Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N: This chapter's a little bit on the short side. Like, a chapter hasn't been this short since…like chapter 5. I just pulled that number out of my butt, don't hold me to that. However, it is saturated with Elsa and Anna conversational content, and it has been too long since that happened. Part of me just wants to skip like 10-15 chapters from now when their relationship is back to normal, and I can just write buttloads of conversations between them, and make them be all adorable and stuff.

…pretend I didn't just say that.

Every single time Anna and Elsa ran into each other since the breakup, there'd always be this awkward silence between them before one of them got the conversation going. Whether it be because they were thinking back to what they used to be, lamenting over how they were now, or because one had caught the other off guard- causing both of them to be off guard- they could never start a conversation with each other immediately.

This time, however, was different.

"Anna, what the hell are you doing?" Elsa exclaimed, "Get away from the door!"

Elsa made a move to go after the doorknob, but Anna shifted again so that her body was right in front of it. "No!" she replied, a bit too loud. "I told you that there's something I need to tell you, and I'm pretty sure that it's more important than what you've got waiting behind this door."

Elsa scowled, thinking of ways to move Anna without resorting to physical contact, "I seriously doubt that."

"Yeah, well I don't seriously doubt that." Anna crossed her arms and let out an audible huff, tiny specks of flour came off her cheeks, "I have been looking- well, Hannah has been looking for you all night for me, and now that I've, erm, she's finally found you, and I've also found you, I need you to listen to me."

Elsa had no idea what she was going on about, and what information she had that was so important that she would keep her away from the conference room, but she knew that letting Anna ramble about stuff was a hundred times easier than trying to stop her. However, she also knew that coming in late, especially when they probably already saw her open the door, was not an option.

"Anna, whatever you have to say to me will have to wait after this meeting." she stated in her declarative, CEO tone, "Now if you could please-"

"Elsa, I know who's blackmailing you."

"-move out of the way so I…" Elsa stopped herself, what did Anna just say? The world slowed down and a massive wave of anxiousness overtook her. There were so many questions on her mind, so many things she wanted to respond with, but this conversation was not one that she was going to have with the Board of Directors only five feet away from her.

She grabbed Anna's arm a bit harder than she should have, lead her away from the door, shushed her protests and spoke in a quiet, demanding voice, "Start talking. Now."

The first thing Anna noticed was the dress, that damn dress.

After spending a little too much time trying to find Elsa in the ballroom, she successfully spotted her after rounding the corner to the conference room center, looking uneasy at the door. Or rather, her traitorous eyes saw Elsa's icy blue profile, bare back, toned legs, and long, braided hair looking uneasy at the door.

She hadn't seen her look this dolled up since the disaster that was their senior prom, and she figured that all Elsa wore nowadays were pantsuits and blazers.

If Anna was being honest, the first thing she wanted to say when she saw Elsa was something about the dress, but being pressed for time already- and not wanting to distract herself any more than she was- she settled for getting her attention right away. But Elsa, stubborn as she was, wouldn't let her say her piece and tried to move her.

Anna, then got straight to the point, which allowed Elsa to successfully, and forcefully, move her.

Anna rubbed her sore arm and frowned, it was insane how strong her grip still was, "Well, you didn't have to pull me so hard."

"I said start talking." Elsa repeated, "How do you know about the blackmailer? Did Hannah tell you?"

"Yeah, she did, but I knew beforehand. Or rather, I had a suspicion after something that I overheard from- okay let me just start from the beginning here, I was taking inventory in my freezer-"

"Inventory?" Elsa hissed, "What does you taking inventory have to do with-"

"Elsa, oh my gosh, just let me finish." Anna said impatiently, "I was doing inventory when I heard someone come into the kitchen. I thought it was Hannah, so I opened the freezer door, but when I did I heard someone talking about some plan, and he mentioned you, and how you didn't suspect him at all, and it was all super eerie and super-villainy."

"I had no idea what to make of anything I heard, so I asked Hannah about it and that's when she told me everything. I didn't want to warn you about anything until I had the full story, and now that I do-"

"Who, Anna? Who did you see?" Elsa interrupted again.

"I was getting to that!" Anna knew why Elsa was in a hurry, but being stubborn and trying to strong-arm the conversation wasn't going to get her to the meeting faster. Besides, once she told her what she knew, the meeting would be the least of her worries.

Still, she missed when Elsa wasn't so hardheaded.

Anna looked around to make sure no one was near them and sighed, "It was Flynn, he's the one that's trying to blackmail you."

Elsa blinked, "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"The guy I saw that day, the guy that's been making your life miserable, it's Flynn."

"And you're confident about this?" Her eyes were narrowed, scanning Anna for any sign that she was lying. It made her strangely anxious, so she looked down to avoid her gaze, only for her traitorous eyes to land on Elsa's chest, the halter top revealing more than it probably should have.

