One Big Aperture Family

Saving Private Time

Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System (GLaDOS) Log Function

Initiating Log Program

Begin When Ready…

As the days turn into weeks, the Older One is getting bigger. I check the monitor with the feed of her fetus and I have noticed the child grows as well. At this point, I estimate the child is about twenty-seven weeks along, and developing quite normally. I've begun a separate log of its daily functions. Most of the time, it's just wiggling around in its fluid home. As much as Subject Lil has been eating lately, I'm not surprised the child is getting so big at such a rate. Her favorite foods as of late are peanut-butter coated apples and pickles in vanilla ice cream topped with barbeque sauce.

The food cravings are starting to get out of hand. The other night, I heard shuffling downstairs and went to investigate. The moron had sent the Cooperative Testing Initiative bots to the corner store for the above mentions items. I think they just like getting out of the house.

For his part, the Moron seems to be coping well. They have an appointment coming up soon to discover the gender of their unborn child. I already know what it is. But I'm not telling…or maybe I will, just to get on his nerves.

The Maniac, I must say, has been a big help to me. More than he knows. But when he called me a…oh, why do I have trouble logging that word? A "Maschinenmensch", as it were, I couldn't help but feel it wasn't out of sarcasm or strife. I think it might have been a not so well placed term of endearment. I think he's starting to grow on me.

The Small One, Subject Angie, is excelling nicely in her new school. The Older One was mad at first but after several fine points, including that the money saved from not having to pay tuition can now go towards paying off the new minivan sooner, she quickly changed her tune. The Small One's new teacher wishes to speak with her older sister about advancing the child into a higher grade early because of her intellect. Of course, without my own brand of "meddling", as the Older One called it, Subject Angie would still be stuck at that private school with that teacher of hers. It is with some measure of pride that I can actually say most of this was my doing.

On a side note, I released the teacher from the facility and erased her memory. It was difficult to get to and from the facility through my hand bag. If I didn't know any better, I'd say a certain mechanical someone has been trying to sever my link to the facility. He's failed, of course. But it is something to be mindful of.

Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System (GLaDOS) end log function

The weekend was upon the Pendleton household. Friday night was a night of going out, seeing movies, and enjoying the city life. From the backyard, one could make out most of the city lights on a clear night. It was a beautiful sight and the family missed sitting outside on warm nights. Fall had come, and now was a time of great change for the Pendleton family.

Lil got bigger by the day and soon found it difficult to even do the simplest things. Luckily, the Androids were around to help out, but Lil often felt she was just in the way. Wheatley could sense this and decided that before the new baby came, he wanted to make his wife feel special.

The idea came to Wheatley when he found Lil tossing her clothes around, trying to find something that would fit. Her hormones were starting to get the best of her, and her mood swings kept everyone on their toes. He found her crying over her tight pants and after unsuccessfully trying to convince her he still thought she was beautiful, Wheatley decided he and Lil needed a night alone. While he knew it wouldn't be too difficult to get the Androids and the children out of the house, he knew he had a bit of a problem with GLaDOS.

It was bad enough that she lived above them in their attic, but GLaDOS had a tendency to show up when Wheatley and Lil didn't want her around. The other day, as Wheatley and Lil were getting comfortable on the couch while watching a movie, GLaDOS decided to come downstairs and join them. Wheatley would have taken it in stride if GLaDOS hadn't changed the channel.

Tonight was going to be different. Tonight was the fall carnival at Angie's new school and Lil was in no mood for any outdoor activities. She had already been gone most of the day on various errands and Wheatley had spent most of the afternoon preparing for this much needed private time.

When Wheatley heard Lil and the Androids return (they were often dispatched by him to help her out and GLaDOS decided to tag along), his sneaky grin grew. He was going to surprise her and he couldn't wait. Dr. Rattmann emerged from his den, dressed and ready to go. Wheatley turned to him, his grin wide. "You remember the plan for tonight?" he asked.

Dr. Rattmann nodded and sat down at the table. "After Lil relaxes a bit, I get Chelly and Angie out of the house for the night. I take them to dinner and then the fall carnival, spend a few hours there and be home no later than midnight." Dr. Rattmann had rehearsed the plan numerous times. Wheatley nodded and poured himself and Dr. Rattmann some soda. "I hope you know what you're doing. Lil has been quite irritable lately, and I don't want to come home to you getting one of your arms ripped off."

