A/N: Apologies for the overdue chapter, life has been hectic these past few months. In case anyone is interested, I recently created a tumblr account so I can interact with you guys a bit more. The link is at the top of my profile. Hope you enjoy!

Ain't Born Typical

The first thing Anna does upon getting out of bed is not run out of the apartment screaming. Nor does she wake Elsa up and confront her about her decidedly inhuman healing hands. No, the first thing she does is put Elsa's soiled sheets in the washer.

Because she's still Elsa. Because this is far from the first time Anna has encountered someone not quite human. Because those sheets really stink.

The second thing she does is take a long, hot shower. As she's waiting for the water to heat up, she stares at her reflection in the mirror, at what Elsa must have seen last night. Her torso is relatively clean compared to the rest of her, but that just means the dark bruises show up better against her light skin. There's plenty of accessory scrapes that look more painful than they actually are—a particularly ugly looking one stretches from her sternum to her side in one long, red line. When she peels the scarf around her hand, she finds a dried, crusty mess. But somehow the cuts don't seem as deep as they were last night.

The water is nearly scalding when she steps under the spray; all the better to burn last night off. She uses two entire bottles of bodywash, and only realizes after the fact that one of them didn't belong to her. She shampoos and scrubs and rinses until she's sure not a molecule of filth is left on her. The water circling down the drain slowly fades from black into a pale gray, until it finally becomes clear.

Anna soon has a coffee in her hand and is pacing around the living room, only a slight limp in her bad leg. Her body is humming with caffeine and the magic-infused ointments she put on, and she's finding it hard to stay still. Every few minutes she peeks into Elsa's room, finding her to still be asleep every time.

Honestly, this whole thing is kind of exciting. If Elsa is indeed nonhuman, Anna can tell her all about her job as a hunter—there wouldn't be a need for any more lies, a notion that has her grinning like an idiot. But still, she has to be absolutely sure that Elsa isn't human before she can tell her anything. The consequences for revealing the supernatural world to humans are…not pleasant.

When the sheets are ready to be switched over, Anna desperately hopes they'll be okay to sleep on again. The last thing she wants is Elsa to be down a set of bedding (she had a harrowing night; her priorities are a bit skewed right now, okay?).

Since she has nowhere near the amount of patience right now to locate her cellphone, she opts to just drive to the place her usual supplier should be on a Sunday afternoon and hope he's there. His opinion, without a shred of doubt, is the only one she can trust on how to handle her Elsa situation.

The note she leaves Elsa before going out is short and to the point: 'Hey, Elsa. I know last night was a bit weird, but I'm doing fine now. I have to run a few errands but I'll be back this afternoon. Also, your sheets are in the dryer.'

As usual, it's flurrying when she steps outside. A small gust of wind forces the top of a snowdrift to break off and hit her square in the face. Anna sometimes has to wonder if she's living inside a snow globe.

"Damn," she grumbles when she gets into her still-smelly car. "I'll have a fun time washing this out." The seats and floor have questionable stains on them and her supplies will have to be carefully put back into the glove box in order for it to close properly.

While she waits impatiently for her heater to work like it's supposed to, she drives by Olaf, who still looks as fresh as the day she and Elsa made him. Anna's mouth purses in thought. How much of an idiot has she been to not realize what Elsa really is?

The bar she usually meets Jack at is like every seedy bar in the movies—unfriendly patrons growl as she walks past them, awful music ekes out of a jukebox in the corner, and the bartender gives her a wary nod. All in all, it's a very typical welcome for a human entering one of the only supernatural places in town.

Jack's sitting at a corner table, sipping from a mug full of steaming purple liquid and looking over a pile of papers. Whenever Anna sees him, she can't help but think he's playing dress up; the costume being 'perennial college student'. Silver-white hair is made to look artfully messy, with wisps carefully gelled upwards until they nearly create a fauxhawk. His usual blue hoodie is so faded it's starting to look gray around the shoulders and his light corduroy pants have tears near the hems. At least she was finally able to convince him that no, flip-flops shouldn't be worn when there's snow outside.

"Seriously?" she says accusingly as she takes the seat across from him, "You brought homework to a bar?" It's a common conversation starter for them—because really, that's a weird thing to do.

He shrugs without looking up at her, as if he knew she would be coming here. "Two birds, one stone, Theron," he replies easily. "I get to have a delicious drink while grading these incredibly boring papers." He shoves his students' work aside and locks his pale eyes onto her own with a familiar, infuriating grin.

"And I thought TAs were supposed to be nice to us undergrads," she grumbles. Catching a waiter's eye, she points to Jack's drink and then herself.

