Chapter Twenty One: Promise
The scenery on this very special night was absolutely perfect, Elsa couldn't have asked for more. Snow glistened prettily in the moonlight and twinkling lights hung from every light post and home, making the view from the cab extra festive in light of the approaching holiday season. In the center of the seat Elsa's hand lay with Anna's, their fingers intertwined as they stared out their respective windows. The night was beginning as perfectly as it possibly could, almost like a dream.
"You know, I imagine your co-workers won't mind so much as you think they might."
Anna's head tilted ever so slightly toward Elsa, though she maintained most of her gaze out the window of the cab as if she were somehow disinterested in the topic of conversation. "What do you mean?"
"I just" Elsa tugged her hand slightly to loosen Anna's now tightened grip on it, but continued to hold her hand regardless of the pressure, "I think that you're stressing out before it's necessary. That's all, my love."
Anna huffed, shaking her head all the while, but Elsa could see the small smile tugging at the corner of Anna's lips in her reflection on the glass. It would be an interesting night, of that there was no doubt, but perhaps her comforting words might ease Anna's mind just for a short while and allow her to truly enjoy the scenery.
As the cab rolled up to the entrance of Crystal Hill Elsa could feel Anna's nervous eyes on her. And so, like any good girlfriend, Elsa squeezed Anna's hand gently and gave her a knowing look before settling the tab with the driver. Elsa was the first out of the car, heels clicking on the pavement as she rounded the cab and opened Anna's door. Though Elsa had already laid eyes on Anna before they left for the evening, the image of her gingerly stepping out of the cab and taking Elsa's hand to stabilize herself was almost too much.
"You look quite lovely." Elsa complimented quietly, smiling as she let her hand linger on Anna's for a moment longer before allowing it to fall to her side.
"You said that earlier, you know."
"I did. I meant it then and I mean it now, so I'm happy to say it again."
"Thankfully you look far better tonight, people will be much more focused on you and your suit than me and my dress."
Elsa grinned, but said nothing. Anna had all but insisted she wear this outfit tonight, even tying Elsa's tie for her despite the fact that Elsa knew very well how to do it on her own. As much as Anna protested and whined about this evening, below the surface Elsa could sense not just the anxiety, but the excitement of coming out. The knowledge that soon she would no longer have to duck questions or avoid mentioning Elsa, that soon she could openly mention her girlfriend and their happy little life together. Seeing that joy was more than enough to make Elsa relent to any requests that Anna voiced, even if they did make her a little uncomfortable.
"Shall we, my love?" Elsa asked, offering her arm for Anna to take before tilting her head, "Or would you rather me carry you in my arms so that they all know for certain that we are a couple?"
For the first time that evening Anna laughed, the sound bright and warm, as she took Elsa's arm and allowed herself to be led inside. It seemed they were a little late to the party, despite arriving on time. The lobby was nearly empty as they checked in and faced their first few sets of eyes. These people may not have known Anna well, for they seemed to simply glance at the pair of them with little to no regard as they checked Anna's name off their list. Perhaps the company had employed outside workers to man the check in booths for the evening?
Elsa shook the thought as Anna gripped her arm a little tighter while they made their way to the double doors that concealed the room in which the party was taking place. The way Anna had stressed how important their entrance would be Elsa would have thought all eyes would have been on the door awaiting their arrival, and yet as the doors closed behind them it almost seemed as if their entrance had gone unnoticed. Almost.
"Well, well! If it isn't Anna, and with a date no less!"
The young man was about Elsa's height with the strangest red hair that she had ever seen. He looked a little under dressed, if Elsa were being honest, but he seemed to know Anna well enough for Elsa to be friendly, at the very least.
"And who might this charming devil be?"
Before Anna could answer, the man's hand was extended and reaching for Elsa's, "Name's Nick, Nick Wilde. If I might say, you are positively gorgeous. How did our little Annie convince someone like you to come to this thing with her?"