Wheatley waved Dr. Rattmann's worries away. "Don't worry, I have it all planned out. After you and the girls leave, I'll start getting everything ready. I'll set the mood with a nice relaxing foot rub, she goes absolutely crazy for those, tell her she's beautiful, maybe order us up some food, and then up to the bedroom for a little…" Wheatley blushed and stopped himself. Dr. Rattmann grinned with a cocked eyebrow. "Well, you're a doctor; I don't need to explain that last part to you, Mate."

"Not that kind of doctor, but I get what you're saying." Dr. Rattmann chuckled as he stood up. "I wish you luck tonight. You both need this. Things have been tense around here lately I'm surprised you haven't exploded. While I'll be playing skee-ball for Styrofoam filled prizes and eating cotton candy until I throw up, you'll be…relieving some stress."

"What are you talking about? Relieving stress?" Wheatley looked at Dr. Rattmann with confusion. "Come on, catch my hints! Lil and I will be…"

Dr. Rattmann shushed Wheatley as Angie and Chelly walked in, ready to go. Angie had on her favorite red dress with the yellow and red striped sleeves (having tights that matched it) and Chelly was dressed in a similar outfit, but without the striped sleeves or tights. "We're ready, Grandpa!" Angie shouted happily. "Are you and Lil coming, Wheatley?" Angie let go of Chelly's hand as Wheatley came closer. Chelly made the motion with her arms that made Wheatley know that she wanted to be carried.

"Uppies, Daddy!" Chelly shouted happily in her toddler speak. Wheatley smiled and picked up Chelly and hugged her tightly.

"No, we're not going. Your sister isn't feeling her best and just about anything sets her off. I think the less people that get punched in the face tonight, the better." Wheatley smiled softly as Chelly took his glasses off and placed them over her own eyes. Wheatley chuckled and put her down, taking back his glasses. Without his glasses, Wheatley was as blind as a post, so he always kept that pair and a spare somewhere on his person at all times. His current spare pair was in the junk drawer near the kitchen sink.

Hearing the Jeep doors slam, everyone ran toward the front door. GLaDOS walked in first, carrying a small bag, followed by the Androids. "That grocery store certainly is nice. My scans indicated that it was very clean. We'll be up in the attic most of the night. Please don't bother us." GLaDOS handed her bag to Wheatley and started going upstairs. "When you two are finished putting those away, come upstairs" GLaDOS shouted to the Androids. After a few minutes, the Androids ran upstairs and the attic door slammed shut. Wheatley placed the small bag on a nearby end table and shook his head.

"It's all yours." Lil sighed, tossing the Jeep keys to Dr. Rattmann. "It's all gassed up and ready." Despite not carrying anything, Lil looked exhausted. Wheatley helped Lil to the couch and helped her take off her jacket. In the past few weeks, Lil's pregnant belly got bigger and Lil was starting to feel it. "Do you know how hard it is dealing with those three and carrying your child all day?" Lil groaned softly.

When Wheatley gave Dr. Rattmann the signal (a thumbs up, which he returned), Dr. Rattmann ushered the girls to get their coats. "Alright, we're going!" Dr. Rattmann shouted. Angie and Chelly ran to hug Lil, who struggled to sit up straight. No matter how tired she was, she was never too exhausted for hugs from her family.

As that happened, Wheatley slyly pulled out his wallet and gave Dr. Rattmann a few twenties. "Wear them out good, Mate." He whispered. Dr. Rattmann nodded appreciatively and put the money in his own wallet as the girls rejoined him.

"Have fun, you two. Angie, keep an eye on Chelly and don't let her eat too much sugar." Lil warned as Dr. Rattmann left with the girls. Lil sighed happily and placed her hand on her stomach. Wheatley came to sit down on the couch as Lil took off her shoes. She didn't wear boots anymore, her swollen ankles making it hard to walk without getting exhausted. Wheatley smiled as Lil slipped off her sneakers and relaxed her feet on the coffee table, breathing out loudly.

