Chapter 33

It's amazing what you can get away with hiding if you just smile and say everything's fine. And when you do it for long enough- say two weeks?- people either start believing you, or know better than to keep asking if you're okay. And why wouldn't Anna be okay? What wasn't there to smile about?

Warm Hearts Bakery was doing its best business since opening, their employees were getting better every day, she hadn't seen Hannah much since she was gearing up for finals and working at...but at least Rapunzel was finally in better spirits since their visit to the gynecologist. Plus, she'd tweaked her chocolate recipe once again, and it became their highest-demanded product. It had been a while since she'd made something in the kitchen that wasn't chocolate.

Honestly, aside from people constantly asking her if she was getting enough sleep, and Rapunzel insisting that something was up, everything was great!

Speak of the devil, Rapunzel had just walked in to the freezer- well…okay so maybe comparing her best friend to the devil was super harsh. She'd apologize later. Anyway, Anna had spent a little time taking inventory and making sure the chocolates were cooling right and Rapunzel walked in. "Anna?" she said carefully to the redhead like she was some wounded animal. "Everything alright in here?"

Anna gave her a wide smile, "Why do you keep asking that? Everything's fine! I just came in here to check on the chocolates, that's all."

"But you've been in here for almost fifteen minutes."

"Really?" Anna put a finger up to her pursed lips, "Huh, must have not noticed, it does feel kinda nice in here."

Rapunzel took a breath, the heaviness of it accented by the chill in the air. "Okay seriously Anna, what is going on? You haven't been yourself in two weeks, I'm really worried about you."

"Well you shouldn't be." Anna said, still with that smile on her rosy cheeked face. "I'm fiiiine! You have nothing to worry about with me, and honestly you should worry more about the baby. It's probably not good for them if you're in this freezer for too long." She walked over to Rapunzel, putting her hands on her shoulders, and nudged her back towards the entrance. "Come on, let's get you someplace warmer."

"Anna, your eyes are all red. Have you been crying?"

Shoot, she hadn't put in the eyedrops yet. Anna looked away quickly, "Oh, that's...probably just allergies and stuff. I've been sneezing all day- not on the food! But yeah, all the flowers are in bloom now so...I'll go wash my face in the bathroom once when we get out of here."

Anna tried to pull Rapunzel towards the door again, but she wouldn't budge. She tried one more time but still the blonde didn't move from her spot. She frowned, "Come on Rapunzel, this isn't funny. You can catch a cold in here, and that's probably not good for the baby."

"I'm not moving until you tell me what's going on."

"I just told you that everything's fine!" She huffed.

"I didn't ask if everything's fine, I said to tell me what's going on."

Anna blinked, "Right, I meant that there's nothing going on. I'm still the same old Anna that you knew yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. Nothing's changed, I mean maybe my hair got a tiny bit longer and I started using a new shampoo, but other than that? Nothing!"

Rapunzel didn't answer, she continued to stand eerily still, eyeing Anna suspiciously as if she was searching for something in her green, baggy eyes. The scrutiny was getting a little annoying, honestly, and Anna decided that was enough for one day.

She sighed, "Fine, it's clear that you need to take some time in here to clear your head. Imma leave and let you do that, okay? Besides, somebody's gotta make sure that Manny doesn't accidentally give somebody the stale display muffins again, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, Anna walked out of the freezer, humming a tune to herself as she did so.

Ms. Andersen,

I'm sure you've seen the news about Hans Westerguard traveling to Agrabah this weekend. He claims to be going there solely for vacation purposes, but we have sources telling us that he's also going there to discreetly set up a partnership with an oil baron named Jasmine Badroul. I don't think we need to stress how dangerous it would be if he were to have such a strong, foreign ally on his side supplying him with oil. The good news is that Mrs. Badroul isn't apprehensive to meeting other potential Western partners, so we are sending you to Agrabah as well to secure that partnership for ArenCorp. We've already bought your plane ticket and booked you a hotel, you leave early tomorrow morning. Do not disappoint us.

Mrs. Lynch

Elsa frowned, but also found herself a little relieved to have an excuse not to be at her office for a few days. Spending all this time alone in the same office where...where she and Anna…

Yeah, it would just be good for her to get out of the office. Plus, Agrabah's weather was still nice since the blistering summer heat hadn't arrived yet. She wrote up a quick reply to Mrs. Lynch thanking her, and then began to research everything she could about this Mrs. Badroul and writing up a possible pitch for her.

Apparently, she had inherited the oil company from her father after he died. It was small at first, but under her jurisdiction the company had become one of the leading suppliers of oil in the Middle East. That was a great accomplishment for anybody, but especially for a woman in a country that had very...conservative views. Then again, no one dared to say anything bad about her or defy her, lest they want to test their luck with her protector: an actual tiger named Rajah.

The more Elsa read about the woman, the more she admired her. While not necessarily coming from nothing, she did have to make a name for herself in the face of great opposition. She didn't take no for an answer, and had a ruthlessness in her that Elsa could only dream of having. She couldn't wait to meet her, and couldn't wait to be somewhere that didn't remind her of-

I want you.

