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annaofthenorthernlights · 3 years ago

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You... here?

Kristanna one-shot (modern Hospital AU)

Rated G

Word count: 1662

Find the fic on AO3

Note: This one-shot is a spontaneous result of looming along at home, confined in qurantine - and I dedicated this to @loonysama and @hiptoff - two amazing ladies who are such a bliss to me, to have around in those gloomy time we live in... May some surprsing coincidences appear for the good to all of us in these advent days!

With love and a warm hug to anyone reading this fic (though there will be no Olaf in this one - sorry...) - it´s just sweet fluff.... ❤️

Summary: Kristoff had not expected to find his former crush at the hospital bedside… And him being dependent on her support like that, didn´t help making him appear the strong bear he always wanted to be for Anna…

He hadn´t seen the truck pressing into the lane when he had gotten the green lights. And then the ambulance rushed to their side, he was taken to the ER without clear memory to all of it. His head hurt too bad, and he was feeling sick, otherwise there seemed no damage. The last thing he heard or realised was that they wanted to do some x-ray…

Kristoff woke to some woman´s voice speaking to him asking how he felt, and when he opened his eyes, there was this old nurse, clearly old schooled the way she scanned him with furrowed eyes and checking on his blood pressure.

“You are lucky, Mr. Bjorgman, a severe concussion but nothing more, though you must rest and lay still. In case you need the bathroom, please ring for help! You´re not allowed to get up on your own, understood?!”

"Yes, ma'am." He swallowed his fear as she looked somewhat threatening to him, this ... Yelena, according to her name tag on her shirt. But then, even before she had left his bed, Kristoff had sunk back into a vague slumber.

And when he woke later, with no reference to time or place he was in, his bladder sent an emergency call up to his brain. So, this still worked, at least…. Oh, that hurt and wasn´t there something… Never mind. He tried to get up, but his head roared on command of this moving efforts and then the room swayed, when Kristoff tried to sit up, and he fell back into his pillows. Great, what now? Oh, that scary one… hadn´t she said something about ringing the bell?

Kristoff reached for the bell button that was attached to the bedside. And when Yelena came into the room he flinched inwardly. Was she the only one working on that floor? Yelena didn´t fuss and helped the young man out of bed, holding the infusion stand with one hand and steadying the tall patient with the other. At least, she seemed really experienced in handling big guys like him and that for the moment appeared a great benefit to Kristoff.

The handy nurse had placed him safely on the toilet, the hospital nightgown neatly draped before him and made sure he sat safe, just leave him for privacy, commanding once more that he would not get up by himself.

“No.” He promised wearily, nearly toppling over when the dominant nurse pushed his torso backward to lean against the wall.

“Okay, you stay there and don´t move. I will be back in a jiffy.”

“Yes, ma´am.” He answered in a slur and nearly dozed off again, while his bladder released by its own. That felt good, at least…

-----

“Oh, good that you´re here, could you please go and check on the patient in room no 202? I should be on my way to room no 210!”

“Sure!” The younger colleague had just started her shift and nodded comprehendingly.

There was a knock on the bathroom door, somewhere far away, in a faint distance… And then a younger nurse was entering the room, like in a blur but clearly nicer and her features seemed so much softer than Yelena´s…. Wait, that voice….?

“Sir? Are you alright? Sir, can you hear me?”

Kristoff tried to open his eyes more efficiently and lifted his head from the wall to get a straighter look at the person with the friendly, yet somehow so familiar voice… Goodness! It was her!

“Kristoff?!”

“Anna?!”

“Goodness, it´s you… here?”

“You… here, too…?”

“Well, I´m working here. I just started my shift and have not yet got an overview of new entries from today. What happened?”

Kristoff stared at her, and his head started spinning. Worse! He realised where he sat on and that he hadn't even managed to clean himself up… His eyes grew wide until they hurt, and he squeezed them shut in diffusion and squirmed on the pain.

“Oh, dear, we better get you back to bed. You shouldn´t be up so long for now.” Anna sounded concerned and started to arrange his getting up by pushing the infusion stand a bit aside to get a better hold of him.

Wow! She had always been strong but shed seemingly lifted him from this seat like he weighted practically nothing. Must be a technique-thing. After all, he hardly managed to get any body strength right now. This was too embarrassing, what will she think of him appearing like a senseless dummy hanging around like that.

