Chapter 31

A/N: Imma be honest, I went on like this serious writing binge this week and wrote the next four chapters. Including this one. I'm not gonna release them all at the same time obviously. Then I'd have to actually keep working on chapters instead of taking a much needed break. Also, I like seeing y'all squirm for new chapters every week.

A lot of swearing in this one. But it also has probably one of my favorite side characters that I've written in a while.

The drive to North Arendelle was quiet.

Elsa didn't care to make conversation with Marshall, who was driving, or Hannah, who was reading something on her tablet anyway. They would be at their destination in a few minutes, and she needed the time, and the quiet, to think.

They drove through the forest, past the lumber mill and recreational parks, and up a hill that at its peak would give them the best view of The Neighborhood, their destination. An opportunistic millionaire bought out a large plot of land at the Arendelle border stretching far across the base of the hill and oversaw the construction and signing of dozens of shops in this glorified outlet mall. To his credit, a majority of them were locally owned businesses and galleries for struggling artists to showcase their work, with name-brand stores scattered sparingly around the plot.

Elsa oversaw the partnership written up between ArenCorp and Robin Callahan, the millionaire in question, as one of her final moves in ensuring that her company owned a business in every corner of the city. Making the partnership a reality was difficult for two reasons: one, having such an...expensive shopping center on the payroll would definitely pain them financially until they saw a return on their investment; and two…

Mr. Callahan didn't like her that much.

He accused her of creating a monopoly in the city that she "claimed" to love, and said she was driving out businesses that didn't sign on with ArenCorp, even though she gave him substantial amounts of proof to show otherwise. He also accused her of not really caring about local businesses, or the people of Arendelle, and that it was all a front to stay in everyone's good graces and keep her celebrity status, even though Elsa hated being a celebrity.

Elsa, didn't like him much either because of his egotistical, self-righteous attitude. She didn't accuse him of anything, but heavily implied that he wasn't entirely honest with where he was getting all his income. Drawing on his criminal past of embezzlement and robberies when he used to be in a gang.

After days of bickering, they were able to agree that a partnership would be beneficial for the both of them and put aside their own personal animosity to make it happen. Unfortunately, Elsa hadn't done much to maintain that relationship, and so she had to make sure Mr. Callahan renewed his contract and didn't do something stupid like make a deal with the devil.

She had given her council and managers the same sorts of task, ensuring that their businesses would renew their contracts through any means necessary. However, they were also told not to push too hard, or mention Hans or Corona in their negotiations…

Ensuring that no other company fell into his clutches was her top priority today, it was the only thing she would think about. She certainly wasn't thinking about why Anna didn't call her last night. Or pick up her phone.

"We're almost there, I messaged Mr. Callahan to tell him to be ready for us. Do you know what you're gonna say?" When she didn't get a response, Hannah tapped her shoulder. "Elsa? You good?"

Elsa blinked and tore her eyes away from the window, "Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine, I know what I'm going to say to him."

Hannah wasn't convinced. "What's going on? Like I know this whole thing with Mr. Westerguard has got you rattled, but you need to be on your A-game here. One slip up with this meeting and you just know he's gonna swoop in like a vulture."

"You don't think I know that?!" Elsa snapped, and then immediately looked remorseful. "S-sorry, that wasn't meant for you I just…" She sighed. Honesty, she had to be more honest. "I had an...appointment...yesterday, an important one, and they didn't show."

"An appointment? Elsa, I was with you the whole day, the only appointment you had was with your council."

"It was after hours. I made it before you came back." she replied, which was technically the truth. "They didn't show, and when I tried calling them, they didn't answer."

Hannah scoffed, "Doesn't seem very professional of them. Honestly, if they're gonna be like that, then they're probably not worth your time, especially if the only time they can make for a meeting is after you get off work."

If it was anyone else, and an actual client, Elsa would have agreed with her assistant; but it wasn't just anyone else. And because of that, she felt...a lot of things: disappointed, confused, worried…most of all, she was kind of annoyed.

Elsa frowned, she'd made it a whole five minutes without thinking about Anna. She'd been stressing over what to talk to Anna about last night, and then even found herself looking forward to the conversation. After a long and hectic workday, she rushed back to her apartment, took a shower and ran through everything she was going to say.

At 9 PM, she waited for her phone to ring. At 9:05, she began wondering if Anna forgot about tonight. At 9:10, she decided to take the initiative to call, only to have it go straight to voicemail. At 9:30, after downing a half-pint of ice cream she forgot she had in her freezer, she tried calling again, but once again only getting her voicemail. By 10:30, she decided to call it a night.

