Prompted Drabbles: "Motherhood"/"Fatherhood"
Fandom: Portal
Rating: K
Summary: From prompts. "Caroline daydreaming about motherhood" and "Cave dealing with a test baby while Caroline is busy with something else."
Disclaimer: Portal and all associated characters belong to Valve. I just borrow them for my own sick pleasure.
The android wasn’t terribly realistic in appearance, but it did the one thing it was programmed to do. It cried. Loudly. Caroline held it to her shoulder and bounced it gently, feeling a little awkward - she hadn’t been near a real baby since she was a girl herself. And that was a long, long time ago.
“Shh, shhhh…” She bounced and shushed and patted its back, but nothing seemed to do any good. It just kept wailing its little head off. Maybe it’s a good thing I never had children.
The thought surprised her as it struck deep. The idea of children tugging at her skirt was… not unfamiliar. There had been times when she’d imagined a round, pink face looking up at her, and the warmth of a little body at her breast, soft lips questing to suck… Stroking a head of soft curls, soothing it with tender attention when it cried just like this…
But the android in her arms was quiet now. She realized that she’d been humming softly, and the tune had lulled it into simulated sleep.
Maybe she’d have made a decent mother after all.
But fate made her choose, and she chose science. Her child was her facility. The closest to motherhood she’d ever get was the cold lump of metal in her arms.
Her fingers found the switch on the back of its neck, and she shut the testing baby off. Enough daydreaming. Back to work.
Just watch it for me, she said. I’ll be back in ten minutes, she said. Well something must be holding her up, because he’d spent at least half an hour holding this thing and it was getting heavy.
Not my damn department, he thought with a grumble as he shifted the test baby in his arms. Babies were for other people. He’d nearly snapped its head off before she showed him how to hold it properly, and he still wasn’t sure he was doing it right.
“WaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
“What the hell - ?” He hadn’t even done anything and it was wailing like a siren again. Maybe this one was broken. He bounced it in his arms like he’d seen Caroline doing, but it only howled louder. “Shit.”
Cave Johnson should not have to put up with this. He had people for this sort of thing.
“WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“CAAAAROLIIIIIINE!”
But she was apparently too far away to hear. “Shit.” She could usually keep these things quiet. How did she manage it? And - hell - women’s work or not, why could she figure out something he couldn’t? There had to be a trick to this.
He held the squalling test baby in front of him. Its LED expression flashed in a red frown. He frowned back, biting his lip as his bushy eyebrows scrunched together -
And the noise faltered. The hell? His eyebrows shot up, and it faltered again, as if the thing wasn’t sure whether to cry. Cave peered close at its face, wondering if there was a malfunction - these things cost a fortune to produce, and if it just broke out of the blue -
But as he scrutinized it, the android went quiet. The LEDs shining at him flashed from red to green and broke into a smile. He grinned back, and the little thing gurgled happily. That was actually kinda cute.
“Hey there, little fella.” He tickled its tummy, and it gurgled again. “Oochie coochie coo…” Yeah. Kinda cute.
Five minutes later - back in ten, just like she’d promised - Caroline peeped in the doorway to see her boss playing with the test baby like a live thing, a beaming smile on his face. She bit her lip as tears pricked her eyes. He’d have made a good father after all.