Gifts

"What do you get the queen who has everything?" Anna asked as she flounced over to her sister's desk and perched on the edge. "Because I'd really like to know."

Elsa glanced up from her paperwork. Anna looked far too adorable with something between a pout and a scowl on her face. "I was under the impression that my Christmas present was supposed to be a surprise. I don't think it can be all that much of a surprise if you ask me what I want." She raised one eyebrow. "Wouldn't you agree, Anna?"

"Oh, don't do that eyebrow thing at me." Anna waved one hand at Elsa. "Honestly, your eyebrows should be criminal. They're all…"

"All what?" And then, just because she could, Elsa raised her eyebrow just enough to turn her expression from questioning to ridiculous.

"I don't know, expressive or something." Anna reached out to trace the recalcitrant eyebrow with one fingertip. To her great pleasure, Elsa permitted the contact, lips twitching into something that almost a smirk. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're doing that thing… that thing where you make me feel like you're still the big sister and I'm still the little sister."

"You do realise that I am still your big sister and you are still my little sister." Elsa eased Anna's hand away before the younger woman could resume her poking and prodding.

"Stop using logic. It's completely unfair." Anna couldn't help but smile. This was Elsa's playful side – a side that only she ever got to see. "And I'm only asking what I should get you for Christmas because I am completely out of ideas."

"You're out of ideas?" Elsa considered the paperwork in front of her for a moment and then set it aside. Trying to understand the intricacies of Anna's mind was bound to be far more enjoyable than combing through the minutiae of a trade agreement that she had at least another six month to thoroughly review. "You, Anna of Arendelle, are out of ideas?"

"Yes." Anna scowled and turned her nose up at Elsa in what she hoped was an expression of utter superiority. Unfortunately, it looked more like she had a crick in her neck. "And what is so odd about me being out of ideas?" She leaned forward and nearly fell onto Elsa when she lost her balance. Elsa steadied her with one hand, and Anna did her best to keep her composure. She'd almost hit something – in this case, Elsa – with her face. Again. "Well? Why is it so odd?"

Elsa lifted Anna off her desk and conjured a chair out of ice for the younger woman. Given Anna's proclivity for endearing clumsiness, it was probably the safest course of action for both of them. "It is odd, sister dear, because you have never lacked creativity. If anything, you have a little too much of it. So forgive me if I'm surprised when I hear that you're out of ideas about what to get me for a present."

"Too much creativity?" Anna slouched in her chair and then gave Elsa a poke in the leg with her foot – or at least, she tried to. To her consternation, however, all she succeeded in doing was stubbing her toe on the leg of Elsa's desk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Elsa lifted Anna's foot onto her lap and conjured some more ice to soothe the stubbed toe before it could get any worse. Honestly, Anna's propensity for bumping, tripping, and flailing all over the place had done more to improve her control over her magic than anything else, if only because magic was the only way to keep Anna from killing herself by accident. "Do you remember what you got me last Christmas?"

"Maybe…" Anna looked away and folded her arms over her chest. "I can't say that I recall exactly what I got you, but I do know that it was a wonderful success."

"You smuggled elephants into the Christmas party after you found out that I had always wanted to see some." Elsa snickered. "They almost sat on some of the dignitaries."

"In my defence," Anna replied, trying and failing once again for an air of sophisticated superiority. "Those weren't dignitaries that you liked. If anything you should be glad. Those elephants were doing you a favour."

Elsa laughed and gave Anna's foot a chiding poke. "Anna, we cannot allow elephants to sit on visiting dignitaries."

"But you liked the elephants, right?" Anna asked. "You smiled, and laughed, and everything."

"I loved them," Elsa replied, patting Anna's foot. "And it was a shame that we had to send them south, but they wouldn't have lasted this long so far north. Nevertheless, those elephants are the perfect example of what I'm talking about. You always have something up your sleeve."

"I did have something up my sleeve." Anna frowned and fidgeted in her chair, which did rather scandalous things to the position of her skirt. "I know you've never seen a dragon and you've always wanted to see one, and I'd heard some interesting rumours about where I could find some. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out if the rumours are true or not."

