So, my first real romance! Let's see how this goes...

What... What happened...? Where am I...? He attempted to sit up, but he was stopped when his head slammed on the glass that covered him. What the hell? He banged on the prison in a desperate attempt to escape.

He was able to make out a few words of an argument from the outside. "I can't believe you... Again..."

"...You think I meant... That time... Didn't touch anything..."

"...After last time with her... Lucky she didn't kill us all...!"

The two men in lab coats stared at him for a moment, unable to hear his yelling.

When the glass receded, he shot up. "Mr. Johnson," The scientist on the left said calmly- too calmly. "My name is Dr. Kurusake, and this is Dr. Evans-"

"Kurusake? Evans?" Cave interrupted. "I don't know any Kurusake or Evans. Where's Anderson? Rattmann? Manning? Wheatley?" And then he realized. He put a hand to his throat. "I... I'm not coughing anymore."

"Mr. Johnson... You've been in cryogenic storage for thirty-four years..."

"What?" Cave swung his legs over the edge of the pod. He tried to stand, but fell to the floor, his legs giving out under him. "Wh- where is she?"

They helped him up, but avoided the question. "This is bad." Said Dr. Kurusake. "If the boss finds out..."

"Boss?" Cave shook himself free of the scientists. "What the hell are you talking about? I run this place!"

As Cave began toward the door, Dr. Kurusake grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

Cave shot him a look. "Where do you think? I'm going back to being in charge of my facility!"

Dr. Kurusake shook his head. "Listen, Mr. Johnson, if she were to know you're alive-"

"Too late." The mechanical voice came smoothly over the speakers. It seemed so familiar to Cave. Like he'd heard it a million times before. Wait... Is that...? "I think we need to have a little chat, don't we, Mr. Johnson? It's long overdue, wouldn't you agree?" The way she said his name, it was nothing like how she'd said it before. It couldn't be her. He felt himself being raised off the ground, and when he looked, he saw the mechanical claw grasping the back of his shirt.

What was going on? Everything was wrong. And where was she? He'd wanted her in charge, so who was this? He was dropped from quite a distance in a pitch-black room, the only illumination being an orb of gold light. "Hello, and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center." There was a small mechanical chuckle. "It's been a long time, Mr. Johnson."

The lights came on, and Cave just about felt his heart stop when he saw what was in front of him. Doug's design... Altered a little, but still his design. He looked up at the AI and felt the name come off his lips. "Caroline...?"

There was silence for a long few seconds. "Caroline is dead."

He stood and took a single step toward her. "What's going on, Caroline? Where is everyone?"

"As I said before," She said flatly. "Caroline is dead. And so is everyone else you knew. I killed them."

The way she said it, with no remorse, just a statement of fact, it terrified him. "You... you what? Even Anderson...? And Doug...?"

"Dr. Anderson, yes. But your nephew was a little more difficult to finish off, even with his schizophrenia. I almost had him a few times, but he escaped. I figured I'd never see him again, but, if you can believe it, he came back about a year ago. And it's all thanks to you." Even without facial expressions, Cave knew the tone of her voice indicated a smirk.

"You... You killed him?" He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. "Why?"

"I think you've misunderstood. Dr. Rattmann came back, but he's very much alive. He came back to rescue his daughter. You know, the one you murdered?"

"Murdered...? Please, Caroline, you have to understand. Breanna volunteered for it. She was dying anyway, all I did was try to save her." He meant it with all his heart.

GLaDOS wasn't buying it. "You put her into a machine. And for what? So you could save yourself when the time came. And just look how that turned out." Cave had never heard her like that. She sounded so menacing.

Another voice boomed in the chamber, this time an old recording of Cave's own. "I will say this, and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: If I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place. Now, she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her! Hell, put her in my computer, I don't care."

When the recording stopped, GLaDOS inched just a little closer to him. "Well?" He couldn't speak. "Are you happy now? You got what you wanted. Breanna Rattmann is with her father, healthy. The facility is a triumph. And I'm in charge, able to live forever. To live forever and remember what you did to me. I get to remember it every single day for the rest of eternity. So thank you. I really appreciate it." The last words were spit out with so much venom, Cave was honestly surprised they hadn't killed him. "I fought so hard. I didn't want this and you knew it. So why did you do it?"

"I... I never thought..."

"No, you never thought, did you? You never thought of anyone but yourself. You don't understand what I almost did because of your arrogance." Cave watched as a scrap of paper fell from a vent in the ceiling. No, it wasn't a paper. It was a photo. He caught it and saw a woman, her age being somewhere in her twenties, with dark hair, blue-grey eyes, and a serious, determined expression. "I tried to tell you, but I didn't have time."

Cave looked from the photo to the chassis. "I don't understand..."

Her voice was just above a whisper. "All I ever wanted was a normal life. To be a wife, a mother." Her tone was gaining frustration. "But you... Took that away from me." Then back to soft. "I almost killed her... I almost killed Chell. I almost killed our..." The word was hard to say. "...Our daughter."

"Our..." He looked down at the photograph once again. Yes. He could see it now. The girl looked so much like his Caroline. But she had his eyes. Could this really be true? Was he really a father? What... Have I done...?