Six Years Ago – Connecticut

"Why do you always hate my boyfriends?" Anna snapped angrily at Elsa, as her probably soon-to-be-ex boyfriend Trevor practically ran out the door.

"I don't hate your boyfriends," Elsa protested weakly. "I mean, well this one, Travis-"

"Trevor!"

"Sorry, Trevor. I mean, what do you even see in him? He was kind of, well…lame."

"Lame?" Anna repeated, her voice rising.

"I mean, he said he planned to major in Sports Management so he could get a job with the NFL," Elsa scoffed. "That's not a reliable goal."

"That doesn't make him lame. And that doesn't give you the right to grill him on it or ask him if he's considered 'alternatives for all viable outcomes'," Anna argued, even though she completely agreed with Elsa. "I mean, who does that?"

Even though Trevor had basically proven himself to be a total bore, it didn't make it okay for Elsa to treat him like he was some sort of pond-feeding peasant scum. Also, she was always like that. Anna didn't expect Elsa to suddenly develop an outgoing, gregarious personality when she brought people home but it would be nice if she could at least maintain some sense of civility. Anna punctuated her outburst by storming out of the room in a well-rehearsed dramatic fashion.

She felt guilty almost instantly. After all, Elsa had basically sidelined her own life to take care of Anna after their parents died a year ago. She had given up basically a full scholarship to Columbia to attend night classes at the nearby community college while working packing boxes at a nearby warehouse during the day. Their parents had left a sizeable inheritance but Elsa insisted on working to make sure the money would last until Anna was out of college.

Anna sighed and decided she would apologize to Elsa in a bit. After all, they only had each other now. Admittedly, she also kind of enjoyed the way Elsa treated her like a precious crown jewel. It was nice to feel that special.

Later, she ran into Elsa after the shower and apologized in earnest for her earlier outburst. Elsa, who had looked more worried than upset, relaxed and accepted with no hesitation. The older girl had never been able to stay mad at Anna for long. The redhead smiled widely and pulled Elsa towards her for a warm hug.

It was funny how just a look could change everything. No, not even a look: a glance. It was nothing more than the barest flicker of eyes and the slightest flush of cheeks. A normal person might not have noticed the glance, but Anna had spent her life watching her sister. She probably knew her sister better than Elsa knew herself. Following the glance, Anna noticed the towel she had wrapped around her had slipped exposing a significant amount of cleavage.

In her room later, Anna sat on her bed, dwelling on that look. It was the same look she caught sometimes on boys at school. But Elsa was her sister. There was no way Elsa thought about her like that. I mean, they were from Connecticut, not West Virginia. Not only that, they were both girls. Not that girls couldn't like other girls. But not her sister. Her sister didn't like anyone and had never once in all twenty years of her life expressed any interest in dating. In fact, Anna had never remembered Elsa even talking about a crush. She didn't seem to like anyone – or even people in general.

She likes you. Anna flushed at the ridiculous thought. It probably was nothing. No, it was nothing. Anna resolved to forget about the look.

Except she couldn't. Anna found herself watching Elsa even more closely. She dumped Trevor the next day and made a theatrical display that night to Elsa about the death of her teenage love. Elsa spent the night cheering Anna up, baking cookies with her and watching really old romance movies that Anna loved and Elsa usually hated.

Anna found herself cuddling up close to Elsa, leaning her head on the older girl's shoulder. She peeked surreptitiously at Elsa throughout the evening, wondering if she was imagining that Elsa seemed much happier than in the prior few weeks whilst Anna was dating Trevor.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about Elsa's behavior as they sat on the couch, but Anna couldn't stop thinking about this strange possibility that her sister liked her. The idea possessed her. She knocked on the door of Elsa's bedroom that night holding her pillow.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" Anna asked innocently. There was a tiny twitch at the corner of Elsa's right eye which meant she was uncomfortable. Anna felt a small thrill at this discovery.

"Anna, aren't we a little old-"

"Please? Elsa~" Anna whined, throwing her best impression of pleading doe eyes at her sister. Elsa sighed and opened the door. She never could say no to Anna. Anna suddenly wondered if that was another bullet in the "Elsa might have the hots for you" list.

Anna wasn't sure what she was doing, to be honest. She just had to know if her theory was right. That was all. She was just a scientist collecting data. Anna pretended to fall asleep next to Elsa, then rolled over, draping an arm over Elsa. She registered the slight tensing of Elsa's body before actually falling asleep against the warmth of her sister's back.