“You could have asked for the urine bottle, you know?”

“Your colleague said I should call for assistance.” He pressed out.

“That´s right, because having the blood circulation running is important, too. Yelena is tough with those things. Next time, I rather check on your state before heaving you out of bed. My strength is limited, too, you know.”

She chuckled and rubbed his arm up and down to emphasise her well-meaning.

And one arm was wrapped firmly around his waist to steady him. That felt so nice…

But of course, she was only doing her job, it was her duty, nothing more… Oh nooo... that awful nightgown... how ridiculous he must look.... but it was her job...

----

She had been his crush ever since high school, but then for college their paths parted and Kristoff hadn´t dared to ask after Anna´s whereabouts, because he had been simply to shy and self-conscious of her maybe rejecting him…

---

He was supposed to stay for another night to get his cerebral state monitored, and Anna had promised to come back to check on him. With a lopsided grin Kristoff drifted back into a sweet dream´s sleep, wondering what it would be like when she came around to measure his blood pressure, or feel his pulse… Maybe his brain was not working well and they´d order him to stay for another few nights…

Early in the morning Kristoff felt somebody touching him on the arm, applying the measure cuff upon his upper arm. He was still drowsy from sleep, his head roaring less severe than last night, but the imagination of Anna tending to his wellbeing propelled his inner being all flustering.

Tell her, tell her now, before you won´t get a hold of that wonderful girl anymore. But what if she was engaged, or maybe even married? What if she will laugh…? But you got this chance, this moment of closeness, don´t miss the opportunity.

And with eyes still closed, feeling sort of safe in this dark realm - like when playing hide and seek by crouching behind a big tree, Kristoff blurred out his confession.

“Anna, you´re the most incredible girl I´ve ever met – there was never one to be compared to you – since we have parted I had a crush on you… would you give me the chance to take you out on a date?”

“Uhm, no!” The hoarse voice caught the young man out of his dreamy state and Kristoff glared at the woman glaring down at him. He transferred into a shock stare, while Yelena looked at him with a motionless face. And then she sighed, shaking her head.

“You get two minutes to settle this, but she´s on duty and normally I don´t tolerate such behaviour.”

Yelena stepped aside and made room for Anna who had been tending to the patient in the other bed next to Kristoff. The older man grinned broadly and signalled Kristoff a thumb up with a mischievous wink.

Anna stepped closer with a fondly smile and continued with the tests, where Yelena had left for her taking over. The elder nurse had turned and left the room with mumbling her lack of understanding for such fuss.

“Anna, I´m sorry. Seems like I trap from one embarrassment to another…”

“Why would you say that? Confessing loving words is no shame to me!”

“Well, first, we haven´t seen each other for a few years and then first thing you find me sitting on a toilet half naked and in a slur. And then…”

“Oh, don´t worry about that. This is my profession, you know.”

“Finding helpless guys on the loo?”

She giggled.

“You certainly need not be concerned about that,” and bending a bit closer, Anna continued in a low whisper, “I´ve seen others, and believe me, you have absolutely no reason to feel ashamed.” She straightened and bit her lips with her eyes blinking at him.

Kristoff goofily beamed at her, while his cheeks burned blushing up to his ears.

“I think only knowing you´re close makes me feel much better again.”

“Really?” She beamed back at him, lowering her face only to look at him through her eyelashes. “Well, whenever you feel up to, I´d like to join you on a date.”

“You do?” Kristoff tried to sit up, but Anna gently pushed him back down into his cushion. The touch gave him the thrills, and out of instinct, he reached for her hand and pressed it to his chest.

Anna smiled lovingly and bent down a bit lower to be closer to his face, her blue eyes so close that the room seemed to transfer into heavenly sphere, and her freckles were the cutest spots he could gaze on the whole day.

“Yes, I´d like that. I was so happy to see you again, you have no idea… and then I thought it might be nice to meet in a lesser… dutiful atmosphere?”

“I can leave the hospital tomorrow.”

“That´s my day off.”

“So…”

“I could give you a lift home.”

And she brushed a soft kiss to his forehead with a smile.

Anna had left the room and Kristoff drifted back to slumber peacefully, with the biggest smile on his face he could not get rid of for a long time. From afar he heard his neighbour chuckle and complimenting him to such a fabulous catch.

