Chapter Four: Johannes Kristian Jorgenbjorgen

Anna held Hans' glass as he drank the water she offered him. He coughed out loud when he drank too quickly. She pounded his back until his breathing normalized. He fell back down on the bed, clearly exhausted.

She wanted to ask him a million questions and she could see he was also curious about her. However, she realized, with trepidation that all of that had to wait. He was too tired and too sick for a questioning. She knew the effects of the medications he's been given. Stressing him out right now was just too inhumane, even for a slime ball like him.

"Sleep," she ordered. "You need it."

He looked like he was going to protest but decided not to. He lay back down and in minutes was unconscious once more.

"He broke your heart, didn't he?" Commandant Cloutier said from the opposite bed. Anna suddenly remembered she was not alone. "What was it? Another woman?"

Anna didn't know what to say. How exactly did one explain that this man deceived her, left her for dead and tried to kill her sister? It wasn't something she felt comfortable talking to a complete stranger.

Commandant Cloutier appeared to understand her hesitation. "Ahhh... a complicated affair then, pretty Anna. You need not tell me if you prefer not to. But come sit by an old man and let him offer you some advice."

Anna returned to the chair next to the French soldier.

"Mon cheri, you need not fret your head. I may not know the circumstances of your relations with this man, but I can tell it is a serious one, not easily brushed aside or forgotten. That is natural and I shall not tell you to do so. However, you have told me you are Madame Bjorgman. I take it Monsieur Bjorgman makes you happy?"

Anna smiled at the thought of her Kristoff. "Yes, very much. We have two children, as blond and lively as their father and I miss them dearly. They're with my sister back home."

"Then you are fortunate in love and I am glad for that. It doesn't lessen the pain that this other man may have inflicted. I can understand if choose never to see him again after tonight and perhaps that will all be better for your heart."

"So I should just leave him here?" Anna asked doubtfully. It did make sense but something about it felt wrong.

"Live your life and be happy without him, if you choose," said the Commandant. "If you harbor any anger or desire for justice against him, living your life happily is justice enough."

Anna sensed there was more to this advice than telling her to simply walk away from Hans' life.

"However," he continued. "You may find that peace in your heart will come better if you come to him again. He may not be long for this world and these few days, maybe even hours of his life are all he has left. If you can find it in your heart to be here, to speak to him if you have an opportunity, and settle whatever differences you may have, you may discover something you never knew was restless finally come to peace."

He lay back down on the bed. "You'll forgive an old man if he leaves you now to sleep, will you?"

"Oh of course," Anna replied. She realized it was rather late and she should let the man rest. She readjusted his pillow and covered him with a blanket to make him comfortable.

"Think of what I said pretty Anna," he said. "Let your heart guide you."

"I will, thank you." Anna replied and took her leave, glancing one last time at the sleeping Hans.

She passed by her nursing station to pick up her journal. A thought occurred to her. Grabbing a pen, she opened to an empty page, wrote down the date and scribbled a few lines.

Prince Hans of the Southern Isles - Alive but injured and seriously ill. Check on his condition tomorrow. If he's still there, talk to him.

Anna slept only a few hours and woke up with her thoughts focused on Hans. She got dressed and ate a quick meal. Normally she lingered during breakfast to socialize with her co-nurses but today she headed an hour earlier than her shift. She went straight to room 409.

Commandant Cloutier was still asleep but Hans, she saw, was already up, coughing rather loudly and looking no better than he did the night before. In fact he looked even more ill. He was already out of bed and he appeared to be desperately inching his way towards one corner of the room while cradling his still bandaged torso. Anna knew exactly what was wrong with him and realized there was no other nursing staff to help.

She didn't even give it a second thought. She raced to his intended corner and grabbed the empty chamber pot lying there and brought it next to him in two seconds flat.

"Okay lean on to me, nice and easy so you can sit," she said. She offered him her arm. "Do you need help with your breeches?"

"Anna..." Hans hesitated, clearly embarrassed. "You don't have to... I mean... just get the nurse!"

