A/N: So far we've been moving along chronologically, but this chapter jumps ahead quite a bit. Kristoff and Anna are married and expecting their first child. Hope you enjoy!


A bloodcurdling scream filled the castle and Kristoff visibly flinched at the sound of it. He knew that childbirth was a long and painful process, but he hadn't realized how long or how painful.

He also hadn't realized how painful it would be to listen to his wife's screams.

"Ahhhh, gods, I hate you." He flinched at the venom in her voice but took Elsa's amused smile as a good sign.

"Don't worry," the Queen soothed, placing a hand on Anna's forehead even as she looked at her sister's husband. "She doesn't mean it."

Anna, gasping for breath, managed to mutter a venomous, "yeah, I do," before her face scrunched up in pain once more. She tried to hold back another scream but she failed, and the sound filled the room once more.

Kristoff hated seeing Anna in so much pain. Her hand was locked around his in a vice grip that tightened almost unbearably with each contraction. But he knew that his pain was nothing compared to her's and he would gladly bear every little bit of it. He would take it all unto himself if he could.

Elsa was helping as best she could. She helped to keep Anna cool and spoke encouragingly to her sister, placating Kristoff's fears at the same time. "This is normal," she'd tell him at almost every point in the labor process. "Completely normal. She'll be fine. They'll both be fine."

Kristoff couldn't be happier that the Queen was there. She'd only gotten back from visiting the royal family in Corona yesterday and he shuddered at the thought of what would've happened if she were at all delayed.

"She's close." A handmaid checked Anna's progress. Kristoff felt his heart leap into his throat at the prospect. More servants were running around the room, preparing for the baby's arrival. But one woman remained particularly calm. The midwife positioned herself at the foot of Anna's bed, ready to help the Princess deliver her child.

"Alright, Anna. I'm going to need you to push with the next contraction. Can you do that for me?"

When Anna didn't reply, Kristoff leaned closer to her wife. "Anna? Did you hear that?"

"Kristoff, I swear, if you don't get out of my face right now I will punch you right in the face-nuts!"

Elsa stifled a laugh at Anna's threat and a confused Kristoff mouthed 'face-nuts?' at the Queen. She just waved him off with an air of 'I'll explain later,' before returning her attention to her sister.

"Alright, Anna," the midwife said, her voice calm. "Push, on three. One, two, three!"

Anna's yelling filled the room with her effort. She collapsed back into the pillows as the contraction ended, gasping. "Is it over?"

"Not quite, sis," Elsa crooned, smoothing back Anna's bangs which had grown slick with sweat. Kristoff could feel the magic radiating off her and he knew that she, just like himself, would do anything to ease her sister's pain.

"Again, Anna. One, two three!"

Anna's yells were louder this time and they lasted longer. Kristoff swore he felt the bones in his hand break from her tight grip, but he bore the pain without complaint.

"Oh, gods, no. The baby's breeched!" The midwife's words jolted through Kristoff as he registered her panic. The other handmaids began rushing around, their own anxiety cleared. A look of horror passed over Elsa's face and he felt a dark cloud of fear settle over him. "What does that mean?"

"It means the baby's facing the wrong way. He's supposed to come out head first, but he's coming out butt first instead." Elsa gripped her sister's hand, knowing how dangerous a breached baby could be, for both the child and the mother.

"Okay, Anna, listen to me." The midwife's voice was calm and collected despite the clear and present danger the situation posed. "With the next contraction, I need you to push with everything you have, alright? We'll save your baby, I promise."

Anna was panting with effort by now and her eyes slid shut, even as she nodded weakly. However, the contraction came and went and her face scrunched up in pain, but beyond that she didn't react at all. "Anna?" His voice was pathetically small. Kristoff reached up to cup her face and she opened her eyes at his touch, her head rolling to face him.

"Kristoff," she breathed, clearly exhausted. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. Anna, you are the single most brave person I have ever known. You are incredibly strong and beautiful and resilient and stubborn. Gods, are you stubborn. But if there's anyone out there who I know can do this, it's you." He felt himself begin to cry. "It's always been you."

Anna gave him a weak smile. "With the next contraction, Anna," the midwife instructed. Anna turned to look at her, nodding. "Okay, push!"

The strain was clear on Anna's face as she poured everything she had into a single, Herculean effort. She crushed Elsa's and Kristoff's hands in her grip, but neither party noticed. They were too worried as the midwife delivered the baby. "It's a girl!"