Wheatley took one of Lil's feet and started rubbing it. "So, have a good time shopping, love?" Wheatley asked, pressing his thumb into the heel of Lil's foot.

Lil let out a soft "oooohhh…" and sank deeper into the chair. "It was a nightmare. For someone who doesn't eat, she sure has a low opinion of the food I buy. I counted nine times she insulted my vegetarianism and about eleven times that she claimed I was depriving the girls of essential vitamins and nutrients. You know, being a vegetarian is different from being a vegan. I wish more people knew that. You'd think a highly advanced robot, as she keeps calling herself, would at least have some kind of program swimming around in her head to know the difference."

Chuckling softly, Wheatley switched feet. "But other than that, it was surprisingly good. She helped me find the best deals and made it so where the teenager at the deli doesn't slice our lunch meats too thick. I hate thick slices of turkey." Lil noticed Wheatley was looking at her hopefully. "Don't worry, she got them to cut your roast beef the way you like it. Though, it might be a quarter of an inch too thick. She thinks she's being vindictive, so I just let her have her way this time."

Wheatley nodded and rubbed Lil's ankles. This made her purr like a kitten. "So, excited, love? Our next appointment we find out if it's a boy or a girl we're having. Can't wait, extremely excited, that's what I am. I have a few names for boys, and I can't wait to start painting the spare bedroom. Blue…proper color for a boy's room, isn't it?"

Lil giggled softly and sat up. "What if it's a girl?" she asked, with a sly grin.

"Oh, don't even joke about that." Wheatley chuckled, with Lil joining in. Looking up, Wheatley could see how relaxed Lil was getting, and usually when she was relaxed, she could easily get in the mood for love. Of course, Wheatley found Lil irresistible either way. He decided to save dinner until later. Wheatley wanted Lil badly. "Say, love, why don't we adjourn to the bedroom?"

Lil glanced at Wheatley coyly and giggled softly. "Let's, shall we?" she responded, with Wheatley helping her up. As they walked, Wheatley stopped and rubbed his head. "What's wrong, Wheaters?" she asked as Wheatley grasped his head. "Are you having a headache again?" Lil put her hand on Wheatley's cheek, though he insisted he was fine. He looked into Lil's eyes, trying his hardest to reassure her that he was fine.

"It's nothing, dear. Go on up to the bedroom and I'll get some aspirin." Wheatley sighed and watched his wife ascend the staircase. He walked to the downstairs bathroom and looked in the medicine cabinet. "Why is this happening now?" he moaned, shuffling through all the medicine. He found the aspirin and popped two in his mouth, as per the instructions. Wheatley turned on the cold water in the faucet and splashed some water on his face to get him focused.

"Focus, Wheatley…" he murmured. "…this is the first night in a long time that you and Lil had some time to yourselves. Get it together!" he whispered loudly. Sighing softly, Wheatley closed the medicine cabinet and faced himself in the mirror. In a flash, an image of himself as a core appeared in the mirror and then disappeared. Wheatley fell back onto the closed toilet and grabbed his chest. "Why is this happening now?" he whispered, getting up and brushing himself off.

Trying to stay focused; Wheatley turned off the light and started making his way upstairs. As he did, he found P-Body running down the stairs as if in a hurry. "Please don't make too much noise tonight." He shouted to P-Body, as she ran toward the living room. Before Wheatley reached the top step, P-Body bolted passed him with her arms full of different objects and tools. "I sincerely hope you're not taking anything apart again. We can't afford to keep replacing our appliances just so you can fill your lust for tinkering." He shouted again. P-Body, again, didn't acknowledge Wheatley and ran back towards the attic.

Shaking away the rest of his headache, Wheatley slowly opened the master bedroom door and found the room lit with candles. "Oh, Wheaters…" Lil chirped in a way that made Wheatley blush. Sitting on the bed in a silk nightgown, Lil motioned with her index finger for him to "come hither". With a goofy smile and a nervous chuckle, Wheatley shut (and locked) the bedroom door and slowly started toward the bed. Lil reached over to her small nightstand and pressed play on her mounted digital music player. Apparently, according to the music selection, she had been anticipating this all day as well.