"Annie?" Elsa stifled a small giggle, "I quite like that! Maybe I'll start calling her Annie too."
"You're not pestering people are you Nick? We talked about-" The woman paused when she came upon the scene, Nick's hand wrapped around Elsa's and Anna standing slightly to the side and looking altogether displeased with the unraveling situation. It seemed as if the wheels this woman's her head were turning, for a moment later she seemed to have put it all together. The woman smiled, a goofy, albeit pleasant grin. "W-well, I don't believe we've met. I'm Judy."
Elsa politely let go of Nick's hand and reached for Judy's, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it before releasing it again. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you, it truly is. My name is Elsa."
Judy flushed and Nick looked taken aback, but both smiled at Elsa nonetheless. "The pleasure is ours, I assure you. I don't meant to be forward but...you wouldn't happen to be the mysterious 'E' that Anna's been so secretive about, would you?"
Anna flushed at Judy's inquiry, but Elsa kept quiet to allow Anna the opportunity to speak the words herself. "Elsa is my" The nervousness in the pause was palpable, and for a moment Elsa wondered whether or not Anna would follow through. But in typical fashion, Anna finished what she started. "She's my girlfriend."
Judy's hands shot up to cover a clear smile on her face and Elsa wondered if she saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes. Nick on the other hand sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes as he began to dig in the pocket of his pants, eventually producing a twenty dollar bill. "You win this round."
"Wait, you were taking bets?"
"Oh Anna, it's not a bet if I'm absolutely certain I'll come out ahead! I hope you're not offended, but he just wouldn't listen to reason so I had to hit him where it hurts."
"No, no I just. You guys knew? You don't care?"
"Care? Anna of course not, why would we care?"
Elsa could only smile as Anna clearly found herself at a loss for words. Perhaps if Anna wasn't surrounded by co-workers she may have even shed a tear, but for now she seemed to be perfectly content with smiling goofily and making polite conversation with these two. With this one interaction, this one instance of immediate acceptance with no questions, Elsa prayed that Anna would gain the courage to continue her journey from here. After all, life from here on would be a constant barrage of coming out, so it would be best if Anna enjoyed her first experience.
And Anna would continue to be pleasantly surprised through the night, each of her coworkers approached in turn – some made positive commentary and others made no comment at all, but instead simply interacted normally with the pair. After each encounter, Anna would look a little flustered and breathe a shaky sigh while smiling up at Elsa. It was quite endearing, it its own way, and Elsa couldn't help but smile in return. Overall, the night seemed to be going well. Until, that is, a rather rotund man with impressive eyebrows and a gaunt, older woman with wild hair spotted the pair across the room and began to close the gap.
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It had taken a few conversations before Anna's heart stopped hammering so hard in her chest, before her breaths stopped coming in such quick succession, and before the weight began to lift off of her shoulders. Her feigned smile had become more and more real with each little affirmation that her co-workers not only accepted her, but also seemed to support her as well! The fears and doubts she had been harboring for what felt like eternity were dissipating, and that feeling couldn't have been any more pleasant.
But not all good things could last, she soon realized. Anna responded to a gentle tug on her sleeve by turning quickly around and coming face to face with not only her boss, but Gothel as well standing side by side. The pair made for quite the intimidating sight to a still raw and somewhat emotional Anna, to say the least.
"Anna dear, I'm surprised to see you without your boyfriend on your arm! You've brought a surrogate though, I see. How good of you to join us tonight, and what an interesting choice of attire for your guest."
Anna glanced in Elsa's direction, her eyes had been drawn that way by the visible twitch of Elsa's head in Gothel's direction. It couldn't have been more clear that Gothel was rubbing Elsa the wrong way, but Elsa was as courteous as Anna had ever seen her in spite of that fact. Elsa reached her hand out, greeting each of the pair in turn and smiling warmly, banishing all traces of her annoyance with the situation.
"Miss Greene, I am thrilled to see you here. Very good of you to show up, and you followed my instructions and brought someone along! We did intend for you to bring a date but this will do just fine."
