chapter 25
Anna noticed Elsa's nightmares increased whenever they go to Gerda's or when Rapunzel and the two of them spend time together, which always end up in some relatives' kind of moment, with inner jokes or knowing each other so well they would complete each other's sentences. She then concluded family time was an emotional trigger. No surprise here, she thought. But the fact Elsa insisted on going to such occasions was strange. Her Elsa often runs away from this sort of situation and a thing that causes nightmares should be avoided. That night, though, when Anna heard sobs in the bathroom, she realized the blonde has been trying to be strong, to overcome her inner demons by getting used to things like a night out with people's relatives. One day, she's going to go to Ansel's school and it won't be good to break down in front of all the other siblings, parents…
Anna silently hops off their bed and heads to the bathroom, finding the blonde curled in on herself, leaning on the bath tub.
"Elsa?", she calls out but the blonde doesn't answer, too busy trying to control her breath, she guesses. The redhead then places her hands upon pale trembling skin, rubbing slow circles between the shoulder blades. Elsa tenses at first but soon enough gives in the soothing motion. She leans back in the comfort those warm hands are giving to her.
"Bad dream?", she asks, tenderly touching Elsa's damp forehead with hers.
"Y- You can say that", she whispers, "I didn't want you to see me like this."
"Els, I said you don't need to conceal, didn't I?"
Elsa nods, "You did. But I want to be strong."
"And you will be!"
"But when, Anna?", she snaps, "Soon I'm going to face the court and… and I'm this broken thing. Do I really deserve…"
Anna leans forward and captures Elsa's lips. They were salty and dry but lovely nevertheless. It angers her how those moments could so easily spark the blonde's lack of confidence, hampering her personal growth. Anna was determined not to let it interfere with their communication.
She breaks the kiss and holds Elsa's chin so they can meet each other's gaze.
"Anxiety jumble", she quips, getting a nervous chuckle from the blonde, "You already are braver than you think. But things will happen at their own pace. For now, rely on me, okay?"
With that, Elsa shushed. Anna is always able to cast some sort of spell on her with her words, her touch, her antics.
The strawberry blonde sees determination finding its way up to those beautiful blue eyes, anxiety fading away. She smiles to reassure she meant every syllable that came out of her mouth. I'm not going to be away when you feel alone. I'm not going to back down if you lose your shit. I'm willing to give my best to make this work! And deep in those once frightened eyes looking back at her, she knew – she just knew they were repeating her votes. And so, she decides to sum it up:
"Through the best and the worst, Els."
The blonde smiles, biting her lip in the process as she takes one of Anna's trembling hands and places it on her chest, above her racing heart. Anna fought for words and ends up silent, holding her skittish blonde close to herself until she states she's good to stand up.
-x-
Bzzzz, sounds the door bell.
"Is it him?", Anna asks.
"Probably", Elsa gets off Anna's embrace and stands up. Anna follows suit, silently grabbing her backpack.
"Since he's the one who arranged this apartment for me, he walks around unannounced", Elsa continued.
The two young women walk to the door, Anna slightly behind as Elsa grabs her keys to answer the door. The blonde spun around her heels, facing Anna.
"Now, about my attorney… well, I say attorney, he's more like a relative. He, Kai and Father were good friends and he would be a present guest in our place as I grew up. He would bring me books from his travels when Mom was teaching me how to read… Anyway, I don't want to scare you, he can be a little bit inappropriate… and blunt… very blunt… he's also tall – taller, and he may get a bit nostalgic because it's been months since the last we saw each other, in Norway, when, you know… But he's fine… He means well…."
Anna smiles at Elsa's ramble. It was good to see she's not the only one who does that. She touches her arm, reassuringly, "Els, he sounds wonderful."
The blue-eyed woman smiles, thankful by Anna's sincerity, and turns around to finally open the door. The petit redhead had to hold in a profanity when she sees Elsa's attorney because dude, he's as tall as the door! The attorney was a burly, large man with fair skin covered in strawberry-blond hair that adorned his face in the shape of side burns, thick mustache and eyebrows. His light blue eyes flicker as he spots Elsa.
"Hallo!", he waves his paw-like hand.
"Hi, Mr. Oaken."
"Oh, dear", he snickers, wrinkling his pinky nose, "There is no need for formalities. I used to wipe your little pale butt, remember?"
Before Elsa could protest, her face was flushed and Anna was giggling behind her, catching the big man's attention.
"Yoo-hoo! Who's the pretty lassie?", he asks in the most Scandinavian accent ever.
Elsa folds her arms behind her back, stepping aside to make room for the other girl.
