NOTES: So this is the last chapter before the epilogue! Some of you will be sad about that, some will just be glad this loooong fanfic is finally at its close. But yeah, stay tuned for the epilogue, and I hope you all find it satisfying and/or entertaining!

ALSO, this is going to be the first of 8 solid days of Hanukkah updates! How, you may ask? Well, I had another fic I've been tinkering with that is 6 chapters long. Adding this chapter, and a chapter of Precious Little Knives, that's 8 little Hanukkah presents for everyone! Later this month, I'll also be posting something on the first day of Yule and also on Christmas. This is my favourite time of year, after all!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The final goodbye speech and prayer were at noon at next day. With how little sleep she and Elsa got, Anna was practically a zombie, zoning in and out while Father Frollo's monotone voice rambled on about community building and God and how happy he was to to have seen another group of faces come to the camp to grow. Despite the cold and severe look on his face when he spoke. The ceremony went on for a good hour and it was only thanks to the occasional sharp jab to the ribs from Elsa's elbow that Anna even kept awake through it.

The exhaustion only helped the feeling of sadness dampen her mood. Despite everything, she had a great time and it was horrible that she had to leave not only her sister, but also her new friends behind, as well.

"Oh, don't be so glum," Elsa tried to tell her as they made their way slowly back to the cabins, even though she herself didn't look entirely happy. But at least she was smiling, unlike Anna. "Now we will share a lifetime of the fondest memories."

Anna regarded her sister briefly before humoring her with a small smile back. "You're right." She bumped Elsa playfully with her hip. "So many very fond memories. I'm just a little sad that it has to end…"

"I know. But… well, think of it another way. This is the beginning of everything else." Her eyes held a million secrets, and they were all meant for her sister alone. Anna couldn't keep the grin from making its way onto her face before she placed a chaste kiss on Elsa's cheek.

"Yes, it is. And hopefully, you and I will be together again in a few months, and then I'm never leaving your side ever again." She laughed softly. "Does that make me sound clingy?"

Elsa made sure to kiss Anna's cheek back before she whispered, "Yes." They both shared a laugh this time. "But it's alright. I think after being completely separated for five years, you have the right to cling for a bit."

"Good." Anna reached out to loop their arms together and pressed close to her older sister's side. "Because I don't ever intend to leave this spot!" She gave a resolute nod before giving Elsa a coy smirk and a raised brow. "Want to try for a quickie before we go? As a parting gift?"

There was a low rumble from Elsa that definitely sounded like it would lead to another "Yes". However, all she had time to do was nuzzle Anna's neck and hum before they heard a knock at the door. So instead, she called out, "Who is it?"

"Me!" said Rapunzel as she creaked the door open. Though Anna and Elsa broke apart, it had been very obvious what they were doing just before they did, and their friend's reaction showed. She swallowed hard and ducked her head down between her shoulders. "O-oh, I- sorry, I thought- I didn't m-mean…"

"It's fine, Punzie!" Anna rushed to say before her friend ran off completely. If this was her last chance to see her friend, she was determined to take the bull by the horns. "Come on in, what's up? Can we get you anything? Juice, water… money?"

Her head shook, and she looked like she wanted to say more but didn't. After a moment, Elsa prompted her, "Would you like to come in so we aren't overheard? It might be less… uncomfortable for you." She did, pressing back against the door to shut it. "There. Now, what's… wrong? Or is nothing wrong?"

"Not really, but, I… well, I thought I'd come see you off."

Anna smiled and sat down on her bed, gesturing to the only chair in the room for Rapunzel to sit. "Thanks, Punzie," she said sincerely. "How are you getting home? Someone coming to get you?"

"Uh-huh. My mom. B-but before I left…" She took a deep breath in, letting it out very slowly. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

The sisters exchanged an uncertain glance. "Um… okay," Elsa eventually said. "Sorry for what?"

