A/N: Yeah, so I know I said that the wedding would be next. But, after I wrote the last story, this short scene kept popping up in my head. I hope everyone enjoys and will forgive me. :)
Follow-Up Appointment
Dr. Franny Goshen-Possible, once a celebrated Physician Plebe, but now just an overworked General Practitioner Citizen, yawned after she sent her final case home. It was a simple case of strep throat that was easily taken care of, and Franny was grateful for the quickness of the diagnosis and treatment. She really just wanted to go home and sleep. Trudging out to the reception desk, she called out to her sisters Lilly and Mim, who had taken the jobs of receptionist and nurse, respectively. "You guys ready to go home?" she asked.
"Well, we were, but we had a last-minute walk in," Lilly explained. "The patient hasn't been to our clinic before, but it seems pretty urgent. She's in room 5, and I'll download her file to your tablet."
Franny grimaced. "You couldn't send her to urgent care?" she asked.
Lilly and Mim shared a glance and a smirk, and Franny knew that something was up. "Um, no," Mim replied, her smirk growing deeper and confirming Franny's suspicions about her sisters keeping something from her.
"All right, what are you two hiding from me? What is going on?" Franny demanded.
"We've been sworn to secrecy," Lilly replied, still smirking. "Just go see your patient, Kigo."
Franny grumbled something unpleasant under her breath, but she did what she was told, trudging back down the hall to Exam Room 5. As soon as the door opened and she saw who was sitting on the exam table, in her chair and in the lap of the person sitting in her chair, she knew why her sisters had taken this patient in for an appointment and then been so cagey about who it was. "So, this is why my sisters were being so weird," Franny sighed with a wry shake of her head. "Don't they have doctors in Arendelle?" she teased.
"None of them are as good as you, Franny," Anna replied with an affectionate smile, hopping off the table to give her longtime friend a hug.
Franny hugged back with vigor. "It's good to see you in person, Freckles," she said warmly before letting Anna go so she could hop back on the table. Turning to the other occupants of her exam room, she held her arms out, and the friendly eight-month old sitting on her Mama's lap held her up her arms in return. Franny picked Ariel up and secured her in one arm as Ariel started playing with her stethoscope. "And how are you, Miss Peanut?" Franny asked the baby. "You get bigger every time I see you, so it seems like we have figured out the food problem," she decided as the baby gummed the listening device around her neck.
"She eats everything and anything," Elsa confirmed. "I am actually worried about keeping enough food in the house when she becomes a teenager."
Franny laughed. "At least you have a few years," she pointed out. "So, what brings you all to my office, Frosty Pants?" she asked. "I would think it would be for Ariel, but she looks good, and it's Freckles that is sitting on the table." At this question, Anna took off the knit hat she had been wearing, letting her braids tumble down and exposing the very noticeable white stripe in the right one.
"Oh," Franny replied evenly.
"Yes, oh," Anna confirmed.
"I saw the news report," Franny commented. "The picture looked fake to me, so I thought they were full of…" she trailed off, looking at the attentive infant in her arms. "Stuff," she finished weakly. "I thought they were full of stuff."
"Well, they might be," Elsa allowed. "But that's why we're here. We need to know for sure."
"And we came to you because there is no one else we would rather hear the news from," Anna added. "Because of the State, Elsa wasn't here with me when you told me about Ariel. If our family is getting bigger, then we wanted to hear it from you, with both of us here to hear it."
Franny, though she was never one much for sentiment, was touched by what Anna said. To maintain her dignity, she started talking to Ariel. "Your mommies are seriously going to make me cry, Peanut," she said, and Ariel looked up at her. "And if someone makes me cry, then I am going to completely lose my badass reputation," she concluded.
"We love you, too, Franny," Anna replied cheekily.
"Yeah, yeah," Franny said gruffly. "Well, if I am actually going to have to do some doctoring, I am going to have to hand you back to your Mama, Squirt," she informed Ariel, putting her words into action by walking back over to Elsa and dangling Ariel in front of her. Elsa reached out and caught the giggling baby before getting up. She and Ariel joined Anna on the exam table as Franny gathered up some equipment and supplies.
"When was your last period?" Franny asked as she booted up her tricorder.
"Late September," Anna answered.
"And when did the stripe appear?" she inquired, waving the machine over Anna.
"Mid-October," Anna replied.
"And were the circumstances similar to the last time it appeared?" Franny asked, unable to keep a smirk off her face.
Anna blushed. "Very similar," she muttered embarrassedly.
"Have you had any similar symptoms to the last time? Fainting, nausea?" Franny persisted, using the needle and syringe she held to draw some blood.
