#12daysofkristanna

Anna’s heart was racing, the cotton sheets cold to the touch as Kristoff laid her back onto his bed, his mouth hot on her throat. She was nervous, unsure if she was ready to take this step, and as soon as his hands reached around to find the clasp of her bra, held in word words boiled out from her mouth. “Wait, stop, please.”

He did, almost instantaneously, his hands leaving her skin and holding up at his side. “I’m sorry, are you okay? Did I do something?”

Smiling at his sweetness, she reached up to stroke her hands down his cheeks. “No, no. It’s not you, I promise. I’m just… Well…” She blushed when she saw the realization in his eyes, biting her lip and averting her gaze. “Yeah.”

Kristoff couldn’t help but ask. “You and Hans… you were engaged and you never…?”

“No…” Anna’s blush spread down to her chest, deepening when his eyes followed the flush. “I… um… Up until about five months ago… it was…” She gulped before she continued. “Not exactly legal…”

“Oh…” He nodded. “Right. Yeah.”

Shrugging, she moved her hands to rest on his bare shoulders. “I…”

Kristoff laid down, twisting so that he could pull her on top of him, and kissed her arm. “It’s okay, really. As long as you need.” Laughing, he tried his best to look away from her. “I’m not exactly experienced either.”

How comfortable she was with him surprised Anna, as things with Hans had always gotten a little bit argumentative when she said no. She wanted to wait until the wedding, since they had already waited for so long. But Kristoff was so sweet and understanding…

“I know you’re the one, Kristoff,” Anna started, giggling when he kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s just not the right time.”

Kristoff held a large velvet box in shaking hands as he approached Anna, who was oblivious as she counted out the register. He was nervous to do this, to give her something. This was a big deal for him, as he hadn’t ever let himself get this close to someone outside of his family… and…

He froze when she noticed him, smiling up with her bright blue eyes. “Hi there.”

“... H-Hi.” His face lit up a bright red and he turned his eyes down to the ground, reaching out to grab her hand. “Come with me.”

Anna’s eyes widened as she followed him into the back room, her cheeks flushing, wondering what exactly he was up to. But when he opened the door, she couldn’t help the smile that spread on her cheeks. He had lined the room with colored christmas lights, making the whole room glow with a soft, almost romantic light. “Wow…” she sighed, staring at him dreamy eyed.

There were three candles burning on the coffee table, and Kristoff led her to the couch, sitting her down beside him. “S-so…” He felt so small under her gaze, under her big and beautiful personality… but he knew that she didn’t think of him that way. That he was enough for her, or at least that she thought so.

He held out the box in one hand, rubbing at the back of his head with the other. “I… wanted to give you this. It’s…” Kristoff pushed it forward, coughing. “It’s just a little… something.”

Anna carefully took it from his hands, biting at her lip and turning her gaze down towards the blue velvet. She opened it slowly, revealing a mostly crystal snowflake ornament that was decorated and trimmed with a bright, sparkling silver. It was so beautiful that it had rendered her speechless.

“My ma got it from my pa when they got engaged... and she gave it to me when I was little… she told me…” He swallowed, his blush spreading down his neck. “She told me to save it for someone special. A-and… I know we’ve only known each other for a little while…”

Visibly gulping, Anna looked up to him with misty eyes, her whole face soaked with adoration.

“But… there’s…” Kristoff took the box from her and placed in on the table, before reaching forward to hold her hands in his. “This is something special. I just… I feel it.”

“... I don’t know what to say…” Anna leaned forwards to give him a quick kiss, smiling against his mouth when his hands rose up to her jaw to pull her back for another one. “I…”

“Anna,” he mumbled, lips still pressed together. “I…” He kissed her again. “I love you.”

She threw her arms around his neck as she tried to kiss him again, smiling too widely to actually press her lips against his.

The rest of the day had gone fairly normally, minus the shy smiles and red cheeks that happened whenever they saw one another. The only difference was that as soon as the shop closed, Anna was sprinting out of the store to find Kristoff in the field of trees, and jumping on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, grinning brightly as his hands clasped behind her back.

“Hi there,” he laughed, leaning up to place a chaste kiss on her lips. “How was your day?”

“Gooooood.” Anna bit at her lip, unwrapping herself from his torso and dropping back down to her feet. “Can you come with me?” Grabbing Kristoff’s hand, Anna started to walk back towards the shop.

With a look of confusion, he followed her. “Sure? What’s up?”

Anna led the blond back towards the shop, bringing him to the back room and sat him down on the couch. After disappearing for a moment, she came back with two steaming mugs of hot cocoa. “Well… I figured we should probably talk about what’s going on here? And what better way to do that… than over cocoa!”

