Chapter 1 – Business as Usual

Everything is perfect for Anna right now. She's closer than ever to Elsa. She and Kristoff are getting to know one another. But then an argument between her and Elsa turns everything upside down, and she has to somehow figure out how to make things right - before everything is lost.

Anna could have stayed where she was all day.

The sun was warm on her face, there were a few clouds scattered around, she could hear the seagulls from the harbour, and everything was peaceful and coated in a layer of contentment. Also, no one could find her and tell her to get off that roof, you are a princess for heaven's sake; get down from there at once.

The tiles were warming her back, and Anna let her eyes slide closed and her mouth quirk up in a cheeky smile. She was supposed to be in the castle, doing some boring thing Elsa had asked her to take care of, but there was still plenty of day left for it, and the sun wasn't going to last forever.

Anna stretched her arms above her head, squirming just a little when the hot tiles burnt her bare skin, but she got used to it quickly and settled down again. How could Elsa possibly stand being indoors when the weather was so perfect?

Elsa was not amused with the weather. Her study had far too many windows in it, and the sun was streaming in from everywhere, which made it impossible to find somewhere to work without feeling like she was in a sauna and about to melt.

She had already tried creating a little bit of snow, but the stupid heat made it melt, and water and paper didn't mix well. So she was forced to sit in the corner of the room, half hidden by the book shelf (not the most comfortable place in the world) so that she could freeze the walls and at least rest her back against them, while a persist beam of sun draped itself across her right hand and foot.

And after a few minutes of that she had to move again, because her skin was starting to burn, and it was not often that Elsa lamented her looks but she did wish, in the very height of summer, that her skin wasn't so fair that she burnt to a crisp if she so much as walked outdoors.

She let out a mewl of frustration as her new position meant that the sun was in her eyes, and started pacing around, wondering when she was supposed to get everything done if she couldn't even concentrate, and why closing the curtains made the room so stuffy, and you know what, winter in the middle of summer was starting to sound like a darn sensible idea right now.

Elsa fumed in the middle of her study, keeping her hands clenched into fists. No, don't make another winter. Behave yourself.

She gave up on trying to work, figuring she could just do it all this evening when it was cooler. Of course, then she'd miss out on actually sleeping, but at least she wouldn't pass out from heat exhaustion.

Mostly satisfied with her logic, she decided to find Anna and let her sister know that was she was taking a very spontaneous day off.

Anna was going to have the weirdest tan lines ever, she realised as the sun moved slightly and a leafy branch cast a dappled shadow onto her shoulder. But moving was so much effort, and she was so comfortable where she was. This was perfect.

"Ahem."

Anna sat up when she heard someone clear their throat very loudly and very close to her. She twisted her upper body around to find her sister glaring at her from the window Anna had used to climb onto the roof in the first place. "Oh. Hi. I thought you were working."

"I thought you were too," Elsa replied.

Anna shrugged. "It's such a nice day, I figured it could wait."

"You're going to burn."

Anna grinned. "No. You might. I'm loving the sun. And what are you doing here anyway?"

"I couldn't concentrate, it was too hot."

"So you came looking for me?"

"Of course. Who else would I want to spend time with?"

Anna scrambled to her feet, nearly overbalancing and sliding away off the roof. But she didn't. "What do you want to do?"

"Well," Elsa looked at the blue sky, "Since it's such great weather . . . do you want to build a snowman?"

The Royal Ice Master was nearly asleep as his reindeer trundled into the castle courtyard. Kristoff had been away for a week, high up on the mountains, cutting ice. Anna had complained unceasingly about his going away for so long, but luckily he had been out of town for a large part of it.

Now, Sven trotted home quite happily, with his best friend asleep at the wheel.

Kristoff couldn't wait to fall into bed and not wake up again for, maybe, two days. But he knew Anna wouldn't be content with sleep, they would have to talk and cuddle and probably do other things she wasn't allowed to do, so he had taken the opportunity to nap most of the way home.

Sven drew himself to a stop and moaned at Kristoff, startling him awake.

"Whoa, I'm up!" Kristoff rubbed at his eyes. "Thanks, buddy. Uh, let's get you sorted." He unharnessed Sven on autopilot, and after the reindeer licked him on the face he trotted away to find Olaf.

Kristoff was about to go back to his room (Elsa had, after Anna whined at her for a month, allowed Kristoff a room in the castle. And a series of rules to be followed) when he heard Anna screech his name in a pitch he didn't think was possible for humans to make.

