Tell Me How To Fix You
Chapter 18
By: The Duchess of Arendelle
AN: Sorry for any mistakes. Read the AN at the end for some exciting… well for some news. Enjoy!
"Are you sure you're going to be okay alone Elsa? I can come right back if you need me to." Anna asked as she weaved through the crowd of people walking along the busy sidewalk.
"Anna, you spent the rest of Saturday, and all of Monday and Tuesday with me. I'll be fine, I'm used to being alone." Elsa responded. Anna sighed into the phone. Elsa was used to being alone. Was that supposed to comfort her? Elsa picked up on Anna's distress at her last comment. Smiling slightly she gently reassured Anna.
"Please Anna, I'll be fine. Really. Besides, you can't miss any more work, you're assignment is almost overdue and you haven't even started on it." Elsa told her, almost scolding at the end. Anna had the decency to look sheepish as she bumped into another passer byer.
"Watch where you're going bitch!" the person yelled. Anna ignored them and kept walking. She had quickly learned to do that in a huge city like this. One thing about her home town, people were never this rude, to your face at least.
"Well actually I can keep missing work. I mean, I am best friends with the CEO. She wouldn't fire me." Anna said jokingly. Elsa smiled on the other end and rolled her eyes.
"Is that so? And you're confident about that?" Elsa joked back. Anna's grin widened as she nodded her head, even though the woman on the other end couldn't see.
"Oh absolutely! I mean, we're pretty close. She made me an omelet once and everything." Anna said, giggling. Elsa giggled too and sat down on one of the bar stools at her kitchen's island.
"Wow she made you an omelet? You guys are practically sisters." Elsa jokingly deadpanned.
"Damn right! Plus, today I plan on bringing her something extra special extra secret. So yeah, I think I'm pretty much in the clear when it comes to my job. It's one of the perks of being the 'boss's pet'." Anna said in a bragging tone as she hailed a taxi and after five passed her one finally stopped and she climbed in. Elsa couldn't help but laugh at that and Anna found herself smiling even harder at the sound.
The last few days really saw a growth in their friendship. Anna had barely spent three minutes apart from her blonde friend. They watched movies, ate actual junk food (Anna happily and Elsa reluctantly), talked, laughed, and Anna even slept over, something that made them both nervous at first. It wasn't like that was the first time Anna slept over, but it was the first time since both of them realized their mutual attraction to the other. It was awkward at first. Elsa didn't know how to ask Anna if she wanted to sleep over and Anna didn't know how to ask Elsa if she could sleep over. As the night dragged on and they watched the last horror movie Anna had brought with her, Elsa shut off the blank screen and sat beside Anna in awkward silence. Both girls kept shooting nervous glances at each other until five minutes later, Anna sighed and finally decided to speak. The same moment Elsa had made the same decision.
"Elsa I-"
"Anna would-"
They both paused and blushed.
"I'm sorry-"
"You go ahea-"
Again they stopped and looked at each other. Slowly Elsa smiled and Anna began laughing at their awkwardness. Elsa cleared her throat.
"You go ahead Anna." Anna smiled and shook her head.
"No, no. You. Really, you were saying?" she asked as she scooted a bit closer to the blonde. Elsa noticed the movement and blushed faintly.
"I was- I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to- to stay over. Here. Tonight?" she finished, nervously looking down into her lap. She suddenly felt Anna's warm hands slip into hers and she looked up. Anna was smiling brightly and nodding her head.
"I was just thinking the same thing."
…..
"Anna are you still there?" Elsa asked. Anna snapped out of her memory and shook her head.
"What? Oh yeah. I was spacing out majorly, sorry about that! What were you saying?" Anna asked, slightly embarrassed. Elsa laughed good naturedly.
"I was saying, don't forget to swing by Oaken's today. I placed an order for some special ingredients. Have you ever had eggplant parmesan?" Anna's eyes widened.
"Umm no, but it sounds freaking delicious. Count me in!" Anna responded as she finally began to approach her destination. The place was a dump. Literally. A dump. Mr. Phillips oh so kindly bestowed upon her the honor of interviewing some of the trash men, I mean, waste collectors, on rumors surrounding the mishandling of industrial waste. It was a step up from high school bake sales but still, it stinks. Once again, literally. Anna climbed out the musty cab and paid the impatient driver.
"What no tip?" the man said as Anna stepped out the foul car into rancid air outside of it. Anna ignored the man as she shut the door behind her.
"Great, so I'll talk to you later?" Elsa asked.
"You know it." Anna said as she scrunched up her nose at the smells being omitted by the mountains of trash not far from her.
"Bye Els'!" she finished and hung up her cell, placing it in her bag and taking out her pen and pad. Sighing, she looked at the small building located in front of the dump and trudged towards it.
"Let's get this over with…"
****FROZEN****
"So you're telling me that you guys have no control over what you bring to the dump?" Anna asked the big, hairy, greasy man in front of her skeptically. He was scowling at Anna and looked like he was ready for the redhead to leave.
"No lady, we don't. Our boss tells us where to pick up trash and waste, and we pick it up. No matter what it is." He answered gruffly with an eye roll.
"Really? So if your boss told you to pick up, I don't know…. let's say harmful chemical waste from The Southern Isle chemical department… you'd have to do it?" Anna asked as she scribbled furiously on her pad. The man looked shocked for a second before scowling even harder.
