A/N: Final chapter. I've very much enjoyed this little stay on the moon. I'm glad that other people have enjoyed it too!

Chapter Nine – The Rescue.

Doug prepared to leave, painfully aware that as he did so, Chell was preparing to face another test chamber. Peter was so enthusiastic about proving Henry wrong, he couldn't wait to try out his new test subject.

Despite Chell's confident assurances, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease when he thought about leaving without her. Every time he took a step he felt as if his ankles were shackled. He was at the end of a line of his fellow scientists and the majority of the domestic staff, waiting to board the shuttle. Up ahead, he could see Alan's blond head and the platinum ponytail of a member of housekeeping who looked oddly familiar. He couldn't place her, but she stuck out, her striking hair and flawless skin. Then Alan turned, breaking his train of thought, and he groaned inwardly as he realised he'd been spotted.

Alan made his way to join him at the back, grinning, but not as excitedly as usual. "Well, we're going home! Glad you're joining us."

Doug nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He was too raw. Alan's false brightness was clearly a way of masking his unease. He was still unsure about what Doug had told him, still undecided as to what to do about it. Doug knew exactly what he was going through, but he had no patience for it then and there.

"Did you see my turret friend go on?" Alan said. "It said something like 'the queen bee is awake'. Crazy stuff, man."

Doug had seen enough of the defective turret to last him a lifetime.

'She'll tell you, but she'll say nothing.'

Its words floated through his memory, and he frowned. Chell's final expression came back to him. That curious look of joy and sadness, mixed with determination. After he'd told her he loved her, that flash of emotion in her eyes…

'She'll tell you…'

The way she'd opened her mouth to speak, but swiftly closed it upon reflection. Had she been about to say it back?

'…but she'll say nothing.'

If she had said it, would he still have left? Probably not. And she knew that. She'd said it with looks alone, because she couldn't bear to say it aloud. Suddenly he felt incredibly dim.

"Oh my God," he muttered.

"What's up?"

"I'm an idiot."

"No, you're not. You did your best. She was always going to die, Doug. The main thing is you tried."

He snapped his head round, fixing Alan with a piercing stare. "What? What do you mean?"

Alan wilted a little under the force of his glower. "Um…1498. You were trying to save her, right? The important thing is you–"

"No, not that. What do you mean she was always going to die?"

"Well all the others did. I heard Peter earlier, he said he doesn't expect her to get beyond the third chamber, but he'll have proved his point by then. If she does beat them, then she'll just go the same way as the others."

Doug seized a handful of Alan's shirt. "You actually heard Peter say this?"

"Yes! Careful! He said it to Mark, I passed them in the corridor."

Doug swore, letting go of Alan's shirt, running a hand through his hair. Some of the others had gotten wind of a commotion at the end of the line, and were craning their necks to see. By accident, Doug found himself meeting the platinum blonde's gaze. She was young, he saw, young and pretty. Then it hit him. She was the one who'd been having an affair with Peter.

'You've already learned that which can save you.'

He knew what he had to do. He grabbed Alan by the shoulders, drawing a yelp from the younger man.

"Don't let the shuttle go without me. Okay? I'm meant to be on it, so they can wait. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I've got it. I won't."

"Good. Thanks." He let go, spun on his heel and headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Alan yelled.

"To save Chell," he replied, breaking into a run.

Behind him, he heard Alan say, "Who's Chell?"

Chell prepared for the tests, numbly standing still so Peter's assistant could fit the portal device on her arm. He frowned, noticing the bandage, but she didn't react. It barely hurt anymore, and she couldn't feel it anyway.

"Okay," Peter said to her, and she resisted the urge to spit in his face. The way he spoke to her clearly indicated that he thought she was an idiot. "You're going to go through these chambers, all right? You need to do what you can to solve them. We're going to prove to my co-worker that my test chambers aren't unsolvable."