"This is Anna", she looks at the girl and back at Oaken, "She's, uh, mine. I mean, girlfriend! She's my girlfriend."
A wild herd runs in Anna's stomach when she witnesses Elsa's clumsy yet brave introduction, leaving Anna so dumbfounded she doesn't even notice when their fingers get intertwined.
Oaken's face seemed to be ready to split in half by how wide his grin was. Elsa's gaze never left eye level, looking straight at the reaction of an adult Anna guessed she respects a lot. With time, the three of them laugh the tension away and grin.
"Oh, my chubby heart", he fans himself with his free hand, "I'm so happy for you, my dear."
"Thank you, Oaken. But, hm, you came here to…?"
"Ooh! Yes, dear, I…", he lifted his black brief case and tried to open it once, twice, then he threw the object against the nearest wall, startling everyone. The case falls and smoothly opens.
He smiles, "I'm sorry about this violence. Here", he stretches his arm, showing some papers, "These are your airplane tickets and the files you need to fill in."
Elsa takes the papers from his hands.
"Please, fill them carefully before you head to the airport. If you have any doubt, do not hesitate to call me, yah?", he looks at Anna and winks. They both know how stubborn the blonde can be.
"And when do I head to the airport?", Elsa asks, eyes fixated on everything she'll have to answer.
"In two days."
She snaps out of her forms, "Two days!?"
"Yah! You told me 'the sooner, the better'", he smiles. Elsa then remembers the conversation they had months ago, when she had nothing keeping her in one place. Nothing and no one.
With her heart sunk, Anna forces herself to smile brightly.
"This is awesome", she lays a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"That's it! Excitement! I have to go, though. See you in three days", he leans down to kiss Elsa's forehead, then Anna's.
As soon as he walks out of sight, Elsa sighs loudly, burying her face in Anna's neck.
"Damn it…"
"Hey, grumpy one", the redhead caresses her back, "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"You know what I mean", she grumbles, holding Anna closer.
"I do… and that's why I'm taking us to a beautiful place", Elsa finally looks at her, "Well, you are taking us since I don't drive and the place's outta town but I'm the one who knows the place so I'm taking us there… in a way. Gas on me", she snickers.
"Ok, girlfriend", she says, emphasizing the girlfriend and swooning Anna, "We leave at dawn?"
Anna shakes her head, "We leave now! Right now."
-x-
"You found your boots?", a teenager Anna says aloud, "You can get one of mine, you know…"
"No!", says the person in the other side of the door, "I got it!"
Anna crosses her arms in front of her flat chest, not believing her cousin's tardiness to get ready for skiing. Her adoptive mother and her uncle had been promising the girls a trip to the ski park for months and it finally snowed enough to enjoy the granular white thing everyone was so dazzled about – Anna still considers warm white sand better.
"Ta-da!", her cousin chirps, showing up in all her glory, wearing pink gear with Sun patterns… because Sun has everything to do with Winter.
"Cool. Let's go."
"You didn't even look at me properly."
Anna deep breathed and spun on her heels, taking a good minute to observe her cousin, fromhead to toes, "Your costume is beautiful, Punzie. I loved the Sun thing. Can we go now? I need to move my muscles."
Rapunzel, then with short brown pixie hair, grunted and followed her friend out of their cabin. They walked for about five minutes before she stopped on her tracks, staring at what Anna thought it was 'nothing'.
"Rapunzel, seriously, we need to meet our… Rapunzel, are you fucking listening to me?"
"Seriously, Ginger. C'mere", she takes her goggles off, "Look at that cute lonely house."
"Awesome."
She snaps her head at the dead-panned girl, giving her a glare, "I want to know what is that."
"No way."
"Yes way."
The look at each other for a moment and Anna gives up. She knows her cousin wouldn't quit so better get done with it.
They didn't know at that time the woman they found there cleaning the place was actually the mother of their best bartender friend. At the age of 14, Rapunzel and Anna promised they would take someone special to that cute place Bulda rents. Almost a decade later and neither of them found someone to take there.
Until now.
"Are we on the right path?"
"Yes", Anna says, "Just around the corner!"
As Anna demanded, they left "right now" – right after packing some warm clothes and food – and she was giving Elsa the directions they got online. The redhead knew Elsa was still grumpy about leaving soon so the whole journey to the unknown place was done with Anna's fingernails lazily caressing Elsa's inner thigh, the car filled with some random radio station.
