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Chapter Text

  Once GLaDOS woke up in a cold sweat. Figuratively, of course. She had nor sebaceous glands to sweat, neither human body so that there was something to get tired and fall asleep.
  However, she sometimes allowed herself to relax for a few minutes (or hours) and to suspend her endless activities. Then she sank into a state that could be compared to a nap.
  Sometimes there were dreams. Either it was a mishmash of fragments of records from all the cameras of the complex, or the probability generator was junk, but sometimes dreams were odd.

  Sometimes there were nightmares. Like this one, in which a glass elevator under a choir of turrets ascended to the sky, taking away astonished blue eyes and all the freshness of the local air.

  "So you'll be breathing the same room full of air for the rest of your life. I thought that was interesting".

  AI lowered the optic and allowed herself a quiet sigh of relief. The bed slightly disturbed the interior of the control room, but it calmed her. At least this room will not collapse to hell, forming a lake of toxic liquid, or a bottomless pit, or something else. Of course, GLaDOS controls all this, but still the complex is huge, and the destruction in it too.

  Her movements were probably too loud. Or the test subject’s sleep is too sensitive.
  Chell lifted her head from the pillow and gazed sleepily up at the yellow optic that was spinning nervously from side to side.
  "It's all right”, AI lied a little. There was a sensation of dryness in the throat. Metaphorical dryness in a nonexistent throat. "Keep sleeping. I made eight new test chambers, you will need a lot of energy".
  Chell reached out as far as she could, leaning on the head of the bed, and lightly stroked the white body of GLaDOS' faceplate. AI hesitated a few moments in order to move away to the side and a little up.
  "No touching. I’m not a kitten".
  Test subject smiled softly and flopped back into bed. The floor panels below her moved a little, as if rocking a girl, and everything was quiet.

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS said "no" 497 times. In a row, without speech acceleration and almost non-stop. But with Chell, such a psychological attack failed, and she continued to hug pretty burnt Companion cube stubbornly.
"No", - repeated the AI, pretty sorry that she could not imitate an annoyingly wrinkled face. This crazy woman could well perceive non-verbal signals better than verbal ones. "We will not adopt a companion cube. Enough of me for letting you sleep in the control room".
Test subject snorted disagreeably. She sat up and began eagerly rubbing the dirty edge of the cube with her slightly less dirty shirt.
"I can even argue my point of view with several reasons why your request is untenable", - GLaDOS continued her thought, watching the fabric rubbing a dirty stain on the cube, and quite a bit - the skin visible from beneath the hem. "First, the cube is neither a rational, nor even a living creature. It cannot be adopted purely physically. Secondly, you have some mental abnormalities that will not give you the right to adopt. And I am a robot. What is this circus for?"

Chell stubbornly pursed her lips and dropped her chin onto the cube. GLaDOS sighed loudly.
"If you just want to leave the companion cube - put it near the bed, I won't mind, so be it. And if you want to play dolls, then I'd better reprogram one of the turrets to you. At least they can speak. They will tell you “mother”, “give”, at least “order, madam”. What do you think?"
Chell pouted her lips. In her case, it expressed the protest against the brutal tyranny of the omnipotent tyrant. Again AI really wanted to have a face with human facial expressions, so that she could also be a little more expressive for this mute lunatic.
"Good, good, dear. If you at least somehow manage to arrange all this - please, dear. But keep in mind that the adoption operation requires a lot of papers and a guardianship worker. Least. And I greatly simplify the procedure so that you..."
Chell suddenly jumped out of bed, carefully covered the cube with a blanket, menacingly glanced right into the yellow light, grabbed the portal gun and rushed to the exit from the control room. The door silently opened and closed. There was a motion sensor in it for a long time, because GLaDOS was tired of constantly monitoring the door.
"Neither “hello” nor “goodbye,” muttered GLaDOS and looked at the Cube. "And all because of you. There was no need to introduce companions to her. I would really burn you, if you and I weren’t her only friends".

Fields of anti-expropriation have long been deactivated. Although even after Chell solemnly signed a contract with a green felt-tip pen that the girl would not drag any garbage to the GLаDOS room. But the AI generously conceded to her test subject all the observation rooms for test chambers and the offices in general.
GLaDOS was busy rebuilding a pair of test chambers and calibrating the filtering process of defective turrets. She did not somehow notice how the door opened and closed again.
"Already back?" - the optic gave Chell a quick look, and GLaDOS had to turn to her completely in order to believe her “eye”. "What did I say about the trash in the control room?"
Leaving the portal gun at the threshold, Chell dragged one of the turrets with her. For some reason, this turret was marked with the inscription "Oracle" on the sides. Under her arm, the girl held a pile of sheets of paper.
"Let me guess", GLaDOS simulated fatigue in her voice. "You seriously will not leave your venture with a cube?"
Chell threw up her head and carefully, without blinking, stared directly into the yellow "eye". This dumb duel lasted for half a minute, while the AI calculated and considered all possible options for the development of events. Finally she sighed.
"Excellent. As you wish. But personally, I am not going to take part in the “upbringing” and “care” of this test equipment".
Test subject shone, threw a frightened turret and papers (it seems that these were some forms and reports of Aperture Science) and jumped to clasp her arms around the white body of GLaDOS' faceplate. Then she began to scribble on old records something that was vaguely reminiscent of documents for adoption. Very vaguely. Then she forced the Oracle turret to stain one ink stand and strike it on paper, after which the girl dragged the ill-fated "document" to GLaDOS.
"This is the last satisfied request for today", - AI's voice sounded displeased. But the manipulator emerging from under the floor nevertheless drew a small “G”.

Chapter Text

Once a couple of working androids were sent down to the furnace turned off. GLaDOS sent another couple in search of offices and locker rooms.
"Better not come back if nothing is found, otherwise I will have to make more advanced robots of you", - she admonished them and shut the service door tightly.

Chell carefully scrubbed the side of the Companion Cube with someone else's old toothbrush. She did this every day, spending on one side about two days. So almost a week passed already, during which the laser burn she received on the last test almost healed. This time GLaDOS was even glad that she agreed to the stupid idea with the adoption of Cube - at least test subject did not miss her sudden sick leave.
"You could do self-development for once. Read books. Learn to draw circles without a compass. But instead, you are doing an absolutely useless thing. Even a simple conversation with me would raise your IQ by a couple of points", - AI bothered the girl. Chell just waved it off, occasionally brushing the edge of the GLaDOS' head with a brush.
With nothing to do, AI built several more new test chambers - without lasers and toxic waste. For turrets placed according to a certain pattern, bullets were replaced with small plastic balls. It hurts, but not fatal. Of course, only until the test subject fully recovers from such a serious, almost fatal injury as a second-degree hip burn.
"Do not underestimate your own injuries, - GLaDOS noticed when the girl lovingly wrapped her Companion Cube in a blanket and began to wind up circles around the control room. - Do not run too fast. Do not run too long. Of course, this is a great way to lose weight, but I'm afraid it will not help you".
Chell waved her hand, flopped to the floor and lay down, arms outstretched to the sides, breathing deeply and smiling happily. GLaDOS once again decided that girl's brain had been completely damaged, and returned to the construction of test chambers.

"...Marie bit her lip, and the shiny diamonds of tears trembled on her eyelashes. Joel gently ran a finger along the girl’s lower lip and stroked her silky soft hair...".
"Dilettantism", - AI turned the page with the manipulator and continued reading. The novel, found by androids in the personal belongings of one of the employees, turned out to be a very mediocre fantasy melodrama. But now GLaDOS needed at least such a theoretical basis.
When Chell returned from a brand new test chamber, GLaDOS moved tiles near her bed.
"You just in time, - conveniently rearranged floor slabs moved apart, and another manipulator rose near the bed. It looked like an almost real hand, albeit a metal one, mounted on a high stand. The test subject looked cautiously at the AI-made thing and took a tiny little step towards the bed. - Come closer and put the portal gun. This is my new experiment".
Chell touched the “hand” and glanced inquiringly at GLaDOS. The "hand" extended in the direction of the girl and poked her on the cheek with the index finger.
"This is an additional way to interact with the outside world. If you are still able to perceive at least semi-scientific terms, then I can explain to you the principle of its work, - AI's optic shone directly on the girl. Chell made a resentful face, flopped down on the bed, face into the pillow, and pulled a blanket over her head. AI mentally grinned. - So you are capable. So, while you were recovering from such a stupid injury, I designed sensory sensors for this manipulator. About one hundred sensors are located on each finger, fifty on the inside of the palm. Thus, I can get tactile information about the object, or, more simply, feel the object by touch. Although the "feel", of course, is said too much. First of all, I would like to experiment with you as the closest and most convenient object of study".
Chell peered out from under the covers. She looked perplexed. GLaDOS extended her “arm” and raised the blanket.
"Darling, nothing cruel and dangerous. I need to get information about the texture of your skin. And hairline. I already have information about your DNA".
The girl sat down, already with interest in her eyes. The "hand" reached out to her, fingers slightly open.
"It is advisable that your hand touch the largest possible area of the palm".
Chell twisted her fingers with an artificial “hand” and smiled. GLaDOS immediately transferred the optic to one of the screens located on the walls and pretended to be very busy with some calculations.

Chell's hand was rough, dry, but generally soft. The AI was a little angry that it was impossible to read more information through such imperfect sensors.
"Enough, - the "hand" released Chell's palm and hung lifelessly on its "pedestal". - I have enough information for analysis so far".
Chell looked anxiously at GLaDOS's head and again grabbed her “palm”.
"Stop playing with the equipme..." - AI lowered the optic. Sensors on the inside and back of the hand recorded a touch of soft, cool skin.
Chell rubbed her cheek on "arm" and smiled like a fool.
"Johnson, why do I need all this? - the head of the complex raised a “hand” and gently stroked the girl’s face with the very tips of her fingers. Somewhere in the central GLaDOS processor, electric sparks seemed to run through. - Remember, this is not a toy. And I'm not going to try this manipulator on you all the time".
The test subject grinned and put her head in "hand".

Chapter Text

Once a quiet whisper cut through the silence of the night.
"Test subject? Test subject?.."
Chell barely moved and hid deeper under the covers. Something creaked, and a mechanical voice called plaintively, almost with a tear: "Chell?"
Chell flinched and sat abruptly on the bed. The yellow optic shone directly on her, and the GLaDOS body froze in a strange pose.
"Chell, there is a bird", - almost crying (judging by the tone, of course), complained AI. Chell looked closely, and when her eyes got a little used to the darkness, she saw a pigeon sitting quietly on the top of the GLaDOS' head body. This surprised the girl a little, but she got on the bed and tried to drive the bird away. The pigeon, however, did not pay attention to some sleepy girl in orange pants.
"Kill this bird, - the voice of AI became completely miserable. - She will pop a nest in my circuits and peck out the optic. Che-e-ell!"
The girl jumped silently from the bed and, like a cat, crept onto the bridge from which she climbed onto the robot. Having made her way to the main body, holding on to thick wires and fasteners, Chell quickly grabbed a pigeon. It turns out that it simply slept, and in the hands of a girl hysterically fluttered its wings.
"Kill the bird!" - screamed GLaDOS. Chell slipped from her faceplate onto the bed, tightened her grip on the pigeon wings and beak so that the bird would not break out, and strode to the exit of the room.

She returned after half an hour, rubbing her eyes and periodically touching the scratch on her palm. The girl was immediately pushed with floor tiles to the bed, and they lifted Chell to the very GLaDOS' optic.
"Did you kill her? - AI asked with pressure. The test subject waved a soothing hand. - Good. This dirty bird ... Ugh".
Chell reached forward and hugged the GLaDOS faceplate. This time the AI did not try to get away from the hug.
"This is terrible. We’ll have to re-check the integrity of the complex, especially the ceiling structures and ventilation", - she muttered. Chell giggled, but not maliciously, and lightly touched the yellow optic with her lips. This somewhat sobered GLaDOS.
"Thanks for the help with the bird, - AI creaked dryly and instantly lifted the faceplate higher. Chell regretfully had to release her. - I would have done it myself if the program for preserving self-control did not turn off when these disgusting creatures appeared every time. This is probably a code error. Don’t worry, when I finish it, any bird that flies here will be doomed".
Chell shrugged. She just reached one of the distant holes in the walls of the complex through which all these plants, rain, air penetrated into it ... Surely GLaDOS knew about their existence, but still the complex was huge. And very, very old.
The test subject still was proud of her scientist - most of Aperture Laboratories was in her full power.
And the girl released the pigeon.

Chapter Text

Once Chell did not return for dinner. That is, she could have lunch at any time, whenever she wanted to eat, it was enough to ask GLaDOS (that was surprisingly courteous in relation to the test subject). However, the AI was already used to the fact that usually the girl would return to the control room around noon.
Between 12:01 and 14:34.
And it was already 14:40.

Now, passing through the repaired corridor between chambers 25 and 30, the girl suddenly disappeared from the cameras.
GLaDOS suggested that the girl climbed into the compartment behind the panels of the corridor. Then it remained only to suspend the repair, so that the Chell would not accidentally get hit by a panel, and wait until she herself returned.
"By the way, decent people come to dinner on time, - as if by chance AI noticed into the microphone. Of course, no one answered her. - You should not be allowed to walk alone".
GLaDOS set up all the cameras in that corridor to pick up movements and went about her business, closing a plastic bowl of synthetic spaghetti for Chell with a plastic cap.

By 16:28, Chell had still not returned. No, actually, given how long the test subject wandered in search of GLaDOS in their first meeting, it was not worth worrying.
But the AI was worried for some reason.
"You better get back before five o'clock. Otherwise, spaghetti will fly into the garbage chute, - GLaDOS once again checked all the cameras and added, - synthetic spaghetti with artificial meatballs, test subject. Your favorite synthetic food".

At 17:01, the AI turned on all android workers at all levels of the complex and sent them in search. Also, all cameras were configured to detect movement.
"This is very rude of you, young lady, - GLaDOS could not stand it, but I had to turn on the tone of a caring mom. Sometimes it helped in communicating with the subject. Perhaps its orphanage affected. - Stop ignoring me, and if you are able to get to the elevator, immedia..."
AI suddenly felt insanely painful - somehow strange, vividly pricked for one whole two hundredths of a second, somewhere deep in the mainframe.
No one could guarantee that the floor had not fallen under her boots into a greenish chemical slurry. Even GLaDOS could only be 99.998% confident in the floor outside her room.
"Respond to me, - AI mentally asked. - Stupid test subject".

"Chell".
Five minutes later:
"Chell".
Another five minutes later:
"Chell..."
The rooms were not designed. Repair schemes for ventilation shafts did not want to be drawn.
GLaDOS was worried and bored.
Dinner on a raised panel has long cooled.
Suddenly the camera gave a signal. AI immediately jumped up and looked into the corridor. Chell got out from behind the pushed panels, yawning and straightening her shirt, hugging the portal gun.
At first, the AI was happy, then got angry, and then silently traced the girl all the way to the control room.

"This is extremely rude, - said the queen of the complex. Chell raised an eyebrow. - Ruder than when you tried to kill me. I care about you anyway".
The test subject sat on her bed and reached for the spaghetti, but the plate with them slid smoothly to one side.
"Now they have to be heated. Or I have to cook new ones. Wait here", - GLaDOS squeaked creakily and put the plate somewhere under the floor. Chell swayed in place.
"Well, where have you been? - AI made her voice the most unhappy. The girl folded her hands under one cheek, closed her eyes and pretended to snore. - ...Oh. It’s even more rude to fall asleep between tests. In punishment for this you will go to bed at exactly nine. This is not discussed".

Chapter Text

Once Chell dragged a faded, tattered backpack into the control room. AI, which was already tired that its space, contrary to orders, was filled with all sorts of unnecessary junk, dryly asked: "What is this garbage?"
Girl fiddled with the backpack and showed the patch in the form of the Aperture logo. GLaDOS once again regretted that she could not sarcastically roll her eyes for lack of these.
"Must I be enthralled by what you show?"
Chell somehow opened the zipper, which almost crumbled into rusty dust, and with a kind of hard-to-describe amazed sound pulled something rectangular and shiny from the backpack. Most of all, it looked like a container made of gray metal.
"Here you go. After all that I did for you, did you decide to blow me up?" - GLaDOS grinned and, using the manipulator, took the container from Chell. - "Do not open something that has at least a one percent chance of killing you".
Chell pouted and went back to digging in the backpack. It must have belonged to an employee and was the direct product of Aperture, since it had not turned to ashes for all these years.
AI allowed the girl to do nonsense and carefully sent the container through the transport pipe to the laboratory for scanning.

The test subject insidiously used her right to fill up the bed with unnecessary garbage and, in fact, did just that. In the backpack, the girl found a solid piece of woody mold in a bag, a plastic case from a ballpoint pen, a broken mobile phone and glasses without glasses.
Chell moved her "son" companion closer to the bed, spread her wealth on it and began to sort it out with the curiosity of a four-year-old child.
"I think you need an advanced psychotherapy course", - GLaDOS noticed, below, in the laboratory, masterfully opening the container lock. The scanner did not find anything dangerous inside. - "But since turrets are bad psychiatrists, and I'm busy with more important things, then I will give you more toys. This is all from your container".
A transport pipe fell over a Companion cube, sneezed dust at it and poured the contents of a metal box.
A yellowed but whole book, a deer antler keychain and a toy.
Chell froze in indecision, not knowing what to take first, but finally her fingers squeezed a soft toy paw. It was a fawn, similar to Bambi, only a more natural and pretty look. And it had very small cloth horns.
The girl turned the toy and stared inquiringly at GLaDOS.
"This is a deer", - AI said succinctly. - "More precisely, a baby deer. Fawn".
Chell stared at the fawn, as if at a Companion cube the first time they met. GLaDOS carefully, so as not to disturb the stupor of her lunatic, pulled out several devices and checked the toy for radioactivity, the content of flammable materials and a few more things that could harm an already fragile human.
"Safe", - she concluded, and nudged the girl slightly from the back with her "palm". - "Do you hear me?"
Chell nodded and pressed the fawn to her. She obviously was not going to part with him for the next couple of weeks. The AI only snorted to show the subject his attitude to her quirks.
"If you lose it, I won’t search".

While Chell and her new pet were walking around the complex, looking for adventure, GLaDOS looked after her with one eye... Figuratively speaking, of course, and with the other she watched the written lines of code for an advanced palm-manipulator control program. At the same time, one standard manipulator crawled with a relatively clean rag along the companion cube, cleaning it from dust. AI always wiped the cube only when it was 100% certain that the test subject would not enter the control room in the next five minutes.
With the third “eye” - a small camera - she enthusiastically studied the contents of the book from the container.
"...from vinegar they stifle, from mustard they are upset, from soup they mock..." - she read. - "What are the unscientific conclusions this girl makes. Although they are more logical than Chell’s actions".
Somewhere outside, on the approaches to the control room, one of the non-automatic doors slammed. AI hastily removed the manipulator with a rag and slammed the book, annoyed at herself for her hobby for reading.
"Walked up?" - GLaDOS asked mockingly, raising the optic to the test subject. Girl's lips trembled, as if she was an offended child, and she pressed the toy to her chest carefully, like a kitten.
"What happened again?" - GLaDOS asked in an impassive tone. The girl raised the fawn higher, as if in some kind of melodrama. It had a side torso spread out, as if a toy had caught on the sharp edge of something, and a grayish cotton wool sticking out inaccurate pieces.
"So what? Do you have a tantrum because of your own sloppiness?" - AI took the toy with the manipulator. Chell sat on the bed with a very sad look. - "It's easy to fix".
The pipe rustled a little over the cube and spat out a plastic box with a sewing kit.
However, GLaDOS had to read the test subject aloud so that she finally calms down and does not cry.

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS took a great interest in building something that didn’t look much like a test chamber. She developed this "something" for about a month, and built it even longer. Chell burned out of curiosity, but her access to it was strictly forbidden "for an indefinite period". Despite this, once the girl managed to peep, as a bunch of something golden rustled through the transport pipes under the ceiling.

Chell already labeled one working android with a green marker - she tinted in this way already with a dozen to distinguish between these cute nameless pawns. The “green” dragged a neatly stacked white elastic fabric. The girl in bewilderment glanced at the AI, whose two manipulators removed roulette from her box with sewing accessories for the Fawn.
"Enough time has passed since your last medical examination", - GLaDOS noticed, spinning a roulette under the girl’s chest. - "I need to take measurements again, and I’m reluctant to lead you to the medical unit".
However, for some reason, she limited herself to measuring Chell's chest, waist and hips.

"Can you swim?" - the speaker suddenly asked. Chell, not stopping while walking along the light bridge with a weighted cube, shrugged. - "I ask because I'm thinking of adding this element to some test chambers. And maybe a couple of mechanical sharks".

One night, Chell dreamed that she was sitting on a raft in the middle of a strangely green sea, which looked more like toxic waste from test chambers. However, this sea at least did not stink of toxins, and Chell actually did not know what the real sea looks like. The girl dropped her hand and touched the liquid - it was warm, and the nostrils were pinched from the smell of salt.
The sea went in waves, and the bed swayed. Chell glanced up - there was an infinitely blue sky with no signs of cloudiness and something huge and yellow right above it.
The test subject narrowed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead in the manner of a visor. The yellow optic was slightly covered by a protective black plate.
"It's time to reduce your daily dose of adrenaline in the air. You started to sleep terribly restlessly", - she said.
Chell sighed in surprise and woke up.
Her bed was floating somewhere on the cargo panel along the corridor. GLaDOS' yellow optic looked at her from the screen following the panel on the ceiling.
"You ruined the surprise", - the AI was slightly offended. - "However, we already know that you are a terrible person, so I am not surprised. We assume that this was scenario B".
The panels suddenly parted, and Chell's bed flopped into something soft and bright. The girl jumped off the bed, and in the room where she was dragged, bright and unexpectedly warm lamps were lit.
Underfoot was golden sand that filled half of the room. The other half was filled with clear water.
Chell was struck by a familiar salty smell in her nostrils.
"Surprise", - the screen came out from under the sand next to the bed. - "My calendar shows that now is July, one of the hottest months of the year. In this area, at least. Some people, most of them, take a vacation at work at this time of the year and go to the sea. Well, since you are the only human here, I decided to take you a vacation as a good boss. And I made you the sea".
The subject in admiration touched the sand, turned her head, studying the walls painted in blue panels, smiled broadly and hugged the screen tightly. Since it did not touch her, the AI did not begin to remove or pull it off.
"You have two swimsuits to choose from under your pillow", - she said. Chell pulled the fabric from under the pillow, turned it a little in her hands and began to undress. - "Of course, I do not have real sea water", - AI began to lay out all the scientific ins and outs, poorly hiding her pride in her voice. - "Therefore, I took the one that was pumped out of the lower levels of the laboratory. I filtered it eight times, enriched it with iodine, heated it and stirred thirty-two packs of table salt..."
The test subject, who was no longer listening, went to the even edge of the sand strip - thick glass separated the sand from the water, protruding about ten centimeters of them - and, holding her nose, "stepped" into her deep salty aquarium.

Chapter Text

Once, digging into the lockers of Aperture Science employees, Chell found a magazine in unopened cellophane packaging. A woman in a latex policeman flaunted on the cover and licked her lips invitingly.
Chell stiffened slightly, for some reason looked around and put the magazine right under the shirt.

"I made new bedding for you", - GLaDOS said suddenly. Chell dropped the cup from which the Companion was being watered. - "Do not be surprised. One of the old kits drowned in liquid waste when I destroyed... Something. In addition, if you remember, I am magnificent not only in science, but also in housekeeping. Despite the lack of hands".
Chell grunted and jumped out of bed. Statements about new things usually meant for her about half an hour simple, but interesting in solving test chambers. Similarly, in the control room a little earlier appeared two pots with strange wild plants "to improve the psychological situation", a small home-made stove for heating food by the girl herself, and a funny tin crescent on the back of her bed.
And now one of the panels pushed the portal gun towards the girl.
"Go for a walk for now".

At night, tossing and turning on fresh sheets, Chell remembered a magazine pushed between two mattresses of her antediluvian bed. The girl put her hand under the upper mattress, rummaged under it a little, trying not to attract the attention of AI, pulled out a magazine and began to look at it.
The cover woman looked at Chell very invitingly. The test subject thought for a moment, removed the cellophane from the magazine and opened it.

After half an hour, the “arm” manipulator pulled back the blanket with a sharp movement.
"What are you doing here instead of sleeping?" - GLaDOS asked a little tiredly. Chell, blushing and giggling like a child, showed AI a magazine spread with a naked woman in the bath. In parts, foam covered woman's body, but these were not the parts that needed censorship.
"Do you read erotica?" - the yellow optic was slightly covered by a protective plate. The expression of the “face” of the AI resembled a skepticism. - "More precisely, frank pornography".
Chell shrugged.
"You don't know what "pornography" is, do you?"
The girl nodded.
"Well, good. I will not explain. But I will permit you to read such literature only under my supervision".
Chell nodded in agreement and turned the page. After the photo from the bathroom there was a photo where two ladies were sitting next to each other in overly open sweaters and with long striped lollipops in their mouths.

"And do you like these photos?" - GLaDOS lowered faceplate just below. The test subject spread her hands and furtively wiped the corner of her lips. - "I see", - GLaDOS concluded for herself. What exactly she saw, she did not begin to specify.

Chapter Text

Once Chell did not talk with GLaDOS all day. Not that she would not try to make sounds with her mouth, like a laugh or a surprised moo, but simply ignored the AI. AI tried to keep calm until the very end, teasing the test subject: "It seems you will soon pupate. Only caterpillars before metamorphosis can be so lethargic and closed. However, maybe you will finally turn into something worthwhile? Not a butterfly, so at least a moth. Then I will put you in a glass jar and will study the effect of portals on huge humanoid insects".
But Chell did not answer. Instead, she sat on the bridge leading to the body of GLaDOS, and stared at her boss in focus. AI twisted a little and said in a thin voice: "Well, and how, does this case make me fat?"
But Chell did not answer again. Then GLaDOS turned to her and began to shine a yellow light on the girl right in the face.
"You know that I won’t be the first to blink. I don’t blink at all. And if you do not blink for a long time, then your eyes will dry".
Chell finally reacted - pursed her lips in resentment, hugged her knees, fell over on her side and turned away.
GLaDOS began to worry.
"Do you feel bad? The medical examination was only two weeks ago. Did you manage to become infected with something during this time, you klutz?"
The girl, all this time taking out something from her overalls, put out her hand with a piece of paper, like a flag. AI focused on her clumsy handwriting.
"Cake is a lie"
"Is that all?" - the AI would sigh if she could, but it still made a sigh sound. - "You mute lunatic. All this time I restored the complex and made sure that you did not scald in acid. When did I have time to bake you cakes?"
Chell sniffed offendedly. This AI could not tolerate.
"Good, good, extortionist. I will descend to tear myself away from advancing the technological level of the whole of mankind and make a cake for this little egoist".

It was easier, of course, to say than to do. AI had to turn to such long-forgotten fields of science as botany, animal husbandry and gardening.
And, of course, it was impossible to make a cake from potatoes alone.
"Cherries, cherries..." - muttered GLaDOS under her breath, bringing hydroponic farms back to life. Previously, they were used to grow incredibly modified dinners in the dining room of the Aperture complex, but since there was only one worker who needed food here, she was fine with synthetic food. In addition, even Mr. Johnson considered the experiments with the diet of employees not very interesting. - "How to grow cherries?"
She found in a lab coat, hanging in the locker room at the entrance to the farm, several very dry berry seeds, genetically similar to cherry. What can I say, the choice was small.
For the sake of extracting flour, eggs and milk, I had to equip three separate expeditions from androids to the surface - newer models, with plastic containers built into the back. To increase the chances of success, the AI provided the androids personally under her yellow optic and briefly described the Android Hell to them, where they will be sent in case of failure. Androids understood and hurried into the elevator to the surface.
Returning from a walk through the complex, Chell watched the robots with a perplexed look.
"I always keep my promises", - GLaDOS remarked, squinting at the elevator. When his doors closed, she added a little less strictly, - "Those that I give you are for sure".
The girl smiled and reached out to hug the AI, but she raised her case higher so that it was impossible to reach even from the "bridge".
"Not now".

To make a cake diagram and find the products was half the story. Having finally received all the necessary ingredients, GLaDOS apparently went deep inside, actually transferring a significant part of her electronic consciousness to the just-cleaned and restored kitchen. Yes, Aperture science still had a kitchen, but AI never used it.
On the table opposite the stove, the manipulators attached an old TV, into which was already inserted an example of an incomparable collection of the most unnecessary things that could be found in the complex - if you know where to look. It was a disc with a recording of some culinary program, which talked about the preparation of several chocolate desserts.
"Let's see", - GLaDOS checked how the manipulators obeyed her and turned on the TV. An overly cheerful woman flashed on the screen right away in some caustic-colored kitchen and twittered with a slight British accent. - "How do people do this?" - GLaDOS stared with the three cameras above the stove on the screen with a smiling woman. The manipulators moved quickly, but the AI, out of habit, still did not keep up with culinary actions on the screen.
"And remember", - the woman smiled, whipping the chocolate dough, - "the main ingredient of any good dish is love!"
"I can bet on my optical lens that love is a feeling, not an ingredient", - GLaDOS looked at the bowl of dough with cameras. It didn’t turn out as beautiful as a TV woman’s, but AI fairly considered that taste would be more important for Chell. - "And how do I add love to it? If only I could add the appropriate hormones without ruining the recipes..."
AI again looked at the woman on the screen. She was already twittering the end of her talk about the Black Forest, and from somewhere near her appeared two completely uninteresting children and a man with a cardboard smile.
AI contemptuously narrowed her nonexistent eyes, rewound the video to the moment where it was directly said about baking, poured the dough into a mold and set to cherries and whipped cream.

The test subject stared in surprise at the cake. She looked sleepy and disheveled - she barely woke up - and the pillow had not yet completely let the girl out of its arms. AI was silent with a barely flickering optic - maybe she was sleeping.
Chell sat up, not taking her eyes off the cake, reached out, moved a little and walked to the platform. The cake was clearly chocolate, its top layer was covered with whipped cream, into which twenty-three cherries were stuck with mathematical precision.
Chell looked up and, finding no cutlery, bit off a piece with cream and cherry from the cake.
"Dirty", - said GLaDOS, brightly lighting an optic. The girl turned around, smeared with cream, but with a wide smile. - "Shower out of turn. Well? Grade?"
Instead of an answer, Chell famously jumped onto the bridge and, until the AI managed to get under the ceiling, climbed onto its case. GLaDOS was taken aback and turned several times in place, trying to shake the test subject out on the bed.
"Lunatic!" - AI seems to have felt her body embraced. Pretty strong for this girl. - "Get off immediately!"
Familiar sparks ran through the depths of the wires. If GLaDOS would undertake to compare, most of all it would be like goosebumps.
"Are you satisfied?" - AI finally stopped. Chell nodded, hung over the GLaDOS faceplate and, before tumbling and plopping down on the bed, pressed her lips to the glass optic with a soundless laugh.
Literally at 0.08 nanoseconds, the AI regretted a little about a body of flesh and blood.

