for the first time in forever.

"I'm not saying it's not wrong," Hans claimed defensively, holding up his hands in feigned innocence. Of course, the further away his sister-in-law was from them, the better, but he wasn't quite ready to show that level of vulgarity to his wife just yet. Someday, she'd learn his true feelings about Elsa, and Anna herself, but that could wait: the act of being the perfect husband could keep going for a while longer. "But, Anna, you were just shot. The last thing I want is for any more danger to come your way. I know you don't think Elsa is dangerous, and I know she wouldn't hurt you on purpose, but neither you nor I know what would happen if she lost control of her powers, by accident. And, we don't know what other people would do if they found out we were hiding a fugitive." Legally, he wasn't even sure if that was the correct term for her situation, but it was certainly the kind of buzz word he needed to get Anna to understand the gravity of the situation at hand. "I know, it's awful. But, I think this is for the best, for now. I really do. Please, trust me," he begged sincerely, holding out his hand in metaphor for his wife taking his side.

It still all seemed so silly and ridiculous, anyone ever thinking that her sister was capable of purposefully hurting others. Even if an accident were to occur, Anna felt confident that the eldest Arendelle girl could handle it and herself just fine. There was no reason to run and hide - doing so was only giving those hunters the satisfaction that they want, making them think they won this round of whatever battle or game was being played. But even with that belief, she knew she couldn’t argue with Hans’s logic. Or at least, not the majority of it - one word does stick out to her though and has her quick to shake her head in disagreement. “Elsa’s not a fugitive! She hasn’t done anything wrong! And I’m not going to just kick my sister out of her home just because she’s a bit different than us. That’s a horrible thing for you to ask me to do,” she argues, feeling deflated and for the first time seeing that maybe she and her husband weren’t as completely on the same page. While she wants to agree with him, to trust him like he’s asking, the thought of rejecting Elsa from her life was just too hard to even imagine. “I won’t go after her - but if she comes back, we’re welcoming her with open arms. And we’ll do whatever it takes to help her and keep her safe.” That was the best she could offer, a compromise that she hoped he would be willing to accept.

"Of course," was the easy answer he could give, if not just to her thanks, but to all of this. He was supposed to be the perfect picture of worried and doting, and he would be just that, for now. He hadn't decided just how long Anna would have with that particular version of himself, but he surely couldn't stand to act like this forever. Hans took a seat in the chair beside her, a smile coming to his lips as he had realized he'd rendered both of the Arendelle sisters completely powerless: with how little anyone knew about Elsa's current whereabouts, he could essentially fabricate this story however he chose. With a sad shake of his head, Hans hoped he could be as convincingly sad in his words as he looked. "Anna, I don't know when she'll be back, or if it's even safe for her to contact us," he pointed out. All of this had to seem like it was under the guise of both of the sisters' safety, even if Hans would love if Elsa had just gotten herself killed out in the wild without him having to do it himself. "If she calls us, there'll be a trail of where the call is coming from. And, if anyone sees her come near here, we'll all be at risk." He didn't want to bring up the threat of the hunters just yet, but it was essentially the threat he hoped that would remain ever-present over the eldest sister's head. "So, no, I haven't heard from her. I'm sorry, but I think she's doing the right thing, laying low for now, for all of our sakes."

As her husband took a seat in the chair next to her spot on the couch, Anna couldn’t help the spark of hope that ran through her that maybe he had indeed heard from her sister. That maybe Elsa wasn’t as far gone as she had implied she would be - that she was actually just upstairs, waiting for her to be home so they could spend time together. The big secret was out in the open now, so everything should be fine now. Or at least, she hoped that her sister’s magic was the reason she’d always shut everyone out and there wasn’t anything else being kept from her. Shouldn’t this be a good thing? Now Elsa didn’t have to hide her true self anymore from her or from Hans - they could all be together, the family that the redhead has always dreamed of having. But then a small frown grows on Hans’s face and when he shakes his head, she already knows none of that was going to be the case. “That’s… that’s a bit intense, don’t you think? Surely no one cares that much that she can shoot a bit of ice out of her hands…” Even as she said, Anna knew it was naive of her to think that way. Especially after the attack that had just happened - the fact that she was currently practically bedridden from a bullet in the leg should have been enough to make it obvious just how serious this situation was. But she couldn’t help but hope that maybe they were all just overreacting - that the hunters will forget all about their hatred for magical beings and her sister could come back home safe in no time. “It’s not the right thing. None of this is right. She should be here, with us, in her home. She shouldn’t have to hide or run away just because she’s a little bit different.”

