Kristoff was wearing a shirt.

He never wore shirts.

He'd said he'd pick her up, but as he drove up the excessively long gravel driveway, flanked by equally-spaced trees and broken by two sets of gates, he began to wish they were meeting at the restaurant.

Eventually, he reached the house.

It was extremely imposing.

There was no way he was leaving the safety of his car to go knock on the enormous door – it had a great elaborate doorknocker? – so dug out his phone and messaged her.

Hey, I'm outside.

She replied almost immediately.

Great! I'll be two minutes xx

Oh crap, should he have sent little x's? Was that a thing they did now? And should he reply?

OK. Don't be long.

He hesitated. Was that too blunt?

He backspaced and tried again.

No problem :) xx

Oh god, no. Way too much.

OK. See you in a minute. x

That would have to do.

Message sent, he glanced briefly up at the manor, then curiously about the driveway – if you could still call it that.

There was a huge fountain that the gravel looped round, making a kind of circle. Cars were parked at various points – at two o'clock, Elsa's blue Alfa Romeo Spider. Kristoff eyed it admiringly. Next to it was Anna's little Kia, and at about nine o'clock a sombre, sensible saloon of some kind. The gravel continued around one side of the house, breaking off the circle and curving out of sight. Kristoff wondered if it led to the staff car park. He shook his head. Probably.

After about ten minutes, the door to the manor opened and Anna emerged. She was wearing a very pretty little dress (not the one from the night of the snowstorm, he was relieved to note), and looked about for a second, before spotting the unfamiliar car and gambolling over. Kristoff saw Elsa at the doorway. She waved at him slightly, and though he wasn't sure if she could see him through the gathering twilight, he raised a hand in return.

The passenger door opened.

"Hi!"

"Hey."

Anna clambered in, dumping her bag in the footwell and flashing him a brilliant grin. "Sorry I took so long!"

"That's ok. You look nice."

That was an understatement, but he wasn't sure what else to say.

"Awh, thanks! You clean up pretty good, too." She smiled at him warmly, taking in the shirt.

"Yeah, well. I thought I'd make an effort."

"I like it." There was a brief moment, where they both smiled at each other – and then remembered that this was a date. "So, um – shall we get going?"

"Sure," he started the engine again, and, with a crunch of gravel, started back down the long driveway. "You're going to have to direct me, by the way. I've never been to – what did you say it was called?"

"The Open Door. It's super cute, you'll like it. They do this amazing arancini starter, oh my god…."

Anna continued to wax lyrical about arancini for a few minutes, by which time they'd made it to the ring-road.

"OK, so take the second left here…"

She was surprisingly good at giving directions, though they did end up going around a roundabout three times whilst she tried to remember which exit to take. Within about ten minutes though, they pulled up near a tiny little restaurant that Kristoff had never noticed before.

Anna hopped out.

"Come on! I'm starving."

Kristoff found himself weirdly pleased that even now they weren't on a crazy adrenaline-fuelled road trip to find her sister, Anna still had that kind of determined energy about her. It was fun.

"Hang on," he got out of the car himself, locked it, and walked round. "I'm sure they're not going to run out of food."

"I don't want to risk it."

They walked up to the restaurant together. It was pretty cold, even though last week's unseasonable snow had cleared now, and after the warmth of the car it was a shock.

Anna had booked them a table, and chirpily gave her name once they were inside. Kristoff had to duck slightly under a few low beams – it was a cramped little place, but warm and kind of cosy. It smelt like pizza, but as Anna breezed past him to get to her seat, he caught a hint of her perfume, too.

They sat down, and it was bizarrely formal, in a way. The vast majority of their time together so far had been in the front of his truck, driving all over the place, with Sven sat between them, huffing or barking or snoring. Now there was a table between them, and menus, and a candle.

"Cute, right?" Said Anna, smiling across at him.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure I was going to fit through the door."

Anna laughed, and Kristoff was pleased. He liked making her laugh.

"How tall are you, exactly?

"Six-three, I think?"

"Damn," she said, appreciatively. "I think I'm like – five-five or something? Five-six? I don't know. I swear the doctor says something different every time. But I can get to five-ten in heels."

She seemed smug about this.

"Jesus, how big are these heels?"

"I like shoes."

Kristoff chuckled, fiddling with the corner of a napkin. "Good thing you weren't wearing those last weekend."

"Oh my god, can you imagine," Anna was already pouring over the menu, but peeked up at him with a sheepish grin. "I probably would have broken my ankle after like half a mile."

"Less than that."

"How are your first aid skills?"

"Not good enough for that. You'd have been on your own."

"What! You'd have left me behind?"

Kristoff grinned: this was nice. This was like the way they'd talked in the truck. Light, silly. It was too easy to joke with her. "Course not. But you'd have been going to the hospital, not to the North Pass."