Not being able to hide the stretch of his smile as she plopped back down on the couch, slightly bouncing him, Kristoff leaned forward to grab at the hot mug. “Well thank you, Red.” He sipped at it, hissing when the heat of it almost burned his tongue. He sighed as he put it down, and leaned back into the couch. “So… What is going on here?”

“Well…” Anna bit at her lip and scooted just a fraction closer, placing her hand on his thigh. “Well I really, really like you. And I’d be happy to… to be something… But you know I just broke up with Hans like a month ago and I just don’t want you to think that you’re a rebound because…” She moved her hand to his bicep and squeezed. “Because you’re absolutely not.”

Kristoff smiled and leaned forward to place a soft kiss against the corner of her mouth. “I wasn’t thinking that at all. I’m just…” He slid his head over just enough to kiss her firm on the lips. “Glad I have a chance.”

She lifted her hands to rest around his neck, fingers fiddling with the scruffy hair at his nape. “So… we’re… dating?”

“If you want to be.”

Nodding and pressing forward to embrace him, Anna pulled him as close as she could manage, smiling uncontrollably when his hands ran up and down her back, holding her even tighter. “I really, really want to be.”

“Kristooooooff!!!”

At the sound of his name, panicked and hollered from none other than Anna, Kristoff practically dropped what he was doing and sprinted up to the store. “Anna?!” He glanced around, worry coating his features, until he saw her familiar little boots kicking from inside the netting machine. “...Anna…”

“I’m stuck!” He saw her hands flailing out of the other opening, caught in the netting. “I’m already tangled in the net…”

He moved around to the front to find the net pressed against her face, and knelt down in front of her, trying (and failing) not to laugh. “How the hell did you manage this?”

“I was carrying those,” she paused to try and point towards the crates of random souvenirs, “and I… slipped on the mud over there…” Turning her head back to face him, her cheeks bright red, and bit at her lip. “And I… wound up in here…”

Kristoff pressed his lips together as an amused smile tugged at his cheeks. He was trying incredibly hard not to laugh at her, but she was just so damn adorable. “Did you try to come out feet first?”

“No… I didn’t try to get out of here already… why would I do that?”

Reaching forward to poke at her nose, he gave her a false frown. “Ouch, Red. Sarcasm does not look good on you.”

Anna was frustrated. “Please just pull me out!”

Grabbing her hands and tugging, it only took a few seconds for her to come all the way through, and Kristoff tossed her over his shoulder and pulled a knife out of his back pocket as he bent down to cut the netting at her feet. “Hold on just a second…”

She was bent at her hips over his back, and Anna couldn’t help but admire the breadth of his shoulders… the space between his neck and his arm was almost larger than the width of her hips. A dark blush spread over her cheeks and nose as he hoisted her back up before placing her down on the ground.

“All right now… Stand still. I have to cut you out.” Kristoff moved carefully, slowly parting the netting around her legs, her hips… He tried his best to stop his eyes from wandering over the curves of her thighs and hips, to stop them from admiring the softness of her stomach up to the swell of her breasts… His complexion was ruddy by the time he cut the final piece of plastic net off of her head. “There you go…”

Anna was embarrassed at herself for being so clumsy, but felt her skin burning even hotter when his hands smoothed over her hair and came to rest on her jaw, his eyes settled on her lips. “... Thank you…”

“You’re ridiculous,” he laughed, stroking his thumb over her cheeks.

Pouting, Anna scoffed. “I’m just a little clumsy.”

Kristoff couldn’t resist anymore. “You’re adorable.”

“I’m…”

He leaned a little closer.

Anna took a deep breath. “I’m…”

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

“... Okay.”

Kristoff was far beyond amused as he watched Anna running around before the shop opened. He had no idea what she was doing, but there was a pile of lights, tinsel, beads, and baubles on top of the outside sales counter. She didn’t even stop for long enough for him to ask what she was doing.

But he kind of got an idea when he saw her dragging a rather pitiful looking tree around the corner.

“What are you doing?”

Freezing and glancing up at him, Anna smiled. “I’m decorating this tree for outside the shop!” She ran back inside the store, and reemerged with a cheap little tree stand. It didn’t take her long to set it up, but she called him over. “Can you hold this straight for me?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her before stepping forward, and placing a hand on the trunk of the pathetic little tree. “Why not a nicer one? This one is… short… and thin… I’d think you’d want to set up a--”

“No!” Anna cut him off, standing up as soon as the tree was secured in the stand. “This tree,” she started, fluffing up the branches, “has been here for weeks, and no one has touched it… I feel bad for it!”

A smile tugged at Kristoff’s lips as he watched her run around the tree with the lights and the tinsel, and he quickly went to the shed to fetch her an extension cord. He handed it over with a huge grin, blushing as hugged him.