Now here she was, 12 hours later, and going into an important meeting annoyed by Anna's lack of punctuality, worried over what had happened, and trying to push all those thoughts away so she could just focus on her work.

"It doesn't matter much now." Elsa lied. She looked forward and noticed that they were at the crest of the hill. "We're here."

The Neighborhood was divided into four neat quadrants, separated by clean streets and immaculately kept shrubbery cut into the shapes of dollar signs. It wasn't exactly a gated community, but it did have a waist-high gold-painted fence around the perimeter, meant more as a frame for the outlet rather than a security measure. Which wasn't to say that they didn't have any form of security, they had retainers and police scattered all around the place, making sure to keep the peace. Seeing how it was only 10:30 in the morning though, they didn't have much to do yet.

At the middle of the shopping center was a very modernist A- frame house made of tinted glass and metallic borders, with the roof constructed out of black wood. A staircase descended from the front door and out to a parking lot and a large, marble fountain with a carved-out figure of a naked man shooting a bow and arrow into the sun.

It seemed that Robin had made a few renovations since she was last here.

Marshall parked the car in the lot and Elsa opened her door, already advancing towards the house without waiting for either of them. She made it just past the fountain and to the base of stairs when the front door- also made of glass with metallic, golden door handles molded into the letters R and C- swung open to reveal a black man with a short afro wearing a green muscle shirt, black basketball shorts, and old sneakers, with a face towel draped around his neck. Elsa frowned, he didn't even bother to dress up.

"Your prayers have been answered and your search is over, Robin Callahan is here!" The pompous investor exclaimed with his arms stretched wide, his voice traveling a respectable distance.

She rolled her eyes, he'd said the same thing at their first meeting. "I can see that, it's good to know you're still...punctual, Robin." she said annoyed.

"Ain't that hard when everybody wants to meet on my territory." Robin slid down the railing till they were both on the same step. "Damn, I love doing that."

Elsa winced when he called it his territory. Sure he owned The Neighborhood, but ArenCorp was the one still signing his paychecks. "I'm glad you made the time to meet with me today, we've got a lot to discuss and it's best that we get to work right away."

Robin shrugged, "Ain't got much of a choice now, do I? When the great Elsa Andersen summons you, shit you just gotta bend the knee."

Condescending prick. Elsa didn't even bother to hide the fakeness of her laugh, "I get it. I'm the big, bad tyrant that's trying to take over Arendelle. Hilarious…"

Robin winked at her and folded his arms. He looked towards Marshall and Hannah, who had finally caught up, "I see you brought your crew with you. Hey Marsh, you still working for this fool? You ain't protecting the President or nothing?"

Marshall didn't answer.

"Maaan, she's got you whipped." Robin laughed and then set his eyes, which became more intrigued, at Hannah, "And who's this?"

"Robin, we have a lot to talk about, can we just-"

"My name's Hannah!" Her assistant exclaimed like an overeager puppy. Elsa turned around and glared at her.

"Hannah." He replied, as if tasting the name on his lips. He nodded approvingly, "'Sup Hannah."

Before anyone else could do or say anything stupid, and before she lost all control of this situation, Elsa groaned, "Can we please just go inside now?!"

The drive from North Arendelle was quiet.

Anna hated it, she wished Rapunzel would say something, throw her a bone when she asked a question, but all she did was stare out the passenger-side window. Even the overly cheerful pop music on the radio wasn't enough to deafen the silence.

The hard part was she couldn't blame her best friend for not being in the mood to talk. After making an appointment with a gynecologist, who confirmed the...situation and gave Rapunzel the necessary information about it, they left the office feeling overwhelmed and with a lot to think about. Anna knew where her own head was at- as hard as it was to accept this reality, she would support Rapunzel no matter what she decided- she was trying to figure out where Rapunzel's head was at.

She tried at first with simple questions and statements like "The sky's looking a little gloomy, huh?" and "That gynecologist was really nice.", to which all she got was silence. Maybe it was time to try another approach and just rip off the band-aid, address this whole situation instead of letting things fester as they were.

"'Zel I...I just want you to know that...whatever you choose to do, just know that I'll support you and help you no matter what. If there's anything you need, I'm your girl."

Those words seemed to have worked as Rapunzel turned her head and looked at the redhead with tired eyes. "Anything?" She repeated.