"We tolerate you, that's all," he corrects her. Looking impossibly smug, he adds, "Besides, my students think I'm awesome."

"I didn't know the opinions of children mattered so much to you," Anna teases him. The waiter comes back with her drink and she takes a sip. It's warm, bursting with the taste of sweet berries and mint.

Jack stares at her for a moment, lips curling in amusement. "You're all children to me," he says plainly.

Anna sticks her tongue out at him. When he's like this, sitting across from her at a bar and talking about school, it's hard to remember how old he really is. Many local legends surrounded a silver haired boy who caused mischief and created snow storms, who played with children and never got old. Every generation since the late 1700s grew up with a Jack Frost of their own, one they told new stories about to their children and grandchildren. This went on until the 1980s, when suddenly there were no new tales about him. Jack Frost had just…vanished.

The person in front of her isn't officially Jack Frost since no one in Arendelle would take him seriously with that name. He's Jack Alkaev, a biochemistry grad student. On the side, he sells supernatural healing supplies to hunters and other Guild members.

Anna clears her throat once she realizes they're still staring at each other. "There were some things I wanted to discuss with you," she starts, breaking the silence, "and you're the only one who can help me figure out what to do."

Jack straightens up at that, raising an eyebrow. "By all means, please continue."

"I got bitten by an akaname last night and I think my friend is an ice fae," she says as offhandedly as possible, just to see if she can surprise him.

He doesn't react at all other than giving her a thoughtful stare. Apparently it's hard to knock a centuries old being off balance. "What do you want to talk about first?" he asks without missing a beat.

"Well…" Anna says, hands knotting together on top of the table, "I know my friend should take precedence, but I need to make sure I'm not going to die anytime soon because of the akaname. I took your antivenom—which seriously, thanks for creating that—and I feel pretty good right now. But still…"

"You're right to be concerned," Jack nods, "the antivenom isn't perfect yet. And it's important to keep in mind that it's not a cure, but a treatment. It treats the symptoms but the venom is still inside you."

Anna deflates slightly at that. "And how long will it be there for?" The idea of having some part of that creature floating around inside of her is not a pleasant one.

"It can take anywhere from six to eight weeks for your body to flush out the toxins. You might get residual hot flashes or pain from the wound but if there's anything beyond that, feel free to contact me."

"Six to eight weeks…" she echoes in dismay, "that kind of sucks." She takes another sip of her drink to cheer herself up.

"That's no time at all," Jack says flippantly. "It'll be out of your system before you know it. Now let's talk about your friend." If Anna's not mistaken, he actually seems interested. Though of course he would be—he's the only ice fae in Arendelle that she knows of. It'd probably be comforting to have someone of the same species around.

And so Anna gives him a rundown of her proof of Elsa being a fae, everything she can recall up to last night. By the end, Jack is slouching back in his seat, a light frown on his face.

"That's it?" he asks when she finishes talking. "That's all you have?"

Anna furrows her eyebrows, confused. "That's more than enough, isn't it?"

Jack shakes his head. "The best piece of evidence you have occurred when you were most likely delirious. Everything else can be boiled down to coincidence."

"But—" Anna begins to protest. This isn't how she thought he'd handle the information at all.

"No 'buts'," he interjects. "This is a big deal. If it turns out your friend isn't fae and you start talking to her like she is…you've just introduced a human to our world. The punishment for that would mean your friend gets memory wiped and you lose your position in the Guild. Among other things."

"I shouldn't feel this good after what happened to me yesterday," Anna says stubbornly. "My fever went away about four hours ago. Does your antivenom really work that fast?"

"No," Jack admits. Though just as stubbornly he goes on, "But your friend would need to have a huge amount of self-control to be able to heal you like that. And from the other things you've said about her, it doesn't seem likely that she has a good grip on her powers. It's all very inconsistent."

"I know how it sounds, but she has to be fae." Anna says, starting to get frustrated. She didn't think it would be so hard to convince him of this.

They stare at each other for a long moment. Jack sighs and lowers his gaze to his now empty mug. When he looks back to her, there's an idea glinting bright in his eyes. "I need to meet her. I need to see for myself what she's like."

"I…what, really?" She feels dumb for not thinking about the possibility. Jack would be able to assess Elsa for himself, since he's obviously more aware of ice fae characteristics than she is.

Jack nods, starting to become enthusiastic again. "Just tell her it's a blind date or something. After all, girls find me irresistible." He gives her a charming smile as if it reaffirms his words.

