Day Six – Friday

I whistled to myself as I wiped down the tables. This was a good day for me. Seeing Elsa last night had put me in the sort of good mood that you only ever hear of in stories. The way she had smiled at me had almost stopped my heart and I'm pretty sure that hers stuttered when I smiled back. Sure, she'd panicked at the beginning, but I was definitely making progress!

Of course, I wasn't entirely sure what I was progressing towards. Asking her out on a date? Ha. Elsa was way out of my league, and I knew it, but that didn't stop me daydreaming of quiet hours spent in a café or bookshop, talking about nothing in particular and everything important.

I snorted at myself as I went back into the kitchen to collect my mop and bucket, knowing that I was kidding myself. I'd seen her apartment. Sure, she shared it with Anna and Olaf, but it was easily twice the size of mine, if not more. She was studying at university, whereas I was a failure, working at a café just to keep myself afloat, literally surviving from week to week.

I stopped as I heard a familiar voice from behind me. "Olaf?" Elsa called. I turned. "Oh! Taelor, have you seen Olaf?" Elsa asked, running a hand through her hair, and looking frazzled. "I swear I turned around for five minutes, and then he wandered off, and I'm going to be late back to work. I've only got a little while to get him back home, and Anna's there – she's ill – so she can help with his homework, but now he's gone – "

I held up my hands to stop the flow of words, frantically digging in my pocket for my phone. "You're picking him up, right?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes, but – "

"Then he's got to be here. I'll take him to yours after work and help him with his homework. He's only nine, right? It'll be easy." She paused, torn between conflicting duties. I could almost feel them pulling her apart.

"You're sure?" she asked. I nodded.

"I've borrowed Jon's car for the day and he can't have gone far. Don't worry. He'll be fine."

"Okay." She turned and rushed to the door. "I should be back by eight," she called, "but Anna's at home, and – "

"Don't worry! We'll manage. You need to get to work!" She nodded again and rushed out.

I grinned and sauntered through the kitchen, mop over my shoulder, whistling to myself as I went. Yep, definitely a good day today.

Day Seven – Saturday 3:30am

I jolted awake, a scream stuck in my throat. I sat up, my hands clawing at the sheets, desperately trying to find enough air. Just a dream, I told myself. It was only a dream. The screaming panic that was spreading ice across my room wasn't helped when I heard a distinctive knock on the door.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked worriedly, through my door. I took a deep breath, willing the panic away. "Elsa?" I could hear the fear in her voice now. Answer her you idiot!

"I – I'm okay," I stuttered, taking another breath. I could hear Anna's sigh of relief from the other side of the door. "You can come in," I added, seeing that the ice had mostly melted.

That was the one thing that I was strictest about. Anna could spend as much money as she wanted (within reason), could go to various parties held by people I didn't know (as long as she didn't stay too late, and promised to be sensible), but she couldn't ever come into my room when I didn't have control of my ice.

The door handle turned and Anna peered through the door sleepily. "You okay?" she asked again.

"Yes. I just..." I sighed, running a hand through my hair, "had a bad dream." She nodded, coming and sitting on the end of my bed.

"What about?" I bit my lip and turned away slightly, all the answer that she needed. "Oh."

You see, I had one other rule – only ever the truth about something that matters. Anna had negotiated that to include my nightmares/worries/fear of my power, and she knew that I would never lie to her about that, but that didn't mean that I wanted to tell her, either.

She moved closer and took my hand. "Freezing me again?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." My reply was practically a whisper. Anna said nothing, only held my hand tighter. She didn't need to say anything.

She'd forgiven me for freezing her a long time ago, as well as forgiving me for the...incident when we were children, whilst being horrified and guilty at everything I had done to keep her safe, but she knew that I hadn't forgiven myself yet. Needless to say, Anna didn't understand that, but whenever she said that I would counter by asking if she had forgiven herself for Hans, who had got me arrested for a whole night and half of the next day, leaving Anna to try and get me out, with the help of Kristoff, whilst in the process of freezing solid. Then she would fall silent and we wouldn't mention the issue until my next nightmare.

