Author's Note: On Wednesday, I had carpal tunnel surgery for my right hand. Please wish me luck with recovery. I have rough drafts for the next twenty chapters ready, and I promise the Elsanna is well underway by then, so no matter how slow my recovery is, I should be able to keep my updates on time. Please forgive me if my editing is a little sloppy for a few weeks, pain killers and one hand should complicate that.


Anna sat between Moana and Olaf. Her girlfriend's arm was wrapped around her shoulders and her son was leaning against her. It was the second day of what had been the first time she'd seen her girlfriend in over a month. As much as the long distance aspect was killing her, she could barely believe just how comfortable things were when Moana was there. It was like they were a family. It terrified her.

It felt like they'd known each other for such a short time, especially considering that the only two other people she'd ever dated she'd known for years. Even more so when she considered that the other woman she was in love with was someone she had literally known her entire life, but she had promised herself that she wouldn't think about that.

She tried to focus on the present. Moana smelled amazing. How? She's using my shampoo. She should smell like me. Do I smell amazing? What if she was moving too fast? It had been four months, but they'd only had three real dates – five if the next day counted as a separate date when she stayed over. She was falling for Moana, and she was starting to believe that Moana was falling for her too. She knew herself well enough to know that certain words would have to be said soon, maybe even talk of taking things to the next level-which would certainly make the mortgage easier for her-but she wasn't sure that she was ready for it. She tried to pretend that no part of that doubt was her holding out hope that she could be with Elsa. Moana deserved better than that. She was perfect for her.

Soft lips met her cheek and Moana beamed at her. "I think the kid's asleep, we should get him to bed. Then maybe we could do the same."

Anna met her eyes and ignored the lascivious look. "You know you'll just want to watch more Star Trek then, anyway."

She huffed. "Yeah, like one episode, then I'd have far more interesting plans for you." Her eyes trailed down Anna's body. "You'd make a great green space babe. Though that's more TOS."

Both her girlfriend and her son wanted to play Star Trek with her. That was weird. Anna planted a quick kiss on Moana's temple. "Fine, I'll put him to bed. Though I'm not sure I'm up for another episode, I'm already starting to fall asleep."

Moana looked heart broken, her lower lip protruded as sad brown eyes met Anna's. "But I leave tomorrow."

"All right, you can choose, one episode, or your other plans. Though we don't have green body paint or the time for it."

She chewed on her protruding lip. This was clearly a difficult decision. "All right, I'll get the chocolate syrup."

Anna was certainly not going to say no to chocolate. She did her best to shake off her blush as she carried Olaf to his bedroom, nestled his plush Charmander in his arms, and tucked him in. The Millenium Falcon sat next to his bed, he'd been showing it off to Moana the day before. She had seemed about as thrilled as he was, and taught him a few tricks for flying it. He really might follow in her footsteps. She'd be a good mom for him. What am I so scared of? It's not just Elsa, right? It's deeper than that, I'm terrified that I'm just repeating my same old cycle all over again.

A quiet knock came from behind her and she turned to see Moana, off-brand syrup in hand. "You ready for bed? If you wanted to do that weird mom thing and watch him sleep I can wait. I'm patient."

"I know you are." Anna smiled at her. She waits for me all the time. She's so good to me, she's exactly what I need. "Let's get to bed."

She was happy to be reminded that Moana tasted even better than she smelled.


Snow White had become an exemplary student since their talk. She had already had some of the best grades in the class, but now she led discussions, helped keep everyone in order, and made Anna's life easier. Once Anna had found out that she had the last period of the day off, she had, with some hesitation, offered her a position as TA. She hadn't expected her to take it. Who wouldn't want to just go home early? Instead Snow did. It had taken a bit of finagling with the school, since it was already a good way into the quarter, but they eventually gave in, giving her half credit for it, and she had made it so that Anna had no grading to do on this particular day, and barely any cleaning. It was almost concerning seeing just how much her behavior toward her had changed over the last month.

"I just finished with the tests. Did you want to look over them?" She handed her a stack of papers. It had been multiple choice, so the grading hadn't been complicated, but it was a welcome relief to have less to deal with.