"I am the nurse!" she thundered back at him as she started loosening his pants.

"This isn't appropriate!" he protested hotly but he was too weak to slap her interfering hands away.

"Proprieties are for ballrooms. If you haven't noticed we're in a hospital where hygiene and health comes first over social rules. You're not the first man I've helped with loose bowel movements and you won't be the last so just let me!"

Hans grumbled something unintelligible but finally allowed her to assist him with his clothes and posture into the pot. When he was in place, Anna erected a screen to give him some privacy. She then gathered fresh linens and water from a nearby bucket and placed them right outside the screen within his arms' reach.

"Tell me when you're done so I can help you clean," she said.

"You are not wiping my behind!" he exclaimed.

Anna rolled her eyes. Why did he have to be so difficult? "As I told you, you're not the first—"

"I know, I know, I get it!" Hans complained. "I can do it myself!" A pause and then he added more gently: "Thank you."

"Oh... okay then," said Anna. "I'm just a holler away when you need help getting up but I'll leave you for now to... uh... concentrate."

She heard him muffle a laugh with a cough and she couldn't help but let out a giggle. Who would have thought she would end up in this predicament with Hans of all people? She certainly never imagined this most unromantic situation when they first met. In the months after he had betrayed her, she imagined all sorts of punishments she would like to be inflicted on him, but embarrassing him to death was never one of them. The universe perhaps had an odd sense of humor. Hans probably felt like he was being tortured right now by her presence. Well, supposed she can consider that punishment enough for his crime and he didn't deserve to suffer more than that. She decided she would do her best to ease his physical pain. As a nurse, it was her duty to help him.

She heard the sounds of soft splashing and knew he was finishing up. She counted ten seconds then poked her head behind the screen.

"Need help?" she asked.

He scowled at her but didn't protest. He was obviously too weak to get up and get dressed himself. Anna helped him back into his trousers then assisted him back to bed.

Breakfast was being carted in by one of the nursing aids room by room. Anna grabbed a bowl of broth and placed it before him. He looked at it and shook his head.

"You need to eat something to replace the fluids you've been tossing out or you'll die of dehydration," she said.

"What's the point?" he asked listlessly. "I'm going to die anyway."

Anna glared at him. She may be willing to help him but she wasn't going to tolerate stubbornness. "You're not dead yet." She held up a spoonful of broth as if it was a deadly dagger. "And I'm not letting you even if I have to ram this soup into your throat."

Hans' eyes widened fearfully at the threat. "My God! I think I really am in hell."

"You are, and I'm going to be your personal devil. Now open up and eat," she said harshly.

Hans heaved a defeated sigh. "It's okay, I can do it myself." He took the spoon from her and began taking the warm broth in small, slow sips. Anna watched him carefully until he was midway through the bowl.

"So why are you even here Anna?" he asked as he took in her work dress and apron. "Princesses shouldn't be working in a place like this. What was Queen Elsa thinking?"

"Your definition of a princess maybe, not mine," Anna replied haughtily. "We're supposed to be helping people, so here I am. And if you must know Elsa approved of me being here to make sure our people are taken care of." She decided it was best to leave out the fact that she had to argue for days with Elsa before her sister allowed her to come here. Elsa didn't exactly approve of Anna working so far away and so near the fighting, especially since her children were also quite young. Elsa only relented when she saw Anna's voluntary joining reassured the families of the men being sent off to war. Anna also didn't care to elaborate that she hadn't exactly had an opportunity to personally care for the members of Arendellian fighting forces as those that she encountered here in the hospital were either dead or had been previously treated in other medical facilities and merely passed through on their way home to recuperate. All she had done so far for her were countrymen were make injured and casualty lists, send reports and write condolence letters.

"You're the one who needs explaining," Anna added as way to turn the subject away.

"Didn't Lars send you a letter about my being drafted in the military?" he asked innocently.

Anna lifted an eyebrow at him. So he wants to be evasive. Well he isn't going to get away that easily from me.

