Elsa awoke in Anna's warm embrace. Anna's parents had been surprisingly progressive, allowing them to share a room. Elsa smelled pancakes from the kitchen and attempted to rouse the woman she loved from her dreams. Her attempts were unsuccessful, the younger girl continued to snore lightly. Elsa gave in to the smell of pancakes, threw on a bathrobe, and walked tentatively towards the alluring aroma.

"Good morning," she called out, announcing her presence.

"Good morning," Anna's father responded, "There's fresh coffee if you want any." He turned to look at the girl. "Oh, it's just you? Where's Anna?"

"You know her, I doubt she'll be up until noon."

Her father laughed, "That does sound like her. Oh well, more pancakes for us." He placed two heaping plates of pancakes on opposite ends of the table in the kitchen. Elsa sat in front of one of the plates, fidgeting nervously. Breakfast alone with Anna's father had not been one of the events for which she had prepared.

"So, my daughter really hasn't told us much about you," He asked, casually, as he sat down before the other plate. "How old are you?"

"I'm 21, sir," she replied stiffly. "I know I'm a bit old for your daughter."

"Well now that you mention it," he trailed off, sipping his coffee, contemplatively. Something seemed to be bothering him. "What were your parents like?"

Elsa hesitated, "I don't really have parents. I grew up in the foster system." She attempted to change the topic. "Your house is beautiful."

"Oh, thank you. I'll tell the interior decorators you said so," he laughed. "How did the two of you meet?"

"She hadn't told you? Wow, she really didn't say anything about me. We met at a club. Not like your daughter is a club girl or anything, a school club. It was an LGBT group. Well we didn't really talk then, she came up to me in the hallway of the math building. I'm not really sure what she was doing in the math building now that I think about it, she was only taking history classes, but I gave her my number. Wow, I'm picking up her bad habits," she said, turning red.

"Oh, really, she came on to you?" he asked, pouring syrup on his pancakes.

"Well I wouldn't put it like that, she just came up and started talking to me, and I told her she was cute and gave her my number. If anything I guess I came onto her, but not in like a predatory way or anything," Elsa wished desperately to be saved from this conversation.

"Uh huh," he laughed, devouring a large helping of flapjacks. "You're not being interrogated, you don't need to be so nervous." It sure felt like an interrogation.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I don't really have much experience interacting with parents. How did you meet her mom?"

"She was a family friend," he explained, a nostalgic look replacing the suspicion in his eyes. "We actually first met at the country club, but our parents had known each other for years. I had just finished a round of golf, and she was going for a swim at the pool. She looked amazing in that swimsuit. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, eh?" he winked.

Elsa was torn between responding with disgust or understanding, so she tried to remain neutral. "Yeah, sure."

"Well I started talking to her, and she wouldn't give me the time of day. She was already seeing some asshole. So I fought him in the parking lot."

Elsa stared at him. "Seriously?"

"I was a very dumb kid. He kicked my ass. She was so horrified that she nursed my wounds and dumped him. We've been together ever since."

Elsa couldn't help but giggle at that. "Okay, you win, that is definitely the best 'how we got together' story I've ever heard.'

"Elsa?" She heard a voice call from down the hall. Anna followed soon after it, wearing her light pink nightgown, a puff of red hair surrounding her. She rubbed at her eyes, "Why's everyone up so early?"

"It's already 10:30, lovebug," Elsa offered, crossing off yet another terrible nickname from the list.

"Oh, it feels like six," Anna yawned again, sitting down next to Elsa and helping herself to the older girl's pancakes. After a moment's consideration, she whispered, "Yours are better." Elsa blushed.

As the days went by and Christmas grew ever closer, Elsa found that she had stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop. This wasn't exactly comfortable; she was managing to make a fool of herself more than often enough and she always felt like Anna's parents were judging her, but maybe this really wasn't the worst idea in the world. Maybe Anna's parents weren't so bad.

They were decorating gingerbread cookies together in the kitchen. Elsa was continually shocked by how seriously this family took Christmas, but she supposed Anna had to have gotten it from somewhere. Holiday music was blasting away on the radio. It was still a week until the actual day; Elsa was not entirely sure how she would handle it for that much longer, but Anna was worth it.

Anna kissed her on the cheek and handed her a gingerbread man. It had yellow frosting around the top of its head trailing down to one shoulder, blue gum drops for eyes, and was covered in blue icing to make a dress. While Elsa currently had her hair down and was wearing leggings and a t-shirt for Kristoff's briefly-lived attempt at a band, the resemblance was obvious. "It's you!" the redhead squealed excitedly, looking at her eagerly for approval.

"I love it. I've always wanted to eat my own head," checking the girl's eyes for approval, she did precisely that. "I love you." She looked embarrassed. "I didn't make one of you, but I did try to make you one of Batwoman," she held up a cookie covered in black and red frosting, in what almost resembled a costume.

"Oh my god, you remembered my favorite super hero? I love it so much, it's the best cookie ever! I don't know if I can even bring myself to eat it. Okay, I can, but I'm gonna feel bad about it."