"Yes, I'm confident." Anna replied, looking away and betraying that confidence right away. "I mean he didn't turn around, so I could only see like the back of him, but I'd know his voice anywhere."

"So, you're not 100% sure, then." Elsa stated accusingly.

"Not 100%, but close enough."

"But that doesn't make any sense. There's no way that it could be Flynn, he's the only one that's been helping me."

"Oh gee, thanks." Anna said, slightly offended, "And how exactly has he been helping you?"

"He's the one that I tasked in finding the blackmailer in the first place, without his help I never would have been able to narrow down the culprit to an employee at ArenCorp; and he gave me this gadget for my phone to help me track them down tonight."

"What, like a tracker? And you don't think he gave that to you just to get him off your scent even more?" Anna reasoned.

"It's been vibrating way less since I left the ballroom."

"Well if he's smart enough to supply you with stuff like that, don't you think he'd be smart enough to rig it to beep crazy on someone else?"

"N-no, that's…I mean there's no way it can be him." Elsa wrung her hands together, a sign which Anna knew meant that she was either anxious or having a hard time dealing with something.

Suddenly, her eyes, which had been looking down at the floor, shot up and glared right at Anna. "And how am I supposed to believe that it's not you who's been behind this the whole time? How do I know that you're not trying to throw me off by blaming Flynn?"

"Excuse me?!" Anna said, now extremely offended. "First of all, not only did I not know about any of this until a few days ago, but I also didn't have to warn you about Flynn at all. I could have let you figure this out on your own days, maybe weeks, from now, but I warned you right away. Or at least, like, a few days after I learned."

Anna jammed a finger in Elsa's direction to further drive in her points, "Second of all, do you hear how ridiculous you sound right now, accusing me? Like…I get that we've had our differences, and I know how much I hurt you, but I thought we were moving past that. Again, I could have told you nothing, and let you fend for yourself, but I didn't. I'm helping you, which is waaaaay more than you can say for a lot of people."

She thought maybe Elsa was trying to interrupt her, but she wasn't sure, besides she was on a roll right now and didn't want to stop. "And third of all, you know how awful I am with technology. I'm good with a mixer, an oven, a microwave, and a panini press, and if you think that in the years you didn't see me that I got any better with computers and stuff, then you are sorely mistaken, missy. So, if it actually was me that was blackmailing you, that stupid tracker of yours would be vibrating so much, your phone would probably explode. That or it wouldn't even work in the first place because, again, I don't know how to work technology!"

"So, stop trying to blame me on your problems, and take a chance and believe me for once. Screw Flynn, the only people that are actually helping you right now are me and Hannah. So, you can either believe me, er, us, and finally get to the bottom of this, or you can dismiss everything I've just said, go to your meeting, and continue to do this all by yourself. Gosh, you're so stubborn."

Anna wanted to stop there, she had ranted enough for a lifetime and had gotten her point across pretty well, but there was something in Elsa's expression that made her want to say just a little bit more. It was a mix of sadness, hopelessness, and…guilt? No, it probably wasn't guilt, she was probably just projecting that emotion from herself on to Elsa.

Wanting to do damage control now, she sighed, "Okay, that last part was a little out of line, and I'm sorry. What I meant to say was…look, I meant what I said last week. I want us to have a working relationship, if we can't forgive and forget everything that happened in the past, then we have to at least fix what we can in the present, and that starts with trust. So, please, Elsa, trust me when I say that I'm right about this; and that I have no other intention here but to help."

And then, for the first time since they had broken up, Anna made intentional physical contact, and touched Elsa's arm.

She didn't mean to do it, it was instinctual, and a way for her to further reassure Elsa; because despite all that had happened between them, Anna still felt some compassion for her.

Elsa didn't pull away, or glare at Anna, she just stared at the hand on her arm, and they stood in silence for longer than they both had time for. Ironically, Anna was now wishing that Elsa would say something, because as soon as fingers touched skin, she felt…something. She didn't know what it was, it didn't feel good or bad, but it was something.

The feeling trailed down her fingertips, and along her arm, and shoulder, and Anna wanted Elsa to speak so that it didn't go anywhere else.

Finally, Elsa shrugged off the arm, and said softly, "I have to go." before walking away.

Anna was sure that she was going back into the conference room, as bad an idea as that was, but instead she just kept walking in the direction of the lobby.

She had to go that way too, but knew that leaving right after Elsa would make her look like she was following her, and she figured that Elsa needed her space. After waiting another minute, Anna let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and walked away.

Anna's revelation to Elsa was like a freight truck, and she was the deer caught in the headlights.

