A/N: Hey all, sorry for being absent for a while. August has been quite busy for me already, and since I start school next week...ahhh!
But since I have these written out, I will try and upload them somewhat frequently, so please be patient. And thank you to all the wonderful reviewers. Your reviews give me life!
And now, on to a cute, fluffy chapter just for all of you.
Elsa's Birthday Disaster
Set six months after the Great Thaw (December 21, 1842)
To be fair, Anna didn't forget her sister's birthday was coming up. The princess had always kept track of her sister's special day over the years and always made sure to send her a gift slipped under the door.
But after the Thaw, Anna had gotten caught up in the excitement of her new life. And so, when Gerda casually mentioned the special dinner Cook was planning to serve on the 21st of December, the princess couldn't help but ask…
"What's so special about the 21st?"
The handmaiden turned a strange look to the girl, "My dear, that's your sister's birthday."
Anna blinked once, then again. "I..how…Oh my god, you're right, Gerda! How did I forget?!" She jumped up and began pacing, so aggravated by her forgetfulness that she began flailing her arms wildly.
The poor handmaiden had to duck to keep from being hit as she responded, "It's alright, Princess Anna. Everyone's been so busy these days. Such things tend to slip the mind…besides, your sister never cared much about celebrating it."
Anna stopped rambling at those words, "She hasn't?" Such a thought was bizarre to the princess. Granted, she hadn't felt much like celebrating her own birthday when the sisters had been separated, but now, she couldn't wait to celebrate her nineteenth birthday with her sister. And wouldn't Elsa feel the same way?
"I'm sure she's changed, Gerda. Now that we're together, I'm sure Elsa will want a grand celebration. Lights, music and a great big party in her honor!"
The woman simply chuckled fondly as she exited the room, leaving the enthusiastic princess to dream about the perfect party she would soon throw for her sister.
But for that, she'd need to ask Elsa a few questions first.
"So," Anna began, the next night during dinner, "I hear someone's birthday is coming up soon…"
Elsa simply raised an eyebrow, feigning complete ignorance. "Is that so?"
The redhead rolled her eyes, "I'm talking about your birthday, Elsa. I thought you'd be a little more excited by it."
The blonde just shrugged. Birthdays had never really held much meaning for her. How could they, especially when she'd spent most of them alone, by choice? And even though she knew Anna wasn't the kind to let such a thing go, Elsa really hoped her sister wouldn't put up such a fuss.
"What should we do? I was thinking a big party? Oooh! What about a ball? I'd love a ball, Elsa. Wouldn't you?"
The queen shook her head, "I'm really not a fan of big flashy events, Anna. The coronation ball was hard enough to stand through. And I'd rather not have something like that for my birthday. The truth is…I don't really want anything at all."
Anna quirked an eyebrow, "Not anything?"
"Not anything." Elsa repeated definitively. "I have you in my life, darling. That's already everything I've ever wanted and as long as I can spend time with you, I will be quite happy."
Before Anna could reply, the queen got up from her seat, pecked the princess on the cheek and left to tend to her work. As she watched her sister leave, Anna couldn't help but huff disappointedly.
Elsa had spent her whole life locked in her room with no joy or happiness, not even on her birthdays. But now that they'd been reunited, Anna was not going to stand for a repeat of the past, especially not when it came to Elsa's birthday celebrations.
But if Elsa wasn't going to tell her what she liked, then it was up to Anna to come up with the best surprise party ever. But in order to throw such a grand affair together in such short time, she would need some help.
Luckily she knew just the person. And snowman. And reindeer.
"Just move it a little to the left." Anna leaned back to survey the banner's position. Kristoff strained to hold the banner aloft, his toes aching from bearing the brunt of his weight.
"Is this good?"
"More, Kristoff. It has to be exactly in the center."
Kristoff moved a little more, only to tip the ladder off balance. His screams rang through the castle as he plummeted towards the floor. At the last second, he fell onto his buddy, Sven, and the two collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from the near-death experience.
Anna ran up to him, her heart in her throat. "Are you okay?"
Kristoff jumped up and brushed himself off, doing his best to appear unfazed by the incident. "I'm fine Anna. Nothing can ruffle my feathers."
Anna relaxed to see him up. "Good. The last thing I need is for all of this to become a disaster."
Kristoff raised his hands in mock indignation. "And here I thought you were worried about me."
Anna smirked at his antics but leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "There, happy now?"