"You know…" Elsa waggled her criminally expressive eyebrows. "I could always –"

Anna waved her arms around. "Yes, I know. You could always make a dragon out of ice, and it would probably be awesome since you're awesome at pretty much everything, apparently, but I wanted to find you a real one. One that breathes fire and mangles stuff."

"I see." Elsa chuckled. "I suppose it might be for the best that you didn't find one."

"I don't know." Anna rubbed her chin with one hand. "There are a few people I wouldn't mind setting on fire or mangling." She glared playfully at her older sister. "And there you go again, using logic. That's one of the reasons that it's so hard to get you a good Christmas present. You're quite horrible, Elsa."

"I'm horrible, am I?" Elsa grinned. "And why is that?" She kept a firm hold on Anna's foot as the younger woman tried to poke her with her toe. "If you keep trying to poke me with your toe, Anna, I'll have you wearing ice shoes for the rest of the day."

Anna gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me." Elsa patted Anna's foot and smirked. "Just go ahead and push your luck."

Anna stilled. Elsa could be quite mischievous when she put her mind to it. "Anyway," Anna continued, surreptitiously looking around for something – anything – that she could poke Elsa with. After all, Elsa had only told her to stop try to poke her with her toe. Maybe the older woman could make her an icicle or something. "As I was saying, getting you gifts is an exercise in torture."

"Please, do explain." Elsa's lips curled. "And, Anna, stop looking for something to poke me with."

"Could you –"

"No, I am not making you an icicle to poke me with." Elsa's eyes twinkled. "And, no, I am not a mind reader." She poked Anna's foot. "But I have come to understand some of how that mind of yours works."

"As I was saying." Next time, Anna would simply have to bring something with her. A stick would do. "You always get me the best gifts. You set a completely impossible standard for me to live up to."

"So now you're complaining that not only is it hard to get me a gift but my gifts are also too good." Elsa put on an expression of mock severity. "You do realise that you're not making any sense whatsoever."

"I'm making perfect sense." Anna held up the pendant that Elsa had given her last Christmas. "Look at this. You gave it to me last year. It's perfect, Elsa. It's beautiful, it goes well with all my clothes, and it even tells you where I am and protects me from the cold. It's the perfect gift."

"Shouldn't you be glad it looks good? And I made it so that it could tell me where you are and protect you from the cold because you have the most alarming tendency to go wandering around in inappropriate clothing."

"I do not."

"Anna, a ball gown is not suitable attire for hiking up a mountain."

"But it's not like you dress appropriately either." Anna pouted. "It's not fair."

"Yes, it's not. But unlike you, I can't freeze to death."

Anna gave a cute, little growl. It was hard to argue that point. "Anyway, how do I compete with a present like that? Not even elephants measure up to that." Anna nodded firmly to herself and fixed Elsa with her most imperious glare. "Elsa, I hate to say this, but you've started a Christmas present arms race."

"Anna, I'm your older sister and I love you very much, but you're crazy." Elsa sighed. "Very crazy."

"I'm perfectly sane." Anna huffed. "And I still don't know what to get you for Christmas." She giggled. "You're incredibly troublesome."

"Anna, you don't have to get me anything for Christmas." Elsa smiled gently. "Just having you here with me is more than enough."

Anna's eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward again, her face only inches from Elsa's. "And now you're doing that other thing again."

"What other thing?" Elsa, despite all of her hard work, was still not fluent in Anna-speak. She doubted anyone ever would be.

"Being the perfect older sister." Anna looked up at the heavens. "Because I know that you totally mean that. You really would be okay if I got you nothing for Christmas and just spent the day with you."

"Of course I would." Elsa shrugged. To Anna's admiration – and secret envy – she somehow managed to make even that gesture elegant. "You're my sister. I love you."

"And now I have to get you the most awesome present ever." Anna threw her hands up in despair. "Because how can I not when you say things like that and mean then. I –"

Elsa put one finger on Anna's lips before she could work herself into a conniption. "Whatever you get me will be fine. I promise. As long as it's from you."

Anna pursed her lips and eyed Elsa sceptically. "So… if I made you really bad cookies, so bad that you go food poisoning, then you'd still like them?"

