Elsa and Alistair waited together in a small room outside of the courtroom. Alistair paced back and forth while Elsa sat pensively in her chair, muscles coiled like a spring ready to burst. "What if they find me guilty?" Alistair yelped, not even stopping in his frantic movements for long enough to glance at Elsa.

"This is a civil trial, they can't find you guilty," Elsa sighed for the third time in the hours they'd been waiting in this room.

"Then what's the term? Liable?"

"Yes, liable."

"What if they find me liable?" he asked, his circle of the room growing more erratic.

"Then you'll have to pay money, and it'll suck, but you won't, Anas— Ms. Romanov barely had a case, she did well with what little she had, but I crushed her, you don't have to worry, so just sit down before you give me a migraine."

Before Mr. Thompson could reply, someone began knocking at the door. Elsa rose from her chair and marched to the door, opening it, to be greeted with the news "the verdict's in."

"Finally!" Alistair yelled.

Elsa rolled her eyes but followed the older man as he sped from the room back to room 2B. They reached the door in record time, and she saw Anastasia rounding the corner on the other end. She didn't wait for her colleague. She and her client entered the room and took their seats. She had sent her associate out to grab her a coffee ten minutes earlier; hopefully she'd be able to find them. Though at this point I would prefer it Irish.

Ms. Romanov and Ms. Hawkins entered the room shortly after them and took their seats as well, without sparing so much as a glance for the other side. Judge Frollo entered the room, and they could finally have the answer they were waiting for.

Once everyone was seated, at Judge Frollo's behest, the head juror rose to give the verdict. "We find in favor of the defendant."

"Very good," the judge smirked, "The plaintiff is hereby ordered to pay all legal fees, and the case is concluded." I won. I'm making equity!

"We won?" Thomas asked.

"We won," Elsa breathed out in relief. Not that there was any doubt.

By the time Elsa had returned to her office, she still wasn't quite in the mood for celebrating. She was thrilled that she'd won, she'd made the firm some money, and she was going to finally be a full partner, but the sight of her friend leaving on the verge of tears with a client actively crying, not even daring to look at her, along with the sight of the joyous look on the face of the disgusting swamp monster that was her client was enough to sour her mood.

A knock sounded on the door. "Come in," Elsa called.

Gaston entered, holding a bottle of scotch in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. "I come bearing gifts," he announced boisterously.

"I can see that," she replied flatly.

"This one," he said indicating the champagne, "is to celebrate your victory and your impending equity. I've already brought it up, the vote will be in two weeks, and I'll see to it that you win." He held up the scotch. "While this one is to mourn the loss."

"What loss is that?" Elsa spat back. He's never nice. Sure as hell not to a woman he can't sleep with.

"The loss of your morality and pissing off your ex-girlfriend," he laughed in a booming baritone.

"My ex-girlfriend?" she looked up, panicked. Their relationship had been a secret, no one at work had known. Belle.

"You thought you two had actually managed to hide it? I could almost smell it whenever you two were alone together." Gross. "But you didn't come to HR about it, so I never saw any reason to make a fuss, it's not like I haven't slept with a few associates and not reported it."

"She was one of my best friends. Maybe not of late, but she had been for years, I'm not sure she'll ever talk to me again." Why am I telling this asshole anything? She knew the answer. Because he's here and everyone who I both care about and is talking to me is on the other side of the country.

"I've actually been in your shoes. Well, maybe not your shoes, I could never pull off high heels." Elsa was surprised to find herself laughing at his joke. "But I have been in that situation before, with my ex-wife. We faced each other in court once after our divorce, and all civility between us vanished. If you're going to make it in this world, and believe me Elsa, you have, then you have to be cold and vicious, casualties be damned."

"Elsa?" Elsa asked. "Should I be calling you Albert?"

He poured them both two drinks. "You're my equal now, you can call me whatever you want."

"Asshole."

"That included." He held up his champagne flute and she held up hers. "To victory."

