Author's Note: Thank you to my betas, flyafar and Turwen for their help with this and every chapter from here on.
Recovery from my surgery is going well. There's still some slight pain, but that seems to be it. Enjoy your regularly scheduled gay.
Anna sat at her desk, fiddling with her phone as she half paid attention to the movie her class was watching. It was the last day of school before the summer, so she'd had them all bring in food to share and had pitched in with microwave popcorn of her own, and each class had voted on a movie to watch for their last two days in class. Her seventh period class was currently finishing up a soppy rom com that most of the boys had complained about, though half of them seemed rather into it at this point. Anna had seen it before, and rather enjoyed it, though recent changes in her life made her wish the guy was another girl.
Snow sat at the back of the class rejoicing in her second horde of food for the day. There were advantages to being a TA.
The bell rang just as the credits began to roll. Anna was a little proud of herself for that timing. It hadn't worked out in any of the six previous classes. Everyone filed out, several people stopping to wave goodbye to her or give her a hug. She supposed it hadn't been the worst year ever, there were a few students that had been okay, and the class discussions were certainly more interesting, it just still wasn't what she'd always dreamed of.
Once everyone was gone, Snow sidled up to her. "Let's sweep up all this mess." Anna could still barely believe how much she'd changed in a few short months.
She shook her head. "No, it's fine. Your summer break has started, go have fun. I can clean up."
Snow blinked, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She pulled Anna into a tight hug. "You're a great teacher, Ms. Agnarrsen. I hope next year you have better students than me."
With a laugh, Anna dismissed the young girl. She needed to clean this place up quickly if she wanted to pick up Olaf, and despite her requirement that they pick up after themselves, her classes had left the room a veritable wreck. She sighed and grabbed the broom from the corner, starting to work. She wasn't going to just leave this to the janitors, they had enough to deal with without her actively making their jobs harder.
It only took about twenty minutes, and the room was as clean as the day she'd first started teaching in it. She stretched and left the broom by the door. A janitor had dropped it off for earlier, at her request, but their closets were locked and she figured that them only having to pick up a single broom wasn't unreasonable.
Her Kia purred to life, it hadn't had any issues since Elsa helped her out, and now it had the benefit of reminding her of the woman she loved. A woman I love. Not the. A. When she made it to the elementary school, she was surprised to find Kristoff there. She paused getting out of her car, seeing him leading both Olaf and Lilo away. For a second all of the worst possibilities ran through her head, before she realized it was Friday. How am I not used to this yet? "Hey, sorry, I forgot the day."
Olaf ran up and hugged her legs. "Hi, mama!"
Kristoff chuckled. "It's okay. This is just, what, the third time it's happened?"
"It's just automatic! This is where I go after school."
He patted her shoulder. "It's okay. I'm glad Olaf has such a responsible mom." They were still a long way from being friends, but, with time and effort, a good deal of cordiality had been restored. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too." She sighed, stroking Olaf's hair. "I forgot you were taking both of them this weekend."
"I get Olaf all week."
"You can have Lilo too, I'm sure."
Lilo stuck out her tongue. "I already asked, Nani said that if I'm not back on Monday then she'll –" she hesitated, like she was trying to spit out a particularly vulgar phrase, "Miss me." She shuddered.
Anna giggled, squeezing Olaf tight before letting him go. "You have fun with your papa, okay?"
He nodded. "I will."
"We're going to have to pack as soon as you get back. You excited?"
"Yeah. I've never been to New York before."
Kristoff looked pained, wincing slightly. He had never gone so long without Olaf. "You're only going to be gone for a month, right?"
Nodding, Anna replied, "Yeah, of course. We're not just going to abandon you. Besides, I know you'd chase us across the country."
"We would too," Lilo confirmed. Anna was not sure if she meant her and Kristoff or her and Nani. "You shall never escape me, Olaf!" Her cackle echoed off of the nearby cars.
"Oh." Olaf turned back to his friend. "Then I'll just have to defeat you first!" He held out his hand in an imitation of a swashbuckler's pose, his left hand going behind his back.
