"Noooooooo. No no no no no no no. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I can't be sick. I can't. I need to drink a gallon of orange juice right now."
Anna panicking always made it difficult for Elsa to stifle her laughter. Anna panicked over the little things a lot. Contradicting her incredible bravery when it came to the big things.
"Here, let me make you a cup of tea. Stressing about being sick will only make it worse! Sit down." Elsa gave Anna a reassuring pat on the shoulder and sent her towards the large corduroy sofa in the living room.
Kristoff had been away on business for three weeks and Anna was counting down the days until she saw him again. She had tried to keep as busy as possible. She had dragged Elsa to the No Doubt concert despite Elsa preferring quieter venues with less screaming teenagers ("Did you see when Gwen looked at me during Spiderwebs? ELSA SHE LOOKED AT ME."). She had dragged Elsa to the new Argentinian café in town because she had to try their empanadas and alfajores. (Elsa had been secretly pleased about this excursion because they were delicious and an upgrade from the macaroni and cheese or frozen pizza Anna usually subjected her to). Anna had dragged Elsa to a pottery class despite Elsa knowing she would try to act out the scene from Ghost and that Anna would get disappointed when she didn't want to play along. ("C'mon Elsa, say 'Ditto' just once.")
Anna twisted her hands nervously, trying to wish herself healthy. There were tissues everywhere. On nearly every surface of the apartment. Elsa frowned at the sight of the one on top of the DVD player and the cluster near the microwave. Elsa tried to pick up as many as she could but Anna continued to drop another every few minutes.
"But Kristoff is coming back in less than two hours!" Anna whined "I have to go meet him at the airport and he won't want to kiss me if I'm a snotty mess!"
"Anna you're sneezing every five minutes and you have a mild fever, you're not going anywhere. You need to rest." Elsa searched for the eucalyptus and juniper tea stashed at the back of the cupboard. It was certainly not pleasant in taste but would help Anna breathe more comfortably. "Besides Kristoff will kiss you regardless."
"Wait, what? We can't just leave him at the airport! He'll be expecting me!" Anna started to try to get up from the sofa, mustering up what energy she had left, then fell back down from wooziness.
"Anna I hope you're not trying to get up. I told you to rest." Elsa called from the kitchen, slicing apples and waiting for the water to boil. "I will go pick up Kristoff and tell him you're sick."
"What about Sven?! Sven wants to see him, too!" Sven's cocked an ear towards Anna at the sound of his name, hoping to be given a carrot (his favourite treat) for no reason in particular. Anna put the back of her hand against her forehead, jumping slightly at the heat radiating from it. She sighed and hauled her legging-clad legs onto the sofa. She was swimming in Kristoff's soft navy hoodie, wrapping the long sleeves around her like a cocoon.
"Anna please tell me you weren't going to try to bring an Irish Wolfhound to the airport…" The kettle whistled and Elsa carefully poured the water over the loose-leaf strainer resting in the large blue mug. She had made peanut-butter toast with apple slices for Anna. She imagined Anna had been eating ramen and potato chips for days, judging by the state of the kitchen.
"Maaaaybe. He's very well-behaved!" Anna said defensively, smiling at Sven curled into a heap on the floor next to her.
"It's all fun and games until some small child wants to ride him." Elsa said dryly, gathering the tea and food onto a tray and bringing it into the living room. "Although, to be fair, I have seen kids ask Kristoff for a piggy-back ride as well." Elsa placed the tray on the coffee table to the right of Anna and sat down in the large floral armchair in the corner.
"They need to back off of my territory!" Anna grabbed a piece of toast and munched greedily.
"I'll go to the corner store to get you some more tissues and some Gatorade en route to the airport. Do you have any bottled water left? I want you to drink at least two litres today." Elsa's stern demeanor always cracked slightly when she looked at her sister, eyes softening at Anna's small smile. Even when sick her eyes sparkled.
"Thank you, Elsa. I know I take up a lot of your time…" Anna cradled the mug in her hands, inhaling the vapour, nose wrinkling.
"You know I wouldn't have it any other way." Elsa said, smiling broadly. "Now then, allowing for the detour to the store and for traffic toward the airport, I should get going." Elsa smoothed her long silk fuscia trousers and went to find her espadrilles, abandoned next to the mountain of Anna's shoes by the front door.
"Rest." Elsa commanded, shooting her sister one last look before heading out the door.
Anna sneezed four times in quick succession, limbs launching in all directions. Sven jumped in surprise. "Sorry, Sven. Ugh my nose feels like it's going to fall off." Anna drained the dregs of her tea and stuck her tongue out in displeasure. She stood up slowly and shuffled to the bathroom, haphazardly smoothing her unruly hair down with one hand.
Anna took one look in the mirror and recoiled "Ahhhhh!"
Slowly she inched closer to the surface, inspecting her pale face. Her eyes were tired with small, dark circles underneath. She did a double-take when she got to her nose, seriously debating with herself whether or not it had been replaced by a cherry tomato. A few zits dotted her chin. Anna noted her hair was the crowning glory of the monstrosity before her, in awe of just how much volume one could get without actually being electrocuted.
