They were surrounded by cop cars and they were going to freeze to death.

"You cannot sustain this," Connor said. "With the temperature dropping and your bodies so close to the snow..."

"Sh-shut up," Reed said.

Hank agreed, but his teeth were chattering too much for a reply.

"Please," the officer on the megaphone said. "We just need to take the android in. If you cooperate-"

"Y-you guys," Reed huffed. "Will j-just melt him!"

The guy on the megaphone didn't reply.

Probably couldn't even hear Reed anymore.

"Hank," Connor said. "That night you spent in the snow. When you were looking for me..."

Hank was sprawled on his belly, elbows dug into the snow, squinting out at all the silhouettes moving behind the high beams.

But Connor gently turned his head with a palm on Hank's cheek.

Connor didn't look frightened. He just looked… disheveled. His hair was a mess.

Hank blinked and, though his instincts fought against the action, he turned on his side.

Gave his back to the cops. To all those guns.

So he could look at Connor, who was also on his side, facing Hank.

Connor cupped Hank's face in both his hands. Which were as cold as the snow under them, but Hank didn't protest.

"I wish I had known you would do that," Connor said. "Do you know how dangerous it was to stay out all night like that?"

Hank huffed. "D-d-did- dn't-"

"Shh," Connor said. "You need to understand something, Hank."

He looked over his shoulder at Reed. "And you too, Reed. Are you listening?"

"Fuck!" Reed said. "J- just call me," he huffed for a moment, sneezed, then finished: "Gavin."

"Alright," Connor said. "Gavin."

He turned to lie on his back and worked his arms under both of them. Pulling them both towards him in the coldest hug Hank had ever experienced.

But it wasn't colder than the snow under them, so Hank allowed it.

He looked over at Reed, whose face was red. The man sniffled and rolled into Connor, putting a leg over him and nuzzling into Connor's shoulder.

"The night Hank was looking for me," Connor said. "The night... I spent with Gavin-"

Hank grunted. He'd put that much together already.

He didn't know what to do with his arms. He wanted to hug Connor, but seeing Reed like that...

Hank didn't want to hug Connor like that.

Instead he tried to ruffle Connor's hair, put an arm over his shoulder, but he was too stiff.

His fingers were nearly frozen.

"Hank!" Connor said. "You need to stay awake. Did you hear what I said?"

Clumsily, he shook his head.

No, he did not hear. He saw Reed crying and felt tears in his own eyes. They were turning into little frozen marbles, Hank imagined.

"The only reason you didn't die that night is because you kept yourself moving," Connor said. "But I read the police report. The officer that found you… he found you asleep."

Connor paused. Then, "Are you listening?"

Hank nodded. He saw that Reed did too.

"I ran the scenario hundreds of times," Connor said. "I tried to guess how long you were asleep when the officer found you based on your body's temperature when he brought you to the station."

Connor's LED had been flashing red over them this whole time, how had Hank not noticed that? The little light was blending in with the red of the cop cars, maybe.

Or Hank's eyes were failing him. Because he was slowly dying. What's it called? He knew there was a word for freezing to death.

"There were variables," Connor continued. "Like the fact that the man who picked you up likely blasted the heater in his car as he drove you. In the report he stated where he had found you and when. I imagine there was a lot of traffic at that time. That the drive took approximately 20 to 30 minutes."

As Connor spoke, and his LED bled over them, his expression was one Hank now recognized.

He'd had the same look on his face when Hank came into the station that morning. It was almost expressionless. Like factory default.

"So that thawed you out," Connor said. "And of course as soon as I got you home I made you take a warm bath. But I realized, for the first time, just how fragile humans are. Hypothermia! What a silly way to die, Hank. Not like being hit by a truck."

Hank was staring at Connor's face so intently that he was able to spot it when the boy- the android- cracked.

Connor closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. He did not frown, but Hank realized that this was, for Connor, what overwhelming emotion looked like.

"I still don't know how long you were asleep before the cop found you," Connor said. "But it must have been a small increment. Less than ten minutes. Or you might have fallen into a coma."

When neither Hank or Reed responded in any way, Connor raised his voice.

"Are you listening?"

They both jumped, startled like children being scolded by a teacher.

Hank nodded. Reed lifted his head from Connor's shoulder and looked at him.

Damn, Reed was a wreck. His nose was running and he was sobbing.

Connor's eyes were still closed, so Reed head butted him and Connor opened them.

They just stared at each other for a second, then Connor glanced away.

He looked at Hank.

"The cop didn't realize how serious your situation was, Hank," Connor said. "He didn't know how much alcohol was in your system, or how many hours you'd spent looking for me."

Now Connor did frown, sternly. "That man saved your life and didn't even know it, but I knew from the second I scanned you."

Hank and Reed were both shivering and crying now. And Hank didn't think it was possible for either of them to say a word.

"You both have to get up," Connor said. "I will not allow you to die."

Reed shook his head and dropped his head onto Connor's chest.

"I'm giving you fifty seconds to do it yourselves," Connor said. "But if you do not get out from under this car, I will push you."

Neither of them moved.

And for fifty seconds it felt like none of them were breathing.

Then Connor gently used his arms, which had been cradling them, to roll them away.

He could hear the safety being clicked off on what felt like hundreds of guns, but Hank didn't care. He tried to crawl towards Connor, who was just lying there, ready to die.

He remembered Connor using himself as a shield at Stratford Tower. Taking several bullets in the back. He wasn't programmed to be a bodyguard. Connor was supposed to be some kind of hunter. He was supposed to have a single objective and mission.

But he'd saved Hank anyway.

Hank meant to do the same.

But he didn't make it.

The cops shot up the car. How many bullets did they use? Later, Hank wished he could scan his surroundings like Connor. That he could have counted the bullets.

But he couldn't.

And someone grabbed him. Probably two someone's. And hauled him into the back of a cop car.

The heater was set to max.