The grip on her wrist tightened gradually and then softened a few moments later. It had been that way for about five minutes and she was sure that if it had been someone else other than Anna, she would have left the room. Still, seeing the redhead in pain as she reclined back and flinched more often than she should have, made Elsa want to convince her to not go through with the rest.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Anna managed to get out through a few struggling breathes. Elsa was sure she said that after seeing the look of worry on her face. More than worried though, Elsa was surprised. She could not believe Anna was really going through with it.
"You're almost done," Elsa replied after nodding. She wasn't just about to discourage Anna from doing something she insisted on doing ever since she came up with it right on the spot.
Soon after their wedding, they made their way to Europe, traveling to every small country, popular city or any place that Anna insisted on, really. The blonde wasn't very fond of traveling lately, what with all the work travel she was forced to do, but having Anna next to her made the nagging habit all the better. They'd been to Portugal where the beach greeting them happily and Anna's skin seem more radiating than ever. The South of France also had its appeal; having Elsa wonder why she didn't do this more often. Anna looked so carefree and happy. The view was even more splendid but nothing stood a chance against Anna's wide smile and silly dances as they walked along the shoreline. Italy had been quite the ride, with its many touristic places but still, no matter how many beautiful places they visited, Elsa could not take her eyes away from her wife.
And now here they were, Anna gripping Elsa's hand with an incredible force and Elsa patiently waiting for the tattoo artist to finish. She knew Anna was crazy and spontaneous, but she did not understand why she wanted to put herself through that pain just to symbolize their love for each other. It was ridiculous, but still the blonde didn't object. She'd do anything Anna asked of her – expect for anything she might be against.
No. She probably would do that too.
She was head over heels and luckily for her, Anna seemed to be somewhat oblivious to that fact. She'd start a war if Anna only asked.
"Wir sind hier fertig," The tattoo artist's spoke and Elsa's thoughts were interrupted as Anna stood up and checked herself in one of the mirrors.
"What do you think?" The redhead asked absent-mindedly.
"I think that you're really brave for choosing to get a tattoo in your rib cage area." The blonde admitted.
Anna continued to stare at the mirror and shifted ever so slightly to have a better look as she continued to speak, "well, I figured the left side would be less painful than the frontal area."
"Hmm," the blonde admired and found Anna's serious expression somewhat humorous. "Care to explain the exact meaning of the tattoo?"
Anna noticed Elsa's smug smile and ran to her side to embrace her, wrapping her arms around her neck, her lips landing close to the blonde's ears. "I told you," she whispered, "it represents us." She let go to look back at the blonde's face and was met with a raised eyebrow.
"Care to elaborate?"
Anna smiled. She let go of Elsa and went back to staring at the mirror while at the same time remaining by her side. "You have a snowflake," she used her index finger to point at Elsa's collarbone. The blonde shifted her eyes down and followed the movement of Anna's finger to where it landed on her skin. "And I have half of that, but if there's anything I've learned from the past years is that we're almost completely opposites."
"And that explains the half sun." Elsa offered and the redhead nodded and smiled.
"Ready to get out of here?"
Though the trip across Europe managed to change Elsa's mind about travel, it was time for both of them to return home. Their month abroad had been nothing but amazing and if they had the chance to do it all over again neither of them would object.
"It's hard to believe that was a month," Anna commented in between yawns as they both picked up their bags from the airport. She had tried hard not to stay in the same timezone she'd been for the past weeks but failed horribly after Elsa's calm voice lulled her to sleep while the blonde reminisced some of their travels.
"You're telling me. That felt like at most two weeks." She looked down and smiled at Anna who had taken the liberty to stop in the middle of the airport just to place her head on Elsa's shoulder and close her eyes. "Don't fall asleep quite yet, it's barely noon," the blonde said after looking down at her watch. Anna made a weird noise as a sign of protest and Elsa couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on, let's grab a cab." She dragged the redhead to one of the exits.
Luckily for them, not many other people were also in search for a taxi. Elsa was sure if that was the case Anna would have been nagging at her for not choosing another alternative.
"You know? I could just have asked Kristoff to come get us," Anna offered as if on cue. Elsa couldn't hide the hint of a smile across her face. "Or, you could have gotten one of your company cars."
