Chapter 50: Joining

"I can't." Her face was icy cold, and all seriousness. Just then she appeared to James every bit the Ice Queen people feared and not the Elsa he knew and loved enough to move heaven and earth to be with.

"What do you mean, you can't?," he slowly stood up, his face sagging from the unanticipated dejection, but quickly hardening with anger as his ears turned red then purple. "You already wear my ring! You're raising my nephew as your son! You have apparently spent over a year grieving for me!" He paced the room. "This is completely unacceptable, Elsa. It makes no sense! After everything we have shared and meant to each other… I refuse to accept your refusal. You yourself said just the other day that we're a team! If you can't accept me as your husband, then… Don't say that you never loved me, Elsa. Don't… just don't belittle everything we've been to each other."

Wounded deeper than any bullet or arrow could have pierced him, he turned to walk away from her, most probably forever, but her slender hand caught his arm and stopped him. "James, I can't accept your proposal of marriage…"

"There's no need to rub salt into the wound, Elsa. Whatever feelings you have for me, they obviously aren't enough!" His hurt was growing into anger. "I'm not some play thing to be toyed with, Elsa. I am a man whose heart bleeds for you!"

"And no matter what, I am the sovereign queen, I have already sworn an oath to uphold the laws of Arendelle," she stated, her face showing no emotion.

He said nothing in return, because he was so angry the words escaped him. Elsa rolled her eyes at him. "James, for someone who has spent his life at Court, you can be quite dense when you lose your temper."

He cocked his head to the right and with venom in his speech replied, "Why thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty."

She squeezed his arm, causing him to almost flinch at her touch, but he just couldn't. He loved her too much, "James, I can't accept your proposal, because during your absence it has come to my attention that tradition, protocal, and most importantly the law demand that I ask you." Her icy expression melted as tears ran down her porcelain face, and a smile filled with more warmth than the sun contained gently graced it.

"Excuse me?" he asked, the anger softening from his face. "Since when have you been such a stickler for tradition and protocol, Elsa?"

"It's more that I must adhere to the law, which I swore to uphold and protect at my coronation. This one was written by the same ancestor who dictated that Kristoff had to hold a title. I want our marriage to be recognized, not some unofficial arrangement. I want to bear your children, and for them to be legitimate."

He reached to cup her head in his hand, running his fingers through her hair. "Aidan does need a castle-full of siblings, after all, with your eyes."

"And your smile," Elsa added, a tear streaming from her eye into his hand. Her voice was shaking, but truer than it have ever been before. "James, from the moment our eyes first met, I knew in my heart you were mine even if it took my head a while to catch up with it. You are my best friend. You are my confidant. You are the better half of me and make me want to be a better person - a better queen. You are the only man whose touch I crave, the only man I trust with all my of my heart and all my soul. Will you do me the extreme honor of becoming my consort, my husband, and lover? Will you, James Harris Westbrooke marry me, making me the happiest of women?

He didn't answer her with words, but rather slid his arm around her waist, pulling her up against him, and kissed with a hunger that only she could satisfy. She responded in kind, moaning as his hands began to gently glide over the geography of her dress, his lips trailing down her neck, causing a fire to burn within her supposedly icy soul. She pulled him with her as she backed to the chaise lounge nearby, falling onto it with him on top of her.

He stopped his ministrations, cupped her head into his hands, and gazed into her blue eyes that told him she was ready to be his completely then and there. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and considered taking what she so willingly offered just then, but hesitated. Finally they were together and would soon be together in every way. He hadn't meant to find love when he docked in Arendelle three years previously to escort Rapunzel and Eugene home to Corona, but he was eternally thankful that he did.

He hesitated just long enough for Anna, who had completely recovered from giving birth on a mountaintop, to come bounding in without knocking. "Hey Elsa, have you seen Elsabet's purple blanket that Rapunzel brought from Corona?" She found them in a position very close to what Elsa had once called "marital congress" when explaining it to her just after the Great Thaw, and was quite shocked and embarrassed - at least for Anna. "Oh, I'm sorry to have interrupted you two! Look over there is that blanket!" She jerked her daughter's blanket into her hands. "I guess I should be going now. Carry on! Just when you're finished ravishing my sister, James, know that you'll have to marry her, or I'll be forced to call you out in a duel." Before he could respond, she had exited the room.

Elsa's porcelain face was painted in a deep blush as was James'. "She's not really gone. She's just behind the door, listening," she whispered. She then said in a much louder voice, "I think we should marry as soon as possible. I want to be able to finish what we started, and I don't want Elsabet to lose her mother in some insane duel!" she said into his hair as he hung his head in a mixture of mirth, shame, and mortification.

He started to kiss her again but the squeal behind the door reminded them that they needed to make their engagement known to at least Anna. Reluctantly, they got up from the lounge and attempted to make themselves presentable again.

Once she felt comfortable enough, Elsa called to her sister, "Anna, you can come back in here!"

