Episode 2: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Bloomington, Indiana, 1983 Elsa is 42 and 3, Anna is soon-to-be-born

In a blistering flash of blue lightning, Elsa Beckett fell to her hands and knees on what felt like a linoleum floor. The shock and pain wore off quickly; she took inventory of her situation and realized, from the smell in the air alone, she had landed in a medical facility somewhere by the smell. Wherever she was, it was nearly dark. She stood cautiously and ran her fingers over her body, checking for injury, when she noticed she was…

Stark naked.

Light from under the door of whatever room she was in bled onto the floor, dim outlines beginning to appear. She was in some kind of closet. A few seconds of fumbling around, and she found the light switch on the wall. Definitely a hospital, she thought. She found a pile of neatly folded green scrubs with IUBH printed on them and put them on quickly; she'd worry about the lack of undergarments later. A rack of empty, blank name tags sat next to the pile of scrubs; Elsa smirked and grabbed one and pinned it on her scrubs.

Elsa listened for a moment, then carefully opened the door into the hallway. The sounds of daily bustle in a hospital invaded her ears; the quantum oscillator's energy left her every sense buzzing. Every hospital in the world tended to look alike; sterile white walls, white floors, white ceilings… made getting one's bearings more difficult. She looked around; the door immediately to her right was labeled Examination Room 4.

English, she thought with relief. I'm somewhere in the English-speaking world. She looked around a bit more and saw IUBH written on a few more labels, and a memory sparked. IUBH was the name of the hospital near where she grew up, in Eagle Valley, Indiana. IUBH would have been Indiana University's Bloomington Hospital… the place Anna was born. She had a sense of the incredible distance she'd traveled, at least.

The thought of Anna flooded Elsa with mixed emotions and a torrent of memories. They'd grown up in Indiana for a few years until their father got transferred to suburban New Jersey. After Anna's death, she lost herself in her studies and left New Jersey - it was too painful to remain - to study quantum physics first at Cambridge University, then the University of Oslo. Calling Elsa a genius would have been an understatement; in addition to being a child prodigy, she held seven doctoral degrees in quantum physics, archaeology, ancient languages, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and music, most of which she achieved to push away the pain of her sister's untimely passing.

As she walked by a metal cart, she picked up a stethescope and clipboard, visually appearing like the doctor she was, rather than an orderly or nurse. Elsa needed a moment to think, and returning to the supply closet would look suspicious, so she ducked into Examination Room 5, which was dark.

Dark, but not empty. A woman lay reclined in the bed, obviously very pregnant. She was drowsy, but not sleeping. "Doctor?" she asked faintly.

Elsa cleared her throat and swiftly picked up the chart at the end of the bed to hide her face while she composed herself, wishing the room had been empty. Elsa clicked on a small reading light on the wall and began to read. She momentarily started at the date written on top of the clipboard - June 21, 1983. She didn't just travel through space, she'd successfully traveled through time as well.

Hiding her smile at the experiment's success, she resumed reading the patient history.

Female, 24 years old, high-risk pregnancy due to high blood pressure. Elsa shook her head. The patient was currently taking beta blockers, which would have been the appropriate treatment at the time, but would later be discovered to be too risky for pregnancy. This woman's child was at elevated risk of birth complications. According to the chart, she was 38 weeks pregnant - almost there.

She looked up from the clipboard and nearly dropped it. There in the bed was her mother, Iduna Beckett. She hadn't noticed her face in the darkness. Iduna looked far younger than when Elsa last saw her; more definitive evidence she had traveled in time as well as space.

"Doctor, I don't feel so well all of the sudden. My back is killing me and the baby's not moving around as much - I'm worried."

Elsa leaned over with a stethescope, and heard a slower than expected heartbeat, probably 100 beats per minute by her estimate. She quickly took Iduna's pulse as well. Easily 130 beats per minute. Worry flooded her mind as a dozen different possibilities surged from her memory. She stood up, leaned her head out the door, and flagged down a nurse. "Nurse, we need an ultrasound imaging machine in here, stat," she squinted at the name tag, "Nurse Roberts."

"I'm sorry, Doctor…?"

"Doctor-" Elsa paused, considering the ramifications of where she was. "Arendelle."

"I'm sorry Doctor Arendelle, I don't know what that is," the nurse apologized. "Do you know what it looks like, I can see if someone else might know where to find one."

Elsa silently fumed for a moment, then remembered where - and when - she was. Anna, her little sister, was about to be born. Ultrasound machines were not yet common in hospitals back in 1983, and wouldn't be for another decade at least.

