Getting changed in a subway station restroom stall was a challenge, one which resulted in a bruise on Anna's elbow and a cramp in her calf. Mostly, it was something she hoped never to have to do again. But after fifteen minutes of wriggling, grunting, avoiding contact with the toilet and trying not to think too much about her poor suitcase on the grimy floor, Anna managed to change into the green dress Hans had purchased for her. She pulled her hair back into a high updo and slipped on the tan pumps before completing the outfit with the earrings and bracelets. The shoes took some practice to walk in. Of course, someone walked in right as she sashayed back and forth in front of the restroom mirror. That put an end to her practicing. But she managed to get to the restaurant, Pompilios. She had passed the place many times, but never gone inside.

The charming building glowed from accent lighting in the bushes and trees out front. It looked like a house made of white painted brick with black frame windows and flowery juliette balconies. Hans stood to the side of the entrance in a dark sky blue collared shirt and navy dress pants. He watched her as she came up with the suitcase rolling alongside. His hand held an aquamarine colored gift bag. But since he was polite enough not to ask about her suitcase, Anna opted not to ask about his gift bag.

"Great, come on!" he said with a touch of excitement as he led the way. He even held the door open for her again.

Anna checked in her suitcase with the attendant at the coat room. It had been a long time since she'd been anywhere fancy enough to have a coat room. Hans said nothing as she rejoined him to be led by the hostess to their table. Though the outside had looked like someone's home, the inside was quite different. The interior walls were plain white, made to feel brighter by the crystal chandeliers and lamps. Everywhere Anna looked, her gaze met impressionist paintings and statues or ornate clocks and china atop antique wood furniture. Various scents tickled her nose as they walked through—freshly baked bread, roasted garlic, hot cheese and more.

Every dining room was a little different—they passed one with a bar in the corner, the chatter within much louder than another room they passed that overlooked a garden in the back of the building. The room their hostess took them to was lined by dozens of mirrors instead of paintings upon the walls. They were seated next to each other at one of the many round tables covered in fine white linen cloths. The centerpiece was comprised of a little vase with roses and two white candles on either side of it. Anna blushed at the romantic atmosphere as she sat down and accepted a menu from the hostess who departed shortly after. When she eyed the prices for the entrees, she nearly fainted in her seat.

"Am I um… going to be expected to pay for this? Just… out of curiosity…"

Anna cleared her throat uncomfortably and peeked over her menu at Hans, who was deaf to her question and too busy staring at the two empty chairs at their table. She wondered if someone would be joining them.

"Anna."

She twitched at the way he said her name.

"Yes?"

He turned toward her and fixed her with such a serious gaze that it made her head spin.

"You should be brave if you want to be with the person you love. Willing to overcome difficulties, even family. If you truly love someone, what does it matter what others think? Don't you agree?"

"Well, sure… Other people shouldn't matter," she answered cautiously. Had he gone drinking before meeting her?

"I know Kris really well. He doesn't give up on people… I'm sure he still thinks of you. Please give him another chance."

Anna's eyebrows knitted together in thought. "Huh?" Drunk. He had to be drunk.

"You miss Kris too, don't you? You went all the way to Japan to meet with him… but you needed more courage to see him?"

What's all this nonsense?

"Huh? Who?"

"You probably didn't know, but he's back in Arendelle."

Kris. Oh! Kristoff! Didn't he say he lived in Japan?

"N-no, I didn't know… but I don't really want to see him."

She almost yelped as his hands lunged forth and closed over hers, making her knock her menu into her empty glass. She frowned as she looked straight into his sympathetic green eyes.

"I know how hard it must have been. But isn't love worth a little pain?"

She groaned at this over-the-top cliché. "Look, I think we have a misunderstanding… It's not…"

"Hm?"

She glanced up and down between his hands on hers and his intense gaze, wondering if the sweat she felt on her face was visible.

"To be honest, we're not…"

Hans looked past her, suddenly alert. "Here they come. Let's both be brave, okay?"

Anna opened and closed her mouth until she turned in her seat and spotted Kristoff approaching in a light blue suit with a redhaired woman in an elegant floral wrap dress. Anna had seen the woman before in posters and on TV—Ariel Waters!

Anna squirmed and slapped at Hans's hands to get his attention.

"W-wait! Actually, it's not… we're not…!"

But as he looked at her with confusion, she chickened out. Was it too late to tell the truth?

Kill me now, please, she thought.

