Heavy breathing was all Chell could focus on by the end of her testing. In. Out. In. Out.

"You're acting like I worked you hard. That was only the preliminaries. And to think you're going to have a week to catch your breath and fall back into your routine of poor health decisions. That's an assumption, based on your old and new test results. You've packed on a few pounds and you're definitely not as fast or cunning as you used to be. I'm not impressed."

Chell breathed heavily, glaring at the AI. Here she was, breaking her back for these tests, trying her hardest after months of less-pressing activity, and not a glimmer of appreciation was going to be shown. Though, she never expected the sadistic android to be very supportive of her efforts, or even share a single compliment. That would be like waiting for pigs to fly, which was, according to GLaDOS, scientifically impossible.

"Perhaps you'll do some working out before the next time you try to disgrace me with your poor testing. I'm giving your little…thing…live. Complete with all the regular human functions, if I might add. He'll be the perfect—well, as perfect as morons go—example of a human. And you're going to have to teach him how some things work, because I just don't have time to elaborate some of the private body functions." A strange smirk covered her face and she laughed a little bit to herself.

Chell was slightly confused, but she couldn't be too terribly far off in her guess as to what she meant. Perhaps some manners and etiquette outside of the facility could be a topic of interest. He barely knew how to properly hold out a conversation, considering Chell never spoke a word to him and GLaDOS only ever had snarky, rude remarks and little tricks to try to get him to give up his position. Chell simply nodded once, her breath finally back to a regular, manageable pace. Was she really that out of shape, or had GLaDOS upped the tests to really push her to her limits? Chell couldn't really be sure.

"Anyway. He's made some progress today, unlike a certain test subject I know, and he's been begging to let you come see him. I'm not sure how he found out you were here, but he did, and I figure I should reward the not-so-little moron with a glance at his savior." A dark chuckle escaped the AI as she eyed Chell. "I'm sure you're up for it, and I'm not really giving you an option."

A blue portal opened under Chell and she fell through, flying through the portals and headfirst into a hard object before hitting the ground and landing on her bottom.

"Ow! Would you watch where you're going? That really—" A familiar voice spoke and abruptly stopped.

Chell rubbed her backside and her head as she slowly stood up and stared at the voice's owner. Her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at the incredibly tall man. He had some short, shaggy blond hair and his bright, glowing blue eyes gave light to his non-humanity. He bore glasses. Odd. Chell thought. Shouldn't he have perfect vision? Chell looked at his ensemble, which made him look a little bit like a scientist.

She spoke so softly, her voice almost evading her. "Wheatley?"

The man's eyes widened and one of his eyes twitched as he stared down at Chell. "Chell? You can talk?!"

Chell laughed a little bit and stepped back to see the new android better. He was unreasonably tall! Chell stood at a comfortable 5'3". She wasn't very tall, but she didn't need to be. She could get along in the world just fine, and here at the facility, with her long fall boots adding a good four inches, she felt like she nearly compared to Wheatley. But there was no way, not a single way, that she would look regular height compared to him. His head nearly touched the ceiling as it was!

"Goodness, luv. You look…" Wheatley stopped, a very depressing look of remorse covering his face as one of his hands went to the back of his head, the other carefully gesturing toward her. "I'm sor—"

Chell ran at Wheatley and hugged him tightly, her head barely reaching his chest. Some tears had managed to spring up in her eyes, which confused her only slightly. She didn't realize how much she'd missed this…this robot. This android. It hurt her a little bit, but Wheatley's arms carefully managed to wrap themselves around her, folding around her back and shoulders. Chell looked up at him and could see the blatant confusion that he had.

"Why did you save me? I mean, I thought… You don't hate me? Or want to kill me? Or anything like that?" Wheatley had fear and confusing written all over his face and in his eyes. This had to be a lot for the once-core, now android.

She shook her head once, twice, very sternly. A small, shy smile spread on her face and she buried her head in his chest. He was here, and he was…alive. Well, sort of. For the most part, he was alive. And GLaDOS had even said that he was going to function like a human. That was a terrifying thought, and Chell wondered if he even knew that yet, though she wasn't about to say anything to him.

"You're a lot smaller than I remember you being." Wheatley carefully placed one hand on the top of Chell's head and one on his own, admiring his own height and her strange shortness. "Have you shrunk?"

Chell giggled a little bit and shook her head.

"Okay, wait just a bloody second… So, you…you can talk, right? I didn't just imagine you saying my name? Because I could see that happening, I suppose, though it would not be a very good sign for me." There was the old Wheatley, jabbering away.

