Disclaimer: Disney owns Frozen
Elsa woke with a start. Strange bed. Strange room. The sound of drawers opening and closing. Where am I?
She rolled to her side. A naked woman stood in front of a dresser, and all Elsa could see was a bare female backside. A quite toned backside, some part of her noted before a pair of white panties slid up to cover it. Elsa's eyes moved up a slim back that melded into a pair of freckled shoulders, and above those, a slender neck with damp auburn hair twisted into a messy bun at the nape. As she watched, dazed, a green sports bra was tugged into place over those narrow shoulders.
Then it came rushing back. Anna. Anna's apartment. The cell phone. Driving around the city. The terror. The headlong flight from the cabin.
Persie Norberg's destroyed face.
"Oh, God…" Elsa croaked, covering her eyes with her arm.
There was a startled "Oh!" and a loud thump, followed by a stream of muffled curses. Then Anna climbed to her feet next to the bed, hauling a pair of jeans up over her thighs.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," she said. "I thought I could get in and shower and get out and let you sleep a little longer. You seemed kind of comatose."
"It's all right," Elsa said. She struggled to sit up. Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and every part of her body ached. I'm too young to feel this old. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, setting off a little wave of nausea, and she held her head in her hands until it passed.
"You okay?"
"Yes, I think so." Elsa looked up to see Anna finish pulling a t-shirt down over her belly. Her own stomach swooped a bit.
"You sure? You look a little pale, well, paler than you usually are, even though that's saying a lot, you've got the fairest skin I've ever seen, not that that's bad or anything, it's really pretty, and - "
"I'm okay, really," Elsa cut her off. Anna didn't look all that great herself. Elsa took in the younger woman's pallor and the dark circles under her eyes. Bluish bruising had formed around the cut on her forehead. I should've taken the couch and made her sleep in her bed.
"Okay, good. I'm going to run out and take care of some stuff, make arrangements for Marshmallow, that kind of thing." Anna shook her hair out of the bun and started braiding it with quick, sure fingers. "Why don't you grab a shower? You're welcome to borrow any of my clothes, since yours are kinda…"
She made a vague gesture at the dirty, rumpled skirt that Elsa still wore. Elsa's pinched feet reminded her that she hadn't even taken her shoes off before she collapsed into the bed. Every part of her felt grubby and worn out. A shower sounded like the next best thing to heaven. "That sounds…good. Thank you."
"Okay, well, I'll be back as soon as I can," Anna said as she headed out of the bedroom. "There's coffee in the kitchen if you want some."
Elsa watched her go, then slipped off her heels and shuffled into the bathroom. "Oh, hell…" she mumbled when she saw her wan face in the mirror. Bloodshot blue eyes stared back at her. Half of her hair had fallen out of its bun, and stuck out in ten different directions. It was a wonder Anna hadn't passed out from fright when she saw her. She sniffed.
Ewww. Even if Anna passed out, my stench might revive her.
She turned on the shower and stripped off her clothes. Looking around for a towel, she realized that the bathroom was in the same state of half-unpacked disarray as the den, bottles of shampoo, shower gel and other toiletries crammed into boxes with cleaning supplies and washcloths. She found a towel under the sink, then stepped under the warm water, trying to wash away the dirt, the blood, the smell of the previous night's events.
Too bad the water couldn't wash away the memories. Persie Norberg's remaining eye seemed to stare balefully back at her whenever she squeezed her own eyes shut.
Suddenly her chest heaved and she sank to her knees, her body racked with sobs. The adrenaline and terror were gone, leaving only grief and crippling guilt. Water cascaded over her as she trembled on the floor of the tub. She covered her face with her hands, trying to stifle the braying cries that might bring Anna running.
When she finally got control of her shuddering breathing, Elsa found herself with her forehead pressed against the bottom of the tub. Cold water drummed against her back, and there appeared to be a thin layer of frost over the porcelain. That's odd… She brushed a finger over it and the frost dissipated. Wow. I wonder what this tub is made of.
By the time Elsa got to her feet, there was no sign of any frost, and she wondered if she had imagined it. The hot water was long gone, the shower now cold, but not unpleasantly so. Elsa quickly washed her hair and body. Hopefully the cold water would help with her eyes and nose, which she knew had to be red and swollen from her tears.
