Chapter 4: Everyone Gets Their Wish

When Elsa went to bed that night, she was tormented by the day's events. And then she got mad: at sleep for refusing to come, at the Council and its obtuseness. At Kit... well, not so much at Kit. He had probably been just scared, as she replayed their private conversation over in her mind.

By the time the sun rose, Elsa had made up her mind. Calling for Kai, she ordered that a Council meeting be convened in the Treaty Room as soon as possible.

Some of the Council members still looked half-awake when they gathered, especially this early in the morning. But none of them looked as bad as her valet, Kit. He looked like he had slept as little as Elsa had - which was to say, not at all. Had he been thinking of her?

Taking a deep breath, Elsa rose to address the Council. "I have considered what we discussed yesterday, gentlemen. And I find you to be correct - I must choose a husband. In fact, I have already made my choice."

The Council looked most surprised. Whispers abounded. Had the Queen been in secret correspondence with suitors? Love letters, perhaps? The Prime Minister looked elated, his eyes hopeful. "How wonderful, Your Majesty! And who, pray tell, is the lucky man?"

But Elsa didn't answer the question, at least not directly. Fixing Kit with a loving stare and hopeful smile, she announced, "I choose you."

Kit's mouth dropped open, blushing beet red as the Council went into an uproar.

"Unprecedented!"

"Outrageous!"

"One royal marrying a commoner was enough!"

Elsa maintained her regal facade. "My sister got to marry her heart's desire. I intend to follow her example."

The Secretary of War scoffed. "Then we shall rue the day that you ever thawed her heart! I will not allow the throne to be usurped by some measly servant!"

Rage. Hot, steaming rage gathered behind Elsa's eyes. The wish to see Anna dead, frozen forever, was insolent enough. Elsa was NOT prepared to let that go. But for him to say such a thing about her Kit... Elsa saw red.

If Kit could have ducked behind a table, a chair, anything, he would have. But that would have given the Secretary advanced warning. And no warning could save him.

The Secretary had barely gotten to his feet before they were frozen to the ground. And the ice only rose up his body from there. It covered the rest of him in record time, cutting off his scream.

Everyone present in the room would have been forgiven if they thought Elsa had frozen herself along with her Secretary of War. From her wide eyes, now darting about, she suddenly appeared 21 years old again, a freshly minted Queen. Like she had learned nothing.

The Prime Minister broke the silence. "The Queen must abdicate the throne. If she is to pursue relations with this man... she must abdicate the throne."

Elsa sighed. "Then I am no longer the Queen of Arendelle." No more would she prioritize her throne over her heart. Anna would make a fine successor. And she would have Joan as her heir, to care for and teach.

Kit was the first person to spring into action. "GUARDS! Bar the doors! Do not let anyone from this Council leave!" Then he grabbed Elsa's hand. "Come on!" And he dragged her into the hallway as the doors were closing. In front of a tapestry, he spun to face her. "No," he growled. "You are not releasing your throne for me."

"I will if it's true love! And I think I just did."

"Elsa, they will never accept me! Queens don't marry valets."

Elsa's eyes narrowed. "This one does!" she snarled. And then she practically attacked him, launching herself into his arms and kissing him. She was overcome with relief when she felt Kit kiss her back without resistance. Her eyes pricked with tears, and she wound herself about him tighter, keeping him closer still.

"I love you!" she whispered against his lips, her voice strangely hoarse, and she felt Kit trembling as he encircled her. And it struck Elsa with the force of a gale wind that Kit's fear came from a place of love, too. However misguided, he was trying to protect Elsa and what he thought were her best interests... because he wanted her to succeed. Just as much as Elsa wanted him to succeed.

Make no mistake about it - love was funny. And if this wasn't love, Elsa didn't know what was.

A sudden clearing of the throat made Elsa and Kit jump apart, their arms still about each other. The entire Council had somehow gotten past the guards and were now staring at the couple as though they had never seen the Queen and her valet before. One Secretary in particular stood in the middle of the group. Shivering, and with a blanket over him.

"My god," the Prime Minister breathed. "Her Majesty is in love."

Elsa smiled almost sheepishly, blushing.

"Just so," the Secretary of State concurred. "The thaw doesn't lie."

Thaw? Elsa thought, bewildered. Had... had her love for Kit really managed to thaw the frozen Secretary all the way in the next room? Apparently so.