"Elsa is my date."
Anna's words were quiet and nearly strangled as they came out, and she was unable to meet either of their eyes. Unlike before the words didn't flow quite as well as she would have liked them, no, but then at least one of these people had the power to end her employment. How could this time not be different?
"What's that? I didn't quite catch what you said there."
"Mr. Big, Elsa is my date."
The only way that Anna could have made it more clear would have been to throw herself into Elsa's arms and passionately kiss her in front of the two, but judging by the expression on their faces she wouldn't have to go quite that far this evening.
Of the two Gothel looked far more uncomfortable, she had almost immediately begun to fan herself with her clutch wallet. "My, Anna, I wouldn't have thought that you would be a...my, this is quite disappointing."
Anna had to throw her arm out in front of Elsa, who had immediately taken a step towards Gothel as though she were prepared to throw down then and there no questions asked. But before Anna could even begin to verbalize an argument, chubby Mr. Big turned to look at Gothel with a surprisingly disgusted look on his face.
"Do you really feel that way, Gothel?" Mr. Big adjusted his drink so that it was in his non-dominant hand as he lay his dominant hand over his large stomach, regarding Gothel in what Anna felt must have been an excruciatingly painful way.
"Of course I do, she's certainly good looking enough to get herself a man and yet she's brought this woman here to masquerade her as a date? It's distasteful, to say the very least."
Mr. Big stepped back, his hand still on his stomach as if it were stabilizing him as he stood there staring in awe at Gothel. "I never would have guessed you were such a bigot. High maintenance, certainly, but a bigot? That's what's truly distasteful. What a shame. Anna, if you and er, Elsa did you say? Yes, if you and Elsa would accompany me back to my table I would be glad to have your company."
Anna's jaw was nearly on the floor as she watched Gothel's expression change from judgmental to smug, and then immediately to shock. Gothel scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest before muttering under her breath and excusing herself from their presence. Anna could hardly believe it, all of her concerns and worries and hiding had been for nothing. She was out, Elsa was known to everyone and no one had any ill wishes for them. Well, no one important anyway.
The rest of the night was a blur, dancing and smiling and laughing in public like she hadn't in who knows how long. It no longer mattered that she was a lesbian, that weight that had taken so long to build was now gone like a wisp of smoke. As Elsa twirled her slowly across the floor Anna could do nothing but smile lovingly up at her, her heart full to bursting with love and happiness.
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Elsa had woken up too early that morning, Anna knew that much, but it wasn't until she had managed to draw herself out of her bed that she realized Elsa had also uncharacteristically left with no word to Anna at all. Anna groaned as she rubbed at her eyes, opening the refrigerator and managing a small smile at the tupperware with a sticky note reading 'For My Love' on it. Even when Elsa left too early this morning she had still given so much thought to Anna, and this morning an overly sensitive Anna felt the swell of love in her chest.
As she very slowly managed to shake off her sleepy stupor with each bite of her breakfast Anna's mind began to wander. Where could Elsa have gone this early? It was hardly nine, surely even early bird Elsa wouldn't have scheduled any classes that early...
Anna tapped a sweet little message to Elsa out on her phone and sighed. Perhaps I'm being greedy she thought, washing her dishes and setting them up on their drying rack. After all she's here all the time, when does she have time for herself?
Anna shrugged the thought, instead choosing to focus on something that had been occupying her mind more and more often as of late: Elsa's impending birthday. They hadn't been together for too terribly long, but Anna had already decided that she wanted to do something special for Elsa on this birthday. She had gone through a few ideas, taking her out to an over the top meal, giving her free reign to decide to do anything they would like to that day, but none of those seemed quite as brilliant a plan as throwing her a surprise party.
Anna herself had not had a surprise party, at least not one that she could remember, but from what she could gather the idea seemed a simple enough one to pull off. After all, how hard could it be to decorate and get a bunch of Elsa's friends in one place at one time? It seemed an easy task, until she began her attempts at compiling a guest list.
