The rail presses against her back but she barely registers it. Her knees have gone weak for a second. The glass of wine has almost slipped from her fingers. Elsa has pressed herself flush against her body and weaved one of her hands through her hair. They're sighing against one another, and Anna wonders if Elsa is thinking the same thing as her—that it had been far too long to go without her lips touching hers. But then Elsa is tracing Anna's bottom lip with her tongue and warmth settles between her legs, and she can think of nothing else but the fact that she wants to feel it again.

She refuses Elsa access by keeping her mouth tight against hers and soon feels her tongue run hotly against her lip again. The sensation does something to her, unexpected and entirely animalistic. Had she really gone too long without feeling the pleasure of a kiss? Or had it been Elsa all along the only one who just knew how to turn her into complete mush?

Anna pulls her closer by the arm that's still wrapped around Elsa's waist and the sound of a low throaty moan reaches her ears. It is maddening. Deliriously intoxicating. Elsa is nibbling her lower lip now, and Anna finally relinquishes by letting her tongue slip inside. The contact of their tongues has Anna rolling her eyes back. Would it be too much if she were to hook her legs around Elsa's waist right now? How much of this was illegal? Are they blocking the path according to the fire department safety tips? She can hear the bursting sound of a honking car not too far from where they are. She can feel the numbing wind of November on the skin of her cheeks and her hands. She can sense the cold touch of Elsa's fingertips now sneakily tucking under her sweater.

To be making out on a fire escape had never been on her to-do list but damn if Anna doesn't think it should have been on it all along. She might as well be in the middle of being kissed back to life with the way Elsa is taking her sweet time languidly using her tongue to explore every bit of her mouth. But when the feather-like touch on her bare stomach makes her buck her hips involuntarily, she pushes slightly away in order to take a breathing pause—lest she ends up having standing sex with Elsa and moaning so loud everyone within a two-block ratio will hear her.

The thought makes her cheeks burn.

"What is it?" Elsa softly asks her, touching their foreheads together.

"That was just..." Anna shakes her head, "wow."

"That was wow?" she teases, but all Anna can do is hum in assertion. She thinks she should finish the red wine but can't bring herself to raise the glass. She is trapped between the cold iron rail and Elsa's body with no desire to move an inch. Her free hand has settled on Elsa's front, nestled above her breasts clad in a beige cashmere sweater. She can feel the heart that beats beneath, fast but steady, and for a second Anna's entire being fills with gratitude at the simple fact that Elsa is alive, here, in her arms.

"I missed this," she whispers. "I missed you."

Elsa brushes their noses together. There is a smile in her voice when she says, "So did I."

"I don't want to go on without you ever again."

"You won't have to."

Pulling back slightly so that she can look at Elsa, Anna finds that she means it. A hand then goes up to move her fringe to the side and Anna closes her eyes momentarily to relish the familiarity of the action.

"Do you want to go inside?" Elsa asks.

"Do you?" is Anna's response.

"No. But I'm not the one who was shivering from the cold some minutes ago."

"As long as you don't move an inch from where you are, then I should be fine."

Elsa smiles. "So demanding," she says.

"You knew this about me when you decided to sign up for it again."

There's a laugh, low and sweet. Intimate. "Who says I already signed up for it?"

"Your tongue was doing all sorts of things just now that could state otherwise."

"Oh really," Elsa purrs, her expression turning seductive. "What kinds of things?"

Anna pauses. She decides now it's a good time to finish that red wine, so she does it by taking a quick swig before eyeing the empty glass with a lack of clue as to what to do with it. Elsa takes care of it by grabbing it from her hand and stepping back to place it on the window sill. A few things run through Anna's mind during that time. She wonders if any of their friends back inside are curious as to why exactly they're taking so long to return. She realizes that she becomes, in fact, cold as soon as Elsa leaves her side. She registers the fact that her own heart is thumping wildly, as if it were both dealing with the anticipation of kissing Elsa again and enduring the overwhelming reality that this is happening at all. This intimacy. This physical relationship. This manifestation of a love that never once died down.

