The room was dimly lit from the low burning sun. It was never completely dark in summer, Anna knew that much, and it wasn't bright enough to be morning. She turned her phone to see the time. 3:42 am. Anna turned to see Kristoff sleeping next to her, his back facing her. Then she turned to see the couch on which Elsa was sleeping on. There was a dark silhouette, just sitting there, unmoving.

Anna got quietly up and creeped next to the sitting figure. Elsa didn't say anything, so Anna just sat down next to her. Neither of them spoke. Elsa kept staring into emptiness and Anna had time to look at Elsa's attire. She was still wearing those white jeans and simple button-up blouse from the day. Her hair was still tied with a tight bun, which was horrible thing to have for traveling, if Anna's opinion was asked. Elsa looked polished, but tired, there was no doubt that she hadn't slept a minute in that motel room.

"Is the couch too lumpy for you to sleep on?" Anna asked gently, trying to reach for Elsa's eyes.

Finally Elsa turned her head to regard Anna's existence. She smiled so softly it was barely noticeable, and shook her head. Her beauty was almost ethereal, basking with early morning sun. Elsa didn't look like she was from this world at all, and Anna was afraid she would disappear if she closed her eyes for too long. She wanted to close Elsa in a hug, never letting her go, but she knew Elsa would only flinch away. Anna wasn't sure she could take that rejection, even if she knew it was coming.

"So, what's keeping you awake at this hour? Is it our snoring? I did warn you about it," Anna joked weakly, trying to get Elsa to lose that faraway look in her eyes.

"I'm just thinking," Elsa answered vaguely, without actually answering to anything.

"What are you thinking about?" Anna prompted.

Elsa seemed to think for the longest time for her answer. Just when Anna thought she had lost her again, Elsa looked her straight into her eyes and said: "It's disgusting in here. I can't lay down without feeling thousands of different kind of creatures crawling on my skin. I know there's nothing, at least nothing worse than a bed bug." Elsa grinned a little bit, but lost the humor soon. "But when I get the thought of things crawling on my skin, it doesn't go away until I get up and see my skin without them. So I'm just sitting here, trying to think other things." Elsa had turned to face the empty wall once again, distant look in her eyes.

Elsa didn't want to tell the reason for that feeling. She didn't want to tell Anna, that she had spent more than enough time in hotels and motels in her childhood, and those times never included any sleep. Mostly she had been brought to other people's homes, if not, the hotels her father pushed her into were usually nice. But sometimes, they had been gross and cheap like the one they were currently located to. She had always had the feeling of dirty things crawling on her when she laid in unfamiliar places. She didn't want to tell Anna, that she was afraid to close her eyes and wake up with a strange man she has never met before, or even worse, one that she has met before.

Anna didn't know what to say. She was dying to know what went through Elsa's head, but she didn't know, what to ask to make her talk more. In Elsa's books, she had already told plenty. Anna didn't want to anger her by pushing too hard. So she change the subject to get Elsa back: "Isn't that bun getting uncomfortable for you? It looks so tight."

"Huh?" Elsa asked. Then she understood the words and touched her bun with her left hand. "I don't know, I didn't even remember it," she said with distrait voice.

"Would you like me to braid it for you? I bet it would be way more comfortable," Anna asked hesitantly, afraid of rejection. It always hurt so much, when Elsa pushed her away.

"I don't know. Would you tie it back to a bun at morning? My wrist still hurts when I'm doing my hair," Elsa confessed, twisting gently her healing wrist.

"If that's what you want to. But why wouldn't you have it in a braid for tomorrow?" Anna asked, frowning a little.

"I don't want people to see me my hair down. Bun makes me feel in control," Elsa answered, wondering how much she was willing to reveal of herself to that girl.

"In control of what?"

Yeah, in control of what? Elsa didn't really know. What was she controlling with her hair up? She had just always kept it up when in public. Elsa wasn't really good with changes, she was good with routines. She didn't even remember when she started to tie her hair up, she just started at one point, and never stopped. Now it all seemed very silly. She felt ridiculous for saying that to Anna, and Anna was an adult who proudly wore twin braids and pigtails on a regular day. Anna was still the bravest girl Elsa knew, even with her silly braids, they didn't diminish her power or control in anyway. Elsa could easily wear a French braid one day.

