Caroline still wore black. Almost ten years since his death and she still chose black. She owned dozens of black dresses, all stylish, all fashionable and all black as night.

Caroline gazed out the window of her room. They had made it especially for her, to keep her safe, so they said. But no, she knew the truth. She was under house arrest. Oh, they let her go anywhere she wanted…except through the front door. She glanced upwards and then downwards. The same hazy underground surroundings. How long she had been here, lived here, worked here.

The elderly woman stretched, put her hand on her belly and smiled ironically. Who would have thought? Certainly not Cave…never Cave. There was no room for love in his heart, only science. There was respect; she had at least earned that. Respect had been enough for her, enough to keep her by his side year after year.

Caroline smiled, reminiscing. She had met Cave the year after the war ended. She was young, only twenty, and she had immediately been drawn to him. It was at a party. Her parents had invited a host of young entrepreneurs to their summer home. They were always courting the political, famous and potentially wealthy. She had entered the parlor and found a young man surrounded by a gaggle of admirers. He was chatting loudly about the future. "It's in science. Science, I tell you. This last war of ours has opened the doors, the doors of the future. We must use the science. Anything is possible. We just need to grasp the future by its tail!" She had joined the group as entranced as the others by his forceful, enthusiastic, captivating personality. They had ended up together by the end of the night, standing on the balcony, she listening to all his glorious plans. The next day he'd asked her to work for him, to be his assistant, and she agreed. Her parents balked, but she didn't care. Cave was the future, for science and for her.

Caroline sat down at a desk, picking up a pen. She stared at the blank page. She managed to title it: Last Will and Testament. She looked up. She thought about Cave all the time. She missed him. She didn't have his will, his stubbornness. He'd been her backbone, though he'd always said she was the backbone. She was organized, thorough, and perhaps her best asset, had an interest in and an aptitude for biomedical engineering. She'd kept Aperture Science Innovators running and seen the value in his mantis men.

Caroline glanced down at the paper again. She put a line through the title. This wasn't her will. She was documenting her hope. Her last plan. Her wish for the future. What would Cave have written? She chuckled. He wouldn't have written anything. He wouldn't be in her position.

Cave had always said she was married to science and that was perhaps true in the early days, the fifties, the glory days. She had loved science. But even then she had loved science because he loved science. He made everyone around him love science. She went a step further. She loved more than science. She loved him. Of course, he never saw it. She had no illusions. He had trusted her, leaned on her, but never loved her and that didn't matter to her. Standing by his side was enough for her.

Yes, she had stood by his side through it all, even after he changed. After the 1968 senate hearings, he'd become bitter, angry. Never to her, though. He also became even more passionate about science, seeking any way to make his visions come to fruition. It didn't matter that the test subjects were homeless; they were test subjects. She'd supported his dreams every step of the way. Even when he became ill. That was the worst time of all. She had been helpless. She could only bring him his pills and watch his body fail. That was when he'd told her about the computer. "Caroline," he'd said, "I can't live forever, but I can live forever. Cloning, that won't work. It won't be me; it'll be a copy of me. They need the real me. Stick me in a computer." She'd wondered how that might work, but Cave had seen to the details and put the lab boys on it right away.

Caroline laid her pen down as she stiffened, remembering what came next. She'd walked into his office, the one with the picture of them together that Cave had commissioned to showcase "the science and the backbone of this place." He was slumped over his desk, groaning, coughing. She'd run to his side and for the first time, put her arms around him. His head lifted, his eyes focused and he'd spoken. "You, Caroline. I told them it had to be you. You run this place. You know it better than me." She'd understood. She knew his mind. "No," she'd answered, "I…I don't want it, Mr. Johnson." How could she live on, forever, without him? But he'd been determined. "It will be you. They'll make sure." And he had gone, death taking him as he rested in her embrace.

And now, they were making sure Cave's last dream was fulfilled. She should have been happy, but she was afraid. Once she was in a computer, what would she be? Her studies and her observations had shown her that such a combination might be disastrous. She was sure the moment they made her a computer intelligence that she would cease to exist as she was now. They had worked on it, year after year. They said it was ready. It was time.

They had actually told her it was time three months ago, but she had asked them to give her three months more. Just three more months to live as a human, to make peace with her future. They'd agreed. Today was the day. Little did they know that she had her own secret.

