Now that Wheatley was mobile (Chell was beginning to question exactly why she had thought that that would be a good thing) he was a bit like a toddler: he wanted to look at everything and go everywhere. Which was even more dangerous than Chell had originally anticipated.

Yesterday, for example, Wheatley had fallen on his face just by opening the door to the refrigerator (If you asked Wheatley he would tell you that it hadn't been his fault, he had just opened the door and then all of the sudden there was an avalanche of those tiny water blocks, so he had tried to run away but then he slipped on one and landed on his face). The whole incident had made her (laugh, for one thing) start to seriously think about all the trouble Wheatley was bound to get into now that he wasn't confined the designated paths of a rail. It was different before, when he could only go where his rail went (though even then he had been able to cause significant damage to Aperture); now he was completely free to go wherever he wanted. Which was terrifying to Chell for more than one reason.

However, Chell was a thinker, and she quickly thought of a solution for her new dilemma.

Wheatley was trying very hard to stay on her good side. The tension between them was easing the tinniest bit every day, and though he was by no means forgiven (not yet), the barest bit of trust was beginning to ebb between them.

That was good. Chell could use that.

She found Wheatley sitting in the little breakfast nook off the kitchen. He was sitting at the table, swinging his legs and munching thoughtfully on a banana. Ever since she had given him that apple sauce on his first day with her, they had discovered that he loved fruit, and it was most of what he ate.

"Hello!" Wheatley chimed as he finished his snack. Chell gave him a little smile and waved. "Whadaya need, love? You're kind of staring at me."

Chell took his wrist, something he was used to by now as he had been living with her for nearly a month, and lead him out of the breakfast nook and into the living room. She stopped them right at the seam in the floor where the carpet met the tile of the kitchen. Then she turned to face Wheatley.

"Oh, charades again, is it? Alright." He was used to that too, but he flinched as she poked him square in the chest.

"Wheatley- er- me?"

'Yes.' She nodded in acknowledgment, then shook her head and made a giant x with her arms.

"I... don't?"

'Right.' She nodded again, this time repeating the previous clue while stepping one foot on the tile floor of the kitchen.

"I don't... kitchen?" Chell nodded. "Yes? I don't... go in the kitchen?" Wheatley's expression turned perplexed as he actually understood what she was saying."Why not?"

'Why not?' Chell gave a huff of silent laughter. 'The kitchen is full of sharp, hot, cold, wet, flammable things that are not safe for someone whose best test to see if something is safe is to poke it.' She gave him an incredulous look as if he should have banned himself from the room.

"I only set my lunch on fire once! I can be more careful! Please?" She didn't budge. "Do I at least get to eat?" He asked half-heartedly.

Her stubborn expression softened a bit at that, and she nodded, a tired but amused expression playing out on her face. After he had mumbled a quiet "Ok." she grabbed his wrist once again and backtracked through the living room and into the hall where the bedrooms were.

"Is this what this is? You just taking me around the house and banning me from everything?" Wheatley scoffed. Much to his surprise Chell let out a soft huff of laughter, shrugging and nodding her head. "I was only joking! You can't-" Chell paused for a moment, giving him a look that seemed to dare him to continue. "I mean, um, technically speaking it is your house and not mine and it is extremely kind of you to let me stay here, but it would be even kinder if you didn't banish me from every room in the house. Don't you think?"

As per usual she didn't reply, she simply paused in front of one of the bathrooms in the hall and rolled her eyes as Wheatley mumbled something about hospitality under his breath.

There were two bedrooms and bathrooms in this hall, with each bedroom across from its corresponding bathroom. They came to a stop in front of the first bathroom, which was Chell's.

"Alright, what's this? Your bathroom. Let me guess, I'm not allowed in there, am I?" Wheatley asked dryly.

Chell gave a little smile. 'Nope.'

"I saw that one coming. Well you know what? I've got my own bathroom. So I don't need to use yours anyways. What do you think about that?" Wheatley asked smugly, smiling a haughty smile and crossing his arms.