Elsa nodded. "To victory." They clinked the glasses and downed them in a single swallow. "So, Asshole, don't you have anyone else to be drinking with right now?"

He chuckled. "People find me a bit abrasive, or didn't you know? I don't tend to keep my friends around for too long, although I do still have a few drinking buddies."

"You? Abrasive? I'm shocked. Utterly flabbergasted. It's like they know a completely different person from the kind, sensitive man who forced me to take this case."

"I didn't force you, I said you were perfectly welcome to stop working here." He flashed that brilliant grin of his that made him look like a caricature.

"You did."

"Wishing you took me up on the offer?"

Elsa downed her scotch and poured herself another three fingers. "No, as much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't change this for the world. This is all I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I have everything."

"Including a smoking hot wife."

"Girlfriend, she's my girlfriend."

"And I thought you lesbians moved fast."

"It's complicated." She took another sip of her drink. "I like things how they are, I don't want any more change."

"That's how I lost my last serious relationship," Albert admitted, pouring himself another drink. Elsa hadn't even seen him empty the first one.

"I still can't believe someone actually wanted to marry you."

"There's good reason for that." He gazed out her office window, watching the sun begin to set. "I'm not the settling down type. Maybe you're not either."

"Normally being compared to you would make my skin crawl, but today you brought fifty-year-old scotch, so I suppose I'll allow it," she replied.

"So how was that sexy redhead in bed?" Gaston asked, after his fifth drink.

Elsa flushed darker than the alcohol had already colored her fair skin. "You're a disgusting pig."

"That's true," he nodded. "And yet I'm the only one who was here for you when you were crying in your office alone."

"I wasn't crying!" Elsa cried.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever you say. You were just sitting in your office, in the dark, moping, but not crying. I see that now."

"The sun's still up, it's hardly in the dark."

He took a sip of his scotch. "Is your girlfriend going to be in town for your party when you make equity?"

"Of course she will be!"

"Just wanted to double check. So, how do you two..." He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.

"Are you just trying to be crass?" Elsa refilled her half empty glass instead of throwing it in his face.

"Little bit, yeah, you're fun to rile up. Have I not made it clear enough that I respect you? Do I have to also treat you like some sort of queen?" He rose from his chair and performed a well-practiced but theatrical bow. "Your Majesty."

"I think I would prefer that, yes, and you can be my fool. Can you juggle, Asshole?" She asked, attempting to hide a mirthful grin.

"I can actually. Though only when I'm drunk. Have anything good for it? We'll see if I can yet or if I need a few more drinks first," he suggested, glancing around for anything of a suitable size and shape.

They settled on both of their car keys and a stressball. He managed to juggle for a few throws, keeping one in the air at all times, but by the sixth toss, the keys smacked him in the face. "I guess you need another drink," Elsa laughed, her woes finally starting to ebb.

"It would appear so." He poured them each a few more fingers of scotch and drank from his glass eagerly.

By the time the bottle was empty, the two were singing songs together, and Gaston had managed to keep juggling for ten solid minutes before Elsa threw a pen at him, distracting him enough that he finally dropped an item. "Okay, you're the best fool, I'm convinced. Your queen is pleased."

"Well as long as I managed that," he pronounced, falling back into his chair. "You're much more pleasant to be around when you're happy."

"And you're much more pleasant to be around when you're not a raging asshole," Elsa agreed.

"Maybe we should both work on that then," he drawled, pouring himself some champagne now that they were out of the drink that they had clearly both preferred.

"Okay, I have to know, no more jokes, why did you do this? You've been drinking with me for the last three hours, why?"

"The reasons I gave before weren't enough?"

"You said you had drinking friends, why aren't you drinking with them?"

"Because they're all boring idiots. I know I seem like one too a lot of the time, part of that's intentional, but you can at least carry on a conversation."

"Even though I'm a woman?"

"You have managed to overcome that handicap somehow."

Elsa threw another pen at him. "And here I was thinking you'd grown a softer side."

