A/N: I am terrified of this chapter. I have lost sleep over this chapter. I fear my inbox because of this chapter. I hope I didn't ruin everything.

Edit: After receiving two reviews about the chapter seeming rushed I did some adjusting; I changed Elsa's tone in the fountain scene, added some details, lengthened some conversations, and added in one. I hope I made it better and didn't just screw it up.

"This place is huge!" Anna said as she laced up the back of Elsa's dress, "I got lost trying to find your room and had to get directions from a guard."

"I had a lot of trouble finding my way around when I first visited. I believe they put me in the same room as before to save me the trouble of learning a new path."

"Do you want your hair up, down, or somewhere in between?"

"I'm open to suggestions," she laughed.

"Alright, how about this," Anna split Elsa's hair into two braids, crossed them in the back and pinned them up, leaving her bangs to frame her face.

"It's beautiful, thank you," Elsa looked down at her gown; it was the same one she had worn at her first ball in Baltia, "Does this look alright? Does the necklace go with it? How is my makeup?"

Anna laughed and placed Elsa's tiara on her head, "You look great."

"I'm so nervous."

"Why? You've been to a ball here before."

"It's not the ball," Elsa looked at her sister with a small smile.

Elsa stood in the ballroom flanked by Anna and Kristoff to her right and Rapunzel and Eugene to her left. She scanned the crowd and caught sight of his feathered bicorn as it floated above the crowd like a shark's fin. He was currently dancing with a woman she knew as Queen Matilda who was trying to flirt with him, but she knew by the innocent smile on his face he had no idea what the woman was doing. His movements were graceful as he seemed to glide across the floor; his partner's were as well and she didn't seem to have the tendency Elsa did for accidentally stepping on his feet, but he also wasn't dancing as closely with Queen Matilda as he did with her. Jealousy didn't blossom as it did before, the way he had looked at her in the mirror made it impossible. She smiled to herself knowing her name was the one on the cloth over his heart.

Taking a deep breath she crossed the ballroom when the song had finished; her heart felt as though it would beat out of her chest. She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to her. She stole the breath from his lungs, "You look amazing, your majesty," he said as he bowed and kissed her hand. A slight pink rose in her cheeks when he stood and their eyes met; the tips of his fingers still entwined with tips of hers, "Would you care to dance?"

"I would love nothing more," she placed her hand on his left shoulder and noticed him wince at the contact; she shifted her hand to provide him some relief. His scent filled her head and his closeness, as well as the pressure of his hand on the small of her back, made her feel safe. Their eyes met and to the queen and the admiral the rest of the room melted away.

"I would like to speak with you privately," she said when the song ended.

"As you wish," he offered her his arm and led her to the gardens just outside the ballroom.

"It's a beautiful night," she said trying to gather her courage. She held his left arm and concentrated on not letting the frost she could feel trying to escape glaze his coat.

"A bit warm for my liking," he smiled at her, "but I could not ask for better company," Elsa fell silent and stared at the cobblestone that encircled the fountain, "Is something the matter?" Hans asked concerned.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong," Elsa said nervously, the air around them was no longer uncomfortably warm. She had brought him out here to tell him, but her bravery was waning, "You do know these balls are another attempt by your mother to find you a bride?"

Hans laughed, "Of course they are. I'm turning seven and twenty, could you imagine the embarrassment my mother would feel to have an unmarried prince reach thirty. It would be unheard of," he sighed, "I'm being unfair. She worries that after I turn thirty and remain unwed that I will give up and enter a marriage of convenience. As much as I tease her, I know she only wants me to be happy."

"Do you plan on reaching thirty unmarried?"

"It will be so. Not for lack of wanting, but fate has not meant it for me. I'm sure Anna worries for you as well."

"Not the way you would think. She does not worry whether I will find love, but if I will have the courage to tell the man I love how I feel."

"When you find him, I'm certain you'll find the courage you need," she could see the heartache in his smile, "You deserve that happiness more than anyone."

"I have found him, but the courage is harder to find."

"Oh, may I ask who it is? Do I know him?"

"Yes, you know him very well," she could see him searching his mind for any single men he was well acquainted with.

"What is preventing you from confessing your love? Are you uncertain he returns it?"