When Elsa makes her way back to her, taking only a couple of steps to cross the fire escape, she does so with a serenity that robs Anna of the ability to speak. Elsa backs her up against the rail again with nothing but the weight of her gaze. She stops inches away from Anna, her eyes darting over the features of her face. She smiles slowly, settles her hands on Anna's hips, but makes no other move. It takes little for Anna to realize that she is letting her set the pace.

Elsa's eyes flutter shut when Anna pulls her closer by the neck and brushes their lips together so slowly that it feels as if she were taking the time to ingrain every bit of this sensation back into her memory. The warmth of Elsa's breath reaches her parted mouth before she teases Elsa's upper lip with the tip of her tongue and then captures it with a passion that quickly rekindles.

Anna thinks she could spend the rest of the night doing this; savoring the intoxicating sensation brought by their kisses; feeling her whole body be dictated by the way Elsa sucks on her tongue, squeezes her hips, pins her hard against the rail. And for a while, she thinks she does, for they spend enough time out on the fire escape that they think everyone else has gone home when they finally decide it might be best to tone things down.

Sheepishly, they step back inside Kristoff's room while Anna can't ignore the dizzying notion that nothing yet everything has changed all at once. The sounds coming from the living room are quieter now, unlike the commotion brought by video games being played by their raucous friends. Anna notices the time on Kristoff's bedside clock and sees that only an hour has passed since she went outside seeking fresh air.

The act of Elsa opening the door elicits a series of hoots and calls that catch them both by surprise. Anna feels as if they were waking up from a hundred-year slumber and these were their goblins celebrating their awakening. Except that these goblins were drinking wine and beer and did not seem to have moved an inch from their lounging positions for an hour.

"What's going on?" Elsa asks. She is still holding Anna's hand.

"Well, well, well," says Eugene, "look who decided to pause their steamy session to come join us."

Anna could feel herself grow hot. "How—"

"I went to check in on you when I saw you were taking a while," Kristoff responds, "Imagine my surprise when I found you two making out on my fire escape."

Next to her, Elsa is covering her face. Anna has half a mind to do the same. Off the couch steps Rapunzel in order to drape her arms around both girls, but still sitting is Sasha, who says: "It took you guys so. Damn. Long."

"We were gonna place bets," Rapunzel tells them, "before Kristoff went to check on you. But then we realized that we were all betting on the same thing."

"Except Maren."

"Except Maren." She turns her head back towards the brunette. "You owe us five bucks each."

Anna's mouth goes agape. Glancing sideways, she finds a similar expression on Elsa's face.

Eugene is laughing. He refers to Maren when he says, "Seriously, dude, you should have known better."

Maren shrugs with an easy smile before she begins to pull out her wallet.

"That's 'cause she doesn't know the whole story," Rapunzel comments. She is pulling both girls' hands, guiding them back towards the couch where she has them sit down. "It was a matter of when, not if."

"We're right here, you know?" Elsa says.

"Well, are you going to tell me it's not true?"

She rolls her eyes with cheeks reddened still by an embarrassment that Anna feels firsthand. But then Elsa averts her gaze until it lands on Anna and she smiles fondly, intimately, in a way that makes Anna think is almost subconscious.

It is in that moment that she is able to read Elsa's thoughts with sweet, perfect clarity.

It really was never a matter of if.

A tall, blond woman enters the French restaurant wearing a beige overcoat. Anna perks up at the sight, thinking it is Lauren, but soon goes back to her glass of water, seeing that it's not.

She knows she's arrived early—had surprised herself, in fact, when she reached the corner of 6th and 11th and saw that she'd gotten there ten minutes to six. She'd asked for a table for two before following the host through tables occupied by locals. She'd texted Lauren, letting her know she was there. She'd texted Elsa, doubting she'd have the time to respond. And she'd ordered a glass of water, feeling rather content with doing something she had not done in a while.

Taking a look around the restaurant, Anna notices the French vintage posters; the one with a smiling blue-haired woman holding up a martini glass advertising whatever H. Grandin & C. sold; the one where a man and a woman are clinging dramatically to each other in a pose that reminds Anna of the romance novels sold at pharmacies and grocery stores. LA MORTE-SAISON DES AMOURS, the poster says. Something something, love. She thinks she should start making some time to learn French. Her mother always used to nag her about it when she was in high school. She thought Spanish wasn't good enough, but Anna always wondered, What makes a language good enough?