"Damnit. Why did I have to get sick right before Kris comes home?" With a dejected sigh, Anna resigned herself to try to improve her current state as best she could. After laying out fresh clothes she had a quick shower, nearly taking the shower curtain down in the midst of another sneezing fit. She slathered on lotions and creams but her nose continued to glow crimson. She got dressed and brushed her hair into a high ponytail. Next came the giant bunny slippers.
Sven wagged his tail against the kitchen wall with a thump, shifting his bowl across the floor with his nose. "Alright, alright kibble is on its way!" Anna said dodging the leaping dog. She escaped feeding time with only three licks this time, noting her new record.
Anna filled the kettle with water and turned it on, her excitement at Kristoff's imminent arrival starting to unfurl in her stomach. Even if I look horrible, at least I get to see him after three weeks! She grinned and starting dancing around the kitchen, singing into a tablespoon as she rifled through the cupboard for her favourite oolong.
Anna had just poured herself a cup of milk oolong when she heard the keys turn in the lock and the familiar stomp of Kristoff's workboots on the welcome mat. Sven charged towards the door, nearly knocking Anna down in the process. Anna was hot on his heels.
"Oof!" Kristoff cried out, trying to set his bags down while Sven barrelled into him. "I missed you too, buddy."
Anna beamed at Kristoff, noticing he was fumbling with grocery bags trying to untangle himself and his suitcase from Sven. "You're finally home!" Anna half-hopped, half-slid towards him, tripping on a runaway orange that was rolling down across the hardwood floor. Thankfully she landed in Kristoff's arms.
"Hey beautiful!" Kristoff grinned, pulling her in for a kiss. "I missed you."
"Who, me? I look terrible. I mean, I assume Elsa told you I've been sick… Oh are there more oranges? DID SHE BUY ICE CREAM? She knows I love ice cream when I'm sick. Did Elsa not want to come in for a minute? Oh well. It was so nice of her to pick you up. Anyway, I would make a great clown without even using any makeup and I'm soooo tired but hopeful- hey! You're so scruffy. Not as scruffy as Sven, obviously but it may get to that point in a couple of days. I like it!" Anna scratched Kristoff's chin, nodding approvingly.
"Have you stopped to take a breath? Am I safe to speak now?" Kristoff quipped, laughing at Anna's brow furrowing in anger. "You look beautiful to me. How are you feeling, though?"
Anna's smile threatened to make her cheeks hurt and the skin around her nose stung. "Better. Much better."
"Good. Elsa bought us a few groceries – she says you've been eating the normal-Anna level of junk food while I've been gone?" Kristoff moved his suitcase into the bedroom and started unpacking, launching clothes into the laundry basket for points.
"Nuh uh. Ramen totally has vegetables in it. I mean, they're freeze-dried but they count." Anna was about to start on how cheese had a lot of protein but Kristoff had started stripping off his t-shirt and jeans and Anna stopped to admire the view.
Kristoff has his back towards her, pulling on warm flannel pants. Anna wolf-whistled, meeting Kristoff's faux surprised gaze with waggling eyebrows when he turned around.
"Alright princess, we can get back to that after dinner. Do you want to open your present?" Kristoff asked slyly, preparing himself for an onslaught of squealing.
"Present?! You got me a present?! WHEREWHATHOW?" Anna was flailing and only just resisting the urge to rifle through Kristoff's suitcase herself.
"Hold on!" Kristoff rummaged in his bag and pulled out a small yellow box. "I hope you like it… I'm not the best judge of- well here." He thrust the box into her hand.
Anna carefully undid the ribbon (she caught herself before giving the box a shake, Elsa had told her that wasn't very polite). Anna gasped as she pulled a delicate silver charm bracelet from the box, twirling it in the light, open-mouthed.
"Speechless? Either I did very well or very badly in my gift purchasing adventure." Kristoff said, the slightest bit of anxiousness creeping into his voice. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and shuffled awkwardly.
"Kristoff- I-" Anna kept switching her look from the bracelet to Kristoff, startled into a blink when Sven decided to permeate the silence with a happy bark.
"There's a log cabin – you remember how we loved that place up in the mountains? And there's a duck because you always wanted to play with those baby ducks by the pond when we went to the national park. And the snowflake is for your face lighting up whenever we go for a walk after a fresh snowfall. And the-" Kristoff's voice was silenced by Anna's arms thrown around his neck and her lips pressing into his. He squeezed her to him tightly.
"It's beautiful. I love it, Kris." Anna thought her cheeks might fall off from smiling so broadly.
"Happy early anniversary." Kristoff smiled and helped fasten it around Anna's wrist.
"What? You are early – it isn't for another week!" Anna landed a soft punch to Kristoff's right arm.
"I'm sneaky like that." Kristoff said, eyes twinkling. "Now my darling, shall I cook us some real food? We do have ice cream for dessert…"
Anna nodded and gave a playful slap to Kristoff's butt as he walked into the kitchen. She kept sighing and turning over the tiny charms on her wrist. Anna then went to the mirror again to admire how the bracelet fell on her wrist and mimed how she would tell everyone who happened to notice it.
"Anna." Kristoff sighed, half-laughing. "I don't want to alarm you, but I think there's an entire new eco-system growing in our fridge."