"There is a small doubt, but I am fairly certain the feeling is mutual. The obstacle in the way seems to be his sense of guilt."

"Guilt?" Hans was thoroughly confused at this point, "who has wronged you so badly to feel guilt enough to prevent your happiness?"

She took in a deep breath to calm herself and realized she wasn't getting anywhere that way; Anna had been right about subtlety, "I had intended to come to Baltia the first time to tell you that you were forgiven and immediately return to Arendelle, but on the passage over I read your letters and started to develop an attachment to the man who had written them. I had hoped that when I arrived I would meet you and find that that man didn't exist, but that's not what happened."

"I'm very thankful for that. Your friendship I cherish like no other," he smiled.

Elsa's hand impacted her face, "How can such a brilliant man be so completely dense?" Her frustration bolstered her courage and resolve and snow lightly fell, "Did you bother to read the inscription on the compass I gave you?"

"Yes," he pulled his arm away and took the compass from his pocket, "you don't want me to get lost."

"What?" She snatched it out of his hand, opened it and noticed a smudge over the end of the inscription. She sighed, grabbed the handkerchief from his waist coat and wiped it off, "Read it again," She thrust it back into his hands.

"So you'll always find your way back…" and the uncovered words, "…to me." He was still confused, "I fail to see how that alters my original statement." A strong gust of icy wind hit Hans from the right depositing snowflakes in his hair and forcing him to take a step to prevent falling over; he had to catch his hat as it flew from his head.

She was becoming disheartened, but knew she had said too much to stop now. Frost marked her steps as turned away from him; snow began to fall heavier, "I have chased after you like a love struck school girl for nearly a year," she couldn't bring herself to look at him, "The handkerchiefs have always been favors. I have chosen every dress I have worn around you to get your attention," His eyes grew wider with every word, his heart sounded in his ears; he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "I have taken every opportunity I could find or create to touch you," She sat on the edge of the fountain with her head down, frost crept across the ground, and the fountain slowly froze, "I have even gone so far as to openly flirt with you," a short, wry laugh escaped her, "and you have never noticed."

He backed away from her, "No, you can't," he tilted his head down and the moonlight reflected off the tears in the corners of his tightly shut eyes, "I…" he was interrupted by a pain in his left arm. He instinctively grabbed it and as the wet warmth soaked through his glove he panicked, dove for Elsa and took her to ground with him; another bolt pinned his hat to the wall. Elsa brought an ice barrier up to shield them, "We need to get inside," he stood up, pulled her to her feet, and didn't let go of her hand until they were safely inside the ballroom. "Are you alright?" Hans looked her over frantically for any signs of damage. He gasped, "You're bleeding! Oh, wait, that's mine."

"I'm fine, but your arm..."

Their reentry had gone unnoticed. Hans looked around trying to find a way across the crowded room without anyone noticing his wound. He bit his lip, looked at Elsa, and bolted through the crowd. She took after him, but was stopped by Anna, "Whoa, where are you going?" she laughed, then looked at her sister's gown, "Is that blood?"

"Yes, but it's not mine," she tried to get out of Anna's grip, but lost sight of Hans before she did and knew there was no way she could find the doctor's quarters on her own.

"Whose is it?"

"Hans'."

"Why is he bleeding and why is it on your dress?"

"I'll explain everything later; I have to find Adelaide or Anders."

"Hans!" King Anders roared as he threw open the door to his youngest son's room. His father might have been physically smaller than him, but at that moment Hans was facing an enraged giant. "So this is the fourth one you've been hit by in three days?" he held a crossbow bolt in front of Hans' face. Hans looked away. "I need to keep you safe," Anders sighed, "Until I can find out what's going on you're being moved to the tower."

"The tower!?" Hans jumped to his feet.

"Yes, guards will be placed at the base of the steps and monitor anyone who visits you."

"You're making me a prisoner?"

"It's only until I can discover who's behind this, Dr. Jensen will see to your wound up there." Anders opened the door and several guards entered to help him escort Hans.

"Alright, what happened?" Anna insisted as she closed the door to her sister's room and sat on the bed with her.

"I all but told him I loved him and all he said was 'you can't!" she sobbed into her sister's shoulder.

"Not what I was going for, but that's important too."