"It's fine. I trust you." She was of course going to glance at them briefly at home, making a mistake was easy, but she felt that Snow needed to hear it, and even more so she needed to admit that it was true. Clearly at least one of them was a pod person.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that."

Anna rubbed her neck, sitting on the edge of her desk, her bag slung over her shoulder. The day wasn't even over and she was already ready to leave. "I never thought I'd say it." She needed to ask her something. She'd been her TA for a week now, and she'd been resisting asking it the entire time, and Anna was terrible at not saying what she wanted to say. "Snow?"

No doubt sensing that a serious conversation was incoming, she sat herself in Anna's chair before replying, "Yes, Ms. Agnarssen?"

"Why did you take the teacher's assistant job? I mean wouldn't you rather be home right now?"

"Well, I figured it was the only way I could get you to write me a recommendation letter after how I treated you, and I was sort of hoping to major in English at PSU." She smirked up at Anna, the seat making her a good foot and a half shorter than her.

"Is that the only reason? I mean I'm sure Esmeralda would have written you a letter, and you wouldn't need to declare your major before you applied." The reason sounded more and more like an excuse the more Anna thought about it.

She chewed on her lip. "I suppose you're expecting some horrifying backstory? Like that I'm avoiding being at home because of how awful my parents are and that the real reason I was acting out in class was to lash out at someone else?"

After considering her response for a moment, Anna had to nod. "Yeah, kind of."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but my parents are pretty great. Probably a little too relaxed, but I suppose with my GPA they didn't really feel they needed to crack down at all. They're understanding, supportive parents. It's just that I don't head straight home. I always waited at school anyway until my boyfriend got out of class, so I figured at least this way I'd have something to do. Plus I steal from your candy drawer."

I knew it! "That's fine. I leave candy there for you too," she lied. "All right." She squinted at her student, trying to make sure that the story really was true. "I just wanted to make sure that everything was all right."

"Everything's great. Really, you don't need to worry. I'm just a bored bitch with nothing better to do."

Anna supposed she'd just have to accept that. The bell rang. "Well I'll just have to add some more candy to the drawer. Even if you are a rotten little thief, you've earned it. You're doing a great job."

Grinning at her, Snow stood up and casually made her way to the door. "I'll see you on Monday. Have a good night."

"You too, Snow." Anna locked the door after them, and they went their separate ways. She headed to pick up Olaf, but decided she'd wait in the parking lot for a bit. There was no reason to drag him away from playing with Lilo when she was waiting for Nani anyway. She needed to talk to her. She needed to hear from someone who wasn't just going to tell her to follow her heart, someone who knew her better than she knew herself. She needed to know if she was making a mistake with Moana.

A light flurry of snow piled on her windshield as she waited. When Nani finally arrived, just before closing, Anna met her at the door. Nani gave her an exhausted hug and opened the door for them. Mrs. Fitzherbert seemed less than pleased to see the two of them so late, but they were out of her hair in a matter of seconds, long before she could try to chastise them or strike up any conversation. "Running late?" Nani asked as they made their way to their cars.

"No, I was just hoping to talk to you. Want to come over? I'm sure Lilo and Olaf have something to do at my place. Are you still playing Kirby?" She added, turning to her son.

He shook his head. "No, we finished it."

"I want to fly the Millenium Falcon," Lilo chimed in.

Nani shrugged. "Sure. I could just use some coffee."

Soon, the coffee was boiling and the children were in the backyard, making the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs. Nani was slumped back in her chair, her eyes locked on the coffee pot. It had clearly been a very long day. "You all right?" Anna asked. They didn't have to start with talking about her stuff. In fact, she may even prefer not doing so. Her friend clearly needed her. The craziness with Moana and Elsa could wait, there wasn't even really anything to talk about anyway.

Her eyes continued to watch the coffee percolate. "Lots of dogs, lots of traffic, and I've been up since four. Nothing really happened, it was just a lot of mail and a very long day."

Anna nodded sagely, as if she had any idea what being a postal worker may entail. Nani was still in uniform, and Anna was almost surprised to see that it didn't include shorts. She supposed she must have only ever seen her in uniform in the summer or she just hadn't paid attention to what she was wearing before. Is this because I figured out I was gay? I don't think I was checking out Nani's legs. She paused to glance at them again, the uniform clung tightly to her well-muscled calves. I could hardly blame me if I was though. "I'm sorry. That sounds rough." She felt like she should say more, but just general exhaustion was a difficult thing to comfort.