Ariel helped herself to the other chair next to Anna as Kristoff sat across from her. Anna immediately snatched her menu up to bury her nose in it with the hope that Kristoff would not notice her. She could see Hans smiling toward his friend, obviously waiting for the moment of recognition. The three began to chat amongst themselves. They had obviously known each other for a while but had not seen one another as a group for some time. Ariel monopolized the conversation for the most part, rapid firing Kristoff with question after question about Japan until Hans chimed in to remind her he had been there recently too.

"Yes, but you didn't live there," Ariel teased.

Anna felt Hans turn his eyes toward her as he let out an empty laugh. She ignored him and continued to pore over her menu. The awkward lull in conversation started to worry her, but then Ariel squealed. The sound hurt Anna's ears.

"Look what Kristoff got me! You can hear the ocean waves when you hold it up to your ear!"

Intrigued, Anna peeked out from her menu to watch as Ariel held out a beautiful white porcelain conch shell speckled with blue and lined in gold. Ariel finally noticed her then.

"Who is this?" the singer asked. Anna let out the smallest squeak and quickly hid behind her menu again.

"Ah," she heard Hans answer. "She's my friend. We just ran into each other. Is it okay if she joins us? Anna? Anna." He snatched the menu from her. "This is Ariel Waters… and Kristoff Bjorgman."

Anna bit her lower lip and cringed as she looked from the redhaired woman to the blond man.

Kristoff smiled. "Nice to meet you." She held in a relieved sigh that he did not appear to recognize her. In fact, Anna guessed she didn't make much of an impression because Kristoff then turned toward Ariel and began talking about his ice machine company.

"…the difference in the States is with all the small, local companies. That's why we haven't bothered. But uniformity is so important in Japan… when we were successful with the Mikitani branch hotel group, all the others followed…"

"What are you doing?" Hans hissed at her. "Say something." She felt him poke her foot with his. Annoyed by the bizarre situation he'd set up, she kicked his foot away with the heel of her pump. He glared.

"What will you do next?" Ariel asked as Hans kicked Anna's heel with vengeance. "Now that you're done in Japan."

Anna winced as her heel knocked back into her other foot. She would probably have a bruise later. For that, she stomped on the toe of Hans's shoe. He retaliated, but Anna managed to dodge. He got her the second time, though.

"I'm not exactly done… I have to keep on top of the office in Tokyo to make sure they reach our projection by the end of the year." A waiter appeared to pour water for them all and to hand Kristoff and Ariel menus.

"Ooh? You'll do that from here in Arendelle?"

Kristoff laughed for some reason. Both he and Ariel were completely unaware of the violent foot war going on under the table. "Well, I'm back to recruit engineers to make creative improvements on our basic lines… if I succeed here, that will carry over to our business in Japan."

"So you're not running overseas again any time soon?"

"Not just yet, no."

"Good! Hans and I missed you. Right, Hans?"

Hans looked up distractedly, blinking. Anna used that moment to scoot her chair away from him, her feet now out of reach. Hans nodded absently to his friends and suddenly kicked beneath the table, getting Anna right in the shin. Anna squawked and bent over in her chair, pain shooting up and down her leg.

"Are you okay?!" Kristoff asked with worry while Ariel stared at her with wide eyes.

"Uh…" Anna bit her lip and tried to keep her face down, her eyes on the cutlery. "Y-yes, I'm fine… thank you."

There was a pause before Kristoff addressed her again.

"Hey… you're Anna Frost, aren't you? Do you remember me?"

She wondered how bad it would be if she just slinked down into her seat until she could slide under the table to escape them all.

"S-sorry, I don't…"

"In Osaka?"

"Ahh, that's right… So, we meet again! Hahahaha…"

Ariel's head perked at that. "She's Kris's friend too? Wow! How do you know each other?"

Anna forced herself not to look at Hans. She grabbed a piece of bread and chewed hungrily, hoping she might choke and avoid the situation.

Or I can lunge out of this chair and make a run for it. Westergaard would probably come after me.

Kristoff chuckled lightly. It wasn't an unpleasant sound, Anna thought.

"Heh! We met just a few days ago at the hotel where Hans was staying. You didn't mention that you and Hans were friends…"

Anna laughed nervously and stuffed even more bread into her mouth.

"Did you enjoy Osaka?" Kristoff asked.

"Y-yeth! Tremendouthy!" she answered with a mouthful.

"So you and Hans met… recently?"

She swallowed the bread at once, scratching her throat. She nodded and ignored the pain as she said, "Yup! New friends."

She could feel Hans glaring daggers at her, but she was too scared to look.

After a very awkward dinner in which Hans was silent unless Ariel or Kristoff asked him something, the four walked out into the chilly evening. A thin dusting of snow layered the sidewalk. It must have fallen while they dined. It was nothing compared to the few inches that had accumulated days ago and still coated the bushes, the trees and the ground.