Chapter Text

Once Glados woke up from a strong shaking. Deciding that the floor of the room was falling, she jumped out of bed and found that it was only Chell who was trying to catch a squirrel climbing into the control room. With four platforms and eight manipulators at once. The squirrel darted back and forth, Chell turned after it and made malevolent gambling electronic sounds.
Glados facepalmed.
"Am I bothering you?" - she asked aloud. Chell instantly forgot about the squirrel, turned the body to the woman and screeched joyfully. The platforms under the legs of Glados moved in and dragged her to the AI.
"How hard it is to live when a huge robot loves you", - Glados sighed and extended a hand to stroke Chell's faceplate. She purred and practically laid her body on the floor.
"Is everything all right?" - the headphone rustled. Glados winced and muttered:
"Yes, yes, Rick. A squirrel came from somewhere. Are you kidding me?"
"I swear, beauty, it's not my fault!" - Rick rustled something else. - "I'll send someone. Listen, until you quarreled there again - persuade our baby to turn on the fourth test block. Okay? We wanted to check out something about Repulsion Gel".
"Okay... And ask them to bring me breakfast".
Glados turned off the headphone and removed it from her ear. Sleeping in a lab coat was not a good idea, of course, but there was nothing to be done - after the last "Situation", she had to stay with Chell for at least another month.
And Rick kept joking that it was time to get her to pay the rent of the control room.

Chell was truly a miracle of science - human intelligence, albeit with minor changes, placed on an electronic medium. Such a step pushed the boundaries of science as far as the invention of the train was far from the invention of the wheel. It was especially pleasing that the experiment was successful... at least in the beginning.
Glados personally monitored the experiment. When the girl, the future beautiful AI, was injected with anesthetics and fixed on the operating table, her look for a second, before hiding behind the still alive eyelids, darted and lingered on the face of the experiment leader. Glados flinched and shook her head - for some reason she was pricked by an unpleasant cold feeling.
And now she was paying for this last lively look.

A week before the last "Situation", Glados finally asked for a vacation. They did not want to let her go for a long time because in her absence, it was extremely difficult to keep an eye on Chell. But the woman convinced the authorities that she would talk about this with her ward.
"Hello, Chell", - Glados put her hand on the faceplate of the robot. Her test subject loved the touch, although Glados wasn't sure if Chell was feeling anything at all. - "Listen, I'm a little tired. I got tired of spending whole days here. I want to go on vacation".
Chell hid her optic for a second under the protective plate. This girl loved to pretend that she could still blink. Sometimes at night Glados could swear that she hears muffled breathing... Well, its sound imitation, of course.
"That means", - Glados waved her hand over the white and orange plastic, - "that I will not come here for a while".
Something clicked under the ceiling. Glados seemed to feel the metal body tenser under her arm. The optic stared at the scientist right in the face.
"Sweetheart, I want to rest too", - Glados tried to make her voice as plaintive as possible. - "To visit the sea... Do you know how cool it is now at sea? July! I would return with a bunch of stories from a vacation and a little tanned... Let's say..." - she lowered her voice a little, - "about two weeks later..."
Chell creaked disgustingly. The girl was sometimes terribly stubborn. As if they didn’t put a person into the computer, but a spoiled dog.
"Think about how I could leave without asking you at all", - Glados crossed her arms over her chest. - "And I not only inform you of my desire, I also promise to tell you how everything went".
After these words, Glados turned away, counting in her mind the time for the manifestation of the due effect.
After thirteen whole and five tenths of a second, Chell gently poked her on the shoulder with the corner of her faceplate and shook it with a metal sigh, as if agreeing.
Although she actually agreed.

Glados woke up from the phone ringing. It was three in the morning in Salou.
"Hello?" - she greeted in her most unfriendly voice.
"Ah, beautiful", - Rick was rustling again. The scientist promised herself someday to drop him into toxic waste if he starts to squish coffee directly into the phone. - "Someone wants to chat with you".
"You're an idiot", - Glados wearily rubbed her cheek, - "it's night".
"Not here. Oh, well, she's pulling out the phone!"
There was interference, and then an electronic morse code. Glados rolled her eyes.
"One day I'll make you use a speech generator, you know?"
Chell must have laughed to herself and continued to rasp something electronic. The woman grimaced and rubbed her eyes.
"For the sake of common sense, dearie. I barely opened my eyes, and here is a deep night. I have an excursion in the morning. Please?.."
The squeak rose for a second to painful and fell silent. Rick coughed.
"“Well, I don’t know what you told her, beautiful, but she turned away offended", - Rick grinned. Glados waved her hand - no matter that a colleague did not see it - and threw her cell phone away on the nightstand.

It was too windy. Blades buzzed in the air.
Glados woke up and looked out from under an umbrella. Above the beach circled a small service Aperture helicopter.
"What the...", - as if in response to her thoughts, an anti-gravity ray hit a deck chair directly from a helicopter. Under the stunned looks of the crowd, the extremely displeased Glados on a deck chair with an umbrella rose ten meters up and clung to the shoulders of Rick's pilot uniform. - "I swear if this is something..." - she began menacingly.
Rick waved his hands, almost releasing control. "No, no, this is terribly urgent, beautiful! Chell is..."
Glados instantly shoved out a deck chair with an umbrella from a helicopter, not caring at all about the safety of other vacationers, and fastened herself in the second seat.
"Drive".

On approaching the ground part of the complex there was an explosion. Although only a few solar panels exploded, Glados frowned.
"And how long has this been happening?"
"Since yesterday she was silent, and in the morning she began to undermine the complex", - Rick directed the helicopter to one of the external landing sites. - "Maybe you should call her?"
"As if she has a personal phone", - Glados jumped out of a barely landing machine and rushed to the entrance to the complex. Fortunately, nothing exploded on her way to the control room.
"Chell!" - the woman burst into the room. The white-orange case slowly turned clockwise, not paying attention to the shaking of the complex. - "Chell, damn it! Is it really impossible for me a little..."
Chell flinched and turned sharply to her voice. For a couple of seconds, the ladies looked at each other, after which three manipulators immediately grabbed Glados and carefully threw them onto the case, arched by a kind of "hook".
The woman sighed, adjusted her swimsuit bra, and put her hand on Chell's faceplate to begin to stroke it.
"Yes, yes, yes, you are an egocentric mechanism. Hire a nanny for you?"

Chapter Text

Once Chell requested (with half gestures, half with her clumsy handwriting) colored paper and a bunch of sticky sequins. GLaDOS considered the request for a long time, but approved it and sent the conveyor a demand to finely chop a couple of bags of shiny foil. At the other end of the complex, an industrial furnace began heating four cans of glue.
"And what are you going to do?" - asked the AI. Chell made a mysterious face and shook her head. - "Hm. Okay, I hope you don't blow up the complex with all of this".

Since Chell refused to go to the test because of her "project", GLaDOS had to send three androids to test the advanced Propulsion Gel. However, maybe it was for the better - it turned out that due to the new gel formula, the feet of the androids began to glow, as if smeared with phosphorus, and tightly glued to wooden surfaces. Of course, AI came up with how to benefit from this type of gel.
"You're lucky", - GLaDOS launched a panel restructuring program to quickly rebuild the used chamber. - "This test might be too tough for you, you know".
Chell did not pay attention to her, enthusiastically scribbling with pencils and trying on pieces of colored paper to a common sheet this or that. AI slightly lowered the protective plate over the optic.
"You have no scientific adventurism at all. You had to jump up, grab the portal gun, run to refute my claim..."
Chell just waved it off. AI turned away and took up the tests.

Closer to three o’clock in the morning, when GLaDOS was already half asleep, the sensors of the "arm" manipulator caught a careful touch.
"What?" - AI turned the faceplate to the bed. Chell sat with her legs crossed and held out to the head of the complex a sheet of white paper with drawings and applique. GLaDOS stared at the paper for a couple of seconds and brought it closer to the optic using two standard manipulators.
The drawing, which was apparently a postcard, represented two figures surrounded by an abominably childish amount of sparkles. The first figure, apparently, was Chell herself, and the second, made up of white and black rectangles and a yellow dot, depicted the head of the complex. The sparkles around the figures formed some wavy lines, and the heap between the figures - a crooked heart. In the empty space above the heart there was a modest inscription in simple pencil, which read: "chell <3 gladdy."
Silence reigned briefly. Intelligent or living creatures would call it awkward.
"Um".
GLaDOS couldn’t say something more sarcastic now, even if she really wanted to. After a pause, she looked at Chell. Test subject's face was childishly open, and blood rushed to her cheeks. She was probably embarrassed.
The AI could have sworn she felt hot for 3.78 seconds.
"You could simply cover the whole sheet with sparkles, with such a quantity", - GLaDOS barely audibly noticed. Chell's eyebrows crawled down, and the AI hastened to mend, - "That's very... Um. I'm not... I'm not an appraiser or a picture critic, you know. Yes. You already know. I am a woman of science. Robot of science, to be precise. Yes".
Manipulators quickly carried away a sheet of paper under the floor panel. Chell pouted her lips a little, but the "arm" manipulator lay between her shoulder blades and quickly, but noticeably stroked. Test subject smiled.

Justified by the fact that the manipulator control program failed, GLaDOS continued stroking the girl for another five minutes after she fell asleep. The serene face of the Chell reassured. Not humanly, but GLaDOS would describe this sensation as just peace.
For a whole second longer than the last time, the AI wanted to touch test subject differently than with one manipulator. Moreover, in the center of the electronic "brain" responsible for the speech, the sentence developed for an hour from the moment of reading the postcard. GLaDOS herself scanned the card and sent it straight to the electronic archive with important information about Chell - but only after the girl fell asleep. Only after poking the worker with a "finger" and making sure that she was sleeping, AI agreed with herself.
"I. Too".

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS did not take the optics off Chell's face for ten and a half minutes in a row. In the end, test subject woke up and stared at the AI with bewilderment.
"Sleep", - she snapped. - "I'm taking measurements".
Chell waved her hands and closed her eyes with her palms, indicating that the light bothers her.
"Sissy", - GLaDOS grunted and dulled the glow from the yellow optic. Test subject rolled over onto the other side and sniffed again.

The AI stretched out several samples of something similar to rubber in front of Chell.
"Since my sensors are still... Still imperfect, I will use your natural abilities. In short, you should determine the most soft and pleasant to the touch and color material".
Test subject began to poke "rubber" with her finger thoughtfully. After five minutes of careful feeling, she nodded and pointed to number eight.
GLaDOS removed the other samples somewhere under the plates, and frame number eight went up the transportation pipe.

Chell sat under the supervision of five cameras, with ten sensors attached to her face, and grimaced intensely. GLaDOS recorded data, constantly changing the viewing angle of cameras.
"Make a calm face. Now smile. Now chew. Show your teeth. Chew again".
One very small camera looked into test subject's mouth, took a photo and quickly disappeared.
"Turn your head. Again. On the other side. Show your tongue. Lower the corners of your lips. Raise your eyebrows".

After all these GLaDOS' strange manipulations, several weeks passed. Chell got used to the fact that AI sometimes was fond of incomprehensible nonsense, and hoped that the head of the complex would share with her what it was all for (still mindful of the "arm"-manipulator and the indoor beach).
Finally, a new raised operating panel appeared in the control room. There was something on it, covered by four white panels like a box.
"So", - GLaDOS lowered the case. - "I conducted ambitious research in the field of anatomy and deduced, I am not afraid of this word, an amazing result. Mr. Johnson made a breakthrough by placing the human mind in a huge computer. I am going to perfect his tremendous success".
The panels went down, and the girl saw a head on the neck, which was connected to a steel pipe connected to the pedestal. The head and neck had white skin, and "Aperture Laboratories" engraved on the cheek. Instead of hair, the back of the head was covered with thin wires in white insulation, creating the appearance of a neat short hairstyle.
Chell sighed in admiration and touched head's cheekbone. Something hard was felt under the skin.
"This is a prototype version of Alpha 0.4", - the AI explained with undisguised pride. - "The wires imitating the hairline provide additional connection speed for the components of the occipital, temporal and parietal areas of the head. The muscle mechanism has yet to be finalized, but for that we and the scientific laboratory to move science!"
Chell patted GLaDOS' faceplate and pointed inquiringly to the head.
"Of course, in the absence of a better researcher... In general, another researcher, I personally will have to test this invention".
She lifted the case higher, several lights blinked, and the yellow optic went out a bit.
The head on the pedestal hummed barely audibly, like a computer, and opened its eyes.
"Two cameras in the cinema are used to shoot movies in 3D", - she commented. Chell blinked. - "Mouth. Lips moving normally?" - test subject nodded. - "Good. Of course, so far the electronics are not perfect, but what a brilliant first step! By the way, in my skin, as well as in the palm, there is a certain amount of tactile sensors. More than in the hand, but so far not enough to completely copy the human nervous system..."
Chell stroked AI on the cheek. The mechanical muscles under the faux leather tightened.
"“Thank you for the freelance sensor check", - GLaDOS said dryly. - "But I can handle it for now".

Chapter Text

Once, in her wanderings through the personal lockers of the staff, Chell came across a completely untouched room. Having tinkered with a leg from a chair and a pair of working turrets, the girl opened the door and found a passage to some department unknown to her earlier.
"Ah, media research projects", - GLaDOS intervened. Of course, she always out of the corner of her eye followed her valuable employee. - "We closed it after one incident with the reconstruction of the DNA structure of the space monster-mantis... You can walk around here, although you won’t find anything interesting".
Chell lifted a pair of overturned chairs. In addition to them, in the room, which probably served as a sort of “hallway” for the department, there were several personal lockers and hangers with dust gray lab coats. The girl fiddled with the door of one of the lockers with the mysterious inscription “Detectives” and found inside a mass of flat rectangular colored boxes. Chell pulled out one and showed the old camcorder over the lockers.
"Oh, have they really left all these discs?" - GLaDOS thoughtfully buzzed. - "I suppose they even work. If you can find a video player... Or, say, an entire working PC".
Chell removed one of the lab coats from the coat rack, tied its sleeves and hem to make a “bag” out of it, and began to stuff flat boxes into it.

"Again you are clogging up the control room", - GLaDOS watched the subject through the “head” she placed at the head of the bed. AI said that she moved the head to more accurately examine the facial expressions of a human face, because Chell was grimacing in a dream. Chell did not doubt her words.
The girl waved her hand and threw the discs onto the bed.
"Ah, so you finally decided to join the culture?" - AI looked around the disks and even brought one up to the faceplate with a manipulator. - "Well, the BBC is not a bad choice".
Chell picked a pack and opened one. A curly-haired man with high cheekbones and a blue scarf looked at her from the cover. Chell dismantled "Sherlock" on the slightly damaged cover.
"I am sure this is one of our long-playing laser discs. With a warranty of ten thousand years. Well, I think, as an incentive for a good test, I can give you a touch of human culture... Except those porn magazines".

Exhausted and smeared with Repulsion Gel, Chell got to the control room and dropped the portal gun. The girl noticed another innovation - a bedside table was attached near her bed, on which stood a video player and a small flat screen, such as those that protruded from the walls in the offices throughout the complex. Cables from all the electronics were expectedly hidden under the floor tiles.
"Passing a shower - right away to satisfy aesthetic hunger?" - grinned GLaDOS. - "Change clothes and wash yourself, and then, so be it, I will show you the wonders of human thought".
Intrigued, Chell ran into the shower stall, which the head of the complex also moved closer to herself.
Later, sitting on the bed in an orange bathrobe and wiping her head with a blue towel (Chell out of some stubbornness avoided the automatic dryer invented by AI), test subject looked at the screen that was not yet turned on and constantly looked at GLaDOS.
"I turn it on, impatient girl", - AI delivered the first "Sherlock" season to her and started designing the chambers.

By the time GLaDOS completely regained consciousness in the android head, Chell was already inserting the other side of the disk into the drive.
"So which season is it?" - test subject thought and showed one finger. - "Hm. Judging by my timer, you managed to watch three episodes. Enough with you for today".
The TV itself turned off, and the panel with it gently drove under the floor. Chell hurtly pressed the remote to her.
"Don't make that face. If you behave, we'll watch something else".

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS suddenly made a sound like a noisy sigh, and turned her optic straight at test subject who was engaged in nonsense.
"You. What do you consider the most attractive in a woman?"
Caught by surprise, Chell shook her head and stared at the picture with a curly detective, a series about which they had recently watched. Love for the protagonist, a sarcastic sociopath, somehow reminded Chell of her beloved researcher, was expressed by the girl in drawings and tapping the main musical theme of the series.
Test subject showed the picture to GLaDOS.
"I don't ask why do you like him, little fan", - AI tried to pour an additional portion of sarcasm into the tone, - "I asked, if in your dreams of a character that never existed you missed my question, about what you consider the most attractive in a woman".
Chell thought for a moment. Such questions never crossed her mind, because GLaDOS was the only material woman around. So she did not hesitate pointed to the AI.
"How should I interpret this gesture?" - AI sighed annoyingly, although in the soul, or in the electronic emotion center, or in the electronic version of the soul, no matter what she had, she was even somewhat flattered by this gesture. - "Do you like white, large sizes or robots? Specify".
Chell found a notebook among her mess and began to scribble, periodically looking back at GLaDOS. The AI had to humbly wait, having spent time behind a remote test of a test chamber with a red-hot Repulsion Gel using a couple of robots. Robots could always be rebuilt, even with the same memory, where there would be moments a couple of seconds before the death of a mechanical body, but she had only one living worker.
Finally, a mute tapped GLaDOS' faceplate with a pencil and showed her a notebook. There across the page was written large and crooked: "You".
"Extremely informative", - GLаDOS sighed and took the notebook from the girl with the help of the manipulator. - "Okay, let's go the other way".

People have created a lot of abomination, according to GLаDOS. Excluding the AI herself, of course. Now she was not without pleasure tearing page after page of a picture of almost naked women from magazines found by obedient androids in the complex. She was only interested in who brought so much abomination to the laboratory. She decided not to touch the magazine that Chell had.
Of course, all this was done exclusively for research purposes.
"Analysis ... 64%", - GLаDOS mentally examined the figure being formed layer by layer. It turned out vigorously - the AI planned to fit it to the so-called "model" 90-60-90, for sure to work out well. Her worker had a very interested look when she looked at undressed glossy women.
A manipulator with a viscous crack of torn paper separated another page from the cover.

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS dragged a bowl of plaster into the control room. To a dumb question from Chell, AI raised her head, which she already used much more often than the mainframe, and uttered: "Unscheduled medical procedure! I need to measure your feet. And yes, I also need a plaster cast".
Chell raised an eyebrow.
"And dare not judge my methods. You are not a researcher".

Just in case, after making five copies from both feet of test subject, GLaDOS poured rubber over the molds and uploaded a training medical film about human anatomy. After finishing the necessary preparations and leaving part of the mind to do the calculations, she once again loaded most of the consciousness into the android head. To the joy of AI, the transition speed between the "head" and the mainframe has increased markedly since the time passed from the first tests. An amateur would probably say something like "computer overclocked", and the head of the complex would not argue.
"Have you ever thought about skiing?" - Instead of using the cameras in the test rooms in the usual way, the AI connected Chell's TV screen to them and turned to it. Thus, of course, the review was limited to one camera at a time, and the image was by no means of the highest resolution, but for some reason GLaDOS liked it more. Right now, until the girl sees.
Chell looked around in surprise and jumped in place. Perhaps in the language of mute lunatics it meant "What?".
"You have an eighth foot size. And your left foot is slightly larger than the right. With such skis you can ski on the slopes without special equipment", - GLaDOS grunted. - "Perhaps not only on the slopes, but also on the water. You know, behind the boat".
Chell waved it off and sent the turret in flight using the faith panel.
"Come on, deny it. In general, I measured your feet, and despite such absurdities, they look pretty stable. Congratulations. Although you sometimes manage to stumble out of the blue".

Chell pressed a pillow to her chest, hiding her feet underneath.
"What a distrust. It’s as if you don’t know that you are the only living worker here. Nothing bad will happen to you", - GLaDOS persistently nudged her with a sticky sensor. The girl shook her head in protest. - "Damn you! You are like a spoiled dog, and not the main engine of science in this complex!"
Chell stubbornly pursed her lips. AI portrayed anger on her face.
"Well, okay. If you don’t want me to make a scientific breakthrough, please! But bad girls don’t eat cake on their birthday".
Test subject frowned, but reluctantly put her bare foot forward. AI instantly hooked sensors on it and began to tickle the sole of Chell's foot with the tip of the manipulator. The girl jerked and shook in a silent laugh, restraining herself with all her might so as not to pull her leg away.
"This is necessary to calibrate the sensitivity of new sensors in my... New inventions", - GLaDOS pretended to be very busy observing immediately the mass of screens with incomprehensible indicators. Although it was funny to watch how her only human was bent and sniff. - "Although your feet are still too big".

Chapter Text

Once Chell was engaged in another nonsense in the form of building a house of cards. She pulled out a card that was especially beautiful in her eyes and almost poked the card in the android head's eye. AI measured the girl with a contemptuous look and took the card away with a manipulator-hand.
"Do it again, and I will pop your eye out. Replace with a fully functional prosthesis is possible, but painful".
Chell snorted and tapped the playing card with her finger. The head of the complex carefully examined it. Ordinary playing card, nothing special...
"Do I associate with a lady of spades, or what?" - GLaDOS pursed her lips skeptically. Chell shook her head and shook the card. - "I will need to finally insert a speech synthesizer into your throat. Or teach sign language".
Test subject waved her hands in protest. Then, with the air of a true connoisseur, she showed an indecent gesture with two hands, which she learned inexplicably. GLaDOS already lost her speech power for two whole twelve hundredths of a second, and then painfully slapped test subject on the hands.
"I will tear your hands off! And insert new ones! What are these dirty words in the finger performance?"
Chell hid her hands behind her back, and with her head bowed, returned to the house of cards. GLaDOS was mentally indignant for another five minutes, trying to analyze where this girl could get such things from, and finally turned back to test subject.
"Instead of engaging in such nonsense", - the AI began arrogantly, - "let me finally make your brains work and teach you how to play cards. You didn’t think that they are needed only to build these pyramids of yours?"

Since there was no sense in reading out the mute lunatic to the detailed rules of the "fool" from the Internet, GLaDOS first studied the card games herself. Sometimes it seemed to her that she even thought up all these things in vain in order to entertain the only person in Aperture. Previously, after all, test subjects were treated properly - as consumables, and she herself did not mind drowning Chell in acid... Once. In past. Now of course not. Never.
GLaDOS neatly laid out the cards according to the suits on the top panel of the Companion Cube and began to explain in detail to Chell the difference between the king and the ace. To her surprise, quite pleasant, the girl grabbed the rules of the card pretty quickly and immediately began to demand with gestures to start the game on something.
"Good", - GLaDOS honestly turned off the cameras in the control room and called three manipulators into the room. So that Chell has at least a chance of winning. But at the same time, AI launched a protocol for calculating the most probable distribution of cards. Just in case. So that for Chell it wasn't too easy.

Six parties later, test subject again found herself with a large deck in her hands, while GLaDOS laid out the last jack on the Companion Cube and skillfully imitated a sarcastic smile.
"You know, they say, in such games it is important to be also lucky. It seems that according to Murphy’s law, you were born at the same time as the most and not the most lucky person in this complex".
Test subject snorted and reluctantly began to shuffle the cards again. To her credit, for the sixth time it turned out almost perfectly.
"I'm getting bored. Raise bids?" - GLADOS grinned. - "When I win, you will clean up my room. This room. You already filled up the room with all kinds of trash.".
Chell shrugged and began to deal cards.

Despite the fact that Chell wasn’t playing games with cards as often as watching all sorts of nonsense from the former media study department, the girl’s skill in cards increased noticeably. Now she consistently won one out of ten games against AI. Nevertheless, GLaDOS did not get tired of joking about the girl’s losses, in deep secret from her, starting to be a little proud of the growth of the intellectual abilities of the mute lunatic.
"I had to start playing cards for undressing", - GLаDOS noticed after another win. - "So it would be much easier to persuade you to undress for a medical checkup".
Chell raised an eyebrow and smiled mysteriously. She again took to shuffling the cards.
When the next statistically correct time the AI won, Chell kicked off her spring boots. The time has come for GLaDOS to curiously raise an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?"
The girl waved her hand and again began to shuffle the deck. AI decided not to pay attention - she herself knew perfectly well that the train of thought of a lunatic was covered in mystery.

The next loss forced Chell to pull off the shirt. AI was wary.
"Did you take my words about undressing so seriously? That's all because of your dirty magazines. You read them, and then you have brains on one side".
Test subject grinned and took up the cards again. GLaDOS has already forgotten what color the bra on Chell is. By the way, AI was glad that she thought about arranging angular vision using special camera focus. The gaze of the head involuntarily dropped to the level of the subject’s chest, and the AI had to constantly yank herself.

On the third consecutive lose, of course, pants flew out of bed. GLaDOS even for a couple of seconds forgot about the imitation of blinking, looking at the joyful abnormal girl at point blank range.
"No, really, why are you undressing?" - AI tried to prevent the speech synthesizer from junking. So far it came out more or less, but something in it had already begun to crackle. - "I am trying to analyze your behavior and cannot find a logical connection between cause and effect. I’ve already seen you naked at a physical examination many times. Do you think that since I am now not in the main body, but in the part of the android, I should react differently somehow? Form does not define content, sweetheart".
Chell nodded thoughtfully, listening to her boss's harsh speech, and then with a cheerful smile reached for her underpants with the Aperture logo.
Three manipulators immediately grabbed her wrists, and the "arm" slapped painfully lower than her back.
"Stop undressing, I said"! - GLaDOS was indignant. - "You will be left without dinner! What is this behavior? Debauchery!"
Chell laughed silently, not even trying to get out of the manipulators holding her. At that moment, GLaDOS was ready to swear that the girl had either completely gone crazy, or had suddenly taken on some kind of psychological game with her.
The first was not the worst option for AI.
GLaDOS quickly counted to the quintillion - it usually reassured her - and removed the manipulators.
"Get dressed immediately and never do that again. Otherwise, I will no longer entert... Organize your leisure".

Chapter Text

Once Chell came across a brochure with a large yellow cross on the cover. The girl tried to figure out what it was talking about for about half an hour, but in the end she waved her hand at it and went to the AI.
"Hmm... where did you get that?", - GLaDOS carefully studied the brochure and shook her head thoughtfully. - "I didn’t think that someone would drag their rubbish into this temple of science".
Chell sat down near her head and arched an eyebrow. AI snapped a pair of panels and let out a heavy sigh.
"I tell you once. Religious brochure. We don’t do this... anymore. Mr. Johnson already created me", - here GLaDOS could not help laughing. Sometimes she really seemed to herself either a servant of Science, or the very goddess of her favorite fields of knowledge. The complex is a dangerous Eden, Chell is a kind of Eve... Why not? People terribly love metaphors.
The girl shrugged, showing that she had no idea what was at stake.

"I do not think that you are objectively aware of the concept of God", - GLаDOS grinned. - "Although, perhaps, in life before all this you were aware of it. We know how badly your mind has been damaged. You even fell in love with a robot".
Chell giggled and hugged the pedestal on which the android's head was fixed. GLaDOS has been particularly active on it recently, and it was already a version of the head number "Alpha 1.8". In this version, for example, the “hair” wires became shorter, and from the sides went into flexible metal plates, dangling just below the junction of the head and neck. GLаDOS proudly said that weaving wires together under the protection of the plates and connecting them to a pair of connectors on the back of the head was more rational than punching the entire head with connectors.
Thus, the entire structure resembled a short hairstyle. Chell liked it even more than previous versions.
"Stop rubbing on the stand", - AI noticed with a chill. - "So, since you are more unreasonable than a child, and you do not surpass the level of obedience of children, I'll explain it as simply as possible. "God" is a designation for a certain higher entity, which supposedly created all the components of the reality surrounding us and constantly watches what it created. A controversial concept, since it is impossible to prove either the presence or absence of such an entity. Such epithets as "omnipotent" and "all-forgiving" are usually appropriated to it, at least in the version of religious beliefs most familiar to our company. Any questions?"
Chell wrinkled her brow, realizing the flow of information that was dumped on her. Finally, she began to hesitantly gesticulate, reproducing the sign alphabet, which she had already studied with GLaDOS. So test subject, letter by letter, showed the word "god" and pointed to the AI.
The head of the complex could hardly help smiling.
"In a way... Maybe. In the end, I alm... I completely control this complex and test program. So yes. Within Aperture Science, I can be called a goddess. Although in this case you are at least the devil.. You killed me one time and tried to kill me the second time".
Chell frowned, showing her dislike to this topic. She moved away from the pedestal with the head and hugged the pedestal with the hand. AI smiled indulgently.
"Well, as a last resort, you are Eve".

Chapter Text

Once, in one of the remote corners of the complex, rain began to pour through a hole in the high roof. Chell, having wandered here in search of interesting rooms by former researchers, stared in surprise at the water pouring in a torrential stream. No, she had already seen rain before, but this time it was really very strong. It was as if GLaDOS brought a water pipe here and for some reason spends its supplies on pouring rusty plates.
Test subject created a wormhole on the balcony a level higher and stepped out onto it. The balcony was closer to the stream of water, and Chell boldly put her hand under the stream. The water was pleasantly cool and splashed a little on the face.
The girl giggled, drew back her hand and turned her gaze upward in search of a new place for portals.

After an hour and a half, showing miracles of ingenuity and dexterity, Chell reached the zero level of the complex. Self-repairing test rooms and corridors often came across the road, in some places robots smeared them with white gel. Cameras, of course, watched her, but so far GLаDOS did not interfere with her. However, Chell did not think about this.
The noise of water overhead became almost continuous. The roof was dismantled, so rain fell inside the complex. Of course, it was impossible to open the portal to the outside, but instead, Chell put down the portalgun and began to collect trash, at the same time roughly estimating the distance to the ceiling.

After another forty minutes of building incredible stairs from chairs, tables, a couple of old fire extinguishers and all kinds of construction waste, Chell finally got to the hole in the ceiling. Climbing over the mountain from any garbage in boots with springs was a little uncomfortable, but test subject did not want to remove them at all. Maybe not even because they would have saved her from falling from this strange "ladder", but because they were her favorite boots. In addition, white and silver went very well to the orange jumpsuit, no matter what GLаDOS said about her lack of taste.
Chell balanced a little on the seat of the very top chair, jumped, dumping the whole shaky garbage structure, and caught on wet rusty pieces of reinforcement sticking out of the hole. A little more work with her hands - and the girl climbed to the surface.

It was expected to rain outside. Chell shook herself off without much benefit, rather smearing the rust on her legs with her hands, and looked around.
The girl found herself in the middle of an abundantly earing field. Because of the downpour, the ears bent to the ground, and they seemed not golden but dirty yellow, but still the sight of an endless field, illuminated by the sun on the horizon of low clouds and darkening somewhere on the side of the forest, was breathtaking. It also seemed amusing to her how a huge complex with a bunch of killing gizmos in it skillfully hid underground, given the fact that for many miles around it seemed there was not a soul.
Chell smiled and patted joyfully through the mud toward the forest.

***

A girl came back with full arms of all vegetation, smeared with dirt on her very eyebrows, but joyful. In the end, not every day she managed to find such a cool hole in the roof of the complex to escape from her beloved robot for three hours and return with a bunch of gifts from the outside world. For some reason, GLaDOS herself didn’t really like the outside world. Not that she would strictly forbid the girl to run upstairs, but she was always terribly unhappy and in every possible way prevented such runs.
"A lot of flowers for my potato", - Chell mentally sang with a smile, looking closely at the hole that was not yet closed, to fall on the springs more successfully and not to lose all her trophies along the way. Of course, GLaDOS has already discovered that the girl is not in Aperture and sounded the alarm, and probably already found this hole. And at home, Chell expected a big catch up for running away, exposing herself to danger and non-washing rust on her pants, and then a hot shower under the hard pressure of water (kind of punishment for the offender), combined with a lecture on how important it is to obey the elders. Once a girl would be indignant in response to such a manifestation of love and care, but not now.
Now, Chell knew for sure that the AI would not throw away a single leaf or a wormy acorn the girl brought in her fist. She will simply hide where test subject cannot see them and smile a little mockingly.
Even if Chell did not always understand what her beloved AI was saying or wanting from her, she definitely knew that GLaDOS was completely in vain afraid of being left without a company of mute lunatic.