"You know what, you are right. I would love for you to braid my hair," Elsa said finally.

"Oh really?" Anna squealed a little too loudly. Elsa hushed her immediately and pointed to sleeping Kristoff. "Oh, right, sorry. I'll braid your hair real quiet, I promise," Anna grinned and started working on Elsa's hair.

When she was done, they sat in a silence. The silence was comfortable, but Anna herself felt as tense as an over-tuned violin. She felt strong need to lay her head against Elsa's shoulder, and she was going to do it, with the risk of Elsa shaking her off. Heart bounding in her ears, she gently laid her head against Elsa's shoulder. Anna squeezed her eyes closed, and without noticing, held her breath.

Elsa under her went rigid. Seconds passed without anything else happening. But then Elsa surprised Anna, her shoulders relaxed completely. And then a soft cheek pressed against the crown of Anna's head. Her eyes shot open and she released a shuddering breath. Elsa next to her seemed content, and with newfound confidence, Anna snuggled a little closer to Elsa. She even dared to take a hold of Elsa's left hand with her right hand. Instead of pulling her hand back, Elsa started drawing soft circles with her thumb on the back of Anna's hand.

Anna felt like she was exactly where she should have been. How was it possible that it felt even better to cuddle with Elsa, than it did with Kristoff? With Kristoff, there was always that certain awkwardness of a new relationship present when they were together. But in a moment like this, she felt like she had knew Elsa her whole life.

"Aren't you tired?" Anna yawned.

"I have whole day to sleep tomorrow. Now I just want to be here with you," Elsa answered softly and gave a gentle squeeze to Anna's hand.

They sat like that the whole night. Ironically, in a way Elsa ended up sharing her bed with Anna, after all.

"Finally! We're here," Kristoff announced while driving a bumpy dirt road to the yard of a nice, red and yellow farmhouse.

"Oh no," Elsa breathed out with a horrified face when she saw what was waiting for them.

"Wow! You have a big family!" Anna exclaimed, getting hyped up.

The front yard of the farmhouse had at least fifteen children playing together. They all got really excited, when they saw Kristoff parking his car and getting out of it. He barely had time to help the girls out of the car and fetch Elsa's crutches, when a plump woman ran out of the front door, an army of other adults trailing behind her, and yelled: "Kristoff and Elsa are home!"

Then she removed the distance between them and crushed Kristoff into a tight bear hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, mom," Kristoff laughed, struggling to breathe a little.

Then Bulda let Kristoff go, and stalked towards Elsa: "And you, my little girl, I swear you get more beautiful every day." She took Elsa into a gentle and a little awkward hug, since Elsa still had to hold her crutches. "How do I even hug you without breaking you? How many times I have to tell you, you ought to be more careful when biking alongside with those cars? Why won't you just let Kristoff drive you around?" Bulda chastised.

"I like biking, mom," Elsa pouted cutely.

Then Bulda noticed her hair and took her braid in her hands to admire. "Ooh! You have your hair down! Have you finally stopped wearing those tight buns and started dressing like a normal young woman?" Then she gave a look to Elsa's lavender turtleneck dress. It would have been a little warm for the hot day in South, but was quite appropriate in the rapidly cooling late summer evening in North. She could actually have even warmer clothes. "Well, you look youthful enough," Bulda said simply.

Before Elsa could answer in any way, Bulda's gaze found Anna. "And which one of my weirdly antisocial children brought this cute red head to our yard?" she almost yelled with a delighted expression.

Anna flushed red and laughed awkwardly: "I'd like to say both, as Elsa's my friend too. But uh, Kristoff asked me to come." Then she shot a pointed look to Kristoff. "I thought you were supposed to call your mother about this?"

Kristoff rubbed his neck and looked elsewhere. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Kristoff brought home a girl?" Bulda asked rhetorically, testing out the words in her mouth. Then she turned to see the bigger group a little farther away and yelled: "Kristoff brought a girl!"

The yard-full of people started circling Anna and scrutinize her. Anna couldn't make sense of half of the things said, but they seemed pleased with her. Elsa looked embarrassed, but was standing still, like unsure of what to do. Kristoff was trying to make his family back off, but they ignored him. Anna just stood middle of this, and was trying to pay attention to everyone, without succeeding.