Anyway, it's not like she learned Spanish either.

She is about to delve into all the reasons why she wasn't able to learn shit in high school when her phone vibrates with an incoming message from where it sits on the table. Elsa is telling her:Wish I could take you out on a fancy dinner too :( I miss you, which brings a smile to Anna's face so big that she feels the self-conscious need to hide it by biting into her lower lip. She texts her back saying that they will have their fancy dinner eventually and sets the phone down.

Anna sighs, and her gaze settles on an empty spot by the bar as she reminisces their time on the fire escape. It had been such a perfect moment—such a perfect night, even if Elsa had been paged not too long after they'd gone back inside. And she'd looked so apologetic. But of course, Anna understood despite the tinge of disappointment that washed over her. Because this was Elsa's job, and it was her calling, and there were lives that needed to be saved and all that jazz. So she'd told Elsa there'd be many other nights, and she'd walked her all the way down to the street and waited by her side for a taxi to arrive. And she'd chased after her lips well after Elsa was sitting inside the car and giggling against her mouth and holding Anna's cheek with her hand. "I love you," Anna had said unapologetically, and Elsa had whispered it back, and she thought in that moment that if happiness had a taste, it would be that of Elsa's lips.

For what did it matter that the night felt as if it had been cut short? Or that Anna had been left with just the right amount of arousal that she'd gotten home with the decision of taking care of it herself. It was perfect still. Elsa was perfect. And Anna was absolutely and undeniably in love—

"Here I thought you'd gone catatonic," Lauren suddenly says, pulling Anna out of her stupor. The woman is standing by the table, wearing a black turtleneck and black jeans underneath a gray check coat while Anna sits there thinking that if she wore a trash bag she'd probably rock it too.

"I was daydreaming," Anna responds.

"That, I can tell."

Anna stands up to greet her and is soon pulled into a hug. Lauren's arms around her tighten briefly and she reciprocates the gesture, aware that the last time they'd seen each other had been at Theo's funeral. There is something protective, almost mother-like, about the way Anna is embraced that soothes her in a kind of comfort she did not have while growing up. It's what makes her smile this time around and reminisce with a deep surge of nostalgia the one other person in her life who made her feel this way.

"I'm so sorry for the delay," Lauren says after they've both sat down. "They were shooting something by the office and the cab had to take a major detour. Then there was the traffic..."

"I'm telling you, you need a MetroCard."

"I should probably listen to you," she responds with a playful roll of the eyes. She grabs a hold of the menu that's been placed in front of her but doesn't take a look at it just yet. "How are you?"

"Not bad," Anna answers.

"You seem happy."

She turns sheepish. "Do I?"

Lauren hums, smiling knowingly from above the menu. "It's good to see you like this again."

"Like what? Catatonic?"

She laughs. "Daydreaming. Isn't that what you said you were doing?"

"Yeah." Under the table, Anna begins rubbing her palms together. She's trying not to smile like an idiot again.

"Does this have to do with Elsa?"

"Maybe," she says in a small, giddy voice. How embarrassing and how ridiculous that she cannot stop it. Lauren must be regretting offering to become the agent of this twenty-something, still-buffering adult.

"Did you get back together then?"

Anna's smile wavers. "That... is a good question actually."

"What do you mean?" Lauren asks with a laugh. "Do I not want to know what happened?"

"No, no!" Anna exclaims. "Nothing happened—or, I mean, yes, it did. But nothing like, you know. We kissed that's all..." Her cheeks are burning. Here she is, acting like a teenager who's just had her first kiss, sitting across from a woman whose life experiences would probably laugh at hers if they could.

"And," Lauren drawls, "where does this leave you two?"

"Oh my God, I don't know." She goes to cover her face at the same time that she notices a waiter approaching. Still, she refuses to move her hands completely, all but mumbling loudly that she would like the same thing Lauren is having. The wine or the salmon? Both, she says, missing the curious look the young man throws at her before he walks away.

"You are so peculiar," Lauren comments with a hint of amusement.

She runs her palms down her cheeks, finally revealing her whole face. "You've said that before."

"Because I've thought of it before."

