Elsa lay flat on her back on the examination table, straining her head to look down at the measuring tape that Dr. Bjorgman had running up the length of her stomach. She watched as his large muscular hands seamlessly maneuvered the taped between his thumb and index fingers, measuring vertically and then horizontally.

"Is Anna going to be joining us today? If so I can hold off on doing the heartbeat until she gets here."

The weight of her head had become too much on her neck and she propped herself up on her elbows to get a view of the action.

"No she had a meeting she just couldn't get out of today. But she'll be here next time."

There was hint of sadness in her voice. She wasn't used to not having Anna with her at their appointments. This was the first one Anna had ever missed in the past three months. There was no witty repartee or silliness to balance the more somber feeling of the room.

"Well, you're measuring right at thirteen weeks, which is exactly what you are. I'd say growth rate is normal and right on track." The tall blonde man scratched the back of his neck as he spoke. "If you lay back down we can check the heartbeat."

Any feelings of sadness that had been brought on by the reminder of Anna's absence were quickly replaced with the warm feeling of joy.

"This is my favorite part! Anna said the other day she wished she had one of the dopplers at home so she could listen to it every day." She smiled as she pictured Anna's gleaming face.

Dr. Bjorgman got out a small handheld fetal doppler and nestled it into the side of Elsa's now curvaceous stomach. She held her breath when she didn't hear anything but static at first. Dr. Bjorgman began to twist and glide the instrument around as he stared up at the ceiling, allowing his ear to better focus on the sound.

"Come on little one. Where are you?" He said as he switched to the other side of her abdomen.

The anticipation was killing Elsa, her eyes darting and forth between Dr. Bjorgman and the doppler. The static was interrupted by a loud swishing sound that made Elsa twist her face in confusion.

"That was just the baby moving away from the doppler. They don't like the sound the waves create. You've got an active one already."

Movement is good. You can't move without a heartbeat. Elsa thought to herself. Finally a tiny heartbeat sound came over the speaker as Dr. Bjorgman counted the beats and timed them with his watch. A smile that felt like it came straight from her heart stretched across Elsa's face. These were the moment she treasured the most. They helped to remind her that this was why her body had been putting itself through hell the past few months.

"Heartbeat sounds great, very strong. We'll just do some palpitations and then we can talk about any concerns you're having."

"Okay." She replied.

Elsa tried to fight the giggles that were desperately trying to escape from her. Dr. Bjorgman's hands were lightly pushing into Elsa's stomach to get a better idea of her uterus size and position, but it tickled Elsa like crazy.

"It's okay, you don't have to fight it. You're not the first patient I've had that was ticklish."

A burst of laughter escaped from her once she stopped trying to suppress the feeling.

"I'm sorry. This happens every time." She brought her hand up to her mouth trying to stifle the continuous flow of giggles.

"I'm feeling that your placenta is really low. You're probably going to need to take it easy for a while so that it can move away from your cervix. Here, sit up and I'll explain."

He held out his hand and helped Elsa come to an upright position. A look of concern came over her as the giggles had stopped and were replaced with knitted eyebrows.

"It's not a major concern at this point but basically you don't want your placenta too low or it will block the baby's path out of the womb during delivery. I want to check it again in a week and if it's not moving up you'll need to go on best rest."

Her head shook in disbelief.

"Bed rest? For how long? What am I going to tell my work? They don't even know I'm pregnant yet." She ran her hands through her hair a few times before resting her fingers on her temples. This was not the news she'd been hoping to hear. She knew she was going to have to tell her work eventually but she had wanted to do it in her own time. Which was never at the rate she was going.

"You're far enough along that you would be safe in telling work. Miscarriage is less of a concern after twelve weeks." Elsa gave a defeated sounding sigh and hung her head before looking back up at Dr. Bjorgman.

"I know, you're right. I've been avoiding. I'm working on so many projects right now that I know I'm going to ruffle some feathers with this news."

He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Elsa women get pregnant all the time, even working women. They'll understand."

He gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her on the back.

"Thanks. I'm not looking forward to it but it has to be done." She rolled her eyes and looked back at Dr. Bjorgman who was now sitting on his rolling doctor's stool.