An accident had turned into the best coincidence of his life….

#Fanfic #Kristanna #Frozen modern AU #Hospital AU #Anna nurse #Kristoff patient #meeting after a long time

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dancingsunflowers-ocs · 3 years ago

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𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮’𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗰𝘀 ✷ 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁

𝗕𝗕𝗖 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻

Name: Caelia Hartley (Adopted from @eddys-plot-shop)

Fic: The Whispering Grove

Ship: Merlin

Faceclaim: Danielle Galligan

𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻

Name: Delia Hathaway

Fic: Gone with the Wallflower

Love Interest: Colin Bridgerton

Faceclaim: Mia McKenna-Bruce

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘆’𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀

Name: Miranda Madrigal

Parents: Mirabel Madrigal

Fic: Butterflies

Love Interest: Evie Grimhilde

Faceclaim: Rachel Zegler

Name: Millie Poppins

Parents: Mary Poppins & Bert

Fic: Practically Perfect

Love Interest: Jane Godmother

Faceclaim: Emily Carey

Name: Kimberley Bjorgman

Parents: King Kristoff & Queen Anna of Arendelle

Fic: Love Is an Open Door

Love Interest: Mal Bertha

Faceclaim: Sophie Turner

Name: Dorothea Crowley

Parents: Diaval

Fic: Crow on the Cradle

Love Interest: Lonnie Shang

Faceclaim: Kathryn Prescott

Name: Roland Hood

Parents: Robin Hood & Maid Marian

Fic: Prince of Thieves

Love Interest: Jay

Faceclaim: George MacKay

Name: Willow Darling

Parents: Wendy Darling

Fic: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Love Interest: Harry Hook

Faceclaim: Georgie Henley

Name: Eleanor Amora

Parents: The Enchantress

Fic: Evermore

Love Interest: Ben Beast

Faceclaim: Maude Apatow

𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼

Name: Estelle Williams

Fic: Across The Universe

Love Interest: Clara Oswald

Faceclaim: Maya Hawke

𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦

Name: Paige Green (Adopted from @eddys-plot-shop)

Fic: Chasing Laughs

Love Interest: Chandler Bing

Faceclaim: Elizabeth Lail

𝗚𝗹𝗲𝗲

Name: Claudia Green

Fic: Songbird

Love Interest: Finn Hudson

Faceclaim: Katie Douglas

Name: Francesca Bellamy

Fic: Lovefool

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Faceclaim: Mimi Keene

Name: Ariel Berry

Fic: Help! I’m in Love with a Cheerleader

Love Interest: Quinn Fabray x Santana Lopez

Faceclaim: Kaia Jordan Gerber

Name: Pedro Fernandez

Fic: Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy

Love Interest: Kurt Hummel

Faceclaim: Taylor Zakhar Perez

𝗚𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲

Name: Larissa Morozova

Fic: The Darkest Sea

Love Interest: Nikolai Lantsov

Faceclaim: Claudia Jessie

𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹

Name: Victoria Brooks

Codename: Oracle

Fic: Gold Rush

Love Interest: Steve Rogers

Faceclaim: Olivia Cooke

Name: Clio

Fic: Part of Your World

Love Interest: Peter Parker

Faceclaim: Halle Bailey

𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗨𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝗔 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲

Name: Anastasia Tremaine

Fic: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Love Interest: David Nolan

Faceclaim: Madelaine Petsch

Name: Marlena Wright (Adopted from @ginger-grimm)

Fairytale Counterpart: Rose Red {Snow-White and Rose-Red}

Fic: Roses Are Red

Love Interest: Lester Wright {OC}

Faceclaim: Maddison Brown

Name: Bianca Wright

Fairytale Counterpart: Snow White {Snow-White and Rose-Red}

Fic: Roses Are Red

Love Interest: Edward Wright {OC}

Faceclaim: Virginia Gardner

Name: Raina Mills (Adopted from @eddys-plot-shop)

