Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen, nor do I claim to. However, I definitely enjoyed it enough to write some fanfic about it because I'm truly enamored of the Elsa/Anna dynamic. I hope you enjoy this one-shot.


She had never danced a step before in her life. There were simply too many risks involved before when she couldn't even touch another human being, let alone waltz around the palace ballroom with one. Elsa walked arm in arm with Anna as the thought crossed her mind. It was a skill she would do well to develop if she was going to make a halfway decent queen. Part of the job description since opening up the gates would entail throwing balls and entertaining the aristocracy of the neighboring kingdoms. The thought of leaving the responsibility of dancing with every young, princely stranger on the shoulders of her poor sister didn't sit well with her on many levels.

"Are you alright?" Anna asked suddenly, peering into Elsa's face as if to bring the older girl back to reality. The platinum blonde chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to figure out how best to phrase her quandary.

She settled on a diplomatic response, "I'm just thinking about the parties we'll be able to host now that the gates are open. And that reminded me that I'm going to have to eventually learn to dance." Her eyes narrowed for a second as Anna burst into peals of laughter and she couldn't help letting go of a chuckle as well. It did sound ridiculous, and hardly worthy of a furrowed brow. However, it was one of one legitimate concerns that continuously entered into her train of thought regarding what she had missed during her isolation. The redhead's beaming expression and slightly rosy cheeks suggested that a solution might be closer than she anticipated.

"Luckily for you, I've had a lot of time to practice," Anna said. She regained her composure and extended a hand to her sister, "When we were kids, I used to spend a lot of time working on waltzing. Just in case, well… in case you came out of your room, there was obviously going to be a huge party to celebrate your return. So, I was hoping I'd be able to dance with you then." Her cheeks turned a noticeable shade of pink at the profession, but she proudly kept her hand from wavering even as her shoulders shook with an embarrassed chuckle.

Elsa looked between Anna's outstretched hand and expectant face and found she couldn't resist the invitation. She let her sister take her right hand and was surprised to feel Anna also grasp her waist. The redhead motioned for her to place her left hand on her shoulder. For a moment, they just stood there. It looked as though Anna was performing mental calculations. She finally spoke up, "You're going to step back with your right foot when I step forward." Confusion flashed briefly across Elsa's features, but she nodded and followed Anna's prompt.

The first step was clumsily placed against the ornate parquet floor. The blonde grinned sheepishly but kept her head up. It should only get easier from there. The reassuring presence of Anna's touch on her back kept her from feeling too hopeless. After a pause to let Elsa get acclimated, the redhead went on, "Next, I'm going to step to my right and I'll bring my left foot over. You should do the same thing on two beats." She studied her sister's face. "Yeah, I didn't explain that well. Here." Anna gently led Elsa to the right and brought her left foot to her right to complete the line. The blonde picked up on the gesture quickly and the two looked at each other. "See? If you could get me to ice skate, I think I can teach you to waltz," Anna teased. Elsa's face was set in an expression of such seriousness that seemed so out of place with the lighthearted steps that Anna had to control another fit of giggles. Seeing her sister so out of her element was something brand new and, frankly, adorable to her. She was still trying so hard to be perfect even when it was a clearly foreign experience. Figuring that she was just itching to plow ahead, the princess nonchalantly mentioned the next step, "I'll step back with my right foot and you'll step forward with yours. And cheer up a bit, wouldya? No one'll ever want to dance with you if you grimace at them like that." She playfully tapped Elsa's chin before taking the next step.

When Elsa moved forward, her foot caught and she stumbled. It was a small mistake, easily corrected by Anna pulling her sister closer into a more secure hold. However, the queen's crystal blue eyes opened wide at the error and anyone would have thought she was watching a priceless vase she had bumped into shatter into a million pieces. The shock of the blunder caused her palms to grow cold with a small surge of magic. Anna's right hand recoiled instinctively at the sudden chill but she attempted to bring it right back when she realized what had happened. The last thing she wanted was to give Elsa the impression that she was afraid of her powers.

The impression had already been made. The brief incident caused Elsa to back up, her gaze beseeching forgiveness, "I'm sorry, Anna. Maybe this was a bad idea."

Anna groaned and took Elsa's hand once again, wrapping her arm against the small of her older sister's back, "The only bad idea here would be me letting you slink back into the shadows just because you tripped. I'm an absolute klutz but you don't see me hiding whenever I nearly fall on my face." She grinned as she tried to lead the queen through the motions once again.

"But you don't have powers," Elsa snapped, breaking hold for what Anna assumed was the last time. "If you slip up, there's no chance that you could hurt the person you love most," her tone was infused with a forced bite of venom, but it wasn't masking the tremor in her voice. She was trying desperately to level out her emotions. Fear rolled off of her frame like fog from a glacier. Each step backwards she took made Anna's heart ache. And here she had thought things were going so well.

With the blonde inching closer towards the door, Anna knew she had to say something. She exhaled, gathering her courage, "I thought we had been over this. Are you forgetting that I jumped in front of a blade to save you? I didn't think I'd survive because I hadn't expected that my love for you would mean anything. But it did. If I had to, I'd stand between you and a hundred swords." The princess noticed that Elsa had finally stopped her retreat and looked down, averting eye contact. Anna took the chance to close the gap and grasped her sister's hand, gently bringing her lips to her pale knuckles, "I'm not afraid of you, Elsa." She stared into the wide blue eyes in front of her and noticed, with a satisfied smile, that the queen was relaxing.

They had only been properly reunited for a few days and whenever the blonde's face erupted into a beam of sunny optimism, it gave Anna hope that perhaps they could make up for lost time. Over the years, they had missed out on so much together. Elsa was so afraid of herself, and absolutely terrified of doing anything to hurt her sister, that even in this very moment, she was in danger of slipping back into the isolation found in her chambers. But she had never had a positive voice to drown out the doubts before. Every smile that the queen couldn't hold back felt like a personal victory for Anna. Finally, perhaps her powers wouldn't saddle her with crushing guilt.

"Anna, you're a bit of an idiot sometimes," Elsa admitted, although her lighthearted pitch kept the comment at the level of a glancing blow. She appeared to have returned to an emotional cruise control and continued, "I appreciate what you did, but what makes you think I'd want you to risk your life for me again? When you died, I…" The memory was much too clear. She wasn't sure if Anna remembered any of her concise time encased in ice. For Elsa, she knew it would never completely fade. Her entire body had quaked with sobs as she embraced the figure of her little sister and for every ounce of white-hot anger building up inside of her that prompted her to end Hans's miserable existence right there was a pound of grief and culpability that rendered her immobile. She had killed Anna. She had planted the ice in her heart and she was left to behold the exquisite sculpture she had become. It was going to take an entire team of ice harvesters to pry her away from her unintentional masterpiece and in a moment she dared not hope for, Anna returned to her, freckles, rosy cheeks, pigtails and all. At that second, she couldn't wipe the tears away fast enough. She knew then that she couldn't bear any more close calls, "…I vowed that I would never hurt you like that again. I'd never let you put yourself between me and what frightened me because nothing could scare me more than losing you for good." The sincere admission left Anna somewhat speechless. Her clever remark melted on her tongue like a snowflake.

"I was… uh, going for chival—" Anna begun, but she was silenced by the feeling of Elsa's grasp on her shoulders and a kiss on her forehead.

"I know. Thank you," the queen said, delicately. She removed her right hand from Anna's shoulder and sought out her sister's hand to return to hold, "Now, I believe you were halfway through teaching me how to dance?"