She entered the airlock, her legs taking her forward automatically. She couldn't shake her lethargy. Despite her best efforts, her determination was hanging by a thread. Part of her tenacity had left when Doug did. She was glad that he'd make it home, but she couldn't help wishing that she'd been able to go with him.

It was pointless to reflect on that, though. She was facing the end, she knew it. Peter knew it. His useless assistant probably knew it too. Unsolvable test chambers meant just that, even for someone of her calibre. They meant something else too: death.

The gravity deactivated, and she drifted forward cautiously. A laser beam cut across the doorway, and she gripped the frame, preventing herself from entering its range. The door slid closed behind her, giving her less room. Reacting more than planning her moves, she shot a portal behind the turret and one into the door, slipping through it as it fired. She felt the heat of the laser at her back.

She negotiated the room, avoiding the turrets and the thermal discouragement beams. With a mixture of skill and extraordinary luck, she managed to get the cube in the receptacle, solving the first test.

Before she left the room, she cast an eye up to the observation office. Peter was beaming, as if the triumph was all his. Disgusted, she moved through the airlock, preparing for chamber two. It was clear that Peter was no puzzle creator. There was scarcely any logic to his tests, and he relied too heavily on deterrents. The puzzles were easy, but manoeuvring around the room was not.

"There you are."

"Hello."

"Could you come over here?"

The chorus of turret voices greeted her as the door slid open, and her eyes widened in shock. Once again simply reacting, she kicked off from the ground, floating up out of their sight. The room was almost entirely full of turrets, spread out, creating crosshatching lines of scarlet beams. Chell clung to a plinth behind one of them, one of the only blind spots she could see. Her breathing was shallow and quick, her palms sweaty beneath her gloves. This was it, she could feel it. There was no way she'd be able to cross this room unscathed.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling uncharacteristically shaky. Would Doug know what had happened to her? She hoped not. She didn't want him to feel guilty. Hot tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and she inwardly cursed. They'd done it. They'd broken her. She was afraid.

'Live,' she thought, directing the message towards him, wherever he was. 'Live for me, and don't forget me.'

She clenched her teeth, feeling the hard, rapid beating of her heart in her chest. She waited for the calm to descend, but it never came. She was going to die panicked and scared. It didn't seem fair after how long she'd remained strong. Well fine. She'd cope with it. She didn't care anymore.

Chell brought the portal device up, scanning for the best place to fire, and prepared to launch herself towards the end.

The desperate need to hurry ever-present in his thoughts, Doug sprinted towards the test chamber and took the stairs two at a time, bursting through the door to the observation office. Peter and Mark were there, and they both turned to look at him, their faces a picture of open-mouthed shock.

"Rattmann!" Peter hollered. "What the blazes are you–"

"Get her out of there," he ordered.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Quite possibly, sir," Mark whispered loudly. "If he's forgotten to take his meds…"

"I'm fine," Doug insisted. "And you heard me. Get her out of there."

Peter sat back, irritatingly nonchalant. "Why would I want to do that? We're in the middle of a test."

"A test that will probably kill her. I can't let that happen. Get. Her. Out."

"Or…what?"

Doug held up an unmarked disc. The light caught it, attracting Peter's attention.

"You'll play an album?" Peter said sarcastically.

"Or I'll hand this over to the papers." He took a second item from his pocket. "This is a remote transmitter. One click of the button here and the contents of the disc get sent to every newspaper in Michigan. Let her out, and you get the disc and the transmitter."

The first flicker of wariness crossed Peter's face. "What's on the disc?"

"Details about how Aperture Laboratories treats its test subjects."

Peter scoffed. "You think anyone will care? Besides, it's your word against the company's, and you're delusional."

Undeterred, Doug fixed him with a sharp glare. "It also contains some interesting images captured by a security camera. Of you. And a certain blonde young lady from housekeeping. I'm sure your wife will be very interested to see them, don't you agree? Especially if they give you a double page spread."

