Author's Note: And here we are, onto the final chapter. I initially planned this to be a 10k one-shot but it was nearly twice the length of what I outlined. Thank you to all who have followed this story and tolerated any historical inaccuracies or abuse of Norwegian (I have tried my best). I do want to point out that although it has never been explicitly stated, the age gap between Elsa and Anna is greater than in the film: Anna was not born until after her family arrived to America.

Warnings: Descriptions of sex, hints of Helsa. Also suggested physical abuse.

Chapter 6: The End

"Elsa?"

The door to the stables rattled.

Jack's eyes widened in panic as he finished adjusting his cloak. Thinking quickly, he nimbly hopped over the gate to Penelope's pen, crouching low in the corner. Through the cracks in the gate, he could see Elsa hurriedly button up the rest of her dress.

"Pappa!"

Beaming, she turned to greet her father as he entered the stable.

The light from Mr. Liabråten's lantern filled the stable. He glanced around suspiciously before turning to address his daughter. "Det er sent. Hvorfor er du her?" (1)

He heard Elsa respond in their native language but couldn't make out most of what she was saying. Penelope attempted to chew on Jack's hair a few times, finally snorting indignantly as he pushed her face away. His breath caught in his throat, worried that he was about to be discovered by the man who he had distinctly promised to leave his daughter alone an hour ago (any and all guilt following recent actions to be acknowledged at a later date). However, neither Elsa nor Agnarr looked his way as they continued their discussion.

Finally, Mr. Liabråten took his leave. After a long, tense minute or so, Elsa crept slowly towards Penelope's pen.

"I think it's safe now," she whispered.

Jack stood up, which once again drew Penelope's attention. Penelope managed to nip at his cloak before he hopped back over the gate.

"Your horse is evil," he complained.

Penelope nudged him roughly in the back, causing Jack to stumble forward.

Although she tried to hide it, Jack could see the faintest of smiles on Elsa's lips. "I think she likes you. She only does that to people she likes."

Elsa fondly petted the horse's muzzle.

"Then I'd hate to see what she does to someone she doesn't like. That's not how you treat people, Penelope," Jack scolded the horse.

This time, Elsa actually giggled. "And just how should a person treat someone they like, Mr. Overland?"

With a coy smirk, Jack responded, "Why don't I show you, Miss Liabråten?"

Wrapping his arm around Elsa's waist, he pulled her close, kissing her chastely. The taste of her lips brought back the memories of the night they had spent and Jack could already feel his body responding once more. His desire for her was insatiable and not even their near discovery could put out the flame.

"I need to go back," Elsa said regrettably. "My father will be waiting."

Jack was disappointed. But he had already gone back on his word. If they played their cards right, this would be but a moment known only to them. They could go on living their separate lives as they were.

It wasn't what he wanted but it was the right thing to do.

Reluctantly, he let her go. He already felt colder without her in his arms.

"This night," he began.

He watched her put on her gloves and cloak, his voice trailing off.

How could he put into words just how incomplete he felt without her?

"No 'endings', Jack," she whispered. "That's what you said."

Taking his hands in hers, she looked up at him with those wide, lovely eyes he never failed getting lost into. That she could love a peasant like him…it was more than he deserved.

"I get married in May. Until then…I want to have you as many times as I can," she declared, a rosy blush falling across her cheeks.

Five months of sneaking around. It was too risky. The more they met, the more opportunity to get caught.

"Elsa—"

But she wouldn't let him finish.

"If I must become Hans' wife," she said the word like it was a curse on her tongue, "then I won't let them take this away from me. Not yet."

I won't let them take you away from me, her eyes seemed to say.

Kissing her goodnight, they soon parted ways. The walk back to the Overland farm filled Jack with many mixed feelings about the strange turn of events. He wanted to believe that when the time came, he could let her go.

After all, it's not like he had a choice.

.

The first few weeks that followed went by agonizingly slow. With little to do on the farm, most of the daylight was spent in the company of family. Jack even grew so bored, he helped his mother and Emily sew old scraps of clothing into patches to be added to their quilts. Learning a new skill was never a hindrance, though Jack would gladly admit his rough hands were too unpracticed to produce the same quality as Emily.

As the new year rolled around, Elsa was never far from his thoughts. He often awoke with her name a whisper on his tongue, her body a sanctuary he visited in his dreams. The affect these dreams had on him would make him roll away from Emily in embarrassment, chasing away all thoughts of the flaxen-haired vixen since relief by hand was not an option in their seasonal sleeping arrangements. He needed her like he needed sugar cane: not for his survival but as a reminder that he could have some indulgence in the harsh life he lived.

But finding time alone was not something easily done. Jack was about ready to believe their time together had already ended. That is, until one fateful day in mid-January.

Emily was playing in the snow, building a miniature fort with the torn gloves she wore on her hands. She spent so much time playing outdoors, it seemed she was ruining her winter clothing faster than could be mended.

