Chapter 48

"The shocking footage released to the press shows the Corona International CEO seemingly berating and almost assaulting the longtime owner and principal of Oaken's Haven for Children. An investigation is now underway about Mr. Westerguard's business tactics as others have come forward and spoken out about his supposed harsh and fairly illegal measures.

According to both Arendelle and Corona's police departments, they had been collecting eyewitness accounts and had been waiting for the CEO to 'slip up' so that they could launch an official investigation. Unfortunately, as of the time of this report, the whereabouts of Mr. Westerguard are unknown. More on this story later as it develops…"

Elsa didn't know what she found more surprising: that she could hear the TV so clearly amidst the noise of employees cleaning out the frozen yogurt dispensers,or that it only took two days to send in enough evidence to both the APD and CPD for them to open up an investigation.

Or maybe what she found most surprising was the fact that, finally, she and Anna were on a proper date.

She felt something hit her nose, and looked at Anna, smiling coyly and holding a spoonful of sprinkles in her hand. "I've still got it."

Elsa was tempted to scoop something out of her cup and flick it at her girlfriend, but thought better of wasting any of the mint chocolate goodness. Instead, she just shook her head with a smile and said "Dork." before eating another spoonful.

They were alike in some ways, but their differences were what made them so special as a couple. Elsa was reserved and more introverted, Anna was more outgoing and extroverted; Elsa tended to write out a plan of action for any decision she had to make, Anna was more free-spirited and improvisational; Elsa preferred the simplicity of her mint chocolate cup, Anna opted for an insane concoction of three different flavors, a mountain of cookie bits, hot fudge, and sprinkles.

It was a joyful thought, and they had every right to be joyful. After all, their job was done and Hans had lost. He was forced to go on the run, while they could finally breathe and act like an actual couple.

Anna ate another spoonful of yogurt and bounced in her chair, "I can't believe you remembered that I wanted to go here."

"Of course I did." Elsa beamed, "What kind of girlfriend would I be if I never listened?"

"A deaf one?"

"...well you got me there."

She took another bite and giggled, "I'm so happy."

"Because you finally got frozen yogurt?" Elsa asked playfully.

Anna pouted, there was a tiny sprinkle on her bottom lip, "Because we finally get to do this. Go out on dates, be a couple, I mean yeah the paparazzi kinda ruins it a little bit but that's what I get for dating a celebrity."

Elsa sighed, "Well unfortunately that's the one thing I can't change." She reached over to wipe the sprinkle off Anna's lip, who showed her gratitude by kissing Elsa's thumb. "But I'm happy too, in fact this is probably the happiest I've been in...four years. Wow."

"Yeah...wow…"

While it would have been appropriate to look back on how far they'd come in these four years, the two shared a look with an unspoken agreement that they'd done enough reminiscing for a lifetime. All that mattered now was that they were here together.

Finally…

"Do you keep up with anyone from the lacrosse team?" Elsa asked.

Anna shook her head, "Coach messages me from time to time, but other than that I've kinda lost touch with everyone else."

"That makes sense. Even when we had the team around us, it was still just me and you."

"It still is." Anna said gleefully, "I'm so glad we can finally catch up on stuff like this."

Elsa felt the same. Their conversations before this were mostly about their day went coupled with some awkward flirting. Years later and they still hadn't gotten that part down.

Finally they could be a couple again, they could talk and bridge the gap of those four years. And it started with this conversation…

...but Elsa had ulterior motives too.

"Do you still know how to make that cake I really like? The square one with all those cinnamon and sugar bits on top?"

"A crumb cake? Of course!"

Elsa's mouth watered just thinking about having one of those again. "Could you…"

"The very second I have the chance to."

"I love you so much." She was overjoyed to have Anna back in her life, it just didn't feel that complete without her. Plus, as hard as it was to admit for all those years, she desperately missed her baking.

"I love you too." Anna let out a chuckle before eating another sprinkle-filled scoop. "By the way, how was North Mountain? I know that might be a loaded question but I just- I wanna know, you know?"

Elsa laughed when Anna propped her head onto her hands, eagerly awaiting a response. "Not as loaded as you might think."

She took another bite before continuing, "It was...uneventful to be honest. For obvious reasons, I wasn't very keen on making too many friends and I just thrust myself into work and my studies. One of my professors kinda took me under his wing, and he's the reason I got a job at ArenCorp in the first place."