Anna doesn't think she's ever rolled her eyes so hard. "More like insufferable," she mutters. Not that she's ever seen him with a girl romantically. Even with the rumors flying around campus about 'that cute biochem TA', he's never once been called anything less than professional in how he interacts with his students. "I'll see if she can meet you," Anna agrees. "But I don't think she'd be interested in a date with you." The idea rubs her the wrong way for some reason.

Jack shrugs, unoffended. "Tell her whatever will get her to meet me. Whether it's as a potential date or a grad student who could help with her classes, it doesn't matter. What's her last name?" he asks after a moment.

"Norling," Anna replies, "is that familiar to you?"

Jack shakes his head, a contemplative frown on his face. "I've never heard of any Norlings in the area, but I'll check with some people. See if you can get some information about her parents while I'm doing that."

"So that's it, then?" Anna asks, a little disappointed. She had the idea in her head that Jack would confirm her suspicions within minutes of her talking to him—this 'meet and greet' thing wasn't a part of her plan.

"That's all I can do right now without crossing any lines," he says, moving his pile of papers so they're back in front of him. "Call me when she agrees and we'll set up a meeting." With that, his attention turns to the homework, silently dismissing Anna.

"Goodbye to you too, Grandpa," Anna mutters as she gets up. She feels a light stinging sensation coming from her bite wound with the movement, but it doesn't impede her ability to walk.

After paying for her drink, she heads out towards the parking lot. Before she goes back home to Elsa, she wants to comb over her car to see if her phone's there. Her memory of last night is more than a bit jumbled but she's sure it was with her when she injected herself with Jack's antivenom.

Ten minutes of digging underneath her seats and through the rest of the car results in her victoriously clutching her phone—it had somehow migrated to the back of her car, hiding under her sleeping bag.

But her moment of triumph quickly turns to dread when she sees that multiple Guild numbers have called her in the last few hours.

"Shit," Anna says, head thumping against her seatback. She thinks she knows exactly what this is about, and it spells 'trouble' for her. "This is going to suck."

Three weeks.

She's been suspended for three goddamn weeks without pay for negligence. The hunting supervisor she spoke to on the phone was less than pleased about her not calling Cleanup after her case, and then he was furious that she left weapons at the scene. She would be due to give a report to him on her failings as well as what she would do to avoid repeating such mistakes on future outings.

She can't deny that she made mistakes, but she had hoped they would be lenient due to the fact that she was poisoned. Instead, this would go down as a mark on her otherwise good record. Well, lesson learned, no alcohol. Ever again.

The phone call has her so worked up that her trip to the store seems like a blur and she's home before she knows it. She pokes her head through the front door, wondering if Elsa is finally up. There's no sign of her in the hall and so Anna tiptoes into the living room, only to come face to face with her.

Anna suddenly wishes Elsa was asleep—she looks like she's worked herself into a righteous anger in Anna's absence. Despite her loose sleep pants and soft gray shirt, Elsa somehow seems more terrifying than most of the monsters Anna's hunted down; her cheekbones have angry red blotches on them and her sharp eyes are narrowed at Anna. Even her hair (which is normally somewhere between 'flawless' and 'perfect') is unruly, as if she's been raking her hands through it.

Before Anna can even open her mouth to greet her, Elsa rounds on her. "I got your note," she says, eyes going down to the crumpled paper in her palm. "After the state you were in last night, how could you think a note would be a good idea?" She throws the paper in Anna's direction and it floats harmlessly to the floor between them. "You should have woken me up!" The rising volume of her voice makes Anna flinch. "How am I supposed to know you didn't just collapse somewhere?"

Anna stays silent, wondering how, after all that's happened, Elsa can still be so worried about her. If they switched places, Anna's pretty sure she would have moved out by now. She really doesn't deserve to have such a good friend.

But Elsa is still looking at her expectantly. "Well?" she finally prompts, folding her arms over her chest. "Are you going to say anything?"

"I umm…bought you chocolates?" Anna says meekly, holding up the grocery bag in her hand. "Oh, and some more soap. I kind of used all of yours this morning."

The air between them is tense and Elsa doesn't look any less angry. "Good," she says stiffly, "you really stunk."

Anna doesn't know why—perhaps it's because she's just had one of the most trying days in her life—but she bursts out laughing at Elsa's response. Her hand drops the bag to wrap around her stomach, and she continues to laugh despite the discomfort it causes.

Elsa's lips twitch but she tamps down any amusement she might feel at Anna's state. "You need to tell me what's going on," she says in a voice so quiet Anna almost doesn't hear it.