who: hans & @skatingarendelle where: the arendelles' house

With the hospital visit officially over, the first thing Anna had done was try to contact her cousin. Reaching out to Rapunzel had seemed like too big of a risk when she had been bedridden, surrounded by so many officials - medical and political. Too many questions would have been asked if she had miraculously healed right under their noses, not to even think about all of the cameras that hung in every corner. It had just been too dangerous. But now, as she was being brought home, the situation was far easier to control. The only person that would be around was Hans, and she knew that she could trust him with absolutely anything, if Rapunzel was also okay with that. And if not, well, for the sake of her ice skating career… Anna would be willing to lie to him. Just this one time. At least until everything blew over or the blonde felt comfortable enough telling him about her magic herself.

⋄ ⋄ 🧊 ⋄ ⋄

As he teasingly agrees it was the rocks that had informed him of her injury, Anna can’t help the release of another giggle and she takes firm hold of his hand as well once he reaches for hers first. “I’m okay,” she promises, though she doesn’t feel completely confident in that statement. She was alive and wasn’t at risk of that changing any time soon, which she knew to be extremely grateful for, but the discomfort in her leg was a constant reminder that she was far from being completely alright. If it was as bad as she’d overheard some of the nurses mumbling about it, what would happen to her career? How was she going to skate if her leg didn’t heal completely and perfectly? Would this be the end of what she loved most in the world? But before she has a chance to even think about voicing any of those questions and doubts, Kristoff was jumping up and heading out with the promise of hot chocolate. Which was probably a good thing, considering how hard Anna was trying to keep up the appearance of being okay. The few minutes he was gone were good for her, a chance for her to let out a few tears, talk herself down from getting any more upset, and put her expected smile back in place. “Ohh, Kristoff, you’re the best,” she gushes as she reaches out with wiggling fingers to make the universal sign of grabby hands. “Chocolate is exactly what I need right now.”

-timeskip, in the hospital-

It was disorientating, being stirred from her slumber. Simultaneous it felt like she had been sleeping for a hundred years, while also like she had just dozed off moments ago. She wasn’t supposed to be awake, that much Anna could immediately tell from the heaviness of her eyelids and the way the bright hospital light practically pierced her eyes when she did try to open them. It took a few rounds of blinking and a bit of grumblings before she finally managed to gain enough consciousness to figure out what was going on. Elsa. She was here and the mere sight of her sister was enough to encourage the redhead to push through the fog and focus on her surroundings.

- timeskip -

With her husband out in the waiting room, taking some kind of important phone call, and her sister nowhere to be seen after the display of magic she’d put on when Anna had been shot - that left the redhead alone, laying in a hospital bed with pain meds coursing through her body and leaving her somewhat loopy in a way she’d never felt before. There was still a dull thumping in her leg but it was easy to ignore as she stared at the ceiling and mentally practiced one of her newer routines - the reality that she wouldn’t be on the ice any time soon thanks to her wound not yet having fully sunk in. It’s only when the door opens and a familiar face enters the room that Anna’s attention is pulled away from the roof and a bright smile grows on her face, one that shows the obvious drugged state she was in. “Kristoff!” she exclaims in greeting, trying to sit up a bit more but stopping once she flinches at the sharp stab in her leg at the movement. “You came! How did you know I was here? Did the rocks tell you?” It’s a ridiculous thought, one that has her giggling as soon as she asks it. Though she stops when she realizes he’s offered to find her hot cocoa and in that moment absolutely nothing sounded better. “Yes! Yes, I want hot cocoa! Oh, Kristoff, you always know how to take such good care of me.” It doesn’t cross her mind that her own husband hadn’t thought to find one of her favorite comfort drinks for her, yet it was one of the first things her best friend had offered when he just entered the room.

"This is just me talking, but if you worry for your sister you should talk to her. Do it for those of us who can't." All of Mary's guidance depending on Winnie, possibly a bit too much but she wouldn't have felt so lost in her first couple of years if she was around her sister. Sure, she has Sarah now but that was kind of like asking the blind to lead the blind. "If you say so," her sing song-y sarcasm said everything for her, that she didn't believe in soulmates. And that she was doubting a man's devotion to be so strong that he wouldn't care about appearances. If there was anything she'd learned from her sisters, mainly Sarah, it was that appearances did a lot of heavy lifting, that and a nice bewitching spell could do the trick to have a man never leave your side.