"Do you really think I'm that big of misogy-misonist?" he attempted; even with his impressive tolerance words were starting to become difficult. "I run a law firm with a very intelligent woman. I'm not as dumb or as sexist as I act."

Elsa considered his words. She had always wondered how someone that acted like him would end up working with Ms. De Ville. But then why act like that. "So what, you're just an asshole for fun?"

"I'm an asshole because being the villain is easier," he admitted. "We have to do a lot of questionable things, it's easier to have everyone hate you, then they'll never be disappointed in you. You never have to see that look you saw in your friend's eyes."

"Her client wasn't any better!" Elsa insisted.

"Tell that to her."

"I will!" Elsa pulled out her phone, thumbing through the contacts for Anastasia.

"I didn't mean –"

She held up a finger to silence him, the phone was ringing.

"Hi, Anastasia?" the words were heavy on her tongue.

"Elsa? Why the hell are you calling me?" Anya asked. It was a fair question.

"We already settled this in court, why are you even still pissed? Your client was just as bad, she is almost certainly the one –" she held back what was either a hiccough or vomit, she hoped the former. "The one who drove him to it."

"Are you drunk?"

"Probably."

"Tiana's out of town, isn't she?" Anastasia sighed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I actually had someone who cared enough to come drink with me. I just wanted to... Either to cuss you out or to find out if we were talking again, I hadn't actually decided when you answered."

She could almost hear Anastasia debating her answer. "Call me tomorrow when you're sober and we can do lunch, then maybe we'll be cool."

"All right," Elsa agreed, finally deciding on which action she wanted to take. Reconciliation it is. "Have a good night."

"You too, Els."

"Sounds like that went pretty well," Gaston announced.

"Here's hoping," she sighed, reclining in her desk chair.

Elsa awoke on the couch in her office. According to her phone it was just past 4:00 AM. Albert didn't seem to be there. She blinked away sleep to instead be greeted with a hangover. What a brilliant idea, yeah, let's drink a whole bottle of scotch and a bottle of champagne on a weeknight. Thanks, Asshole. She found some ibuprofen in her purse and swallowed a few pills without a drink. I need to get home, take a shower, put some clean clothes on, and then get back here.

She tried walking, and found that she was sober enough to maneuver herself. Good sign. It appeared that most of the alcohol she had imbibed was currently in her office's trashcan. The cleaning crew would likely handle that before she returned.

She made it down to the parking garage and climbed into her car. After the headache had finally faded enough, she pulled out and drove home. Even in New York, driving at 4:30 in the morning is pretty easy, and she made it home in record time.

Her bed was calling her, she needed that shower and to get ready, but another hour or two of sleep seemed ideal. After all, there wasn't anything too pressing at work that day. She set an alarm on her phone for 6:30 and threw herself into the bed, passing out without changing out of the previous day's work clothes.

The alarm was not pleasant. Her headache had not fully returned, but the alarm was threatening to change that. She quickly silenced it and jumped into the shower. By the time she was dry and dressed in a knee length grey gown, with her hair up in a neat bun, she finally felt human again. Never again.

It was 7:15 when Elsa began the trip back to work. She decided to try calling Anastasia. I remember talking to her last night, but that's about it. Hopefully it wasn't anything too horrible. I really hope I didn't try to sleep with her. Anya answered on the third ring.

"You're up early, didn't expect that after you drunk-dialed me last night," pronounced the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry about that," Elsa tried, concentrating on the road.

"Whatever, do you still want to do lunch today?"

Did I try to apologize to her? "Sure, Oaken's all right?"

"As if you ever eat anywhere else. That's fine. I assume I should be meeting you there early then, since that means you didn't have breakfast?"

"Ten o'clock work?"

"That sounds fine. I'll see you there. And Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"Don't think you're getting off that easy. And you're buying, you did cost me my case yesterday after all," she teased. So she doesn't hate me then. That's a good sign. I was really not looking forward to a world where Gaston was my only friend.

When she made it back to the office, she was greeted by Belle. Exactly who I wanted to see, she grumbled inwardly. "Good morning El-Ms. Agnarrsen."

