The cool glass felt nice against Elsa's forehead. She was watching the scenery change before her eyes. It always made her feel a little blue, to see the world so big and beautiful, but not be able to go there. Elsa longed to see more, but she felt like she was stuck. She was chained in a small cage, like a bird yearning to try her wings. But Elsa was too afraid to reach for the sky. What if she lost all she already had by seeking something that didn't exists?

She wasn't sure she wanted things to change at all. She was happy now, wasn't she? At least she wasn't sad, that she was quite sure of. This had to be enough. She had everything she needed in that small, poky car. This was her family now, her meaning and her life. She was even going to see the extension of her family, the ones she so dearly missed. Why did it still feel like she was lost? What more could she wish for? She didn't have an answer for that, but the ache in her chest didn't leave her alone.

Anna's dull kick on the back of her seat forced her back to the reality. Elsa heard a mumbled "sorry" from Anna, and turned to see how the girl was faring. Poor Anna was cramped up behind the front seats, with half of Sven laying on top of her and half of him between her legs. It looked extremely uncomfortable to be packed in such a small space with a huge dog, but Anna was just casually playing her Game Boy, like it didn't bother her at all.

Mother was most likely going to throw a fit for them traveling like that. Kristoff's Taro only had seats for two people, so Elsa had tried to talk Kristoff and Anna into taking a train. Neither had really warmed up for the idea. Kristoff wanted to drive his own car and Anna was reassuring that she would definitely be fine behind the seats. They had drove like that before, but never across the country like now. Elsa had tried to argue that this was stupid, crazy dangerous, and extremely illegal. But there they were, cramped up in Kristoff's Taro, driving a highway towards their farmhouse in North.

"Fucking hell!" Kristoff suddenly cursed, startling both of the slumbering girls. "The car broke. I'll try to drive to the next gas station and see if I can fix it," Kristoff explained with a calmer tone.

They basically groveled to the gas station and Kristoff parked. Then he got out of the car, helped Anna out too, and went to get Elsa's crutches from the bed of his pickup truck. Kristoff lifted Elsa down to the ground, and gave her the crutches.

"There's Deli de Luca inside, go eat there and bring me some food too. I'll take Sven for a quick stretching of legs, and then I'll see what I can do with the car," Kristoff ordered and pushed some cash on Anna's hand. Then he got Sven out of the car and walked off.

Elsa started hoisting herself towards the building, Anna hot on her heels.

Inside the building, Elsa made quick scan to deem the place safe. It wasn't too full, but there were couple of quite sketchy people there. One clearly drunk man was playing on a slot machine. She made sure not to catch his eyes, drunks were always unpredictable.

"Shall we go to order now?" Anna asked to bring her back to reality, when it was obvious that Elsa was in her own little world.

Elsa lifted her head up to see the line and appetizing sandwiches behind the glass and the cashier taking orders. The line wasn't too long and the cashier was a friendly looking boy, not scary at all, but Elsa felt herself getting nervous nevertheless. What if she couldn't get her order right? What if she stuttered? What if she was holding up the line and people started getting mad at her? What if her order was strange? The list of things that could go wrong was endless.

"How about you order and I go find us a table?" Elsa suddenly asked, breaking the tense silence.

Anna glanced around the relatively empty dining area and then she gave Elsa a quizzical look. Elsa was sure Anna was going to call her out, but then she said instead: "Sure, what do you want?"

Elsa sighed out of relief and gave her order to Anna, then she went to look for a table. With a quick scan, she found the most isolated table on the corner, and went to sit on it. She gave a quick glance to Anna, to see her choosing soda bottles for them. Then she trimmed her eyes firmly on the wood to not to look at anyone to gain any attention. Elsa felt vulnerable and alone, just sitting there, so she flipped her phone up and started scrolling through news, just to look busy. Elsa didn't have any social media accounts, or friends, so phone was mostly a useless decorative piece for her.

Before she noticed, Anna was there, putting the sandwiches on the table. "Hey, wait for me a sec, okay? I really need to use the restroom real quick," Anna told Elsa, without ever sitting down. She didn't give Elsa any time to answer, before leaving her sit on that table alone again, with their wrapped sandwiches and sodas.

Elsa was unsure, if it would be okay for her to start eating, so she just sat there awkwardly. The food and drinks were laying, untouched, on the table, and Elsa was nervously drumming her fingers against the wood, her phone long forgotten. She let her gaze travel around the gas station. That was a mistake, as she was starting to feel the familiar claustrophobic terror crawl into every cell in her.

When she was returning her gaze back to the table, ready to start read the news again, she made the fatal mistake. She locked the eyes with the drunken guy, who was just getting of the slot machine. It was just for a nanosecond, and Elsa immediately turned her eyes away, but it had been enough to peak the man's interest. Elsa could see the man closing towards her from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to another way, willing him to get the hint.