"Elsa! Elsa! You're home!" someone yelled from the farmhouse. The high pitched screaming finally made the huge crowd stop examining Anna.

They scattered enough for Anna to see a little boy run towards them. He was the strangest looking child Anna had ever seen. He was running as fast as he could towards them, but it looked so clumsy and slow, with those short little legs. His head looked too big for his body, and his legs and arms too short. His skin was even paler than Elsa's and his hair was dark brown, contrasting the skin even more.

The boy had almost reached Elsa, when Bulda caught him: "There, there Olaf. I know you're excited, but remember what we talked about."

"That I'm not supposed to jump in Elsa's arms, because her leg hurts," Olaf said so sadly that it broke Anna's heart to hear.

"C'mon Kristoff. Lift Olaf up so I can properly greet my baby brother," Elsa ordered Kristoff with commanding tone, but playful glint in her eyes.

Kristoff grumbled a little bit, but complied his sister's wishes anyway. Olaf's face lit up like a Christmas tree and he started jumping up and down excitedly, before Kristoff picked him up. Kristoff brought Olaf to Elsa, and took a hold on her crutches to free her arms. Olaf quickly wrapped his short little hands around Elsa's neck, and hug her so tightly, it must've hurt Elsa's delicate neck. Elsa didn't seem to mind, she just wrapped her arms around Olaf's body, and squeezed lightly.

"I've missed you so much, little guy," Elsa breathed into Olaf's neck, just loud enough for Anna to hear it too. It was weird for Anna to see Elsa being so openly affectionate.

"I missed you too, Elsie," Olaf giggled. But then he spotted Anna behind Elsa's shoulder and gasped excitedly. "Ooh! Who is this?" he yelled near to Elsa's ear, which made her let go of him and step farther, rubbing her ear. Then Olaf turned to his brother, slammed his hands to his chest and kicked his feet wildly. "Let me down now Kristoff!" he demanded.

Kristoff let that little guy on the ground, and he ran to Anna. He reached to grab the hem of her plaid shirt within both of his fist: "Who are you?"

"I'm Anna, Kristoff's girlfriend," Anna chuckled lightly. She was a little unsure, what she was supposed to do with the overly excited child.

"You look just like my sister Elsa! Are you my sister too?" the boy asked, awe in his eyes.

"Oh no, we're just good friends," Anna said. Her voice didn't waver, but she actually felt a little spooked. Olaf was the second one to ask if they were sisters, and he wasn't just some random boy selling ice cream, he was Elsa's foster brother. Did they really look similar?

"That's a shame. You're so beautiful," Olaf breathed out, longingly.

Maybe Olaf just thought Anna looked like Elsa, because he thought Anna was beautiful. Maybe every beautiful girl reminded Olaf of his lovely sister. And well, being compared to Elsa, wasn't exactly an insult, more like a compliment, so Anna decided to not to dwell on it too much. Would it even be so bad to be referred as Elsa's sister? They might not be sisters by blood, but she did hope for Elsa to see her as something close to a sister one day.

It was weird for Anna, to be an adult in this kind of chattering. Her parents had sometimes taken her to evenings and galas with them, but she had always been shooed to go and play with other children. With her nanny's supervision, of course. She had always liked to be able to go and play with others, but she felt so grown up now, sitting with other adults.

It was also really nice to get to know Elsa and Kristoff's aunts and uncles, though they seemed to be more interested in her than sharing about themselves. It wasn't really a problem for Anna, she liked to talk and thrived from being the center of attention.

Kristoff had ran off to entertain the children with Sven, it was so nice to see how well Kristoff got along with them. He was great with kids, better than with adults. He would make a great father one day, the thought made Anna blush. Only one child had remained, the little foster boy Olaf. Bulda had tried to ask him to leave adults talk, but he had refused to leave Elsa's lap once he had managed to climb on it. Soon the hyped up boy had fallen asleep, and Elsa was currently stroking his head lovingly. Anna kind of wished she was the one Elsa was petting.

The dynamics in the room were strange. Elsa was quietly sitting on her own armchair, while others were seated on the couches. But it didn't feel like she was an outsider in the conversation. She didn't really say anything, but Bulda spoke for her and she confirmed with nods of her head. She took part in the conversation with facial expressions and nodding and shaking her head. No one seemed to be bothered by this.

