~ Chapter Eighteen ~

The last clear memory Anna could recall before regaining consciousness was standing up so that her torso poked through the sunroof of the taxi, fists pumping at the air and shouting out her feeling of victory. Elsa's arms had been wrapped around her legs, making sure nothing bad would happen should they go over a speedbump.

After that… well, after that she remembered nothing. Where was she? And what was that warmth pressing up against her face?

Flashes came back to her as she snuggled another presence, warm and trim, up against the front of her body. Talking in the kitchen for hours; about what? She didn't remember. A mental snapshot of sitting on the toilet and complaining about life as Elsa took off her makeup made her cringe; she had peed in front of Elsa. Not just in the same bathroom, but literally while they were in sight of each other, conversing as if it happened every day. There was more, but it wouldn't surface just yet. How much worse had last night been?

Something flexed against her face, and she hummed quietly, basking in the warmth. Whatever had gone wrong, at least she was safe and sound in her bed now, with her teddy bear.

Except she wasn't. That wasn't her bed, and she hadn't packed a teddy bear - nor slept with one for years, actually. So what…

Anna's eyes peeled open and saw a fine silver ring catching the rays of the early morning sun. What's more, it was around a toe.

"Huh?!"

Drawing back, she saw the rest of the foot it was attached to, one literal inch from her face. That was unusual. Following it downward, she found an ankle, a calf… and then nothing but a pile of bedsheets.

How had she gone from drinking and dancing, to giving a hot girl her number, to talking all night… to waking up with a disembodied leg in her bed?!

But then, once her rational mind returned to her, she realised: it was Elsa's leg. That was the most obvious explanation, even though it was still beyond bizarre. Strain as she might to sift through the jumbled, drunken memories, she knew neither had she called or been called by anyone, so it couldn't be Mulan — which was fantastic, since she would rather her first time be one she actually remembered! Still, if it wasn't that…

SHIT.

"Elsa?!" she whispered in a mild panic, getting no response. Slowly, worriedly, she began to peel away the sheets…

And saw that they were both in their clothes from the club. Relief wafted through her; again, maybe it wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world if more had happened, but she would hate for Elsa to think she had taken advantage of her somehow. Also, she saw one of her own legs was trapped under Elsa's shoulder, which would be an interesting puzzle to solve.

THE Elsa. Out of all the people in the world, she had woken up next to a SEEK member. How in the hell was this her life?! It didn't matter that they hadn't done anything beyond sleep; she honestly didn't care. Just the single notion that she had become so close to Elsa was one that knocked her for a loop every time she thought of it, and each new development was weirder and weirder.

But then, that's how it is with friends, she scolded herself. Just because it's your former pop star crush doesn't make this any different, you know!

It didn't. Elsa had a tiny little brown freckle in the middle of her sole. Nothing she'd read online ever mentioned it; only by getting as close as she was could someone have found out about it, and most people wouldn't bother to note such a pointless detail.

"Well, I think it's cute," she whispered, kissing the freckle; Elsa's toes twitched. Then she realised what she had just done was probably even less normal than waking up cuddling a leg in the first place, and she made the decision to get up.

Which went very, very slowly. Once she wriggled her own leg free, it was easier to disentangle their limbs and turn around on the mattress, leaning over to inspect the side of Elsa's face cautiously. She looked fine; sleeping, as Anna had been. Just as peaceful and angelic as she had looked that night in Anna's room, when Anna couldn't sleep from excitement and had to keep rolling over to make sure she was really there.

The woman who had turned her life upside-down. Flown her across the ocean, taken her into her home. Even risked looking like she might be a little gay just to help Anna land a couple of phone numbers.

"Hey." Her voice was gentle, and the blonde did not stir. She laid down again, their bodies parallel and her head propped against her arm, watching the back of Elsa's head as her back rose and fell with the rhythm of her breathing. Of course she knew she was already being dumb by talking to an unconscious friend, but for some reason, she couldn't help herself.

"You're so awesome. I'm so lucky to be here. Anybody would be. Lucky to be your friend… and someday, someone will be lucky enough to marry you. And I hope I'm there to shake the dude's hand… and maybe warn him not to screw this up, or else."

Maybe she could spend another half hour dozing… with that thought, she began to nod off.