Tossing his pair to her, Jack then went back to chopping wood.

"Jaaaaaaack, why won't you play with me?"

He glanced over his shoulder and smiled when he saw his sister change her gloves. The wooden handle of the ax was wet and cold in his hands but he could take a bit of discomfort if it meant keeping Emily warm.

"It's gonna be a long winter, Em," Jack answered. He kicked aside the logs, positioning the ax to chop off another part of the small cedar he had felled earlier.

"But we already have a lot of wood," she complained.

"Only enough to last us till February. Better safe than sorry."

Emily sighed.

It took a few strikes to separate the next log from the trunk. Although it was cold out, Jack could feel sweat gathering on his brow. "Let's test out your fort when I'm done."

"I get to be a Blue coat!" Emily said.

At this, Jack paused his chopping to give his sister a disgruntled look. "Why am I always the Red coat?"

"Because you always invade MY forts!" Emily answered, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

He pretended to be annoyed but had a hard time hiding the grin on his face. Bending down in the snow, he gathered some and shaped it into a ball. "Better fortify that base, Em. The Red Coats are coming!"

Emily squealed and ducked into her fort as Jack pelted it with his snowball. The two siblings shared a laugh.

"Not fair! You said AFTER you were done!" Emily said. She peeked her head over the top of the fort, dropping down once again as another snowball hit the side.

"Red coats play dirty!" Jack retorted.

They exchanged a few more snowballs, Jack's mostly (purposely) missing his sister while she managed to get him once in the arm. To have his vengeance, he was about to storm her fort when a snowball hit him in the back of his head.

He stumbled forward a few steps. Emily was still in front of him so it wasn't like she had hit him.

Who-?

"Anna!" Emily laughed, jumping up from behind the fort.

Jack looked over his shoulder.

"Anna—"

"She did it!" Anna said.

Her finger was pointing accusingly up at her older sister.

Elsa blinked innocently, her gloved hands folded carefully over her skirts. She looked as home in winter as a fish in water, powder-blue cloak draped over her shoulders. But there was a mischievous glint in her eyes, like a snow storm waiting to unleash its power on an unsuspecting victim.

How he wanted to see her unhinged and take her again like that night in the stables. Just the thought of her sprawled beneath him had heat filling his cheeks.

"Elsa's a blue coat!" Emily declared.

Anna pouted. "I wanna be a blue coat, too!"

Elsa must have known what he was thinking. She blushed and looked down into the snow.

"Okay! Let's all be blue coats!"

"3-to-1 is not a fair fight, Em," Jack said, shaking his head. "The English forfeit!"

Both Emily and Anna cheered.

While the girls began building a snowman, Jack bent down and started gathering the wood. There was so much he wanted to say to Elsa, even more he wanted to do to her, but in the presence of their sisters, all of that would have to remain unsaid.

"I'm going to bring these to the toolshed," he declared, loudly.

Him and Elsa exchanged a meaningful look.

"I'll help you!" Elsa said. "Don't wander off, Anna."

But if Anna and Emily heard their siblings, or even cared, they made no indication of it. The tree Jack had felled was on the edge of the Overland property, only a handful of yards from the toolshed. Far enough for privacy but not too far to watch over their siblings. Elsa picked up a few logs and followed him inside.

Adding the firewood to the stack, Jack paused to take a deep breath. Every thought he had was somehow chased away by the awkward rush that came over him. He turned to look at her, at those eyes that he had only seen in those hot, sleepless nights.

"E-Elsa…" he started.

"I want you," she said, her voice heavy with desire.

She didn't bother stacking the wood, just let the pieces she had been carrying fall to the floor. In a few strides, she was pressing him to the wall, kissing him with the hunger of a starved bear after hibernation. Where her hands had been shaking their first encounter, they were now purposeful as they unlaced his trousers.

It took some creative maneuvering but it wasn't long before he was thrusting deep inside of her, her skirts gathered up in his hands. She felt as tight and warm as she had all those weeks ago, her body gripping him and dragging him down to a place where everything was only her. Each time he sunk into her warmth, another piece of him was lost to the only woman he had ever wanted, the one he could never have.

Time wasn't on their side so very little was exchanged in the aftermath, besides a few kisses and the promises of 'later'. 'Later' became their word, so ambiguous in its meaning. It sometimes meant a few days from now, other times a few weeks. Jack would have her in the woods, by the creek, sometimes even in the snow in the months to follow. She was the life in nature's death, her body splayed out in the freshly fallen powder, her frost-kissed lips whimpering his name as his thumb pressed against that swollen button he had discovered months before and her body shuddered around his fingers.

He was foolish to think they could go on.

But all star-crossed stories have their ending.

It was the beginning of March when the change began. It started as a thought, one that made a chill of dashed hope settle in the pit of his stomach. For all their sneaking around, they had yet to be caught. It seemed almost too easy how nobody suspected anything but maybe the way they spaced out their encounters also made it hard for anyone to catch on.