"Well like I said, everything looks good. Is there anything else that you're noticing or any questions you have?" He leaned over with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. Elsa liked that was so caring and warm. She normally didn't go to male doctors but he was so highly recommended for his bedside manner and the Scandinavian name, Kristoff Bjorgmam, just sealed the deal for her.

"I have been noticing that I'm really short tempered lately. I get angry so quickly and I've been snapping at Anna. Well mostly Anna but I've also been short with people at work as well. And then like nothing I'll be fine again in no time flat. It's like an emotional roller coaster."

Dr. Bjorgman just smiled and looked as Elsa with his kind brown eyes. "That would be the hormones. It's very common to have mood swing at this point. A lot woman also report crying spells around this time. Other woman also feel an increased sense of libido. Hormones affect everyone differently and maybe for you you're just irritated more easily."

Elsa crossed her legs and readjusted herself on the table. "I haven't been crying but I have been experiencing the...other thing you mentioned." Elsa wasn't exactly someone to kiss and tell, even if it was a clinical setting she rarely talked about her sex life or her desire for sex with anyone else besides Anna and some of her close friends.

Dr. Bjorgman gave her a confused look as he tried to think back to what he had just said. "The increased libido?"

"Yes, that. I haven't even really talked about it with Anna. Not that she'd even be in the mood with the way I've been acting."

"Again, perfectly normal and, with your partner's consent, sex is really good for pregnant woman. I actually have a handout on it if you want to take it home and talk about it with Anna." He slid his chair over to a set of draws and pulled out the handout for Elsa.

"Thanks. When and if it comes up this might come in handy." She folded the paper into thirds and tucked it neatly into her bag. As she stood and walked towards the door Dr. Bjorgman stopped her.

"Elsa don't be too hard on yourself. You've got a lot of changes going on, you're working full time, and you had a pretty rough first couple of months with the morning sickness and all. Tell Anna to give me a call if she has any questions and I'd be happy to talk to her."

"Thanks, I'll try."

On the drive back from the doctor's Elsa thought of all the possible ways she could break the news to work. She couldn't decide if she should call a meeting and do it in private with her close superiors or just tell everyone all at once at their Monday morning meeting. She sat at her desk and turned her computer on to look at her calendar to see when she could schedule something. As she was scanning the days she noticed a full day blocked out in bright green, which usually meant an out of office day. "Team building retreat." She read out loud. She'd been so preoccupied lately that she had forgotten that they were going up to a coworkers lake house that Friday for a team building event. This will be perfect. Everyone will be there; it will be casual and relaxed. Team building events usually consisted of food and different activities and games that were supposed to help everyone get to know each other better. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pictured the event unfolding in her head. Just to be safe she decided to schedule a meeting with the head of the firm to let him know of her plans ahead of time, figuring he would not be pleased to find out in front of everyone else on Friday.

Thursday rolled around and Elsa was finally meeting with her boss. She nervously sat at her desk rubbing her thumb into her palm as she wrung her hands. A nervous habit of hers. All she really had to say was that she was expecting a baby at the end of the summer, just one little line but he stomach was in knots none the less. 9:59, guess I better start walking over there and get this over with. She walked down the hall to Mr. Bennet's door and took a second to straighten her white blazer and flip her long braid over her shoulder. She raised her hand to the door and knocked twice and immediately went back to wringing her hands. The knock sounding more timid than she had hoped.

"Ahh...Elsa. What a pleasure to see you this morning." Mr. Bennet was tall and burly man, dressed as always in a suit and tie. "So what is it you wanted to see me about this morning?"

He sat back in his chair and motioned for Elsa to have a seat in one of the many guest chairs in his palatial office.

"Um...well I have some news that I wanted to share with everyone at the team building event tomorrow but before I did I wanted to tell you first."

The dark haired man didn't say anything and just leaned forward with questioning eyes. After a moment he finally said something as Elsa appeared to be awaiting his response.

"And that would be..."

"My wife and I are expecting a baby and I'm due sometime towards the end of the summer."