Before she could finish her sentence the door was open, and her sister was hugging her and squealing, forgetting her daughter's blanket for the time being. Wedding plans were being made by the industrious sister-of-the-bride. As Anna chattered about whether to serve soup, roast, and ice cream, Elsa could only smile at her beloved as he returned with his own. So much joy and love abounded from the queen that she quite possibly couldn't have conjured a snowflake had she wanted to just then.

However, as James listened to Anna discuss all of the elaborate details she had probably been planning for his marriage to Elsa since he met the sister, he realized he didn't want any of it. He only wanted Elsa. Balls , receptions, parades, and all the other pandering could be planned and done after, but he didn't want to wait for everything to be planned and carried out to be her husband. "No!" he practically yelled.

"No to what, James?" Elsa asked, confused. "I refuse to let you change your mind. We're getting married."

James laughed lightly before answering, "No to soup, roast, and ice cream! No to waiting until the spring when our families and countless other dignitaries can converge here again. No to the parades and balls and whatever else if it means that I have to wait any longer for Elsa to be my wife! We should have been married a year ago!" He knelt down to Elsa and took her hand in his. "Elsa, don't you think we've waited long enough?"

Elsa glanced at Anna, who was surprisingly speechless then back to James. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. We can throw all of the celebrations in honor of our marriage we want to after the fact. However, we do have all of our closest family members here for a short time. Most importantly you are here. Marry me tomorrow?" she asked with a glimmer in her eyes James and Anna both thought might have been lost forever after the previous year and a half's events.

James jumped up to kiss her far more passionately than he normally would have in front of Anna. "I'll be the one in the dress uniform!" He left the sisters to plan what they needed to do. He would have all the time in the world with Elsa after the morrow.

"What are you going to do for a dress?" Anna asked, still in shock.

Elsa hugged her sister and laughed. "Have you forgotten that I'm the Snow Queen and can conjure up my own dresses whenever I wish?"

"Oh yeah, right! I actually did forget that for a bit," she laughed. She then clasped Elsa's hand and just looked at her, loving this sister of hers. "Wait, why don't you wear Mama's? I bet it would fit you without any alterations. You're built just like her!"

"Do you think it would be okay to wear her dress? Do you think she would approve?" Elsa asked, unsure.

Anna smiled, "I think she would demand it if she were here. It'll be like a part of her is here too, you know."

"I like that," Elsa admitted, a dreamy look taking over her face.

"Elsa," Anna called.

"What?"

"You're getting married… tomorrow!"

Elsa genuinely beamed. "I know! You know what though?" she asked Anna.

"What?"

"I wish we had yesterday, then I would already be his wife, and he would be my husband."

Anna leaned her head on Elsa's shoulder and sighed. "It seems like so long ago we were both so very alone in this castle. Now we have Kristoff and James and Aidan and Elsabet! I still can't quite believe there's an Elsabet, even when she's screaming her little head off. Let's not forget everyone else, either! We have so much love in our lives now. It's nothing like it was. Our world was so lonely then."

Elsa kissed Anna, the new mother's, forehead, and agreed. "It's like it was a lifetime ago."

The morning dawned, bright and beautiful but not quite as beautiful as the queen who was to be a bride that day. She made certain to awake before the sun that day, as there were many things to attend to. James made sure not to see her, even when she announced to the entire family at breakfast that they were to attend a wedding that day in a most interesting way. She was surprised that Anna was able to keep quiet as she did it.

"Where's James?" Aunt Lillian asked as a footman poured her coffee. She couldn't quite see enough of the nephew she thought she had lost forever.

"He had some things to attend to for me," Elsa slyly avoided telling them that he was acquiring the priest and appropriate documentation. "Uncle," she asked, seeking not only his attention, but everyone else's.

"Yes, dear?" he answered, not thinking she would request anything too important.

"Are you busy this afternoon and evening?"

He glanced at his wife and smiled, "I have no fixed plans. Can I be of service to you?"

Elsa smiled, "Well yes actually. Do you remember some time ago, just after Anna and Kristoff's wedding, when you asked when you would have the pleasure of giving me away to James?"

A small smile began to spread across his face. "I remember it quite clearly."

Elsa couldn't contain her overwhelming joy as she asked him, "Would you mind doing so this evening in the chapel?"

Rapunzel grinned from ear to ear. "Elsa, does this mean what I assume it does?"

Elsa nodded and stood from her seat at the head of the table to announce, "I am overjoyed to announce to all you whom James and I love more than any others on this world that the time has come for Uncle Albert to give me away to James… this afternoon in the chapel."

Anna screamed with joy, now that the secret was finally out, causing her grandmother, who was seated next to her, to jump and drop her tea cup."Anna please, I am not a cat. I haven't nine lives to lose. Please try to contain yourself somewhat."

