No matter what Anna did that night, she couldn't get to sleep.
She was aware she was almost certainly worried about nothing. So what if Elsa had coughed? Big deal if she had walked funny! It wasn't any reason to assume the worst. Her sister's body was probably just having a negative reaction to the depression she was going through right now, that's all.
Still, every time she shut her eyes, every time she came close to entering dream land, she saw Elsa struggling with each step she took. She heard her hack like an old man who had smoked too many pipes during his lifetime. And then she had to open her eyes back up again.
"No!" she yelled as she sat herself up. Where was Elsa? Was she going to show up again tonight? Unlike some other nights, where Anna would secretly wish that she wouldn't come so she could get a good night's rest, tonight she was really, really hoping that the queen would knock on her bedroom door. She wouldn't ask her about her physical health, of course. She would just welcome her with her usual open arms, brush her fingers through her long hair, and continue to promise her that everything was going to be fine.
But was it?
God, was this what Elsa was going through right now? Wanting to get to sleep but being unable to regardless of what she tried? Being haunted by only one thought no matter how much she struggled to focus on something else?
She got herself out of bed, put her slippers on, and began pacing around her bedroom.
"You don't need to be so freaked out over this," she said to herself out loud. "Your sister needs for you to be there for her right now. You can't afford to lose your mind."
It was then when there was a knock on her door.
"Anna?"
Not wanting for her sister to see her in this state, Anna quickly jumped back into bed, hoping that Elsa hadn't been able to hear her talking to herself.
"You can come in," she said, trying to make her voice sound like she had just woken up.
Elsa crept in.
"I'm guessing you know why I'm here," she said glumly.
"It's fine, Elsa," said Anna, making room for the queen on her mattress. "I'm alive. You can sleep on the left or right side of the bed tonight. I don't care which one."
"I'm not sure if I should tonight," said Elsa, looking down at her feet. "I mean, I have an early morning tomorrow, and..."
"Please sleep with me tonight," Anna blurted out, far more urgently than she meant to. "I...um...I'll make sure you don't oversleep. I'll wake you, okay?"
After softly shutting the door, Elsa slowly began tip-toeing towards her bed...but Anna looked the other way as she did so. If she saw her walking like that again tonight, she had no idea what she'd do.
"Elsa," Anna whispered as she wrapped the blankets around the two of them. "You... you know I love you, right?"
"Of course I do," said Elsa, but she seemed a little confused by the question. "I mean, if you didn't, why would you keep letting me bother you every night like this?"
"It's not a bother at all," said Anna, and she meant it. "For years I've missed us sharing a room. Now, it's sort of like we're making up for lost time."
Elsa half-smiled.
"I've missed it, too," she said. "But I hate waking you up so much. I feel like a baby that keeps her mother up the entire night"
"I wasn't asleep anyway tonight," Anna admitted. "So you don't have to feel bad, really."
Elsa looked at her, surprised.
"Anna, it's like three in the morning," she told her. "You really haven't gotten any sleep at all?"
"I...um...made the mistake of deciding to drink that cup of tea I made after you left," she said uncomfortably. This was only sort of true. In reality, Anna had taken only one sip, decided that it was too much for even her sweet tooth, and poured her failure into the garden's pond.
"Well, you did put three bags in the cup," said Elsa kindly. "But next time I'm sure you'll get it right."
"Or maybe I'll just let the servants make it instead," she said with a bit of a chuckle. "It is what they're here for, right?"
"They might get bored if we didn't give them anything to do," said Elsa thoughtfully.
She watched as Elsa placed a hand over her forehead, and suddenly her sister looked truly miserable to her. Was she thinking about her nightmares? Was she stressed out from the last few weeks? Or was it...something else?
"Anna," she said after a moment, sounding like she was trying very, very hard not to cry tonight. "Could...could you do me a favor?"
"Of course," said Anna sincerely.
"Could you...could you hold my hand tonight...and not let go until morning?"
Anna grabbed Elsa's right hand and gripped it tightly.
"You'll have to pry it off when you wake up," she said with a determined grin.
Elsa said nothing after that. She just kept looking at Anna until her eyes finally shut themselves.
"You're going to be fine," Anna told her in a hushed voice. "You're going to be fine...you're going to be fine..."
COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!
Spit flew out of Elsa's mouth and onto Anna's face. Once her violent coughing fit was over, she let out a soft moan, but appeared to remain asleep.
Anna felt her heart sink as she clutched her sister's hand still tighter.
"You're going to be fine," she repeated, but this time she was trying to convince herself that this was true. "You're going to be fine...you're going to be fine..."
She kept repeating the words until she drifted off almost an entire hour later.