AN: Thanks for all of the support this story has gotten so far! Also, in case you were wondering, Kristoff will be coming in the next couple of chapters.
"Jesus," Hans exclaimed, "He's not fucking around, is he?"
"No," Elsa said, putting her head in her hands, "And I have absolutely no idea what I should do about it."
Hans had returned with Anna, only to find Elsa crumpled and crying on the couch. He left Anna with Fitz and took Elsa to the café down the street to calm her down. She recounted the whole story, feeling her already brittle psyche cracking apart at the seams with each word she spoke. By the time she was done, Hans was livid and Elsa was on the verge of tears.
They sat in silence for a while, neither of them sure of what to say.
"Well," Hans said, "You are going to meet with the social worker, right?"
Elsa nodded, "Yes. I talked to someone from the agency a few minutes before you got there. They had to assign a new worker. Apparently the one assigned to our family before had been covering up a lot of what was going on. So I won't be meeting with anyone until next week."
"Okay, that's a start," he said, biting his lip in concentration, "But you're going to need to do more than that. I mean, I'm not even in the field of family law, but I have friends who are. And these agencies are vicious, especially when there's been an error on their end that they could be liable for." He leaned forward, lowering his voice, "You just have to make sure there's nothing for them to complain about."
"How do I do that?"
He sat back and exhaled, "Well, that depends on your social worker. There's strict guidelines you're going to have to meet to be a foster parent, if you're serious about this."
Her spine stiffened at the words 'foster parent.'
"At this point, that's what you want to be," he offered as a response.
She blinked, looking down into her cup of coffee.
"I will warn you, some adults with steady jobs and housing have trouble being foster parents," he said, his words even and absolute, "The rules are strict and if you fuck up even one of them, they move the kid right out. You're a young, financially unstable college student; the fact that they even let you keep her for the time being means you're already under a microscope. It's not going to be easy, if even possible."
"I thought you said you weren't into family law," she said weakly.
He shrugged, "I took a class on it at some point."
She sighed, her voice cracking, "Who am I fooling? I can't do this. One visit from a social worker will show that I'm not equipped to deal with this, and she'll be gone."
"Well," Hans said, weighing his words carefully, "Just fake it, in that case. Make the place look nice. Tell Anna to behave. Muster up some fake courage. It'll at least get you in the door."
She looked up from her mug, trying to process everything that was happening. Foster care. Social workers. Guidelines and regulations. Foster parenting.
"I can't tell you for sure what's going to happen," he said after a while, "But I'm here if you do need anything. I hope you know that."
She nodded, her mouth suddenly unable to form words or coherent thoughts.
As much as she wanted to believe him, she knew that at the end of the day, she was in this on her own.
xXx
"Why do I hafta wear this?" Anna asked, pulling at the hem of her dress.
"Stop it," Elsa said, scrambling from the counter, taking the fabric out of her hand and straightening it back up, "I told you, Anna. Someone's coming over today and we have to look presentable."
"Why?"
Elsa sighed, exasperated. "Anna, please, I don't have time for this right now."
The older girl stood up, rushing around her apartment to make sure everything was clean and organized. She had no idea what exactly to expect, but figured that cleanliness was a virtue they sought in their potential foster parents.
"Elsa, can we play?" The girl asked, tugging at Elsa's pant leg.
"No, we cannot," she said, throwing the last of the paper plates into a trash bag.
"But I'm boooooored," the girl whined.
"Anna," Elsa groaned, "Why don't you sit on the couch and read? And don't make a mess and don't move any of the pillows."
The younger girl walked away, mocking her sister under her breath. Elsa chose to ignore her, more concerned about the apartment being orderly.
A knock on the door came as she struggled with a pile of clothes.
"She said she wouldn't be here until two," Elsa muttered, shoving the clothes into a laundry basket and sprinting towards the door.
"Who is it?"
"Elsa Anderson? I'm here from the Department of Children and Families."
Her fingers trembled over the deadbolt as she tried to suppress the panic swelling in her stomach. She opened the door and was met by a tall woman with long hazel hair and a gray pant suit.
"Elsa?" she asked, her hands secure around her purse.
"Yes, that's me," the girl said, trying to mask the worry in her voice.
The woman extended her hand, a warm smile on her face, "Hello, I'm Josephine Corona. Nice to meet you, Ms. Anderson."
Elsa stood still, caught off guard by how sweet the woman appeared to be. She shook her head and made herself take the hand in front of her, "N—nice to meet you too, Mrs. Corona."
"Please," she responded, chuckling, "You can call me Josephine. Mrs. Corona makes me sound like a stuffy older woman."
Elsa felt herself relaxing at the woman's gentle nature, which she certainly had not expected. Josephine's smile waned a little as she eyed the interior of the apartment.
"Oh!" Elsa said, stepping away from the door, "Sorry. Uh, please, come in." She took deep breaths as the woman stepped through the doorframe and into the hall. She followed her into the living room, where Anna was seated on the couch, one of the pillows tossed to the floor.
'Anna, for God's sakes,' Elsa spat in her head.
The social worker paid it absolutely no mind, walking over to the younger girl.
"You must be Anna," she said, sitting on an adjacent cushion.
Anna examined her in that way she had, trying to decide if she trusted her or not.
"Are you the social worker?" she asked after a minute.
"Yes, yes I am," Josephine responded.
"But you're not old or fat."
Elsa smacked her palm against her forehead.
'Anna, please, I'm begging you.'
Josephine just laughed her off, petting her on the head, "You're a sweetie, you know that?"
"Yes," Anna said, turning her attention back to her book, "I know."
