Guess who's back from the dead! I really am sorry that it took me this long to post a new chapter, but I've been having a really hard time. Even spent three weeks in a hospitalization program, so... YOLO...

Anyways, Frozen II is sooooo good. IDK how to feel about the ending, but I'm processing. Maybe I'll have to write a one-shot to process some more, who knows?

Here is the chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I truly plan to update soon (though I am working throughout this next week, AKA retail hell, so please be patient.)

Thank you all so much for reading!

~Isabelle

I'm being pulled in a new direction

But this feeling, I know is impossible

So I'll confide that I've tried but I can't let it go!

It's disgustingly true!

Pulled, pulled, pulled!

~Pulled, The Addams Family Musical

Chapter Nine: Pulled

"You really don't have to hang out with me, you know," Elsa said from the passenger seat of Jack's car. He hadn't paused for a response to his question, simply turned the car on and set off to some unknown destination.

"It's not like I have anything else to do today," Jack said, shrugging.

"Thanks," Elsa deadpanned. "That makes me feel great." She looked down at her lap, twisting the edges of her sleeve between her fingers.

"That's not what I meant. We should hang out, get to know each other one-on-one," Jack said.

Elsa sucked in a breath at that, her stomach dropping out from under her. "I don't know about that."

"Come on, Elsa. I can tell you stories about Anna?" Jack said, glancing over at her and raising his eyebrows. That was a tempting offer, and he knew it. Elsa sighed and picked up her phone. She sent a quick text to Marshall and then turned off the screen.

"Okay, fine. But where is it you're taking me?" she asked.

"It's a place you already know," Jack promised. He signalled left before pulling into the parking lot of the North Pole Ice Skadium. He shut the car off and turned towards Elsa, smiling triumphantly and gesturing to the building as if to say, Ta da!

"You couldn't have told me this was where we were going to begin with? I probably just gave Marshall a heart attack, saying I didn't know where you were taking me," Elsa said.

"Oh, God. You should probably text him right now. I don't want him to kill me," Jack said, shuddering. The two got out of the car, paused for Elsa to send a message to her bodyguard, and then headed towards the entrance to the rink.

As they walked, Elsa watched Jack out of the corner of her eye. Despite the heat, he wore a dark blue sweatshirt, his hands shoved into the front pocket. His posture was easy-going, but there was a tension in his jaw that betrayed his manner. Anna's behavior had clearly hurt him as well.

"Do you always wear a sweatshirt?" Elsa asked, cutting off her thoughts. Anna had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want Elsa to be involved in her personal life; ruminating on the feelings of her best friend was probably not smart. Jack glanced at her, bemusement in his face.

"Uh, not always…. Why?" he asked.

Elsa shrugged and reached forward to open the doors. A blast of cool air greeted her, which she welcomed. "Just curious. It's quite warm out, but it doesn't seem to bother you."

"I'm dedicated to my aesthetic," Jack said, following her into the building. Elsa let out a soft snort. Jack stopped and looked at her, eyes bright. "Did I just make you laugh?"

"No."

"I did."

"Not."

"Oh, but I did. This is a momentous occasion." Jack stopped in the middle of the lobby and spread his arms wide. "Attention everyone! Let it be known that on this day, I, Jackson Overland Frost, made the prodigal Snow Queen, Elsa Winters, laugh." Elsa was immensely grateful that there was no one around them. Her face burned; she hoped it wasn't as red as it felt.

"Would you stop? I laugh," Elsa said indignantly. Jack turned back to her, smirking. Elsa ignored the swooping feeling in her stomach his expression caused.

"I've never seen you laugh," he said. Elsa rolled her eyes.

"You've barely known me a week," she said. Jack waved a dismissive hand and walked towards the skate rentals counter. Elsa internally winced as she realized that she didn't have her skates; Jack surely didn't expect her to use worn-out, communal skates.

"I see that look," Jack said. "But you don't have your skates. And in a show of good faith, I'll use these rental skates too, even though I have mine in my car."

"I can just ask Marshall to bring me my skates," Elsa said, hand inching towards her phone.

"And have your bodyguard stand over us the entire day? Don't you want a little bit of freedom?" Jack asked.

"Marshall is going to be here whether I ask him to bring me my skates or not," Elsa said.

Jack shrugged. "Unless you tell him not to come."

"He would not be happy with that," Elsa said, but a small part of her thrilled in the idea of getting to be 'normal,' if just for a few hours. She pulled out her phone, sent a message to Marshall, and looked back up at Jack. He raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed. "I need an eight."