The new information she got put a massive wrinkle in her plans, and unraveled everything that she thought she knew about her situation. Flynn was the one behind all this? She couldn't believe it, or rather she didn't want to, if it meant that someone had once again betrayed her trust and made her look like a fool.

As Anna continued talking, however, the more it made sense. If Flynn was the guy behind all this, he would certainly have the expertise needed to throw Elsa off his trail, and send her on a wild goose chase, hunting down fake leads while he continued to exploit her.

And Elsa knew that Anna could be right, and she could have said that, but instead she went ahead and accused her, because her sheer stubbornness when it came dealing with anything Anna wouldn't let her admit as much.

That obviously set Anna off, and Elsa was surprised at just how many words she had to say to her. She tried to interject a few times, but every time, Anna retook the reins on the conversation.

The last time she tried to interject was to tell Anna that she appreciated the help, but she needed to go to her meeting and then figure out what to do herself. That plan went out the window when Anna continued talking, and pretty much read her mind, spitting out the words that Elsa was thinking, and making her realize that her plan was ridiculous, and that she was too stubborn for her own good.

It was a bitter, harsh pill to swallow, and there was no way she'd say it out loud, but it was true.

Elsa, then, waited to let Anna know that she, begrudgingly, appreciated the help and would find a way to bring Flynn down, but Anna. Kept. Talking.

They weren't scathing, reality-altering words this time, though, they were two words that she wanted to hear for so long, and never thought she would: "I'm sorry."

Not only that, but Anna asked her to trust her, and then touched her arm.

And yes, maybe she had initiated contact before when she roughly grabbed her, but this time was different. This time…she didn't know what it was, and she didn't know how she felt about it.

All she knew was she had to get out of there.

Instead of saying all the professional words that she had planned on saying, however, all Elsa could say was "I have to go."

Now, she found herself walking, but she didn't know where. Going to the meeting right now, late and not in the right mindset, would be a terrible idea; but going back to the ballroom and having to talk to all those people again was also a terrible idea.

She needed to find someplace to breathe, and recollect her thoughts. After walking into the lobby, she found the nearest restroom- as extravagant as the rest of the hotel, the sinks had marble countertops and beautiful floral arrangements- ensured that it was empty, and took a breath.

First things first, she believed that Flynn was the one behind this, at the very least him being a suspect had too much basis to be more than just coincidence. She needed to find a way to confront him and take him down, and if she could do it before he released the article, then that was just icing on the cake.

Second, she knew that not showing up to the meeting would put her in hot water with the Board of Directors, if her questionable choices as of late hadn't already done that. She considered, for a second, going back and apologizing profusely for being late, but she'd rather do that after tonight was over.

Third, what was she going to do about Anna? What was their relationship now?

She shook her head, that was also a problem for another time, and with her life a complicated mess already, she didn't want to make it even more complicated before solving her other problems. Besides, this particular problem was one she'd gladly wait a long time to solve.

Outing Flynn, then, was priority number one, but she couldn't just accuse him based on pure speculation. She needed proof to throw in his face, to let him know once and for all that this game was over. How was she going to do that?

Racking her mind for an answer, she tried to think of everything she knew about Flynn. If she could think like him, then maybe she could catch him off guard.

Flynn was…confident, she knew that for sure. He was confident that the tracker would work, and that his "surveillance work" would help him find the blackmailer. This was a trait he shared with the blackmailer, although arrogance would have been a better way to describe it. Every text he sent to Elsa was fraught with arrogance, a sickeningly smug attitude.

He was also smart, good with technology. Masquerading as an entirely different person, changing up their texting style and personality, was clever, Elsa hated to admit. Although if he was so smart, why would he intentionally narrow down the range of suspects to people in a company that he worked at?

Maybe Elsa was right, and he was working for someone this whole time.

Perhaps the most frightening trait that the two shared was that they were both able to slip into any situation unseen. Flynn showed that pretty well at the festival, letting the Southern Isles truck veer off the festival grounds without anyone batting an eye in his direction, and the blackmailer had the pictures to prove their ability to stay in the shadows.

It was risky to even have the conversation that she had with Anna earlier. For all she knew, even though she made sure that they weren't being watched, Flynn was lurking right around the corner, listening in.

This was all the information that Elsa had to work with, but it was enough, it had to be. If she was going to get proof, she needed to play to her own strengths as well, and negate Flynn's. She had to be smarter than him, bring him into the light so that there was nowhere to hide, and hopefully make him feel as helpless as she had been forced to feel.

Wait.

Helpless.

That's it, Elsa knew exactly how to get the proof she needed. She rushed out of the restroom, looked around again to ensure that no one was in earshot, and pulled out her phone. There was something she needed to do first, something she probably should have done from the beginning.

"Hi, APD? This is Elsa Arendelle, I'd like to report someone attempting to blackmail me."