The same.

I look the same.

That single statement is the one her racing mind keeps settling on as she stands formal and still with her chin lifted while she studies her reflection in the slightly fogged glass of the mirror. Elsa had locked herself in her bathroom to sink into the deep jetted tub for a hot bath as she prepared for bed, hoping the nightly ritual would cleanse and clarify not just her body but her mind as well. Instead, it was too quiet and her thoughts too loud. As scattered as she felt, it is the most comfortable she has ever been in her own skin. The skin that Hans Westergaard, Prince Hans of the Southern Iles, had spent the better part of the last twenty four hours conquering and worshiping with his hands and mouth, awakening in her something that had remained dormant her entire life but she was sure was always there.

Entwined with Hans on the living room carpet earlier that afternoon, she began to unravel dreams and realities between passionate moments.

"For as long as I can remember you came into my dreams the same way - Anna would always present you to me, 'Prince Hans of the Southern Iles'. That is until I saw you for the first time on that ship - that night you told me I could find you and request an audience without Anna. The dreams tended to take a sharp turn towards the erotic after that." Elsa's eyes widened and tongue clicked as soon as the words had left her mouth, "You did not need to know that."

Hans looked down at her with adoration while his hand trailed along her thigh and a finger hooked the hem of her sundress, dragging it up to her hip. "I am going to be the dissenting opinion here. I absolutely need to know that, all of it in fact. I'm a Prince of somewhere warm and sunny and your chosen partner, fulfilling all your erotic fantasies and carnal desires?" He ran his warm hand over her flesh and she lost the ability to form coherent words, her eyes drifting closed as she simply smiled helplessly into his lips as he pressed a kiss to her mouth. "You've been holding back on me, haven't you?" he smirked. His hot breath tickled the shell of her ear as he murmured, "I have a confession to make my love, you have always been the one in my dreams to satisfy my desires as well."

Elsa holds her breath as she tries to find some mark on her skin, some sort of physical evidence to support why she feels like she has stepped out of the looking glass in front of her. She leans over the sink to peer into her reflection - she sees the same fair skin and scattered freckles across her bare flesh as always. She can make out the faint contrast in her complexion across her chest where her swim suit creates lines marking where the sun has been, absently wondering if such a difference can be seen across her back or bottom. She releases her breath across the mirror to obscure her reflection; accidently pushing her naked pelvis up against the cold marble sink and causing goosebumps erupt across her skin before she can suck in her belly to create distance between her and the cold stone.

Her hands were buried in his hair as his nimble fingers teased her until her jaw unhinged and eyes screwed shut. She had whimpered his name softly as the freeze spiraled and frosted his hair and her toes curled into the fibers of the carpet. As her mind slowly returned to her body, Elsa opened her eyes to see him tasting her off his fingers and moaned quietly at the sight. It was as her eyes blinked to focus on him that she realized his hair was white and frosted.

SNOW.

"Oh…wow," she whispered slightly horrified, not sure if she was more embarrassed about what just happened to cause her to conjure snow or that she had conjured snow. The embarrassment crept across her features as her mind raced, trying to decide how to get out from under Hans and run away before he did.

He chuckled as he brought his hand up to his hair, shaking the flakes of snow loose to fall, fluttering to dust her cheeks and eyelashes. He kissed the tip of her nose before staring back at her with helpless wonder, "Okay, Elsa…I have to know. How do you do that?"

That was not the reaction she was expecting.

The corner of her mouth quirks as she narrows her eyes slightly to glare at her doppelgänger in the mirror. She slowly brings the fingers of one hand up to the reflection and tickles the glass, frost erupting in short patterns of fractals as she exhales victoriously. Her eyes snap up to challenge the vivid blue of the platinum blonde woman staring back at her, declaring quietly, "I'm the Snow Queen."

She stumbles over her words as she tries to explain…between the "only in my dreams " and "I can't", he kisses her viciously and suddenly the snow and frost melt and cold drops of water drip down onto her face. She sputters a protest for a heartbeat before realizing - she could never thaw the ice or stop the freeze in her dreams, but Hans could. "It's you. You thaw it…"

Hans looks at her very confused as he slowly states the obvious, "Heat melts ice."

She beams a smile at him, "No...It's a warm rush I feel from your caress and when you kiss me…the frost has only come when I am with you and I have been startled. The freeze…its anxiety, it's the sudden release of emotion, the panic…" she blurts out so fast that Hans only seems to grow more confused. She brings her fingers back up to his hair to comb it back into place, the euphoria causing her to giggle at herself. How was Hans able to stop her freeze and thaw her ice?

