GLaDOS and Me

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

From that day on, Wheatley did not leave the facility at night. He was being fired anyway, so might as well spend as much time with her as possible, right? She was reluctant at first, telling him he was going to get into trouble, but she allowed him to stay. And he was quite glad of it. He was honestly certain he'd never slept better in his life. There was just something incredibly comforting about having her next to him, and when he woke up in the morning he would lie there until she told him he had to leave, just listening to her brain and her body and the occasional soft mutterings of binary she emitted when she talked to herself. On the fourth or fifth morning he got to thinking about how lucky and grateful and amazed he was that he was finally able to do what he'd always dreamed of, with the most amazing girl in the world to boot. He got so overwhelmed that he somehow started crying a little, which alarmed GLaDOS to no end, but he didn't think he'd be able to explain it to her and only wrapped his arms around her core and hugged her tightly for a long time. When he'd gotten up to get ready for work she'd regarded him silently, him getting the impression she wanted to ask what'd affected him like that, but she didn't. He'd given her a bit of a sad smile as he left the room, stuffing his hands into his pockets and trying not to think about the fact that soon he would have to leave her forever. Having her email address was not comparable in the least to cuddling up close to her at night.

After the second week of this she told him she would try the lying down again, if he wanted, and though he got quite excited just thinking about it he forced himself to calm down. It was unlikely she actually wanted to do it, and was only volunteering because he was going to have to leave, and he did his best to make it clear that she didn't have to. But she told him she wanted to and so they did.

Wheatley was still considerably scared, though he tried not to hold onto her too hard. They talked a little more intensely than usual that night, because they both needed distracted from what they were doing, and Wheatley only realised he'd fallen asleep when he found himself staring into the darkness with heavy, sticky eyelids. He shoved his fingers into his eyes to clear them and turned his head sleepily to look at GLaDOS.

Wait.

She was still on, he could tell that much. Not only that, but... she seemed a bit warmer than usual and he could have sworn she was –

Wheatley propped himself up on his stomach and laid his hand alongside her core. He grew a bit sad to have proof of his suspicion.

She really was trembling.

Not a lot. In her fashion, she was keeping it to herself as much as possible. "GLaDOS?" he whispered, well aware she was trying to keep it to herself. She twitched, and he realised she hadn't noticed he was awake. She must have been concentrating very hard.

"Yes?"

"D'you need to... stop?" he asked, not sure how to phrase the question tactfully. Having her so close actually helped him quite a lot, but as for her... it probably made her feel worse.

"I'm all right."

"You're not, though," he said gently.

"I'm getting there," she insisted, but it seemed talking about it didn't help in the least because the shaking grew more noticeable. He bit the inside of his cheek. His first instinct was to wrap his arm around her neck assembly and hold her until she went still, but he was pretty sure she didn't want him to do that. But how to comfort her without touching her? Would his voice be good enough? It'd have to be, really. It was either talk or give up altogether, which he wasn't going to do.

"Why are you doing this?" he whispered as his eyebrows knitted and his fingers curled up against the panel. "You're uncomfortable and you're scared and... and it just, it doesn't make sense!"