CHAPTER 4

"Alright, Sven, you're all strapped in and ready to go. We've got the tools, rope, a lamp." Kristoff put his hands on his hips. "Hmm what am I missing?" Kristoff said teasingly. Anna was off to the side not amused since she was not allowed to help one bit.

"Ah! Of course!" He looked at Anna and then slightly to the side where there was a sack of carrots. He grabbed the sack and put it in the back part of the sled. It was the same sled Anna had gifted him with six years ago. He could get a new one if he wanted to. Both Elsa and Anna have asked him to get a new sled, but he was sentimental about it.

Anna stared him down. "Ha ha ha. You're so funny."

"I know."

Kristoff grabbed a carrot and offered it to his wife. Her arms were folded and she was still staring at him. He gave her his best cute face and she took a bite. He followed by taking a bite and gave the rest to Sven.

Anna started walking towards the sled and Kristoff bent over slightly like he was going to pick her up and put her in the sled.

"No, no," Anna said. "I need to learn to do these things for myself."

Kristoff laughed and headed to the other side of the sled. "Not too much longer. You ready?"

He commanded Sven to go before she could answer. It was his way of showing Anna he thought everything was fine even though he was, of course, concerned about her going out like this. What if it started raining? What if it started to snow up by the ice? What if there were wolves? There was no way he could protect everyone if that did end up happening. He had thought about this while Anna was talking to Elsa. Of course he knew he would have to sacrifice himself and trust that Anna would head back to Elsa with Sven. I have to stop thinking about this, Kristoff thought, everything is going to be fine. We'll go out for just a few hours and head home. Nothing to worry about.

Kristoff looked over at Anna and she seemed so happy. She was breathing in the fresh air and taking in the scenery. He grabbed her hand brought it up to his lips and kissed her glove. Anna looked up a little surprised that he didn't have both hands on the reins. Sven knew where he was going anyways.

"So when are we going to upgrade this sled?" Anna asked.

"What? I don't need a new sled!"

"Kristoff, you've had this sled for six years. It gets used more than an average sled and I just got a splinter in my finger. Oh yes! A splinter…through my glove." Anna lifted up her hand that was not occupied by Kristoff's.

"That can be fixed. No problem."

"It doesn't need to be fixed. We can just get a new…oh I get it." Anna said with a smirk on her face. She moved her hand from Kristoff's grasp and turned towards him so she could look him in the eye, even though he was facing forward, only looking her way every few seconds.

"What?" Kristoff asked.

"I don't know why it took me this long to realize it. You're a softy, you know that? A real gentle giant and I love you." Anna gave him a kiss on the cheek. She turned back around to face forward, then put one hand on his leg, the other over her protruding abdomen like she was protecting her two people and rested her head on his shoulder. "How about this: once the little one is old enough to come out with us, we get a new sled?"

Kristoff crooked his neck the best he could so he could see Anna's face. "Deal. As long as I can still keep this one."

Anna and Kristoff stayed in the same sitting positions for the rest of the sled ride, though it was almost silent. The two were enjoying being with each other out in nature. They didn't need to constantly have something to talk about. It was their presence that mattered at this moment.

Once they made it to the lake, Kristoff looked over to Anna. She was fast asleep on his shoulder with a little drool running onto his coat. That thing inside of Anna that they were both eagerly awaiting drained her energy completely now, even on a day that Anna was so looking forward to. He grabbed Anna's extra hat from the cupholder and started to slide it between his shoulder and her head. Once the hat was under, Kristoff carefully picked up her head and moved it to the seatback of the sled. He got up as gently as he could as to not wake her, grabbed a carrot from the back of the sled and took the reins off of Sven to let him wander a bit. As soon as Kristoff looked up he noticed Anna smiling at him with her head still resting on the hat. He smiled back.

"I tried not to wake you. I'm sorry," Kristoff said while giving Sven a carrot before he headed off to do whatever reindeers do with their free time.

"I'm fine! I just needed a quick nap to get my energy up for watching you cut that solid water. It's a big task." Anna replied as she quickly lifted up her head.

Kristoff walked up and leaned on the front of the sled to be closer to Anna. "It is a very important job," Kristoff said playfully. "Seriously, go back to sleep. I will pick up your slack. Once little Anna Jr. is here, though, it's back to work," Kristoff winked at his wife. It is what he had been calling his unborn child since Anna told him they were expecting. Anna hated it, but Kristoff wouldn't be opposed to his child being named Anna although he doubted "Junior" would be part of the deal.