Fortunately, the coffee pot saved her as it finally finished its noble work. She poured them both a cup and Nani held it to her like she'd been given a priceless artifact, leaching warmth and energy from it, breathing in the fumes. "Thank you. Could I get some cream?" She was starting to look a bit more human.

Anna grabbed her some half and half from the fridge and sat down opposite her. She studied her own cup before pouring some into it. She wasn't sure why she'd been so eager to talk about this with Nani. It wasn't like anything had happened. Now she only found herself desperate to avoid explaining why she'd been so desperate to see her in the first place. Nani had been a therapist for a few weeks, maybe she'll understand?

"How was Moana?" Nani asked suddenly. "She texted me when she got in, but I never managed to see her. I swear you're hogging my second best friend now. I've barely seen her since you two got together."

That certainly gave her a good segue into the topic she wanted to discuss, she just had to manage to draw up the courage to take it. "She's good," she replied dully. "We spent the whole time watching Star Trek with Olaf. She seems to really have a thing for chocolate syrup, has she talked to you about that? Wait, no, that's weird, she wouldn't, right? Would she?" She had somehow managed to find an even more awkward topic.

"She had not, no." Nani's expression made it abundantly clear that she knew exactly what Anna was talking about. "I'm sure the two of you had a lot of fun with that though."

Anna's face colored. This wasn't what she'd meant to discuss at all. "I mean it definitely makes her extra delicious," she offered, a playful grin doing its best to hide her embarrassment.

"Was that what you wanted to talk to me about? Be careful, okay? That's a yeast infection waiting to happen."

That did it. Anna would do anything to escape this topic, even tell Nani the truth. "That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Nani's eyes flew open, any sleep gone from them. She leaned across the table, peering concernedly into Anna's eyes. "You need to go to the doctor? Want me to buy you some probiotics?"

Anna waved her hands in front of her, shaking her head rapidly, her pony tail whipping her cheek when she finally stopped. "No, that's not what I meant. I don't have a yeast infection. I mean I wanted to talk about Moana. Not just her." She groaned, sinking low in her seat, as if trying to hide behind her coffee cup. "Am I moving too fast? I really like her, I think she could be really good for me, but I don't want to be repeating the same mistakes I made with Kristoff and Esmeralda. I mean, I knew them both for a lot longer first, but I still ended up rushing things. I haven't even known Moana that long. Maybe I'm forcing something just because I don't want to deal with –" she sunk even lower, "other things."

"Anna sit up, I can't take you seriously like that."

She slowly made her way back to a sitting position, Nani staring straight into her eyes. "I just feel ridiculous."

"What is there to feel ridiculous about?" She blew on her coffee and took a hesitant sip. "You two have taken things really slowly, and the only reason things are moving forward now is because of how comfortable you are with each other. I think the long distance bit probably helped with that, it made you two have to get to know each other more rather than being able to just jump into bed. You've probably been texting each other every day for four months now."

Anna nodded. "We have. I still feel like I don't know her well enough for how into her I am though. I'm really starting to fall for her."

She was surprised by the smile spreading across Nani's tired features. "That's amazing, Anna. You're you, you don't fall for people, you normally skip that and go straight to fallen for them. You're seriously telling me that you haven't already confessed your undying love for her?"

Anna wasn't sure how to take that. "Well, yeah," she offered nervously.

"That's such a huge change. You were begging Esmeralda to be your girlfriend after your first date. I'm sure you'd have confessed your love and asked her to move in by your fifth date at the latest. You're not like that anymore, I can hardly believe it. You're really taking things slowly. At least for you. It's more of a normal pace for most people."

"I've only had two relationships before, that's not enough to act like there was some pattern," she grumbled.

Nani smirked knowingly. "So then there's no pattern for you to worry about repeating."

Anna blinked. "Using my own words against me is cheating."

"I know it is. You say that a lot."

"That's still using my own words against me."

"Then I guess I'm cheating."

