A/N: Hello! Thanks for checking out this story. Essentially, this is a dark story dealing with some heavier themes and scenes, but there will be a fair balance of fluff and, well, Anna. It's a ModernAU where Anna is a London Detective Inspector (DI) who's faced with a particular situation. Yes, there will be Elsanna but in a non-incest way since I probably wouldn't do them much justice. There will be other DinseyVerse characters. I will also try to put up warnings if anything trigger worthy will be mentioned in the chapters ahead.
Chapter 1: The Bane of Her Existence
Detective Inspector Anna Bunker sat at her cluttered desk, twirling her pen in an absent-minded manner.
Her gaze was unfocused, her mind going back over today's events.
They had finally managed to crack down the drug traffickers and, under Anna's watchful eye, arrested over twenty persons. They caught the gang red-handed, hand in a cookie jar, and a fresh batch of narcotics to prove their guilt. No barrister could undo what they brought on themselves. It wasn't as if the gang was careless, the contrary was true, however there wasn't a case that Inspector Bunker couldn't solve. She could always make the suspects talk, her charisma was what made her. Even through her initial awkwardness made the Superintendent doubt her, the Detective Chief Inspector, Kai Olhouser, vouched for her. Anna still owed him.
Suppose she'd have to thank him, not just for vouching for her.
Her friend and partner, Detective Sergeant Kristoff Bjorgman, had talked her into going to the celebratory party at one of the local pubs. Anna loved parties, she was the one who always dragged the grumpy old Kristoff out for a pint or two and a laugh amongst their friends, but as of recent she started to enjoy herself a lot less. Maybe it was because of how sourly her relationship with Hans ended, or maybe she was getting stuck in the routine of her previously energising work.
Identify suspects. Interrogate them. Track down any leads. Arrest anyone found guilty of the crime. Fill out the paperwork.
Her life lacked excitement and Kristoff realised that. He knew Anna better than she herself, and as much as it bothered her at times when she wanted privacy, it also brought her great comfort when words got stuck in her throat and her head seemed too heavy for her neck. She didn't have to tell him what was on her mind – he knew. It was the same for her, a look and she knew everything. Her cousin, Rapnuzel, often teased her about their near telepathic connection.
'When's the wedding, ging?' she would ask her, a suggestive smirk tugging at her lips. All Anna could do was stare at her.
The two knew each other since they were 15, meeting when Anna had to change schools after her parent's death left her family-less and essentially without a roof over her head back in London. Her aunt and uncle, who lived in Liverpool, were kind enough to take her in with their daughter doing her Masters, but it was never the same. It seemed that only Kristoff really got her, he who lost his parents so long ago that their faces began to fade like old photographs.
They were close, yes, and Anna knew that Kristoff loved her more than a sister or a friend – that he wanted to be able to hold her and kiss her and make her feel right. But she just couldn't bring herself to love him like he loved her, they tried and it failed. The blond gracefully settled for picking up her broken heart each time a careless boy or girl dropped it and, on occasion, set fire to it. He settled for wiping away her tears and soothing her ache with kind words and chocolate.
There's something wrong with me, any sane person would go for and stick with Kristoff. Sure maybe he's a bit of a gruff and could do with a shower every now and again, and maybe he likes reindeers a little bit too much, but he's a sweetheart.
Anna sighed quietly. There was no point in thinking such thoughts, it'd do her better to at least pretend she was excited for tonight.
The redhead glanced up at the clock placed precariously on top of the metal file drawer.
4:55
Nearly another hour before her shift ended.
She let her eyes trail down to the brown file laying on her desk. Then dragged them up to the mountain of paperwork glaring down at her from their semi-circle formation around the file.
Her meeting with the Chief Inspector had dragged on longer than she would've liked and she got into her office not even five minutes ago. The minute she walked out of Chief Inspector's office, however, it seemed like the entire station wanted to talk to her. She found herself in midst of sea of bodies which clapped her shoulders, shook her hands and told her how well she's done putting them 'thugs' behind the bars, how they won't corrupt the youth. How proud her parents would've been.