"That's amazing, Elsa! I mean I'm sorry you didn't want to make friends and go on crazy parties and do all that other college stuff, but you still went on your own journey and all that."

Elsa bit her tongue to keep herself from saying that the journey would have been better if she was there. The past was in the past, all that mattered was the here and now.

"How was AU?" She said instead. "Did you go to any crazy parties and all that?"

"A few. But I spent most of those making sure 'Zel didn't get taken advantage of by creepy guys. People tended to underestimate the strength of a former lacrosse player, apparently."

Elsa nodded, "It is pretty entertaining watching their face when you put them down with one punch."

"I know right?!" She wasn't sure that being hit on by creepy guys was such a fun thing they had in common, but Anna looked pretty excited to be talking about their experiences. "Other than that though, I guess I did the same as you for the most part, I got really serious with my baking and when I wasn't hanging out with Rapunzel I was either in class or holed up in my room. Especially my freshman year…"

A ghost filled the silence that came after that last, trailing statement. A ghost of their past. They shared another look with each other, understanding the same thing:

If they were going to bridge the gap, they'd have to confront their past. One way or another.

Elsa sighed heavily, stirring her spoon into the melting dessert. "We need to talk about this, don't we?"

Anna smiled sadly, "I think we do. But we've already talked so much about it, I don't know...I don't know what else needs to be said."

She could think of one thing. "Well, do you forgive me for leaving you and cutting you out of my life until now?"

"Of course I do." Anna said without hesitation.

"But I was so needlessly cold to you. I could have contacted you, responded to your messages, but instead I just held on this grudge that...took me over. Or at least I thought I did. How could you forgive me after all that?"

Anna reached over and placed a hand on Elsa's cheek, gently rubbing her thumb over the spot she knew calmed her down.

"Because I love you. I always have." She said sincerely. "Besides, it's not like I was completely innocent either. At the last second I decided to do what I thought was best for me, and not what was best for us. I was the one that tore us apart, remember?"

"You didn't-"

"Yes, I did." There's a look on her face that Elsa's not used to. Her eyebrows are creased, there's an intensity in her eyes. It's assertive, almost intimidating, and...very attractive.

Elsa tempered that last feeling for the time being.

"It took two people to tear this relationship apart, you have to put half the blame on me."

Elsa in contrast felt vulnerable and submissive, a feeling she's not used to. She nodded slowly, it didn't feel good blaming Anna, but it did take two people to tear them apart.

"Now I guess my question is...do you forgive me?"

"Of course I do." Elsa said breathlessly before leaning across the table and planting a passionate kiss on Anna's lips. Had there been anyone else in that shop, they'd probably feel really uncomfortable right now.

They both had to catch their breath after they'd parted. When Elsa looked into Anna's eyes this time, there was something else there.

They're partially glazed over, as if a part of her isn't here at the moment; and when Anna bites her lip ever so slightly, Elsa knows exactly what it is:

Lust.

Back when they were in high school, the idea of sexual intimacy wasn't even on their mind until they were seniors. It started off with innocent kisses and cuddling on either one of their beds and couches. Their senior year, however, they'd grown bolder.

Thoughts turned to actions. The kisses grew longer and more passionate. Changing in the locker room after games made them accustomed to each other's bodies, but the moments where they were in private and changing in front of each other had tendered a flame in them both. They did everything to keep each other close to the edge, but retreated if things got too far.

Not because of hesitation or doubt, but because they wanted the first time to be special.

On December 31st, the fantasies became a reality. They came together, illuminated by the fireworks that signalled the end of an amazing year.

The look Anna was giving her now was the same look she gave her that fateful night, and if they were somewhere private she would have gladly given into that look.

But unfortunately they weren't.

She cleared her throat and regretfully sat back down, "That was uh...wow."

"Yeah...wow." Anna replied just as coherently.

"So all's forgiven." Elsa said, desperately trying to get back on topic. Not just because of what they might do if they kissed again, but also because there was something she still needed to say.

Anna blinked and shook her head, her eyes went wide as if she'd just been in a trance. "Wha-uh...yeah. Yeah. Uh, ahem...yeah."

Elsa giggled, "You okay there, Anna? You're looking a little warm."

"No I don't shut up." Anna pouted as she scooped a heaping bite of frozen yogurt in her mouth, probably to cool her down. She mumbled something incoherently.

