A/N: Professors: Hahaha we're gonna make every single one of our end-of-unit/chapter exams on the same week and then the next week is midterms week so you'll have virtually no time to study for those on top of the end of unit ones oh and also we each have an essay due next week so better get ready and make sure you're doing the unending amounts of readings and hw for the classes we have in between exams since we're gonna keep learning new material until it kills us! :)

...I'm a fucking ZOMBIE. I am living off POPTARTS and NOODLES and I don't remember the last time I got a full eight hours of sleep.

I'm so sorry this is so late, guys, and I gotta admit, it's probably not even my best work. I have had literally no time to write recently and last night I finally sat down like fuck it, I'm gonna get this chapter written. Up through next week, chapters might be later than every other day, and I'm sincerely sorry about it, but I'm paying a fuckload of money for these classes and I gotta kinda focus on 'em.

That being said, I don't have the next part of this story 100% planned out so if anyone has any questions they'd like answered or ideas or whatever (however big or small), please feel free to leave a review about it. I have general ideas but I've never been good at planning too far ahead beyond a certain point. Keep in mind that some questions you may have, I may already plan to answer in the future (including a LOT regarding certain motivations and important plotpoints)

When I woke up, it was far too early for me to be awake. I noticed a nurse shuffling around my room, checking on my vitals. She smiled at me and I let it go, snuggling back down in my bed. I was aware of Anna's warm weight against me and nuzzled my face against her hair before succumbing to sleep again.

It was nearing eleven by the time I woke next. Normally, I was a bit of an early riser (you kind of have to be when you work at a coffee shop), but I constantly felt so exhausted now. I took in a deep breath, frowning at the pain it caused me, and wearily tried to blink back the sleep, figuring I should probably wake up and face the day.

Anna was still laying against me, but she had shifted so her back was pressed to me. She was holding one of my hands up in front of her face and examining it closely. I watched as she traced her thumb over the lines on the hand and wove her own fingers through mine. I was mildly intrigued by the contrast of our skin colors – my own pale complexion against her more pinkish tone.

"What are you doing?" I asked in amusement.

She startled a little at my sudden question, but quickly settled back down, still studying my hand closely. "Thinking," she mumbled in a drowsy voice, and then yawned.

"What are you thinking about?"

"…You," she stated, and then pressed her head more firmly against my left shoulder. She was warm, and it felt so nice to have her so close.

"Then why are you holding my hand hostage?"

She hesitated, and then sighed. "I was just… I was thinking about how amazing it is that you can create ice and snow with this. You can literally control the weather. I'm kind of really sad that I didn't know about it before the past couple of months. That I didn't know about it after you went into your room."

"That was why," I said quietly, glancing at a far-off spot on the wall. "I used to think it was pretty amazing, too. I loved using my powers. Mama and Papa once told me that that's how I communicated before you were born."

"Why before I was born?" she questioned in a puzzled tone.

I grinned in spite of myself. "Why, that's when I said my first word. I was a very dissociative child because of my autism, not that we knew that back then. Your name was my first word. Of course, I don't remember it all that much, but after I was isolated, I tried to remember everything about you that I could. I wrote it all down in this little book that I called 'The Anna Journal'."

She giggled, and although I couldn't actually see her face from our positions, I could imagine the bright smile she was wearing. "Do you still have it?"

"Of course. It's locked away in a special place."

With a hum of contentment, she pressed my hand to her own chest so I could feel her heartbeat and held hers over it. "It really is amazing, though, what you can do. The ice on the walls whenever you were having a nightmare always looked so elaborate, and then in the parking lot… I mean, I was a bit anxious because you were so angry about something, but still, the things that I saw you do were… Well, beautiful."

"Beautiful," I parroted in a murmur. It had been a long time since someone had referred to my magic as such.

Suddenly, she let out a giggle, her grip on my hand tightening. "I was going to wait until the first snow before bombarding you with questions about building a snowman, but now I know I don't have to wait that long."

"I can't make it snow in the hospital room, Anna. I mean, I could, but that's a bit, uh… Dangerous?"

She lightly swatted at my stomach with her free hand. "I didn't mean here, you butthead. Once you're out of the hospital, in a couple weeks or so."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, I was thinking about leaving tomorrow," I admitted.