Anna cleared her throat before the lump there got too big to swallow and the stinging of her eyes incapacitated her eyesight. She accepted all pleasantries and praises with a broad smile that didn't reach her eyes and escaped to her office under the pretence of completing her paperwork.
The Inspector loved her work, and keeping the streets crime-free and reinforcing the law brought her a sense of completion that was never truly there after her parents perished. She was crushing down the violence before it could sink it's teeth and destroy another person's life, that was her reason to even bother to come in some days. It was her goal at least, realistically, she knew that lives would continue be violated and cruelly ended no matter what she did or how much of it she did.
'If it helps at least one person though', she would say, 'what's the harm.'
Yes, she loved her job, but the thing she loathed more than unnecessary violence was the never-ending paperwork. It was the bane of her existence, the thorn in her side. And if she ever caved in, lost it all beyond a shadow of a doubt, it would be all paperwork's fault.
Anna stared at the mountain.
The mountain stared back.
It was a ritual of Anna's, the Stare-Down. She never won but at least it gave her some sort of motivation to actually do her work.
She brushed a lose strand of her hair behind her ear and looked down, she lost once again.
She only did the paperwork to prove something to herself – maybe she couldn't win the Stare-Down but she could conquer the mountain, scale the sides, stick her flag in it and topple it. She owned it and how dare it even challenge her.
I should start before Kristoff gets here, the redhead glanced up at the formidable white body and with a dejected sigh, grabbed the least mean looking stack.
She took a deep breath and clicked her pen.
And she's off.
Anna Bunker worked and worked, pen flying over the pristine white surfaces. She slaved over the masses of white, one hand entangled in her fiery locks, brows furrowed in concentration and lips clutched between her teeth. She was certain no other colour but white and black existed in the universe. All that mattered was her pen and the pages. They became her best friend, lover, her everything for the next hour.
Signature here, signature there.
Stamp down here, maybe there.
Repeat until everything was done.
Kristoff could wait a bit if there was more papers to sign, to write out more reports or to reread rookie DC reports. He knew that she cared about her work, and she knew if she took too long he wouldn't quibble about dragging her out of the office by the scruff of her neck. It was yet to happen, but Anna knew the day it did, it would be the mark of her caving in. The corner of her lip lifted in a half-amused, half-bitter smirk at the image of the 6'4'' Kristoff carrying the kicking, screaming, 5'4'' Anna over his shoulder while avoiding getting an elbow or a knee in the face.
Anna dragged her blue eyes across the darkened wall to the clock on the drawer.
6:18
Her eyebrows lifted. Blue eyes darted down to her desk only to discover that her 'inbox' side of her desk was void of any whiteness. She scribbled her signature hastily at the bottom of the page and set the document alongside it's fallen brothers. She has won. She was the queen.
Her lips lifted into a wide grin and her eyes brightened with joy. She jumped out of her chair with near childlike glee. A giggle escaped her mouth, her eyes squeezed shut and her fist punched the air.
"Score one for Anna! Beat that paperwork!" she laughed. Her joy accented with a jump into the air.
She ran around the chair, peeling her coat off the back of it and pushed it with her hip while trying to stuff her arm through the sleeve. She grabbed her keys from the desk to place them between her lips and spun around on her heels fluidly to face the door. Her legs made a beeline for the closed obstruct and she managed to stuff her other arm into the sleeve before yanking the door open. The other hand flicking the light switch off in the office. She closed the doors behind her and locked it quickly.
She skipped down the nearly desolate halls of the station. Her shoes clicking against the stone floor as she made her way to the elevators. She couldn't wipe the grin off her face, she was mentally pumping herself about the night ahead of her while congratulating herself for finishing her work in under half an hour after her shift finished. Anna hit the call button for the elevator and hummed as she dug in her pocket for her phone. She looked at the screen to see she had a new message. With a swift swipe of her thumb she unlocked the screen and clicked into messages.
Unmanly Blond, 6:13
Hey, I'll be waiting for you down in the garage don't take too long.
She chuckled and started typing a message.
On my way now.
The Inspector hit send as the elevator arrived with a ding. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and stepped into the polished metal and wood cabin, pressing the button to take her down to the garage. She leaned against the polished metal railing as she waited for the elevator doors to close.