The advice the other woman offered was sweet and made sense on paper, but the thought of simply going and talking to Elsa was something she knew to be much harder in real life than it ever sounded. “It’s… a bit complicated,” she confesses, frowning down at the table at the thought of what another attempt at talking to her sister might be like. While family affairs should be kept within the family, and Anna knew that, she couldn’t help but feel the need to unburden herself right now. To finally actually tell someone, other than just Hans, about the conflict that had arisen between the Arendelle sisters. “She hates my husband. She refused to give me her blessing for the marriage and then didn’t even bother to show up for the wedding. We had a huge fight about that and… we haven’t spoken since. I don’t know if she even wants to hear from me anymore… Or if she ever did in the first place…” It was a piece of self-doubt that had been haunting the redhead since the day she had stormed into Elsa’s office and everything imploded between them.

Mary had gotten a sense how to navigate work by now. There were different kinds of clients that would come in, some were skeptics, determined to find faults in her readings and others were more inclined to believe. She had gotten the feeling the customer she was dealing with was of the latter category so this meant she didn't have to try so hard. She probably could've said anything and would've been fine with taking the naive girl's money. But, perhaps it was the fact that she shared the same hair color as the sister Mary missed that left her inclined to do an actual reading.

The question wasn’t one she had been expecting, though it was one she could easily answer. “My sister more than my husband. I worry about Elsa a lot, actually,” she admitted, her wide smile faltering and slowly turning into more of a soft frown as Mary continued on with the reading. She hadn’t ever really thought much of her appearance, certainly never bothered to worry about frown lines or wrinkles, but even as the older woman suggested it Anna couldn’t quite take it seriously. “Oh Hans would love me no matter what. We’re soulmates.” Or at least that was what she believed to be true. In actuality they were nothing even close and he would likely very much be bothered by any early onset wrinkles she may develop.

Though her expression was one of confusion at the idea initially, Hans was confident he could business jargon his way into getting her to agree with him, worst case scenario. After some thought, though, it seemed the redhead agreed with his idea, now that he was part of the family, after all. He would be doing everyone a favor, from his view: Anna could continue her ice skating, and Elsa could finally subject herself to the patriarchal constitution of marriage. Except, to Anna, it was for love, and that was the key to keeping his wife under his guise: framing.

If it weren’t for the complete and utter blind trust that she had in her husband, maybe Anna would have been able to see how easily she was being manipulated - but as it was, everything that Hans was saying made completely sense in her head. She wasn’t a business woman, she’d never had any interest in getting involved in her family’s company, but that was exactly the type of thing he was good at. And it was true that Elsa had been handling everything on her own for so long, it wasn’t fair. And it was clearly cutting into the eldest Arendelle’s ability to live her life to its fullest potential, something she had never noticed before until Hans pointed it out now.

⋄ ⋄ 🧊 ⋄ ⋄

It wasn’t surprising that Kristoff was a bit shocked at the news, given that Anna hadn’t told anyone else up until this very moment, but he recovers in a way that satisfies the redhead. No lecture about how this should have been a sign that Hans wasn’t the one for her, no long winded speech about why she deserved better than a marriage that starts off with another woman involved so tightly in their lives - which is exactly what she had half expected to hear. But it seemed like he was trying to genuinely be supportive of her life and all of her decisions - and that was all she really ever wanted, from both him and his sister. “It’s amazing,” she answers instantly, smiling wide at just the thought of the fact that she was indeed a whole-ass married woman. “Or well, it’s actually kind of exactly the same really. Except now Hans is with me a lot more often, obviously.” Except when he wasn’t, like right now, but Anna wasn’t going to think about that. She had given him the okay to go, understood that he needed to be with his newborn daughter, it would be wrong to back out on that acceptance now. “I hope so. It’s kind of crazy, thinking about it all. Like just a few months ago I was so alone and now… now I have this whole family. And you’re still here. It’s like, how did I get so lucky?”

