"Come on, now Captain. Time for you to get home before you get yourself in a pinch again." Brandy was at the table in the far back of the tavern where Fitz had hidden herself since early evening. Although it had made her a bit anxious to see Fitz drinking steadily since she arrived, the barmaid had to admit that the Captain had a bit of sense to sit here, out of the way where trouble was less likely to find her. But it was almost midnight, and if she didn't get home, the barmaid thought, she'd find trouble soon enough.

"I'm not a bleedin' Captain," Fitz growled adamantly. Brandy shook her head. Fitz was drunk, drunk enough that her normally refined accent had digressed to it's more earthy roots. "And if you bloody Arendell ... Arend ... whatever the bloody hell you bleedin' are ... can't remember that, then ..." Fitz squinted as she struggled to find something to say, "you're bleedin' eedjeets."

The tavern was full, the air pressing close with a mix of stale beer and raucous laughter. Normally it wasn't a bad crowd, not this early. But with Fitz in this mood anything was possible, especially if one of the more thin skinned patrons overheard her.

"Right." Brandy was not going to have Fitz start another fight. "You're goin' home now."

"I don 'ave ta go 'ome; you're not my moth ... Ow!" Fitz tried to pull her ear out of Brandy's grasp as she was wrestled to her feet. "Easy there, woman!"

"Come on, then," Brandy pulled her charge toward the nearest exit. "If you don't want a mother then stop actin' like a child."

Once they were out of the tavern the barmaid released her ear. Fitz straightened up and with a tug of her coat, which only managed to pull it further askew, said with the overblown dignity that only the intoxicated could manage, "Fine, then. I'm going 'ome. Straight 'way. No need of ... the fuss."

"Mind youself, now," Brandy warned, "or you'll be sleeping in the stable again." Brandy had heard that story from one of the undergrooms, and while it had been quite a laugh then, her warning was dead serious. Brandy didn't think Queen Elsa was likely to be the sort of woman who would appreciate drunk sulky Fitz. Hell, Brandy wasn't a woman who appreciated drunk sulky Fitz, she just had more practice with that sort of behavior.

"I'm NOT sleepin' in the bleedin' stable," Fitz declared self-righteously as she circled a bit to find the direction of the castle. She had left all of her grace and coordination at the bottom of her mug, and she was weaving slightly as she navigated the cobblestone street. "Sleepin' in my own bleedin' bed."

Brandy exhaled loudly as she watched her go. She was glad she didn't have to be a fly on the wall when that one got home. She suspected that it would be a rather chilly reception.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

Fitz stumbled her way across the causeway and through the open gates. She decided that it would be a good idea, more stealthy, if she entered through one of the side doors rather than the main door of the castle. And it might have been more stealthy if she hadn't gotten lost, her inebriated state rendering all the corridors identical and obliterating her sense of direction. Eventually an amused guard pointed her toward the main staircase. From there it was a short careen to the second floor, a tumble through Elsa's private sitting room, and a loud thunk as she caught her shoulder against the door frame. Stealthy was a distant memory.

"Bloody hell!" Fitz exclaimed at the door frame, and she stumbled over the chair that was at her side of the bed. Then she bent over and added, "Ssssh!" to the chair, to discourage it from making any more noise.

"Carolina? Are you alright?" Elsa's groggy voice suggested she had just been on the edge of sleep.

"S,fine," she said, sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed. "Just need a moment to get off me boots and then ..." she fell backwards hitting Elsa in the stomach with her head.

The Queen let out a pained, breathy 'uff' and sat up, blinking. "What in the world?" Then, with one alcohol laden breath wafting over her, what in the world became clear. "You are drunk."

"Might be a bit." Fitz struggled upright and pulled off her boots, dropping them with two loud clops. "But no mind, I'll be right as rain, tomorrow. Bloody not right enough for you lot, never right enough for you, but right for ..."

"Are you mad?" Elsa's mind was becoming clearer, and now she suddenly remembered exactly how annoyed she had been when Carolina had missed dinner without a word, had not been seen all evening, and then hadn't even shown up for bed. "After your behavior last time. After what happened, I was worried!" And she had been worried, although now that worry for Carolina had morphed into a greater concern for the town since she realized that Carolina had been off drinking.

"You go off without a word to anyone, not even to me! Miss dinner. Not a word about that either." It was all coming back to her, and she felt her temper rise and the temperature sink. "And you have the nerve to come stumbling back … in the middle of the night … drunk …. never mind who sees you … after doing god knows what? At least this time I wasn't woken up by the town gendarmes!" Her exclamation was punctuated by a small blast of snow directed up into the bed's canopy.

