Chapter 4

Sunday was uneventful. It was spent doing nothing but snacking and watching Netflix. Monday morning at work, Anna was extremely busy. As soon as they would serve one group, a bigger one would come through the door. Sometimes, she really thought they should hire a new employee. Anna was filling orders as fast as she could, while Olaf rang them up. Marsh was back, helping out Olaf and speeding things up a bit, but it still wasn't enough. Thankfully, about half an hour before her lunch break, they had a break from the onslaught of customers.

Anna leaned against the counter drinking a glass of water, taking a deep breath. She looked around at the people occupying their tables. In one corner, there was a policeman with his wife and their baby who looked about six months old. Near them was a younger boy on his laptop. There was a group of women and a group of teenagers. There was also a pair of men who looked to be in a heated argument. She was right, because a moment later the darker haired one stood up.

"Excuse me?" he yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the cafe. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Well, it's true," the other man replied. The first guy pulled his arm back and punched the second guy in the face. Anna's hand flew up to her mouth. The blond man stumbled but quickly regained his balance. The police officer got up and ran in their direction. The second guy rushed toward the other man, who grabbed him. They scuffled for a moment before the brunette shoved the blond man harshly, causing him to fall into the huge window, falling through and shattering the glass. The police man got there and grabbed the brunette, grabbing his handcuffs and putting them on the man.

Anna snapped to attention, and ran over to the man who lying on the floor, half in, half out of the store. She crouched down to see that he was breathing, but unconscious. He had a few cuts on his face and arms. He was bleeding from a deep cut on his temple. Anna grabbed the towel she had tucked into her apron pocket, and pressed it to the cut. The cop said, "Miss, call an ambulance."

Anna pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed. After relaying what happened and giving their address she hung up. "They're on their way," she said to nobody in particular. The bleeding has slowed and he was still knocked out. A few minutes later the ambulance pulled into the parking lot. Two paramedics rushed in.

"Please step back," they asked of Anna. She stood up and watched as they loaded him onto a gurney. A cop came over to ask her what she had seen, and then telling her she was free to leave.

Olaf was in the back room for the fight, but was now next to Anna. "Well, we're gonna close until we get that window fixed. I'll get on that this week. Go ahead and go home." She tried to smile and thanked him, before going into the back to grab her purse.

She walked down the street and through the park. She was startled out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. She didn't even look at the screen. "Hello?" she said into the phone, trying not to sound shaken up.

"Anna? You okay?" she heard Kristoff say. Looking at her screen, she saw that it was indeed him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. There was a huge fight at work and a man got sent to the hospital," she said.

"Really? You weren't hurt were you?" Kristoff asked, worried.

"No. I'm totally fine. And I don't have to work for a few days, because they broke our big front window," Anna told him. The truth was, she was still a little shaky.

"Hmm. So you're not working tomorrow?" Kristoff checked.

"Nope. Why" she asked him.

"Well, I'm not working tomorrow either, so maybe we could have lunch together?" Kristoff suggested. Anna smiled and nodded even though he couldn't see her.

"Okay. Sounds good. Where at?" she questioned.

"How about we have a picnic? At the park by your apartment?"

"Okay. Great. Do you want me to bring anything?" Anna offered, excited.

"Uh, how about a blanket? Do you have one that we could sit on?" he replied.

"Absolutely. I'll just meet you there. Does noon sound good?"

"Perfect," he answered and Anna could tell that he was smiling. "Alright, well I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Goodbye," she said, hanging up. She walked the rest of the way home with a huge smile on her face.

Anna woke up unusually early the next morning. She pretended to watch TV for a few hours before getting ready. She wore dark jeans with a mint colored t-shirt. She grabbed a sweatshirt just in case. She didn't trust the weather to stay warm. After that, she grabbed a blanket and headed out.

The walk to the park was quick. When she got there, she saw Kristoff sitting under a tree with a picnic basket by his feet. Anna waved and walked over. "Hey," she said standing above him. He stood up and grabbed the blanket.

"Hey," he said back, smiling down at her. He spread out the blanket under the tree so that they could still lean on tree without getting their butts all dirty. He then grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto the blanket with him.

He opened up the basket and looked over at her. "Okay. I've got strawberries, nectarines, PB&Js, turkey sandwiches, and chocolate cake."

"Seriously? You fit all that in there?" she said laughing slightly. He laughed a little as well.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted so I gave you options," he said. She smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Thanks. What kind of jelly is it?" she asked reaching into the basket.

"I brought strawberry and grape," he told her.

"Yes! Grape is my favorite," she informed him, grabbing a sandwich and taking a huge bite out of it. She tried to ask him if he was going to have one, but with all of that food in her mouth, all she got out was a mumble. He shook his head, smiling. He waited until she swallowed.

"Okay. You wanna repeat that?" She blushed.

"I said, aren't you going to eat?" she repeated. He nodded and grabbed a sandwich from the basket. He took a big bite and then took a drink of soda while still chewing his sandwich. Anna just looked on, slightly disgusted.

"What?" he asked very seriously.

"Nothing," she replied trying not to smile. They finished eating in silence, and then both leaned back against the large tree.

"Do you have any siblings?" she asked him randomly.

"Nope. But I have a lot of cousins, who were pretty much like my brothers," Kristoff said, not mentioning that they were the only family to spend time with him when he was younger. "How about you? Do you have any siblings?" he asked her.

"Um, yeah. I have a sister, but I never really spent time with her," Anna answered him sadly.

Kristoff noticed her tone, and asked softly, "How come?"

She looked down at the ground. "You see, my parents are pretty rich. My dad has an engineering business. He wanted us to go to college and then work for him." She paused briefly. "Elsa never wanted to work for Dad. She wanted to be a veterinarian. When she told my dad, he got mad. After that, he was always disappointed in her, so she spent her time locked in her room. After that, I rarely saw her."

"Your dad sounds like an ass," Kristoff said when she was finished. He blushed when he realized what he had said. She waved him off. "How come you don't work for your dad?"

"I never really respected my father. After how he acted toward Elsa, I never wanted to work for him. I didn't want to use his money either, so I saved up my money and moved here when I was eighteen," she told him. "My sister had gone away to study Veterinary Medicine, which made him really mad. He was really strict with me, and when I moved away also, he told me not to come back." A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Kristoff noticed and shyly put his arm around her, and she leaned into his side.

"I get it. My dad was a jerk too. He always said that I wasn't trying hard enough, no matter what I did."

He looked down at Anna and wiped a few stray tears away, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. He looked into her eyes for a moment before slowly leaning down. He gently pressed his lips to hers. After a few moments he pulled back. She smiled at him and leaned her head against her shoulder, and they stayed that way for a while.

MrAndersIversen: Thank you so much. Sincerely, your American friend, Allie.

That Ghost Geek: I'm curious. What exactly do you picture?

Sah Bee: Glad you're going to keep reading. And yes, I'll be updating often.

Escaping The Shadow: the awkward scenes are most fun to write. I'm glad you look forward to reading this.