that you would get even madder at me. Most of all, guilt pushed me away, it filled me to the brim till I hated myself so much I ran. And look, I'm sorry, for everything. Please forgive me."
My brain whirred, picking up on every positive and negative, trying to determine a final answer. It was hard. One part of me wanted to forgive Wheatley instantly, because deep down I knew he was innocent. However, the over half of me was bitter, and never wanted to see him again. War was waging inside my head, and in truth it hurt. I was so confused. In the end, everything just snapped.
"No!" I yelled frustratedly. "You're a moron, a murderer, a wimp, a heartbreaker, and a bad friend. I HATE you! I never want to see you again!"
Wheatley's face dropped, smile running downwards like trickling water, and tears of fear and anger began to extinguish the spark in his bright, gleaming blue eyes.
"I'm sorry... I'll see you around... Or not," he shrugged, and turned to leave mournfully. "It's not like I can make you change your mind."
It was my turn to feel guilty now, he looked so innocent. Because he was innocent. Everything was an accident, so he couldn't help it. I had to swallow back my own tears as I ran after Wheatley and grabbed his stiff arm just before he left.
"Wheatley, wait!" I cried, tugging pitifully on his shirt.
"Yeah?" He sniffed, eyes watery and loveable grin absent.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I just said! I forgive you, it wasn't your fault at all. Friends?"
His tears spilled over, but the grin returned, wider than ever.
"Yeah, friends. The best."
A smile planted itself on my own face, and I held my hand out for a fist-bump. Of course that wasn't enough for Wheatley, he pushed it out of the way to avoid a knuckle in his ribs and pulled me in for a giant hug, warm and matey and comforting. I wasn't usually a hugger, but for once in my life, I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him too - but only briefly of course.
"The best," I repeated, smiling happily. I had my friend back, and it felt amazing.
AN/... So if you liked it, please review! They mean a lot to me! Next chapter will be up ASAP, and as I've been saying, happy chapters onwards from here to the end =).