Anna's reaction was instantaneous. She bolted upright, accidentally elbowing me in the ribs and causing me to wince, and stared at me with a look of horror. "No. No way. You almost died three days ago, Elsa, I won't allow you to almost kill yourself again by leaving before you're recovered enough."

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. "Come on, Anna. I'm dying here in this bed. It reminds me of being confined to my room and I don't like it. Some painkillers, a brace for my ankle, and some instructions on how not to screw up my body even more, and I should be good. I don't really see what the big deal is."

"I don't like that idea…"

"I know," I sighed. "I'll go crazy if I'm kept in here much longer, though. I was thinking you could maybe help me move around a bit today so we can make sure I'm good to go tomorrow."

She bit her lip and shook her head. "Are you going to start shutting everyone out again once you're out?" she asked in a timid voice.

I hesitated, turning my gaze to the ceiling, searching for an answer. A small voice in the back of my head insisted that I'd have to. If I wanted to keep people safe, I'd have to isolate myself again. The memories of my hallucination and my conversations the previous day battled with the voice, going back and forth in my mind.

Anna tensed at my silence, her teal eyes becoming desperate as they searched for an answer. I reached my arm out and turned her back over, helping her settle against my side again. I gently ran my thumb up and down her arm to center myself in the real world rather than lose myself completely in my internal battle. I could feel her slowly begin to tremble as she undoubtedly feared the worst.

"I love you," was all I managed to say after a while.

She nuzzled her head against my shoulder, and I could feel her silent tears seep through my nightgown. "That doesn't answer the question," she mumbled.

"…I want to protect you," I tried again. "I don't want to hurt you."

"But when you shut me out, it does hurt me. If you just let me in…"

"It's more complicated than that," I protested weakly.

She continued to shake, and I tried to tighten my grip on her because it killed me to make her cry. "It doesn't have to be," she murmured.

"Except it does, Anna. When I can impale someone with an icicle or turn them into a popsicle with a simple flick of my wrist, I can't be careless. I can do a lot of amazing things with my powers, sure, but I can also do a lot of dangerous things with them. It's not black and white. It's messy and complicated and I can't allow anyone to get close because I can't control it very well."

"You allowed me to get close," she pointed out faintly.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Yeah, I did. And I wondered every day if it was a mistake. When I almost hit you with an icicle, I was sure that I had made a mistake. My psyche is so fucked up that, even if I wanted to try to let people get close, I wouldn't be able to get past the voice in my head that calls me a monster."

She inhaled sharply and pulled back to stare at me with shocked, disbelieving eyes. "Elsa…" she whimpered, shaking her head. "You can't really believe that?"

"I don't know what I believe," I confessed. "I just get scared and then I close my eyes and I see your small, cold, unconscious body in my arms again, and then Papa's yelling at me and Mama's crying, and then the strange man that somehow saved your life is telling me about how dangerous I can be, and Papa vows to isolate me until I learn to control it, but then… Then I never did."

"But you did. Sure you had an outburst in some random, abandoned parking lot, but Elsa, I saw you have a lot of melt downs and not once did your magic get away from you," she pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for reminding me how fucked up I am," I remarked dryly.

She winced. "I-I didn't mean that like… I just meant… N-not that you're, uh, messed up, just that I've, you know, I've been there and…"

"It's alright, Anna. I know what you meant. I don't… I don't know how to respond, though."

"That's okay. You don't have to. I just don't ever want you to think you're a monster again, okay? Don't you ever think that again. You're my big sister, and you have too big of a heart to be monster. Do you understand?"

Numbly, I nodded as I tried to blink back the tears. Anna smiled sadly and then hugged me gently, careful of my wound.

"It doesn't change that easily," I pointed out faintly.

"I'm not one to give up," she giggled as she pulled back.

"Well yes, that has been made perfectly clear," I smirked. "I'm assuming even if I wanted to shut you out again, you simply wouldn't let me, and I'm not necessarily at my strongest."

She grinned cheekily. "Yeah, I probably wouldn't. I'm stubborn that way, you know. Why were you moving your couch?"

I narrowed my eyes. Of course, she caught that. I didn't really want to answer, so I did what I did best – deflect. "Don't you have class or something you're skipping right now?"

