Wheatley awoke in a room so dark he couldn't see his own hands in front of his face. The only thing he could deduce about his environment was a soft rumbling that could be heard in the distance. Everything was black and still, almost peaceful.

Until it wasn't.

"Welcome back." She sang, Her sticky sweet voice echoing through the room. "Did you miss me?"

At the sound of Her voice Wheatley sprang from the floor. He wanted to run, where to he didn't know, but he still couldn't see.

"Chell?" He cried, because if he was back Here with Her, surely she was there too. He had never been alone with Her without Chell, and he certainly didn't want to start now.

"Oh, you're worried about her. Don't be." She said smoothly. "You have enough problems of your own."

"AH!" Wheatley was blinded as the room was suddenly filled with light. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but after that he could see with perfect clarity. And what he saw almost made him wish the room was dark again.

The facility was falling apart around him. The walls were rumbling and quaking as they fell apart piece by piece in a massive mechanical avalanche. Panels were dropping from the ceiling, the floor was buckling underneath him, the walls were crumbling into nothing, and beyond all this mess of grey and black and white, Wheatley caught sight of a tiny speck of orange.

"Chell?" He called, breaking into a run as he attempted to dodge the panels falling around him. "Chell!"

She was pinned under a metal beam that had fallen from the ceiling. Chell was still alive, her eyes bright and alert, but they were also filled with emotion and pain. She was struggling to free herself with no luck, and he couldn't reach her.

"You didn't honestly think she could save you, did you?" She asked softly, her voice almost sympathetic. "She can only do so much. She's only human. You are too, now."

Suddenly the ceiling caved in, metal slamming against metal, and then Chell was gone and Wheatley was trapped.

"NO!"

He was scrambling, trying to get free, trying to reach Chell- he had to get her out- but he couldn't even see her, and now he was being buried too.

"I want you to remember that it doesn't matter how safe you think you are."

"Chell!" He cried again.

"I'm still going to kill you." She hissed, "You're still going to die."

Wheatley awoke to find that the house was shaking. The sky outside was flashing back and forth from dark to light, and a terrible sound was crackling through the air so loudly that it hurt.

"CHELL!" He screeched, his previous terror now mixing with a new one.

Wheatley dove underneath the blankets of his bed and wedged his head under his pillow. Surely this had to be the end of the world. Back There, a long time ago when it had still been full of people, Wheatley had heard humans talk about the sky falling before, but they had always laughed soon after mentioning such things; he never thought that such a thing ever really happened on the surface. But he believed it now.

"Oh God!" He yelped, squeezing his eyes shut at another flash of light. "OhGodohGodohGodohGodohGod!" Now the ground was quivering again. "CHELL!" He choked, ducking back under the blankets.

Wheatley wanted for her to rush in and fix everything, but the sensible part of him knew that she was probably still asleep: if he wanted her help he would have to go and get it himself. Which meant he would have to leave the safety of his bed.

"Ok, ok, ok- this, thing, is pretty loud, whatever it is, so maybe Chell is already awake, and I can just quietly insert myself into her room- just to keep her company. To keep her calm, during, the, possible, likely, end of the world. She probably won't be that mad as long as- YIKE!" He pulled the blanket back over his head for protection as light flashed into the room and he dashed out of it.

"Hey, um, lady? Chell?" He knocked softly on the door to her room. "I, um, I know you're probably, er, sleeping. I'd imagine that's what just about everyone in town is doing at this hour. Sleeping. It's dark out, so that's natural for, um, for humans." He gave a squeaked as the floor shook. "I know that we had a deal, we made a sort of, silent deal, back when you were still 'mute', um, that I would stay out of your room here, and never wake you up when you're sleeping- ever again- believe me, I learned my lesson on that one. Immediately. But, there's this tiny thing, this little thing-" His voice was rising in pitch as he spoke, the blanket clutched tighter and tighter around him. "And it's that, I think, the world may very well be ending." He listened. "I'll let that set in." Silence. "I'm very sorry to break such horrible news at such an awful hour, but I felt that you had a right to know." He was making an attempt to sound calm; it wasn't working. "I also thought that... Maybe, you might like to see me-" "One last time. Before we all die." "So, if you could just open the door?" He knocked again, louder this time."Please open the door!" At she hadn't opened the door by this point, Wheatley thought, it could only be because she didn't want to. "Ok, ok, ok! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I know that it's the middle of the night, and I'm waking you up, and asking to break your rules- at this point I'm really just blowing the rules out of the water- but can you please just open the door?"

