Always You

viii. Recipe for Disaster

Anna

Pregnant. A baby.  A real baby, growing inside me. Fighting the urge to throw up, I followed Elsa's advice and went to sleep. I had terrible dreams, dreams of Kristoff leaving me, of the baby having powers like Elsa's, of Hans returning. I shot up in bed.

The guilt I felt at being terrified that the baby would have ice powers was overwhelming. I couldn't believe how scary that seemed... Selfishly, I really hoped it didn't though. If it did, we could control them, but still. Vaguely, I wondered how my mom had the courage to have a second child after Elsa. I must be going crazy.

When I woke up, the weight on my shoulders seemed to have both eased and doubled at the same time. Somehow, I knew Kristoff was home. I felt it deep in my stomach. I slid out of my pajamas, pulling on Kristoff's favorite of my dresses, the green one I had worn the first time he kissed me. I brushed out my sleep tangled hair, pulling it into two braids. I pinched my cheeks to add color, the middle school trick working well, and headed for the parlor. Rapunzel stopped me in the hallway, her eyes wild with some emotion I couldn't name.

"Come on," She grabbed my arm, pulling me in the opposite direction, an urgency in her voice that was impossible to ignore.

"Hang on, I have to go see Kristoff first." I told her, continuing to walk towards the stairs.

"No, Anna, you can't go down there. Please come with me." She stated, pleading yet firm. I was gorwing irritated. All I wanted to do was go see my fiance for a minute, what was her problem? 

"Fine, I'll go with you. After I see my fiance." I replied, equally as firm. She huffed out an impatient sigh.

"No, you don't get it. You. Can't. Go. Down. There. He doesn't want you to." She said, color rising to her cheeks in anger and frustration at me, I assumed. I stomped my foot like a child.

"Well, why not? I'm going to go talk to him right now. If he thinks he can just keep me worried sick and then send someone to keep me away from him..." I grumbled, rushing down the stairs before Rapunzel could stop me or catch up to me. I stormed into the parlor with the intention of either kissing or slapping Kristoff until I saw why he hadn't wanted me down there.

He stood there, still wearing his ice harvesting gear, talking to Elsa. Next to him stood Hans, who looked just as regal and as enticing as he had the first time I met him. He gave me a smile as soon as he saw me.

"Well, there she is. Hello again, Anna." Hans cooed at me, his voice sending shivers down my spine. I couldn't move or speak, I was paralyzed. Too many emotions were running through my mind for me to focus on just one as Hans stood and walked over to me. He ran a gloved hand under my chin, tilting my face up to his. For a horrible moment, I thought he was actually going to kiss me. Then he dropped my face and scoffed. "Glad to see you got your happily ever after with He-Man over here." He stated, walking back over to the couch.

"Anna, what are you doing here?" Kristoff asked, the panic clear in his brown eyes. I suddenly felt like an idiot for not listening to Rapunzel. As two men moved to block the door behind me, I realized there was no turning back now. Elsa cleared her throat.

"So, Hans. What exactly do you want?" She asked, getting right down to business. I could feel my whole body starting to shake in fear, and I moved toward Kristoff.

"Ah, ah, ah." Hans warned, pressing a button that shocked Kristoff from the chains around his wrist that I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed until then. As Hans looked away from him, I noticed Kristoff talking to the air in front of him and I wondered what exactly Hans had done to him. "Well, now that you've asked. I want the same thing I wanted before. Your throne." I noticed Elsa briefly look over to the same spot Kristoff was, and I wondered what exactly I was missing here. "And I want her." He said, drawing closer to me as he spoke. His face got close to mine again, and I turned my head into my shoulder as he grabbed my upper arm. I couldn't move, he was too strong. I felt a small whimper leave my throat and he finally let go. "Discuss." He said as he left the room, locking it behind him.

Kristoff

I had tried to fight him. I mean, I was much bigger than that Hans guy, but I was weak from being trapped and he chained my hands, so there wasn't much room for fighting. Not to mention the two burly goons he had with him... What was he doing in the forests of Arendelle, anyway? I was frustrated by the way I'd let myself seem weak, and even more frustrated by the fact that Anna was too stubborn to just listen to Rapunzel.

Jack had been working on freezing off the cuffs from the moment he knew I could see him. Of course I believed in Jack Frost, it was in my job description to depend on him! He finally got the cuffs off after Hans had left the room. Anna rushed into my unbound arms, and I held her close as she sobbed. Watching her reaction to Hans almost killed me... I was supposed to protect her and I couldn't even tell her it was okay without hurting her worse by getting myself injured. 

"Oh, Anna, why didn't you go with Rapunzel?" I asked her miserably. I had really thought Rapunzel would be able to convince her to go with her. Guess I was wrong. She sniffed.

"I'm so sorry. I just wanted to see you so badly." She admitted, staring at her feet like a child. I tilted her chin up, kissing her gently. Her lips were soft against mine, her hand clammy where it found my wrist.

"It's okay, we'll get through this." I whispered to her, not sure if I was trying to convince her or myself.

"Well, what are we going to do? We can't give him the throne, or Anna. We've got to do something." Elsa stated, pulling at her curled hair. I'd never seen her with her hair don, and it actually made her look years younger. Like the youth she had lost in her room was shining through. I agreed with her; we needed a plan. 

"And we can't just leave because God knows what he'd do with the kingdom while we were gone." Anna said, piping up and sounding a little less fragile than she had moments before.

"I could try to go listen in on his plans." Jack offered. It was an idea I hadn't even thought about.

"That's a good idea, Jack." Elsa said, smiling at him. I knew there was more between them than they'd ever let on, but I ignored it for now.

"Who?" Anna asked, her big blue eyes wide with confusion. 

"Do you believe in Jack Frost?" I asked her. Her nose crinkled in confusion, but I pressed on. "You know, he brings around the winter. He's standing in the room with us." I watched her face change as she began to believe, Jack appearing before her eyes.

"Oh, my God!" She cried, equally excited and scared of the new arrival. 

"Yeah. That's Jack. Anyway, go eavesdrop and we can work on introductions later." I instructed the blonde boy, before turning back to Elsa.

"As for the three of us. We need to distract Hans from his plan somehow, tell him something that will throw him." I said, thinking that a wrench in his plans might discourage the man. Elsa nodded, looking at Anna with an urgency the sisters often shared.

"I'm pregnant." Anna blurted, her face pale. That was exactly the type of thing we needed!

"Yes, that's a great idea! If you're pregnant, he'll think twice about wanting you, at least. No guy wants a baby he didn't expect, am I right?" I said, laughing a little at the end. No one else joined in, so I continued talking. "Anyway, yeah. That will work great, good thinking." I kissed her forehead and she chuckled a little, moving from my embrace to walk over to Elsa.

"Where are Sven and Olaf?" Elsa asked, noticing that the two were absent. 

"I'm not sure, I mean they were with me but after the avalanche-" Anna cut me off.

"Avalanche?!" She cried, eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah, there was an avalanche. And I would have died because I got buried but then Hans came and rescued me and we wound up in this predicament. Anyway, they were there before the avalanche but I don't know where they wound up. Sven will get them back here, though, he always does." I rambled, hoping that it was true. Without Sven, I didn't know what I would do. And I had grown pretty close to little Olaf, too.

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A/N: Thanks so much for over a hundred reads, it means soo much! Please vote & comment if you want, and check out my other story, too! (: