Chapter 47

Hans never planted any cameras in Anna's apartment.

Looking back, Elsa realized that Hans never said he did...but still it felt like she'd once again played right into his hands. She could have warned Anna a long time ago, and that frustrated her. But there was no point in dwelling on the past, all that she needed to focus on was the present so that there'd be a future for the both of them.

After a crash course on installing cameras, Anna boldly made her way to Oaken's school escorted by Marshall. Obviously the relationship with the both of them was still rocky on account of the whole kidnapping thing, but Elsa insisted that she could trust him.

Knowing that Anna would be safe, Elsa shifted to her own task at hand...probably the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.

She sighed, "You know what you're gonna say?"

"Not entirely." Flynn replied without looking up from his laptop, "But I'm pretty good at thinking on my feet."

"The fact that you got arrested makes me highly doubt that."

"I'm good but you're better, and I'm not too proud to admit that." He pressed a couple more keys on his laptop before theatrically tapping one final key and looking up. "And it's done, the surveillance camera in the bakery should be looping through yesterday's footage."

"That was fast." Elsa said neutrally as she bit her lip and continued to stare out her driver-side window. She didn't doubt Flynn's computer skills, and didn't much care how he did this, she was more concerned about their next task. "So you ready to go?"

"Yeah, y-yeah uh just...just give me a second."

Elsa huffed, "Cold feet? I get it."

"You mean you also lied to your girlfriend and went to jail for blackmailing your boss?"

She turned to him, surprised to see him looking uneasy with his eyes fixed past the windshield, "More like I know how it feels to not know if the woman you love is going to accept your apology, or if she even wants to see you again. It sucks, doesn't it?"

Flynn doesn't reply or make any attempt to pry his eyes away from the windshield, but he's tapping his fingers on his thigh so much that she's worried he'll drill right through them.

And she understands that this is a serious moment for him, but Elsa can't help but be amused by his unease. So this is what she must have looked like when she came to Anna's apartment asking for forgiveness. It was surreal, almost like an out-of-body experience.

Before she can give him any more advice, Flynn suddenly opens his door and walks to the bakery with a sense of urgency. Elsa opened her door and followed him inside, reminding herself that she wasn't just a bystander in this difficult assignment.

Flynn helped her stay one step ahead of Hans, now she had to help him win back Rapunzel.

The bell above the door dings as they both enter and it hits her that she hasn't been back to the bakery since that first reunion with Anna. Elsa found herself wishing that Anna was here so that the memory of that encounter could be replaced with a much better one.

"Be right with you!" Rapunzel shouted from the back of the bakery. Elsa took a step forward so that she was side-to-side with an increasingly nervous Flynn Rider, facing the front counter and waiting for those kitchen doors to open up at any seconds.

His hands are in his pockets and she can tell he's trying his best to control his breathing. "Well at least we don't have to worry about the cameras." he says with a shaky chuckle.

She doesn't know what possesses her to do this- maybe it's the warm, supportive side of Anna finally rubbing off on her- but Elsa placed a hand on his shoulder and said calmly, "Take a breath. You've got this."

He looks at the hand on his shoulder, and then at Elsa, and his face softens just a little bit as he takes a deep and much needed breath. It looks like he's about to say something, but the kitchen door opens before he's able to.

"Sorry for the wait! Now how can I-" Rapunzel stops in her tracks, both verbally and physically, and her eyes widen. Elsa's afraid that she might literally be petrified, but thinks that it's not her place to speak right now. When they talked about this, Flynn made it clear that he wanted to start this, and would only call on her if he desperately needed to.

She looked over to Flynn who does his best to look apologetic, trying to hide the joy in his eyes as he breathes out one word: "Hey."

Seeing the school in such a poor and depressing state devastated Anna. She hadn't been back since the bake sale, and the life and energy that had greeted her then had been siphoned away by a despicable excuse for a human being.

Where there used to be joy, there was now fear. Where there used to be warm smiles and hugs, there was now tears and children shying away when she got too close. Where there used to be a haven, there was now hopelessness.

These kids grew up in places where tomorrow was uncertain, with parents that couldn't afford to feed them every day or just didn't want to. This was a place where they could feel wanted, taken care of...loved. And Hans had taken it all away from them.

So Anna relished in the opportunity to take everything away from him.

She walked towards the stairs in the center of the mansion with fire in her eyes. "You made sure he wasn't here?" she asked coldly.

"No other cars were in the lot." Marshall replied, matching her step by step. "And ours has been parked out of sight."