Wheatley slid his shoes off and climbed onto the bed to join Lil. "It's been quite a while, wouldn't you say, love?" Wheatley murmured as he started kissing Lil's neck. Wheatley started taking off his clothes until he was down to his undershirt, boxers, and socks.

"Since we first moved in, but seeing all that's happened since then, it feels like forever." Lil gasped.

As Wheatley's lips made their way to Lil's shoulder, a loud banging noise above them threw him off balance. Lil looked up and sighed. She turned to her music player and turned the music up as Wheatley went back to what he was doing. When the music got louder, so did the noise above them. Lil reached over and turned the music player off. Before she could get up, Wheatley stopped her. He knew if she went up there, Lil wouldn't be in the mood afterward. "Let me deal with it, love." Wheatley whispered, kissing Lil gently on the cheek.

Putting on his bedroom robe, Wheatley stomped out of the master bedroom and toward the door that led to the attic. Wheatley often felt the attic was oddly placed. While most houses they looked at had attics that needed to be accessed through a pull string hatch and a ladder, the attic in this house was accessed through a regular door that led to stairs leading to another door. While Lil liked that she didn't have to climb a ladder to put stuff away, Wheatley was the first to see the opportunity of a guest room/home office (until GLaDOS moved in, at least).

The first door didn't have a lock, so Wheatley opened it without fail and climb up the stairs. He knocked on the second door loudly and waited with his arms crossed. The door only opened slightly, with ATLAS poking his head out. "I don't what it is you three are doing and I don't care. Just keep it down!" Wheatley then left, slamming the first door. ATLAS chattered something behind him and closed the door softly.

Creeping back into the master bedroom, Wheatley found Lil relighting one of the candles. He slid off his bedroom robe and made his way silently behind Lil. As Lil shook the match out, Wheatley nibbled softly on her earlobe, surprising Lil, making her involuntarily elbow Wheatley in the face, sending him backward. Wheatley fell off the bed and hit his head on the dresser. "Wheatley!" Lil shouted, running toward him.

Wheatley shook the dizziness away and looked at Lil. The view from his glasses resembled a kaleidoscope. Still dizzy, Wheatley smiled. "Oh, 'ello there, love. You look ravishing…all three of you…" he murmured with a dizzy chuckle. He felt Lil take his glasses off and sigh.

"I'll go get your spares." She murmured, putting the broken glasses on top of the dresser. Lil put on her robe and slippers and left the master bedroom.

Wheatley leaned himself against the dresser and tried to look around. Everything was out of focus and he found himself crawling along the floor trying to find the bed. He heard his bedroom door open with a panicked haste and a pair of feet in front of him. Wheatley crawled toward the feet and grabbed the ankles. "Oh, that was fast, love. Why did you put your shoes on?" Wheatley asked, grasping onto the bed and hoisting himself up. "I really hope they didn't hear that. It'd be embarrassing. Now, let's have a kiss, love…" Wheatley puckered up and held his hands up.

If he thought he was grabbing Lil's chest, he would be wrong. That became evident when he felt a smack across his cheek that made him fall back on the bed. "I don't know what kind of sick sexual games you humans play in here…" GLaDOS snarled, fixing her dress. "…but I want no part of it. I heard the commotion and I came to make sure the house wasn't on fire." GLaDOS looked around at the still lit candles. "I'm glad to see you didn't start a fire in here, so I'll go back to my work."

GLaDOS left as Lil was returning with Wheatley's spare glasses. Wheatley got up and squinted hard, trying to put Lil back in focus. "Lil?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me." Lil chirped, handing Wheatley his spare glasses. Wheatley put on his spare glasses and blinked his eyes back into focus. He then looked at his hands, making a disgusted look. "What's wrong, and why is your cheek red?" Lil asked, gently touching Wheatley's swollen cheek.

Wheatley shivered a bit and looked at his hands sharply. "I'd…rather not talk about it. Let's just say I accidently found out whether or not GLaDOS is anatomically correct above the waist…" Wheatley looked like he wanted to cry as he looked at his hands again. "She is…" he whispered, running to the bathroom. He knew there was no soap on the market that could wash this feeling off his hands.

