"Whoa…"

Anna smiled clumsily at the sight of her son being in awe when they entered her apartment. Though, it wasn't like there was much to be amazed… seeing how she hadn't cleaned up at all, after all. Gods, how could Elsa be right about everything?

"Alright, make yourself at home, buddy."

Olaf was already walking around for his little own house tour as she dropped the duffle bag on the couch. Anna wasn't sure how to even react. She'd at least expect Olaf to complain about the mess but…

"Is that a Nintendo Switch?!" He gasped, pointing at the gaming console sitting on the counter, below the TV. "Mom would never buy that…"

Of course she wouldn't. Not with Olaf still being so young, Elsa definitely didn't want the little guy to be distracted from his studies with something like this. Perhaps… Anna having her own independence had some nice perks.

Anna grinned proudly. "Mama earned enough money to get something like this so we can play together. Don't tell your mother, okay?"

"A pizza box! Ew!" He giggled as he picked up a slice of half-eaten pizza from the box in the kitchen. It was probably a week old. Perhaps, more. "I like this." Oh for god's sake. At least, Anna realized what the blonde meant when there was much to do at home.

She groaned. "Olaf, go wash your hands." She pointed at the sink. With Elsa not here, she had to act like a proper adult. A proper parent.

"But Mamaaaa…"

She placed her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows. "Olaf Arendelle. Now." Elsa always used that stern voice… it'll work.

Immediately, Olaf managed to turn on the faucet in the kitchen to wash his hands.

Looking around, Anna honestly hadn't realized how much of a mess her living room was.

Clothes were thrown randomly, there were papers on the floor, and God knows what kind of food was on that table.

She wasn't going to even imagine what her bedroom looked like. Especially if Olaf was going to stay for a week or so.

She scratched her head, gazing down at her living room table. Beer cans, files, paperwork, were all sitting there waiting for a cleanup. Ugh, the stench…

"Alright." She gazed up at the clock. 8:45… "Let's get you to shower - Olaf, pft, what are you doing now?" How long had she been standing there in a daze to not even realize Olaf was taking out an empty garbage bag? For God's sake, he was already throwing trash away! Is this what usually kids do?

The boy looked down, then back to his Mama. "Um… cleaning?"

Anna shook her head with a raised amused eyebrow, laughing in disbelief. This is ridiculous. "Why?"

"Well…" He bit his lip, watching Anna come to him, bending down to his height. Oh, those eyes were so bright, so innocent. Her heart felt tight at the sight. At this age… Olaf should be throwing tantrums. Playing. Begging his parents not to sleep early. Anna ran her fingers through his hair. "I-I thought if I clean, Mama would be happy. P-Plus!" He let go of the bag, his thumbs circling around each other. "I-I see Mom clean sometimes, and I wanted to help, and she always says she doesn't like dirty places so…"

"Ah…"

"Mama, are you tired?"

She cocked her head. "Me? No, never."

"'cause if you are, you can take a nap."

With another hearty laughter - though, Anna really wanted to cry, seeing how considerate they raised their son to be - Anna ruffled his hair. "No, how could I nap with you doing all the work? It should be the opposite."

"But I like cleaning!"

"I'm sure you do." She grabbed the black trash bag and stood up. "Are you sure you don't want to look around any further? Play some games…?"

The boy shook his head, his fluffy hair just going with his movement. Ah, Anna really wanted to hug him to bits. How could such a child be this cute?! "I wanna clean with Mama." He gasped. "Oh, can we call Mom too? Please?!"

"Alright, alright!" She tried shrugging the boy from her arms. Never had Anna seen him become so hyper before. "Just hang on for a second, okay? I'll wash my hands."

For half an hour, the two spent time cleaning the house. Sure, it was late… and supposedly, Olaf's time to go to bed, but Anna didn't care - seeing how Olaf wasn't going to be going to school for another day. Plus, this was the only time Anna got to spend time with her son.

She was jealous, obviously. Of her ex-wife. While Anna was out working, being aggravated by this baggage of their marriage… Elsa spent her time every day with Olaf at home. The only thing she ever got was taking Olaf back to that house she'd rarely step foot in.

But now, it was different. Elsa was opening up. Olaf… while having those nightmares, was smiling and giggling at the fact that Mama got to spend time with him. She was glad, watching the boy in the living room, stacking papers neatly on top of each other.

"Olaf, baby, are you tired?" she asked loudly from the kitchen.

