CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The next pair of days were mostly uneventful now that Anna and Elsa were no longer bending over backwards for the other girls. Most of Monday was just spent having fun with their kids, playing games rather than doing any set activities. After running around all day, both girls had collapsed in their room and simply cuddled until they fell asleep; too exhausted to do much else.

It was Tuesday evening now and Anna was gazing up at the sunset from her perch near the top of a sturdy pine tree. Her phone was gripped in her hand, the familiar number staring up at her as her finger hovered over the call button. She was torn. Anna had never kept a secret from her father before. She had always been as straightforward and honest with him as he was with her. So the internal conflict between telling him about just how… close she and Elsa were now or not was a heavy lead weight in her heart.

In the end, Anna decided that the conversation was best left for when she was face to face with him. It would only be a few more days until the end of camp, anyway. Instead, she pressed the button and lifted the phone to her ear for the first time since first telling him about Elsa; waiting patiently for him to pick up.

"Hey there, Anna Banana!" came his cheery voice a few seconds later.

"Hi, Papa," Anna greeted back, smiling to herself. Over the last few weeks, she hadn't taken the time to realize how much she missed him. "Did I call at a bad time?"

"No, not at all; just gettin' in the door." There was a grunt, as if he set down something heavy; probably a sack of groceries. "You've been pretty quiet up there. I wondered if I'd even be getting another text before Saturday."

"Sorry, Papa, a lot's been happening since we last talked. What's been up with you the last few weeks? How's Kris?"

"Oh, fine, fine. See him cutting the grass sometimes. Good lad, fine lad. So… do I take it from 'a lot's been happening' that things are going okay with you and Elsie?"

Anna chuckled at her father's obvious impatience. "Everything's been going-" Wonderful? Fantastic? Better than I could've dreamed in all my life? "-Amazing," she finally settled on. She couldn't stop the happy sigh that passed her lips at the word. "She's so amazing, Papa."

"Really?" The surprise was pretty obvious in his tone. "Wow, that's a… big turnaround. She warmed up to you, eh? That's great, honey!"

"Yeah…" Anna smiled a little before she frowned. "It was a bit tough at first. Mama had convinced her that we deserted them and I found out why, Papa. It's because I told Mama I'm gay and… she disowned me as her daughter…"

A long sigh came from the other end of the phone. "Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that. Honestly, I just… hoped she was bigger than this, but who was I kidding? We split for some pretty good reasons."

"She didn't want my 'filth' to rub off on Elsa," Anna mumbled, frowning out at the horizon. "So she cut us out completely. But Elsa knows now and she accepts me — everything about me. It's… it feels so nice to be with her again, but I'm a little scared, Papa… what if Mama finds a way to keep us apart again?

"Now come on, my little daffodil. She's not gonna do that. Or more like… she only can if the two of you let her. Geeze, I'd love to be having this conversation with both of you!" A quick grunt, probably because he was picking something up or putting it down. "I know this isn't a great situation. But you have to know how happy it makes me to hear that you two patched things up!"

Anna leaned back against the trunk. "I'm really happy, too, Papa. Thank you for pushing me into doing this." She bit her lip slightly, thinking. "Hey… Would you help me fill out some things when I get back? I… I think I want to try getting into the same school as Elsa this year!"

At that, he had to laugh a little. "Wow, didn't realise you'd get along as well as all that!"

"I just… don't want to be apart from her anymore," Anna confessed. "I missed her so much, and the thought of separating from her once camp is over is painful. So I thought that if I could get into the same university as her…" She smiled wistfully. "I love her too much to just let the end of camp be 'it', y'know?" She hoped he wouldn't catch the deeper meaning behind her words.

"Anna…" Another little sigh. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry all this had to happen. I've known for a while that you were heartbroken about the family breaking up. But do you really think you need to make life decisions based on where your sister's going? I mean… she's going to be leaving that uni before you do. And either way, I'm sure you can stay in touch."