"I suppose I would still like them if they were from you although I would suggest that you not give me food poisoning on purpose. Attempting to assassinate your queen is a crime." Elsa ruffled Anna's hair. "If you're going to make cookies, ask for help."

Anna squirmed. She didn't know why Elsa had started ruffling her hair, and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be pleased or annoyed by it. She usually settled for both. "I'll get you the best present ever, Elsa. Just you wait."

Elsa laughed. "Why do you make that sound like a threat?"

X X X

"Take this!"

Elsa didn't so much as blink as Anna practically kicked the doors of her study off their hinges, brandishing what appeared to be a legal document of some kind.

"Anna, are you all right? You don't normally break into my study until it's almost lunchtime."

"I'm better than all right!" Anna lifted her document like a trophy. Elsa was, quite frankly, surprised that it wasn't sparkling, that was how much stock Anna seemed to put in it. "Because… I got you this."

"And what, exactly, is that?" Elsa said. "And could you stop waving it around. I'm afraid you'll lose your grip on it and hit me in the eye."

"Oh. Okay." As much as Anna hated to admit it, Elsa had a point. She skipped over to Elsa's desk and handed the document over to her sister. "It's your Christmas present."

"It's not Christmas yet."

Anna's eye twitched. "I thought I'd give it to you early. And you'll like it." Anna cackled and rubbed her hand together. "You'll like it… a lot."

Elsa reached out and held Anna's hands still. "I would prefer it if you didn't do that. It's… disturbing. Anyway, let me have a look at that."

Elsa perused the document carefully, and her lips curved up into a smile. "If I'm reading this correctly, then I now have complete and immediate access to an endless supply of hugs over the next year at any time and place of my choosing."

"That's right." Anna's smugness was an almost physical thing. "Great, huh?"

"It is a wonderful present." Elsa nodded. "Very thoughtful." Anna preened. "And definitely something I'd enjoy." Anna smirked. "But… you already hug me a lot, almost every chance you get actually." Anna froze. "Does this mean that you won't be hugging me anymore unless I ask?" Anna's eye twitched. "Or does it mean that you'll be hugging me even more than usual?" Anna scowled. "Still, I rather like it."

"Elsa…" Anna pointed one finger at her sister. "Stop doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"You know." Anna pouted. "That… logic thing. It's completely unfair and mean, so stop doing it."

"It's perfectly fair and not the least bit mean."

Anna stomped around the desk, eyes narrowed into her most menacing glare. "But you're being totally –"

Elsa raised one hand and smirked, and it was such a smug smirk. "Hug. I want a hug right now."

"But…" Anna strangled the air with her hands. "I was about to start yelling and… and…" Elsa tapped the document on her desk with one slender finger and raised one eyebrow just so. "Fine." She gave Elsa a hug.

"That wasn't a very good hug." Elsa snickered. "Perhaps you should try again."

"Fine." Anna's next hug was much better. "Happy?"

"Yes." Elsa tugged Anna back into another – even better – hug before the younger woman could pull away. "I really do like your present." Anna's smile was as bright as the sun. "Although…" Elsa's eyes twinkled. "I could have used a new set of riding gloves and –"

"Elsa!" Anna drew herself up in righteous indignation, a thousand, incendiary insults on her lips –

"Hug." Elsa chuckled. "I want a hug right now."

Anna scowled. "You're really abusing your present, you know." Then she hugged Elsa.

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own Frozen. I am not making any money off of this either.

Oops. This was kind of supposed to come out before Christmas, but I only thought of it yesterday. Anyway, this whole chapter came about after I thought of the opening few paragraphs of dialogue while watching South Park. I've always liked the dynamic between Anna and Elsa, and I thought I'd try for a more dialogue heavy piece to see if I could tease it out a bit more. The two of them just have such good chemistry from a humour standpoint.

Also, I hope that all of you guys had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you all have a Happy New Year too.

I also write original fiction, mostly fantasy. You can find links to it in my profile. If you're looking for something fun to read, try Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf, or, if you want something more serious, try The Last Huntress.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.