"I assume something's wrong?" Chell sighed as she answered the phone.
Michael snorted from the other end of the receiver.
"Well, hello to you, too. It feels like I haven't seen you in awhile, 'Shell. I've missed the lovely sound of your voice."
Chell gave a slight smirk as she looked at a nearby clock. "I wish I could say the same."
"Ouch." Her mind's eye pictured him sarcastically clutching at his heart. "I can't just give you a leisurely call at eleven o'clock at night to see what you're up to?"
"You've never done it before." She rolled her eyes at Wheatley, who was sitting next to her (not so subtly trying to sneak an arm around her waist) and giving her an exasperated look. He had been fussing about her getting to bed late quite a lot lately, and she'd just been about to lay down when the phone rang. "Besides, eleven o'clock is dangerously close to my new bedtime."
Michael snickered. "Let me guess, you turn into a pumpkin at midnight?"
"Something like that." Chell batted Wheatley away after he elbowed her in the ribs. "What's going on?"
At that Michael gave a tired sort of sigh.
"Nothing you wanna hear. Especially not over the phone."
"What did I tell you?" Wheatley wasn't sure what was being said, but Chell's expression turned stoic so suddenly it was like watching someone flip a switch. He scooched closer to her as she frowned into the phone, then jumped away when her voice became edged with anger. "Why did you call me if you aren't going to tell me what's going on?"
Fortunately for Michael (kind of), he had a great deal of experience when it came to dealing with angry Chells, so her threatening tone didn't frighten him nearly as much as it frightened Wheatley.
"To tell you that I'm coming to your house to pick you up to take you to what's going on."
Chell gave an annoyed huff of laughter as she looked down at her lap.
"Lovely."
"No glass slippers this time, okay? It's too much of a hassle trying to give them back." He joked (as he always did), but Chell knew now that it was false humor. A poor attempt at trying to lighten the mood.
She smiled wryly into the phone.
"If you insist."
After hanging up the phone, Chell thought for a moment before leaving her spot next to Wheatley. He watched with mild concern as she opened the closet door in the entryway of the house, and began taking out her winter coat and boots.
"What was that all about?" Wheatley asked. He tried not to sound it, but he was more than a little annoyed. Chell hadn't been taking good care of herself as it was; she didn't need someone dragging her out in the freezing cold in the middle of the night.
"I'm not sure, exactly." Chell said as she pulled on her coat. "What I do know is that we live in a very small town where everybody's business is everybody's business, and phones are only used for emergencies." Her voice turned quiet as she took another look at the clock. "Especially at eleven o'clock at night." She attempted to clarify when she noticed Wheatley's confused expression. "Usually if there's some kind of important news, or an emergency, everyone in town will be called and told or meet up at the hospital where someone will host a meeting to tell everyone what's going on."
Wheatley blinked. "There's a hospital in Horizon?"
For some reason Chell laughed.
"Yes, but it's nothing like what you'd picture."
"Oh." Wheatley tapped his foot as he watched her stand by the door. He hadn't spent much time alone since he'd come to Horizon, and he didn't like the thought of being without Chell. "So... you don't know what's going on?"
"No. Though…" She examined the floor. "The people here know me a bit too well… and if they want to tell me something they know I don't want to hear, they'll usually get Michael to do it for them. And I seriously doubt the news is good if Michael wouldn't tell me about it over the phone."
It was strange to think that bad things could happen in Horizon. Here seemed like an almost literal heaven in comparison to There, the worst problem Wheatley had faced since arriving was an argument with Chell, but even that problem had been short lived. It seemed almost crazy to think that emergency could occur in such a peaceful little place (despite its proximity to other… Less desirable locations…). That, apparently, several had already taken place in Chell's time here.
After a brief moment of silence Chell offered what he now recognized as a fake smile.
Wheatley had realized rather recently that they were coming up on six month together; or rather he was approaching his sixth month here in Horizon. In that time the two of them had made a great deal of progress- they'd made it much farther than either one of them had ever expected to go- but it still disappointed Wheatley that Chell didn't trust him fully. That at times like this, when she had to face something she didn't want to, she would hide her emotions and try to tackle her problems alone. While he would admit that there seemed to be a little more transparency on the emotional front lately, it wasn't because she had stopped trying to hide them, it was because he was getting better at reading them.
Maybe if Chell was too tough to ask for help he could offer instead.
