"Okay kids, remember, toys must go back once you've finished playing with them. We don't want a repeat of yesterday!"

"Yes Miss Arendal" the class replied, jumping to their feet and scurrying off.

Anna couldn't deny she was exhausted. She had been up until the early hours of the morning finishing a policy document for her nursery class. Being newly qualified was hard, she decided, she wasn't as practiced at this than other teachers. Gerda, the classroom assistant had been here for years. She sympathised with Anna more so than the other teachers who simply waved a hand and said "You'll learn".

"Here, Anna" Gerda said, approaching her at that moment with a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

"Mmm, thanks Gerda!" Anna said taking a sip and sitting back in her chair, watching her class at free play before yawning widely.

"Were you up all night with that blasted paperwork again?"

"Only until two this time!" Anna told her.

"Still far too long" Gerda said "How did you even manage to get up this morning?"

"My sister"

Elsa had woken her up bright and early with pancakes before hurrying out to work herself. She really owed her sister an awful lot. Letting her move in with her after university like that was sweet enough but she always made sure Anna was fed and watered before she left the house and when she came home too.

"She's a good one that sister of yours" Gerda told her.

"I know, I wish she wouldn't work herself too hard"

"What is it she does?"

"She's a graphic designer. Currently she's working on the new shopping centre in town. It's a lot of work for her and…"

"AHHHHHH" A tiny voice squealed across the room from the dressing up corner.

Anna jumped up to see Lizzie screeching at the top of her lungs, a police helmet clutched under her left arm and Sven's teeth clamped around her right.

"SVEN! STOP THAT AT ONCE!" Gerda cried as she and Anna hurried over. Gerda took hold of Lizzie and took her to the toilets to dry her eyes while Anna grabbed Sven's hand and led him over to sit on the carpet while she knelt in front of him. It wasn't the first time he'd been in trouble. She'd only been here two months and he was the first name she learnt in her class, mainly from having to shout it at the top of her lungs across the classroom after he had snatched from, bitten, hit or kicked another of his classmates.

"Sven" Anna sighed "We talked about the biting last week. It's not nice."

Sven glared at the floor, his face screwed up and brown hair falling into his face so Anna couldn't see him. Anna slumped, laying on her front and looked up at Sven from the floor so she could see him. He smiled slightly at his teacher before remembering that he was supposed to be angry and he shuffled away from her slightly

"Why did you bite her?" Anna asked, moving again so she was looking up at him.

"She said I wasn't allowed to play the policeman game"

"That's not really a great reason to bite her, Pal" Anna said.

"She said it was because her daddy's a policeman and I don't have a real daddy so I couldn't play"

"Ah" Anna said, sitting up. She still wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this problem. Sven had recently been adopted in the summer by a local family after ending up in the foster system as a baby. She thought for a moment, looking down at the tiny three year old in front of her, sat cross legged and staring so hard at the floor that he was in danger of burning a hole into the carpet, and decided to give him the truth.

"You know, Sven, I don't have a daddy either"

Sven looked up at her then.

"Why?" he asked

"Well, he died when I was little. I just had my sister. It was hard sometimes but we never bit people" Anna told him, feeling a dull twinge in her chest as she looked into the little boys eyes and saw the same look of confusion and anger that had been present in her eyes for so many of her teenage years. She pulled him into her lap and he cuddled into her as she gave him a big hug.

"But you need to remember Bulda and Cliff love you so very much and they're going to look after you, just like they have with all your new brothers and sisters"

Sven didn't reply, just clutched to Anna. She lifted him and carried him back to her seat where they sat in silence as she held him close.

"You know" she whispered after a while "I am going to have to tell Bulda about this. We made that deal after you bit James"

"She's not picking me up" he told her "my brother is"

"Okay well I'll have to mention it to him, alright?"

Sven shrugged against her shoulder and was quiet again until it was time for dinner.

"What did Sven say?" Gerda asked when the class had been dismissed for lunch.

"I think he's struggling with the adoption" Anna said.

"The poor mite" Gerda sighed "he needs to stop the biting though"

"I know; I'm going to mention it to his brother when he picks him up this afternoon".

She couldn't be certain but it sounded like Gerda chuckled.

Home time came soon enough and the children gathered their coats. Parents were already waiting in the playground so Anna opened the door and began dismissing her class.

"Sven, will you please tell your brother I need to speak with him before you go?"

Sven nodded and hurried out into the sea of grown-ups. The final members of the class filed out and Anna turned back to pick up some dropped wellington boots when there was a voice behind her.

"Miss Arendal? Sven said you wanted to speak to me?"

Anna stood straight and turned to face the voice coming from the doorway. She froze and gazed up at the tall, muscular blonde, holding a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack and the hand of tiny little Sven. His black tee shirt was tight and outlined an impressive chest and his jeans were low enough that the waist band of his boxer shorts was just visible. His blonde hair fell into large, chocolate coloured eyes which stared back in to her own blue ones. She continued to stare at those eyes and began to feel as though she was floating.

"Miss Arendal?" he asked again, frowning slightly.

"Mmm? Oh! Yes! I, um, yes" she stammered, blushing furiously "It's about Sven. We caught him biting again today. We've given him plenty of chances, but I did say last time I would have to report home if it happened again"

The blonde's eyebrows furrowed and he sighed, before crouching to look Sven in the eye.

"Is this true, buddy?" he asked.

Sven nodded, looking at the floor again.

"We talked about this after you bit Melody in the garden, it can't happen. I think you need to apologise to Miss Arendal, she doesn't need to deal with you biting people; she already has a lot to do"

"I'm sorry Miss Arendal" Sven mumbled.

"It's okay, sweetheart" Anna said crouching too "but will you promise no more biting?"

"Yes" Sven replied.

"Good" she said

"Okay, bud, do you wanna head to the car? Your sisters already waiting for you"

Sven hurried off without another word leaving Anna alone with the blonde.

"I'm really sorry about this" the blonde said "he's just taking some time to settle, his last place was pretty rough"

"I totally understand" Anna told him.

"He doesn't really listen to my parents at the minute. He's still testing them. He seems to be doing okay with me though. Actually…" the blonde fished in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a crumpled receipt, smoothing it out slightly before picking up a red crayon from the side and scrawling on the scrap of paper "this is my number. I know you have my parent's number on the contact sheet but I'm working nearby at the minute so if you have any problems during the day, give me a ring and I'll come and talk to him"

"Thank you" Anna said, taking the paper and trying not to drown in those brown eyes again.

"Well I'd better get him home"

"Of course"

"I'll see you around Miss Arendal"

"Anna" she blurted before she could stop herself.

He smiled slightly and her stomach did a backflip. She felt her cheeks glowing and wished there was a human shape hole in the floor she could step in to and disappear.

"I'm Kristoff" he told her "well, see you!"

He left and Anna remained stood staring at the doorway for another five minutes before Gerda entered.

"Anna? Are you okay?" she asked, snapping Anna from her trance.

"Yes, I'm fine. I, uh, just talked to Sven's brother"

"I'm guessing by that expression it was the blonde"

Anna nodded.

"You might want to splash your face with cold water, girl. I can feel the heat all the way over here" Gerda laughed.