"Don't worry, luv," Fitz growled, waving off the falling snowflakes. She had been stewing and trying to get a word in edgewise during the entire lecture, but her words weren't fast enough. And now that she had Elsa's attention she couldn't exactly remember what it was she wanted to say. "I didn't do nothing to call out your precious town watch."

Elsa retorted, "I am the Queen, you know. It may not seem like much to you, but I would rather not have all of Arendelle look at the castle and think, 'Yes, that's where that drunk lunatic staggers back to.'" She gripped Fitz's shoulder and pulled her around so that they were face to face. She wanted Carolina to see how angry she was. She wanted to cut through Carolina's drunken rambling so she would understand how serious this was, what a problem behavior like this could be to the royal reputation.

"I said, I didn't do nothin'." Fitz tossed Elsa's hand off and started to rant, her words lost to Elsa in a tumbling Midland's slur. "Didn't do nothin' but slink quietly back. Quiet as a wee little lamb I was. Wee lamb not fit for anything seems like. Not that I couldn't have. Better than all that lot. Alice was better than that lot. Hell my worst seaman was better than that lot. Weak … good for nothing … can't even run a goddamn Navy. Got what? Three ships, thinks he's god's bleedin' gift."

"What are you going on about?" Clearly Carolina was saying something, and loudly too, but Elsa could understand none of it.

"Your damn Admiral! Your bleedin' pathetic little Navy."

"Good god, what's gotten into you." Elsa's eyes opened wide as she considered the possibilities of what Fitz had been saying while out. She knew Fitz was frustrated, but did she have no sense of what was politic or just plain right? "You didn't insult Admiral Naismith in public did you … or our Navy? You cannot just go around drinking until you're falling over and saying the first thing that comes into your thick skull."

Fitz harumped and smirked, "Don't go 'round slappin' down the elderly can't take care of themselves, can't protect the Queen, can't even protect their bleedin' Kingdom. I'm the problem, yah. Well, a real navy wouldn't a let the Vigilant in their damn port."

"Excuse me. I really don't think you have any right to insult the Admiral or my Navy."

"Not a real Navy. Real Navy fights." Fitz stabbed her forefinger into Elsa's chest, her voice rising. "These buggers can't fight. Got a couple a toy boats fit for a bathtub. But I guess that's how you like it. Nice and tame, eh? They can't make trouble with their dicks safely in port."

"That is unacceptable Carolina!" Elsa yelled, slapping her hand away, a spray of ice flying across the room. "Being drunk does not give you the right to insult people and use that language in my bedroom."

"Oh sorry, then. Wouldn't want to be impolite in YOUR bedroom." Fitz shook her head in imitation of Elsa. "Your bleedin' Navy prolly don't even curse, do they. Well, don't worry. I'll just be a good quiet lamb; deaf and dumb, the way you want me to be." She turned her back on the Queen, her anger cutting through the haze of the liquor.

"You are being impossible," Elsa said tightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to regain control. She was not going to lose her temper over this stupid drunken rant of Carolina's, and she was going to end it. "I will ask you to think very carefully about the next words you say. I am tired of your drunken behavior, and I will not put up with it." The ultimatum was etched clearly in the Queen's voice.

"Very well," Fitz roared, swinging around, bringing her face right into Elsa's, enunciating every word. "Yooou dooo not hhhave to worry, Your Majesty. This damn Avalonian traitor didn't besmirch the high and mighty reputation of bloody Arendelle." She reached down under the bed and fished out her boots. "And now, I won't besmirch your presence either. So you do not have to put up my drunken behavior." Clutching her boots to her chest, she moved with only a slight stagger to the door. "'Good Night, Your Majesty!"

Elsa stared in shock; words failed her. Until they didn't. "Come back here! Don't you dare walk out on me like that! I will NOT be treated this way!" She yelled at the slamming door.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Anna awoke. There was thumping. And yelling. It could be a nightmare. Her sister could be having a nightmare, and Fitz hadn't come back yet. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up. Then she pulled on her robe and went to see what the matter was.

Anna saw Fitz coming at her, full speed. She was partially dressed in a shirt, pants and her coat. Her boots were in her hands, her face a scowl. "What's wrong?" Anna asked.

Fitz stopped and her eyes narrowed, a fierce smolder behind them. "You got a problem, Princess?" she snarled.

"Nooooooo." Anna held up her hands in surrender, turning her face from the blast of beer breath. Fitz harumphed, and stormed off up the stairs. Anna watched her go. Whatever was going on, that didn't bode well, she thought. So her next stop would be Elsa's bedroom.

She continued down the hall, went through the sitting room and then knocked on Elsa's bedroom door.

"If you think you're coming back in here tonight, then you are sadly mistaken!" Rang out from inside the room.

Anna pushed open the door; it stuck about half way. "Ummm, I'm guessing that wasn't for me, right?"

