He heard voices. Was this... android hell? If it was, why had she sung to him? He ached all over, can't you only hurt when you're alive? Yep... definitely hurt. So, the question was, where was he? He tried to open his eyes, but it was too painful. He settled for listening to the voices talk with each other. One was the voice that had sung to him, the other, he quickly realized, was Her. As this sunk in, he was filled with panic, a burning desire to run out of there as fast as his legs could carry him. Of course, he had to settle for breathing heavier, trying to squeeze his eyes closed, to disappear. If She saw him, he'd be dead meat. He'd destroyed her precious facility, and She wanted revenge. His hair stood on end, just thinking about all the ways she could painfully kill him. Where was he? It didn't feel like Aperture, that place normally had a distinct feeling, something in his programming he supposed. He didn't feel that right now. He decided that if he listened, he might figure something out,

"Look, I'm not going to let you torture him! If you can forgive me, and I can forgive you, I'm sure you can look past his mistakes. Besides, he's been floating around in space for months, he watched Kevin die, don't you think that's punishment enough?"

"That little IDIOT destroyed my facility, he tried to kill both of us, he BETRAYED you. Don't you think he needs to be punished SO MUCH MORE?"

"No, he's had plenty of time to think about what he did, I'm sure he's sorry. That should be enough, just let him go."

"I think we both know that isn't going to happen. You had your chance to hold onto him and you let him go flying into the dark vastness of space. Now it's time for him to face the consequences of his actions."

"I passed out! You may not need to breathe, but I do, and space is more than a little lacking in oxygen." Wheatley could feel his heart beat a little faster. He felt a smile tug at his lips. She HAD forgiven him. The realization of this was enough to make the pain fade. He wanted to run over to her and throw his arms around her. He wanted to press his face into her hair and smell her scent. He never wanted to be away from her again. He tried to call out to her, still not sure of his location.

"Ohhhhhh..." He moaned as the strain of opening his mouth sent needles through his spine.

"GLaDOS? He's awake. Look, just forget everything... leave him alone. Don't follow me. Okay?" Wheatley could imagine the scowl on Her face, arms crossed as She let Chell have her way. It made him grin so wide he thought his lips would tear. He heard her footsteps, the heels of her long-fall boots clacking against the familiar metal floor of Aperture Laboratories. Her breathing was close to his face, warm and comforting. She leaned over him. He tried to open one of his eyes so he could see her face. Her form slowly came into focus, her crystal eyes, her porcelain skin edged with cormorant hair. She spoke,

"Are you okay? It took forever for me to convince her that you'd suffered long enough already. I did it though. So, how are you feeling?"

"Ahhhh owowwo sorry..sorry... think I may have broken a cable or something..." He heard her laugh. Made a note to keep that forever. Never wanted to lose that beautiful sound.

"You haven't noticed yet?"

"Noticed what?"

"You're human!" She giggled, slowly lifting up one of his hands so he could see it.

"What? No..nononononono I can't be human! I haven't the slightest idea how to be human!"

"You'll learn."

"Don't think I will, not the best at figuring things out..."

"I'll help." Chell said, in the most determined voice he'd ever heard.

"Well, thanks for that. I suppose. Thought I was a goner for a while there, really didn't think I was ever going to see sunlight again, let alone... you. And look at you! Amazing as the day I met you! Er... sorry... never mind. That was not your best day...but, um... now! Right! You look... wow. Yep. That about sums it up..." She laughed again. He smiled, content to be able to make her happy.

"Yeah, I found a body in cryogenic storage, one I thought suited you. How about you come have a look?" She tried to pull him up, yanking on one of his long thin arms. He winced,

"Would you mind... being a little more careful? Please? Still, um, getting used to the whole, pain... everywhere really, and I'm not even quite sure where everywhere is.. so, do try to be careful..."

"Sorry! I guess I'm a little eager to see what you look like in the light, I mean, now that you're you." Chell was grinning, still tightly holding onto his arm. He slowly sat up, trying to figure out what everything did. Arms, yes. Good for pushing yourself up... back... good at... well, bending mostly. Head, not quite sure what that's doing... legs... yes. Good for walking I suppose. That's what she uses them for anyways. Feet? For standing on. Hands... holding stuff. Neck... holding my head, still not sure what that's for. Why is my chest... vibrating? What am I doing with... breathing... that's new. New and weird. Going to take a while to get used to that. Wonder what happens if I just... forget to breathe? Not very good programming. How do you remember to breathe when you're sleeping? Again, the vibrating... heart! Heartbeat. Yes. Is it supposed to be that... fast? I wouldn't know... His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a very familiar android. He knew it was Her. Even if she looked completely different. This body just somehow... fit Her.