"Good." She made it to the base of the stairs and put her hand on the railing, the bag slung over her shoulder clinked as her forward momentum stopped abruptly. It wasn't that she had gotten cold feet at the most inopportune time, more like she had to remind herself confidently that this was going to work.

It had to work.

As she bounded up the stairs Anna looked to Marshall who was right by her side, "Keep watch out here...just in case."

He simply nodded and took his position in front of the door once they made it up to the second floor. His stoic, intimidating stance was exactly what Anna felt on the inside.

With one more deep breath, she opened the door without hesitation. It was time to get to work.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rapunzel said with a soft severity in her voice.

Elsa expected her not to take his return all that well, but it seemed like Flynn hadn't. The smile on his face immediately disappeared, and the joy in his eyes was replaced with fear. "R-Rapunzel please just let me-"

"You lied to me, you made me believe that you were this amazing guy who loved me, and you weren't even honest with me from the start."

"I did love you! And I still do, if you could just-"

"No!" Rapunzel moved from the front counter with such speed, Elsa was afraid how the baby would take this sudden rush of forward momentum. "You left me! You abandoned us to do time for a crime you were doing right under my nose, and you expect me to trust anything that comes out of your mouth?!"

"I know what I did was wrong." Flynn's doing his best to get a word in but with Rapunzel now right up in his face, glaring at him with an anger that could set this whole place on fire, he's found himself backed up in a corner. Almost literally.

"Well I'm so glad that you know what you did was wrong, it's so good to know that you know how much of a piece of crap you are. But guess what? It doesn't change the fact that you lied, and before you left me you…" There's tears in her eyes now, and her lips quiver as she places a shaky hand on her stomach. "Just leave…" she said breathlessly.

There's tears in Flynn's eyes too as he feels his second chance slip away. And Elsa could just as easily leave and not say anything, abandon him to his fate, but she made a deal to help him out as best as she could.

Plus she knew what it felt like to be in his shoes, to know that you're a despicable human being who pushed away the only person that ever loved you.

Elsa opens her mouth to come to his aid, but before she can say anything Flynn speaks softly. "Five minutes."

Rapunzel blinks, the sadness on her face is slowly overtaking the seething anger. "What?"

"Just give me five minutes, let me say what I have to say. If you don't want anything to do with me after that, then I'll leave and be out of your life for good. But...just give me five minutes. Please."

Elsa can tell that Rapunzel wants to say no, it'd be so easy just to tell Flynn to leave so that he can feel the same pain she felt when he'd abandoned her. But she also knows that Rapunzel is a fundamentally good person, a warm and loving person.

After all, it was only a short time ago when Elsa was extended the same grace to say her piece about why she'd hurt Anna.

Rapunzel lets out a sigh and carefully takes a seat at one of the tables behind them. She looks unconvinced but curious, "Five minutes."

No matter what she felt about Flynn, Anna had to admit that his teaching skills when it came to technology were top-notch. She struggled to reset her wifi, and yet installing these cameras were turning out to be a breeze.

After effortlessly scaling a bookcase to set up a camera that covered a wide angle of the room, she jumped down and patted the dust off her hands. "Front of the office is good, now I just gotta do the back."

She pulled out two cameras and a discrete audio recorder out of the bag. The cameras also picked up audio, but in case they didn't work they'd at least have an audio recording of Hans' disgusting business practices.

It was supposed to go on Oaken's desk, but as Anna made her way over there she heard a faint groan coming from behind the large wooden frame. Truth be told, she'd gone to work right away and hadn't inspected the office fully enough to make sure there wasn't anyone in here.

It turns out there might be.

Anna put the devices back in her bag and walked slowly to the desk, she thinks for a second that maybe she just imagined the sound but then it happens again. A faint groan followed by another sudden noise...a hiccup?

The size of the desk makes it hard to peer over the edge, so she makes her way around, careful not to make too much noise on the off-chance that this turns out to be a zombie and the whole premise of this story gets thrown out the window.

What she sees behind the table makes her gasp.

It's Oaken, slumped over and leaning in front of one of the desk drawers, his head is resting worryingly on his shoulder and his lips are slightly parted. His eyes are open but glazed over, and she wonders if he can even see her.

His arms are limp and in his right hand is a large bottle half-full with some sort of unknown liquid.

"Anna…" he slurs quietly as he listlessly reaches out to her as if he's trying to ensure that she's real and not some hallucination.

"Oaken, oh my gosh." Anna says remorsefully and kneels down to help him up and sit him back in his chair. It's a massive effort on her part since he's barely capable of moving in the first place, but after five minutes he's slumped back onto his office chair still with that glazed over look.

The hits kept coming, it seems, she wasn't prepared to see the school like this and she definitely wasn't prepared to see Oaken like this. And yet here they were.