"B-But Papa…" Anna bit her lip, wondering if it was wise to argue her point over the phone rather than in person. But the feistypants in her reared its head as she said, "I don't want to just 'stay in touch' and only talk to her every once in awhile. I really want to be with her, Papa!"

The man didn't seem that moved. At least, not to change his standpoint; his voice was clearly full of emotion. "Alright, alright, but I think we should discuss it more when you get back. Maybe we can at least plan a trip to check out her school and then figure it out from there. But… I don't want you to think I'm not happy. I really am glad you two are hitting it off again!"

"Okay. Okay, that sounds good." Anna calmed down at that; he was open to the idea. Hope was not lost. "I'm really happy, too… and-" Here she smiled tenderly at the phone, planning her next words carefully. She knew how much he needed to hear these words despite not outright confessing it. As much as her father tried to play it off as no big deal, Anna knew just how badly he missed Elsa. How sometimes he would look at a picture of her and try to hold back tears because of it. "Your snow princess really misses you, too, Papa… she really wants to see you again."

"She said that?" There was a pause, and when he spoke again his voice was clearly tighter. "I'm glad you two could talk. I, um, I think I need to go for now, but I'll be seeing you soon, okay, buttercup?"

"Okay, Papa." Anna smiled to herself. Her father really was a sentimental man, even if he tried to keep her from knowing that. "I love you. See you on Saturday."

"Will do. Love you lots, alright? And tell Elsa the same!"

"Yes, Papa," Anna chuckled, "I'll let her know, and I'm pretty sure she'll say she loves you, too. Bye!"

She hung up the phone before her father could respond, taking a few seconds to continue admiring the view from her perch. She wondered if Elsa's conversation was going as smoothly. As doubtful as it was, Anna couldn't stop feeling at least a little optimistic that, while not smooth, her mother was at least a little more understanding than they had been dreading.

It didn't take long for Anna to touch back to Earth and go searching for her girlfriend. And she found her, sitting in their room and staring at the wall, a little dazed. Her phone was still in her hands, screen off by now. Anna frowned in concern and slowly moved to sit beside her.

"Elsa?" She reached up to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"That… could have gone better, but… oh well." Sighing, she finally seemed to surface from her reverie and cast a wan smile at her sister. "She's very, very upset with Papa. Probably going to call him right now, if she didn't already interrupt your call."

"He did seem in a bit of a rush to hang up but I thought it was because he was embarrassed," Anna confessed, starting to run her fingers through Elsa's hair. "Want to talk about it?"

Shaking her head, she sighed at the gentle feeling. She still seemed tense. Then she finally said, "Mother yelled at me for not informing her of the full situation right away. And she tried to tell me you were 'poison', of course. It was… not a happy conversation."

Anna tried not to let her hurt show. Instead, she reached out to give her older sister a tight hug, placing a soft kiss in the platinum crown. "I'm sorry…"

"You're not poison. God, I can't believe…" Her voice broke a little as she pushed on, "Didn't she even try to talk to you? I did! Why was it so impossible for her to do the same thing?!"

"I don't know," Anna murmured against Elsa's hair, holding her a little tighter, "M-Mama just… doesn't understand." Even to Anna's ears, the excuse was painfully weak. However, the redhead didn't know what else to say about it.

This time, Elsa only took a minute or so of shaky breathing, a few tears leaking past her defenses, before she could pull back and give her sister a gentle kiss. Anna returned the kiss, petting the soft hairs at the back of her neck with a soft sigh.

"It's okay," she finally whispered, scared and upset but having somewhere to look for hope. "I have you, and… and I'm never losing you. Never. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," Anna whispered back, resting her forehead against her sister's and staring lovingly into those bright blue irises. "You have me, Elsa, always. Just like I have you. We're together, no matter what." She planted a soft kiss on Elsa's nose before pulling away. "We should get ready to go to the bonfire," she added, wrapping her arms loosely around Elsa's shoulder. "We can cuddle and have some s'mores. Forget all about this for now, okay?"

