Elsa opened the door to The Studio. She had already planned on having dinner there instead of the usual dining room so that it would be cosier, so that she and Anna could be physically closer together. She hadn't been expecting dinner to be laid out, the servants already dismissed, or candles on the table instead of lamps. Anna smiled at her, waved at the table. "I took some initiative. I thought it'd be nice to have something a little more intimate."

"It's lovely," said Elsa as she moved to her chair. Good. Some privacy. Though I had different plans for this privacy earlier today. As she sat, she could see, even in the dim glow, that Anna was hiding her nervousness. Elsa hoped her own wasn't as visible. I have to tell her what Ingrid said. But maybe after the meal. Let her enjoy her food.

As they dined, Elsa teased Anna about the broccoli. "You know, people do eat it all the time. Willingly. At least it must be non-toxic."

Anna took a floret of broccoli on her fork, held it up and contemplated it. "Okay. Because I love you."

"Because I believe in you."

It's food. People eat it. On purpose. Anna took the morsel in her mouth, chewed thoughtfully. "It's…not bad. The texture is…different." She ate a piece of stem. "You know, it's okay. I've had worse."

"There. You see?"

"This morning. At breakfast. That pickled fish stuff." Anna shuddered. "I don't get it. But this I can live with."

"I hope you don't lose your sweet tooth. I won't know who you are."

"Oh, that's never gonna happen. But you can go ahead and tell Gerda we can have broccoli on the menu for state banquets again." Anna took a sip of water.

"You're not having wine?" Elsa was only a little concerned.

"I had my portion for today. I don't want to…" Anna slid the unfilled wineglass away from herself. "Did Gerda ever talk to you about Mama and…?" She nodded at the glass. When she saw the melancholy in Elsa's eyes, Anna hated herself for bringing it up.

"She didn't have to. I knew. I was so sorry for doing that to Mama."

Anna hastily said, "Oh no, it wasn't you. It was me. I mean, mostly me."

"You?" Elsa's head jerked up as she looked at Anna.

"She felt bad about how I missed you and how she could never tell me why. She was afraid of hurting me. You were afraid of hurting me. Maybe if everyone wasn't so afraid of hurting me, I –" wouldn't have been so hurt "Maybe things would be different."

"Anna – "

"Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up. I only talked about it because I'm a little scared I might do the same. Turn out like her, I mean. Not that it would be a bad thing to turn out like her. She was a wonderful, beautiful, woman. I mean inside and out. Just…" Anna smiled weakly. "No more wine for a while, okay? And never worry about hurting me. I'm a big girl now." And perfectly capable of hurting myself. And others.

Elsa smiled weakly back, pretending to be reassured.

After dessert – and the citronfromage was a pleasure, even if Anna did keep wagging her eyebrows lasciviously and making Elsa giggle – Anna sat up and said, "So. What's the bad news?"

"What do you mean?"

Anna sighed. "You've been off all through dinner. You tried to hide it, but it kind of showed. I would've said something earlier, but I wanted you to have a chance to enjoy your dinner."

Elsa barked a laugh. "That's exactly what I was thinking about you. That I didn't want to spoil your dinner."

"Well, I'm never giving up dinners, so you might as well spit it out. Okay, bad choice of food-related words. Anyway. Go ahead."

Elsa put her hands together, touching her fingertips to her lips. She said not to worry about hurting her. I hope she's right. Elsa still didn't know how to say it, or where to find the courage.

Anna prompted her. "Is it about you and me? Or you and Ingrid?"

"It's about you and, um." Elsa took a deep breath and exhaled, making the candle flames waver. "You and Kristoff." Anna sat back, shock driving the expression from her face. "It may be that things weren't what they looked like. They might have been different. Very different."

"How different."

"It could be that Kristoff really didn't know Lissi was in the room. He might not have had anything to do with her."

"But I saw them there! Together. I mean, not together together, but they were both in my rooms. At the same time. I mean, if there wasn't something going on, why was she undressed and hiding in my closet?"

"Because she was trying on your dresses. You know how she likes fancy clothes."

"Well, sometimes they are kind of rumpled, and that would – NO! Don't distract me! Tell me this. Why was he so nervous?" Anna's voice rose, and the expressions returned to her face with a vengeance. "Why did he try to keep me talking? Why did he try to keep me out of the bedroom? If he wasn't doing anything with her, why did he try to hide her dress under the bed?"

As Anna's voice grew louder, Elsa's grew more gentle. "He wasn't trying to hide her dress. He was kneeling, Anna. He was – he might have been – getting ready to propose."

Anna stopped dead, her mouth still open. She sat motionless, trying to take in what Elsa had said. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it again. After a long silence, in a voice so quiet Elsa could barely hear her, she said, "But why didn't he say anything?"