She was so stupid. This was exactly why Elsa could never gain the independence she so greatly craved for. Elsa couldn't survive even a minute, if she was left alone. She couldn't understand why she was so screwed up individual. What was the fault in her code that made it impossible for her to take care of herself? Why was she so useless thing?

"What's a beautiful damsel like yourself, sitting here all alone?" the man asked, his voice slurring only a slightly.

Elsa was frozen with fear. Her eyes were firmly looking forward, avoiding eye contact with the stranger. Her heart was pounding in her chest, beating like wings of a humming bird. She didn't know how to answer, how to make him go away. She wasn't sure she even could talk if she wanted to. One wrong word and it could possibly threw the drunken man into a fit of anger. Elsa couldn't even escape by running with her broken leg. She was stuck, chained like an abused dog.

"P-p-pardon me, sir," Elsa managed to stutter out, looking at the man fleetingly. She knew better than to keep quiet when addressed to. She had been punished for that more than once.

"You're a shy, aren't you sweetheart?" the stranger cooed. Elsa could see from the corner of her eye that his hand was slowly coming towards her face. A new wave of terror filled her. She broke into a cold sweat and tried to lean away from the hand. "You wouldn't mind me sitting down with you, would you sugar?"

But then the hand, just inches away from her cheek, halted.

"Yes, she would mind," a stern voice told the stranger.

Elsa looked up to see her savior. Anna was standing there, holding the man's wrist in a vicious grip, making it impossible for him to reach Elsa. Gone was the bubbly girl Elsa had learned to know. Anna's eyes were shooting daggers to the stranger, and her face was so serious that it was hard for Elsa to recognize her friend.

"Hey, let go! I was just talking with the lady. We had no problem, right blondie," the man chimed, trying to free his arm.

Elsa didn't even have time to answer before Anna said with a low, threating voice: "I suggest you leave my friend here alone right now, or we will have a problem. Am I clear?"

There was some intense staring between the drunk and Anna. The fear in Elsa's stomach was growing to a point she almost wanted to double over in pain. There was going to be a fight, and Elsa didn't know how to stop it. She couldn't even help Anna fight. Elsa was hardly a fighter when she was in her prime, let alone now when she couldn't even stand on her own legs.

However, instead of attacking, the man lifted his now freed hands to the air, and let out a sheepish drunken laugh. "My bad, miss. I'll leave you two at it." And then he turned around and walked back to the slot machine, without ever glancing back. Had Elsa just been saved by a skinny girl shorter than her?

Anna let out a deep breath, before fixing a smile back on her face and turned to see Elsa. Her smile quickly fell, when she saw her distressed friend in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong? Did he hurt you?" Anna asked, reaching her hand to wipe out the tears straining Elsa's cheeks. Elsa hadn't even notice that she had started to cry.

For her own surprise, Elsa didn't flinch away from Anna's touch. It felt strangely comforting to feel Anna's thumb brush against her damp cheeks. She shook her head a little, to let Anna know she wasn't hurt. She needed a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down, before she was able to say: "Could we go to eat outside?"

Without questioning Elsa, Anna plastered a smile and answered: "Sure!" She was already giving Elsa her crunches and taking their beverages and sandwiches.

Elsa and Anna sat quietly on the ground, backs leaning against the old Taro. Kristoff was still somewhere with Sven, so it was just the two of them, listening the noises from the traffic around them. They were just eating without conversation. Elsa finally started to lose the jittery feeling and was calming down.

"So, can you tell me what in that man made you so upset? You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to, but I wish to be there for you. I care for you, and I would love to know what's bothering you," Anna broke the silence with her sympathetic tone.

Elsa took a deep breath. She wanted to share her burden with Anna, to let her in, but she wasn't sure how. Her fears weren't something she was used to talk about. Kristoff had been her only friend for so long, and he always got uncomfortable when her past was brought up, and she didn't like to upset him. But Anna sounded like she genuinely wanted to know what was troubling Elsa so. Didn't her therapist always encourage her to share about her fears with others?

"It's hard to explain. He was just drunk, and being really forward. I'm not really good at handling situations like that," Elsa told, making hesitant eye contact with Anna. Her facial expression didn't change from sympathetic.

"You don't like drunks?" Anna guessed.

"It's not necessarily about me liking them. It's just—drunks are so unpredictable. I never know when they're going to throw a fit and attack, just because something isn't going in their way. Sober people are a little easier for me to read and they're less likely to get angry and violent," Elsa explained the best she could. It wasn't easy, because she barely understood her own fears herself.

"You are afraid of people hurting you, physically? Has someone hurt you?" Anna knew she was pushing her limits, but she really needed to know.

"My father—he um—he wasn't always the nicest man," Elsa answered vaguely.

