Chapter 46

A/N: Sup y'all, I know it's been a minute but I'm back again. I don't plan on taking anymore breaks from here on out, especially because we've finally hit that time. We're nearing the end of the story. It's been a long time coming, but now I can both proudly and sadly say that this adventure for Elsa and Anna is coming to a close.

There's maybe six or seven more to go. Thanks for being patient with me, and here's to hoping that the ending doesn't disappoint.

The Arendelle Correctional Facility was built on the foundation of a stronghold used heavily in the great wars a thousand years ago. Even through cannon fire, battering rams crushing the frames of doors that no longer existed, the pounding rain and harsh winds, and ice that froze the metal bars, it continued to stand.

Much of the interior and exterior had been obviously refurbished and reinforced, but it still kept the shape of its predecessor with its towering concrete walls, training yard turned courtyard, and gruff and musky atmosphere. Modern additions included a metal fence dug six feet into the ground, guard towers at key positions, and a large additional building that housed the warden and officers.

Elsa was escorted through the facility by two burly officers. They provided some much-needed protection from the sleazy prisoners that tried to grab at her skirt and hair from the bars, but they couldn't do much about the catcalls and lewd comments. Nonetheless, she walked with her head high and a look that could turn any of these prisoners to stone.

It wasn't a long walk, much to her relief, and soon they had safely brought her to the visitor's area. She thanked the two men and sat at one of the metal benches.

Elsa was right, Anna definitely wasn't happy that she was doing this; but if they were going to bring Hans down, then they needed all the help they could get. And unfortunately, the best man for the job was the same man who had made her life hell before Hans did.

A loud, buzzing noise rang across the concrete room and a man in an orange jumpsuit stepped in accompanied by the same escorts from before. He had deep bags under his eyes, poorly maintained stubble around his less refined jaw, and his hair was a drooping mess that almost went down to his shoulders, but there was no doubt that this was still the same man.

"Flynn Rider." Elsa said with disdain.

He walked over with a disinterested look already on his face and he sat down in front of her, "What do you want, blondie?"

"You look like shit."

His lips formed into a smile that didn't reach his eyes and he lazily propped his arms onto the table, "Yeah well serving a five-year sentence doesn't leave me much time to make myself presentable."

"You should be grateful you're not in here for longer." Elsa sneered as she too leaned forward and placed her arms on the table.

"I don't think I'd use the word 'grateful' to describe how I'm feeling."

"And what word would you use?"

"It doesn't matter much, does it? Now there's no way in hell this is a courtesy visit, so why don't you just tell me what you want so I can go back to my nap."

A part of her was grateful that this conversation wouldn't go on for too long, but another part of her wanted to savor this moment. Elsa wanted to toy with him, make him feel as uncomfortable as he'd made her feel all those weeks ago. She sat up and smirked coyly, "What's the matter, Flynn? You don't miss me?"

Flynn mimicked her movements somewhat, reclining back in the chair with his arms folded and scowled, "Not entirely, no."

"Well what if I told you that I had an offer to get your sentence reduced? Or even one to get you out of here entirely."

Flynn tries to remain irritated and unwilling to cooperate, he tries to keep the disdain prominent on his face, but there's a flash of intrigue in his eyes that Elsa catches immediately. And when he mutters "What do you want?", she knows that she's got him.

"Information." She replies as her lips straighten, deciding that it was better to get down to business than to keep playing this game of cat and mouse. "About your old employer."

Flynn scoffs and looks out the barred window on his right, "I've had many employers, you're gonna have to be a little more specific on which one."

"I think you know exactly which one I'm talking about." Elsa sneered. "Now cut the crap, I need your...help...with Hans."

"What? You want me to testify in court or something?"

"No, at least not yet. I need to build up evidence against him first, and there's something more personal I need help with first." She looked around the room, with the clout that she had it was easy to ensure no one else was inside but the two of them and a guard facing the door.

Even with the luxury of privacy she had, Elsa still felt uneasy confessing this in such an open space, let alone to Flynn. This was going to be a risky move, one that would potentially relinquish a little too much control in this negotiation, but for Anna it was a risk she was willing to take.

She leaned forward again and spoke softly, conjuring up the most concerned look she could, "He has...he's watching Anna's bakery, and possibly her apartment. He threatened me not to tell anything to Anna, or else he'd have her taken away. Like a damn mafia boss."

"He's watching the bakery?" Flynn asked soberly.

Elsa nodded, "Now look, five years for blackmail is excessive for sure; and because I know you were just working for this scumbag...help me out, and I'll make sure he serves this time instead of you."

