Dark Paths (Helsa)

Seven

Elsa's bedroom was large, had many tall windows and a set of French doors that lead outside. With the high ceilings the room looked so stretched. The bed had a red comforter, red and white accent pillows and Elsa's favorite part was the canopy and curtains that could come down and cover the bed.

"I love the bed!" Elsa smiled and went over to the bed, laying her suitcase on it and looked over to Hans. He stood in the doorway smiling over at her and remembered he wanted to show her something.

"Come here," He said and took her hand in his, pulling her over to the french doors and opened them up. He walked over to another set a little farther down and opened them up to his bedroom. "Our bedroom's are connected." He said, watching as she went from perplexed to smiling. "Your bedroom used to be Leo's bedroom, we'd always sneak into each other's rooms after our parents laid us to sleep."

"I've never seen anything like this." She said and looked over his room. He had clothes and papers scattered everywhere, the only clean area of his bedroom was a small space in front of the door. The bed had its blankets shuffled around on it like he had just slept there. "Your room is messy." She laughed and nudged him with her elbow in his stomach, feeling how hard his stomach was and wondered how muscular he was.

"I haven't been here in months, actually. It'll be weird to sleep here and not in my ship." He said, looking down at Elsa and wanted so badly to kiss her but wasn't sure what she would do.

"How long are you staying in the Southern Isles?" She asked.

"As long as you're here. I'm taking you back too." He said. She nodded and headed back out on the balcony and looked over it and down into a courtyard with so many different colored tulips and a few trees spotted the courtyard. One tree was so close you could touch so while Hans had his back to her's, she reached over the railing and went to touch the flowers on the tree when she felt Hans grab her hips, pulling her back from the railing and turned her around to face him.

"What in the world are you doing?" He asked, gripping her chin with his thumb and pointer finger.

"I was just reaching for a flower? I thought it was neat that I could reach the tree from here." She said, feeling really sheepish with him holding her face.

"You know, looking at you, you wouldn't think that you would be... That you would reach over a balcony for a flower?" Hans said, noticing that she was uncomfortable with him holding onto her chin. "I'm sorry." He said and dropped his hand down to his side.

"I... I should go unpack my things so my dresses won't get wrinkled." She said and started to walk back down to her bedroom.

Hans watched as she walked away and noticed his eyes being drawn to the way her hips swished from side to side as she walked.

"Um," Hans said and watched as she turned around near her door, then looked up into her eyes. "Could I have lunch with you?"

"Of course. Just stop by my room whenever you're ready." She smiled and opened up the french doors, going into her bedroom and left the doors open for the cool summer breeze.

~~~~~

Hans dressed himself into a black dress shirt with light blue jeans, with his hair combed nicely. He had handpicked a bouquet of tulips from the courtyard below and stood at Elsa's bedroom door. He knocked quietly and heard rummaging around in her bedroom then a loud thud.

"Elsa?!" He asked, bursting into her bedroom and saw her laying down on the ground near her bed with the suitcase laying under her legs. Her green dress was up over her legs, revealing almost up to her underwear and with Elsa's legs revealed he admired them a little while helping her up to her feet. "I thought someone was hurting you." He said, watching as she adjusted the green dress down over her legs. The dress had lace on the bodice and a halter neck that made her look more than beautiful, Hans thought.

"No, I just tripped." Elsa said and looked up to Hans with flushed cheeks. "I apologize if you saw anything." She said, moving her dress around and slipped on her black shoe that fell off. She noticed the tulips in his hands and smiled up to him. "You got me flowers?" She asked.

"Of course. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady." He smiled and wanted to answer her apology. "You don't have to apologize. Are you ready for lunch? I have it all set up." He said and noticed he was still holding onto her. "Sorry." He said and let go of her.

"I'm ready. Where are we eating?" She asked as they were leaving her bedroom.

"It's a surprise." He said and looked over to her. Her hair was in a tight bun at the back of her head while her makeup was light but still noticeable. "You look lovely." He smiled and felt underdressed compared to her.

"You look nice too." She said and looked up to him. "Can I please know where we're going? I'm not a fan of surprises." She said and watched as he shrugged.

"This'll stay a surprise until we get there." He said and opened a door that lead outside into the courtyard with all of the tulips. "We're not here yet." He muttered and they continued walking until they got to another door that lead out into a forest with a small meadow of beautiful flowers and a large patch of grass where a blanket sat with a wicker picnic basket and a large bottle of wine next to it. "This is lunch." Hans said, gesturing towards the blanket.

"Aw, this is perfect." Elsa said and walked over to the area, sitting down on the blanket and watched as he sat down across from her.

"I hope you like sandwiches." He said, beginning to pull out different things from the basket. First were two wine glasses, then peanut butter and jelly sandwiches then ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches followed by a container of strawberries and two plates for their food.

"All of it looks so good." Elsa smiled and began pouring themselves glasses of wine. "I don't want you to think I'm an alcoholic or that I love drinking. I'm just very parched."

"I don't think wine will help, but if you're thirsty then that's okay." He smiled and started placing sandwiches on their plates and saved the strawberries for dessert.

After they started eating, Elsa had only a few bites of her sandwich but had three glasses of wine. Hans had finished his sandwiches and almost finished his first glass. Elsa was calm while she was drunk but when she was, the emotions poured out of her.

"I don't understand why Arden, my husband, has a mistress. It was so foolish of me to think we could be happy. To have the love in fairy tales." She said. "While I am stuck in Arendelle, being a good wife, he is free to do whatever he wants with whoever he wants." She rambled and watched as his expression softened, she took another drink of her wine and set it down in the grass. "Do you think I'm overreacting? Am I boring you?" She asked him but he shook his head.

"No. It's unfathomable." He said, looking down at her lips momentarily.

"What is?" She asked, her eyebrows coming together and watched as his green eyes sparkled. She wasn't sure what she was feeling or if it was the wine talking.

"Arden has you. Why would he ever look elsewhere?" He asked, taking Elsa only a little by surprise but she was happy he finally voiced how he felt. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips once then remembered that she was with Arden and pulled back.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She apologized and sat back, sitting down on the blanket and looked down at her lap.

"No, you're right. I should have." He said, laying both of his hands on each side of her face, grabbing her and kissed her passionately. They both felt this loud, reverberating current run between them with each kiss, for Elsa she had never felt this way when Arden kissed her. He was opening up so many doors and tearing her world down, layer by layer and even made her rethink her marriage completely. For Hans, the only time he had ever felt this way was years ago when he kissed Elsa and somewhere deep in his subconscious he could tell he could fall in love with her so hard and so quickly, but was afraid to with her being married.