Chell had been sitting in bed listening to Wheatley call for help for a few minutes now. It wasn't because she was angry with him for trying to kill her Then or waking her up now; she hadn't answered immediately because she already knew the solution to this problem and she did not like it. She knew Wheatley. If she opened that door he would barge into her room without hesitation. He would be too scared to return to his own room, she would be too much of a sap to make him, and before she knew it he would be spending every night in here with her. And every day, too. Because this rule, the stay-out-of-my-room-or-you-might-not-come-out-of-it rule was the most important rule of all. They both knew it. Chell knew that if she let this rule go she'd be giving Wheatley permission to come in here any time he liked, and permission to break all the other rules she had set, too. She wasn't sure it was worth it.

After all, it was only one night. Wheatley might be scared now, but the storm would pass soon enough. He would call for her out in the hall for awhile before he realized that she wasn't coming out. Then he would go back to his room, hide in his bed, and fall asleep. The storm would pass. If he was cross with her in the morning she could tell him she didn't know what he was talking about: she had slept soundly through the night.

It seemed like a solid enough plan to Chell and her practical side was more than ready to execute it, but the rest of her was not

But the sound Wheatley was making was horrible. He sounded like a puppy left out in the rain, whimpering and crying for help. He sounded scared and abandoned. Wheatley wasn't stupid either; they were going to reach a point where he figured out she was hearing him perfectly well, she just wasn't listening. He was beginning to sound as though he'd already reached it.

She opened the door.

"Wheatley."

Her voice was softer than usual, and she sounded as tired as she looked. She was about to tell him that everything was fine, it was only a thunderstorm, he could go back to sleep, but when she opened the door she saw a frightened Wheatley with a blanket wrapped around his quivering frame, looking up at her with helpless blue eyes.

Or at least, that's what she saw for about two seconds before he darted into her room.

Before she could stop him (or blink, for that matter,) he sprang inside like a cat and dove into her bed, wedging his head under her pillow and hiding under the blanket he'd brought with him.

After a moment he peeked out at her. She swore the fear disappeared from his eyes for a moment when he caught her expression. "Oh," He squeaked, curling tighter under his blanket at her slightly annoyed gaze. "didn't you say I-I could come in?"

Chell crossed her arms and shook her head. Once again he could tell that she was trying not to smile. This time she was doing a better job of it, though.

"No? I thought you did. I could've sworn-" Violently bright light invaded the room and Wheatley's voice became muffled and shaken as he burrowed further down under the blankets for safety. "Alright, I know you don't forgive me, and you probably don't trust me, and I'm breaking your rules-" His voice became even quieter. "And I should probably stop talking because I'm really not helping my case at this point," He shifted, his voice twisting. "But, something is very very wrong. I think the sky is falling!" He choked, "I'm serious! And I know you don't want me here in your room, but the thing is, any time anything is wrong, there's this little voice in my head, and it's always saying: find Chell! Get Chell! Because-" She couldn't see but it almost sounded like he was on the verge of hysterics. "No matter what's wrong- no matter how bad or big or small it is- you can always fix it. Always. You always make everything better." He cringed as the thunder finally reached them. "So, please!" He yelped, "What is this? And, can you please make it stop? Please!"

Chell took a moment to asses everything his words and his movements before she carefully responded.

"Calm down."

It wasn't the most sensitive thing she could have said, but, to be fair, Wheatley was practically hyperventilating at this point, and if he didn't stop he was probably going to pass out. He didn't respond verbally but Chell noticed his breathing slow just the barest bit. It still wasn't good enough for her. "Scoot over." She nudged him to the other side of the bed as she climbed under the blankets next to him.