"Good morning, Belle," she mumbled back.

"Can I still call you Elsa then?" she asked excitedly. Had she never noticed that I always called her by her first name? Or is she just now finally trying to actually take advantage of it?

"Fine, I suppose, you are dating one of my oldest friends. But I am your boss, so stick with Ms. Agnarrsen if it's anything professional."

"Thank you!" she squealed, hugging the older woman. Why?!

"It's fine," she muttered, as she pried herself loose from the brunette's grip. "Don't mention it."

"Anastasia told me that you did amazingly in trial yesterday?" Wait, what? "I mean, she was mostly bitching about you and still pretty pissed off, but she was admiring you too. She does think you're an amazing lawyer, despite how she sounded on Sunday."

Elsa paused, looking down at the over-eager associate. "Thank you, I actually really needed to hear that."

"Don't tell her I said it though! She's still pretty upset about that loss, the case seemed really important to her," Belle insisted, her eyes widening. "She said she was possibly having lunch with you, so just please don't bring that up. She told me not to tell you. I wasn't thinking."

"I won't say a word. Thank you again, I was starting to worry that she hated me," Elsa gave Belle a one armed hug and headed for her office. Okay, maybe she's not the worst thing ever. Absentmindedly wiping off her dress, she entered her office, and found the man responsible for the previous night's foibles waiting for her.

"Morning," Gaston greeted her.

"Morning, Asshole," she replied.

"Still sticking with that? Really, I thought we'd moved past it," he sighed dramatically.

"Just because you treated me decently doesn't change that you're a sexist, homophobic dick. I think your nickname suits you quite well," Elsa insisted.

"But I come bearing gifts," Albert announced, rising from his seat before her desk.

"As long as it's not more alcohol," she scoffed.

"No, I think we learned our lesson last night, I'm sure we'll both manage to stay sober for at least another day or two. I brought you this," he handed her a pen. "In case you needed another projectile in your arsenal." His toothy grin flashed.

It was an expensive pen, inlaid with gold. A little gaudy, but subdued enough to look professional signing contracts. "Thanks," she said, still unnerved by how nice he was being.

"In honor of you making equity, seemed like a good gift."

"It's not official yet," she insisted, going around him to take her seat.

"I'll make sure it's official. You've done more than enough for us. I'll get out of your hair, just wanted to give you that." He left her to her thoughts. She tried out the new pen on a piece of paper, it really was quite nice.

Elsa and Anastasia sat staring at each other across the table. Elsa had arrived first and was waiting with her chocolate croissant and coffee when her friend arrived and ordered a meat-filled pastry and her own coffee. Both of them were unable to shake the feeling that to be the first to speak would be to admit defeat in their fight.

After a few bites of her croissant, Elsa decided to suck it up. I'm the one that called her here, I might as well go the whole nine yards. "You did a great job in court yesterday. Seriously."

"Not good enough to win," she muttered.

"Okay, Anastasia, what the hell is your problem? Yes, my client was a monster, but so was yours! And I stand by what I said in court yesterday, that kid's suicide wasn't his fault. He sure as hell didn't help, but he wasn't responsible to the point where he could have possibly been held liable. Why are you taking this whole thing so personally?!"

Anastasia angrily ate her pastry.

"Tell me! You came here, clearly you're willing to talk, so what is your problem?"

"Did I really never tell you?" she finally answered, swallowing the last of her food. "We dated for five years, we've been friends for close to a decade, has it seriously never come up?"

"What?" Elsa asked, desperate for any clarification.

"I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have taken this out on you," she sobbed, tears falling onto her shirt.

Elsa rose from her seat and hesitantly approached her old friend, scared that any step would frighten her off. She pulled her into a hug, and Anya shamelessly cried against her in the coffee shop. I am so confused. She stroke the ruddy hair affectionately. "Take your time," she said as soothingly as she could manage.