Chell nodded her head yes. "I can talk. I just…choose not to, very much…" She shrugged.

"Well, isn't this lovely? Time for sleep mode, moron." GLaDOS walked into the small bedroom that Chell and Wheatley were in. Chell actually looked around for the first time; she noticed a bed, barely long enough for Wheatley, a small dresser, a rug on the floor, and a bedside table with a plain lamp and clock on top. The walls and ceiling were bare white, and the tiled floor was also right. Must have been thrown together last minute.

"I am not a moron!" Wheatley's face registered hurt and anger. His hands balled up into fists as he glared at the AI.

"Oh, hush you." GLaDOS snapped toward Wheatley and suddenly his arms fell to his sides. His eyes went blank, and Chell noticed there was a cord in his back. How had she not felt that?

"Sleep mode activated." Wheatley's voice came out in a much more computerized way as his facial features went devoid of emotion and his eyes closed. His head tilted down in front of him.

"What did you do to him?!" Chell looked up at him and touched his face, noting how soft and real his face felt. She could feel breath coming out of his nose and saw the slight rise and fall of his chest.

"He's fine. The moron is just in sleep mode. He's going to charge so that we can do some more rehabilitation when I feel like it. Now it's time to leave. The two of you saw each other, and I don't want you getting any ideas about what you think you can and can't do here. This is my facility and your time for this week is up. Goodbye now."

Chell fell through a newly-opened orange portal this time, flying directly into an elevator and landing swiftly on her feet. Why couldn't I do that earlier? Chell stood in the lift, waiting to be brought back to the surface. She wasn't too happy to have had to leave so abruptly, but she was so excited to have seen Wheatley. He was so new, so inexperienced and fresh. She couldn't wait to introduce him to the world outside of the facility, but she never knew when that might happen. She could barely wait until next week when she would be that much closer to having Wheatley all to herself.

She was finally starting to see the good in the world.

"Exiting sleep mode." Wheatley's voice came out of him in an uncharacteristically computerized voice. It made him jump a little bit and he opened his eyes very wide, taking in his environment. He was in his little room, bare and boring, but now Chell wasn't here. He slumped a little bit with a frown on his face. Why did she have to leave?

"Okay, we have a lot of rehab ahead of us. First thing's first. Touch your toes. Then your nose. Then your ear and followed by your knee."

Wheatley sighed, rolling his eyes as he did as he was told. This simple stuff again? At least She wasn't making him lift any turrets. His dexterity was slowly building, but not enough for him to be satisfied with having to lift anything.

"Good. Oh, did I just compliment you? Please disregard any undeserved compliments." She laughed a little bit and gestured for Wheatley to follow her.

Great. More of this. How long was I even asleep? Why did Chell leave? When do I get to…wait, what is this feeling? My…torso. My lower torso… "My lower torso is burning." Wheatley looked at Her. He was a bit afraid, unsure of why it was like this. Did it hurt? He wasn't used to…well, feeling, really. Not much anyway.

"You're hungry. Good. Now you have something to work for. Come with me." She gestured again, clearly annoyed with his disruption. It wasn't his fault that She had given him more features than he needed.

He followed Her to a rather large room that had a small obstacle course. He could see two defective turrets, which made him inwardly groan. Stairs up, a small path at the top of the stairs and along the wall, a platform with one defective turret, a rope bridge leading to another defective turret and a button, a slide, a lift, one of those white light bridges… This was going to be incredibly difficult.

"Your goal is to finish this in two minutes. Once you've done that, I'll show you how to eat. Your time starts now."

Wheatley took off running and took the stairs three at a time, surprised he wasn't tripping yet. As he reached the top, he kept running to the platform and carefully lifted the turret. He kept a weak hold but ran with it across the rope bridge and carefully set it on the button next to the defective turret, which made a screen that he couldn't see from the floor sink into the ground. He lifted the next defective turret and slid down the slight into a lift. He landed on his backside and stood quickly before jumping out as it reached where it seemed to stop. He had jumped onto the light bridge, which he walked along until he came to see a secret cavern with another button and turret. Bloody hell, what do I do with this one? He set the turret down, lifted the last turret, and followed the bridge the rest of the way until he reached one last button on a platform. He jumped onto the platform, set the turret on the button, and slipped through a portal that opened beneath him. He fell from the ceiling and landed next to Her.

"Your time was one minute, forty-six seconds. Next time, try not to take so long." She handed him a small bag with little dark yellow or very light brown pieces inside. They had a strange smell to them.

"Take a chip out and put it in your mouth and shut your mouth, then chew."

