𝐔𝐍𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐘 // 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬 (𝘛@𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥)

33 - "I would never leave you."

He shuddered a little, picking his eyes up to meet hers. His body felt like it was burning and despite how cold it actually was, he felt unbearably hot. He tried to ignore the scorching feeling pricking every inch of his skin by looking into Arden's eyes and trying to calm his breathing.

As soon as they pulled into Stingers, they all quickly got out of the van. Stinger and Arden helped Brandon out of the back, and he was managing to walk a little, but Arden and Stinger got on either side of him, helping him inside. Elisia and Rowan pushed the door open, and they all rushed in.

"Should we run him a hot bath or something?" Stinger asked.

"No, that would do more harm then good. We gotta bring his body temperature back up slowly," Arden shook her head, "Do you have a space heater?"

"I do, actually." He nodded, "I'll go grab that."

He got out from under Brandon's arm, making sure that he was steady before heading into one of his rooms in the back.

Arden then looked back at Elisia and Rowan, "Can you guys see if you can find blankets? Anything that we can use to warm him up?"

Elisia nodded, "Yeah sure."

"I'll see if Stinger has any tea or coffee we can heat for him can drink." Rowan told her.

Arden nodded gratefully, "Thank you."

Elisia and Rowan both hurried off, leaving Arden to stay with Brandon. She looked back at him, still seeing how pale he was and that his body was trembling still. She got out from under his arm, remembering what her mom used to tell her about hypothermic patients she had come into the hospital.

"We need to take your shirt off." She told him.

Brandon frowned, "W-w-what?"

"It's keeping your body cold and preventing it from regulating heat." She told him, "Come on, it needs to come off..."

Brandon nodded slowly, pulling his arm through the sleeve. His body shuddered, feeling colder as he took it off, but he trusted that Arden knew what she was talking about.

"Y-y-you know..." Brandon chuckled shortly, "If you w-wanted to s-s-see me sh-shirtless...all you h-had to d-do was a-ask..."

She rolled her eyes at his suggestive comment, more focused on getting him warm. Quickly, Arden took off her jacket and her t-shirt, leaving her in her black tank top and she hugged Brandon tightly, causing him to stiffen a little, thrown off by her suddenly pressing herself against him.

"W-w-what are you d-do-ing?" Brandon shivered.

Arden started rubbing her hands up and down his back, trying to conduct some heat through the skin-to-skin contact and friction.

"Using my body heat to bring your core temperature back up gradually." She told him, "If we warm you up too quickly and let all of the blood rush back to your heart, it could go into arrest."

Brandon's body was so cold that it felt like Arden was pressed against a huge block of ice. As he shivered against her, chill bumps appeared on her skin as her body reacted to how cold he was. He was still feeling a little pain, like his body was too hot...but he tried to not think about it. He let his arms wrap around her, focusing on how good the warmth coming off her body felt against his skin.

"H-h-how do you kn-know all th-this?" Brandon asked her.

"My mom's a nurse, remember?" Arden told him, "When I was younger, she'd tell me all the time about patients she worked with. I couldn't get enough of her stories, always wanting to know more about how she would save people. So I picked up a lot of medical stuff from her."