The descent downwards to the garages was quick and the elevator once again produced the overtly chirpy ding when it arrived. Anna stepped out of cabin and started looking for her hulking friend. She hummed as she continued looking for Kristoff and when she finally spotted his silhouette leaning against his dark BMV, she skipped over greet him.
"Have you been here for long?" she said in a way of a greeting.
The blond man turned around to look at her. He grinned.
"Not as long as usual," Anna approached, "c'mon, I told 'Punzel and Sven we'll be there by seven."
He stalked to the driver's side and slipped inside, Anna wasted no time and followed suit. She giggled when she seated herself inside the car, the silly reindeer toy still hung from his rearview mirror. Her mirth only intensified when Kristoff told her to be quiet and to belt up in his best grumpy voice.
They pulled out of the garage and made their way down to Kristoff's place quickly and efficiently. He swivelled in between the traffic with ease, avoiding the jams by going through the back alleys, as if he lived in London all his life and not just four years. They managed to arrive under his terraced house in less than 15 minutes. Anna's mood only brightened along the way as the two shared their normal banter.
The two Detectives climbed out of the car and the redhead bounded up the steps to open the front door with her spare key. She left the door open for Kristoff before he could ask her to.
Her coat was thrown on the sofa, and she grabbed her clothes bag and headed for the bathroom to get changed. She ignored Kristoff's demands to not take too long when she locked the bathroom door.
She glanced around the bathroom while setting her down bag on the toilet seat. She laughed when she spotted a new set of towels that was set out.
Bloody reindeers! She fingered the soft cotton like it was the finest silk and allowed a more tender smile to don her face.
Quickly snapping out of her admiring-your-towels-trance, Anna changed into the clothes she picked out earlier that day and managed to put on a bit of make-up and to refresh herself before Kristoff's heavy fist knocked on the bathroom door.
"'Mon, I'm gonna leave without you!"
Before Kristoff had a chance to make fun of her for taking too long, she flung the doors open.
Kristoff stared, mouth hanging open, and seeing Anna raising her brow at him in a questioning manner, he cleared his throat.
"We gotta get going," he looked down his feet quickly, refusing to look at her, and nearly ran for the front door.
Anna was at his side quickly, darting down the London streets in a brisk walk-run. A hint of confusion overtook Anna's mind, why was Kristoff refusing to look at her? She wasn't wearing anything special, nothing gobsmacking. Just a pair of jeans, a black tank top, a leather jacket and a pair of old worn boots. Her make-up was minimal too, nothing special. She gasped internally. Maybe it was because she looked so plain he didn't want to look at her, he probably had this image of her in his mind where she's a drop dead-gorgeous seductress who would pounce at him the minute either allowed themselves that pleasure.
She shook her head. No way. Kristoff's known me since forever, he knows I wouldn't fancy up just to go out to a pub. Speaking of pubs...
"Where are we going to exactly?" she looked around. They had passed their usual place but the hulking man made no indication of stopping.
"Oaken's. It's only a few more minutes away." He replied quickly and slowed down his pace to fish his phone out of his pocket. "We'll make it there alright." He turned to give her a smile.
She smiled back.
The two settled back into their usual playful banter, any signs of sexual frustration (on Kristoff's part) and sheer confusion were quickly dispensed in favour of a good night. And Anna firmly decided in her mind that she was not looking to meet her true love out tonight.
"Here we are!" the two stopped to look at the establishment.
Oaken's was a large enough corner pub with a rustic feeling to it, but as they approached it, Anna could hear the undeniable thump thump of basses coming from the interior of the pub. She eyed it cautiously and went ahead of Kristoff who grumbled something about her being impatient.
Best to get it out of the way.
She turned to Kristoff and shouted at him to follow her least he wanted everyone to know about his new reindeer towels. She watched as he spluttered out an indignant response with a grin and couldn't help but to laugh at her friend's embarrassment.
She urged him again and when she saw he was following her she pushed the door open, still laughing and poking fun at her friend.
And promptly froze mid-motion.
At the bar, nursing a glass, sat a Goddess.