Lil waited for a good ten minutes on the bed, trying to keep herself from falling asleep. When she felt her baby kick, she giggled softly. After a while, Wheatley slowly left the bathroom and smiled a Lil coyly. "Sorry about that little excursion, love. Now…" Wheatley slowly made his way back to Lil and leaned against her (as much as her pregnant belly would allow). "…where were we?"

Upstairs in the attic

"No good, we'll need more time." GLaDOS sighed in her mechanical fashion, sitting back in her chair. ATLAS chattered something as P-Body continued to work on several components. "I know we're running out of time as it is, but this won't get done any other way. He's tried to override my lockouts and that Junk Heap is getting closer to discovering the location of my attacks. In hindsight, sending that teacher into testing probably didn't help out chances. Even with all the safeguards I put in place."

P-Body finished what she was doing and stood up. She chirped in her mechanical language and then looked at ATLAS. ATLAS nodded and sat on the floor with his arms crossed. "He might be built to be like the idiot, but he's still Aperture technology. You know as well as I do that Aperture technology is adaptable."

GLaDOS disconnected the cable from its port in the back of her head under her bun. "I must say, I'm genuinely impressed that he was about to adapt that quickly, being modeled after the idiot and all." GLaDOS stood up and started for the door. "Well, it won't do any good to try again tonight. We'll give it another try some other time." GLaDOS started pacing the attic, trying to think. The Androids followed with their heads.

She stopped for a moment when she heard softly moaning under them. GLaDOS grinned softly and looked at her Androids. "I think I know what I want to do…"

In the master bedroom

Wheatley was apparently good at giving back rubs, as Lil moaned softly and moved her shoulder blades along with Wheatley's hands. "How does that feel, love?" Wheatley whispered softly. Lil blushed and snuggled close as he continued his massage. He could swear he could hear Lil purr like a cat when the massage was done.

"Oh, Wheaters…" she moaned, a glassy look in her eyes. Wheatley smiled and took Lil in his arms, kissing her passionately. Lil let one of her nightgown straps fall off her shoulder as Wheatley's lips made their way back to her neck. Her gasps became more frantic, meaning Wheatley was doing something right.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

Wheatley's head bolted up and he straightened up his glasses. "I'll take care of this, love." He whispered, grabbing his robe. Lil covered herself up as Wheatley opened the door slowly. Not surprisingly, it was GLaDOS. "Yes, what do you want?" he snarled.

GLaDOS chuckled and eyed Wheatley up and down. "I don't mean to disturb you, Moron…"

"I highly doubt that, but go on…" Wheatley interrupted.

"…the Cooperative Testing Initiative and I are all done with our project. I just came down to let you know we won't be making any more noise." GLaDOS folded her arms and tried to get a better look at the master bedroom.

"Good, fine…go away!" Wheatley slammed the door and started untying his robe when he heard another knock at the door. He tied his robe up again and opened the door. "What?" he shouted as he opened the bedroom door. On the other side stood P-Body, who chirped something in her mechanical chirping. "No, I don't know where we keep the tape. Check the kitchen. If it's not there, we're out. Now, if you are done…"

"Actually, I think I saw Angie using it earlier and she rarely puts things back where they belong." Lil shouted from the bed. Wheatley rubbed his head and leaned against the door. P-Body looked into the bedroom (this was her first time seeing the master bedroom) and nodded while looking around. "Check her room. If it's not there, then we might be out. If that's the case, just put it on the list on the fridge."

P-Body nodded and chirped in an impressed manner at the master bedroom. Wheatley was starting to get frustrated. "Oh, you've never seen the master bedroom, have you, P-Body?" Lil asked, sitting up. P-Body shook her head and looked around, amazed. "Maybe tomorrow I'll let you look around, but right now…"

"Right now is a bad time!" Wheatley softly pushed P-Body out of the bedroom and closed the door. Wheatley sighed and started back for their bed when Lil shot up. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Lil put on her bedroom robe and her slippers. "I should probably help her find the tape. If not, they'll keep bothering us." Lil then left the bedroom. Wheatley sighed and fell back on his pillow. His head started to hurt and he sighed softly, realizing the aspirin wasn't working. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. If Lil got back and saw him tensed up, the entire night would be ruined.

