When Nos-4-a2 came online, he was flat on the floor. His limbs felt heavy and his mind slowly dragged itself to run automatic diagnostics. What a headache.

How long had he been down? What had happened? He opened his optic, the dust ruffle of the hotel bed coming into focus a few feet in front of his face. Finally, the diagnostics revealed he had crashed due to overheating while in a feral state. It didn't take long after that for him to remember what had happened.

They were vacationing in the northern colony of Borton to see the first white snow in centuries. They had been at the hotel for two days and Two went to the store He had stayed back to set up the room ‒ that's right, he'd planned on surprising her with a romantic night when she returned. But a storm blew in that wasn't supposed to hit until later that night, and the minutes turned into hours. The store wasn't that far away, so Nos put on his thickest cloak and set out, stretching his sensors out as far as he could to find Two. He stayed low and pushed through the wind, paying more attention to his sensors than his sight. He found Two a few blocks down the road, half-buried in snow at the foot of a tree. Everything after that happened so fast... he called the police, she woke up, he turned her...

Eve! Nos-4-a2 sat bolt upright, though his motors resisted and the world spun. He pushed through it and staggered upright, turning to his wife. Two's arms and head had sealed against her body, making her a smooth pod. She hovering at an awkward angle because of her faulty thruster. The sheet he'd tied around her was still pinned under her arms, though her battery fluid had started dripping onto the carpet.

Nos took her in his arms ‒ the way she hovered in hibernation mode unsettled him. Cradling her to his chest, he sat down in the armchair he'd pulled up to the side of the bed when he first brought her inside, focusing on the flow of electricity within her systems. He dug into the status of different programs and files, confirming that the venom virus was at work and had put her into a state of high power efficiency.

He let his head fall against the back of the armchair when he was certain that she was alright. The pressure in his head was tremendous, but that only made sense. "I can't believe I went feral..." he hissed to himself, running his hand over his face.

He looked at the creased metal around the bite mark and the thin scratches all over her body, tentatively pressing a hand to her side. She was still very warm.

"What a mess," he whispered. He knew turning Two would be dangerous, but he hadn't even considered going feral. The thought of causing her pain made him sick, so he hugged her closer, burying his head against hers, willing the ambulance to come faster.

How would he break it to the Earthclasses? How would he explain this to the emergency response engineers? Would they blame him for her damage? What if they didn't treat her right? What if she wasn't the same when she woke up? What if he made the wrong decision? What if this killed her?

"No," he uttered. He wasn't doing himself any good by thinking that way.

"Everything's going to be fine, right, Eve? You're the strongest robot I've ever known. You've been through worse than this... some of it was even my fault. I'm sorry."

He kept talking to her to keep himself sane, crooning until the distant sound of a siren came muffled through the wind and snow.