The experiments continued for over a week. She changed frequently in front of Elsa. Made sure to walk around the house after her showers in the towel. She touched Elsa – a lot. They even had their first pillow fight in years. On some level, Anna was aware of how insane she was acting, but she couldn't stop it.

Her whole life, she had looked up to her sister. Elsa, the smart, beautiful, graceful older sister. It wasn't something silly like an inferiority complex. Elsa had never once made Anna feel inferior. It was more of the fact that Anna spent her life in the presence of a celestial being who never seemed to do anything wrong which made Anna feel weird in her normalcy. In turn, this made this potential quirk of Elsa's somewhat fascinating.

No, it was just a stupid look. It didn't mean anything. Anna resolved that she would cease this madness. There was nothing to prove. There was no way Elsa liked her in that way. Elsa was just the same as always. Her big sister. Her only family. Anna would get over this and stop acting like an absolute idiot.

"Elsa, are you good at kissing?" Anna blurted out that night as they sat on the couch together watching Grey's Anatomy.

"What the fuck Anna?" Elsa cursed uncharacteristically. "What kind of question is that?"

"Um," Anna panicked slightly as she tried to find a good explanation for asking this. "It's just that um, Trevor said I wasn't good at kissing."

Elsa's expression softened and she reached out and gently rubbed Anna on the head comfortingly. "Oh, Anna. Trevor was a loser who didn't deserve you. He's not worth you being so upset for this long."

"I know that it's just," Anna started, then she stopped as she had a thought and looked Elsa in the eyes. Don't say that stupid thought. Don't say it. Remember, stop the madness. Don't say it. Anna said it. "Could you kiss me?"

"What?" Elsa began to laugh, then stopped abruptly at the expression on Anna's face. "What? Anna, you're joking right?"

If Anna hadn't detected a slight sound of nervousness in Elsa's voice at that moment, she probably would have stopped. But she knew Elsa too well, had watched her for too long and her mind still couldn't shake the memory of the look on Elsa's face that time.

"Elsa, you're the only person I can trust," Anna said. This was wrong. She needed to stop this right now before they crossed into some terrible point of no return. It wasn't worth it. Even if Elsa did like her like that, what would it matter? She didn't like Elsa that way. They were sisters. It's not like they could date.

"Anna," Elsa said softly sounding ridiculously uncomfortable and shy. Anna felt a giddy rush of power course through her. These provocations, these experiments, they were exposing a side of Elsa that Anna had never seen.

"Come on Elsa, it's just a kiss," Anna pleaded, keeping her tone light. And before Elsa could react or run away, Anna leaned over and kissed her.

Elsa's eyes widened in shock and Anna felt her stiffen. Regret flooded Anna and she wondered if she had gone too far for the sake of her experiment. Elsa didn't seem to be enjoying this and Anna was actually a pretty good kisser (at least she thought so).

But then as Anna was about to pull away, Elsa's hand reached up and gripped the front of her t-shirt. Elsa's lips pressed with a hungry fervor against Anna's own, tongue darting out and teasing against Anna's as she kissed her back.

Anna reached up and tangled her hands in Elsa's hair, pulling her more firmly against her. Anna moaned as Elsa's tongue slipped between her lips, exploring her mouth.

Who the fuck had Elsa been kissing? Anna wondered. Elsa was awfully good at this for someone who had never dated anyone before. Actually what the hell are you doing? You're kissing Elsa. The thought jarred Anna back to reality. She pulled away suddenly, her hands coming down and pushing weakly against Elsa's shoulders. Elsa sat back, her expression dazed, one hand raised absently up to her lips.

"Um, so, that wasn't bad, right?" Anna said, laughing. She wondered if the laugh sounded as fake to Elsa as it did to her.

"I don't know. Yes, I mean no!" Elsa stammered, jerking her hand stiffly to her side. Elsa looked like a skittish gazelle from one of those nature documentaries with the British narrators.

There was that feeling again. That euphoric high of knowing she had this kind of power over her sister. Elsa's face was flushed a deep red which was ridiculously cute. "So you liked it?" Anna asked teasingly.

"Yes, no, er that is…" Elsa sounded absolutely beside herself. Anna smiled and reached out to brush a stray strand of platinum blonde hair out of Elsa's face. Elsa gave her a wane smile before she softly said, "Trevor's clearly an idiot."

"Thanks, Elsa," Anna said and hugged her.

That night Anna lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She was fairly certain that she had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Elsa was pretty into her in that way. So what now?