Evergreen (Portal/Caveline)

Evergreen

The facility was eerily quiet, it always was around this time of year. Very few employees turned up and those who did never managed to make it through the whole day. Cave had never officially closed Aperture for Christmas, he worked on the logic that science never stopped so neither should they, but he had noticed a sudden spike in 'illness' on Christmas morning. It had become a sort of tradition to pick out the most creative excuses. Throughout the years he'd heard everything from the classic cases of food poisoning to the slightly more unconventional rabies. Apparently they all easily contracted it from lab animals. No matter what they seemed to catch Cave could always guarantee it would be miraculously cured by the next day. He knew he should probably do something but there was something in the air around December that made him soft. Perhaps it was all the cheer and goodwill or maybe it was just another chemical leak, either way it stopped him from acting. As long as it was business as usual by morning with everyone coming in relatively sober. That was another fun tradition, judging everyone's different definitions of sober. Besides sending a report on every single employee down to the human resources department took a lot of effort, especially when said department apparently all ate the same batch of bad seafood.

Of course he wasn't entirely alone, there was always one woman he could rely on to come in no matter what. Caroline turned up on time as usual. She was always there on Christmas and every other day of the year whether she was sick or not. Cave always found it strange that the only person who he felt deserved and would happily give a day off was the only one who never took one. He always tried to tell here he'd be fine if she left but she insisted on staying, she knew he was lying. The facility would fall apart without her. You see Caroline wasn't any ordinary employee, she was Aperture's backbone. Messes, both literal and figurative, always seemed to disappear when she was near.

That day she came into his office with a smile on her face and a decoration in her hand. She shivered for a second and shook the slowly melting snow off of herself. It was clearly blowing a gail outside, strands of hair seemed to be going in all directions. Nevertheless she still looked beautiful. Upon her entrance Cave found himself grinning like a fool with her, he wondered if Christmas cheer was somehow contiguous. She crossed to the large Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Cave made sure it went up every year. She had brought it as a gift on her first Christmas working together. At the time it was only a tiny little plant in a small pot that could barely take the weight of a small star on top. She had carried it in and placed it on the corner of his desk.

"We can watch it grow along side the company" she had happily told him. He laughed and agreed to bring it out every Christmas as long as they worked together. If he was completely honest he didn't expect it to last that long, plants had a rather strange tendency of dying fast in the facility, but through Caroline's gentle nurturing it survived to grow taller than either of them had imagined. It had grown so tall that it almost brushed the ceiling, it only left just enough room for Caroline's beloved star to sit. The more it grew the more bare it seemed. It felt somehow cold, not at all how a good Christmas Tree should feel. So they made yet another tradition together. Every year they would bring in a new decoration to hang up. It didn't necessary have to anything fancy, although Cave's subconscious' competitive streak often meant his was, just something that looked good. As their time working by each other's side went on they developed quite a collection. Cave took great care to put them all up perfectly so it was ready long before Caroline got in and by this point it looked splendid. There was a beautiful mixture of gold, silver, different shades of red, and sparking greens. They were sure it was the best tree in all of America, no in all the world. It was just a shame no one else ever saw it.

"So what have you brought for us this year?" asked Cave as he rose from his chair. He went to her side as she jumped up towards something. He glanced up and then back towards her in an attempt to work out what she was doing. After a few brief moments he realised she was trying to reach one of the higher branches. "Would you like some help with that?"

"No, no I've got it thank you" she insisted. He watched as she wobbled around on tip toes. Even in high heels she seemed so small compared to the tree. No matter how hard she stretched she could never reach that far up, he knew because he'd seen her try every time, yet she had developed a sort of fearious independence that prevented her from accepting him help. So he supposed he'd just have to get her decoration up another way.

"Come on let me give you hand" he laughed. She shook her head as he expected. While she was focusing on reaching up he managed to wander behind her unnoticed and picked her up.

"No, Sir, put me down" she laughed before leaning over and placing her decoration on one of the top branches.

"Got it?" he asked with a huge grin across his face.

"Yes, now please could you put me down?" he swooped her down safely besides him. She got her balance back and laughed again. After a few seconds the laughter died down but Caroline's permanent smile remained. She flashed it at him and brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, a repetitive action that always seemed to make Cave's heart skip a beat. He caught himself starring and quickly diverted his attention to the decoration.It was a little red bow tied to a shining silver string. "It matches my scarf" she pointed out.

"So it does. It's beautiful, just like the woman who hung it" he complemented.

"Oh Sir" she blushed "So what have you brought?"

"I think you'll like this one. I had it specially made" he dug around in his pocket and found a little blue box. He removed the lid to reveal a small metal version of the Aperture logo also on a silver string.

"It's wonderful sir" Caroline told him as she looked into the box.

"Look closer" he smiled. He took it out of its box and gently placed it into the palm of her hand. She inspected it closely, there was some sort of writing on it. She realised that engraved were the words 'Cave and Caroline. Christmas 1963'. Her heart melted and she found herself completely speechless. "Christmas and science. A perfect combination, don't you agree?"

"A match made in heaven" she nodded as he carefully took it back and hung it up. They spent many more Christmases together after that, they hung up plenty of beautiful decorations, but nothing topped that one for Caroline. She loved to see it hanging up there, both of their names forever engraved on the symbol of Aperture's greatness. It was something she'd never forget. It would remain her favourite for all of time, even after Caroline stopped being her name.