"Good luck," Anna bid all of them, climbing back into her car. The fight was Kristoff's responsibility.
She made the drive to Giselle's house. Later, they'd all be having dinner together, but there were a few things that she really desperately needed to talk to Giselle about before the trip and now seemed the perfect time.
Giselle opened the door a few minutes after the bell rang. Her face was flushed and she seemed short of breath. "Oh, hey Anna, I thought we weren't meeting until six? It's not six is it?" She glanced around for a clock.
"No, it's just a little before four."
"Oh." She sighed, tilting her head slightly at Anna. "Then what's up?"
"Can I come in?"
After a quick glance behind her, she turned back and nodded. "Of course." Giselle moved aside to make way for Anna and led her to the living room where they both took a seat on the couch. "What's up?" Her legs crossed at the knee, her finger lightly tapping on the couch.
Anna couldn't think of any way to even begin to describe this that didn't make her sound completely insane. "I'm seeing Elsa in like two weeks."
"Yeah. Excited?"
With a sigh, Anna just dove right in, "Well you know I'm still in love with her, but I want to be faithful to Moana, and I'm really scared that I'm going to do something stupid if I'm around Elsa for so long. I could barely even make it those two weeks in December."
"You were single then. Do you really think that you'll do anything crazy?"
Anna managed to avoid immediately confirming that. "Maybe."
Giselle's hand rested on Anna's knee. "I'm still rooting for you crazy kids, but I know you won't do anything to screw up her relationship with Tiana. Do they still seem to be pretty good?"
Chewing on her lip, Anna hesitated before finally nodding. "Yeah, they do. I still think I'd be better for her, but they've been together for years, and I don't see that just falling apart."
"And?"
"And I'm not willing to screw it up for them."
"Exactly." She smirked. "I know you, Anna. As head over heels as you may be for your sister, which in case I haven't said it enough, hot, but you would never do anything to hurt her. You love her, even if it means that you have to let her be happy with someone else."
"I'd still rather she be happy with me," she grumbled.
"But you have Moana, and you know you're not going to do anything like that."
Anna folded her arms over her chest. "Probably."
Giselle rolled her eyes. "Anna, as lovesick as you may be, you're way too caring to do anything half as dumb as you think you will. Now, if anything changes, I will walk you through seducing her if you want me to, but as long as things are okay with Tiana, your sister is safe from your unconventional desires."
I know she's right. "Your desires are more unconventional."
She shrugged. "If you say so."
It finally clicked. That was why she'd had to run up here. "You want me to leave you alone to finish that up?"
Her grin grew wicked, almost predatory. "Oh, no. You're here now, he can wait. Can I get you something to drink?"
As long as she didn't have to join in, Anna wasn't too put out by facilitating Giselle's games. She knew that she provided her plenty of amusement with her incestuous desires. "Sure, do you have a diet coke?"
"Yeah, I'll go grab a couple."
A few moments later, she returned with their drinks. Anna took a sip, the caffeine did little to help with her anxiety. "Thanks."
"Anything else on your mind?"
Isn't there always? "So so so much. I'm stealing Olaf away and Kristoff is going to miss him, I actually just talked to him, and I'm going to be away from Moana for a month, which I guess I'm used to, but I'm going to be around Elsa, and I'm scared that I'll stop being so into Moana when I'm around the woman I really want to – the other woman I love." She screwed her eyes shut. I was doing better! What is wrong with me today? "I don't know, there's just so much. Hell, I haven't left Portland since Olaf was born, and that's going to be weird too."
Giselle pulled her into a hug. "Honey, you have to stop doing this to yourself."
Anna shook her head, rubbing it against her friend. "No, I must fret. It's the only way to handle everything."
"You're a dork."
Anna pulled away, glaring at Giselle. "Fine, I just won't vent to you about everything that happens with Elsa."
Her eyes widened. "What, no! You're not holding out on me. Your forbidden angst is like a drug to me."
"Then be nice."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Then let's work through all of those issues. It's a month, Kristoff can handle it, just give him Olaf when you get back. For Moana, again, it's a month, I know that Elsa is basically the perfect woman and that you'll have to be on your best behavior around her, but you genuinely love Moana, you're not going to just forget her."