They worked together to get the ornaments hung on the tree, and within twenty minutes, Anna was bouncing up and down with joy as the lights came on, twinkling between color and white. “See? With a little bit of TLC… even just… even spare things that no one wants can be wonderful.”

It was absolutely amazing how much tenderness Anna put into everything she did - how much she cared about things that others might deem unworthy or… broken. She did everything she could to make even the smallest things and people feel wanted and loved.

Kristoff stared on as she admired the tree with bright eyes, and felt his heart full to bursting with…

Was it…?

Could it be…?

He accepted the tight, warm hug she offered him before she skipped back inside.

Yeah…

It was more than just admiration. More than just adoration.

More than just liking her.

Oaken and Kristoff had warned her that this was one of the busiest weekends, but Anna had severely underestimated just how crazy it would be. When the last customer finally left, she practically ran to the door to lock it before she leaned against it, sighing with relief. Kristoff came in through the back door, and Anna couldn’t help but perk up. She hadn’t had a chance to see him at all today, and she watched him with excited eyes. “Hi!”

Kristoff glanced up, smiled at her, and waved. “Hey there, Freckles.”

“All done for the day?” It was weird… After she had watched him talking to the children, Anna may have started acting a little bit differently around him. She was a little more awkward than normal, constantly over thinking what she wanted to say, how she wanted to say it… and usually wound up saying fairly generic small talk things.

It made her feel kind of stupid.

But his laugh was sweet enough to make her feel better.

Shaking his head, Kristoff shrugged. “Nah. Gotta take the truck back on the farm and cut some more trees tonight.”

Anna didn’t even realize that her mouth had opened until her sentence was finished. “Can I come with you?”

Slightly taken aback, but not opposed, he grinned. “Sure. I wouldn’t mind the company. It’ll be at least an hour though.”

---

Kristoff had gotten about twenty trees cut and loaded into the truck by the time he was done, and Anna had been sitting in the cab watching him work for the last hour. They couldn’t really talk over the sound of the chainsaw, so they just exchanged a few glances in between his working. Kristoff was efficient, and didn’t want to waste any time dawdling around the farm.

Anna had been bored, but the second he sat back in the cab next to her, she perked up exponentially. “Hi.”

“Hey.”

Kicking her feet impatiently she bit at her lip as the engine roared to life, glancing between him and the now lit space between the trees. “So… Good work?”

“Yeah,” he laughed, looking over at her for a moment. “Sorry I didn’t really talk much or anything. I just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.” He shrugged and turned his eyes back to the snow covered pathway, hoping she wasn’t too annoyed.

“That’s all right!” Anna stretched her hands out in front of her, tapping on the dashboard. “I’m just happy I got to see you. My day didn’t feel complete without my daily helping of Kristoff.”

Kristoff’s face grew as red as a tomato as she continued to hum nonchalantly, and he was positive that she had no idea what she just said.

Anna sighed and kicked a stone that was half buried under the snow. Oaken had decided that he wanted to interact with the customers again today, so Anna was left without much to do. She had already made a fresh batch of hot chocolate, cleaned and reorganized the back room, restocked the shelves, and swept the floor.

Now she was bored.

She was pacing around the field, seeing if customers needed help (though she was quickly brushed off by most of them who were managing just fine on their own), until she came across a rather loud group of three kids who were screaming and using sticks to swat at a couple of trees.

Before she could say anything, she heard Kristoff’s voice coming from the other side of the aisle.

“Hey there guys, what are you doing?”

Anna ducked back behind the trees, just barely peeking around the edge of the bushes of pine needles to watch how he handled things.

All of the kids jumped back from the tree, turning to face Kristoff with their full attention. The tallest girl step forward, clasping her hands behind her back. “Th… There were spiders all over that tree a-and… and they’re scary! I don’t like spiders…”

Laughing and kneeling down, Kristoff approached the kids with a bright smile on his face. “Oh, no, no, guys…” He pulled off his gloves, stuffed them into his pocket, and motioned for the kids to come closer. “Didn’t you know that spiders are here to make the trees sparkle?”

Anna felt her whole body grow heavy with adoration.

“Whaaaaat?” the kids replied, looking at the tree with skeptical eyes. “No way!”

Kristoff nodded and laughed again, pointing into the branches. “Look closely, right here… You see how the ice sticks to their webs?” He waited for the children to notice and nod, and decided to continue. “Well when the sunlight hits it just right… the trees shimmer.”

Blushing, Anna stepped forward just a little bit to hear him better.

“Legend has it…” he started, enjoying the children’s attention. “That there was a mother, with three children, who lived in the woods. Now that mother, see, she didn’t have very much.”

Everyone leaned in with eager ears.

