Nora looked around the makeshift laboratory in the basement of Gothcorp, checking all the machines. Her heart was pounding, but she remained calm as she turned to face the tube, a replica of the one she had been encased in for the past decade. She remembered the day Victor had frozen her as if it was yesterday – it had seemed like yesterday to her. She had had no concept of time passing in stasis, but she could only imagine how long and lonely the last ten years had been for her husband. And how he had risked everything for her sake. It was only right that she risk everything for his.
She powered up the dials, and then climbed into the tube, rechecking the settings and holding the remote in her hand. One press of the button, and the restraints locked into place, pinning her arms and legs down. She was about to lower the glass lid and flood both the tube and the room with the Freeze chemical, when she heard a voice shout, "Nora, stop!"
The door to the laboratory banged open, and Freeze stood there. One look at the machines confirmed his worst suspicions, and he raced over to her. "No!" he gasped. "No, no, no, Nora, you can't do this! You can't condemn yourself to this curse of an existence! You don't know what it's like, to be this creature! To never feel sun on your skin, or the wind in your face, or the warm touch of another human being ever again. You're trapped, Nora, trapped in ice, a prisoner of cold and snow. You cannot do that to yourself!"
"What choice do I have, Victor?" she asked, quietly. "What good is any of that without you? You're worth sacrificing those things for. I would rather never feel the sun again than walk outside on a summer's day and think that my husband can never share this with me. As cold and dark as your world is, at least we can be together in it. I don't need sun or warmth when I have you. You are all of that to me."
"Nora, please, you don't understand what agony it is to live like this!" he whispered, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Completely isolated from the rest of the world, the rest of humanity…"
"I don't care about the rest of the world or the rest of humanity," she murmured. "Just like you didn't for me. I love you, Victor. I will be with you, whatever the cost. It seems a small price to pay to spend the rest of my life with the man I love."
"Nora…" he began again, desperately, but she pressed the button, shutting the lid at that moment. A hiss of steam enveloped her as chemicals began pumping into the tube and into the room itself, freezing the very air. "Nora!" he roared, about to break the tube in desperation, but he knew if he broke the glass, if he interrupted the process now, she would die.
Nora's body lurched and she suddenly began screaming in pain as her blood began to react with the chemicals – she felt as if every inch of her body was being frozen within her. A sharp, stabbing pain spread to every part of her, and she writhed against the restraints, but they held firm. Freeze watched in agony at his wife's torment, hearing her muffled screams clearly inside the tube. He stared helplessly at her, tears trailing down his face, until the torture finally ended, and Nora lay still.
He smashed open the glass tube, ripped off the restraints, and then seized her body, cradling her gently. She was stone cold. Her skin had turned blue, and was icy to the touch. No breath came from her blue lips, and her eyes were shut. Freeze looked around desperately for signs of life.
"No!" he gasped. "No, no, no, Nora, please! Please, don't leave me!"
The room was frozen – he ripped his helmet off and began desperately breathing into her mouth, trying to resuscitate her. "I…I've done so much to save you," he whispered. "It…it can't have all been in vain! Nora, please, you have to live! If you don't live…what little remains of my heart will freeze and die. It beat only for you, my love. You were the only thing that reminded me what love and warmth and joy felt like. Without you, I am…truly lost."
He sobbed, holding her gently in his arms. "Please, my love," he whispered. "Please don't leave me."
He cried softly, letting his frozen tears slide down his cheeks and rest on Nora's. They settled there like snowflakes, delicate and beautiful on her lifeless face.
And then he felt her stir in his arms. His heart soared in hope as he heard her draw a breath of air. "Victor?" she whispered, opening her wide, blue eyes. They were the same color as her skin now, and she raised an icy hand to touch his cheek.
Freeze let out another sob. Her touch no longer burned him – it was as cold as his own flesh. But nothing in his life had ever felt more warm.
He seized her hand, planting icy kisses on it, kisses that she returned, sobbing in happiness. Although objectively cold as ice, their bodies were the same temperature now, and to each other, they felt perfect together.
"This really isn't so bad, Victor," whispered Nora, smiling at him as they lay naked in each other's arms, their breath showing in the frosty air, but not feeling anything but utterly happy. "Trust you to make a mountain out of a molehill, Mr. Raincloud."
"My love, I will never be gloomy again," he whispered. "This frozen existence with you beside me is now a paradise."
"Is that a joke?" she asked, grinning. "Parad'ice'?"
"I am not in the habit of making ice-related puns, as you well know, Nora," retorted Freeze. "Besides, the Joker already did that one."
She gazed up into his eyes. "Will you have to go back to Arkham?" she asked, quietly.
"I will never go back," he replied, firmly. "I have you with me now, and that is all I have ever wanted. There is no need for me to harm others anymore."
"I believe you, Victor," she murmured. "But I'm not sure they'll trust you enough to release you…"
"I have told you, my love, I will never go back," he repeated. "We will leave Gotham now, tonight, and go somewhere together. Somewhere cold. We will never be seen here again."
"Where will we go?" she asked, snuggling against him.
"The Arctic," he said. "Or perhaps the Antarctic – there are fewer people there. And we have no need of people anymore. We will create our own icy Garden of Eden, with only the two of us, together forever."
He stroked her hair back from her cold face. "Our icy bodies mean that we will age much slower than regular people," he murmured. "So we will have a very long life together. I will build you a palace of ice and snow. We will swim in the icy waters and catch fish to eat, and we will sleep wrapped in each other's arms at night. No one will ever disturb us. And we will be so happy, my love. More happy than I ever could have imagined possible."
"Hmm, not sure I like to think of myself as Eve," she said, frowning. "I mean, I never would have listened to a talking snake. But your vision of the Garden of Eden kinda sounds wonderful," she whispered, kissing him.
He dressed in his underclothes, leaving his Freeze suit on the floor of the laboratory and holding out his hand to Nora. "Shall we, my love?"
They opened the door to snow falling down on Gotham City, and disappeared into the night.