"But –"
"Anna, how often do you think about her?"
Anna considered that. Moana hadn't been going through her mind as much today with the upcoming visit with Elsa, but the pilot always had a way of flying back to her, no matter how distracted she may be. I love her. I know I do. "Constantly."
"Right. Even when you're head over heels for Elsa, Moana is still obviously on your mind. Yes, I know you're always head over heels for her."
"Not always."
"Yes. Constantly. Just look at our text log."
Anna had been making sure to delete the conversations on her end to avoid having that reminder. Of course she doesn't. I'm sure she enjoys them every night. "Fine, always."
"But Moana is still always on your mind and in your heart. You're visiting her first, right?"
Anna had changed her mind on that so many times, she'd actually forgotten that she'd bought tickets for Ohio first. Way to prove your own point. "Yeah. I definitely didn't forget that."
With a sigh, she went on, "Okay, so you'll have a whole week with her. I'm sure you'll still smell of her, and that'll scare off Elsa just fine."
"You're gross."
"Just a bit." She brushed a curly strand of red hair out of Anna's face, staring into her eyes. "Just have fun with your girlfriend. Nothing is going to happen with your sister, no matter how badly I might wish it, at least not anytime soon. So don't worry. Have fun, enjoy your time with two people who you genuinely love, and just have a good summer."
Her foot tapped on the hardwood and she averted her gaze. How is Giselle at all straight? "Okay. You're right."
"Good girl."
Anna narrowed her eyes, turning her gaze back to Giselle.
"Sorry. Reflex. Was there anything else?"
Anna rose from her seat, finishing the can of soda. "No. I think you got it all. I'll be okay. I've just been worried."
"I know."
"You go have fun with your toy."
The predatory smile returned. "Oh, I will. Want me to walk you out?"
"Nah, I've got your spare key, I can lock the door behind me."
"Okay." She gave her another hug and ruffled Anna's hair. "Go get all sexy for tonight. I'll see you in a little while."
"All right." Anna managed to smile back at her, squeezing her tight. Giselle had really managed to ease her troubled mind. "See you then."
Anna had taken Giselle's advice to heart. My ass does look amazing in these jeans. She was wearing the flannel shirt she'd bought with it. The outfit just made her feel confident, it was, after all, what she was wearing when she met her girlfriend.
She found Esmeralda and Giselle already waiting for her when she made it to the restaurant. Nani was running late. She didn't even have an excuse with Lilo not there. Maybe she just decided to take a nap and overslept? I'm not sure she ever manages to sleep otherwise.
"You do know that you're here for another week, right?" Esmeralda asked as she sat down.
"Yeah," Anna answered defensively.
"Then is there a reason you needed to assemble your great counsel of advisors now rather than just hanging out with us throughout the week? I'm not used to being around so many people I'm not sleeping with."
"You have roommates," Anna retorted.
"How does that change anything?"
Anna opened her mouth to respond, but promptly closed it when she understood her ex's meaning. Huh. Really? I never would've guessed. "Oh."
"So is there some great emergency you needed your royal trio for?"
"Have you been reading Lord of the Rings or something?"
She shrugged, drawing attention to her well muscled upper arms, expertly displayedby her tank top. Seriously, how did it take me thirty years? "One of my roommates got me started playing Crusader Kings, it's my new drug, well that and acid."
"There's no way acid is new for you."
That prompted a giggle. "Okay, I'll give you that one. Now I'm just far more convinced that you're avoiding something."
Anna looked to Giselle and received a decisive shrug. Thanks. "I'm not hiding anything."
Her eyes narrowed. "Am I going to need to extract this information? I have my ways."
If Anna was not already taken, she would be very interested in learning just what those ways were. If they're anything like Giselle's ways, though, I'd be tapping out, or calling out my safe word or whatever you do almost immediately. Probably better not to try it. "I'm not hiding anything. You don't need to extract anything!"
Esmeralda moved toward her, exaggerated steps causing the leather of her biker pants to creak pleasantly. I have a girlfriend! "Okay, I'll talk!"