Anna groans. Her mind is going places. What are they now? Should she ask Elsa to be her girlfriend? Or is this more of an implied thing? How is she going to bring this up? Is it a good peculiar or a bad peculiar? Also, salmon with what?

"You should just talk to her," Lauren suggests while two empty glasses are brought to the table and a bottle of chardonnay is being poured. She then raises the glass and tilts it slightly in Anna's direction for a silent cheer. "And while you're at it, you should invite her to our holiday party this weekend."

"I... what party?"

"The party we have every year at the beginning of December? You've been to those."

"Oh... You want us to come to the party?"

"Sure," Lauren drags out, "I was going to invite you and ask you to bring her along either way. You know how much I like her."

"True. Yeah. Okay." That, Anna has no doubt about. She can still remember the night she'd introduced them to each other; how Lauren seemed to have held Elsa in high esteem right off the bat. Anna had not been able to blame her for it back then and, years later, she still couldn't. How could she when Elsa is just so...

She sighs heavily.

"In fact, bring anyone you want."

"What?" she asks.

"To the party," Lauren answers. And then, with a slow-growing grin: "You are incredibly smitten."

She tries to cover her face again with the glass of wine in her hand. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm a mess."

"Don't apologize for that. I get to live vicariously through you."

Anna grins at this, happy to know that there is something to get out of her behavior other than secondhand embarrassment. "You might regret giving me that kind of freedom, by the way."

"I'm scared to ask why."

"It's okay. If Elsa does go she'll keep us in check."

"I trust that she will," Lauren smirks.

Anna takes a sip. The chilled, dry wine she nurses in her mouth travels down her throat before she says, "Joking aside, though, this sounds exciting. I'd love for them to meet you. And it's been a while since I've been to those kinds of parties."

"Do you miss them?"

"Sometimes. But I didn't always enjoy myself, so I don't know exactly what I miss about them."

"The free drinks?" Lauren says, raising her glass. "The city view? The chocolate fountain you were always ogling?"

"Maybe all of the above," Anna grins.

The woman lets out a heavy, dramatic sigh as she rests an elbow on the table and props up her chin. She pouts briefly, and for a moment she appears to be as young as Anna is. "I can't say I blame you," she remarks. "There are appearances you have to keep. People you'd rather never entertain..."

"But you still love your job, don't you?"

Lauren turns her attention towards the glass of chardonnay, her index finger absentmindedly tapping its bowl. "I'll have you know, I hated it at first. I only became an agent because it's the family's business and I felt obliged to follow in my dad's steps. But once I truly got started, once I got to meet people like you—full of dreams and creativity and that endless need to write—, that's when I really started to enjoy it. There's something extremely gratifying about helping someone reach their dreams." She picks up the glass, still half lost in her own thoughts, and tilts it toward her lips where she stops only to add, "Look at me, fully committed to the act of selflessness at the age of forty-one."

"Your bank account might state otherwise."

Lauren bursts into laughter, gathering the attention of the couple sitting next to them. "I see you've moved past putting up with my nonsense," she says, dabbing the underside of her eyes with the cloth napkin.

"You should hang out with me more often. Then we'll see who puts up with whom."

"We'll put up with each other on a more daily basis soon enough," Lauren responds in a voice suggestive enough that Anna understands exactly what she means. "And speaking of selfless acts, I'm going to need you to stop by the office whenever you have the chance. That is, if you're still interested?"

"Yes," Anna rushes to say. "I mean—" she clears her throat "—I'm still interested, of course."

Lauren regards her with amusement as the plates of grilled salmon are served. So this is what I ordered, Anna thinks. When the server is gone and Lauren has picked up her cutlery and Anna's mouth has stopped watering, she feels the need to mention that she has begun working on the book again. Slowly, she has to add; every other day. At a pace that allows her to edit and write without losing herself to the feeling of missing Theo. Lauren tells her to take her time, that it's only been a few weeks. To this, Anna nods pensively, for it has felt like so much longer. But then Lauren is reaching across the table and giving her hand a gentle squeeze, and there it is again in the woman's blue eyes that mixture of fondness and care, and that peculiar friendship that Anna has found in her.

"I really appreciate everything you've done for me," Anna tells her in voice laced with deep gratitude. "I feel like I'll never find a way to repay you."

