A/N: Time for a new chapter! We have OCs to explore! For those of you interested, I've set my mind to posting a one-shot collection of my fanon entitled: Frozen Hearts Ficlets. Keep an eye out for it if you'd like to see more offshoots of the brothers/whatever I feel like writing! Should be posted not too long after this chapter, but I felt this was more important. Oh, and those of you who thought you caught references in the last chapter, you probably did! I know I said on my tumblr page I had intended this chapter to be the longest one I'd done yet (and let me tell you with all I had planned it was turning out three times this long), but I figured dates in my mind and I hated to keep you all waiting that long without something. So I split them up.

Chapter Twenty-Three

We Know Better

Helena nervously paced back and forth across the room, smoothing her braid down over and over unconsciously. She wandered back to her bedside and sat down, wondering vaguely how much snow she would be spreading herself if she were Elsa. Unlike Elsa, who'd never gained a firm reign over her emotions, Helena did quite a superior job of keeping how she felt to herself. She was quite sure he'd gotten a good look at her, because she had gotten a good look at him. All the rich clothing suited him, but in the grand scheme of things, he didn't seem much different. Quieter, yes, and certainly sadder. She wished he had talked more, louder, excited, like the Heins she knew. What had she hoped to accomplish coming all the way here to see him? Why did she still feel her heart beat so quickly when he looked in her direction?

She'd been unsure at first as she made the decision to come with with Elsa to the Isles, and now she was even more confused. This was what came of falling in love, especially with a prince. Here she was, sitting on the edge of her bed in the night, holding his boot in her lap and repeatedly tracing the "H" stitched in the heel. She was quite sure the letter would soon imprint itself on her fingers with how many times she'd stroked it. She set it down, lifting her nightgown and slipping her foot inside it. She smiled despite herself. "It's a little big." She flexed her toes, rubbing her stocking-clad feet against the smooth, plush sole.

Half of her wanted to return it, but the other half wanted to keep it as a crude form of ransom, a "break my heart, I break the boot" kind of thing. She slipped her foot free, sighing and flopping back on her bed. It was much too soft, with too many pillows and too fancy a duvet, with covers big enough to drape over the bed and just barely touch the floor. She'd tried five times to switch positions from sleeping on her side as she was used to, but she couldn't get to sleep. Maybe part of the problem was the fact she hadn't eaten yet. Dinner hadn't exactly been peaceful enough for her to sneak any food of her own, and afterward she'd been too busy comforting Elsa to get a chance. The memory of the smells still lingered strongly; she could almost taste it. As if to agree with her, her stomach groaned.

She was hungry, there was no doubt about it. Elsa's sudden departure meant getting dinner was up to her. She slipped her feet into her own shoes, making her way to the door, holding Heins' boot in one hand as an afterthought. She didn't know her way around this castle, but chances were, she was smart enough to figure it out. Not by aimlessly wandering, of course, that meant she might run into Heins somewhere along the winding hallways. She couldn't afford that yet, not when she had no clue how to face him. No, she had other ideas for excuses.

She cracked the door to her room, slipping out just in time to catch a passing male servant. "Excuse me," she sweetly whispered, gesturing next door where she knew Elsa to be sleeping. "My lady, the Queen Elsa, has asked me to fetch her something to eat. Might you kindly direct me to the kitchen?"

"Of course," replied the man, pointing behind him. "This hallway will lead you to stairs. Take them down to the bottom floor. The kitchen is to the right there. You should be able to follow your nose." Helena nodded her thanks, turning to follow his directions. "Hey, wait a minute," the man said. Helena froze in place, body tensing. Had she said something to give herself away? "Isn't that Prince Heins' boot? I thought he'd lost it?"

"He did," Helena quickly murmured, thinking fast, keeping her gaze straight ahead, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the boot, possessive. "But I'm bringing it back to him."

