Chapter 22

When her brother texted her asking to come over, and specifically to bring Elsa, Anna was certainly confused. She was, of course, going to bring Elsa anyway, but wondered what Kristoff had up his sleeve.

Well, it turns out he had a puppy up his sleeve.

Not literally of course, his arms weren't that big, but still it came as a shock to Anna when she saw the baby German Shepherd in her brother's arms. She gasped while Elsa pawed at Kristoff's legs and howled.

"What? How? Why? When?!" she asked in quick succession.

He chuckled as the puppy begins to squirm in his arms at the sight of possible new friends. "We got him a month ago. After you brought Elsa over, Belle wanted a puppy of her own. And she's very stubborn. He got the last of his shots yesterday so I figured it was time for him to meet Elsa."

"What's his name?" Anna asks.

"Sven." Kristoff moves his face closer to the excited puppy while Elsa continues to howl for attention from anyone. "Alright boy, play nice with Elsa, okay?"

Anna held her breath, hands ready to grab at Elsa just in case anything went wrong. She has a lot of experience interacting with other humans, but this is the first time- that Anna knows of- where she'd be interacting with another dog. Sven was still a tiny thing, about as tall as a shoebox and a half. He had predominantly brown fur with spots of black, especially across his back. It was like he was dipped in chocolate before being turned into a completely alive dog.

Things were calm so far, there was a lot of sniffing from both of them. And then Elsa, being the taller of the two, raises one of her front legs to paw at Sven. The tinier puppy sidesteps Elsa's paw, which just causes her to try again. And once again, Sven moves out of the way. This continues a couple more times until Sven barks and runs off towards the living room, with Elsa following right behind him. It seems like they're going to get along just fine.

Anna feels relieved, but still a bit weary. With Elsa's stitches fully healed by now, Anna wasn't too worried about her getting hurt. She was more worried about the kind of mess these two could make in a short amount of time.

"He's very good with the kids," Kristoff says proudly, "And of course Belle loves him."

"What about you?" Anna asks.

Her brother let out a breath, a debate occurring right behind his eyes. "I mean...I voted against it at first. A dog's a big investment after all, and could we really handle one when we're already taking care of two boys? But, Belle convinced me in the end and, well, when I finally saw the little guy, it was love at first sight. You know, not like in a weird way or whatever."

Anna pats his shoulder, "Don't worry, I get it. So, where'd you buy him?"

Kristoff's face lights up and he gives his sister a knowing grin, "Actually we got him at a shelter, with help from a certain doctor."

"Doctor? Who…" It didn't take long for Anna to put two and two together, and she gasps, "Honeymaren helped you pick out Sven?! And she never told me?!"

He shrugs, "She said she wanted me to tell you, figured I'd bring you around to meet the little guy soon anyway."

Anna scoffs, but she doesn't stay mad for too long. Not when Sven comes barreling back towards the kitchen with Elsa close behind. The tiny shepherd's tail wags freely in the air as he laps up half of his water bowl. Anna was excited to see how excited Elsa was to meet a new friend, the husky was eyeing him patiently. Or at least, that's what it looked like before Sven trotted away from his water bowl and Elsa stayed.

"Elsa? Where'd Sven go?" Anna says playfully. The husky looked at her with those adorable, wondering eyes, and then back to the water bowl, and then back at her owner, and then finally settling on the bowl.

"They both have their shots," Kristoff says. "Should be okay for them to drink the same water."

Anna smirked, knowing that her brother knew next to nothing about animals and probably learned all this from her secret-keeping girlfriend. "Yeah, you're probably right." She bends down to scratch Elsa between the ears and adds, "Go ahead, girlie."

With permission granted, Elsa drinks her share and goes back to chasing Sven around.

Amidst the sounds of barking and scattering of paws, Anna asks, "How's the house training going?"

Kristoff hisses, "Uh...it's going. I can't believe how much pee that little guy can store in his bladder."

Ah, that was amusing to hear for Anna. She remembered the early days when it felt like Elsa was going through half of her pads in one day. It was tough finding new stains on her carpet when she wasn't careful about keeping an eye on Elsa, and gosh all those times she had to wash Elsa's bed…

Would she be a good person and empathize with her older brother? Or would she be the bratty younger sister and rub Elsa's house-training success in his face?

Of course she was going to be the bratty younger sister.

"Can't relate," she says in a sing-songy voice.