"But how do you make the ice, Elsa? It's not possible," he protests quietly trying to wrap his head around the situation. She pulls him down to her for a lazy kiss before seductively whispering in his ear, "Or it's my magic and you've just unlocked it."

He blinks thoughtfully, obviously her words provided little clarification for him, "You've never been able to do this before? Am I the only one who knows?"

Elsa can't stop smiling as she watches his confusion. "I've been able to my entire life in the dreams, and I could feel the freeze stirring in me almost every day but it would never release...just build until I would become overwhelmed and panic. I never really told anyone that I conjure ice and snow like magic when I sleep, and this is the first time I've ever been able to do this...only with you."

He smiles in a small, overwhelmed way as he carefully draws his mouth to hers, bringing a hand to her neck to caress her jaw and cheek. She watches his eyes as he thinks for long moments, beautiful and green then they darken as his pupils dilate slightly, like he is deciding what to feel. He eventually settles on, "You've been conjuring snow and ice in my dreams since I saw you from the ship - it was always cold when I was with you, even when I was a small boy...like winter time. When I learned you were real and who you were I assumed the snow made sense, the whole 'Future Queen of Norway' thing." He shakes his head slightly, like an apology as he revises his words, "I find myself once again falling victim to the feral, possessive arousal you inspire in me...that I know you in a way no other person on Earth does." He chuckled as a smile grew on Elsa's face while he spoke.

"I know in my soul that my heart must be yours..." She whispered gently.

Elsa rocks back on her heels as she steps away from the sink, padding silently with bare feet to the tub of warm water she had just climbed out of. Dropping the tip of her middle finger into a flotilla of fragrant bubbles bobbing along the surface of the water, she stirs them gently and watches them spiral into a small mound before she catches her breath and she causes the bubbles to burst into frosted spheres. Her smile widens as she watches the tiny spheres drop from top of the mound down to the water's surface and float momentarily before melting.

Elsa was on her side tucked tightly into Hans' arms as they dozed off again on the floor, tired minds and exhausted bodies and happy in a stupid contagious way that feels wonderfully irrational. He murmured to her gently as he fell asleep, "It's not fair, really. Our grandkids will like you better because you will be the secret weapon to win snowball fights and make ice rinks in ballrooms...how do I compete with that? And I was looking forward to being the amazing Grandpapa." He sighed dramatically at that thought as he sandwiched a leg between hers. "I can sail...I'm excellent with horses (yawn)...I'm good at fencing..." he mumbled as he slipped further into sleep.

Elsa smiled as he rambled, unable to stop herself from replying "...and evidently horribly competitive. Maybe they will all hate winter sports? I am sure you'll figure it out, amazing Grandpapa. You have a few decades to worry about it."

A sound of agreement came from behind her as his breath steadied and his arm became heavier over her chest.

Anna's telltale knock percusses loudly into Elsa's bedroom followed by, "This reminds me of a really bad knock-knock joke" spoken into the wood of the door.

Elsa smiled as she sat up in her bed surrounded by pillows and the book she was trying to read (unsuccessfully), "Come in, Anna!"

Anna opened the door cautiously, large aquamarine eyes peering into the room and surveying the scene before flinging the door wider and bouncing in, springing onto the bed wearing her forest green pajamas.

Elsa shut her book as she looked fondly at her sister, "What was that? Making sure the coast was clear?"

Anna beamed a smile, simultaneously innocent yet mischievous. "Yes, yes I was…" she drawls as she hands Elsa a bar of chocolate she was hiding in her pocket. "I was just seeing if we were going to have to split that three ways. I half expected Hans Westergaard to be in here with you."

Elsa managed a scolding glare as she accepted the wrapped treat, blushing as she stammered, "Hans is not here, Anna! You saw me say good night to him as he left hours ago."

"Just making sure…you can't fault me. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen you swapping spit with that man...Ophfff…" she sputtered as a pillow smacked her in the face as Elsa chides, "ANNA!"

Anna had trouble regaining her composure as she looked over at her very scandalized sister who was unable to argue.

"I never realized what a little hussy you could be, I suppose it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

Elsa tossed the chocolate onto the bedside table along with her book before flipping onto her stomach to bury her face into the pillows. She groped awkwardly at the duvet until she found the edge and threw it over herself. Only after she successfully buried herself in the covers did she attempt a reply, coming muffled and very embarrassed, "You have no idea…I've lost hold of my sanity and I'm helpless to stop myself."