Elsa lifted her head, "Then a bolt caught his arm, he jumped on me, I put up an ice wall, we came inside, he checked to see if I was alright, then ran out of the room," Elsa lost what composure she had, "Someone tried to kill him, why am I so concerned with his reaction to me?" tears streamed down her face, turning to snow before they fell on her blood stained gown.

"Because you're human," Anna embraced her.

"What do I do?"

"Anders is working on trying to find out who's targeting Hans, and there's nothing you can really do about that. You two need to finish that conversation, but not tonight," Anna got up and pulled two nightgowns out of a drawer, "Kristoff will be fine for a night by himself."

"Thank you," Elsa smiled weakly.

"I think you may want to talk to Klaus before you talk to Hans, maybe he can give you some insight into whatever goes on inside that man's head."

"I just don't know when I should. He'll probably act like nothing happened and if I wait too long I'll go along with it. Should I even try to talk to him again about it? He obviously wasn't happy to hear it," she wiped her eyes with the handkerchief she realized she was still holding, "maybe I should just let it go."

Anna sat down next to her, "Elsa, you know how he feels about you no matter what he said; there are only a few people who don't know how he feels about you. Yeah, the situation is kinda weird, but with someone trying to kill him I don't think time is a luxury you have."

Hans stubbornly refused to attend breakfast or lunch and insisted that food be brought to him like a proper prisoner. He kicked the wall in anger and only succeeded in hurting his toe. He sat on the window seat and stared out, pouting. As far as prison cells went this was a posh one. The large canopy bed was dressed in black (matching the heavy drapes on the many windows); there was a writing desk, a bathroom, a wardrobe and a bookshelf, all of which had been stocked that morning. It was a large room and the highest one in the entire city. He could see all of Baltia spread before him, depending on which window he looked out, but he felt like a bird in a cage; he no idea how Rapunzel handled this for eighteen years when he could barely last eighteen minutes without pulling out his hair!

"You're an idiot, you realize that?" Eugene asked as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe act like a normal man would when the women he's madly in love with confesses something like that; embrace her, tell her how you feel, kiss her. Freak out and run should not have been on the top of your list of things to do in that situation."

"I didn't run," Hans pouted, "I backed away slowly. No woman even looked at me twice before I started fighting pirates, I have no frame of reference. And besides, a normal man wouldn't be hearing the woman he tried to kill tell him that she 'chased after him like a love struck school girl.'"

"So, what's your plan?"

"I don't know! Last year she forgave me, I never thought that would happen, then she befriended me, which was even more unexpected, now this. If I expected friendship even less likely to happen than never, how could I have been prepared for this?"

"I told you not to count yourself out at Anna's wedding."

"Yes, but I didn't believe you."

"Why are you acting like this a bad thing, you're crazy about her?"

"I tried to kill her."

"And I broke into Rapunzel's house with stolen property."

"That's hardly comparable. Why are we even having this conversation? I'm imprisoned and she's probably changed her mind after all that."

"You're making excuses. You can go out and risk your life fighting men with swords and cannons without a second thought, but you can't face a woman giving you her heart?"

"It's more complicated than that."

"Come in," Klaus responded to the knock at the door without looking up from his paperwork.

"May I speak with you a moment?"

He looked up at the sound of a voice he was not expecting, "Of course, Queen Elsa," he rose and pulled a chair to his desk, "Please, have a seat."

"I would like to speak to you regarding Prince Hans," she said as she sat across from him.

"The events of last night were quite unsettling."

"What has he told you?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet, but I was informed of the attempt on his life as well as the one he lied about."

"What I wish to speak to you about happened just before he was hit," Elsa looked down at her fidgeting hands, a wave of guilt washing over her. She stood up and turned to leave, "I'm sorry; I have no right to bother you with this now."

"Queen Elsa, wait," he stood and walked behind her, "Nothing you could wish to speak to me about would be a bother," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Please, continue."

She was visibly shaking, her emotions became too much, frost raced along the floor "I confessed my feelings for him, and all he said was 'you can't!" she blurted out.

Klaus stepped back in surprise, then put his hands on her trembling shoulders and gently guided her back to the chair, "Please, sit down," he sat on the desk in front of her and offered her his handkerchief, "Don't take his reaction as a rejection; it's the furthest thing from it. He doesn't believe he is worthy of anyone's love, yours least of all. The idea that you could return his affections has never entered his thick head," Klaus held her hands in his and smiled at her, "He would do anything for you."

