NOTE: Harry Chrysler to all!

CHAPTER FIVE

When Anna got home from school that day, it was to find her parents waiting for her at the kitchen table. Kristoff was thumbing through a book, and Elsa was on her phone, looking through things and waiting for dinner to finish. They both looked up sharply at her arrival.

"Anna, honey," her dad said with a careful smile. One that sent up warning flares. "How was your day?"

"Um… good, it was good. Not very interesting. What's… going on with you guys?"

"Not much, all things considered," Elsa began with a sigh. Then her open palm gestured toward one of the other chairs at the table. "Have a seat. We have something to discuss with you."

A thrill of dread sparked in Anna's stomach and ran all the way up her spine. "Uh-oh…"

"This isn't anything bad. In fact, we're hoping it will be good for everyone. And this is just… think of it as a planning session."

"That's right," her dad put in. "The two of us have spent some time talking it over, and… well, I'm alright with it. I've always known my time with her was borrowed; it's been the best of friendships."

"Please, you guys… what is this?" Anna asked as she turned to Elsa, watching the pain in her smile she cast in her husband's direction. "Mom…? You're not leaving again, are you?"

Elsa didn't answer straight away. She shared another brief look with Kristoff that only had Anna's heart beating faster. Dread filled her from her toes to the top of her head. When Elsa finally did answer – feeling like minutes later, hours, but really it was probably less than a few seconds – it assuaged some of the fear that continued to build.

"Oh sweetheart. I'm never going to leave your life, I promise."

Anna could hear something else on Elsa's voice – an unspoken 'but', or 'unless'… something that made it feel as though she wasn't quite finished. "But…?" she asked, voice quiet and tentative. Elsa sighed, but didn't take her eyes off her daughter.

"I won't leave unless you say it's okay-"

"No!" Anna interrupted. "Absolutely not, no way."

"Wait," Kristoff interrupted. Softly. Really softly. "Wait until we finish explaining, okay?"

Anna bit the side of her cheek but stopped arguing. Instead her fingers found a well-worn groove in the wood of the table, and she began focusing on that, tracing along it with one finger. Why were her parents asking her this? What had they been talking about? Logically, she knew they were probably about to tell her, but her mind still couldn't help but race ahead. Kristoff was being open and Elsa was being cryptic and it was very Weird, with a capital W.

"I spoke with Pabbie today," Elsa said. It seemed sudden, but it probably wasn't. Perhaps it just felt that way to Anna.

"…What?" Her finger stilled in the wood and she looked up sharply.

"While you were at school, I went to see Doctor Pabbie again. I have been thinking, but I needed something from him before I was willing to discuss this with you. Or with Kristoff." The two adults shared a tender smile and- yeah, now that she knew to look for it, Anna could see that it wasn't a romantic look between them. Full of affection and, yes, love, but this was something different. It still made her a little jealous, and she had to look away.

"This coming summer, once you have graduated, I'm going to start an experiment. This will both be for you and I, and for Doc; the results will be interesting for all of us." Clearing her throat, she announced, "I'm going to start time-skipping."

"Skipping?" Anna merely repeated the word, too confused to do anything else. "What… the hell is that?"

"Yes, well. As far as the world knows, I'll be vacationing 'overseas'; I'll try to keep it as vague as I can. But in reality, I'll simply be travelling into the future to have a procedure done. It's a multi-part procedure, and for the time being, I'm only going to have my blood transfused and infused, and a full checkup to catch any organ problems. To ensure my quality of life and that I'll have plenty of time with my family."

"Oh." Was that all? "Well… okay, that sounds great! Mom, of course I want you around for a long time!"

However, Elsa clearly wasn't finished, if the dread in her face was any indication. "Thank you, sweetheart. And… I won't be returning until halfway through the summer. Then, you and I can spend a week together before I'm off again, and the experiment will begin.

"Time-skipping is what Doc and I call our plan for me to visit with you a weekend at a time, and then use the time machine to flash forward another month or so. And I'll keep doing that, either a few weeks or a full month at a time each time. If we keep it up, eventually, your age will catch up with mine, and we'll both be in our late forties. I'm… I was tempted to simply travel straight to the future and begin this now, but…"

Hope had been soaring in Anna's chest, but this warning threatened the small flame that had ignited. She had to know. "But what?"

"But when I visited you in 2045, you were so sad. Overall, your life was good, but you really seemed hurt by not having seen me for thirty years. So I think… I think this will turn out the best for us. You can still have your mother in your life about as frequently as you would have off at college, anyway, and I won't be over fifty before you're able to drink."

