Jelsa: Our Eternal Winter (Sequel to Our Frozen Love)

27: Surprise

*Jack*

Crystal entered the palace unexpectedly at dusk. Her head hung low, and her limbs trembled with worry as she walked closer to me, causing me to get a breeze of curiosity about what was going on with her.

"Where's Mom?" She asked lowly.

"I'm here," Elsa replied out of the blue, coming up next to me in her regular white and blue ice dress with a thick cape. She fixed the braid in her hair as she caught sight of Crystal, who was biting her lip. "Are you okay?" Elsa asked her. Crystal shrugged.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod. "I just have something really, really important to tell you."

I went over to her slowly. "Alright," I said to her in preparation, holding my staff on my shoulders while using my arms to hold it in place.

"It's just that...I just found out that..." she trailed off and rubbed the back of her neck. I raised my eyebrow, awaiting the apparent news. She sighed and looked up at me and Elsa with innocent eyes. "I'm pregnant," she said quietly. My jaw dropped. I looked over at Elsa, whose eyebrows were raised in astonishment. Crystal then shrugged her shoulders and giggled at our reactions. "Surprise!" She said with just enough enthusiasm to match the smile she wore.

I looked at her, then at Elsa, then at Crystal again, going back and forth between expressions in an awkward silence. I knew Elsa was more comfortable with Crystal being with Pitch since she gained a bit of trust in him for protecting Crystal. Even I felt the same way. But I still had no idea what Elsa thought of Sapphira, or any child belonging to our daughter.

"Well," I broke the silence. "That's good, right?" I glanced at Elsa to try to figure out what she thought based upon the look on her face, which was completely blank.

"Um, yeah," Crystal replied to me as if I was somewhat dumb.

"Does Pitch know?" I asked, glancing at Elsa once more to check if her blank expression had changed. Crystal nodded in response.

"I told him earlier. So far he's handling it alright." She giggled. "So...what do you two think?" She then tensed slightly.

I opened my mouth to reply and stopped myself to glance at Elsa again, who was now biting her lower lip in thought. She took a breath and smoothly began, "Crystal..." she sighed, a small smile now building on her face. "I think it's wonderful."

Wow. That went better than I expected. I nodded in agreement and stated, "Same here," with casualty. Crystal let out a breath of relief, closing her gold eyes softly.

"Good," she whispered. "That's all I needed to hear."

"Our approval?" I asked. She shrugged her slim shoulders while nodding.

"Pretty much," she replied. I chuckled and glanced at Elsa again to find her still smiling, giving me the relieving feeling that she was relaxed. After they had come back two weeks ago, Elsa told me that she and Crystal had had a long argument in Emily's treehouse. She had said that Crystal had to explain everything that had happened in the past five years, which shocked Elsa past her stressing point. Though, she eventually gave in and realized that Crystal had a point in living her own life and gaining trust in those who are misunderstood.

Suddenly, there was a soft gust of wind, and Emily teleported herself in the palace, her long black hair swirling around her. "Crystal!" She shouted. We all turned towards her in curiosity.

"Emily?" Crystal asked. "Is everything alright?"

"It's Sapphira," Emily replied. Crystal raised her eyebrows in worry. "Nothing's wrong with her, but you have to come see her."

Crystal hurried towards Emily, looking back at me and Elsa as a goodbye before they disappeared in a wink. I ran a hand through my hair and turned to Elsa.

"Well," I began. "Now what?"

She looked down, not replying as she stared blankly at the floor of ice. I stretched my arm out to wave it in front of her face, attempting to catch her attention.

"Hello?" I asked. "Earth to Snowflake."

She giggled and shook her head. "I'm just thinking," she explained.

"About Crystal?" I asked. She nodded in response.

"It's not that I'm worried about her, it's just that, I'm not used to her being an actual mother yet. It just seems so unreal. Almost...impossible. Especially with Pitch by her side."

"I'm sure they have things worked out. She trusts him, and now we do too."

Elsa looked down again. "She just grew up so fast," she said with a sigh. "There's no turning back time."

"We could've had more, you know," I blurted out.

"I did want more kids, Jack." Elsa exclaimed. "I really did. But after Crystal was born, I was too afraid of what would happen."

I nodded in understanding. "I get it," I told her. "But it's no big deal. We have bigger things to think about nowadays."

Elsa hummed. "I wonder what's going on with Sapphira," she said. I cocked my head to the side, thinking the exact same thing.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I wonder what's up."