⋄ ⋄ 🧊 ⋄ ⋄

A small giggle escapes her at the thought of Branch being the one to drag him out of his solitude. It made sense that Kristoff would be willing to help his friend, but Anna simply couldn’t understand why the other man needed to be here in the first place considering Poppy was at home with little Ivy. “I did know that, in fact. Because she’s my step-daughter. That’s why Hans left the wedding, Poppy went into labor and he’s visiting them right now actually, as well,” she explains, realizing that she hadn’t had the chance to tell either Kristoff or Elsa any of this information yet. It was something that should probably upset her more than it did, but the redhead had made peace with it already. In truth, she was actually quite excited about it. While she didn’t really know what it was that a step-mother was supposed to do, she had decided either way that she was going to be the best on this island had ever seen. “He was here earlier, though. But Ivy’s only a few days old and Poppy was all alone, so he left early to help her out some. Which means I’m all yours for the rest of the night!” Of course there was a chance that Kristoff wouldn’t want to spend the rest of the evening with her, but Anna couldn’t think on that until the moment came where he left her too.

The small nod of acceptance was all Hans needed to know that the more difficult part of this conversation had been taken care of, that Anna believed his words, and now, his hands could be clean of the secret he'd been keeping from her for the past few months. It had admittedly been a weight that was becoming increasingly harder to bear, mostly out of the fear that she was going to tell him to fuck off. But, as he'd suspected, the loneliness the redhead was experiencing (as was her sister, apparently) was the perfect catalyst for a lifetime of easy forgiveness. As long as the Arendelle sisters were firmly on either side of him, Hans would be golden.

The frown that had grown on Anna’s face at the mention of her sister only deepened as he now suggested somehow taking some of the load off of her shoulders - not because she was opposed to the idea, but simply because the redhead didn’t quite understand what he meant. “You mean… working at the company?” she asks, trying to get some clarification as she thought over this new possibility. It made sense, she had to admit. Hans knew business far better than she did, and they were married partners now… so it wouldn’t be too big of a deal for him to potentially take some of her places as a shareholder and part of the enterprise.

"Oh, Anna, no," he blurted, his immediate reaction one of reassurance as he took her hands to show just how sincere he was. Hans shook his head, perhaps overdoing the whole denial bit, but he was pretty sure that there was never a such thing as too much for her. "No, I don't. We're going to have a real family someday, even if it looks a little different because of this now. That's what you deserve, Anna." He wanted to put the words in her mouth, to make her believe that this was what she wanted, too, even before she had a chance to decide for herself. Hans was supposed to be the person who knew her best, after all--he was her husband. "Just think of it as practice for when we have children, right? You're going to be an incredible step-mother."

For a moment she keeps her eyes glued to her hands, now being held by Hans’s as she listened to him promise that he still wanted her - that they were going to be a family, and then have children of their own one day. Having all of that, a family of her own, one that truly loved and cared for her - that was all Anna has ever wanted. All of her life, the biggest dream she’s ever had was to have someone like Hans in her life. And though it had felt for the longest time like it wouldn’t ever come true, here she was, sitting with her husband and talking about their future together, what their family was going to look like. How could she not believe him? Looking back up at him, she allows herself a small smile as she nods her head in acceptance.

- timeskip -

Despite not even knowing the couple that the entire party was centered around, Anna had been excited for the event tonight - if only because it was the first time she was officially stepping out as Hans’s wife. Throughout the whole night everyone was congratulating the two as they made their way around the party and it was almost as exciting as the wedding itself had been - maybe even more so, considering she wasn’t weighed down tonight by the knowledge that her sister no longer cared enough to even show up for her. Though, apparently the eldest Arendelle did hold the Northwests or Finnegans in higher regard than she did her own sister, since she actually thought this event worthy of her presence, unlike Anna’s own wedding. It was enough to almost ruin the entire night, but she refused to let her sister make the worst of yet another night. So out of pure stubbornness she stayed - even when Hans said he needed to leave, to go check on Poppy and their newborn daughter, she stayed. Though that decision felt like something stronger than just her stubborn nature, a feeling compelling her to remain where she was rather than follow her husband out the door. It was that same feeling that had her feet moving outside, guided by something she couldn’t even begin to explain other than an overwhelming sensation that she needed to be there right now. And once she found her best friend standing in the night air, everything suddenly seemed perfect. A giggle escapes her lips at his fumbling, but Anna decides not to call him out on it, instead simply going to stand by his side. It only takes a moment before she’s leaning into him, pressing her arm against his as her head drops down to his shoulder. It’s an act of affection that they’ve never shared before but still feels completely natural, at least to the redhead. “Thank you. You look quite handsome yourself. I’m surprised you’re here, actually. Who managed to drag you out of the forest this time?”