"My parents actually raised me to be a Norwegian, by any means necessary. You know, anything except actually taking me to Norway," Anna explained to the question of her Norwegian inheritance.

"But if you have family here, wouldn't they take you to see them. Family is so important!" one of the aunts gasped.

"Some of my relatives came to visit us in UK, but we never came to Norway. My parents didn't really take me anywhere. I left the house for first time when I was seven and broke my arm after sliding down a bannister," Anna told and every one gasped, even Elsa looked somewhat horrified. She felt like an amazing storyteller.

"Why would they keep such a sweet child as yourself locked up?"

"My father always said, that you can never trust anyone and the world is cruel place for little girls like me. When I was thirteen or something, he told me a story about a business man he once met. He was just a regular guy, a family man. He had wife and a newborn baby when my father had met him. He seemed like any normal guy, loving husband and a proud father of his little baby girl. Pictures in a wallet and all of that normal stuff. Years later, he turns out to be some leader in a huge pedophile ring that human trafficked children. It was rumored that he even sold her own daughter regularly, though it was never confirmed publicly, of course. It terrified my father, that he had actually met a man who could sell his own daughter like that, and he hadn't sensed anything strange. He was so afraid that he would make a similar mistake when judging someone else's character, and let that kind of person near to me," Anna recalled the story her father had told her. She wasn't sure if it was true, or just something her parents used to keep her in, but if was terrifying nevertheless.

That story hit a little too close to Elsa. While others were chattering about the subject, she gently shook Olaf awake. "I need to use the bathroom Olaf, you need to get up," she murmured softly.

When Olaf started to stir from his sleep, Elsa helped her down to his short legs. "There you go, fella, go to play with other kids." And Olaf waddled off.

That had gained adults attention, and she couldn't meet their eyes anymore. Especially Bulda's, who was starting to look increasingly worried. She was the only one who knew how close that story had exactly hit her. "May I be excused? I really need to use the ladies room," Elsa mumbled, even though she ought not to mumble, that made her seem rude and stupid, she knew that.

"Of course, dear," Bulda said with gentle tone. Elsa had already started to get up before the answer.

She hoisted herself towards the upstairs, putting extra weight on her right wrist. She needed some pain to focus on. Elsa didn't like pain, but she liked crying in front of others even less. Maybe she was a little wrong in head, but focusing on manageable pain always helped her to stop the involuntary tears trailing down to her cheeks.

"I knew I would find you up here," Kristoff said when he peered into the small space.

Elsa looked at him, but didn't say anything. She was laying on that old mattress that used to be her bed so long time ago, and read some silly novel that was left on the attic, probably from Elsa's teenager years.

Kristoff sat on the bed, next to Elsa, old springs squeaking under his weight. "I can't help but wonder, how did you climb up that ladder? You shouldn't be putting weight on that injured leg of yours, you know that. I'm worried that you'll hurt yourself even worse, Elsa. You shouldn't push your body over its limits, you are still healing," Kristoff chastised Elsa with gentle, but serious tone.

Elsa just pursed her lips, but still didn't say anything. Kristoff still understood her. It wasn't too hard for a man, who was certain he could understand dogs, even though they never said anything aloud.

"Anna told me what happened," he changed the topic to the thing he actually wanted to talk about.

"She thinks—knows, that I'm a freak, now?" Elsa asked with a defeated tone.

"You're not a freak, and she doesn't think you are one," Kristoff answered strictly. "And she doesn't even know about your past, not really." Elsa looked up surprised, but a hint of hesitated hope evident on her face. "She told me about the story she narrated, and how you excused yourself to bathroom, but never came back. I understood immediately why you left, so I explained to her that you were fine, but hearing about fathers like that always make you sad, you needed a moment alone. She understood and apologized for upsetting you. You told her that you didn't have the best biological father, right? So I don't think this revealed her anything she didn't already know."

"Thank you, Kristoff, for telling her that. You're a good brother," Elsa said, honestly. She couldn't be more grateful for Kristoff's way of handling that situation. She had been so afraid she had completely blew everything up with her incapability of handling her own emotions.

