~~0~~
End
Several months later
The presence of Aperture Approved Holiday Ornaments certainly made the facility look much more festive.
Even the turrets had been painted for Christmas and one had a little red nose that actually flashed. Chell was amused by the sight and walked to GLaDOS' chamber, finding the AI speaking with Jack and the scrawny android smiled brightly when he saw the human. GLaDOS caught his look and glanced back at her.
"I've refused to allow my chamber to be cluttered with tinsel, various colorful ornaments or the cake of fruit." she snapped, looking more annoyed than anything else.
"It's the holidays, GLaDOS," Chell said, chuckling.
"Hmm..." GLaDOS muttered. She turned her attention to her monitors. "I see the moron has ceased his pursuit of you now that he's found his own human."
Chell nodded and observed Wheatley and Dana, talking together in the corridors. He did look genuinely thrilled to be with her. On another monitor, Rick was engaging in a testing chamber with Melissa, who seemed quite happy to be testing at all. This had actually pleased GLaDOS when Melissa informed her that testing was a great way to stay in shape. She had been more than happy to do it without complaint. That was a rarity that GLaDOS appreciated, but wouldn't have admitted to the younger human female.
When Chell had first returned, GLaDOS had been more content to spend time "testing" together with her in her room. Chell certainly didn't complain, but she did have explaining to do with the others. William hadn't been quite as understanding at first given the fact that his daughters seemed fond of machines rather than humans. But when he began to see that they were truly happy, he couldn't find any reason to argue with it.
Of course, being in closer proximity with Ben and Alyx made Chell realize that Alyx cared more for the Vortigaunt than she made out. When her husband had passed on, Ben had been there to offer comfort and apparently as the months went by, much more. Apparently, it was also something that had to be kept on the low when she was living in Halfpeak because Ben wasn't exactly welcome there by some of the humans given the memory of the Combine that seemed to carry with him.
Chell didn't press on the subject.
"Merry Christmas, GLaDOS." the human said, wrapping her arms around the AI's waist.
GLaDOS rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Don't get so romantic on me. I just washed myself today and there is a frightfully-sized cookie chunk in your cleavage getting crumbs on my back."
Chell stared down and noticed that she had dropped a cookie in between her breasts by accident. "Oh. I didn't even see that."
"Because you eat your food entirely too fast, fatty." GLaDOS reached and plucked the cookie from Chell's singlet. "Allow me."
Chell just chuckled and shook her head.
While GLaDOS deposited the cookie remnants into the Incinerator, Chell took a moment to observe the AI in all her glory. It still took some time for her to deal with the fact that they weren't out to kill each other anymore and became more than just friends in the span of a year.
Things certainly had changed and they wouldn't go back to the way it was.
Not that they even could.
"Now then...once the celebration of this pointless holiday involving gift giving is over, perhaps you can return to work." GLaDOS suggested. "I have a gift for you as well, though I'm not sure you deserve it after that little trick you pulled the previous evening."
Chell laughed and approached, wrapping her arms around her. "You're just upset because I managed to get you on your back with that move."
"No." GLaDOS argued, pursing her lips with irritation. "You cheated. As I recall, humans don't play those sorts of games during mating."
"Then you're watching the wrong porn."
"Purely for research!"
Chell laughed and leaned against GLaDOS, placing a kiss on her chin. "Okay, fair enough. Whatever this gift is, I'm sure I'll like it."
"You'd better. It's in your room."
Chell gave the AI a kiss on the cheek before departing. It was a gesture that made GLaDOS smile.
- Look at you. You're happy. Admit it! - Caroline gushed, delighted with the AI's change in behavior.
She was. No use lying to herself.
If only they could see her now, how much she'd changed.
O
GLaDOS found Chell in her room, reaching for her "gift"; a folder that had been damaged, but still contained the proper files that she knew the human desperately needed. Chell looked up at her when GLaDOS entered and the AI nodded her head.
"It's the file on your parents." she explained.
Chell smiled with amazement. "Where was it?"
"It was difficult, but I found it stashed away in Old Aperture. The details aren't important. What IS important is that your chubby little mind is satisfied and we can move on."
Chell was touched by the gift, but made an effort not to embarrass the AI with her gushing of it. "Thank you." she replied. Then, she paused and watched GLaDOS' smile and arched an eyebrow skeptically. "You've already read it, haven't you?"
"Naturally. What did you expect? I'm Aperture's well-constructed busy-body." GLaDOS said, with a tease in her tone.
Chell didn't mind it, actually.
Now she was going to understand exactly who her parents were.
Much later, above the facility were the androids, Ben and the humans sitting together and watching the stars above while GLaDOS and Chell had time to themselves.
"It's beautiful, huh?" William said.
P-Body chirped and nodded in agreement.
Then, Jack started making crying sounds and Alyx patted his back. "Why are you crying, sweetie?" she asked.
Jack smiled brightly. "It now has friends."
Rick chuckled softly. "Yeah, you sure do, huh?" he said. "And ol' Rick has a lady friend to wake up to every morning." He put his arm around Melissa and she smiled, leaning against his chest. "And you know what would make this a happy ending? A big ol' kiss for Rick!"
Melissa chuckled and raised her hand to his face. "Hey, slow down, cowboy. We got the rest of our lives yet."
"True. True." Wheatley agreed.
It was silent for a long time.
"How long is that, anyway?" Jack questioned.
"A long time." Wheatley finally answered after a while.
O
Well, it's done. I felt like I rushed the ending a little. Why? Well, I've had many requests recently of fics to do, but there are a few I REALLY wanted to start on and didn't want to have too many at once I had to work on. So there you go. It's done.