There was a long beat of silence. "I asked what the hell that thing is."

Doug looked at the man that was supposed to be his father-in-law. There was no use in lying. "Not a 'thing'. Mr. Dasley... This is Breanna."

The man considered the fact for a moment. "Is that what you're screwed up mind's convinced you? Breanna's dead!"

"I'm not." Her voice was quiet, regretful. "I'm alive, in one sense or another."

He looked at the construct, then to Doug, then back again. He'd lost all traces of anger. Astonishment was all that remained. "But, there was a funeral..."

Breanna, her optic still dim, explained. "It was a closed casket. There was no body in there. My body is in cryogenic storage."

This was news to Doug. "Wh- what?"

"It was for safety. In case anything ever went wrong."

Mr. Dasley was at a loss for words. He simply stared in disbelief until he decided what to do. He lunged at Doug and pinned him against the wall, gripping his collar. "Is this what you've been up to all this time? Are you happy now? Are you satisfied, you crazy son of a bitch?" He reached into Doug's pocket, pulled out the bottle of medication, and threw it to the ground. "'Breanna was sick' my ass! You're the one who's sick! I'll kill you right here! Look at what you've caused her! Confusion! Mutilation! And-"

"Grandpa, stop it!" All eyes went to Breanna now. It was obvious that she would have been crying of she could. "Please, Grandpa, it wasn't his fault! I really was sick, this was the only way I wouldn't die! It was my choice, Daddy didn't know until it was too late! Just please stop!"

He let go, and Doug fell to the ground, overwhelmed with emotion. He approached her carefully. "It's really you." Breanna nodded the best she could. "This... This is impossible. This can't happen."

Doug stood up from his heap. "It's not, and it has. That's where we've been for the past thirty-two years." He explained the whole story of their fight for survival in great detail, despite the terrifying memories it brought back. "But we're going to fix it. I'm going to fix it."

There were confused looks from all over the room. "What do you mean?" Breanna asked.

Doug looked at her, sadness in his eyes. "We're going to put you back."

They stood outside the entrance of the place Doug vowed he would never set foot in again. "Daddy, you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do. I've lived without you for too long." Doug went to rub his beard before remembering that it wasn't there.

Breanna sighed. "She'sprobably furious. If she doesn't kill you, she'll at least try to keep you there. You've seen what she can do."

Of course, Doug had already thought this over many times. "Then I'm coming back with you in your body or not at all."

He knew the halls and secret passages. He knew the layout by heart. But he didn't know what GLaDOS would do to him. Navigation was easy. Predicting the unpredictable was the part that worried him.

They ran behind the walls for hours, having to stop once in a while to calm Doug down. If he wasn't careful, he would end up having a nervous breakdown. He didn't need that. Not now.

"Daddy, just get out of this place. Get out and never even think about this place again."

He turned Breanna to face him. "Then what? I would never be able to look at you again without knowing that I ran from the one thing that matters in my life."

"Then leave me here."

Her request stunned him. "Wh- what?"

He could tell she was being sincere. "Daddy, I've spent most of my life here, I'll survive. You can't take much more of this. Just go and forget all about me."

He held her to his chest tightly. "Never... say that... You don't know how much it hurt to be without you, even if it was for the best. I refuse to for any longer. Promise me you won't leave me again."

"Daddy..."

"Promise me."

"I... I promise."

Every inch of the facility seemed to call out to him, as if reminding him of the things he'd lost in that building. Uncle Johnson, if you can hear me, help us. You got what you wanted. Caroline is in charge. She'll be alive for as long as Aperture exists. You don't need Breanna to be like this anymore. For all our sakes, just help us.

Though she would never admit it, Breanna was scared. She'd been like this for so long. She'd remembered her life, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't recall what it felt like to walk, to breath, to do anything humans did. And what would she do if the one person who had stayed by her died or suffered for her benefit? Her father was a broken man, there was no question about that. But despite his fragility, he was insistent on risking everything for her. "How do you even know this is possible?" She asked.

Doug continued running as he spoke. "I've done it before. That man who was with Chell when we escaped, he was a core at one point, a human before that. I transferred him so GLaDOS wouldn't kill him."

Confused, Breanna asked more questions. "But why? Why would she kill him?"

"Because he was Wheatley."

She knew Wheatley almost personally. When she'd been on the run from scientists intent on incinerating her, he'd allowed her to power down behind him to keep from overheating. To think he'd been as human as herself...

Doug stopped suddenly, interrupting all thoughts. Panels had moved themselves in front of his path, trapping father and daughter in a small box. "Did you honestly think I couldn't feel you back there?"

Doug just about lost his mind at the sound of the all too familiar voice. GLaDOS.

Her triumph cut through him like a knife. "I thought you were gone for good. Did you miss me so much you came back to me? You're too kind." There was a low, mechanical chuckle. "And you. I thought I'd killed you a long time ago."

This was the second time that a claw ripped Breanna from his protective arms. It brought her up, far out of his reach. "Daddy!" Her cry would stay in his mind for as long as he lived.

"Time out there, for a second." Everything froze. "'Daddy'? So I see you've remembered." The voice was cooler now, but still not exactly kind. "It's a frightening process, figuring out you had a life before this, isn't it. Breanna Rattmann. I never thought I'd see the day. Don't tell me you forgot about me. After all the good times we had. After all, I killed the man responsible for you being like this."

"Caroline...?" Breanna was stunned. "Did you really? Did you really kill Uncle Johnson?"