Kristoff made a vague gesture with his hands. “All she wanted was for Christmas to be special for her children… but she couldn’t afford gifts, decorations, or anything that could bring the cheer that she desired for her children.” He paused, a strange somberness weaving into his features. “When Christmas eve came along… her home was still bare. There was no sense of Christmas cheer anywhere to be found. Her children go to sleep, not anywhere near full of spirit…”

When his eyes caught Anna’s, shyly peeking around the trees, he smiled up at her.

“And she cried.”

The children gasped, one of them dropping their hands from their face to mumble a little “what happened next?”

Kristoff pointed at the spiders that were crawling through the tree. “The spiders in the woods heard her crying, and they took pity on her. They hadn’t heard that kind of sadness in many years…” He wiggled his fingers a few times as his hand moved around the tree, pointing at all of the webbing. “They took to the trees, making intricate and complex designs out of web, and throughout the night the frost clung to the webs.”

One of the kids giggled and pointed at the tree. “Like that?”

Nodding and smiling, Kristoff dropped his hands back into his lap. “When Christmas morning came, and the sunlight hit the frost covered trees, they all sparkled like nothing the children had ever seen before. They all ran outside, amazed by how beautiful it was… And they then had a more amazing Christmas than they could have ever imagined. And it was all thanks to the spiders.”

Anna felt a mistiness on her lower lids as she watched the kids smile, thank him, and run off giggling, and took a second to compose herself as Kristoff began to walk towards her.

“Hey there, Red.”

“Hi…” She rubbed her hands together nervously, biting her lip as he smiled down at her. She was already incredibly fond of Kristoff, but watching how he interacted with children made her mouth run dry… and all she wanted to do was jump on him.

But that probably wouldn’t go over well.

Glancing down, Anna took a deep breath. “Where did you hear that story? It was… really nice,” she finished with a shrug, turning her gaze back up to his.

Kristoff stretched his arms up over his head. “It was one my ma told me often. Growing up, we never really had much. That was my favorite story to hear around Christmas.”

Kristoff had felt a little weird after Anna had run off and, figuring he could come down a little late since he had spent so much time cutting extra trees the last day, took his fair time in getting ready that morning. But the second he got down to the store, he was practically tackled by her, her hands gripping onto his arm and dragging him out into the field of cut trees.

“Come on come on come on, I need your help with something!”

He was stumbling over his own feet as she skidded to a halt in the snow, slipping and throwing her arms out to her sides in order to balance herself. He stared in disbelief when she started bouncing on her feet, alternating her hands pointing at the tree in front of them.

“Can you bring this up front please please please?”

Laughing as he moved to untie it from it’s post, Kristoff glanced back at the overly excited redhead. “What’s gotten into you? You’re like… never excited to deal with ringing up trees.”

Anna bit her lip and blushed, standing up on her toes. “I… So there’s this family, right… And…” She watched as he pulled the tree to stand and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Well… they were just going to buy this sad little fake tree from the store… and her kids were in pretty torn up jackets so…”

Kristoff hauled the tree up and over his shoulder, starting the trek back to the front of the field. “So… You’re buying them a tree?”

“Yep,” she nodded, brightening up significantly. “I can’t imagine Christmas without a big, beautiful tree. So… I hope it brings a little cheer to the kids…”

Steps slowing just enough to fall behind her, Kristoff couldn’t help but look at her with an almost new found fondness. He knew that she was kind and generous… but this was a ninety dollar tree. She hadn’t even tried to aim for a low to middle priced tree.

His cheeks flushed when she turned back to glance at him, a smile stretching her lips, and his brown eyes turned down to the ground as he caught up to her. It was strange to him that she was so willing to spend so much for a stranger, but even stranger that she was acting as if she hadn’t run off in a panicked hurry this morning.

By the time he looked up and started to lean the tree up against the wall by the window, Anna was being hugged by an obviously older woman, who was practically throwing her back and forth as she thanked her. She pointed back towards him, and he waved pathetically before picking the tree back up and walking over to the pair. “Which car?”

The woman pointed to an old, beaten up Jetta, and watched with misty eyes as Kristoff worked quickly, tying and securing the tree on top of the small vehicle. She turned back towards Anna, smiling more brightly than she ever thought she could.

“Thank you… Thank you so much, sweetheart.” Holding onto Anna’s hands, the woman sniffled to try and stop herself from crying. “This is going to mean so much to my kids… We always come here a couple times during the holiday season just so they can run around and smell the trees… To have one in their own home…”

Waving a hand in front of her face, Anna smiled. “It’s nothing! Really! It’s my pleasure. Christmas is my favorite…” she sighed, tilting her head with a warm smile. “I know how much it means for it to be special.”

Kristoff walked back towards the shop, continuing to observe how sweet Anna was with the woman, not noticing the smile that pulled at his cheeks as the woman and her kids got into their car and drove away.

Anna was…

She was so…

She was standing next to him, then, digging around in her wallet for the money.

“You’re amazing, Anna.”