Once she was under the covers she pried the blanket out of his hands and off of his head, revealing a very frightened, disheveled looking Wheatley. Chell wasted no time in sweeping the blanket over him and settling him under it.

"What-What are you- doing?"

Wheatley knew what she was doing. Chell had done this every night for the first week he had lived with her: she would give him his pillow and blanket, fix them for him, and make him lay down and go to sleep. The difference here was that she had already fixed the pillow and blanket, and he was already laying down. And now she was laying next to him.

"Helping." She said softly. Now that Chell looked back up at him he almost seemed more alarmed than before, and she had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. Apparently now Wheatley was more terrified of her than the storm outside.

"I don't-"

Wheatley's breathing was getting much worse and he was trying so hard to get away from her he was about to fall off the bed. She looked him in the eye for a moment before gently capturing his wrist. That was all it took for him to remember that he liked contact, and after that he allowed Chell to take his arm and wrap it around her in a sort of hug.

"Get your breath." Now that her head was resting against his chest she could really hear how bad it was. He obliged, shifting and slowly gulping down air until the rise and fall of his chest was steady again. "There you go."

Wheatley buried his face in her hair as lightning streaked across the sky, tightening his grip on her. She smoothed her hand across his back in response.

"You know what electricity is?" Chell asked.

Wheatley almost scoffed.

"I was, I was a core. Of course I know what electricity is." He might have sounded snobby if his voice wasn't so meek.

"The light is natural electricity. The sound, the ground shaking, it's just the sound the light makes."

"That's it?" He whimpered.

"That's it." She echoed. "It can't hurt you here. You're safe inside."

They lay in silence for awhile, listening to the storm rage outside. The rain was beginning to ease and Chell could tell that it was starting to move out. Next to her Wheatley was beginning to relax. He shifted so his arm was no longer beneath her but draped over her shoulders and around her back, still hugging her. His head rested in the crook of her neck.

"Thank you." He mumbled. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Why?"

"I had one of those... dream things... about...Her. And you." He tightened his hold around her. "You lost."

"I've had dreams like that too."

"Really?" Wheatley knew that she was human but sometimes it very hard for him to believe that she was afraid of anything.

"I used to have them every night."

"God." She felt him cringe. "That's horrible."

"It was." She agreed. "It was Her." Wheatley couldn't help but notice that her voice was heavier than usual. "It was like I was finally free from-"

"There." He interjected.

"There." Chell said quietly. "But, I still wasn't free from Her. I realized that it was me that wouldn't let go of Her."

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't get over everything that had happened. Even thought it was all over, I couldn't let go of it. It was too much." He felt her shake her head the barest bit. "So I tried to focus on what I had gained instead of what I had lost."

"And the nightmares just stopped?"

"Not over night," She smiled at her pun. "but they lessened quite a bit."

"Do you ever have nightmares now?" Wheatley asked hesitantly.

"Sometimes." Chell admitted. "They don't scare me as much now. Before I would wake up from them and all I could think of was There. Of everything that happened." The heaviness was slowly ebbing out of her voice. "Now I think about how lucky I am. How it's finally over. Now I have a life of my own, and a town full of people who care about me-"

"And now you have me too." Wheatley interrupted softly.

Chell giggled, snuggling into his chest the tiniest bit.

"And you too." Suddenly she turned solemn. "You don't have to worry about Her anymore, Wheatley. She can't hurt you." Chell squeezed his hand. "I won't let Her."

Wheatley couldn't see her face but she sounded determined.

'Stubborn.' He thought with a smile. He still hadn't forgotten that little argument.

"Thank you." He said softly.

Thunder boomed somewhere outside the window, but this time Wheatley didn't even flinch.

Author's Note:

The first of eight is complete! *pumps fist*

I've been waiting to write this one for awhile now.

How did you like it? I finally got to write some GLaDOS dialogue and fluff! Yea!

I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!

ALSO

This is the magical month of December, and to celebrate Christmas with you lovely folks I'm going to post a Christmas fic for Pieces on Christmas Eve. I'm going to try and make it four chapters, but that means I'll be writing eight things this month. So I can't promise anything, but I'll try my best.