"Nope!"

She sighed. "It's almost 10, buddy. Are you sure?" Anna turned back from the kitchen and looked into the living room. At least now, the place was a bit tidied up.

"Yep!" He continued to stack those papers without looking at her mother.

"This child…" she whispered to herself. Not that Anna could complain. He was weird… weird in a good way though. "Alright, but you have to take a shower later, understand -" A specific ringtone sounded in her pocket. Gods, she really needed to change that if she didn't want others to know how much she still yearned for Elsa to come back.

Even Olaf knew what it was, seeing him gasp and run up to his mother. "Is it Mom? That's Mom, isn't it?!"

"H-Hey, hang on!" As impatient as Olaf was, Anna wasn't. Just slightly nervous, that's all. And perhaps, that was also an understatement.

It wasn't the first time Elsa called - just the fact that… well, things were difficult. Even more so, now.

She let out a perfect smile when she answered the FaceTime. "Hey, you're not sleeping?"

Elsa waved from the other side. "In bed right now, actually. What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just cleaning."

"Glad you're doing something productive."

Anna groaned. "Now what's that supposed to mean? I'm doing it with Olaf, remember?"

In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the boy jumping up and down, his little hands patting Anna's legs. "Mama… pleaseeee…"

"Oh, here. Say hi to Mom."

"Mom, hi!" Olaf screamed, his little feet jumping up and down with excitement.

"Hi, honey. I hope you're having fun, do you miss me?" Anna had never seen such a big smile crossing Elsa's face.

"Yeah! A lot!"

The two slowly walked to the couch to have a nice chat. "It's too bad, honey. You'll be back home soon, alright? Mama is taking good care of you?"

"Uh huh." He giggled. "She got old pizza in the kitchen."

"I figured. Did you help her clean them up?"

"Yeah!"

Anna just had to roll her eyes, playfully. There wasn't a thing between those two that could ever stop them from teasing her. "Guys, I'm right here. Listen, we took a while to clean, alright? I didn't even notice until Olaf pointed everything out to me. We had fun too."

Elsa chortled slightly, shaking her head. "Oh, I know. Olaf makes it fun."

She whispered, "Does that not drive you crazy sometimes?"

"You're talking like that's a bad thing. Anyway, you two shouldn't stay up too long."

"Yeah, I know." She wrapped her arm around Olaf, feeling the boy casually leaning his head against her, bright eyes looking at the screen. "Just thought we'd call to see how's everything. Glad you did it first."

"Call me anytime so I don't get bored at home by myself, alright?"

"Mom, you should visit!" he exclaimed loudly. Ah, that was one thing Anna hoped Olaf wouldn't say. The woman hadn't visited for… well, months, actually. There was only a handful of times where Elsa would come up to do whatever that was needed to be done, but for a while now, she hadn't done that. She didn't need to do that.

There was a short moment of awkward silence between them before Elsa let out a sigh. Whatever it was - relief or disappointment - Anna was just glad she was the one to say something first.

"I'm not going to come up to see a mess again, right?"

Anna nervously chuckled. "Of course not, I learned my lesson."

"Then I'll think about it. Anyway, it's nice to call you both. I should get to bed soon."

"Alright, say bye to Mom, Olaf."

The boy waved. "Bye Mom, I love you."

"Love you too, baby."

"Mama, why didn't you tell Mom you love her before?"

Anna blinked as she smothered the bare boy's body with liquid soap. After the call, Anna knew it was getting pretty late where playing games with Olaf tonight would only leave the two not sleeping at all. So she canceled that plan. So here they were, Anna giving her son a bath.

Never did she expect that question to come up. Not even from this little man right here.

Her heart clenched at those words, but… well, it wasn't like she wasn't used to it anymore. Everyone would ask her questions about her divorce - Kristoff, Meg… now, him. She smiled, almost broken, almost… well, depressing. "Mom knows I love her, it's okay." She grabbed a washing cloth to wipe him down.

"But I say it, even though I know Mom loves me. Is this another thing that I won't understand until I'm older?"

"Well, I can tell you now, but… I don't know if you'll like it."

Olaf covered his mouth. "Shh, I won't tell Mom, I promise," he whispered between his fingers.

Ah, how obedient could he ever be? Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the ceiling. "Well, what if I told you… Mom also loves another person more than your Mama? Another person that could be another parent to you? Would you like that?"