The smile on Giselle's face drew Anna's ire. Some friend she is. Anna glowered back at her friend, doing her best to properly express her betrayal.
"Hey, this is the juiciest gossip I've ever heard, Nani isn't here yet to be all judgy, and if anyone is going to understand, it'll be this crazy chick."
Esmeralda quirked an eyebrow at her. "What was that?"
"You're even freakier than I am, Esmeralda, and you know it."
"We really do need to talk sometime. Without the prude." She gestured toward Anna.
"Hey!"
"I would love to check out your dungeon," she continued. "I'll even let you tie me up."
Giselle bit her lip, looking Esmeralda up and down. "I don't exactly play for your team, but that could be fun. You have any experience?"
Anna was torn between her desire to escape this conversation and her appreciation for it directing the inquisition away from her. She flagged down a waiter. "Just alcohol, wine, rum, whatever you can get here quickest."
The waiter laughed until he realized Anna was serious. "So, wine?"
Anna bared her teeth in the closest approximation to a smile she could manage. "Sure. Wine sounds great."
"So, tomorrow?" Esmeralda asked.
"Sure, I'm sure Jack will enjoy that."
Should've gone for the tequila.
Esmeralda leaned against the table, propping herself up with one hand, her gaze falling back to Anna. "So, you were saying?"
I should just go to the bathroom and never come back. "Esmeralda," she whined, her voice rising in pitch.
"Please?" Esmeralda actually pouted. She held out her lower lip, leaning even closer to Anna, until her lips were almost touching Anna's ear. "Pretty please."
Anna was pretty sure she short circuited. She was almost certain she hadn't said anything to the effect of 'I'm in love with my sister,' to her ex-girlfriend, no one would be that crazy. Unfortunately, the excited look in Esmeralda's eyes seemed to suggest that that was precisely what she'd done. "Fuck."
A grin grew to match her eyes, her teeth showing as she dragged her chair until it was touching Anna's knee and dropped into it. "Go on."
That's the first time someone didn't say 'tell me everything.' "Giselle, you tell her."
"Gladly," Giselle took a sip of her water and dove into the speech. Has she rehearsed this? "So, I guess you probably haven't met Elsa, but she's a super tall, intimidating, Scandinavian woman, with almost white hair that you just want to run your fingers through, and the fact that they're related and that she practically raised Anna is hardly enough to put a damper on that." Am I in love with her, or are you? "I still think she might return the feelings, I mean it's the only explanation for why she was so hurt when Anna ran off to college. But anyway, Anna also had the same idea, and started reading everything Elsa did with some sort of romantic undertones, and ended up realizing that she was the one who was falling for Elsa. Poor thing had her heart broken when she found out that that wasn't why her sister had been avoiding her for the past decade."
Anna groaned. "That's not exactly what happened."
"It is so. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm sure that Anna's current girlfriend is great, I somehow haven't met her, but Elsa is absolutely perfect for her, and filthy rich to boot."
Esmeralda stroked her chin, turning away from the redhead she'd already slept with to the one she was apparently working on adding to that list. "Maybe she's not as repressed as I'd thought."
"I'm not repressed," Anna whined.
"Sure seemed like you were when we slept together."
Her jaw dropped. "What?" Am I bad in bed? Moana hasn't said anything. Why wouldn't Esmeralda have said something before? What did I do wrong? I mean it was my first time with a woman, so I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I thought I got the hang of it. I'm not repressed!
Esmeralda giggled, patting her on the shoulder. "I mean how hesitant you were with everything. It was your first time, it was understandable, I'm sure you're much better now." She winked, and Anna ignored any butterflies in her stomach. When is the wine getting here? "You are kinda repressed though. You're almost thirty-one and you're only now figuring yourself out sexually. Maybe you should join us tomorrow, and we can work on that some more. I wouldn't mind another round."
Anna held up her hands, shaking her head vehemently. "I have a girlfriend!"
"Yeah, but not the one you want," Esmeralda pointed out. "Clearly we just need to get you trained up so you can win Elsa."
"I love Moana." This argument was so much easier when I was just having it with myself.