By the time she dried off and returned to the bedroom, she felt almost human again. A brief search of Anna's dresser and closet yielded a pair of jeans and a suitable blouse, but she quickly discovered that Anna's proportions were a bit different from her own. The jeans would not fully close over her hips, and the blouse strained across her chest, the buttons hanging on for dear life.
If one of these buttons pops off, it could injure someone.
A few more attempts and she finally settled on a pair of yoga pants and a plain white t-shirt. She took a pair of sneakers from the closet; at least she and Anna shared a shoe size. Weaving her hair into a single thick braid, she headed for the kitchen, following the enticing smell of fresh coffee. She had just poured herself a mug when Anna appeared from the front hallway with Marshmallow on his leash, carrying a couple of paper bags and trailed by a chubby boy with curly dark hair.
"Who is that?" the boy asked Anna, peering at Elsa from behind his black-framed glasses.
"This is Elsa."
The boy scurried over to Elsa and threw his arms around her. "Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"
"Urk!" Elsa stiffened as her breath rushed out of her, her arms trapped against her sides. She flapped her hands helplessly, clueless as to how to react to the pubescent boy whose head was buried in her shoulder.
"Um…hi?" she squeaked out. She threw a desperate look at Anna, who had a hand over her mouth. Marshmallow made a chuffing sound that sounded suspiciously like a doggy laugh. Et tu, Marshmallow?
Finally Anna cleared her throat. "Olaf." She walked over and tugged on the boy's t-shirt. "Olaf, didn't we talk about this?"
Olaf released Elsa so quickly that she almost fell over. "Yes," he said in a small voice.
"And what did we say?'
Olaf studied the floor, scuffing the toe of his sneaker back and forth. "That not everyone likes warm hugs and that I should ask first."
"That's right. And what should you do now?"
Olaf pushed his glasses up his nose and furrowed his brows. "Say I'm sorry?"
"To who?"
"Her?"
"She has a name."
Olaf looked at Elsa, his dark eyes wide and watery. "I'm sorry, Elsa," he whispered.
Aww… He was oddly endearing. "It's all right. You just startled me, that's all." She leaned forward, thinking she might hug him, but caught herself, and ended up giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder instead.
Olaf favored her with a buck-toothed smile. "She's nice," he said to Anna in a loud whisper. "And pretty. She should be your girlfriend."
Elsa's mouth dropped open, eyes darting between Anna and Olaf. "I – her – what?" she sputtered.
Anna laughed. She let her gaze travel up and down Elsa's frame, her eyes widening perceptibly. Elsa felt heat explode across her face, suddenly aware of how snug the yoga pants really were. She felt a strange flutter in her belly.
She's messing with me again, she has to be.
"Yeah, maybe she should be," Anna was saying to Olaf. "We're just friends, though."
Not even that. But maybe they could be? It was a strangely appealing thought. Maybe in another life, one that didn't include corruption, murder and flight from the authorities.
"She'd be a lot better than him," Olaf said, studying the floor again.
Anna's face darkened. "Can't disagree with you there, honey." She ruffled the boy's hair. "Let me get Marshmallow's stuff for you."
Anna gathered up Marshmallow's food and water bowls, a big plastic bag of dog food, along with several balls and chew toys. She put everything in a tote bag and gave it to Olaf.
"I need to talk to Elsa, so I'll bring him down there in a bit," she told Olaf. "I'm only going to be gone for a few days. You're sure it's okay with your mom?"
"Yeah. She likes Marshmallow too." Olaf pushed his glasses up. "Can we play Warcraft when you get back?"
"Only if you're done with the next part of your project," Anna said sternly as she walked him to the door.
"I will be," Olaf promised. "Bye!" He trundled out of the apartment.
"Here," Anna said, indicating the paper bag she had dropped on the table. "I picked up some breakfast." She went to the kitchen and poured herself a mug of coffee before returning to the table. "Hope you like sweets," she said, pulling an array of pastries from the bag.
Elsa took her coffee to the table. Anna wasn't kidding about the sweets. She picked out a chocolate-filled puff.
"I'm sorry about Olaf," Anna said. "He's a really sweet kid, but he's clueless about what's appropriate. Pretty much a complete social moron."