I sighed and shook my head to clear away the dark memories. No point inviting the nightmares. I smiled at her. "I'm okay, Anna," I said quietly, squeezing her hand. "You ought to get back to bed."

"Are you sure that you'll be fine?" she asked, reluctantly getting up. I smiled, waving away her worries.

"Of course I will be," I replied. "It's only a nightmare. They don't have such a hold over me any more." Anna smiled.

"Good," she said, giving me a hug and skipping out of the room.

As soon as she was gone my smile slipped from my face, and I let the ice steal across my room again. I took a shaky breath. I hadn't technically lied to her... I paused and checked what I had said. No, I hadn't lied to her.

I would be fine, I just wasn't right now.

It had been just a nightmare, but that didn't mean that it didn't affect me.

True, they didn't leave me a shivering wreck as they had in the thirteen years when we had been separated, but that didn't mean that I could just shrug them off.

I took a shuddering breath, listening intently for the click of Anna's door closing. As soon as I was reasonably sure that she was asleep then I could slip out and start doing some research for class, never mind the fact that I had only got it the day before and it wasn't due in for another week and it was two in the morning.

It would take my mind off of my dream, and right now I really needed to forget the sight of Anna freezing in front of me, the look of betrayal on her face at my 21st birthday when my powers were revealed, and the condemnations of my parents. Of course, my parents had loved me very much, and had never (to my knowledge) called me a murderer or a monster, but then nightmares never follow the lines of reason.

I sighed and eased out of bed. Time to go and lose myself in work, as I had so many times before. Aside from telling myself to 'conceal, not feel', it was the only thing that suffocated the dark thoughts that still lurked constantly, just waiting for one moment when my guard was down to bombard me with doubts and fears.

I gently eased open the door, and caught sight of Olaf's homework on the kitchen table. I had been honestly astonished when I had come home to find it completed. I frowned, thinking back on it. Recently something about Taelor had been irritating me. I shrugged. I hadn't known him all that long, really, so it wasn't surprising that I didn't know anything about him, even if he –

I frowned. Anna had mentioned him at dinner yesterday, after he had gone. In fact, our conversation had pretty much revolved around him. Olaf practically hero worshipped him, and Kristoff was impressed by him. Anna was still intending to make us a couple and had been reading far more into his actions than what was actually there.

Even if he did understand me really well, and had somehow managed to invade every corner of my life – which was actually really strange now I thought about it. I had only known him for about a week, and I already thought that he understood me really well? My slight unease morphed into dread. He couldn't know, could he? I shook my head. No, there was no way that he could know.

I sat down at my computer. Time to get my dream, and thoughts of Taelor, out of my head.

I grinned, flipping another pancake in the frying pan. Life was looking good. I'd spent an hour and a half at Elsa's last night and how shocked she had looked when Olaf had presented her with his completed homework had been truly amazing, and today was Saturday, so Arendelle café closed at four and I had band practice until eight (I play guitar). Yes, today was another good day.

I slid the last pancake onto the plate, waved at one of the waiters and grinned. 3: 45. No more cooking today. No, today was all music, especially because Jon had lent me his car again. Perhaps I could escape fifteen minutes early–

I frowned and looked at my pocket. I was sure I'd put my keys there. I checked my other pockets. Oh dear. Jon is going to kill me. I wandered through the kitchen, keeping an eye on every surface in an attempt to find my keys.

My head snapped around as I detected Elsa's thoughts – she was upset about something. A nightmare? I frowned and walked towards her, not knowing exactly what I could do to comfort her, but determined to try.

I never got my chance. She looked around for Olaf, spotted me and hurried her sister and Olaf out. I frowned. It had definitely been me that had driven her away, but why?

Olaf protested that he wanted to talk to Taelor, but I couldn't help myself. After all of my thoughts last night, all of my worries about him understanding me more than I did, I just couldn't face him.

As I drove away, Olaf filled me in on what had happened at the café that day, and I fought back tears. After everything Anna had done, after everything I had worked for, I was still shutting people out, and it made me feel like such a coward.