Tell Me How To Fix You
Chapter 60
By: The Duchess of Arendelle
AN: Hey guys! It's good to see you all again. Just wanted you to know that this chapter will be in two parts basically. Part two will be uploaded in the new year. Sorry for any and all mistakes. I did my best to proof read, but some may have still made it in. By the way, happy NEW YEAR and Frozen 2 was everything!
"Great talking with you guys, I'll see you tomorrow." Anna smiled at the group of co-workers as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "Wait, what? You're leaving already? Lame!" Fred boo'd from his spot, casually leaning back in his rolling chair. "We usually go to a bar called Walt's on 118th St, not far from here after work. If you want to stick around for a bit, you're more than welcome to join us." Wasabi addressed the redhead, gentle smile unwavering. Anna shot them all an apologetic grin. "I would love to, truly, but I need to get home."
"But it's so early." She heard a deadpanned voice whiz past her. Anna turned around, seeing the girl with purple streaked hair blading around the office. Anna's smile tightened as she spoke to the somewhat irksome girl. "Well, I actually have big plans so I need to leave early." Anna's tone was clipped. The girl smirked. "Plans? Like…?" She trailed off, waiting for Anna to finish the sentence for her. The redhead held back a sigh as she subtly glared. "Like plans. Personal plans. Plans that I don't think I need to explain to you." Anna's voice came out calm and sweet; the only sign she was upset was the subtle glow of red across her heated cheeks. The redhead didn't know why, but GoGo really got under her skin. The girl in question raised an eyebrow and her hands in faux surrender.
"So-rry. It's just, you always leave so early. I mean, you breeze in here, drop off a few folders, then waltz back out. I've been working her for 5 years and Fiske has never let me leave before
9. But then here you come, out of nowhere might I add, and you… well, what exactly is it that you do here again?" GoGo asked with a head tilt.
Anna just stared back at her, false smile wavering slightly, but still in place. The sudden tension in the room caught everyone off guard and they stared back and forth between the two girls. After a heavy silence, Wasabi finally cleared his throat uncomfortably and shot a disapproving look at GoGo. "GoGo, that's enough." He then looked back at Anna with an apologetic smile and a tired shrug. "Don't pay any attention to her, she's just distrustful of new people. Especially when they're assigned to this floor." He briefly looked over his shoulder at GoGo as he said the next part. "I'm sure GoGo doesn't mean anything by it." The purple haired rebel rolled her eyes and looked away. Anna's smile, a lot more genuine now, grew a little as she addressed the surprisingly muscular I.T. geek.
"It's fine, I completely understand. I have a cousin who is just as territorial when it comes to me and my girlfriend." Anna stated casually, looking down at the time on her watch. "I'm actually going to go meet them now, so if you'll excuse me." She shot one last smile and a small wave at them, GoGo included, before making her way towards the elevator. Stepping into the metal box, she pressed lobby and watched as the doors slowly began to shut. Before they could close all the way, she heard the tell tale noise of blades on linoleum and saw a leather clad arm shoot out between the slit of the elevator doors. The doors seemed just as startled as the redhead, as they stopped abruptly before taking a second to reopen all the way.
Anna was none too surprised to see a purple streaked head of hair appear in the elevator's entrance, and she stared unshaken and unaffected by the girl's presence. GoGo stared back with something like approval before her face morphed into a scowl. She leaned in close, arms on either side of the elevator's entrance as she spoke to the redhead.
"Listen, 'Anna Summers', if that's even your real name; you may have everyone else eating this bullshit out of the palm of your hands, but not me. Unless your name is Honey Lemon, no one just waltzes around all sweetness and giggles without an ulterior motive. Now, I don't know what yours is... but do you see those people in there? They're my family. I would literally give my life for that group of weirdos, and I won't let anyone hurt them."
"So let me put it plainly for you Anna, I don't like you. I don't know why you're really here, and I damn sure don't trust you. And if you do anything to hurt my friends, anything at all… well let's just say it would be the last mistake you ever made. We clear?" GoGo finished with a pop of her sickeningly sweet smelling bubble gum.
Anna just continued to stare at her, face blank and not giving anything away. "Crystal." was the redhead's simple response, moving forward and pressing the lobby button again, signaling to the brunette that she had no intention of engaging her any further in conversation. GoGo received the message and removed her hands from the door, staring heatedly at the redhead as the doors closed and eventually left her staring at herself.
When the doors finally shut and Anna felt the rumbling of the elevator as it descended to the lobby, she let out a heavy breath and slumped her whole body against the cool metal wall. Well shit. Digging up dirt on this place was going to be a whole lot tougher, now that she had to look over her shoulder. What was even that chick's deal? Was she hiding something? Was she protecting herself and her friends because she knew they were doing something wrong? Or were they all like Mr. Hamada, seemingly decent people working for a less than decent company?
