NOTES: Okay, things are really going to pick up from here... not all at once, but quite a bit immediately, and more soon. Brace yourselves!

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A few more days went by in a hesitant bliss. Elsa and Anna were still too scared and unsure of themselves to really hash out the details of what this strange new attraction meant, but neither could they resist the occasional kiss from happening. Early in the morning, passing each other on their way in and out of the bathroom, while on nature hikes, and especially in the evening, when their room was their own little world.

But that was as far as things went. They would snuggle here and there, chatting about each other's lives they missed out on and enjoying the closeness, but they didn't tend to kiss while laying in bed together because, as Elsa had put it, "That seemed too intimate." Anna had to admit she was right; making out while lying in either of their bunks was the type of thing that led to more. And at that point, "more" was too much.

Anna was content with the way things were going so far. The kisses were much more pleasant than the ones she had shared with Esmerelda, and the long bouts of time she spent bonding and talking with her sister made the many years of heartache and separation seem almost like nothing more than a faded nightmare.

The two of them were on kitchen cleanup duty when things very nearly went further. Elsa was just finishing wiping down the counters as Anna got ready to mop the floor. Everything else had already been taken care of, so the two of them were bantering back and forth.

"You're not wrong," Elsa laughed as she swept another handful of small debris from the counter with her dishtowel. "You know how Mom doesn't like us to watch us anything with a 14A rating or higher. But… I do wish I could see it with you."

"I'd like that, and I promise, the movie is really good!" Anna grinned as she practically danced across the floor with exaggerated flourishes, the mop being her less-enthusiastic dance partner. Her mood was at an all time high and it showed in every energetic movement. "I mean, you're twenty years old and you've never watched anything above a teen rating?"

Shrugging, Elsa dumped the handful of debris into the trash and went back to wipe down the counter a final time. "Well, I didn't want to upset her. She told me it was wrong since I wasn't old enough, and I just… well, I haven't seen that many movies since I started at university. But at least I've seen Mean Girls!"

"Everyone has seen Mean Girls!" Anna laughed, "You can't go through high school without watching it at least once!"

"I mean… I did, but you're right, I finally understood so many references once I'd seen it!" Finally finishing, she walked over to watch Anna work on the floors. "Alright, that's it for the rest. Do you want some help?"

"So you can take away my dance partner?" Anna hugged the old mop to her dramatically. "Unless you want to take his place then me and Moppy here have it covered!"

Shaking her head, Elsa laughed as she picked up the large, unused cans of cling peaches and creamed corn and began to carry them into the pantry. "Fine, be that way. We're almost done here, and then we can head back to the bunks. Do a good job!"

The redhead blinked before propping the mop against the wall and holding out her hand. "Ah come on! I'm kidding!" She gave Elsa her best charming grin. "Would the beautiful lady care to share a dance with little old me?"

"You missed your chance!" she called over her shoulder as she walked into the pantry, shooting an equally coy smile back in her direction. However, she was too busy doing that to watch where she was going. Her white sneaker tripped over a lip between the tiled floor of the kitchen and the bare concrete of the pantry, and she began to stumble forward. "WHOA!"

CRASH.

"ELSA!" Anna shouted in alarm and rushed over to her, kneeling beside her and examining her for injuries. "Oh my god, Elsa! Are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine," she grunted, pushing up from the concrete floor. "Bruised my knee, though, ooh!" Taking in a sharp breath, she glanced over at the cans scattered across the floor. "Did they break? I don't want to have to clean up the pantry, too!"

Anna took a quick glance. Despite the amount of cans that had fallen, thankfully only one had burst. The red that spattered the floor smelt strongly of tomato. The redhead grinned. "Only the tomato soup, an easy clean. Need help up?"

With a nod, Elsa flipped over and crawled toward the can that had burst open. Her hips wagged from side to side in a manner that was somewhat provocative-looking in her tight camp shorts, even though they were of "appropriate length". The pantlegs coming down to hide her thighs did nothing to conceal the shape of her firm rear end. Anna's gaze was instantly drawn to the sight and she felt little shame in her eagerness to drink in the contours. She wondered if Elsa was aware of what she was doing to her but dismissed the thought immediately; Elsa would never do that.

"Careful, you might get the soup all over you if you crawl like that."

"There's not that much," she declared, still stooped over with her heinie in the air. "Can you get me a towel? I'll clean it up while I'm down here if you bring me one."