"Hm, you've got it bad."

A soft voice comes from the doorway, "What's she got?" asks Gerda torn between concern and bemusement.

Anna flopped backwards over the bed, her head dangling upside down and pigtails sweeping the floor to look at Gerda, "Elsa's in love."

A shocked "What?" and "ANNA!" could be simultaneously heard from Gerda and Elsa.

Anna cracked a wide smile as she chortled at the older woman's astonished expression as she poked Elsa's pile of bed linen with her toe, "Don't try and deny it, Elsa."

Elsa could be faintly heard, "Is it possible to die of embarrassment? I suspect I may be the first documented case very shortly."

Gerda chuckles to herself as she closes the door behind her and goes to sit in the armchair next to the bed. Sighing as she shakes her head, "Okay, young ladies, we need to have a serious talk. Anna, quit hanging off the bed like a bat and Elsa, extract yourself from the sheets."

Sheepishly the two sisters did as they were told, Anna sitting upright and crawling into the bed next to Elsa. She paused as she looked at Elsa and broke out into laughter again, "Your ears are pink! Did you know that you turn bright pink when you are embarrassed?!"

Elsa poked her in the side just as Gerda scolded, "Anna, I said serious. You want to go gallivanting off into the world like a woman than you'd better know when to behave like one and not like an unrefined ninny."

Anna and Elsa started at each other with wide eyes, Gerda crossing her arms in front of her as her irritation grows.

Gerda had come to work with the Royal family when Elsa was born and had watched the girls grow over the years and blossom into young women, she was the kind but firm influence that the sisters looked to for guidance as they faced challenges that they couldn't or wouldn't go to their parents about. When Elsa left for school in New York, Gerda had originally accompanied her, staying with her for the first few months before Kai flew out and she returned to Norway to be with Anna. The pattern of Kai and Gerda trading places to be with the sisters had gone on for four years, which would strain any marriage yet they persevered and grew closer. When the King and Queen were lost a few years earlier, Gerda became almost like a surrogate mother at times, comforting Anna and encouraging Elsa through the grief and ensuring the girls were protected. It was out of love that Kai and Gerda had the patience and understanding to put the needs of Anna and Elsa ahead of their own, loving the girls as if they were their own children. So it was with the mounting frustration of a loving parent that Gerda was being pushed over the edge to snap at Anna.

"Now then. I've never had to talk with you about the realities of courtship for royalty, and I am pretty sure your mother never did. I fear this in long overdue."

Anna was reduced to giggles again, "Courtship? You mean dating? Gerda, we may live in a castle but I am pretty sure that it's just dating."

Gerda scolded Anna, "Stop. You may be eighteen years old now, but you have been very sheltered your whole life and have never had to face the reality that there are people in this world who want nothing more than to manipulate you to get what they want. There are men out there who are misguided and cruel and only care about themselves and obtaining the power to control you and those around you. And they do this with charisma and charm. The devil will look beautiful as he destroys and manipulates, reflecting what you want to see – like a mirror. And when it concerns matters of the heart it is more painful and more difficult to see until it's too late."

"Gerda, has something happened?" Elsa says weakly, taken aback by the dark tone of Gerda's words.

Gerda exhales slowly as she fixes her gaze on Elsa, "Elsa, you are throwing yourself into the arms of a man you know nothing of. You've never had a man court you before, so this is new and exciting. But the media will pick up on this quickly and you'll find yourself in every gossip column and sound clip in the blink of an eye. Don't you remember the Princes of England and all the nonsense they had drug through the media because of their antics? It will happen eventually, and I need you to be prepared to face the paparazzi, as well as yourself, when it does. Be practical. Know what skeletons are hiding in his closets, what ghosts haunt him so they don't frighten you later. If he's genuine and real then he won't mind and will tell you everything willingly. Then you have his facts checked out and make sure he is who he says he is."

"Are you saying we should have boyfriends spied on?" Anna says with confusion.

"It comes with the territory, I'm afraid. If you don't do it, the media will."

Elsa swallows hard, the reality of her romance leaving her stomach turning, slightly ill. "I agree, Gerda. Thank you…I appreciate that you have been so candid. Could you ask Kai to start that process with Hans Westergaard? I suppose it would be foolish not to."

Gerda smiled sadly at Elsa, "I'm sorry if I have rained on your parade, but you need to be rational as you give your heart away...don't ignore your mind entirely."

Elsa looked down at her fingers folded in her lap and sighed as she thought, too late...