They finally reach their sojourn destination. It's an adorable cottage. Small yet cozy rooms, low beige ceiling. The windows were wooden logs and the whole place had a rustic vibe, as if the dwelling was in the middle of the woods instead of just out of the road. The walls were pale green, with some hooks to hang keys and coats.
They've eaten before talking to Oaken so they went straight to the couch to cuddle and watch a movie, glad to be in the arms of each other, dumbly calling each other "girlfriend". They wondered how it would be when their friends finally get the news… if they haven't figured it out already. Elsa's grumpy manners whenever someone was too touchy towards Anna may have been a good hint of her intentions? Yeah, Anna thinks so.
After two hours, though, they had to move their limbs and fill their bellies, and to the kitchen they went.
Elsa suddenly tsked, catching Anna's attention, "What's wrong?"
"I forgot to give you something. Wait here."
The redhead leaned on the sink as Elsa whisked to the entrance where they left their belongings. She came back quickly, tiny package in hands.
"Here."
"Ooh, a present?"
The blonde smiles and nods, motioning her hands to Anna open the present. There was a metallic box wrapped and in there rested a silver necklace adorned with a beautiful shinny snowflake pendant. The strawberry-blonde had never seen such stylish pattern.
"There was this guy making things with metal and stones near the flea market", Elsa says while Anna eyes the gift in wonder, "I asked him to make this b- because I h- heard you calling me, uh…"
And then Anna's eyes shot up to stuttering Elsa. So she wasn't asleep that morning, uh… Anna smiles as the blonde fights for words.
"I like it. It's… cute. And since I'm leaving soon, uh, I know it sounds stupid but that way… that way you'll have part of me with you?", she lets out a nervous chuckle. What was she thinking when she planed that! Anna's dopey smile shows up as she walks towards Elsa.
Elsa was beautiful and kind, intelligent and lovely, making the redhead feels every inch of how plain she was – why would Elsa want someone like me? Little did she know similar thoughts were crossing the mind of the woman she hugs.
"This is gorgeous!", she squeals, "Just like you."
The blonde grins at how stupid she is. Anna easily says things she would take an hour to properly form a sentence. Anna was a free spirit with no social fear in the heart.
"You're so expressive, and energic about everything", she kisses Anna's forehead, "I'll miss this."
"And I'll miss you all", she whimpers, "Gosh, Elsa. I love you."
The blonde woman stares at her, cheeks dusted light rose, mouth wordlessly open. She swallows hard whilst warm hands gently caress her arms.
"I love you, Elsa", the redhead repeats, "And I don't think I can live without hearing you say that."
"Here and now, I'm bare."
Anna frowns, Alright, whatever answer I was expecting did not start with a 'here and now, I'm bare', she thought, but she kept quiet so Elsa could continue.
"I always feared that…", she sighs, "These words that you say, they put your heart in someone's hand. Then they can hurt you. And I grew scared of it. But with you, Anna…", she smiles, she loves the way the girl's name sounds in her voice, "With you I'm not afraid anymore. So, yes, I do. I love you. I love you, too."
Anna beams, she smiles greatly as her hold on Elsa's hips get tighter in a happy way. She let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding, "For fuck's sake, you coulda just said I love you!", Elsa is spun around in the air as they laugh at the unnecessary tension in the moment.
Soon enough Elsa is on her feet again, lips locked to Anna's. Elsa tilted her head as their lips danced, her fingers tangled in the fiery mane, trying to tug the younger girl closer. As Anna knew Elsa's weakness just behind her ears, so did Elsa: those fiery tresses on her nape pulled fiercely yet with care. The blonde worked her way to the sun-kissed shoulder, leaving a nasty mark on it that would get purple the day after. She couldn't care less.
When they look at each other again, Anna sees Elsa's eyes are heavy with love – no, passion. With a hand on blonde tresses, the redhead guides Elsa back to her body, and Elsa goes in. She finds Anna's pulse under her velvety tongue, closes her mouth around it and she sucks – she sucks it hard. The girl moans under her. Elsa takes the invitation as Anna ducks her head to the side, exposing more skin to be marked. Elsa nips it many times, slowly, and then runs the tip of her tongue over the agitated skin to soothe the pleasant pain.
Anna is jelly in her arms, leaning into her with bated breath when they connect their foreheads.
"I love when you fall apart because of me", the blonde whispers, and that did it. Anna sensually growls before kissing her passionately. Elsa fights for air but the other girl had none of it, crushing their bodies together as though she wanted them to become one.
In truth, she wanted that freaking tease right there and now, on the table or the floor! Whatever!
But it was cold indeed so her solution came in two demanding words:
"Bed. Now."
;)