"I see," replied the servant, seeming satisfied with the answer. "Goodnight."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Helena followed the directions. Her nose caught a whiff of the same spices used at dinner, and she smiled, approaching the kitchen doors. She opened them, her eyes widening. There was enough food in the kitchen to feed her entire street for days. Now her only decision was where to start… she'd only just picked up a hunk of fresh bread which crackled in her fingers before suddenly, without warning, the pantry door leading to the storeroom in the back of the kitchen swung open.

She jumped a foot in the air, a hand over her mouth to muffle her startled scream. The man across from her yelped in surprise, dropping a cookie that had been in his mouth. His arms just managed to hold onto their bushel of snacks, piled high as his shoulders. His fair face looked relieved to see her, though she couldn't figure why. She remembered seeing him at the dinner sitting among their table, next to one of the princes, and he'd been in Arendelle, too. She couldn't remember his name, but he'd been there when she'd helped Heins escape prison. Breathing a sigh of relief, both of them echoed one another. "I thought you were someone else."

After staring at each other for a moment, Helena spoke, eyeing the bundle of food in his arms. "That's quite a lot of food you have there." Though it was mostly comprised of cookies, crackers, and other less-than-healthy options, it was still enough to make her hungry. "I'm surprised the kitchen has anything left."

"It's not for me," he said a little too quickly, as if he were embarrassed to be found with it. "I'm only the messenger, the errand boy."

"Why didn't they come and get their own food?" Helena asked, frowning. After working nonstop for someone like Egil for so long, she knew the value of hard work, and therefore, laziness was of particular bother to her. "Why send you?"

"I volunteered," the man replied with a slow smile. "The prince has been having trouble sleeping, so I thought a little food may help."

Helena arched an eyebrow as she studied the food in his arms. "Cookies?"

"I didn't say it was good food," he added, with a soft chuckle. "He's a picky eater." Suddenly, he held out a finger and tilted his head. "Wait a second, I know you. You're the one who helped us break out Prince Heins and Prince Harry from Arendelle's jail, aren't you? With the bobby pin bail? I remember you. What on earth are you doing here?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"It's a long story." Helena replied non-committingly while waving a hand lightly in the air. "Suffice to say, I'm here now and Elsa needs me." She leaned forward and took some of his packages in her arms to conceal Hein's boot and block further questions. "And unless you want to lead a trail of crumbs all the way back to wherever you're going, it looks like you do, too."

Johan gave a vague nod, as if he had something to add but thought better of it. "Well then…" He gestured with a sweep of his free hand. "Shall we?"

#

On the way, the pair avoided one close call with a maid by hiding until she passed by their corner. Had the leader been anyone else but Johan, the journey would have taken twice as long, but he moved through the halls as if he'd lived in the palace his whole life. With Helena's help, he pushed open the door of their destination and entered, where a silk pajama-clad prince leaned against the window thoughtfully.

As Heinrik first turned and walked over to greet his friend, he was aglow with a broad grin, but the sight of Helena following left it faltering for a moment. "Johan, I asked you to bring me food, not female companionship. But I guess we can make due." He paused as Helena brushed past him. "Wait a second… I know you…"

"Yes, yes, I'm the one who got your brothers out of jail," she murmured, unloading her armful of food on his bed, which was even larger than hers.

"And took his boot, right?" Heinrik asked, nodding towards her arms where she still held it.

Helena mentally sighed. She'd been hoping to avoid questions about her personal life. Still, if this man was a prince, that meant he was one of Heins' brothers she vaguely recalled him mentioning during the extravaganza. "Yes," she answered curtly. "Or, more accurately, he threw it to me."

"Sorry, sorry. A prince always practices precision of language," recited Heinrik, shuffling a hand through the small hill of food on his bed and picking three cookies out a parcel Johan had already opened, shoving one in his mouth and chewing. He offered one to his first mate, who accepted readily, and the other to Helena, who hesitantly took it and chewed. It was sweet and somewhat filling, with a nutty chocolate aftertaste. "Tastes just like they used to make 'em," Heinrik said through a mouthful, swallowing and starting in on another.