"Being upset, and weird about this. Like… okay, I still don't think it's right, but I also see how much you two love each other. And that's so important! And the Bible tells us not to judge, to leave that up to Him, right? S-so I really shouldn't be… mad, or scared, or whatever it was I was feeling!" She took a couple more breaths, fingers fidgeting in front of her stomach. "Anyway, sorry for being so weird. What you two do alone is n-none of my business."

Anna bit her lip, unsure exactly what to say. While her heart soared at Rapunzel's apology and the sting of her initial rejection eased, it was clear by Rapunzel's demeanor and the way she flinched and her voice wavered that she still wasn't comfortable around the sisters anymore. She wanted to hug the brunette, because Rapunzel really had become such a dear friend to her over the past few weeks, but that probably wouldn't go over very well.

"Thank you so much for the apology, Punzie… I- I appreciate it and…" She paused her and closed her eyes. "I- I know that… you probably don't really want it, but I'd like to give you my phone number. So we can keep in touch if you want? Because I really care about you and I would love to talk to you and hear you ramble about Flynn and your life and-" She knew she was spinning out of control, but she found herself unable to stop. A few tears spilled over. "And I th-think you're an amazing person and I would still love to be your friend and-"

She stuttered to a halt when a gentle hand rested on her shoulder. "Anna," Elsa whispered, squeezing gently. Then she turned to the other girl. "She'd like to keep in contact. You could get her number and then later decide what to do with it."

A little squeaked "oh!" popped out of her mouth before she smiled. "S-sure! I'm just surprised you'd want to after…" Shrugging off her own nerves, she reached into her pocket for her phone. "Well, hey, this has probably been a really eye-opening camp for all of us! Guess we should just let go and let God, right?"

The redhead grinned weakly as she took Rapunzel's phone, typing in her number before handing it back and pulling Rapunzel into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're not mad!" After a brief moment, she hugged back with a huge sigh of relief. They stayed like that for nearly a minute before Anna finally pulled away.

"We're okay then?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I mean, it's still gonna be pretty crazy for me to think about… y'know, you two, but I'm done letting that stop me from being friends with you. Because I know in my soul that you're a blessing, Anna. Really." Then she turned to Elsa and awkwardly added, "A-and you, too! Of course!"

"It's fine," she chuckled, waving her hand back and forth. "I'm aware that you forged a bond with her first and we haven't spoken much."

Anna giggled, "I'm not so sure about your bond with Punzie being any weaker than mine though, Mommy." She chanced a playful tease before slinging her arms around both girls. Anna was over the moon with warmth and delight and her smile reflected that with how widely it was spread. Of course, Punz ducked her head and let out a long, mortified groan, collapsing against the two of them.

"Please don't tell anybody? Geeze Louise, I don't even know why I said that…"

"Maybe Mommy will have you massage her feet again soon," Elsa teased, prompting a deeper groan. Anna giggled and squeezed both women.

"We should all have a Skype night or something, play some Uno or poker again. You can even invite Flynn!" the redhead suggested. "I'd love to meet him."

That got her to smile again, even though her cheeks were still glowing with embarrassment. "Okay! I've never done that online, but it sounds neat!" Anna quickly pulled away from the two so she could rummage about for a scrap of paper and a pen. It took her a few minutes but it wasn't long before she was handing off her email address and her phone number to the brunette. She also put Elsa's number on there for good measure.

"Okay, so if you find someone on Skype named Feisty Pants- Lover of Sandwiches, that's me. My friend Kristoff changed it on me and I never got around to changing it back."

"Um, cool," she half-laughed, looking down at it. "And… thanks for like, giving me time to kind of separate 'sin from sinner', as we keep saying around here. This just wasn't anything I expected to, y'know… have to process while at camp. Or at all. But that's on me, not you two."

Anna pulled her into another hug. "Thank you for understanding, Rapunzel," she murmured. "I know it must have been hard but I'm so happy that you can look past the 'we're terrible people who are sinning' bit and just… understand that me and Elsa are in love."