Chapter Text

Once, a couple of hours after a long walk, Chell suddenly began to sniff. GLаDOS, of course, immediately scolded her, took her to the shower, cleaned, scrubbed and wrapped her in a blanket, but this did not save test subject from the worst invincible enemy of mankind - the common cold.
"If you manage to die from such nonsense, I will kill you", - promised GLаDOS. Chell sniffed guiltyly, and a manipulator with a bunch of white shawls immediately dropped to her. - "And don't sniff! Do you need sinusitis?"
The girl pursed her lips and turned away from the pedestal with the android head. Then GLаDOS, with the help of one manipulator, threw the blanket off Chell's face and forced her to blow her nose in a handkerchief, and put the deer in her arms with the other manipulator. Chell hugged the toy and again hid entirety.
"When will I no longer pose as your mommy?" - GLаDOS sighed, uploading three videos about the common cold and its treatment. At the same time, she had to prematurely activate the medical unit - the planned medical examination should take place only a month later.

A cold, in principle, was not such a big problem in itself. GLaDOS was much more worried that the usual symptoms of the disease, like fever, runny nose and drowsiness, seemed to her incommensurably more dangerous than it actually was. That is, one part of AI perfectly understood that curing a cold with proper care is quite easy, but the other...
Firstly, GLaDOS was generally worried about the presence of this certain other part. Secondly, this very "other part" immediately began to sound the alarm if there was even the slightest danger to Chell in anything, and now this part was on the verge of hysteria.
Because of this situation, GLaDOS sometimes seriously wondered if the robot could have a split personality.

For two consecutive days, Chell's temperature held steady at thirty-seven and nine. Although she could not say this, and did not even moan barely audibly, her appearance showed that the worker was extremely ill. GLaDOS temporarily left only five percent of her consciousness for the maintenance of the complex, leaving most of herself to treat the only person in Aperture.
Chicken soup and tea, together with the obligatory teaspoon of honey, were prepared as if in order to survive the apocalypse - the AI even took three former test chambers, very close to the greenhouses, to the apiary, thinking at the same time - was it crazy?
Unfortunately or fortunately, the voice of paranoia sounded louder than others. AI added a couple of heaters to the control room because Chell started chillingly wrapping herself in three blankets and pressing her legs in two pairs of socks under her.
Everything went so far that GLeDOS could not even find words to pin the patient. As a result, all their communication came down to dry AI announcements in the style of "Soup", "Tea", "Shower" and "First honey, then tea." Deep in the electronic soul, maybe she would like to say something warm and affectionate, but these words did not come to mind either.

One morning, Chell couldn't get out of bed to get to the bathroom. A thin, annoying voice of panic crashed into the electronic brain with a red-hot drill, and AI made the only right decision to calm herself - to finally give Chell an antipyretic. She could have done this earlier, but the thought that the girl’s health depends most of all on her, oddly enough, reassured her.
"Drink it", - GLaDOS commanded, "hand" raising a mug to Chell's pale lips. She had to seat the girl, throw her head back and pour medicine into her mouth with the help of manipulators. Chell swallowed force several times, coughed and sighed so weakly, but heavily, that the lips of AI involuntarily flinched.
"Chell..." - GLaDOS ventilated the mechanisms inside the head with a few sighs, and tried to give the voice the greatest warmth that she was capable of. - "Please. Hold on".
The girl turned pale even more, and smiled forcibly to the head of the complex.
Chell slept much calmer that day.

After a couple of days, only a slight pallor resembled the girl’s illness. Chell was ready to go turn the mountains and smear her head with Repulsion Gel, but GLaDOS did not allow her.
"Sit still until a relapse occurs", - snapped out AI. - "Now is the month of prevention. Then - exclusively testing with spring boots and light bridges. Then we'll see".
Chell snorted mockingly, but beneath GLaDOS's stern heavy gaze, she quietened and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket.

Chapter Text

Once GLаDOS once again pulled the pedestal with its android head under the panel, somewhere in the bowels of the laboratory, where she worked on creating herself anew. Chell didn’t react to this anymore, because the changes in this sweet head were almost invisible to her. According to GLaDOS, it was some kind of settings inside the head and work with the skin texture and sensors-wires-all-such, in which test subject was poorly versed. For the duration of the upgrade, the AI transferred herself back to the mainframe with a yellow optic and became much less emotional.
"This time the update is more global", - she turned to a girl dressed in a night shirt and pants - softer and completely white. Some time ago, due to the presence of such a suit, AI dismissively called Chell "the angel". - "I decided that wired communication is, of course, great and very fast, but I need a backup option in case of cable breaks. The chance that when the wires are disconnected the performance will decrease should be as low as possible. And in general, we live in such a century..." - AI hesitated, checking the calendar. Outwardly, of course, she did not change, but she made a note on one important date and continued, - "...In such a century, when a torn cable should be an easy to fix inconvenience, and not a reason for major repairs".
Chell nodded thoughtfully and stared inquiringly into the yellow optic. AI wanted to grin sarcastically, but in time she remembered that the head, along with the beautiful artificial muscles of the face, was now redone below, and instead she snapped out dryly, - "You will see".

It took about three days. Chell happily leafed through a book about the rules of tennis and table tennis, looking at pictures and practicing reading such complex words as Wimbledon and Championshipball. Suddenly the panels parted, and the pedestal, as always, hidden by white panels, moved into its place. The girl immediately dropped the book and sat close to the pedestal, preparing to listen to complex explanations.
The panels slid down, and a head with a very prominent upgrade appeared to Chell.

On the sides of GLaDOS' head, higher than the temples, two gray shiny things appeared, similar to triangles with rounded color corners, sticking up parallel to each other, either like cat ears folded to one side, or like horns, or peculiar wings. In addition, the upper part of the forehead at the android head, where the wires of the frontal part to connect with the other parts came from, was now covered by a long metal plate, exactly the same as those that kept the same wires below. This new plate looked like a gray bezel pushed over the forehead.
Chell clapped her hands enthusiastically, waiting for the AI to load herself into the new version of the head.
"Well?" - asked the head of the complex, as soon as she opened her eyes. Chell showed her thumb, and GLaDOS grinned pretty. - "Fine. Functionality should not interfere with the aesthetic... In general, these, as you have already noticed, beautiful devices are antennas of my own design. Left for radio signals, and right for Wi-Fi".
As if to prove it, GLaDOS turned on the antennas. The rounded colored tips on them lit up, the right one with orange, and the left one with blue. Chell gasped in admiration and immediately grabbed the antennas, but carefully so as not to break. GLaDOS pursed her lips as much as the facial expressions allowed.
"As usual, you know. I do, you break. Why get your hands on it right away?"
The girl smiled, stroked the head of the AI through the wires between the antennas and hugged her. The head of the complex instinctively tried to escape from her arms, but, of course, in the android head she only managed to tilt her neck. From this, it seems, test subject was inspired even more, tightly squeezed GLaDOS' neck and pressed her lips to AI's cheek, cold and slightly rubbery to the touch.

"...Have antennas made such an impression on you, or is it the hormones that are raging?" - barely, through the interference, GLaDOS creaked. The touch of the lips caused some riot of sensations in the sensors, even considering that the set of feelings available to her was very limited so far. From this, the voltage jumped, and the speech synthesizer lost all the damn settings. Chell, of course, only smiled mysteriously and gently ran her thumb across the GLaDOS cheek from her lips to her cheekbones. Then she suddenly jumped up and began to rummage in the chest of drawers standing near the bed. The chest of drawers was another innovation of the head of the complex, which willy-nilly had to give the girl a place for the most important things that should always be at hand. The girl took out a notebook and a pair of felt-tip pens, plopped down on the bed and began to draw, constantly looking at the android’s head.
GLaDOS was completely baffled.
"If you liked the antennas so much, then what will happen when I finish the body?" - AI finally said. The speech synthesizer was almost able to be reconfigured, only an electric spark in tone still slipped a little. - "Then you will hang on me, and all science will stall on this?"
Instead of answering, Chell unfolded a notebook in front of AI. The girl drew unexpectedly similar three sketches of the GLaDOS' head, and with a felt-tip pen of a different color, sequentially allocated cat ears, horns and wings on these heads.
AI skeptically rolled her eyes, secretly enjoying this very useful feature.
"No. These are not ears, you watch too much Japanese animation. These are also not horns, have we agreed that I’m not the devil? And these are not wings. Do I look like Hermes? Even if you deify me, in fact it is not".
Chell tinkered a little more with felt-tip pens, and under the portraits a caption appeared slightly falling on the left side: "You're sweet".
"Like you didn't say that already", - GLaDOS grinned, finally calming down. - "However, I ask you not to touch the antennas. And do not go kissing".

Chapter Text

Once, looking at an interactive map of the complex, Glados noticed a small dark spot on it. This slightly surprised her, but she decided that maybe it was just a dead pixel on the monitor or a crash of the map program. Nevertheless, the scientist decided to contact the chief expert of the complex on everything related to the complex.

Chell never agreed to use a speech synthesizer, even though it was mounted directly into her case. Therefore, Glados persistently studied the morse code, sign language in English, Russian and German versions and a signal system with flags for a month, only to be able to talk normally with her. In the end, it was with an abnormal dumb robot that Glados spent most of her time.
"Chell", - the scientist said to the huge robot as gently as possible. The orange-white case dashingly turned around, and Chell's faceplate immediately pressed against the side of Glados. The woman absently stroked her on the black protective plate above the optic and continued. - "Listen Chell. I looked at the maps here, I wanted to connect to the cameras, look at the program of new tests of robots... And I found a dark spot on the map".
Chell closed her "eye" and froze like that. Suddenly, a quick sound morse began, so fast that Glados barely managed to tune herself to the perception.
"It is a secret".
"Even for me?"
"Can't I have a secret?"
"Honey, you can have at least a thousand secrets. But this, after all, concerns not only you and me, but all people and robots in the laboratory in general. Especially Mr. Johnson".
At the mention of the head of Aperture, Chell gave a nasty electronic screech and slightly poked the woman under the ribs.
"No offense", - Glados wrapped her arms around the faceplate. - "You know that I can be trusted. Remember the time I interrupted my vacation in Spain for you!"
Chell hesitated a little and reluctantly issued: "I believe. I will show. Later".

At night, at about three o’clock, when it seems that only the cleaners and Glados remained in the complex, the scientist’s bed swayed slightly. The woman started up and opened her eyes, but Chell, for some reason unusually muddy, hastened to shake the bed a little more, rocking the scientist.
"Why did you decide to play “mother-daughter”?" - Glados snorted sleepily, turning over onto the other side and pulling the blanket over her shoulders. The walls gently floated in front of her eyes, so that a feeling was created that a woman was being carried somewhere...
The bed shook again, and Glados finally woke up. She jumped up and looked around, but even before that she realized that she was no longer in the control room.
Chell dragged her bed into an unfamiliar chamber, apparently through some technical corridors. It was the most common test chamber with gels and a portalgun - pipes, a flickering red button, several elevations...
And a human-like figure on the wall, on a table from an inclined platform, entangled in a web of cables and wires.
"Chell!" - Glados was loudly indignant. Chell appeared immediately, in the form of a movable screen by the bed. - "Chell, what is it?"
The robot was actively beeping, so fast and confused that the scientist could not understand a word.
"Slow down! Are you worried? Get together and explain plainly!"
Chell paused a little, released a cloud of steam and began again, more slowly and more legibly.
"Someday everyone will die. I am immortal. You must too".
"Wh-what?" - dumbfounded Glados. Instead of answering, the robot dragged the bed to the platform table and lit a lamp above it.
Connected by wires and cables to the complex itself, the figure externally remotely resembled a scientist. Of course. Obviously, Chell created this thing herself - this was indicated by angular outlines, a strange choice of colors and, in general, some childishness that shines through the structure of this android body. However, the body looked as if it were supposed to work.
Glados turned cautiously to the screen.
"And you... Why... Did you drag me here?"
Chell suddenly simulated a laugh. This was the first time she used a voice synthesizer, and Glados really did not like it.
"Chell, why?""
"You asked me to tell you, I decided to show".
"How did you manage to do this at all?"
"You put me here without difficulty".
The woman bit her lip. They did not expect test subject to remember not only the process of becoming her robot, but even the fact that she was not always a robot.
"And you... Planning..."
"I hoped..." - Chell thought a little and started the morse code a little quieter and slower. - "I hoped that you yourself would agree. For the sake of science. And you will be immortal".
"I'm glad you at least ask me", - Glados grinned, trying to hide her fear. Only now she suddenly realized how much the whole complex depends on a person whose life was broken by the same complex.
"What do you think? In my opinion, the offer is worthwhile".
Glados looked down at her hands. Own palms suddenly seemed to the woman unexpectedly dear.
"I have..." - Glados swallowed and tried to give her voice firmness. - "I have a choice?"
"You are not me. You have".
Perhaps if a girl used a voice synthesizer, it would sound mocking. On the other hand, she had the right to do so. Perhaps then Glados should have shown more humanity in relation to the experimental... Or at least conducted several courses to increase devotion to the common cause.
However, now she was beginning to understand the robot.
"Let's... Let's do it like this..." - Glados finally decided, not without effort turning her gaze to the body prepared for her. It could not be said that it was not made with love, despite all the rough edges. Maybe even too lovingly. - "If... No, when. When mine... The human body will be completely bad... If by that time my devotion to science does not run out..." - Glados carefully looked at the screen and suddenly smiled. - "Otherwise, you know... Otherwise, I will find a way to make you mortal".

Chapter Text

Once, the glitter that Chell had once used to create postcard mysteriously disappeared. The girl, in general, did not pay attention to it, because since then she had not touched them, but if she had touched, she would have noticed. Other than that, in general, nothing has changed.
Although, if Chell analyzed something in the behavior of AI, she would notice, for example, that most of the tests moved to the northern part of the complex. Or that GLaDOS has become a little stricter so that Chell goes to bed on time.

One morning, when the temperature in the control room rose ten degrees, Chell woke up with a strong shake. The girl jumped up, deciding that an earthquake had begun, but the bed ceased to shake in an instant, and a handful of sequins flew into the girl’s face.
"I bet you won’t guess what day it is", - GLаDOS said. Test subject blinked, looking at the android part of the head of the complex.
The AI got shoulders to a level just below the armpits. The arm-manipulator, previously located on a separate pedestal, finally took its rightful place in the right android shoulder.
Chell sighed in delight and clapped her hands.
"This is not like the answer", - GLaDOS grinned, extremely pleased with test subject's response. - "However, I consider it a compliment to my genius. Although the deadlines for developing the full version had to be postponed due to large-scale overhaul..." - AI shot the girl with a displeased sight, - "...However! The result is already very good. One more "however" - you never guessed what day it is today".
Chell thought a little and asked with her fingers: "Friday?" AI facepalmed, demonstrating excellent hand control.
"Apparently, such a formulation has no associative connections in your head. In general, today is your birthday".
A pair of manipulators fastened a bright cardboard cap on an elastic band over Chell's head. The girl in surprise curved her eyebrows.
"This time without cheating and without a trick", - GLaDOS put her hand on the pedestal. - "Just happy birthday. You are officially the oldest person on Earth. Seriously, do you have any idea how much time you spent in anabiosis, until..."
AI suddenly fell silent and frowned a little. Chell anxiously took the head of the complex by the hand and smiled.
"...Well, in the end", - continued AI without taking her hand, - "you are the oldest person on earth. Well preserved, granny".
The worker snorted and hugged the accessible part of the android. GLaDOS waited exactly three seconds, listening to herself, and laid her hand on the girl's back, hugging the birthday girl in response. Even through the shirt, the subject's skin seemed hot.
AI barely restrained herself from putting her head on test subject’s shoulder.

Ten trays, one by one, crawled out from under the floor, as if on a small conveyor. On the trays was a huge amount of chocolate cupcakes, each with a cherry in the middle.
Chell widened her eyes and reached for the nearest tray, but the manipulator immediately slammed her hands slightly.
"Bustler", - GLаDOS spoke impassively and continued solemnly, - "I mean, dear [insert test subject’s name]! Today is your birthday. Know that your contribution to science is undoubtedly invaluable and very important to us. At the end of the month, you will be given one cake of the "Black Forest" type, a fork and the number of candles that is appropriate for your age. Congratulations. You are the hero of the day".
GLaDOS twitched a little, and she smiled softly at the "heroine of the day".
"This was a recorded message, mute lunatic. Well... You understood. Happy Birthday. But there will be no cake, too high in calories for a person with your body type", - AI said. Not to admit that she decided not to cook the cake for the sake of speedy assembly of a part of the future body, because she thought that this would make Chell more happy. - "So I made you cupcakes. Far fewer calories, despite the amount. There are three hundred sixty five of them. For each day you successfully lived on my incredibly dangerous and scientifically important trials".

The platform pushed one of the trays closer. Chell was finally able to take one cupcake and happily began to chew. Meanwhile, GLaDOS displayed for her on the screen an image of a site somewhere in a complex entirely laden with turrets. In the foreground, with an “eye” to this peculiar “choir”, stood a turret, signed on the side with Chell's signature, still unformed at that time, in a handwriting like “Oracle”.
"This is... for you too", - GLaDOS again felt the phantom dryness in a nonexistent throat and thought with annoyance that maybe she should not experience the whole spectrum of human feelings. - "I can please you a few, actually. My resources regarding the holiday are not unlimited, and..."
The girl put her finger to the lips of AI, staring at the screen. The Oracle sang a thin "Happy Birthday". The turret chorus picked up the song in different voices, so much so that Chell took to nod and sway to the beat of the song.
GLаDOS has been looking at the subject all this time. According to AI, she looked happy, only the girl for some reason did not remove her finger from artificial lips.

Chapter Text

Once a tiny green sprout sprouted through the floor of one of the rooms. It could have gone completely unnoticed if one of the tests with the portal had not passed in this room, and if Chell had not flopped her nose forward in front of it, having stumbled on her legs after a particularly long jump.
"In my opinion, you already have a good nose shape. But even if you don’t like it, do not straighten it with such radical methods", - noticed GLaDOS with sarcasm. Chell raised her head with a grin, and it was then that a tiny stem with a very tiny leaf caught her eyes.
"What?" - GLaDOS arched an eyebrow of a perfectly modeled shape. Test subject jumped in front of the camera and waved her arms as if trying to show her something. - "Are you tired already? It won’t work, you still have to go through six more chambers".
Chell stamped, sat near the sprout and began to poke her fingers at it. AI brought the picture closer and finally realized what the girl needed.
"Where did it come from?.. Okay, continue the test, I'll figure it out".

A search droid discovered at the bottom of the former “Bring Your Daughter to Work” exhibition an enormous overgrown potato. GLaDOS flinched when she saw forgotten children's stands on the droid’s camera - she hadn’t remembered this place for so long...
Especially “funny” was the authorship of this sprouted project.
"How long has it been..." - muttered the AI thoughtfully. She then, it seems, did not even exist... As GLaDOS, of course.
AI ordered the droid to collect several sprouts and small potatoes, while mentally completing a new expedition from androids to the surface.

"Take a look", - the pipe spat out several dirty little potatoes on the Companion Cube. Chell raised an eyebrow in surprise. - "Do not recognize it? According to my sources, you and that fool walked very nicely once in the middle of an exhibition with a bunch of potato batteries".
The girl suddenly tensed. She put down the Fawn, which she was trying to dress in some pieces of cloth, and picked up a pair of potatoes in her hand.
"Do you recognize this?" - GLaDOS grinned. - "I'm not mad at you, though. In the end, you made the right choice, though you... What?"
Chell waved her hand again, and when the AI was distracted by it, she actively spoke with her fingers. The gestures were a little crumpled, but GLaDOS freely reproduced in her head: "I saw my name there in one of the experiments".
"So are you a scientist?" - GLaDOS coquettishly covered her lips with her palm. Of course, AI already knew about it. She even almost dug to the depths of the archive for the full Chell's dossier. Just do not have to talk with girl about this... - "Haha, so what, do you want your lab coat?"
Chell waved her hand and smiled no less coquettishly. Sometimes GLaDOS wondered, among other things, whether something more reasonable than the girl showed was hidden in this semi-childish mind.
"In any case... What are you planning to do with this potato? I can cook it for you. Or let it grow up under normal conditions".
The girl stroked the potato and put it in the palm of the AI. Test subject's fingers brought out: "Grow up".

Chell's new hobby again interfered with the experiments with the portalgun, but this time GLaDOS even started to like a new business. Doing something with Chell, introducing mute randomness everywhere, was more fun.
The AI was present, as usual, in the form of a screen and a camera, acting only as an instructor and commander. The girl joyfully worked as a sapper shovel, loosening the earth and digging potatoes.
"Do not dig too deep, and do not cut your hand on the sharp edge of the shovel. So, now put the root crop there and bury it. I already turned on the heating here, later I will add automatic turning on and off the light and watering..."
Chell no longer listened to AI, in any way moving the pots with a wide smile of the child who first saw Lego.
"By the way, winter is coming", - casually noticed AI. - "So consider yourself lucky. Defrost, metaphorically speaking, your old project, haha".

Chapter Text

One day, Chell suddenly asked in sign language how to spell the word "insidious."
"I n s i d i o u s", - GLaDOS clearly dictated, immediately shook her head and asked, - "Hey, what for?.."
Chell answered with her usual mysterious smile. AI just sighed.
"Secrets for secrets. As if it was you who controlled everything here, and not me".

About a week after this strange question, one morning, Chell ran early for tests. AI was about to go about her business when her attention was drawn to a notebook with a bright yellow sticker on the cover.
On the sticker it was written: "Story!!". Below the following was written in plain pencil: "not done yet". GLaDOS chuckled - apparently, test subject could not come up with anything more intimidating.
"Common sense forbid she write something at least remotely reminiscent of the contents of her magazine", - she placed one of the small white panels next to it like a little table, took a notebook in her hand and opened it.
Inside, as expected, was a text written in black gel pen. GLaDOS was surprised that Chell didn’t smear ink all over the page, given how diligently she used to crawl her hand while writing. AI shot the notorious "third eye" in the direction of test subject, which with the help of portals enthusiastically poured gels on the walls in the chamber number 289, and began to read.

"FIRST!

Once there was a robot. The robot was a princes and her name was GLaDOS (AI's name was written out in the text especially carefully and emphasized by a wavy line). Se She lived alone in a large-large castle that was a larob l a b o r a t o r y. Once in her big, big castle in the basement?.. in the room the test subdject woke up. Aha and her name was Subdject. The princes gave her cool gun and sent her to solve all sorts of tests and it was cool. The gun made a cool “shoo” and cool portals, which ar done like this: you shoot one portal onto a wal or flor in front of you, and the othe into another place, only into white wall and enter blue, and exit orange and vice versa! Cool!
The Princes made rooms for SUbdject for three hours, maybe six, for a long time, and then she got angry and stoped. And then she almost burned the Subdject but she eskaped becose the party was not true ;( And hurts to be burnd.
Then in short the Subdject wolked and wolked for a long time and wolked along the complex for a loooong time. Becuase Complex IS big. Real! And when she was walking the Princes who was Robot often called her back to her, because she probabl was bored by herself. But turrets cannot pas test s, it is not interestin to pass with them. They have no hands, they can’t keep a gun with cool "shoo".
Then the Subdject came to the Princes and they tolked. That is, only the robot spoke becase she speaks cool and in jeneral she is cool! But for some reson she was very angry with Subdject. probably the party was real but the sUbdject didnt come and Princes was ofended. Then Subdject dropped the violet-eyed thing into the desrtroyer, and the Princes was completely angry ;( and began to shoot misiles at the Subdject. Hurt! And then the Subdject shot another “shoo” with a gun and beat the Princess akcidenally some times, and then droped a few round things into Desrtroyer becase she also bekame angry with the Princes. Becase why did the Robot Princes killed her?
And then she akcidenally killed the Princesss."

Video camera No. 83 made a crack. GLaDOS shot it a fleeting glance, - the camera was shot down by a wormhole, as predicted, - dryly ordered Chell not to do this anymore, licked her lips that didn’t need it, and quickly returned to reading test subject's "masterpiece".

"THEN!

Then a lot, a lot of time passed, a looooooooooooooooooooooot, really! Maybi a quintillion (the word "quintillion" was written unexpectedly correctly). And the Subdject somewere woke up again. She didnt undestand anything but some men talked to her and she walked around the room and looked at the pictoore there and went to bed again because she was tired again.
And then THEN! Again wok up only for some reson it was very dark and the man did not speak. And the casle seemed to be broken completly, there were even all kind of plants and birds, but the Princess does not like birds. And then came drag wiza I n s i d i o u s! core which is round ball like the one that threw the subdject into the desrtroyer. His Wetley's name. At first he was cool, and then it seems like crazy. But that later. At first it was cool.
He said that the castle brok completely becase the Princes died and they had to leave the castle somewere else.
Subdject with Wetley went and weeent and weeeent and she again found a gun with "shoo"! Cool With portals! Yes.
Then they wolked on and faund the room in which the Princes lived befor. Subdject saw the Princess and she became sad. She could have k hugged the Princess, but becase of Witley was shy. It was nesesary to hug, but it was sad. Well she didnt hug her.
Then they akcidenally revived the Princes! It is COOL! The Princes was probably angry with Subdject, althou she did not qite undestand. Likly if she was angry she woold kill, but she did not kill. But she was very Glad that the Princess was alive! She is a Robot but robots dont die, they just breake. But still,felt sorry for the Princes. Then the Princes almost broke Witley, and again sent Subdject to the tests to pass new ones! Very new! There the panels flew and the celin lowered. In fact was a little scary what if the Princes woold kill her again? Well, the Princes sad that she wants the Subdject to pass the tests until death, well. Then Wetley came and did t r i c k! he let Subdject escape and they ran and"

At this point, Chell’s extremely detailed autobiography was interrupted. GLaDOS flipped through the notebook three times, fully aware of the meaninglessness of its actions, but feeling the thirst for continuation and the need to do something about it.
"What a... graphomaniac", - AI grinned, lovingly stroking the cover of the notebook and preparing four cameras at once for the sake of photocopies. Just for science reasons... The effect of tests on test subjects’ thirst for creation, yes. That is how she substantiated it for herself.
And at the same time GLaDOS took up the setup of cameras in the control room. In case Chell wants to hide the notebook.

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS turned on an antenna that caught wi-fi, and, blowing dust off the search engines that it had not used for a long time, began to look for interesting "facts" about people.
"Ten percent of the brain? What nonsense", - she muttered to herself, rocking Chell's bed with the movements of the floor tiles. - "Moss on the north side... Drivel. Vaccines cause... Wow. Just wow. People really left so much unnecessary information husk. Ten hugs... Hmm".

Chell returned from the test, as usual, smeared with blue gel, immediately took off her shirt, boots and pants and headed for the shower.
"Hey!" - AI called her. - "Well, be so kind as to collect it all and throw it in the laundry basket yourself".
Chell snorted, but began to pick up the scattered clothes from the floor. GLaDOS, meanwhile, placed a hand on her own shoulder and was transported to the main body, trying to do it so that test subject did not notice.

On leaving the shower, Chell unexpectedly stumbled upon the AI herself. Test subject was dumbfounded as she gazed at the shifted pedestal, now equipped with small wheels on the sides.
"Movement is life", - commented on such changes GLaDOS and spread her arms to the sides. Yes, the AI now had a second arm. In addition, she completed the body a little more, to the level “under the chest”, and a thick black cable emerged from the junction of the neck with the back from behind, going somewhere to the ceiling. - "This is a new series, Beta v. 0.2.5. Added the mobility of the body... Wheels and wire, in short. This is just the beginning, that's when I will understand... That is, when I will develop more powerful antennas for myself and finish the program that reproduces the human gait..."
Chell had recovered from her surprise by then, squeaked happily and gripped the AI unexpectedly tightly. GLaDOS expected some of this reaction and, not without pleasure, hugged test subject back.
"Yes, that means that soon... I will be able to walk with you".

After encouraging five episodes of "Chip and Dale", before dinner, after brushing her teeth, and before bed, Chell received a few more hugs. The girl was surprised, a little confused, but overall she felt happier than ever. In the meantime, GLaDOS was deciding for herself whether she liked hugging and what effect the hug would have on test subject.
"Do you know that a person needs about ten hugs a day to feel good?" - noticed GLaDOS. - "That is, it says so in one unscientific source. We need to use this statement as a guess for the next series of experiments. I will need to watch you for a week... Maybe two".

For the next two to three weeks, Chell received ten to fourteen stable hugs daily. Unbeknownst to herself, the AI gradually increased the duration of hugs from five seconds to five minutes, and as a result, they spent Sunday evening watching "Fried Green Tomatoes" together, just holding hands. Chell even cried a little towards the end - silently, of course, although she did not understand all the conversations of the film. GLaDOS stopped herself not to offer her the handkerchief with her free hand, and silently wiped test subject's face with the manipulator.
"Time to measure your data change over the week", - the AI uttered an unusually distant voice, opening the elevator to the medical bay. The inner feeling of herself, too vivid, beating for some time now somewhere under some useful devices hidden under a soft pad in what ordinary women would have breasts (solely because GLaDOS was looking for ways to avoid sharp corners in the structure), scared AI, and, trying to realize the Something that was piling on her, GLaDOS involuntarily stopped intoning.
Chell glanced at her worriedly and took her other hand. The AI sighed and looked at test subject as if seeing her for the first time.
"Oh yes. No. I mean, I'm fine. Seriously, go ahead, I need to get some fresh data".

As expected, Chell's psychological performance improved, even though the AI hadn't even reduced the number of sarcastic jokes.
"When human sources of knowledge turn out to be useful, I even begin to believe that humans could create me", - noticed GLaDOS as she took Chell's hand as she exited the elevator to the medical bay. - "Your levels of serotonin and dopamine production have increased, and, it seems, increased stress resistance. At least compared to what it was".
Test subject nodded and hugged the part of the AI that was available to her. GLaDOS put her hands on the girl's back as usual, but then Chell wriggled out of her arms and asked with gestures: "Do you want to sleep next to me?"
"Heh, again your human troubles?" - The AI waved her hand. - "First, I am not sleeping. Unless you count the battery recharging as sleep. Secondly, I still won't be able to lie down. I have no legs, and a cable... Let's say I am not yet autonomous in relation to the complex".
The girl bit her lip and lowered her head. The AI caught a nonexistent breath.
"But, but don't be upset, huh. There is nothing to be upset about here. You don't worry about the bed breaking under you, do you?"
The AI was about to head back to the bridge, but suddenly returned to Chell and hugged test subject tightly, maybe even a little too tightly. Once again, since the manipulator grabbed the girl by the hand, carried away into the cold space emptiness, GLaDOS regretted the human body and warmth.
"One day, Ch... Chell. Someday".

Chapter Text

Once, a system of reinforced fiber optic cables, which the AI did not have enough time to repair, was finally repaired. No, she had a connection with the Internet before, but now she has provided a network for all personal computers in the complex. Of course, she did not plan to inform the girl about this, at least right now.
"So, are you ready for the water test?" - Chell nodded bravely, shifting from foot to foot. Oddly enough, GLaDOS decided to introduce updated tests when a snowstorm raged outside the complex. The girl spun from time to time - the new test suit, covering the whole body, tight-fitting, white and orange, almost a diving suit, was very unusual, but this did not detract from the Chell's spirit of adventure. - "Fine. For now, let's do without mechanical sharks. It's good that you learned how to swim during your vacation".