Lauren gives her a satisfied look before she raises her glass again in Anna's direction. "You just have to keep writing."

Anna walks into the hospital that same night as if she knew where she was going. She holds in one hand a brown take-out box and in the other, her cellphone, which she keeps glancing at to make double—and triple—sure that Elsa did say to come through the entrance across from the school of nursing. She had never realized how big this whole place was until she had to round it almost in its entirety by walking (because she got lost) for fifteen minutes. Now she stands in the middle of the lobby, flashing an awkward smile at the medical receptionist, and moving to the side so that she can stay out of the way while she waits for Elsa.

Once she knows Elsa is on her way, Anna stands by. The hospital is bright and quiet, and Anna tries to picture the activity that must be happening behind doors. Monitors beeping, hushed conversations, TVs set on low for the restless. She tries to steer away from the memories of being inside walls like these, fatigued and hopeless, trying to put on a brave face that crumbled each time she was alone.

Seeking distraction, she studies the minimalist painting that hangs on the wall across from her. She observes the vase filled with sunflowers on top of the reception desk, the marble-like pattern of the floor tiles, the lonely man sitting in a chair with his shoulders hunched.

She sees Elsa walking towards her and her first reaction is to raise her arms. It is done out of excitement as much as it is for the purpose of having Elsa step into them. And she does so with her whole body, leaning heavily as if she knew Anna would be happy to hold her for as long as she needed it.

"I'm tired," is the first thing that comes out of her lips.

"I got you," Anna says.

Elsa groans as she takes a step back. Her expression reveals a mixture of fatigue and contentment. "How was dinner?"

"It went great," she answers before showing off the box in her hand. "I also brought you fancy dinner."

"My savior. How did you know I would be starving?"

"Common sense, silly." She grabs Elsa's hand and tugs at it, leading her towards the exit as if she knew—again—where she was going.

In the end, it is Elsa who guides her to the hospital's garden, a green landscape set between buildings, solitary and serene. They sit on one of the concrete benches that face the street, the soles of their shoes digging into the grass. Elsa eats the juicy grilled salmon Anna ordered as part of a last-minute plan while Anna fills her in on how the dinner went. She tells her about the party and about how Lauren said she could invite anyone she wanted.

"Anyone?" Elsa reiterates.

"Anyone."

"Including my weird cousin?"

"Definitely including your weird cousin."

"Lauren's going to regret giving you that much freedom."

Anna grins. "That's exactly what I told her. But I also told her you'd be keeping us in check so it's fine."

"I wasn't aware I was in charge of a kindergarten," Elsa says before popping a piece of roasted potato in her mouth. She's practically wolfing the entire meal down, making Anna think that she should have brought dinner and dessert.

"You're in charge by default. No one forced you to be the oldest one of the group."

Elsa's shoulders shake with quiet laughter. "That makes no sense," she says, covering her mouth with the top half of her hand.

"Yeah, it made more sense in my head." She shrugs and leans back by resting her palms on the cool surface of the bench. She lets her gaze linger on Elsa, who's gone back to finishing her dinner, eating so properly, so neatly. How can someone look so graceful even when they're eating at a pace that seems as though they've been starved for two days? She must be exhausted too, Anna thinks. She knows Elsa has been starting work early in the afternoon and finishing late at night ever since she had to leave Kristoff's apartment sooner than either of them had wanted. And sure, five days aren't even that many, but Anna knows that the burnout state in which Elsa currently finds herself is not a result of five days of long-hour work, but a cumulus of years of dedication.

"Do I have something on my face?" Elsa playfully asks, setting the empty box to the side, pulling a water bottle out of her backpack.

"You have pretty on your face."

Elsa looks at her with cheeks puffed out by water. She swallows, then says, "Is that also one of the things that made more sense in your head?"

Anna laughs. "Come on, it made sense out loud too."

Despite the shake of her head, it is endearment which takes over Elsa's features. Then, she places her right foot on the bench, making space between her legs. "Come here," she says, extending a hand for Anna to take.