Kristoff ruffles his hand through her hair, "Oh shut up. We're gonna get a dog door installed soon so he can do his business in the backyard." And thus the karmic circle was complete, Anna got to brag about Elsa not peeing everywhere, and Kristoff got to brag about owning a house.

Soon, they had migrated to the living room as well, watching as Sven yipped at Elsa for merely existing in his personal space. Anna wouldn't say it, but she was glad that Kristoff called her here whether he had a surprise puppy or not. It had been a while since they'd caught up, and seeing the same set of people for the past couple of months was starting to get a little maddening. Except for Honeymaren, obviously.

Kristoff nudges her with his large shoulder and asked, "So what's up with you? How's everything going?"

Anna smiles and leans back to settle into the couch, "It's...I mean I don't know. It's good, I guess."

"You guess?" he asked, leaning back as well.

"No, I-I know that things are good. I just mean- like, there's not much to say. I got Elsa, and then life's just been it's slow, normal self ever since."

"Well, I mean you also got a job and a cute girlfriend," Kristoff says. When Anna gives him a suspicious look, he adds quickly, "Belle said I'm allowed to call her cute."

"Yeah well I think you should have asked me too," Anna pouts, "Anyway...gosh I was looking forward to telling you about stuff but there's really nothing to tell."

"Well then let's talk about what you've already told me."

"What do you mean?"

Another knowing grin stretches across her brother's face. And he asks her a mind-shattering question, "Have you told Honeymaren you love her yet?"

Anna's face heats up like a furnace, and she lets out a noise that's part uncomfortable laugh, and part high-pitched squeal. It gets the dogs' attention momentarily, and then they go back to doing dog things. "What? What?! Why would you think that I would say that already?"

Kristoff shrugs, "I mean this is around the same time you said you loved what's-her-face."

"Yeah, well Honeymaren isn't like what's-her-face! She's sweeter and compliments me and tells me what she wants...and she smells like vanilla."

"I did not need to know that."

"Oh whatever," Anna says with a rolling of her eyes. "But no, I haven't said it yet."

"Well...why not?"

"I…" Anna takes a second to herself to really think about this. Saying those three big words have been on her mind for a little bit now, but she kept telling herself it wasn't the right time. She sighs, and if there was any way to sink more into the couch, she definitely would have. "If something goes wrong, I don't want to take it back. I know some people can bounce back and say 'I love you' again to the next person they're with, but I'm not that kind of person. If I'm gonna say it-"

"You want to make sure that she's the one," Kristoff finishes.

Anna nods, her lips a straight line on her face. She's expecting her brother to follow up with the question of whether or not Honeymaren is the one, but that's something she doesn't feel comfortable with answering right now. So, when Kristoff opens his mouth to speak, she shakes her head with urgency.

"Ah okay, well then...subject change!" He says mercifully, "Still looking for a teaching job?"

Ah yeesh, that's only slightly better than talking about her feelings for Honeymaren. Anna crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "Ugh, yeah. Still no luck."

"Does Honeymaren know?"

"I don't like mentioning it too much," Anna responded. "I have the job that I do now because of her, and I don't want to think I'm so ungrateful that I'm already looking for something else."

"Does she know you've wanted to be a teacher since you were in the fifth grade?"

"Haha...yeah…" She even showed her the pictures her parents took of her running a summer school for her stuffed animals.

"Well guess what? I know a guy at work who has a kid, and it turns out his second-grade teacher's retiring. They've already started looking for a replacement, but I think if I put in a good word-"

"Yes," Anna interrupts.

Kristoff laughs, "You don't even know where the school is."

"I don't care. It's a yes."

"Don't you want to run it by Honeymaren first?"

"Yes, I will. I'll do everything else that I need to do after this conversation, but right now- a thousand times yes- I want the job. So. Recommend. Me." Anna's eyes are so wide, they could be staring right into Kristoff's soul. And by the end, her voice had dropped to a level of seriousness she'd only broken out twice in her life.

Kristoff, thankfully, gets the message. He put his hands up in defeat, still with an amused grin on his face, "Alright alright, I'll tell him."

Anna squeals, "Yay! You're the best!" She jumped and gave her brother a tight hug, which causes Elsa and Sven to perk up with curiosity. They raced over to the siblings, with Sven barking in order to save his owner and Elsa jumping on the couch to get her owner's attention.