"I say to Your Majesty... arrange the marriage," the Secretary of the Treasury smiled nervously. "You will have the full support and power of the Council behind you."

Kit gaped. Elsa's breath hitched and her eyes swam. "Thank you." She stood there, swaying for a moment before remembering herself. "Um... dismissed, gentlemen." And the Council took their leave.

Gazing at each other, Elsa and Kit embraced and shared a long, relieved kiss. "I love you," Elsa murmured.

Beaming, Kit kissed her again. "I know. I love you too. I'm... sorry I didn't fight harder for you."

Elsa just smiled. "You're forgiven. We love each other. Nothing else matters." A pause and then: "Will you marry me, Kit?"

Another kiss was his answer. "Yes."

They held each other in the silence of that hallway, just enjoying being together. Until Elsa remembered there was one more thing her fiancé needed to know.

"Kit?"

"Yes, my darling?"

"... I'm pregnant."

"God bless Mommy and Daddy and Sven and Olaf. God bless Kai and Gerda and all the servants in the castle. God bless Marshmallow and Grand Pabbie and all the trolls. Amen."

"Amen," Kristoff echoed with an amused smile.

From the crack in the doorway, Elsa watched as her niece said her prayers before bedtime, Kristoff kneeling by her side before her bed. Joan rose to her feet, then suddenly genuflected again, apparently forgetting a petition. Elsa quietly giggled.

"Oh, yes - and please bless Auntie Elsa and Mr. Kit! And please give Auntie a baby!"

Kristoff blinked. Unseen by him or his daughter, Elsa gasped. "A baby? Where did you get a wish like that, Joanie?"

Joan shrugged as she climbed under the coverlet her father pulled down for her. "So I can have a little cousin to play with. And besides, Daddy - Arendelle needs a succ... success..."

"Successor, sweetheart," Kristoff finished for her.

"Yeah, that!" Joan latched on. "Because I'm just the spare."

Kristoff nearly tripped over the coverlet. "What? Who told you that?"

Joan suddenly looked guilty. "I... heard some servants whispering about it in the kitchens. It's true, isn't it? I'm not next in line. I'm a mistake..."

"Now that is quite enough!" Elsa found her voice through the throat that was threatening to clog up, striding into the nursery. Sitting down on the edge of the mattress, she gently took her niece's hands in her own. "You, Joanie, are not a spare. You are not a mistake... do you hear me?" Her voice cracked at the end, and tears threatened to invade. A nervous Joan could only nod, irises wide.

Elsa continued, lacing their fingers together. "Fate gave you to your mommy and daddy for a reason. This family has already seen so much sadness. But Fate smiled down on us, and gave you to Mommy... to me..." She nearly lost it right there, but plastered a smile on her.

"Joanie?"

"Yes?"

"Auntie has a secret to tell you, but you cannot tell Mommy and Daddy until she is sure, because..." and Elsa leaned close so she could whisper in the little girl's ear. "You, my dear Princess Joan, just may get your wish."

Drawing back, she could see from the way Joan's eyes danced that she had gotten the message, loud and clear. Elsa beamed, winked, and pressed a kiss to Joan's forehead. "Good night, my sweet."

And she glided gently from the nursery - the nursery that might house her own baby one day.

The royal wedding was the biggest event Arendelle had seen in close to a decade. Bigger than the Princess's wedding, bigger than even the birth of the little Princess Joan.

Queen Elsa was the most beautiful bride, escorted by a teary Princess Anna and gliding gracefully down the aisle in a white dress that clearly accentuated her swelling stomach. She was clearly expecting, and the announcement of her pregnancy had sent the kingdom into a delirious tizzy. The baby, when it was born, was to be named Annabelle... Anna had cried for nearly a day when her sister had told her she was going to be an aunt, and that the future Queen would share her name.

Elsa and Kit exchanged rings and vows. The Holy Man blessed them, and upon pronouncing them husband and wife, Kit took Elsa in his arms with a triumphant, grateful smile.

"My Queen."

Elsa smiled lovingly back. "My Kit." He would be her King, but he would always be her Kit first.

Then, her husband bent and kissed her, and Elsa had no more doubts. There was only Kit, and the scent of the dying roses in the chapel around them, in the gardens below. And as Elsa and Kit embraced and kissed, fireworks were sent peeling into the gloriously sunny sky...