Wheatley stared, slightly confused, at the little bag in his hands. What in the world were chips? And what was she trying to tell him to do? He carefully took a piece out and was a bit grossed out by the texture, tiny little grainy feelings with a greasy glow. Ew. He put it in his mouth and closed his mouth. "Mmm." He thought it was delicious. He moved his jaw, chewing the chip into smaller pieces. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

"That's eating. It's vital for your survival to do this regularly. More than once a day."

Wheatley's jaw dropped open and Her hand came up, forcing it shut. "Wait, wait I have to do this every day?! Why?! What purpose does it serve?!"

"That burning in your torso. It's your stomach. Burning because you're hungry. Your body needs sustenance in order to survive. It makes you more human, which was what I wanted and achieved. It helps your body make energy to properly function. Eat another."

He finally swallowed the bits, which had turned soggy sitting in his mouth. He put another one in his mouth and chewed it up, savoring its taste. It was delicious, but he didn't like how much residue it left on his fingers, the tiny bits or the grease. He continued to eat the bag under the silent watchful stare of the AI. When he'd finished it, she took the bag from him and dropped it onto the ground where it disintegrated.

"Do you feel the relief in your stomach? The way it's stopped burning? That's what you're going to want to achieve every time you eat. Come with me, I have real food waiting for you." She turned and started walking out of the chamber.

"Real food? But…I just ate real food." He did feel the slight relief that the chips had given him, but he also felt like he could probably eat more.

She didn't even bother to give him a response, leading him back to his little room. In the center sat a single table with a chair and atop that was a plate of yellow, slippery, rubbery looking…things…with red mush on top. It looked a bit revolting to Wheatley. "Is that food? Why does it all look so…gross? So…" He shuddered a bit and looked away.

"Sit down and eat it."

He looked at Her and his eyebrows furrowed together. "You want me to eat that? That's disgusting!" He glared at the plate of gross and made a face at it.

"It's called spaghetti and it's a favorite among children and Italians." She didn't seem to be giving up, so Wheatley reluctantly walked over and sat down, looking at the rubbery-mush pile in front of him.

"Spaghetti? Fun to say, actually. Why can't it look as fun as it sounds?" He picked up the fork that was lying next to it and shoved it in the pile. It slid easily through, the pile being slick and just as mushy as it looked. Ew. He twisted the stringy rubber things around his fork and watched as some of the red mush mixed in with it. He resisted the urge to shudder again as he brought the fork to his mouth. If he hurried, maybe he wouldn't gag until after he had swallowed. He cautiously put the fork in his mouth and…

"Oh my god, this is brilliant!" Wheatley exclaimed with a string hanging out of his mouth. "These rubbery string things are so…so chewy! And this mush—oh, don't even get me started on this mush. Ah!" He quickly ate the bite and started into the full plate in front of him.

"Those 'rubbery string things' are noodle. The mush is called tomato sauce. Ugh, morons."

Wheatley's fork dug into his hand as his fists clenched and he yelled "I AM NOT A MORON!" He huffed and resumed eating. "Sorry, reflex."

"Hurry up. You need to go back into sleep mode. I have more important things to do."

"Do I have to go into sleep mode? What does it even accomplish?" Wheatley kept eating, speaking with the spaghetti in his mouth.

"It hasn't been discovered why, scientifically, humans need sleep. But you do. Well, you're a cyborg. But it's the same thing, essentially. Ah, you're rebellious already. Speeding right through the age groups of humans, aren't we? Learning to talk, then walk, eat on your own, and you're already trying to rebel." She spoke in a voice filled with fake regret. "Oh, they grow up so fast."

Wheatley didn't understand what she was talking about, but he decided not to argue with her, oddly enough. He finished up his plate of spaghetti and started smacking his lips together, licking the insides of his mouth.

"What are you doing?" She looked annoyed and not amused.

"M-My mouth. It's so…it's so dry…" He kept smacking his lips, licking them too.

"Oh, you're thirsty." A bottle dropped from the ceiling and hit Wheatley in the head.

"Ow!" He rubbed his head before picking up the bottle and staring at it. It was clear and filled with a clear liquid. "What is this?"

"Water. Another thing you humans need. Twist the cap open and take a drink."

Wheatley fumbled with the bottle, somehow improving his dexterity a little bit, and finally worked it out. He put it up to his mouth and tipped it back, feeling the cool, tasteless liquid run on his tongue. "This is…nice?"

"Time for sleep mode." She snapped her fingers at Wheatley for the second time in he wasn't sure how long and the world blacked out.