"I know about that. What I don't know is why you are hiding behind a fake name. Care to tell me?"

Hans stared at her with a bewildered look. He put down the bowl on the table beside his bed. "I beg your pardon. What exactly do you mean?"

"Hah! Don't you dare play innocent," Anna scoffed.

He still looked puzzled so Anna decided to state the obvious.

"Johannes Kristian Jorgenbjorgen. That's the name you've been using since you joined the military. What kind of name is that anyway?"

Hans looked even more baffled. "It's my name," he said matter-of-factly.

"No it's not!"

"It is!" he argued.

"You can't try to fool me. I know your name."

"Okay fine, what is my full name then if you're so smart?" he challenged.

Anna huffed. "It's Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."

"Uh-uh," he shook his head. "Technically, I'm no longer a prince so that's no longer accurate. Hans is a shortened version of my real name Johannes Kristian."

"So you lied to me when you introduced yourself as 'Hans' when we met," Anna accused.

"Hans is the nickname I was given by my family. It is acceptable to introduce oneself with a shortened version of your Christian name. I don't recall you introducing yourself as Princess Annanina Maria Kristine Therese Oldenburg."

Anna saw his point. Her own name was quite a mouthful to say it felt rather snobbish to do so when introducing herself to people she just met. It didn't escape her notice either that Hans actually knew her full name even without her ever mentioning it to him.

"Yes, I actually know your full name," he said as if he read her mind. "I did my research before I came to Arendelle as any person on a diplomatic mission to meet royalty ought to do. But going back to the subject of my name, you forgot my last name."

"I did not forget your last name!" she exclaimed just to get a word out. She didn't like how he implied she was unprepared to meet diplomats during Elsa's coronation.

"Alright, what's my last name then?"

Anna opened her mouth to retort but closed it again as she realized she had nothing to say. What was his last name?

"'Of the Southern Isles' is not my last name," he teased with an annoying grin that infuriated her even more.

"I know that!" Anna said though a few seconds before she was about to say 'Of the Southern Isles.'

"What is it then?"

"It's uh... uhmmm..."

"You have no idea, do you?" he said with a knowing waggle of his eyebrows.

"Fine! I don't remember, but it's not Jorgenbjorgen because I would have remembered a frivolous name like that."

The corners of his mouth turned up into a most irritating grin. "My last name was Westergaard. As a princess of Arendelle you should know that. 'Westergaard' is the family name of the ruling house of the Southern Isles for more than 800 years. Our families have intermarried for centuries."

Anna hated to admit he was right. Arendelle and the Southern Isles were so close geographically and had always maintained bonds extended through marriage. If she bothered to trace her family tree, she wouldn't be surprised if Hans was her distant cousin several times removed. Right now though, Anna wasn't willing to let him get the upper hand, especially since he added salt to the wound by emphasizing that she was inept at remembering names she ought to know. "Don't try to change the subject! You lied about your last name."

"I did not. I said my last name was Westergaard. It isn't anymore, not for the last four years. My brother, the king, forbade me from using it as a condition of my sentence being reduced if I served in the military. It was erased from all my records along with my title. I had to use my mother's maiden name, Jorgenbjorgen and it has been my legal name since then."

"Oh," was all Anna could say.

"It was a condition not done out of kindness to me to cover up my crimes," Hans continued. "Contrary to what you might think, retaining the Westergaard name has its advantages. It's too well known that any enemy that captures me would know immediately I had ties to the royal family of the Southern Isles and can have me ransomed for release. Losing the name would mean I had no chance at all to be ransomed. I would blend in more as a common soldier, making me expendable."

"Oh," Anna said again as she realized she had jumped to the wrong conclusions once more and accused him without verifying facts. She realized even more that Hans' punishment from his brothers was even harder than she imagined. To deny him his own family name meant they washed their hands off him and allowed him to die without getting their hands bloody.

I'm no better than his brothers, she realized. Wasn't that what I wanted back then? For him to die in a cold frozen wasteland alone, friendless and without a family?

