”What are you giving me?” he asks. His mouth is dry, and he can still taste copper.
“It’s glucose,” she replies. “Your blood sugar is low.”
His vision flickers, and he blinks. He knows something… something about glucose and cold.
—~—~—
… But did you know”—she leaned forward and tapped him on the back of the hand—“there is a type of frog in the Artic Tundra that freezes solid in winter and then thaws out in the spring and goes on living?”
He put both hands flat on the table and gave an exaggerated performance of astonishment. “No kidding.”
“No kidding!” She slapped her palms against the table to mirror his, then laughed. “I know you’re mocking me, but I don’t care. It’s fascinating. They raise their glucose levels enough to keep their cells from breaking down and to replace the water in their bodies.”
Just finished rereading The Winter Soldier: Cold Front (for only the second time) BUT I just realized the connection between the glucose and the cyrofreeze. I don’t know if that’s what the author intended for that little detail to be but I thought that was pretty awesome.
I didn’t actually notice it until near the end of the book where V (Vronsky/The Winter Soldier) is getting a glucose drip and he starts telling the nurse about that fun fact about the frogs…. Literally broke my heart. He and Gimlet truly deserved better.
I found this at target the other day and immediately had to have it. I’m starting it tonight and HOPING it sparks some inspiration for a new fic/series!