"I'm sorry Granny, but I've known since last night when I walked in on the two of them celebrating their engagement in a very compromising position. In fact, I told James that once he was finished he'd have to marry Elsa, or I would be forced to duel him." Anna smirked. "Of course, then they didn't do anything."

"Oh, there goes my appetite!" Kristoff moaned as he dropped his fork. Elsa was his sister, and didn't want to think about her in any position, so to speak.

Fergus stood up to congratulate the woman who was to be his sister before the end of the day. "May I be the first to kiss the bride-to-be… today?"

Elsa leaned over for him to kiss her cheek, 'Absolutely, brother!"

"I like the sound of that," he whispered into her ear.

"So Frosty, can't wait any longer, heh?" Eugene asked with an evil smirk that garnered him a "Eugene!" and slap in the gut from Rapunzel. He just looked at her and smiled. "I love it when you say my name like that," making Rapunzel roll her eyes, then pinch his knee.

Elsa laughed, "Actually no, to be quite truthful, I can't. We've been forced to wait for far too long!"

"Is such a rushed wedding quite legal, dearest?" Granny asked. "We want everything to be on the up and up, you know."

Elsa laughed. "Quite, actually, Granny. I took care of the most important legality last night by refusing his proposal then countering with my own. It does help to be the queen in matters like this though. James is taking care of everything else as we speak."

Aunt Lillian stood to hug her dear niece. "Well I for one can't think of two people more deserving than Elsa and James! Let's get you ready to be married!"

So it was on that evening, King Albert was finally able to give his last girl away to her most deserving bridegroom. They recited the vows that they had both had repeated over and over to themselves during the time they were parted. It was just as Elsa had imagined it, only better with the added family members, especially the very special ring bearer who managed to behave throughout the entire ceremony. When the priest announced to James that he could kiss his bride, he did so with such gusto that most everyone had to turn away their heads. Everyone except Anna and Eugene, who both whooped and hollered like they were in a tavern turned their heads, that is.

Bells were rung throughout all of Arendelle. Queen Elsa had finally married the man who owned her heart. The kingdom rejoiced despite the fact that there were no public celebrations. Over the past three years they had learned the heart of their queen and loved her loyally. She was good and kind and loving, and now there was the promise of an heir some day.

They held a small, dinner celebration of just family. They ate, they laughed, and they waltzed. Then Aidan was entrusted to the care of his many doting family members, and Elsa named Granny as regent since Anna had just had her baby. James then whisked his bride away to some private and secluded wing of the caste where a guard was posted outside the wing in order to prevent any and all interruptions.

Once the bride and groom were gone, and everyone else was left to feel the emptiness that often follows such a happy event, Eugene spoke up. "Okay, who wants to put down fifty marks on when there will be a new prince or princess?"

Granny handed him a small purse, "Put me down for nine months to this day! I'm beating you to the punch, Albert!"

Fergus jumped up, "I'll take one year and a week!"

Alone in their bridal suite, with only candles illuminating the room, James placed Elsa on the bed, ever so gently and began removing her stockings, sending shivers throughout her body. He then turned her back to him, and began to unbraid her hair with gentle yet deft fingers, letting it fall to her shoulders. Once her hair was down, he unlaced the stays in her dress, placing soft kisses upon her neck and back as they were exposed, finding to his delight that she wore nothing underneath her dress.

She turned to him, feeling utterly exposed compared to him, but her shame quickly dissipated upon seeing the manner in which James worshipped her with his wonderful green eyes. She had always kept so much of herself hidden from everyone. It was remarkably freeing and empowering to completely bare herself to this man, body and soul.

She pulled his face to hers so that she could kiss him and began to unbutton his shirt, thus evening their state of undress. "Husband," she called to him, staring beyond his emerald irises into the depths of his soul. "Wife," he murmured into her neck as they gave themselves freely to each other, two hearts joining to become one.

Some months later…

Queen Elsa sat alone on the balcony of her bedchamber. She watched the summer stars twinkling over her kingdom and window after window grow dark from candles being blown out for the night. A warm breeze danced through her hair, and she felt a miraculous flutter in her stomach. "Alone no more and never again," she thought to herself, caressing the promising bulge of her abdomen. Hers was no longer a kingdom of isolation, but a kingdom of love and open gates. Like the grandest glacier, it took time to thaw the heart that had been frozen from fear and isolation. Awaiting her inside was a sister she who had given her life for her, a brother she adored, a niece she helped bring into the world, a grandmother she was learning from whom she was learning so much about life, and a dear, dear man reading to the little boy they made their own. Most of all a promising future she never could have fathomed in her darkest of days awaited her. It was a gradual thaw, with more than its share of bumps, bruises, and tears, but the journey had been the making of her and had been worth it all the while.

Well, there you have it. I hope you've enjoyed the journey for the second time around. For those of you following The Past Is In the Past, I'm going to be taking it down soon and completely rewriting it as well. After that, I have a fic full of one-shots planned to get us to our next big story that as yet doesn't have a title but is very Elsa/ James- centric.