"It's nice with it just being the three of us out here today. Well, I guess four if you count whatever this is," Anna said as she pointed down at her swollen belly.

"Anna Jr.," Kristoff interjected.

Anna rolled her eyes at Kristoff's joke. "I mean, it's great having Olaf out here, but now I'm just so tired after being around that ball of energy. What is Olaf doing today anyways?"

"I had him stay back at the castle with Elsa. I figured it would be nice for it to be…quiet for a while and I assumed he would be able to keep Elsa company and keep her mind off of worrying about you."

"You're good."

"You weren't the only one hoping we would get one more trip out here." Kristoff went up, kissed Anna, and then headed to the back of the sled for his tools.

"That's all?" Anna questioned, somewhat surprised.

"I have to leave something to be desired."

The hours passed. Anna loved watching Kristoff cut the ice. He seemed so relaxed doing it even though it was dangerous and he really didn't have to do it since he married into the royal family. That's how Anna knew he needed to continue to work even if it wasn't as often. Many engagements required his presence since he was the brother-in-law to the most powerful person in Arendelle and married to the princess. Although royalty wasn't something that came natural to him, he learned to be comfortable in those situations. It was probably helpful that he, Anna and Elsa were all learning how to present themselves in social situations at the same time.

All of the sudden Anna felt something weird. She thought nothing of it at first, but then it happened again a few minutes later. A strange pain in her abdominal region. No, no, no. Not now. Kristoff will never forgive himself for bringing me out here and Elsa will be beside herself. Just hang in there for a few more hours, Anna.

She tried to relax and focus on the snow-covered trees. Kristoff looked up for a moment and gave a quick wave. Anna had both hands clenched to the seat of the sled. She willed herself to lift her hand up quickly and wave back.

Kristoff thought it was an odd response. Anna was usually a little more enthusiastic with her waves. He tried to not think of it. It was probably just the baby kicking. Anna would say something if something were truly wrong. He put his head back down and got to work.

We can do this, Anna. It's nothing. Just a little bit of pain. That's normal around this time right? Yep, totally fine. Anna sat there trying to think the pain away. Chocolate, sandwiches, ice cream. Why is everything I'm thinking food related? Whatever. This is working. Okay we're good. We are more than good. At that moment another intense pain hit her. We are not good. Kristoff is going to be so upset. Might as well get this done with now instead of waiting longer.

"Kristoff…" Anna said.

"Kristoff…" Anna said again, but a little louder this time.

"Umm, Kristoff." Anna projected.

Finally he looked up and saw the look of panic on Anna's face from afar. He dropped his saw and ran over to her.

"I think it's time. I mean, I don't know, but I think it's time."

"Umm, o-okay. What are you feeling?" Kristoff responded, obviously nervous and concerned.

"Pain. Lots of pain."

"We're going home now. Sven!"

The reindeer companion came galloping back. Although just a reindeer, Kristoff knew Sven could see the worry in both his and Anna's faces. Kristoff strapped in Sven as quickly as possible and off they went. Kristoff had no chance to tie down the ice so most of it fell off along the way. It was probably for the best; Sven didn't need the extra weight and they needed to get back to Arendelle as soon as possible.

It would not be a quick ride back to Arendelle. It was still not winter which meant they still had to go further out to gather the ice. Kristoff didn't want to give Anna estimations of when they would get back to Arendelle. She knew how long it takes anyways and she didn't need to focus on how long it would take to get home. In the brief moments Anna and Kristoff were not panicking about the situation they were in, they were both thinking how similar this was to when Anna's heart had been frozen. Except this time there was a sled, no frozen heart, no raging snow storm, but a child on the way.

Kristoff was trying to focus on Sven and the path ahead of him, but was failing at doing so. He couldn't keep is eyes off Anna, but her eyes were locked straight ahead, barely blinking or seeming affected by the breeze caused by Sven's sprinting.

"Just hang in there, love. We've made it back to the main path to Arendelle. We'll be back soon," said Kristoff trying to hide the fear in his voice. He had his arm wrapped around Anna hoping to keep her steady in the sled, but Anna reached up for his hand and was squeezing it as hard as she could during each contraction. Kristoff tried not to vocalize the pain that Anna was transferring to him. Who knew a little princess could be so strong? Luckily, judging by the timing between each of the most powerful grasps from Anna, it seemed like the contractions were still quite a few minutes apart. They still had a ways to go until reaching Arendelle, but they both felt and hoped they could make it back to Arendelle before the newest member of the family made its royal appearance.