Chapter Text
Aperture had always been on the...brisk side, temperature wise. It was never warm-unless one was standing directly in front of a pit of fire or incinerator- but it was never freezing cold either. It seemed to simply be kept at the most convenient temperature possible, never wavering, and never
comfortable
.
Old Aperture, it seemed, was a little different.
Chell hadn’t noticed it right away- she had been a little preoccupied with fallen Queens and ‘murderous’ crows- but it was only in the middle of a small lull in the action that she felt the feeling of goosebumps along her exposed arms.
Cold drafts constantly moved through the dilapidated facility, and this was made only worse by the frequent shifting of the structures above it with each explosion that shook the upper facility.
However, Chell did have a slight advantage against the chill. She was constantly moving. Running through portals, jumping from ledge to ledge, and avoiding falling to her doom down pits that ran deep enough to defeat even her long fall boots’ capability for recovery.
The same didn’t exactly apply to GLaDOS though.
If Chell had it her way, she would’ve wanted GLaDOS to have to travel around Old Aperture with her own portal gun, making the dangerous jumps and working herself to the bone just to survive. Partially out of a sense of wanting to finally see the former head of Aperture have a taste of her own medicine, but equally because as it currently stood, Chell had to
carry
her instead.
Not only would some of the carefully timed portal maneuvers not work for someone following behind Chell as she placed them, it seemed that GLaDOS wasn’t
particularly
accustomed to this body, and placing too much stress on it simply caused her to short-circuit. Or, in this case, dramatically collapse on the spot, nearly falling into a pit of acid or unto dangerously sharp bits of rusted metal more times than Chell could count.
So, to save herself some trouble, she had reluctantly begun carrying the former central core around when there would be more physical requirements than simply walking involved.
Admittedly, throwing the much shorter woman over her shoulder and listening to the startled squeak of displeasure was somewhat cathartic to Chell, but in the end, it wasn’t exactly the most practical.
Instead- considering Chell had to keep catching GLaDOS everytime she had been walking for too long- she simply held her newfound companion in a bridal carry. It wasn’t the
most
ideal, but at least the chances of GLaDOS slipping out of her grip was somewhat lower when the core could more easily hold on of her own accord, and not have to deal with being upside down against Chell’s back.
And that was how it had been, for what might’ve been hours, though frankly it felt like days. Chell had stopped for a few minutes with a yet again unconscious GLaDOS in her arms- to be fair, the core had been attempting to help when she passed out, thinking of plans to try and take down the moronic core that was no doubt going to end up blowing them all to pieces- leaning against the wall of an old office, ignoring the flakes of wallpaper and clouds of dust that were disturbed as she did so.
They were getting closer to current Aperture, so much so that the tremors were getting more and more intense above their heads, occasionally knocking bits of paint from the ceilings of whatever room they were in at the time, or shaking any remaining light structures that had managed to survive over all this time. If they didn’t get a move on soon, Chell was fairly certain that one of these offices would cave in over their heads, and they wouldn’t even have to worry about the impending explosion at all.
Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, Chell reluctantly pushed herself away from the wall, and adjusted her hold on GLaDOS. She didn’t exactly need the core to be conscious if she was just going to be carrying her anyway, but it was certainly nice to not have a complete dead weight in her arms.
She shifted an arm to try and shake the core awake- she was thankfully never out for
too
long- but… paused when she noticed something odd.
GLaDOS had clearly begun to stir from unconsciousness a little, but not completely. For a few moments, the core existed in a sort of limbo, not completely unlike a restless sleep. When Chell moved, GLaDOS had too. Shifting a little bit closer, pressing her face a little harder against Chell’s chest, and curling her body up ever so slightly.
It was only then that Chell noticed that she hadn’t been the only one with goosebumps.
GLaDOS was trembling.
For a second or two, Chell simply blinked. Staring almost dumbfounded at the almost impossible thought of GLaDOS,
the
GLaDOS who was the epitome of fear, of power, and of superiority, shivering in her arms.
Quickly following this disbelief was a surprisingly swift punch of something uncomfortably like pity, as Chell reminded herself that GLaDOS didn’t exactly have the same advantage of constant exercise helping to keep her body warm, nor did she have any sort of warm clothes to cover herself up with.
There wasn’t much Chell could do, especially now, as they needed to be moving as quickly as possible to make their way to the central chamber, but as Chell headed out of the office and back onto the trek upwards, she held GLaDOS a little bit tighter, rubbing her free hand against the smaller woman’s arm, attempting to keep the blood flowing while the core was still asleep.
It hadn’t been more than five minutes before Chell knew that GLaDOS had fully woken up, but neither had said anything. GLaDOS had simply wrapped her arms around Chell and buried her face in Chell’s tanktop, pointedly avoiding her gaze, and seemingly trying to pretend that she wasn’t cuddling her former arch enemy.
No doubt it would only be another five minutes or so before the moment was fully broken by GLaDOS making a comment about how horrible Chell smelled, or how disgusting humans were with their sweat.
But for now, Chell enjoyed the silence, and GLaDOS enjoyed the body heat.