"I don't know, Anna." Elsa ran around to the back of Anna's chair and hugged her from behind, her cheek pressed against Anna's hair. "I don't know. It's only an idea. But whatever is true, we'll get through it. Together."

"No. It makes sense," said Anna, her voice quiet and flat. "He wanted to talk because he wanted to…to marry me. He was nervous because he was…because he cared about…" She grabbed Elsa's arm tightly and hung onto it like it was a life preserver. Her voice began to waver. "It was right there, and I couldn't see it."

"It's a misunderstanding."

"I was mean to him."

"You made a mistake. You're only human."

"I yelled at him, Elsa."

"You were upset."

"I…" Suddenly she wrenched herself out of Elsa's hug, and turned to face her. Anna's face was pale. "I called him… I was horrible. I was bad."

"You made a mistake, and you were upset, and whatever really happened – "

"No, you don't understand!" Anna took a deep, shuddering breath. "I called him a 'Sami bastard', Elsa." She looked away, hiding her face in her shoulder. "I yelled at him, and knocked him down, and kicked him out, and that's bad, sure. But I called him a Sami bastard. That was… Oh god, Elsa, I'm a bad person. I'm a horrible person."

"You're not a bad person, Anna. You're a good person who had a bad day."

"I said that…thing…to him. On top of everything else. I was disgusting. No wonder he didn't say anything."

Elsa stood, holding her arms awkwardly. She wanted to hug Anna again, but couldn't bear having Anna shrug her away again. "You didn't mean it, Anna. Not you. You didn't mean it."

"I said it, Elsa. I wanted to say the most hurtful, disgusting thing I could, and it just flew off my tongue. Not a moment's hesitation. After that, how could he love me? How could you love me? How could anyone love me?"

Elsa knelt beside Anna's chair. "It was the pain talking. You thought he had done something terrible, and whatever was actually happening, the pain was real. But you're still the Anna he loved – loves. And you're the Anna that I love with all my heart." She put a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna? Anna? Look at me."

Anna looked at her, eyes reddening, starting to sniffle. "Yeah?"

"Forgiveness, Anna. Forgiveness."

"You think he could forgive me?"

"The important thing is, can you forgive yourself?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, Anna." Elsa hugged her, and even with Elsa kneeling and Anna still in her chair, it wasn't awkward at all.

"I love you so much, Elsa. Thank you."

"I love you, too."

After Anna had cried it out, she said, "Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna-pineapple?"

Anna smirked at the childhood nickname. "You're still kneeling. Does this mean you're going to propose?"

Elsa cupped Anna's cheek with her hand. "Would that be so bad?"

"You goofball." She pressed Elsa's hand to her cheek, then gave her palm a quick kiss. "You'd better get up. This can't be good for your knees." As Elsa stood up, so did she. "I, um, have to talk to Kristoff about this."

"You don't have to. I could go."

"Nope. It has to be me. If the thing that you said happened really happened, then I owe him a big apology. And I need to find out for sure. But it does kind of make sense. Anyway, it's got to be me."

Elsa smiled sadly. "I understand."

"And I have to find out if he'd take me back. I mean, I'm sorry, you've been – that is, you were there for me when I asked you to love me, and you've been so romantic, and I've basically been jerking you around, and jerking Ingrid around, and being a jerk to Kristoff, and just being a jerk, and you still haven't answered my question."

Elsa blinked. "What question?"

"How could you love me?"

Elsa took Anna's hands in hers. "Oh, Anna, how could I not? Maybe you did some things wrong, but that's because you think with your heart, not your head. And that's what makes you precious to me. I was so cruel to you, shutting you out for years, and if you were the least bit sensible you would've hated me for it. But you loved me. You loved me so much it saved me, and yourself, and Arendelle. I wish I could love like you do, even when you had so many reasons not to."

"Silly girl," said Anna with a smirk. "You don't love for reasons. Love is the reason. For everything else."

Elsa pulled her closer. "And that's how I can love you. Because you're my reason." She kissed her tenderly.

Anna melted into the kiss, then pushed herself away. "I'm sorry, Elsa. I still have to talk to Kristoff."

Elsa nodded. "I see." Anna fidgeted, and Elsa's face fell. "Oh. You mean now."

"I don't think I'll be able to do anything until I straighten this out." Anna grinned uncomfortably. "Sorry. But hey, there's no blizzard this time. And no wolves, probably."

Elsa wanted to say, Do you have to? Do you really want to? Can't you stay here? With me? At least for one more night? She straightened up. "Dress warmly, it gets cold at night. And bring an extra lantern. And food, and a blanket, just in case."

"Elsa, I'll be fine. I've led troops into battle, I've made love with my sister, I've even eaten broccoli. I can do anything."

Elsa chuckled. "Of course you can. And…" you can do this, Elsa "…good luck. With Kristoff."

"Thanks." Anna kissed her on the cheek. "Really. Thank you." And she left.