Notes: Forgive me for the lame chapter title... I really couldn't come up with anything better.
Kristoff was running late.
Ever since Elsa had called him the afternoon before, Kristoff had been in an absolute panic. She hadn't said much during the call except where to meet her and that it was important. She had seemed too calm for there to be a problem with Anna, but he couldn't stop worrying that something had happened to her. He held onto the fact that Elsa had seemed urgent, but not overly upset. He just couldn't figure out why she would want to meet him if nothing had happened to Anna.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he was fifteen minutes late. Thankfully, the hostess didn't waste any time showing him to Elsa's table and he was soon seated across from her, surprised by how much she looked like Anna. They had the same round face, the same large blue eyes and even the same spattering of freckles across their noses, though Elsa's were much paler in color. When she opened her mouth to speak, all resemblance faded. She had a calm, authoritative voice that hinted at money and status, so unlike Anna's bubbly chatter.
"Did you have a difficult time finding the restaurant?" she asked cooly, her ice blue eyes revealing nothing.
"Uh, no actually," Kristoff admitted nervously, trying not to squirm in his chair under her stern gaze. "As I was heading out for lunch my foreman called me over. We had a problem with a shipment of materials. We didn't get what we ordered and it's going to set us back several weeks because the materials were ordered from a company overseas."
Elsa nodded politely, "You care about your job and you obviously work hard. I respect that."
A wave of relief rushed through him at her words. She didn't seem quite as cold as she had when he had been seated at the table with her, which was definitely helpful to his case. If he had to sit here with her for hours in order to convince her to give him Anna's contact information, he would do it. He would do anything to see her again.
"So, why did you invite me to lunch? Anna's okay, isn't she?" he asked her as the waiter came by and brought Elsa a glass of iced tea.
Elsa gave the waiter a nod and then turned her attention back to Kristoff. "Anna's fine, in a manner of speaking. I'm actually here because of you."
In a manner of speaking? What the hell did that mean?
"Why would you want to talk to me?" he asked. "Did Anna want you to let me down easy or something?"
He wasn't sure why he had said that. Sure, it was a worry of his, but he didn't want Elsa to think he was pathetic… even if he was.
"No, that's not it at all. Anna actually doesn't know that I've called you and I'd rather she doesn't find out until you've heard what I have to say and have had time to process it." Elsa paused to take a sip of her iced tea and he saw the first hint of a crack in her calm demeanor: her hands were shaking.
"Ms. Frederickson…"
"Elsa," she interrupted firmly, "please, call me Elsa. After everything I've learned about you, I feel we are long past the need for formalities."
"Um… all right," Kristoff agreed, wondering again what Anna had said about him to her sister. "Elsa, why exactly did you ask me to meet you for lunch if Anna didn't ask you to do it? What exactly do I need to process?"
Elsa pursed her lips and looked down at the menu on the table in front of her. He was going to prod her, but the waiter came by to take their orders and he missed his chance. By the time the waiter left them, Elsa had pulled herself back together and was looking just as calm as she had when he had arrived.
"Before we talk about why I'm here, would you mind answering a few questions for me?" she asked curiously, raising one delicate eyebrow.
Questions, really? What was this, some kind of perversion of a "meet the parents" lunch? He wanted to argue, but he was desperate for news of Anna, so he figured he would play along. "I guess I could do that. What do you want to know?"
She steepled her fingers under her chin and stared at him so intently that he wondered if she was trying to pick the answers straight from his brain. "Would you have called her by now if she had given you her number instead of the other way around?" Somehow he had a feeling that wasn't the most important question, but he decided to answer it as though it was.
"Honestly? If I hadn't wanted it to be Anna's decision whether we made our situation something more permanent, I would never have let her leave the cottage. It killed me watching her drive away." There, total and complete honesty, more even than he had given Sven.
Elsa seemed surprised. She sat up straighter, her eyes widening and her mouth falling open just a bit. "You really mean that don't you? You actually care about her."
Kristoff laughed dryly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. "Did she tell you that I didn't? That it was just sex?"
"No, actually. She said that when you looked at her she felt loved," Elsa said simply, laughing when her words made him gawk at her stupidly. "I didn't think it was possible after only two weeks, but it seems like I was wrong. You do love her, don't you?"
He swallowed hard, wishing the waiter would bring the glass of water he had ordered. He was suddenly feeling very dry mouthed.
"Yeah," he managed to croak, "I'm crazy about her."
Elsa did something very unexpected then, she smiled and placed her hand over his. "I think she loves you too. That makes this easier," she admitted.
Kristoff's heart constricted in his chest, making it difficult for him to catch his breath. "Anna loves me? Are you sure?"
"I probably shouldn't tell you this, honestly I'm breaking her confidence by telling you anything today, but… she hasn't slept a full night since she came home," Elsa said softly, squeezing his fingers hard as she thought about it. "Anna is an emotional person, but she didn't even react this way when her relationship with Hans ended."
"I need to see her," he said quickly, wrenching his hand out of Elsa's and preparing to leave. He needed to see her, to talk to her, to hold her in his arms again.
Elsa caught his wrist and shook her head. "Not yet. There is something else you need to know first, all right? I can't let you run off before I tell you what I came here to say."
He settled back into his seat, but not without difficulty. Anna loved him… what could be bigger or more important than that? "I'm listening," he said gruffly, not caring if he was being rude or not. He wanted to get this over with so he could be on his way. He didn't care about lunch, didn't even particularly care about going back to work that afternoon. His foreman could do without him for a day. All that mattered was seeing Anna again and telling her exactly how he felt. He couldn't lose her again, not when he was so close to having her in his life for good.
"You see…" Elsa hesitated, her hands shaking again as she moved them back into her lap, "this really isn't my business but I can't sit by and watch Anna cry herself to sleep anymore. She is just so scared to call you and I knew that you didn't really have a way to get in touch with her so I decided that I should step in. Dammit, this is so hard to say…"
"Elsa, just spit it out!"
"…Anna's pregnant," Elsa sputtered.
A silence hung over the table at her announcement, neither of them able to speak. Kristoff knew that he looked like an idiot with his mouth hanging open that wide, but he couldn't seem to close his mouth. All he could do was run the words over and over in his head. Anna's pregnant.
"Why didn't she call me?" he whispered hoarsely. "She should have told me the minute she found out!"
When Elsa didn't respond immediately, a realization dawned on him like a weight on his lungs.
"It's not mine," he said simply and Elsa nodded. "That's why she was at the cottage… she was pregnant and trying to figure out what she wanted to do about it."
"It's why she hasn't called you yet," Elsa admitted, looking up into his eyes. "She was so scared that you wouldn't want her after you found out. She didn't want to heap that responsibility on you when you had only known her for such a short time. Kristoff… if you don't think you can handle this, don't get in contact with her, okay? She's so fragile right now. This would kill her."
He wanted to get angry, to say that it didn't matter if Anna was a mother of half a dozen children he would still love her and want to be with her, but she was right… he couldn't rush this decision. There was just too much riding on it so he had to be 100% certain, for Anna's happiness and well being as well as his own.
"I need to think," he said, somehow managing to sound halfway normal, "I need to figure this out."
He stood and reached for his wallet, but Elsa shook her head and reached for her purse. "I'll take care of the bill, you just take Anna's card. If you decide that you want to take her the way she is, with everything that's involved, you can call her. Just… be sure, okay? I can't have you hurting her because you think you can handle the situation and then realize that you can't."
"I love her," he reminded Elsa as he took Anna's business card from her hand.
"I know," she agreed, "but is it enough?"
That was the million dollar question, wasn't it?