Elsa didn't have many friends, it seemed. Why Anna had no idea, the woman was charming, funny, altogether a perfect package, and yet Anna could scarcely name two or three people that Elsa might really, truly want present for her birthday. Even consulting with Esmeralda seemed to yield no real results, which was a shocking realization in itself.
To Anna, who had always seemed to attract friends even when she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted them, this seemed a little sad. How could someone so wonderful be lacking in supportive friends? But it was no matter, for Anna knew that Elsa had made quite a few mutual friends through her, so the guest list would end up full one way or another and Elsa would be surrounded by people that cared about her.
Anna spent the morning tapping out messages to Esmeralda and, more surprisingly, to Belle. At first she had been hesitant to work with Belle on anything, after all she was still somewhat of a romantic rival wasn't she? But after a little wheedling Belle had impressed her with some brilliant themes and party game ideas, so she had made herself essential to the party planning process.
Obviously Anna had planned on making the cake, but the design seemed to elude her. Elsa was an enigma even now that they lived together, it was strange to think on the fact that while Anna knew so much about her that there was still so much left to learn. Elsa liked pale blues and purples, she loved winter, or so Anna surmised from her happier than normal demeanor in the past month or so, so Anna had sketched a few designs with sugar ice and snowflakes for decoration.
No collection of lines seemed good enough for her, at least not yet. A little more sparkle here and there, more skill and technique, some miraculous culmination of perfect notions would be the only acceptable option for Anna. Everything needed to be perfect for Elsa's surprise party, absolutely everything. If Anna was going to spring a party on Elsa, the very least that she could be expected to do would be to ensure that it was so stunning that it would blow her away. Anna wanted nothing more than to see the look of sheer adoration as the feeling of so much love washed over Elsa.
But as Anna continued her planning a low rumble rose from her stomach, signaling that lunch time would soon be here. Elsa still isn't here and it's lunch time? It was odd, to say the least, but rather than panic Anna sent a few more messages expressing her love for Elsa and how much she missed her this morning. What else could she be expected to do?
It wouldn't be right to demand that Elsa tell her everywhere she went, and Anna wouldn't even want that in truth. Just a little notice when she would be left to her own devices, particularly with Elsa's birthday so quickly approaching. The time could be put to more use if Anna knew she'd be alone for a set period of time, after all. Still, she couldn't help the worry that had begun to bloom in her belly. Elsa had been gone quite a long time, and it was the first time that this had happened without some real notice...
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Elsa's feet moved confidently through the well-worn path of the graveyard, little rays of early morning sunlight tinting her surroundings in a beautiful and warm glow of color. It was a route she had taken so many times before that she might have been able to traverse it in total darkness if she had to. She made her way past the small, flush gravestones and deeper into the graveyard where more ornate upright stones marked the resting places of people she never knew, until finally she came upon the familiar marble mausoleum.
The key to the over sized metal door was surprisingly small in comparison to others Elsa had held in her hand, but she supposed that was something to do with her parents wishes. It fit all the same into the seemingly too big lock and Elsa heard the familiar sound of the mechanism unlocking. The bronze door creaked slightly, as it always did, but in the still, early morning air the sound felt intrusively loud. Elsa quickly entered the building and closed the door behind her with a thud that echoed through the chamber. Her chest felt heavy as she breathed quiet, quick breaths and raised her eyes to look upon the markers on the wall.
"Hello again mom, dad." Elsa hesitated before gingerly reaching out and placing her hand on the cold stone between the markers. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it? I thought since my birthday was coming up you might appreciate a visit. I...I feel ashamed for not seeing you as often and yet I am happy now, so much happier than I was the last time I talked to you both. Why? Well, that's a long story.
See, I met someone. Someone kind, and sweet, and too generous for her own good. You would love her, honestly you would. I know that I do. We've been living together. I know, it seems very soon, too soon, but there's something about her that just makes it feel right. Sometimes I wonder what I might do without her."
