Doe's POV:

I'm an idiot.

I'm a complete and utter idiot.

It hadn't even been 20 seconds since we left the limo and ventured into the snow before the temperature managed to effortlessly crawl through the single layer that I was wearing.

Oh god...

It may not have been so bad if there wasn't just the slightest breeze that made it feel 10 degrees colder than it actually was.

I looked towards the extremely long line that had already formed for the blood collection that hadn't started yet.

Not even a minute into this event that was going to take hours, and I was already regretting my petty remark.

Inwardly, at least.

Outwardly, I was going to stick this out even if it kills me.

What's the worst that could happen?

Hypothermia couldn't be that bad right?

I've gone through worse... probably.

I followed the three ahead of me, focusing on the light crunch of their feet on the snow-covered grass.

Forcing my posture to remain confident, I just idly stepped into the footprints already made for me.

Xander would glance back at me at least every 20 steps, quickly looking me over.

I'd meet his eye every single time with a cold hard gaze.

"I'm gonna go check in with the boss, you go get our area situated," Nico said from up front, not even turning back to make sure Xander heard before hearing off towards the line with Khloe right behind him.

At least she dressed moderately warm.

Xander just watched till Nico was out of earshot before stopping his movements just long enough so that I could catch up and we were walking side by side.

Great. I was freezing and now I was going to have to trudge through the snow instead of following his footprints.

"Cold yet?" He half-sneered, his hands being kept nice and warm in the pockets of his thick overcoat.

I turned up my nose in a scoff.

"Not even a little bit," I lied, and I'm sure he knew it, "Perks of being a human, I guess. We're warm."

"Uhhu, sure."

Yeah, he definitely wasn't buying it.

But regardless of whether or not he knew that I was full of shit, I still wasn't surrendering.

Not when he was already radiating 'I told you so' energy.

I clenched my fists to keep myself from shivering as we continued on our way.

Only a couple of minutes passed before the familiar cushioned benches they gave the guards came into view.

One for each of them, and both long enough for two people.

"Alright well, since you're oh-so warm, come and be warm up here with me," the i-told-you-so attitude was stronger this time around, almost like the offer itself was an act to mock me.

Which, I'll admit, was understandable, it just fueled my obscenely trivial need to come out on top.

So, I strolled on over to the far side of the bench, looking as if I was going to accept his offer.

That satisfied smirk got whipped right off his face the moment I started kicking away snow from the grass below it, clearing a spot just big enough to fit me.

I just turned and smiled innocently before plopping my ass down onto the grass.

"You have to be joking," His tone was flat, unbelieving.

I stretched out my limbs despite the fact that they were begging to be held closer to my body to conserve the warmth I knew I was going to need to make last.

"Aah. It's so nice down here," I wriggled my body, making it look like I was getting comfortably settled in my little spot, "Care do join me?"

His disbelief carried through to the rest of his face, that confidence from before shifting to something that looked like concern.

I think he finally realized how serious I was about seeing this through.

"Doe, come on you-"

"Got everything settled. It should be starting here in the next five minutes," Nico called out from behind.

Xander turned to see Nico and Khloe return, and a small celebratory smile hinted at my face with the knowledge that with Nico's return, our conversation wouldn't be continuing.

Now I just had to... get through a few hours of this.

"Sounds good," was all Xander said before sitting onto the bench with his legs crossed one over the other right beside me.

The position of them nearly blocked the direction of the wind from reaching me.

While trying to decide whether or not that was intentional, I happened to notice Nico's gaze fall on me for a few moments once he reached the other bench, a disapproving glare darkening his eyes before he just sighed.

Khloe hopped up onto the far side of his bench, putting Nico between her and Xander.

After fighting with my brain and convincing it that Nico wasn't glaring at me, I realized what it was actually for.

Oh shit... I was making him look bad.

The not-so-warm clothes, and sitting on the ground?

I was making him look really bad.

And right after the conversation, they had last night too. The one that completely shattered him.

A tinge of guilt made itself known as I drew my knees close to my chest, sliding my fingers under my knees to keep them warm,

This... didn't cross my mind.

I peeked up at Xander, wanting to make sure that he didn't look mad.

The last thing I wanted was for him to think that this was my intention all along.

But of course, he didn't look mad.

I doubt that look would ever show on him.