She held her breath and waited for his reply, her mouth still open in anticipation.

"Oh well, this is great news!"

Oh thank God he's happy.

Elsa let out a forceful breath of air as she could now feel that oh so heavy weight lifted from her shoulders.

"Well we can talk about the details later and I'm sure you'll also need to let human resources know, but for now let me just say congratulations."

He didn't get up to hug her or anything but this was the best scenario she could have hoped for. He wasn't mad and he didn't make her feel guilty about having a life outside of work for once.

The team building event was and hour drive away and Elsa had plenty of time to think about how she wanted to tell everyone. She wasn't as nervous as she had been telling Mr. Bennet, maybe because she was getting so much practice telling people she was pregnant. With the skyline of the city now in the rearview mirror, it wasn't long before the concrete jungle gave way to tall evergreen trees. Trees that reminded her home, but in a good way.

She pulled up to the large cabin style home and took in the smell of fresh air and pine as she got out and walked to the front door. The street was lined with cars so she figured she must be at the right home. The place was packed with familiar faces and trays of food were everywhere. For the first time in weeks Elsa was so glad to have the smell of food feel pleasant again. She was starving and couldn't wait to get this over with so she could eat to her hearts content. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tiana emerge from the crowd of people.

"Yeah you! Today's the day right?" She nudged Elsa's shoulder and winked.

"Yes and I can't wait to get this off my chest." Elsa looked around the room, thinking about the number of people she was going to have to tell.

"Speaking of chest, what is going on here." Tiana pointed to the buttons on Elsa's blouse that were clearly holding for dear life.

"Oh my God I know. They get bigger every day. It's like they have a mind of their own and it's all I can do to button my shirt in morning." Elsa had already begun to snack off a nearby tray of veggies.

"Listen I have an idea. One of the activities we're doing today is one where you write two things about yourself down on a card and then the cards are read out loud and everyone has to guess who that person is, based on what the card says. You should write that you're pregnant on yours. It's a great way to tell everyone all at once."

Elsa reiterated to what Tiana had just said to herself and thought about it. "That is a great idea. Although, I have no idea what I'm going to write for the second thing." She picked up a carrot and swirled in a tub of ranch dressing.

"Here let me go get you a card and you can put it in with the rest."

Leave it to Tiana to come up with a clever way to help out a girl in need. Tiana returned with a stack of white index card and handed one to Elsa. She knew she wanted the pregnancy to be the second item on her card but was struggling to think of something else to write. Her eyebrows contorted as she sank deeper into thought. Just put anything. It doesn't matter and no one will even remember what the first thing was after they here the second one. She quickly scribbled something down and handed to card back to Tiana.

Feeling a little bit better after getting some food on her stomach, she'd gone back three times to the buffet already, she grabbed a seat next to Tiana in the giant circle of chairs. Elsa started to feel a little nervous but realized she was actually excited at the same time. This was good news for once. She didn't have anything to worry about. Mr. Bennet's assistance Lotty was in charge of reading the cards and Elsa had no idea if he'd told her or not.

After the first few cards were read and people were having a good laugh at trying to guess who each was about, Elsa caught herself having a great time. She was so involved in the activity that she was no longer nervous about the big news she was about to share. Lotty put her hand into the stack of cards and pulled out the next one, reading in her slow southern drawl.

"Okay y'all. This next says 'my favorite time of year is winter..."

"And...I am pregnant."

Lotty gasped after she finished reading and her bright wide eyes looked around the circle of people. Elsa's heart skipped a beat as she reminded herself not to give it away and play cool. But there was nothing she could do about the warmth spreading across her cheeks like a wild fire. She for sure thought her face was beet red and would give herself away in a heartbeat. Suddenly all eyes were shifting around to each woman in the circle, surveying each one for any blossoming signs of motherhood.

"Is it Sarah?" One woman finally guessed. "No way. My boyfriend would kill me." Sarah remarked.

Elsa started to wonder just how long this was going to go on. Tiana must have known that Elsa was dying of anticipation and gave her a look. Other people shot out some guesses but no one was even looking at Elsa. Tiana couldn't take it anymore and finally blurted out.