"Yeesh," Anna considered. "Good thing I didn't wear them then. We wouldn't have been able to get Elsa, and we probably wouldn't be here, either. Let it be known – good shoes do not always a good date entail."

Kristoff snorted – she was so ridiculous – but then remembered. This was a date. A date.

He felt himself get nervous again, and busied himself with the menu.

He'd never been good at dates.

He really liked this girl though, so it had to go well.

"You ok?"

He looked up again to see her happy little face.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Just wondering what to get. What are you getting?"

"Arancini. Of course. And – wine… and… something pizza-y. I never get pasta in restaurants, because it's always so small. I want more than five ravioli, you know?"

It was a valid point.

Anna began recommending about seven different dishes to him, but thankfully the waiter arrived and cut her off before she could get into full swing. He took their order (his Norwegian was perfect, but he spoke with a thick Italian accent that Anna clearly enjoyed) and whisked away the menus. Kristoff smiled a little awkwardly at her. Luckily, as ever, she was ready with conversation.

"So how's Sven? Does he miss me?"

"He's good. I think he misses how many treats you give him."

"Awh, he is such a good boy. I wish Elsa was a dog person. I would be all about getting a dog."

"What would you get?"

"I don't know, something fluffy – maybe like a big ol' Bernese Mountain dog, or something. Oh – he could be friends with Sven!"

Kristoff grinned. "Sven'll be friends with anyone."

"How long have you had him?"

"About six years now?"

"Does he always come with you in the truck?"

"'Course. He's pretty well-travelled now."

They continued in this vein for a while, swapping stories of childhood pets. Anna had been deemed too irresponsible to have any, but had always wanted degus. Kristoff on the other hand had grown up with an awful lot.

"My family have sleds," he explained. "So there were a lot of sled dogs. And a few reindeer."

"Reindeer!?"

Drinks arrived. Anna had got herself a very large glass of white wine, but Kristoff just had water. She smiled and held up her glass.

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

They took a drink, and they was a very slight lull in conversation. Kristoff started to worry, groping about for something to say, but Anna swooped in again.

"So where are your family from?"

"Snåsa. The town, not the area."

"Oh cool! So that's like… North?"

Kristoff grinned. "Yeah. North. Past Trondheim."

"Near Tromsø?"

"Not that far."

"Near… how far up the skinny bit?"

"Your geography is terrible, isn't it?"

Anna pulled a face at him and drank some wine. "Listen, I did not come here to be insulted. If you want to take this outside, I am sure they will put the arancini on hold for me. I am a very loyal customer."

Grinning, Kristoff conceded. "It's towards the bottom of the skinny bit."

"Thank you. Are they still there?"

Kristoff hesitated. They were a bit nomadic, his family, prone to wandering about and making a home wherever they found themselves. But they did always come back round to Snåsa, so…

"…yeah. They kind of have a base there."

"Is it nice?"

"Yeah. It's between a lake and a national park."

"Nice!" Anna seemed impressed. "I've never really been outside of Bergen. We went on a few foreign holidays when I was younger, but Elsa and I had a – a pretty sheltered kind of upbringing."

Kristoff suddenly realised that she was asking him lots of questions, and he'd asked virtually none. He remembered the expectant silences from the last date he'd had with mortification and cleared his throat slightly.

"So, uh, have you – always lived round here?"

"Yeah. I mean, you've seen the house right?"

He wouldn't soon forget it.

"It's kind of a 'family home'. It was my grandfather's, and then when he died my parents inherited, yadda yadda. I think it's like an expectation that we stay there."

Kristoff felt a little uncomfortable again. He and Sven had a very nice, compact little flat just outside the city, and it suited them fine. You could see the fjord, you could get to the main road. It was close to some nice walks for Sven. It was good. Anna came from a whole different world.

"…so I don't know if Elsa's plan is to stay there or what. We've never really talked about it."

Kristoff nodded. "Where would you want to live, if you could?"

"Oh geez, I don't know. It would be cool to travel about a bit – I've never really seen anything, or anywhere – it must be really cool to do what you do, and travel about so much."

Kristoff was slightly taken aback by this. No one had ever said that what he did was 'really cool'. He rubbed the back of his head.

"It's mainly motorways, and stuff. I mean if you go further north, there's some pretty crazy roads, but…"

Starters arrived. Kristoff sincerely hoped that she did not hate the way he ate.

Anna dived headfirst into her plate of arancini and there was a lull for a minute. Kristoff didn't mind this time though: it was a food-induced quiet, something he'd already encountered on last weekend's road trip with a huge bag of crisps.

"Good?"

"The best. How's yours?"

"Good."