That sobers Anna up and she catches her breath, wiping a tear away from the corner of her eye. "I told you last night—I was in the forest." Crap, things would be so much easier if she could just give her the whole truth.

Elsa's shaking her head, pink lips turning downwards. "And what kind of animal did that to you?" she asks, pointing at the entirety of Anna's body. "The high fever you had, the cuts and bruises all over your body…what was responsible for that?"

"I…" Anna shakes her head, wondering what she can possibly say.

"You know what," Elsa cuts her off, sitting down on the couch like her legs have given out. She stares hard at the note on the ground before looking back to Anna. Her eyes are still bright with anger, but there's weariness in them too, weariness in having the same lies told to her again and again. "I'm letting this go for now."

The declaration is so unexpected that Anna's mouth nearly drops open. Elsa continues, unhappiness seeping into her words. "I'm tired of worrying about you, but you keep coming home bloody or…or passed out on the floor." Steel glints in her eyes and she makes sure she has Anna's full attention. "The next time I see you like that, I'm dragging you to the hospital. I don't care how much you argue or fight against me. And after that…I'm done. I'll move out if I have to—if you don't tell me what you do when that pager of yours goes off."

She honestly has no idea, Anna realizes. No idea that she's a hunter or that her wounds have come from monsters. While it's true there are nonhumans who aren't part of the Guild, they all know about it and the various services it provides, and they should be familiar with most of the monsters that live near them. If Elsa is truly clueless about all of this, maybe she isn't fae after all, maybe Anna really was delirious and this has all been wishful thinking on her part…

She swallows hard and sits next to her roommate, the cushion sinking in and making them bump shoulders. "I understand," she replies somberly. She wants to add that there's a chance she can tell Elsa everything soon, but that seems unlikely after all.

They stay sitting like that until Anna finally sighs and snatches the grocery bag off the floor. She turns to look at Elsa, scrunching her face in thought. "Is Lindt alright with you? I also got Godiva since I didn't know what you liked. You seem like someone who would enjoy the higher quality stuff."

A slow, reluctant smile finally comes across Elsa's face. "It's so hard to stay mad at you when you're like this," she says softly. When her eyes meet Anna's, there's a fondness in them that has Anna suddenly feeling vulnerable.

Anna looks away, heat flooding her cheeks. "Like what?" she questions, going through the bag and trying not to steal glances at Elsa.

A light huff is Elsa's only answer. She takes the bag from Anna's hands and looks into it, eyebrows rising in surprise. "You'll definitely have to help me eat all of this. What did you do, wipe out the entire candy aisle?"

Anna laughs easily, glad Elsa has given her a (frankly undeserved) pass for last night. As the two of them start peeling wrappers off the sweets, Anna can't help but feel a strange sensation in her stomach that has nothing to do with the chocolate.

But over the next few days, Anna learns that receiving Elsa's pass is not the same as earning her forgiveness. On the surface, Elsa seems the same—she's still sitting with her and Kristoff during Weselton's lectures, still making Anna dinner, still joking about her questionable taste in music ("I swear to god, if you call Taylor Swift 'the voice of our generation' one more time…"). But it's not the same. Elsa's continued suspicion manifests itself on two distinct occasions.

The first happens on Monday morning. Kristoff nearly comes late to class, having to squeeze through the doors as Weselton is shutting them. His slight limp and cut cheek alert Anna that he must have had a rough hunt last night, and this is one of the rare times she's seen him without his beanie on. Next to her, Elsa goes rigid in her seat when she sees him.

Anna shifts towards him, concern etched into her features. Before she can even ask, Kristoff shakes his head. "I'll tell you later," he promises under his breath. He doesn't seem to be in the mood for small talk, judging by the lack of any follow up conversation. She still hasn't told him about her own eventful weekend, and so she only nods before turning back to her normal seating position.

Elsa is still staring at them both, silent frustration making itself known in the clenching of her jaw, the iron grip on her pen, and the tense set of her shoulders. She stays in relatively the same position for most of the class, making Anna feel sore just from looking at her. Even Weselton's venomous glares aren't as amusing as they usually are under the weight of Elsa's displeasure with both her and Kristoff. Once class is over, Elsa gets up and leaves without so much as a backwards glance towards the two of them, feigning deafness when Anna calls after her.

The second incident happens sometime in between Thursday and Friday, before the sun has even thought about rising. Armed with a thermos of coffee and two energy drinks, Anna manages to successfully pull off an all-nighter in the living room for a class project—the only problem being that the caffeine makes her crash before she can even get to her bedroom.