Elsa stretched her arm and motioned for Anna to give her the suitcase so she could place it on the back of the taxi. "That's true but," she made an effort to make it fit along with her stuff. "-I would feel obligated to go back to work and I'm not quite ready for that yet." She slammed the trunk of the car.
"Mmm... you're right," Anna ran to hug the blonde's waist and snuggle her head against her chest. "I don't want you to go back to work yet, we still have a few days left before our obligations kick us in the face. Why are you laughing?"
"I'm trying hard not to imagine what our obligations kicking us in the face would look like."
Anna nudged the blonde's upper arm as they both slid into the back seat. "You know what I mean," she rolled her eyes. "Besides, we'll be babysitting for the weekend, remember?"
"How could I forget? Ygrette couldn't stop reminding me even during our honeymoon."
"Ah, so that explains all the emails you got," Anna said, matter-of-factly. Elsa's only response was a raised eyebrown and questioning smirk. "Can you blame me for being a little jealous of not having your attention?" Anna admitted.
Elsa laughed and shook her head. "First of all, yes that was Ygrette and," she raised her index finger, "some work emails but in my defense I never responded to one of them. Though I did have a look at the just to see if they were important or of dire emergency. Secondly, you have my attention even when it doesn't seem like I'm paying attention. Go ahead, test me."
"God," the redhead bit her lower lip. "You're so sexy when you're serious and trying to prove a point."
"I can't believe you," Elsa sighed humorously, "Why don't you take a nap while we get home? I think you need it."
"Ah, I see how it is. Now you want me to go to sleep?"
"No, no," the blonde protested. "Believe me, even if I didn't, we both know you'd fall asleep on me."
"As usual, you're right. Wake me up when we get home." Anna pouted.
They both awoke with the sound of a phone ringing. After much shifting, turning and trying to ignore the loud ringtone, Elsa gave in and opened her eyes. Anna stretched next to her. "Is that your phone?" The redhead asked.
"Mhm," the blonde nodded and squint her eyes as she looked through her phone. It was clearly late as the sun was out and a few strips of sunlight managed to come in through the few gaps in the window curtains. "Guess who?"
"Your sister." Anna didn't have to think long to figure that one out.
"Yup. Let me call her back." The blonde stood up and headed out of the room while Anna stayed laying down and rubbing her eyes. Even after two days the jet lag still had an effect on them.
Anna gave in to the temptation of indulging. Sure she could get up and work out, take a shower and then grab breakfast but at the moment nothing sounded better than staying in bed. It was well deserved after all. Technically, they were still in their honeymoon and they wouldn't go back to work until Monday which was still two days away. She had to admit though, the trip, although a bit exhausting, was magical and couldn't have come any sooner.
Having the wedding two years and a half after Elsa proposed had certainly been the opposite of ideal but it turned out that Elsa's position at North Aim required quite the commitment and of course Anna had been nothing but understanding. If there was anything she had learned about their dynamic relationship was that 1) she had to be patient with Elsa and 2) the blonde always kept her word. So even if their wedding was far away, her heart still fluttered just at the thought of marrying Elsa. Of course planning the honeymoon was also a challenge but they managed even if it meant having it a few months after the wedding but there they were, about to complete the whole wedding and honeymoon experience.
"I just got off the phone with Ygrette. They're about five minutes away," Elsa interrupted Anna's train of thought as she walked back into the room.
"Aw, I was hoping I could sleep in a bit longer." Anna yawned and stretched.
Elsa walked towards the bed and sat next to her. "I guess it's true what they say, huh? Old habits do die hard."
"I'm surprised you're barely bringing this up, I found it particularly hard to wake up in Germany, and France, and Portugal and literally everywhere."
"Yes, I believe that. But go head into the shower, I'll take care of our special guest in the meantime."
Anna groaned and then remained in silence for a little bit until she opened her eyes to stare at the girl next to her. "Are you sure?"
"It's not rocket science you know. Besides, dealing with a toddler can't be as difficult as dealing with some board members."
"You've got a point there. Alright then, I won't be long." With that, Anna stood up, stretched one final time and headed for the shower.
When she got out and managed to get herself dressed, she made her way downstairs into the living room where Elsa and the three year old Adgar sat playing with one of his toys.
