Chapter Text
Jimmy moved quickly and efficiently, unfastening the Commander’s jacket and ski pants and pushing them away from his skin. Of course, he prided himself on the fact that he was always efficient, but the fabric was frozen almost solid in places, and it was a delicate operation. He couldn’t remove his own gloves - contact with his exposed metal would likely cause a freezer burn.
The Commander made incoherent sounds and swatted weakly at Jimmy’s hand, but then he went limp. Jimmy gathered him into his arms, unfastening his own jacket to surround the Commander with his warmth. He nestled his face into his chest, cradling him from the hard ground, and with his free hand he pulled the survival blankets around them.
And he waited. The Commander made no further movements, and Jimmy started to wonder whether he’d imagined it earlier. His system was protected against delusions, but it was so dark and there was nothing to hear but the wind, and his imagination seemed to be taking up a larger proportion of his sensory input than normal. What if the Commander didn’t wake up, what if he was in pain, what if he thought he was alone...
His heartbeat felt slow and distorted somehow, as though the Commander was falling away from him. He wrapped his arms tighter and ran all the unnecessary subroutines he could think of, overclocking his gears to try and raise his core temperature even further.
Dawn rose outside the cave, and the faint glow was enough for Jimmy to realise that he was seeing in greyscale. There wasn’t much time left. He needed the Commander to wake up, so that he could tell him to wear Jimmy’s own cold weather gear and follow his tracks back to the Battletram. There was a rescue flare in one pocket and a candy bar in the other.
He needed to warn him not to get into hot water or to touch direct sources of heat. The Professor would know what to do, they should contact him. And he really, really wanted to tell him that