This results in her sleeping on the floor with her back against the couch, head tilted onto the seat cushion at an extremely uncomfortable angle. A foot is propped up on the coffee table and a highlighter is still loosely grasped in one of her hands. A light blanket covers most of her body. When she wakes up, it's to her shoulder being urgently shaken.

"Don't you dare be hurt again, Anna. I swear to god…" comes a voice sounding suspiciously like her roommate. The shaking resumes and the voice becomes louder. "Anna! Are you okay?"

"Hey…" Anna says blearily, eyes squinting open. She leans away from the hand in mild annoyance. "Stop that."

Elsa simply glowers at her, palm still warm against her shoulder. "I told you I'd take you to the hospital the next time you got hurt," she says accusingly. "Do you need help getting up?"

The juxtaposition between her tone and words makes Anna snort, but the face Elsa makes in response has her backpedalling immediately. "That won't be necessary, really." She has to bite her tongue to keep from adding a smart remark about Elsa's possible healing abilities—she is way too tired to safeguard her mouth properly.

But Elsa isn't buying it. "Where's the injury?" she demands, "Do you have a fever again?" Her hand moves towards Anna's forehead, not waiting for an answer. "Seriously, just tell me what it is this time."

This is all becoming a bit too much. Anna sighs and reluctantly stands up. When her equilibrium is restored, she does a quick spin and shakes out her arms. "Do you want to hear what I was working on tonight?" she asks, gesturing towards her laptop. "It's a really fascinating project on silvicultural remediation of areas depleted by natural causes, specifically snow. Want me to go on about it?"

Elsa purses her lips and stands as well. She's wearing the clothes from this morning and fresh snow clings to her jacket. If she was home earlier, she would have seen Anna working, so logic dictates that this is the first time she's come back.

Though before she can remark that Elsa's also pulling late nights, she sees that Elsa is still staring at her, a faint brush of pink beginning to light up her face. Anna follows her gaze downwards to see what she's looking at. Anna's wearing dark sleep shorts that fall to the middle of her thighs and her black and white flannel is only buttoned up a little past her bellybutton, exposing part of her bra.

She quickly does up the rest of the buttons and crosses her arms over her chest. "It was warm tonight," she mutters sullenly. After all, it probably only felt warm because Elsa wasn't around to screw with the heater. And besides, Elsa's already seen her half-naked. What's the big deal?

Elsa is still staring blankly at her shirt, causing Anna to wave her hand in front of her roommate's face. "Hello, earth to Elsa."

Elsa blinks slowly and looks up at Anna's face. "What?" she asks, seemingly forgetting what they were talking about.

Anna blows an indignant puff of breath upwards, disturbing her bangs. "You were in the middle of berating me," Anna reminds her, "and I was defending myself with evidence of schoolwork."

"Of course," Elsa replies after clearing her throat. "In that case, I…apologize." She toes the ground awkwardly as though wondering whether she should leave or not.

"No need," Anna shrugs. Her lips quirk upwards and she adds, "I'm sure it's common for roommates to mistake all-nighters with needing to be rushed to the hospital." She hopes the words will bring out the Elsa she's grown accustomed to—the one who will snark right alongside her.

As expected, Elsa narrows her eyes and snipes back, "And I'm sure it's also common for roommates to come home dirty and severely injured. Silly of me not to realize that sooner."

Anna takes a step towards Elsa to clasp her shoulder. "Glad we got that straightened out! Now since I was so rudely awakened from my super comfy position, I might as well move to my bed."

As Anna slides her books and laptop off the table and into her bag, she hears Elsa exhale tiredly. She straightens to find Elsa still in the same place, chewing on her lower lip in thought. "Hey," Anna says, done with joking. "You always ask if I'm alright, but I've never really asked you. If you need to talk about anything…just let me know, okay? I'm a good listener."

With her own busy schedule, it was sometimes hard to realize other people had their own problems. And Elsa…she's always been there for her. Anna would return that favor as many times as Elsa might need.

Elsa gives her a smile so faint it's barely there. "That has to go both ways. You won't talk to me about your personal life, will you?" She gives a slight shake of her head when Anna frowns in protest. "I want us to be on the same page. And I wish you felt that way, too." She turns and makes her way to her room, and this time Anna can't form words fast enough to make her stay.

"Shit," Anna mutters, feeling more upset than she would like to admit. She trudges off to her own bedroom, changing out her flannel in favor of a different baggy shirt (which coincidentally also belonged to Kristoff at one).

She expects to drift off to sleep soon after her head touches her pillow, but she doesn't. Instead, she stares up at her ceiling, watching as the moon and clouds cast shadows across it. In the wake of her conversation with Elsa, she finds that she's no longer tired.