"Anna, do you live close by?" Kristoff asked.

Anna frowned when she thought of her house full of a stranger's belongings.

"No," she answered. "I live pretty out of the way."

"I'll drive Anna home," Hans said firmly.

Kristoff smiled and then offered his arm to Ariel. They bid Hans and Anna a good night before they left. As she waved the other pair off, Anna didn't fail to notice the strange look on Hans's face as he watched his friends go. His expression darkened into rage as soon as he whirled on her.

"What the hell was that?!"

Another group exited the restaurant. Anna backed up along the sidewalk to get out of their way, trying not to let Hans's fury get to her.

"I agree. What the hell was that?!"

The singer's face scrunched up in bafflement. "That's what I'm asking. You lied about Kristoff!"

"Well you just created an incredibly awkward situation for me! What if I had been his ex-girlfriend?! What are you playing at?!"

"You don't get to play the victim here! You're the one who lied to me!"

"Please, let me explain."

"How could you possibly explain?"

"As I told you, it was an emergency. You wouldn't listen to me."

Hans stared dumbly. "What?"

"In Osaka, at the hotel! I was desperate, and I got a little carried away with my story… but I promise to pay you back. That's what you want, right?"

"What I want? You think you can justify conning me? You have a lot of nerve."

"C-conning? How dare you!"

"Seriously?!"

"Besides, you took advantage of me just now."

Hans gawked at her. "What?!"

"If I'd really been Kristoff's ex-girlfriend, don't you think dinner just now would have been awful?! What were you thinking? I don't know why you did that, but you shouldn't meddle. It's immature."

"You're the liar, and you're calling me immature?" he snapped. "You're really something… I'd be surprised if I get my money back."

The insinuation about her character made Anna snarl. "Don't worry. I know how greedy you must be. You can even count it when I get it to you, if you like!" Without waiting for his next retort, she squatted down to bunch up some of the dirty snow off the ground and pelted it at him. Brown and white snow splattered all over his shirt as he cried out.

Anna ran in the opposite direction and did not look back.

About fifteen minutes later, she ended up having to turn around to reclaim her suitcase from the restaurant. Fortunately, Hans was long gone. She hoped to never have to see his stupid perfect face again.

All she wanted was to go home. But she couldn't even do that. So, she wandered the city streets instead. She moped from one block to the next, occasionally passing drunken groups exiting bars. It was getting late enough that shops were just starting to close up.

After a point, she stopped at the edge of the park and checked her wallet. She flipped through the paper bills, counting. She probably had enough for two or three meals. With a sigh, she slowly accepted that she couldn't just sulk all night.

Well, I could, but I'd be very cold after a while…

She glanced down at the snow at her feet and thought of her sister again, which made her think of the house. What if she just went to the new homeowners and explained everything? Surely they wouldn't want a house that couldn't legally be theirs.

Anna stood up with that little ray of hope. In spite of her of exhaustion, she picked up her suitcase and began to sprint homeward. After all, she couldn't give up so easily. Her own father had designed the house for her mother shortly before they were married! It was a special place. It wasn't just a house. It had been her family's own private little kingdom where her parents had been king and queen, and she, Elsa and Rapunzel had grown up safe and loved.

She ran uphill from the edge of downtown and into the outskirts of the residential area. She darted past the old playground where she'd skidded her knees and fallen from the monkey bars after school. There was the church on Evensen Road, the one that Rapunzel and Elsa had convinced her was haunted. Around the corner, she ran past the bakery where she'd tried her first sunshine cake. She passed her old schools, the dry cleaners, the funeral home, the comic book store, the Indian restaurant and then house after house she knew intimately from bike rides, walks and drives.

Finally, she came to the end of Crocus Boulevard and had to lower her suitcase. The adrenaline of her resolve had made it easy to haul the suitcase around, but now its weight caught up to her. She chuckled when she saw the lights were on in the house. Someone was home.

Her home. They'd understand. They'd have to!

She took a deep breath and pushed the gate open, bravely walking up the flat stone path that led up to her front door. She ignored her nerves as she reached forward and rang the doorbell. A few seconds passed before she saw movement in the window. As poised as she wanted to be, she trembled with her hand on the suitcase handle.

The resident inside unlocked the door and turned its handle. After a pause, the door opened, revealing Hans Westergaard across the threshold. He stared at Anna in shocked silence.

She stared back at him with equal shock.

A/N: That was a fun chapter to write, ha! I will try to update again soon. Thanks for reading!