Anna smiled and held her sigh of relief, "Yes! Anything! Even an arm, or a leg. Or both! I can probably bake with only two limbs."

"Can you send me back in time to before I had sex with that lying pig?"

Silence. Again.

Rapunzel turned back to the window, and Anna let out a breath. But it wasn't relieved. Maybe trying to inject some humor into this so early wasn't such a good idea. After the next song on the radio ended, this one a little less cheerful than the one before, she tried coming at this from yet another angle.

"Have you...given some thought as to what you're gonna do?"

Rapunzel let out an annoyed sigh, "Do about what?"

"Uh, the...you know like, are y-you gonna keep the...the baby or…"

"Do you really think I'm ready to answer that question right now?" Rapunzel asked bitterly. Anna had to remind herself that her friend was mad at the situation, and not at her. But that still didn't stop every word from feeling like she was getting punched in the gut.

"I-I don't know, I just don't...I mean I just want to know where your head's at." Anna said meekly. "That's-that's all."

She braced for some sort of venom-filled response, but all Rapunzel did was let out a small, painful laugh and say, "My head is in all kinds of places right now, Anna."

The redhead gripped the steering wheel just a little tighter, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking...about how stupid I am. I'm thinking about how we-how I wasn't careful enough. I'm thinking about how sick to my stomach this whole damn mess is making me feel. But most of all, I'm thinking about going to work and pretending for at least one day that my whole world hasn't been turned upside down."

Anna bit her lip, knowing what she was about to say would probably lead to a fight at worst, and more silence at best. "I don't think...you should go to work today."

Turns out she'd be getting a little bit of both. After a minute, Rapunzel turned to her with glaring eyes and spoke sharply, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Thankfully, Anna had the excuse of driving to keep from looking too much into the blonde's eyes. Why did she have such a terrible knack for getting blondes to be mad at her? "I-I just mean that you're, you know, up front. And you're like the first person the people see. What if they see you…"

"What if they saw me...refuse to put on a fake smile? Refuse to fake being happy?"

Anna frowned, "Come on, you know that I'd never want you to fake being happy. I meant what if they see you sad. I'm just trying to look out for you, 'Zel, I want you to be back to 100 percent before you even think about coming back to work."

"I don't think I'll ever be 100 percent! I messed up, we-I wasn't careful enough, and made the biggest mistake of my life and no matter what I choose...I have to live with that." Rapunzel's voice was starting to give, the hard exterior she'd force herself in to try and get through this was already breaking.

Anna glanced over to see tears forming in her eyes.

"And I-I just feel so...I'm so scared, Anna. I'm so freaking scared." Rapunzel said breathlessly.

This was not a conversation she could have while driving. Immediately, Anna pulled over to the side of the road and leaned over to place one hand on Rapunzel's back and another on her shaking shoulders. She was full-on sobbing now.

"Hey, it's okay to be scared." Anna said soothingly. "But like I said, you're not gonna do this alone. Which means you don't have to make this decision alone either, I'll help you. I've always got your back, 'Zel, always."

Rapunzel didn't answer, Anna didn't expect her to. They stayed where they were for a little while longer.

Elsa stared disapprovingly at her coffee mug, not cause of it's content, but because of the cocky face of the glorified shopkeep- with cornrows this time- pointing at her that was printed on to it. She regretted not asking for a water instead.

"Keep the mug, I've got like fifty of them." Robin boasted as he grabbed a water bottle from his fridge as if to prove a point. Although, disappointingly, that too had his face on it.

"How...thoughtful of you." Elsa replied as she nudged the beverage away. "Now if there aren't any other 'pressing matters' to attend to, I think it's about time you and I finally spoke."

"Gimme a second, I just gotta change." He pulled off his muscle shirt and pointed a circle around his skinny, yet toned body. "You still into the ladies, so this don't bother you right?"

Elsa rolled her eyes, "It bothers me that you didn't change before this meeting."

Robin shrugged, "Aight, lemme fix that then, gosh. Gimme like five minutes." He turned to leave before Elsa could respond, there was a faded scar along his side.

The very slim amount of patience she had to begin with was wearing thin. She glanced over to Hannah, who was hiding her flushed cheeks behind her own coffee mug. Once she saw Elsa's disapproving scowl, the brunette innocently said, "What? He's hot."