'That's exactly what I wanted.'

"Thought so." He sniffed.

Once he was finished with his self-dignified-Wheatley act, Chell took his wrist again and turned so they were now facing the closed door of her bedroom.

This was the most important boundary for her.

Chell was a very quiet, private person who liked to keep to herself. She liked to have a peaceful space for herself where she could rest and think, away from the rest of the world. Before Wheatley had come along, that space had been her house, but now it had dwindled down to just her room. And even her hold on that seemed to be slipping.

One of the things that had prompted this little session of ground rules was that, a few days ago, Wheatley had conveniently forgotten about her silent, yet somehow very clear, message on how when she closed a door that meant that he was not allowed to enter the room because of privacy reasons or because Chell wanted to be alone. To make matters worse Wheatley had done this on a day of particularly clingy behavior on his part (she was exhausted), and Chell had practically thrown him out into the hallway when he had entered her room and woken her from her nap.

Wheatley was Chell's exact opposite, and having him now living with her proved to put quite a toll on Chell. He was so talkative and dependent and clingy that she rarely found time for herself anymore, and even when she did he usually found a way to weasel his way into it. Chell needed at least one place in the house where she could go to be alone.

Wheatley seemed to especially hate this rule, even though, at least to some degree, it had already been in place. "I'm banned from your- wait, wait, wait- see, I was thinking, maybe we could do some negotiating. Because, I get the feeling I was always kind of banned from your room, what with that one recent incident where the door was closed and I came in and you were sleeping and I woke you up and you pretty much threw me-" He gave a sheepish smile, spreading his hands in front of him as Chell gave him one of her warning glares at the memory. "Right. Aside from the point. Point being, since I was already unofficially banned from this room, maybe you should unban me from it since you are banning me from all the other rooms." At the end of his spiel he gave her a bright, hopeful Wheatley smile.

Chell wasn't phased.

"Why am I banned from your room? You've never let me in there! I want to see what it looks like!" Wheatley whined, "That's not fair! You're allowed in my room!"

'It's my house.' She crossed her arms as her signature stubborn expression returned.

"Are there any rooms I'm not banned from?" Wheatley asked incredulously.

'You're still allowed in your room and your bathroom. You're allowed in the living room. And the breakfast nook.'

"What about the dining room?"

The dining room was a room off the kitchen that Chell used a more of a storage room for supplies and things that she wasn't currently using. Wheatley probably couldn't do too much harm in there.

She began to nod but stopped. 'On second thought, that's where I keep the breakables.'

"Wh?!"

Sensing another oncoming protest, Chell held out her hand, silencing him.

She pointed at herself. "You?" She pointed at Wheatley. "Me?" She made a fist. "You... want to punch me?"

Chell smiled and shook her head. 'Not at the moment.' She pressed a hand over her heart and gave him (what she hoped was) a meaningful look.

Wheatley shifted backwards uncomfortably. "You... love me?"

Chell jerked away from him, waving her hands as if she were physically swatting the notion away. 'No!'

"Alright, alright! You don't have to look so offended!" She shook her head, smiling at the bright shade of red now painted across his face. He was a mess.

Chell pointed at him, giving him a serious look to reinforce the validity of her previous statement before she took his hand in hers. Wheatley blinked, his face turning a soft shade of pink.

"You... trust me?" Chell nodded, smiling. "Yes? Oh. Really? That's... wow. That's great. Though it's a little hard to believe since you just banned me from over half of the house." She gave a lightly teasing smile at that, squeezing his hand. "Oh, you want, you just want me to be safe? I guess?"

'Yes. And since I trust you,' She prompted, waving for him to continue.

"And I'll be breaking your trust... if I break your rules." Wheatley sighed, pressing a hand over his eyes in thought before giving her a fond smile. "Clever girl. Alright. You don't have to worry. I'll keep out."

'We'll see.'