"Do you- er- Should I come with you?" He winced at the awkwardness in his voice (which of course didn't help), but he knew it couldn't really be helped. This was a bit of an awkward question, because they both knew it was Wheatley's way of asking if Chell needed help. What he hoped she realized was that this was also his way of saying that she didn't have to face these things alone. At this point either one of them facing anything alone was a choice, because, unlike Back There, they really were a team now.
Well, maybe.
At his question Chell shied a little closer to the door.
"Thank you, but that's okay. It's cold out, it's getting late," She gave him a sad (or was that defensive?) smile. "and besides, I get the feeling you won't want to be there."
Sometimes Wheatley had to remind himself that this was yet another thing Chell had spent her entire life training herself to do. If he thought about it, blocking people out like this probably wasn't even a choice for her anymore; asking her to snap out of these habits so suddenly would be like asking a fish to try breathing oxygen. That, and she rather enjoyed playing the protection card, especially when it came to him.
As if it needed it, Chell's next comment added an extra layer of ice to the conversation.
"It's not Her."
Wheatley very suddenly felt the urge to talk at 90 miles per hour.
"Oh! Uh, I didn't really think that it was- why would She want to try and mess with you again after you've bested Her twice?- but, um, when I think Bad Thing, She's, um, She's the first thing that comes to mind."
"I know." Her voice was warm; full of empathy. "But She can't hurt anyone here." Chell smirked, stubborn sparks glinting in her eyes as she crossed her arms (since when had that become a comforting sight?). "She would have to go through me first."
'Good luck with that.' Wheatley thought.
Before either one of them could say anything else two shafts of light slid across the front windows of the house, signaling that a car had pulled into the driveway.
"Michael's here." Chell chuckled as Wheatley frowned. "Go to sleep. I'm not sure when I'll be back." She paused for a moment before opening the door. Her expression was a bit more serious now. "If the news is anything related to… There- which I'm sure it isn't- I will call and let you know. Okay?"
"Okay." Wheatley squeaked. "Hey, Chell?"
"Yes?"
"The, um, the last town meeting thing you attended, what was that about?"
There was a shock of cold air as she opened the door, but at the sound of her laughter (genuine laughter) something in his chest turned warm.
"What on Earth are we going to do about that thing that fell from the sky?"
Wheatley jumped up off of the couch when he heard a car door slam outside. It was about two in the afternoon, and he had begun to think that Chell wouldn't make it home due to the snow that had covered the road. Needless to say, his smile hardly fit on his face when he saw her walk through the door.
"Oh, there you are!" He resisted the urge to hug her as she stomped the snow off her boots. "I've been worried- well, no not worried because you told me not to worry- but I've been, er, concerned about you since you left last night. Didn't sleep all that well, but, well," He gave her a sympathetic smile that was half frown. "It looks like I slept better than you did." Wheatley came to his senses when he noticed that Chell was frowning up at him. "Oh! Sorry, sorry! That was insensitive! I'm sorry!"
"You're fine." She offered him a small smile, though she still didn't sound very happy.
He tried to give her a moment of peace and quiet as he watched her pull off her winter coat. Wheatley would hate to bombard her with questions right as she walked in the door, but there was a lot he wanted to ask her about.
Wheatley tried to sound nonchalant, something he wasn't very good at.
"So. What was uh, what was revealed at your mysterious town meeting?"
"Later. Please." Chell sounded tired. "I've been up all night."
"Oh, right." He gave a sheepish smile as he wrung his hands. "Ok then, well I'll just go read in the kitchen for a little while and you can sleep on the couch. If you want to go change into some warmer pajamas, I can get you some extra blankets. You look cold."
Though Chell gave an appreciative smile, she shook her head. "That's alright. I think I'm just gonna go nap in my room."
"Really?" Wheatley blanched, though he rushed to amend as Chell shot him a weary look. "Not-Not really trying to argue here, but you just got in from the snow- it's below zero out there- and those rooms have been shut up all winter. It's gotta be freezing back there."
Chell gave a smirk.
"I like the cold."
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Goodnight."
"Oh, um. Goodnight. I guess."
Wheatley stared at her closed bedroom door for a few minutes, half expecting Chell to pop back out, laughing, 'Fooled you!'
She didn't, though.
That was concerning.
It was dark before Chell came back out of her room.
Sometime after she'd fallen asleep Wheatley had turned on the kitchen radio. Classical music was calming, and he absolutely hated silence. That, and reading while listening to classical music made him feel sophisticated (not that he would ever tell Chell a thing like that); which offered him some much needed reassurance when he was alone.