"For what it's worth, I remember you from Arendelle, too... didn't you get to eat during dinner?" Helena asked, watching him eat as she finished her own cookie.

"I did a little, at least until Orion had to get all whiny." Heinrik swallowed and flashed her a grin. "Forgive my wordplay."

"Oh…" Helena dropped her gaze as she remembered the unpleasant woman. She thought about what she had done to provoke Orion. She just hadn't been able to help herself after the way she spoke about Heins, as if he were a piece of livestock or a slave she owned. "I'm sorry for ruining your welcome home dinner."

"Are you kidding?" Heinrik chuckled as he continued, "that was the greatest welcome home dinner I could have asked for!"

Helena blinked, stunned by his enthusiasm. "You're serious." He nodded wildly, his red curls bobbing.

"Of course I am. Ever since I returned I was afraid my dad would want to hold a big, formal family event to welcome me back, but you turned all that around into an evening of excitement and entertainment!" He wolfed down the last cookie in the parcel and flashed her a winning, rougish smile. "Thanks!"

"I…" Helena hesitated, smiling slightly, amused at his disregard for pomp and circumstance usually accompanying the position of royalty. "You're welcome?"

"It really was an entertaining dinner… though I know you didn't come all the way here to do that for me." Heinrik shot her a penetrating gaze far too knowledgeable for her comfort. "I think we know better. You did it for Heins." Even the sound of his name sounded pleasant enough to her to send a shiver down her back. She kept forgetting how close he really was, right now, sharing the same living space, breathing the same air. "He really is in love with you, you know," Heinrik said off-handedly, catching her eye as he scratched his goatee, shooting Johan a glance. "Wouldn't stop talking about you all the way home, would he, Johan?"

Johan blinked with a stunned expression. "What are you talking about? He didn't say anything, just sat around the ship sulking the whole ti-"

"Would he, Johan?" repeated Heinrik meaningfully with a sharp tinge to his words.

"Oh… oh! No, no, he wouldn't!" Johan exclaimed loudly, nodding. "Talked all the way home. Said he'd never rest till' he found you again."

"And he's been going barefoot ever since," Heinrik lamented, shaking his head solemnly. "I've tried to snap him out of it, him being my younger brother and all… but he just stands on the edge of the pier and stares out across the sea. Guess he was hoping one day he would see you coming."

Helena's eyes widened, her jaw slackening, her expression softened in pity. "I didn't know he was still thinking so much of me."

"I've never fallen in love before," Heinrik said, rummaging through the pile of food to pick out some crackers and stuffing a few in his mouth, talking with his mouth full. "Well, not unlesh you count my love of the shea."

"I think you're all wet." Johan laughed as he snagged the package from Heinrik, helping himself. "That's not what you told that cobbler girl in Corona, and the twins in Havetby, and that tavern maid in Barcalone, and-"

Heinrik served Johan a quick slug in the shoulder to shut him up. "My point was going to be, it must be special. If I ever saw anyone who truly loved someone else, it would be my brother… you will talk to him, won't you? Something beyond 'Here's your boot'."

"Yes… I promise, I'll talk to him." Helena said the words before she knew they were coming from her mouth.

"Well, that's a relief," Heinrik said, sighing and sitting cross-legged on his bed, unwrapping another package.

Helena was too distracted to take note of what it was, her thoughts drifting to Heins, but the crunch snapped her back into the present. She took a moment to observe her surroundings, careful not to be nosy. His room had a sense of youth about it, as if it didn't quite match his age. There were books for young boys on the bookshelves, many of them naval books or fictional tales about the ocean, some with telltale trails of dust along their spines. On the desk nearby a book was open to the title page, with some kind of inscription written on the cover page. She couldn't make out the specifics, but she picked out the phrases "my little brother, Heinrik…explore new worlds… never gone before". Next to the book was a pair of reading glasses lying sideways. A globe and several sizes of model ships decorated the overhead shelf spaces, some of the pieces slightly askew. She vaguely wondered if he'd made any of them himself, when she settled her gaze on the man himself, who was in turn staring at her.