She probably shouldn't tease the redhead, after all she probably looked the same way, but it at least brought some normalcy back in the conversation.

"I love you. You know that right?" Elsa asked.

Anna's face lit up, much differently this time. "I love you too...you stinker."

"And I'm beyond happy to know that we're together again. I can't take back those four years, but I can promise you that the next four years will be the best ones of your life."

"Only four years?" Anna said, it looked like she was genuinely worried.

"And beyond!" Elsa added, trying to ease her girlfriend's worries as quickly as possible. She had to get to her point. "That is...if you wanna keep me around after those four years."

Anna tilted her head and gave her a look of disbelief. "Elsa, I want to be with you forever."

She doesn't know which is better: the fireworks on New Year's Eve, or the ones going off in her mind. It was all the confirmation that Elsa needed, Anna wanted the same thing she did. To be together forever. Today, tomorrow, the rest of their lives.

The box in her jacket pocket is burning more than it ever has before, if there was a perfect time to do this...it was now.

"I'm really glad you feel the same way." Elsa replies, trying to calm her nerves. "Do you, uh...do you remember when I went to Agrabah?"

"Of course! I mean not really, I was kinda depressed and wallowing in self-pity, but I remember Hannah telling me that you'd gone there."

Brutal honesty, a rare sight for Anna Dawson. Elsa pushed through, not wanting to halt her momentum, "Well while I was there, I-I was really thinking. About us, you know? Mostly about how horrible I'd been to you, and how I thought it was too late to get you back. Jasmine...she showed me that it wasn't too late."

Anna leaned forward, sensing that there was a point to this monologue.

"And the day before I left, I went looking for a gift at this- this beautiful bazaar that she suggested. It was like the festival but ten times bigger and a hundred times livelier. The colors were so vibrant, the people were so full of life, you could get lost in there for hours. Thankfully I didn't."

"And I'm very glad you didn't."

Elsa smiled and looked down for a second, bits of chocolate chips floated in the pool of mint. After another deep breath, that took a monumental amount of work to steady, she spoke again, "I was trying to find a gift for you. Um...a very specific gift."

"Oh?" Anna said eagerly.

"Yeah, i-if I was going to go back and beg for your forgiveness, and tell you that I still loved you, I had to get you a gift that told you that this was real, that I wasn't gonna run away again. I wanted to get you something that said I wanted to go back to the way things were."

The smile on Anna's face, and the brightness of her eyes, made it seem like she knew exactly where this was going. And the fact that there wasn't fear or doubt was a very good sign.

"I want to be with you too, Anna. Forever. I want to show you that by asking you the one question I was going to ask you all those years ago."

It was finally time. The moment that had been put on hold for so long, the moment she never thought would happen again.

Elsa reached into her pocket to pull out the ring, but was interrupted by her phone going off.

Not wanting it to ruin the moment, she pulled her phone out instead to see who dared to interrupt this intimate moment. Someone was calling her, but it wasn't a number she recognized.

She glared intensely at her phone for doing it's job, and then looked apologetically at Anna. She smiled, there was still that eagerness on her face but it was clear that she was disappointed too. "You should answer it, it might be important."

That must have hurt for her to say.

"I'm sorry." Elsa said before answering the call.

"Hello?"

"...you must think you've won, huh?"

The world suddenly went dark, and the floor disappeared underneath Elsa.

No...it couldn't be…

"Well don't celebrate too long, Elsa. You took everything from me, and now I'm going to take everything from you. The cops won't find me, no one will find me. And as long as I'm alive, you and everyone you love aren't safe."

"Elsa? Who is it?" Anna says, but it's muffled by the sound of her heart pounding.

There's a sharp sound on the other end, like metal sliding on metal, and then a sickening pop. Hans lets out a ghastly laugh, and delivers one more foreboding message:

"I'll see you soon."

When he hangs up, the world returns around her and Elsa knows it's impossible, but she tries to catch her breath. The phone falls and lands on the table with a bang.

Anna tries to pry her other hand from its vise grip on the edge of the table. "Elsa, please talk to me. Who was on the phone?" There's so much fear in her voice, she knows that something has gone horribly wrong.

When Elsa speaks, it's impossible for her to believe the words. Because there's no way that this can still be happening. But it is, and their nightmare continues.

"He's coming. We have to go."

A/N: ...I told you it was gonna get worse.