"It's Elsa!"

Elsa instantly felt every pair of eyes in the room on her. On her stomach to be more exact.

"Really?" Lotty asked.

"It's true. She told me yesterday." Mr. Bennet said proudly.

A murmur of 'awws' and 'congratulations' was followed by clapping as Elsa shyly smiled and took in the admirations.

"Thank you everyone. Yes, it's true. I love winter. No I'm kidding, I do, but I'm also pregnant."

She couldn't resist trying to get a laugh. It felt slightly uncomfortable to be in the spotlight but it felt amazingly good at the same time to feel that everyone was happy for her and wished her nothing but the best. It brought out a softer side of Elsa, who was normally all business at work. Tiana leaned over and whispered into Elsa's ear.

"See that wasn't so bad. And now you don't have to hide anything anymore."

Elsa nodded. "I know, it's so freeing."

The day had been a complete success and Elsa couldn't wait to get home and tell Anna. The hour long drive felt even longer than it had been on the way up to the lake. Tired but still amped from the day's events, Elsa made her way up the driveway and walked through the front door, eager to see Anna and hold her in her arms.

"Anna?" Her cobalt eyes searched around the house but there was no sign of the redhead. Usually on a Friday night she'd be curled up on the couch grading papers or watching TV.

"I'm up here." Anna yelled from what would be the baby's room upstairs.

The stairs were slowly becoming Elsa's mortal enemy. Climbing a bunch of steps was always the last thing she felt like doing at the end of a long day. But knowing Anna would be at the top helped put an extra pep in her step.

"I had the best time today. I told everyone and they were all so nice about." Elsa had reached the top of the stair and was now rounding the hallway into the still undecorated room.

"You would not believe the-."

She stopped mid-sentence when entered the room and saw what Anna had in the swing.

"What is Lilla doing in there?"

The color drained from Elsa's as she saw her childhood stuffed bear buckled into the swing like a baby.

"Is that her name? Is it Norwegian? What does it mean?"

Anna was just an endless parade of questions and seemed to overlook the angered expression that had overtaken Elsa's face. The blonde had completely done a one eighty in a matter of seconds.

"It means purple. Don't change the subject. Where did you find that?"

Anna was only trying to be playful by asking so many questions but she was now shaken by Elsa's tone. Elsa had dropped her purse in the doorway and was pointing to the little bear with her hand on her hip, as if Anna was being scolded at by a parent.

"I-I found her in a box. I just wanted to see what it would be like to have an actual baby in there and I wanted to practice using the buckles."

"What boxes?" Elsa yelled.

"The ones up stairs. I don't know, I think. It was in the white storage boxes." Anna was competently thrown by Elsa's reaction.

"My boxes. They were in my boxes. The ones I asked you not to open."

Elsa's hands started to shake and she crossed her arms in an effort to hide it from Anna. The redhead stood up from where she had been kneeling over the swing.

"Elsa you need to calm down. I didn't mean any harm and I don't understand why you're so upset."

Elsa took a deep breath and tried to remember the conversation she had with Anna about not snapping at her. But this was really testing her.

"Anna those boxes are not to be opened." Her voice was boarding on shouting.

"Why? What is it you're hiding? You know this is our home. Our home. And I'm actually forbidden from opening something in our own damn home."

"Anna those boxes are the only things left I have from my childhood. It's everything I could get my hands on before I left."

And there it was. The old familiar pain that burned in Elsa's chest. The pain that came whenever she talked about her family. The pain she desperately tried to avoid. Anna put her hands on her hips and walked right up to Elsa.

"Wait a minute. We've been together for six years. And married for three and this is the first time I'm hearing about these boxes. Do you not see what's wrong with this picture?" Anna threw her hands up in frustration.

"I'm not trying to hide it from you I just don't ever look at that stuff. And besides, I did tell you about them when we moved in." Elsa now felt like she was on the defensive.

"Elsa, this has to stop. You can't run away from this the rest of your life. I'm sorry, but the best thing you could do for yourself is to go through all that stuff and have a good cry over it. That can't be any worse than trying to burying all those feeling deep inside you."