Elsa guides her until Anna has sat down with her back flush against her front. Arms snake around Anna's midriff in a snug embrace, warm air tickles the skin of her neck as Elsa's head leans against hers. Anna observes the windows of the building that she now sits across from, rectangles of warm light diminished by the blinds that conceal the rooms inside. She runs the tips of her fingers over the back of the hand that rests over her stomach, registering the smoothness of its skin, the bony bumps of the knuckles. Behind her, Elsa sighs and clings to her with the same need that Anna feels.

"I missed you," she breathes close to her ear. "I'm sorry we haven't been able to see each other these days."

"You don't have to apologize for that," Anna tells her. "It's not like I've been doing nothing but daydream about you in your absence."

Elsa chuckles lowly. "I thought that was a rule of thumb by now."

"Watch it," she warns.

"Or else what?"

Anna cranes her neck in order to see her better. She's in the process of coming up with a retort when her eyes land on Elsa's and then, inevitably, on her lips. All traces of a thought leave her when Elsa closes the gap between them and kisses her at a languid pace that has her toes curling. She cups the back of Elsa's head with her right hand and curses in her mind the suddenly impractical position they find themselves in. The problem now is that Elsa's thumb has snuck under her sweater and started to rub circles on her skin, and Anna, relishing the way Elsa is sucking on her lower lip, has no desire to move at all.

The sound of someone whistling reaches her ears and suddenly Elsa is pulling away with rosy cheeks and a bashful look. Anna turns to the street to find a man smirking their way as he continues to tread down the sidewalk. It ignites a feeling of animosity that is rapidly quelled when she feels Elsa's soft lips on her cheek.

"We should go," Elsa states.

Instead of making a move to stand up, she rearranges herself better in Elsa's arms. "I guess," she mumbles.

"I think this is the opposite of leaving."

Anna grabs the hands that are nestled over her stomach, intertwines their fingers together, and tightens the embrace. "Come to my place," she says in a low voice, "stay over. I know it's not the weekend yet so I'll have to leave for work in the morning but... stay with me."

When silence meets her ears, Anna feels the need to add: "We don't have to do anything. We can just sleep. I know you're exhausted."

"It's not that," Elsa responds, her head shaking against Anna's. "I was just thinking that I need to start leaving a spare set of scrubs at your place."

Slowly, a grin begins to take over her entire face. She doesn't remember the last time she felt so happy at something so simple. "I can make room in my drawers."

Walking into the once familiar rooftop, she is overwhelmed by the sheer opulence. Waiters make their way around with trays of sushi and savory tartlets, chicken skewers and filo parcels, champagne glasses and cocktail napkins. The place is crowded, buzzing with conversation and the casual jazz music that belongs in elevators. People wearing their best attires mingle close to patio heaters like pigeons crowding around bread crumbs, all the while Anna stands by the entrance trying to remember if the last holiday party she'd reluctantly attended at Hans's request had been as fancy as this one. But when she turns to the side to see if anyone else is also impressed she finds that Elsa is looking at her, that Rapunzel is nowhere to be found, and that Sasha is holding two chicken skewers and a filo parcel.

"What?" he says, "I had a Clif bar for lunch."

"Where's Rapunzel?" she asks instead.

Elsa looks around but ends up shaking her head when she's also unable to spot her. "That must be some kind of record," she mutters under her breath.

As if on cue, Rapunzel reappears with a fresh-looking cocktail, announcing, "Guys, they have a full service bar."

"Where?" asks Sasha.

"I thought you could see it from up there," answers Rapunzel.

"Oh, fuck off."

Anna figures Sasha can see it from the vantage point of view that comes with his height because he heads off in a direction that, to the surprise of no one, leads them to the bar.

She tries to find Lauren in the meantime, but the party is on full swing and she soon gives up to the idea that they'll find her eventually. So she happily nurses her drink while every so often her hand will graze the back of Elsa's, and Anna will take a look at her as if she were seeing her for the first time that night, with a dopey smile she keeps having to change into a more aloof one that befits the occasion. She just looks so beautiful, Anna thinks. So sexy in that powdery blue suit that has her fantasizing about grabbing it by the lapels and pulling Elsa in for a kiss that could hopefully escalate to something else.

Okay, so what if she's horny? Ever since their first kiss she's spent the whole week thinking about Elsa and the things she'd let her do to her. No one can blame her for that. She is a twenty-seven year old woman with relatively normal libido levels. Besides it's been... quite some time.