She was still. The baby was terrifyingly still. The midwife remained as calm as she could as she cut the umbilical cord, and took the baby away. Elsa and Kristoff stared after her before the Queen rushed after the woman. "Why isn't she crying?" she demanded, knowing this was exactly the reason the midwife didn't want her in the delivery room. "What's wrong?"

"She's not breathing," the midwife muttered, checking the baby's airway. She felt her heart drop when she saw there was no blockage. Deftly but gently, the woman turned the child onto her stomach in her hand, rubbing furiously at the newborn's back. "Come on, breathe, dammit!"

"Save her." Anna's voice was no more than a whisper as she felt the fight leave her. All she wanted was her baby to be safe.

After a few heart stopping moments, the baby gave a weak cough and began to cry. Kristoff was filled with relief at the sound and turned to look at Anna, tears of joy filling his eyes. "She's okay, Anna. She's-" he faltered, noticing that something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

Anna's hand was loose in his own. Her head had lolled away from him and when he looked towards her waist he found that she was lying in a pool of blood. Her own blood. "Anna!"

Elsa turned at his shout, the terror in his voice filling her with dread. "No," she whispered, rushing back to he sister. The midwife handed the baby off to one of the handmaids, returning to her patient with a newfound vigor.

"She's losing a lot of blood," she said, grabbing a handful of bandages. "I need a bucket of warm water in here, now!" She began to work, trying to stem the blood flow as much as she could. "Too much blood," she kept muttering. "Too much blood."

Kristoff felt his blood turn to ice as his wife paled from the blood loss. The cry of their baby filled the room, but he couldn't focus on anything but the woman lying in front of him. "Anna, no, please, no. Don't leave me, you can't leave me." His tears of joy turned to ones of fear and he rested his head on her shoulder, still gripping her steadily growing cold hand. "You said we would do this together. I can't do this, not without you. Please." He gave a forced laugh, a single, painful effort. "You still need to punch me in the face-nuts, remember?"

Elsa felt her heart breaking at the sight before her. The midwife slowed her actions over Anna and the Queen cursed herself at being so good at reading people. The woman was giving up. She was still trying to save her sister, but Elsa could tell by the look in her eye that there was nothing she could do. Nothing they could do.

Anna was dying and Elsa was powerless to stop it.

She never hated herself or her powers more in that moment. What was the point of being blessed with magic if she were still useless to help those who needed her the most? Ice was beautiful and dangerous, yes, but it couldn't heal. It couldn't save.

She wasn't useful, not like the Princess of Corona.

The Princess of Corona.

The sudden realization hit Elsa with such force that she physically staggered from Anna's bedside and bolted from the room.

Kristoff glanced up at the Queen's movement, watching as she fled from the room. But he didn't care, could only focus on his wife. He could feel her heartbeat growing weaker, her breathing growing shallower. And his baby's cries filled him with such anger that, for the first time in his life, he understood why his father hated him so much. That baby, that thing was the reason Anna was dying, taking away his own will to live.

Anna stirred at the sound of the baby's cry, though, turning her head towards the child. A handmaid brought the baby over to her. Everyone in the room knew that the Princess was dying and there was nothing they could do to stop it. But they could at least give her the chance to hold her daughter.

The maid laid the newborn in Anna's arms and she smiled weakly down at it. Kristoff hated the adoration in his wife's eyes. She glanced up at him, catching his expression. "Kristoff, no." Her voice was surprisingly strong and she brought a hand up to his cheek, turning his attention from the baby to her. "Don't hate her. Don't become your father." He flinched. "I know what you're thinking and-" she coughed, a violent fit wracking her body. When the spell was over, she was even weaker, even closer to death. But still she spoke, her eyes never leaving his. "You have to promise me. Promise me that you'll love her with everything you have. That you'll love her more than you loved me. She's our daughter, Kristoff. I love her more than anything and, if I had a choice, I would do it all over again." Kristoff brought a hand up his cheek, covering her hand that still rested there. "Please. Promise me."

Tears streamed down his face as he whispered, "I promise."

Anna's eyes filled with love as she turned back to their daughter. Her breaths came slow and shallow, and she felt herself growing colder. But all she could see was the beautiful baby in her arms and all she could feel was the love and happiness that pooled inside her. "My dear Magdalena," she whispered, pressing her lips to the baby's head.

