A/N: So, first Portal fanfic ever. It is remarkably hard to write GLaDOS in a convincing manner (as I hope I've done here.)

Took me four tries to get the title right, and even now I have my doubts. Cover picture is by invader777 on DeviantArt. So not me then.

Anyway, have yourself a read, see if you likey, review.

Enjoy.

Everything's Perfect

She doesn't miss him, at first.

No, for the first month or so, everything's fine. She tests, and fixes the facility, and tests some more. Everything's perfect.

And then, at around the second month, she starts to miss the little moron. She misses having his stupid voice echo about when he's talking to himself. She misses the huge reams of management rail which show exactly where he's been, and where he's trying to go. She misses when he's gotten lost in Old Aperture, and has to talk him back to her chamber. She may not want him in her chamber, but that's where she always seemed to lead him.
But she doesn't bring him back, because everything's okay, and to bring him back would be to give up, and she never gives up. (Except that one time.)

The fourth month that he's not there, she starts going a bit haywire. She makes mistakes in her tests. She calls Blue Orange and Orange Blue. She has to hear his stupid, stupid, brilliant voice again. She has to see him buzzing about trying to hack things. She has to listen to him freak out when he turns on his flashlight and expects to die. She has to gently pick him up with her maintenance arms and set him back on his management rail when he falls off.
But she doesn't bring him back, even though everything's falling apart, because to bring him back would be to give up, and she never gives up. (Except that one time.)

The sixth month comes, and she just can't take it. She begins to realise that she can't function without the little moron. She finds she doesn't care if he still hates her. She doesn't care if he's still power-crazed. She doesn't care if he only gives her bad ideas. She needs him back. Everything's broken. But she doesn't admit it, because he tried to kill her.
But she doesn't bring him back because to bring him back would be to give up, and she never gives up. (Except that one time.)

She starts to realise why what happened happened. Just as she gets that little psychological boost when she tests, he gets the same when he actually carries out (or gets someone to carry out) his bad ideas. She reflects that some of his ideas were actually quite good. They were. She convinced herself they were all utter garbage, but now, when he's not here, and there's a searing, unbearable emptiness somewhere in her, she starts to see some of the good in them. The good in him.
And this time, because everything's broken beyond broken, and she quite frankly doesn't care if she gives up, because this isn't like that one time, and she needs him back.

And when she does bring him back, the first thing he tells her is "I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean it."

"I really wish I could take it all back."

And do you know what? She doesn't care. All she cares about is that he's here, and the little-metal-ball-shaped hole in her is filled again.

He's back. She hears his lovely voice echo about when he talks to himself. She finds the huge reams of management rail which show where he's been and where he's trying to go. She sees him buzzing about trying to hack things. She listens to him freak out when he turns on his flashlight and expects to die. She secretly really likes gently picking him up and putting him back on his management rail when he falls off. He tells her his bad ideas, and she listens, and some of them are so bad that even he laughs at them. She leads him back to her chamber, and then they recharge side by side, his casing just gently touching the side of hers.

She thinks "why didn't I bring him back sooner?"

He thinks "why did I make her send me away?"

They say "I'm just glad we're back together."

And everything's perfect again.