Peter's face drained of colour, looking genuinely concerned. "You…you can't! Her campaign…you'll…you can't!"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about her campaign. I'm sure she'll get a strong sympathy vote. It might even tip the balance."

"You bastard."

"Get her out of there."

With a resigned sigh, Peter threw up his hands and moved away from the control panel. Mark followed him, his eyes wide. Doug headed over, spotting Chell through the window. She was taking cover behind a plinth, clinging onto it to avoid floating away. Her position was almost completely surrounded by the scarlet laser sight beams of the nearby turrets. He shut them down and activated the gravity.

"Chell," he said into the microphone, "head to the exit. You're all clear."

She nodded, doing just that. She looked more afraid than he'd ever seen her in a test. She'd really thought she was going to die this time, he realised. He felt a wave of guilt for almost leaving her to her fate. He should have known she was being brave for his sake.

"Disc?" Peter prompted, his face twisted by a fierce scowl.

"You'll get it," he assured.

There came the sound of Chell's footsteps on the stairs, then she appeared in the doorway. She surveyed the scene with an expression of curiosity before crossing the room and throwing her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, relieved to have her safely in his embrace, solid and real.

"I thought you'd gone," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

"I told you, not without you."

"Oh, please," Peter muttered with disgust. "That's what this is about?"

Doug handed the disc and transmitter to Chell while he unclasped the portal device from her arm, taking them back with a brief smile of thanks.

"Can I have that disc now?" Peter asked, his tone beginning to sound desperate.

"You'll get it when we've boarded the shuttle," Doug told him. "We're going back to Earth, where I intend to quit this company. We'll both leave, and we'll never say a word to the papers provided Aperture leaves us alone for the rest of our lives."

Doug held his breath, hoping that Peter wouldn't pick up on his carefully chosen words. He'd promise not to tell the papers, but he'd not mentioned anything about the authorities.

Mark looked nervously between Peter and Doug, his fingers clutching his clipboard.

"You must think I'm a total moron," Peter snapped. "What guarantee would I have that you would keep up your end of the bargain?"

"You'd have my word. I'll write and sign a statement."

Before Peter could reply, a red light began flashing in the ceiling, accompanied by a low wailing. Mark hurried to the computer in the corner, tapping the keys, his expression anxious.

Looking around, he informed them, "We've lost communication with the main complex. There may be some kind of emergency down there."

"This is your doing, Rattmann!" Peter yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Doug.

"It's not," Doug said calmly.

"He's right, sir," cut in Mark, "it's a problem their end. According to Emergency Protocol Six we should evacuate the station and return to Earth. We may be dealing with bankruptcy. Or worse."

"For crying out loud."

"We should head to the shuttle, sir. Or take the emergency one if you feel it would be more appropriate."

Doug and Chell exchanged a glance. They hadn't been aware that there was an emergency shuttle.

Peter sighed angrily. "We might as well take the one that's already here. If it is still here. Rattmann, walk with me. I want to keep an eye on you."

Doug nodded, falling into step beside him. Chell followed with Mark, towering over him in her long fall boots.

"And don't think that you'll be getting a reference after this!" Peter snapped.

"I'll cope."

Outside the test chambers, they paused long enough for Peter to activate the loudspeakers, reminding all staff to evacuate. Then they made their way to the shuttle bay. By the door there was another microphone, and Peter took the opportunity to give a final announcement.

"To any remaining personnel, if you're not on board the shuttle in the next five minutes, we're leaving without you. That's all."

They approached the shuttle. The last few members of the remaining housekeeping staff were just getting on board, watched by Alan who was hovering in the doorway. Doug noted that his luggage had been put on board, which he was glad about. He'd abandoned it when he'd run to save Chell.

"Doug!" Alan called. "You're just in time! The pilots are starting to get pissed."

Mark ducked through the doorway, followed by Peter, who stopped and turned, blocking the route.

"Sorry. I can't authorise you to board. Not after the behaviour you've displayed."

"Think it through, Peter," Doug said, holding up the transmitter. "I still have this. I can still send the data."