"There you are!"
Chell smiled affectionately at the sight of him, but cringed at his word choice.
"Here I am." Despite the fact that she'd spent the afternoon sleeping, she still sounded (and felt) exhausted. She wondered when that would start to go away.
"I made you some dinner!" Wheatley enthused. "Well, made might be kind of a stretch considering that all I really did was take it out of a can and heat it up, but it's the thought that counts, right?"
He was talking too fast, something he only did when he was nervous.
Chell offered him a reassuring smile as he handed her a bowl. "Right. Thank you."
Aside from the sound of classical music, the house was silent while she ate. She found it somewhat amusing that after his experimentation Back There he had actually grown to like this genre. She had to admit that it was calming. Still, something felt a little off about his silence.
"So I've been thinking,"
That was more like it.
Chell smirked up at him from her bowl of soup.
"That's dangerous."
Wheatley was too happy at hearing her joke to take offense.
"And since you were gone for most of last night, and kind of today, too, maybe we could just spent the rest of the day curled up on the couch?" Chell gave him an inquisitive sort of frown. "You just seem kind of tired, or maybe sad? Or- or something. Probably has to do with whatever news you got last night, and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but-"
There was a clatter as she dropped her spoon.
"Wheatley."
"Sorry," He yelped, "sorry, off topic." When he snuck a glance at her he saw that she had turned away from him. He tried not to sound worried. "Since you're not feeling great would you like to just spend the rest of the evening reading with me? Might help take your mind off things. And if you want, I can read to you! Shake things up a bit, hm?"
Chell hadn't been gone for all that long, but Wheatley hated being alone and he had missed her. Things had felt off since she'd gotten that phone call the other night; he was ready to get everything back to normal. Maybe it was yet another Hopeful Wheatley Plan, but he hoped that cuddling and hot chocolate might be all it would take to fix it.
Perhaps that was a bit too hopeful.
"I'm sorry." Chell gave him an utterly guilty look as she bowed her head. Her voice was so quiet he hardly heard her speak.
"What?"
"I know I haven't seen you very much lately, and I'm so sorry for being gone so much, but I… I feel like I should go back to the hospital."
"Oh."
He hoped he didn't look as disappointed as he felt.
This must mean that whatever Bad Thing she had learned about was still happening.
"Well, I mean, you do whatever needs to be done. Don't let me get in the way." Blue eyes looked up at her hopefully. "Is there, um, is there any way I could go with you this time, though? Maybe keep you company?"
Chell didn't even look up at him.
"You would be better off staying here."
His heat sank.
"Oh. Okay. See you…?"
"I'm not sure."
This time she packed a bag.
Two and a half days passed before Chell returned home again. It was the longest Wheatley had been away from her since he'd moved to Horizon. The previous day Chell had sent Michael over with some food (that had been a fun visit), but other than that he was completely alone for nearly three days. Being alone with nothing but silence for so long brought about bad memories.
About three years worth of them.
This time it took all Wheatley's restraint not to launch himself at Chell the moment she walked in the door.
"You're back!" Wheatley cheered, "I missed you!"
That was the understatement of the millenia.
"I missed you, too." She giggled.
She was genuinely happy to see him. A little of the light returned to her eyes as she smiled at him, and she was laughing again. That was good. Here lately it had seemed as though Chell looked and sounded a bit more tired every time he saw her.
Speaking of which...
"Second verse same as the first?" Wheatley asked.
Chell nodded before heading down the hallway.
"Afraid so."
"Oh!" Wheatley jumped when Chell seemed to materialize next to him. She'd been asleep in her room for most of the day, and he hadn't heard her come through the living room. Now he found her in the kitchen, her head propped up on her hands as she looked out the window, absentmindedly watching the snow fall.
"I didn't know you were up."
Chell gave no indication that she heard him.
He tried again.
"You alright, love? You've been awfully quiet these past couple of days, er, well, for what little I've seen you."
It took a moment for her to respond, but this time she shifted at the sound of his voice.
"I'm fine. Just tired." And she must've been, because when she spoke she sounded half asleep.
Maybe it was because she'd spent half the week sleeping, but for some reason that alarmed him.
Wheatley tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder as he moved beside her. "You're 100% sure everything's alright? All week you've had this look in your eye like you've seen a ghost… and you still haven't told me-"
She shrugged him off, frowning up at him.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Wheatley couldn't help but notice that, in the past few days, she had either been apologetic or annoyed whenever she spoke with him. There was no inbetween. Why was that?