Fic: Ahead Of The Pack

Love Interest: Ruby Lucas

Faceclaim: Camila Mendes

Name: Zarina Hendricks

Fic: The Pirate Fairy

Love Interest: Killian Jones

Faceclaim: Katherine McNamara

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

Name: Celeste Pinto

Godly Parent: Iris

Fic: Rainbows

Love Interest: Jason Grace

Faceclaim: Olivia Rodrigo

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗸

Name: Guinevere Riordan

Fic: Rewrite The Stars

Love Interest: James T. Kirk

Faceclaim: Jessica Alba

Name: Sydney Berlin

Fic: Prodigy Perfect

Love Interest: Pavel Chekov x Kevin Riley

Faceclaim: Ella Purnell

𝗧𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗹𝗳

Name: Tabitha Stephens

Species: Light Witch

Fic: Bewitched

Love Interest: Isaac Lahey

Faceclaim: Josefine Frida Pettersen

Name: Julie Marigold

Species: Fairy

Fic: Bewitched

Love Interest: Enya Martin {OC}

Faceclaim: Aisha Dee

Name: Enya Martin

Species: Phoenix

Fic: Bewitched

Love Interest: Julie Marigold {OC}

Faceclaim: Abigail Cowen

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗮

Name: Feyra Sherwood

Species: Cosmic Fairy

Fic: Courage, Dear Heart

Love Interest: Peter Pevensie

Faceclaim: Emily Bader

Name: August Sherwood

Species: Storm Fairy

Fic: Courage, Dear Heart

Love Interest: Edmund Pevensie

Faceclaim: Jack Wolfe

Name: Joan Sherwood

Fic: Courage, Dear Heart

Love Interest: Lucy Pevensie

Faceclaim: Ruby Cruz

𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

Name: Beatrice Denali

Species: Vampire

Fic: Eternal Flame

Love Interest: Alice Cullen

Faceclaim: Sophie Skelton

𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆

Name: Matilda Thorpe

Species: Telekinesis

Fic: Naughty

Love Interest: Enid Sinclair x Wednesday Addams

Faceclaim: Thomasin McKenzie

oc masterlist inspiration credit: @daughter-of-melpomene

#ocappreciation #ocappreciationtag #ocapp #oc masterlist

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upthenorthmountain · 7 years ago

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Second Chances

It’s Charis’s birthday! And this feels a little like cheating, because most of this was written already, I just reformatted it and added an extra bit and here it is. I originally sent this to Charis in pieces, last summer, and I hope she likes it just as much now it’s a proper story.

Rated T for a small amount of Language

Second Chances

The receptionist barely glanced at him before waving him into a seat. Kristoff put his briefcase on his knees and tried not to drum his fingers on it. He didn't even, especially, need this job; the one he had was fine, but this would be a step up. It was worth a punt, anyway. After a few minutes the door into the main office opened and a woman came through with a clipboard. She didn't look up, but rummaged in the papers while keeping the door open with her foot. "Hang on," she said, "Just a sec - okay. Kristoff Bjorgman!"

Then she did a double-take so extreme it was almost comical, let the door slam behind her, and looked up. Kristoff stood and met her eye. "Hi," he said. "Anna."

-----

He’d recognised her as soon as she opened the door. It had been so long, but she was still the same. Same long red hair trying to escape the clip holding it up. Same big blue eyes that showed her every emotion. Same petite figure, though now it was more mature, more womanly.

For a moment they both just stared. Then Anna shook herself and said "Oh my goodness, Kristoff! I didn't read the names before I came through, I'm just bringing people through, I'm not doing the interviewing or anything, Karen would do it but she's poorly - gosh, it's been so long! How are you?" "I'm good, I'm really good. It's great to see you." Another long moment, then Anna shook herself again. "Well, we'd better go in - sorry - I'm not trying to make you late - oh, fudge -" now she realised that the door had shut behind her and was fishing an ID card on a lanyard out of the front of her blouse. "This way," she said once she'd managed to get the door open. "Follow meeee - and through here. OK. Paul," she said to the man in the office, who was now standing with hand extended. "This is Kristoff Bjorgman, Kris this is Paul Bunce, the IT Director. OK!" She beamed at them, then remembered she was supposed to leave, and backed out, hissing "Good luck!" at Kristoff as she went.

-----

Anna Rendell. He hadn't even known she was in the country, though there was no reason why she wouldn't have been. Fancy running into her today, and on the way into a job interview; life was weird. It must be - could it be ten years? Yes, almost. Anna Rendell. Fuck.