Kristoff shifted, pulling his wife and child closer to him. He heard the door slam open, but he paid it no attention, wanting nothing more than to hold his wife, if only for a moment longer. But suddenly someone was tugging Anna out of his arms, pulling her away from him. She was growing stiller and he fought back, fighting to keep her close. Magdalena began to cry in her dying mother's arms and a servant came to take her away.

"Kristoff!" It was Elsa. She was the one trying to take Anna away from him. "Kristoff, please! We don't have much time!"

"There's no time," Kristoff growled, burying his face into Anna's shoulder and neck. He could still feel her pulse, but barely. She was fading fast.

"Kristoff, I can save her!" The words didn't register with him; he was too encompassed by grief.

A hard hand connected with his face and he recoiled from the slap, relinquishing his grip on Anna's body. "Sorry," Elsa panted, settling her sister into the cushions of the bed. She tipped the Princess's head back, opening her mouth. A vial was in her hand and she poured the contents into Anna's mouth, silently pleading with her.

She began to sing a soft lullaby, the words so soft that he couldn't hear them, not over the sound of his own wracking sobs.

Kristoff had no idea what was happening and he was angry at Elsa. What was she doing? Couldn't she just leave them alone, let Anna die in peace? "It's no use. She's gone."

But Elsa shook her head, taking her sister's hand in both of her own. "Not yet," she whispered, daring to let herself hope.

A warm glow filled Anna, starting at her abdomen and spreading through her body. The light twisted through the air and for a moment seemed to take the shape of something, but Kristoff couldn't tell what. But it didn't matter. Because a second later, Anna was breathing again. She coughed from the effort and Elsa threw herself at her sister, pulling her into a tight hug.

Kristoff couldn't believe what he had seen, but it didn't matter. He moved forward just as Elsa released Anna, disbelief filling him as he cupped his wife's cheek. She was warm and breathing and alive. He smiled, still crying, even as she smiled back at him. Wordlessly, he pulled her into a tight embrace, knowing he would never feel anything as good as her arms wrapping around him. She had been dead. But now she was safe in his arms. He pulled back, keeping his hands on her shoulders as he looked at Elsa and muttered a single word. "How?"

Elsa shrugged as if it were no big deal. "The Princess of Corona, Rapunzel. When I was visiting, she told me that she used to possess healing powers in her hair. But once it was cut off, the ability was transferred to her tears." She took Anna's hand. "I didn't know if it would work. Rapunzel said she'd only been able to utilize the power of her tears a few times and that no one besides her had ever tried it. But she gave me a vial anyways and taught me the song, just in case the need should arise." She smiled at her sister, an impossible happiness filling her. "Rapunzel said that love triggered the magic." Tears pooled in her eyes, spilling over. "I love you so much, Anna. I don't know what I would do without you."

Anna hugged her sister. "I'll try not to die again," she said into the Queen's shoulder. "Promise."

They remained like that for a full minute, both crying, until Magdalena decided to start crying again. A maid brought the baby over and Anna released her sister, reaching for her baby. "Hey there little Lena," she cooed, holding her baby close. "How about we don't go killing Mommy again anytime soon, okay?"

Kristoff found himself sitting on the edge of the bed, putting an arm around Anna's shoulders as they looked down at their daughter. "When did you decide on a name for her?" he asked, caressing his daughter's cheek with one finger. She was so small and fragile and tiny.

Anna blushed. They had discussed names for a while before her birth, but we're never able to agree on anything. "A couple of days ago. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to fight again."

"What was your name for a boy?"

"Henryk."

Kristoff laughed, kissing her temple. "Well, I'm glad she was a girl."

"You don't like Henryk?"

"I like Lena infinitely better."

Anna huffed before yawning widely. "Wow," she muttered, suddenly feeling exhausted. Lena had already fallen asleep in her arms and she felt herself quickly following. "I think it's time to sleep. Dying can really take a lot out of a person."

Kristoff's heart wrenched as he was reminded of her lying still before him, but he scooped her up in his arms, careful not to jostle their newborn daughter. He wanted to move her out of the delivery room and bloodied bed to their room, where he would be able to keep a close eye on her as she slept.

"Promise me that you'll never die on me again. I love you so much, Anna, and I wouldn't be able to raise our daughter on my own. Promise me that you won't leave me." Kristoff whispered as he carried her and their daughter to their room. He felt Anna shift, her grip on Lena tightening.

"You would have had Elsa to help you," Anna whispered half asleep. "And you would have been - you will be - an excellent father."

"Anna..."

"Okay, fine. I promise."

And, for the moment at least, everything was right in the world.