"Well then, maybe you should talk about this with her. If your sister is really as awesome as Giselle thinks she is, then I doubt Moana would be able to blame you. Hell, she might even want to join you."
Anna grabbed the wine the second the waiter appeared, downing her glass and asking for him to leave the bottle and make with the tequila. I already tried polyamory once. I just don't think I have the constitution for it. There's no way Moana would be interested. "Don't be ridiculous. There's no way she'd be okay with that. It's just weird. It's wrong. She's my sister. Hell, she might legally be my mother."
"Okay, I want more details on that later, so put a pin in it." Esmeralda swirled her wine in its glass and took a big swig of it. "Why wouldn't she be okay with it? We both are. I bet even Nani would be okay with it."
Giselle cleared her throat. "Actually, Nani already knows, and she's not keen on it, but from what Anna has said, she does understand."
"That bitch. It's a pure and wonderful thing." She turned back to Anna. "Is that why you think it's wrong? Don't listen to Nani. You can love whoever you want to love."
Anna poured her second glass and drank half of it in a single swallow. "No. I can't. It's not because it's her, it's that I never want to hurt Moana, I love her, and more importantly, or as importantly, I don't know, it's the simple fact that Elsa both doesn't feel that way and is happy with Tiana. Please stop trying to push for this. It's not gonna happen."
Esmeralda deflated, giving Anna an apologetic look as she finished the rest of her glass. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push any buttons. Well then it's her loss, and Moana's a lucky girl. You're an amazing woman, Anna, anyone would be lucky to have you."
Says the girl who dumped me. "Thanks," Anna grumbled.
Esmeralda never got the chance to try to defend that statement, as Nani chose just then to appear, wearing a somewhat rumpled looking purple blouse. "Sorry, I fell asleep."
Esmeralda laughed and gestured toward the empty seat. "Okay, clearly I was too hard on Anna, I forgot what Nani was like."
"And just what am I like?"
"A sixty year old woman in the body of a thirty year old one?"
Nani's eyes narrowed. "I have barely slept in the last five years. I take it when I can get it."
Giselle mouthed 'repressed' to Anna, who only rolled her eyes, and said, "It's okay, Nani, Esmeralda is just being a jerk today. I think she didn't want to be dragged away from her computer game."
Nodding in agreement, Esmeralda filled her glass back up. "That's accurate. I was just about to secure an alliance by marrying off one of my kids."
"Right. Have we ordered yet?" Nani looked around.
"Just alcohol," Giselle explained.
"Sounds perfect, though I suppose we should eat too. All I have in my system is a bunch of coffee and a granola bar."
Anna took that as a cue to look at the menu. "Esme, what's good here?"
She pursed her lips, considering this for a moment. "You can't go wrong with much of anything, except the jambalaya, don't even think about it, but the lobster, escargot, and really everything else is amazing."
Anna murmured her understanding as she looked over the menu.
Esmeralda leaned back in her seat. "So, we already know Anna's plans," she mused with a chuckle. "What's everyone else doing this summer?"
Giselle looked up from her menu. "Probably nothing too exciting, but Jack and I were thinking about going on vacation."
"Oh, go to Greece, it's amazing, I'll tell you everywhere you should go, and I promise you'll have the best time. Actually I wouldn't be against going back, can I come?"
Giselle processed that for a moment, blinking slowly. "We were more thinking like a theme park or something, maybe drive down to California and go to Six Flags."
"Oh." She sighed. "That can be fun too. I worked there for a few months when I was eighteen. I learned so much behind the Goliath. My screams were almost as loud as the people above us."
Giselle nodded, as if Esmeralda was giving her sage advice. "Thanks, we'll keep that in mind."
Nani shook her head, pressing a finger to her temple. Anna could see her visibly plotting her escape.
"What about you, Nani?" Esmeralda asked.
She gave a wry smile. "Work, look after my little sister. I don't get the summer off."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Their waiter returned to take their orders. "Are we all here now?"
Most of them nodded, Esmeralda winked.