Silence.

An unexpected reaction from the man who seemed to always have something to say.

He looked away, right back out the same window, and it doesn't seem as if he's going to answer Elsa's proposition anytime soon. It's hard to read his face, so Elsa tries a different approach. "Why did you do it, Flynn?"

Still no answer, but he turns back to Elsa and it's clear that he's still mulling over her request.

"Why did you help him?"

"I never knew my parents, you know." He starts.

"Wh…" Elsa wants to ask what that has to do with anything, but stops herself. If this monologue was going to help in securing this help, then she wouldn't want to interrupt just yet.

Flynn's looking at her, but she can tell that his mind is elsewhere, "They dumped me at the front steps of an orphanage before I could even make out their faces. The other kids never liked me- which was fine by me because I didn't like them either- all the nuns tolerated me, and all the parents wanted nothing to do with me. I spent most of my time in my room using this beaten-up computer from like the 90s."

"I used it to just escape at first, to be anywhere that wasn't there, but I got so interested in learning how that ancient thing worked. I learned the ins and outs, taught myself how to code, got into places I shouldn't have been able to." He chuckled for a second, but then his face got dark. "After being passed up for the fifth time, I'd had enough. I didn't want to stay there any longer."

His eyes shift as if he's reliving these moments vividly, as if he's there right now. "I snuck out of the orphanage when I was 14, and when no one came to look for me it was sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. No one wanted me, and I had to look out for myself. I did everything I could to survive, changed my name and everything. Stole a laptop from some dying computer store, holed up in an abandoned apartment complex, and just like that Flynn Rider was born."

He laughs but there's a sense of sadness in it. Elsa finds herself listening more intently, her arms rest on the table as she leans in to hear more.

"You'd be surprised how gullible people are online. I took money straight out of their accounts, bypassed a lot of security measures to get to certain company files, and did some pickpocketing on the regular just because I could. It wasn't glamorous, but it was my life. I only gave it up because it just got old after a while, you know? Decided to go the straight and narrow for a little bit to see if that would fill the void- started doing work for the APD and landed a job at ArenCorp- but it still couldn't give me that spark."

"So you've been lying this whole time? How come none of this showed up on your background check?"

Flynn gives her an incredulous look, "You really don't think I was able to edit my own background check? I only showed you what I wanted you to see."

Elsa muttered an insult under her breath.

"One day it all just started to click, a lot of things began to change. I knew where and who I wanted to be. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged somewhere and could be someone. I wanted to protect that."

She swears that there's a small smile on the side of his face, but she doesn't say anything.

And then…" He pauses and Elsa swears she sees him wince. "And then Hans came, with his...proposition, and the son of a bitch wouldn't take no for an answer. Besides, it was good money- way more than I was already getting and it played to my strengths."

"And was that paycheck worth the price you're paying now?"

Flynn sneered, "Well clearly not since all my assets have been seized."

"And whose fault is that?"

He didn't answer, and she didn't continue. They stared each other down with such vitriol that, were it not for the heavy metal table between them, they would have probably come to blows right then and there. It had been a while since Elsa was in a fight, and it would have been the first one she'd have that wasn't on a lacrosse field.

No...no this wasn't the time. She came here with a mission, and she couldn't lose sight of that. Anna's safety, and her job, were on the line.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Look, I'm not doing this. I made my case, told you that I needed your help and made you an offer to get you out of here. All I need from you is a definitive answer: Will you help me or not?"

Silence, Flynn continues to ponder her words as if there's even more left to say but there isn't. Elsa has said her peace, she's made her arguments, done all she could to convince him. It's all on him now.

And Elsa thinks she's done enough, thinks that she's given him an offer that couldn't possibly be refused. She's given him a chance to get out of here and stop rotting inside a prison cell, and all he needs to do is reverse his karma and use his skills for good again. After all, it's not like Hans is paying him anymore anyway.

She thinks she's done enough to convince him. So when his face finally softens from pure hatred to neutrality, closes his eyes, and takes a breath, Elsa braces herself for the yes.

"No."

"...what?"

Flynn narrows his gaze, "Weren't you listening? On the outside I have nothing, not anymore at least. In here, I might have to live with the fear of being shanked just cause I looked at someone funny, but at least I have a roof over my head, structure, and everyone leaves you alone if you leave them alone. This is what I'm used to, and if recent events have proven anything, it's where I belong."

"Are you being serious right now?" Elsa asks incredulously.