Anna heard the elevator ding as it stopped on another floor to pick up more passengers. She quickly straightened herself up and smoothed down her hair and her jacket. She placed a polite smile on her face as the doors opened and three important looking men in suits that probably cost more than her entire years' salary walked in, barely sparing her a second glance as they continued their whispered argument.
"This could be a real shit show if it's not handled properly." The older of the three heatedly whispered. Anna's ears perked up, and pretending like she was fixing a lock of hair behind her ear, she slyly pressed record on her 'eyeglasses.'
"Relax Stevphen, father's taking care of it." The younger man, a brunette with bright blue eyes and a slight tan, glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and leaned in a little closer to his brother. "Father is making a very generous donation to both the Mayor and Governor's re-election campaigns, the City Council, and the head of Environmental Services. Not to mention the fact that we control half of the news. No one is going to find out about this." he assured. The older man, Stevphen, scoffed at that and rolled his eyes.
"You just heard the same thing I heard, right? People are getting sick Arron. Really fucking sick. Children. Elderly. You think that type of news is going to stay hidden forever? We nee-" Stevphen was cut off by the third man they boarded with. He was a tall, thin, incredibly handsome man with a sharp jawline and sharper eyes. He casually ran a hand through slicked back blonde hair. "Gentlemen." He started calmly. "Do you really think now's the time to be discussing this?" He spoke in a neutral tone as he discreetly nodded his head towards Anna. The redhead, for her part, was nonchalantly looking down at her phone with headphones in her ears, pretending to listen to music.
The older man bristled slightly but said nothing, while the younger man just nodded with a sigh. "We'll come back tomorrow and talk to the eggheads up on the 9th floor. See what they can do about this. In the meantime, lay low and don't say anything to anyone, especially the press." The blonde man said, barely above a whisper.
"Jesus Eirik, we know. We're not idiots. Do we look like Hans to you?" The younger man said, causing the 3 of them to chuckle. Anna almost winced sympathetically at the jab, but stopped herself. She reminded herself that Hans was the bad guy too.
The elevator finally came to a stop at the lobby and the tall blonde man, Eirik, turned around and smiled at Anna, extending an arm in an 'after you' gesture. Anna got an especially bad feeling from the man, his entire look and demeanor reminding her of someone she spent years trying to forget. Nevertheless, she smiled again and said a quiet thanks before quickly leaving the elevator and exiting through the revolving doors. All the while, unbeknownst to her, sharp blue eyes stared at the redhead's retreating form.
Once Anna was through the doors and onto the busy streets outside the building, she greedily breathed in the refreshing autumn air. Her lungs stretched in approval. Leaving that building always felt like a weight was lifted off of her chest, like she could finally breathe properly again. The redhead closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply through her nose, slowly letting in out through her mouth.
Today was a lot.
From the moment Mr. Hamada had somewhat confided in her, to the heated showdown between GoGo and herself, to three of Hans' brothers boarding the elevator with her, (she assumed straight out of a conference with the 6th floor legal department). Anna touched the side of her glasses and smiled to herself. She had a lead, and she had it on tape.
Deciding she didn't want to take the long train ride home, and wanting to see Elsa as soon as possible, she splurged and order a Lux to take her back into the city. She would be regretting the decision later on in the month when she was munching on gas station burritos for dinner because she couldn't afford real food, but as of now, she just really wanted to get home to her girlfriend.
**************************************************************FROZEN***************************************************************
A little over 30 minutes later, and the Lux driver was dropping her off in front of her apartment building. Anna smiled and gave the driver 5 stars as she waved them goodbye. She looked at her watch again. Three forty-four p.m. stared back at her. Yes. She wasn't late yet. Hurrying inside and moving towards the dangerously old elevator in the lobby, she pressed the faded button and listened as the decrepit metal box screeched and groaned its way down in protest.
Anna decided against using it, opting to take the stairs instead. She'd had enough of elevators for today anyway.
By the time she reached the top floor, she was breathing heavily and holding her sides. She really needed to start working out more. How Elsa ran for an hour straight on the treadmill everyday was beyond the redhead's comprehension. After finally catching her breath, she moved forward, doing her special knock and waiting for Elsa to answer.
The second Elsa unlocked and opened the door, Anna assaulted the blonde with a warm hug. Elsa laughed lightly at the sudden embrace and pulled the redhead all the way inside the apartment.
"I missed you too." Elsa giggled as Anna still hadn't released her from the embrace. Not that she was complaining. The redhead initially said nothing, just burying her face deeper into the crook of the blonde's neck. "Today suuuuuccckked." Anna eventually groaned and Elsa laughed again. "I missed you so much. What would you say to me quitting and just mooching off of you for the rest of our lives?" Anna joked, still holding on to the blonde. Elsa laughed lightly as she responded, "I personally would have no problem with that. But we both know you'd probably go crazy and jump out of that window over there if you had to just sit around doing nothing all day. Plus, you love your job, admit it." Elsa smiled down at the redhead. Anna grumbled incoherently into Elsa's neck before sighing and loosening the embrace.