He'd been nineteen. He'd left school with no real plan in mind, and ended up doing various jobs until he'd gone back to college at twenty. That summer he'd been a gardener at the posh girls’ school just outside town, and spent most of it mowing lawns and trimming hedges.

The place had been mostly deserted over the summer; it was a boarding school but most of the girls were at home for the long holiday. A few remained, however, and one of them was Anna, who had recently turned eighteen and was staying at the school until she left for university abroad in the autumn.

He'd noticed her before, always with a crowd of friends, and in her uniform she'd looked younger. Come the end of term she switched to jeans or a sundress, her hair down, and with no one else to talk to she chatted to all the staff and helped with any job going. No one at the school seemed to care where she went or what time she got back.

One long hot afternoon, while he was attempting to tame the edges of the nature garden behind the science labs, she brought him a cold drink and sat with him in the shade as he drank it. He remembers the heat, the bees buzzing in the wildflowers, the way each one of her toenails was painted a different colour (‘I couldn't decide,’ she said lazily when he pointed it out).

He'd wanted to kiss her but he hadn't dared, then after she left he'd spent the rest of the afternoon kicking himself for not making a move. But when he got back to the gardeners’ shed to put away his tools, he found her waiting for him.

Memory was a funny thing. When he looked back at it, that summer was just sunshine, Anna's smile and the taste of her lips, listening to her talk while she made daisy chains, the scent of cut grass. If there was rain he's forgotten it, let it fade to a drum on the roof of his car, parked in the lane behind the school. Distant thunder as he kissed her goodnight outside her dormitory, lingering in the dusk. But summer doesn't last forever.

-----

The problem with having a magical summer romance at eighteen was that it was impossible not to hold it up as the standard against which all future men should be judged. Over the years it had become a running joke with Anna’s friends - “Kristoff would never treat me like this.” “Kristoff would never do that.” Part of her had almost forgotten that he was a real person, a grown man out in the world living his life.

He probably had all sorts of bad qualities and annoying habits that just hadn't had time to make themselves known. Anna herself felt like a completely different person to the girl she'd been then, carefree and young and falling in love for the first time. She had Harry now, anyway. He was the most important thing.

Kristoff would never have cheated on her, though. He would never have slept with her then stopped answering her texts, or so she told herself. He would certainly have never broken up with her at the sight of a positive pregnancy test. Maybe she needed him, as that fantasy of the perfect man, while all the others let her down.

But of all the places she'd expected to run into him now she was back in town, in a suit interviewing for the systems analyst position was not one of them. She'd sneaked a look at his CV once she was back at her desk; he'd gone back to college, his work history since then was exemplary. He’d done well for himself, and that made her happy. That was how she explained her happiness, anyway.

-----

Afterwards Kristoff couldn't even remember how the interview went, though he didn't think he stuffed it up too much. The interviewer was pleasant, Kristoff managed to answer all the questions, then he was ushered out and back through reception. He didn't see Anna on the way out.

There was one thing he was glad rarely came up in job interviews - his biggest regret. “I never had sex with Anna Rendell” wasn’t exactly interview-friendly, but it was the honest answer. He hadn’t, and all the reasons he’d had at the time now seemed ridiculous. Maybe then it would all have ended up differently. Maybe then, his last memory of her would be a sweet, happy one, rather than the mess it had turned into. Or maybe not.

The job as gardener didn't pay much but it came with the use of a tiny cottage on the edge of the grounds. In early September, two days before Anna was to leave for her expensive private university in Paris, she had turned up on his doorstep at 9pm and persuaded him to go out with her to sit on the hill and watch the stars come out.

He’d known the date of her departure for weeks. They hadn’t talked about it. What good would it do? Nothing could be changed. When she wasn’t there, Kristoff would tell himself it was just a bit of fun, anyway, nothing serious, that he’d miss her for a little while and then he’d get over it. When she was there, he tried not to think about it at all.

So he’d gone with Anna, up to their favourite place on the hill - only a few minutes away, but outside the school grounds and well away from where anyone might come walking. Anna had a blanket, which she laid out so they could sit and talk, or rather sit and kiss.

When did the stars come out? He didn’t know, because all he was looking at was Anna, all he was thinking about was her lips on his, the scent of the skin behind her ear, the softness of her skin. She pulled him down to lie next to her, and pressed up against him, and ran her hands over his neck and shoulders.