Elsa shook her head and busied herself by taking a look around his pretentious living room/kitchen. The hardwood floors had been recently cleaned and polished, giving off a shinier look than necessary. Adorning the walls were framed movie posters, pictures of Robin with assorted celebrities, and above the steel fireplace was a commissioned portrait of him sitting lazily on a solid gold throne with a crown hanging off his shaved head.

Marble seemed to be his favorite interior design choice, as that was what the kitchen countertops, coffee table, and shelving were made out of, all jet black with purposeful strips of white to make it look "cracked", and the furniture was minimalist in style. The couch she and Hannah were sitting on had a simple cloth cushion with no armrests and a metallic frame that seemed painted on.

In the background, from speakers she couldn't see, was a rap song being mumbled out by some artist she didn't care to know.

"Five minutes on the dot!" Robin called out with his megaphone voice as he stepped down his also marble staircase. When he came back into the room, he was wearing faded skinny jeans, a dark blue polo, and tinted shades. "How's this? Do I look the part now?"

Elsa directed her scowl at him, she knew he only wore the polo to try and mock the ocean blue button-up she wore today. "It's fine." she said coldly.

He sat opposite the two women, on a smaller version of the couch they were sitting on. "I mean cause I can change again if you want. I think I got like a blue jacket in my closet somewhere. I got like a police costume I wore for Halloween once."

"Let's just get started, okay." Elsa gestured over to Hannah, who clumsily handed over the tablet in her hands, and scrolled through to find the new ArenCorp/Neighborhood contract. "I'm sure you already know why I'm here, but just in case you don't, I'm here to inform you that your contract with ArenCorp is going to run out in six months and I'm here to get you to renew it."

"If it expires in six months, then why ain't we talking six months from now?" Robin asked, getting to the one question Elsa hoped he wouldn't get to.

Thankfully, she had an answer lined up anyway. "Being proactive is always a good trait to have. Especially in the business world. I'd much rather deal with this situation now than six months from now, when there isn't time to negotiate anything in the contract."

The stubborn millionaire began to toss his water bottle between both hands as if it was a ball. "Okay, but that's implying that I want to renew the contract. Why you acting like this is a done deal?"

"I'm not." Elsa replied. "But if you could cooperate with me, then this would go so much easier for the both of us."

"Who says I'm not cooperating?" The bottle traveled faster between his hands. "I agreed to the meeting, let you into my home, got dressed, I even made you coffee. That's some hard work right there. Is that not cooperating enough for you?"

"Well I would appreciate a lot more tact than you're showing me right now." She was trying desperately to stay composed, but he was doing everything possible to press her buttons.

"Tact?" His eyes widened in disbelief, "You wanna talk about tact now? Miss 'Sign the contract and sell your soul', Miss 'I only smile when you get on board', Miss 'Imma treat my ex like shit on camera' wants to talk about tact?!"

Elsa smacked the water bottle out of his hands and stood up, vividly furious. Her patience had just ran out. "Alright I've had enough of this! I've had enough of you not taking this seriously and accusing me of the stupidest shit, and the next time you talk about Anna, I will gut you where you stand. Now sit still, shut the hell up, and listen to me, goddammit!"

Oh...oh crap...she didn't mean to let that Anna part slip. She cursed herself for having that girl still on her mind during this meeting.

The smile on Robin's face lowered. He tossed his shades away and stood up to meet the fuming blonde's gaze. He spoke slowly, "Why don't you admit why you're really here?"

She wasn't in the mood to play this game. "Did you not hear me? I told you to-"

"Yeah yeah, I heard you. And I'll play ball. But you gotta tell me why you're here first, for real."

When Elsa didn't reply, both to keep from lashing out in anger again, and to hold back any unnecessary comments about her and Anna that she would have made, he answered for her. "It's that Hans guy, right? Yeah I saw the news, he's got you rattled."

"Mr. Westerguard does not have me rattled." Elsa said with less confidence than she wanted.

Robin smiled, but it wasn't his usual arrogant, cocky grin. This one was small, barely there, almost…empathetic. He walked over to where the water bottle fell. "Knew a guy once, back when I still ran with a crew. Standup dude, wasn't afraid of nothing. But I could tell he wasn't, you know, all there."

Elsa eyed him carefully but stayed silent.

"And I had rules, you know? No stealing from poor people, no killing, basic shit like that. Everyone followed them. Everyone." He took a drink from the slightly crumpled bottle. "And so did he, at least for a little bit. Then something happened, I don't know, he wasn't right in the head or something or maybe he thought the rules don't apply to him."

