When Elsa came in through the doorway, she was greeted by a pajama-clad Anna sitting cross legged on the couch with a box of sugary cereal in her lap. "Heeey," she mumbled through a full mouth before turning her attention back to the television. "How was your day?"

The blonde sat down with a heavy sigh. "Long. But I finished what I had to finish. The client picked it up already." She paused for a moment to run a hand down her face. "But I have to go to the gala tonight. They said they," her fingers made little air quotes as she spoke, "want the artist there."

Nodding, Anna kept her gaze locked on the television. "Sounds cool." Another mouthful of cereal. "I bet it'll be fun." Her eyes almost seemed glazed over as she let her head tilt and flop to the side.

"You can't just sit on the couch all day…"

"Says who?"

"Says me." Elsa stood, all but ripping the box from the red head's hands. "If you're staying here, you're not just sitting around moping, okay? Go out and do something." She tugged on Anna's hands, pulling her to her feet. "Starting now. Go shower. You're coming to the party with me."

"But Elsa," Anna groaned, digging her heels into the carpet, "I won't know anyone."

"Isn't that part of the fun? Meeting people?" Elsa turned on her little sister, noticing her gnawing on her lower lip, her gaze turned down. "Are you okay?"

"Look, Elsa… I…" she murmured, twisting her fingers together. "I don't… I don't like meeting people at parties. I…" Elsa cocked her head to the side to listen as Anna continued. "I made a lot of bad choices after you left, okay? I got a… reputation."

The blonde smiled, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. "Anna, no one here knows you. Whatever that reputation was, you left it back there." There was the unmistakable glisten of tears forming on her lower lash line, and Elsa wrapped strong arms around her shoulders. "I promise. That's the past, Anna. The past. You can be whoever you want to be here."

Anna sniffled, burying her face into her sister's shoulder. "Okay. Don't leave me alone, though."

"Come on," she grinned, pushing her sister back so she could take in her full face. "Let's get you cleaned up. I have the perfect dress for you. I bought it ages ago, but never wore it." And after a little convincing, Elsa left her sister to get cleaned up and prepared while she got herself ready.

After a shower, a quick blowout of her hair, and tucking it up into a soft, braided bun, Anna knocked cautiously on Elsa's door. "Can I come in?"

The door opened to reveal her light skinned sister clad in a floor length sheath silhouetted gown. It was an pale, icy blue, and hung off of one shoulder. The silver trim on the neckline curved around her breast, zig zagging down the side under her arm until it hit the mid-thigh high slit.

"Wow." Anna's jaw was hanging open. "Just… wow.I didn't know… You look beautiful!"

Elsa blushed, opening the door fully and gesturing for her to come in. "Thank you, Anna. I found the one I wanted you to wear," she said, picking up her skirt to head over to the closet. "It's a little… fancier than I remembered but...

Reaching deep into her hung clothing, Elsa pulled out a floor length fishtail gown. It had black lace on the bodice, curling in soft curves around her bust. The deep, forest green faded into a lighter olive in the tulle of the skirt.

Anna was bouncing on her heels, grabbing eagerly at the gown. "Oh god. Oh my godit's so beautiful!" Holding it close to her face, she was practically hugging the garment before she ran off to get dressed as rapidly as she could.

xx

Within the hour, the sisters were walking up the stairs into the main room of the Gala.

Clutching nervously to her sisters' arm, Anna glanced around the beautifully decorated room. The whole event looked like it was purely decorated with ice. There were dangling crystals, a few diamonds, and it all led your eye into the ornate ice sculpture in the center of the room.

"Is that what you did?" The red head's eyes were wider than dinner plates as she took in the intricate details. "Holy cow, Elsa… You're amazing!"

Elsa had a ruddiness to her face that the littler sister had never seen before. "Thank you," she muttered meekly, turning her gaze down to her toes. "I'll admit that I was nervous for you to see… I haven't shown them to anyone from the family yet."

Tugging on her sisters' arm, Anna made a beeline for the sculpture. "Can we see it up close? I really want to!"

Else grit her teeth and followed her sister, not really ready to take a fresh look at the sculpture. She hated coming to events because she always, without fail, would notice a horribly irritating error in her work. But her sister's awestruck expression and gentle fawning over the ice made her worries melt away.

"Elsa it's… It's so beautiful. How do you do this?" she asked, bottom lip trapped in her toothy smile. "How long does it take? Doesn't it melt? Doesn't the -"

"Whoa, Anna…" Elsa laughed, giving her sister a wink and a nudge away from the statue. "That is a lot of questions at once. I'll answer them another day, okay? You can come with me to my studio whenever you want."

Giving the blonde a nod, Anna smiled brightly and continued her trek to their table when a slender, red headed man stopped them in their tracks.

"Hello, Miss Arne."

She looked up at his sharp features and crooked smile, and felt her breath hitch in her throat. Her grip tightened on Elsa's arm as her sister straightened her posture.

"Good evening, Mister Westergard. I… I hope everything was how you wanted it."

He nodded, his hands raising to tighten his relatively loose tie. "Absolutely. Your work was flawless, as per usual. I would never trust another with these events."

Elsa sighed with relief, her shoulders slumping. "I'm so glad. I'd never want -"

"You're the client!" the red head cut in, almost a scream, bouncing on her feet. Their relationship had taken a little while to click in her head, and when it finally did, she had been excited to figure it out.