Elsa wanted to walk away but that would have only affirmed what Anna had just said about running away. Instead she closed her eyes and swallowed hard, trying desperately to keep the volume of her voice at a reasonable level.

"One day I will okay. But not today."

Elsa started to walk over and take Lilla out of the swing when Anna spun her around and stopped her, grabbing her by the arm.

"No, Elsa. I've been patient enough. I know that opening those boxes would be hard and painful but you wouldn't be doing it alone. I'll be right here. I'll be right by your side to hold you and wipe away every tear. But you have to let me in. You have to face this."

Elsa had never seen Anna so determined about something in their entire relationship. She was now torn between enduring the pain of the past and enduring the pain of the future by hurting Anna. Elsa had never admitted it but it did fill her with shame that she kept so much about her past from Anna. Elsa had never wanted it to come between them, knowing she couldn't handle the emotions after years of numbing and suppressing. She knew what she had to do but couldn't bring herself to say the words. Anna could see the turmoil on Elsa's face and knew she was at war with herself. She took Elsa's hand and interlaced their fingers together, moving closer to look deep into Elsa's sky blue eyes.

"Please do this for me. Just one box. We'll just go through one box of stuff tonight." Anna's voice was soft and angelic.

Elsa tried to will herself to nod 'yes' but was too busy fighting back the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

"I know you're scared. But we're going to do this together. Look at what keeping it in is doing to you. Look at what it's doing to us."

Elsa looked into Anna's eyes. They were so full of love and kindness. And somewhere within them she found the courage to nod ' yes.'

"Okay then. Go sit on the couch and I'll go grab one of the boxes. Okay?"

Still unable to talk, Elsa again nodded. As Anna trotted down the steps the basement, Elsa walked downstairs and tried to collect herself on the couch, running her hands through her hair and pushing the loose strands of long bangs back into her braid. There was not one piece of her that wanted to do this for any other reason than for Anna. She looked down at her trembling hands and clenched them into fists, trying to steady them. Anna returned with one of the small white weatherproof boxes. Elsa's heart sank as soon as she laid on eyes on it and her heart began to race, her breathing became heavy.

"Maybe it would be easier if I open it and pull the stuff out." Anna suggested as Elsa nodded.

"You can do this." Anna reassured her and rubbed the top of Elsa's knee.

She looked inside the box and grabbed the first thing she saw, a soft white delicately knitted blanket with an 'E' embroidered on the corner. She lifted the folded up blanket and set it on her lap. As soon as it came into Elsa's vision the tears began to fall and she buried her face in her hands. Out of all the things Anna had to pull out first it had to be Elsa's baby blanket. She hadn't seen it since the day she threw it into the suitcase, knowing one day she might want to wrap her own baby it. That was all it took to break down the walls that Elsa had built so high. It felt like something within her broke and she instantly felt all strength leave her body. She couldn't begin to wrap her mind around the idea of her parents being as happy as her and Anna were to be having a baby, only to throw her out of their lives. Her father's voice echoed in her head. All the horrible things he said to came rushing back. True, they'd never really had much a relationship to begin with, but Elsa wanted nothing more than for him to show her some kind of recognition that she was more than someone to hand the company down to. She'd wanted her mother to fight for her, to stand up for her. But they didn't. They never could. And it broke Elsa's heart. Did they ever think about her? Were their lives any different? These were the questions that always surfaced but she never let her herself think about for too long. Anna didn't say a word and set the blanket on the coffee table. She promised she'd be there for Elsa, and she was. She pulled Elsa's hands away from her face and cradled her in her arms. Elsa's body caved into the redhead's and Anna squeezed her tighter, pressing against the blondes heaving back. Anna's heart felt like it was breaking each time she heard one of Elsa's tiny cries and she stroked the back of Elsa's head, feeling the ridges of her braid. She kissed the back of one of Elsa's ears and softly whispered words of comfort. She'd pushed Elsa far enough and began to feel a sense of regret. With her free hand she put the blanket back in the box and put the top on. And just like she promised, she was right there for Elsa, never letting her go.