Chapter 2 ~ELSA'S P.O.V.~

A/N:

Sorry for the lengthy period between updates guys! It's been a tough couple weeks, and I've been doing most of my writing on paper and then transferring to the computer when time is on my side. Hopefully, the fact that I plan to post at least TWO chapters in the next day or so will make up for my horrible work with timing. ;)

Anywho . . . Unfortunately, I do NOT own 'Frozen' or anything Disney related. I DO, however, claim Lily and Rasmus (pronounced Razz-muss) as mine.

ENJOY!

To her great relief, Elsa was soon told by the castle physician that Lily was only suffering from a nasty head cold that had gone untreated for a little too long. He had surmised that time was most likely on their side, and hopefully the girl would not come down with pneumonia as a result. It was a long-ingrained habit of the young queen to immediately feel immense guilt. Perhaps she had been working too much? Yes, that had to be it. Sure, she had been a workaholic most of her life – what else was there for her to do in that room all by herself? – but now that she was a mother, work was going to have to take a rather big hit on her priority list. Lily was still young, not a toddler, but young enough to obviously need a mother's time and attention.

Two things Elsa had not been consciously giving her.

"I know what you're thinking," a soft voice said from the door of Lily's room. Elsa had been sitting there at the foot of the bed ever since the physician left, watching and waiting without words for her baby to wake up. She didn't have to look up to know who was talking to her; the words always came out sounding like sunshine, even the few times she could remember them coming out careful and quiet.

"Well aren't you a gifted princess," she teased, only able to work up the smallest of smiles.

"I do have a talented sister," the redhead admitted, stepping further into the dark room. "I guess it runs in the family. But really, Elsa, I know you."

"And what is it you think you know, Anna?"

Taking great care to be slow and gentle, (something she was not accustomed to), Anna took a seat next to Elsa at Lily's feet. The princess did not hesitate to take her sister's hand despite its uncomfortable chill. If anything, that only cemented the vailidity of her argument.

"I know you're somehow blaming yourself for this."

Somehow.

"Who else would you have me blame?" The queen countered with legitimate concern.

"No one, Elsa," Anna cooed at her, rubbing small circles into Elsa's snowy palm. "This kind of thing tends to happen. I don't know much about kids, but I do know that they get sick once in awhile." Elsa's face only fell further. She had already thought of that.

"But with Rasmus gone . . ." She began, unsure of how exactly she intended to finish the statement. Luckily, Anna really did know what her sister was thinking.

"Rasmus will be back so soon . . . You won't even have time to miss him. And anyway, what's he got to do with this? He couldn't have kept Lily from getting sick."

"No," Elsa snapped, "but he would have noticed sooner than I did!"

And it was true, in Elsa's mind, at least. Though it wasn't – and wouldn't be – legal for a few more months still, Rasmus played the role of 'father' to Lily beautifully. It was one of the things that made her realize the feelings she had for "Razzy" as Anna liked to call him, where those of the deepest, truest kind of love. Sure his visits had been often and pleasurable befor he made Arendelle his home, his letters even more so, but Elsa was sure that the young man was for more in love with her than she was with him. At first anyway, when she wasn't sure what to call the feelings she couldn't bear to say out loud, that was how it was.

But everything changed when that sweet girl all but fell into their lives. Rasmus gave selflessly to her without hesitation or reservation, and it made Elsa's so-called frozen heart swell with warmth she had never experienced before. He was more on board with Elsa making Lily hers than anyone else – even Anna, though the princess was more than thrilled to gain a niece. It was something so different. So powerful.

She had asked him to marry her right then and there.

"Elsa, no!" Anna had protested, though not to marriage as her sister had orginally thought. Elsa thought that may have been a little hypocritical of the hyperactive princess. "He's supposed to ask you! Don't you know anything?"

As it turned out, Elsa did know something. She knew that when Anna sacrificed herself before the Thaw, it truly melted away half of the ice coating Elsa's heart from the rest of the world. Then, when Rasmus stumbled onto Arendelle soil during a pit stop on one of his routes only a year later, more frozen pieces fell away. He was perfect for her – even if she couldn't admit it to herself at the time. But when Lily became a presence, a driving force in the queen's life - and subsequently, her gentlemen friend's as well – that was when not even a flake of cold was left behind.