"Kristoff!" She launched herself at him, and the only reason Kristoff didn't fall over when Anna appeared on him was because she only weighed as much as a feather. He wrapped his arms around her automatically, momentarily forgetting his tiredness.

"Hey, princess," he said affectionately. "Did you miss me?"

"You know I did," Anna squeezed him hard, wrapped her legs around his waist to stop herself from falling. "Welcome home. You smell like a reindeer."

"Yeah, well," Kristoff untangled her and set her down on the ground again. "That happens when you sleep next to one for a week."

"Are you hungry? Elsa's working all night, so we can eat at any time and then spend the whole night together."

Kristoff grinned. "Sounds great. Can I at least have a bath first?"

"Yup," Anna grabbed his hand and stated pulling him inside. "I just had the best day, I spent all morning lying on the roof and tanning, and then Elsa and I built snowmen for hours. And now you're home, can this day get any better?"

Anna and Kristoff both stopped dead in their tracks at the foot of the spiral staircase leading up to Anna's room when Elsa appeared from an adjoining room. She raised an eyebrow, looking Kristoff up and down, then turned her rather disapproving gaze to Anna. "Where are you two going?"

"Um . . . upstairs?" Anna said uncertainly.

"Why?"

"Because Kristoff just got back, and he was going to have a bath before dinner and-"

Thankfully, Elsa interrupted Anna's nonsensical rambling. "Did something happen to the bathroom attached to his room?"

"… No."

"So why are you two going upstairs to your room?" While Elsa might be happy with Kristoff as a person, and accepting the fact that he was in a relationship with Anna, she spent a lot of time reminding Anna that she was only nineteen, and not married, and she better not get any ideas in her head.

Anna pouted. "Fine. You caught us." She let go of Kristoff's hand. "You're a real buzz kill, you know that?"

"Just doing my job as your older sister," Elsa smiled contentedly, now that the immediate threat of Kristoff corrupting her sister had been taken care of. "I'll see you both for dinner."

"Ugh," Anna groaned after she had left. "How does she always manage to pop up when we're trying to spend some time together?"

Kristoff shrugged. "I don't know. Could be worse." He turned away from her and started heading towards his own room.

"How could it be worse?" Anna asked.

"I'm not frozen, yet, am I?"

"Anna?" Kristoff knocked lightly on her door about an hour later.

Anna turned from where she was finishing tying her hair up. "Yes? Oh, you look nice."

Kristoff felt a slight blush cover his cheeks. He ran a hand self-consciously through his hair, causing the neatly combed blond locks to fall into disarray again. He had dressed up a little, into the dark grey suit Anna had given him a few months after they started going out. "And you look great, like always."

Anna sent the mirror one last glance, making sure everything was as it should be with her hair, then skipped across the room to him. "What's up?"

"I've got you something." Kristoff felt himself turning red again. He fumbled in his pocket. "I didn't wrap it. I found pretty high up in the mountains frozen in a lake." He withdrew his hand.

A golden chain was hanging from his fingers, and from the chain dangled a strangely shaped crystal, glowing crimson.

"Oh," Anna breathed, touching the crystal gently. It was warm. "It's beautiful. What is it?"

"I think it's a fire crystal, but I'm not completely sure." Kristoff unclasped the chain and set it around Anna's neck. "I stopped off at my family on the way home, but Grand Pappie was resting. Bulda thinks it's a fire crystal, but she's never seen one quite like it before. Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," Anna rested her fingers on it. She could feel its warmth, and it glowed softly against her skin. "Thank you." She stood up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Great," Kristoff looked relieved. "Can I escort you to dinner?" He crooked his arm and pointed his elbow at her.

"Of course," Anna returned his silly grin and linked her arm through his.

"Elsa!" Anna burst into the dining room with her usual lack of grace, with Kristoff attached to her. "Look at my new necklace."

Elsa was sitting at the head of the table patiently awaiting their arrival. Anna was never punctual and before Kristoff had started living with them he had never had to worry about the time before, so Elsa never expected either of them to be on time for anything. She couldn't help but smile as Anna flounced towards her.

"Look, look!" Anna let go of Kristoff so she could lean over in front of Elsa. The red crystal dangled.

"It's beautiful," Elsa admitted.

"I know, right?" Anna plopped into her seat on the corner, and Kristoff slid into place next to her. "Kristoff found it in a lake."

