"Elsa, I do not want to stay for a ball! We have what we came here for! In case you have forgotten I have a wife to get home too. A baby about to be born!" Kristoff paced around the room he'd been told was his.

"No, I have not forgotten!" Elsa snapped. "Mind you that is my sister who I have tried everything in my power to protect my entire life! I want to get back to her and save her too! But were you listening during our tour?"

An ashamed look claimed Kristoff's face.

Elsa's own face twisted in discontent, "Your kingdom-"

"This is not MY kingdom." Kristoff corrected her.

"Fine," Elsa brushed off his hateful comment, "THIS kingdom is known for winning wars. There hasn't been a war it has gotten into that they did not win. This kingdom is feared more than nay in the lands."

"Okay?"

"You're the prince of this kingdom. Play along at this ball tonight, prove yourself to them, then we won't ever have to worry about a country like The Southern Isles again! Your marriage to Anna will be all that Arendelle needs to keep it safe." Elsa explained.

Kristoff chewed on his inner cheek and on Elsa's words.

"If you anger them-"

"I won't." Kristoff didn't bother to let Elsa finish. He knew what she was going to say. "I'll do whatever I need to do if it means keeping Anna safe."

"Thank you. I know it's hard. But a few more hours and we can leave."

Kristoff only pulled in a large amount of air and released it back, hoping it would flush tension out with it.

It didn't work.

"Helpp!" Anna's voice pierced the silence of the night.

It was so startling that it caused Hans to propel himself off the couch he had been so soundly sleeping on and onto the floor.

"Anna!" Hans shook the drowsiness from his head and fumbled his way over to Anna's bed.

From the moonlight spilling in the windows he could see that she was drenched in sweat. One of her hands tightly gripping the pillow under her head, the other gripping the thin quilt that covered her. Her face was contorted with pain and every few seconds she let out a hot gust of air, as if she was wishing to huff the pain out.

How had she gotten in such a bad situation and him be across the room and not know it?

"Anna, whats wrong?!" Hans shook her shoulders. "Anna?"

Suddenly Anna's eyes snapped open. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried to catch her breath. Instantly her grip on the quilt and pillow loosened and her face faded to normal.

"Don't take him." She begged breathlessly, one of her hands coming up and clutching Hans' shirt.

"Don't take who?" Hans questioned.

"My baby." Anna's eyes seemed to be filling with water.

"What? Anna, no one is taking your baby." Hans dabbed her face with his sleeve.

The tears spilled from her eyes and sobs racked her body.

Hans carefully wrapped his arms around her as her arms enclosed around him. She cried and cried, despite Hans best effort to console her.

Finally she calmed down and her tears just turned into sniffles. Hans slowly reclined her back into her pillows and began to pull from her.

Her actions halted him. When he tried to pull around from her, Anna clutched him. Refusing to let him go.

"Anna?" Hans spoke softly.

She was silent. Hans inhaled her scent. She smelled like sweet treats. She always smelled of something sweet, from the moment the crashed into each other on the pier he smelled sweets on her.
Quickly he shook the thoughts from his head; then shamed himself for recalling such memories when Anna was so clearly suffering from a mental breakdown in front of him.

"Don't leave me." She begged as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "I don't want to be alone."

This was exactly what Hans had wanted from the moment he arrived, Anna begging him not to leave her side. But somehow, this isn't how he pictured it. He didn't want it to be out of desperation, her terrified from a nightmare.

Hans lips formed a tight line as he slowly eased himself onto the bed next to Anna, her hold on him never faulting.

"I'm scared." Anna confided quietly.

"Of what?" Hans questioned, softly stroking her hair.

Her answer took a while, Hans thought she had drifted to sleep, "The future."

Part of Hans wished she had just fallen asleep rather than answered.

Hans could still here Anna's scream whenever it was silent. It made it almost impossible to relax.

The worst part of the situation was that whenever he was around Anna now, she made it a point to prove she was still in love with the other man. His portrait laying on the bed next to her the next day was the first stunt. The next day she compared everything Hans did for her to things that the other man had done for her, being kind enough to point out every way Hans fell short.

But no matter what she said to discourage his feelings, in the front of his mind was the way she felt curled up next to him. The way he could feel the baby kicking as she slept. The words she said whenever she wanted him to stay by her. When she finally stopped being tough Anna and showed how she really felt.

"Hans," King Ivan appeared in the dining hall where Hans had found himself sipping on some hot soup. "I think we're being played."

Hans looked at his father with a questioning look, the confusion only deepened when a string of servants followed his father in, all holding decorations of some sort.

"What's going on?" Hans waved his spoon at the sudden flurry of redecorating.

"You're getting married," Ivan had a wicked grin on his face. "Tonight."

Hans almost choked on his spoon as he spewed it from his mouth.