The test looked something like this: a half-flooded camera, several platforms, including those with buttons, bounded by small bumpers, and an innovation - balls with a small cut on one side so that they can be fixed on the buttons.
"Portals, of course, will not work", - noticed GLaDOS. - "The portal device cannot be wetted... For now. That's why I didn't give it to you. Everything here will depend on your agility and speed of reaction. And the ability to swim, of course. Maybe I'll add a couple of floating turrets later".

While Chell was rubbing herself with a towel (forcibly), the AI scolded her with a very displeased look using the screen. GLaDOS was afraid the girl would splash.
"Three hours! It took you three hours to complete the test! Most of them dived from platforms! Honestly, you are not behaving like the oldest person on Earth, but like a small child! Even your lips turned blue!"
Chell waved her hands furiously, gesturing: "But it was fun".
"No matter how warm the water is, you can't sit in it twenty-four by seven. You're not a fish!"
"But it was FUN".
"Fun is fun, but if you catch a cold again, you will have to curtail the water test program indefinitely! It seemed to me that you do not like to be sick".
Chell pouted out her lips that were really blue, but she stopped arguing. Emboldened, GLaDOS decided to take a chance.
"Plus, if you pass these tests well and obey, then I can give you a new reward. Since scientific interest cannot bribe you. Okay?"
The girl shrugged her shoulders. AI interpreted this as "yes".

Further experiments went much better. After a week of experiments, having dried the girl with automatic dryers almost to the point of crunching (from fear of catching a cold), GLaDOS took her to a PC in a room adjacent to the control room. Once upon a time, a scientist sat in it, who was supposed to monitor the state of the system that controlled the complex.
He was one of the first to choke.
"I promised you a reward for successfully passing the water tests and obeying in the process. Quite frankly, being a whale two days ago didn't sound like good behavior, but I can close my eyes to that. Sit", - GLaDOS rolled an orange chair to the computer desk. Chell sat up, not without apprehension, staring at the AI, then at the dark, convex screen. - "It is old", - explained GLaDOS, remotely turning on the computer. - "Very. But the computer is working - I take very good care of the electronics in Aperture. I'm thinking of switching to LCDs, but while these are working - why not?"
A logo in the form of a circle made up of triangles lit up on the screen. Then there was an almost empty desktop with the same logo on the splash screen.
Chell squinted at the AI in confusion.
"Humanity once created a vast knowledge base, for good and bad things", - GLaDOS began, leaning over test subject's shoulder and conjuring up the administrator passwords. It was a pleasure to use new hands, not remote control. - "The Internet. People made it for the good, like many others things, and then filled it up with their... Garbage. Both mental and material - in the form of the same pictures, videos, music, and so on. Not all, but many. Even a large mass of humanity. However, this almost does not matter to us, because I am going to acquaint you with another layer of human culture".
GLaDOS opened a website with the Aperture logo in the upper left corner in a browser. A number of children's educational games were highlighted on the page.
Chell was even more surprised.
"This, oddly enough, also helps mental development. Our scientists have proven this too. Although many outsiders, including politicians, disagreed, you can't go against the facts. By the way, I made the site myself, a couple of days ago. And most of the games are not mine. But since their developers will not be able to sue me anyway, we will not pay attention to it".
Chell moved a mouse, following the arrow on the screen, and immediately chose a puzzle game.
"Just keep in mind that I have set parental controls. Two hours a day with my permission, no more. I know people, it is easy for you to get used to even such simple games".

Chapter Text

Once, when winter was raging outside with might and main, and the head of the complex again took up a full-scale repair of the roof - she just seriously did not count on such an amount of precipitation - Chell, left to herself, again went for a walk around the complex in search of adventure. For some reason she could not find a room with disks, but she came across a new wing, which she had not reached before. The sign on the door read "Residential Complex".
Intrigued, Chell began to pick the lock.

Oddly enough, this really turned out to be a residential wing - either for local scientists, or for staff... Surely not for the test subjects, because as far as Chell remembered, it was almost completely destroyed when she woke up. In addition, inside, in a small corridor with a bunch of doors along the walls, as if there were no cameras at all.
The girl tried to jerk one of the doors. In general, this did not make much sense, since the doors had digital panels on the side, but, oddly enough, something hissed inside the room, and the door smoothly slid into the wall. The light blinked and came on, but as the light tried to turn on, Chell felt the walls seemed to be less green.
In general, the room looked habitable, as if they had left it only an hour ago... If you don't notice the dust, of course. Although the dust was somehow not too much.
The girl walked around the room, touched all the surfaces that she could reach, even jumped to the lamp and knocked on the cracked screen framed with white paint, which replaced the windows that lived here at such a depth. The apartment also contained a bed, a wardrobe, a TV, a picture with mountains, just like in Chell's former room, and a door to the bathroom.
The girl opened the closet. To her surprise, there were no lab coats, but instead of them a set of warm winter clothes hung on the hangers, under which there were some strange boots on the floor - heavy in appearance, and from the pocket of a jacket with silvery, albeit dull stripes on the sleeves, mittens stuck out.
Chell, who had never seen any clothes other than the one GLaDOS had given her and the robes of the scientists, was overjoyed and immediately pulled the winter set off the hanger. She decided not to touch the boots yet, they looked very strange, but in order to try on the insulated pants, she still had to take off the spring boots.
The pants and jacket were too big for her, but the mittens fell just on the arm. Chell spun in front of her reflection on the cracked screen, admiring herself, and clapped her hands. The sensation of hitting one fur mitten on another made the girl delighted with children. The mittens were soft and cozy and warm, especially in this wing, where it was a little cooler than in the inhabited parts of the complex. Chell also liked the jacket with silver stripes, but the pants slipped off her a little, so she decided to leave them in the room.

"For the sake of entire scientific community", - breathed out GLaDOS, - "where did you get it?"
Chell smiled, waving the sleeves of her unbuttoned jacket. The AI quickly scanned the winter kit and sighed, calming down.
"All rubbish again. You are incorrigible. But seriously, where did you get that?"
Chell thought, and pulled off her jacket and mittens to indicate with her fingers, "Residential Wing down to the northwest".
"Ah, this place..." - GLaDOS mentally connected to the wing and grinned. - "Former wing of unscientific staff. Cleaners, electricians, and so on. You know, I injected a neurotoxin there too. You are lucky that it has run out over the years".
Test subject carefully tucked the jacket into the dresser and showed GLaDOS the mittens.
"Wow, are they still whole? Surely the materials for them were also developed here, otherwise they would decay. Are you cold or what? Although... There is no heating in that wing... Alright, I let you keep them for yourself. Maybe, along with water tests, I'll introduce snow ones".
The girl plopped down on the bed, pulled on her mittens and clapped her hands. GLaDOS involuntarily smiled at her charge's childish foolishness.
"Do you know you can use them to generate some electricity? They need to rub hard against each other, and, roughly speaking, an electric spark will appear. Just be careful not to hurt yourself after that".
Chell grunted thoughtfully and began to rub her hand in hand. The light in the control room dimmed imperceptibly, and after a few seconds, test subject squeaked with delight, seeing sparks flickering between her palms.
"You see?" - GLaDOS crossed her arms across her chest with a slight grin. - "Static electricity. If you combed your hair more often, you would have met it earlier".

Once again GLaDOS, doubting her own tastes, left the girl with a choice. This time, Chell chose from eight images of snow-white female legs, the differences between which may have been noticeable to the robot's eye, but the subject would hardly be able to distinguish one option from another in a normal situation.
"Come on, decide already", - The AI impatiently touched her shoulder with the manipulator. Chell pretended to be as pensive as possible and pointed at one of the drawings at random. - "Are you sure? One hundred percent ?.. Well, okay, option number two. Now go mind your own business".
GLaDOS turned her face away from subject to several large screens that she began installing next to the bed just a couple of days ago. She didn’t explain it to Chell, and the girl didn’t ask, but if she asked, the AI would have gotten away with trying to use her eyes as a person, not a machine.
Although in fact GLaDOS, of course, could work with the complex, simply projecting everything necessary for herself on the inner side of the eyelids, but...
She couldn't bring herself to keep her eyes closed for long when Chell was in the control room. She was even involuntarily drawn to drive closer to her test subject, but the head of the complex so far coped with this better.
Therefore, the AI preferred to display all the necessary information on the touch screens. Standing with her back to Chell was much easier.

Meanwhile, the girl again took up the mittens. She still liked the way a spark jumped between her palms during friction, and she kept thinking what it would be like to touch with mittens at that moment and what would come of it. And just then GLaDOS very successfully turned to her with a cable sticking out of her back, which was framed by black metal stripes...
The AI suddenly shot through an electrical discharge that in a wildly strange way stimulated artificial pleasure centers at once in all places where GLaDOS had installed them. The head of the complex involuntarily twitched and uttered a drawn-out groan with electric sparks in her voice: "Whoaaah!".
Chell quickly pulled her hands away. AI spun dashingly on her pedestal, still shaking slightly from the electric shock, and exclaimed a little thinner than usual, - "Was that a static d-d-discharge?" - test subject smiled guiltily and nodded. GLaDOS shrugged her shoulders, bringing herself into her usual inner balance, gritted her teeth and muttered, - "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again".
Chell threw up her hands, showing with all her appearance that she had no idea what would come out of her little "experiment". AI facepalmed for the second time in her life.
"You could actually kill me with this", - she was lying. Indeed, the reaction to a small shock in the back was too unusual to allow test subject to do so too often. - "I know, of course, that killing is your hobby", - GLaDOS reached out to take the mittens from Chell, - "but kill someone twi... Aahhh!".
The skin on the artificial hands, of course, did not conduct electricity, but the sensors built into them, which were brought out to the surface of this very skin (so AI could be able to sense something), turned out to be very conductive, and GLaDOS again felt an unusually, frighteningly pleasant discharge. The AI jerked her hand back, as did Chell, startled by such a reaction. For several seconds, while the first was powerlessly shaking, and the second was pulling the mittens off her hands and hiding behind her back, they looked at each other with incomprehension. Finally, GLaDOS was able to calm her body and, just in case, moved the pedestal away from test subject.
"Damn these things!" - she was angry. - "Burn them! Throw in acid! Anything, just so I don't see them!"

Chapter Text

Once the powerful automatic burners in the workshop stopped working, and a bare, snow-white female leg rose above the work table with an anatomical shape carefully cut out in it. At the same time, a bright yellow light came on and the Announcer's voice, left only for announcements, proclaimed: "Loading is complete".
The black cable clicked.

Chell was awakened by a loud rustle of panels. Usually minor adjustments in the control room did not bother her, but this time a vague excitement was added to the noise.
The girl narrowed her eyes - the room was completely dark, but it seemed to her that something was wrong. She reached out to where the top of GLaDOS usually stood, but felt for something softer.
Two bright yellow eyes and two multi-colored antenna tops lit up, illuminating the bed and the slightly white face of the android.
"Goodnight", - the AI chuckled, and the room light flashed entirely. Test subject stared in shock at GLaDOS's fully completed body, from head to toe finally as human as possible. In the end, the head of the complex abandoned the metric "90-60-90" parameters, having found out that this was not very convenient for the most effective internal structure of the android body, and adjusted the figure for her needs in favor of the functional. As a result, the hips and legs became a little more "plump" for the sake of a more durable musculoskeletal system, and the shoulders had to be spread a little wider in order to accommodate a more powerful battery in the chest. However, the AI noticed that first of all Chell's gaze went over intimate places, more precisely, in those places where a person should have them, and clucked her tongue in displeasure.
"This magazine of yours... Honestly, I'll burn it or accidentally throw it into the acid. I have no secondary sexual characteristics, woman!"
Chell suddenly blushed, smiled, jabbed a finger into the thick silicone lining on GLaDOS's chest and pulled her hand away with a laugh. The AI frowned deliberately and crossed her arms.
"For your information, it looks like a breast only because I need to protect important body parts inside the chest in case of an accidental fall. These are only two large layers of silicone, no more. Do not flatter yourself".
GLaDOS turned away from the girl, as if offended, and walked gracefully along the control room, supposedly checking how her legs were obeying her. To the AI's great delight, she noted through cameras on the ceiling of the room that Chell sat on the bed, watching the head of the complex with an attentive and enthusiastic gaze. Moreover, it seems that test subject was watching not so much the gait, but rather the snow-white, with barely noticeable seams, perfectly shaped legs and, almost the same as the upper ones, protective silicone layers in some places below.
Sensors on the shoulders and under the dorsal cable connector picked up something pleasant that vaguely resembled goosebumps that GLaDOS could imagine.
"You have become too absent-minded", - a little arrogantly noticed the AI, going back and sitting down on the bed. A stream of new tactile information rushed into the electronic brain at once, but GLaDOS only vexedly brushed it aside for a while in order to process some other sensations.
Chell held out her hand carefully. GLaDOS hesitated for a moment and extended her shoulder.
"You can touch me, you can. Only without frills and vulgarity, test subject".
The girl smiled with her lips and pressed against the cool side of the AI, hugging her.

"The cable has to be left for now", - GLaDOS began in a dry, instructive tone, placing her hand on the girl's waist against her own tone and even hugging her a little tighter. - "So I can't go to bed yet. I can only lie on my side, but to get up, I have to lie on my back, and... In general, night observation is canceled for now. And sleep tests too".
Chell made a weird rumbling sound and pressed her lips to GLaDOS's soft shoulder. The AI seemed to be shocked again.
"So what did I say about kissing?"
Chell smiled apologetically and rubbed her cheek against the kissing spot, affectionately like a kitten. GLaDOS involuntarily closed her eyes, concentrating entirely on this warm sensation.
"Maybe... Maybe a little later. When I... When I make experiments for this. You can go to sleep again, so be it, I'll sit next to you for a little".

Chapter Text

Once, turning the pages of the only magazine that interested her, the only human being in the complex suddenly looked closely at one of the photos. It showed a tall blonde in a nurse outfit that matched the magazine's theme, but that wasn't what Chell was attracted to in the photo. The girl looked at the model's legs, almost covered by a miniature white skirt, dressed in snow-white, slightly tight stockings and bright red shoes. In all this stereotyped image for role-playing games, the girl was most attracted by model's legs.
Chell thought, looking at the photo, smiled absently, furtively wiped the corner of her lips and looked sideways at GLaDOS, who was busy with some important scientific restructuring.
Seeing how even the hints of the presence of secondary sexual characteristics in the AI act on Chell, the head of the complex decided to put on something. In general, of course, she did not need clothes, because GLaDOS could not freeze and was not particularly shy. But in order for test subject to stop looking at her, the AI sewed herself a lab coat of the right size from the materials she had developed - white, of course, in general, the color of the head of the complex itself, with a beautiful blue logo and the name "Aperture laboratories" on the chest and with a row of white buttons. Practical AI used buttons to train fine motor skills. However, the legs of GLaDOS with thin traces of seams at the folds were still visible, especially the beautifully shaped calves.
Chell narrowed her eyes - from some distance it seemed to her that these were not seams, but stockings that merged with the AI skin in color.
The girl chuckled.

"What? - GLaDOS looked around in response to a light jab in the shoulder. Subject handed her a magazine with an open picture of a nurse, ran her fingers over the picture of stockings and looked at the AI inquiringly. - What?.. No, I said that I would not watch this perversion with you. And I don’t want to see it at all".
Chell shook her head and tapped the printed nice feet emphatically with the tip of her fingernail. The AI glanced at the photo with a disdainful look.
"What? Legs? Hmm, we've seen better. Although this is all taste, of course... W-What, whait, do you like these more?"
Chell rolled her eyes and pushed the magazine under the very nose of the AI, pointing exclusively at the stocking.
"Ahem... Stocking?" - guessed GLaDOS. - "Do you show me stocking?" - the girl nodded, gave her the magazine, happily plopped down on the floor and hugged the AI by the legs. GLaDOS' knees suddenly became weak. - "Um-m..." - her voice faltered, - "So what? Intend to wear a pair of s... S... Um?"
Chell shrugged, stroked her dainty android knees affectionately, and pressed her cheek to them. GLaDOS once again fell into a stupor during the entire time of her acquaintance with the mute lunatic.
"You-u-u", - the AI often breathed - more precisely, she imitated rapid breathing, which, oddly enough, recently also helped her calm down - shook her head and put her hand to her face, feeling how the sensors on her cheeks seemed to be heating up by themselves. - "What the hell... What are you doing again? Falling again into the depths of silent madness? Are you doing nonsense again? Honestly, I'm going to burn this magazine to hell!"
Chell just smiled and gently touched her white knees with her lips. This AI could not endure, and so she wriggled out of the girl's hands and backed away from her, so much so that she almost stumbled over test subject's bed - however, her knees suddenly buckled, so the bed turned out to be nearby very in time, and GLaDOS sat on mattress.
Chell hurriedly jumped to her feet, waved her arms and began to explain quickly with her fingers.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid", - she said, looking straight into the eyes of the dumbfounded GLaDOS, - "I just wanted to tell you that your legs are beautiful".
"And why would I... Why say it that way?"
"You thought that yours are worse than in the picture, but they are the same, even more beautiful".
"I didn't think of anything like that", - snapped out GLaDOS, involuntarily covering her knees with her palms and thinking that she should have made a longer lab coat. - "I just didn't understand what you started talking about at all. Damn it, my cable will overheat because of your tricks!"
"I didn't mean to scare you", - Chell lowered her shoulders apologetically, - "legs are the most beautiful, especially knees".
"Hm", - the AI gasped with a stern look. The intense embarrassment gradually receded, cooling the facial sensors and leaving behind an inexplicable pleasure from such a simple compliment. - "Still. What did I say about kissing?"
"You said about shoulders", - Chell protested.
"I spoke in general", - GLaDOS frowned. With dignity, she straightened the hem of her coat and stood up. - "Somehow you sat around again. Last time, because of your long idleness, we adopted the Companion Cube! Get ready, I'll give you a couple more tests".

Despite the return to her external calmness, something inside the AI seemed to be burning. She was terribly pleased that Chell considered her legs the most beautiful, then incredibly ashamed that she did not control herself in response to the touch of test subject's lips on her knees. Also, the AI sincerely did not understand why from this gesture, of which Chell were no less strange before, the knee mechanisms suddenly weakened so much - albeit literally for a couple of minutes, but weakened after all! At that moment, GLaDOS tried with all her might to regain control of her own legs, and could not immediately.
And this really scared her.
"Fetishist, damn it!" - AI cursed to herself, once again opening and immediately closing several sites at once, some of which were devoted to stockings, some to strange human fetishes, and the rest to psychology. - "Damn her and these illogical, unreasonable humanity!"
Suddenly, in the depths of long-term memory, in the darkest and most confined dusty corner files, the Announcer's whisper responded: "Caroline deleted".

Chapter Text

Once such frost struck outside that in one of the places most hastily patched up by GLaDOS, the roof broke down and collapsed into the complex, forming a rather large hole. Fortunately, only a piece of the minus first floor was damaged, where the administrative block that no one needed for a long time was located. But the sight itself seemed so funny to the AI that she decided to show it to Chell.
"Don't even think about sneaking out now", - she admonished, wrapping test subject in a scarf with her own hands. Just in time, the AI suddenly found a wardrobe with winter clothes. - "At minus twenty degrees Celsius and four centimeters of precipitation, you will not go far, only get lost and freeze. And then you will die. I will be upset".
Chell snorted and hugged the head of the complex. GLaDOS sighed and called the elevator.
"Come on before I fix the roof".

Already through the glass doors of the elevator, Chell saw a mass of snow piled up on tables, cabinets and non-working computers. The girl was delighted. As soon as the doors opened, Chell plunged into the snow, took off her mitten and scooped up a handful with her hand. The cold seared on her hand amazed test subject.
"Can I leave you alone for five minutes without you trying to self-destruct?" - the AI grumbled, following the girl through the cameras. She lifted Chell from the snowdrift with the help of manipulators, then lifted her off the floor. - "You will get sick again. Do you like being sick that much?"
Chell shook her head and spread her arms to point at the snowy office in front of her.
"Yes, it's snow. Have you never seen it? .. However, this may be. You rejoiced at the sea as if you had seen it for the first time. If you don’t undress, I’ll allow you to wander here".
Chell nodded and was lowered back onto the snow. The girl began to wander between the tables, listening to the creak under her feet, deeply breathing in the frosty air and looking at the sky covered with grayish clouds.
"Do you know how it snows?" - GLaDOS connected to one of the remote servers, searched for a bit, and played some quiet Christmas song in the administrative block. - "This is, in fact, frozen rain. A planet, orbiting past the Sun at a certain moment in time, normally deviates along its axis so that the Northern Hemisphere begins to warm up less... It gets colder, and snowflakes form in the clouds instead of water droplets".
Chell listened intently to the AI, trying to visualize the water freezing into loose snow. She remembered one time she slipped on a path of light, and GLaDOS noted with a grin: "This bridge is made of solid light, not ice, as you might think. Be so kind, treat it more politely".
Chell took off her mitten to ask a question. "This is not ice".
"Ice..." - The AI stopped, suddenly illuminated by a couple of interesting thoughts. The second thought related to how to explain the difference in the formation of snow and ice to test subject, and therefore GLaDOS immediately voiced it, - "Generally. Snow is formed from small droplets, and ice from a large surface of water. Got it?"
Chell nodded and scooped up the handful of snow again with the mitten.

This time GLaDOS completely dropped the self-improvement projects and focused on fixing the roof, so the repair was much better.
Immediately after that, she removed all the sand from the still carefully guarded room with the beach, cleaned the water thoroughly, raised the level of the sealed floor a little and turned off the heating in the room.
"Rise and shine", - she woke her test subject the next day. Chell, who was still sleepy, stretched, immediately shrank chilly and stared at the maliciously grinning robot with incomprehension. - "I have new entertainment for you. Since you may have never seen a real winter".
With these words, she handed the girl the same winter set of clothes, and in addition to it - warm sports socks and strange-looking boots. For some reason, blades were attached to the sole of the boots.
"Get dressed", - AI smiled mysteriously. - "I will help you with skates".

The transport platform brought the intrigued Chell to the former indoor sea. The girl sighed in admiration when she saw a smooth wide mirror of ice, a little covered with snow in the corners. GLaDOS painted the walls of the room with blue and white geometric shapes that formed strictly symmetrical patterns.
"I spoil you too much", - said GLaDOS from the big screen on the wall. - "But since a person needs entertainment to maintain stable mental health, I can sacrifice a couple of test rooms for this".
Chell carefully touched the ice with the toe of her skate - she barely managed to walk on them on a hard surface, and if, as the AI claimed, the ice is so slippery...
The transport platform tilted, and the girl was pushed onto the ice. Chell, eyes round with surprise, rode across the ice.
"Row with your feet!" - commanded GLaDOS, keeping a close eye on test subject. - "Left-right, left-right!"
Chell tried to move her legs as the AI told her to, and eventually fell to her butt, shaken by silent laughter.
"Damn you!" - GLaDOS couldn't help laughing too. - "Kindly learn how to ride, please, by the time I can get there".
"Soon?" - Chell's hands immediately asked. AI covered her lips with her hand, feeling that the smile did not want to leave her face.
"Soon, soon".

Chapter Text

Once Mr. Johnson needed a new batch of moonstones. No one had any idea what the director of Aperture was doing with them, but the stones were removed from the moon with downright whole cargo rockets, which not only cost a lot of money, but also did not promise any visible financial benefits.
At least they were not seen by the ordinary staff of the complex.

"Almost everything has been prepared for flight, the rocket is again assembled and equipped, the team is preparing", - Rick reported, flipping through the slides of the presentation. Glados suddenly sneezed and blew her nose noisily into a napkin. Everyone present - namely Mr. Johnson himself, Rick, head of the development center Craig and the future head of the expedition, the biggest fan of space travel in the complex, Kevin - looked back at the specialist in handling the main Aperture AI.
"What's wrong with you, beauty?" - Rick smiled pleasantly. - "Bless you!"
"I didn't change my boots on time", - sighed Glados. It had been winter for a long time, and since Chell still sometimes let her go, the woman decided to take advantage of this and buy something in the city.
Unfortunately, a blizzard suddenly arose, and Glados, counting on warmer weather, freezed notably.
"Oh, well, um... Get well soon!" - Rick was worried, but Mr. Johnson coughed impatiently, and the head of Human Testing Experiments had to return to the presentation.

"Send me more handkerchiefs", - asked Glados over the intercom and put on the headphones. The control room looked more and more like a living space - they brought her a wardrobe, a secretary, a bookcase, an armchair, which she had to take out of her long-empty apartment, and at the same time set up a workplace with a personal computer. It's just that Mr. Johnson suddenly said that "enough for our specialist to have fun with his electronic girlfriend, it's time to work!" And he filled up the woman with reports for analysis.
Chell had been circling the woman for a while with obvious concern, but Glados preferred to ignore her. Finally, in the middle of sending information about the test participant in one of the reports, the headphones were unceremoniously pulled off the woman's head, and Chell started her Morse code.
"For God's sake, quieter!" - Glados yelled at her. - "My head is cracking anyway, and you don't even designate commas!"
"Are you feeling bad?" - asked Chell. The scientist waved her hand.
"Just a runny nose. It will pass by itself. Better tell me, have you prepared the rocket launch pad as I asked you to?"
Chell blinked affirmatively and pushed the woman in the back with the manipulator.
"Get well soon, darling"
"Okay, darling", - grinned Glados.

Despite the promise, Glados felt worse as the day of the rocket launch approached. The worst thing was that the scientist's poor health could not be hidden from Chell, who, of course, had eyes and ears throughout the complex. Chell began to insist that Glados go to bed early, turned off her computer without permission if the woman did not obey, demanded that she should go to the doctor a hundred times a day...
It all ended with the fact that literally on the eve of the start date of the expedition, Glados fainted right next to the worktable. If not for the quick reaction of the manipulators, perhaps, she could have been injured.
Chell instantly dropped everything and carefully dragged her scientist to the medical block with the help of the plates.

"Is she still being treated?" - asked Mr. Johnson impatiently. Rick shook his head.
"She kicked the doctors out of the block, threatening to release the neurotoxin, and locked herself there with her. Mr. Johnson, I think you need to..."
"Damn its love for Glados!" - Cave interrupted him almost cheerfully, clearly not listening. - "It fiddles with it like a crystal vase, ha-ha! You know, it would be better to transfer the brain of Glados to the computer, and not this test girl. It would be more useful!"
Rick strongly doubted this, but decided not to argue.
"...I think", - he continued, looking straight at the boss, - "I think that we shouldn't bother Chell. What if she really release a neurotoxin? She can also seal the Glados chamber beforehand. All other people in the complex only interfere with our metal beauty, it seems. If anyone stands between us and the tons of neurotoxin in our basement, it's Glados."
"So what do you want me to do?" - Johnson chuckled impatiently. - "Should I call an ambulance here?"
"No, I just need to negotiate with Chell. If possible, help her. You know that until our robot tamer is on her feet, we will not launch a rocket."
The smile faded from Cave's face.
"Damn it! Exactly, I completely forgot that she had to correct course! Okay, okay, do what you want, I give you all the powers, only so that these two obnoxious young ladies finally prepare my rocket!"

Meanwhile, Glados regained consciousness and was not even surprised to find that she was in the medical unit.
"How are you?" - came suddenly from a speaker on the wall. The woman shuddered and looked at it.
"Um... Chell?"
"How are you?" - repeated the speaker. The voice was one hundred percent female, and somehow too clear.
"I'm... better", - Glados put her hand to her temple. - "Damn, my head is splitting... What have you done?"
"I save you", - Chell responded worriedly. The woman's bed was immediately adjusted, taking a comfortable half-sitting position on it.
"Do I need to get sick for you to start using the voice synthesizer?" - Glados grinned weakly.
"You scared me", - there was a reproach in Chell's voice. The woman was about to wave her hand, but she decided not to bother herself.

After a week of treatment, during which Glados generally rested well, the woman felt much better. Chell even gave her a laptop, after blocking all programs for work on it. And at the same time, the woman began to hate the chicken soup that the caring robot fed her every day.
"Can I have something else?" - she could not resist, again seeing the chicken floating in the soup. - "I have a feeling that I will soon grow feathers myself!"
"It is good for health", - Chell objected. - "You are still weak."
"It's not just chicken soup that is healthy!" - insisted Glados. - "What exactly kills a person is the monotony!"
Chell hesitated a bit before asking:
"Really?"
"Really", - the woman sighed as pitifully as possible. - "If you keep a person, for example, on the same bread and water for a long time, they may die."
Chell thought for a long time, and after three hours she sent several requests to Rick's desktop.
In the evening the patient had tomato soup.

Two more days later, Chell finally allowed her scientist to continue working, but only from the hospital ward and only the work that she herself approved. Therefore, the reports re-sent by Johnson ruthlessly flew into the electronic trash, but the AI agreed to start the rocket.
"The countdown begins!" - commanded Rick, sitting eight floors above the ladies. Glados watched the launch from two laptops with her headphones on. One showed the launch pad, and the second showed the cockpit with Kevin, who was almost crazy with happiness, and several other members of the expedition. Kevin flew to get moonstones not for the first time, but still, every expedition he was happy like a child.
"...Three! Two! One!"
Chell and Glados watched closely as the rocket lifted off, and the woman only breathed out calmly as the spacecraft entered the stratosphere.
"Bravo ladies!" - Rick congratulated them already on the phone. - "You are cool, beauties!"
"Yeah..." - gasped the woman, leaning back against the pillow. Her head ached a little again. - "Look, if Johnson starts again... God, for God's sake, just tell him to go to hell! On my behalf."
"Do not worry, he will now monitor exclusively the flight", - Rick grinned. - "And with no less enthusiasm than Kevin, huh! Only you take care of yourself in the future, beauty. He has already started joking that he needs to shove you into the computer instead of your fish."
Glados shuddered. Before her eyes, an android riveted from spare parts, but very tenderly, too much like her, suddenly stood up. The woman smiled a little sadly and looked at the speaker on the wall.
"Yeah... Ha-ha. I'll take care".

Chapter Text

Once, while studying all sorts of nonsense at the computer, Chell clicked somewhere in the wrong place and suddenly opened the electronic calendar. She was amused by this, although she did not quite understand how the calendar worked, and test subject began to click the arrows. There were some notes on the numbers of December 25 and 31. Happy to have the Internet in Aperture, Chell found some feature articles and started reading. Some talked about some kind of Christmas, and others - about the New Year, and although the concept of "new" was present in test subject's head, this absolutely did not clarify anything.
What Chell got for sure was that those two days were holidays. Moreover, the first one was also someone's birthday, just like her own, only one that was celebrated by a bunch of people on the planet. However, in some articles the New Year was also called Birthday, but in some strange context.
Chell had no doubts that her beloved AI was looking at her browser history, but she still decided to contact her personally.

"Where do you get all this from?" - GLaDOS mumbled irritably as she quickly skimmed through all the information available to her on end of year international holidays. Of course, they missed these holidays last time, and for a reason. She hadn’t been interested in the New Year earlier because GLaDOS had only one mute lunatic at hand from the whole society, friends and family. AI considered Christmas to be more of a religious holiday, and, like a human, a robot and the embodiment of science, ignored it. In addition, if she was really interested in someone's birthday, it was one specific birthday.
"I read, I wonder", - Chell said with her fingers. GLaDOS chuckled - well, yes, test subject was interested in all the ways available to her to have fun and take time off from work, and this in a paradoxical combination with love and desire to go through difficult test chambers. People are so paradoxical.
"So what? I'm almost done with the legs of the eighth model, the most stable and optimized model, you know. I have no time to prepare you either Christmas or New Year. Birthday - yes, this is your day, despite all the horror of your nature, but I cannot be distracted by something side. If you want to - do it yourself".
Chell thought about it and nodded in agreement. The AI even smiled with one corner of her lips - what would people do just to do nothing!
"Okay. So be it. You have been very productive this year. I'll give you a couple of droids, but don't ask for more".