He was sitting on the bench so that he was as far from Nico and close to me as possible, elbow resting on the armrest with his fist holding up his chin.

Her eyes were just noticeably narrowed in what I could only discern as a slight irked while just staring at the line.

Irked at me? Maybe.

I debated for a moment just giving in and doing what he asked me to do in the first place, but was unsure how that action now would look.

Plus the fact that this was my 'day in the life of Xander', and his 'day in the life of Doe'.

I've had to live with the consequences of his lies, and today we were just trading

Even though the timing of it couldn't have been worse.

I tightened my body while leaning back against the leg of this bench, mentally readying myself for what I was about to go through.

It wasn't long before even Khloe began to feel the effects of the weather, Nico offering up his jacket and placing her on his lap to keep them both warm through this.

Okay... that's new for him.

I willed another look up at Xander, forcing my body to still long enough before I did.

He hadn't budged an inch since this whole thing started but looked back at me with narrow eyes.

A flash of concern crossed them for just a second after our eyes met, but the fist covering his mouth didn't allow me to get a full read on his thoughts.

He did, however, flick his eyes over to Nico and Khloe as if to say, 'See? look at that. Look how easy that was'

How easily her coldness was fixed.

He attempted to do it again with more emphasis, but his eyes stayed towards his brother, eyes narrowing even more so.

I leaned forward just to see Nico and Khloe both staring at him.

Well, I think Khloe was staring at me, is the sympathy in her eyes told me anything.

And the judgment in Nico's just made me feel worse.

"Do you want to fight me or something?" Xander bit, admittedly catching me off guard.

He sounded more irritated than before.

No... I didn't want to blow this into a fight.

Especially not one between him and Nico.

Luckily, Nico shared my thought process, his reply coming calmly.

"No, not really, but don't come crawling to me when your pet gets sick again," he nodded right at me, causing me to shrink back.

That guilt began to grow, and I honestly hoped that Xander would put the blame on me and tell him the truth.

I wouldn't even be mad, but I don't know if Nico would believe the truth even if he said it.

"Keep telling me what to do with my pet, Nico." was his flat response, his position finally straightening.

"I'm not telling you what to do with her, all I'm saying is that don't expect me to deal with her if she gets s-"

He stopped as soon as Xander and I both noticed a disturbance in the line, Nico and Khloe's heads turning as well.

This happened at least once every time I've experienced one of these.

Someone tries to run.

I guess that's why they hired Nico and Xander, but how these people didn't see that running was a terrible idea was beyond me.

I leaned back again.

I'd seen this scene more than enough times and wanted to save my energy for keeping myself warm.

One of them goes and hunts the dude down, collecting their blood for themselves.

Or at least that's what Nico does.

I know Xander just hunts whoever it was down before dragging them over to one of the vampires checking people in and saying that he's too full to collect the proper amount, allowing them to do it instead.

He still takes enough to get those red eyes though.