He laughed, cocking his head towards the younger girl. "Your sister, I presume?" He turned to face her, a smile stretching his cheeks, and held out a glove covered hand. "I'm Hans. And you're right, this is my event." Holding out her hand for a shake, Anna's face flushed as he lifted it to press a feather light kiss to the top of her knuckles. "It's a pleasure to meet you…"

"Anna," she cut in, an almost dreamy sigh whispering through slightly parted lips. "I'm Anna."

"Well, Anna," his voice lowered as if to speak only to her. "Would you care to dance with me?"

She bit her lip, glanced over to Elsa, who nodded. "Go on. Call me when you need me."

Anna lept forward, hugging her sister, and then moved to stand next to Hans. "Okay, let's dance."

She swooned in his arms as he placed down his glass of champagne and twirled her out, then back into his chest, catching her waist with his free hand. The music was slow, and he pulled her close enough that she could smell nothing but his light cologne. He led her gently, spinning her in tight circles and Anna couldn't help but cling tightly to his neck when he dipped her.

"So," he started, his cheek resting against her temple. "I've never seen you before. Are you new here?"

"O-oh, me? Yeah." Anna bit at her lip again, moving her feet carefully with the rhythm. "I just moved in with my sister a few days ago. She wanted me to get out of the house so she dragged me here but hey it's not all bad because you're pretty gorgeous I -"

Hans laughed, warm and bright, as she rambled on.

"Wait, what?" Anna leaned partially back and away from the businessman, blushing intensely. "That was totally inappropriate I am so, so sorry!"

He smiled, twirled her under his arm before catching her in another dip. "It's fine, it's okay. For the record, you're quite gorgeous yourself."

Bursting out into almost hysterical laughter, Anna quickly pressed her lips together to suppress the chortling. "Me? No, oh god no. I'm just… I'm awkward. I'm -"

The song ended, and she was interrupted by the applause of the audience. She felt Hans' gaze on her, and he smiled as she looked up at him. "Come on, Let's go for a walk in the gardens. I'm sure you'll love them."

Blushing from her cheeks to her chest, an enchanted haziness fell over her face, and she nodded, hooking her small hand through his arm.

The rest of the night almost felt like a dream as he led her around, told her about himself and his family.

"Twelve brothers? That's… That's so many!" she had gasped, her mouth agape. "How… Wow."

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah. It is a lot! And three of them pretended I didn't exist for two years! We've since worked it out, but I'm definitely not as close with them as I'd like to be."

Anna nodded picking at her finger tips. "I… I understand. I mean, Elsa and I are trying to get close again but… We haven't spoken in five years before now. It's hard… I'm so nervous about screwing up again. I don't know..." She gulped, wiping at the tears in her eyes. "I don't know what I did before… but I'm so scared of screwing up. I'm scared of her leaving me again."

He reached forward, grasping her hands in his, and smiled. "How could anyone ever leave you?"

She blushed, glancing down. Anna liked how warm his hand was around hers.

As they passed through the gardens, he would occasionally pluck a flower here and there, eventually spinning them all together into a small bouquet. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she giggled, taking the arrangement into her other hand.

They talked briefly of her past, she told him how her parents had passed, and he expressed his condolences, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She told him about her travels, how she had already been almost everywhere she wanted to go. He told her about his work being far too time consuming for him to go anywhere too far - but he had been to Norway, and it was his favorite place so far.

Anna confessed that she hadn't exactly had the most pleasant time from age seventeen to right before she moved, that she had been constantly used and manipulated by men who only wanted sex and a toy. How she figured that it was all she was worth. She was just Anna, after all. She didn't deserve any more than she had gotten.

"What do you mean, just Anna? I think… I think you're pretty spectacular."

When they reached the fountain in the middle of the garden, Hans smiled and offered her a seat beside him on the stone. "Anna… I know this may be a little crazy…" She laughed, leaning into him to nudge him with her shoulder. "But… Would you like to go out with me? I mean, on a proper date. I've…"

A smile brighter than the full moon they were under stretched across her cheeks and she lunged forward to wrap her arms around his neck. "Oh god, yes! I didn't think you were going to ask I was so nervous that you weren't going to and -"

He grabbed her cheeks in his palms and pressed his lips against hers to stop her rambling.

"I think we should head back…" he mumbled against her mouth, a smirk tugging at his own. "Your sister might start to worry."

Anna nodded, eyes fluttering in a haze of pure bliss. "Yeah…"

Before long, Anna was all but pulling Hans through the party, his eyes locking with everyone they passed. "Elsa! Elsa~!" she was calling out in front of her, sprinting forward when she caught sight of her familiar platinum head of hair. She practically skid to a stop in front of her sister, all smiles and heavy breathing.

She turned back to Hans briefly, giggling and smiling brightly as he glanced around the room. "Well, Hans," the red head sighed, squeezing his arm in hers once more. "Thank you so much for a really, really wonderful evening."

Tilting his head down towards her, Hans smirked. "Of course, Anna. I look forward to setting up our next… outing." With a gentle kiss to her cheek, Hans bid his farewells and left to talk to, who Anna presumed to be, other clients or colleagues of his.

Startled, the red head turned to her sister whose hand was suddenly on her shoulder. "I guess you had a good night?" Elsa started, a laugh teasing at her lips.

"Oh my gosh, Elsa. It was…" She sighed, leaning against her sister. "It was just amazing. Did you know how amazing he is? How… Just so amazing!"

The blonde chuckled behind her hand, turning to lead her swooning sister towards the door. "Sounds pretty amazing… Come on, the party is over. Let's go home and you can tell me all about your magical evening."