"I think you're bluffing. I can't allow you to board my shuttle, which is here to transport my scientists back to Earth. You are disloyal, and furthermore–" His words were cut off by a dull whack, and he fell forward, landing at Doug's feet.

Mark stood behind him, armed with a small fire extinguisher. He looked horrified. "I really, really shouldn't have done that," he murmured.

"Thank you," Doug said with gratitude. He hadn't thought the spineless young man had had it in him.

Chell let out a small snigger that seemed to partially be hysteria. She bent to grab one of Peter's arms. Doug took the other one, and Alan and Mark managed his legs. Together, they got him on board. The passengers in the vicinity, about nine scientists and six members of housekeeping, collectively stared.

"What the hell, Doug?" Craig spoke up.

"Long story. Someone tell the pilots they can close the doors. We're heading home."

"He's going to be so angry when he wakes up," Mark moaned.

Chell shook her head. "He didn't see who hit him. Blame me and let him puzzle it out, I don't care."

"You were standing in front of him, he'll never believe that."

She shrugged, leaving him to his whimpering.

The door automatically closed, sealing and locking itself. Then, finally, they were on their way, leaving the moon behind. The shuttle was abuzz with talk, low voiced conversations about the nature of the emergency, Peter's unconscious state, and the occasional whisper about Doug's mental health.

Doug ignored them all, finding two seats for himself and Chell, settling into them and trying to relax. He glanced at her. She looked exhausted, the strain and anxiety taking its toll. He reached for her hand and she smiled at him.`

"Thank you," she said simply. It summed up everything.

Doug nodded in acknowledgment, although it seemed unnecessary. He didn't feel he needed thanking for something he had to do. He could no more leave her behind than he could a part of himself. It troubled him that she'd convinced him to go initially. He'd never have been persuaded if the selfish side of him had completely gone. There was still some work to be done.

There came the sound of a throat being cleared, and he looked round. Alan stood there, holding a familiar blue backpack.

"You, uh, left this when you ran off," he said.

Doug reached for it, letting go of Chell's hand. Alan observed, one eyebrow raised.

"Thanks."

"Congrats," Alan went on. "You saved her."

Doug smiled. "I did."

Alan looked past him to Chell. "I've been told you talk to him. Don't be afraid to tell him he's an idiot sometimes. His tablets are in that bag. Not something you want to be running off and leaving."

Chell smirked. "I'll remember that. Thanks."

Alan did the smallest of double takes at the sound of her voice, but gave them both a polite nod and left to find a seat.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Now…I guess we wait for Peter to wake up."

After an unpleasant three days in space, the shuttle was finally making preparations to land in the grounds of Aperture Science's main complex. Everyone on board was restless, but none more so than Peter, Doug and Chell. Doug still held steadfastly on to the disc and the transmitter, much to Peter's annoyance.

He had awoken with a thumping headache two hours into the journey home, and was still none the wiser as to who had hit him. He had taken to eyeing everyone with equal amounts of suspicion, narrowing his gaze threateningly, daring them to hit him again. Of course, nobody did.

Chell managed to go the entire time without attacking Neil. Although she still detested him for what he'd done to Anna, and who knew how many other test subjects, she could see that it wasn't worth the trouble that hitting him would create. She was outnumbered, and she had to trust that karma would catch up with him. It was worth it to get back to Earth. She and Doug spent the time talking or sleeping, trying to ward off boredom.

They all sat through the lengthy landing cycle, then tried hard not to jostle for room near the door. Everyone was eager to be out of there. Doug slung his backpack over one shoulder and reached for Chell's hand. They waited their turn, then stepped out, descending the short staircase to the concrete below. It was mid afternoon, partially overcast, the air warm and broken up by the occasional cool breeze. A break in the clouds let a beam of sunlight escape, and they squinted, relishing the heat on their skin.

"Okay, Rattmann," Peter boomed, shattering the moment. "We're back. You happy now? Give me that disc."

