Warning: I do not own Half Life or Portal except for the copies I own. It is owned by the Valve Corporation.

(The following statement may contain spoilers from Portal 2, if you don't want to know, please just continue onto the story)

Authors Note : After studying some of the new backstory revealed in Portal 2 I realize I cannot bring everything in effectively. I have decided to incorporate some things while excluding others. Pertaining to Chell being a child when the Enrichment Center was taken over, being in for 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day' (As evidenced by Chell's name being on the mutant potato plant); Chell will be the child of a Aperture employee, but this will be why she later goes to work for them; not why she got trapped in the first place. As far as the Events in Portal 2 itself goes, they will be ignored, since they essentially took place over 200 years after the events of Portal 1 putting it about 180 years past Half Life 2. However I will implement some of the dialogue that GLADoS said in the first phase of the game, as if they occurred in Portal 1. Cave Johnson will also squirm his way into the story.

Half Life: A Grim Hope

Chapter 6: Morning

Chell was briskly walking down the halls of Aperture Science Enrichment Center. The prototypes for her new turret gun was nearing completion, she had come in just under budget for it but it was done ready to tear apart it's first light android that comes at it. She was heading back to her brand spanking new apartment in the building. Finally she wouldn't have to sleep on that glorified bedroll in the repair shop. She was finally considered a full employee. She was amused to find out that all research employees were required to wear a lab coat. So a rather large wrench was sticking out of the pocket of the lab coat. She stretched a moment before pulling out her key card. She slid the card through the slot and opened the door, it was dark, she sighed reaching into her hair and pulling the small rubber band keeping up her hair. She fluffed out her semi-long hair. She was ready to just lie down on bed and sleep.

She turned on the lights only to be met by a loud obnoxious noise from inside the apart. She opened her eyes to see Rhys sitting on her bed fingers in his ears with his normal smile on his face. Skye on the other hand was standing on the ground bagpipes in hand blowing into them with all his might, eyes clenched shut. Now over the past year Skye had been convincing her, slowly, that bagpipes were a beautiful instrument… when played correctly. Skye on the other hand, was a horrible musician and it was just unbearable when he played anything on that damn Scottish instrument. Chell marched over to Skye ears plugged by her index fingers going to the eye of the storm. Once she got to him, she quickly poked him in the throat, causing him to cough the final notes out of the pipes. Rhys let his fingers out of his ears chuckling at Chell's solution of the 'problem'.

Skye coughed out but managed to squeeze out a "Wel-come… ho-me" he said rubbing his throat sitting down on one of the chairs. Chell then noticed that both of her friends were wearing small party hats, classic Aperture Science design they forced all employees to wear on anyone's birthday. Were they… throwing her a house warming party? Despite herself a small smile appeared on her face.

Still it had been a long day and she was exhausted "Uh… sorry guys but it's been a long day and…"

Rhys put a hand out to stop her for a moment "Wait, wait, wait… before you say anything" he reached behind the bed out of Chell's sight. He pulled out an old looking bottle "Skye brought some scotch back with him, wanna drink?"

Chell looked at the bottle with longing, it had been a long time since she had a drink "Well… maybe one drink…" she said with a smile.

-1 Hour Later-

Chell Skye and Rhys were all smiling like idiots all sitting on her bed with an empty bottle between them. Skye had nearly handled almost three quarters of the bottle himself, still he was just above being buzzed. Rhys had a few himself and was pretty drunk. Chell had kept true to her word and only had the one drink, still she was the drunkest out of the three; what a lightweight. Skye must have been pretty out of it since he soon fell off the bed into a deep sleep. This left Rhys and Chell alone on the bed drunk off their ass.

Rhys sat silent for a while, the empty bottle clasped in his hand. Both Rhys and Chell were laughing hysterically at something neither of them quite remembers. Only that it had something to do with an elephant.

After a few minutes both of them were out of breath and forced to tone down their laughter or risk asphyxiation. Chell and Rhys stopped laughing for a moment and looked at each other. Both of their faces were filled with blood in a drunken stupor. A soft smile appeared on both of their lips curved into a smile.