Anastasia clung to the blonde, her tears staining the grey fabric. They stayed like that for a short while, until Anya was cried out. She looked up at her old friend and sighed. "Sorry, that was... I'm not even sure, I haven't let it get to me like that in years."

Elsa had had a good few minutes to think while Anastasia had cried, she thought that she may have been starting to piece things together. "Did your family send you to a conversion therapist?" she asked.

Anya shook her head. "No, but my first girlfriend's family sent her off to a camp. One of those pray the gay away things. When she came back she was distant, and cold. I thought maybe she just needed time but –" her voice cracked and she let out another sob. "She killed herself the next week. I never had the chance to try to talk to her. She was my first love, and I guess this case just hit a little too close to home. I thought I could use that to motivate me, but I probably should have just let Dimitri handle it."

"Wow," she breathed. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry." She pulled the redhead into a tight hug again, almost dragging her from the chair. "I feel awful." I knew it, I am definitely a terrible person. How the hell could I have done that to my oldest friend?

"It's not your fault. Yes, your client was a monster, but mine was too. Hell, Aurora's parents were more responsible for her death than the camp was, I'm sure. I don't know where I get off acting like my client was the good one here. You're still a bitch though," she added with a pained laugh, drawing away from her friend.

Elsa nodded her head in agreement. "So I keep realizing. I'm starting to think I may be a bit of a terrible person," she confessed.

Anya took hold of her friend's hand. "You have your moments, you really really do," she sighed, "but I don't think a terrible person would have been comforting me for the last fifteen minutes while I cried about something that happened almost twenty years ago."

"Maybe I'm not beyond hope then," Elsa offered.

"You're not. Just try to be less of a bitch."

"I am trying. I hugged Belle today!"

"And why are you hugging my girlfriend?" she asked, displaying her teeth in a playful snarl.

"Oh, just trying to steal her from you. Tiana isn't enough for me, I need an entire harem."

"That's what I figured. Is she okay? There a reason she needed that hug?" Anya asked, her playful snarl giving way to a look of genuine concern.

"She's fine. I think I'm the one that needed it. I was worried about you."

"And she told you how much I'd been praising you after the trial." The snarl returned.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Elsa grinned.

"Good, keep it that way." She laughed, her mood starting to brighten now that she and Elsa were on good terms again. "You are an amazing lawyer, Elsa, you know that. Just, try not to let that be all that you are. It's kind of consumed you."

Elsa ran her fingers through her hair, messing up her bun. "I know. I've been thinking about that a lot of late. Maybe my upcoming vacation will help a bit. I can't even recall the last time I took time off. I've finally accomplished my dreams, maybe now I can actually live a little, outside of work. Just a little though, I do still love my job, and now I get a percentage, so I have every reason to work all the harder."

"Elsa, seriously, less work, more play, don't be a dull girl. What vacation? You going to go with Tiana to her next opening? I haven't seen you on TV in a while, that could be fun."

"No, we're visiting my sister. And my nephew, I haven't seen him since he was only a few months old."

"Wow, you're actually going to go see Anna voluntarily? You're sure no one's forcing you? I know how much you always seemed to avoid her. It always bothered me honestly, throwing away your only family like that."

"I didn't throw her away," Elsa took a sip of her coffee. "Okay, I suppose I sort of did. But like I told you the other day, she and I are talking again, and it's not all forced and unpleasant like it used to be. Maybe that whole thing is passed and things can finally get back to normal."

"You still have to talk to her about it," Anya chided her friend.

"I'll think about it. But the trip probably won't be until around Christmas, that way we'll have had a little while after my promotion."

"You just want to be there for your birthday so Anna has to get you two presents."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "It's just nice having her in my life again, now that I can actually talk to her like a reasonable person."

"You weren't unreasonable," Anya said, her hand still on Elsa's. "Things were complicated with you two, I can't say I relate since I never had a sister, but I don't think it's that unusual, especially given your unique circumstances. You sure Olaf doesn't count as your grandson?" She snickered.

Elsa glared at her. "Why do I even tell you things?"