"Ugh, you're right. Curse my moral code and work ethic." she said dramatically, bringing one hand up in a fist and shaking it at the sky, making Elsa giggle again. Anna loved the sound of the blonde's laugh, and she made it her personal mission to hear it as often as possible.
Finally, Anna broke the embrace entirely; stepping back to take off her jacket and hanging it in the entryway's closet, placing her shoes neatly in there as well. Elsa had already made her way back into the kitchen by the time she'd finished, and Anna quickly followed. "Mmmm. My God Elsa, whatever you're cooking smells beyond incredible." Anna groaned in appreciation. Her stomach let out a matching groan and Elsa couldn't help but smile as she took something that looked like chocolate wrapped in bacon out of the oven and sat it on a cooling rack. Anna reached for one and Elsa lightly batted her hand away with a tssk. The redhead slightly pouted as she brought her hand to her chest in mock hurt. "Thank you Anna, but we have to wait for Rapunzel. This is her going away party after all, and it would be incredibly rude to start eating without her. Besides, dinner isn't quite finished yet." The blonde explained, flitting around the kitchen and checking on the different dishes she had on the stove's eye.
Anna groaned again. "Puh-lease, she's only leaving for two weeks. Besides, I'm starving! Can't I just have one of those little chocolate bacon thingys?" she asked, puppy dog eyes in full effect. Elsa rolled her own eyes playfully but shook her head no. "Firstly, those are bacon wrapped dates, not chocolate. Secondly, we really need to wait for Rapunzel. It would be wrong if we didn't. I'm sure she'll be here any minute now." Elsa explained. Anna slumped in the barstool and grumbled something not entirely nice about Rapunzel and her tardiness. Elsa smiled at the sulking redhead and walked towards the large refrigerator. She pulled out a beautiful charcuterie board and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. "Here. I knew you'd be hungry, so I made a little snack for you to eat while we wait." she told the redhead, sitting the immaculately prepared plate of smoked meats and cheeses, and a wine glass, in front of her, along with a kiss on freckled cheeks to wipe the pout away. Anna gawked at the plate before looking up at an unfazed Elsa.
"Umm, Elsa? A 'little snack' is like, Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz… this is… wow." Anna said in amazement. Elsa looked at the redhead, utterly bemused. "What is a 'Cheese Whiz'?" the blonde asked.
"You know, it's like cheese that you squirt out of a can." the redhead laughed at the utterly horrified look on her girlfriend's face. "What? Come on, it's good! My mom used to fix Cheese Whiz and crackers for me as an afterschool snack like, everyday."
"Cheese… in a can… that you squirt?" was Elsa's still baffled response.
"Umm, ya. Come on, what did your mom make you for an afterschool snack?" Anna asked the blonde. Elsa guestered towards the charcuterie board like it was obvious. "Minus the Sauvignon Blanc of course."
"Of course." Anna chuckled and then pointed between herself and the blonde. "Wow. Two very different childhoods." she said, as she started digging into the fancy tray.
"So it seems." the blonde said with a small smile. "Don't eat too much of that though, you don't want to spoil your appetite." Elsa told the redhead, wiping her hands on her light blue apron. "Please." Anna mumbled between a mouthful of food, catching herself and swallowing the rest before finishing her sentence. "I'm a bottomless pit. I'll be fine."
Elsa just shook her head in amusement at the redhead's antics. "You have absolutely zero dining manners." The blonde said with a giggle. "You're lucky I'm in love with you." she finished sweetly, shyly running her thumb across Anna's soft lips to remove the spattering of crumbs before replacing the digit with her own lips.
"I know." Anna hummed before moving forward to deepen the kiss.
AN: To those who follow me on Tumblr, I cut it super close, but I told you I'd update at least one of my stories before the new year. ;) I wanted to get some Elsanna fluff in this chapter, because I feel like we haven't really had any in this story for a while. I also wanted to get some of Anna's work stuff in because that's a big part of this story as well. By the way, Lux is just a ride share service I made up. It's basically just a stand in for Uber or Lfyt.
Anyway, I truly hope you all enjoyed this update, I know it's been a long while. Hey, but don't ask me about any future updates, I don't have 2020 vision. (Today is the last day anyone can ever say that, I had to! I regret nothing. XD) Anyway, Happy New Year, I hope it's a good one!
If you have any comments, critiques, questions, or if you just want to say "Hi, welcome back to the land of the living"; comment or DM me here, or hit me up on tumblr. I'm back up there after a long hiatus as well. 3