Anna placed a hand on his shoulder as he continues to groan quietly to himself. "What happened to you?"

His lips move but no sound escapes, when it looks like he's about to keel over Anna straightens him up and tries to get him to look at her. "Oaken...what happened?" she asks with deep concern.

He mumbles something this time, and his face slowly gains some semblance of emotion as he tries his hardest to focus on the calming redhead.

"I'm sorry, I...I can't tell what you're saying."

It takes a few seconds, but he repeats himself. Softly, but coherent enough that Anna knows exactly what he says. "I did my best."

And he breaks out into heaving sobs and buries his face into Anna's shoulder.

As she leans on the front counter and watches this scene unfold, Elsa is certain that they've forgotten that she's in the bakery with them. She at least had the wherewithal to put up their "CLOSED" sign and told the employees to stay in the kitchen for a few minutes, just so they wouldn't be interrupted.

At some point she knows she'll have to step in and support- well, "support"- Flynn as per their deal, but for now she kept on observing.

Flynn started, "The whole time I was in prison...all I could think of was how much I'd screwed up with you, and what I'd say if I ever got the chance to see you again. A lot of it was just me saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again. But I only have five minutes, so I don't think that'd be a good use of my time."

He laughed and looked at Rapunzel, who just stared at him with her arms crossed and burning a hole in his head with her eyes.

"Ahem, yeah so...I'm usually good with words, I wouldn't have been good at my job if I wasn't, but I don't want to try and wow you with my public speaking skills."

"Are you gonna get to your point anytime soon?" Rapunzel asked callously.

"I don't have a point okay?! I asked for five minutes of your time because I knew this would be the last time I'd ever see you so I wanted to make it count."

Elsa's eyes widen at his revelation. Was this his plan all along? What happened to trying to win her back? And if he wasn't planning on even trying, then why in the world was she here? She wants to step forward and try to ask him these questions, but she realized it wasn't her place.

Flynn wanted to say goodbye.

He sighed, "I didn't want you to kick me out, not right away at least. I know I hurt you and I'm probably way past forgiveness, but I wasn't kidding...every single day I was in that hole all I thought about was you. I kept thinking about what would have happened if I'd never lied to you, if I never took that job from Hans, if I put that life behind me and figured out what my goal out of life actually was. What my dream was…"

Rapunzel's arms are still crossed, but ever since he'd told her that he wasn't gonna try and win her back, she looks more at ease. Like she's actually listening to what he's trying to say. And as Elsa's watching this, she sees something in the blonde's eyes.

Flynn looks down for a second, and when he looks back at Rapunzel there's a deep sadness on his face, "I love you Rapunzel, I still do. My whole life I've felt abandoned and unwanted, I pushed away everyone and did some horrible things just to get by. But then...then you happened, you came up to me at ArenCorp and turned my whole life upside down."

There's definitely something in Rapunzel's eyes, and Elsa's trying her best to figure out what it is.

"You actually wanted to be around me, you cared about how I felt and for the first time I felt like I had some sort of purpose. Like I had something to lose, and something to gain. I don't deserve your forgiveness, and I didn't deserve these five minutes and yet you still gave that to me. You gave me so much joy, compassion, you made me genuinely smile for the first time in my life."

After some careful, albeit kind of creepy, observation Elsa finally realizes that she's right and that Rapunzel never did move on. Because there's something in her eyes that she saw in Anna's during her apology: love.

"Anyway my five minutes are up." Flynn sighs one more time but it's shaky, it's clear that the tears he was trying to hold back are finally about to spill. "I-I love you so much Rapunzel, and I'll never forget you. Thank you for being my new dream."

He hesitates for a moment before standing up, as if he wants to say one more thing, but instead he just smiles at her and walks out the door. Rapunzel instinctively looked back and she makes a noise like she wants to say something, but he's out the door before he can. It's too late.

...or is it?

Elsa did promise that she'd do her best to support Flynn. It was time for her to make good on her promise.

She places a hesitant hand on Rapunzel's shoulder, when she turns around there's tears already dripping down her cheeks. She looks at the previous bystander of this conversation with both hopelessness and hopefulness. Unlike Flynn, Elsa gets right to the point.

"Trust me, it's not too late."

Rapunzel gives her a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless, before racing out the door.

After taking a risky five minutes to find some coffee and a blanket for Oaken, Anna is back right by his side. She doesn't say anything, or ask anything, not until he's finally comfortable enough to speak.

Fortunately, it doesn't take long.