He grinned like a cheshire cat. "Very."
A bemused Anna spared him a small shake of her head before turning to the rest of the room. "This has to be perfect, Kristoff. It's for Elsa's birthday. She deserves to have the perfect birthday celebration."
"I'm sure she'll love it Anna."
Anna gave him a grateful smile before stealing a glance at the clock tower. Her face promptly fell as she saw the time.
"Oh, I still need to get the cake from town as well as the present I got for her and it's almost sunset! She'll be done with her council meeting soon. Ahh! I can't let her see this before it's ready."
Kristoff placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, feisty pants. I'll go get the cake and present. You just finish up here and go see Elsa. I'll let you know when everything's ready."
Anna nodded. "Good, that's a good idea."
She turned to Olaf who'd been ambling across the courtyard. "Olaf, go with Kristoff and Sven." She turned back to him. "Once you're set up, send Olaf to find me, okay?" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off.
Kristoff watched her go, a small smile on his face. It wasn't until Sven nudged him towards the gates that he realized he had a job to do. "Come on team! Let's go help Anna."
He stopped off at the stationary store first to pick up Anna's gift for Elsa. When he laid eyes on the fancy quill, he couldn't help but whistle in appreciation. He didn't know Elsa that well, but he did know she would love it. The quill reminded him of her, calm and icy and elegant.
The shopkeeper placed it in a box for him. "Keep it safe, young man. Exposing the feather to moisture will ruin the quill."
Kristoff nodded and thanked the owner, pocketing the box in his vest before moving to the next stop.
At the baker's stall, Kristoff was greeted by the largest cake he'd ever seen. Fifteen layers of white and pink frosting towered before him, each layer so intricately decorated that he was sure he'd need a magnifying glass to see the details better.
"Are you sure this is the cake the princess ordered?" He whispered in awe.
The baker nodded proudly. "Yes, sir, it's for the queen. The princess insisted it be the most magnificent cake in the whole kingdom."
"When Anna goes big, she goes big, alright!" The ice harvester couldn't help but agree as he eyed the cake. Glorious as it was, the sheer size of it posed quite the predicament. Just how was he supposed to carry this all the way to the castle?
After spending half an hour just trying to pick the cake up, Kristoff finally exited the baker's with Elsa's birthday cake, all fifteen layers of it. He stumbled a little under its weight but managed to right himself before the towering delicacy could fall.
"Sven?" He called out, not entirely sure if his buddy was even there to begin with. "Can you bring the cart around here? I don't think I can make it very far with this thing." Satisfied by the small grunt he got in response, Kristoff began to make his way onto the street.
As he stumbled into the road, entirely oblivious to the path before him, he heard a cart coming down the road. Thinking it to be Sven, he turned, but the driver, who was definitely not Sven, didn't see him until it was almost too late.
Kristoff flew into the air, cake, and all. For the second time that day, he wondered what it would be like to become a pancake on the ground, but when he landed, he didn't feel every bone in his body break like he'd anticipated. Only when he felt the frosting seep through his clothes did he realize what had saved him.
The cake! And then…
"Oh no! The quill!" He opened the box and found the quill untouched. Kristoff heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god it had come in a case.
He rose from the mess, eager to get back to the castle before further harm could be done, but in his haste, he failed to see the stone right in front of him. As he tumbled for the third time that day, the box flew out of his hand and fell into a puddle right in front of him.
"No!" He scrambled to the puddle and dropped to his knees, but it was hopeless. The quill was ruined.
Uh oh, what am I going to tell Anna?
Anna glanced out the window for the umpteenth time, her nerves fraying. It was fifteen minutes past sunset and Kristoff had yet to send a signal. She could only thank her stars that Elsa's meeting had run late, but everything should have been ready by now.
Kristoff, where are you?
"Anna, what a pleasant surprise!"
Anna whirled around to see the queen step out of the council room, folder in hand. A wide smile grew on the princess' face at the welcome sight. She could never tire of seeing her sister.
Elsa wrapped her in a hug, tucking her chin in the crook of Anna's neck. "Hope you weren't waiting all day for me."
Anna simply giggled at her sister's question. Her dear sister really had no idea what she'd been up to. Boy was Elsa going to be surprised!
"No, I spent the day with Kristoff. But I figured you'd be done with your meeting soon and I wanted to see you."