I can relate to that. "Shouldn't he be at school today?"
"Nah, he graduated secondary back in the spring."
"Really? How old is he?"
"Thirteen. He's a genius, at least in matters academic." Anna took a bite of something jelly-filled, catching a purple blob with her napkin. "Probably why he struggles with the whole people thing. He's trying to get into Tech's robotics program. He's pretty young, but there's a lot of people like him over there. Social disasters, I mean."
Well, that sounded familiar. No wonder Elsa found him endearing. "At least he's not afraid to touch people," she muttered into her mug. Anna cocked an eyebrow at her. Did I say that out loud?
"No, he isn't," Anna said. "He loves to hug people and be hugged, and he has no concept of personal space. I'm trying to help him learn so he won't be creepy when he gets older."
"Good idea." Elsa shuddered at the thought. She had plenty of experience with men who either had no concept of personal space, or chose to ignore it. "Why did he say that about me…being your…your…um…girlfriend?"
"Oh, that…" Anna snickered briefly, and then studied her coffee. "My ex is a real asshole. It took me a while to realize it. Or maybe I didn't want to realize it. He was so gorgeous and charming and attentive, and always knew the right thing to say. Marshmallow didn't like him, and he was cruel to Olaf, but I chose not to see it. Not until I caught him with another woman."
She met Elsa's eyes. "Olaf just wants people to be happy. He's pretty perceptive about feelings, but…really…innocent about them. You were nice to him, so he thinks you'll be nice to me. Therefore we should be together."
Elsa felt that weird flutter in her stomach again.
Anna downed the last bite of her jellyroll, then gave her a wicked grin. "And you do look pretty hot in those yoga pants."
Elsa almost choked on her pastry while Anna cackled. She's definitely messing with me.
"What about you?" Anna asked, serious now. "Any crazy exes – male or female – that we need to worry about looking for you?"
With a little twinge, Elsa realized that the only person who would miss her was Agdar. Maybe. She wasn't about to tell Anna that she had never been in a relationship. Oh, she'd been on a few dates, usually disastrous dinners that lapsed into awkward silences well before dessert. There had been one in particular, with a handsome businessman that she desperately wanted to impress. But once the conversation veered away from work, she had nothing to say. She just couldn't…connect. Never had been able to connect.
Except with a certain freckle-faced boy with sea-blue eyes, who had swept her away on a banana-seat bicycle when she was seven years old. Elsa wasn't sure that really counted, even if it was the best summer of her life.
Before the tutors and the isolation. Before Mama got sick. When Papa was still there, physically and emotionally.
"No," she mumbled. "No crazy exes."
"Okay, good, hopefully that will make things less complicated." Anna retrieved the other bag she'd brought in and took two phones out of it. She pushed one across the table. "Here. I've already put this number in it."
"I have a phone," Elsa said.
"Turn it off. We're going to use these."
"Why?"
"They're burners. No way to track them," Anna explained. "The NPs have your phone number, right?"
"Yes," Elsa said warily. Every agent on Kristoff's team had her number.
"Turn it off. Don't make any calls on it, no texts, no email, no nothing. They'll be looking for it. I bet they want you pretty bad right now, as a material witness if nothing else."
Elsa swallowed hard. She quickly retrieved her purse and shut off her phone. "Do you think they've tracked it already?"
"Probably not. I think they need a court order first, and unless they hauled a judge out of bed last night, I doubt they have one. They'll get one as soon as they can, though."
Elsa stared at her phone like it was a viper. She'd read about privacy problems with mobile phones, but it had all seemed so abstract. Well, it was all too real now. She wondered if the NPs could track her phone when it was powered off, like the odious American NSA. She had a sudden urge to smash it, the way Anna had with Persie Norberg's.
But the phone also seemed like the only connection to the life she had.
As if reading her thoughts, Anna said, "It might be only temporary, depending on what you decide to do."
"Right," Elsa said. Marshmallow butted against her hand, and she stroked his big head, his silky fur soothing between her fingers. "So…Marshmallow is all taken care of?"
"Yeah, it's all set. Olaf will look after him until I get back." Anna checked her new phone. "The bank will open soon. We'll go there, and then we can take off. How are we getting to the place in the mountains?"