"Wait, wait… so you're telling me, like… the 'skipping' is that you're going to skip over whole months at a time, so you stay the same age while I get older? But to me, I'll just be missing you for a month, then get a weekend with you? Or… did I not hear that right?"

"You got it just fine," she affirmed with a slow nod.

Slowly, Anna began to nod before breathing, "Whoa, this is heavy. Like, it's kind of good and bad news. Can- can I have some time to think about it?"

Elsa jerked back a little, surprise written on her face. Then she smiled. "Of course you can." She did seem a little disheartened, and Anna knew why. She had given enough hints over the past couple of weeks, and after all the time they had been spending together, it was getting easier to pick out her quirks. All of this made her feel like a terrible woman; she couldn't entirely suppress that feeling.

"Take all the time you need, Anna," Kristoff piped up. Anna bit her lip.

"Sure… Thanks, guys. I'll uh… I have some homework. I better do that." With that, she stood gracelessly from the chair and trudged, numb, to her room.

She knew Elsa was expecting her to be excited – and she was! Inside, her heart thumped and her mind swirled. But perhaps that was why she hadn't been able to give a proper reaction. It was like her body had shut down because this was not possible. There had never been a doubt that a future with Elsa – a future that had a "them" – was impossible. It wasn't going to happen but it was nice to dream. Now, against all odds, it sounded like it could. God, she had been pulled in so many different directions; first in 1985, and then when she returned to her own world. And now this?

And Punz… oh, Punz. How was she going to react when she learned that Elsa actually wanted to try? And that Anna was seriously considering letting her? She had to talk to her girlfriend because she was her girlfriend and she had as much right to say 'no' as Anna did to say 'yes'.

If she didn't give her any chance for input, then what sort of person, let alone partner, would she be?

Probably purely so she would feel a little less guilty about this, she sent Punz a quick text to tell her that she had something to talk to her about later. To get that all set up. Now there would be no hiding from it, no being a chicken. The last thing Anna wanted was to be accused of being a chicken about something this crucial.

Then, trying not to let her head spin any worse than it already was, she actually did sit down at her desk and started in on her homework. No sense ruining the rest of her future.

~ o ~

An hour or two later, Elsa came and knocked on her door. By then, Anna had finished most of her English and history, and tried with math but her brain was pulled in too many directions to truly focus on the harder stuff.

"Honey?"

"Yeah, Mom?" She was trying to do her best. Trying to respect their rules, that she not act like a 'girlfriend' outside of the pre-established moments for that.

"Are you alright? I-it was just an idea, you know; nobody's saying we have to go through with it if you're not-"

"No, no, it's cool," she hurried to assure her with a small smile as the door opened a crack. "It's… I don't really… know how to feel about it? Such a weird idea… but not a bad-weird! Just weird." Elsa smiled, though it was small and awkward. Was she upset? Hurt, possibly? Anna sighed and looked down at her books. "I'm sorry if I didn't… react the way you wanted…"

But her mother held up her hand and took a step into the room. "No!" she cried, though it was still quite gentle. "No, don't be, sweetheart. I'm sorry for surprising you with all of this…"

At that, Anna gave a dry little chuckle. "Honestly? The most surprising thing was that Dad knows."

Elsa nodded towards the bed. "Mind if I sit?"

"Not at all. Go nuts."

Elsa didn't say anything more until she had settled herself near Anna's pillow. She was wearing a soft blue tracksuit and looked comfortable. Anna, by comparison, was still in her school clothes and was on the edge of her seat, trying not to let her anxiety show.

"Kristoff and I have had many conversations over the years," she began softly, "but this was one of the hardest. I know it must have seemed to you like we're not that concerned…"

Biting her lip, Anna hesitated just a moment before standing up. She turned to her mother, intending on sitting next to her, when something made her falter.

Elsa was crying. Not a lot, but there were definite watery eyes. Making a slight detour to shut her door, Anna was soon clambering onto her bed and snuggling next to Elsa.

"Discussing it with Kristoff wasn't as hard as it could have been," she went on with a sniffle. "Since he already knew about my feelings for you. He was there, remember? It was just… reconciling that with who our daughter turned out to be. That was the difficult part."

"Yeah? Um… I mean, how did he take it?"

"Not too bad. He's going to miss me, of course, but knowing how much I love you, and that time travel was involved…" Sighing, she hugged her daughter a little tighter. "He is an author of science fiction. These concepts didn't shock him as deeply as they might have otherwise."