"Or else what?"

Anna's eyes shot wide open again. "Hm?"

"Or else what?" Elsa repeated from inches away, icy blue eyes gazing straight across into her own. When had she rolled over? Her expression was almost blank, as if she wasn't sure how she was about to react, and it depended entirely on how Anna answered.

"Oh, I… y-you heard that, huh?" She ducked her head, feeling beyond foolish.

"Yes. Now, what would you do if some guy married me and then hurt me? I'm curious."

"I'd break his freakin' neck." When Elsa blinked in clear surprise, she shrugged and went on, "Well, I'd at least yell at him, and tell him to treat you better. Maybe I can find a way to ruin his credit rating…"

Grinning wide, Elsa pulled Anna in for a hug and snuggled flush against her. "Knew I could count on you."

"I… come on, this didn't even h-happen yet, you can't be that grateful." Mostly, the words were a method by which to ignore how close to Elsa's body she was now, even closer than she had been before. She felt so good that it ought to have been illegal.

"Yeah, and I hope it never does," she breathed into Anna's shoulder. "But… it'll be nice to have you backing me up, just in case."

"Elsa… are you… crying?"

"No," the woman sobbed. Then, a second later, "Alright, yes."

"Why?! What did I do?!"

Taking a deep breath, she let it out shakily. "All those things you just said… obviously, you thought I was asleep. You didn't have to say any of it, you…" Her voice was strangled as she went on, "I've never had anybody say something so nice to me and b-been absolutely sure they meant it."

"Oh, come on," she scoffed, rubbing up and down Elsa's back. Yet another achievement unlocked in the "I can't believe I'm doing this with ELSA" checklist: hugging her while she cried. She could hear in her own voice that she was barely holding it together, herself.

"That can't be for real. Not even your parents?"

Elsa sounded half-choked. "No."

"Not even your mom before she died?" she asked in a gentle tone.

"Not even her. She told me she loved me, of course, but n-not the way you just did. Either way… it's been s-so long since I had her in my life. And no, there hasn't been anyone since her."

Anna's own lip quivered slightly, but she pushed through and just hugged Elsa harder. "I had no idea… God…"

"Oh, I sound horrible." Sniffling, she clung to Anna even more tightly for a second, then took a deep breath and released her. "Sorry. I just n-needed a moment."

"You can have two or three, seriously." But Elsa had already pulled away, rubbing at her face to hide the evidence of her tears before Anna could see it. "I'm… Elsa, you know you can depend on me for a good cuddle anytime, right? Like, if you need it."

"What? Oh… well, thank you, I suppose. That's not, um…"

"Just correct me if I'm wrong, but you seemed to let go because you thought I'd be weird. But it wasn't weird, it was nice, I thought."

Her perfect blonde eyebrows knitted as she contemplated that. Then she swallowed and nodded. "I'll remember that. But you're not a stand-in for my mother. I should be stronger than this."

"Who says?"

"I say. Everyone says. I'm Elsa." Then she took a deep breath and released it, smiling as her eyes opened. "Last night was crazy, right?"

Frowning hard over at her, Anna whispered, "Elsa…"

"I'm really okay," she insisted, smiling wider. "Guess I just needed a release for a minute. And this is a good thing! I was… well, it was because you said something really nice, not for any bad reason." Then she sat up and said, "Now, you know what we're going to do today?"

"What?" Anna said, though she still wasn't entirely sure about letting that topic go. Maybe for the time being, but not forever.

Rolling out of bed, Elsa wobbled slightly before she found her balance. "We're going into town, and we're going to see if we can't track down a waffle iron."

"A waffle iron?" she snorted, sitting up herself now. "Why do we need one of those?"

"I don't know, I thought it might be fun to make waffles for lunch. We'll need flour, I believe, and eggs, butter… and blueberries so they're as good as the ones at Gerda's… oh! I don't suppose you packed any maple syrup from your homeland, did you?"

Grinning, almost as much at the whole plan as the last comment, Anna laughed as she got up to follow her out of her bedroom. They had fallen asleep in hers, not Elsa's; that was interesting. "No, I didn't think I'd have a waffle emergency in Europe. Geeze, I'm so shortsighted!"

~ To Be Continued ~