Elsa wracked her brain. Anna has always had issues even as a child, from academic problems to the friends she kept… over the years since her death, Elsa had wondered what might have happened that could have contributed to the problems her sister had. Now, she had a front row seat at what might be the start of them.

Slowed fetus movement. Patient feeling ill with acute back pain. Pale, clammy skin and signs of shock. Fast heart rate in the mother, slow in the fetus. All the signs pointed to placental abruption - the placenta becoming detached from the uterine wall with substantial internal bleeding. Depending on the severity, the mother could bleed out and the fetus could incur irreparable brain damage. Where the hell was Iduna's actual doctor?

She turned and snapped just as the nurse re-entered the room. "Nurse Roberts! I need a pitocin drip immediately, 10mL solution in a liter of Ringers Lactate. This woman is having what is likely a Class 2 placental abruption and needs to be induced immediately."

"Yes, Doctor," Nurse Roberts said, hurrying back out of the room. Elsa quickly grabbed one of the permanent markers off the end of the bed and scribbled ARENDELLE on the blank name badge attached to her uniform. Elsa knew from her psychology doctorate that the representative heuristic effect would let her blend in perfectly; with her medical degree, the hospital attire, and her natural poise, no one would question whether she was a doctor or not. Nurse Roberts certainly didn't.

Iduna looked up, eyes tired and drawn. "Doctor… what's happening?"

"Mrs. Beckett, I suspect that you may have what's called a placental abruption. The baby inside you has come partially detached from the wall of your uterus. The good news is that I think this is relatively sudden and recent, so as long as we get the baby out, both of you are likely to be fine."

"Th- thank you. I don't recognize you, Doctor, but you look familiar. Who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Arendelle. I'm on the night shift. Don't worry, your regular doctor should be here shortly. We just need to get this process started to ensure everyone is healthy," she said in her best professionally-soothing voice, offering a small smile to her mother.

"Thank you, Doctor Arendelle. That's a pretty name. Do you know… is my husband outside?" Iduna's eyes turned towards the door.

"I didn't see him on the way in, but I'm sure we can have someone locate him, Mrs. Beckett. For now, you should relax as best as you can…" Elsa said as she watched the nurse set up the IV drip, "… and you might want to think about the baby's name if you haven't already."

"We were discussing Rita, after Agnar's - my husband's- mother."

Elsa reflexively wrinkled her nose. Rita? She restrained herself from giggling. "That's… a name you don't hear very often."

"I know. I haven't told him yet, but I was leaning more towards my mother's name, just between us. Anna." Iduna grinned.

Elsa nodded. "That's is a very nice name," she said, sighing wistfully. "Perhaps you can convince your husband."

Iduna smiled. "He generally does see things my way," she chuckled.

A gentle knock sounded on the doorframe. Nurse Roberts accompanied Agnar Beckett to the room. Elsa turned and masked her surprise at seeing her father, dressed in a faded brown polo shirt and slacks. He looks so young! They both do! Next to Agnar…

… was a little girl with silver-blonde hair tied in a small French braid, wearing a dark blue sweater and a hair band to control her unruly bangs. Elsa stared in momentary shock at herself, a little three-year old girl who clung to her father's leg, shyly waving while holding a small, white stuffed animal.

She recovered her senses and approached Agnar, hand outstretched. "Mr. Beckett? I'm Doctor Arendelle, one of the night shift doctors. Your wife has a complication known as a placental abruption, but we think it's still early and we're inducing labor now to see that both she and the baby are as healthy as can be. That said, you may want to talk with her, because once labor starts, the opportunities for conversation may be somewhat limited."

Agnar smiled wanly and walked over to the bed, taking Iduna's hand in his. His wife looked up at him with soft brown eyes that darted back and forth between husband and child. Little Elsa stood at the end of the bed, looking up, looking lost.

Elsa saw Iduna's worried glances and broke the silence. "If you like, I can watch your little girl right outside the doorway here so you can speak privately," she spoke softly to the couple. Both Agnar and Iduna nodded wordlessly. Elsa took the little girl's hand and knelt down. "Hi! I'm Doctor Arendelle. What's your name?"

The little girl turned her head and giggled, a small hand covering her mouth. "Elsa. My name is Elsa," she said shyly, toying with the small braid in her hair.

"Well, Elsa, that's a pretty name. Your parents need to have a little talk with each other, so let's wait outside the door for them, okay? We won't go far." Elsa didn't wait for confirmation as she gently led her smaller self out of the room.

Once outside the room, the pair sat down on a simple wooden bench. Little Elsa rubbed her fingers on the fringe of her skirt, a worried frown on her face. "Is Mommy okay?"

Elsa nodded. "Your mommy is getting ready to give birth to your baby sister. What do you think about that?"