Anna couldn't stop her eyes widening from surprise. Kristoff had always talked very highly about their father, so this was the last thing she had expected to hear. "I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Doesn't Kristoff know that your father wasn't—um—nice to you?"

Then Elsa realized what Anna was implying and she rushed to explain the misunderstanding: "Oh no! That's not what I meant. Mr. Bjorgman was always really kind to me, he was a wonderful man. I meant my biological father." Even though Elsa had never been really close to Mr. Bjorgman, as she had been wary of him till the end, she though really highly of him. He had never been anything but kind to her, even though Elsa could barely look him in the eyes.

"Your biological father? I didn't know you were adopted," Anna said with a hesitant tone, she didn't know if it was a sore subject. She assumed it must be, as it was never mentioned before. Not even when she had stupidly asked if Elsa and Kristoff could read each other's minds. She had heard twins could do it, but now she understood the weird looks they had given her.

"Yeah, my father died in that car accident I told you about." Anna's mouth opened, ready to pour out her condolences, but Elsa stopped her: "It's alright. I loved him, like a daughter should love her father. But as hard as it is to admit, I'm better off without him. I met Kristoff and got a family that took better care of me. I love Bjorgmans, and I love being one of them. I hardly miss my father." She had never understood how true those words were. She really didn't miss her father. What kind of person didn't miss her own father?

"So um—your father, he—um—he hurt you when you were a child?" Anna asked, hesitantly, trying to clarify the situation for herself.

"Yeah, he hurt me," Elsa admitted. It wasn't a lie, even though her father had hardly hurt her physically himself. It was still her father who had rented her like Brafilm rented movies, to entertain for an evening. He had let other people hurt her. For what, for some quick cash? She had never really blamed her father for all of what had happened to her, but now thinking about how easy it would have been for him not to make her go through all that, was making her sick.

"I'm so sorry, Elsa," Anna said, her voice so sad.

"It's not your fault," Elsa smiled sadly at her. There was a moment of silence between them.

"Hey girls!" Kristoff shouted from a small distance, Sven with him.

"Oh, come here you big boy, c'mere!" Anna blabbered affectionately to the dog, smacking her palms against the meat on her thighs to gain his attention.

Kristoff let go of the dog and he ran to the girls, licked their faces and wagged his tail.

"Eww, gross," Elsa complained with a laugh, trying to keep the dog's tongue away from her face.

Anna didn't mind the licks on her cheek. She just giggled and asked: "What? You're afraid of some dog kisses? What kind of dog person are you?" Then she turned to rub Sven's cheeks with both of her hands and cooed to the dog: "Yeah, Elsa is so stupid, isn't she? Doesn't even want you to give her your sweet, sweet kisses. Bad Elsa."

"Hey, not fair," Elsa pouted. "I wanted to have some cute little sheltie or something, but then our neighbor's beast had some puppies, and Kristoff just had to have one."

"She wasn't a beast, she was a Newfoundland's dog, and she was gorgeous. Wasn't she, Sven?" Kristoff asked his dog. And then he answered for him, with a funny voice: "That's right, Kris."

"Did you just talk for your dog?" Anna asked and burst into laughter, the heavier conversation with Elsa long forgotten.

Kristoff halted his movements and flushed red. Elsa just smirked and said with teasing tone: "I've been waiting for this to happen. Our Kris here has a nice habit of talking for our dogs, but he has been trying so hard not to, because he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of you."

"Embarrass himself? Aww, Kristoff, I think you are so cute. Especially when you're talking for your dog like that," Anna gushed. Kristoff flushed even redder for the compliment.

Elsa decided to let her brother from the hook: "So, how about the car?"

"Oh yeah, the car," he said like he had forgotten the whole thing. "I can fix it, but it will take some time. I booked us a room from nearby motel, you two can stay there while I try to get the machine to work. I think we can keep going tomorrow, we're just having a little shorter drive today than we had been planning on."

"Sounds great! Do you want to eat your sandwich now, or later? Elsa and I are done with ours," Anna said happily.

"Later is fine, I'll take you to the motel now, okay?" Kristoff asked and both of the girls nodded. "I'll carry you, Elsa," he added, when Elsa was trying to get up.

"Oh no, I'm fine walking. I have my crutches and everything," Elsa tried, but Kristoff was having none of it.

He crabbed Elsa's crutches and handed them for Anna, who had just gotten up. "You can carry these."

"Yes, sir," Anna answered dutifully.

"And I'll carry you," Kristoff said to Elsa. Before she could protest, Kristoff was already hoisting her up. For Elsa's relief, Kristoff wasn't going to carry her in bridal style, which Elsa found extremely embarrassing. No, this time Kristoff helped Elsa on his back and carried her on piggy back.

After they had walked a while, Anna hit gently on Elsa's left leg to gain her attention. "Hey, you want some?" she asked and offered her a piece of chocolate.