"Except forgive himself," she put her hands back in her lap and stared at them.

"I'm sure that for you he could even do that, but it would be difficult to convince him that he deserves it; he can be rather stubborn."

Elsa sat silently for a moment then looked up at Klaus with eyes of fire, "So can I."

"What is the tower?" She asked as they navigated the labyrinthine halls of the massive palace.

"I'm not entirely sure what purpose it originally served, but now it is mostly used for sabbaticals. It is only accessible via one staircase, and the bottom of that staircase is to be guarded at all times. Hans is not permitted to leave except to attend meals; it took me nearly two hours to convince our parents to allow him to do that and then he must be escorted to and fro by guards. He's pouting so he refused to come down for breakfast or lunch today." The guards stood at attention as they approached the bottom of the stairs, "No one is permitted to visit him without the consent of a member of the royal family."

"So I won't be interrupted?" Elsa wore a stoic expression

"No," Klaus stepped up the guards, "Queen Elsa will see Prince Hans." The guards parted allowing her to ascend the steps. Klaus watched her until she disappeared around a turn in the spiral staircase. He knew Hans was about to face something far more frightening than any assassin.

"Is the prisoner permitted visitors?" he snidely asked the knock at the door. He heard the door open and close, but did not look away from the window.

"Under certain circumstances."

Hans quickly turned to see Elsa standing in the center of the room with her hands folded in front of her, her white-blonde braid draped over her shoulder, wearing a soft pink gown, the necklace he had given her, and an unreadable expression.

"Queen Elsa, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?" he pulled his gloves on and bowed deeply.

"How is your arm?" she betrayed no emotion, but Hans could see his breath. An army was at her command, she ruled an entire kingdom, once his life was in her hands, but she felt helpless under his stare. Somehow he was more intimidating unarmed, standing before her with his hands folded behind his back, smiling happily, than he had been grinning maniacally and swinging a sword.

"Sore. The stitches in my shoulder should be removed in a fortnight, and the ones in my bicep about the same time," he frowned and said sincerely, "I apologize for ruining your dress."

"I came to finish the conversation we were having last evening," her glacial eyes held his fast. She couldn't let her resolve slip; snow began to steadily fall.

"About my mother's never ending attempts to marry me off?" he forced a smile.

"No," she knew he didn't want to have this conversation, but she couldn't carry this around with her.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, "Queen Elsa, you can't care for me. I'm not worthy of your affections," the gaze he returned to hers was teaming with pain, contrition, and despair, "For Odin's sake, I left your sister to die, tried to kill you, and attempted to take your kingdom! I'm a…"

"Selfish coward!" She stamped her foot and clenched her fists at her sides; frost raced along the floor and up the walls. He stood stunned far more by her words than the ice. "You are so afraid of going beyond what's comfortable for you! So afraid to be vulnerable! That mirror took sixteen years of your life and now you would forfeit the rest!" she stepped forward to within inches of his face, eyes narrowed, mouth tight, and tears that turned to snow streaming down her cheeks, "How dare you tell me how I am to feel! Do you think I wanted to fall for you? I fought it! I fought it as hard as I fought to hide my powers! I tried to consider other men! Tried to find someone else, but none of them could compare to you! And now you would tell me to change my heart because you're too afraid to face your own demons!" His head turned and his cheek stung as her hand impacted it. The blizzard was so intense he couldn't open his eyes for the snow and wind, "Damn it, Hans, I didn't want to love you!" she sobbed into her hands.

He reached out, embraced her, and held her tightly to his chest. She grabbed his wool tailcoat and sobbed into his lapels. "I didn't want to love you, either." She felt his warm tear hit her hand and everything stood still. She pulled her face away, looked into his eyes, and slowly positioned her mouth just away from his. She shut her eyes and he closed the small gap between them; their lips met and snowflakes burst and fell like stardust.

They lightly kissed, each one longer than the last; neither entirely confident in what they were doing. They stopped to breath and blushed unable to look the other in the eye. Hans chuckled, shyly looking up at her, "I have no idea what to do now."

She raised her eyes to meet his and smiled, "We'll figure it out."