I closed my eyes and tuned out their words, focusing all my energy on getting through this as effortlessly as possible.

~~~

It had to have been a couple hours by now.

It HAD to be.

I didn't know how much longer I could do this, but I knew that my time was running out fast.

My body was in a tight ball, arms crossed with my fingers squeezed in my armpits to give them any ounce of warmth that I could muster.

Or just prevent them from getting colder.

I couldn't feel them either way.

I think my toes were curled in my boots, but I couldn't feel those either.

My nose felt like ice, all of my exposed skin did.

Hell, every part of my body did.

My hair didn't make a good enough insulation to trap the warmth from my breath in the space between my knees and chest.

Even though even my lungs burned with every frozen inhale I took.

I was trying so hard to at least just keep myself from shivering, but I knew at this point I was practically vibrating, and the sound of my teeth chattering was enough for the people around me to know it.

There had to be some way to stop this right? Mind over matter? Some sort of placebo effect?

I just gotta convince myself that I'm not cold, and the rest of me will believe it?

I'm not cold. I'm not cold.

I repeated the words over and over, doubting it more and more each time.

I'm wasn't cold, I was freezing.

I was mere seconds from just calling it, admitting that I was stupid for not grabbing a jacket and that Xander was right, but that wouldn't get me anywhere.

It's not like I could leave.

Xander had to see this though, and I didn't bring a backup jacket just in case.

I didn't have any options.

I was stuck like this until this thing was over.

How long was that going to take?

I had to coax myself to look up and see the line, a knot tying in my throat at what I saw.

I still couldn't even see the end of it.

Oh my god...

My prior thought about hypothermia was a joke, but it seemed a lot more real than I would have liked it too.

And Nico already said that he wouldn't be an option if it were to happen.

Shit.

Why don't Xander's consequences for his stupid lies bite him in the ass this fast?!

Maybe he was just better at it than I am.

I hadn't processed a second on the conversation he was having with Nico but...

I cautiously turned to the man in question, spotting the shaking of his leg.

An impatient, nervous habit of his.

Again he was just staring at a specific spot in the line, doing a quick double-take at me once he saw my stare.

His leg stopped, eyes growing wide at the discomfort and overall exhaustion I wasn't even trying to hide.

'I give up. You were right. Help'

I think he got the gist of it, his bottom lip being pulled into his mouth in anxious thought.

He quickly turned though, once Nico and Khloe stood, with the intent of leaving.

"Where the hell are you going?" He spoke both of our thoughts.

Meanwhile, Nico was already walking past us, Khloe right behind him.

"I'm taking my break," He responded.

What?!

"Wait, we get breaks?!" Xander exclaimed, equally as surprised as I was.

Since when?!

I've been here for every single one of these since I got purchased, and a break was never part of it.

Nico paused just enough to look at his brother, "Yeah, but not at the same time. Try not to let the line catch on fire while I'm gone,"

Xander let out a weak reply, staring at Nico until he deemed him to be far away.

The gasp that tore from my throat ached my lungs as I found his hand gripping the back of my shirt and pulling me up until my legs were under me.

The trembling in my legs caused me to widen my stance, the realization that attempting to stand myself without his help might have been futile.

He was in front of me within a second, the lack of his overcoat on his body being the first thing I noticed. The second was the unease written all over his face, and the third was the feeling of the aforementioned overcoat being wrapped around my trembling body.

He was completely silent as he copied his brother's prior actions, though he didn't have me put my arms through the sleeves, and quickly buttoned it up himself, intentionally not touching me directly.

His silence for some reason unnerved me.

I guess I was expecting him to call me out, or at least give me the 'I-told-you-so' I've been expecting from the start.

But the look on his face was serious, which made a scolding pop into my brain as the thing that I was really going to get.

For how stupid and childish the game I decided to play was.

Which, it was...I'll admit.

I had meant for it to be fun in a more petty way but didn't at all mean to include his brother in on it.

To make it look like this was his doing.

And now all I was doing was making him part with the main thing that was keeping him warm on top of all of this.

It was warm, especially after keeping in the cooler body heat vampires had.

It wasn't like something freshly worn from a human, but right now I couldn't care less.

Still, I found myself bracing for it as he drew his hands down the entirety of the jacket, smoothening it out with a sigh.

"You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days," He breathed out.

I don't know why I was surprised by only finding worry and a small bit of light-heartedness in his words, but I was.

And the relief of all things now that this jacket was on me.

Which made that guilt somehow get even worse.

I can't believe I have to keep reminding myself what Xander is like.

This is Xander. The real one. The one that doesn't get mad and doesn't lash out.

Compared to the anger I've had to deal with from Layla, Nico, and even the one Xander puts on as a front, I couldn't let my guard down enough to expect the calm way in which he truly dealt with things.

Well, when he dealt with me.

He gets panicked, sometimes overbearingly so, but that's about it.

My guilt and overall stupidity were high enough to where I couldn't even look him in the eye as his fingers fastened the button at the top so that my nose had something to warm up under.

Because even after all of that, after making him look like the shittiest person alive to his brother...

He smoothened out the jacket one more time before speaking again in a soft voice.

"Come sit with me now? Please? We'll leave once Nico gets back and I'll get you something that doesn't make you look like a brick."

I was almost confused by the slight smile his words gave me in a moment like this.

This thing was huge on me.

Still, I didn't say anything, just went to hop onto the other side of the bench, just to instantly get gestured over to the spot he was sitting in.

I didn't react, didn't give any kind of sassy remark, just listened and curled up in the spot he was in.

The wind only nipped at my eyes for a few seconds before Xander sat beside me, blocking it again.

He didn't say anything else, just did his job, keeping his guard on the line and only sneaking glances every few minutes to make sure that I was warming up properly.