Nodding, she whispered, "Guess so. But are you really cool with this skipping thing? You don't want to… I don't know, hang around this time? Your whole life is here. I mean, you're going to be leaving Wendy and John, too."

"They don't need me," she reassured her. "They're all grown up and have their own lives. And like I said, I'll make something up for a while, to satisfy everyone other than you and Kristoff. Probably vacationing, or taking a job overseas. Anything along those lines. Eventually, I'll have to either fake my own death or start using some kind of weird filter to talk to them via Skype…"

"That's… a lot, Mom. I'm not worth it." The instant she said it, she knew she meant it, so she said it again. "Seriously, I'm not worth all this. Like, you can just be my mom, it's okay! I love you a-and I don't want to fuck up your whole life just so we can bang once in a while!"

Shaking her head, Elsa pressed her lips into Anna's forehead. "I know you wouldn't ask it of me. Love is something you give, not demand. But… that's what these next six months are for. To really decide what we want out of our shared future." Then she fixed Anna with a suspicious smile. "And to talk it over with a certain girlfriend…?"

Anna ducked her head. "I already messaged her. Didn't specify anything – it's not exactly the kinda conversation you have over text…"

"That's probably for the best," Elsa agreed.

Just at that moment, the phone buzzed with an incoming call. Anna groaned while Elsa chuckled. "Too far away…" Still, she peeled herself away from her mother and made a valiant leap for it. About a millisecond before she reached it, however, it hung up.

"Ugh, this stupid…" she muttered, before noticing the caller ID. Were her ears burning? Eyes wide, she looked at her mother. "That's uh, it's Punz. I should really call- call her back…"

"Of course!" Elsa began scooting towards the edge of the bed, but Anna held up her hands.

"No, no, stay here," she offered. "I'll be right back!"

"Anna, I have the entire rest of the house," she laughed, but Anna seemed set on her course of action and she scurried out of the room.

"There you are," came Punz's voice once she picked up.

"Sorry, couldn't get to my phone fast enough. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just wondering about that text you sent… wanna pick me up now, or just wait until tomorrow?"

"Um…" She pulled the phone away from her ear to glance at the display: it wasn't even quite dinnertime. "We can go now, I'll come get you in a few here. The shit just keeps getting weirder…"

"Oh boy," she sighed. "See you then."

When Anna got back to her bedroom, she found Elsa already sitting on the edge with a mildly bemused expression. Before she could even speak, she asked, "Heading out?"

"Y-yeah. Um… I know it's kinda short notice, and we were-"

"We were just wrapping up our little talk. Now both of us have thinking to do. That's all." As she walked out of the room, she stopped to give Anna a quick, motherly hug. "Tell her I said 'hello', alright? And she's still welcome to come by and have family fun, all that good stuff. Or to give me a piece of her mind."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom." She gave her a peck on the cheek, which she felt a little weird about but was able to mostly just focus on getting her shoes back on and heading out the door.

Though it almost felt wrong, leaving Elsa behind. Like she should be staying with her. There was a lot to talk about, after all – perhaps even get her father involved, too. Truly hash everything out together. But at the same time, Jennifer deserved to be part of that conversation, too; she deserved having her voice heard, even if it wasn't to say what Anna wanted.

It didn't take Anna long to drive the familiar route to Punz's home. Thankfully, she was already waiting on the footpath – she had changed from her school clothes and into a pair of dark wash jeans and a warm woollen jumper. She gave Anna a look when she opened the door, and Anna was reminded of the fact that she probably looked like a complete dag.

"Heya!" she said as Punz settled in, pulling her seatbelt on. "How was your afternoon?"

"Less interesting than yours, probably," Punz chuckled. "Your message- well, I didn't want to worry, but it sounded a little urgent…"

Anna offered an apologetic smile as she pulled a u-turn, heading back towards the centre of town. "Café 80s?"

"Sure; you're buying." But there was a smile on her face that told Anna she was only half joking, so she just grinned and held out her hand. Punz took it immediately. At least nothing between them was "broken" per se.

Once they had a table and a basket of fries, they got into it. And Punz listened. She seemed about as freaked out as anyone could be by the idea of Elsa hopping through time the way she was planning on doing. However, she made very few noises of disgust at the very idea. That was a huge relief in a dozen ways.

Once she had fully explained, Jennifer let out a long, low whistle. "Well… that's, uh, that's… yeah."