"No, no, no…" Anna says frantically as she attempts to hop into a pair of jeans the next morning. Her foot gets caught in the material and she stumbles against the wall before quickly righting herself and yanking her bedroom door open.

Even though it felt like she just closed her eyes for five minutes, she woke up to sunshine and the sound of silence—she had slept through her alarm and missed her first class completely. Anna almost wonders why Elsa didn't wake her up (they rode together on Fridays, after all), but then she checks her phone.

Elsa had left her five text messages in an apparent attempt to rouse her from sleep, including one that mentioned that yelling through the door had yielded no results. Anna grimaces at the fact Elsa had to take the bus to get to class. Way to go, Anna. Like you aren't already a terrible friend.

She's taking an energy bar out of the pantry when a piece of paper catches in her periphery. When she comes closer, she sees that it's a note in front of her thermos. This is for the chocolate. Don't worry about sleeping in, you probably deserved it. See you later. -Elsa

Anna hesitantly grabs the thermos, hearing liquid slosh around inside. A snort of disbelief is expelled from her nose; instead of being annoyed by their conversation and her oversleeping, Elsa made her coffee. Seriously, she's kinda perfect.

After she finishes getting ready, she fires off a 'thank you' text to Elsa and sends Kristoff a message asking to meet for lunch. They haven't exchanged any meaningful words since the beginning of the week and she hasn't gotten the chance to tell him about her weekend adventures yet. For whatever reason, Kristoff's been closed off during class and hasn't been easy to reach outside of it.

He responds just as she finally finds a far-flung parking spot on the edge of campus, asking if they can meet at Tony's to talk over some food. Anna smiles as she texts him in the affirmative.

The smile on her face freezes when she suddenly remembers that even though she completed her silviculture project, she has no idea on how she's going to present it to her class. Perhaps she should be thankful for the long, cold walk ahead of her since it will give her plenty of time to strategize.

"You seriously thinks she's fae?" Kristoff asks her after swallowing a bite of pizza. Tony's Pizzeria is right across the main library, dimly lit and full of students huddled around its small tables.

Anna nods, still a little smug about how her presentation went. Since she had done most of the research last night, it was surprisingly easy to improvise what to say and she felt like her professor was satisfied with it. It's nice, catching a break every once in a while.

She reaches into her backpack for her still-full thermos, wanting to finally take a sip of Elsa's coffee. "Yeah…or at least I thought I did. Now I don't know what to think." The sooner she can arrange a meeting between Elsa and Jack, the better. The suspense is close to killing her.

Kristoff rubs thoughtfully at his chin. He looks better than he did on Monday, though the skin underneath his eyes is nearly gray and his beanie is still nowhere to be seen. "You're in the best position to see if she's fae or not, living with her and all. Too bad you can't just ask her straight up." He's taken this possible revelation in stride, though that's probably because he's part esper on his mother's side. It would be more than a little hypocritical of him to not accept Elsa if she had supernatural blood. He was actually more freaked out when she told him about the akaname incident (though that could be due to the fact that she came pretty close to death).

Right when she's about to agree, he just has to add, "But I think I'm on Jack's side."

"That's horrible!" Anna says with a betrayed look on her face. She shudders, eyes close to watering.

"Whoa, hey now!" Kristoff says, raising his hands in the air. "I just think he might—"

"No," Anna cuts him off apologetically. "It's not you. My coffee just tastes...kinda bad." Even if Elsa meant the best, it's now clear she has no idea how to make Anna's favorite drink. It somehow tastes both weak and incredibly bitter. And knowing Anna likes to put cinnamon in her coffee, Elsa seems to have unloaded half a container of it into her thermos. The end result is honestly the worst thing she's ever drank.

Kristoff doesn't bother hiding a smirk. "In that case, I'm glad you agree with me and Jack."

Anna gives him a 'nice try' glare. "For the record," she corrects him, "I don't agree with either of you. Why would you take his side over mine? You said it yourself; I'm in the best place to know what Elsa is."

"You are," he acknowledges. "But Jack is like a thousand years old. There's a chance he knows more about his own species than you do."

Does Kristoff want an argument? Because he's about to get one. Anna sits up straighter and folds her hands on the table. "First off, he's not even three hundred. He's practically a teenager. Secondly, age and wisdom don't necessarily correspond. I once saw him wearing crocs. Crocs, Kristoff!" She had dragged Jack to the first private place she saw for a lecture on proper footwear, somehow managing to make a man incomprehensibly older than her look like a chastened child.