"I tried going the straight and narrow and it still brought me here, so if you think I have any hope in a new dr- a new life getting out of here? ...look my answer is no, I'm not going to help you. The offer wasn't that enticing to begin with, I've got nothing waiting for me out there. Find someone else who'll be your corporate bitch."

His chair screeches against the concrete as he pushes it back, leaving Elsa to linger on his answer. She wrings her hands together, wondering where it all went wrong.

And also wondering if it was worth it to lay her last card out on the table…

He brought up a good point: all his assets were seized, someone had already moved into his apartment, and he definitely couldn't go back to ArenCorp unless Elsa wanted yet another controversy on her resume. There was no incentive for Flynn to take this deal, unless Elsa gave him one.

One statement. It was all she needed to make, but one she was weary about using because Anna told it to her in secrecy. But if this was going to keep Anna safe, then secrecy be damned.

As Flynn neared the door and the guard placed his hand on the handle, Elsa laid down her last card: "Rapunzel's pregnant."

Anna holds Rapunzel's hand as she sits on the barely comfortable bench with her stomach exposed and a doctor spreads weird goop on it.

"How does that stuff feel?" Anna asked her curiously.

"Cold." Rapunzel smiles as she shivers slightly. "And magical at the same time, like...I can't believe this goop will show me how my baby's doing."

"Actually that's more of the transducer's job." The gynecologist says gently as she places the microphone-shaped object on her best friend's stomach. "I can understand the cold though, but you get used to it after a while."

As much as she wants to be there for Rapunzel, Anna can't help but also want to be there for Elsa right now. Spending her morning in a prison can't be fun, especially considering that she's visiting someone that made her life a living hell.

Truth be told, when Elsa told her who she had to get help from, Anna protested it almost immediately. But after a few minutes of effortless convincing by the amazing Elsa Andersen, she begrudgingly got on board. And because cell service was abysmal at the prison, she wouldn't know what was going on until Elsa messaged her.

Which obviously didn't help the situation at all.

That was reason number one that Anna was here today. So that she could get her mind off the fact that her girlfriend- her very attractive girlfriend- was inside of a prison right now with a bunch of sleazy criminals. Reason number two was for moral support for Rapunzel. Because this wasn't just any regular baby appointment…

Today they were going to find out her baby's gender.

There's a pause.

A deep, heart-pounding silence as the room suddenly gets thirty degrees cooler. Flynn is as still as a statue, and Elsa wonders if she should continue or let him take in the weight of that revelation.

Five seconds, maybe five years, later and Elsa decides that she should elaborate: "I only know what Anna's told me, but I can tell you for sure that she's pregnant and is a few months along. I haven't actually spent any time with her, but from what I've heard it doesn't sound like she's moved on. Which means I can all but guarantee that it's yours."

He still hasn't turned around, but maybe it's the morning light hitting from a different angle, or he's let out a breath that he's been holding, but Elsa thinks his posture has loosened. Just a little bit.

She sighs, "You say...that you have nothing waiting for you out there, but I'm telling you that you have at least one thing: a second chance. What's worse? That kid growing up not knowing who their father was? Or them knowing exactly who he was? I've learned from experience that it's never too late to change things, and to right the wrongs that you've made in your life. And this…"

Her voice catches in her throat as she reminds herself of the woman she used to be, the one that had driven Anna away for so long. Was it only recently that she had finally made up for all that lost time?

It's something she can't dwell on right now. "...I'm not offering you a way out just because I need your help. I know what it feels like to think that you're too far gone. You can't start over and take back what you did...but that kid deserves to know that their father is a good man. Help me, and you can show them that yourself."

He turns around slowly, and it seems like he's trying to be angry and frustrated but the tears forming in his eyes betray him. "And what makes you think I'll even get that chance?" he says with a hint of hope that Elsa will answer.

She smiles because she knows that look far too well, and knows that he's trying to find some hope, even through these insurmountable odds. And through those conversations with Anna, through the updates she shared about Rapunzel, she knew that there was hope. It's small and fleeting, but it's there.

When she replies, it's with complete honesty: "Because your new life, your new dream, is still waiting for you."

And when Flynn shows the tiniest flashes of hope in his eyes, begrudgingly walks back to his chair, and reverts back to his serious, "angry" look from before...Elsa knows that she's got him.

After another half an hour of negotiations, they both get what they want. Elsa has a supplier and the knowledge to succeed in her mission, and Flynn gets his second chance. When she leaves the prison, all Elsa can think about is getting back to Anna and holding her, reminding herself of her own second chance.