"Professors are pretty understanding when I tell them that my sister sustained a major injury and I need to be there for her. Plus, I have friends in each class that take pretty decent notes. It's not a big deal."

I shook my head, not liking what she was saying in the slightest. It was her first semester… She couldn't let it be set back like this. "Anna," I sighed. "Please go to class. I'll be fine, I promise. I'm doing a lot better already and I don't want to be the reason your GPA lowers."

She straightened a little, and I recognized that look on her face. It was scared. It was almost shy (not that Anna herself was ever shy). It looked almost as if she was too afraid to speak up and say what she wanted.

That thought was like a bullet to my heart (haha), and I reached out to draw her close once again. "I'm sorry," I murmured immediately. "I'm sorry, you don't have to go." I felt her begin to shake with sobs again, and I just tried to tighten my grip on her, holding her head against my shoulder.

There was so much more that I wanted to say, but I couldn't, for the life of me, make my tongue work again, so I could only hold her as she worked through whatever her own problems for once.


Anna had only gotten up and left the room when I began complaining about the fact that there was literally no food in my stomach. I was on an IV drip that was pumping nutrients into my body, yeah, but it didn't change the fact that my actual stomach was empty, and therefore, the hunger pangs persisted.

Alone now, it didn't take long before I grew restless. It was nearing evening now, and the nurses had been popping in periodically throughout the day to check on me and make sure I was okay. It was a bit irritating, admittedly, but Anna kept me from snapping at everyone who stepped through the door.

There was an uneasy feeling in my stomach as I tried to ignore all of the possible consequences of my injuries. However much I tried to act otherwise, my whole life had been upturned, in a way.

I tried to play it down, but the fact of the matter was that my body had taken a pretty hefty hit and it wouldn't be able to just go back to doing what it was doing before within a week. The worst part was that I couldn't just put my life on hold.

I couldn't just not work because I still had bills to pay – including what was no doubt going to be a pretty big medical bill. I had gotten by so far by working diligently and letting my school be paid mostly by grants and scholarships. I was in my seventh semester, and I had never, not once, missed a single class, because keeping my scholarships was important. Now, I had missed half a week's worth of classes, and even if I wanted to go to class tomorrow or the next day, I knew that I just wouldn't physically be able to, and I hated that.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to steady myself. When I opened them again, I had made up my mind. I just had to catch up as best as I could. I used my arms to push me closer to the edge of the bed, even though just using my arms hurt my chest – because of my shattered sternum, if I remembered correctly.

Carefully, I swung my legs off, trembling slightly as I lowered my weight onto them. My sprained ankle cried out unhappily, but I persisted, tentatively putting a bit of pressure on it. I stood up, still clinging to the bed with needles sticking out of my left arm. I debated tearing them out, but quickly realized that that would not be a good idea. I just… wouldn't go far.

My broken breastbone screamed at me as I stood up straight and let go of the bed, trying to square my shoulders and hide my grimace at the same time, even though there was no one else in the room.

My body felt heavy and weak and not at all like my own. I chewed on my lip to distract myself as I hesitantly took a step forward. My legs wobbled uncertainly, but remained upright for the most part. I took another step, and then even dared to try to take another.

'Try' being the operative word because my left ankle gave out on me and I fell to the ground, just barely managing to catch myself on the blue armchair, which had been pushed back to the wall. As I reached out to brace myself on it so as to not get a faceful of carpet, the needles in my arm and the tape holding them in place were roughly yanked out, causing me to hiss in pain.

"Elsa!" Anna yelped as she rushed back into the door, nearly spilling the bowl of soup she had acquired. She carefully placed it on a tray and approached me, where I was still half-kneeling on the ground.

My face burned, and I purposefully kept it away from her so she couldn't see. She began muttering reprimands for getting out of bed as she extended her hands to help me back up, but the moment she touched me, I recoiled.

I sat back on my rear and glared up at her, having to manually force air in and out of my lungs. I saw the hurt on her face, and the anger, and it only fueled my own anger. I steadied myself against the bed and used it to push my shaky legs back into a stand. Leaning back against the bed now, I crossed my arms over my chest and diverted my gaze.

"Elsa," she said again, quieter now. "You're not ready. You're not recovered enough to be walking around. I know you don't like laying in that bed all day, but you're hurt, and you need to give your body time to recover. Now, stop this stubbornness and get back in the fucking bed."

