Kristoff sat across from Anna, two chairs over, and seemed to fix his gaze on her. When Anna looked at him to see if her peripheral vision was playing tricks on her, his eyes lingered a few seconds before watching the turkey slices Elsa was carving fall to the plate beneath them.

Anna shared easy conversations with Honeymaren and Ryder, but she never lost sight of what Kristoff was eating. He had taken an extra large spoonful of carrots, which Anna strategically placed in front of Sven since she knew Kristoff would sit next to him, before putting anything else on his plate, but he didn't touch them until the rest of his plate was empty, perhaps saving the best for last? Then he ate them so quickly, as though someone was going to take them away from him.

"Aren't Mom's carrots so good?" Olaf asked when they both put a second helping onto their plates. "She always uses just the right amount of ginger!"

Kristoff stopped chewing for a moment, and looked down at his plate and flashed his eyes at Anna.

"So good!" Sven said as he added some more to his plate, and with a carrot in his mouth, asked, "What do you think, Kristoff? Gingery?"

"Yeah," he said, not making eye contact. Then he shrugged, and said, barely audible, "They're good."

Anna's heart hadn't fluttered like that since Hans, and all Kristoff had to do was notice her for a half a second to make her feel like they were back in Mr. Oaken's class.

After dinner, the group sat around the table with their glasses of wine and hashed out the good old days and sang their high school song.

"I promise you the flag of Arendelle will always fly!" they belted out at the tops of their lungs, and Elsa and Anna sang harmony to "our flag will always fly," to close the song out.

Anna couldn't be sure, but she thought a smile teased behind Kristoff's tautly stretched lips when she casually glanced at him. Then Sven whispered something to him, and Kristoff adjusted his folded arms and took one more look at Anna before looking down again.

"I know! Mom! You have to read your poem! Please, please!"

"No, I don't think so, Olaf. It's not finished yet." She lifted her eyes to see Kristoff's reaction, and he furrowed his brow thoughtfully.

"Come on, it's so good!" Olaf pleaded, despite Anna's attempts to gracefully bow out of reading what would have been mood killer even if it had been ready.

"Hey, Olaf," Kristoff jumped in, "Didn't you say you had, like, five pies or something?"

"Pie! That's right!" said Anna, as she leapt to the kitchen. She forgot about the last pumpkin pie, which was still in the oven. She made 6 pies in total, 3 of which were pumpkin. But the crust was a little burnt on the first two (she had composted both of them when Elsa and Olaf weren't paying attention), and the third one was obviously burnt a lot more than the others. On top of that, it needed to set and wouldn't be ready for a few hours. It was the one thing she wanted to be perfect, and it was the one thing she didn't get right.

"What are you doing, Sis?" Elsa asked as she came into the kitchen. "We've got a hungry mob out there waiting for pie."

"I messed it up, Elsa. I burnt it again!" Anna stepped on the pedal to open the trash can. She didn't even care about making it to the compost.

Elsa saved the pie from oblivion and set it on the counter. She wrapped her arms around her little sister and stroked her hair. "It doesn't matter. They're here to see you, not your pies. And besides, you can't put hot baked goods in the trash can. You'll melt the trash bag and it'll be horrible."

Anna knew she was right. But she wanted Kristoff's eyes to light up as he bit into a perfectly sliced wedge, barely caramelized on top, and with a flaky crust that melted in his mouth the way it had at the bake sale. Anna couldn't bear to put an imperfect pie in front of him and see any disappointment there.


"Thanks, Ladies!" Sven said as he put his coat on. "This was the best Halloween/Friendsgiving feast we've ever had!"

"Aww, you're welcome, Sven," said Anna.

Then he elbowed Kristoff in the stomach. "Hmmhmm. Yeah, um, thanks for everything this was, um, this was great."

Anna moved an inch towards him and lifted her arms to elbow height to hug him, but he backed away from her, even stepping into the rain, slightly more than a drizzle at this point, and held his hand out instead. Anna's jaw dropped, and Kristoff's eyes scrunched together, as though even the threat of a handshake was uncomfortable for him.

Anna folded her arms, and said, "Right. Good to see you again, Kristoff."

