Reunion

Merida could feel her blood being electrified. Their holidays had just taken a turn for the worst, and she knew it. Elsa didn't even dare to walk down the stairs, and her confused look had turned sour.

"Elsa, why are you here? Is Anna with you?" pressed her mother.

The blond took a deep breath, and exchanged a look with her girlfriend who gave her a small nod. She walked down the stairs, and purposefully avoided any gesture toward her parents, taking Merida's hand instead.

"No, Anna isn't here. I'm on a holiday with my girlfriend. We are visiting her family for Christmas."

Merida had a hard time figuring out what was happening in Elsa's parent's minds. They looked quite taken aback by the news. They glanced at each other, and Elsa's father nodded.

"We'll talk later. For now can you show us to our room?"

This time it was Merida's parents to share a glance, before Fergus conceded:

"Aye. Please follow me."

He still had their suitcases in hands, and they walked up the stairs. Elsa looked at her feet, rather than her parents, and Merida could feel her tensing beside her, like she had never before. Elsa waited until they had disappeared in the corridor to declare:

"I need to call Anna."

Merida gently squeezed her hand, and when she saw Elsa was still looking down she took her chin between her fingers and forced the blond to look straight into her eyes.

"Hey, you're gonna be okay?"

"Yes, I'm just... shaken, is all."

To assure she was telling the truth, she squeezed back Merida's hand.

"Okay, I'll let you call Anna then. I'll go and talk to my mum."

Elsa nodded, and Merida planted a peck on her lips before letting go of her hand and chin. Beside them, the three boys pretended to be disgusted, to what Merida answered with a glare. The boys ran to their room the next moment, followed by the laughter of their sister.

It was hard for Merida to let go of Elsa in that moment, but she knew her girlfriend needed at least a bit of alone time with her sister. She walked to the kitchen where her mother had been preparing supper.

Elsa sat in the leaving-room, her phone to her hear as she was waiting for Anna to answer. She didn't have to wait for a very long time, and soon the excited voice of her sister answered.

"Hey! Elsa! How is Scotland? Did you just arrive?"

The question took Elsa by surprise, and she supposed she could have called her sister earlier.

"Hum, no, we arrived a few hours ago but we took a nap, and..."

She just wasn't as happy as she should be, and Anna felt it. All the joy of going on a trip with Merida was gone, left with only distress.

"Elsa? Are you okay? Is Merida's family not treating you right?"

"No, no, no, don't worry. It's not them, they've been very nice, but... Mum and dad are here."

"Excuse me?"

"Merida's parents are receiving new business partners, and it's mum and dad!"

Anna's reaction was immediate, and Elsa had to move the phone away from her ear.

"Oh I'm going to kill them! Not only are they not home for Christmas! Again! But they are going to spoil your holiday! Arg...! Let me call them, I'm gonna..."

"Anna, come down! I'm sure I can deal with them, plus I have Merida with me. She'll pin them to a tree if they bother us."

"You have my authorization to pin them to the highest tree you can find. It's just... last time you saw them you just closed yourself again, and now that you're happy, I don't want you to..."

"Don't worry, Anna, I will ignore them through and through."

"Good to hear."

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Merida had heard Anna's rant through the phone, as most of the house had probably heard. She chuckled. She had intended to help her mother, but as usual she had everything under control, and there wasn't anything for her to do. Her mother was frying vegetables and the redhead sat on her counter behind her.

"So, let me guess. Elsa's relation with her parents is not good?" asked her mother.

"Worst. They are always working abroad, and never home. She told me she hadn't seen them in three or four years. It's crazy."

"And from what I've gathered, they are not okay with Elsa having a girlfriend."

Merida sighed. She was going to have to make sure Elsa avoided her parents as much as possible, for both of their sakes.

"I'm sorry mum, I may just have ruined your new deal."

Her mother shrugged and turned around, a thin smile on her lips.

