Headnote:

If you haven't read the last chapter, then please do before you read this. I get to have some fun with Frozen 2's action-packed elements. This particular chapter has been re-uploaded due to the kindness of *WintermoonQueen. I wasn't sure if the pregnancy issue was a decent angle to take given certain implications, so I thought about rewriting this chapter into something entirely different. She helped me make another decision.

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"Come to me now. Open your door. Don't make me wait one moment more."

―Elsa

"..."

"..."

Eugene sat up to stare at Elsa with the widest eyes she had ever seen on his face. His body shook like a leaf clinging to a branch in a thunderstorm she couldn't enter. She watched as what she believed to be flashbacks of Rapunzel's death took hold of his spirit. All life went out of him, leaving his shell hypnotized by the spell of his past.

"Please," Elsa begged with tremors in her voice, endeavoring to snap him out of his heartbreaking trance and pull him into the light of the present. "Please don't fade away from me again." She heard him gulping as he blinked himself awake and finally saw her.

"You're...pregnant," Eugene murmured in shock, speaking as if he had been transported back into the room.

"I am," Elsa confirmed, shrinking away from whatever small hope she had.

"We're about to have a baby," he whispered, losing himself in his head again. Then his voice changed when he repeated, "We're...about to have a baby."

"It's more than that," she added, keeping his palm on her stomach. "Our lives are about to change." Her voice was gentle, but fear and insecurity still rang from it. She feared him getting on his knees and crying with his arms wrapped around his stomach once he was on the other side of his bedroom door. She feared him walking to the seaside and taking a boat onto the waters, where he could be alone with the memory of Rapunzel.

She feared him shutting her out before returning to her more broken than before; she feared the loss of their marriage and the mainstay she needed. He surprised her by changing the position of his hand to press it against her heaving belly. He buttoned his lips with his teeth and squinted against his tears. A smile formed underneath those quivering lips as two tears ran down his face and met at the bottom of his chin.

Elsa gasped when Eugene buried his face in her stomach. "Eugene?"

His tears dampened her nightgown as he cried against her.

"Oh, Eugene..." Elsa's hesitant fingers touched his nape while he clung to her like she would disappear. She lifted Eugene's face to make him look at her.

He only broke eye contact to peck her belly twice. His jittering smile touched every part of her trembling heart. "I'll never go anywhere," he swore as he shook his head, kissing her stomach again. "I'll never leave your side, I swear."

Elsa smiled at Eugene gratefully. The little flutter in her stomach reached her chest when he allowed her to taste his dripping tears. Salt filled her mouth as she kissed him back. His twitching lips pulled away from her half-parted ones to peck the groove of her mouth, heating up her face. He stroked her warm cheeks before connecting their foreheads and sighing deeply.

Elsa's smile grew in width. She shut her eyes to enjoy his warmth despite her apprehension.

"Are you nauseated?" he tenderly asked her.

She kept her eyes closed as she shook her head. "No. The feeling went away."

Eugene touched her stomach again, marveling at it. "You have our baby in there," he said in disbelief, tears still falling. His voice was full of mixed emotions this time.

"I can't believe it myself," Elsa softly admitted. "I always knew it would happen sooner or later, but..."

Eugene gazed into her opening eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Physically?"

"Emotionally. Mentally."

Elsa clutched his bedsheets, hesitating. She was glad to have a child with a spouse she loved, but the rational portion of her brain was nervous about pregnancy and motherhood for more reasons than one. She didn't know how her powers would respond to the hormonal changes in her body. The process of bringing a child into the world would be another uphill battle. If her gifts were hereditary, then she would be running blind. The sacrifices she would have to make during pregnancy alone weren't small.

All that mattered to her parliament was a male heir who walked in the footsteps of her late grandfather. Isolde, on the other hand, would be safe from the weight of the crown crushing her fragile body if all went well.

"Elsa?" Eugene called, trying to see more of the face she had turned away from him.

She finally answered his question by whispering, "I'm afraid..."

Eugene didn't ask her anything else. He looked at her with empathy shining out of his amber eyes as he waited for her to complete her thought.

"...Afraid that I'll mess things up," she appended.

Eugene's hands took one of hers to hold it between his large palms. "You won't."

"I don't know that for certain," she said, frowning at their hands.

"I do," Eugene replied as he raised her chin. His honey-colored eyes captivated her. "You're not alone in this. You have me by your side."

Elsa wanted to believe Eugene. His hands and eyes, combined with all the love and tenderness he expressed, seemed to convey the truth to her. She leaned forward and wrapped him in a hug, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. Her fingers gripped the back of his nightshirt as her heart pounded against his. Eugene returned her tight embrace and pressed his cheek against her head, making her feel safe in his love.

All she truly wanted from him was an unbroken promise to stay with her in body and spirit. She understood his challenges, but this time, she needed his presence in her life.

"Are you tired?" Eugene murmured, rubbing her back.

"Very," she said throatily.

"You should get some rest," he suggested. "I'll stay here with you."

Elsa smiled feebly at his caring nature. They curled up in bed with Eugene brushing his fingers over her belly as his chest hugged her back. She wondered what he was thinking about when he grazed the fabric of her nightgown with his fingertips, but didn't ask for his thoughts. She knew memories of Rapunzel's pregnancies still gripped him. She knew he had to resist seeing flashbacks of her hugging him after announcing the upcoming arrival of their first child, who never came. She knew he had to arm himself against memories of Rapunzel's personality changing after the horrible loss of their second baby, which was a nightmare he had described to Elsa in great detail.

Elsa knew Eugene had to swallow memories of two spouses no longer in love with "love" as they had been in their gondola on Rapunzel's eighteenth birthday due to the sting left by their diverging dreams. She knew he had to endure the pain of her dying before that sting had overwhelmed them with searing pain. She knew he had to put terrible thoughts on the back burner to think about her and the future in her womb. Yet she also knew that Rapunzel was smiling down on them with happy tears in her eyes.

Elsa looked back at Eugene, searching for clues of distress. "Are you...alright?"

He nodded, smiling weakly with his cheek embedded in his pillow. Tears still dewed his long eyelashes, making them stick together when he blinked.

Elsa returned Eugene's smile because smiling was all she could do. She turned around to bury her face into his collarbone and let him hold her, lifting his bedsheets over their intertwined forms. "I still want to ride with you into the countryside this afternoon, even if it's not to race," she whispered.

Eugene's fingers traced the dip of her waist. "I'll miss our races."

Elsa slid her feet underneath Eugene's. "I'll miss them as well."

Eugene's hand brushed over the fingers on her hip. "You look phenomenal when you ride, you know that?"

Elsa's fingertips kissed his as they pressed their palms together. "Do I?"

Eugene's nostril trailed down the wall of her nose. "Definitely." The edges of his lips tickled hers.

Elsa flicked the tip of his nose with her own to tease him. "I've fallen in love with it. Racing, I mean."

"So 'ave I," he said, almost breathlessly.

Elsa knew he wanted to kiss her finally, but she had more to say. "Maybe we can explore a new place today."

Eugene raised his eyebrows.

Joy was making its way toward Elsa's heart despite her exhaustion. "Somewhere like Hohenzollern."

"And what's in Hohenzollern for us?"

Elsa turned her head in the direction of the sunrise. "An adventure that I've been waiting to have."