Then she turned on her heels, went straight to her bedroom and slammed the door before they even left. She kicked her shoes off and all but ripped her tail out. Kristoff hadn't changed after all, despite the muscles she was so worried about. She didn't even know why she thought this time would be different. Then she tossed her cat ears to the other side of the room, and laid down on her bed and cried into her pillow. Hans would have made some clever, sarcastic barb that Kristoff wouldn't feel the sting of until two days later. Anna hated when Hans spoke like that, but there were times it was warranted, and she wished she could have inflicted some of Hans' venom on Kristoff for that handshake. Then she cried more because that wasn't even true.

She was glad for Kristoff's indifference when she thought about all the happy memories she and Hans made together, when she looked into his eyes and said "I do," and especially when the doctor placed baby Olaf into her arms. But a part of her always wondered "what if?" What if she had been even just a little more forward? What if Kristoff actually liked her pumpkin pie? What if he ate the whole thing in front of her? What if he left with the entire pie off instead of Hans? What if Olaf were blond?

Anna finally came out of her room and put her ears back on so she could take over candy duty so Elsa and Olaf could go to sleep. Even though it was now pouring rain, a lot of the older kids were still out, and Anna wanted to make sure their efforts were rewarded. She tried to give away as much as she could, but after she ate the entire box of chocolates Kristoff gave her, the growing pile of Milky Way wrappers was piling up on the side table while Anna paid more attention to the sound of the rain than to Night of the Living Dead, which she had switched on when Elsa went to bed. After the last group, which she hoped would actually be the last, she rubbed her arms to stave off the cold breeze that blew in from the storm. A couple of sprinkles hit her face, and she knew no one else would be knocking on the door that night.

Just as she turned off the porch light and locked the door, another knock startled her. She picked up the nearly empty candy bowl and swung open the door, hoping she could give the rest away.

"Kristoff?" She scowled at him through the doorway, though her heart pounded with the possibility that maybe he had an important reason for returning. "What's going on?"

He stood silent on the porch in front of her, and she forgot about all her grievances. She licked her lips and was seconds away from leaping into his arms.

"Do you have any jumper cables?" he spat out. "Sven's battery is dead, and for some reason he doesn't have any in his truck."

"Oh," she said, her entire face dropping because the only emotion he was feeling was an exaggerated panic for the circumstances that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

"No," she said flatly. Then she took pity on him, and said, "But you better come inside. You're soaking!"

"Thanks, Anna!" Sven said as he flew past Kristoff, took extra time wiping his feet on the mat before following behind him.

Sven said he called all the towing and roadside assistance services, but all of them were apparently busy with emergency jobs, and wouldn't be able to get to them for several hours.

Sven asked, "Do you mind if we crash here tonight, Anna? It's probably not the best thing if we drive all the way to North Mountain so late in the rain, even if we can get roadside assistance to come over. The storm's only going to get worse."

"Mom?" Olaf said through a yawn. "What's going on?"

Anna placed her hand on his upper back and rubbed. "What are you doing up, sweetie?"

Then she looked at Kristoff and rolled her eyes. She crossed arms, and, not taking her eyes off of Kristoff, said "Never mind. Olaf, would you please show Sven the guest room?"

"You don't mind the couch, do you, buddy?" Sven asked Kristoff with a wink, and Kristoff, whose eyes drifted to Anna's scowl every few seconds, didn't even try to argue back.

Without being asked, Olaf returned with sheets, a blanket, and a pillow for Kristoff to sleep on the couch.

"Thanks," Kristoff said.

Olaf clicked his tongue, and said, "You got it!"

"Ok, back to bed, you!" Anna finally said to Olaf, and roughed up his hair.

"But, Mom!"

"Go on. I'll be in shortly to say goodnight."

Anna sat on the love seat across from Kristoff. Unfortunately, her anger didn't actually diminish her attraction to him.

"Olaf seems like a great kid," he finally mentioned.

Anna perked up, forgetting a little bit of her anger. "Yeah, he's so wonderful. I don't know how I could have gotten through… well. I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for Olaf."

Kristoff found a nearby tissue and handed it to Anna just as she was about to cry. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've moved on, I have. It's been 5 years, for goodness' sake! I guess, just seeing everyone together like that, and him not being here. It's hard. It just brings back a lot of memories. And I miss him."