Rhys scooted a bit closer to Chell "You know Chell… I'm really happy you're staying on"

Chell blushed somewhat at the comment but smiled "Thank you Rhys…" she brought her face a little bit closer "That means a lot…"

Their faces slowly drifted towards each other, eyes closed, lips just slightly open. Chell could feel the heat off of Rhys' face, her heart pounding out of her chest. Their lips were only a few milimet-

A voice took over the speaker, a very eerie robotic voice. It spoke calmly "Hello Everyone. I have some excellent news."

Chell bolted up on her mattress, breaking out in a sweat, eyes wide and fearful. She gave a look around trying to get her bearings. She glanced around wildly, the room was cold and made of cement random electrical parts scattered around. 'Oh god, I'm back…No! No!' she started to curl up into a ball on her mattress, eyes wide open as tears started to stream down her face.

"Chell?"

'I can't do it, not again, I escaped, I fucking Escaped!'

"Chell…"

'Fuck… fuck... FUCK!'

"CHELL!" Chell was shocked out of her reverence and glanced to the voice. Crouching down next to her, a worried look on her face. Her tanned strong hand on her shoulder. Chell slowly felt herself calm down, taking deep breaths, looking shaken the hell up. Chell ran a hand through her own hair. 'It's alright… It's alright… Alyx is here...' she closed her eyes in "Chell… is something wrong?" she asked concerned.

Chell took a deep breath, wiping her eyes before looking back at Alyx with a soft smile "Naw, I'm fine don't worry about it" she said standing up off the ground.

Alyx stood up, her arms crossed defiantly, her eye brow raised suspiciously "Oh, sorry I misspoke, what I meant to say is what's wrong?"

Chell sighed sadly looking to the ground for a moment before looking up at Alyx "Nothing… just thought I woke up from one nightmare, only to find myself in another" Alyx let her tough look fade from her face as she felt some sympathy for the pale skinned woman. Chell took a long look at Alyx. She realized that the usually tomboy was wearing almost nothing that day. She was wearing a pair of black cotton thigh length shorts and a black cotton tank top with a black mesa logo in white, exposing her entire midriff. Even her usually contained hair was missing its headband. A towel was casually slung across her shoulder. She actually seemed less dressed then she had been going to bed last night "Um… Alyx? What's with the skimpy outfit?" she said hoping to move off of the subject of her break down.

Alyx looked at her oddly, slightly confused by the comment, she looked down and realized what Chell had meant "Oh ya; this. Today is the women's turn to shower, I was just about to wake you up" she said rubbing the back of her head. "So come on now, get up, we got about five minutes" She said giving a light tap to Chell's shoulder.

Chell nodded slowly remembering. She started to get dressed in simple clothes as Alyx had put on. Alyx had told her how twice a week they had a shower day, it was basically a row of nozzles that spit out water for the entire. Chell wasn't exactly ecstatic about the experience. When she was in the Enrichment Center, one thing she promised to do when she got out was to get a nice steaming hot shower. From the look of things she wouldn't be getting that anytime soon. She didn't blame them for it, they gave her a home and food (although calling it food was generous). Still it was one of the many little disappointments Chell had experienced. No juicy steaks, no swimming in the ocean, No freedom for the human race. You know. The little things.

Chell walked alongside Alyx in the hallway. She wasn't as confident as Alyx was. She was wearing one of Alyx's knee length jeans and an oversized white t-shirt, the black mesa symbol going across the chest. The halls were largely abandoned, but as they drew closer to the shower room some more people walked around with them

Alyx going on about one of her many adventures about city 17. Chell always politely ignored whenever she seemed to stop mentioning one of her comrades midway through the story. No reason to dig up bad memories. She knew that all too well.