"Sure!" Anna, turned on her heel and strode towards the supply closet to dig around for a towel, taking her time so she could cool down. She handed Elsa the towel when she returned, then went to picking up the rest of the fallen cans, stealing glances at Elsa's butt from time to time. Without thinking, she blurted, "You must work hard to keep such a great figure, huh sis?"

"To keep what?" Elsa asked, grunting from the effort of mopping up the soup. When she turned to look over her shoulder, her forehead was glistening with sweat. "My figure?"

"Y-yeah." Anna cleared her throat. "God Elsa, you look fantastic; surely you realize that?"

With a breathy laugh, Elsa said in a tone that made it clear she was only joking, "Were you checking out my butt or something? Naughty, naughty!"

A can clattered back to the ground, thankfully dropped from a short distance so it didn't burst. "I wa-wasn't staring," Anna protested, "I was admiring! And it's not just your butt I was talking about!"

"You…" Blinking, she turned around and sat down on her hip to gape at her sister. "Were you actually looking at my butt?! Oh… I'm sorry, I was teasing because I thought there was no way you'd…" Her pale cheeks slowly began to pinken as realisation hit her. "W-well, I…"

Upon realizing what she said, Anna smacked her hands over her face. "I am so sorry! I- uh… it was wiggling up at me like that, and I couldn't help myself!"

Still vaguely stunned, Elsa looked down toward the rear in question for a few seconds, then back up at Anna's guilty-looking face. "I-it's okay, I'm not upset or anything. Just w-wasn't expecting that." Licking her lips, she attempted a shaky smile. "Guess it doesn't hurt for you to look, right?"

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop," Anna offered with a nervous smile, though she couldn't help but feel disappointed. "But I am serious about wanting to know how your secret about looking as good as you do."

Allowing herself a coy smile, she returned her attention to mopping up the last bit of tomato sauce and righting the can so that it didn't spill any more. "I could ask you the same thing, Anna. You're a very attractive woman now, I can't believe how much you've grown."

Anna waved a dismissive hand but she couldn't hide the pleased grin that spread across her lips at the compliment. "You're much beautifuller than I am, but thanks."

Elsa giggled at the use of her father's favourite descriptive word, one she had adopted when she was a child, though she only ever used it when talking about Elsa. "Don't be silly. I've always thought you were cute. It's just… a very different kind of cute now." Looking away, she added in a whisper, "M-maybe that's not okay for me to say."

"You seriously think I'm...cute?" she asked, smile turning bashful.

Elsa looked equally flustered as she glanced away, muttering, "I just said you always were." But as churlish as the words were, her blush gave away that she was merely embarrassed to repeat such a flirtatious-sounding thing.

"Thank you." She couldn't resist leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Elsa's cheek. "You almost done? We should get going soon before we get locked in the cafeteria."

"I…" Her hand reached up to play across Anna's soft, freckled cheek. "Yeah. We wouldn't want that. Just the two of us, here all night…"

Suddenly, Anna didn't feel all that opposed to the idea. Especially with Elsa's cool fingers gently teasing across her skin. "That sounds lovely, but… we could be alone, just the two of us, with a few beds to lay in rather than a hard wooden table." She added with a chuckle, "Unless you like laying on wood."

"Not particularly. Or concrete, for that matter. Help me up?" She offered her hands to Anna with a still-bashful smile; it seemed Elsa Tremblay, gorgeous though she was, really had zero experience with flirting — or even knowing when she was doing so. It was actually very adorable.

She took her sister's hand and tugged her to her feet just a little too enthusiastically. Elsa ended up stumbling right into her and Anna just barely managed to get her arms around her. "Heh heh… sorry. You're way lighter than you look. N-not that you look heavy, I just… didn't…"

But Elsa was distracted. With Anna now pinned against the shelves, slightly flushed and embracing her, it seemed she couldn't quite remember to back up. Her lips worked as she swallowed, her breath came faster. A pink tongue emerged to wet her lips.

"Elsa? You okay?" Anna glanced worriedly at the older girl, even though Elsa's face was mostly obscured from her vision, but made no movement to push her away. She was silently content to have Elsa against her and was in no rush to have her leave her arms. "You feeling dizzy? It was kind of abrupt so the vertigo must be pretty bad…"

"Anna?" Another swallow. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Are you… sure you don't mind how this feels, when we're this close? Like, really sure?"