Kristoff closed his eyes a little longer then a blink, then he said, "It's ok, Anna, you don't have to explain. You lost someone you cared about, and it's ok to be sad about it."

Anna laughed through her tears. She blew her nose until it made what she considered to be a very unladylike sound, then she wiped her eyes dry. She couldn't believe such comforting words could come from Kristoff of all people.

He didn't say anything after that, though, so she slapped her hands to her thighs as she stood. "Right, well, I'm going to go make sure Olaf gets to sleep this time."

Kristoff didn't react in any way, until he barely uttered, "Thank you, Anna," as she left the room.

She paused at the doorway and turned her head towards him and nodded before leaving the room.


She sat at the foot of Olaf's bed, and playfully held onto his bare foot.

He squirmed, then she tickled his belly until he was laughing uncontrollably.

"If you don't lie down, the tickle monster is going to get you!" She held up her hands in a menacing way until he said, "Ok, I give in!" and fell backwards onto the mattress.

"Ok, it's time to sleep!"

"Wait, Mom, I have a brilliant idea!" he said, popping back up.

"What's that?" Anna asked, expecting him to suggest some sort of fantastical science experiment they could try the next day.

"You should marry Kristoff!"

"WHAT!?" Anna asked, too shocked to be upset.

"Don't you think he'd make a really good step-dad?"

Anna rolled fists around Olaf's blanket, and took a second to calm her voice. "Olaf, that's a grown-up's decision, and you don't need to worry about it. Ok? Now, lie down."

"Wait, wait, wait. Here me out!"

Anna paused to let him speak, not wanting to burst his bubble.

"He's obviously, like, soooo in love with you, and–"

"In love with me?" she asked skeptically. "No, Olaf, listen, Dad was in love with me. Kristoff–"

"I might only be 11, but I know what love looks like."

"How do you know that?" asked Anna, more amused than anything.

"Because…" Olaf looked down, and said, "Well, I promised not to tell."

Anna pursed her lips, and said with a raised eyebrow, "Spit it out!" and threatened the tickle monster again.

"Ok, ok!" he relented. "He was looking at you. In that way. You know?"

Anna's heart skipped a beat, and she felt herself flush all over. She was completely mortified that now her son was going to witness Kristoff's rejection, but more than that, she couldn't take any more of it. It was bad enough that she had run through a gamut of emotions in the past 24 hours because of that man, but now he was going to disappoint her son, as well.

"Ok, Olaf, good night. Sweet dreams!" She kissed the top of his head and shut the light.

"But, Mom! Don't you want to know what he said about you?"

Anna froze, without turning, and shut her eyes. Tears were already forming.

"Good night, Olaf," she said as she shut the door.


She cried into her pillow some more because even if Kristoff were interested, which he wasn't, she had ruined any chance she had by crying over Hans in front of him. It wasn't the first time, of course, but the last time he wasn't so understanding.

She tried to sleep after that, but all she could think about was what could have happened if she just jumped into Kristoff's arms on the porch like she wanted to. Then she imagined what the night could have been. And she finally cut her fantasy off when Kristoff flipped pancakes for Olaf.

So she sat up and wiped away the wetness beneath her eyes, and giggled because she was being melodramatic. Kristoff was just a high school crush, and that's all he'd ever be. She'd known real love with Hans. And she was probably just lonely now that he was gone, and Kristoff hadn't changed anyway, except for his short beard and muscles, which were improvements, but they weren't that impressive.

And when she couldn't sleep, she let Veronica Mars do the talking. She put on her blue light glasses, and opened her laptop over her folded legs. She had been working on developing the bad guy's character. He was mysteriously taciturn for some reason. Not inspired by anyone she knew in real life at all.

She set her laptop to the side when she heard a loud thunk, and threw her glasses on top of it before slinging her robe across her shoulders. Her first thought was that Olaf had woken up and somehow hurt himself, so she rushed to the kitchen to make sure he was ok.

She switched on the light in the dining room on the way to the kitchen, not caring if it woke Kristoff up. And she was so shocked at what she found that she could neither move nor speak. All she could think was how badly she needed whipped cream.