He nodded. "Yeah, it was glowing pretty brightly."

"It still is," Elsa observed. "Why is that?"

"I don't know. I think it's some sort of magic stone. I'll take it with me next time I visit my family, and find out what is it."

The servants brought in dinner, and they started eating in silence. After a moment, Anna glanced at her sister.

"Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Finishing the work I didn't do because I was too busy building snowmen with you," Elsa smiled.

"Will that take long?"

"Most of the night, I think."

"All night?" Anna enquired.

"Well, most likely," Elsa admitted. "I didn't really get anything done today."

"So you won't be going to bed at all?"

"Don't worry about me, Anna, I'll be fine. I've slept on the couch in my study plenty of times."

"Okay. Sounds good." Anna continued with her meal, which made Elsa slightly suspicious as to why Anna was suddenly questioning her sleeping habits, but she chalked it up to the good intention of ensuring she was sufficiently rested.

The rest of the meal continued in relative silence; neither Elsa nor Kristoff were particularly chatty, and Anna was busy eating. She seemed distracted, and whirled Kristoff away as soon as he had finished.

"Anna." Elsa's voice stopped her in her tracks.

Anna looked innocently over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"I know why you want to know where I am tonight, so here's what we're going to do about it."

Kristoff instantly turned bright red, but Anna remained calm.

"If the two of you are going to spend the night together, 'talking', despite the fact that I've forbidden it, you are going to leave your bedroom door open all night. Got it?"

"Of course," Anna said. "Got it."

Elsa bit back a sigh as Anna left. She didn't know why she bothered; she was just stuck with the idea that her sister and her boyfriend should not be spending so much time together, certainly not at night. She supposed it had something to do with her upbringing; it wasn't proper to spend nights with men you weren't married to, and while Anna was a cheeky free spirit, Elsa was still living in a hangover from her childhood; be the good girl you always have to be.

Why couldn't her parents have taught that to Anna?

"Your sister isn't pleased with us," Kristoff observed as he followed Anna upstairs.

"She never is." Anna said breezily.

"Maybe we shouldn't anger her. I can just sleep in my room tonight."

Anna glared at him. "Are you scared of her?"

"Yes."

"Kristoff! She won't do anything to you. She just likes to pretend she's all high and mighty, and that I can't have any fun. You've been away for a week; we are spending some time together."

"While I do love spending time with you, I sometimes have nightmares about being frozen."

"Don't worry," Anna said mischievously, "I have a plan."

Elsa's work didn't take as long as she thought it would. It was certainly very late . . . or very early, one of the two. She glanced at the moon, but it didn't tell her the time.

She stretched leisurely in her chair, feeling utterly satisfied at having done everything that needed to be done. And she even had a few hours before needing to get up. She glanced at the couch across the room.

She had spent a few nights on it, when she was determined to finish things or when she worked so hard that the thought of walking all the way to her room made her nearly pass out. And she knew from experience that the couch was not as comfortable as her bed.

Seeing as she had a few hours before she needed to be up, she decided to forgo the couch and go to her room. She might as well enjoy her rest, however little of it there might be.

Elsa padded softly back to her room, through the pitch black halls of the castle. Everyone was asleep, all the lights were off, and she knew the way by heart so she didn't even need a light. She stopped at her bedroom door, one hand resting on the handle.

From here, she could see Anna's door. The moon was just bright enough to show her that it was open. Elsa smiled. So, Anna could follow instructions after all.

She opened her door quietly, and shut it equally quietly, then stopped to untie her hair and shake out her braid. She should probably change clothes, she thought absently, but the bed was right there, and no one was going to see her. So she just closed her eyes and walked silently across her room, until she felt the bed against the front of her legs and flopped forward-

-And landed on someone.

Elsa couldn't help a slight scream as whoever she landed on suddenly squirmed beneath the blankets, and she jumped off the bed again, her heart beating wildly.

Anna sat up rather suddenly, looking around, and then caught sight of her sister and her expression fell. "Oh. Elsa."

"What on earth are you doing in here?" Elsa asked, one hand over her heart in a fruitless attempt to slow it down. "Wait, what is . . .?" Elsa trailed off as someone else moved the bed as well.

Kristoff peered sheepishly at her.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Anna, may I talk to you for a minute? Alone."

Anna shuddered at her tone. "Are you sure? It's late and I-"

"Now."

:- )

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