An elbow hits her in the ribs.

It is Rapunzel. "Did you know Henry was gonna be here?"

"Who?"

"Hans," Elsa deadpans.

"Yeah, that."

Anna frowns, but the dread that may have come months ago does not arrive tonight. "I hadn't thought about it," she says, "But yeah, it makes sense that he's here." She catches sight of him from across the rooftop. He is laughing at something being said, throwing his head back in that ass-kissing, exaggerated way she knows he uses when he's talking to big name publishers. Next to her, she notices Elsa's hard stare, which causes her to place a quelling hand on her arm.

"Can somebody please tell him to shave those long ass sideburns?" Sasha comments.

"I thought you liked men with sideburns," Rapunzel points out.

"Not like that."

Meanwhile, Elsa is turning to her, heaving an aggravated sigh through the nose. Her eyes quickly soften. Anna smiles and says, "I'm okay."

"I know," she responds, "It's just... I hate what he put you through."

"Well..." Her hand travels down to take a hold of Elsa's. "He didn't really do anything. He's a dick, yeah, but he never forced me into making any of my crappy decisions."

Elsa looks down, making Anna wonder if what she's said has been wise at all. The last thing she wants is to bring back memories she knows both of the have fought hard to leave behind. But all Elsa does next is purse her lips in a reluctant smile before she mutters, "Okay."

They're interrupted by Sasha, who throws an arm over Elsa's shoulders as he tells Anna, "We still get to hate him though." And just like that, the mood shifts, enough so that when Anna's eyes fall on Hans once more and she finds him looking her way, she raises her glass and gives him a triumphant look.

The night progresses quickly and pleasantly, and Anna finds herself enjoying the party more than she ever did while she was working at the agency. The drinks are copious and the food is lavish, and Anna spends more time than she should passing by the chocolate fountain, restocking, sharing chocolate-covered marshmallows and strawberries with Elsa. They run into Lauren eventually, who greets them the way an old friend does. She is introduced to Sasha, who is charming and polite and impresses Lauren by telling her he's working on a pediatric cardiologist fellowship.

"Kids," he says, shaking his head, and Lauren understands. They all do.

Rapunzel tells Lauren she's a painter while she eyes her with something akin to what Anna would consider the beginnings of an infatuation if she weren't so straight. She pulls out her phone and shows the blond woman some of her work. Lauren mentions her interest in hanging a new painting up in her office and Rapunzel nods with so much enthusiasm that her mojito almost spills over the rim.

"In fact," Lauren says, "Why don't you come with me? I have a friend who might be interested in your work as well."

She excuses herself for stealing Rapunzel before she guides her away from the group. As they begin to move through the party crowd, Rapunzel turns back around to give them all a not so inconspicuous thumbs up. The scene reminds Anna of a guy looking back to show that he's just scored a drink with a cute girl.

Sasha asks, "Is it me or did I just witness Rapunzel turn a little bit gay?"

"It's not just you," Elsa says into her drink.

"Ten bucks she invites Lauren to the wedding by the end of the night."

"Deal," responds Anna. They seal it while looking still at Rapunzel's retreating back.

"I'm getting another drink," announces Sasha. "Does anybody want anything?"

"Oh, can I—"

"I'm not getting you more marshmallows, Anna. I'm pretty sure they ran out of them already because of you."

She pouts. Elsa hugs her around the waist. "We'll get you a bag after the party," she whispers next to Anna's ear.

When Sasha leaves as well, the two of them remain close to a patio heater overlooking the city. Sixth Avenue is bustling below them. Mere blocks away, the lights of Times Square glow amidst the skyscrapers, reaching from the ground up to the night sky. Anna leans against the parapet and watches Elsa do the same.

For a few seconds, they are brought back to the beginning.

"You know," Elsa quietly says, "I've been meaning to tell you how proud of you I am."

Anna looks at her. "Really?"

"Yes, really." She returns her gaze, smiling. "You've overcome a lot. And I know I wasn't around to witness the whole of it but... I'm still proud. And happy, too, that your dreams are coming true."