Jack whooped, pulling himself up onto the counter and swinging onto the other side. Elsa wrinkled her nose as Jack pulled out a pair of old, generic skates. The fabric on the outside of the boot was rough, a dull gray with dark blue accents. It had been so long since she had skated without her personal skates, she realized as she picked them up. She chanced a look at Jack, who had challenge dancing in her blue eyes. Her mouth twisted with determination at his merriment.

She turned to the nearest bench and began to put the skates on. The fit was weird, the padding thin and well-worn, and the laces were ratty between her fingers. But as Elsa began lacing the boots up, she felt her spirit lighten. Despite the fact that she had skated nearly every day for the past ten years, this was a spontaneous skating adventure, and something about it lit a flame of excitement in her chest.

"Ready, Snow Queen?" Jack asked. Elsa looked up from her seated position to see Jack standing over her, borrowed skates on his feet and a bright smile on his face.

"Is the rink even open?" Elsa asked. There really was no one there, and it was starting to make her uneasy.

"There's a birthday party on the back rink, which is where pretty much everyone's at right now. And the other open rink is rented out by a private party," Jack said.

"So neither rink is available to the public?" Elsa asked.

"I know the private party. Don't worry." Jack held out his hand for her. Elsa waited a moment before carefully setting her palm on his. A zing of electricity traveled from his fingertips to hers, and she fought the urge to jump as he grasped her hand and pulled her up. She followed him to the doors that led to the rink she used for figure skating practice every morning. He didn't even pause as he walked into the skating area, strutting in like he owned the place—though, Elsa supposed, his uncle did own the place.

"Hey, there!" Jack called out.

"Frost," an angry female voice answered, "What the hell are you doing here? It's Friday."

"Well, I suddenly found myself without plans but with a lady to entertain, so here I am," Jack said, spreading his hands out to echo the sentiment.

"And what lady would willingly spend time with you?" the voice asked. Elsa managed to screw up enough courage to step inside the room and take in the setting. On the ice were two young women, probably around her age. Both were white with blonde hair and lean builds, but that was where the similarities ended. One was about half a foot taller, two long braids trailing down her back. She had an air of roughness that screamed troublemaker. The other woman was glowering at Jack. Elsa assumed she was the one who had spoken.

"I don't know that I would say 'willingly,'" Elsa said finally. The tall blonde guffawed, voice low and scratchy. The other one examined Elsa thoughtfully.

"Ouch, how your words wound me so, fair maiden," Jack said, a hand pressed against his chest. Elsa gave him an unimpressed look. He dropped the act and turned back to the women on the ice.

"Who are you?" the shorter blonde asked. Elsa carefully stepped towards the railing and gripped it in her hands.

"Elsa Winters. I apologize for interrupting your… practice?" Elsa finally noticed the goal set up on one end of the ice and the hockey sticks that both women were holding. They looked at each other for a moment, seemingly having a silent conversation, then turned to skate closer to where Jack and Elsa stood at the edge of the rink. The shorter blonde held her hand out.

"I'm Astrid Hofferson, and this idiot is Ruff Thorston," she said. Elsa nodded politely to Ruff as she took Astrid's hand and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you," Elsa said. Ruff let out a whistle.

"Damn, you really did go to some fancy private school, didn't you?" she said. Elsa frowned.

"Where else would I have been?" she asked.

Ruff shrugged. "School for wayward girls. Troublemakers. The ones who are so far gone you have no hope of controlling."

"Ruff, knock it off," Astrid said, hitting her friend on the arm. "Go skate or something." Ruff obliged, skating away without another word.

"She really needs a filter," Jack commented. Astrid glared at him.

"Shut up," she said. Astrid turned back to Elsa then, curiosity evident in her gaze. "So you're the famous Elsa Winters."

Elsa blushed. "N-not famous."

"I mean, pretty much. Between your skating and your sister talking about you, you're pretty much legendary around Burgess," Astrid said. Elsa's stomach tightened painfully. Did they know about what had happened ten years ago? Had that added to her so-called 'fame'?

No. She shook her head slightly. Jack would have said something, surely. Anna would have said something.

"Um, so what are you doing? Are you on a team?" Elsa asked, nodding to the hockey stick Astrid held.

Astrid snorted. "I wish. No, women aren't allowed on the Guardians."

"That's a league rule," Jack said, sighing. It seemed like they had had this particular conversation multiple times. "Believe me, Astrid, if we could have you on our team, we would. No one would stand a chance." Elsa looked back and forth between them as they argued, brow furrowed.