Elsa took a step back from the wall and crossed her arms over her midsection as though she were attempting to hug herself. Her words had become shaky as she tried to explain her situation and her eyes burned with the familiar sting of tears trying to form at the back of her eyes, it was harder and harder to come here each time she did it. She backed away until her back hit the opposite wall and she slid down, wrapping her arms around her knees as she snuffled and rubbed her eyes with her sleeves.
"Anna is her name. Anna Greene. I met her parents a while ago, quite by accident. That's a funny story too, see, they just sort of showed up while we were on a date and we pretended she was hiring me to paint a wall of her house. Silly, isn't it? And they believed it too, hardly asked any questions about it at all, save to see if Anna could really afford my work. Don't worry, we came clean later that night. You know me, I can't lie for too long, especially not about something as serious as that.
How did they react? Oh, well, I was fearful at first they might not accept her but surprisingly enough they were more than happy to take me into their family. Her father says that he knew you once, perhaps not well but he knew you all the same. It's funny how small my world seems to be, especially when the world is truly so vast.
I, well, I had a reason for coming here today other than just to visit. W-what I mean is that there's something important I wanted to say out loud. Obviously I wanted to tell you about Anna, but that's not all there is to it. I love her, I love her with everything that I am. My mind is screaming at me that things are moving too quickly, that I'm only going to end up getting hurt again but...then I think about you two.
As many times as I've tried to convince myself that I'm crazy, that somehow I've tricked myself into feeling this strongly for her, my mind turns to you. You taught me so much about love when I was young, taught me that the world will see me in so many different ways and try to put me into a box, but that no matter what was said or done that I mustn't let myself forget how I feel. But even as I imagine our future together I can't help but wonder...will it be the same for us as it was for the two of you?
The fire has set in so quickly in my heart, I fear that if I can't gain some purchase on it then it may run rampant and destroy me and yet...I crave it. I crave the way that she makes me feel, so free and happy and full of love that I might burst. But that's how you've always told me that things were with you, quick to find and keep one another, to forsake all others in the name of your love. I hope that things can be like that for Anna and I. I guess...I guess what I came here to say is that I w-want to spend the rest of my life with her."
As always, the only response that Elsa would receive was the brief echo of her own voice inside the mausoleum. They were there, she supposed, but if they weren't she would never know as there was never any sign that she had seen or felt, but it was a comforting thing to do nonetheless. Even without a response the mere act of speaking to her parents was enough to lift the looming weight on her shoulders, at least for the time being.
Elsa held her face in her hands as the realization of all that she had said washed over her. She had told them everything, from the menial details of her life to something that she hadn't even voiced aloud to herself yet – her desire to be with Anna until Anna would have her no more. It was an idea powerful enough to cause her to be speechless. She loved Anna, loved her more than she could ever have imagined she might so soon in their relationship.
Time passed her without care, by the time she had shaken off the shock and managed to exit the mausoleum the sun was high enough in the sky to nearly blind her. With a soft 'thud' the bronze door closed behind her and her phone began buzzing fervently, no doubt with messages from Anna. Sure enough, there were plenty of messages on her phone, each one Anna had sent seemed to grow more insistent, vocalizing her love and how much she missed Elsa.
It was sweet and more than enough of a confirmation that all of her gushing to her parents had been well warranted. That her newly forming plan for the very near future would be well warranted. With a smile on her face Elsa made her way back through the maze of grave markers, waving at the seemingly ever present, and always smiling, grave digger before getting into her car. She had never been more ready to be home to Anna in all the time they had been together.
a/n: I apologize again for the shortness of this chapter, unfortunately I've gone from a stomach bug to a cold-like sickness. Woo winter bugs! With that in mind, as well as the approaching holidays, I will say that the next chapter will no doubt be slightly delayed! It will likely be up around or before the new year. As always, thank you for reading and I can't wait to get back on a regular posting schedule!