My eyes sharply darted back to her as she uttered that word. I'd never, ever heard Anna curse before… Her voice had been gentle and light, but that word, along with the redness of her face and the hardness of her gaze, betrayed her. She was really quite pissed off. More so than she had been before in front of me, even when I shut her out or Maggie said some stupid stuff that set her off. No. She had never been this angry with me, and it terrified me.

I didn't do very good with others' anger. That's why she had scared me when she confronted Maggie, because just the sheer rage radiating off of her had shaken me to my core. In my experience, when people got angry with me, or in general, I got hurt. That's what would happen with George fucking Streiss, the foster father who I had been accused and partially convicted of stabbing three or so years ago. I'd see that familiar twitch of his right eye that showed just how pissed he was with me, and then, his fists would be pummeling my side.

That's why, when she took a step towards me, anger still coming off of her in waves, I whimpered and fell back onto the bed, my arms immediately shooting up to cover my face and my body caving in on itself in spite of the pain it caused to my injuries.

My eyes screwed tightly shut and I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable strike. I heard Anna's breath hitch in her throat, and then her footsteps approached, much softer now.

"Elsa…" she murmured. "Elsa, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Won't you look at me?"

I shook my head vigorously, and then flinched as I felt her hands lay gently on my shoulders. "I'm not going to hurt you," she repeated slowly. "Just because I'm upset with you doesn't mean I'm going to hurt you. It just means that I love you and I can't stand seeing you hurt yourself like this."

Eventually, I opened my eyes, my arms lowering slightly, and I met her teary, guilt-ridden teal gaze. I sucked air into my lungs, forcing my arms to permanently retire back down to my sides. "Stop treating me like a child," I managed through gritted teeth.

Annoyance flickered across her face. "Stop acting like a child."

"Stop acting like a martyr."

She grimaced, meeting my glower. "You're the one that literally got shot through the heart unnecessarily just because you didn't want the gun on me," she pointed out.

"And yet, this is more about you than me," I retorted, finding a tiny bit of confidence in the words I had been meaning to tell her for a long time now. "I may have taken an actual bullet, but you're the more self-sacrificial of the two of us. Just think about how truly awful care you've been taking of yourself because you wanted to be there for me. Me, who was in a coma. I didn't need you by my side all the time. You've been missing classes because of me, and the reality of it is that I –"

I stopped, my throat closing up abruptly. I let out a low growl, urging my body to function, but it had shut down with no warning. Frustrated, I balled my hands into fists and screwed my eyes shut as I began pounding my own head with my fists, willing something to click. Anna let out an uneasy, choked noise as she watched my sudden and inexplicable meltdown.

I opened my mouth, trying to get something out, rather unsuccessfully I might add. I found myself rocking in my spot, something that I hadn't done since I was little. Anna tentatively reached towards me and climbed onto the bed next to me. She laid a comforting arm over my shoulders, and while I flinched at first, I let it stay.

Finally, after some time, my body felt semi-functional again, and I took a deep breath. "I… I don't need you h-hovering over me…" I muttered. "It's overwhelming and t-triggering… I can't… I can't handle it…"

"I don't want to leave you," was her meek reply, one that I'd heard several times now.

I pulled my hands away from my face as soon as I felt comfortable enough to do so and met Anna's gaze hesitantly. "I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking for some space."

She nodded numbly and swallowed hard. She was trembling like a leaf, and for a moment, I feared she'd fall right over. Her eyes closed, but tears still slipped out of them. "So… So y-you don't n-need me… at all?"

I couldn't take it anymore at that point. I scooted a bit closer to her and extended a hand to tenderly wipe her cheeks. "I didn't say that," I sighed. "I just said I don't need you as much as you think I do. I do still need you. I love you, Anna. I-I was… I mean, I was hoping you'd move back in with me."

Her eyes opened again, and they were much brighter than before. "Yes! Yes, of course, I will, Elsa… You don't even have to ask!"

She leaned in to hug me carefully, and I chuckled in spite of myself. "Just don't become an overbearing mother hen. Boundaries, right?"

"Boundaries," she agreed with a smile. I noticed her pause then, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

"What is it?" I asked, only hesitating for a moment before reaching out and brushing imaginary dust off of her shoulder.