"Look, Moron. I know that we both said a lot of things you're going to regret, and don't take this to mean I like you, trust me, I don't. But I... need to... forgive you... For Science." The words seemed painful, as if she was speaking barbed wire. Her clenched synthetic teeth only furthered his theory. It was so good to hear those words from her. So fulfilling, absolutely nothing could break this moment for him. Even what he had to do next,

"Yeah, I'm... sorry too. I'm sorry for destroying your facility, and almost blowing everyone up... I'm sorry for being such a moron, and..." His apology was now aimed a Chell, a much less forced apology, "I'm sorry for betraying you, and for making you test, I was just... I'm sorry... I don't even know how you forgave me, I sure wouldn't forgive me, if I were you... of course, I'm not you... but, if I was, I would... not... forgive me. And, uh, you know what I mean." Chell nodded, her eyes looked glassier than usual. She was still standing beside his bed, and she leaned over, took him in her arms, and hugged him as hard as she could.

"I'm never going to let you go again..." Wheatley stiffened at first, more than a little surprised by her reaction. He'd been expecting to get slapped or something. This... this was nice. He could get used to this. He breathed in her scent, she smelled of flowers and sunlight, and life. He wondered what he smelled like. Probably terrible. He probably looked terrible too.

"So, said you wanted to see what I looked like in the light?" He said, as her grip loosened. He began to stand up, fighting off the pain, for her. GLaDOS could have her science, she could do everything for her precious science. He would happily do anything for Chell. GLaDOS, still in complete control of the facility (of course) with nothing more than the blink of an eye, pulled over a full length mirror. Wheatley sheepishly glanced at his own reflection. Even though he knew he was human, he still half expected to see his old core body staring back at him. He looked at his messy mop of light brown, almost ginger, hair, and his piercing blue eyes.

"This is... different..." He was tall, now, not just tall mind you, he was tall. Taller than anyone he'd ever seen before, not that he'd seen many people of course. Or many of anything else for that matter... Still, he was taller than Chell, and taller than GLaDOS. And that made him feel a little to powerful. It brought back quite a few memories he'd like to shove down into the incinerator and never think of again.

"Why am I so... tall?" He asked Chell.

"I don't know, I just thought this body fit you, I didn't think much about it. I just went with my instincts."

"Well, it's... very... different. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, not at all... Very grateful.. on the whole, rescuing me form space thing... but this is going to take a whole lot of practice, the walking... and everything else." He still hurt, hurt like he was walking on glass. Like the wing of glass had gone and broken itself again, 15 acres of the horrid stuff. And on top of that, it felt like he was slowly being pecked apart by birds. Though he sure as hell didn't give the gift of knowledge to man... didn't steal it either. He wasn't smart enough to have done that... especially since he never would have even been able to get five feet from the human he'd taken it from. Unless he fell over, he guessed he was quite a bit over six feet, and if her fell flat out, he'd be able to make it further than five feet... Unless of course falling didn't count as getting anywhere, which he supposed it didn't. Just counted as being clumsy. Yes, falling over. That would be much easier in this body. Though not necessarily any safer. Either way, it was much more possible. He'd never seen Chell fall. She just kept going... It was amazing really, she was so stubborn. When she wanted something, it gone done. See, with him, anything he wanted, generally got done, and then went horribly wrong. GLaDOS walked up behind him, he saw her glaring behind him in the mirror.

"Done admiring yourself, Moron? You know, you're really nothing special, just a body from cryogenic storage. Not even a particularly good one, though we can blame that on Fatty over here. She had hundreds of choices, and she chose this one. What does that say about how much she cares?" GLaDOS said in her ever calm, ever insulting voice.

"I like it." Wheatley said defensively.

"Good, because you're stuck with it for the next 60 some years, less if we're lucky." Chell gave GLaDOS a slightly annoyed look, then turned her attention back to Wheatley.

"She said she'd bring you back, but there is a catch..."