"Why would I mind?" Anna asked, tilting her head against Elsa's and tightening her grip a little. "Elsa, I told you that I have no objections about any of this but if you do, you just have to let me know so I can… back off."

Her elder sister smiled weakly before leaning in to press their lips together, eyes drifting closed. It was not a kiss of great passion. It was chaste, earnest but reserved. Anna blinked in surprise at the unexpected move but she pressed her lips back against Elsa's. She didn't push to make it deeper despite how badly she desired to, and instead just kept her lips still and her eyes open to see Elsa's reactions.

When Elsa's kneading didn't prompt any further reaction from Anna, she pulled back a few seconds later to whisper, "I… I'm sorry, is that not… am I doing something wrong?"

The redhead smiled tenderly. "You're not, I just wasn't sure how willing you were to make this any more heated." She rested her forehead on Elsa's. "You're perfect, Elsa, honest to God."

"Not here," Elsa half-laughed nervously, running her hands over Anna's pulled-taut hair. "But… yeah. It's starting to feel less scary, what we're doing."

Just then, there came a quiet thump from the kitchen. When their heads snapped over, all they saw was the apron that had been left on the center prep table had fallen to the floor.

Anna reluctantly pulled away from Elsa despite the progress and confession. "We'll continue this conversation at the cabin," she murmured to her older sister. "It's spooky in here at night."

However, a coy little smile spread across Elsa's face at those words, and she began to whisper, "Ooooh, spooky in the pantry!" and trace a fingernail up Anna's bare forearm.

Anna shuddered and she narrowed her eyes playfully. "You jumped too when that apron fell. There might be a ghost in here!"

"Anna, there's no such thing as ghosts," Elsa chuckled, bringing the hand up to pet her shoulder as she stood back, the spell of the moment broken. "I'm sorry. I just find it hard to be scared when I have you around to protect me."

"Of course ghosts exist! How else would you describe what happened?" Still Anna puffed up her chest in pride at Elsa's compliment. "I'll protect you no matter what but if I get possessed, you're going to have to run!"

Grinning as they finally moved to leave the kitchens, Elsa whispered, "Maybe I want you to catch me."

Anna felt her whole body warm at the almost flirtatious way Elsa said it. If this was how Elsa could effortlessly make her feel with a simple joke, she almost didn't want to know what would happen to her if she were to ever really try. "T-Then I guess I'll just have to catch you and… tickle you to death!"

"Don't you dare, Anna Saunders!" she snapped with a warning finger held aloft. "I swear to God! You know I'm very ticklish, you can't use that against me!"

Anna grinned wickedly and flexed her fingers, taking a playful step towards Elsa, "Well you better run then, or the Tickle Ghost will get you!" She laughed and lunged at her sister. A scream erupted from her as she tried to dodge, but was only able to move aside by a half step, completely falling victim to the attack.

"AAHHH! Anna, no, AHAHAHAHA!"

Anna giggled and buried her fingers into Elsa's sensitive sides, grappling with her when the older woman started bucking and struggling to knock her off. "Anna YES!" she cackled, tickling harder. "You can't escape me now, Elsa!"

"Y-you- AAAH! Anna, sto- stop, I c-ca- AHAHAHA oh GOD!" Her hand shot out and she managed to catch herself on the kitchen door handle as she slid down to the hard floor, legs and arms flailing in their vain attempts to prevent Anna from doing any worse. A wayward arm caught Anna hard in the cheek and she let out a little grunt of pain but it simply increased her efforts, maneuvering herself awkwardly so she could trap Elsa's arms between her body and the floor while not letting her hands roam far from their attack.

"Oh my- I can't believe you!" Elsa was panting between giggles, face so much more flushed than usual as she squirmed beneath the relentless stimulation. "Aahahaha, AAAH! Oh h-help, HELP! This redhead is trying to d-destroy me!"

Anna ceased in her attack, taking pity on the blonde's breathless state, but she refused to release her grip on her sister in fear of retribution. "Now now, I'm giving you a single minute to catch your breath so you don't die. Isn't that sweet of me?" She giggled and bent down to give Elsa's nose a kiss. "One… two… three…"

"I…" Her gasping paused only long enough to enjoy the kiss on her nose, then she was panting for breath yet again. "I'm… I feel like… I should be demanding you stop, because… I'm not enjoying it exactly, but at the same time… it's b-been so long, and…"

Anna giggled again at Elsa's attempts to explain. "I feel you." She gently tapped Elsa's nose with her finger this time and tried valiantly to ignore the butterflies fluttering madly in her stomach. Elsa looked so flushed and beautiful and perfect. Lying beneath her panting and looking at her with her gorgeous blue eyes half closed. Anna swallowed thickly.

