Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Mom?" Agnarr asked as he prepared to do the monkey bars.

"Yes Agnarr?" Anna asked as she helped Iduna.

"Am I better at the monkey bars than Iduna?"

"You are two years older than her." She knew a trap when she heard one.

"Well...am I better than Anneliese?" Agnarr pressed.

"You're about the same as Anneliese." Anna said.

"No I'm not, Anneliese can't do skip bar, or back one bar..." Agnarr demonstrated as he argued.

"Agnarr just run your own race." Anna said.

"What's that mean?" Agnarr asked.

"Come here." She motioned for her two children to follow her and they sat down. "Have I ever told you about the time you took your first steps?"

"No, tell me now!"

"Well you were a baby..."

"Where was I?" Iduna piped up.

"You weren't born yet sweetheart." Anna smoothed back her hair.

"Oh I was invisible."

Sure, let's go with that. "And one day...

"Come on Agnarr, roll over honey..." Younger Anna was pushing. Younger Kristoff was asleep.

And then...

"Kristoff! He did it! He rolled over!"

"What?" Kristoff blinked as he woke up.

"He rolled over! He's not supposed to do that for ages now!" Anna yelled.

"Oh that's my boy!" Kristoff cheered.

"Were you proud of me for rolling over?" Agnarr asked.

"Yes. A little too proud. I think I turned into a bit of a show off."

First they went to Nana Troll. "Why, I've never heard of a baby rolling over so early!"

Anna burst with pride.

Then they went to mother's group where Anna was talking to Merida. "It is very early to roll over..."

"Anneliese!" Rapunzel cheered. "She's sitting! Oh such a big girl! She's not supposed to do that for a while..."

The mothers cheered but Anna's expression fell.

"That's amazing!" Moana said.

"Well you know, it's not a race." Rapunzel said demurely.

"But it was a race." Agnarr said firmly.

"A baby race!" Iduna cheered.

"It wasn't a good thing, but I was determined to get you walking before Anneliese." Anna admitted.

But first, it was crawling.

"We can get him crawling, all we need to do is put olive oil on his knees." Nana Troll said.

"Ma that's not allowed anymore..." Kristoff said.

"it worked with you!"

They were back at their house.

"Come on Agnarr, come to Mama..." Anna begged.

And he did...but...

"I was a butt shuffler?!" Agnarr said in disbelief.

"Yep, you were a but shuffler..." Anna chuckled a bit.

They went to the doctor and he said everything was fine.

"Some babies just butt shuffle."

And at mother's group, Anneliese was crawling.

Anna watched her own baby shuffle around on his butt like he had no care in the world.

But then Agnarr started to crawl!

...backwards.

Back to the doctor.

"Some babies just crawl backwards."

Anna was determined.

"See how fun it is!" Anna tried. Kristoff even got involved.

Nothing.

Then at Mother's group...

Anneliese took her first steps.

"Anneliese had won the baby race."

"Were you mad at me?" Agnarr said in a small voice.

"No honey, no!" Anna pulled him closer. "We were both learning to do things for the first time. I just..felt like I was doing everything wrong."

Kristoff was surprised to see Anna.

"Aren't you going to Mother's group?"

Anna shook her head.

"But one day, Callum's mother came to see me and showed me a photo..."

"Merida!" Anna said as the redheaded woman walked over.

"I'm so sorry, the house is a mess..."

Merida waved off her concern and handed her something.

"Are these all your children?"

"Aye." Merida said.

"I thought Callum was your first!"

"Oh no I've got eight kids...wait..." Merida paused. "Nine, nine kids."

Anna laughed. "Um, I guess you must have learned a thing or two..."

"I have." Merida said. "And there's something you should know."

"What?" Anna was worried.

"Your doing great." She hugged Anna as the ginger haired woman cried.

After that, Anna decided to live in the moment. She and Kristoff would crawl backwards with Agnarr and the baby giggled.

At mother's group, Anneliese toddled over to Anna.

"Good girl, Anneliese."

"Did I ever walk?" Agnarr asked.

"Yes...actually. I was in the kitchen, doing dishes."

"Why'd I decide to walk into the kitchen?"

"I don't know sweetheart." Anna admitted.

"Maybe you just saw something you wanted?"

Younger Anna suddenly turned to see Agnarr reaching for her.

Tears welled up in her eyes as he walked over to her.