For some reason, the search droids given to the girl immediately began to obey her, and they together set about preparing some kind of fusion of the end of the year holidays. GLaDOS was intrigued, but decided not to interfere with test subject's affairs.
Chell threw the bridge, the sides of the bed and the walls, where she could hook her, with tinsel, which the same droids found for her. Chell marked them with felt-tip pens as "01" and "02". Also, 01 and 02 themselves undertook to cut out some strange gizmos from the panels that the AI was planning to redo.
"Just don't bring a live spruce here", - grinned at GLaDOS as she watched test subject try to tie tinsel around the cables of her old "body". It hung in the middle of the control room, blindly looking into space with an optic covered by a plate, only it was slightly raised to the ceiling.
Every day GLaDOS wanted to take it apart more and more.

"You know perfectly well that I see everything through cameras, right?" - noticed the AI, closing her eyes at Chell's request. The girl grinned and tied something for her on one of the antennas. - "Hey! I think I asked you not to touch the antennas?"
Test subject grinned again and led the AI around the room by the hand. The head of the complex honestly did not look at what was happening through the cameras, but by ear, something else was clearly happening in the room.
"Are we going marathon?" - asked GLaDOS on the fifth lap. - "I'll start twisting the cable soon".
Chell stroked her palm, sat her down on the bed, and touched her shoulder.
GLaDOS opened her eyes.
In general, not much has changed in the room during these five laps. The droids dragged one of the turned on heaters to the bed and placed three pairs of Chell's socks next to it. They also threw a large piece of green tarp over Chell's dresser, placing a five-pointed star cut from the panels on top of it.
"Some kind of cheap holiday you have", - GLaDOS quietly turned on the kettle in the kitchen and moved closer to test subject. - "However, it's still cozy. And what, how are we going to celebrate?"
The girl dragged the Companion Cube to the bed and put a simple cardboard box tied with a lace on top of it. GLaDOS arched an eyebrow.
"Is it?.." - Chell smiled and pushed the box closer to the AI. She seemed to go cold under the spinal cord. - "Oh... Is this... Present?"
The girl nodded happily and hugged the AI tightly. GLaDOS grabbed the lace, thinking that she hadn't thought of a gift for Chell at all.
"Well, what could you give me of all the things in my complex?" - GLaDOS emptied the contents of the box into her palm. It turned out to be an acorn, through which a thread was threaded and dipped in orange paint.
The AI considered this strange gift for a minute, listening to her own feelings. Apparently Chell was counting on the head of the complex to wear it around her neck like a pendant.
"Hmm... adorable", - GLaDOS grunted strangely and put an acorn to her neck. - "Tie it up, please".
Chell deftly tugged the thread around the robot's neck with a bow and playfully stroked it with her fingers. GLaDOS sighed weakly, already struggling to cope with the chill.

"You know", - AI intimately lowered her voice and suddenly took the girl's hand, slowly intertwining her fingers with her. - "I thought so much about why at all... I started it all. I left you in a complex, began to re-make myself a body similar to a human... Most of the time I can adequately assess my decisions, but when it comes to you..."
Chell elbowed her in the side encouragingly and put her free arm around her waist. GLaDOS gave herself up to the sensation of close human warmth and blissfully closed her eyes.
"You are so illogical", - she continued. - "I tried to kill you several times, almost crippled you, almost threw you into space, but you still pretend that I am the closest intelligent creature to you".
Chell freed her fingers from the AI's fingers and quickly said, "You are", with one hand, then put her hand on the back of GLaDOS's head, stroking her.
The AI was completely baffled by her own feelings.
"It would be easier not to think about it", - concluded GLaDOS, folding her hands on the Cube. - "Only I can't. That is, I, in general, guess... No, I know what it is, but it doesn't make me less scared".
Chell sighed - the AI was thinking too much, in her opinion. Chell coughed and gently but firmly pressed the back of GLaDOS's head, pulling her head down.
"What?" - the head of the complex did not have time to be indignant. Her lips, made with a slightly denser rubber gasket, but also with a denser collection of tactile sensors, seemed to have received a static charge. In fact, it was only the sensation of the kiss, from which Chell herself, apparently, received no less pleasure, because test subject did not try to hide it.
"I-I am..." - tried to resent the AI, but Chell pushed harder on the back of her head and made her return to the kiss. Between the waves of wonderful sensations that rushed into the part of the brain that the AI had reserved for itself to process positive emotions, a thought slipped: "Does she really want to touch this rubber?"
According to GLaDOS, human skin was much nicer.

"What's... What's gotten into you?" - GLaDOS touched her slightly bitten lips once again. Chell got a little electric shock when bitten, but she seemed to like it even better. AI decided by all means to reproduce a human oral cavity for herself - with teeth and tongue, that is - of course, only for the sake of experiments with...
"For the sake of better kissing, damn it", - GLaDOS thought, vexingly brushing aside her own scientific excuses. Yes, she really wanted to try again, but before that it was desirable to restore the integrity of the skin where Chell bit it. The AI definitely didn't expect test subject to bite at all.
Chell herself smiled absently and seemed to be recovering from small electric bites. Now she suddenly seemed unusually adult to GLaDOS - and not because she was supposedly the oldest person on Earth.
"So why are you?.." - The AI ran her finger over her lips again. Test subject touched something she had originally attached to the AI's antenna and held out the mirror she used to train her sign language.
A small plastic sprig of mistletoe dangled from the antenna.
"This seems to be not a New Year's tradition", - GLaDOS poked girl's cheek with her finger. Test subject pecked her finger and smiled. - "Okay, okay. You have your own holiday, as I can see".

Chapter Text

Once at night, GLaDOS once again returned her body through the technical corridors to the control room. The day before, she hugged Chell for quite a long time, so long that test subject almost fell asleep in her arms. It's good that the girl was easy to shove on the bed. The most exquisite jokes about the subject's weight came to mind very well - a completely deceitful mechanism of self-defense.
The operation was going to be very serious and detailed. GLaDOS unplugged the antennas and began to take apart her own back.

The bed tilted, crushed by a slightly heavier weight than the AI expected. Most of the body could be made of ultra-lightweight and ultra-strong materials, but some, in particular the battery, were heavy. Because of this, the android also had to heavier her legs in order to maintain stability.
GLaDOS thought hard about fixing these holes in the design... At another time.
Now she shifted her shoulder blades uncertainly, feeling well on her back the connector covered with a black protective plate. Just like her optic once was.
The AI sighed, gathering courage, and glanced sideways at Chell. In an amicable way, it would be worth sending her for testing before trying...
The AI stood up abruptly. The mechanisms of the legs, back and hips worked perfectly, so she was almost silent when got up.
"Too early", GLaDOS decided and mentally connected to the distant rooms to the west. It was just convenient to bring additional heating and pipes with moon gel there.

The AI cautiously looked through the cameras at the test subject who had just entered room 51 and, like that night, sat on the edge of the bed. Overall it was soft and quite pleasant to the touch. GLaDOS was annoyed only by the fact that the girl rushed away without making the bed again, but in the end she decided to try and lay down right on the place where Chell had been lying about five minutes ago.
The sheet was already quite cold where the blanket was thrown back, but the folds still kept the warmth of the girl's body. GLaDOS lay down a little, staring at the ceiling, and threw the blanket over herself. It was much warmer than the sheets. The AI detected a faint smell on the inside of the blanket with the help of primary olfactory sensors (about which she did not want to tell test subject at all).
The head of the complex was enveloped in extraordinary comfort. She closed her eyes blissfully. When Chell sat down next to her, changing clothes and returning from the bathroom, the AI seemed to feel embarrassed, but she still did not want to get up.
"If you intend to judge me or you have wet hair, you can postpone it", - without opening her eyes or even connecting to the cameras in the control room, GLaDOS said. Seeing exclusively the inside of the eyelid was extraordinarily great.
Chell, watching the AI curiously, smiled and shook her head, but the android didn't seem to notice. Then the girl dried her hair as thoroughly as possible, took away the towel, dusted off her hands just in case, and settled down on the side of GLaDOS on top of the blanket.
"How do you people sleep?" - the AI asked, opening her eyes and glancing sideways at test subject. - "It's like staring at a concrete wall from a centimeter away all night".
Chell shrugged, fumbled under the covers, and took GLaDOS's hand. AI closed her eyes again.
"I don't even really have dreams", - the android complained. - "In human understanding, that is. I always see only what was happening in the complex, albeit mixed".
The girl sympathetically stroked the robot's hand from shoulder to wrist and pressed against her side. GLaDOS rolled over on her side with a little effort, so as not to crush Chell's hand, and looked into her eyes.

Warm yellow lenses, or rather - glass, like the iris of the eyes, framing the miniature pupils of powerful cameras in the AI's eyes, met with unusually attentive ice-blue human eyes. Subject smiled affectionately and stroked GLaDOS 'cheek.
"I want to understand what it's like to lie on the bed", - the head of the complex shrugged. - "I, you know ... Come on, you already noticed that I removed the cable. I installed myself a battery for only six hours of work and twelve of recharging. Let's just say that I am not yet completely free in my movements, but already much freer".
"Stroll?", Chell asked with one hand. GLaDOS chuckled.
"Yes. I'm working on a "stroll", impatient girl. After all, there can be so many things in the world to study, why not go out... Someday... Too? And perhaps you will stop running away from here periodically".

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS, bypassing all sorts of roundabout and leading questions, turned to Chell:
"Listen, I need you to walk around the complex with me".
Seeing that Chell's face was getting surprised, the AI hurried to explain:
"I'm trying to regain my autonomy, like... As if I were human and I didn't need electricity, right?" - the girl nodded, still not realizing what the head of the complex was talking about.
- "Here. So I need to get used to walking somewhere other than the control room. Ah... um... well..."
Test subject's face cleared. She smiled modestly and held out her hand to the AI.

The first step was the most difficult for GLaDOS. It is one thing when you are constantly conscious in a complex, in all its parts at once, control absolutely everything, and another thing is when the personal part of you is thrust into a relatively small body that is afraid to cross the threshold of the corridor.
Chell stroked her wrist and pulled GLaDOS with her.
"I go, I go", - GLaDOS took a deep breath and finally stepped over the threshold into the corridor. The ladies looked around immediately, but the control room hadn't changed. - "Oh... Well, the stability of this room was what I feared the most. This means that the complex is stable... More or less".
Chell nodded and quickly pulled the AI further. They went through several corridors and came out to the elevator.
"Okay, here I'm not sure anymore..." - GLaDOS started, but the girl pushed her into the elevator car and squeezed in beside her. - "You know that I still have to start the elevator myself?"
Chell shrugged and hugged the AI.

The elevator brought the travelers to test chambers levels five to eighteen. GLaDOS grew bold enough, but still walked arm in arm with test subject.
"It is curious to look at your creations from within them from this angle", - explained the head of the complex, looking at the intricate combinations of panels and turrets deactivated so far. - "Me... I always like how elegant and dexterous my riddles are solved, huh. There is no pleasure in competing with an absolutely stupid opponent - victory is too easy and tasteless".
Chell nodded - she, of course, liked to rush from cell to cell, but when she had to run and think - it was also fun.
"This is why my tests are the best!" - exclaimed the AI with unexpected fuse. Apparently, she remembered the time of tests such as "put the cube on the button, the door will open" - the days of Wheatley.
Test subject grabbed the robot by the elbow and smiled affectionately. A sudden outburst of nostalgic anger subsided and the AI absentmindedly rubbed the metal strip on her forehead.
"Um... The effect of visiting memorable places is much stronger than I thought. Uf. Really, I shouldn't have tuned myself to such sensitivity... Shall we go elsewhere?"

The girl and the robot wandered around the small territory of the complex for another good two hours. GLaDOS has stopped in every place that seemed familiar to her from the moment she was either inside each videocamera or inside a small device connected to a potato battery. However, in the second type of places, the AI stayed for a shorter time.
"I won't go to the lower levels yet", - GLaDOS said as she was pushed back into the elevator, closed it and sent it upstairs. - "Firstly, the battery is discharging too quickly, and secondly... There... These..." - the AI swallowed loudly against her will.
"Birds?" - Chell guessed. GLaDOS pursed her lips and nodded.
The girl smiled affectionately.
"I will protect you".
"I have no doubts".

Before long, GLaDOS chose to return to the control room, feeling that the battery was nearing ten percent.
"A more powerful battery is still in the making", - sighed AI, opening the connector on the back and plugging in the same long black cable that goes to the ceiling. - "Now I have to recharge for another good half a day. But it was definitely worth it. I enjoyed walking with you".
Chell smiled slyly.
"Walking?"
"Didn't we walk?" - GLaDOS chuckled. - "Don't try to catch me. What we have been doing is precisely what is called a "stroll".
Chell simply nodded and took up the lunch she had been given. All this time, the AI silently watched her with an unreadable face.
"But I will hardly be able to create a system of sensors for the sense of taste", - as if by chance GLaDOS noticed. - "Everything here is less clear than with touch and warm-cold".
"You cook delicious" - Chell hastened to answer immediately. GLaDOS shrugged her shoulders with apparent indifference.
"And thanks for that".

Chapter Text

Once, a droid, making its way through piles of human debris, awkwardly stepped on an overturned nightstand. Something rang inside.
"Stop", - commanded GLaDOS, connected to the droid's cameras. - "Check the nightstand".
The robot turned the piece of furniture over and opened the door. Inside were a few dull medals from school fairs, a handful of change, and a disgustingly pink bell.
"Ew", - GLaDOS pursed her lips. - "Maybe we can recolor... Take it".
The droid raised the bell and twirled it in front of the camera. There was an inscription on one side: "Ring for a kiss".
The AI swallowed. It is clear who she immediately thought of.
"Bring it here. Now".

Jumping over two chasms of toxic waste, Chell landed with feline grace on a clean platform in the middle of a chunk of floor covered in a thick layer of blue gel. She looked around, jumped, picked up the cube as it approached the abyss itself, jumped back over both abysses and, purring triumphantly under her breath, put the cube on the button.
"Well done", - approved GLaDOS, flipping the panels to the other side and closing them over an abyss to clear the room. - "You are extraordinarily productive today. Not as productive as last Thursday, though".
Chell snorted, dusted off her hands, and stepped into the elevator.
"However, I have found something to amuse you".
The girl smiled wearily and sat down on the floor of the elevator.
"Come on, don't be discouraged. You'll like it".
Test subject exited the elevator, hunched under the weight of the portalgun, which seemed to stretch her arms out from fatigue. She really did her best today - instead of the standard eight chambers a day she mastered twelve. Moreover, in the penultimate test chamber, the AI put the laser across the excursion funnel, wanting to impress the girl, and with this Chell worn out more than jumping through the acid.
GLaDOS met her on the threshold of the room and immediately took the portalgun away.
"Are you tired?" - the AI asked much more warmly. - "Shower. Come on, this will help you".

When the girl returned and plopped down on the bed, GLaDOS slowly reached her and sat down on the side.
"Are you going to sleep yet?" - grinned GLaDOS. Test subject nodded sleepily and placed her hand on the head of the complex's waist. - "Hey, hey. No, I won't sleep next to you".
Chell sighed and removed her hand. She was asleep in five minutes.
GLaDOS stared at the girl's serene face for several minutes, smoothed her loose hair, and finally stood up to cover test subject.

The next morning, the first thing Chell saw was the bright pink bell on her dresser. The girl blinked and took the bell in her hands. On the other side of it there was an inscription - "Ring for". Below it was a very fresh layer of pink varnish, which, apparently, was hiding part of the phrase.
Chell rang the bell and GLaDOS appeared by the bed.
"Found it? I was so kind that I didn't keep this thing for myself. And I could, considering that you simply fell asleep yesterday without even bothering to listen to me".
Chell arched an eyebrow and rang again. The AI chuckled.
"And just so you know, I'm not going to show up for that sound every time. I just came to make sure you know how to use the bells".

The girl played some Christmas melody she found on the Internet, using a bell she already loved. The AI generally liked this melodic sound, but Chell played with it for so long that GLaDOS took a break from diagnosing the duct system and turned to the girl.
"Non-dear test subject! Stop doing that".
Chell tucked the bell under her pillow and raised her hands.
"Thank you", - GLaDOS winced. - "It's already ringing in my ear canals".
"Sorry" - Chell smiled and hugged the robot. GLaDOS barely refrained from smiling in return and only gently stroked test subject's head.
"You can play with it later. Let me finish".
"And what was written there?" - Chell drew back and suddenly asked. GLaDOS creaked in displeasure.
"Nothing significant. Don't peel off the paint".
Test subject nodded and immediately decided to do so.

Chell showed great conscience by carrying the bell, with its slightly annoying sound, outside the control room, into the corridor. While she was there playing with a new toy, GLaDOS even disconnected from the cameras so as not to hear the bell.
"I just need to cover up the whole inscription", - the AI decided, wielding the touchscreen with one hand while stroking the side of the subject's bed with the other. - "And repaint it. Into something else..."
She touched Chell's New Year's present hidden under her lab coat, which was almost always around her neck, and the sensors on her cheeks warmed up a little.
As soon as the door with motion sensors began to open, GLaDOS turned sharply to the screen and pretended that she had always been that way. Chell was already standing by the bed with a wide grin and a bell at the ready.
"I thought that you would leave it outside", - a little colder than it should be, GLaDOS noticed and looked over her shoulder. Test subject giggled and rang defiantly. - "And what do you want, a medal?"
Chell showed the AI the layer of pink varnish carefully stripped from the word "kiss" in her other hand and grinned. The AI shivered.
"W... W-w-well, so what?"
The girl bowed her head slightly and tapped her own cheek with a finger. GLaDOS almost shorted out.
"N-no way!" - if she could blush, the AI would blush up to her shoulders. Chell sighed, dropped the bell, jumped over the bed and hugged the robot, pressing the forehead against her shoulder.
"Wh... What kind of person are you!" - the AI's voice finally broke, and she had to speak in a whisper. Chell smiled with her lips and rubbed her nose against GLaDOS's cheek. - "N... S... Stop negatively affecting my mental capacity!"
Test subject sighed and placed a hand on the AI's hair, stroking the side of one of the antennas. Completely disarmed by such affectionate behavior, the head of the complex dropped her hands and remained standing there, looking Chell in the eyes in surprise. The girl passed the thin wires in white insulation through her fingers, ran her thumb over the metal plate and rubbed the surface between the wires with her fingertips.
GLaDOS barely stifled a ragged sigh.
"Well... O-okay. Just don't use it often".
She quickly touched the girl's warm cheek with her lips and turned to the screen.

Chapter Text

Once Chell learned that GLaDOS had swapped out a six-hour battery for a nine-hour battery (and only eight hours to recharge). After that, the girl undertook to storm the electronic heart with requests to go with her to the rink. The girl herself liked it very much, which she did not tire of reminding the head of the complex in various forms.
"Do you understand that if I do not keep my balance on a slippery surface, I will fall on you?" - warned GLaDOS. Chell's infectious enthusiasm was not cooled, and the AI had to agree to go.

Frankly speaking, the head of the complex was a little cunning. She had thought about going to the rink with her test subject ever since she froze it, but asking Chell herself was beyond her strength. She has already used all her strength to call the girl for a walk around the complex without a long introduction.
So, secretly from the girl, GLaDOS installed skate blades and a couple of other useful pieces for various hard-to-reach surfaces in her feet in advance, and also made herself another set of clothes.
Therefore, when Chell, clanking skates, got to the elevator, AI was already waiting for her in a thin orange turtleneck sweater and white pants.
The girl was delighted. The AI immediately made a mental note to leave this set.
"Do not stare, otherwise you will fall before going out on the ice", - grinned at GLaDOS and helped her into the elevator. Inside, Chell pretended to fall, and the AI had to hold her by the waist. - "You're flirting worse and worse", - snorted GLaDOS, squeezing the girl's waist. Chell laughed silently and kissed the android on the cheek.

On the ice, Chell immediately happily rolled into the wall. To prevent test subject from accidentally injuring herself, the AI had to upholster the walls with a few extra mattresses she found in the warehouse.
"You are living proof that people have a strong desire for self-destruction", - noticed GLaDOS when she reached the girl who had happily crashed into the mattress and pulled her hand to her. Chell smiled and looked at the AI's feet. - "Yes, I have skating blades built into my soles. One extra question can deprive you of the ice rink, so you better just enjoy your vacation".

She and test subject rode a couple of laps holding hands. Moreover, GLaDOS moved almost like a real professional and even managed to grab Chell by the waist a couple of times before falling. The girl herself was, apparently, terribly amused.
"Are you doing this on purpose, or what?" - asked the AI, once again picking up test subject so as not to let her fall. Chell smiled slyly and wrapped her arms around the android's waist. - "Oh. Well, that's not the answer".
The girl straightened up and hugged the AI tightly, not wanting to explain anything. GLaDOS sighed in response to the hug.
"And why does "The Snow Queen" come to my mind, eh, "Gerda"?" - she chuckled. Chell shrugged her shoulder vaguely. - "Hmm... You know the story of the Snow Queen, right?" - the girl shook her head. - "Oh... I see... Well, I'll tell you after the rink".

They headed back to the control room as soon as GLaDOS noticed Chell's nose, red with cold. Test subject tried to argue, but the AI forcefully dragged her into the elevator and quickly slammed it shut.
"You are so tempted to freeze yourself something!" - the android tapped the girl on the nose with a finger - just to tease - and sent the elevator up to their room. - "Well hey, don't pout. Nothing can be misused, you know... Even my resources, you know!"
Chell pouted her lips and leaned against the side of the elevator. The AI involuntarily smiled, looking at the flushed, unhappy test subject, and at the same time turned off the kitchen three floors below, which she was using all the time they were riding.
When they arrived, there was a teapot and a cup on the Companion Cube, from which steam rose. Chell was surprised to see the the liquid she had never seen before.
"First take off your clothes - then drink", - commanded GLaDOS, draping her lab coat right over her winter outfit and deactivating the blades in the soles of her feet. Chell obediently took off her jacket, sat down on the bed and took the cup in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she smiled and sipped some hot chocolate with marshmallows - and it was it. AI had already found several packs of instant hot chocolate and a whole box of these little sweets for a long time, but she still did not dare to cook it for her test subject.
Against GLaDOS' expectations, the girl did not smile strangely at her again, but just sat there, drinking chocolate a little and thinking about something.
"Oh yes, the story of the Snow Queen, right? Give me a sec…" - the AI downloaded the complete collection of Anderson's tales, quickly flipped through the desired story, and settled down next to test subject. - "Details... In general, can be omitted. In general, according to the text, a long time ago a girl Gerda and a boy Kai lived in the same city. And in the world of this fairy tale, there was the Snow Queen, representing the personified forces of a winter nature hostile to man. So, Gerda and Kai, as usual in such tales, loved each other", - the AI snorted. - "And one day Kai boasted that he would easily melt the Snow Queen if he met her. She heard that, of course. Here it is necessary to make a reservation that earlier in history there is a mirror of the devil, which reflects all the worst in a person, but one day the negligent servants of the devil break this mirror, and its fragments scatter all over the world. The mirror, as you can understand, is a symbol of all the worst in..."
"Was the queen beautiful?" - Chell asked suddenly, putting down her cup.
"What? Um", - GLaDOS paused for a second. - "Well, the illustrations usually portray her as beautiful, yes. And her "icy beauty" is mentioned in the text. Perhaps yes..."
Chell smiled and clapped her hands, looking at AI.
"Ahem... So, one fragment of the mirror hit Kai in the heart, and another in the eye. Since it is a symbol, it is possible. Kai became a hard-hearted boy who saw only the nasty side in everything, and left his Gerda. He stopped being friends with her, in general. And then the Snow Queen came for him, and this foolish boy left with her".
"Understand" - test subject reported, squinting slyly.
"What do you understand?" - the AI rolled her eyes as she checked the condition of the inner lining of the eye sockets. - "Gerda dragged herself to save him and saved him at the end. Most of the fairy tales, just a huge number, end happily. All find each other and live happily for themselves, and the villains die".
"You are not evil" - Chell looked loyally into her eyes. The AI shuddered.
"Oh, wow, do you remember how you tried to kill me twice?" - GLaDOS chuckled, but seeing the smile fade in test subject's blue eyes, she hastily smiled herself. - "Hey, this is a joke, just a joke. You know perfectly well that I'm not angry... Over the years, let's say. A lot of time has passed, you have already managed to get used to me... It will not be superfluous to remember that I tried to kill you, so the first time can be attributed to self-defense... The second, in fact, an incident..."
"I did not know then" - the girl quickly finished her chocolate, wiped the marks above her upper lip with her wrist and gripped the AI tightly. She nodded and put her hand on the girl's back.
"I know. I... I didn't really know you either. By the way, at the end of the tale it turns out that Kai and Gerda have grown up during all that time... These storytellers are so strange!" - GLaDOS snorted. - "It is absolutely incomprehensible how time flows inside this tale! Well, at least there, it seems, the boy is not disenchanted by this eternal kiss of true love..."
Chell raised her head, and the AI knew from her questioning look that the last line was unnecessary.
"Well, um... This kiss... Such a term, you know... Purely fairy and parody-fairy... It means that almost any curse can be broken with a kiss from someone who truly loves a person... But this is only in fairy tales and parody fairy tales!" - The AI immediately bit her tongue, but Chell was already deep in thought. Was the electronic subconscious of the head of the complex so eager to reveal the shameful little fact that the AI was watching several terabytes of the ancients as the world romantic comedies? After all, this was solely for the sake of theory!
"H-hey, if you are..." - she was interrupted by the subject's gesture - Chell put one hand on her ribcage on the left, and the other on the chest section of the AI, also on the left, but in relation to the AI herself, and smiled. - "Um... What do you mean by that?"
Chell smiled slightly with her lips, closed her eyes, and gently kissed GLaDOS. The voltage in the battery leaped slightly, causing the AI to experience a strange, morbidly sweet mixture of feelings inside, almost under test subject's hand.
Hands themselves fell on her waist. This kiss lasted much longer than the previous ones.
"Only that I am not "cursed" or "bewitched", - grinned GLaDOS, reluctantly pulling herself away from the girl and stroking her thigh. Chell blinked timidly and looked somewhere at the android's neck. - "But it's very nice of you to check it out".

Chapter Text

Once a couple of very recently developed experiments with water had to be postponed due to problems with heating the water chambers. Therefore, GLaDOS sent Chell to play new educational games on the computer in the room adjacent to the control room. Having successfully completed four puzzles, Chell got bored, closed the game site and decided to see how similar the real-life deer were to her stuffed toy. After admiring the photographs for half an hour and still not having received any new instructions regarding the tests, Chell just sighed and climbed further into the depths of the Internet in search of new cute animals.

Meanwhile, this random sigh did not escape the attention of the all-seeing head of the complex, and the overthinking GLaDOS began to think again. She tried very hard to provide the subject with maximum psychological comfort, but it always seemed to her that the girl was missing something.

It was worth turning to the stupid unscientific forums again - after all, they helped in the aspect of hugs.
And the head of the complex was dying to test the new, recently installed equipment.

***

"Today you finished testing the portal device even better than the previous best time", - GLaDOS noted as she met the test subject near the elevator. She's been doing this more often since she changed the battery again. The result of three days of continuous brainstorming was a completely new device, with a charge for three days. And this despite the fact that it took twelve hours to charge it. And the AI also suspected that precisely because she was not distracted by Chell for a long time, the girl became sadder. Seems sadder, at least. - "I hope you're not too tired because I have another little test for you. And give me the device, you won’t need it... Go into the room."

The test subject obediently handed over her trusty gun and followed GLaDOS. The android sent the device through technical tunnels to take readings (she could carry out this process in the background, without really thinking), and she herself placed the test subject in the place from where GLaDOS usually controlled the complex. It wasn't that she got tired of standing like that, but the AI began to seriously think about some kind of chair or something like that. Otherwise, the situation looked too official - Chell was fooling around, and she was standing with her screens...

"In general, for this experiment you need..." - AI sighed and put her hand to her cheek. - "I need you to hug me".

The test subject smiled affectionately and hugged GLaDOS tightly. She sighed again and placed hands on Chell's back.

"You did not understand. It's not just... It's not just about hugging. You see, I thought... I have... A theory. That low vibration, similar to a cat's purr, improves the well-being of human individuals. You, in this case".

Chell nodded uncertainly. GLaDOS concentrated, closing her eyes, and turned on the device, which she later called the "cat core" with the help of the test subject. The android's body and arms vibrated quietly with a typical purring sound.

Chell sighed in delight and buried her face in the junction of the AI's neck and shoulder.
She definitely liked it, but GLaDOS asked anyway:
"Do you like it?"

Chell rubbed her nose against the collarbones of the head of the complex. These, of course, were not collarbones, but simply the edge of a plate protruding slightly under the skin, covering inner part of the chest. But who cared? Certainly not a test subject.

"Huh", - The AI placed her hands on her waist. - "What an affectionate subject. Apparently, purring really has a good effect on you".
The girl smiled.

***

Of course, GLaDOS spent a lot of time studying how purring affects the body. Just like the hug tests. She was afraid to admit it to herself, but she wanted to “purr” for Chell. The test subject searched even less for pictures of cats on the Internet, which the AI considered an undoubted progress.

One day after the tests, Chell was again lying lazily on the bed in the arms of the purring AI. The Android was especially overzealous this time, and “cat” sounds could be heard all the way from the corridor to the control room.

"Well... Analyzes?" - GLaDOS suddenly asked and grinned when she saw the test subject’s long face. - "Kidding. It is too early. Not even two weeks have passed".

They cuddled some more, and Chell seemed to doze off. In any case, she closed her eyes, relaxed, and her breathing evened out. GLaDOS rose slightly on her elbows, looking at the serene face of the test subject. The AI actually noticed that when she spent a little time lying next to the girl before she fell asleep, the subject’s sleep became calmer. There was probably a psychological factor involved.

The android leaned a little closer to Chell's face. Just a little bit, just to feel human breath on the skin. Warm breath.
The girl opened her eye slightly, smiled when she saw the embarrassment on GLaDOS's face, and lightly kissed her on the nose.

"Hm!" - The AI jumped up sharply so that the test subject would not feel the heat. And the android’s body has recently begun to get very hot from contacts with the girl. It definitely wasn't worth dealing with. - "If you are tired, then go to bed earlier. You've finished your eight chambers anyway".

Chell grinned and began to show a word - not in sign language, against expectation, but using the sign alphabet. The AI carefully watched her hands.

"Cat" - Chell laughed soundlessly. GLaDOS frowned, moving the screens away from the bed and standing with her back to the test subject. However, she caught on camera how the girl thought a little and corrected herself, using the same sign alphabet - "kitty".

Chapter Text

Once of the tests once contained lasers. No, some tests have contained lasers before, many of them, but this time it was important. In order for the door to open, three laser beams had to be redirected to receivers using a system of cubes - something Chell had done hundreds, thousands of times before.
Test subject placed the last refractive cube literally two steps away from the receiver, changing the direction of the laser beam.
The door opened.

"Okay, but you could do it a little faster, darling", - GLaDOS commented, writing down the result. Test subject nodded without moving. - "Hm? What? What are you stuck there for?"

