Portal: Love as a Construct

Part Eight. The Reassurance

Part Eight. The Reassurance

The next morning he woke before she did, because he had carefully set his timer to have that happen, and he watched her. He felt terribly like he needed to protect her, somehow, but she was so big and he was so small. Not just in size, either. Whatever attributes he had, she had them times ten. Or twenty. Yes, probably twenty. How did you protect someone who was so much bigger than you? He knew that Rick was identical in size to Wheatley himself, but Wheatley also knew firsthand just how much of an effect a tiny little core could have on one's mind. Rick would slither his way into her brain, corrupt her, make her want to be Rick's friend instead of Wheatley's... poor GLaDOS. Poor, poor GLaDOS. She was so innocent and unsuspecting, hanging there like that. Vulnerable. Like a butterfly inside a cocoon. Ripe and ready to be plucked from the Tree of... of Innocence, before the butterfly ever broke free... and she would make a lovely butterfly, Wheatley thought. A white and black butterfly, yes, that would be quite nice, it would. She would never fly, because Rick would snatch her in his Net of Lies, wearing the Safari Hat of Injustice, and pull her out and pin her to a board, that was what you did with butterflies, you snatched them up and pinned them to a board so ev'ryone could examine their beautiful, delicate wings and ooh and aah while the poor little creature fluttered helplessly in a vain attempt to break free, like GLaDOS would when she finally figured out Rick's trap...

"What are you doing over there?"

Wheatley jumped, looked around wildly, then realised it was GLaDOS's voice and looked down at her. "I was uh... I was thinking of something."

"Do you want to talk about it?" GLaDOS asked. "It looked... disturbing."

"Oh no," Wheatley exclaimed, shaking his chassis frantically and backing away. He really didn't want to know how GLaDOS would react if he told her he'd been imagining her as a pinned butterfly with Rick in a safari hat waving a net after her. "No, I'm okay, really. I'm over it."

"No, you're not," GLaDOS told him. "Your optic is still constricted. And twitching nervously."

"Don't... don't worry about me!" Wheatley said hurriedly. "I'm fine. I'm all fine. If you ever worried about me. Which you probably don't."

"Sometimes I do."

"Really?"

"I'm actually concerned for your sanity right now. You seem even more unsettled than usual."

Wheatley laughed nervously. "I'm okay, luv. Uh... good morning!"

"Good morning," GLaDOS returned bemusedly. "Although you don't look like you're having one."

"Long's you are, I'm all good."

She regarded him with her core held at an angle for a moment. "That's... interesting."

"It is?"

"Mm. I don't think I recall a time when anyone was so concerned about my well-being." She was looking at him with an air of curiosity. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? I can run a diagnostic if you like."

"No, that's okay," he told her. "I... I'm sure you've got loads of work to do."

"Of course," she agreed, "but... I kind of feel... well, sort of bad, actually."

"'bout what?" he asked in surprise.

"You seemed rather excited to see me yesterday, and then I completely disregarded you. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I was pretty tired."

"It's fine," he reassured her. "Like I said. Do what you need to do. If that means, that means I need to leave you alone even when, if I'd like to see you, well, I'll go and do that."