Nodding weakly, she finally took a deep, bolstering breath and hugged her back harder. "That sounds great. I'd love to feed you some more."

Anna grinned and rolled her eyes, giving Elsa's cheek a gentle pinch. "That was awful."

"Of course. I got my sense of humour from you." Anna attacked her, and Elsa fended her off with a fit of giggles.

~ o ~

The bonfire was every bit as celebratory as the first one. Moreso, even; many of the campers who had no friends at the start were now getting along with everyone, so things were freer and more casual. All around them, groups of campers and counselors were gathering, chatting and laughing and reminiscing about their camp experiences. Anna listened with only half an ear, perfectly content sitting quietly next to Elsa and taking it all in. Admittedly, she knew she was going to miss this place when it came time for her to leave. Not just because she would have to leave Elsa but because while the experience was somewhat dampened by certain events, she had a lot of fun these past few weeks.

"Okay," Elsa said with a playful little grin as she finally got her s'more assembled. "Open wide…"

Anna beamed back and opened her mouth for the treat. She wasted no time sliding it in past her lips, which was an entirely different feeling now that their relationship had changed. Anna's eyes twinkled mischievously and she could hardly resist pulling the same stunt she did the last time they had a bonfire. She closed her mouth around Elsa's fingers playfully, well aware that they are well concealed from the other girls' sights by the flickering shadows and the flames. Even if they were to glance over. And Elsa could tell that was what she was doing.

"You're so bad," she whispered, but the whisper was so shaky that Elsa clamped her mouth shut right afterward to keep from letting out sounds that would be even more telling. Anna grinned like a Cheshire Cat and gave the fingers in her mouth a few licks, collecting the melted chocolate that stained them, before withdrawing and licking her lips of any of the stray blobs.

"Only for you," she whispered softly, teasingly reaching up to tug on Elsa's bangs. "You, on the other hand, are delicious."

Cheeks pinkening, she said, "I… can't let you eat me here, Anna. You'll have to wait." After all, why shouldn't she give as good as she was getting? "Now… my turn."

Anna bit her lip hard to keep back the flirtatious remark at Elsa's subtle implication. While she was now incredibly impatient to drag her sister back to the cabin, she was willing to indulge Elsa's request as she made her up one of the delicious treats. Besides, despite the burn in her loins, Anna was perfectly content to sit where she was for awhile longer. She was enjoying herself.

It didn't take long for Anna to offer the sweet to her older sister. Leaning inward, she wrapped her lips around the fingers and took in the gooey, warm treat, letting her eyelids fall closed as she hummed her pleasure — only loud enough so that Anna would feel it against her skin, not so that the other campers could possibly hear over their shouting and cavorting. The vibration sent a lance of pure heat straight to Anna's core and she gave Elsa a heated look, her fingers trembling faintly in Elsa's mouth.

"Now who's the bad one?" she growled quietly. "Teasing me like that."

"Both of us, really," she fired back, with a chocolatey grin. Anna really couldn't argue that point so she just gave Elsa's bangs another little tug instead. It was very hard for the redhead to resist kissing the chocolate straight from Elsa's very inviting mouth but she finally managed to pull back before she fell into Elsa's enticing spell.

"Can't argue with that, I suppose," Anna huffed, crossing her arms and smirking instead. "You do realize you are taking care of this later, right, you little minx?"

The grin was positively lascivious. "Counting on it. Maybe I'll cover you in chocolate from nose to toes and lick you clean."

The redhead twitched and bit her lip again even harder to hold back the wave of arousal that threatened to shatter her self-control. It wouldn't do for her to lose herself and get them caught in a situation both of them had only narrowly avoided in the first place. Still, if Elsa - her shy, sweet, adorably nervous about anything sex related Elsa! - kept talking like that… there was no way Anna was going to last much longer.

Instead, Anna laughed nervously, the sound cracking due to her aroused nerves like she's some pre-teen, and tried to shake the image out of her head. Around that time, Elsa also slowly ducked her head down between her shoulders.