Anna took a sip of the still too hot coffee. It didn't burn that much. "What if that's not the reason?" she finally asked, her tone hesitant, frightened, maybe even terrified. She didn't want to bring this thought into the real world, but she needed Nani to tell her that she was wrong. She needed to know that she was just being ridiculous.

Nani's expression changed from mocking back to concerned as she sipped her coffee, her eyes never leaving Anna. "What else could it be? I think you've really matured Anna. I'm proud of you."

How did I end up with two older sisters/mothers? "Thanks. I hope you're right. I'm just scared that –" she trailed off, fighting back a tear that seemed to come from nowhere. She was so scared that it was true, she couldn't bring herself to say it. She needed to face it, but saying it would only make it feel so much more real.

"Anna? What do you think it could be?"

"What if it's because I'm in love with someone else? What if it's because I can't move past Elsa. I know it can't happen, I know it shouldn't happen, she's my sister, she has Tiana, she doesn't feel the same. I know all of that, but I just can't stop thinking about her."

Nani's expression soured, she looked even worse than she had when she'd collapsed in that chair. She delayed her reaction by taking a far larger sip of her coffee than could have been necessary or comfortable, followed by another gulp. She set the cup down, but her eyes remained on it. She can't even bring herself to look at me.

"Nani?" I thought she understood. I know she didn't exactly approve, but she hadn't reacted quite this badly before.

"Please don't hurt Moana," she finally said, her voice weak and timid. "I don't think you're right, but if you keep letting yourself fall down that rabbit hole, then you will hurt her."

She couldn't hold the tear back anymore. It made a steady march down her cheek and she didn't bother wiping it away. "I wouldn't. I won't. I don't think. She means so much to me. She's absolutely amazing. I'm trying to just focus on her, I know she deserves it, I don't know what's wrong with me!" she found herself screaming. She hated what Elsa was doing to her. What I'm doing to myself. She let out a wordless shout. "This isn't fair. I met the perfect girl for me, and I can't stop thinking about my own sister."

Nani's concern finally overwhelmed whatever repulsion had taken over her face, and she rested her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Are you thinking of her when you're with her? Or just when you're scared and freaking out over everything?"

She had to consider that. She honestly wasn't sure, but looking back on all of her interactions with her girlfriend, she recalled just how Moana seemed to push away any thoughts of Elsa. She knew how much she meant to her. She could manage to get over her unrequited love. She could be good for Moana, just like Moana was good for her. "When I'm with her, she all but banishes any thought of Elsa from my mind. I think I could really love her. If it keeps going this way, I will. I just need to know that I'm not deluding myself by going ahead with this. Can I ever be fair to her when I still love Elsa?"

Nani moved her chair closer to Anna and pulled her into her arms. Anna couldn't help but weep against Nani, pulling tight against her, as her tears stained the blue uniform shirt. "I don't want to hurt Moana. She's the best girlfriend – hell, the best partner I've ever had. She deserves better than I can give her."

Nani stroked her hair, whispering soothing sounds. "She deserves exactly what you two can give each other. She's crazy about you, she's barely shut up about you since you met. Do you want me to show you the texts? Should I tell you about the late night calls with her freaking out about how into you she is? I think she's already fallen for you. I know you can be amazing for her, you already have been. You just need to stop letting fear hold you back. And let me see my friend occasionally rather than locking her in your place the entire time she's in Portland."

She could do that. "Even if I'm not over Elsa? You still think I can be healthy for her?" She looked up into Nani's blurry face.

She was pretty sure Nani nodded. "What would Esmeralda say? You can love more than one person. It doesn't mean you have to act on it, which she certainly wouldn't say, but it's not an either/or thing. You can keep having those," she hesitated, clearly still uncomfortable with the subject, "feelings for Elsa, and still be true to Moana. You don't need to worry that you're betraying her, or that Elsa is what's making things feel different with Moana. You really have matured, I'm sure of it. Just stop overthinking everything and be happy with your awesome girlfriend."

She wiped her tears on her sleeve. Nani was right. She always was. "Okay. Thank you, Nani." "Any time."

Anna pulled back, feeling a little foolish crying in her friend's arms when her life was so amazing. Ignoring the mortgage I just had to pay. She drained the rest of her coffee as she tried to compose herself, and was pleased to see that Nani was both letting her and doing the same.