"If you don't mind," Josephine said, standing up, "I'm just going to take a look around real quick."
"Oh, oh yes. By all means," Elsa said, gesturing to the hallway, "Kitchen's to your right, bathroom's to your left."
With a nod, Josephine strode down the hall, taking her time to examine every inch of the place. Elsa grabbed the book out of Anna's hands and tucked it behind the night stand.
"Hey!" the girl cried.
Elsa shushed her, "Anna, it's rude to do that when we have company over."
Anna pouted, crossing her arms, "I didn't ask her to come."
Elsa rolled her eyes, leaning back on the couch. She didn't even have the energy to stop Anna from digging her book back up and resume reading, as if Elsa hadn't just told her not to.
She didn't even realize when Josephine was standing over her again. She said nothing as the woman sat on Anna's other side. The young girl paid her no mind, intently focused on reading.
"Quite the little book worm, is she?" Josephine asked, directing a smile at Elsa.
"Oh, yes," she replied, grinning, "I can't ever get her to stop."
Josephine sat closer to Anna, not taking the girl's cold shoulder as a hint.
"What are you reading?" she asked.
Anna looked up, blinking in surprise.
'Please Anna, be polite, be cordial, don't say anything stupid.'
"I don't know what it is," she answered, closing the cover of her book, "It's got a bunch of fairy tales in it though."
"Oh, my daughter loved those when she was your age as well," she said, "She'd read the same few over and over again. Her favorite was always Rapunzel, the one she was named after."
"Your daughter's name's Rapunzel?"
"Yes."
Anna squinted, "That's weird."
Elsa face palmed.
But Josephine only laughed, smoothing Anna's hair back, "Yeah, a little."
Her nerves were getting the better of her, and she wanted to make sure she had a chance before Anna blew it for her.
"Anna?" Elsa said, urging her up, "Why don't you go to the bathroom."
"But I don't hafta pee," she said up to Elsa.
"Anna," she said through her teeth, "Please?"
The girl shrugged and skipped off the bathroom. Elsa didn't let her breath go until she heard the door shut.
"So," she said, looking at the social worker with a nervous smile, "Shall we get down to it?"
"Yes, yes we shall," Josephine said, drawing a file folder out of her bag.
Elsa opened her mouth, ready to say everything Hans told her to, but Josephine silenced her with a finger.
"Listen, Ms. Anderson, I don't want you to think that I'm here to hurt you or that I'm only in it for my agency," she folded her hands, "The ultimate goal here is to do what's in the best interest of Anna, and that could mean a number of different things. And I'm here to help you and I'm here to help your sister. Please, remember that."
Elsa sat there, visibly taken aback.
"But, but the man who was here last week-."
"Oh, the weasel?" She scoffed, "Pay him absolutely no mind. He gets his kicks out of making other people miserable."
Elsa couldn't help but smile, all of the tension she held moments ago lifted off her shoulders.
"Now, as far as this case goes," Josephine said, her tone becoming more serious, "From what I can gather, your father was arrested for various drug related problems. Upon further investigation, we found the house to be in…unhealthy conditions, to say the least."
'Not surprising in the least,' Elsa thought.
"Your father is trying to bargain with us to get Anna back as soon as possible, but it doesn't work that way. Even if, and that's a big if at this point, he wanted her back, there's a lot of work that would need to happen. And, if I may be frank, I don't want that to happen because people like that, in my experience, don't change."
"They don't," Elsa said, surprising herself, "Believe me, they don't."
Josephine placed her hand on Elsa's before continuing, "Like I said, I care about what's best for Anna. And from what I can see, for the time being, I believe that it's here with you."
Elsa's jaw dropped, her breath caught in her throat.
"Really?"
Josephine nodded, "Your heart is in the right place, and I can already see that this environment would be better than any group home we would put her in right now."
Elsa bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from crying out in joy.
"Now," Josephine continued, "While I am allowing you to keep her in your custody, some things need to happen to ensure we can maintain it."
"Like what?" Elsa asked.
"For starters, she's going to need her own bedroom. With a real bed," her eyes wandered to the cot, "Now that this is official. Also, when is Anna's birthday?" she asked, consulting her file.
"March 21."
"So she'll be six this year?" Josephine scribbled on her pad.
"Yes."
"Our records show that Anna was never enrolled in school, and she should actually be kindergarten now. So we'll need to take care of that."
'School! God, why didn't I think of that before?'
She ripped a piece of paper from her pad, handing it to Elsa.
"There are a few numbers for you. The top one is for an organization that provides housing funds to foster parents. I'm sure your landlord will be happy to upgrade you from a studio to a two-bedroom, given the circumstances. The second is for the local elementary school. We work with them frequently, so they should be very accommodating. The last ones aret he extension for my office and my home phone number." She looked Elsa square in the eye, "Call me if you need help with anything. And I mean that. Alright?"
Elsa nodded, folding the paper up and tucking it between her books on her nightstand.
"Thank you, so, so very much," Elsa said as she led her down the hall.
"It's no problem," Josephine responded, turning to face Elsa as she held the door. "Listen, I understand where you're coming from, Elsa." She placed a hand on Elsa's cold and quivering cheek, tears forming in her eyes, "But…I promise I'm going to do everything to help you." She sighed, composing herself. "Sometimes things don't happen in the most favorable way, but they do work out in the end."
Elsa hung in the doorway long after Josephine walked away, re-running the entire afternoon through her head.
Sure, there was a lot to do, and not much time to do it in, and she was still in a pretty big bind.
But things were going better than usual, and Elsa took that as a good sign.
