The palace stables were always so warm and comfortable. So much so, that Kristoff would curl up in the hay loft in an afternoon after grooming Sven, for a bit of shut eye. It's not that Anna wasn't great or anything, she was just always chattering…constantly. Sometimes, Kristoff considered taking a leaf out of Elsa's book and saying "I've got a lot of work to do Anna, I'll catch up with you later" before gliding off down the corridor. In such instances, Anna would then turn to Kristoff and beam at him, and quickly come up with an activity for them to do. With it being spring again, there were plenty of things Anna liked to do. She would drag him down to the duck pond in the grounds to see all the ducklings; she would take him on walks in the forest just outside the grounds, she would help him groom Sven and she would take him on countless tours of the palace, forgetting which bits she had and hadn't already shown him. Kristoff took it all in good grace. As long as Anna was happy, he was happy.
Today, Elsa had a free afternoon and so she promised the time to Anna. So Kristoff had an afternoon of peace and quiet to himself. He lay back in the hay with his arms behind his head and put his hat over his eyes, chewing on a strand of the straw thoughtfully. It was April, three more months and he would have been with Anna for an entire year. A whole year, thought Kristoff, that time has flown by.
He had noticed the frequent glances from Elsa when Anna would gush about her feelings towards him in front of everyone. It made him blush mainly; Anna was always very open about everything. After being shut out for all those years, who can blame her? But Elsa's looks made him very aware of what was going through the queens, and everyone else's minds.
Sure, he'd thought about it, but after the fiasco with Hans last year, he wasn't sure if that would be what Anna wanted. She may be bright and bubbly for the most part, but he had witnessed her at her most vulnerable, her weakest. She was still pretty shook up about it all. She talked in her sleep a lot. Plus, right now, there was no way he could afford a ring fit for a princess.
He heard the door to the stables go and Sven snort a greeting to someone. Looks like the peace and quiet was about to be over.
"Hi boy!" the female voice chuckled, it was not Anna.
Kristoff sat up "Your majesty?" he called.
"It's just Elsa, to you" she replied. Kristoff scurried to the ladder and, not very gracefully, jumped down them and turned so he was face to face with the queen.
"Where's Anna?" Kristoff asked immediately, noticing the obvious quiet around them.
Elsa chuckled again
"Baking" she told him.
"Not again" he groaned, putting his face in his hands, making Elsa laugh more.
Anna had convinced the kitchen staff to teach her to make desserts. They had agreed and the week before Elsa and Kristoff were called to the dining room to find the extremely long table laden with chocolate treats. Olaf, the little snowman, was already sitting at the table, a napkin tied around his neck smiling happily at them both.
"Ta-Dah!" Anna had called from behind them, covered from head to toe in flour and cocoa powder.
"Anna! Your dress!" Elsa had cried.
"Oh it'll wash out" Anna said waving a hand at her sister before grabbing us both and pulling us into the dining room with her.
"You made all of this?" Kristoff asked, counting at least eight cakes on the table, two of them with three tiers, not to mention at least fifty little buns and brownies.
"Well I had a little help from the staff" she smiled "what do you think?"

"It looks wonderful, Anna" Elsa said.
"Can we eat yet?" Olaf asked.
"Of course!" Anna said "Tuck in" she told Elsa and Kristoff.

Kristoff had never eaten so much chocolate in his entire life. He felt awful for the rest of the day and night. Since then, he wanted to avoid chocolate at any cost.
"It's the only way I could get any peace to talk to you" Elsa said, bringing Kristoff back from the sickly memory.
"Peace to talk to me?" Kristoff asked "what about?"

Elsa glanced at Sven and back at Kristoff, beckoning him to follow her. They made their way back up to the castle and towards the wing where the queen and princess both slept. There was a room at the end of the corridor that housed Anna's bedroom that Kristoff had never been in. Anna purposely left it out of her many tours and he had never wished to ask her why, she obviously wanted to avoid it. Elsa took a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.