He truly didn't seem to mind the fact he was hosting Queen Elsa's lady-in-waiting in his pajamas, nor the crumbs haphazardly decorating the silk robe. His pajamas themselves were loose, loose enough they covered half of his hands and bunched around his feet. As she turned her eyes up to meet his gaze, she admitted she could see why some people would find him attractive. There was a certain charm to those blue eyes, a daring, brave fire flickering.

"See something you like?"

It took her a moment to register he was teasing her, and her cheeks burned. "No. That is, I… your pajamas are saggy."

Johan burst into barking laughter, which made Heinrik glower at him, but he couldn't hold the frown long, chuckling himself. He pulled at the pajama pocket, which was engraved with an "H" much like Heins' boots. "Don't let the H fool you, it's not mine. All of my pajamas were designed with an eighteen-year old in mind. Suffice it to say, they don't exactly fit like a glove. I had to borrow from my older brother, at least until Heins finishes something new for me. Say, maybe that's why I can't seem to sleep, Johan. The clothes smell like Helm."

"You're having trouble sleeping?" Helena asked, happy to hear she wasn't the only one.

"It's like I told you earlier; that's why I went to get him something to eat," Johan elaborated. "He hasn't had a good night's sleep since he returned."

"Hm…" Helena strode back and forth in front of Heinrik's bed, running a hand along the sheets. "Can't think why. It looks comfortable enough… very soft. It must be filled with some kind of feathers."

"That's the problem," Heinrik mumbled, pushing a hand down on his mattress and lifting it, leaving an imprint of his fingers there. "It's too soft. When I lie down I don't want to feel like I'm going to sink to my death as if my bed were quicksand."

"Hm… I see your point," Helena murmured, frowning thoughtfully as she walked alongside his bed, letting her hand trail along the wooden canopy. "Maybe if you describe what it was like when you slept well, we could figure something out."

Heinrik shrugged, leaning an elbow on his knee. "I assume the best place to start is to remind you I'm a pirate by profession."

Helena furrowed her eyebrows. "A pirate..." Heins' family was colorful, more than she cared to remember after their last run-in. "And you intend to continue that lifestyle here?"

"Possibly part-time." Heinrik said casually. "I slept on my ship more than I slept on land, in a bed."

"Then how… did you sleep on the ship?" His chuckling made her feel warm around her ears again. "Excuse me for not knowing, but some of us have worked honest jobs in the past."

"On the ship… beds aren't prevalent. Hammocks are more likely." Heinrik shrugged a shoulder. "You sleep where you can sleep, however you can make yourself comfortable."

Helena seemed lost in thought for a moment, pursing her lips and lifting up the edge of a quilt folded neatly near the end of his bed. It was light enough… she turned to look at Johan. "Are you any good at tying knots?"

Johan served her an incredulous look. "I would like to think I can tie a good knot or two after so many years of practice. Why do you ask?"

"Think you can tie this end of the quilt here?" She gestured to the canopy of the bed. "On this part of the canopy?"

"I don't see why not…" Johan set to work following her directions with a snort. "But I don't see where you're going with this."

Helena held the other end of the quilt up, bunching it at the end and holding it aloft as she winked secretively. "I have a plan."

Heinrik watched in stunned silence as Helena directed and Johan followed her words. It wasn't until Johan had finished tying off the second knot that both men broke into a broad grin. "So that was your plan."

Helena stood back and looked over her hand-made hammock creation. "Okay, time to test my theory." She jerked her head towards Heinrik. "Climb up and in." Heinrik stepped up on top of his bed and tested the heaviness of his hands on the hammock, teetering as his feet sank down into the mattress with his weight. The material of the quilt sagged, the wood creaking, but the knots remained firm. He made an uncertain groan, glancing back at Johan. "Oh, would you just climb in, you big baby?" Helena said, stepping up beside him and holding the edge. "If you fall, you'll land on the bed."