"It's okay honey. If Elsa's parents know what is good for them, they won't bail out. But should they ever cause you or Elsa problem, I will gladly ask your dad to dumped them at the nearest bus station."

This answer made Merida chuckle, and reassured her a bit. At least she would always have the support of her family. Her mother turned back to dinner preparations, and asked:

"Why don't you go and feed Angus? I'll send Elsa over when she comes looking for you."

"Thanks mum."

She walked to the french window across the entrance to the kitchen, and almost threw it open to run to her horse.

Elsa entered the kitchen a few minutes later, her phone still in hand. Anna came very close to calling their parents, to protect her older sister from any comment they could make, but she managed to stop her. She knew she could deal with them, she wasn't the old Elsa anymore, afraid of showing people where her heart laid, and today was not the day she would go back to her former ways.

"Merida's outside with Angus." declared Merida's mother after she had looked up from the frying pan.

"Thank you, Mrs DunBroch."

"Please Elsa, call me Elinor."

Elsa nodded, and as she walked up to the window to go outside Elinor called her back:

"Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"Should you ever need anything, just ask."

Elinor's smile was genuine and caring, the kind of smile a mother would give to her daughter. Elsa already felt a bit better, and the way Elinor smiled helped her even more.

"Of course, thank you... Elinor."

She walked outside, and realized just too late that she was shoe-less, which hadn't bothered Merida at all as she stood in the cold grass, next to her black as night horse, so tall she had to jump lightly to pet his head. Elsa felt the welcoming cold infiltrating her every bone, but walked carefully to her girlfriend anyway. As she approached, she could feel the gaze of the horse on her. The moment she reached Merida she was enveloped in a boiling side-hug by the redhead.

"Alright, presentation time. Elsa, this is Angus. Angus, this is Elsa."

The horse, as if he had understood every word spoken by his master, lightly bowed his head, to Elsa's astonishment.

"Does he understand you?"

"I trained him. He recognize the sound of my voice, and a few commands I taught him."

Angus' eyes were of a deep black, so much darker than his pelt, that they seemed to be balls of pure ink. Elsa pursed her lips, before asking:

"Can I pet him?"

"Of course you can. He won't bite."

Elsa uncrossed her arms and tentatively raised her hand to the horse's nose. It was so soft it always seemed Angus was a plush. The horse let himself pet, and when Elsa reached higher up his head, petting him between his nose and eyes, he was the one to stroke his head against her palm. Merida would have joined too, but she was cold, and she knew Elsa was cold, and the penguin technique of staying as close as possible to their mate seemed like a good idea right this moment.

Elsa lowered her hand, and crossed her arms again.

"Maybe we should go back inside. It's pretty cold right now."

Merida nodded, and petted Angus' neck once again before circling Elsa with one arm, and leading her back inside.

"Goodnight Angus!" she shot above her shoulder, to what the horse answered with a neigh.

"We could ride him to the woods, tomorrow. If you want to, I mean."

Elsa smiled.

"Sure... I'd like that."

As they walked back in, Elinor told them to wash their hands, and get ready for supper. Elsa braced herself. This was going to be quite the trial.

When the girls arrived at the table, there was only six places set, meaning the boys would not dine with them, and where probably eating pizza in front of their favorite cartoons. Unfortunately, as they arrived, three seats where already taken. Fergus was at the end of the table, and Elsa's parents on the right side. It would be logical for Elinor to take the other end of the table, and so Elsa and Merida had to seat across Elsa's parents, with the only remaining question of who should seat opposite who. Elsa was ready to seat in front of her father, but Merida, being the gentleman, held her chair so she would seat opposite her mother. Merida took seat opposite Elsa's father, and she had barely raised her eyes to meet his gaze that a chill rolled down her spine. This was going to be a long dinner.