"Wow. I'm… did that just come out of me?!"

"Yes it did, and if you keep talking like that, I may just have to punish you later for being naughty." Anna clapped a hand over her mouth and blushed darkly at the unexpected remark that left her mouth. She had fully intended to say something to get the conversation back into something more light-hearted...

"I…" Pushing a hand to her forehead, she glanced around urgently before whispering, "Why the hell did that make me tingle?"

"T-Tingle? As in… are you getting turned on?" Anna asked, just as quiet. All the blonde did in response was shush her, covering her face with both hands. An image of Elsa whimpering for more as Anna 'punished' her flashed across her subconscious and Anna bit back the mewl that threatened to escape at the insane thought. She hid it by busying herself making another s'more.

But she became distracted from completing it by a very quiet scuffle nearby. Seemed Belle was determined to pull Aurora and Meg over to where they were sitting. Snow was trailing after them, looking resigned and a little nervous, but she wasn't resisting. Anna blinked in confusion; previous arousal forgotten. What was this about?

Soon enough, all four girls were seated across from them. Aurora fidgeted, looking nervous rather than angry or upset. Meg looked altogether indifferent, her violet eyes narrowed at nothing in particular. Anna cleared her throat in the hopes to cut the tension in the air.

"What can we do for you?" she asked, not even bothering to keep the slight wariness out of her tone.

Aurora let out a sigh. "We're here to….apologise."

"Oh?" Elsa said, clearing her throat to try and abate the lingering arousal. "Apologise?"

"Go on," Belle grunted out of the corner of her mouth.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Aurora let out another sigh before she opened them again and looked first at Anna, then to Elsa. "I'm sorry… for the way we've treated you," she managed to get out. "I'm sorry for blackmailing you… and for all the stupid things we made you do for us."

Anna tilted her head as she listened though her eyebrow was slightly furrowed. It was Belle who finally continued for them, "And for being bigots. I'm still a little… yeah, I'm not sure about homosexuality, with everybody telling us different things about how it is or isn't alright, but I definitely know it's not Jesus-like to use it the way we did."

"It was wrong," Aurora confessed, running a hand through her long hair. "Despite the church's stance. We shouldn't have done what we did and we're sorry for it. Aren't we, girls?" She looked towards Meg and Snow.

"I could have told you that," Meg grunted harshly. "I mean, I for one have never had that much of a problem with gays. Like, as long as girls don't hit on me, we're cool. Plus, the guys are usually wicked amazing with hair, helping me pick out clothes…"

"You didn't say anything like this when we brought the idea up with you!" Aurora said sharply back. Meg only shrugged helplessly.

Anna rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "What you guys did was really harsh and completely unnecessary…" She crossed her arms. "Gay or not, we're still human and we still live in God's kingdom and, more or less, we abide by His rules. Are you saying 'sorry' to earn our forgiveness? Or His?"

"Yours," Belle put in before the others could speak up. "I've already been praying about this a lot, but… it's not enough to just say 'sorry' to Him when it's someone here on Earth we've hurt. So… I'm sorry, too."

"And me," Meg said, though she was still glaring at Aurora.

Anna looked to her sister, her teal eyes soft and concerned. "What do you think, Els? They hurt you more than they hurt me."

"Not sure." Elsa was chewing her lip, looking between the other girls. Finally, she leaned in a bit more. "How about… I'll accept it from all of you, if Aurora tells us the full story on what happened when she was younger to make her so… homophobic. No glossing over anything. And I promise, it goes no further than us."

"That's not fair," Aurora bristled, instinctively slipping back into her defensive habit as Meg and Snow turned curious gazes to her. "I didn't force you to tell us anything like that! Besides, I already told you!"

The situation was getting dicey again. Anna looped her arm with Elsa's, though she made sure to keep a more platonic distance between their bodies, despite the desperate yearning to press closer. While Anna was a little more willing to trust that the girls wouldn't pull anything stupid, there was no guarantee and it would be wiser to be more safe than sorry. Instead, she peered at Elsa curiously to see what she would say.