"Well, I mean… if you're going to be like that, I guess at least you're not just doing it for kicks!" Her laughter was a little unhinged but at least she was laughing. Elsa patted her shoulder as they hugged, hoping to add to the warmth of the moment. When she did pull back, she sighed and said, "Well… I guess we better get going. Camp's over! Again…"

Anna slumped and gave her older sister a pout, but she eventually pulled away from her friend and stepped back to stand at Elsa's side. "Are you all packed up and ready to go?" she asked Rapunzel.

"Yep! Tried to make sure I was before I came here." Then she hugged her new friends. Again. "Talk to you soon?"

"Of course," Elsa promised, embracing her back.

"If you want, call me sometime next week," Anna offered. "Let me know what's up."

"That'd be super awesome!" Skipping back out the door, she called over shoulder, "Bye, Anna, bye, Elsa!"

After waving to her retreating form, Elsa shook her head and chuckled. "At least she didn't call me 'mommy' again while shouting it that way."

"I think you would have secretly loved it if she did," Anna teased her sister, leaning in and planting a few soft kisses in Elsa's neck. "Or maybe I should say that next time we're doing the naughties together." she gave Elsa a flirtatious grin. "What do you think, mommy?"

But the way Elsa's lip curled made it clear that was not something she was interested in. However, she was diplomatic enough to say, "Well… if you want to, I suppose it would be alright. Just don't start asking for me to change your diaper or anything."

Anna chuckled softly and kissed Elsa's lips lightly. "Never change, Sis," she hummed cheerfully. "I love you so much and I never want you to change." Filled with warmth and mirth towards the woman in her arms, Anna couldn't resist the urge to kiss her again… and again. And Elsa didn't try to resist, either.

Not long afterward, they were packed and ready to go. Instead of immediately sweeping off to the other campers, they spent a moment or two on the bed, simply lying in each other's arms. The kisses and heat, exploring bodies, had become less important than pure closeness in these final moments.

"I wish we didn't have to part ways at all," Elsa finally whispered, voice tight. Anna snuggled closer and sighed, closing her eyes and taking in Elsa's everything. Her scent filled the redhead with a sense of calmness that soothed the dark cloud of their inevitable separation looming over their heads.

"Me either," she murmured. "But it won't be forever and we'll still be able to call and Skype." Even as she said it, she gripped Elsa a little tighter, and she hugged back with equal enthusiasm. This wasn't going to be easy, but they could survive it.

Then it was time to meet their parents. The dreaded moment.

It was Anna who reluctantly pulled away first, giving Elsa a kiss on the cheek before getting up. "Papa said he'll be here around three… We should get going." A quick glance at her watch confirmed that she had fifteen minutes to get her and her belongings to the parking lot.

"Yeah." That was all Elsa said; there wasn't much more to say. But once they got to the door, she laid her hand upon Anna's to delay her. "Sister?"

"Yeah?" Anna rested her own hand gently over top of Elsa's and turned her head towards her. The blonde fidgeted for a moment, then shrugged and leaned over to kiss her nose.

"Just wanted one more moment with you. To kiss you goodbye before we can't." Anna beamed.

"One more proper kiss then?" she asked. "For the road?"

Elsa didn't seem to have any qualms. Her hands immediately lifted to cup either side of Anna's face, taking her lips with reckless abandon. Anna kissed back just as eagerly, letting out a little moan before slipping her tongue into Elsa's mouth. Anna never wanted it to end. And neither did Elsa, if the echoing moan was any indication. But eventually, she did draw back, breathless as she sniffled to stem the tears that had begun to fall somewhere during their moment.

"It's alright. We… we'll be fine. And I'll come visit you soon!"

Anna bit her lip, her own tears falling as she reached up to gently wipe her older sister's away. She reached out and pulled her into another hug. "We'll be fine," she echoed, choking up. Elsa patted her on the back as they embraced, nuzzling into her neck. Anna laughed softly through the tears. "We're never going to leave at this rate," she pointed out, hugging Elsa tighter. "Can't you just...come with us?" Despite knowing the answer, Anna couldn't keep the tiny sliver of hope from creeping into her voice.