Caroline looked down at the bulge under her black dress. She'd hidden it well. Large dresses over a petite frame. No one had guessed yet. Who would suspect a woman of almost seventy of pregnancy? They may have kept her here, a prisoner in a facility she had helped to create, but she knew it better than they did. She had gone to the medical bays and found the old labs. Cave had used the labs for experiments in cloning. The results were catastrophic, producing multiple Cave Johnsons with the inability to function properly and causing several deaths. Yet, here, frozen away, she found his DNA. She'd kept up with the bioengineering field and her medical expertise. It was a simple matter to impregnate herself. Her womb contained some of Cave, some of herself and some Japanese DNA she'd obtained as well, just for good measure.

There was a sudden pain in her abdomen and a gripping pain in her back. She was coming. Yes, Caroline knew it was a she. She had planned it that way. There was a knock at her door. Caroline smiled ruefully. She grasped the pen in her hand and scribbled quickly. They could take her consciousness, take her mind. It wouldn't be her in that computer. This was her plan. This is how she would exist. This child was her backup. There would always be a part of her and a part of Cave working together for science. Through her child, she and Cave would never be separated.

The door burst open as an employee threw himself against it. He came sprawling into the room, crashing to the floor. He quickly gathered himself, standing up, brushing himself off and repositioning his glasses.

"Yes?" Caroline asked.

"It's time, ma'am."

"Yes." Caroline spoke with finality. She stood with effort. "Here, take this and show it to them." She shoved the paper into the employee's hand.

"Ah, okay, ma'am. This way, ma'am, to the labs."

"Not yet."

"But, ma'am…"

"I think a stop by the infirmary is in order…"

"Do you need medical assistance?"

Caroline laughed in spite of herself. "Yes, young man."

The employee offered her his arm. She took it gratefully. As they walked the young man spoke.

"What does this mean, ma'am?"

"What?"

"This note. 'Name her Chell. Test her DNA.'"

Caroline winked at the young man. "It means they will keep her."

Eight Years Later

A tall, thin and worn out man walked into the employee break room. He pulled the carafe out of the coffee maker, grabbed a mug titled "Alpha Male" and poured himself a cup. Sighing, he sat down at the metal table and plunked down a file. A rather heavy set and balding man was already seated at the table and glanced over at the tall employee.

"Rough day?"

"You bet."

"Who's it this time?"

The tall man tapped his finger on the file. "Female. Child. Eight years old. The higher ups had high hopes for this one." He snorted disdainfully.

"Rejected?"

"Yep." The tall man paused. "I think there's something fishy with this one."

"Why?" The thick set man straightened a little in his seat, his interest piqued.

"Just take a look at this." He opened the file on the table and flipped it around so his fellow employee could see. The hefty man raised his eyebrows as he read where the tall man was pointing in the file.

"Redacted?"

"Yeah. Last name redacted."

"That's out of the ordinary."

"Very. We're fairly organized around here when it comes to test subjects. Can't let just anyone do the tests."

"So…Why do you think it's redacted?"

The tall man scratched his chin. "That's what's fishy. I know this girl. Well, I know her father. Bob, you know, the button pusher, sends the companion cubes along the line…"

"Sure. I've met him once or twice."

"So I ask you," the tall man went on, raising his voice, "Why hide her last name?"

"What's Bob's last name?"

The tall man laughed. "Darned if I know. But get this. She isn't even his. Read that there." The tall man pointed to the file again.

The heavy set man leaned in. "Adopted."

The tall man smiled smugly. "Adopted. Last name redacted. And that's fishy. They know something. The higher ups know something."

The hefty man leaned back. "Well, doesn't matter who she is. She's rejected."

"You got that right. Just look at this tenacity." The tall man turned a couple pages in the file. "Highest I've ever seen. Abnormally stubborn. Wouldn't answer most questions except say her name. We already knew that: Chell."

"No use getting worked up over it. Just relax a little. Enjoy the coffee." The thick set man smiled and gulped from his mug that proclaimed #1 Dad.

"Sure. Higher ups. What do they know? She's rejected, no matter what they hoped. No tests for her. Just the daycare center and potato experiments." The tall man picked up his own mug and took a sip.

A third employee had walked in during the conversation. He had stood in the corner next to a locker, just listening. Now, he was thinking.

Tenacity. Abnormally stubborn. Chell. Maybe, someday, if things go wrong, maybe she can…

"Hey, Doug!" A fourth employee poked his bearded face through the break room door. "Henry needs your help with GLaDOS."

Doug headed towards the door. Maybe, someday…It's always good to have a backup plan.

Author's Note: To continue this storyline, check out the sequel "Death by Curiosity" on my page.