"Don't forget, we're 'worse' than you since it's… still going on for us," Elsa said, edging around the subject. "So even if there's a lot more to the story than you let on, we're certainly not going to pass judgment. And it's the last night of camp. What's the harm? Seriously, I think it'll be good for you to get it off your chest. Might even make sense of why you're so… upset about Anna and me."

Belle was silent, of course, since she was present for the last conversation. Meg squinted over at Aurora and piped up, "Alright, now I'm mad curious. Dish!"

Aurora looked like she wanted to protest but she simply grunted, "Where should I start, then?"

"Just tell us what happened to start it all, and what was going through your head," Elsa prompted. Anna noticed she was speaking to her almost the way she would have spoken to the campers; gently encouraging. The notion that her sister would make a great mom flashed through her brain, and she had to resist the temptation to smile.

Aurora gazed quietly at the flames of the bonfire for a few minutes, obviously to collect her thoughts. "I… I told my parents that I thought Mel, this tall, cool girl in my class with killer cheekbones, was really cute when I was fifteen," she began hesitantly. "I- I said I would date her. I don't know why that came out, and I wasn't serious about that, but it slipped out. My parents hit the ceiling."

Anna gazed at Aurora sympathetically, her heart constricting in her chest as she thought of her own mother. Meanwhile, Elsa was saying, "I think that wasn't fair of them to hold you to it when you were only fifteen."

"Really," Belle put in softly, patting Aurora's arm. The rest of her "squad" looked too surprised by this admission to respond right away. "I mean… did you mean it? Or were you just like, speaking hypothetically? Like, saying she's date-worthy?"

"I don't even remember," Aurora answered, though the pink in her cheeks gave her away. "I think I meant that I would if I was a boy, but at the time I said it as a joke. But my father… he's the pastor of my hometown and he can be pretty strict about things like that. Even making comments like that about boys is enough to warrant one of his lectures." Aurora paused briefly. "He made me do every single chore in the house and I would have to sit and listen to one of his lectures for two hours before bed for months. I… I really got off easy."

Out the side of her mouth, Elsa muttered, "I can relate. My mother is highly involved in the church, as well. Though that's probably true for a lot of our campers and counselors."

"I'm sorry that your Dad is like that," Anna spoke up softly. "It's sad that he can't trust your word that you were kidding, but… even if you weren't, it's really okay to date other girls. It's not a bad thing, or even a 'sinful' thing. It's the same as dating a boy. If you care for her, if you love her… it's not wrong."

"I guess," Belle put in, voice skeptical. But she wasn't arguing with Anna and Elsa, either.

"Like I said, I already figured being gay isn't any of my business." Meg sat down next to Aurora and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "You wanna be a muff-diver? Be my guest." Anna didn't stop herself from face palming at Meg's blunt statement, especially when she saw Aurora stiffen in discomfort.

"I am not that!" she hissed at the taller brunette, glaring at her. "And keep your voice down! There are children present!"

"So? Kids can be gay, too. Like, I can remember a girl in second grade really wanted to kiss me. What's the big deal?"

"Really?" Elsa asked Meg in some surprise. "I can't remember anything like that… well, I mean…" But she trailed off, sparing a brief glance at Anna. There wasn't any way they could fully talk about that in the open without revealing they were sisters and gay for each other.

"That sure is true," Anna chuckled softly. "I remember how this girl named Kida used to follow my sister around like a puppy and we used to argue for her attention all the time when we were really little." She laughed to herself at the memory. She had fond memories of those times despite how furiously jealous she had been of the white haired girl at the time. "I'm pretty sure Kida had a crush on her."

"Really? I don't remember…" Elsa just barely caught herself. Again. "I don't, um, remember you telling me about that."

But Meg saved her from being focused on too much. "Exactly, see? Happens all the time. The only reason I didn't kiss her was because she took my Polly Pocket the week before and bitch thought I would forget. But nope! I hold grudges."