"Chell?"
He joined her as she returned her attention to the snow outside.
"Not right now, Wheatley."
"I haven't even said anything yet!"
"Can you-"
Chell stopped herself. The last thing she needed was to get into another argument. Despite how taxing it felt at the moment, she needed to be nice; especially to Wheatley.
She offered him the closest thing to a sad smile that she could manage.
"I just want to be alone for a little while."
Wheatley frowned. Not to sound selfish, but how could she talk about wanting to be alone?
"You've been alone for most of the week." He retorted, something that neither one of them liked beginning to slip into his voice. "Or at least I have: You haven't been here with me." Here his voice changed to something much more worried. "What's going on? What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong." Chell pressed her palms into her eyes. She was beginning to miss the days when she lived alone. "I'm fine."
"No, that's not fair. If I'm not allowed to keep secrets from you, you're not allowed to keep secrets from me." Wheatley's voice turned gentler as he met her eyes. "And besides, you don't have to." He smiled at her. "You can tell me anything. Really."
Chell suddenly felt small, like a child reluctantly responding to an angry parent. She had taught him that. She wanted him to believe that, but she couldn't apply it here.
"I know."
Wheatley tried for a laugh.
"So what's the problem?"
Chell wanted to bang her head on the table at the redundancy of what she was about to say.
"I can't tell you."
His voice went flat.
"You can't."
"No."
She could already tell that this was going to end badly. The two of them bickered over little things plenty, and considering their past it sometimes took a great deal of restraint to prevent even those stupid little arguments from growing into full out fights. They weren't arguing over nothing, now, and restraint was something that both of them seemed to be running dangerously low on at the moment.
Wheatley was already starting to sound angry with her.
"What did they tell you the other day at that meeting?"
Chell went back to watching the snow fall. This argument was a lost cause; She was beginning to wonder if she could do less damage by keeping quiet.
Wheatley though she was just ignoring him.
"You've been acting different ever since you got that phone call a few days ago."
Now Chell wanted to bang her head on the table for a different reason.
"I told you, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."
She said it, and she meant it, but she could tell even without looking at him that he was getting more annoyed by the second.
"Why are you lying to me?" Wheatley exasperated. "Whatever happened is obviously not nothing if it's got you upset like this."
"I'm not upset I'm just-"
Chell bit her tongue.
'Don't yell at him.'
It took a moment, but she responded with as much patience as she could muster. "You wouldn't understand."
Her calm only made him more upset.
"Then explain it to me!"
'He's yelling at me.'
"No." Chell's eyes were hard as they met his. "I know it feels like I'm being mean to you right now, and I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what's wrong and I want to be alone. So if you want to help, you can leave."
"No." Wheatley snapped, and suddenly his eyes stung. "I'm a person, remember? You can't just decide you don't want me anymore and toss me out. Someone else has already done that to me, in case you've forgotten."
Alright, that made Chell angry. Maybe that comment had been a smidge unfair to him, but really, he knew that wasn't what she meant. And was that little retort him attempting to make a comparison between her and Her, because if it was…
"That is not what I was-"
Both of them stopped dead in their tracks as an expression of horror crossed Wheatley's face like a shadow.
"Chell- Is this my fault? Did I do something wrong?" He stepped away from her. "Are you acting like this because of something I did?"
Most of Chell's anger melted at that. It was a needed reminder that he really wasn't trying to upset her; he just was worried about her.
Her voice turned gentler.
"No."
"Can I help you?"
Wheatley really did look worried. He must've meant that comment he made the other day about not sleeping well, too; He had dark circles under his eyes that hadn't been there when this had all started. And his eyes- weren't they usually bluer than that?
'Look what you did. Look what you've already done.'
"You can leave."
The glare she gave him came on so suddenly it was almost as if it were hiding something else.
How many months had it been since she had looked at him like that? With that utterly disgusted get-away-from-me look? How many steps backward had they taken in the past few days?
Too many, but not enough for Wheatley to abandon her when something was clearly wrong. He could be stubborn, too.
"I'm not leaving you here like this."
Chell wasn't sure where all of this emotion was coming from so suddenly but she could feel that she was letting it show, and she absolutely hated it (another emotion she didn't need).
"Fine." The anger in her eyes (where had that come from? She had just looked guilty a moment ago, sad even, and now she was about to glare a hole in his head) was so strong that it very nearly resembled hate.