"Will she come out in an egg like a snake?"

Elsa snorted, barely able to contain her laughter. "No, Elsa. Your new sister will not come out in an egg. She'll be a little baby person." Elsa smiled and her heart skipped, looking at her younger self, so innocent and eager. "Who's this?" Elsa asked as she gestured to the stuffed animal, knowing the answer.

Little Elsa held up the small stuffed animal, a little white snowman. "This is Olaf. He likes warm hugs," she announced proudly. "When my sister comes, I'm going to give her Olaf so that she is never alone."

Elsa teared up. "That's very sweet of you. It's a wonderful thing, to want to take care of your little sister. I hope you feel that way your whole life."

"I will. Your hair is pretty. It looks like mine," the child admired.

"Thank you. Yours is very pretty too. It looks like…" A painful memory stirred from her youth, a phrase Anna said once when they were children, young and care-free. "Sunlight made into hair, someone once told me."

The pair sat in companionable silence for a few moments, quietly lost in their thoughts.

Little Elsa turned her face up to her older self, her round cheeks glowing as she absentmindedly rubbed Olaf's threadbare belly. "Can you love someone you've never met? Because I love my sister so much but I haven't met her yet."

"Yes. Yes you can, and you will love her so much more when you meet her," Elsa murmured, giving her younger self a hug as she choked back her tears. She hadn't remembered how she felt as a little child, but hearing her younger self speak triggered her memories and love for Anna. She hugged her smaller self, offering comfort to her for what could have been seconds or hours.

Nurse Roberts walked up to her cautiously some time later, not wanting to interrupt. "Doctor? Mrs. Beckett's doctor will be here shortly, and thanked you for starting the induction. He'd like to meet with you before we move Mrs. Beckett to the delivery room."

Elsa nodded. "Thank you, Nurse Roberts. I'll be along momentarily." Elsa stood and lurched, bracing herself against the wall. "I… I'm okay," she said, addressing the concerned looks on both the nurse's and the child's faces. She took a deep breath and fidgeted, feeling a tingling up and down her back as though she had fallen asleep on it.

"Elsa, let's get you back to your mother and father now," she urged, taking the child by the hand and gently leading her back into the examination room. As she walked in, Iduna looked up and held her arms out to hug her daughter. Elsa almost impulsively ran forward, but caught herself as her miniature version sprang forward into her… their mother's arms.

Agnar walked over to Elsa, and shook her hand once more. "Thank you, Doctor Arendelle. We're very fortunate to have Iduna in such capable hands," he said softly, his eyes warm with gratitude.

Elsa nodded mutely, struggling to reconcile this man with the memory of her stern father, always urging her to study harder, work harder, focus more. The tingling along her back was spreading rapidly; she felt as though her legs were filled with pins and needles. Pushing the sensation away, she looked at both of the parents. "You'll be moved shortly to delivery, Mrs. Beckett, and from there the regular medical team will take over. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Iduna nodded as a coy smile crept up on her lips. "Anna."

"I'm sorry?" Elsa said, momentarily stunned at hearing her long-lost sister's name on her mother's lips so abruptly and out of the blue.

"I convinced him," Iduna said, patting her husband's hand, "to name the baby Anna."

Agnar nodded in agreement, smiling as he looked lovingly at his wife. "It just seems to… fit. Like it was meant to be."

"That's an excellent choice," Elsa grinned, fighting the urge to burst out laughing.

Nurse Roberts and another orderly came in to wheel Iduna's bed into the delivery room. Elsa patted her mother on the shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile as Agnar and little Elsa made their way into the hallway and followed Iduna's bed.

Elsa stumbled into the hallway, the prickling sensation growing worse. Glancing toward the supply closet, she made her way down the hall, her hand on the wall for support. She watched in alarm as blue sparks crawled over her flesh like electric ants.

With the last of her strength and focus, she opened the supply closet door and slipped inside, closing the door behind her, before she fell to her knees. Tiny blue sparks of light limned her body, and her last conscious thought was they look a little like snowflakes.

Elsa vanished, her uniform falling to the floor soundlessly.


Author's Notes

I'm writing a little faster than I expected, and this story has really taken on a life of its own, so I'll publish one new chapter a week assuming I've got one done and ready to go.

Also, my notes from last week changed as I got a lot of writing done this week. We're going with closed-timelike-curves and Novikov's self-consistency principle as the quantum basis for what's happening here. As I got into the weeds in later chapters, there's literally no drama in the many-worlds interpretation.

For the non-nerds, don't worry - the science won't get in the way of the story. You'll see a pattern soon - past, present, past, present in alternating chapters.


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