Sighing softly, Wheatley laid his head down and tried not to concentrate on anything. He definitely didn't want to think about the nightmares and their increasing frequency as of late. Wheatley knew the headaches meant that a sleepless night was in store. Wheatley didn't even bother trying to sleep now. He wanted this night to be perfect for him and Lil, and Wheatley wasn't going to give it up. When Lil returned and slowly closed the door, Wheatley grabbed her by her shoulders and planted a kiss most passionate on her lips.

As they started making their way to the bed, undressing each other in feverish passion, another knock came at the door. Fuming with enough anger to match a charging bull, Wheatley opened the door wide. "What do you want now?" he asked, not realizing he was stark naked in front of GLaDOS and her Androids. P-Body placed her hands over her eyes in embarrassment while ATLAS looked away. It wasn't until GLaDOS smirked that Wheatley realized he was naked. Lil tossed him his robe and he hastily put it on.

"I'm going to assume it is cold in here." GLaDOS murmured softly, trying to keep her giggles down.

Wheatley reached his breaking point. Finding his pants, Wheatley grabbed his wallet. "If I give you twenty dollars, will you leave us alone?" he snarled.

The Androids held out their hands with a nod. "That's very generous of you, idiot. But we're stuck at home tonight and have nowhere to spend it." GLaDOS chided.

Wheatley's eye was twitching and he felt his headache worsen by the second. Wheatley slowly grabbed the keys sitting on top of the dresser and pointed to the stairs. "Pick up some milk while you're out, I forgot to get some earlier!" Lil shouted, pressing stop on her music player.

Twenty minutes later (traffic and stop lights permitting), they arrived at the front of Angie's new school. Wheatley stopped the minivan, ordered them out, and drove off. GLaDOS and her Androids stood in front of the fall carnival happening at Angie's school. "Grandma?" GLaDOS looked up at Angie as she, Dr. Rattmann, and Chelly wondered toward the entrance. "We were just taking Chelly to the bathroom when Grandpa said he thought he saw our new car."

"What did you do?" asked Dr. Rattmann, holding a pink stuffed teddy bear prize. "…or more importantly, what did you stop them from doing?"

GLaDOS said nothing, waving a twenty dollar bill in Dr. Rattmann's face as she and the Androids walked into the festivities.

When Wheatley returned home, he ran upstairs, eager to see Lil. Nearly tripping over himself, Wheatley rushed toward the master bedroom and swung the door open to find Lil blowing out the candles. "What are you doing, love?" He whined. Lil sighed and started putting on her regular pajamas. It was then Wheatley knew that the night was a bust.

"Let's just get some sleep, Wheatley. We have to get up early tomorrow, anyway. We need to start setting up for the winter sale at the bookstores." Lil sighed softly and climbed into bed. Before Wheatley could protest, he just sighed and went to find his pajamas. As Wheatley climbed into bed, he felt Lil rub his back softly. "We'll have other nights, Wheaters. Don't worry." She cooed, kissing him on the cheek. Wheatley couldn't help but smile as he wrapped his arms around his wife.

A few days later

Wheatley and Lil returned home from their doctor's appointment with big smiles on each face. Wheatley was holding a bag from the home improvement store and he looked eager to get started on redecorating the spare bedroom. Lil took out a small envelope from her purse as the family ran up to them (GLaDOS excluded, who stayed in Wheatley's chair with the newspaper). Lil smiled and looked down at Angie. "Well, am I going to have a niece or a nephew?" she shouted, holding Chelly's hand tightly. The Androids looked eager to know as well.

With a smirk, Wheatley took the pictures and knelt down as far as his long legs would let him. Angie and Chelly looked at the ultrasound pictures curiously. "We're having…" Wheatley smiled and pulled out a tin of paint from the bag. It was blue. "…a boy!" he shouted happily.

Everyone cheered, except GLaDOS, who went back to pretending to read the newspaper. "…called it…" she murmured, putting the newspaper down.

Dr. Rattmann shook Wheatley's hand and patted him on the back. "Alright, how about we go celebrate? Ice cream and dinner out tonight, on me!" Dr. Rattmann shouted to the girls and the Androids. Each group cheered loudly as they reached for their coats. Dr. Rattmann noticed Wheatley snuggling close to Lil as they stared at the ultrasound pictures. He coughed softly and looked at the girls. "How about we go on ahead and you meet up with us later?" Dr. Rattmann winked to Wheatley as he started ushering the girls and the Androids out the door. He walked over to GLaDOS and helped her up.