"Afraid not," she told her gently. "I… have to go home and face the music. But depending on how that goes, you may see me before the summer has truly ended."

"Mom wouldn't disown you," Anna pointed out. "She gave up on me because I've been living with Dad. She'll be mad about you lying about me and probably be in denial and try to convince you that it's just my bad influence rubbing off on you." Immediately, a huge sigh came from Elsa's mouth, and she looked away. Then she turned back and cupped Anna's cheek.

"She won't fool me twice, Anna. Don't worry."

"I know." Anna gripped the hand on her cheek and caressed it with her thumb, smiling at Elsa. "We're together forever now." She turned her head to plant a soft kiss on Elsa's palm before pulling away again. "Come on, we really have to go now. At this point, I'm pretty sure we'll just stay here forever if we don't leave now."

"Would that really be so bad?" But before Anna could answer, she turned their hands so they both opened the door together.

It didn't take terribly long for them to trek across the campgrounds to the parking lot, even with their luggage in tow. A few late-leaving campers waved, as well as some of the counselors. Even Belle, whom had seemed standoffish at the best of times. Anna waved back at all of them, swinging her and Elsa's connected hands gently with every step they took. Despite being the one to push them into leaving the cabin, Anna still wasn't in much of a rush to part ways.

"Miss Anna! Miss Elsa!" Olaf bounced up and down excitedly, waving his arm from where he was standing next to Mark and who Anna presumed were their parents. The father especially looked exactly like the two boys but the mother was the one who was giving them Olaf's signature earnest, near-goofy grin. "Thank you so much for the great summer!"

"Of course," Elsa chuckled gently immediately, waving animatedly from where they stood. "See you next year!"

"See you next year! Make good choices!" Olaf answered back happily before he and Mark were led away by their suddenly sheepish father.

The parting sentiment made Anna burst into giggles. "I'm going to miss that kid."

"Yeah, he is… truly unique." Then she turned to look around again, and frozen in her tracks. "Oh."

There was their father. Clearly, Elsa had not been mentally prepared to run into him, despite how long she had to get used to the idea. He looked much the same, despite all the years apart. Anna forgot all about their connected hands as she excitedly dashed forward, dragging Elsa behind her.

"Papa!" she cheered, "I missed you!"

"There's my Anna Banana!" he said first, sweeping her into a hug. Though his eyes were mostly pointed at Elsa. That was understandable; the prodigal daughter was definitely the uncommon sight. "And you brought a friend! Who might this tall, pretty blonde be?"

Anna pulled away from him and gently nudged Elsa forward, grinning at the two of them. "I'd like to reintroduce you to your tall, pretty daughter!"

Elsa looked rather shy about it, glancing between the two of them. Edgar looked briefly stunned before he grinned broadly, his eyes misting over. "You've gotten so big, my little Snow Princess. And so beautiful, too; I hardly recognized you." There was a brief moment of hesitation before the tall man opened his arms for Elsa. "I may be old and crazy, but… mind giving your old man a hug?"

That request was more than enough. Eyes already watering, she rushed forward and threw her arms around his middle, squeezing tightly and shivering with the effort of suppressing her sobs. One of his hands reached up to cradle her head close against his shoulder, rocking her very slightly and whispering gentle words of comfort. A few campers and counselors glanced their way, but most of them seemed not to pay much mind to the tearful reunion. Anna watched the pair, feeling warmth at seeing her sister and father finally reunited after so many years.

"I can't believe it's really been so long," Elsa whispered so softly that it almost couldn't be heard. "Dad…"

"I missed you, Elsa." Edgar held her a little tighter and rubbed her back soothingly. "Gosh, it's so good to see you. How have you been, Princess? Keeping out of trouble?"