Anna may have thawed her sister's heart, but Rasmus had won it with the help of the beautiful little girl who would soon enough officially be his daughter.

". . . So it's not like you really even did anything wrong," Anna said, pulling Elsa from her daydreams. Perhaps she was falling ill too? Daydreaming instead of listening . . . That just wasn't her.

"What?" She asked, hoping Anna would not be upset at her carelessness.

"I said, no one really noticed Lily getting sick. She ate so well with me today - very healthy, veggies and everything – and Gerda said she fell right asleep after her bath last night. She seemed normal to all of us, so it's not like you really even did anything wrong."

"I suppose," Elsa conceded with a heavy sigh, but Anna could hear the truth beyond her sister's words.

"Rasmus would agree with me," she added with a playful smile. To that, Elsa found herself smirking at her young sister. She just tried so hard.

"She's right," a tiny voice sounded from the end of the bed opposite where the sisters were sitting. They turned in unison to see Lily's beautiful emerald eyes open and gazing at them sleepily.

"Kjæreste," Elsa sighed, moving to be at the girl's side.

"Hey there, kiddo," Anna smiled, taking the other side.

"What did you say, dear?" Elsa asked tentatively, prepared to give the girl whatever she needed.

"I said, 'she's right.' Aunt Anna, I mean. You didn't do anything wrong. No one noticed I was sick because I didn't want them to," she admitted with heaving, nasaled breaths.

"But why, baby? We're here to help you."

"I know. But . . . You've just been so stressed the past few weeks. With the wedding plans . . . Queen stuff . . . Razzy leaving . . ."

"You just had to call him that," Elsa said to her sister with a rather elongated eye roll.

"He likes it," Anna replied with a wink and proud smile.

"Anyway . . . Lily, my love, you should never hide anything from me. I don't care how busy or stressed you think I am, none of it is as important as you. I love you, and I don't want anything to happen to you. Do you understand?" Lily nodded, a few tears escaping her tired eyes.

/ / / / / /

Elsa ended up falling asleep in Lily's room that night. She was slumped uncomfortably against the child's bed, for fear of disturbing what she was sure was already difficult sleep for Lily. Sleeping on one arm as a makeshift pillow, the queen let her other cool hand drape lazily against the girl's flushed and feverish skin, hoping to keep her temperature under control. Elsa knew she would wake up sore and still quite tired, but she couldn't find it in her to leave her sick baby.

Somewhere in the deep, dark hours of night when Elsa had truly lost herself to unconsciousness, a pair of thin but unbelievably strong arms pulled her upright. She was startled for only a moment – keeping her ice at bay – when the arms held her close, bridal style, and she inhaled reflexively. The scent that filled her was of the night itself; cool, crisp, and something else that she had no name for.

Well, almost.

"Rasmus," she breathed with a smile, trying to take in as much of him as possible.

"Hello, Beautiful. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too. So much, Rasmus," the queen said slowly, unable to fight sleep off completely. His laugh was low and quiet, but her body was so close to his just then that the sound vibrated and rolled off her like a wave. She loved this man so much more than she could express, she knew that, there simply were no words.

"Let's get you to bed."

Those worked.

"I can't . . . Lily," she said weakly in explination. As if on cue, the tiny girl stirred beneath the array of covers she was swaddled in. She raised her head only slightly; just enough to see Rasmus standing there at her bed, bathed in moonlight, holding her mother like a child.

"Razzy," she sighed with a heart-wrenching smile. Rasmus couldn't help but wonder how he continued to see so much of his beautiful queen in the tiny creature when they didn't share blood, but dismissed the thought quickly. She was his.

No.

She was theirs.

"Hello, Lilypad. Will you be alright if Mommy sleeps in her own bed tonight?"

"Yes," Lily said with a weak nod, still smiling.

"Good. You get some more sleep, and I'll see you when the sun wakes up. Okay?"

Again, she nodded. They both exchanged quiet 'I love you's' as Elsa was fast asleep again. Rasmus bid the girl goodnight, and carefully made his way just next door, where long double doors emblazoned with snowflakes greeted him.

"Here we are, my queen," he said, laying her out on the large bed with the fraility of glass. Instantly, she was awake again, and her tiny hand grasped the front of his shirt as if this were a matter of life and death. For a few of the copper buttons that fell prey to her grip, it was.

"Stay," she whispered into the darkness.