"Oh, here, I'll help you with those." Anna usually put her own chair and equipment in the back of her father's car, but Kristoff and his smile appeared out of nowhere, and everything magically ended up in the trunk before she even realized. Before Anna even had a chance to feel guilty for not helping, Kristoff winked at her and she forgot about her guilt and swooned instead.

It had been weeks since that day he came to her house with the can of soup, and they hadn't spoken since the temple.

She couldn't stop thinking about him, though. She actually failed a math test because of him and turned in an essay a couple of days late because she just couldn't focus on anything other than Kristoff and his wink. Plus, she hadn't slept much since the temple, not because of nightmares, though, but because every time she closed her eyes she saw that wink from when her door was slightly open, and her skin shivered and her toes tingled. It was by far the best of all his winks.

Somehow he just knew she was there waiting to catch a glimpse of him as he left. It was annoying how right he was, but it knocked her off her feet all the same. His boldness would have been a huge turn-off if Anna liked him even slightly less than she did.

Anna noticed him sweating just a little, and a few strands of hair were glued to the side of his face. Her whole body buzzed, and she found herself suddenly much closer to him than she had been since the temple. Being that close to him now she wasn't sure how she stayed so far away for so long. And she forgot why.

"Anna, how are you?" he said as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand and lifted his had just slightly so he could push his hair out of the way.

Anna started to feel guilty that he had already worked so hard that day, as he did every day at the camp, and she got him to do extra work that she should have done herself.

"Anna? Are you ok?" he asked again, but he seemed concerned and Anna snapped out of it.

"I'm good. And you, Kristoff?"

"Also good." He grinned like that every time she said his name. She was sure she royally screwed up the pronunciation each time.

"And how's Oaken? Will you tell him I said 'hi'?"

"I will. Um."

"Kristoff? Was there something else?"

"Yes, but it's private. I don't want anyone else to hear," he said in a lowered voice. "Can we… go behind a tree or something?"

"Kristoff…"

"It's not like that, Anna. I swear." He put his hands up and looked so serious, so Anna decided to trust him.

They found an opening when no one would notice them leaving and they met behind a large tree.

"There's a new moon on Saturday. And there's going to be a Vuelie ceremony at the temple. Do you want to come?"

Anna couldn't even find the words to say 'yes,' so she grinned. Kristoff looked so bright and shiny. She worked hard not to stroke his cheeks and feel his stubble.

"We can just say you're interested in learning about the religion and culture. No one has to, um, know who you are." He put his hand behind his head and adjusted his hat. Anna had never seen him look so nervous, and she needed to comfort him so she spoke quickly, but genuinely.

"Yes!" She steadied herself against Kristoff's shoulders as she jumped up and down a few times. Then she felt a little embarrassed by her enthusiasm, until he put his hands on her back, where they had been when they danced. "Thank you, Kristoff. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Kristoff was quiet for a moment, and Anna thought he was going to kiss her. She didn't think it was a good idea, but if he did, she would have wrapped her arms around him so her body was as close to his as it could be. And then she would have tried to be even closer. Instead, he said "You know, I can see Ahtohallan's love in your eyes."

Anna blushed and kept her eyes on him for as long as she could as she walked away. She was pleased that his smile never faded.

"You're all smiles this evening, Anna. What's got into you?" Agnarr asked as he set the pot of mac'n'cheese on the table.

"Do you have a new boyfriend?" teased Alex.

Anna was so embarrassed and having trouble finding the words.

"Is it Kristoff?" Agnarr asked.

Anna froze, then glided her eyes gently along the horizon line of her reddening cheeks until they found her father. He was going to have a problem with this. She and Kristoff weren't even dating, but she was going to have to let him think that's what was going on because he would be beyond pissed to know she was going to a Northuldran ceremony after everything they'd gone through. He wouldn't be happy about that at all.

"Anna? Are you and Kristoff...?"

Anna looked away from him and said, "I don't know…" It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the right question. The question should have begun with "when." Because it was inevitable. Whenever Anna felt ready. Kristoff was waiting for her and he wasn't going anywhere.

"But you like him?" Agnarr pressed.

"A little. I think so." That wasn't a lie either, just an understatement.

"Well, he's a fine lad. You could do worse." Anna was surprised her father approved of Kristoff since he was Northuldran, but then he did volunteer with them every day, and he came over with gifts when Anna was sick, and it was obvious how happy that made her.

He smiled at her affectionately. All he wanted was for Anna to be happy.

Then he whispered, sternly, so Alex couldn't hear, "But be careful how much you tell him. I don't think I need to remind you."

"No, Papa." It was the first time Agnarr ever mentioned their lives before Corona. And Anna felt horribly guilty for being so reckless in letting Kristoff find out.

"Good girl. You should invite him over for dinner on Friday night. I want to get to know him better."

This had gone too far. How badly did she want to go to that ceremony? Kristoff was either going to change his mind or get the wrong idea. Or the right idea at the wrong time.

"I don't know, Papa. It's not even really a thing. I've just been sort of helping him with his Coronan. I don't even know if he likes me."