"Yeah, ain't no harm in that. It's what we're 'supose to do. What? Are we gonna just let it sit around in their factories?" the man asked smugly, thinking he had Anna on that. Anna looked at him for a second, this was going to be almost too easy.
"You're right sir, but do you know what that stuff you're dumping actually is?" Anna asked, it was almost like a lioness circling her prey, setting a trap. The man looked confused for a second.
"It's uh, it's chemicals…" the man said unsurely. Anna smirked.
"Yes, but what kind? What are their effects on the environment? How harmful are they?" Anna continued to inquire. The man frowned and stayed quiet.
"Okay Joe, can I call you Joe?" The man begrudgingly shook his head.
"Joe, let me educate you on basic radioactive waste management..."
2 hours later.
"…and it takes up to 10 years to lose half of its radioactive potency Joe, 10 years. Think about that." Anna and Joe where now sitting inside the office area of the dump. Joe sat staring at Anna with wide eyes.
"Wow, you serious red?" He asked in astonishment. Anna nodded her head.
"As radioactive waste in the sea." She said as she took another sip of the hazel nut espresso Joe had made for her. Joe sat back in deep thought.
"Woah man. They didn't tell us none of that stuff. Our boss just told us the CEO of The Southern Isle Inc, Mr. Anderson, wanted to dispose of the stuff the cheapest way we could. Well the cheapest way is by dumping it in that river a couple of miles down the road." He said as he took a sip of his tea. What? Yeah he drank tea, his Ma raised him, he wasn't an animal. Anna's eyes began to light up. A big business cooperation like The Southern Isle Inc dumping harmful chemicals into the river. This assignment just got a whole lot more interesting. Anna grabbed the teapot between them and refilled Joe's cup.
"Tell me more Joe…"
***FROZEN***
"Come on Mr. Phillips. Give me a chance! This is going to be huge!" Anna pleaded as she stood in her editor in chief's office. She had excitedly came back to the office, smelling a little of week old garbage, after talking to Joe for another two hours. Turns out, Joe wasn't good at keeping secrets, at all, and the promise of bringing him a huge, home cooked lunch tomorrow had him accidently leaving the keys to classified files in the file cabinet across from them, right in front of Anna, the exact same moment he just happened to have to use the bathroom for an hour. What Anna found was not disappointing, but she would still need to investigate further.
"Look Anna, I like you, I do. Your work is fantastic, you're headstrong, spunky, and I think you definitely have the drive, but I don't know if I can depend on you to follow through with this." Mr. Phillips sighed as he removed his reading glasses and sat them on his desk. Anna was dumbstruck.
"What? Why not? Of course I will follow through with this, this is a big story Mr. Phillips, and it goes deeper then what's on the surface I'm sure of it! Please, please, please give me a chance to crack this thing wide open." Anna asked as she place both hands on Phillips desk and leaned in excitedly.
"Ms. Summers, since you've started here, you've been absent almost as much as you've been here, and yes, I know you still get your work in on time, but still. Besides, this story may be too big for you, you're still a cub reporter." Phillips said, looking down at some papers on his desk. Anna looked at him suspiciously. There was something going on here. Something more then her attendance or lack of experience. Not to brag, but she knew she was one of the best reporters at Mirror, Mirror. Phillips body language and the fact he was avoiding eye contact told her he was hiding something.
"That's bullshit, and you know it." Anna said. She may be gambling her job right now but she really wanted to sink her teeth into this story. Phillips head snapped up and they had a stare off. Anna was not backing down from this.
"What's the real reason you don't want me snooping around The Southern Isle Inc." She asked. After another mini stare down Phillips broke.
"Listen to me Anna, there's… rumors… going around from the big wigs up in cooperate that The Southern Isle may be taking over Frost Industries. Their talking like it's a certainty. We can't have a scandal like this come out about The Southern Isle if that happens. We'll all lose our jobs. So just drop it, alright?"
Anna looked like someone had just hit her in the face with an eighteen wheeler truck. So many things about Phillips statement shocked her, but she had to address the big one first. The one that she was going to strangle Elsa to death for not telling her.
"Frost Industries is battling a takeover?"
AN: Ohhh, don't tell me Elsa is getting a playful side! And what in the world is going on with this SII (Southern Isle Inc for future reference) business? And I haven't seen Hans in a while either, and I think that's the way most of you guys, no wait, all of you guys, want it. XD. But anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter, I love hearing from y'all and it makes me write more so review, fav and follow or as I like to call it RFAF pronounced Raf.
Annnnddddd, I did something I call five minute sketches, which is when I draw something in five minutes, and I have a frozen edition one. Two. I did two Frozen five minute sketches for this story. one of Elsa in her outfit the first day she met Anna and the other is the scene when Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven are eating pizza in Anna's apartment. I plan on doing more and the ones I'm doing now were suggested by a wonderful reviewer/PMer. So ask and you shall receive, most of the time. Okay some of the time. Okay ask and you might receive if I'm able to do it. The one I'm working on next is the scene where Anna accidentally walks in on Elsa. So that should be fun. I don't know if I can post the pictures to my profile or not though, let me know if I can and I'll try posting some here. The pictures are on my tumblr, my tumblr url is located in the previous chapter, I'll also be putting it on my profile. So I've talked you guys ears off, and I'll see you next chapter! :)