Work Text:
It was Christmas Eve, which meant that every employee of Aperture Science was anxiously awaiting the end of the day and their rides up the elevator to start their holiday. They would all be back in a few days- science had to be done- but in the meantime, everyone was looking forward to a weekend of well-deserved rest: Christmas shopping, eating cookies, and, most importantly, breathing real air.
The only person who seemed impervious to the haze of festivity causing mass distraction across the labs was Caroline. Although cheerful as always, whether she was at her desk outside the executive offices writing memos, delivering paperwork to various departments, or making the daily rounds to the Enrichment Center, everything was apparently business as usual.
Several people considered asking her about her holiday plans, and decided not to- despite the fact that she was friendly with almost everybody, nobody really knew that much about her- besides that she was dedicated to her work and fiercely protective of the company and of Mr. Johnson. And he was likewise protective of her, which was why most of the men tried to maintain a respectful distance.
The one person who did venture to ask Caroline about her plans was Cave Johnson, leaving his office that evening a little while after the rest of the office had mostly departed, as fast as they could. Caroline was still at her desk outside his door, neatly stapling and organizing papers.
“You heading out soon, Caroline?” he asked jovially. “I would have thought you’d already be gone.”
Caroline smiled shyly. “No reason to be in a hurry, sir,” she said, neatly leveling a stack of papers. “I don’t have any special plans.”
“Oh, well, that’s all right. I’m not doing anything special myself. Just planning on kicking back for a few days and enjoying some food that’s not from the cafeteria.” He chuckled. “Going to head home for a bit?”
She looked up from her work at him and bit her lip nervously. She hadn’t told anybody her plans yet- no one had asked, but she had been keeping it to herself nonetheless. It was precisely what she wanted to do- her Christmas present to herself, so to say- but she had the feeling that not many others would understand. Not even Mr. Johnson.
“I was thinking about…about staying here, actually,” she said. “I could use the library, get some reading done.”
He started to laugh- he thought she was playing a joke on him. She looked him in the eye- not laughing- and he understood.
“Caroline, you can’t- You can’t spend Christmas here all by yourself. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, sir,” she said, quietly putting the papers in her hand aside and picking up a new stack. “I’d rather stay than make the trip home.”
He looked as though he were about to argue with her further, but, evidently, decided not to.
“Well, I don’t like it, but I know there’s no use arguing with you,” he said. Readjusting his hold on his briefcase, he started for the hallway.
“I’ll be fine, sir,” she said, “I promise.”
“You keep warm in here, all right? It gets cold down here at night, especially this time of year.”
“Yes, sir.”
Caroline watched him go, and sighed deeply, but the biggest obstacle to her staying had been avoided. No matter how much Mr. Johnson often spared her from the blunter side of his personality, she had been genuinely concerned that he would cart her up the stairs himself and make her go.
She stapled the last stack of papers and slid them into the drawer. It was unusual, for her, to be thinking of her work as done- but she was giving herself a vacation (even if, technically, she wasn’t actually leaving work) and she was determined to enjoy it.
Caroline had an apartment topside (as Aperture employees referred to aboveground) which her generous paycheck kept paid for, but she didn’t spend much time in it. It was a long trip from the rural underground facility to the nearest small city where most people who worked in the facility lived- and even further to the bigger cities.
She typically only went back every few days, to do her laundry and make sure nothing had caught fire. She kept a change of clothes in her desk, and the facility had plenty of amenities like showers and sleeping quarters if she wanted to stay- when she didn’t just curl up on the couch in Mr. Johnson’s empty office.
It wouldn’t be any different than usual if she stayed for a few extra days, and even better to not have to share space with anybody else who had been working late or likewise decided not to make the trek home- everyone had left for the break. She’d have the entire dormitory level to herself. Perfect to spend a little quiet time with a good book- and she already had a list picked out of selections from Aperture’s sizeable library of scientific reference. Just her and Science- it sounded perfect.
She’d already fetched her favorite pajamas when she’d gone home the night before, so she was all set. She made the trip across the facility to tbe library and picked her books- she was glad she had made her choices ahead of time, or she could have easily spent hours in there- and by the time she was done, she had Aperture completely to herself.
Caroline’s next stop was the dormitory level, next to the labs and the Enrichment Center, to take a shower and settle in for the night. The facility had been built in several installments over the years, which meant that the path between sections was across long hallways which stretched across the length of the buildings and between them. These were normally the main arteries of the facility, always busy during the day, but now they were completely abandoned- the night cleaning crew had already come and gone, leaving the white floors shiny and echoing as Caroline walked down them alone.
There was something special about the facility, she reflected, when it was empty. It was something to see during the day when it ran like well-oiled clockwork, a complex full of people doing amazing things - but at night it was something entirely different. Caroline had spent many nights alone with the hum of the electricity in the walls, with sleeping Science under her feet. Sometimes she felt like the facility had a life of its own.
That was why she liked staying in the facility. It felt friendly, and she didn’t feel alone. Besides, when no one else was around, she could sing in the shower as loudly as she pleased.
She slipped into her red flannel pajamas when she was done in the shower, and gathered her clothes to walk across the hall to the sleeping quarters when she realized what she’d forgotten. Shit. She’d left her books on her desk when she’d stopped by to fetch her pajamas. Now she had to walk all the way back and get them.
She padded down the cold white halls in bare feet, her work dress and shoes in her arms, hoping desperately that she was actually the last person in the facility and no one was around to catch her in her pajamas-
She turned the corner, and gasped. Right in front of her desk was a sparkling Christmas tree, and sitting in her chair was Cave Johnson, with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“Mr. Johnson, what on earth are you doing here?” she finally managed to say, after several moments of being completely speechless.
“I kept thinking of you here all by yourself on Christmas,” he said, casually leaning over to adjust the lights, “and it was just driving me up the wall. So I decided to bring it to you- bought the last tree off the side of the highway.” He grinned even wider at the stunned expression on her face. “Surprised?”
“Mr. Johnson, you didn’t have to do any of this…not for me…”
“Nonsense. I couldn’t let my favorite assistant go without a proper Christmas,” he said, standing and pulling her chair next to the tree for her. “You sit down and take a load off. You know, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you not working.”
Later, Caroline could never quite describe what happened that night. Mr. Johnson made coffee for both of them in the break room, and when they realized that the empty office was fairly cold, Caroline tracked down a space heater in a closet which became their approximation of a cozy fire. (She made sure to check that it wasn’t an Aperture prototype, relegated to storage, or she might have been worried that it would start a real fire.)
They sat in easy conversation for a long, long time. Caroline realized that for all the time she spent around Mr. Johnson, they rarely discussed anything besides work- and he was such a good talker that she regretted not having engaged him in some different topics before then.
A deep Michigan snow fell high, high above them, she and Mr. Johnson in the warm office in the quiet facility. Caroline would remember it as her favorite Christmas for a long, long time.