Everyone was approaching a large steel door, that seemed to have a wasp of cool air rushing out of it each time 'My god… it's so cold it's a fog' Chell sighed feeling a chill go up her spine. This was going to be incredibly unpleasant. It was finally their turn to enter, Alyx shot her a small smile Chell gave her a odd look 'What? What's she smiling about?'

Alyx opened the door to the shower room, a warm gust of air coming out. That's when Chell realized, it wasn't fog, it was steam! Alyx gestured for her to walk in first and Chell did so happily. Inside there were long rows of cubbies for everyone's clothes, Finally there were the showers, where hundreds of women were taking showers, suds falling off their bodies. It reminded Chell of High School showers. Alyx came in behind her looking at her with a small smirk on her face "Ha, the look on your face, what were you expecting? All of us throwing buckets of water on each other?"

'Yes' "No… but I didn't think you had the energy for hot water…" she said with a dose of honesty. 'Wow… it's completely open, there's not even any stalls'.

Alyx chuckled at this, leading Chell towards her cubby "Chell, this is a Black Mesa's base for Europe. We have our own hydro electric generator. The one thing we always have in abundance is energy" she said with a chuckle. Chell nodded in understanding her eyes fixed upon all the steam in the room. Alyx started taking off what little clothing she had. Chell stood awkwardly blushing slightly, her hands clenching the bottom of her shirt nervously. Alyx soon noticed this and stared over at Chell for a moment looking concerned "Chell, come on, what are you waiting for?" Alyx saw the blush that was on her face and smiled "Chell… Are you nervous?" Chell, without answering looked away disdainfully "You are!" she said unbelieving "Why? What do you have to be insecure about"

Chell blushed slightly before whispering in Alyx's ear, pulling back, Alyx stared at her for a moment then glanced down at her body. Chell waited for Alyx to nod her head in agreement 'How can she not realize just how very-'

"Fat?" Alyx said incredulously. Chell nodded sadly "You… think your fat?" she repeated, Chell nodded looking around slightly annoyed that Alyx was speaking so loudly about it.

"Yes, now please…" she lowered her voice "be quiet"

Alyx just stared at her for a moment, glancing between Chells face and body, before just shaking her head "Ok. As much as I want to tell you… all the reasons that's ridiculous, we don't have time for this" Alyx walked over grabbing the edges of Chell's baggy shirt and pulled it up despite her friends objections. She did the same with the shorts, pushing a mortified Chell towards the shower "I'm not gonna be shacked up with you unwashed for another week"

Alyx stood back watching Chell. They were both back at their little workshop/bedroom. She was getting dressed after they had returned to the showers. Alyx had her hands stuffed in her jeans looking sheepishly over at Chell "Seriously, are you going to just ignore me?" Chell remained silent, slipping into some of Alyx's cloths. An old Black Mesa T-shirt, and a pair of ripped blue jeans.

Alyx sighed looking over Chell's body. She still had no idea why the hell Chell thought she was fat. Even in the baggy clothes she was wearing, the cloth gripped her curves rather nicely. The jeans especially, they really complemented her bu-…

Alyx shook her head 'Wait… What am I thinking?' "Please Chell?" she asked pushing off from the wall she was leaning against.

Chell looked back at Alyx, her eyes half open in a slight scowl while tying her hair in a ponytail "When's the mission?" she asked indifferently,Chell picked up her jacket getting ready to put it coat was an adapted version of her old Aperture science test subject jumpsuit. It was cut just below the waist so it covered her butt the almost torn beyond repair buttons replaced by a zipper. "C'mon Chell, talk to me" Alyx was once again cold shouldered.

"What? Alyx asked confused.

"The mission, you said you wanted my help bringing supplies into Ravenholm. When are we leaving?" she asked coldly.

"I don' know, a couple hours, like 1:00?" Alyx shrugged mostly a suggestion, the supplies just had to get out that day, it didn't really matter when.

Chell nodded "Okay. I'll see you then" she said walking towards the door.

Alyx looked at her oddly. Where could she go? Alyx was the only person she'd really talked to other than Skye since arriving at B.M.E. "What? Where are you going to go?"