But what if Mr. Liabråten found out? Or Hans? What would they do to Elsa?

Jack heard of what happened to 'spoiled women'. He didn't want to imagine the same fate for Elsa.

We just need to be more careful.

"What if we ran away?" Elsa tried asking once.

It had only briefly renewed the hope Agnarr had dashed when he refused Jack's proposal. They could take a few valuables, maybe a horse, and make it for a neighboring town. Sell those valuables, purchase a small plot of land. Or maybe take up new trades: Elsa had a fondness for dresses and knew the basics of a seamstress. Jack could take up whatever work needed to be done, repairing or building homes.

But that dream of their life together was short-lived.

"My mother and Emily wouldn't make it alone," Jack sighed.

The thought of his mother doing all the farm work, her health failing her until she left Emily, was not something Jack could ever live with.

So they went on, meeting in secret.

But then two weeks eventually became three. Jack grew restless without her, hadn't realized how much he depended on their encounters being an ongoing promise, until they stopped. It was nearly four weeks, reaching the end of March. The snow had only just started to melt but winter would last a few more weeks yet.

He wanted to make sense of his puzzling thoughts, banish the sense of dread that seemed to eat away at him every time he thought of her. So he went walking towards the creek where it all began.

His boots crunching in the snow echoed in the woods. It became a distraction from his doubts, but offered little solace.

He didn't see her so much as heard her when he was but a few yards away.

"Anna, vær forsiktig!" (2)

He could see Anna playing at the edge of the frozen creek, sliding over the ice in her low heeled boots.

Standing in the trees, Elsa folded her arms crossly over her chest. Although she was annoyed, there was clearly worry in her face.

"Elsa."

But when she would normally turn to him with lust or affection, he could only see panic in her eyes as she realized who it was.

"Y-you can't be here," she began.

He took a step towards her, reaching for her. He knew Anna might see but Lord help him, he missed her too much to care.

To his surprise, she stepped away from him, her body going rigid.

He couldn't hide how much her rejection hurt.

"Elsa, I—"

His stomach dropped as her saw the faded bruises on her cheek.

Elsa was shaking, like a cornered deer.

"Who did this to you?" he demanded.

It fueled him with a hatred he had never known. That anyone would lay their hands on her so cruelly…

There would be blood to pay.

"I-it doesn't matter," she whispered, shaking her head. But the memory of it must have triggered something in her as she seemed to wilt visibly before his eyes. "They know, Jack. About us."

That sinking dread came blaring full force and for a second, Jack felt like he couldn't breathe. He was shocked he even found his own voice as he choked out the only word he dare ask.

"H-how?"

Tears trickled down her cheeks and she looked away from him in shame.

"Jack, I'm—"

A blood curling scream and a crack shattered whatever revelation was to be spoken in those woods. Anna, much against her sister's scolding, had ventured too far out onto the frozen creek. With horror, both Jack and Elsa saw her stand rigid on the ice, a giant crack forming between her legs.

"Anna!" Elsa cried.

Jack didn't stop to think of what he was doing. He immediately slid onto the ice, his staff in hand. Elsa was screaming at him from the bank but her protests became white noise as more cracks formed beneath his boots.

He had already shamed Elsa. He'd be damned if he let her lose her sister, too.

"It's okay, it's okay," he said, his voice soothing. "Don't look down. Just look at me."

He didn't want to get too close, didn't want to risk both of them falling in. He just needed to be close enough to push her towards the bank.

"Jack, I'm scared," Anna said, her eyes welling with tears. She was trembling. "I-I should have listened to Elsa."

Another crack.

"I know, I know. But…you're gonna be alright." He couldn't let her see the panic in his face, needed her to follow along. "We're gonna play a game. Alright, Anna?"

Reluctantly, he could see Anna nodding.

With a suspicious look, he pointed to the other side of the bank. "What's that over—oh my, the Red Coats are coming! You don't want those Red Coats to take your home! We need to—we need to get back before they get us!"

Nimbly, he hopped towards the part of the ice that had yet to crack.

"Think you can do the same?"

Anna could tell just as he that she would not make it. But the hope in his eyes was enough to give her courage.

The ice beneath her was becoming riddled with more cracks.

"Quick, Anna! The Red Coats are coming! Don't let them get you!"

Anna leaped forward. As soon as her feet left the ice, Jack stretched his arm as far as it would go. The hook of his staff wrapped around her waist. He slid forward towards where she had been standing, pushing her back to where Elsa was waiting at the edge. As his staff left his arms, he watched with silent satisfaction as Anna slid into Elsa's open arms.

"Jack saved me from the Red Coats!" Anna said, excitedly.

Elsa embraced her sister and openly wept.

It all happened so fast. With a thunderous crack, Jack was falling into the ice-cold depths of the creek. The last sound he heard was Elsa screaming his name.

.

1 It's late. Why are you out here?

2 Anna, be careful!

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A/N: Epilogue to come soon.