"Well, well, well. Look who's here. My favorite nephew of all time!" Anna ran playfully towards the toddler and lifted him up playfully as soon as she grabbed him. "I guess mommy and daddy were in a hurry?"
"Ygrette mentioned being late as it was and of course they couldn't decide on how much stuff they really needed to bring for a three-year old kid so she and Kristoff spent the majority of the morning packing an extra suitcase." Elsa averted her eyes towards the front door where two suitcases stood.
"Wow, two suitcases for two days? They do realize we're not going on vacation right? They are the ones who will be traveling." Anna said as she continued to play with Adgar.
"Apparently they're the overprotective kind of parents."
"Doesn't surprise me. Now, Adgar? What do you say about breakfast?"
The kid nodded his head before Elsa could speak up, she did it anyway. "You do realize it is now more closer to lunch than it is to breakfast, right?"
"Shh," Anna whispered as they walked hand in hand passed the blonde. "Don't burst his bubble! Or mine!"
The weekend progressed quite nicely even though they both tried to ignore the fact that their lives would go back to normal again. They were succeeding so far, considering that watching Adgar had proved to be much more entertaining than they both imagined it go be.
They sat in the porch, watching as Adgar tried to mount one of the teddy bears that was given to him, waiting for the sunset. Kristoff and Ygrette would be back in a few hours to pick up their son. Knowing them, it would probably be less than that since they could not stay away from their son for that long. If it were up to them, they'd take the kid with then during the business travels but fortunately they understood that it wasn't ideal.
"I want one of those," Elsa broke the silence.
Anna turned to her, not fully understanding what she meant. Was there a part if the conversation she had missed? "Pardon?"
"I think I want a kid," Elsa's eyes met teal ones. "What do you think?"
A huge smile was spread across Anna's face. "I can't believe you're bringing this up."
"I can't quite tell if that's a positive reaction or a negative one."
"Oh, positive. Definitely positive. I'd want nothing more than have a family with you." Anna's excitement was apparent in every cell of her body. "Well, a bigger family that is."
"Can you imagine us? With a child, I mean."
Anna took a sip of her tea before responding. "Honestly, now I can't shake the image of you with a baby out of my head. I love it. Plus," she diverted her eyes towards Adgar, "I've seen you. You're really good with him."
Elsa reached out to hold Anna's hand. "Seems like we have some planning to do then."
"Can you believe Adgar didn't want to leave? He wanted to stay with aunt Anna and aunt Elsa for a longer time." Anna said as she came into Elsa's office. The blonde was searching for something on one of the desk drawers.
"Aw, how sweet. And sorry I couldn't be there to say goodbye. I've already got people calling me for work."
"Well," Anna walked in and sat in one of the chairs facing the blonde. "You're a very demanded person so it doesn't surprise me."
Elsa had yet to look up at Anna but continued to carry the conversation anyway. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I'm also trying to be optimistic but as much as I love my job, I love spending time with you a lot more."
"Hmm," Elsa looked up for a second to lock eyes with Anna. She gave her a smile and went back to searching. "I could say the same and hey, I was thinking."
"What's that?"
"We spend way too much apart. Maybe we should change our schedules and dedicate more time to ourselves. I mean, I can do that but I wasn't sure if you could."
Anna smiled. "I like the sound of that, and of course-" She was about to comment on her ability to change her schedule before Elsa slid a small box her way. "What's this?"
Elsa sat back, crossed her arms across her chest and reclined against the chair. "Open it," Anna did so, not entirely sure about what she was supposed to be looking at.
The redhead gasped, flipping through small paper notes from years ago. "I can't believe you kept these. It's been ages."
"I know. I had to keep them. If it weren't for those notes, well... We probably wouldn't have spoken to each other again nor remained roommates nor... Well, we probably wouldn't be where we are now."
"We probably wouldn't be as happy as we are now," Anna added. "I'm glad you kept these."
"Oh, but wait," Elsa grabbed another piece of paper from her desk and handed it to her. "There's one more."
"My dearest Anna," the redhead began to read the note out loud. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life next to you. I love you, Elsa."
"Brings back memories, huh?"
Anna nodded. "I love you too." She folded the note and placed it along with the others in the small box. "You make me really happy."