"Right?" Shaking her head, she pulled her milkshake closer and drank some of it down. Just wasn't the same as the ones at Lou's Café, which was too bad since they could never go there again. "It's crazy, right?"

"A little bit. Wow… so she'd be missing you guys growing up? That's kind of depressing."

Nodding her agreement on that front, she said, "I know, but we also can't keep going on this way. Like… it's annoying to admit it, but she really is right. We can't be mother and daughter and make out at the same time. Not that I totally agree, but I get why it messes her up."

"The power imbalance thing of her being your parent? Yeah, I do. Which is part of the reason I was so skeeved out when you first told me, even though I couldn't put my finger on it back then. The same DNA thing is gross but it's just a thing, like us both being girls. A hangup but like, you can't make inbred children, so it's kind of all mental. It's the fact that she's in charge of you that's a real issue."

"And this would fix that. But is it worth losing my mom? Like, I couldn't call her, Punz. Even once we're in college, I'll probably need her and she wouldn't be there. It'd be great to have her the same age as me eventually, but I can't… I don't want to lose her for now…"

A hand snaked around the fries to rest on Anna's forearm, rubbing up and down. "Yeah. But um… like she said, you have a while to think about it, right?"

Anna managed a small half-shrug. "I guess? I still feel like I don't have that much time, y'know? Elsa's turning fifty in a couple of years. And I know she doesn't want to pressure me to make a decision, but she's… never stopped loving me. Even though it was 'Tori' to her, it's still always been… this." She made a vague gesture to herself. Punz only squeezed harder.

"I can't imagine how hard this is on you," she said. "I'll help any way I can, but really, I'm just your sidekick; it's your decision."

Anna gave a small chuckle. "Heh, can you decide for me?" She was only half-kidding, but Punz still shook her head. "Why are you so great?" she suddenly asked. It was a little out of the blue, but after watching her girlfriend for several seconds, it seemed like the right thing to say. "I mean… you had a minor freakout when you first learned, but that was normal. But now with everything else… and you keep being awesome."

Punz looked away momentarily, picking up her straw and swirling it around the dregs of her milkshake. "What, like the… hall pass thing?" Anna nodded, watching her for any reaction. It was made all the more difficult by the fact that Punz didn't seem to want to give anything away. "Anna, can I be honest?"

"Please do."

"I don't know what to think." Well, ten points for complete honesty. "I… I think I'm only sure of one thing…" she hedged softly. When she didn't continue, Anna put her hand on her thigh, squeezing gently as a show of support. Finally, Punz lifted her eyes. "I don't want to lose you. And I feel like, in that regard, the best short term solution would be to let your mother do this. But long-term?" She sucked in a breath. "I don't want to live my life with you as a placeholder for Elsa, you know?"

"Never!" Anna cried, soft and fierce. "You could never be a placeholder for something – someone – else. You're just as important as she is, and romantically speaking… you're more important. I can live with Elsa just being my mother. But I don't know what I'd do if you threw in the towel because of this whole mess. The last thing I waMMPH!"

It seemed to be just what Jennifer wanted to hear, because before Anna could finish her brief tirade, she suddenly found her lips covered, silencing her in a strong and pushy and perfect gesture. Anna was the one to break it, purely because she needed to make something very clear.

"I love you, Jennifer Punzel," she said, foreheads resting against one another's. "And there's nothing that would ever change that. I lived with a… a sad, hateful, depressed Elsa for seventeen years. This one is a happy bonus to a week-long misadventure. But it was you I thought about, all those times I felt like Doc and I were never gonna get the time machine working. You were the reason I needed to come home. Because you were the only one who would miss me. One day I'd be there, and the next day, I'd have vanished without a trace. I couldn't do that to you…"

Once more, she found supple lips pressed against her own. If the last kiss was 'pushy', this one was desperate. In some small part of her mind, Anna was grateful to be in the corner, where the thick booths secluded them away from prying eyes.

This time, Punz backed away on her own. Her lips were swollen, tainted red and glistening, and Anna felt a familiar heat pulse through her. It was more readily ignored than every other time – the sheer number of times it kept happening, evidently, was making her better at dealing with suppressing her needs.

"Sorry…" Punz apologised. She was biting her lip and looking not nearly as contrite as she should have been, given that she was apologising. Anna had no complaints whatsoever.

"We'll see how sorry you are about it when we get back to the truck," she promised, and Punz grinned. They snuggled for a brief moment, then sat back up when the waitress returned to ask them if they needed anything.

Anna had everything she needed.

To Be Continued…