Elinor arrived with the dinner, roasted pork with fried vegetables. Merida noticed she hadn't pulled out the Scottish recipes just yet. Once served, they all ate in silence. No one dared to ask the first question, or make a comment about the food. Elsa stayed focus on her plate, although she could feel her parent's looks sliding on her. Merida dared to look up, and Elsa's father was less than please to have her in front of him. Elinor and Fergus exchanged looks, and it was clear to the both of them that something had to be done about this situation.

Dinner didn't drag on, and as soon as it was over, and the adults where heading to the leaving room for a coffee, Merida asked if they could retire, to what Elsa completed that they where going to their room, which was followed by a quick defying look at her father. There was no objection about letting them go, and the girls practically ran upstairs, the necessity of not waking up the triplets the only thing stopping them. As soon as the door was closed, Elsa let out a breath and sat by the bed.

"Well, it could have gotten a lot worst."

Merida came to sit by her girlfriend, and entwined their fingers, while Elsa rested her head on her shoulder.

"We'll try to avoid them as much as possible, I promise."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about my father, that you had to stand him all dinner."

Merida would have shrug hadn't the blond's head been on her shoulder.

"I've been worst. Like that time I met this girl at a bar, and she was absolutely against talking to me. Like, I swear, she was a closed nut."

Her comment made Elsa smile, and she raised her head and looked straight into Merida's eyes, shining so blue in the dim light of her room.

"And where did that lead you?"

"I don't know, you tell me!"

Elsa's only answer was to kiss passionately her girlfriend, to what Merida responded by pushing her lightly on her bed. The both fell on it, separating from the kiss long enough for Merida to place herself above Elsa without hurting her, and giving her a sweet kiss. As they usually did, their make-out session heated up quickly, and while Merida kept in mind both of their parents downstairs, the thought seemed to have been forgotten by Elsa. She was the first to leave Merida's lips to suckle on the redheads collarbone, a sharp breath coming out of her nostrils, as if she had become an animal. Elsa's hand quickly found their way under Merida's shirt, and her cold hands sent pleasurable shivers down her spine. Seeing the way they were heading, Merida marked a small time out.

"Are you sure? Right now? With our parents downstairs?"

Elsa responded with a cheeky smile.

"What do we risk? My parents won't peep a world about it."

"We'll probably have a comment from my mum."

Merida considered her options, before lowering herself back on Elsa, sliding a leg between her girlfriend's, and lightly bitting the shell of Elsa's ear, to what the blond responded by scraping the redhead's back with her nails.

"Worth it." murmured Merida in her ear, before coming back to kiss her.

As she nuzzled closer to her girlfriend, Elsa felt a pang of pride in her chest. A few years ago, it would have been a dream for her to share a room with her girlfriend while her parents were home. Today it was more than a dream, and the hotness of Merida's body against herself was enough to remind her of it.

Merida was quietly stroking her hair, waiting for sleep to wash over them. They knew they would have a hard time falling asleep, because of jet lag, but they were both tired after the rather intense activity they had just partaken in.

"Maybe we should put on pajamas before going to sleep." Merida suggested. "My mum will probably wake us up if we oversleep."

Elsa only shrugged.

"And so?"

Merida was baffled that the Elsa who had insisted they slept in pajamas when they were at her place so that Anna wouldn't stumble on them while they were naked was the same as the one she was holding. Apparently, her parent's presence had awoken her brave side.

"Okay, I very much like this Elsa, but you are dealing with my mum tomorrow morning, got it?"

Elsa chuckled, and found a way to nuzzle even closer to her girlfriend.

"I can deal with absolutely anything now. Even if my father dares to call me a monster I will replicate."

This seemed a bit extreme to Merida, but she played into it.

"Should he ever dare to do it, I would hit him so hard all his teeth would fall out of his mouth."

The idea made Elsa smile, and she closed her eyes.

"I know you would."

A/N: Hi guys! I was baffled to see so many of you already seemed to like this story when I saw how many mails I received about it, as well as seeing so many of you had come back from "Like Two Knotted Strings"! Thanks to vinzgirl for the review, as usual it's very appreciated! I'll see you guys tomorrow!