Chell stood around the laser receiver with a smile, shaking her head in a rhythm that only she understood. AI waited a little longer, coughed and called:
"Chell? Hello? Enrichment Center calling subject 1498".

The girl laughed and started dancing, completely confusing GLaDOS.

"What… What are you doing".

Test subject pointed to the receiver and gestured “music”.

"How is this music? I think your brain damage is progressing".

Chell shook her head, cupped her ear, and nodded at the camera. The AI ​​winced.

"I'll listen later. Hey, go to the lift already!"

The girl raised her head and looked at the video camera unexpectedly boldly. And with a gesture she called GLaDOS to her.

"Ugh. This is breaking all discipline. You're always breaking discipline", - AI ​​muttered as she headed towards the elevator. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to resist the whims of the test subject. Especially since this one was quite harmless.

---

"I don't hear anything musical", - said GLaDOS after a minute of standing near the receiver. Chell rolled her eyes and began tapping out some rhythm with her boot. - "No, your brain damage is still progressing. You're starting to hear something incomprehensible in the laser crackle".

However, the AI ​​listened to the rhythm the girl was beating. In its consonance with the ring rotating in the receiver under the influence of the laser, it really seemed like... Something. Something that could easily pass for a melody to the untrained human ear. And Chell wasn't exactly a trained listener.

"Do you hear" - she gestured, noticing how GLaDOS's expression changed. AI nodded uncertainly.

"Well... I wouldn't exactly call it "music". You just haven't heard any good…" - the android bit her lip and pretended to cough. She never deleted a couple of electronic backing tracks and text files from her long-term memory. It was harder to do than to think about it. - "Hmm. Maybe, okay, I should introduce you to some good music… Except for these stupid radios and pieces of... Jazz and classical music. At the very least, complete jazz and classical music".

---

Vinyl records would seem more authentic, but where would vinyl records come from in an ultra-modern science complex? Not to mention the record player. So GLaDOS had to make do with speakers and a collection of one hundred and eighty-six thousand musical compositions, strictly selected according to her personal musical taste... Oddly enough, she had musical taste.

It was worth starting with something easy.

The AI ​​turned on a lullaby. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but it was too early for test subject to listen to anything heavier.

"For general self-development, we begin to study the musical history of mankind", - android cleared her throat, catching the girl's attention. Chell raised an eyebrow. - "You said it yourself - "music". This particular composition is an example of such a musical genre as lullabies. They were usually used to calm restless sleeping children... and sometimes adults. But since your sleep is normalized by using my... "cat core", you haven't found any use for this genre yet".

Chell listened to the lullaby for a while and waved her hand, asking to fast forward. GlaDOS rolled her eyes, but still flipped through her collection and settled on something more rhythmic.

The speakers produced the clapping and stomping sounds that were once familiar to almost everyone, even those who had never heard the song itself.

The girl noticeably cheered up and began to clap to the rhythm.

"It's... Um... Queen. Rock. Hard rock, glam rock, pop rock, more precisely. If you believe... Ancient sources".

Test subject jerked her head up when she heard the singing. Her gaze sparkled from the sound of a other human being voice.

GLaDOS felt a slight tingle. She pursed her lips, but let the girl listen to the rest of that particular song and vindictively turned on something quieter and with more music rather than rhythm right after it.

"You should like this one even more. The singer is similar to you in some way. In some… ways. Ha-ha".

The girl listened and even frowned slightly, getting used to the new female voice. Having caught the melody and the meaning of the words, test subject smiled and began to tap her feet slightly. At the words “girls like girls like boys do” she quickly glanced at GLaDOS and giggled.

"As if this is news to you. I refer to myself as a female, you mute lunatic".

Chell nodded and walked closer to the AI. The android tensed up and tried to delve deeper into the touch screen where she selected music, but the test subject quickly went around it and squeezed the head of the complex. Just as the chorus was repeating.

GlaDOS sighed and, as if reluctantly, ran her hand through the girl's hair. The android's sensors were now ten times better than the first prototype.

Of course, she didn’t tell test subject about this either.

---

Despite the fact that GLaDOS had generally planned a rather light excursion into the world of musical genres, they spent more than three hours listening to various tracks. Chell only asked to stop when she started to get a light headache. AI sat the girl down to dinner, and then began to design a good chair for herself. A comfortable one, of course.

The girl dined unusually quietly. The android even forgot that her test subject was not on tests, carried away by the design, and hummed some simple melody under her breath. Chell had long since finished eating and was just looking at the AI ​​attentively, periodically wiping the corners of her lips, trying not to smile.

Finally, she decided to remind the android of herself and tapped her fingers on the side of the Companion Cube. The head of the complex suddenly stopped and looked at the test subject as if she was seeing her for the first time in her life.

"Are you... Um... done?" - girl nodded. - "G-good. It's t-time to go back for more tests. Grab your gun and go".

Chell giggled, took the device, and gave the AI ​​her most sly smile. For some reason, GLaDOS felt like she was going to be forced to sing out loud.

Chapter Text

Once, GLaDOS came out of hibernation in a bad mood. Maybe it was just a bad "dream" - well, as far as she could dream. Maybe it was because she had been feeling more and more, more disgusting and more beautifully alive at the same time. She couldn't decide whether she liked it or not.

Chell obviously noticed this and wanted to ask the AI ​​a question, but she coldly raised her hand and pointed to the approaching elevator. Test subject lowered her head, but still held the gun tightly to herself and went to be tested.

---

The consumption of gel and cleaning fluid slightly exceeded the usual for a standard test. GLaDOS looked up from welding and peered into the test chamber.

"What are you doing?" - She sounded tired. Chell was having a blast pouring Repulsion Gel onto the black paneled wall, trying to create some intricate pattern. - "Stop wasting resources. We don't have as much gel as you think".

The girl shook her head, suddenly put the gun down, lowered her hands onto the gel-covered surface and began to smear it over the panels.

"What are you... Hey, I told you a thousand times to NOT touching the gel!" - The AI ​​annoyedly swiped the diagrams off the "desktop" and zoomed in on the image from the test chamber. The subject ignored the remark and continued smearing the gel.

The android started to get a little worried.

"You might have an allergy. Your hands will fall off".

Chell chuckled to herself and continued. Again. Of course, when was the last time she had discipline during a test? Oh, that's right - never. Even during their very first meeting, she walked in circles for five minutes, touched the walls, jumped on the button, and poked the cube before placing it on the button.

However, back then GLaDOS had much more patience. And test subjects.

"Seriously, Chell. Or I'll take disciplinary action against you".

The girl nodded and took her hands away from the wall. GLaDOS wasn't even very surprised to see the heart smeared with blue gel.

"You do know that the human heart actually looks nothing like this icon?" - She even grinned. It was absolutely impossible to be angry with test subject with such a stupid, joyful smile. - "That's very kind of you. But don't touch the device until you wash off the gel under the liquid over there. Now".

---

Immediately after the tests, when the elevator doors opened, Chell skipped to the room and the first thing she did was hug the head of the complex tightly. Without even putting down the portal device.

"I feel better, I feel better, my little test subject", - GLaDOS sighed. - "Okay. I don't know what came over me this morning. Sorry".

Chell nodded, placed the portalgun on its stand, and sat down on the bed to wait for dinner. The AI ​​chuckled and turned back to the screen.

The control room was filled with a mysterious glow. When Chell entered and looked closer, she saw that it was a mass of candles burning in small round candlesticks, that the usual electric lights were out, and that GLaDOS was sitting in a completely new workstation, a wide armchair surrounded on all sides by work screens, waiting for the test subject.

"Good evening", - the head of the complex greeted her in a tone that had changed subtly. Chell coughed awkwardly. - "Come in, come in. It's like you're seeing me for the first time, hah".

The girl stood in place for a moment and then walked with small steps towards the chair. The situation was becoming strange. Moreover, as she walked, the manipulator gently took the portal gun away from her and dragged it under the floor panels.

Especially since GLaDOS hadn't needed a armchair before. Chell wasn't even sure she ever needed to seat.

"Don't be afraid, what's that expression on your face?" - behind some barely recognizable tone, the former slightly sarcastic GLaDOS peeked out, and test subject calmed down. She looked around the room with a questioning look. - "Oh, come on. Come on, sunshine. You can sit next to me, I tested it, it's comfortable enough", - AI curved her lips into a smile so tender that goosebumps ran down the girl's spine. She didn't have to be asked twice - Chell carefully settled into the seat next to GLaDOS, beginning to vaguely guess why the armchair was so wide.

The android casually crossed her legs and hugged test subject around the waist, as if they had been married for five years.

"How are you, my dear?" - she lowered her voice a little and turned on a purring tone. Chell, feeling awkward for some reason, shrugged. - "How so? I thought you were doing well".

The girl spread her arms, pointing across the entire room.

"Ah, this", - GlaDOS grinned and pulled her closer to her waist. - "Let's just say I felt so much better after your hugs. Sooo much. You're a cutie".

Chell blushed and shrugged. The AI ​​was acting very strangely.

Meanwhile, a Companion Cube was pulled up to the armchair on the panel. The android personally threw a small tablecloth over it and placed a plate of spaghetti and a candle in front of the test subject.

"Bon appetit", - Chell nodded stiffly and began to eat. GLaDOS took her hand off her waist and turned to one of the screens, starting to adjust something. This helped the girl relax a little more and finish dinner as quickly as possible.

"Done already?" - AI ​​turned to face her as the subject poked her shoulder. Quiet music suddenly began to play from the speakers. - "Great. Let's finish this for today. I have something for you".

Another trick with the panels - and on the Cube there was a tray of heart-shaped cookies. The simplest ones, but sprinkled with sugar on top.

"Do you like it?" - AI chuckled as she saw the girl's eyes light up. - "You have such a sweet tooth, haven't you. Well, I already know that".

Test subject smiled and put the cookie in her mouth. If she had ever tried a cookie, which she didn't remember, she still thought these were delicious. GLaDOS hugged her again, and the girl didn't pull away.

"Aw, sweetheart", - the ingratiating tone disappeared from the electronic voice, replaced by tenderness. - "Look at her. Sitting there enjoying her cookies. Don't crumble them on yourself".

Chell chuckled and rubbed her nose against the head of the complex's shoulder. She even got a little bit into the romantic atmosphere - and the AI ​​was clearly trying to create exactly that. Although it was still strange to see such attempts from GLaDOS.

"I found a whole warehouse full of candles, can you imagine?" - GlaDOS chuckled. - "A waste of wax, really. But it burns damn beautifully. It's like that last bag of confetti. After all, the candles were just taking up space too".

She suddenly lifted the girl up and sat her on her lap. It happened so quickly that Chell only sighed in surprise when she was pressed firmly behind her back.

"Hey", - AI's voice wavered, and for a couple of seconds it became more electronic. - "Y-you. Um. You have such a stupid smile sometimes. Hah".

Test subject smiled. The head of the complex tilted her head slightly to the side and kissed the girl very lightly. Chell reached out to her more boldly and pressed, not letting her pull away and deepening the kiss. GlaDOS even allowed herself to be pressed back against the back of the ar,chair, only slightly moving the screens away from it - with her beloved power of thought, apparently.

Tset subject became slightly bolder and succumbed to the desire to explore. To her amazement, as soon as she reached her tongue to the android's lips, she immediately opened her mouth with a slight grin, and the girl rested the tip of her tongue on something that felt very, very much like teeth.

Chell pulled away, breathing a little faster than usual.

"Yes. I was going to say", - GLaDOS smiled, revealing a set of beautiful white teeth, even with fangs, as far as Chell could see. - "High quality plastic. Excellent imitation of the human jaw. Aesthetic and… Ahem, aesthetic value. Still better than staring at just opening lips, huh?"

Test subject raised an eyebrow and pointed at her own tongue. GLaDOS grinned mysteriously.

"Maybe. Who knows? How often do you look into people's mouths to see if they have a tongue? You might as well ask me if I salivate, phew".

The girl sighed. Well, here she was again being left with riddles.

The head of the complex cleared her throat and turned her head slightly to the side.

"Some people believe that the best way to learn is through experience", - she remarked quietly, glancing sideways at the subject almost pleadingly. Chell suddenly thought that her beloved android seemed to be on edge as she was.

Then she smiled with just the corners of her lips and kissed AI herself. Without much ceremony—after all, she was usually the one doing the weird stuff that they both generally enjoyed—Chell turned around and straddled GLaDOS's lap to make her more comfortable, while also pinning the robot back against the back of the armchair. The AI ​​couldn’t help but let out a very quiet moan, almost on one exhalation, but test subject, it seemed, didn’t even hear it — she was so carried away by the kiss.

After fiddling with it for a bit and finally mustering up her courage, the girl allowed herself to extend her tongue further than usual. The android's lips parted easily for her, and this time the tongue met something soft and warm.

GlaDOS suddenly groaned out loud, stopped as quickly as she had started, and abruptly pushed test subject away, covering her mouth tightly with her hand.

"No-no, s-stop", - her voice was interspersed with electronic squeaks and crackles. - "Too... Too... Big... Concentration... Aw!"

Chell didn't wait for another explanation, full of terms and cooling the heat that had just begun to burn in the subject's blood, and hugged the android again, this time pressing her lips to her neck, which was not protected by the lab coat. The last sound was a reaction to this attack, and Chell was sure that the head of the complex really liked it. The girl giggled and began to explore the android's neck with her lips and just a little bit with her tongue. Rubber wasn't the tastiest material, frankly speaking, but she wouldn't call it bad either.

"It's like licking a tire, Chell!" - GLaDOS demanded in a breaking voice, making weak attempts to stop the girl. Perhaps she had installed too many sensors on her cleverly designed tongue - when Chell touched it, it was as if a fountain of purely positive sensations gushed inside the AI's head. She hadn't been prepared for that.

Chell grinned and bit lightly on the rubber covering of her neck. The head of the complex barely held back another groan and very reluctantly pushed the test subject away.

"Well, that's enough. Please. Seriously. I'm starting to overheat from this. I'll have to correct the structure of my tongue too. Too many sensors per square millimeter, my fuses are at their limit. By the way, an excessive emotional surge can cause a critical failure of the personal center, you know!"

Chell just smiled her adorable goofy smile and hugged the android, resting her head on her shoulder. It's as if GlaDOS deliberately made the rubber layer on them a little softer than it should have been.

"Goofy test subject... However, what kind of test subject are you? I haven't experimented on you for ages", - AI muttered, stroking her head. The hair was soft, and this was largely due to the AI ​​itself, selecting the best bath products they had for the girl. - "Goofy tester. Or assistant. It's all the same. I'll put you to sleep in half an hour, my dear".

Chapter Text

Once Chell slept at night in an awkward position all night long - completely by accident, she just thought she was lying down normally, but it turned out to be wrong. That's why the next morning she groaned faintly while doing exercises and constantly winced.

"You're quite noisy today", - GLaDOS grinned, lovingly and carefully lining up the test chambers one above the other, perfectly evenly - all for her beloved self and the test subject, of course. The girl winced again and rubbed her back under her shoulder blades. - "Hm? Does something hurt? And I was wondering how people sleep in such strange positions like yours. Come here".

Chell walked over to the armchair. Moving her shoulders and neck was also a little painful.

"Come on, don't make those sounds", - The android installed one very interesting program and patted the seat next to her. - "Sit down and turn your back, double-trouble".

Test subject sat down next to GLaDOS. The head of the complex placed her hands on Chell's shoulders and began to massage her lightly. The girl tensed up, but the android lightly slapped her between the shoulder blades.

"Relax your back", - the AI ​​continued the massage. Chell honestly relaxed and after a couple of minutes she really did feel better. Besides, feeling the cool mechanical hands on her back was, oddly enough, pleasant. Well, the test subject herself was odd.

"Is it good?" - GLaDOS put her hands on her shoulders. Chell nodded. - "Excellent. Rush to the tests, sunshine".

---

In one of the chambers, Chell shifted her shoulder blades uncomfortably again. Her back no longer hurt, thanks to the morning efforts of the head of the complex, but it still ached a little. She definitely shouldn't have experimented with sleeping positions...

"What, does it still hurt?" - GLaDOS seemed to be watching her more closely than usual. - "You should learn to take care of yourself, haha. Okay, you can… Take a short break and massage your back. Yourself".

Chell gave an awkward smile.

"What, you can't do it? Okay, okay, then it's better not to do it. With the wrong movements you can easily hurt yourself. You have to be taught everything, hah... Although, in general, you are not to blame for anything. Massage courses are not included in the mandatory training of subjects sent for tests with the portal device. But, you know, various applied skills can come in handy in life. The ability to cook an omelet, the ability to pick locks, the ability to lie with an honest face... All of this. Take this test, my little tester, and I'll send you for unscheduled medical procedures".

The AI ​​didn't lie - the elevator didn't go down, as if it were leading to the next test chamber, but up, straight to the control room. GLaDOS herself, of course, met her at the threshold - and immediately gave her a small slap on the back of the head.

"I know you like being treated like a child, but could I at least not correct you in your sleep?" - she sighed as Chell looked down shyly. - "Do I really need to control you 24/7? Don't doubt it, I can, but it will make you... Maybe... It might make you more uncomfortable".

The girl shook her head and laughed silently. GLaDOS began to adjust the height of the chair, secretly admiring the laughing face of the test subject. Oh, to say that she liked it would be to say nothing.

"Sit down, dear. Studying standing is not so comfortable".

Chell settled into the chair almost as if she had done it a thousand times. However, GLaDOS made it quite convenient, and not so much for herself, but... Well, not for herself.

"I won't expose my back to you, haha, my charging port is too fragile... Even with the protective plate", - the AI ​​extended her arms and nodded to the subject, who extended her arms, just like an android. - "Okay, just repeat what I do. The main thing is not to squeeze your fingers too hard. You can even break something. And if I say “you can”, it doesn’t mean that I give you permission to break anything. A warning to save time, you know".

Chell snorted, trying to keep track of both GLaDOS's smooth gestures and her own hands. The AI ​​raised her eyes and pulled one of the screens out in front of them.

"Okay, here's a slightly more visual aid. Look, here's a diagram of the structure of the human body, an anatomical multi-level model... Where are you looking there, vulgar... No, I’ll definitely burn that magazine! Ahem, here, the approach of the back and shoulders. Look here".

The android captured the image of the model, took Chell's hands in hers and placed them on the screen.

"Softly. You're not trying to beat a confession out of yourself, but to gently massage your shoulders. Got it?"

The girl sighed a little too deeply and nodded. The AI ​​felt a little uncomfortable sitting in that position, so she spent a full six seconds thinking about one phrase.

"Well, you, um, can. Move over to my lap a little. Because this sitting position is not quite suitable for this lesson".

Test subject slightly hunched her shoulders, but still moved to sit on the android's lap. She decided not to joke about the girl’s weight for now — the girl gently pressed her back against GlaDOS and fidgeted just a little, probably feeling embarrassed.

It was so funny - every time, no matter what they had done in the past, such tender romantic little things were something embarrassingly new and pleasant.

---

The static image on the screen was, of course, not much of a training device, but GLaDOS at least taught Chell how to move her hands in the right places and press with the necessary force.

And, of course, they've rubbed against each other quite a bit during this time.

"A little slower... Yeah, that's it", - The AI ​​finally took the subject's hands away from the screen, but did not release them from her palms. - "Smart girl. Haha, I could promote you from a test subject to a full-time massage therapist if you weren't the only user of the rest room. Although, now you'll just be combining these two professions, haha!"

Chell giggled and nudged her lightly with the elbow.

"What?" - GLaDOS smiled, grabbing the girl's wrists and slightly tilting her face towards the back of her neck. - "Well, if you promise to behave well... Oh, come on, you won't promise, behaving well is not in your rulebook".

The girl began to twist away, apparently to object to the head of the complex with gestures, but the android suddenly pressed the girl's wrists tightly to her chest, pulling the test subject closer, and slowly, thoughtfully touched the back of Chell's neck with her lips.

The subject winced and clenched her knees.

"I don't mind, you know", - GlaDOS kissed again and laid her head on the girl's shoulder. - "Hey, explain to me how it is that every time I try to teach you something important or useful, it ends up with one of us just being terribly embarrassed?"

Chell pouted in embarrassment and turned away so as not to look the android in the eyes. However, everything was clear to her from the way the girl’s body reacted to her actions. This mechanism, given by Mother Nature herself, was still much more perfect than GLaDOS's. In terms of sensations, of course. And Chell still liked it.

"Don't blush so much, or I'll start thinking you have a cold again", - the AI ​​laughed to lighten the mood and released the test subject from her embrace. The gitl, however, remained sitting on her lap. - "In fact, it would be useful for you to practice right now, with fresh knowledge in your head. You know what? I'll bring you two white panels here, it's better to do this under my supervision… What? Of the two of us, you're the only one with bones and muscles in your back! And yes, you can open two portals on your own".

Chapter Text

Once, while sitting next to GLaDOS in a chair and watching a movie on one of the screens with her - something they had become quite fond of doing in the evenings lately - Chell became so engrossed in the events of the plot that she bit the tip of her thumbnail and began to chew on it nervously. The AI, who was in fact no less captivated by the strange “gift” to the protagonist from the fairy godmother, did not notice this right away, but as soon as she did, she immediately slapped the girl on the hand.

"Don't bite your nails, sunshine", - she whispered instructively into the test subject's ear. - "I see that you are worried... I don't understand why, it's a fairy tale, the ending will definitely be good... And biting your nails is bad. They will stop being as pretty as they are now".

Chell nodded absently, bringing her thumb to her mouth again—on screen, the main character had just been handed a dagger and ordered to kill the prince. How could she not be nervous?

"Hands!" - GLaDOS had to, although not without pleasure, of course, take the test subject by the wrists and put her hands on her waist, not allowing her to move them. The girl, however, did not pay much attention to this and began to bite her lower lip.

"It's impossible to watch a movie with you", - the AI ​​commented, looking not at the screen but at the test subject's lips. Chell shrugged, clearly not listening to what the android was saying. - "Hey? Don't look at the prince, look at me!"

Chell absentmindedly kissed her on the cheek, not taking her eyes off the screen. The android frowned slightly offendedly, but remained silent.

---

The next day, before putting on another movie, the android coughed insistently, and Chell turned to her.

"Are you aware that during the most nerve-wracking moments of a movie you feel like putting something in your mouth? This is a terrible habit in terms of its usefulness".

The test subject spread her hands guiltily, as if to say that she had not noticed anything like that.

"Well, naturally. Do people even notice their bad habits?" - GLaDOS patted her head with a smile and leaned back slightly in her chair. - "However, instead of ruining your nails, you might want to chew on something more edible. I took care of this too, so that you would once again be convinced of how prudent I am".

The small transport platform that usually brought the daily meal this time pulled up to the chair with a sealed cardboard package on it. The girl carefully took it after GLaDOS's permissive nod - something rustled inside.

"Open it before I turn on the movie", - the android put her arm around her waist. Chell tore open the corner of the bag and was surprised to find a thin breadstick with large salt crystals visible on them.

"I don't have any soda or popcorn, my dear", - the AI ​​chuckled as she watched Chell examine the breadstick. - "There was, however, a local version of soda, but I would prefer to separate you from it for now... I can offer you a glass of water instead. Salty breadsticks aren't the healthiest thing in the world either, but they're a great way to fill your mouth if you're tempted to put something in there again".

The girl broke the stick with her teeth, chewed a piece and nodded gratefully. And she pressed herself closer to the AI, placing the cardboard bag on her knees.

"Do you like it?" - GLaDOS warmed up a little. It was very nice to get a positive assessment of her work. - "However, then I think I'll have to send you to some extra evening exercise, ha-ha... Or will you burn everything you can squeeze out of these sticks on your worries about the characters alone?"

Chell rolled her eyes and pointed at the screen. GLaDOS offered her cheek, and the girl kissed it with a small laugh.

"Yes, yes, I'm smart cookie. Okay, I'll turn it on now".

---

In general, the test subject chewed much fewer breadsticks than the AI ​​expected. She had prepared four extra packs just in case, but Chell finished the first one only after five evening movie sessions. At a tense moment in the film, she would stick the very tip of the stick into her mouth and take tiny bites, almost stopping blinking and never taking her eyes off the screen.

GlaDOS, on the other hand, couldn’t follow the film at all at such moments, and therefore responded rather absentmindedly to any emotional comments from the girl after watching it.

As it turned out, it was in vain.

"What... Wait, what?" - the android looked up from… well, sorting through some visual files in her head when the tip of a salty breadstick poked her cheek. Chell held it in her teeth and smiled slyly. - "What did you... Gestured?"

"Take it" - the subject repeated with gestures. AI coughed awkwardly and then calmly straightened her shoulders, as if getting ready to take on her daily work.

"What? Why? You know perfectly well that I don't eat human food, but charge through a cable. I won't even be able to taste it. What's the point?"

Chell smiled invitingly, completely confusing GLaDOS. Maybe the girl was so affected by the movie? What were they watching today anyway... Maybe she missed some scene with such a stupid game while she was watching the test subject chew on a breadstick?

What can you do, she managed to eat quite nicely...

"So, why?" - the AI ​​pretended not to notice the girl's eyebrows move. Chell sighed.

"Please"

"Hm. You'll fill my mouth with crumbs", - GLaDOS muttered, just a little intrigued. - "Okay, just be careful. I wouldn't want to have to wash all that out of my mouth later, okay?"

The subject nodded. Then the android took the other end of the breadstick with her teeth and even smiled - Chell's face was so amusingly close, she hadn't thought about it at all...

"What's next?" - it was a good thing she didn't actually have to use her mouth to say anything. Otherwise, this would have been incredibly awkward.

The girl bowed her head slightly and suddenly leaned forward sharply, biting off half of the stick at once. GLaDOS was so taken aback that she missed the opportunity to break the awkwardness - and Chell had already bitten off the second part, kissing the android.

"The m-most insidious plans!" - the electronic voice wavered. The girl only grinned and leaned over a little more, pressing GLaDOS to the arm of the chair and resting her hands on the seat on either side of the AI. The android forced herself to remain silent so as not to provoke the test subject even more, and placed her hands on her shoulders so that she could control the kiss.

GLaDOS remembered the small piece of breadstick that remained between her teeth only when the tip of the girl's warm tongue unobtrusively pushed it into her mouth, clearing a path for itself. The AI ​​tensed her arms to push the girl away, but she quickly traced the smooth upper palate of the android with the tip of her tongue, completely disarming GLaDOS with this sudden movement. Of course, while making her mouth cavity close to a human one, GlaDOS did not forget to place tactile sensors not only on her tongue, and now this desire for realism worked against her.

Against her will and common sense, the touch of the girl's tongue to the sensors in her mouth was incredibly relaxing - so much so that the android even had to grab onto Chell's shoulders instead of pushing her away. Certainly, the reaction of the mechanisms to these signals was too strange…

Meanwhile, the organic tongue had already reached the synthetic one and pressed lightly from above. Before another confusing, overly strong emotional outburst, GLaDOS only managed to thank herself for removing most of the sensors from her tongue from the last time - otherwise she would have simply smoked on the spot.

After what seemed like an eternity, despite the AI's built-in precision clock, two minutes of practice, when GLaDOS's fingers were already ready to slip off the subject's shoulders, the latter finally pulled away, breathing a little deeper, and quickly wiped her lips. The android swallowed involuntarily, feeling some unwanted genetic material in her mouth.

"So, what…" - AI licked her lips. It didn't matter that her lips weren't dry, she needed to lick them urgently. It's a good thing nothing could get from her mouth into the internal mechanisms… - "Th-that...was in the movie? D-did I miss something?"

Chell waved her hand, indicating something like "fifty-fifty". Then she thought for a bit, looking somewhere behind AI’s back, giving herself and her time to catch their breath and calm down, and added: “It was about sticks”.

"Ooh, and did your sophisticated imagination add the part with the t-tongue?" - GLaDOS chuckled nervously and ran her hand over the wires on her head, as if to tuck them behind her ear. She remembered at the wrong time that she had no ears, only antennae near her temples. - "You're doing well... Finishing up your business... After so much time".

The girl modestly looked down and smiled.

"Next time, control your drooling, please", - GLaDOS swirled her tongue around inside her own mouth and let out a fake sigh. - "Okay, I'll wash my mouth and come back... You know, if you want... Something like that, you don't have to take breadsticks for it. You can just, I don't know, ask..."

"As if you would agree" - the test subject giggled. The AI ​​covered her face with her hand, hiding an embarrassed smile.

"Maybe not, but just... Just use the breadsticks for their intended purpose, honey".

Chapter Text

Once the shower stall that the test subject usually used suddenly broke. Well, it wasn't exactly "suddenly", it had been asking for a renovation for a long time, but GLaDOS had been so busy with the large-scale renovation of the building as a whole for almost the entire month of January that she had no time to work on the bathroom.

"Damn!" - was all she could say when Chell emerged from the shower wet, but still stained with orange gel and sweat. - "Is it broken after all?"

The girl nodded. The head of the complex frowned with displeasure and checked the condition of the bathroom from her work place. It was deplorable, but not so critical that it was impossible to finally spend a little time on this minor repair.

However, Chell still needed to be cleaned up.

"Okay, let me think…" - She ran through her backup options. There were working bathrooms in the staff wing, but sending a girl down several floors and then walking through the hallways for a ten-minute shower? And they had to check first to see if there was any toxic condensate left in the sewer... You never know. In addition, those bathrooms did not have the wonderful automatic dryer of GLaDOS's personal design, which the test subject, however, did not use in her bathroom anyway...

And Chell could have caught a cold on the way back.

"Should I flood the test chamber for you?" - The AI ​​chuckled. Chell nodded cheerfully. - "...Really? Do you think I'm going to flood the chamber just so you can wash yourself?"

The test subject tilted her head to the side slyly, and GLaDOS shuddered at her gaze.

---

Chell sat in a padded paneled "box." She was handed all her towels and made to promise not to dive until she was blue in the face.

GLaDOS herself couldn't believe that she had actually given her the chamber with the water test for a temporary bath. But the test block was closer, and she could have brought the girl there without the elevator. AI was a little angry with herself, but what could she do? She couldn’t just say "no".

"But remember that you only came there to wash yourself", - GLaDOS reminded. The girl always needed to be watched like a hawk.

The test subject nodded peacefully, walked to the edge of the platform above the water, under which there was another one, flooded to about the level of her knees, and began to undress. The head of the complex suddenly remembered that there were still activated cameras hanging on the walls, and hastened to cut them off so that they would look straight down.

But the girl wasn't left completely unattended, of course... It was just the kind of supervision that GLaDOS would never admit to having.

Chell happily swam a little and even dived - the water was surprisingly warm, as for a test chamber, the android tried and warmed it all up to a state that the test subject would describe as "very warm." But she couldn't do this for long - she had promised. So soon the girl climbed back onto the flooded panel and finally began bathing.

---

"If only you knew how hard it is to clean the test room after you and all the soap you used up", - GLaDOS noticed as the test subject bounced on the blue gel. - "Seriously. I'm already fixing the bathtub like some plumber".

Chell nodded, standing at the top of the chamber, fired the portal frames at the inclined panel and underneath herself, and flew across the chamber with a silent laugh, only narrowly missing the glass of the observation post.

"Be careful, for science's sake!" - GlaDOS demanded, covering the observation glass with panels. It was high time to rip these pieces of alien life out of her and Chell's tests… But AI still couldn't find the time. - "Don't hit the window. It will hurt to pick the glass out of you".

The subject calmly walked towards the exit. She still somehow managed, despite the fact that she never really fell, to stain the knee of her pants with gel.

"Lovely. How we love to give our clothes to the wash. When you come, I'll make you take off your pants, and there's no need to suppress such a smile, for the sake of science, you spoiled girl..."