Olaf frowned, tilting his head. "What? Why would she love someone more than you?"

"Well, when someone grows tired of having to be with another person… they move on." As much as it was hard for Anna to talk about this to Olaf, this was the least he could know. She knew she shouldn't do this - not with Elsa always saying he was too young to understand - but he was growing older. Wiser. Aware. Are six-year-olds supposed to be like this?

Olaf pouted. "Does that mean… Mom moved on because she grew tired of you?"

Anna couldn't help but chuckle. Though, it was very heartbreaking. "You can say that."

"What about you, Mama? Have you grown tired?"

I wish it was that easy. "If I did, baby, you wouldn't be here, right? Sometimes… Mama needs to be the bigger person and let her go. If someone doesn't want to do something with you, you wouldn't continue to urge them to do it, right?" It was the easiest way to put it for Olaf, but even those words didn't speak the truth to her. Of course, Anna… she definitely wanted her back. She wanted that love back, but what could she do?

"That's true… Mama?"

"Hm?"

"Is this why Uncle Hans always come over?"

Anna didn't want to admit it. But for the sake of Olaf, for telling him the truth, she nodded. "I suppose so. Would you like him to be your adopted father?"

Olaf pouted. "Uncle Hans buys me stuff but… I like Mama more."

She laughed. "And why is that? Come on, let's wrap you in a towel."

As Olaf carefully got out of the bathtub, having a fluffy pink blanket wrapped around his body, he shrugged. "Just 'cause you're Mama, that's all. There's only one Mama in this world, and that's you." Oh, what could Anna do, really, with that cute face and that sweet little voice of his? In all honesty, perhaps, she was just satisfied to hear Olaf still wanted her as his mother. Her heart, although shattered, was mended and softened by his words. Wise words for a first grader.

With a relieved smile, she kissed the boy's head. "Alright, come on, let's get you to bed now."

Elsa didn't plan on doing anything the evening Hans came over. Of course, she made dinner with Hans helping her out, sometimes sneaking little kisses and hugs with Elsa. She didn't mind it. Elsa had always been fond of affections.

While they ate, they were more talkative than usual. Hans was talking about what he did at work, and Elsa went about her day of walking around and hanging out with her neighbors. Of course, she also made a new friend - Tiana. The woman who she had met during Olaf's Thanksgiving performance.

It had been two days since Olaf was gone - and every moment of the day, Elsa had to wonder what those two dorks were doing. Playing video games, eating things that usually Elsa wouldn't approve… all that, she could forgive. At the moment, at least.

"Hey, is something bothering you?"

Elsa blinked, finally realizing she had been dazing away for some time now. "Oh, sorry, I was just… just tired, that's all."

He nodded, a concerned look on his face being very prominent before taking another bite of his food. "Well, you should sleep early tonight. Do you want me to stay over?"

Did she? Really, Hans hadn't been over for some time now. "Yeah, I'd like that."

For a moment, Hans was quiet, his eyes kept on the woman who had not been looking at him for some time now. "You know… I've been keeping this in for a while now, I didn't have the heart to say anything but I guess, I have to now. Is Anna still…" Elsa felt the hair on the back of her neck stand. "You know she still loves you right?"

"She does?" Elsa wasn't surprised at all.

"Yeah. She says the complete opposite, but I can see it in her eyes. Did you know?"

"Hans -"

"No, listen." He put his utensils down, eyebrows crossed. "I thought if I told you that I'd move in, she'd want to… I don't know, give up on having these feelings for you. It's a weird way to put it, but you need to tell her everything's different now."

"I know, Hans. You know how stubborn she can be."

"I'm worried, Elsa. About her… about you."

Elsa tensed up. Hans never spoke about this before - and perhaps, he was only speaking about now when he went up to talk to Anna. "There's nothing between us, Hans, you know that -"

"Enough." He huffed, getting up from his seat. "Clearly, you still think about her. What am I doing here, Elsa?"

The woman squinted, standing up. "Think about her? We have a son, Hans, how could I not?"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" He slammed his fist on the table, prompting a startled jolt from Elsa. Hans never yelled before… never raged like this. He was always calm like the sea. That's what Elsa had always loved about him. But, of course, subjects like this would make both of them feel agitated. Hans' wild eyes widened when silence ensued them. "I…" He sighed, taking a deep breath. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Hans -"

"No, don't. Just don't."

a/n: big yikes. poor olaf... poor everyone :(