"What? I meant Michael Anderson, the one who got you covered in the repulsion gel when you were a child." GLaDOS fell silent for a moment. When she resumed, there was pain in her voice. "I would neverhave hurt Ca- Mr. Johnson."

The girl had no idea of the fact that Cave Johnson and Caroline had been lovers, or the fact that together, the couple had created a child, a baby girl, that would later save them from Aperture Laboratories.

"Why did you come back? I could kill you both right now."

He could have gone into a long speech, including in it how his heart and been ripped to shreds, and how his life had no meaning without Breanna, but he kept it quick and simple. "I just want my daughter back."

"Oh, really? It's true that cryogenic storage has probably healed her body, but there's no guarantee. And even if it did, humans are fragile creatures; they die so easily. Trust me, I know. Is that really what you want? To let her live, only to have her die?"

His answer was simple. "I just want my daughter back."

"Mr. Johnson always spoke so highly of both of you." For the first time, Doug could have sworn he heard a trace of Caroline's voice in hers. Breanna gave a small yelp of surprise as the claw released her into her father's arms. "Stasis pod number two. Don't let anyone catch you. I can't protect you from this point on. Doug, you're technically my nephew. You helped her when she would have died otherwise. It's your turn to get something out of it. You saved my daughter, now go save your own." The panels moved back into their original positions. "But if someone finds you and turns you in to me, I willhave to kill you."

Doug nodded. He figured it wouldn't be easy. "Thank you."

"Don't waste any more time. Go."

Was she really letting him go free? Or was it a trap? Either way... He began running, the rush of familiarity surging through him in a manner both thrilling and terrifying.

There was only one way to the Cryogenic Refrigeration Wing. "We c- can't go behind the walls anymore." He shook just a little.

"Daddy, you're stuttering..." Doug held Breanna close and whispered reassuring words to her before he opened the wall and bolted out.

It had been so long since he'd been in the hallways. He'd usually stayed hidden. He stopped to let a pair of employees pass in a nearby corridor. He didn't know that one typed a message into his datapad.

It was when they were about half-way there that the footsteps began coming. His heart stopped and he looked back to see four guards rushing toward him.

Of all the years he'd spent running, he'd never ran as fast as he did in that moment. He literally felt the rush of displaced air of a bullet as it flew past his ear. "Go left!" When Breanna yelled this, he went right, just as she'd hoped he would. The guards had focused on the left, giving Doug enough time to duck out of their sight.

His heart was still pounding when they reached the Cryogenic Refrigeration Wing. Breanna's optic flicked back and fourth as she recalled when her uncle showed her around before her transfer. Stasis Pod Two finally came into view. Doug peered in, and he felt the worst pain in his chest since the day he saw his daughter's lifeless body laying on the metal table that would be her death bed.

Her hair onyx hair no longer fell down past her shoulders, but was cut just below her chin. She was exactly the way he remembered her, except that her face was clear of the dark circles below her eyes. She finally got to catch up on her sleep. Doug put a hand on the glass and began sobbing. Breanna felt a jolt of emotion surge through her as she looked at her body. It was a strange feeling, looking at herself.

Without warning, the pod opened and some equipment came through the wall. "Do it now. Hurry." They could barely hear GLaDOS, her voice quiet. "Go. They're on their way."

Doug connected the wires to both Breannas, his hands shaking. He checked multiple times that it was all hooked up correctly, terrified that he would do something wrong. "What if it didn't heal me, Daddy? I'm fine with dying. But what about you? What'll you do if I die?"

He looked to the body, which was getting the peaceful rest it had been deprived of for the fifteen years of its life. "I don't know. Go insane? More than I already am. But that won't happen. We're going to live together as a family. Like we used to. Just like we did before any of this stupid scientific crap happened, do you hear me?"

There was banging at the door, and Doug's heart stopped. "Open up! This is security!"

Between the yelling and knocking from the exterior and Doug's screaming thoughts, the place was a lair of uncontrollable noise. "Quick! Deactivate!" Doug fiddled with the settings of the machine.

Breanna looked at him for a moment. "Daddy... I love you. I want you to know that." Just in case I don't wake up.

A tear fell from Doug's eye. "I love you, min kärlek. More than anything I've ever loved in my life. And I never want you to forget how much you mean to me. You are my life. I'll see you again soon."

Breanna's last words were said just before she powered down so he couldn't argue. "If I don't make it, I'll say hi to Mom and Uncle Johnson for you."

He hated to see the optic go dark. All he could do was stare. What would he do if she didn't make it? She was all he lived for. He brushed his hand against Breanna's face gently, her smooth skin still cold to the touch. "My little girl... You promised you won't leave me. Please keep that promise."

The banging and yelling was getting louder, and Doug pulled the switch. There were blinding flashes of light, which just added to the security's shouting. When it was over, he ran over to the stasis pod and looked in.

"We're going to give you one last warning! Come out now, or we will use force!"

He stared at the girl for what seemed like years to see her stir, and it soon dawned on him that he wouldn't see her move or hear her speak ever again. He'd really killed her this time. "Breanna... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." He fell to his knees, sobbing, yet not looking away from the girl. His mind broke, the voices that had plagued him throughout the years flooding back in, overwhelming him, along with his cries and the calling.

And then, a pair of bright blue eyes opened for the first time in almost forty years.

I told myself this would be the last one, but I just couldn't do it! Watch for The Schizophrenic's Daughter III!