"Start with the head, make it quick, don't prolong Katherine's suffering." Anna giggled and devoured her hero, crumbs falling onto her t-shirt. She had not picked up her girlfriend's habits.

Her parents had made a gingerbread house that the gingerbread men were supposed to live in. None of the gingerbread men had survived long enough to see their new home. "Did you two really not save any?" Anna's mother chided them. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to make more."

"Can we use the T-rex cookie cutters this time?" Anna asked. "I think the house will look way better with dinosaurs."

Her mother patted her on the head. "That sounds like a terrific idea."

After they had slid the cookies into the oven, Anna had an idea. "Mom, dad, do we still have all of our old photo albums? I wanted to show Elsa what I was like as a kid."

"Of course," her mother replied. "I think they're up in the attic. Honey, would you please go grab them for us? I have to watch the cookies." Anna's father did as he was instructed, returning with the photo albums just as the dinosaurs were removed from the oven. Anna was making roaring sound effects when she noticed his triumphant return.

"You found them!" she ran at him, grabbed the photo albums, and dragged Elsa over to the living room to look at them by the fire. "This is me at my tenth birthday party. I know there's only a few people there, but it was a great party, Wonder Woman was there. This is Aurora and me on the swing-set. She was my first crush, but I never told her about it. I was only nine. Oh, this is me when I first had to get braces, I look terrible, don't look," she pulled the albums to her. She continued rifling through the pages. Elsa watched the younger girl affectionately, happy to learn anything she could about her. "Oh, I think I'm about five or six in this picture. That must have been their old car, I don't remember it." Elsa's heart stopped. Little Anna looked just like – No. She recognized the car too. It wasn't possible.

Anna's parents came in to join the girls. Her mother peeked over her shoulder, "Oh, this is when you were four. It's all three of us, posing in front of our old house." Anna showed the picture to Elsa. It was slightly off-center and ended right at Anna's elbow, as she stood at her mother's feet. There seemed to be barely a millimeter of someone else's arm visible next to little Anna. Elsa recognized the house as well. Elsa's breath caught in her throat. She stared in horror at the photo. Anna was too distracted by the albums to notice.

"Why don't I remember any of this?" she asked, indicating the pictures.

"You were just too young," her father answered immediately, sounding rehearsed. Elsa let out a hollow laugh.

Everyone stared at the blonde girl. She stood up and backed away from the others slowly, looking like a cornered animal. Anna stood up, dropping the photo albums and staring at her. "What is it, snowflake? Is something wrong?"

"I recognize those pictures."

"What do you mean? I haven't showed them to you before." Anna looked confused. Her parents did not. A terrified look crossed both of their faces simultaneously, their worst fears were confirmed.

"I know that house. I know that car," tears streamed down her face, as she backed into a wall, barely keeping from collapsing. "I know what happened to that car!" She faltered as a look of pure pain entered her face. "You cut me out of the pictures?" Elsa finally asked, glaring at her parents. "You told me she was dying and you disowned me! You let me believe that my sister was dead. You let me date my sister. I fucked my sister!" her throat felt dry, everyone was staring at her, not moving an inch.

Anna slowly walked towards her, hurt and confused. "What are you talking about, Elsa? I don't-"

Elsa interrupted her, crying "You never told her she even had a sister!" Elsa ran to the door, realized she didn't have her keys and ran to Anna's room, then grabbed her purse and suitcase. By the time she returned with her bags, her family had caught up to her.

Anna grabbed her wrist as she reached for the front door. "I don't understand. Where are you going? What happened?" she implored, completely dumbfounded.

"I'm leaving. What happened is that you're my fucking sister. I can't do this. Goodbye."

"I'm not your sister, I'm your girlfriend, what are you talking about? I mean I know we have the same name, and that's kind of weird, but I'm not-"

"Anna," her mother said soothingly, trying to pull the redhead away from her eldest daughter. "Let her go."

"No, what is everyone talking about? I don't have a sister, I'm an only child, remember? I love Elsa, I'm not letting her just leave in the middle of our first vacation together."

Elsa looked at her, unable to stop crying. "Anna, I can't do this. I'm sorry."

"You're not my sister!" the younger girl screamed.

"Yes, she is," their father announced, speaking at last. "And she can get the hell out of this house. She's not welcome here. Not after what she did to you."

"Good, I don't want to be here. Let me go, Anna," Elsa growled as she jerked her hand free then ripped the door open.

Anna jumped in front of her, arms spread wide. "No, not until someone tells me what the hell is going on. Elsa, I love you. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. I'm not losing you over a fucking photo album."

"The bitch almost killed you," her father bellowed. Turning back to Elsa, he screamed "Get out of my house!"

Elsa tried to push past her sister, but the younger girl grabbed onto her, not letting her leave. "Would everyone just calm down?!" Anna screamed. "No one is going anywhere. We're all just going to sit down, listen to some Christmas music, drink lots of eggnog, eat cookies, and have an amazing fucking week!"