Chell grabbed the handle of the door, "I'm gonna go work on a new invention" she opened the door.

Alyx put on a weak smile "W-well wait a minute. Everything you need it right-" Slam "… here…" Alyx rubbed the back of her head, just staring at the door "…Damn…"

Alyx walked through the halls of Black Mesa East, hands stuffed in her pockets, going over her head what could have gone wrong. 'Maybe she's just really shy or something...' Alyx sighed, she had been wandering around aimlessly for almost an hour now; she had briefly talked with a few of her squad mates but otherwise had been wandering alone. 'I mean, she didn't seem uncomfortable around me but... damn it all' This was a new situation for Alyx. She had always had friends and squad mates. But they were usually older then her and everyone treated her with a bit of distance. Alyx was Eli's daughter, so most people treated her like the post-apocalyptic first daughter. Besides Barney, Kleiner, and a few of the other Black Mesa survivors, she was always treated like she was on a pedestal. Even her squad-mates treated her with a distance since she was the captain, always made soldiers nervous to talk one on one with their superiors; or. At least that's what her father told her. So if she got into a fight with any of them it wasn't that big of a deal; they'd just avoid each other for a while then begrudgingly accept an apology. Chell though. Chell treated her with a kindness she hadn't felt, she didn't care that Eli was the leader of the resistance, or is she did she didn't show it. Whenever anyone tried to mess with her, she would never hide behind Alyx as a shielf (though she did scold her if she didn't back her up). She never tried to use her like others did occasionally 'Well except for food... but that's only cause no one wants to give her food because her relationship with Skye...' It was the first time she had a really good friend who was close to her age, a best friend even. And it sucked to be in a fight with her.

Soon she realized she was in the 'Cell Block' of Black Mesa East, which usually served as a place to throw anyone who got too drunk, but for once actually had a prisoner inside it. 'Hmmm… maybe she went to talk to Skye… worth a shot...' Alyx walked to the end of the hall where Skye was being held.

Alyx poked her head in, looking around "Chell? Chell are you in here?" she said walking inside.

A high pitched voice came in "Oh yes dear, right over here!" Alyx, surprised by any response looked at where the voice came from, all she ended up seeing was Skye, sitting cross-legged behind his plasma cage, mimicking, poorly, a British woman's accent "Aren't you just darling~" he said, laughing his ass off, falling onto his back.

Alyx looked around nervously, not wanting to meet Skye's gaze "Oh… Skye… I didn't know you'd be here…" Skye looked at her with a straight face, looking at her like she was an idiot. He started tapping on the plasma wall in front of him. He then got a smirking smile on his face.

"Well, ya know, I was going to go get some coffee earlier, bu-"

"Oh shut up!" Alyx said cutting him off and annoyed tone to her voice, slowly she gazed around the room "so… is Chell here?" she asked her tone suddenly diplomatic.

"No", he said simply going back to a book in his hand "You just missed her though, she just left about fifteen minutes ago," he said, gesturing towards the door.

"Really? What she talk about?" she asked curious.

"Oh she was going over her schematics for some new invention she wants to make, she was really irritable though; tried to ask her about it, but then she just snarled at me so I stayed away from the topic" he looked up a curious look on his face "You know who pissed her off?" he asked looking up at her. Alyx looked down guiltily rubbing her arm, "Oh… oh!… it was you?" he said with a grin on his face. Alyx blushed out of embarrassment "Wow Alyx, I haven't seen here that mad in a long time… you must of screwed up royal" he said with a chuckle.

Alyx glared at the Scotsman for a few seconds before sighing "Yea I think I did…" she said with a heavy sigh. She whispered under her breath bitterly "I don't even know what I did wrong"

Skye nodded slightly "Ya that will happen with Chell..." he said stretching a bit on the ground "she's a shy n' sensitive one"

Alyx looked at him unbelieving "Shy? Sensitive? I saw her deck a guy a couple nights ago for trying to hit on her!" she said a slight chuckle in her voice, enjoying the memory somewhat. The guy she hit was a pig and frankly deserved it "Then calmly started a conversation with me while she continued to kick him on the ground"

"Oh, don't get me wrong" Skye said almost laughing uncontrollably "If you're a stranger and try to mess with her, she will flatten you out like a pancake"

"Exactly!" Alyx insisted.