Not even allowing her a minute's peace, the door to the backyard flew open and Lilo roared.

"Please say that's not Wookie for 'I crashed the Millenium Falcon,'" Anna cried.

Nani looked down at her little sister. "What did you do?"

Olaf ran in behind her, the drone in one piece in his hands. "Chewy is just saying that we're hungry. We'll trade you half the contents of our cargo hold for dinner."

"How many dilythium crystals do you think it takes to equal a burger?" Anna asked Nani.

She shrugged. "Probably like three?"

Lilo growled and Olaf stomped his foot. "That's Star Trek, Mama! We have spice and food for the rebels."

Anna looked to Nani again, receiving another shrug. "All right, I guess half of that can get you Burgerville."

"Can I have a shake?"

Lilo roared in agreement.

"Two thirds of the cargo," Anna said. I wonder what Star Wars food and spices would sell for?

"Three quarters!"

Anna and Nani tried not to laugh. She could see how hard Nani was clenching her jaw shut. "Honey, three quarters is more."

"Oh. Two thirds then!"

"All right, Captain Solo, you have yourself a deal." She held out her hand to him, still not willing to get up from the chair.

He shuffled the Millenium Falcon to his left hand and shook hers. "Let's get back to the ship. Chewy is hungry, and he does not play nice when he's hungry."

Lilo howled, her eyes never leaving Anna's. It was actually a little intimidating. "Hey, don't rip my arms off. Let's get going."

"I'll buy," Nani added.

"But he traded the goods to me."

"I have altered the deal, pray I do not alter it further." Nani's glare was as intimidating as Lilo's and Anna promptly gave in. She was really starting to feel bad letting everyone else pay for everything. Even if I do only have fifty bucks left in my account. Maybe I should look into taking something out of my retirement fund? I'm not sure how it works, but I know it's possible. Mr. Fredrickson said he did it.

They all piled into Nani's car, and made their way to the burger place. Anna tried to just order fries, but Nani insisted that she actually have a real meal. Everyone else had burgers, but she got a chicken sandwich and a chocolate shake. She picked shyly at her fries, trying as hard as she could to appreciate Nani's generosity rather than hating herself for requiring it. At least the shake's amazing.

Lilo roared and ripped into her burger, savagely tearing off a piece of it and dropping the rest into the basket as she dramatically chewed on it. Olaf ate like a normal person, taking human sized bites of his plain burger and fries. Anna was actually a little curious to see how Chewbaca drank milkshakes.

She was a little disappointed when instead of shoving her face into the cup, she just sipped the straw of her mocha perk shake, growling occasionally. Why does Nani let her have coffee ice cream all that time? That can't be good.

Nani sipped her triple berry shake and ignored the monster on the other side of the table. "Do you need any more food?" she asked Anna.

With a laugh, Anna shook her head. "No, I'm good. You already bought way too much. It's delicious though. I love their waffle fries."

She stole one. That was fair. "Yeah, they are pretty amazing."

Lilo stole one as well, growling at Anna as if daring her to take it back. Olaf just ate his own fries.

By the time Nani and Anna had finished their meals, Lilo and Olaf had been done for a while, and were barely managing to stay in their seats. Nani had had to make Lilo sit back down three times, rather than run around the packed fast food place. "I will get you a leash if you don't behave," she growled. Like little sister, like big sister.

The sulky Wookie sat back down and whispered to Olaf. "She wants to know if we can go yet," he explained.

"Yeah, I need to head home. I'm exhausted," Nani said. "Lilo, if you promise not to blow up the house, you can play video games until ten."

She whispered to Olaf. "Chewie accepts your deal."

"Okay." Nani was clearly far too tired to deal with Lilo. Anna had a chance to repay her for all she'd been doing for her of late.

"I'll take her tonight," she offered. "You know Lilo will just blow up the place anyway if you're asleep. I'm not even tired yet." Because it's 5:30, and I'm not 70 years old. "You go get some sleep."
Nani wrapped her arms around her, almost crushing her with the force of the hug. "Thank you. Do you need anything? Groceries? Pizza money?"