Aurora couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the image. "Regardless, Meg, that language still isn't appropriate." She scolded though her tone was much lighter than before. She sighed, "I honestly don't know what to think anymore. Mel was so pretty… and really strong; she was in track and field, and cheerleading. She's doing some modelling now, I think. Back then, I thought I just admired her a lot, and didn't know why I would joke about being gay for her. But… well, I don't know."

That got Elsa thinking. As she tapped her chin, she finally said, "Well… in my opinion, you probably have some lesbian leanings. If I could have been suppressing my interest in women from birth until this year, then it's at least theoretically possible that you are, as well. Not that I'm saying you do for sure, of course, or that you have to start dating women because of them."

Anna nodded. "It's okay if you don't know. Heck, even I didn't really think it was possible for me to be anything but straight until I was thirteen. And there are people out there who haven't realized until they are well into their forties."

"Granny lesbians," Meg laughed.

Aurora gave the pair a look before letting out a soft exhale through her nose. She closed her eyes. "Thanks, you two," she said softly. "I… I think I'm going to sit and contemplate for awhile. Hopefully we'll get a chance to speak again before we leave tomorrow." She gave Anna and Elsa a smile. "Have a good night, ladies," she said before she began to walk off, arms around herself and looking deep in thought.

"Poor Aurora," Belle said in a soft voice as she got up to follow her. Glancing back at Elsa, she remarked, "I think it was a little mean to tell her she might be gay, right after she admits she liked a girl once… but on the other hand, probably was going to come out sooner or later."

"Or she would," Meg snorted.

Anna rolled her eyes. "We weren't trying to be mean. We were acknowledging the possibility and trying to tell her it's okay regardless." She gripped Elsa's arm a little tighter. "She'll be fine, Belle. Trust me."

Not that Belle seemed all that comforted. She shrugged helplessly at the others as she trailed off after Aurora.

"Don't sweat it," Meg told them as she stood, brushing off her own butt. "I'm sure tomorrow, she'll be back to bossing everybody around in the nicest way possible. But hey, you guys tried your best."

"We did," Elsa sighed as she put another marshmallow on her skewer. "At least she's not trying to tell us we're 'sinners' anymore; that's… a relief."

"Yeah," Anna agreed with her sister, regarding her in concern. "Thanks for the help, Meg. We appreciate it." Meg and Snow left, but not before Meg waggled her eyebrows at the two "lovebirds". Anna rolled her eyes again, shaking her head. "Gosh, those girls sure are… unique, huh, Snowflake?" She smiled tenderly at Elsa. "You doing okay?"

The blonde had to hum a little "Hm?" as she focused on Anna's words. Then she smiled. "Fine, fine. A little worried about Aurora, I guess, but… other than that, I'm having a great time."

"I'm glad." Anna leaned forward and gave Elsa a brief kiss on the lips, closing her eyes and enjoying it while it lasted before sitting back down with a grin. "Okay, whose turn is it to make the next s'more?"

A very flushed Elsa whispered, "I'm going to feed you one. Doesn't matter whose turn it is." She held up the marshmallow she had already skewered, grinning across at her sister. Anna grinned and nodded eagerly, her braids bouncing. She wrapped her arms tightly around her sister, giving her a loving squeeze. She no longer worried about the other girls doing anything, and no one was paying them any attention anyway.

She nuzzled Elsa's cheek and murmured quietly in her ear, "So… before we were interrupted, we were talking about how much of a tease you are and what I'm going to do about it…"

The smirk Elsa gave her as she put the marshmallow back into the fire promised things. "Were we? Hmm, I don't seem to remember…"

"Once that marshmallow is finished, we'll go back to the cabin so I can refresh your memory. I do believe you were getting tingly over me punishing you."

The marshmallow was definitely finished sooner rather than later; it fell off the skewer when Elsa shivered. They both had a good laugh about that.

To Be Continued…