"But. She puts a lot of faith and trust in her friends, and if she feels betrayed… well…" he rolled his eyes "Hell hath no fury that Chell can't match"

"That's not how the saying goes"

"I know" he said seriously

Alyx shook her head annoyed "Okay… well how did you get her to stop hating you?"

Skye gasped, placing a hand on his chest "Why! I never" he said sounding insulted "Why would… Assume I have Ever made Chell mad?" Alyx just stared at him blankly, after a moment or two Skye nodded in agreement "Ok, sure, fair enough, here's what you do" he actually decided to stand up. Only then could you tell the toll his stay at Black Mesa East had taken on him. His legs were shaky, it was obviously a pain for him to use his muscles. Even after a week of battering by top resistance interrogators he still stood tall. In a way Alyx respected the man. And not out of fear as she once had. He had taken nearly a week solid of close to no food and horrible beatings, and he was still smiling and joking the same way he was when they first crashed down into Black Mesa East. Whatever they made those crazy bastards at Aperture out of, it was strong stuff. "First you need gummy bears, she's a sucker for them, puts her in a good mood, no matter what the situation"

"Where the hell am I going to get gummy bears?" she thought for a moment "What the hell are gummy bears?" she said shaking her head a bit.

Skye stared at her with unbelieving eyes. "Okay, scratch the worms… ok this is gonna get a lot more complicated" he scratched the back of his head, Alyx just stared at him dumb founded 'That. was his big plan…Somehow I'm not surprised' Skye sat down again looking disinterested "Well that was always my Ace to get back into her good graces"

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Alyx demanded impatient with the Scotsman.

Skye shrugged "Honestly? Apologize, and pray she don't shut you out... or kill you"

Alyx came walking down the passage way to Ravenholm, it used to be just a little crawlspace to the surface, but they had expanded it to allow the resources from the mines to flow in for the resistance. There were a few people moving about the cemented cavern. Alyx strode with her usual air of strength, feeling far more confident after her talk with Skye. She had her newly modified gun at her hip, along with her hacking device and a couple of adrenaline syringes in her belt. She didn't really expect anything to go wrong but as the old saying goes 'Better to be safe then shot'.

She came to the lift, the main entrance into Ravenholme, there was a metal rung ladder nearby, used back when it was still just a crawl space of an entrance, but it wasn't in use anymore. Standing alone, leaning against the lift, looking bored as ever, was Chell. Her fingers tapped, one after the other in a rolling motion. Her look was distant and troubled. She had a small pistol on her side; standard issue for all resistance soldiers. Sheathed across her back was the portal gun; not so standard issue for resistance soldiers. As Alyx approached, Chell finally seemed to come out of her daze and looked up at Alyx. At first her gaze was soft, even a smile pierced her lips. Then she seemed to remember something and started to scowl once again.

"Hey Chell…" Alyx said approaching, giving a slight wave.

Chell pushed off from the wall "Alyx." she said coldly "Let's get going" she walked into the wooden elevator compartment, it was just big enough to hold the two of them with a little bit of elbow room between them.

Chell somehow figured out how to meld with the wooden walls, forcing herself as far away from Alyx as possible. After a few seconds the elevator started to jerk upward, it wasn't all that smooth since the little elevator was man operated, using a wench at the top to pull up the little wooden capsule. You had to hold onto the handle bars to avoid bumping into each other as each jolt shook the little crate.

Alyx took a deep breath gathering her thoughts 'Okay, she obviously still hates me… Maybe I should wait to apologize till later today, when she's not so mad' suddenly the elevator dropped a few feet without warning. Both Alyx and Chell looked at each other nervously. Alyx looked up the rocky shaft "Hey! What Gives?"