"The fastest way is to fly," Elsa said. "There's a small commuter plane that shuttles between here and the airfield at Gjoheim. There's a train from there."
"Anything else you need to do before we go?"
"Call the caretaker. Make sure the water and power are on, things of that nature."
"Make sure you use the burner. I'm going to take Marshmallow down to Olaf's. Stay away from the windows, okay?"
Elsa nodded. Anna snapped the leash back on Marshmallow and they disappeared through the door. Elsa picked up her new phone and turned it on. There was only one number programmed into it, which she presumed was the one for Anna's burner. Dialing from memory, she called the man who looked after her mountain home when she wasn't there. He assured her that he would have everything taken care of and would pick them up at the airfield.
"You call me when you land, dear, I'll come right over, yah? That way you don't have to get on the train."
"Thank you, Oaken."
The house taken care of, Elsa picked up her coffee and wandered around Anna's apartment. Even discounting the scattered moving boxes, the place seemed like a curious cross between a teenager's room and an adult's home. Video games and DVDs competed for space with books ranging from romance novels to tomes on history and law. In what should have been the dining area, Elsa found a home gym. There was a free-standing strike bag, a speed bag, medicine balls and an assortment of dumbbells and kettlebells. A pair of boxing gloves and a roll of tape lay on a small table next to a water bottle.
Elsa punched idly at the heavy bag and winced at the instant throb in her hand and wrist. She tried to imagine the slender Anna pounding away at the bag. Physically, it seemed so unlikely, but Elsa had no doubt that the younger woman was capable of violence. Beyond Anna's actions at the cabin, Elsa had seen a few flashes of what could be a nasty temper.
Continuing her exploration, Elsa went into the bedroom, taking in details she'd missed earlier. Laundry spilled out of the hamper, and paperbacks littered the nightstand. Several framed photos stood on the dresser. There was one of a young Anna, pig-tailed and freckle-faced, grinning snaggle-toothed from between a young couple. Clearly her parents - Anna had her father's red hair and freckles, and her mother's turquoise eyes. Other photos showed Anna and Olaf at what appeared to be Olaf's graduation, and Anna in Army fatigues, a rifle slung over one shoulder, laughing with a group of other soldiers. So she'd done her compulsory service in the military. That was probably where she learned to shoot.
Elsa wondered if Anna slept with the pistol under her pillow.
Leaving the bedroom, Elsa opened the door to the room next to it. She turned on the light and looked around, surprised. A desk, file cabinet, a sophisticated phone system and shelves filled with books and manuals stood against the back wall. A framed portrait of Joan of Arc hung above the desk. A table to the right held some kind of half-built electronic device and an array of small tools.
On the desk were a laptop computer, a printer, and several neatly arranged file folders. Apparently Anna's spare bedroom also served as her office. Elsa glanced over her shoulder, then went to the desk. If this was Anna's office, maybe the file on her was here. She sifted through the papers on the desk and in the file cabinet. Unlike the rest of the apartment, the office was neat and organized. Anna had a fair number of clients, mostly businesses and law firms.
The sudden ringing of the phone made Elsa almost jump out of her skin. One hand on her chest, she stepped closer to it. The phone had a recording system, and the caller ID displayed the number on the LCD at the base. Elsa recognized the prefix as the one for Sornland. Anna's voice came on, instructing the caller to leave a message.
Elsa froze when the person started talking, her heart stuttering in her chest.
"Where is Elsa Kjarensen?" demanded the voice of Agdar Erikksen.
Agdar sounded very stressed, his voice hoarse as he fired questions into the recorder. Where was Elsa? What had Anna found out? He wanted answers and he wanted them right now. He left a phone number that Elsa didn't recognize, then hung up.
Elsa stood transfixed for a full minute, arms wrapped protectively around herself, her mind swirling with anguish and betrayal. Agdar hired Anna. Why? Had he suspected that she'd gone to the NPs? She backed slowly away from the desk, then turned to flee.
And stopped short, a cry dying in her throat as she stared into Anna's angry blue-green eyes.
A/N: Sorry about the delay! School started on Monday, and updates may be sporadic until the dust settles. Thanks for sticking with me - I'd love to hear your thoughts!