That seems to knock some wind out of Kristoff's sails. "Well that's…that's just unfortunate," he admits. "Though he's also pretty much a genius, even you can see that. He must have a good reason for doubting you."

Clearly, neither of them are going back down before they have to return to class. So Anna comes up with another idea. "Twenty bucks," she announces confidently. "Twenty bucks that Elsa is fae."

"Sure you want to make that bet?" he asks tauntingly. "You'd practically be giving your money away."

Anna sticks her hand out, coming dangerously close to spilling Kristoff's drink on him. "I'll take that chance."

He grasps it and gives her a firm shake. "Deal."

Comfortable silence settles between them as they finish their meals. Once there's sadly no more pizza crust on her plate, Anna asks what she's been thinking about most of the week. "What was up with you on Monday? You seemed a bit out of it." Even in Wednesday's class, he hadn't said more than a few cursory words to her, though now it seems like he's back to normal.

Kristoff's shoulders hunch up around his ears before he relaxes them with a sigh. "It was unexpectedly busy on Sunday night and my last case was a huge pain."

Anna nods, feeling guilty. With her absence for the next three weeks, the rest of the hunters in the area would have to pick up a few extra cases. "Want to talk about it?" she prompts him. It's unusual that he'd let a case get to him; normally he just keeps his eyes forward and focuses on whatever's next.

He looks down at the table and grabs one of the paper straw wrappers in front of him. "I was hunting a…nguruvilu," he starts, stumbling a little over the name. At Anna's questioning look, he elaborates, "They look a bit like a fox but have really long, slinky bodies. They live in rivers and streams, and like to cause whirlpools when people cross them. I guess the Guild wanted me to preemptively take care of the little guy now instead of when the ice fully melts."

The straw wrapper is methodically being rolled into a ball between his fingertips as he continues. "I almost had him. Sven was supposed to cut him off and I would bag him from behind. But the snow was too deep for me to realize I was over a frozen stream. The bastard suddenly stopped and just…stared at me. The next thing I knew, I was underwater."

Kristoff stops busying his hand and folds his arm across his chest, like he's remembering how cold the water was. "I couldn't get to the surface, even though it was right there. I would be reaching for it and just before my fingers could break the surface, I'd be swept away. Even as I was freaking the hell out and about to drown, I was able to tell Sven to ignore me and kill the nguruvilu. Once he got his jaws around the thing's neck, the water stilled and Sven was able to help me out. Though sadly my beanie is now lost forever," he finishes lightly.

He stays silent after that but Anna knows that's not the end of the story. Kristoff must have been close to hypothermic and who knows how far away he had parked. And even after he got to his car, he would have to drive himself home and properly warm up. It seemed like they were in similarly crappy situations this weekend.

Kristoff suddenly shifts in his seat, looking even more uncomfortable than before. "That's uhh…that's not the only reason I was in a bad mood earlier." He stares hard at the empty plates in front of them.

Anna raises a curious eyebrow. "What else is there?"

His mouth twists in thought and his next words are directed at the table. "My parents aren't coming back for Thanksgiving. Again. And Christmas looks questionable too."

"Oh, Kristoff—" Anna starts, unable to stop an unhappy frown from crossing her face. She knows Kristoff has been looking forward to seeing his parents this month, but professional hunters have hectic, unpredictable schedules. The last time he saw them…it must have been at least a year and a half ago.

"No, it's fine," he says, trying to wave away his previous words. "I shouldn't have said anything. Besides, I'm sure the trolls wouldn't mind a visit from their favorite human again. You can come too. It'll be fun."

Anna snorts. "No it won't." She doesn't mean for her words to sound so dismissive, but Kristoff picks up the meaning behind them. Anna loves their old babysitters. What she hates is the holiday itself. For the past two years she's 'celebrated' it alone, preferring that to souring the day for other people. She isn't planning on this year being any different.

"Suit yourself," he shrugs casually—he knows better than to try to push her to do anything for Thanksgiving. "But I didn't hear you argue that I'm their favorite."

"That's because it's clearly a lie," Anna retorts. She gestures that they get up and they make their way towards the cashier. "You're the one they're always calling a 'fixer upper'."

"They just want me to be the best man I can be!" he says defensively. The cashier gives him a weird look at the outburst and Anna can't help but giggle.

Maybe their parents aren't really in the picture anymore, but they'll always have each other to lean on and confide in. On most days, that's more than enough.

Anna doesn't mean to pounce on Elsa the moment she gets back from class, but Elsa still startles when Anna slides out of her room and into view.