The voice was of a middle aged man, it was friendly but nervous "Uh… yea, one of the ropes fer the elvater snapped. But Dun worry, we'll have it fixed soon, jus hold tight"

Chell stepped forward towards the optional ladder "Well, we can just use the ladder if it's too big of a-"

It seemed that Alyx and the man both spoke in unison "NO!"

Chell's hand bolted back away from the ladder "What?" she said almost losing her cool exterior.

There was a bit of silence then the man's voice spoke up "Ya hear of Coma Joe?" Chell's eyes went wide turning to Alyx for confirmation

Alyx grimaced a bit before gesturing towards the rusty ladder "This is where… he got that… name" she said a bit sadly

Chell nodded, backing the two feet available in the compartment to get away from the ladder. The voice piped up again, happily informing the two girls "Don't worry, we'll git ya both out in'a jiffy"

Both Alyx and Chell sighed. They stood still in the little compartment of an elevator that seemed to getting smaller and smaller every second. 'Well... might as well take a shot at it while were trapped here...' "Hey Chell? I'm really sorry about this morning you know" Chell, who had been avoiding eye contact up until now actually faced Alyx "I shouldn't have undressed you, that must have been embarrassing" she said trying to be diplomatic. Chell nodded staying quiet for a long while. Alyx bit her lip waiting for her response "Well, that's all I had to say… so at least now we can walk away and not see each other for a few hours" Alyx gave a quick look around the wooden box "Oh… right." She said with a chuckle before looking back at Chell, a small smile on her face.

Chell looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh "It… wasn't… all your fault" she admitted "I just felt nervous to have to shower… with everyone…" she rolled her eyes muttering curses under her lip, her face blushing a bit "I just feel… insecure about my body alright, so it's fine. We're cool" she said crossing her arms over her chest. The tone in her voice was still angry, and Alyx knew it.

'Ok… I could settle for that, or I could risk it all'"Ya I still don't get why you feel like that" 'Let's go all in'

"Feel like what?"

"Insecure. About your weight. I don't see it" Alyx shrugged

"Come on Alyx, look at me" she said just pointing at her body like that explained it.

"I am" Alyx took the moment to look then smirk "Twigs are envious"

"Alyx, don't li-"

"I'm not lying!" Alyx took a short step forward causing the whole casket to rock. The old mans voice once again came from above

"Hey! Stop that, you'll be dropped if you keep that up!"

"Sorry Frank" Alyx yelled up. She returned her view to Chell "Seriously Chell, you look great" Alyx said, leaning back against her side of the wooden crate.

Chell seemed to take a moment to look at herself before saying weakly "I was out for a long time, I'm out of shape"

Alyx started to speak, counting off each phrase "Chell. You outran away from a resistance patrol. You killed a Combine soldier using a wrench! Chell… You ran jumped and hurdled over a third of City 17. I don't know many others who could do that without bullets in their chest" Alyx said with a smile, looking up into Chell's eyes "Your incredibly fit, and beautiful Chell" Alyx got a light blush on her face realizing just what she said, she looked away from her friend "So you know, don't be so insecure" Alyx said a bit flustered.

Chell seemed to be unaware of her friends dilemma and nodded, smiling again "Wow… thanks Alyx" she said her voice uplifted and friendly once more

Alyx mumbled out a 'your welcome' from under her breath. Above Frank's voice came down again "Wow Alyx… That's got to be the sweetest thing you've ever said"

Alyx blushed somewhat yelling up at the shaft angrily shaking her fist in the air "Just fix the damn elevator!"

Chapter 6 End

WOW that took a while to post huh? Sorry about that, hit a serious case of writers block for this fic. But after playing Portal 2 and getting a very nice review from Sereth Erethal I was inspired to continue this.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I felt like a look at an average morning there might be interesting, feel free to disagree however.

Next chapter we enter Ravenholm ^_^

Please Review

P.S. If anyone did fan art of Chell in my outfit, it'd loves yous forever's.