More lies. And more guilt. She hadn't been helping him, and she knew that he liked her. Everyone knew. Agnarr definitely knew but she lied anyway. More lies and guilt was definitely not what she needed. But she'd been lying to everyone her whole life because Agnarr told her it was a matter of survival. But this was a matter of survival, too. She needed to know where she came from, who her mother was. And more than anything, she needed to know who Kristoff was, if he was who she really thought he was.

"Nonsense. I don't really think he's there every weekend for the refugees, do you, Alex?"

"Nope! I mean, come on, sis, the guy brought you…" he cackled so much that he could barely get the next bit out. "... toilet paper when you were sick!"

Anna gave her brother a smirk and a raspberry, which only turned Alex's smile up brighter.

"It's settled then. Friday night."

Anna honestly wasn't sure if Kristoff would go along with her plan or if he'd be disappointed in her for hiding again. She was going to have to ask him to pretend that she was helping him with his Coronan, and that they were dating, or almost dating. And now she'd have to find an inconspicuous time to invite him over for Friday night dinner. Somewhere Hans wouldn't see and no one that was friends with Hans would see and report back to him. Anna knew she did the right thing ending it with him, but she didn't want him to hurt anymore than he needed to. Even though he told her he didn't really love her, she knew that was a lie. She had to believe that because the alternative was unfathomable. He was just saying it to hurt her after she hurt him. And she knew seeing her with Kristoff would hurt.

So Anna waited patiently for Kristoff to leave the cafeteria on Monday, and when she got his attention, she put her finger up to her lips. She looked around and when no one else seemed to be paying attention she grabbed his hand, and dragged him behind a tree.

"Sorry, um, this is a little awkward...I mean, not you're awkward, just-"

"What is 'awkward'?" His smile couldn't be any sweeter and he stroked her cheek, which completely stopped her rambling. He thought this was something it wasn't.

"It doesn't matter," she said briskly as she swatted his hand away. His stupid smile was unchanged. "Um. So my dad saw us talking on the other side of the tree yesterday, and…"

She waited for Kristoff's reaction, which didn't come.

"...and now he thinks we're dating."

"Oh!" Kristoff said, surprised, finally reacting, "Are we?"

"No!" This didn't phase him at all, he didn't even flinch.

"Ok, so, what did you tell him?"

"I told him that I was helping you with Coronan." She decided not to tell him the part about liking him.

"But my Coronan is terrible. You're a terrible teacher," he said with a grin. "I don't even know what 'awkward' is."

As much as she loved being teased like that and the adorable way he said 'awkward,' she hadn't even told him the worst part yet.

"He wants you to come to dinner at our house on Friday."

"Ok." Anna was expecting more push back on that. She really didn't think he'd want to sit down to dinner with her dad and her brother, no matter how much he liked her.

"Ok? You really don't mind?"

"Are you gonna be there?"

"Yeah, he's my dad, and it's my house."

"I really don't mind. Sounds fun." Why was he smiling like that?

"Well, we can't talk about you know, all that stuff you aren't supposed to know…"

"Anna," he took her hand, "You told me it was a secret, so I'm not going to tell anyone. You can trust me. I promise."

Anna was speechless. She took a moment to commit those words, the feel of his hand, the velvety texture of his voice, and the small flecks of gold in his eyes that glinted in the sun to memory. Then she felt self-conscious realizing they were outside and her bare head faced Ahtohallan, something she hadn't thought about since almost 10 years ago. Before she had a chance to let go of Kristoff's hand, he moved his other hand to rest on top of her head.

Again, she was speechless. If the bell hadn't rung, she might have kissed him there behind the tree. But it did ring, and she dipped under the arm attached to the hand on top of her head and felt the butterfly wings flapping in her belly carry her away.

Anna almost kissing Kristoff was pretty inconvenient and she didn't want it to happen or even almost happen again. At least for now. It could throw a wrench in their plans, and it could hurt Hans. But most importantly, she still wasn't ready for him. After what happened with Hans, she didn't want to take the chance of doing anything with anyone that she wasn't ready for. And she wanted to kiss Kristoff so badly that she felt it in her bones, but there was something else holding her back, too. It wasn't her boxes because they had been more secure than ever now that Kristoff was unknowingly guarding them with his life. There was just a fissure of guilt in her stomach, and Anna desperately wanted to avoid breaking it open. But she always forgot about it as soon as she saw the light shining on Kristoff's smile.

She did her best to avoid Kristoff the rest of the week until Rapunzel insisted they join the boys for lunch on Thursday.

"What's your favorite meal, Eugene?" Anna rolled her eyes at her cousin because she was trying to force her to ask Kristoff, and she really didn't want to ask him because it was embarrassing. Eugene didn't think anything of Rapunzel's question, and neither did Sven.

Anna slowly turned her head away from the three of them, caring much more about what Kristoff liked. He had been looking at her the whole time, and rather than pretend he wasn't, his eyes brightened now that they had her attention. "What's your favorite?" Anna asked Kristoff, not at all phased by him looking at her. She meant to let Rapunzel ask, but she couldn't wait.