"Hey," Anna says as brightly as she can. "What's up?" She thinks it might be better to pretend their conversation from last night never happened. After all, why dredge that back up when she has to get Elsa and Jack together?

Elsa doesn't seem to buy her cheeriness. "Hello," she replies cautiously. She neatly sidesteps around Anna and heads towards her room.

Anna tags along like an eager pup. "I wanted to thank you for not being angry at me this morning; I totally slept through my alarm…and whatever you did to try and wake me up."

"I figured as much," Elsa says. She turns to give her roommate a look when Anna doesn't budge. "Is there something else you wanted to talk about?"

Yeah, can you meet my near-immortal supplier this weekend so he can see if you're fae? No, she can't say that. But she's but she's been rehearsing her lines since her population ecology class. She can do this. "I'd like to make this morning up to you," she starts after taking a breath. "I have a friend who's a grad student in biochemistry. He can give you all sorts of advice on applying for school as well as what professors to take. I know you're in a different major right now but he's really nice and this could be like, really helpful. And applications aren't really all that far off once you think about it—"

"Okay!" Elsa cuts her off, sounding exasperated. She steadies her gaze at Anna, who tries to look as innocent as she can. Finally she says, "What's his name?"

"Jack Alkaev," Anna supplies eagerly. "He's teaching a couple classes this semester."

Elsa nods in familiarity. "I've heard that name around campus. Good things, usually. Look," she exhales sharply, the air fanning against Anna's face, "I don't like meeting people, but…this sounds like a good opportunity. So I'll…I guess I can meet him." Her gaze lowers to her feet and in a smaller voice she asks, "Will you be there too?"

Anna blinks. She certainly didn't expect that question. "Umm, I can be," she says unsurely, now going off-script. "I assumed it would be a one-on-one kinda thing. I can be at a nearby table or something." When Elsa opens her mouth to speak, Anna quickly adds, "His office is an insane mess, so I thought it'd be good to talk somewhere else." Last time she went there, she broke three beakers and caused a stack of books to tumble over just by opening the door a little too widely.

"I guess that's fine," Elsa agrees, though she still looks a bit uncertain. "Maybe a…coffee place would be good?"

Anna beams at her. "That's perfect! Is this weekend okay? He's usually busy with stuff so it might be the only time he's available for a while." While it's not entirely a lie, Anna says it mainly because she wanted to know yesterday if Elsa's actually an ice fae or not.

When Elsa only gives her the barest of nods in return, she puts a comforting hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Hey, this will be a good thing, okay? I wouldn't have set it up otherwise. And you can leave whenever you want. Just give me a secret signal and I'll swoop in and save you if you get uncomfortable."

That seems to soothe Elsa somewhat; when she smiles, there's some strength behind it. "I can always bring a frying pan with me," she says in a mock-serious voice, smile widening.

"I know firsthand how much damage you could do with that thing," Anna replies, though she doesn't believe for a second that a frying pan could put a dent in Jack. She drops her hand from Elsa's shoulder, fingers accidentally grazing her arm on the way down.

Elsa stiffens minutely. "Let me know when we'll meet him." She takes a small step backwards, almost leaning against her door. "I'm going to call it an early night, so I'll see you in the morning."

Anna, happiness fading slightly, can only give a small nod before she is left staring at the empty space her roommate had occupied. Perhaps she should be used to Elsa's abrupt departures by now, but she finds that they definitely bother her more now than when they first met.

With an annoyed sigh, she shuffles back to her room and shoots off a quick text to Jack.

- Elsa agreed to go out and meet you this weekend. Coffee shop preferred

The answering text comes surprisingly fast.

-Good. Bean Me Up at 1, Sunday

"Roger that," Anna mutters. As she brushes her teeth and tucks herself into bed, she wonders how this meeting will go down. Will Jack lay eyes on Elsa and just know what she is? Will they gush to each other about their powers the entire time? Will Anna end up being a third wheel whose presence isn't noticed at all?

Alright, so maybe that last thought is a little selfish—after all, Jack probably hasn't been around another ice fae in a while and who the hell knows what Elsa's story is. So if they're able to connect, good for them.

But whatever happens, Anna almost hopes that Elsa isn't human. She would be forced to continue her horrendous attempts at lying and would never be able to let Elsa fully into her life. And Anna knows if she can't tell the truth to Elsa soon, she might just lose her.

A/N: While you may have been expecting a more climactic read, this chapter was a necessary (but hopefully enjoyable) evil. I noticed that I have a pattern of even numbered chapters being a lot mellower than odd numbered ones. So that means the next chapter, which will involve Thanksgiving, is going to be really fun.