And then she had produced a condom out of her bag, and told him she was ready and she wanted him to be her first. And he’d refused.

-----

He was angry with her, he knows that now. He was angry with her for leaving, but he knew he shouldn’t be, so he felt guilty, and that made him angrier. He couldn’t ask her not to go. He couldn’t go with her. All he could do was lose her.

And maybe he felt that he was being the mature one, the sensible one. Noble. What rubbish. Or, maybe he was scared of not being able to give her the magical night she wanted, though even if it had been awkward and fumbling it would still have been better than what actually happened.

Anna hadn’t believed his refusal at first. She’d been puzzled, then she’d been annoyed, then finally she’d been upset. And he hadn’t known what to say, what he could say, because the only words he could think of were don’t go and he couldn’t say that, he had no right to say that.

She’d cried, and she’d left, and he hadn't sought her out before she'd left the country, mainly out of embarrassment. Two days of cowardice had led to ten years of regrets.

-----

hi Kristoff! I'm sorry if this is super creepy but I got your number from your CV, I hope you don't mind and please don't tell my boss, I just wondered if you wanted to get a coffee or something some time just to catch up??

That would be great. :) at the weekend?

10am Saturday ok? Meet me outside the Costa on the high st x

-----

Anna arrived a couple of minutes after Kristoff did. She was pushing a pushchair with a little blond toddler in it, and when she said “Hi!” her expression was defensive.

“Hi,” Kristoff said. “It’s good to see you. Who’s your friend?”

“This is my little boy. Harry. He’s nearly two. Is it okay if we go for a walk down to the swings instead of getting coffee? He’s having one of those days where he doesn’t like to sit still.”

“I wonder where he gets that from. No problem.”

They set off towards the park. Harry started trying to undo the straps on the pushchair, then saying “Mumma. Mumma. Mumma,” over and over with increasing volume.

“He wants to get out,” Anna said. “He likes to walk but he’s pretty slow.”

“Are we in a hurry?”

“I guess not.” Anna knelt down by the pushchair and unclipped the little boy; he popped straight out of his seat and started striding confidently off into the distance.

“Before you ask,” Anna said once Harry had been retrieved, “his dad’s not around. He’s never met him, actually. He dumped me when I said I was keeping the baby.”

“Wow. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’re fine just us, aren’t we, H?” She squeezed Harry’s hand and he looked up at her and grinned.

“How long have you been back in Arundel?” Kristoff asked her.

“A couple of months. I stayed in France a couple of years after I graduated, then moved to London for a job, then after I broke up with Harry’s dad I moved in with my sister for a bit, she’s in London. She’s a lawyer. Then, I don’t know. Arundel still felt like home, you know? I liked growing up here, I wanted Harry to have that. So I got the HR job. It’s only a couple of days a week but I thought I could cope with that, I hadn’t worked since before his nibs was born.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t run into each other before now.”

“Why, do you hang around the Children’s Centre much? I hope not,” Anna said, and laughed. “Oh,” she said. “I haven’t asked about you, how rude! Are you married, do you have any children?”

“No and no. I’m single. Had a couple of girlfriends, didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry. What made you go into IT?”

They’d reached the park. Kristoff couldn’t remember exactly where the playground was, but Harry clearly knew, and pulled his mother along by one hand, while she tried to steer the pushchair with the other. Kristoff helped her with the gate.

“After you left,” he said, “I couldn’t stick working at the school any more. I don’t know. So I quit and ended up temping in an office, and I found out I was good with the computers, so the next September I went back to college. And here I am.”

“Good for you.”

Kristoff shrugged. “Had to get a proper job some time.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t get the systems analyst job.”

“I didn’t?”

“No, I - oh, fudge. No. Sorry. They didn’t tell people yet.” She sighed. “I am terrible at working in HR.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t think I would, where I am is fine. Just thought I’d give it a go.”

“I’m glad you did,” Anna said, smiling at him.

They reached the playground and Anna parked the pushchair just off the path.

“You know,” she said as she watched Harry scramble up the steps of the little slide, “We never actually broke up, did we? I realised that. So I’m sorry, but I did cheat on you a bit in Paris. And after that.”

She said it quite calmly, even cheerfully.

“To be fair,” Kristoff said, “I haven’t been completely faithful, either.”