"Thank you," Elsa said with an earnest smile, taking the piece offered to her.

"I'm not getting any, even though I'm the only one doing the hard work here?" Kristoff asked with fake offended tone, after Anna didn't seem to have any intention to share with him.

"I'm not sure about that. I'm quite certain that these crutches weight more than Elsa," Anna lifted the crutches in her left hand for Kristoff to view, and smirked.

"Well, not for long if you keep feeding my sister those sweets," Kristoff said with faux serious tone, and buckled his knees a little to prove the point.

"Hey!" both of the girls shouted and smacked his body with their free hands.

"Jeez, why so violent?" Kristoff asked while cowering his body, but grinned nevertheless.

Anna looked at him with an amused expression. "Quit being a jerk and carry your sister like a good brother," she ordered him, with a hint of playfulness in her voice. "And stop complaining, we all know that you don't eat chocolate."

"I would if I ever had time before Elsa makes it disappear," Kristoff teased and looked up to his sister to see her sticking her tongue out for him.

"Would you believe, that Kristoff actually had quite a sweet tooth as a child? Chocolate was actually something he offered to me the first time we met," Elsa told. Kristoff shot an alarmed look to her, but Elsa just smiled warmly to show that it was alright.

"Oh well, at least he knew the way to your heart," Anna grinned. She hoped that she herself was also on the right path.

"He sure did," Elsa answered with a conversation ending tone. Then she clamped her arms tighter around Kristoff's broad shoulders to give him something resembling a hug.

It was really rare for Elsa to initiate contact, and Kristoff felt more than little moved from the gesture. He had to swallow his emotions down, then he hoisted Elsa a little higher, and kept going, eyes firmly on road ahead of them.

The motel room was modest. Elsa felt immediately disgusted, the room looked unclean and unsanitary. She had an itch to start cleaning the room and herself, but she wasn't sure even she could make that awful yellow tone to disappear.

If the rooms contaminant state wasn't enough to make Elsa's skin crawl, the number of beds did. There was only one bed, double bed. Then there was a beat down couch. Elsa quickly did the math and understood that there was no good options for sleeping arrangements. If Anna took the couch, she'd had to sleep with Kristoff. The idea of a big male body next to her when she was unconscious made her shudder. She trusted Kristoff with all of her heart, but she could only imagine the panic she would feel, if she happened to wake up middle of night, confused about her surroundings and a big frame next to her.

If Kristoff was the one taking the couch, Elsa would have to share the bed with Anna. Of course she had learned to care and like for the bubbly girl, she had even shared a piece from her past with her, but she was nowhere near comfortable enough with her to sleep next to her. Sleeping was hard for her as it was, sharing her bed was too great risk for a panic attack.

The obvious answer would have been for her to sleep on the couch herself, if she didn't want to share the bed. But that option wasn't too alluring either. While she trusted Kristoff and Anna as individuals, she didn't trust them too much as a pair. Even the idea of them cuddling next to her sleeping form made her skin crawl from disgust, let alone if they were to do something more. Elsa didn't think she could handle it, if they were to have sex so near her. She felt a little ashamed to not to be able to trust them to respect her enough not to do that, but she couldn't help the nagging fear.

"I'm sorry, this was the only free room. Now we'll just have to decide who'll sleep—," Kristoff started, but Elsa didn't need to hear the rest of it. She had chosen the lesser evil out of the three options.

"I'll take the couch," she announced. It wasn't a question, she was going to sleep on that couch. She couldn't share a bed, now all she had to do, was to trust her brother and Anna to keep their modesty intact through the night.

"Are you sure? We could—," Kristoff started, looking a little puzzled. But again, Elsa interrupted him.

"I'm sure."

"Oh, well, okay then. I'll go to fix that car now," he said. Then he leaned to kiss Anna softly on the cheek, took Sven and left.

Elsa felt a spike of jealousy yet again. Kristoff used to give her those soft, brotherly kisses. She didn't like them too much, as she wasn't really a fan of human contact, but it still annoyed her. It wasn't that she missed his small gestures of affection that much, it was that the lack of them gave her this gnawing anxiety. Didn't Kristoff care for her anymore? Was he already casting Elsa aside to make more room for Anna? What would happen to her when she was all alone?

"So, are you up to a round of Spit?" Anna asked with a lingering tone, breaking Elsa out of her thoughts.

Soon Elsa forgot why she was supposed to be afraid of Anna. The heart in her chest warming like a rock left under summer sun, just for being so near to Anna. "Sure," she answered and smiled.

A/N Hey TitaniaErin! I hope this chapter is long enough for you ;) My latest chapters have been quite short, but this one got a little lenghty. I made an illustration for the car scene, which you can view if you're interested: post/617737336035393536/annabehindseats See you in the next chapter!