"No." Elsa snapped. She was up and pacing, her dressing gown billowing behind her as snow swirled and ice cracked on the floor. There were pillows suspiciously scattered about the room, one blocking the door from opening fully, or perhaps that was due to the pile of snow next to it. "It was for that …. that … impossible woman!"

"OK," Anna said. Then she pointed at her ears. "Not deaf."

"I'm sorry." Elsa slowed her pacing and took a breath. "I am just ... upset."

But Elsa didn't look 'just upset,' Anna thought. She looked furious. Anna smiled. And here she thought only she could make Elsa this furious.

"What happened?"

"What happened?" Elsa clearly thought the question was either obvious or inappropriate, or perhaps it was the smile, but her voice got louder again. "What happened?! I don't know, Anna! What do you think happened? We had a FIGHT!" she yelled. "After SHE decided to grace us with her presence … at this hour of the night … drunk … going on about god knows what. She has no sense of responsibility. No self control!"

Anna had heard this rant before, just not about other people. "So she came home drunk, and you had a fight."

"Of course we did! SHE was determined to start one!"

"Ooookay," Anna took a breath. It was OK. She knew Elsa didn't handle personal conflict well. She knew lashing out was just a defense mechanism. She knew this was a variation on 'conceal, don't feel' except it went more like 'don't admit what you're really feeling and lash out at everything and everyone in a ten mile radius.' "But what was the fight about?"

"I don't know." Elsa started pacing again, frosty footprints in her wake. Periodically she would throw her hands up and snow would fall. "She was drunk. Moody. Moody and difficult. Moody, difficult and impossible. Stubborn moody, difficult and impossible! And …. I … I couldn't understand half of what she was saying. Infuriating, drunk, moody, difficult, woman!"

Anna pulled her robe tighter against the cold. "Were you fighting about her drinking?"

"Yes!" Elsa yelled at her sister. Then she reconsidered and looked searchingly around the room as if the walls held the answer. "No … no … I don't know. I guess so." Elsa jammed her hands on her hips. "She's never like this! I mean she can be stubborn and moody, I've seen that, but I've never seen her like this."

"Do you know why she was drinking?"

"No. How could I, Anna? I wasn't there." Elsa threw up her hand in exasperation and ice covered the ceiling of her bedroom. "Who knows why Millicent Carolina Fitzwilliam does anything?" She blustered. "Why did she destroy most of a tavern with Kristoff?" She glared at Anna daring her to say it was because 'they insulted Sven.'

Anna was still trying to de-escalate the situation, trying to calm Elsa down, but she was getting tired of being yelled at. She also was beginning to have an idea why Fitz had stormed down the hallway; she was tempted to as well. "So you have no idea why your lover came home drunk."

"She's not the most articulate person when she's drunk," Elsa said defensively. "All she kept saying was that she was a 'wee lamb' or some such nonsense like that. I tried to talk to her. I told her that I was worried when she didn't show up for dinner and there was no note or anything saying a word about it!"

"You said you were worried – like that?" Anna asked, carefully.

"Yes, Anna." Elsa was indignant. How did she expect her to say it? "Like that!" She crossed her arms and looked down at her sister.

"Um, yeah. I see." Anna scratched the back of her head just as Kristoff did when he was stalling for time.

"What do you mean by that?" Elsa demanded.

"What?" Anna was caught a little off guard by the sharp tone in her sister's voice directed entirely at her.

"Yeah, I see?" Elsa quoted Anna. "What do you mean by that? I hear your tone, you know."

"You hear my tone?" Anna asked incredulously. "Are you listening to yourself?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Elsa," Anna was now annoyed enough that she didn't bother to sugar coat her words. "You're not a very comforting or easy person to be around when you're upset, you know. In fact you're rather difficult."

"So this is my fault?!"

"Well, maybe at least partially …."

"SHE came home drunk and started going on … cursing … language that isn't appropriate …."

Anna tried again to explain, but she was past patience. "And that's one reason right there. You have zero sympathy for the rest of us mortals who happen to be human. Just because YOU don't say embarrassing things out of anger, or get stupidly drunk, or use foul language, or ... or ... or even TELL people that you are upset when your feelings are hurt …."

Elsa cut her off. "Are you saying I'm not human? What, that I don't have human feelings?" She drew herself up as tall as she could, and the crack of ice beneath her feet resounded through the room.

"No … no damn it! I'm trying to help you see..." Anna started, but she was cut off again.

"See what, Anna?!"

That was the last straw. She really wasn't going to stand here arguing with her sister about why arguing didn't work. "Oh … oh forget it. I'm done here. If you want to listen to someone, to me, tomorrow, we can talk. But tonight isn't the time. So, so, good night, Elsa."

Elsa made sure the snowpile she threw after Anna left completely blocked her door, and she sealed it off with a layer of ice just to be sure.