A/N: This is yet another slow chapter, I'm afraid. The pace picks up I promise! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Elsa awoke under a bright light in a white room.
Where... am I? Elsa let out a quiet groan as her eyes adjusted to blinding light.
"Hey! You're awake!" yelled out a strange yet familiar voice.
Still disoriented, Elsa only managed to shift her head in the general direction from which the voice called out to her, and found the ginger girl smiling back at her.
The girl's face dropped. "Oh! You're awake! I should get the doctor, or a nurse, or both! I- oof!" She had backed into the door as she was rambling. "Uh... I'll be right back!" And just like that, the girl was gone.
Odd girl... She quickly remembered what that girl had done, and her smile quickly disappeared from her face. But before she was overtaken by anger, one word came to mind.
Why?
Why had she stayed? Granted, she had to call for an ambulance, but that was all she was obligated to do. A decent person would've waited for the ambulance to get there, but she wasn't a decent person. She was one of them.
Before she could ponder the question longer, the ginger had returned with a doctor. He was a short, tan with dark hair and a thick mustache. His bushy eye brows rose above his thick glasses as he approached Elsa with a smile.
"Good of you to join us, Miss Beck. My name is Dr. Lopez. You're at the Oaken Medical Center. Do you remember what happened?"
After a moment to think, Elsa calmly replied, "I suppose I fainted."
"You fainted at the sight of me!" interrupted the ginger girl. "What can I say, I'm... I'm sorry I shouldn't be making jokes, I'll step outside," she stammered as she backed out of the room.
After watching the door close, the doctor turned back to the blonde with a raised eyebrow, "A friend of yours, Miss Beck?"
Elsa fought to keep her face neutral, before replying, "No doctor, I met her a moment before I lost consciousness."
"Well, it's a good thing she was there to catch you, she probably saved you from a concussion and a whole lot of injuries." noted the doctor.
Elsa looked over her body carefully. Outside of a small scratch on her left knee, she was pretty much unharmed for a girl who had collapsed.
"Well, looking at your chart here, your temperature is a little high, but the rest of your vitals look pretty good, We've given you fluids, and we're going to monitor you for a little while, but I would say over-exhaustion was what caused the temporary loss of consciousness. Once we run a few tests, we will be ready to send you home."
"How long is that going to take exactly?" Elsa asked. She wanted nothing more than to be home as fast as possible, and she hoped she wouldn't have to stay for long.
"Well, your BPM seems a bit high so we want to run an ECG, just to make sure everything is okay. All in all, we should get you home by the end of the night."
"Please try to get this done as fast as possible."
"I will see what I can do, Miss Beck, we will be around, so if you feel light-headed, please let us know immediately." With that Dr. Lopez left the room, leaving the door open and allowing the ginger girl back in. The girl quietly sat down in the chair in the corner of the room.
"Um... sorry if I upset you with my joke earlier, it was in poor taste. Sometimes I tend to ramble, especially like when I'm nervous, like... I'm... doing now... heh, sorry," said the girl as she tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. "My name is Anna by the way."
"Thank you for helping me to the hospital, Anna."
"Oh, no sweat! I did what anybody would've done really," Anna shrugged. "By the way, are you like, famous or something? Because the paramedics and doctors kept saying your name, like 'this is Elsa Beck, we have to make sure she's okay'. Not that it matters that you're famous, I would've helped you regardless, I'm not expecting any compensation, after all I didn't even know you were famous until after we got here and..."
So she really doesn't know who I am? No, come on Elsa don't be stupid. We've been down this road before, they're ALWAYS after something. Two can play at this game...
Elsa cleared her throat. "So, may I ask why you took pictures of me?"
"Oh! Of course!" said the redhead. "Sorry, I probably should ask people in advance if I can photograph them. I'm studying photography, and I'm working on my portfolio and I was going around trying to find some good shots, and I saw you."
