A/N: Hi everyone. You know what they say absence makes the heart grow fonder...maybe. Anyways, Thank you Boombox-TFA for following and favoriting both this fic and me. You are awesome. Actually all of you are awesome. Unfortunately, this fic is reaching its end soon. :( Thank you all for reading this.

Amora looked at Wheatley who gave her a crooked smile holding out the small poorly wrapped package. She smiled at him before throwing her arms around his shoulders. "I love it," she said quickly before the man could start to ramble about her birthday.

"But you don't know what it is," Wheatley said skeptically.

Amora shrugged, "But it came from you, so I love it." She smiled wider.

"You're a little strange. Not that it's bad. Actually, it makes buying gifts easier. Which can save me money," Wheatley started to say.

"That's good news because I definitely want dessert when we go to that restaurant tonight. I still can't believe you got reservations for it. Are you sure you want to go? It's very expensive and it's only my birthday, not a very important day," Amora said tilting her head.

"Absolutely. This is a very important day. It's so important that I can't tell you why it's important. Besides the fact that it's your birthday. I really want you to remember this birthday," Wheatley chuckled nervously.

Morality leaned forward slightly, "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?" She narrowed her eyes as Wheatley dropped the screwdriver in his hand.

"Y-Yo-You're distracting me. I can't finish this with you hovering over me," Wheatley stuttered as Amora leaned over the open core. "But what if something goes horribly wrong? I don't want to be punished for it. Especially since the boys downstairs think they are getting closer to getting it right."

"For your information, I think this looks good," Amora said looking over the tangle of wires. "What color is this one?"

Wheatley sighed, "It's a purple color. Kinda like your shirt, but you know it's a light. This core also has the largest memory of all of them."

"Here's the next one," Rick's voice echoed causing both to jump as the adventurer dropped another core on Wheatley's table. This one had a bright orange optic that flitted around the room.

"What is that? That thing has numbers on it," the core blathered to itself. Amora narrowed her eyes at the machine.

"Well, fourth time is the charm," Rick said before leaving the two.

Amora glared at the machine. There was something family about its voice and personality. "Wheatley, this might sound crazy, but doesn't this thing sound like Curra?" Amora asked pushing the sphere slightly.

Wheatley looked up from his project, "Now, that definitely crazy. Curra doesn't ask that many questions." Amora gave him an unbelieving look. "She asks a lot of questions. But she doesn't sound like a machine."

"How about Paisley, Andre? They went missing as well," Amora asked suddenly having an epiphany. Each time one of her coworkers disappeared another core replaced them. "What if we all disappear? Who's next? You, me, Rick?" Amora was really starting to panic shaking her head.

"What cake do you want for your birthday? I know you said you like a strawberry cake, but I just wanted to make sure that it what you want," Wheatley said suddenly. Amora paused in her rant and completely stopping her panic as she tried to figure out how the subject change came.

"Uh, yeah, strawberry sounds great," Amora said distracted. "Are we getting cake after dinner?" she asked.

"Well, I'm going to bake it. You know with the recipe that the core suggested. It sounds like it would be great like what Paisley would make. Something that sounds like it would taste horrible and actually comes out great. I learned a while ago not to ask what went into anything because then I wouldn't want to eat it." Wheatley rambled leaving Amora distracted.

"We can always just buy a cake," Amora suggested not wanting to have whatever weird concoction that Wheatley would come up with.

"It's no problem. I want to bake you a cake," Wheatley said, "I also dropped the cake I ordered when I took it home."

Amora laughed at the way Wheatley tried to cover up his mishap with sentiment. She still wasn't eating that cake though. The door to the lab slammed open and Amora turned to see who came in. At the sight of gravity defying black hair, Amora recognized Dr. Rattmann. The older scientist looked visibly distressed. His hands were shaking as he hurried into the lab. Dr. Rattmann then proceeded to look over every table and all the cabinets.

"Can I help you find something?" Amora asked concerned that the man hadn't said a single word to them. Dr. Rattmann's gray eyes looked up at her though they didn't seem to focus on her.

"No, no. It's all right. But you can't be here," Rattmann stated.

"Don't worry, I'm not touching anything," Amora stated trying to calm the man and direct him away from the room. It wasn't any secret that the man suffered from schizophrenia and the woman figured that he needed his medication.

"No, I meant you shouldn't be here in Aperture. It's too dangerous," Dr. Rattmann insisted in a lowered voice. Amora looked over her shoulder only seeing Wheatley, she wondered why the scientist was being so secretive.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Amora asked tightening her hold on his shoulder.

"CiCi told me that you were going to be in danger," Rattmann continued with certainty.

"Cici is out of her cube?" Amora asked excited.

"No, she told me while she was in the cube," Rattmann answered. "Here, just use this and see for yourself." The man pushed a key card into her grasp. "Not now though. You have to go after everyone is gone."

"Doug," Amora said softly not wanting to upset him, but also trying to get his attention, "Cici is in stasis there's no way she could have told you this." The man didn't react to her words, but seemed satisfied that Amora had the key card.

"I believe in you," Dr. Rattmann said with certainty before leaving Amora more confused. Amora sighed and decided that she would return the card once the older man came to his senses.

~Portal~

Amora looked back at the card laying on her desk. Part of her was curious on what it would lead to while another part of her told her that it probably leads to more science things that she didn't know about. She pushed herself away from her desk and paced. What harm could come if she did go there. If she couldn't understand that was fine. And why would she be worried about getting caught? She should have access to everything in Aperture. Amora looked at her clock. It read 6:30 and she knew that most of the employees would have left by now. They were really punctual like that. Amora picked up the card determined to at least be able to tell Dr. Rattmann that she listened to him. She walked to the elevator and entered. She knew that there had to be something to slide the card into. Seeing a small black box, Amora tried to slide the card along each side of the box. Not getting a response, she was about to give up when she had an idea to tap the box with the card. The black box lit up and the mechanisms in the elevator seemed to start up.