"How can I help you?" He set a tequila down in front of Anna. I forgot I ordered that. She and Nani both ordered the lobster, Giselle ordered the escargot, and Esmeralda ordered some shrimp dish that Anna didn't quite catch – it may have been in French. They also all ordered cocktails, save for Anna, who was going to try to be satisfied with her shot.
"Anyone want to see a movie tomorrow?" Nani asked when the waiter left. "It's so rare that I can actually do adult things, there's one I've been wanting to see. Want to come with?"
"I'd love to," Anna replied.
"Sorry, I have plans tomorrow," Giselle said, prompting a lascivious grin from Esmeralda.
Anna tugged on Giselle's floral sleeve. "We'll be right back. Ladies room." She dragged her into the bathroom.
"What?" Giselle asked, looking utterly flummoxed, somehow, as if she wasn't up to any nefarious deeds with Anna's ex-girlfriend.
"What do you mean 'what?' Are you really going to sleep with Esmeralda?"
She giggled. "Of course not."
"Oh, so it's just play?" She let out a breath, starting to feel relieved.
"Oh, we're definitely going to play. I'll see what Jack is up for, but I'm personally not going to sleep with her."
"Oh."
"I mean she's a very attractive woman, but that doesn't mean I'm attracted to her. She'd have to be really good in bed for me to reconsider that."
Since they were already in the bathroom, Anna decided to splash some water on her face to see if it would restore any semblance of sanity to the world. It did not. "All right, let's get back."
"No, you dragged me in here, you can wait. I actually have to pee."
A few minutes later, a slightly less chagrined Anna and a still excited Giselle returned to the table. "How about Sunday for the movie?" Giselle asked, as if they'd never left.
"Yeah, I could do that," Nani replied. "It would just have to be early, I have work at six on Monday."
"Jesus. Remind me to never be a mailman."
"Were you planning on it?"
"Well, no."
Anna took a sip of her tequila. It was surprisingly good, and if she was going to get through the evening, she may need more of it. "I'm still free tomorrow."
Nani shook her head. "I would love to hang out, but unless you want to come nap with me, I'm going to be spending tomorrow alone. I need one of my days away from Lilo to actually involve sleep. If I can sleep for an entire twenty-four hours then all the better. Though I'd have to call out of work."
Anna tried to imagine how napping together would work? She was sure they'd both napped at the same time at some point when they were roommates, but it just seemed weird. She'd rather nap with Moana anyway. "I'll let you have your fun then."
"Thank you."
Before long, their food arrived. They all fell into some playful banter, and enjoyed the – as expected, given that Esmeralda recommended the place – ridiculously delicious meal. Anna's lobster literally melted in her mouth. By nine, still slightly tipsy, they made their ways to their respective homes. Though Anna did wonder if that was true for Giselle and Esmeralda. She was still coming to grips with the idea of them doing whatever it was that they were doing.
She flopped onto her bed, feeling surprisingly alone. Olaf was with his father, her ex was possibly with one of her best friends, her sister was on the other side of the country, and she wasn't quite sure where her girlfriend was. She gave her a call.
"Hey, babe," Moana's soothing voice greeted her through the phone's speaker.
"Hey," Anna murmured, snuggling into her pillow. She may have helped herself to some more wine since she returned home, and was feeling a bit more than tipsy.
"Sounds like you had a good day."
She nodded and murmured an affirmative.
"Wish I was there."
Anna could just imagine her warmth pressed against her. She missed her so much. "I do too. Where are you?"
She could hear Moana stretching, getting comfortable in whatever hotel bed she was in. "I'm in Seattle if you want to drive up here and cuddle."
It was sorely tempting. "I'm too drunk for that."
Moana giggled. "Well I don't want you driving in that condition. If only there was something else we could do then."
Anna blinked. She'd never actually done anything like that before. They'd always saved their sexual activities for when they were in the same room. "Oh?" she replied nervously, her voice an octave higher than usual.
"I mean, not if you don't want to."
"No, I do! I've just –" she bit her lip, "Never done it before."
"Well then, I'll just have to walk you through it."
By the end of the night, Anna was exhausted, content, and excited for the week to be over already. She couldn't wait for the chance to do that for real again.