"Don't tell Anna you've been in here" Elsa said "even she won't enter"

Kristoff nodded slowly in silence and followed Elsa in. It was another bedroom. The walls were a dark purple colour with dark wooden flooring. The centre of the room held a large mahogany four poster bed, with white drapes and a deep green bed linen. Directly across from the door was a window, with a dressing table and large chair blocking it as well as thick green drapes that matched the bed linen. The wall opposite the bed held a huge mahogany wardrobe and chest of drawers. Everything was draped in the purple and green, Arendelle's colours. The most noticeable thing about the room however was how it looked untouched. A thick layer of dust covered everything, including the bedding, all except the chair near the window, which Kristoff noticed had small icicles clinging to the underside of the arms.

"This was our parents room" Elsa explained, gesturing around her "Anna has never set foot in here since, well, I'm sure you're aware". Kristoff didn't need an explanation, everyone had been aware of the king and queens untimely deaths, even loners like him. Elsa sat herself in the chair by the window while Kristoff remained uncomfortable, in the door way. She beckoned him into the room and he moved carefully, ensuring he didn't knock into any of the untouched furniture.

"I wanted to talk to you privately" Elsa said "somewhere Anna wouldn't hear. I figured this would be the best place. I like to sit in here sometimes to think".

That explains the icicles, thought Kristoff.

She got up and closed the door before moving back to face him. He removed his hat and was playing with it in his hands, nervously.

"What are your intentions with Anna?" Elsa demanded. At least she was straight to the point, Kristoff thought.

"What do you mean?" he asked

"You've been together almost a year" she said softly "many royals would have been married already. I know you are different to others, but I will not allow Anna to live in sin"

"What? Oh no! I haven't - I mean – we haven't!" Kristoff began, and Elsa smiled and held up a hand to stop him.

"Good" she said "I knew you were a decent man, Kristoff. But I must know; are you planning on moving this relationship forward at any point?"

Kristoff looked at the ground.

"I'd thought about it" he mumbled.

"That's good" Elsa said, smiling.

"It's just, after the whole mess with Hans; I didn't think Anna would want that"

"You are not Hans. Anna knows that. We all do. What Anna wants is you, heaven knows she tells me enough" Elsa chuckled "there is nothing in this world that would make her refuse you"

"Elsa, she's a princess, and I'm just…"

"The love of her life?" Elsa finished, folding her arms across her chest and raising her eyebrows.

"I can't even afford a decent ring for her!" Kristoff said, running a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"Not a problem" Elsa said, moving towards the dresser behind Kristoff and opening the drawers. She dug through for a moment and pulled out a small red box. She opened it, smiled at the contents and closed it again, taking Kristoff's hand and placing the box in to his palm.

He opened it slowly and gazed down at the most beautiful, expensive looking ring he had ever seen.

"It was our mothers" Elsa said "My father gave it to her on her twenty-first birthday"

He studied the ring, watching the light bouncing off the diamond from the sun shining through the window. It was truly breath taking.

"White gold, 3 carat diamond" Elsa added "simple yet still fit for a princess, very "Anna", in my opinion."

Kristoff looked at her "I can't give her this. She can't even come into the room"

"I think it might be exactly what Anna needs" Elsa said.

Kristoff thought about it. With this ring, Anna will be able to think of her parents, and the love they shared for one another, without setting foot in to the bedroom, the last place she had seen them alive from what she had told him, and Elsa was right, the ring was very "Anna" indeed.

"When should I give it to her?" Kristoff asked.

"When the time feels right" Elsa said with a smile.

Kristoff closed the lid of the box with a small snap and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you Elsa, for everything" he said, smiling at the queen.

"We're family now" she said, squeezing his hand "Now come on, I'm sure Anna has made something delicious for us"

Kristoff groaned as he followed a giggling Elsa out of the room.

AUTHORS NOTE: So this started out as a little one shot focusing on Kristoff and Elsa's relationship. I always believed that Elsa would be very over protective of Anna, but when i was writing this, it just felt very natural that Elsa would approve of Kristoff. Anyway, i'm just fine tuning chapter two then it'll be up along with three and four that are ready to go :)

Please review, give me your opinions and if you have any ideas, I am happy to listen.