"I'm glad you came by. After the day I just had, a little ray of sunshine is exactly what I needed." Elsa replied sweetly, tapping her sister on the nose. Anna blushed at the childish display of affection from her sister, quite enjoying the warm, fuzzy feeling she got when Elsa behaved like this.
Anna laced her fingers with Elsa's and gave her sister a sympathetic smile. "That rough, huh?"
Elsa shrugged, the smile dropping from her face as she spoke, "Finding a trade partner to replace Weselton is a daunting task. After the incident with the Northern Isles, none of the other countries feel comfortable enough with Arendelle to consider entering the agreement. If we hadn't been so isolated for so long…" She drifted off with an exasperated sigh.
"Hey, the past is in the past, remember?" Anna nudged her sister gently. It wasn't too hard to guess what Elsa had been thinking about.
Elsa nodded absently. "I suppose so." Clutching her sister's hand a little tighter, she turned to happier thoughts. "Anyway, I'm free the rest of the day. What do you want to do?"
Well, I want to take you to your surprise birthday party, but I can't because Kristoff isn't back yet, and I don't want you to see it until it's ready… "I don't know."
Elsa smiled. "Well then, perhaps we could cuddle in the library with some hot chocolate and a good mystery?"
"Oooh, really?!" Anna began, her eyes wide with excitement. But then she remembered the party, the one she'd spent hours planning. "Uh, actually… can we take a walk through the gardens?"
Elsa glanced at her sister. Something was off with Anna, that much was obvious. Her sister kept looking around anxiously, as if waiting for someone, or something. Knowing full well that her sister would deny any such accusation, Elsa decided to feign complete ignorance. "This was a wonderful idea, Anna. I really did need some fresh air."
Where are they? Anna stood on her toes to try and see over the hedges, but there was not a snowy head in sight.
Okay, scratch that. She couldn't pretend she hadn't noticed anymore. Elsa stopped walking suddenly, forcing Anna to screech to a halt as well. "Okay, what's wrong?"
"Wrong? Huh, what do you mean?"
Elsa put her hands on her hips. "You're clearly waiting for something. What's wrong?"
Before Anna could fumble her way through an explanation, Olaf appeared, his stubby legs moving as fast as he could make them move. She ran to him, her teal eyes wide with anticipation. "What took you so long?"
Olaf shook his head morosely. "We tried to get everything, but then Kristoff got hit by a cart and the cake fell and the box with the feather fell in the water." He bowed his head in shame. "We're sorry, Anna."
Anna sat in a dejected heap in front of Olaf. One birthday, didn't Elsa deserve to have one good birthday, with cake and presents and her younger sister finally by her side? She'd spent so many birthdays alone in her cold, dark room with no one to cheer her up and no one to celebrate her. Anna had wanted to change that, but she'd failed. Some younger sister she was…
Elsa came up behind her. "Anna, what's going on? What's this about a cake?"
With a sigh, Anna told her everything. "I just wanted to give you a perfect birthday celebration, Elsa. I'm sorry." Tears glistened in her eyes as she contemplated the ruined day.
"Hey," Elsa cupped her sister's face and brought it up. "You haven't ruined anything."
"What do you mean?" Anna sniffled morosely. "Didn't you hear me? The cake was ruined and the gift I got for you is sitting in a puddle somewhere."
"Oh, sweetheart, you're so wonderful for doing all of this for me, but I don't need any of that."
"But…your birthday?"
Elsa couldn't help but smile fondly, "All I've ever wanted, all I've ever wished for every single year on my birthday, was to be able to spend time with you. And now that I have that, that's all I'll ever want, birthday or not."
"You really mean that?" Anna whispered.
Elsa's eyes shimmered in the fading sunlight. "With all my heart."
Later that night, the sisters cuddled together in the library, fireplace ablaze, hot chocolate already finished, as Elsa read in a low whisper. Lulled by the sound of her sister's gentle voice, it didn't take long for Anna to doze off, exhausted as she was from the weeks of party planning.
Elsa continued reading for a few more pages before her sister's soft snores interrupted the tranquility. She smiled fondly at her baby sister and closed the book, reaching over her shoulder to place it on the table behind her.
Though she would probably regret sleeping on the couch in the morning, Anna was too comfortably asleep for Elsa to even consider relocating to more appropriate arrangements. She placed a gentle kiss to Anna's cheeks before drawing the blanket over them both and settling in.
"This, my dear sister, is the best birthday gift I've ever had." She whispered as her own eyelids fell.