Anna laughed. “I’m glad, that would have been pretty lonely. Actually, come to think of it, did we ever get together? Like, officially, have the boyfriend/girlfriend talk?”

“I think we just started kissing a lot.”

“Yeah, that’s how I remember it. Oh, no, wait, darling -”

She caught Harry by the hood of his coat just as he reached the gate through to the duck pond, which had been left ajar. “We’ll feed the ducks another day, okay? Do you want to go on the swings?”

“Swings!”

“Okay, poppet, come on,” and she bore him off.

“I’m sorry,” she said once Harry was safely trapped in the baby swing kicking his little legs, “for springing him on you like that. I just, didn’t know how to say it.”

“It’s fine, Anna.”

“And I’d’ve had to bring him anyway, of course.”

“Neither of us has been frozen for ten years. I own more than one suit and a briefcase, you’re a mum, life has kept happening because that’s what life does.”

“True.” She gave the swing another big push and Harry squealed.

“And I’m the one who should be sorry,” Kristoff said.

“What for?”

“For - back then. How it all ended.”

Anna shrugged. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

“Can I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“Where, at a private girls’ school in the middle of nowhere, did you get a condom?”

Anna laughed. “The school nurse gave me some. When she saw me hanging around with you. She said, you’re eighteen and I can’t stop you doing what you like but if you get pregnant it’ll look bad for the school. And I was glad because it was something I was worrying about but I didn’t think I could ask her. Not that it mattered in the end.”

“You know,” Kristoff said, “I thought I was being so mature and respectful, turning you down, but I wasn’t. I was being a massive fu- flipping idiot. I have spent YEARS kicking myself over it.”

Anna looked him up and down. “So when did you?” she said.

“When did I what?”

“You know. Lose the old V-plates.”

“Oh - second year of college. I had a girlfriend who was studying to be a teacher.”

“How wholesome.”

“I guess.”

Anna pushed the swing. “I’m admiring how you’re not asking me,” she said.

“Maybe I was just assuming it was some sophisticated Frenchman -”

Anna laughed again. “No, actually. Another foreign student. American. American guys are so forward, you know? It can be a bit - disarming. Anyway, then he broke up with me, so.” She hesitated. “I’d rather it had been you,” she said.

“Same.”

They stood in silence for a moment, Anna giving the swing a half-hearted push every now and again. Then she looked at him and said, “God, this is so weird just to be standing here talking to you! As if you were, like, a real person.”

Kristoff had to laugh at that, even though he knew exactly what she meant. “Look at us,” he said, “Both real people who have spent ten years having lives and experiences.”

“I know, right? So weird. Were you in love with me?” she added, idly.

“Oh, hopelessly.”

“That’s what I thought.” She grinned at him.

Kristoff took a deep breath. “Are you seeing anyone? At the moment?”

“I have been single,” Anna said calmly, “Ever since Mr Anna-I-Don’t-Think-I’m-Ready-For-This took to his heels, never to be seen again.”

“Never?”

“Nope. When I moved I wrote to him, to let him know where we were, but I didn’t get a reply. Maybe he’d moved, I don’t know. And obviously I wrote when Harry was born, but he didn’t reply to that, either. Well, maybe it’s better he stay away altogether, I don’t know.”

Harry had got bored with swinging and was trying to climb out of the seat while it was still in motion. Anna stopped it and he clung to her as she lifted him out.

“I’ve never understood men like that,” Kristoff said. Anna shrugged. She tried to put Harry down but he wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her on the cheek. “Mummy loves you,” she told him, kissing the top of his head, “And Mummy’s going to bring you up to respect women! Yes she is!”

“Anyway,” she said, turning back to Kristoff, “Weren’t you about to ask me out?”

“I - yes? Is that bad?”

Anna tilted her head to one side, moving Harry to her hip. “As long as you’re not just trying to make up for - past regrets.”

“No, of course not. Look, I know we’ve both changed a lot since then, but -”

“But?”

“- you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. And I didn’t think I’d get a second chance to tell you even that much.”

Anna bit her lip over a smile. “You never used to say things like that.”

“Just used to think them, then.”

She looked away, still trying not to smile, and put down her squirming son. “Alright. Yes. Okay. Oh, no, wait -” and she was chasing after Harry across the park.

#kristanna #karis-the-fangirl #modern au #second chances

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