She sat back down, not as aggravated as she'd been but still impatient, wanting him to get to the point. "What does this…"

"I'm getting there, aight?" He walked back to his own chair, and sat down, leaning forward with his arms resting on his knees. "He starts taking shit from like homeless people and stuff, waving his gun around to steal five bucks outta this poor son of a bitch's wallet, roughing up the cashiers a bit too much. I talked to him a few times, cause you know we're all like brothers, and he'd always say he'd tone it down but he never did."

His expression grew darker, "Then one day he goes and does like this solo op, said he heard about this hot-shot banker that got a safe in his house worth more than the gas stations and shit we were sticking up. He gets there, and the dude's nowhere to be seen, just this woman and her daughter. But see the banker dude didn't have a family, the son of a bitch had the wrong house."

Elsa frowned and bit her cheek. She knew where this story was going. It was all over the news a few years ago.

"'Cept he didn't know that, nah he thought they were hiding their daddy somewhere so he holds them hostage and keeps yelling 'Where the money at?'. They had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Suddenly he hears like sirens or something and gets all paranoid, saying how he don't wanna go to jail and how they knew too much. And...the dumb motherfucker takes his gun and…"

"Shoots them." Elsa finished somberly.

Robin nods, makes a gun with his fingers and flicks it twice. "First the girl, then the mom."

"...I went straight after that, you know? Turned myself in and ratted him out to lower my sentence. Screw loyalty, aight? I ain't gonna be loyal to someone that kills kids. While I was sitting in that jail cell I promised to make something out of myself the right way this time. And that I'd never deal with any son of a bitch who saw nothing but the bottom dollar, anyone who would sacrifice others to make sure their paycheck was bigger than the day before, anyone who's got no respect for anyone else but them self...just like Mr. Hans Westerguard."

At the sound of his name, she unconsciously clenched her fists, weary of where this conversation was going now.

"Ms. Andersen, I made my decision before you even got here. Even if shit hit the fan, I'd never work with someone like him. You can see it in his eyes, he ain't all there either, you know?" Robin tapped his temple to emphasize his point. "But that don't mean I'm just gonna roll over for you, give you that satisfaction. You want my support in this whole lockdown, reinforce the gates kinda shit you got going on? Then you gotta make a pitch."

Elsa felt slightly more at ease now that she knew that at least Robin wasn't going to side with Hans, but she still needed him on her side. She sighed, released the tension in her shoulders, and spoke, "Pitch you on what?"

"You were upfront, told me to my face you didn't like me, and I did the same, and we still got business done. Now you gotta do that again. You gotta show me why I should be on your side, you gotta show me that you ain't just like Hans."

That was an unfortunate time to take a sip from her lukewarm coffee. Elsa coughed, almost choking on the drink, "I am nothing like that son of a…" She stopped and composed herself. "I am not like Mr. Westerguard."

Robin smirked and pointed his water bottle towards her, "Yeah? Then show me."

Miraculously, they had finally gotten to a point in the conversation that Elsa had prepared meticulously for. No more pointless bickering, no anecdotes about their past, no getting overboard with the personal comments, just negotiating. When she wasn't thinking about why Anna hadn't called her, Elsa had spent the whole night figuring out this particular part of her "pitch" as Robin called it.

She closed her eyes for a second and took a long breath, and when she felt she was finally ready, she spoke humbly, "I'm sorry."

It was Robin's turn to almost choke on his drink, "Yo, did I hear that right? Did the-"

"Yes, the 'great Elsa Andersen' just said she's sorry, I've been saying it a lot recently it's not that big of a deal."

"It kind of is." Hannah added, speaking for the first time in a while now that the tension had finally lessened.

"Shut it, both of you." Elsa sighed and retook the reins in the conversation. "Look, hearing you tell that story, and hearing where you came from has been really eye-opening, okay? I've held on to these false accusations about you, just like you've held some for me; but I can see it, hell you said it just now: you made a name for yourself, you built yourself up from nothing. You and I have that in common, and although we didn't say it, I think that's the big reason that we made a deal with each other in the first place. I can't- no, I won't accuse you of anything anymore without proof."

"I…" Elsa closed her eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink, and then reopened them. "I respect you. And I know I can't expect the same from you since I haven't told you anything to show I've changed, so…I'll tell you this."