Hans let out another round of coughs and Anna had to pat him on the back again until he stopped.

"Here," Anna offered him a glass of water and he sipped it carefully. His color looked a lot better now but his eyes remained sunken and his face was still pale.

He gave one last cough before muttering: "Thank you." He lay back down on the bed.

Anna took up his bowl. "You should take more of this."

He shook his head weakly.

"Please?" she asked.

"Are you doing this out of pity?" his tone was harsh though he didn't lift his head from his pillow. "You don't have to, you know."

"I'm not," she lied but it wasn't exactly convincing.

"If you must know," Hans went on condescendingly. "The loss of my last name didn't exactly punish me the way my brothers thought it would. "The anonymity was a good change as it allowed me to move up the ranks in the French military without them thinking my reasons were politically motivated by my family."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Were they?"

Hans smirked at her. "Of course they were. Isn't everything we do politically motivated?"

Anna couldn't believe what she was hearing. He just straight up admitted everything he did was still duplicitous. "You have no conscience, do you?" she said angrily.

"It has nothing to do with a conscience. Why feel guilty when I am merely stating a fact? We are born into royalty, Anna. Politics is an integral part of our lives even if we try to choose otherwise."

"Not everything is about power!" she seethed.

Hans scoffed. "So you still believe in fairytale romance and true love then?"

Anna placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "As a matter of fact I do. Maybe I don't believe in love at first sight anymore but with the right person, love can exist, even among royalty."

Hans rolled his eyes. "Like who?"

"Like me and my husband, Kristoff. Of course that's something you can never understand. My marriage with Kristoff is built on love not some political maneuver like you tried to do to me!"

Hans was silent for a moment and Anna felt a surge of triumph that she was winning against him in this argument.

"I suppose you're an exception. You married a commoner with nothing to his name. What else could have made you do it but love?" His words sounded like an admission of defeat but the way he said it still felt like a mockery.

"That's right!" Anna haughtily shot back even as a nagging voice reminded her she married Kristoff rather hastily before word got out she was pregnant. "I'm very happy with my marriage. And not just that, my sister and I love each other and would never do anything to hurt the other over some powerplay."

"Good for you then," he said flatly. "But tell me, just out of curiosity, how is Queen Elsa's marriage? Is she just as happy with Knudsvig?"

Anna felt like she was punched in the gut as she remembered her sister's predicament. Elsa remained married to Knudsvig when the Northern Isles decided to ally with France three years prior. Just last week, Elsa had written that Knudsvig was finally back at Arendelle castle. The King of the Northern Isles apparently heard about his son's estrangement with Elsa and sent emissaries who dragged the errant prince back to his wife to perform his duty of siring heirs. Elsa said nothing in her letter about how she and Knudsvig were getting along under one roof. Anna was apprehensive that with mounting pressure from the Northern Isles and her own Arendellian advisors, Elsa's marriage was by now fully consummated and in no way ending.

"I take it from your silence that Queen Elsa isn't exactly in a state of marital bliss," Hans said.

Anna still could not answer. Her throat felt constricted and tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"You need not worry, her situation is quite normal," Hans continued offhandedly. "As I said, for most royalty, everything and that includes marriage, is political. Your sister understood that well enough. Her marriage paved the way for establishing security for your people and I applaud her for it. I must admit, I underestimated her ability to clean up the mess from her coronation and the subsequent consequences of it."

You mean Elsa cleaned up my mess. She offered herself as a sacrifice when it should have been me who took on the duty to marry for an alliance. She paid for my indiscretion with her freedom. My happy marriage was built on her sorrow.

He stared ahead of him and appeared to be loss in thought. When he spoke again there was sadness in his voice. "You may be right Anna. I suppose true love exists. You are fortunate to have found it in a sister... a queen that placed her people first over her own happiness as any responsible ruler should..."

Anna could no longer bear to listen to him. Everything he said was too painfully true. She got up from her chair and narrowly missed the look of confusion on his face as she ran out of the room.