"So if I do this, how does it feel?" asked Elsa as she ran a hand tinged with cold down Krisoff's back as he lay on the floor.

"Really good," said Kristoff as he shivered with pleasure. There was something about feeling her cold touch brush against him that made him feel more alive than he had in quite some time.

"I know, right? She's gotten a lot better at touching people ever since she opened the doors," said Anna from the couch, not looking at the pair of them at all. Although they'd stopped drinking shortly after Lord Derek left, both she and Elsa had grown more and more inebriated as the night had gone on. Elsa seemed to handle it better than Anna, but only by a little bit.

"I still have a lot of catching up to do though," said Elsa as she ran her hand up and down his back.

"Well, Kristoff is great at touching, so he's good for you. Feel free to practice with him as much as you like," said Anna as she stretched out on the couch.

Kristoff rolled over to stare at Anna in surprise. He knew that Anna was close with her sister, but she was a human and so he'd more or less put Elsa out of mind. His troll family was more than open about this sort of thing, but that was part of the problem. They were trolls and their love for each other knew no bounds. Kristoff, meanwhile, had grown up thinking that other humans wouldn't be willing to be as accepting of others in their relationships.

Elsa, on the other hand, just got a big grin on her face. "So it would be alright if I did this," she said as she began to tickle Kristoff.

"Hey, cut that out!" said Kristoff with a laugh. He curled up to avoid the tickles to his side, but that just left more space for Elsa to attack.

"Anna said I could practice touching people and I intend to!" she said, calling up more cold and changing her tickling tactics as she did so.

Kristoff groaned and tried to roll away from her, although more out of obligation to make a fuss than from any real objection to the tickles.

This action came as a surprise to Elsa and her dress got tangled up with him as he rolled away, pulling her into his roll.

When he finally got free from her, Kristoff found that he was now straddling Elsa, who grinned and tried to start tickling him from below.

"Cut it out!" said Kristoff as he grabbed one of her hands and pinned it to the ground. Elsa just tickled him more with her other hand, laughing all the while as she did so. Kristoff made several grabs for her while trying to ensure that the pinned hand remained where it was and Elsa writhed around beneath him so that she'd be hard to catch.

When he finally pinned her other hand to the ground, they were both breathing hard and Elsa was blushing. Kristoff realized the position he'd put Elsa into and discovered that he didn't want to let her go just yet.

"Kristoff …" said Elsa in a soft tone as her face took on a deep red tone.

"Elsa …" began Kristoff, but he was interrupted as soon as he started to speak.

"Behold! For I have brought ale!" cried a loud voice from the door. Kristoff looked up to see that Lord Derek had returned. He got off of Elsa and helped her to her feet, brushing off invisible specks of dirt as he did so.

"Who's there?" mumbled Anna from the couch, having missed the whole exchange.

"Lord Derek, we didn't think that you were coming back," said Elsa as she shook out the wrinkles from having rolled around on the floor out of her dress.

"I got distracted while visiting my ship. Your snowman has a very high alcohol tolerance! I commend you for your foresight!"

"Alcohol tolerance? What are you talking about?" asked Kristoff with a questioning glance at Elsa, who shrugged.

"We had a little drinking bout, he and I, and he came out as quite the sober winner! Why, if I had half his tolerance I'd never be drunk again!" said Lord Derek in a cheerful tone.

Anna started to snore.

"And she's out," said Lord Derek as he took a long look at Anna. He looked up at Kristoff and Elsa and sheepishly said "I suppose I did get back a bit late to start drinking with you more, didn't I?"

Kristoff shrugged. "Perhaps a bit."

"Well, in that case I suppose I should take the Princess to bed and tuck her in, shouldn't I?' said Lord Derek.

"Now wait just a minute," began Elsa as she tried to march toward Lord Derek although she was only able to hit a table as she stumbled forward.

"Hold, your Majesty. I well and truly mean to take her to her room and tuck her in, that was all. I thought that you and Kristoff might enjoy the chance to finish your conversation in peace, as you did look rather tangled up in it."

Elsa blushed and Kristoff gaped at him like a fish.

"Next floor up, it's the door with green on it," said Anna in a dreary voice from the couch. "But you have to promise no funny stuff."

"Thus I promise, and thus it is done!" said Lord Derek as he placed his hand on his heart. "Now, uppsie daisy, Princess Anna," he added as he scooped her up into his arms. He staggered with her out into the hall and bellowed "Make way for the next floor! I have the princess and there is to be no funny business!"

Elsa stared out the door at where Lord Derek been and had a blank look on her face.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure," said Kristoff. He was unconvinced, himself, but his doubts weren't what Elsa needed to hear.

Elsa just worked her towards the couch Anna had just been lifted from and sank into it. "What happened, Kristoff? I want to say it wasn't anything, or that it was wine from before, but I know that's not true. Is it."

Kristoff knew it wasn't a question. "No. I've felt things about you ever since I met you, Elsa. It's like you're my world come to life. Beautiful, dangerous, cold, and no matter what I do I just can't imagine life without you. Anna fills a spot in my heart that I didn't know was empty, but you, God, you fill the rest of it up with all that was there and more." He went over and joined her on the couch, and she curled up against him. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. Her skin was icy cold, but it felt good against his. He didn't want to let her go.

"What are we going to do, Kristoff? I don't want to hurt Anna, but if you stay any longer then one day we'll not be able to stop ourselves. I feel like I should tell you to go, but if you left then I'm not sure what I would do."

She began to cry into his shoulder, and Kristoff just held her like that for a while. "We don't have to think about it yet, Elsa. We have time. Let's just stay here for now and think about it more in the morning."

He felt her nod. She laid her head against his chest and felt him breath in and out, over and over, and the gentle beat of his heart lulled her to sleep.

Kristoff thought about untangling her from him and going to join Anna in bed, but when he started to get up, he realized that wasn't where he wanted or needed to be now, so he laid with Elsa on the couch and drifted off to sleep as well.