"I know that I'm not up to date on the rules of hockey," Elsa began when there was a slight break, "But surely there are opportunities for women to play hockey, right?"

"Not through the NAHL," Astrid said sadly. Elsa bit her lip and looked up at Jack. There were no suggestions that she could offer, but she still wished that she could help in some way.

"Oh, shite, is this a bad time?" A familiar Scottish voice rang through the silence. Elsa turned around to see Merida standing in the doorway, awkwardness etched in her every feature. She wasn't very good at dealing with emotions.

"Merida, what are you doing here?" Elsa asked.

"Mam told me to come here to give something to Mr. North. I didn't know where he was, but I saw some movement in here through the window, so…" Merida trailed off.

"North doesn't come in 'til later, but you can leave whatever it is in his office," Jack offered.

Merida hesitated. "Maybe I should just come back later…"

"No," Elsa said. "You should stay and skate with us. Avoid your mother, I know you want to."

"Okay," Merida agreed.

"That didn't take a lot of convincing," Jack said.

"Have you met my mam?" Merida asked.

After setting Merida up with a pair of skates and a quick round of introductions, everyone was soon on the ice. Merida and Ruff quickly struck up a camaraderie, with Ruff showing Merida different hockey tricks. Elsa talked with Astrid about figure skating as they did laps while Jack skated around them, sometimes doing tricks. It turned out that Astrid was also a figure skater, though never as invested as Elsa was in her career. Astrid preferred the action of hockey rather than the grace of skating.

Eventually, Astrid grew tired of Jack's shenanigans and went off to join Ruff in teaching Merida. Elsa threw Jack an unimpressed look over her shoulder.

"What?" he asked, coming up behind her.

"I was making a friend," Elsa said indignantly.

"I brought you here so we could be friends!" Jack said, feigning outrage. Elsa rolled her eyes.

"And how do we do that?" she asked.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. What made you think you and Astrid were becoming friends?"

"Sometimes, you just know certain things," Elsa said. She took a breath. "It's a feeling. Like, how I feel when I skate. I know what to do in a routine, but if I get off count or I mess up, I have to fix it. And to fix it, I have to follow my instincts."

"So, you're saying it's instinctual?" Jack said. "That's a weird way to describe friendship."

Elsa crossed her arms over herself. "Why do you want to be friends with me so bad? I'm nothing like Anna. I'm not fun or impulsive. I don't light up a room. I'm the opposite." They skated quietly then. Elsa gripped the edges of her arms, willing herself to ignore the hurt his silence caused. Had he really thought her to be a carbon copy of Anna? Was that his only motivation to befriend her, Elsa?

"Maybe I want to be your friend because I got that feeling you were talking about," Jack said finally. Elsa looked at him.

"Huh?"

"When we first met. I fell backwards onto your floor? I saw you, and I wanted to know you. But it wasn't curiosity. It was like a pull in my stomach. A gut feeling, I guess," Jack said. Elsa looked away from him then, praying that her cheeks weren't as red hot as they felt.

"Oh," Elsa said.

"What about you?" Jack asked.

"What about me?"

"Do you have a feeling about me?"

Elsa had too many feelings about him. She felt scared and excited and happy. She felt heard and seen. She felt free. And those things scared her even more. Elsa had taken care in her life to keep most men at an arm's distance, but she was incapable of doing that with Jack.

"I do," Elsa said. "I feel—" She was saved by the bell, or more accurately, her ringtone. Elsa shot Jack an apologetic look as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, not even bothering to look at the number before answering and holding the device to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked. The only response was in the form of deep breathing on the other end of the phone. It was the kind of breathing that you felt on the back of your neck, the kind that made you think of serial killers and stalkers.

"H-hello? Who is this?" Elsa asked again. She felt a hand on her elbow and flinched, but it was only Jack. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear his words. There was a roaring in her ears, and all she could hear was the sound of breathing through the phone.

"Who are you?" Elsa demanded. She might have screamed it, but she couldn't be sure. Her skin felt too tight, too hot, too itchy. She wanted to peel it off and burn it with her memories. Merida was beside her now as well, and she could see Astrid and Ruff farther away, watching her with concern. All of it made her want to scream, but she couldn't because the voice was talking.

It said, "Clock's ticking, Snow Queen." And the line went dead.

Oof.

Please follow, favorite, review, etc. Stay tuned, and thanks again for reading!

~Isabelle

P.S. If you wanna follow me on Tumblr, it's queen-isabelle-writes. Maybe I'll answer some questions there, maybe I'll write some drabbles, maybe I'll post some hilarious memes. Who knows. Not me.