Doug handed it over, but kept hold of the transmitter. "A promise from you, Peter. We will never hear from Aperture Laboratories again for the rest of our lives."

"Fine. Yes. I'm sick of the sight of both of you anyway. Just go. Oh, and give me that transmitter."

Before Doug could do so, the single exterior speaker burst into life. A computerised female voice, strangely melodic, echoed around the immediate area.

"Hello. Welcome back to the Aperture Science Earth-Based Enrichment Centre. I hope your time in space was productive."

"That's Henry's damned A.I.," Peter barked. "He's just doing this to annoy me."

"Why don't you all come down here and settle in. We have cake."

Doug felt a wave of gratitude that he wouldn't be joining the party. Something about the voice gave him the creeps. He didn't know if it was instinct or his paranoia.

"Well, if there's cake," Alan said with a shrug, joining the others as they filed towards the elevator.

"Don't go down there," Chell spoke up suddenly, her eyes narrowed. So she felt it too.

Doug saw the flicker of uncertainty cross Alan's face, and he realised Chell had just uttered the same phrase that the defective turret had said to him. A shiver passed up his spine.

"Don't worry. It's just Henry showing off his new toy," Alan said. "Good luck, you two. Keep in touch!"

Doug nodded, although he knew he wouldn't keep his promise. When he left Aperture behind, that meant every aspect of it.

"Transmitter," Peter said, his voice low and laced with irritation.

Doug threw it to him, and he caught it with a clumsy one-handed move.

"Get out of my sight," he growled.

"Likewise," Doug shot back.

Peter glowered at them both before heading through the door after the others.

"It's so nice that you've all come back," they heard the A.I. say. "Think of all the science we can do."

Silence reigned as the door closed, shutting off the voice. Chell inhaled a lungful of air, breathing it out noisily. Her grim expression eased as she did so, and Doug realised she was letting go of everything that had happened to her. When they reached civilisation they could report to the police, do something to avenge those they'd been unable to save. He'd have to do it anonymously, though. Ignorance and naivety had been his main crimes, but he doubted the authorities would see it that way. He'd make up for his sins on his own terms. Chell had suggested that on board the shuttle, which had surprised him. He'd expected her to support the police, to watch him serve time. But she'd explained, calmly and with a tiny bit of selfishness, that she didn't want to lose him to people who simply wouldn't understand the situation he'd been in.

Chell began walking, shaking him out of his thoughts. He hurried to catch up. The further away they got, the better he felt.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home. To pack. And then…" She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Paris?"

"Paris?"

"I hear they have good croissants there."

She shot him an impish smile that he couldn't help returning. They were on foot, miles from any city, and she didn't even have proper footwear, yet she was smiling. He didn't know whether he could comment on her decision. Despite everything they'd been through, it seemed presumptuous to assume that he was invited.

"I'm sure they do," he said at length, choosing diplomacy. "Do you speak French?"

"Nope. Do you?"

He raised a hopeful eyebrow. "Not at all."

They continued in silence for a long while, putting more distance between Aperture and them. Then, finally, he plucked up the courage to ask her. He stopped walking, letting the wheat field they were trekking through whisper around him.

"Chell."

She halted too, turning, the question visible on her face.

"I don't, uh, really know if you…um…"

She stepped towards him, a hint of a smile on her lips. She held out a hand. She didn't say a word, but he knew what she meant by it. It was 'come with me', not just in its simplest form, but 'come with me anywhere'. Without hesitation, he linked his fingers with hers.

"Always," he murmured.

She smiled and kissed him. They set off again, keeping pace with each other.

"What was on that disc?" she asked as they walked.

"Nothing," he said, squeezing her hand. "It was blank."

They continued on, making paths through the wheat, leaving Aperture behind them, visualising Paris ahead.

The End.

A/N: A hopeful, if not traditionally happy, ending for you :) Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and followed. Special thanks to Raintalker for allowing me to use her painting and her idea :D