Anna tried to recall if she had enough food to provide breakfast to the crazed Wookie. "I'll be fine. I've got cereal."

"All right. Just let me know if you need anything, okay? You're a life saver."

Nani dropped them back off at Anna's house and promptly drove off. Lilo tackled Anna, knocking her onto the grass before the front door. A deafening Wookie howl sprung from her mouth.

Olaf pushed her off of his mother. "Chewie, behave."

She growled back.

Anna patted her head as she pulled herself to her feet and knocked the dirt from her jeans. "What was that about?" She looked down at the two foot tall girl. How did she even manage to knock me over?

She whispered to Olaf again. "She said she won't do it again."

Anna opened the door and led them inside before replying, "That's not what I asked. Lilo, what was that about?"

"Nani hates me!" she shouted back, suddenly human again.

Anna took a step forward to hug her, but Lilo only ran to the living room.

"See, you don't even try to claim otherwise!"

"She doesn't hate you." Anna followed her to the living room, but let Lilo have her distance. "She just had a really long day."

"Then why's she always so happy to get rid of me! She wishes I was gone!"

"No she doesn't."

Lilo grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and screamed into it, before dropping it into her lap. "Yes she does."

"She doesn't."

"Does."
Anna was not in the mood for getting into a Bugs Bunny skit. "She tells me all the time how much she cares about you. You're the most important thing in the world to her. I know she doesn't always act like it, but she loves you."

She punched the pillow repeatedly then buried her face in the couch. A full minute later, a muffled, "I don't believe you," came from the general area of her face.

Anna wasn't sure if she should try calling Nani. Maybe if she won't believe me, she'll believe her? "Should I call her and ask?"

"She'll just lie."

"Lilo." Anna had no idea where to go from there. What could she possibly say that would make any difference to the girl?

Olaf sat next to his friend and patted her back, but she didn't stir from her faceplant.

"Lilo?" I guess I could try telling her that.

"What?" It was loud enough that it was clear, even through the couch.

"Has she ever told you about how she reacted when she first got custody of you?"

She shook her head.

"All she could think about was how scared she was. She hadn't been ready for a kid, and she'd only seen you when you were first born. You were just a tiny, terrifying stranger to her."

"You're proving my point." I thought she'd like being a tiny terrifying thing.

"Then she met you. She could have given you up for adoption, she could've done a lot of things, but she never tried to. She'd joke about it, but as soon as you became her responsibility, you were all she thought about."

Lilo's eye was barely visible when she turned the slightest bit to watch Anna.

"She'd lost her parents too, just like you had, but she didn't let it get to her. She was a wreck until she saw you, but I think you might've saved her, because you became her number one priority. She researched what part of town had the best school, took some free parenting classes, and found a new job where it'd be easier to pick you up from school. It was all for you. Kristoff and I would babysit some. Olaf seemed to love the company. But other than that, she was raising you all alone. I guess it's how we really became family, but that's not the point."

"Then what is?" She sat up, tears rimming her eyes as she stared at the floor.

"She loves you. The happiest I've ever seen her was when you said your first word. Do you remember what it was?'

Lilo only shook her head.

"You called her mommy."

She stared at her, watery eyes widening. "I what?"

"She was so excited. She invited us over just to watch you say it, and you did it again. And again. It was the only word you knew for a long while. I know you just think of her as your big sister now, but to her, you're her daughter, and she will never want you to be anything else or anywhere else. She just works an exhausting job and isn't always great at hiding the strain from it."

"Oh." Lilo looked to Olaf for confirmation. "Is this true?'

He shrugged. "Was I there, Mama?"

"You were actually."

"Oh, then I guess I must've heard it too."

Lilo rolled her eyes. "That still doesn't prove anything."

"Then fine. Just take her not giving you up for adoption as proof."

"I will!"

Anna smirked. "Good."

Her eyes narrowed, but she flung herself from the couch and stormed to the door, letting out a roar as she waved for Olaf to follow. He hugged Anna.

"Go have fun exploring the galaxy."

"Okay." Olaf grabbed the Millenium Falcon and headed after his friend. Anna just hoped that she'd managed to get through to Lilo. She'd tell Nani about it in the morning.