"I did my best to fight for this school, I love the kids and want them to have good lives. But Mr. Westerguard he's...an animal. I am not sure how, but he cut my funding from our sponsors, and waited until we were struggling to come in with an offer. He promised to take care of this school, but he has ruined it. I did not want to agree, but the children...he said he would…"

Oaken trails off, and Anna isn't even sure she wants him to finish that sentence. She gently rubs his back as he recomposed himself.

"I am sorry that you have to see me like this Anna, but your visit has been good to raise my spirits. If only for a moment."

She smiled, "You don't have to apologize for anything. This is all Hans' fault, he hurts people and forces them to do things they don't want to do. The worst part is that he makes sure that they can't fight back, he covers his tracks to make sure that no one can."

Oaken nodded, "I have seen this, yes."

"That's exactly why we're trying to catch him, get the proof that we need. So he doesn't hurt anyone else anymore."

"That is very noble of you Anna, and I wish nothing but the best for you and Elsa in this journey." Oaken gives a small smile when Anna blushes slightly, it was pretty obvious that her girlfriend was the other person in this "journey".

"We're trying our best, it's been a little...difficult, but I think we've finally found a plan that works."

"And what is this plan if you mind me asking."

Anna shook her head, "The less you know, the better. If Hans comes back- which I'm hoping for- he'll know right away if it knows like you know something's up. I don't want to put you in that kind of danger."

"I understand." Oaken drank the rest of his coffee and set the mug on his table, adjusting the blanket so it fits more snug around his massive shoulders, "And this is why you are in my office?"

"Erm...yes." Anna bit her lip, she didn't want to say too much in order to protect Oaken, even if she knew for sure that she could trust him. It was better to be safe than sorry. "I was...it's something that we're doing to get proof of Hans' sliminess."

Oaken nodded slowly. "I see. Well I would not want to stop you from doing so, I will step out of my office to conveniently give you more time to do what it is you need to do."

"Thank you, Oaken." She helped him up and ensured that he would be able to walk fine by himself. He wasn't entirely sober just yet, but much better than he had been a few minutes ago. He drank a lot less than Anna thought he did, and apparently he had just been taking a nap when she got in.

When he left the room, Anna got back to work. She hid the blanket and mug in one of his desk drawers and picked up her bag. She only had a few minutes and needed to work quickly.

Installing the cameras was a breeze, and before long they had coverage of every corner of the room. She grabbed the tablet from her bag and turned on the cameras from there, ensuring that they were all working by waving a hand in the air and watching the movement from each angle.

Everything was set, now there was only last thing to do: lure their prey into the trap.

She stepped out of the office and walked back to Oaken, who was leaning on a wall a few feet from the door. Marshall still stood by the door with the stillness and severity of a gargoyle on top of a cathedral. "Can you make sure that Hans comes by today?"

Oaken nodded, albeit nervously, "I can do that, yes."

"Great. We need to get him riled up, unfortunately, so tell him something like you're backing out of the deal or you've found another potential buyer. Are you comfortable with that?"

There's a hesitant look on his face, and he frowns, "Will this help you?"

"A lot. And I know it's so much to ask of you, but I can assure you that this is going to work. We're going to make sure that he doesn't hurt anyone again."

"Then…" He took a deep breath, "I will do so right away."

"Thank you, Oaken." Now that her job was done, she could take a breath herself. Knowing that what she was asking him to do might cause more pain on his part reminded her of the selflessness that made him such a wonderful teacher and friend. It was a crime to see this school slipping out his hands.

Anna wrapped her arms around Oaken and said sincerely, "We're going to make this right, I promise."

He simply patted her shoulders as if to say that he believed her, or at least wanted to.

After a hurried and regretful goodbye, Anna and Marshall went back to where the car was hidden and Oaken got on the phone with Hans. As they drove away from the school, she took one last look and reminded herself of what it used to look like, and what she hoped it'd look like soon.

Her phone chimed and she pulled it out of her pocket, smiling like a dope when she saw it was from Elsa.

Elsa: Job's all done here. Flynn and Rapunzel are currently making up, it's a miracle.

Anna: Really?! Wow, that's...I'm actually not sure how to feel about that.

Elsa: It is weird.

Anna: Well we just got done here too. I think we're all set, Elsa.

Elsa: Great job, babe. It's been a stressful day, and I still need to head back to the office. Wanna meet me after your shift gets over?

Anna: Absolutely. :)

Elsa: Great, I can't wait to see you. ...this is gonna work, Anna.

Anna: I know it will. I mean it has to.

Elsa: It's going to. I'm heading back now, okay?

Anna: Okay. I love you!

Elsa: I love you too.

A/N: Don't worry, it gets worse.