"I try," he grinned softly. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

Elsa pursed her lips and looked at her hands. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it. Kristoff rarely actually wanted to have deep conversations, he wasn't really good with them. Elsa didn't blame him, she wasn't good at many things. But then again, she kind of wished for someone to tell her that she was overthinking and what she thought, couldn't be true.

"Do you think the man Anna's father was talking about could be my father?" Elsa asked quietly.

"Honestly, I have to say I do think he might be. I mean, a business man turned out to be into child trafficking, there's probably limited amount of them, at least I hope so. We don't really know, where the story takes place, but most likely within thirty years. So yeah, I think there's a high change he could be your father. Besides, didn't you always say, that you thought your father really loved your mother?"

"Yeah, I think he did. Not that I could be sure of that, though. But it feels weird, to think that he had ever talked proudly of me, or had my picture inside his wallet. I only ever remember him talking proudly of me, when he was negotiating about a price with customers, and he had my picture just for the new ones. He never had one in his wallet to look at fondly when he was away," Elsa told with melancholic apathy.

Kristoff didn't have any words for that. How did one say anything to that? What could he say? 'Aww man, it sucks that your father liked to sell you to random dudes for some quick cash'? It was hard to talk with Elsa about the subjects, because there was nothing he could do or say to right the wrong she had faced in her childhood. He could only awkwardly pat her hand to show her his support the best way he could.

"I just can't get this thought out of my head—this thing where—I, mean—I don't know," Elsa struggled with her words.

"What you can't get out of your head?" Kristoff prompted.

"What if—could it—do you think that Anna's father might been one of the men who—you know," Elsa forced out.

"I—what—No! No way! Anna wouldn't know, wouldn't she? His father would be in jail right now, wouldn't he?" Kristoff stammered, shocked.

"I don't know. What if he never went to trials? It's so hard for me to remember them all, I don't know if all of them were there," Elsa admitted. She tried her hardest to remember all the men she helped to put behind the bars, but she couldn't remember or recognize any of them in her mind anymore.

"No, he wouldn't, he couldn't. He had met that man when you were only a little newborn, and Anna said she has been in England her whole life, and her parents seemed to hate Norway." Elsa opened her mouth to speak, but Kristoff beat her at it: "And probably Sweden too. He was repulsed of that business man's actions. Besides, Anna is so sweet and kind, how could her father be such a monster?"

Elsa looked so hurt it almost broke Kristoff's heart. He just didn't understand why, before Elsa spoke: "You think I'm like my father?"

Kristoff's eyes widened in shock when he understood what he had implied. "Oh gosh no! Of course no! You're nothing like him! You're sweet and kind and wonderful and you could never hurt anyone on purpose. I'm so sorry for saying anything like that, I'm so sorry."

"I know, it's alright. I understand," Elsa murmured. "But you really don't think Anna's father might've—?"

"Absolutely no, I'm sure of it," Kristoff said with hundred percent of certainty in his voice. There was no way Anna's father couldn't do anything like that. Kristoff hadn't met him, but Anna loved and trusted in him, he couldn't be a bad man. But then again, Anna had loved and trusted Hans. But that was a completely different thing, wasn't it?

"Thank you, Kristoff. I feel a little better now," Elsa said with a slight relief.

Kristoff pushed all the unpleasant thoughts away and asked: "Would you like to read Donald Duck with me? Like we used to when we were kids?"

A wide, childish smile broke on Elsa's face. "Yes please!"

Kristoff took a random comic book from the box and started to make space for himself next to Elsa. "Scooch in," he ordered, and took the girl in his arms so that Elsa's head was laying on his shoulder. It was a little tight on the bed for two of them, but it brought out fond childhood memories for him.

"Are you sure Anna will be okay alone, down there with our family?" Elsa asked, feeling a little unsure about leaving their friend there.

"She's a big girl, she will survive a while without us. Plus she's Anna, she won't feel lonely with people surrounding her," Kristoff grinned, easing Elsa's worries.

Then he started to read the comic, with funny voices. Elsa felt so good and content in his arms. She felt nostalgic and over all, it was just so good to have her brother all for herself again, even if it was just a short moment. It was so important for her to know, that he still cared for her, loved her, even if he had Anna now.