"What do you mean you saw me?" This is the part where you mess up and reveal that you did know who I was after all.
"Well... how do I say this..." Anna's eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip as she sought out the right words.
Come on... we both know what you want to say.
"I saw... you. You were... breathtaking."
Wait, what?
"Your outfit, your mannerisms, even the way you pulled your phone out of your coat pocket. You were really... cold. You were just so... so icy, people were going out of the way to avoid you, it was quite impressive," added the redhead.
At least I know what I'm doing is working.
"But... I don't know, I saw something else there too. Something warmer... underneath it all. There was something so mesmerizing about the whole scene."
Elsa was stunned by the sudden change in the ginger's demeanor. It was as if her rambling was shut off by the topic of photography.
Wow, I guess she's not as ditzy as I thought she was.
"I knew I had to capture you in that moment, you know?" Anna continued, not noticing the wide-eyed girl in front of her. She pulled out her camera and started flicking through her pictures.
"Too bad that the picture didn't really capture what I saw though. I should have had it out before instead of yelling at you. Oh well, I'm sure I can work something out of these."
"Can you elaborate?"
"Well, I was going to look through these, pick a few, play with the photo in editing until it looks sorta like what I was going for!"
When she looked up she quickly realized what the blonde really meant. "Oh, you mean what I'm going to do with the pictures." She put down her camera before continuing. "Umm, well I was just going to use one or two pictures for my portfolio I'm going to submit to my university... If you don't mind?" Anna asked, fidgeting with her hands by the end.
After a moment of consideration, Elsa opened her mouth to give her final verdict.
"Although usually I don't like having photographs taken of me, I am in your debt for making sure I got to the hospital safely. To repay that debt, I will let you use my image for your portfolio."
The ginger girl's face immediately brightened, but Elsa was not finished.
"However, I request that you consult me in every step of this publication process. I will have final say on what is released for this portfolio."
Elsa waited for the girl to nod before she continued.
"In addition, since we will be meeting to discuss these further proceedings, I will have my lawyer draw up a confidentiality agreement. For now I would ask that you agree to keep our discussions private." Once she finished, Elsa waited for the girl's answer.
Anna sat there for a second, trying to keep up with all of the information being thrown at her. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to fully comprehend what the blonde was saying. Once she understood, Anna looked up to see Elsa looking back at her with a blank expression.
"Oh, um... Okay deal! I promise I won't tell anyone!" the redhead got up quickly and went over to the blonde, hand extended.
The blonde didn't make a move to reach for the hand. Actually, she hadn't moved at all, aside from the quick glance at Anna's hand before looking to the door.
"Miss Beck, I sincerely apologize for my unexcused absence. I should have been there. Are you all right?" Kai asked as he entered the room.
"It wasn't your fault Kai, I'm alright," Elsa replied.
Kai looked to the girl standing by Elsa's bed.
"Hi! I'm Anna!" the ginger said, as she spun around to face the large man.
"Kai, it's a pleasure, Miss Anna."
"Kai, Miss Anna escorted me to the hospital, would you please drive her home?" Elsa asked of her driver.
"Oh! You really don't have to, I was just gonna have my friend pick me up or take the bus, really, it's not a big deal."
"That won't be necessary, it's the least I can do for your assistance, Kai will take you home immediately."
You're not getting away that easily.
"And Anna, please leave your contact information with Kai." Elsa added, to which Anna responded with a nod. "Kai, if you would?"
"Of course Miss Beck, I will return as soon as I can. Miss Anna, if you would follow me." Kai stood at the door, waiting for Anna.
"Oh... ok, umm... thank you Elsa! I mean, Miss Beck, I hope you feel better soon!" Anna waved as she walked out of the room, to which Elsa responded with a simple nod.
Once the door closed, Elsa felt at ease with her isolation. She laid back and started replaying her interactions with the odd girl over and over in her mind, trying to decipher what it was she really wanted.