"No fainting, but yes, I've been nauseated and I fall asleep if I sit still in a quiet room for more than two minutes," Anna stated, as Franny injected the blood sample into the machine.
"Then my thought is that stripe is telling you the exact same thing it told you last time," the doctor concluded, "and my tricorder backs that up. But, let's get a little more proof. Lie back, Freckles," Franny ordered, bringing out the imager and slowly scanning Anna's abdomen. Anna sat up, and after the data downloaded, Franny pushed a button to activate the larger room display. "Say hello to the newest member of your family," she requested with a grin, pulling up the imager scan. "She's about eight weeks along."
"She?" Elsa and Anna echoed at the same time, looking from the screen over to Franny.
"Yes," Franny confirmed. "The DNA results came through at the same time as the imager scan, and they say you have another little Ice Princess."
Elsa looked back over at the screen for a long moment before she stood up and handed Ariel to Franny without a word. She then turned to Anna, still without a word passing from her lips, and tugged on the redhead's hand. Anna slipped off of the exam table immediately, and just as quickly, Elsa gathered her up in her arms and kissed her more deeply than Anna had ever been kissed in her life. Tears started to run down both of their cheeks as the happiness overwhelmed them, and after breaking for air, they both let out small, hiccupping laughs tinged with disbelief.
"So you are happy?" Anna asked in a small voice.
"How could I be anything but happy, Anna?" Elsa asked sincerely. "We are having another baby! Our little girl gets a little sister, something we both always wanted for ourselves and for her. How could I be anything but ecstatically happy?"
"When she gets here, you will be taking care of two little girls under the age of two," Anna replied. "That's a lot of work."
"And you will be having your second pregnancy in less than two years," Elsa countered. "If you can handle that, I can handle them both when she is born," she promised.
"I can handle it, and even if I can't, I'll find some way," Anna swore, a wide grin spreading over her face. "We're having another baby, Elsa! I'm so excited! I can't wait!" she gushed, and Elsa kissed her again.
"We'll see if they keep that enthusiasm when they are trying to potty-train you, and Bean isn't sleeping through the night," Franny muttered as an aside to Ariel, knowing that both new mothers were both being optimistic about the amount of work having two children that young would be.
Elsa pulled out of her kiss with Anna abruptly and turned to glare frostily at Franny. Franny shifted uneasily, unsure of what part of her comment had gotten her in trouble. "Don't you dare start with the nicknames, Francis," Elsa growled. "Most of our friends still call Ariel "Peanut" and probably will until she's fifty. I will not have another child of mine go through that."
"Then give me something else to call her," Franny challenged.
"Her name is going to be Elinor," Anna stated, causing everyone to look at her. "With all of the symptoms, Elsa and I figured I was pregnant, and we kind of hoped for another girl. We talked about it a lot, and with what Elinor means to both of us, we thought it was a good name."
"I think that it's a wonderful name, completely appropriate, and I know that Elinor will be touched and honored," Franny declared. Anna smiled at her, and Franny smiled back until she smirked a little at Elsa. "Get ready to run, Squirt," she murmured to Ariel. "But," she said more loudly, "Elinor is way too old sounding for a kid, and I still like Bean. So, I hereby declare that I will be calling her Ellie-Bean at least until she gets married." Just as Franny expected, Elsa glowered at her, so Franny tightened her grip on Ariel and ran out of the room with the baby as quickly as she could.
"I'm going to freeze her solid," Elsa said darkly, heading towards the door.
"No, you're not," Anna answered with a laugh, grabbing Elsa's arm to keep her in the room. "She's still one of our best friends. Besides, she's got powers that can melt your ice."
"My ice doesn't melt unless I want it to," Elsa declared with a haughty sniff.
"Let it go, Elsa," Anna commanded with a grin. "You are never going to win against Franny in a battle of nicknames, and Ellie-Bean is pretty cute anyway."
Elsa sighed. "All right," she conceded. "Only for you, my love."
"Thank you," Anna said, giving her a hug that quickly turned strong and heartfelt as their new reality washed over them. "We are having another baby, Elsa," Anna whispered wonderingly, her voice full of awe.
"It would be naïve to think that it won't be the hardest thing we've ever done, but I can't wait," Elsa whispered back in quiet excitement. "And I am ready if you are."
"If you are with me, I am ready for anything," Anna replied lovingly. Elsa hugged her more tightly in response, and they contently stayed in each other's embrace for a few more minutes. Finally, the lack of their baby roused them. "Shall we go find our firstborn?" Anna asked.
"That's probably a good idea," Elsa said. "There's no telling what kind of trouble Franny will get her in if we don't."
Anna laughed. "True," she admitted as they left the exam room.