He mentioned some kind of Northuldran stew that no one else had ever heard of. "I'll make it for you sometime," he said with a wink.

Anna flushed with warmth, and suddenly self-conscious, switched to Arendellian so no one else could overhear their conversation, "Do you like brisket?"

Kristoff shook his head. "What is 'brisket'?"

"It's… beef. Um, that's what we'll have. It's my dad's specialty."

"I'm looking forward to Agnarr's specialty," he said with a smile.

"What do I wear… for Saturday, I mean?"

"Whatever you want. What do I wear… for Friday?"

"You look good right now." Then she realized what she said and excused herself quickly. He was going to misunderstand that. And his confidence really didn't need more of a boost. She glanced back at him as she left the cafeteria, and melted a little when she saw how wide his smile was after talking to her.

"Look at you. You look like you just won something," said Sven after Rapunzel left, too. "What was that about? What did she say to you?"

"Just something got lost in translation. You know, makes sense in one language but doesn't exactly translate correctly. You don't know until you say it."

"Ok. But you two were totally in sync. I don't know what you were saying, but she really seemed like she was into you."

"You think so?" Kristoff wasn't going to tell him that Anna had already completely fallen for him, but he was still curious to hear their observations.

"Uh, yeah. Body language, you know, like she leaned towards you, but also she got so quiet when you were talking, like it was a secret, and she was just a little pink."

"More than a little!" Eugene said with a whistle. "She so wants to share your reindeer pelt!"

"Eugene!" Sven chastised while Kristoff chuckled.

"Interesting. That's how you know a girl likes you?"

"You're so lucky you have us," Eugene said. "I don't know how you'd get through the day on your own." The three were overcome with laughter until Eugene's cheeks were redder than Anna's had been.

The rest of the week dragged on for Kristoff. He went through the motions until he could talk to Anna for more than a millisecond at a time. Maybe they wouldn't have any time alone together, but he'd still get to be around her, and he'd get to see another side of her, when she's at home and with her family. He liked Agnarr and Alex, and he wanted to know them better, too. They were important to Anna, so were important to him.

Anna said that what he was wearing was fine, but that's not what Oaken said. He tried on everything Oaken had in his closet, and he was so close to going with the suit again. Anna liked it enough for her boyfriend to punch him, but Oaken thought it was overkill. In the end, he went with a black long sleeve t-shirt and tan pants, both a little large.

Oaken insisted Kristoff bring a bottle of wine, so he gave him a bottle of his best Arendellian vintage.

"So we'll have good feelings! He'll appreciate something from the old country. You can't get this stuff anymore. It's from my winter stock."

Kristoff couldn't believe his uncle's generosity. He hardly knew him and he'd already given him so much. He was selfless like Anna. They both wanted to help him when he needed it. He hadn't had that for a while, and it still was hard to wrap his head around.

Alex greeted him at the door and welcomed him inside with a slew of interesting facts. Then he pulled a chair out for him to sit at the table like he was an honored guest. Agnarr, whose sleeves were rolled up as he sliced into the brisket, smiled at Kristoff.

"What's that you've brought with you?"

"Arendellian wine. Oaken wanted me to give it to you as a thank you for having me over." Anna flitted in to open the bottle and Kristoff didn't even say anything to her because she was standing in front of him looking like a goddess of the forest. She had purple leggings and a loose fitting flowy green dress. Most striking, though, was her hair. He'd only ever seen it in braids or the elaborate up-do from the dance. But it was longer than he thought, all the way to the small of her back. It was wild and a little curly, maybe from the braids, but it didn't matter. Kristoff couldn't stop looking at it. Until she put the cup of wine in front of him and he remembered how blue her eyes were.

It turned out that Agnarr was also pretty bad at speaking Coronan. "But, if I had a pretty tutor like Anna to teach me Coronan when I first moved here, I suppose I would have learned a little better." Anna shuddered at that comment and neither Agnarr nor Alex noticed, but Kristoff did.

Agnarr had a good point, though. Kristoff was going to ask Anna to tutor him for real. He learned a lot from Sven, but he knew how much more he'd learn with Anna. Not to mention that he'd get to spend more time with her.

At the end of the evening Agnarr offered Kristoff a hug instead of a handshake, and even Alex hugged him. And Agnarr gave Anna permission to walk Kristoff outside.

"So where do we meet tomorrow night?"

"See that bench over there? I'll be there at 11:30 pm."

"Ok. 11:30 pm."

Kristoff held a strand of Anna's hair between his thumb and forefinger, like he had done to the sun scarf.

"You have beautiful hair," he said in Northuldran.

"Kristoff…" Anna warned him.

"It's b'you'teeful in any language," he said in Arendellian that time, and that made Anna smile. Then he panicked because he had forgotten that he could only say she was beautiful in Northuldran. But she smiled. He wondered why it was ok for him to say it, but not for Agnarr.

"Thank you so much for going along with this."

"Mmm. I had a great time."

He wanted to kiss her smile, but it was too soon. Instead he bent down to hug her, "Is this ok?"

She breathed, "Mmmmmm," as her body settled against his so Kristoff held on more tightly.