Anna wolfed down the last of the arancini and automatically went to have some of Kristoff's water, but then stopped. She retracted her hand a little sheepishly.

He looked at her in bemusement.

"Can I have some of your water please?"

Kristoff laughed. "Yeah, sure. Help yourself."

"Thanks," she took a drink. "Sorry. I keep forgetting I've only known you like – a week or something. I can't just drink your water. Do you – " she replaced his water and looked about. "Want some of my wine or something?"

"I'm good."

"Ok." She grinned, looking a little embarrassed, but Kristoff had found the whole episode rather amusing. He grinned back.

"I can't tell if you're funny on purpose or not."

She gave him a look.

His grin spread wider. "I'm serious."

"Elsa's the funny one – but if you're trying to decide if you're laughing at me or with me – "

"At you?"

She gave him a gentle kick under the table, but left her foot resting against his.

"What do you like to drink then? When you're not driving."

"Um. Beer is always good. I like akvavit though."

"You like akvavit?" Anna shook her head. "Kristoff, no one likes akvavit."

She dived into a story about her first and last unfortunate encounter with the spirit – she'd somehow managed to fall headfirst down the bottom of one of her friend's staircases ("Staircases? Plural?" "Yes. Private schooling. Pay attention.") before vomiting all over a Persian rug – and Kristoff felt obliged to defend his drink of choice.

"We'll try some sometime. It deserves a second chance."

Anna seemed unconvinced, but agreed. Then she picked up on something.

"'Sometime'?"

Kristoff flushed. "Well. Yeah. If you want. If you want to go out again sometime, or something." He rubbed the back of his head, feeling incredibly stupid. None of his previous dates had ever mentioned him being too pushy, exactly – the opposite – but there was a first time for everything –

"Sure," she grinned. "I think I will."

He smiled stupidly back.

Starters were cleared, and mains arrived. There was so much pizza that it almost didn't fit on the table. Anna juggled her glass of wine about and they reshuffled candles and drinks menus until it all squeezed on.

Anna was extremely excited.

"Oh jeez. Come here."

It was a knives-and-forks pizza, but the speed with which Anna began to demolish it was still impressive.

As he dug into his own, Kristoff had to admit it was good. She hadn't been wrong about this place.

"Amazing pizza, right?"

Kristoff nodded.

"I think I first came here with my mum, years ago. We'd go out for like little daytrips, when dad was working and Elsa was – doing whatever Elsa used to do."

"Neat."

"It was so nice. I was always closer with my mum, I think, and Elsa with my dad. What about you?"

"My mum," he replied, automatically. "I didn't really have a dad, per se. You've met my family, though, so, you know. It's like a huge pile-on. Everyone's kind of everything."

Anna swallowed a huge mouthful of pizza and smiled warmly. "I can see that. They are so lovely. When did they adopt you?"

Kristoff considered. It was a lifetime ago. "When I was about eight."

"Awh, little Kristoff! I bet you were adorable. And super blonde. I mean, you're still very blonde, so."

"My family always laughs at me for being blonde."

Anna grinned. "I like it."

"Thanks."

He smiled a little awkwardly – compliments. Those were weird – and then cast about for a new topic of conversation whilst Anna got involved with her pizza again. Her foot was still against his and it was soft and warm and incredibly exciting.

"How are things with your sister?"

"Still a little weird. But it's so nice to have her around again – I mean, she has a lot of work to do, but in the evenings and stuff – I know it probably sounds crazy, but I think I'm going to defer my place at university. Just to like… get to know her again. I'll go next year."

University. Damn. Kristoff had forgotten that Anna was… young. Ish.

"What are you going to study?"

"Art History. In Oslo."

"Nice."

"Did you go to university?"

"Nah. Went straight to work. No idea what I'd have done."

"Hmm," Anna eyed him thoughtfully. "You're a practical kind of guy. I can see you doing a practical kind of course."

Kristoff chuckled and shook his head. "It's not for me. Art history sounds great, though. What do you do?"

"Oh, it's great – so you look at the development of art styles…"

She spoke for a while about art history, and the areas she was particularly interested in (Romanticism) and what she wanted to learn more about (Renaissance), and how she'd always spent a lot of time in the gallery at the manor (the gallery?) but had only started reading about the history a few years back, after her parents died –

" – it kinda snowballed from there. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but you know. That's not what it's about, right?" She smiled at him.

He smiled back. It had been so nice just listening to her talk about something she clearly cared about so much.

"Right."

They'd finished the pizza, and as the waiter with the accent came by he left them a couple of dessert menus. Anna ordered another glass of wine, and looked over at Kristoff.

"I'm good, thanks."

She smiled. "You getting dessert?"

"What would you recommend?"

"Gelato!" She did a silly Italian accent then grinned. "Seriously, the ice cream is great here. Recommended."