Heinrik shrugged, bent and slowly hoisted himself with a grunt into the hammock, the wood eliciting a groan of protest. For a moment, the room waited with baited breath, but the knots held firm, leaving Heinrik wrapped in a cocoon of cloth like a newborn. He leaned over the side and smiled at Helena, who beamed back at him. "Comfortable?" she asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"Well, I didn't fall and break my neck, so I'll give you a few extra points for that. It does feel pretty good, actually...sort of warm and homey… familiar," the prince admitted with a perplexed look at the knots.

"That's not the best part," Helena said, approaching him and giving the hammock a gentle push, which made it swing lightly back and forth. Heinrik blinked, swaying a little with the momentum. He stretched out on his back, giving a small, satisfied sigh through his nose as he closed his eyes. "Well?" Helena pressed, hopeful. "What do you think? Is it like the swaying of the sea?"

For a moment, he was silent, but then, with a skeptical grunt, Heinrik mumbled, "It's okay."

"He means thank you," Johan said, smiling at Helena's downcast gaze. "I think it's a really nice gesture, and when he's done with it, I'm going to steal it for a turn of my own. He's like a little kid sometimes, is all. He gets cranky when he's frustrated or tired."

"Needs some ambiance," Heinrik said with a following yawn. "That yawn doesn't mean I'm tired. I'm just bored of listening to Johan talk."

Helena pursed her lips for a moment in thought and sneaked up close to the hammock, trying not laugh as she made some seagull noises between cupped hands. "Ah ah ah… shhhh…ah ah ah…" she imitated sloshing waves in between noises. Heinrik snorted in laughter, which only made Helena giggle. "Better?" she asked hopefully.

Heinrik could only smile with a charming glint in his eyes. "Much."

"Good." His brothers may not have been entirely traditional royalty, but neither was Heins. Helena found her hand wandering to play with her braid, a habit she'd formed when anxious or uneasy, the other bending over to pick up the lone boot leaning against the bedside. She was thinking about him again. When would it ever stop? "I should go. It's late, and you need some sleep."

Heinrik reclined in his new hammock and waved a hand at her. "Sleep is for the weak. You won't forget what I said about my brother, will you?"

"No," Helena assured him as she backed away, her fingers clutching the boot close. "I won't forget."

"Good, good. Oh, and you probably need directions to get back, don't you? I bet Johan had you climbing so many stairs and turning through so many halls you have no idea where you are, do you?" Heinrik watched her in the darkness, though his posture was noticeably slack, his eyes shimmering in the moonlight flooding the room.

"Yes, that would be rather helpful, if you don't mind. Directions back to Queen Elsa's room? Do you know where that would be?" Helena paused before the door to soak in the instructions.

"Of course I do." Heinrik paused for a moment and relayed with a few gestures of his hands. "Once you exit here, go up the first staircase at the end of your hall to your right. Go up two flights, fourth door down, can't miss it."

"Thank you," Helena murmured with a grateful smile. She slipped out the door and closed it behind her.

"She'd make a good sister-in-law, don't you think?" Heinrik asked after she'd gone, lounging back on the hammock with a satisfied, somewhat sleepy sigh.

"If the laws of society didn't so clearly forbid such a thing, yes." Johan hoisted himself up on Heinrik's bed and slipped under the covers. "And don't think I don't know what you did when you gave her those directions of yours. It goes totally against the rules of princely etiquette."

"We're pirates, Johan," exclaimed Heinrik from above, leaning over the corner of the hammock. "We make our own rules."

"Fair enough," Johan mumbled, turning on his side where he usually slept. "And all that stuff about him watching for her at the edge of the pier? When did you suddenly become a softie?"

Heinrik released a loud, exaggerated yawn before a softer one followed suit, waving a hand and letting it hang off the edge of the hammock as his eyes closed. "It's what brothers do."

A/N: Hmmm... something about those directions...As I said I wanted to put more in this chapter, but this just means hopefully the next will be out sooner! By the way, a huge thank you goes out to all my reviewers out there. You are so loved; I read every single one!