And last, but most certainly not least :D

This was just begging for some sensory exploration with humanbody!GLaDOS.

She still hasn’t got that talking thing down quite yet, I guess. Oh, well. She’ll get it eventually!

Feels like it flows a little bit wonky. I dunno. I want beeeeeed.

-

When she finally managed to wrestle her key out of the apartment door and wrench it open, she was not surprised to find GLaDOS curled up on the sofa, fast asleep.

Pausing for a moment, heedless of the bags of groceries heaped in her arms, Chell smiled, easing the door shut, and tiptoeing across to the kitchen. Setting her burden carefully down on the table, she reached slowly into one of the bags.

At the sound of rattling paper, the former supercomputer stirred and raised her head, blinking blearily and floundering clumsily to her feet. Chell froze, withdrawing her hand and smiling sheepishly.

“Hi. Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

Dropping her hand back into the bag, she continued as she fished through the groceries, sticking out her tongue in concentration.

“Anyway, I actually have a little surprise for you, here. I was going to give it to you later, but-”

 She paused, frowning as GLaDOS tottered across to the table and drew back a chair, slipping into it and giving her a wary look.

 “Oh, come on. Don’t you think if I wanted you dead, I would have just dumped you off a catwalk back at Aperture? I promised that I’d take care of you for as long as you were stuck in that body, and I meant it.”

Pulling her hand out of the bag and pushing it to the side, she drew the second toward herself and plunged into it, fishing around for a moment or two before finally withdrawing a wrapped chocolate bar and holding it out, smiling disarmingly.

“There you go. It’s not much, but I thought of you when I picked it up. Dark chocolate is kind of a good analogy for you, I guess.”

Gingerly accepting the gift, the former AI studied the confection for a moment or two before raising an eyebrow and letting out a little snort. Chell shrugged.

“OK, yeah, kind of silly of me, I know, but I think you’ll like it. Give it a go.”

Scooping up the bags and trotting across to the other side of the kitchen, she plunked them down on the shelf, carefully withdrawing boxes and cans and tucking them neatly into the cabinets, surreptitiously turning her head by the slightest of margins and peering at the table out of the corner of her eye.

For a moment, GLaDOS continued to stare, turning the bar over in her hands and tracing the raised letters on the outer cardboard sleeve with a fingertip. When she’d had her fill of the texture, she slipped it off, setting it aside and repeating the process with the foil, tearing up a corner to crinkle it between her fingers. Pulling the wrapper away entirely and crumpling it into a ball, which she briefly rolled between her hands before setting it aside, she picked up the bar itself, poking lightly at the grooves between the squares and scrabbling at the little markings scored into the surface of the pieces with her fingernails.

Finally, snapping off a square and giving it a quick sniff, she popped it into her mouth, pursing her lips dubiously. Abruptly, her eyebrows shot up, nearly vanishing into her hairline, and her face relaxed into a slight smile. Feeling her own face take on a similar expression, Chell glanced over her shoulder.

“Is it good?”

The former AI started, setting down the bar and suddenly becoming very interested in something on the other side of the apartment, doing her best to look nonchalant. She ventured a few glances back toward the kitchen, eyes darting away each time she met Chell’s gaze, before finally relenting with a little sigh and nodding, mouth quirking into a faint half-smile.

“Well, it’s all yours. You need to put on some weight, anyway.”

 GLaDOS paused in mid-bite to glare fiercely at her, and Chell held up her hands in mock surrender, grinning mischievously.

“No offense. I mean, come on, you’re as thin as a rail. You’ve got nothing to run on. It’s why you’re still tiring out so easily. You don’t have to eat it if you really don’t want to.”

Rolling her eyes, she broke off another square, considering it for a moment before shrugging and snapping it in half between her teeth. Turning back to her task, Chell laughed lightly.

“Yep, that’s the standard human reaction to chocolate. Looks like you’re getting the hang of that body after all.”

Well… I took a bit of a liberty with your word, here, I think. Not so much “faith” itself as “faith betrayed” or “lack of faith.”

I always seem to write them as willing to help each other out, and I wanted to try something a little bit different this time. This little exchange has been knocking around in my head for a while now, too. Oh, Chell… I don’t think she’s going to give you a second chance. Ever.

Chrome, I saved yours for last because I figured that you’d all want the cute/happy I’ve got planned to make up for this one afterward to take the sting out :P

-

“Wait!”

The android froze, shoulders drawing tensely together. Taking a shuddering breath, Chell stuttered on.

“What… what happened to you?”

Glaring over her shoulder, GLaDOS fixed her good eye on the woman, turning the shattered optic away and out of sight.

“Oh. Now you care?”

 Taken aback by the ferocity of her tone, Chell struggled to find an answer, lapsing into silence when the AI shook her head, narrowing her remaining optic to a glowing yellow slit.

“No, I don’t think you deserve to know.”

 Dragging her damaged leg behind her, she started forward again. Flinching as the mangled limb scraped noisily along the icy ground, the woman followed.

“No, stop, you can’t- where are you even going?”

The question apparently gave the AI sufficient pause to delay her departure, and she came to a halt, considering her answer for a moment before shaking her head.

“I don’t know. Somewhere that you’re not.”

Biting her lip and making a careful study of the toes of her boots, she struggled to force an answer out past the growing lump in her throat.

“Look, I-”

Turning back toward the woman, GLaDOS scowled darkly, holding up a hand, and Chell lapsed obediently into silence.

“No. Don’t bother explaining. I won’t be listening. Just like you weren’t, back then.”

Sucking in a trembling breath, the woman tried again, taking a tentative half-step forward.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

Curling her lip, the android took a half step forward, remaining optic flaring brightly in anger.

“I said don’t bother explaining! I never want to hear your voice-”

Fighting to regain her composure, she whirled away, bracing herself against the alley wall. Chell shrank back, mumbling her mantra again under her breath and studying the pavement carefully.

“I’m sorry…”

 For a moment or two, she said nothing, hunching her shoulders as if the motion would block the woman out entirely. Then finally, she sighed, letting them slump ever so slightly.

“I needed your help. And it wasn’t easy to ask for it. And when you refused…”

She shook her head, a bitter note creeping back into her voice as it locked itself up tightly again.

“But you know, I should thank you. Leaving me to fend for myself like that taught me a valuable lesson.”

She glared briefly over her shoulder once more before turning her face away again.

“You can’t put your faith in anyone.”

Wrapping her good hand around the corner of the building, she dragged herself around the corner and out of sight.

 For what felt like hours, Chell stood, numbly studying the departing footprints and scuffling her toes across the snowy pavement. Then finally, with a pained little sigh, she forced herself forward.

“Never want to hear my voice again, huh? Well… it’s the least I can do for you… I suppose.”