For a moment, it seemed like she wouldn't respond, at war with herself. She eventually gave in with a sigh. "What are your… I mean, what do you usually do for Thanksgiving?"

I frowned, pondering the question. "Nothing special, really. I usually go to Abbie's and hang out with her and Thomas. She'll make some traditional Indian dishes that she learned from her grandparents while I stick to making, like… Mashed potatoes… Oh! I also make pinnekjøtt – I don't care if it's technically a Christmas dish – and I have Mama's recipe memorized by heart."

Anna's jaw fell so far, I was surprised it didn't hit the bed. "You have Mama's pinnekjøtt recipe!?" she cried out.

I giggled and leaned away, since she looked about two seconds away from tackling me. "Maybe… Why do you ask about my Thanksgiving plans?"

Her cheeks colored and she looked away, suddenly nervous again. "Well… I was wondering if, maybe… Since Thanksgiving is in a week and you're determined to be out of the hospital by then, which I still think is a bad idea, but I've come to understand that I don't really think I could sway you one way or another at this point, and you don't want me to hover, so I'm just gonna have to deal with it and try to make sure you don't potentially kill yourself by trying to get back to work immediately, which I know you will, and I would honestly be surprised if you hadn't texted Abbie already about being on next week's schedule – " It was my turn to blush since I had, indeed, texted her the day before. She had been too busy with Thomas and making sure my shifts were covered this week to be able to visit me at a time I'd be awake.

Anna was still going, even when I spaced back into the conversation.

"…And I mean, if she has any sense at all, she'd know not to put you on the schedule, but I guess, at the same time, I get that bills need to be paid, and we've both been missing our shifts, and you know, that can't really be easy on her, so I guess I wouldn't blame her if she did put you back on the schedule already – plus, you can probably work register or something, if we just get you a stool, as long as you're not doing anything too strenuous, you should be fine, and – "

"Anna," I interrupted her softly. She stopped immediately and caught my pointed look, her face once again reddening.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I noticed her hands ball into fists as she tried to work up the courage to say whatever was on her mind. I waited patiently, watching her intently, even as I had to suppress a yawn at a sudden wave of fatigue.

"…Iwayoutocomanewthmyfaly!"

I blinked once, twice, trying to process what she had said. All that ended up coming out of my mouth was a rather intelligible, "…what?"

She sighed, opening her eyes and meeting my gaze pleadingly. "I want you to come and eat with my family," she said, much slower and more controlled now. "M-my adopted family, I mean… In fact… Well, there's no classes next week for Thanksgiving, since we didn't have a fall break, so I was wondering if you would… You know… Stay the week in Tourrence with them… with me?"

I stared at her blankly, my mouth dry. "I don't know if I could afford it…" I admitted. "I mean… I'd love to come meet your adopted family, Anna, I just don't know if… If I could afford to miss another week of work, with my diminished-due-to-insurance-but-still-undoubtedly-huge medical bills and my rent."

Her face fell in an instant, all hopefulness gone. "Oh… Oh, well… Th-that's okay…"

"I think… I think I might be able to do it, though," I continued, simply because I couldn't stand to see the rejection in her eyes, and shit, I'd do my best to bring the sun down to the earth with my bare hands if it meant she would be happy.

…Bad analogy, Elsa. That was not nearly as eloquent as I was hoping it would be. I never claimed to be a poet.

Still, the joy that lit her face was plenty enough to bring a smile back to my own. She ended up going back to her armchair and bringing the tray of now-cool soup to me. I insisted she shared it with me, since she hadn't gotten anything for herself.

We talked a bit while we ate, but for the most part, we just enjoyed each other's company and mulled over the conversations and emotions of the day. I knew that things wouldn't instantly patch themselves up between us – we'd had a major rift rise between us ever since she found out about my powers and I almost killed her again.

Nothing healed overnight. I learned that the hard way. The worst part was that I couldn't always talk to her, but she was so blessedly patient with me… I began to feel a glimmer of faith that things might end up being okay.

I had told Dr. Morrison that I was the type of person who just didn't deserve love, but for the first time, I was beginning to wonder if I had been mistaken.

A/N: Sorry if that was, like, not good ahah. Please leave a review below anyway for me? :)