Kristoff nodded. "Let's do this."

There was banana, mint, vanilla, coffee… Anna um-ed and ahh-ed for at least two minutes before getting caramel, chocolate and strawberry.

"I always think three is a good number. Breakfast, lunch and dinner – starter, main, dessert – you, me and Sven…"

"You, me and Sven?"

"Yeah! I know they say three's a crowd – but he's just such a good boy…"

Dessert finished, plates were cleared and they got the bill.

"We splitting it?"

"I don't mind paying, if you like."

"Nah. Splitting is good." She smiled at him, and dug about for her purse.

They paid, and Anna stretched, looking very contented. She smiled over at him.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. You ok?"

"Yeah. What do you – what do you want to do now?"

Kristoff felt a little pang of nerves again, realising that this was kind of – a tipping point of the date. To continue the night or not. And where.

"I, uh – I don't mind. Up to you."

He felt like – and he could be wrong, he often thought he was – that this had gone quite well. A very large part of him didn't want to leave just yet, wanted to stay and talk to her more, hear her laugh and ramble on about family or travel or pets or interests – but another part of him was still quite flustered about the whole date thing anyway, was pretty tired, and was ready to head home and tell Sven how it had gone.

Anna sighed. "I would really like to go get another drink or something, but – " She pulled her phone out of her bag for a second to check the time. " – I did promise Elsa I wouldn't be back super late – she'll probably be waiting up."

"Ok. You want to head back?"

"Is that all right?"

"Course."

He smiled and they stood up. Anna dug for her purse again and left a generous tip before heading out. Kristoff remembered to duck under the beams and Anna cheerily thanked the waiter as the door swung open, plunging them into the cold night air again.

"Oh jeez," Anna's breath made cold clouds before her. "I forgot how cold it was. Crap."

She had a coat – but should he offer her his too? Is that what people did? Or was that weird? Or –

"Come on!" Whilst he'd been frantically thinking, she skipped ahead. "We need to get the heaters on full blast. Stat." She reached towards him, other hand shoved firmly into the pocket of her coat, her face almost hidden by misting breath. He could still see her pigtails though, poking out from under a pink hat.

He walked towards her – "All right, all right, we'll get you warm," – and felt his heart backflip as she put her hand in his.

He had no idea what to do, so held it tight.

They reached the car and the moment was broken. He went round, unlocked it and she leapt into the passenger seat. Once they were both inside, Kristoff started up the engine and put the heaters on for her.

"Better?"

"Better."

"You're not going to put your feet on them this time, are you?"

She grinned, remembering the snowstorm, and how she'd first climbed into his truck at that petrol station brandishing snow chains, antifreeze, and energy bars, before putting her feet up to try and defrost them –

"Promise. I learnt my lesson. Chilblains are bad."

They drove back, Anna talking about that weekend.

"I'm not sure I actually – thanked you. Properly. For helping me out. I mean, I know I said thank you, but – "

Kristoff glanced across at her incredulously.

"You paid for the repairs to my truck."

"Yeah, but – thank you. I don't know if I'd have ever found Elsa without you."

She was quite fervent, and Kristoff wondered if the two glasses of wine were coming into play a little.

"Hey, you're welcome. I'm glad I was there."

"I would have had to camp out at the petrol station. Can you imagine?"

"That's rough. You'd have had snacks, though."

Anna adopted a serious, affected voice. "It's day three, and the snow has finally cleared. In this exclusive report, we talk to two survivors who claim to have lived off Lefsa and knekkebrød…"

When they reached the manor a few minutes later, and began up the long, long driveway, Kristoff tried to decide whether or not to broach the question.

It would be a lot easier to just ask whether she wanted to see him again, or if she'd had a good time, but he didn't want to put her on the spot. What if she'd had a terrible time and had been bored out of her mind? What if she'd just been being polite? He thought it had gone well, but what if –

They reached the fountain, and Kristoff brought the car to a stop.

"Anna…"

She looked over at him with bright little eyes.

"Kristoff."

"I, uh… have you got your keys?"

"I do," she dug them out and jingled them. "I am all set."

But she didn't get out, and, jingling completed, sort of fiddled with her keys in her lap.

Kristoff rubbed the back of his head.

"I had a – a good time, tonight. Thanks for showing me that place."

"Isn't it great?"

"It is."

She smiled. Hesitated. Leant towards him.

He realised what was happening, and with a huge flood of relief, cupped her cheek and kissed her.

They broke apart.

There was moment, and then they both grinned like idiots.

"So. See you soon?"

"Sure."

Still grinning, she got out of the car and gambolled over to the door. When she reached it, she turned, and waved, and disappeared inside.

As Kristoff drove home, he turned up the radio and sang along.