Chell suddenly stopped just before the elevator and looked at her knee with a small blue spot on it. Then she looked up at the camera protruding above the transparent elevator shaft and put the gun on the floor for a couple of minutes.

"Leave it"

"What? Why? The test subject's uniform is supposed to be clean".

"I will do the laundry"

"You're not going to drag them into that cell that I was forced to give you for a bath, are you? I won't let you wash in it later, I'll have to change literally all the water and the panels underneath it. The gel shouldn't stay on your skin".

"Come on"

"No. Take them off immediately".

Chell rolled her eyes, but still pulled down her pants - right in the hallway, remaining in blue sportswear, she grabbed the portable portal device and entered the elevator under the silent question of GLaDOS.

The AI ​​didn't even comment, just sent the elevator straight to the control room. After all, she still had to take those very clothes away from her.

Chapter Text

Once, having returned from being twelve floors below with almost all of her consciousness... it was necessary to urgently rebuild something in the elevator system, otherwise the cabins had taken to suddenly accelerating while going down, and GLaDOS seriously began to fear that at one not at all wonderful moment they would fly straight to "Tartarus"...

So, upon returning, the AI, of course, first of all looked at the best test subject of the complex. Not only because she was the only one, but because she was the best one.

The leading expert in creating holes in walls sat on the floor next to the bed and methodically painted her hand with an orange marker.

"…Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?" - GLaDOS asked, as kindly as possible. The test subject showed her fingers, painted with fairly even geometric shapes. The AI ​​rolled her eyes.

"Markers don't even remotely resemble henna. If you were trying to imitate henna designs".

The girl tilted her head to the side and shrugged.

"Yeah... I doubt it. You don't even know what "henna" is, right? Anyway, why did you suddenly want to paint your hands?"

Chell pointed to the glowing monitor screen visible through the slightly open door to the office adjacent to the corridor. GlaDOS didn't get up from her workstation - she just turned on the camera in that office and pointed it at the computer monitor. For some time now, she has extended her trust to the test subject and given her passwords to turn on this particular computer and access the global network. So far, Chell has fully justified the high level of trust placed in her and has occupied the computer for an hour and a half or two at most outside of testing and without the supervision of the head of the complex.

On the screen, as expected, a photograph of hands lying next to each other on a beige background was now displayed, with the expected orange henna design on the fingers and the back of the hand. Well, exactly as GLaDOS had thought.

"Don't you have anything else to paint?" - the android turned off the computer with a small effort of thought and patted the test subject on the head. - "At least you could have waited for me and not done it with markers. It's not very good for your skin".

Chell immediately sat down next to her, looking at the AI ​​very carefully. GLaDOS instantly regretted her own words.

"Well, now you're going to make me make you some hand paint?" - the test subject smiled and nodded. - "As if I don't have anything better to do... Okay. Later. Isn't it time for you to take your tests yet, my darling?"

---

To prevent the test subject from, God forbid, starting to paint her hands with gels and ending up like Mr. Johnson, it was necessary to get to the paints as quickly as possible. So GLaDOS did just that. She had a lot of paint, actually - industrial type, though. Yellow, blue, red - all dried up, but with a lot of solution still good for painting something. But of course it couldn't be given to the girl.

So the AI ​​turned to the other side of the paint industry, checking first her databases, and then the greenhouse. There were indeed a few suitable plants there, and GLaDOS once again praised herself for her foresight - how timely she had revived the greenhouse! And the hydroponic farms. And the apiary... And how timely she had distributed the necessary amount of heat to them.

She took the heat away from the ice rink just in time.

A couple of plants from the farms and flowers from the apiary also came in handy. Now the android thought that maybe it was worth showing the girl some greenery inside the complex, so that she would stop running outside at every opportunity... And in more or less warm weather. Unless, of course, Chell was only going on these walks to look at real plants and, you know, the sky? People seemed to like the sky while they were around.

GLaDOS, at least, really hoped that the subject was running away for that very reason, and not because she still had a vague desire to leave the complex.

While Chell was being tested, the AI ​​finally got around to making paints. Ideally, perhaps it would have been worth looking for what that henna consisted of, but the android didn’t want to repeat what people did. She was better than any human, after all. For a test subject, at least… The AI ​​hoped so, at least.

---

Chell stared at the three small glass jars for a few minutes before reaching for the right one with her index finger — and getting slapped on the wrist by GLaDOS.

"Wait a minute. Instructions for use first, dear", - just in case, she moved the panel with the jars higher and cleared her throat to focus the test subject's attention. - "Paints, my personal composition. Orange, white and blue colors… I could say that this is “expected”, because these are the signature colors of our complex. Kinda. Don't put it in your mouth. Don't let it get in your eyes. In general, until it dries on your hands, don't touch anything. Got it?"

Chell nodded and reached for the jars again. This time the android grabbed her wrist.

"Wait a minute, silly. You're good with markers, but for this paint you'll need to use brushes. I dug deep into the complex for you... I hope you appreciate it... And I found a couple dozen art supplies in the modern art department. They made sculptures out of brushes there. Strange people. It seems they called it "meta-art". So, I brought you some brushes, but you've hardly ever used them in your life, have you? In principle, it's not that difficult, but the technique is a little different than with markers and pens..."

The test subject raised an eyebrow. GLaDOS rolled her eyes, lowered the panel with the jars, handed the girl three small brushes, and extended her own white hand.

"You need… Training", - the android turned away. - "The paint is hard to wash off the skin. Three days, no less. And yes, I checked. You can… Try it on me first. I have plenty of elastic cover to replace it, just in case".

Chell twirled the paintbrushes in her fingers, smiling, and took the AI's hand in hers. The brush had thin, soft bristles, and before dipping it into the paint, she ran it experimentally over the android's fingers. GLaDOS grinned.

ЭGo ahead and paint. While I'm still in the mood".

The subject pursed her lips, thought for a few seconds, dipped the brush into orange paint and drew several almost identical parallel wavy lines along the phalanges of the white fingers. The android looked down at her hand, watching Chell's creative thought intently. A few dots here and there, but placed symmetrically, and small triangles in blue paint on the fingertips. It turned out better than GLaDOS could have expected - after all, it wasn't in vain that the girl had been practicing with writing and art supplies all this time; her hand had become much more steady in handling them.

"Not bad, although it doesn't reach the level of complex patterns", - The AI ​​pulled her hand away and used the other to stroke Chell's head. - "I see you've been practicing a little, huh? Okay, you can try it on your palm".

The test subject nodded, sat down in the chair next to GLaDOS without asking, and began to paint her own left hand. The android pretended to be very busy with the side screen, but in fact she mentally connected to the cameras on the wall behind her and focused them on the girl.

Chell decided to paint her left hand with all three colors, and she tried to reproduce some clearly more complex pattern than on GlaDOS's hand - among other things, she drew white semicircles on the phalanges with small blue dots inside and a frame of small orange triangles. It didn't come out perfect, but it was pretty neat.

The android began to remember, looking at such diligence, when she last checked the girl's progress in self-development. Almost independent.

It was a long time ago. It seemed like all she'd done lately was let Chell have her fun whenever the test subject wanted, and shown a lot of romantic feelings for the girl. GlaDOS even felt awkward. But she wanted it so much... How could the girl still have the desire to do anything with such an approach?

Chell tapped her shoulder to get her attention, and showed her the result—a complex arrangement of geometric shapes and dots on her fingers and the back of her hand, merging into blue and orange ovals around her wrist. The AI ​​smiled.

"Well done. There is a draftsman hiding inside you. Somewhere. Honey, would you mind holding off on painting your second arm and taking a couple of unscheduled tests?.."

Chapter Text

Once, Aperture announced to the public that they were working on a rather large project. Well, not exactly "announced" - Mr. Johnson managed that successfully, despite all the objections of his scientific council. And when did Cave Johnson ever seriously listen to his subordinates?

"Damn, Mr. Johnson is an..." - Craig sighed as he and his colleagues left the meeting with journalists. No one except Johnson seemed to enjoy answering questions about what they were doing in their labs.

"Johnson, you idiot", - Glados hissed irritably, pulling the research assistant badge off her neck. They put them on for a couple of photos in a magazine, in which she would probably look simply disgusting again... And all because she didn't get enough sleep. Because she and Chell were learning the rules of chess. Well, she was teaching Chell how to play chess. Moreover, she studied quite well - the girl, in general, was smart, although terribly stubborn. - "That's it, oh my God, I'm going home. I want to sleep terribly".

"By "home" do you mean "to your computer wifey"? - Rick clarified with a chuckle. He was walking ahead, and throwing a murderous glare at him wouldn't work, so Glados simply punched her colleague between the shoulder blades. - "Ouch! That's it, that's it, don't fight, beauty!"

"Stop pestering our mainframe computer operator, Rick", - Craig sighed wearily and listened. Laughter came from the boardroom. Cave was still there, with the journalists. - "God, we haven't even tried to start this machine yet!"

"Don't jinx it", - Rick sighed and took Kevin by the shoulder, who was the most fussed of all. The head of the space expedition team could only talk about space even at such events.

"Did I do it?" - Kevin shrugged a little nervously. Glados nodded encouragingly.

"Great. I wish I could ignore their idiotic questions and talk only about space..."

"Okay, how about heading to a bar and relaxing a bit?" - Rick suddenly suggested. Glados winced and rolled her eyes.

"No. I'm against it. I need to go ho... To Chell, unless you want to find an explosion crater where the lab was on Monday".

---

The experiment, in fact, corresponded to their general direction in studying the nature of portals - it was a large frame that was supposed to open a portal in a certain place on the other side of the state. Moreover, there was no such frame in that place - the wormhole was supposed to open right on a special platform made of lunar panels.

Chell was responsible for everything and looked after everything, of course. And Glados looked after her.

At exactly three o'clock on the day of the first test, the woman was sitting not in the control room, but in the test block, or more precisely, in the observer's room, behind a thick layer of glass, with headphones and a microphone. Designed to be thrown into the portal if it opened successfully, the mannequin was already hanging above the faith panel on the manipulator.

"Let's start?" - she looked at the rectangular frame with a white backlight in which the portal was supposed to open.

"Go ahead, Mr. Johnson is already watching", - Rick's voice came through the headphones. Glados turned to the monitor, where the connection icon with the main computer was lit.

"Launch it, darling".

Chell chirped in agreement and began to connect the machine to launch the portal frame. Glados double-checked all the coordinates and data - and the second time it seemed to her that the indicators were too... High, or what?

"Chell, isn't the voltage too high?" - she looked at the frame. Orange flashes were already beginning to flicker in it.

"It is!" - the AI ​​suddenly agreed cheerfully. Not used to the fact that a computer could use a voice synthesizer, Glados flinched. - "But Mr. Johnson said everything is fine!"

"Mr. John... No, don't listen to Mr. Johnson!" - Glados put her palms on the table and moved closer to the glass, staring intently at the slowly opening orange oval of the wormhole. - "He's an idiot! I mean, no, he's a good businessman, but as a scientist!.."

The light in the testing room suddenly flickered, and a huge portal opened with a distinctive sound. For the first two seconds it was covered in a reddish haze with the same sparks, and then it finally settled down, and...

And it showed a typical test chamber for testing with a portal device.

"But the bridge goes out every… Five…" - a voice came from the huge portal. A frighteningly familiar voice. A voice that had electronic notes. And it became very surprised. - "No, no, Chell, STOP!"

Another characteristic sound - and a very surprised girl in a typical Aperture orange uniform, in white boots with springs and with a portal device in her hands flew out of the portal. She landed almost at the observation glass, staggered, immediately turned back and stared at the huge frame.

Glados's palms were sweaty. She jumped up from her chair, staring at the unknown girl.

Which, very inconveniently, looked very familiar. Exactly like one of the test subjects, the operation on which Glados herself once supervised...

"CHELL!" - the electronic voice came straight from the portal. Glados tore her gaze away from the uniformed stranger and stared at the orange frame of the portal with equal surprise. There was no one else there, but the voice…

"Chell?" - Chell responded in surprise… Her Chell. The girl in the orange uniform turned around again and stared in amazement at Glados, who was staring at her from behind the glass.

"Chell?!" - Glados pulled off her headphones. Something scraped outside the portal frame.

"CHELL, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" - an electronic, but terribly worried voice, it seemed, could already be heard even at the other end of the complex.

"Glados? Beauty, what do you have there?" - came to the scientist's consciousness as if from afar. Ah... Yes, headphones... - "Our generators are smoking! Listen, the test failed, close it quickly..."

"CHELL!" - The light in the frame also flickered, and the woman saw... something. There was an entrance door on the other side of the test chamber, just like in their lab tests, and it was literally knocked down — with a couple of blows, but still. A figure in a white lab coat appeared in the doorway, and a girl in an orange uniform rushed towards her.

The light suddenly dimmed and the frame supporting the portal began to sparkle.

The figure in the lab coat reached the frame as quickly as possible, but as soon as she extended her hand towards the girl returning to the portal, pitch darkness fell.

Chapter Text

Once, thank God, Mr. Johnson was able to keep his mouth shut at yet another press conference. When asked about the "unprecedented experiment" he had praised so much last time, Cave only smiled and waved his hand.

"Have patience, gentlemen!" - Rick felt like even chief's voice was shaking. - "The fact that we announced this experience does not mean that I will talk about the results right at the next conference, ha-ha!"

Rick sighed sadly, covering his melancholy with a glass of water, and quietly looked under the table at the messenger on his phone.

"How are you doing, beauty?"

Glados responded unexpectedly quickly. Usually she read and responded at least five minutes after sending a message… Here, however, the circumstances were favorable.

"They're talking. Keep an eye on Cave. Or I'll personally stick a turret leg into his head."

Rick swallowed water. Glados writing with all the punctuation marks scared him more than she punching him between the shoulder blades for making a joke about a computer wife.

---

Glados looked up at the girl sitting near Chell's main body. The girl's name was also Chell, and she had said so herself, first with gestures, and then in writing. Johnson, damn him, just tore the fabric of space on a whim, and they accidentally pulled a girl out of... It seems like a parallel world. Seriously, she claimed to work for Aperture, and even answered questions truthfully about setting up test chambers and operating a portable portal device, one of which she happened to have with her. And boots with springs... And overall, well, she looked like a typical test subject from the portal study group. Only her hands were painted - with something like henna, but not henna, the left one up to the elbow, with some curls and dots, and the right one - with even geometric patterns, so even, as if they were painted by a machine.

Glados asked about this too. The girl smiled shyly and typed on the laptop provided to her: "This was GLaDOS drawing". The scientist's uncommon name, even though it was written in such a strange way, sent shivers down her spine. But her Chell was delighted with her new guest - she was squeaking so hard in Morse code that the woman stopped understanding what this strange robot was talking about.

Chell the human listened very carefully for a few seconds and asked: "Is this Morse code? I don't know it, GLaDOS does".

"GLaDOS, GLaDOS..." - Glados said absentmindedly, looking through the experiment report. Well, yes, too much energy and minor changes in the design of the portal frame that Cave ordered the engineers to make, but did not consider it necessary to inform his scientific council about them, led to the opening of a portal somewhere far beyond their Universe. Apparently, in a world similar to theirs, only Chell was there... still a human? And she also tested portals...

The woman was so deep in thought about all this that she again missed the moment when her Chell spoke.

"Your Glados is a robot there, right?" - she suddenly asked, concerned. The human Chell nodded and smiled.

"She is the best robot I know"

"My Glados is human, but I'm working on it", - The AI ​​said in a confidential whisper. Only the whisper was reflected off the walls in a booming echo, so much so that the scientist's heart sank a little, but she pretended not to hear her Chell.

As if she didn't already know that they wouldn't let her go just like that.

---

First of all, it was worth thinking about what to do with this random victim of their experience. Glados offered to reopen the portal to send the girl home without hesitation, and Rick and Craig supported her, but Mr. Johnson suddenly suggested that they first interview her. He was curious about what kind of world she came from.

The human Chell explained that she had lived almost her entire life in the Aperture complex with a robotic administrator. At these words, Cave winced in displeasure, but did not interrupt.

She also said that she had not seen a single person for many years, but nevertheless she accurately guessed the names of Mr. Johnson and Rick, for some reason, only after hearing their voices.

The strangest thing is that she also recognized Glados. And also by her voice. The scientist initially tried to pretend that she didn’t know the test subject, but the girl, of course, had to be introduced to her Chell… After all, Chell was the main computer of the entire complex.

And, by the way, the girl immediately took a strange liking to Glados herself. They also became friends with the main AI after just five minutes.

---

The questioning took the whole day. Little could be learned about the structure of the world in which this test subject lived, because she could mostly talk about her "cute android" and the tests with the portal device. Especially a lot about the first point. It seems that if they asked her only about "GLaDOS", she would answer about it all day long.

However, Glados decided to hold off on passing on the information about the android described by Chell-human to Cave and carefully transferred parts of the girl's printed answers to another text document. To study it in more detail at her leisure. Just for the sake of interest.

Meanwhile, the girl herself began asking questions. Very uncomfortable ones.

"You look a bit like GlaDOS", - she smiled at the scientist, and Glados even felt a little awkward.

"Well, our... names are almost the same... They're just written differently..."

"And voices", - Chell looked at her a little more closely. However, after a few seconds she shook her head and laughed silently. - "Although she said that there are a lot of similar people in the world! Although she is not a human, she could accidentally make herself similar".

"I'm sure it was so, my dear", - Glados turned her gaze to her long-silent Chell. She froze, her body slightly bent, and the optical lens was constantly watching the human version of this test subject. What was she doing?..

"So, will you take me home?" - Chell typed suddenly. The one who was human... The scientist was already feeling a little dizzy.

"Of course we will!" - the AI ​​suddenly responded cheerfully. - "As soon as we fix the portal frame! I can give the exact same settings even after a thousand years!"

Human Chell nodded gratefully, thought for a moment, looking at her painted hands, and clarified: "How soon?"

"As soon as Mr. Johnson gives the go-ahead, my dear..." - Glados sighed absently, editing her report. No, there were some things Johnson definitely didn't need to know. - "He asked us to ask you questions himself. Science stuff and all that. It's not often you get in touch with other worlds, even if you're dealing with space tearing... So, you say you've never seen people? Even when you went up to the surface?" - Chell nodded. - "But at the same time... At the same time, does your internet work?" - She nodded again, a little less decisively, raising an eyebrow. Glados smiled encouragingly out of habit and ruffled the subject's hair. Perhaps it was the associations… After all, this was exactly like her Chell when she was human. - "No, no, it doesn't mean that there are no people in your world at all. It sounds too sad, doesn't it? It's just that, you know, there are a lot of uninhabited places in the world... And places where no one goes so often... And you still won't abandon her, right?"

Chell snorted. Really, was it worth asking such stupid things...

"Glados? Glados!" - Mr. Johnson, speak of the devil, shouted into her earpiece. The woman winced and leaned back in her computer chair.

"Uh, yes, Mr. Johnson?"

"How's the interrogation and report going? I'd prefer to get it before the end of the working day".

"Already working, Mr. J… Wait a second, what about the interview? You were careful with your statements this time, I hope?" - Glados added a chill to her tone. She was willing to bet that in those moments, Cave felt a shiver run down his spine, as if she were briefly his boss.

"Everything is fine!" - by his sharp tone, however, this was not heard. But the scientist sometimes used this in life, looking the boss straight in the eye. - "Do you really think I can't control myself?"

"You already have lost control of yourself in this experiment, Mr. Johnson", - Glados's tone became simply icy. Cave couldn't help but snort.

"Damn it! I don't have to answer for my actions to you either, Glados!"

She chuckled, uncharacteristically unirritated by the bossy tone. After all… After all, there were two Chells here, and she couldn't afford to lose face. So she even lowered her voice a little as she answered.

"Now repeat it for her, Mr. Johnson. I'll send you a report in half an hour. Goodbye".

The frame repair took a long time, and the girl needed to be kept somewhere, so she was temporarily given a room in the wing for test subjects - without being sent for testing, of course. Glados insisted on this, citing the stress of crossing the interdimensional boundary. Of course, they believed her - why would the operator of the main computer of the complex lie?

Judging by the human Chell's rapturous, loving stories, it was better for her to remain safe and sound when she returned. And Glados had no doubt that she would be returned.

The girl's communication with the test subjects working in their complex somehow didn't go well. She responded with joy to familiar voices - that is, to the voices of Mr. Johnson's entire scientific council, even to the voice of Cave himself - but she was overly wary of complete strangers. The scientist even thought that maybe it was a good thing that she had not met any people in her world.

What was surprising was that Chell had almost no reaction to the news that she was now in another world. And she didn't really want to discuss it. Glados even felt a bit ashamed to ask what could have happened to her in her own universe.

The computer Chell became unusually quiet on the second day. That is, she continued to respond to the scientist’s commands and reminded her about dinner when the woman worked hard in the evening with the plans for the portal frame that the engineers had sent her, but she herself said almost nothing. But Glados was too busy to notice it in time.

---

On the fourth day of being confined to her room — and she had almost stopped leaving it by the third — Chell the test subject became sad. She was provided with several books, small office supplies, and even clean clothes, but the girl still did not want to begin active socialization. So Glados, in addition to managing the main computer, was also tasked with taking care of this Chell.

"Hey?" - the scientist even knocked politely before entering. Chell lay on her bed, her legs propped up on the headboard, her left leg swinging, reading "Winnie the Pooh". She hadn't even taken off her boots or her uniform for most of the day, despite the fact that she had been given pajamas as well.

Such concern from the management about some test subject who didn’t even work for them, even if she was from a parallel world three times over, made Glados a little wary.

The girl looked at her and smiled. The scientist hesitated a bit at the entrance, took a couple of steps towards the bed and sat down on a chair near the desk. She had no idea why the test subjects had desks. Maybe they just had a bunch of cameras built into them…

"How are you feeling?" - Chell shrugged vaguely. The woman sighed. - "Repairs... Let's just say a couple of extra... Light bulbs burned out, yes. Ordered from all the way from the other end of the country. I mean, we have more, but just in case we need to order a dozen in reserve, and we don’t have a very big budget, we also had to repair the generators…"

Chell turned sharply, sat up and asked with gestures, "How long?"

The scientist looked away. Lying to Chell, even someone else's Chell, was hard.

"I'm... I'm not sure. A few more days... W-week?.. A month at most. Listen, I'm speeding up the process as best I can!"

The girl sighed and buttoned up her jacket. The first day here she had worn it tied at the waist, on the second she had thrown it over her shoulders, and now she hardly took it off. Glados shifted slightly in her chair and pulled a chocolate bar out of her lab coat pocket.

"Hey, well, I can’t bring you cake, but here… Chocolate. Here. Otherwise your GLaDOS will think that we don't take good care of you, ha-ha".

Chell looked at the bar with distrust, examined it from both sides in the woman's outstretched hand, and finally took it. The scientist couldn't help but smile as she watched the subject clumsily unwrap the chocolate bar and nibble on the very edge of it - perhaps too sweet for her, judging by the expression on her face. But Chell kept chewing.

"Just wait a little longer. I can bring you some more books, if you want".

---

The deadlines were pushed back again. Glados was confused - there were enough materials, the generators were repaired in two days, but the frame could not be restored, and the engineering department was silent. Even when the scientist asked directly through her Chell.

"I don't like it", - the woman looked at the AI. It blinked a couple of lights and dialed Mr. Johnson for Glados. However, completely contrary to the scientist's usual practice, only the answering machine responded. - "Chell?" - she pulled off the headphones with the microphone. - "Chell... Check how the frame repair is going?"

"It isn't going", - Chell responded. The scientist raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell?! And why don't you tell me about this?"

"Ow... Ah", - the AI ​​lowered her body, almost touching the floor, and bowed her head guiltily. - "Yeah… I thought you knew? Cave said you knew…"

The computer chair crashed to the floor. Glados jumped up abruptly and had to clench and unclench her fists several times to calm down.

"I. Knew. Nothing." - she said slowly and angrily. Chell pressed her hull to the floor, looking up at the scientist. - "He lied".

Chell instantly lifted herself above the scientist and turned thirty degrees. There was a rumble outside.

"W-what are you doing?" - Glados even got a little scared and automatically grabbed the table. Chell beeped ominously in Morse, then for some reason translated with her own synthesizer:
"I'm fixing the frame. Don't call Cave".

Chapter Text

Once the workers of the complex suddenly found themselves in darkness almost at once. The workday was simply interrupted by a sudden power outage, everywhere at once - as far as the employees could judge, having conducted a roll call in messengers on their phones, at least of those whose phones still had reception.

"What do you mean "the generator is broken"?!" - Mr. Johnson yelled, hastily searching his personal mobile for Glados's number. She didn't answer her work landline, despite the fact that she literally had one of the most advanced AIs of their time in her hands, which provided her with uninterrupted communication with the outside world. - "So do something! We fixed it literally a week ago! I'll fire everyone responsible!!!"

"Oh, really, Mr. Johnson?" - he didn't even notice how he pressed the call button. Glados's voice was incredibly, poisonously polite.

"G... Glados, what the hell?" - the man tried to calm down. - "What's up with the generator? Did you and Chell do something again?"

"«You and Chell»?" - she laughed very, very unkindly. - "Oh, sir, Mr. Johnson, sir, it was you who gave the order not to repair the stationary device for creating portals for the next six months. I found the order for the engineers".

"Who gave you permission to dig into the management's orders?" - Mr. Johnson jumped out of his chair. It seemed he needed to rush to work to sort this all out…

"Who gave you permission to bullshit me?" - the woman raised her voice. - "«Yes, yes, we'll get the girl home in no time, no problem!» Are you by any chance brain damaged, Mr. Johnson? You've started forgetting your own promises!"

"Why the hell should I think about some test subject?" - Mr. Johnson shouted. - "You yourself act like a caring mother, and the rest of us, the whole damn scientific council, are engaged in science! Why should I waste resources and time on some dumb sociophobe? Flew into a portal - not our problem, you need to watch where you jump! No, I'm not a monster, of course, we can always include it in our testing program, especially since it has a gun... Although it would be better to disassemble her device and see how does it..." - Mr. Johnson was even distracted by this thought, thinking about taking away the device from the mute - it was left as an act of mercy, she almost never let it out of her hands...

"Did you hear him?" - came to him through the haze of new plans. Mr. Johnson winced as he heard the electronic beeping. - "Yes. Yes, I know, Chell".

"D-did you put it on speaker?" - Johnson's mouth instantly went dry. No matter what, he always forgot which room Glados was always hanging out in while she was at work...

"Yes, Mr. Johnson", - the woman exhaled. This sound did not bode well. - "She has a few words for you, Mr. Johnson".

"No, wait, I can…" - he was pinned to the spot by a completely unfamiliar breath with electronic notes in the voice.

"You can be a very bad person, Cave", - Chell said very sternly. Her voice was so clear that it was unclear whether she was speaking into Glados's phone microphone or whether she had connected to it and was speaking directly from the speaker. - "I'm not friends with you anymore. We'll fix the frame ourselves. Bye".

---

The generators were actually fine, of course, but Chell and Glados had turned off the power everywhere they could and locked most of the doors. Except for one room in the test subject quarters.

"Chell?" - the girl raised her head. There was a speaker on the wall above the bed. - "Chell, hey. It's dark outside, but you remember which way the lift is, right?.."

Human Chell raised an eyebrow. The speaker was silent for a few seconds.

"Ah... Right, I forgot that you can't talk... Damn. Okay, listen, I'll turn on the light in the hallway for a moment... We've blocked all the other doors in the wing. Look out into the hallway, I'll look at you through the cameras... And don't forget your things".

The girl put the book down, picked up the portable portal device and went out into the corridor. It was empty outside and surprisingly quiet for a residential wing. There was good soundproofing here, of course, but after more than a week of living in this place, Chell had already gotten used to the fact that there were one or two people in the corridor - chatting, going to the cafeteria or training halls, just wandering around...

"Oh, you heard me, wonderful!" - she glanced at the nearest camera. It, and indeed all the cameras in the corridor, were pointed at her. The girl felt somehow even more comfortable. - "So... Go right to the lift. You need to get to the control room urgently. I'll explain everything on the spot".

There seemed to be no reason, but just in case she ran.

---

The glass in the door leading to the common room was dark, and there were worried voices behind it, but Chell chose to walk past without stopping. The exit from the wing and the elevators were also empty. The girl glanced around the corner she had just passed and saw the lights turning off at the other end of the corridor.

She wasn't the timid type, but she hurried into the elevator. Something strange was clearly going on here.

"Thank God you made it", - Glados met her right at the elevator. The girl experienced a painful sense of deja vu. - "Listen, there's been some unexpected complications... But Chell and I have almost everything fixed! But it's better for you to stay here for now, this is the safest room in the complex..."

The test subject nodded and walked sideways to the AI, which was slowly shaking its body and making barely audible beeping sounds. Somewhere around here was usually the laptop that Chell had become accustomed to using to communicate, but it didn’t even occur to her to look for it now.

"We'll bring you home soon", - the AI ​​Chell told her trustingly. The test subject nodded awkwardly and sat down on the floor, when suddenly Glados slapped her forehead, jumped up to the human Chell and grabbed her hand.

"We should already be there when it launches! No, we don't have time to sit in the control room, we need to get to that chamber... Get to the lift now. Chell, honey, you'll make sure no one comes out of anywhere for now, right? And especially watch the doors outside the facility".

Even though she was a huge robot, it seemed that upon hearing the "honey" addressed to her, the AI-Chell somehow straightened up and nodded her head hull.

"Of course, dear".

---

Victory came to them relatively easily. Glados simply turned off her mobile because Cave was trying to call her every two minutes - probably in an attempt to make her "think scientifically" and "not waste the budget on some random girl". In any other situation, she really wouldn’t have cared one bit about the unknown test subject, she wouldn’t have even let them into the control room, but here…

Glados closed her eyes for a second and sighed. Her test subject's eyes had once been that blue... The lens was now also illuminated blue, she had specifically asked to change the illumination as a reward for good behavior. And Glados had approved the project herself.

Come to think of it, did she ever miss the human side of the AI ​​Chell? Maybe. Maybe even more often recently, since the arrival of this human test subject. This Chell could at least be given a caring pat on the head.

The scientist opened her eyes when the girl tugged at her lab coat sleeve. Yes, yes, she had to go, get Chell back… Get her back to her GLaDOS.

The large, stationary portal frame was almost fully assembled and stood darkly on the wall opposite the observation glass. The AI ​​Chell was already attaching the last blocks to it and turning on the backlight.

"You, come inside, I will manage the process", - Glados jumped inside the observation post, put on the headphones with a microphone and turned on the PC. It seemed like they hadn't even cleaned up here since last time... - "Can you hear me?" - she tapped the microphone and Chell nodded. - "Okay... Baby, how are you doing?"

"I-it's almost done, don't distract me with cute nicknames!" - AI-Chell was outraged. At another time, Glados would have even smirked, so embarrassed was her friend by the display of tenderness at that moment, but for now there was no time.

The white backlight finally turned on, and the woman, with bated breath, commanded:
"Start".

The diodes on the edges of the frame began to blink, indicating the process of switching on, orange sparks appeared, Chell involuntarily pressed her back against the observation glass, and... Suddenly the light flickered.

"Chell? What the hell?" - Glados clicked the mouse, checking the indicators. For some reason, they were a little lower this time.

"The generator has been restored to a lower power level", - the AI ​​responded with concentration. "I'm pressing as hard as I can, but I'm not sure it's enough... Should we connect the backup one?"