"You have thirty seconds before I resume my torture so you better say your prayers."

"Well… alri… alright." Clearing her throat, she closed began to whisper through her coy little smile, "Dear Heavenly Father, please give me… retribution for this torture I am about to receive… at the hands of my sister…"

The redhead grinned and gave Elsa's hips a light squeeze, teasing her, "Any last words?"

One eye slitted open to stare up at Anna. The only word she added was, "Amen."

Anna attacked, her assault on Elsa so relentless that no inch of her ticklish spots went untouched for more than a few seconds. She cackled with crazed glee. Elsa's shoes thudded against the floor with each thrashing, and she rolled from side to side, trying to free up a hand to somehow push Anna away, despite the gales of laughter pouring out of her throat.

Then there was a slight shift in her mood, an urgency. All at once, she suddenly began to pant, "A-Anna, you have to stop, I'm gonna pee! I'mahahahaha WHY?! Cut that out, or I swear I- oh!"

The last "oh" coincided with a particularly hard spasm, after which Elsa went totally silent, though she still twitched and squirmed from the tickling. Anna's hands froze at the soft sound, staring down at Elsa wide-eyed. "What happened?" There was no response, other than a lot of panting and blinking. Anna nudged Elsa gently. "Hey, did I hurt you? Are you alright?" She looked down at Elsa with concern, hoping that her tickle attack didn't end up breaking Elsa by accident.

"I…" It seemed she couldn't answer directly. Her blue eyes flicked up toward Anna, then turned away immediately as she bit her lip, face as red as it had ever been. That could simply have been from all the tickling, of course. Anna leaned in, so close that her nose brushed over Elsa's and she got a whiff of Elsa's lovely scent. The red flush in Elsa's face was so stark against the usually pale skin and Anna couldn't help but grin.

"Ah, I think I got it! You're tricking me to get me to stop."

"N-no, I'm really not." Swallowing hard, she finally sighed and pushed up onto one of her elbows. "Just, um… I need to go back to the cabin. But can you promise me you, um… won't look at my shorts?"

"Why? What's wrong with your shorts? Did you tear them?" Anna got up and regarded Elsa in concern, her gaze darting to the tight shorts but not seeing anything wrong from the angle she was in.

"ANNA KATARINA SAUNDERS!" she gasped the moment she noticed her looking.

"What? I don't-" She froze when she spotted the darkened area at the crotch of Elsa's shorts and she had to bite her lip hard to keep from laughing hysterically, "Oh my- Elsa! You peed!"

The blonde hastily whispered "SHHH!" but when she saw Anna straining not to break into giggles, she wilted completely. "This is your fault, you know… you can never tell anybody! I mean it!"

Anna's giggles got louder and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "That is too funny! Oh my gosh! You actually peed yourself! I'm going to hold this against you forever!" she teased, though she hoped Elsa knew that she was just joking around. But her knowing would have to wait.

"Just get me out of here and hope nobody sees me on the way to our cabin!" she hissed in sheer humiliation, stomping toward the door.

Anna's glee faded quickly in the wake of Elsa's irritation and she quickly rushed after her, snatching the fallen apron off the floor as she passed and handing it to Elsa. "Here, tie this around your waist and if anyone asks about it, we'll just say you had a stubborn pasta stain…" She cringed. "I'm sorry for making you, um, have an accident."

"I…" Sighing, she took it and did as Anna suggested. "Nevermind. I just want to get in the shower." When Anna continued to look put out, she added, "I do need to, and to change, and I'd rather get started soon instead of standing around in soggy underwear."

"Okay," Anna nodded and kept walking along with her sister. It was a short walk to the cabin and Anna held the door open for Elsa to slip in.

"Thank you," she said coldly, despite her continued shivering and blushing. "Now… I'm going to shower and change. And I hope next time I ask you to stop, you will actually stop, alright?!" With that, she snatched her pyjamas from under her bed and stomped toward the bathroom.

Anna flinched as the bathroom door slammed shut and she hugged herself in shame. Elsa's words were like a heavy weight on her heart. "I'm sorry," she whispered, even though she knew Elsa could no longer hear her.

To Be Continued...