"But I don't want to go…I don't eat…" she murmured.

"No choice…" Dr. Rattmann murmured as GLaDOS grabbed her purse from the coffee table.

Later that evening, Wheatley and Lil (looking much more relaxed and happy), joined their family in the parking lot of their favorite restaurant. "How did it go?" Dr. Rattmann asked as they started walking in. Wheatley gave Dr. Rattmann a wink and a thumb's up as they waited to be seated.

Relaxing back in her chair, GLaDOS folded her arms and watched as the security feed showed nothing. It had been quiet and she didn't like it. "Whatever you're planning, I will stop it." She mused, trying to recharge. GLaDOS kept hearing noises and sometimes she heard music, but the feeds showed only peaceful hallways and test chambers with subjects on their schedules. Everything was in its place and everything was going smoothly, but she couldn't for the artificial life of her, figure out what the "Junk Heap" had planned.

"I wonder if he is still there…" she murmured, pressing a button and coming closer to one of the monitors to get a better look. "Maybe he left and came looking for us, though leaving the labs in his state would be the robot equivalent of suicide. He'd never find the correct components to repair himself outside of the facility." GLaDOS looked genuinely worried and began a more feverish search around the feeds. The cable plugged into the back of her head wiggled a bit, as if her frustration was feeding into the computer itself.

"You're playing with me…" she murmured. "…show yourself, you Junk Heap!"

As if on cue, a mild shock went through GLaDOS's body, followed by a horrible screeching static like sound. She covered her ears, despite the fact that the noise was flowing through her body. The lights in the house flickered, though no one noticed as it was late at night. The Androids, however, could hear the noise in their own systems and woke up with a jolt from their respective sleep modes. They both rushed to their boss in the attic and made sure she was alright.

As the noise subsided, each monitor went blank. The Aperture logo flickered on each screen until each monitor (save for the fetal monitor) went completely black. When the Aperture logo came back, GLaDOS regained her composure and sat back in her seat. She turned her attention to the feeds of the Central A.I. Chamber and tried to focus. As she got closer, the silhouette of a familiar figure stalked around the main chassis. GLaDOS tried to activate the lights in the chamber but got no response from the systems. As the emergency lights flickered, the figure turned around and looked up at the security camera.

One eye was red and one eye was blue. She couldn't see his face, but she saw his wicked smile as he held up one hand, as if about to wave. He didn't. He only held up his hand, as if letting her know he was there. He was there, and he would soon be in control. GLaDOS's eyes widened and she started typing feverishly again. Soon, the static subsided and she knew she was safe for a little while longer. The safeguards were keeping him at bay and stopping him at every turn, but even she didn't know how long she could keep that up. She smiled, but felt a bit discouraged, as his grin didn't leave his face. He placed his hand on her chassis and chuckled.

GLaDOS watched as the feed started to die again. "We're running out of time…" she whispered softly. Soon the feed came back and GLaDOS fell back, seeing his broken red eye up close on her monitor. She shouted in surprise as she fell back, covering her mouth in horror.

N'cha, everyone!

So, you guys can pretty much guess who is at the labs, right? Well, honestly, I knew I couldn't keep that secret. You guys are too good! Actually, it wasn't much of a secret. I'm more into building this up than keeping it under wraps. Where is it going? Well, just keep reading and you'll see!

My work is never done, it seems. I have a few other projects I want to get back into, so if you guys don't see an update from this story in the next few weeks, don't panic. I'm just doing some spring cleaning on some other projects and updating a few. I have a lot planned that I want to do before Christmas, so here's hoping that happens, alright?

Oh, before I forget, I might start posting these on DeviantArt soon, so keep a look out for that as well.

Well, how did I do? Let me so, alright? I appreciate all reviews, but please keep them tame. I like knowing what you guys think and I look forward to reading your reviews each and every time I post a new chapter. As always, thank you for your support.

Read, review, and be merry, my doves!

GLaDOS, Wheatley, Dr. Rattmann, ATLAS, and P-Body belong to Valve.