Elsa managed to extricate herself from the redhead's grasp, but Anna had snatched her purse from her, including her car keys. She started to run away, planning to hide them, when her father grabbed her. "Give her her purse, and let her leave. I'm not having this piece of trash in my house for a moment longer," he growled before releasing her, a bruise forming on her arm.

"Then you won't have me either!" Anna cried, as she barefoot to the car, unlocked it, and sat in the passenger seat.

Elsa stared at her car in disbelief. "Stay the fuck away from me," she said to her parents before slamming the front door behind her. She stomped over to her car, opened the driver's side door, and sat down next to her sister. The younger girl was curled in a ball in the passenger seat, crying. Elsa had no idea what to do. "Anna," she started. Her younger sister threw her arms around her and kissed her passionately. Elsa didn't return it, even though not doing so broke her heart. "You can't come with me."

"Why not? I love you," the girl cried.

"Anna, you're my sister."

"Stop saying that!"

"It's true. You have to believe it."

"Even if it is true, it doesn't mean anything. I didn't know you my whole life, hell we could even still legally be married. That's what we should do, go elope with me. Fuck our parents, who needs them? I just need you," she reached for the older girl's hands but Elsa pulled away from her.

"I'm not marrying my sister. Anna, you have to stop this. Go back inside. Your parents love you."

"I thought they were our parents."

"They haven't been my parents for a long time."

"Tell me what happened."

"Anna, I have told you."

"No you haven't, you've said it's your fault, and that apparently I was brain-damaged. Is that why I don't remember any of those pictures? You haven't told me how it could possibly have been your fault. You haven't told me anything."

"If I tell you, then you'll go back inside?" Elsa pleaded, desperate to be alone. She couldn't handle all of this, it was too much.

"Tell me and I'll consider it," Anna allowed.

"Anna," Elsa begged, but her sister wouldn't budge. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you," she said hollowly, tears continuing to stream down her face. "Like I'd said before, I was eight, you were five. I convinced you that we should run away, I don't remember what we were planning, but we wanted to go off somewhere. I thought I could figure out how to drive their car. When our parents were asleep, I took the keys, we climbed into the car, and I somehow managed to start it up. We made it farther than an eight year old that had no idea how to drive had any possible right to, but I didn't know what I was doing. I could barely even see over the console. I swerved into oncoming traffic. I think the other people were fine, I had a few scratches, but you," she trailed off, sobbing. "You had taken your seat-belt off to look around. You were flung from the car and hit a telephone pole, head first. I thought you were dead," she couldn't continue, her whole body shook with sobs.

Anna held her sister close. "It wasn't your fault. We were kids and I was the one who decided to unbuckle. I wonder if that's why my parents would never let me learn to drive. And why they always wanted me to stay home. Come to think of it they never really trusted my friends to drive me either. The point is, it's not your fault."

"It was my responsibility."

"You were eight!"

"And you were five. I was your older sister. I am your older sister. All I have ever done is hurt you, and I'm not going to do it anymore. Get out, Anna," she demanded, not even noticing the irony.

Anna continued to sit still. "No, take me back to our apartment."

"It's my apartment, Anna, you have your own dorm room."

"Take me back to our home! I'm not staying here!"

"Anna, we're over. Let me leave. Get out."

"No!" the girl cried, throwing her arms around her older sister again. "I'm never losing you again. Apparently I lost you for all of my life, but I've found you now, and I love you, and I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Elsa leaned her head into her younger sister's shoulder, yearning desperately to just give into the hug, to just drive back home with her girlfriend and pretend that everything was fine. She almost did it, but nothing was fine. She put her hand to her sister's chin, giving her one last loving look. "Get out, Anna. I don't love you anymore."

Anna's heart broke. She shook her head, trying to make sense of the words. "That's not true! I know you do," she whimpered.

"Anna," Elsa started, gathering her strength. "I don't. We're over, I told you," she said, her voice flat, only the tears in her eyes betraying her feelings. "I don't want this. I don't want you."

"Yes you do! You love me!" Anna broke down into a barrage of sobs. Elsa could barely stand to look at her it hurt so much. She wanted so desperately to just take her into her arms. "I'm not going! I'm not going back into that house with them! I'm not losing you, you're the love of my life!"

Elsa took in a shaky breath. She had to do this. She wasn't going to drive off with her sister and ruin everything again. She wasn't going to keep corrupting her, to destroy her chance at a good life. She would do what she had to do. "Well you're not the love of mine. You were just a little rebound. Get out, I'm done with you, you're pathetic."

Anna stared at her in shock.

Elsa closed her eyes, holding back the tears. "I don't love you! Get out!"

Anna threw open the door, Elsa's purse falling off her lap onto the ground. She hesitated, looking back to Elsa like she might just take everything back. She looked at the house, fear warping her face. After what seemed like an eon's hesitation, she ran back inside her family's home. It was all Elsa could do not to call after her that it wasn't true, that she loved her more than she could ever know. She sat in her car and cried. When she had collected herself enough to drive, she retrieved her purse from the ground where it had fallen, climbed back into her car, and started the long drive home.