...actually I'm not sorry, it's my life.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates, fam. Was working on my submission for the monthly Elsanna fanfic contest.

Chapter Text

This should be a good visit. When Dr. Maren told her over the phone that she wanted to talk to her, Anna felt like she sounded positive. So, this should be a good visit.

And yet she can't keep her foot from bouncing.

It helps her anxiety a little bit seeing how warm and inviting Dr. Maren's office is. It's small but quaint, painted a cream white with her vet degrees on the wall and cute knick-knacks on her desk. She's tempted to touch the dalmatian bobblehead. Well...tempted to touch it again.

At the very least, she hopes she'll get to see Elsa again. Last night, she dreamt that the husky turned out into a big, beautiful dragon that she rode into battle against marshmallow men.

Much like their first encounter, Dr. Maren entered the scene hurried and ready to get down to business. She's still got on her cute doctor's jacket- which, duh, that's her uniform, of course she'd be wearing it. "Anna, it's nice to see you again," she says with an outstretched hand.

Still pronouncing her name wrong.

"Uh yeah, it's really good to see you too," Anna replied, shaking her surprisingly soft hand, and not correcting her. "How are y-"

"So, I've got good news and bad news," the doctor interjects unknowingly as she sits in her chair. "Which one do you want first?"

Anna wrings her hands together, keeping them below the table so they're not visible. "The bad news? I guess?"

She nods and rearranges some papers on her desk, "Well the bad news is that the seventy-two-hour window has come and gone, and no one has arrived to claim ownership of Elsa. Which means that her owners are either long gone, or don't care to get her back."

The thought of that upsets Anna. Who wouldn't want to have such an adorable puppy in their house? Anna bit her lip, "And the good news?"

"Well the good news is actually up to interpretation, but this means that Elsa is up for adoption." She says that with a smile and looks curiously at Anna, "Now I remember you mentioning that you were interested in adopting Elsa. Are you still-"

"Yes!"

Dr. Maren's eyes widened. Crap, that was supposed to be a thought.

"Uh, I mean yeah. Y-yes. Yeah, I'm still interested for sure. Is she okay?"

Deciding against making Anna feel even more embarrassed, Dr. Maren nods, "She's been doing wonderfully. The cuts are healing up nicely and she's been well fed and taken care of. She tends to keep to herself, but that's to be expected right now. She probably shouldn't be around a lot of dogs anyway until she's had all her shots."

That sounds lonely, but then Anna knows what that feels like. When she was in the first grade, she got chickenpox, and all her classmates avoided her for the rest of the year.

Dr. Maren takes a second to text someone and then returns her attention back to Anna. "My assistant is going to bring Elsa over, meanwhile you and I should talk about the price."

Right, of course they wouldn't just give her Elsa for free. Luckily, Anna had suspected an adoption fee and saved away a little bit of money.

"Taking into account monthly check-ups, the rarity of Elsa's breed, the standard adoption fee, and a certificate of ownership, you're looking at about $750 today."

But not that much!

Anna stifles a yelp, "That much? Really?"

Dr. Maren nods at her, sympathetic, "How much can you pay right now? You can put something down, and we can set up bi-weekly payments."

"Like $100 right now, but…" Considering she doesn't have a job, she can't inconvenience Kristoff anymore, and she needs money to pay for food and, well, life, "...I don't know when I can get the rest."

Gosh, she hated being poor. Maybe getting a puppy might not be the best idea…

"I'm sorry, Anna. I was under the impression that you had the finances to afford Elsa. Our free adoption events are bi-annually, and the next one isn't until four months from now. I can't guarantee that Elsa will still be here by then."

Before she can say anything else, the door opens and an assistant comes in with a familiar husky in tow. And maybe Elsa senses Anna's declining mood, or she just missed her that much, but she tugged her way forward until she was right by the redhead's feet.

It helped immediately.

"Heeey girl!" Anna said cheerfully as she scratched Elsa's back, "Did you miss me?"

Elsa yipped and tried attacking her fingers, but in a cute way.

Anna giggled, "I missed you too. Kind of a lot."

Elsa responded by trying to eat her shoelaces.

Words could barely describe how much joy this bitey bundle of fur brought Anna. After three days apart, it was like they were picking up exactly where they left off. She thinks the assistant says something about her not being this energetic in the shelter, but she's too enthralled by Elsa trying to fight her shoe.

It's too bad that this might be the last time Anna gets to see her.

"I missed you too…" she says again, doing her best not to sigh dramatically. The last thing she wants to do is show Dr. Maren how sad she'd be if she couldn't adopt Elsa.

Wait no, that's exactly what she wants to do.

When she's able to pry her eyes away from Elsa for a second, she looks back at the second cutest thing in the room, "Dr. Maren, there's gotta be something I can do. I'll take excellent care of her, and bring her every month to get her shots, and train her, and feed her and everything."

"I understand, trust me. But you're not the first potential owner to come here and say those same things. Unfortunately, most of the time that we've made exceptions, the animals usually come straight back to the shelter. For better or worse." Dr. Maren pulled a pair of papers that were near Anna back towards herself, "We can't take that risk anymore."

No, this can't be the end.

Not after everything...okay so they haven't really gone through a lot yet. But oh no, Elsa's looking up at her with those adorable, blue eyes like she knows what they're talking about. She won't leave without Elsa, not again.

So, while Dr. Maren is busy telling her assistant the situation- with a solemn face to show that she hates doing this just as much- Anna says the first thing that comes out of her mouth. Which usually ends up biting her in the butt, but right now she's desperate.

"What if I work for her?"

Dr. Maren stops talking to her assistant and looks back at Anna with a raised eyebrow, "I'm sorry?"

Well, that got her attention. Now you have to reel her in, Anna Muenster.

"What if I work here at this shelter until I can pay off the rest of the adoption fee? There's gotta be some job here that no one really wants to do, right? You don't even have to keep me on once I pay off the full amount, and I will literally do anything."

"Anna…"

"Look, I don't care if the shift starts at three in the morning, I don't care if it pays ten cents an hour, I just don't want to leave here without Elsa. I can't explain it, but it just feels like she and I could be good for each other. And you saw how she reacted when she saw me, she missed me too!" Anna bent down to pet Elsa who then proceeded to lick her hand. "Please...just let me do something. Let me earn her."

Dr. Maren didn't say anything at first. She looked at her assistant who just shrugged. With a sigh, she turned back to Anna and pushed back the papers toward her. "We do have a morning custodian position that we've been trying to fill."

"I'll take it!" Anna said so suddenly that it made Elsa jump a little.

"Your shift would start at 6 AM."

"I'll take it."

"You'd be spending most of your time picking up dog poop."

"I'll take it."

"And it's only part-time so we can't be able to provide you any benefits."

"I. Will. Take. It."

And finally Dr. Maren cracks a smile again, even letting out an amused little chuckle, "Okay okay! The job's yours. We'll get you the paperwork for it, and we'll start on the paperwork for Elsa right now too. Sound good?"

Anna's smile is so wide, it almost hurts her cheeks. She picks up Elsa, who doesn't protest, and places her in her lap. The puppy settles in nicely, nibbling at her finger.

"Sounds perfect."