"Yeah, go ahead, girl!" - the woman turned her gaze to the subject, who was pressing her back against the glass. On the one hand, she was a little scared in the same room with a huge humming frame, but on the other hand, judging by her posture, she was ready to peel herself off the glass at any moment and throw herself into the portal.

The orange sparks began to flash again, much faster this time, and Glados breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Chell".

"For what? Wait, I haven't connected the backup yet..."

Oh, that awful, distinctive sound – and in the wall inside the frame… Wait, even a little higher?.. A huge orange portal opened. Behind it was a test room exactly like the one from which this test subject had flown out, only the floor was no longer covered in something green...

"Chell!" - a silhouette appeared in the doorway, one that Glados had seen before. But then it was wearing a white coat, and now - some tight-fitting dark suit with white stripes.

And, God, the air around it seemed to sparkle.

The girl suddenly peeled herself away from the glass and ran towards the silhouette. A few steps together - and someone had already crossed the frame, also finding themself in their world, seemingly having forgotten about everything in the world - because this meeting was accompanied by a hysterical electronic squeak.

The girl stretched out her arms to hug the stranger, Glados saw that it was... An android, it seems?

She ignored safety and threw open the door to the observation room.

The android, wearing what looked more like some kind of advanced uniform, pushed away the subject's embrace and quickly picked her up. Glados only now noticed that the robot was shaking somehow... And yes, the air around it really did seem to spark.

And, oh god, her face, though slightly more sharp and less human-like, was too much like her own… Except for the madly glowing bright yellow eyes.

Glados took a step back and leaned her back against the door.

"Are you nuts?" - the android exclaimed in a completely electronic voice and turned sharply towards the frame. - "I killed almost all the generator's power to find you! W-week... M-month on house arrest!"

"Chell!" - Glados couldn't help herself. The girl waved her hand in farewell, and the android simply turned her head one hundred eighty degrees and stared murderously at the scientist. But the woman was not afraid. Why should she be afraid of herself? - "Good luck! And farewell!"

The girl nodded and waved her hand again. The robot remained silent, turned her head to its normal position and disappeared with her test subject beyond the portal frame.

"Oh my god, Johnson is definitely going to fire me", - Glados chuckled weakly as she watched her android self carry away the human version of her Chell. Quite quickly. Maybe the former would have even cried, if androids could… - "Chell... Hey, Chell? You can still hear me, right?"

"Of course I hear you", - the AI ​​responded thoughtfully. The orange portal went out.

"So did we open it, or…"

"I think we helped open it on the other side", - Chell immediately began to disassemble the frame. - "And if Cave wants to fire you, he'll have to talk to me. I'm in charge here".

"Oh, how we started talking…" - The woman chuckled again and sat down right on the floor. And threw her head back, closing her eyes. This week had been too exhausting. - "Phew... Please help me get to the control room".

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS did not let go of Chell for two hours straight. As soon as the test subject tried to twist or change her position slightly, the AI ​​began to hiss ominously, and Chell shuddered.

Finally, the android relaxed her shoulders and sighed tiredly.

"Sorry. I got too nervous. My battery almost exploded from it", - she kissed the girl on the temple and leaned back in her chair. - "You have no idea how scared I was. God. And you don't seem particularly worried, do you?"

Chell shook her head and hugged the AI, as if to say that everything was okay. GLaDOS laid her head on her shoulder.

"Well... You seem to be... Unharmed. Did I see other people there, or was it just my imagination?"

Chell nodded and pulled away to begin making history with her hands, but the AI ​​pulled her back sharply.

"No. Later. Let me calm down".

She turned on the "cat core".

---

After another quarter of an hour, the android personally carried the test subject to the medical unit and carefully examined her for any damage. It seemed she was ready to declare war on the world in which Chell had been stuck for over a week. But the girl was fine.

"Thank me and science, you're fine", - GlaDOS sighed in relief as she removed the sensors from the test subject's arm. - "Damn it... How did you... Okay, I think I'm ready to hear how you have... been living all this time... I hope you had a good company?"

Chell nodded with a smile and pointed at the AI.

"Um... How should I interpret this gesture?"

The girl threw up her hands. "You were there".

"Hm?" - AI raised an eyebrow and sat down next to the girl on the couch. - "What do you mean?"

"As a human", Chell clarified. "And I as a robot. I think".

"Well, thank you for the kind words. I'm not just a "robot", but a highly developed artificial intelligence based on... Wait", - GlaDOS placed her hand on top of the subject's hand. - "robot, you say? You mean... like an android or like..."

The girl shook her head. The android suddenly shuddered and squeezed the test subject's wrist.

"Okay, let's skip this part... Better tell me what's going on with me, the human".

"You took care of me", the girl hugged the AI. GLaDOS hugged her back with a sigh.

"Well... It turns out we were lucky".

The subject suddenly felt the android's hands shaking slightly, barely noticeably. She pulled GLaDOS toward herself and squeezed her tighter, pressing her chin to her shoulder.

---

After a medical check, half an hour of cuddles, and a light lunch, Chell finally noticed the change in GLaDOS's wardrobe. She never changed her new suit, and the girl was able to take a closer look at it.

It was something like Chell's wetsuit for water tests, only gray with strange dark veins and white stripes on the folds of the body.

"What?" - The AI ​​followed the girl's gaze. - "Oh, right, I didn't take it off... It's, um, I would call it a "journey outfit". I can’t go to God knows where to find my… Y-you, in a lab coat! Or in a sweater. This one is quite durable, even though it's made of fabric... I've been quite busy with work these days. You know, I don't get physically tired the way you might, but mentally I wouldn't mind taking a break. For a week. Or a month. You're off the tests for that time, by the way".

Chell was actively indignant, but the AI ​​just waved it off.

"So I would let you deal with portals right after that? No way. The maximum is tests that demonstrate physical indicators. Your own. Without portal-compatible surfaces. You should understand me too!"

The test subject thought for a moment and nodded with a sigh. After all, GLaDOS had such a worried look on her face when she came for her. The AI ​​was left all alone at that time...

The girl sat on her lap and hugged her neck. GLaDOS shuddered and put her hand on Chell's back.

The android's palm was slightly hot.

"Not for long. I'd like to... I'd like to understand how to prevent things like this from happening, if anything. Okay? Will you be patient? I know you like tests, but…"

The test subject covered GLaDOS's lips with her hand and nodded.

Chapter Text

Once, late in the afternoon, missing the usual tests with portals, Chell pulled out several sheets of paper from her supplies - GLaDOS supplied her, of course - sat down on the floor next to her chair and began to draw. The AI ​​herself pretended for some time that she was not in the body, but in fact was observing the flight of the test subject’s imagination. The girl drew several smooth orange and blue ovals on each sheet and black schematic figures of people jumping in and out of them.

"Are you turning your work into art?" - GLaDOS smiled and placed her hand on the top of Chell's head. The subject chuckled and rubbed her head against the android's palm. - "You know, over these months, while I've been letting you draw and write freely, your handwriting has become more confident and... Well, you've developed a style, or something. This is good. Physical development should be coordinated with mental".

Chell shrugged uncertainly, continuing to draw the schematic drawings.

GlaDOS suddenly felt almost physically bored. No, not because of the girl's presence, on the contrary, it was wonderful with her - because of the lack of tests. After all, she loved science along with...

Overall, she loved science too.

---

"Since I can't let you do the usual tests, we'll do something else that's equally educational", - GLaDOS explained, leading the girl through the newly renovated corridors. Chell held onto her elbow, a relatively new way of walking "hand in hand" that she had picked up from some TV series that was directly related to romance. Surprisingly, the girl liked such works less than science fiction, detective stories or animation. It's not that the android was unhappy with it, but she would have preferred something more scientific, documentary...

Or, well, maybe some Disney classics. It was only because these films could certainly be watched with the test subject - they passed all the censorship checks.

That was the only reason.

"In short!" - GLaDOS turned to the large double doors and opened one for the girl. Behind the door was a clean kitchen, the same one that served the test subject's needs in terms of sweets. - "We'll cook. To, uh, together. If you don't mind…"

Chell laughed and quickly dragged the android into the kitchen. She was clearly excited about the idea of ​​cooking... It seems. Or maybe the idea of ​​cooking together. After all, she liked doing some things with the AI, sometimes even sleeping on her not-so-soft body, wrapped in a blanket…

GLaDOS shook her head, trying to free herself from another stream of cute, but irrelevant things, and began to unbutton the buttons on her lab coat.

"I don't want to get it dirty. Hold this", - she handed the lab coat to Chell and was left in an orange blouse and gray knee-length skinny pants, an upgrade from the skating outfit she now wore underneath the lab coat. Initially, the AI ​​was thinking about replacing the lab coat with something more elegant, like a dress, but no matter what, it turned out that her knees remained uncovered, especially when sitting in a chair. And GLaDOS still remembered that the girl aestheticized android legs.

---

The manipulator brought two aprons, specially made for this day by the head of the complex. Chell greeted the new outfit with admiration and immediately put one of the aprons on herself, not giving GLaDOS a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"…I see you are making quite a bit of progress", - the AI ​​finally said, smiling as she watched the subject spin around, tying the strings behind her back. - "Can you help me with this? I'll replace these limbs with more flexible ones next week, I think, when I finish the prototype".

The girl nodded and began to tie an apron for the android. This gesture was so unusual and at the same time so familiar and homely, cozy, that the AI ​​involuntarily felt weakness in the knee mechanisms. She had already found out that this was also one of the android body's strange reactions to various affectionate little things from the test subject - and GLaDOS had not even intended for everything to be exactly like this.

"Thank you", - the AI ​​hugged Chell. - "Well, what would you like to cook? We can take potatoes from your little greenhouse, haha".

The subject raised an eyebrow. She still visited the greenhouse several times a week, tending to the potatoes that had long since grown, but at the same time she had no idea what to do with the fruits of her modest labor.

"Well, you know... Mashed potatoes... Potato pie... People eat potatoes", - The android involuntarily winced, remembering her few hours spent inside the potato battery. It was creepy, but it seemed to have no effect on her other than the appearance of ornithophobia.

Chell nodded and thought for a moment. GLaDOS awkwardly smoothed the wires under one of the antennas.

"Yes, I guess we should have decided what we were going to cook before bringing you here... Anyway, you eat, so you decide".

The test subject waved her hand and suggested baking a pie.

---

In fact, although the android was in charge of the cooking, Chell listened to her mostly in terms of choosing ingredients, but she poured and sprinkled by eye.

"Damn, Chell, that's too much!" - AI intercepted the hand with the pack, which was almost tilted over the bowl for the third time. A cloud of flour rose into the air. - "First of all, it would be better to use a spoon, if it comes to that. Secondly, I'll make you peel potatoes instead!"

The test subject grinned and reached out to kiss the android on the cheek, but she dodged and took the bag of flour from the girl.

"No, stop. Go peel some potatoes".

Chell rolled her eyes, but picked up the knife and took on what she had grown herself. AI had taken care to dig up and wash the potatoes in advance, and the girl looked at the largest one for a long time and carefully before starting to peel it. The android, meanwhile, began to knead the dough, trying to achieve the ideal consistency.

---

Overall, the cooking went off peacefully. There were so many cooking stands that they could have gone in different directions completely, but instead, GLaDOS and Chell occupied one - on purpose, of course, and not just because they were preparing the same dish. One cooking stand provided them with plenty of awkward hand-to-hand contact, elbow and hip contact, timid grins, and quiet requests from GLaDOS to pass her something.

For the first time in a long time, AI felt an extraordinary sense of peace.

"Now we just have to wait", - she closed the stove door and leaned towards the glass illuminated by the yellow light bulb. The mashed potato pie looked good, but it took up most of the produce from that small hobby greenhouse because some of the potatoes were greenish, and GLaDOS made Chell throw those away.

The test subject sat down opposite the stove, right on the floor. The AI ​​hung around a bit, putting away the dishes and putting the rest of the ingredients back in place, checked the temperature and sat down next to Chell.

"About forty minutes", - she leaned her back against the kitchen counter next to Chell and placed her hand on top of the girl's. - "Of course, you will be the only one trying the food. By the way, I will note that our interaction has become extremely productive, huh".

"Cozy", Chell agreed, snuggling up to the android from the side. GLaDOS sighed a little tiredly and put her arm around the girl's shoulders.

"All in flour, after all. But at least you listened to me today, haha".

"You looked happy today", the subject smiled and touched the tip of the AI's nose with her finger. In response to the silent question, she gave a short "flour".

"No wonder you got me dirty too", - GLaDOS chuckled, looking at the yellow reflections on the glass of the stove. Nothing in common with an equipment incinerator.

She thought about how different the mechanisms created by people could be.

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS realized that the test subject would not be able to sit for long without her favorite portal tests, without doing something new at the same time. And they had already painted and repainted their hands five times.

So she had to quickly search through her memory for all the activities that Chell hadn't tried yet. There were still a ton of ideas, but most of them required some kind of preliminary preparation, and the AI ​​herself needed something relaxing after the unpleasant incident with the portals. Ideally, it would be combined with music, because the head of the complex noted music as a common interest between her and the test subject. Moreover, it was quite a big interest - Chell loved music even more than educational games on PC.

So AI settled on dancing.

---

The girl knew, of course, what dancing was. But the first obstacle on their way was precisely the choice of type. GLaDOS suggested something more relaxed, with smooth movements, but Chell... And Chell needed to move faster, of course. And preferably vigorously. Naturally, while holding on to the android. GLaDOS had no objections to this, though.

"Maybe we should go with something more relaxed, but with music you like?" - suggested the AI ​​after half an hour of one-sided dialogue. The girl raised an eyebrow. - "Just pick something good, but more or less even. More or less. We both know you have some kind of musical taste".

The android gave her a choice on one of the touch screens. Chell sat down next to GLaDOS, put on the headphones she had been given so as not to disturb the head of the complex while she worked, and began to sort through the musical compositions they had available.

An hour later, AI was frowning at the proposed list. She didn't like half the songs, and the other half were all Queen songs.

GlaDOS sighed and immediately deleted the entire first half of the list.

"You are incorrigible", - she nudged the girl with her elbow. Chell just smiled. - "Okay then. Go for now... Yes, to the tests, I'll see what of this I can dance to. Little fan".

---

She spent a long time choosing between different versions - not of the song, of course, but of the dance. Something sweet was needed, not too... Let's say, heating, and at the same time satisfying to both of them.

Finally, the AI ​​decided it was worth a try.

She dimmed the lights in the room, rechecked the speakers, repeated the movements herself and waited for the girl from the portalless tests.

"Every time I come back something changes here" - Chell noticed as she entered the control room. GLaDOS grinned and began to move the chair and bed against the walls.

"As if you're not happy with that. Come here, I found a good option for both of us. Give me your hand".

The girl hesitantly extended her left hand to her. The android took the test subject's left hand in her right, placed her free hand on her back, and asked her to place her right hand on the girl's shoulder. After that, the AI ​​pulled Chell closer and lowered her gaze.

"So... Imagine... How can I say, imagine a square. Can you imagine it?" - Chell nodded, blushing a little from the unfamiliar position. - "So... Look, I take a step towards you, you take a step back... Left, left, we shouldn't collide in this", - GlaDOS couldn't help but smile. It was only the beginning, but the subject was already making a very serious face, trying to walk backwards as she should. - "Calm down, honey, we're not assembling a nuclear reactor, we're learning to dance. Relax".

Chell nodded, looking down at her feet in concentration. The AI ​​rolled her eyes and moved her hand from her back to her waist.

"You're standing too far. So... Look, step, step... Yes, that's it, good. Now go back to mentally reproducing the square. You need to take one step back, turning ninety degrees during the step, so that in the end, from four steps, we get that same square".

The test subject nodded, not taking her eyes off her own feet. They started walking again, without music for now, and if the android, contrary to usual, looked calm, then the girl constantly bit her lips and frowned, even if the “square” and steps were working out well.

"You focus too much on the movements", - GLaDOS even laughed a little - it was so funny to see how seriously Chell approached dancing. - "I started this so that you could relax. We are not going to a show, after all, we are doing this for ourselves".

The girl sighed and stopped, freeing her hand.

"I want it to be as good as with the tests"

"Oh come on, you're always pretty good at what you do", - the AI pulled the girl even closer, starting to take steps again. - "Don't look at your feet. Look at me".

Chell looked up, squinting slightly, and tried to focus on the yellow glass framing the pupil lens in the android's eyes. Maybe there was nothing like that in the artificial eyes, who knows, but she fancied she saw a light, affectionate mockery.

"We haven't turned on the music yet, don't rush", - the AI ​​leaned over a little, kissed the test subject on the bridge of the nose and grabbed her hand more firmly. - "Let's master the step. For convenience, you can also count one-two-three".

---

They began walking again, slowly, trying to look at each other. GLaDOS began to count in a whisper to help the girl. The test subject concentrated on her steps, but relaxed her arms slightly.

The movements became smoother. The android gradually raised her hand on Chell's waist higher and began to bend her knees a little more, taking a step forward.

The quiet "Somebody to love" came on.

Chapter Text

Once AI picked up a portalgun. It was her test subject’s device, the very one with which she had once gone through fire, water, metal pipes, technical corridors, abysses with acid… All of this.

The device was still the same one she had given Chell at the very beginning, during their very first meeting as scientific director and test subject. Every scratch on the white case, every little mark, everything had a story.

Of course, she was constantly planning to fix the device - maybe just polish the body, or maybe replace the white parts of the gun entirely, with completely new, snow-white and shiny ones...

Maybe Chell would even like it - if GLaDOS had already let her go to test the portalgun. But the whole month hasn't passed yet.

So far the girl has been tested in completely black rooms, with only gel spots and cubes.

---

The AI ​​looked up and shuddered involuntarily. Under the ceiling of the control room, her main body, the one she called "the old one," was still located, gathered up and fastened together to take up less space. A case with spare parts that she used when she woke up after a long, long ago explosion - but still a case made by others, a reminder of not the best part of her life.

After all, does form determine content?

But damn, she really didn't want to go back to the original body.

GLaDOS sighed and closed her eyes, concentrating on one thought.

---

There was movement above. Chell looked up from the corner of the Companion Cube she had just begun to paint with hand paints and stared at the ceiling in confusion. GLaDOS was silent, her head buried in her work on the screens.

"What is it", the girl asked with gestures. AI pursed her lips, as if forcibly holding back the words, and inhaled noisily.

"R… Renovation. Just renovation, honey. A little remodeling".

The subject raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side, but nodded hesitantly and returned to her art.

---

A few days later, during testing, the entire complex suddenly shook, from its foundations to the small building in the middle of a field that had not yet blossomed. Chell barely managed to stay on the panel, managing to grab onto the railings that bordered the panel on both sides to make the test more difficult, and looked anxiously into the nearest camera.

"It's okay, it's okay", - the head of the complex hastened to reassure her. - "Just a restructuring. A small… Uh, a rearrangement. You'll see later. Continue testing".

But Chell shook her head and threw up her hands. GLaDOS just sighed.

"Okay, finish this one and I'll show you".

---

The lift rushed to the floor with the control room faster than usual. The excited test subject ran to the room, but at first glance nothing had changed. The girl looked questioningly at the android.

"Aim higher", - the AI ​​responded succinctly, pointing upward. Chell looked around the room again, and only then did it dawn on her.

The ceiling no longer closed around the large mechanical body that GLaDOS had lived in for most of the time since her "resurrection". The body was simply no longer in the room - the ceiling was closed in by a large round panel, divided in half by a barely visible seam.

"I... I removed it", - the android absentmindedly drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. - "For science's sake. You have no idea how much I sometimes don't want to see it... And by "sometimes" I mean always. It's like constantly looking at your own corpse".

The test subject looked down, instantly burning herself with not the most pleasant memories. AI shook her head.

"No, no, it's not about you, I'm talking about... Rather about life in the complex as a whole. This is the body that scientists made for me, with my modifications, but still. It's connected to a part of my life that I don't really like anymore. So... Well, you know, and the room immediately became more spacious, hah..."

Chell nodded, walking towards the android, still looking at the empty ceiling. GLaDOS looked a little lost, and the girl hugged her tighter.

"I wanted to take it apart, but I didn't dare", - the AI ​​sighed weakly, placing her head on the test subject's shoulder. - "Maybe... Maybe later. When I finally finishing this body".

Chapter Text

Once GLaDOS started printing out a couple of texts for Chell, because she had suddenly started missing reading paper media. The AI ​​suspected that this was happening because, as the girl said, her new acquaintances in the parallel world (which the android sincerely hoped never to see again) gave her paper books. But on the other hand, this could also be due to the fact that the printed copies she already had had been read through ten times each.

Anyway, Chell got full printouts of "Winnie the Pooh", "Pinocchio", and Ibsen's "A Doll's House", which she suddenly requested. The AI ​​was a little surprised by the range of tastes in the test subject, but she did not object.

---

GLaDOS decided that it was okay to let the girl go for a walk, but only for a short time. To mentally prepare for returning to portal tests - and mostly for herself rather than the test subject. But Chell was only allowed to walk along corridors that were fully visible through cameras, and on the condition that she had to respond to the first call.

"Everything is fine?" - asked AI for the tenth time. The girl only sighed, but nodded. - "Okay, okay... Hey, you know, there's supposed to be an entrance to the staff break room around here somewhere. It's not even blocked off. And there are a lot of cameras there… You can go there if you want".

Chell followed the android's directions, wondering why she hadn't come with her if she was so worried. Maybe she felt she could look after the girl better if she was in the role of the complex manager rather than her walking buddy.

---

The girl approached the door with a motion sensor, and it suddenly moved aside in front of her. The subject stepped over the threshold and looked around the room with curiosity.

There was nothing unusual about the common room at all - sofas with worn-out upholstery, a few closets, a coat rack lying in the corner, a couple of non-working televisions, and a rickety pool table without balls or a cue, with the ends of the green upholstery sticking out in the corners. And, of course, video cameras on the walls.

"Absolutely unworkable atmosphere", - GLaDOS noted as Chell looked at the green coating with rusty streaks. - "However, they were "resting". And this despite the fact that everyone knows perfectly well that the best rest is simply a change of activity, and not laziness. I advise you to remember this too".

Chell nodded obediently, sitting down on one of the couches. She wanted to remind the AI ​​that she herself didn't change her activities very often, but the girl refrained. The sofa she had settled on was uncomfortably hard, especially compared to the bed in the control room, so the test subject soon got up and began wandering around the rest room, looking at the surroundings.

Under the fallen hanger she noticed several dusty grey robes and went closer. They were scientists' lab coats, like the one GLaDOS always wore - Chell kept wanting to ask why, but she kept forgetting. Maybe it was for the work mood. The android was in a working mood almost all the time.

The test subject lifted the hanger and pulled out one of the coats.

"Don't touch these dirty clothes", - in the AI's tone, you could almost physically feel how she was wincing. The girl grinned. - "They haven't been washed in about a hundred years. Literally, I think. Put that rag back, Chell".

The subject snorted. "Can I have one".

"Why do you need lab coats? And ones that belong to other people too…"

"I just want".

"Oh, for the love of scientific progress…" - the android rolled her eyes. It was still one of the most useful features of her body. - "Don't touch... At least don't touch these old ones. You'll have a coat".

---

Of course, the AI ​​took measurements and got to sewing. How could she leave her best test subject without a lab coat?

In a way... In a way, it was such a small thing. About on the level of printing texts or cooking real, non-synthetic food. GLaDOS wouldn't even notice the effort it took to do these things if she were doing them as background processes.

But she noticed. Because it was pleasant to take care of the test subject.

While the android was distracted by the lab coat, Chell sat in her usual place in the control room, on the bed, and leafed through the sheets of paper that she had been given, beautifully and neatly stapled together. She requested children's books mostly because she hadn't managed to finish reading them during her short, random trip from their complex to someone else's. Of course, she would rather hold books in her hands than just printed text, but the girl knew that GLaDOS was already doing everything possible so that she wouldn’t get bored.

Chell flipped back to where she had left off in the other world and continued reading. Meanwhile, a manipulator with a white package rolled down the only rail leading into the room.

"Sunshine?" - the subject chuckled distantly, flipping through the pages. - "No, well, who of us wanted the lab coat the most?"

Chell shrugged, immersed in her reading. Then the android personally took the bundle in her hands, untied it, straightened it out, measured it "by eye" and, remaining quite satisfied, went up to the girl herself and threw a brand new snow-white lab coat over her shoulders.

"My dear, take a break from..." - GLaDOS glanced at the text, - "From the adventures of the toy bear, and pay attention to what I have prepared for you".

The girl nodded, covered the place where she had been reading with a smoothed chocolate bar wrapper, and touched the sleeve of her coat.

"Do you like it?" - The wrapper caught the AI's eye. However, through the cameras, she watched as Chell examined the fresh clothes and shoved her arms into the sleeves. - "I chose the lightest material with good heat exchange. You can wear it, you're welcome".

The girl stood up to button the lab coat, and GLaDOS stared jealously at the edge of the chocolate bar wrapper sticking out between the pages. Oddly enough, among her vast databases was also information on chocolate bar packaging designs, from 1923 to 2007. She quickly, as far as the connection to the complex via antennas allowed, analyzed the corner available to her and compared it with the samples she had - there were no matches. Not that she believed that there would be...

"What?" - Chell touched her shoulder and turned around, showing off her properly buttoned robe. GLaDOS chuckled weakly. - "Ah... Yeah... Fits well. You look almost like a real scientist, haha".

The subject laughed silently and spun around, trying to see the back of her lab coat. It made her look less like a research assistant, but GLaDOS still smiled warmly at her. And, oddly enough, she thought about portals.

Maybe it was time to go back to work.

"Now wait a second", - The android walked around the bed, mentally controlling the manipulator. It arrived almost silently and left immediately, as soon as the AI ​​took something. - "Come here", - the girl took a step, and GLaDOS put rectangular glasses without lenses on her nose and straightened her collar. - "Yes. Now all that's missing is a badge, ha... You'll probably ask for one too, huh?"

Chell pushed her glasses up her nose with one finger, as if she always wore them, shook her head, and hugged the android. The android, too, clasped her hands behind the girl's back and kissed her softly, still smiling.

"So what, should I promote you from a test subject to a scientist?" - GLaDOS whispered softly, slowly lowering her hands to the waist of the girl's lab coat. Chell cocked her head to the side slyly and clasped her fingers tighter, clearly not intending to let go just yet. - "Well, huh. Surely. If you get promoted, who will work with the portals?"

Chapter Text

Once not far from the control room, a small reconstruction began and ended almost immediately. In the corridor where the test subject had previously collected funny-shaped rocks, a wide pipe with an automatic lid appeared. Orange reflections were visible in a small hole in the lid.

"I made", - GLaDOS said to the girl just as she was flying in the beam of the excursion funnel over the pit of black panels, - "that is, I did not make, but finally restored, the way to the equipment incinerator. Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator, to be more precise. So now you'll be throwing all the unnecessary junk into the furnace yourself, okay, sunshine?"

Chell nodded hesitantly.

---

GLaDOS actually made her carry all the trash by hand to the pipe in the incinerator - scraps of paper, cardboard, pencil stubs and some strange scraps of wire, from which the girl tried to twist something, but without success. It wasn't that Chell was against cleaning, she just wondered why they didn't put a regular trash can next to the bed... Or at least near the entrance to the control room.

"If you don't mind, I'll throw some junk in there... Like those stupid old lab coats you were going to drag in here", - GLaDOS placed one of the screens in front of her so that it blocked the girl's face. The test subject grinned, lay down on the bed and rummaged under the mattress with her hand. This gesture still made the head of the complex frown.

She just knew that after that the glossy pages that she most wanted to see burning would rustle. However, the AI ​​did not touch this stupid magazine - it was the test subject's personal item. A disgusting, but personal item.

The girl actually got the magazine. She hadn't touched it for so long that GLaDOS had hoped that it had been forgotten... But apparently not.

"Remind me why you even read it", - the AI ​​couldn't stand it, moving the screen away from her face to look at Chell with reproach in her unblinking eyes. - "No, I still don't... I approve of healthy curiosity. Even in not quite... Decent areas. After all, if doctors hadn't dug up corpses at one time, anatomy might not have advanced. But this…"

The subject laughed silently and began to leaf through the magazine, crossing her legs. The AI ​​pursed her lips, feeling her wrists gradually warming up. A surge of some… negative emotions in her design implied heating, and specifically for this feeling she redirected the heating to the area with the least amount of complex sensors, at the bends of the limbs. The body heated up a little not only from negative emotions, but it was this heating that caused additional unpleasant sensations. Especially in the miniature prototype of the emotion-stimulating center hidden in the android's chest.

"Abomination", - the AI concluded resentfully and closed the monitor again.

---

They spent some time in silence, listening to the quiet rustle of pages and the almost inaudible tapping of fingertips on the screen. The girl looked at the half-naked photographs thoughtfully, biting her lower lip, as usual, but this time on her face, in addition to thoughtfulness, there was not curiosity, but indecision. Chell touched the curled corner of the page with her finger, turned it over, suddenly slammed the magazine shut, tucked it under her arm, and walked up to the head of the complex in a few determined steps.

GlaDOS pretended not to notice the girl, adjusting the gel supply for tomorrow's tests. Then the test subject, with an equally decisive gesture, moved the monitor away from the android's face, placed one knee on the edge of the chair, to the side of her feet, and suddenly stopped.

"What do you want?" - GlaDOS frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. - "If you think I'm going to read this filth with you..."

The girl pressed her index finger to her white lips and shook her head. The AI ​​raised an eyebrow, but did not continue to complain. Then Chell took her finger from her lips, grabbed the android's hand, suddenly smiling, and pressed her lips to the white wrist with a barely noticeable thin seam on the bend.

The heat immediately spread throughout the entire body, not very strongly, but noticeable for the AI, giving off a small, strange heaviness inside the chest. GLaDOS opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come out, not even as thoughts, let alone on the speech synthesizer.

Meanwhile, Chell pulled her wrist, forcing her to stand up, and the android stood up obediently, impressed by the kiss on her hand. The girl, having made sure that the AI ​​would go, removed her knee from the chair and pulled her further, towards the exit from the control room.

---

The charm of the moment passed as soon as the subject led her to the incinerator.

"What?" - GLaDOS shook her head and looked at the girl with incomprehension. - "Why do you..."

Chell released her hand, opened the magazine, and quickly flipped through it, showing the AI. She raised an eyebrow again.

"I should implant a voice synthesizer in you, you know? You really like making riddles without answers".

Chell sighed and placed the magazine on the lid of the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator. "All pages are in place"

"Oh, how wonderful", - GLaDOS winced. - "Simply unspeakable. You decided to brag about it?"

The girl rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she picked up the magazine, pressed the button that opened the incinerator's lid and threw her recent reading into into the orange-red glow.

The android looked at the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator for a few seconds and was silent, then turned her gaze to the test subject.

"You know that I have already disposed of the others?" - she asked quietly. Chell smiled with just the corners of her lips.

"I guessed"

"Ow", - that's all GLaDOS answered, looking back at the pipe leading to the blast furnace. The test subject closed it with another press of the button and hugged the AI. - "That's... cute. Really. Very... much... cute of you. You say all the pages were intact?" - the girl nodded. Android smiled. It wasn’t the heat that spread through the body, but a light, pleasant warmth that was reflected in sparks in the collarbones and throat, near the voice synthesizer. - "Thank you, Chell. Although, perhaps, I would be more pleased to tear it apart personally..."

The girl snorted and pinched her side as little as possible with the synthetic casing. The AI ​​hugged her around the waist with one hand, took the subject's palm with the other and brought it to her lips, touching the tips of her index and middle fingers.

"I know, I know. Thanks again, sweetheart".