This next part was going to be incredibly tough to get through, in her preparations she tried to set her personal feelings aside, but she had this feeling that her speech wouldn't be as effective if she didn't at least add this one personal detail. Even if it pained her to say what she'd been trying to keep back.

"Anna, my ex that I was caught…arguing with, we've-we've been talking to each other again, smoothing things over. We work together now- by proxy anyway- and holding on to the grudge that we…that I had is just stupid. We talked on the phone two nights ago, and we're going to try and make it a regular thing. I think." She decidedly left out the fact that they were supposed to talk last night too, deciding that that was enough openness for one conversation. "Anyway yeah, I know the article and everything I did paints me as this scornful, vindictive…awful person, but I'm really trying here. I hope you can see that, and I hope we can continue to do business."

For a minute, no words were exchanged. Elsa sat actively avoiding eye contact with Hannah, who looked strangely happy, and Robin, who simply looked straight-faced, hands still on his lap. Being this open was still taking some getting used to, her stomach felt a little uneasy and for some reason her heart was racing, her body mistaking this to be something that warranted an adrenaline rush.

The minute was up, finally, and Robin smiled, heavily amused, "So the ice queen's got a heart, huh? Good to know."

Elsa frowned, lips almost betraying her and turning it into a pout, "I didn't think that was up for debate."

"Aight, well you got me convinced. Have your people send me the contract and I'll look it over."

Elsa blinked, "Seriously that was- I mean, you're just...seriously?"

Robin started to throw the bottle back and forth again, sufficiently relaxed, "Yeah! Imma be honest the old blondie that was here first, I didn't like her that much. Honestly, she sucked. But this new blondie's all rehabilitated, she's all in love and shit. I like dealing with this one."

…

What?

Elsa grabbed the bottle but didn't smack it away this time. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it, and then opened it again to make a discernible noise, and then closed it again, and then she opened it one more time and finally words came out, "I'm sorry but did you just- I mean how did you- where did…in love?"

Robin snorted, "You mean you don't see it? You got like the cupid eyes and everything when you were talking bout calling Anna."

"Cupid eyes?! No, you're mistaken I don't do that I…I'm a professional." What the hell was she saying? Elsa had been thrown into a massive loop from this revelation- no no no, it wasn't a revelation, it was an accusation. Again! After she'd talked all about not wanting to accuse him anymore. "You know what? I'm done talking about this. Let's just talk business, strictly business."

"What business?" He laughed. "I already said I'd sign, right?"

"Right, you did. I just mean…" This wasn't good, Elsa was frozen, legitimately at a loss for words, which left her mind free to think about this new development.

Was that true? What did she know for sure? She didn't know much, but she did know that Anna made her a...different person. She could be mean and cold towards anyone else, but trying to do the same to Anna never had the desired effect. Everyone else drew away from her when she put on the "ice queen" routine, but Anna kept pushing.

That's why she...she...well she felt something towards Anna. But love? Love?! That was a strong word.

"I can see that look in your eyes, you're thinking about it huh? I got you rattled, huh?" Robin smirked and pointed to his temple, "Okay, maybe love's too strong then, maybe I spooked you. But you got something there, I got like a sixth sense on this shit. Nah, maybe it ain't love. That's too simple, this is a little more complex than that."

Complex. Elsa repeated that word to see if it fit better just as he said.

It didn't.

"Yeah, like calculus or whatever. Super complex." Robin looked at his phone and stood up, "Ah shit, I forgot I'm supposed to meet my boy at the recording studio."

"You sing?" Hannah asked admiringly, finally finding her voice again when Elsa didn't immediately reply.

Robin winked at her, "You know it. Been working on an album, gonna release it before Christmas. But yeah, I gotta get going."

Elsa, still reeling from her own revelation, reacted a bit too late to this abrupt end to their conversation. "H-hey, where are you going?" she said as he was halfway to the door.

"I just said I gotta go. We're done right? We got this contract all negotiated?"

"Well, y-yes but…" But she still wanted more answers.

"Then we good. I'll see you when I see you." Robin opened the door, but before leaving, he peeked his head in and added with another wink: "By the way, I'll make sure to save you a copy, Hannah. Signed and everything."

The door closed, leaving Elsa a confused mess on the couch. She should have been celebrating the successful negotiation between her and The Neighborhood, but that was the farthest thing from her mind. She needed to clear her head, she needed to process all of this, she needed to try calling Anna again.

Tonight.

A/N: Robin. The Neighborhood. Arrows. Stealing Stuff. Get it?