"Mostly," she conceded. Her eyes flicked very briefly over toward her sister, but didn't linger there. "I'm… very happy that I got to see Anna again. That we could talk; I'm so glad I'm not left guessing why I never heard from her anymore."

Edgar frowned deeply. "I'm so sorry. Had I known what your mother was doing, I would've intervened. She has no right keeping you two away from one another." He gave Elsa a tight squeeze and sighed heavily. "I thought she was better than that."

"So did I," she whispered back, relaxing into the embrace at last. "Seriously, I would never have expected… a-and I didn't believe Anna at first, and now I feel so guilty about that. And angry with Mama, but I don't want to be angry with her!"

Edgar ran his fingers through his elder daughter's hair, as though hoping the action would help soothe Elsa's anger. He stayed quiet for a few minutes and contemplated what to say next. "You have every right to be angry," he murmured finally, laying a kiss on her forehead, "so long as you know to let go of that anger and forgive your mother when you are ready to do so. Isn't that what I taught you true Christianity is about? Love and forgiveness?"

Anna fidgeted herself when she heard her father's advice. It was the same thing he told her when Hans first broke her heart all those years ago and while the pain their mother had caused was worse in comparison to that, the redhead knew deep down that she should do the same for her.

"Alright," her sister promised him readily, nodding against his shoulder. Finally, she sniffled and stood back, wiping at her eyes. "I'll try. And… I'm going to work on it on my drive home. Might call you two to keep me company; I have a car charger and a Bluetooth earpiece, I could probably talk all the way home…"

Edgar grinned. "There you go, that's a wonderful idea. I'm sure you both have loads of stories to share with me and nothing would make this old man happier than to hear them while driving a long six hours." He spared a playful nod at his other daughter. "You can help keep this one busy while I drive, too. She's a bit of a backseat driver and it gets a little irritating."

"You drive worse than I do," Anna commented with a roll of her eyes. "If i didn't, you'd have rolled us ages ago."

"Hey! I got here safely all on my own and only started drifting twice!" their father said, sounding mockingly appalled. Elsa chuckled, but it was the self-conscious chuckle of someone who was not quite sure of whether or not they were allowed to laugh on that occasion.

"We should be going," Anna pointed out as she stepped towards her father and her sister, smiling affectionately as she pulled them both into a crushing group hug. "Otherwise, I think the administers are going to force us to stay and help with the closing cleanup." Despite Edgar's grunt of agreement, none of the family parted. Anna placed a soft kiss on Elsa's cheek, lingering there just long enough to edge on being more than sisterly, before pulling away. "See you later, okay, Snowflake?"

"Of course," she breathed, voice full of emotion. She hugged Anna again, but kept it far shorter than the hugs that they had enjoyed within the cabin. Then she tore herself away, backing toward her own car. "Very soon. And I'll call you!"

Anna found herself struggling to keep herself from dashing towards Elsa's car after her as a lump in her throat made it hard for her to breathe and tears sprang into her eyes. Instead, she reached for her father's hand and gave it a hard squeeze to keep herself still. "Y-you better!" she managed to say, thankfully without too much difficulty. "I-I love you, sis!"

And she was out of there. Once, before pulling out of the parking lot entirely, Elsa stopped and waved out the window to both of them, tears clearly visible along her cheeks. Then she was gone.

"Alright, Anna Banana," her father sighed, clapping her on the shoulder. His eyes were clearly a bit misty, as well. "What do you say we, uh… we find a McD's or something on the way home, eh? Get a sundae or something to celebrate heading home."

Anna nodded and gave her father one more hug. "I'm going to miss her, Papa," she mumbled into his shirt.

"I know, honey. I know." Strong arm still around her, he guided his daughter toward the car.

It wasn't until they were a little further down the road, sitting in the car with their ice cream, that she began a long conversation with "Dad, I have something to tell you…" And it was not an easy one, but Edgar Saunders was patient, and listened as best he could. It was all she could hope for.

To Be Concluded…