Chell stood from her place at the kitchen table, storming past Wheatley with rather impressive speed for someone of her height. He scrambled after her through the living room and down the hall, half furious, half terrified.
"Are you- Are you really doing this?" He scoffed, and though he too was trying to keep the emotion from his voice, he was beginning to sound as desperate as he felt. "Why are you doing this? What's wrong? Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"
If she'd owned a car, if it hadn't been the middle of winter, Chell would have happily left the house. If she could have, she would have put the distance of the entire town between them, because, while she understood that Wheatley was only trying to help, he was making everything so much worse. He was making this so much harder on her already, and the easiest fix (the one that she needed now) would be to get away from him. The problem was that only place she could go where Wheatley couldn't follow was her room.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't try, did it?
She had only ever acted There because she had been threatened. She felt threatened now, too, when all she wanted was to get away from him (to the one remaining place that she could) and he followed her even here.
The same animal reflex that almost caused him to abandon her before made her lash out at him now.
"You want to know what's wrong?" As she turned to face him she could tell that was afraid of her, and he could tell that she wanted him to be afraid. Now when she spoke she practically screamed. "I can't breathe!"
Wheatley did not understand what was happening. She was yelling at him, looking at him with an expression so cold that she hadn't worn it since they'd been Back There, since he'd stabbed her in the back. Where was his Chell and who was this?
The music that had seemed calming earlier now felt eerie and out of place.
"I have spent every day this week feeling isolated, and scared, and alone, and I'm trying so hard to fight it-" Her voice actually cracked as she took another step away from him. "because I can't show it to anyone, not even you- I'm about to hit my breaking point and you're the one who's going to break me!" There was open pain in her eyes. "You are smothering me!"
Chell looked furious as she spoke, as if she meant every word and more, but once it was out she appeared much more like a deer caught in the headlights. She froze, her expression very clearly reading 'Oh no.'-
'No, I can still fix it-'
-before she turned and slammed the door to her room. There was a soft click as it locked behind her.
'You are not coming back.'
Wheatley didn't know what to say. It felt like he needed to say something, urgently, but he had no idea how to respond to what had just happened. The two of them fussed over little things plenty, but they'd only ever really fought one other time since he'd been back. That had been awful, the worst memory he had of here, but it hadn't ended with Chell running away from him, yelling at him, and slamming a door in his face.
Another old memory replayed itself in his head.
'She's gone.'
Cautiously, he took a step towards the door.
"Chell, I-"
"Don't apologize." She sounded utterly fed up with him. Wheatley recoiled from the doorway, a lump forming in his throat. Chell was the only person who had ever been nice to him, and now it seemed as though she didn't want him around, either.
If the Chell from There had ever spoken, this is what she would've sounded like. Wheatley was almost certain.
He knew that he should try to do something- try to say something- but the only thing he could really think was that This Was Wrong, something was Horribly Wrong, and he didn't know what to do to fix it. He was absolutely clueless. He had never seen her emotions like this. Had never seen her face emotions so strong that she actually failed at repressing them. That she lost herself to them.
After a few more minutes of stunned silence Chell spoke again.
"I'm sorry." She sounded as if she were on the verge of tears. "It's not you Wheatley, I promise. I'm not acting like this because of you. But please stop interrogating me. I'll tell you what's wrong when I'm ready. Don't sit out in the hallway and stare at the door all night. Take a nap. Find the kids. Read a book. Do something. I'll be ok, really. I just need some time."
Dazidly, Wheatley returned to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He still didn't understand what had just happened.
How could things have gone so wrong so quickly?
Author's Note:
Uh oh.
(That didn't take long.)
Past me: Chapter 24 will be short!
Present me: Chapter 24 is the longest chapter yet at over 4800 words!
By the way, see if you can detect a pattern in the past few (and next few) chapters… cause there are a few.
For some reason, this was a hard chapter for me to write at first. I'm hoping it's not cheesy. ahhh. I know where I'm going with this but I'm still a little nervous, so your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
After reading some Tumblr posts and reviews of last week's chapter (Chess) it's really interesting to see what you guys think GLaDOS is up to. Especially when I can compare it to what's actually happening.
I plan to talk more about Chess once Pieces is complete.
Before I go I want to give a huge thank you firami on Tumblr for their lovely fanart of last week's chapter. It's one of two pieces of fanart that my writing has received, so thank you so much! It means the world to me!
The next chapter should actually be short. XD