Anna turns bashful. She fiddles with the stem of her wine glass, noticing the lights of the party behind them reflect on its surface. She does not need to look up to the sky to be able to conjure up the image of Theo smiling down at them from her cozy Southern home. Look how far we've made it, she tells her, before she tells Elsa, "I owe a lot of that to a lot of people, including you."

The kiss on her cheek comes as a delightful surprise. It warms Anna's insides, igniting in her a vehement sense of happiness.

"You know I've also been meaning to ask you something." She faces Elsa fully, sees her raise a curious eyebrow as she accepts the hand Anna extends.

"And what is that?"

She pauses. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Elsa's face slowly blossoms into an expression of delight, serene and beautiful just like the rest of her. She gives Anna's hand a squeeze and tilts her head coyly as she says, "A second time around?"

"If you'll have me."

Elsa responds by leaning in to peck Anna on the lips. "You know I'd love nothing more than that."

"Guys!" Rapunzel says, cutting their moment short. "I think I just invited Lauren to the wedding."

Behind her stands Sasha, looking smug. "You owe me ten bucks."

It is well past midnight when they find themselves strolling the streets of Chinatown. Stores that buzz during the day selling souvenirs and exotic foods, jewelry and fashion brand purses hidden in basements have been muted, sealed shut by corrugated metal fences. All that remains open are late night restaurants and that one small convenience store on Canal Street that sells lychee jello cups, Taiwanese date candy, bubble milk tea in colorful cans, and the bag of cute little bear marshmallows Anna was currently enjoying.

"You know you're supposed to leave some for the chocolate fondue, right?" Elsa asks.

She shakes her head. "We both know we won't be making the chocolate fondue tonight."

"There's a thing called tomorrow."

Anna pulls a marshmallow out of the bag and feeds it to Elsa. "Then we get more marshmallows tomorrow," she says.

They're heading back to the train station by taking the longer route. In front of them are Sasha and Rapunzel, loudly discussing whether the stuff you find in some of these stores are genuine. "The ones in the basements are," Rapunzel argues.

"But why are they so cheap?"

"I don't know but there's gotta be a reason why they're hidden."

Sasha gasps. "What if they're stolen?"

Anna pops another marshmallow in her mouth before she rejoins hands with Elsa and continues to swing them back and forth between their bodies. She doesn't know how these things still fit in her stomach, to be quite frank. The amount of food she's had tonight is disgusting. The fancy hors d'oeuvres and the strawberries, and the marshmallows she did not finish by herself. And then the dumplings, pork buns and spring rolls they all shared at a hole-in-the-wall tea parlor where they'd ended up staying for almost an hour afterwards sipping jasmine and oolong tea, sharing the space with another group of partygoers who'd come by foot from SoHo and a very friendly Chinese woman who gave them all a free history lesson on the beginnings of the neighborhood in New York City.

"We're out of marshmallows," Anna suddenly announces.

Elsa stares at her. "I fear you might get indigestion."

"Nothing that some good tummy rubs can't fix."

"Okay," she chuckles. "First of all, you're not a cat. Second of all, I don't know what makes you think that helps with indigestion. Third of all, no. I'm not giving you tummy rubs."

"But why?" Anna whines.

"Because that's kinky," Sasha butts in from his place in front of them, "And Doctor Anderssen don't do kinky."

"Shut up," she mutters.

Anna wiggles her eyebrows. "You don't do kinky, Doctor?"

Elsa blushes profusely, which causes her to laugh as she wraps a possessive arm around Elsa's waist. She ensures that their friends are out of earshot before she leans into Elsa and says, "It's okay if you do, you know?"

Blue eyes meet hers, captivating and luring Anna in until every bit of her amusement becomes arousal. It is then that Elsa arches an eyebrow and pulls her close by the arm draped over her shoulders. "I'll have you know," she murmurs, "That the reason why I said I wouldn't give you tummy rubs is because I was planning on doing other things to you."

It's Anna's turn to feel the heat flushing her cheeks.

Elsa is surprising her by capturing her lips in a searing kiss.

Rapunzel is announcing that she needs to pee.

Sasha is beginning to sing a Whitney Houston song.

They're bound to reach the train station eventually, but somehow Anna feels like they're not getting there fast enough.