Elsa winced, even after two weeks she still hadn't gotten those words out of her head. There was no wondering if she made the right choice hanging up on Anna, she knew she made the wrong choice. The twisting and churning of her gut every time she heard her voice in her head made that even more clear.

I still care for you. A lot.

After being so determined to get answers to her own feelings by prying and getting Anna to confess hers, she just left the poor girl high and dry. Elsa was a terrible person. She couldn't imagine how Anna was feeling, she probably couldn't even force herself to smile that warm, welcoming, brighter than the sun smile of hers. And Elsa knew that she had to make things right, but she couldn't do that until she got her own feelings straight. And somehow she still hadn't done that.

I want us to be together again.

Maybe it was because everything around her reminded her of Anna that made it so hard to get her mind straight. The more determined Elsa became of that theory, the more anxious she got to get going to Agrabah. "Just a few more hours, Elsa…" she said, running her fingers through her hair.

You make me happier than anyone or anything can.

"Just a few more hours…"

"Hey Owen, can you help me get this bag on the counter?" Anna grunted as she dragged the bag of flour from the storage.

"Sure thing, Ms. Dawson." The portly baker replied as he walked away from his workstation.

She grinned at him as she put her hands on her hips, giving up her attempted feat of strength for now. "Come on now Owen, what did we talk about? Ms. Dawson is my mother."

He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry Anna."

"That's better!"

They were just about to go on their lunch break, or at least her employees were. Anna, meanwhile, was going to stay back and work. She never made much time for lunch anyway, even when she got less and less hands-on when everyone got a lot better at their jobs; so, it wasn't out of the ordinary for her to be here alone during lunch.

Owen squatted down to pick up the bag and stood up faster than he was expecting. "Oh, wow, I was expecting a full bag. Sorry about that." He put the less than half full bag on the counter and patted his hands down on his apron.

"Yeah, I'm a little tired so my muscles aren't there right now, you know?"

"Ah, hitting the gym a little too hard?"

Anna chuckled, "Nah, just putting in a few late nights, that's all. Been tweaking some of the recipes back home; I love experimenting in the kitchen."

"Well I think it's showing." Owen crossed his arms and beamed at her. "You make some of the best cakes I've ever had."

"Aww, that really means a lot." Anna cooed.

"Ooh by the way, I know it's a long shot but we were gonna check out that new Mexican place down the street for lunch. You wanna come with us?"

"Oh that's okay, I brought my own lunch from home." She gestured back to the front, where her lunch was tucked under one of the counters. "But you three have fun, okay?"

Owen shrugged, "Ah it was worth a shot. Have a good lunch break Ms. D- Anna."

"You're getting there, Owen!" Anna giggled. She waited five minutes to be sure that they'd all left and made her way to the front. Finally some much needed solitude, if only for an hour or so. It was a little bit easier to breathe now. When she got to the front, though, she knew that Rapunzel would also be there so it wasn't an hour of pure solitude, but close enough. And there the blonde was, standing at the counter and holding the paper sack that Anna kept her lunch in.

Much like earlier this morning, she didn't look very happy.

"Anna, why did you only bring an apple for lunch?" Rapunzel said, worried.

Anna shrugged, "I'm just trying to eat healthier. The bakery smells so good all the time, it's tempting just to eat everything here you know?" Maybe her friend was still reeling from whatever happened to her earlier, she wasn't herself in that freezer.

"Yeah, but you barely eat at home either. Do you really think you're gonna run a bakery off of just one apple?"

"I mean I ate some cookies too, just to make sure they tasted right." Anna reasoned.

"That doesn't…" Rapunzel groaned, clutching the paper bag a little harder. "Anna, you know I'm just trying to help you, right? Why won't you let me help you?"

Anna found herself taking a step back towards the kitchen. Again with the accusations, why couldn't she just leave her be? Why couldn't Rapunzel just accept that she didn't want to...that she was fine?

"What do you think I need help with?" She asked confused.

The blonde's face contorted, "What do I...are you seriously asking me…" She looked like she wanted to grab her and shout and do other mean things, but just as quickly as her expression first changed, Rapunzel closed her eyes, took a breath, and looked calmer now. "Fine, I'll just wait until you tell me."

"Well there's nothing to tell really, so can I have my lunch now?"

Rapunzel didn't answer, she just tossed the bag to Anna and crossed her arms, looking worried and...betrayed?

Maybe Anna should stop…

She shook off that strange thought before it could finish, and beamed at her best friend, "Thanks! Have a good lunch!" Without waiting for a response, Anna retreated back into the kitchen.

I want you.

Elsa fumbled the rubber ball for the fifth time that hour. She was having a little difficulty crafting her pitch due to her mind traitorously pulling her away from her work every five minutes.

She groaned, "Alright this isn't working, I need a break."

After taking a second to look out her window- hoping it would give her some spark of inspiration- only to have her eyes betray her and lock on almost immediately to Anna's bakery- Elsa stood up and left her office. The document on her computer was still open with a whopping five words typed out.

When she opened the door, Hannah was also up from her desk, her purse slung over her shoulder. "Oh, you're up." Hannah said, surprised. "You usually never leave your office during lunch."

"Yeah I-I needed some fresh air for a little bit, writing out my pitch is, uh...harder than I thought it would be." Elsa leaned on her door awkwardly, "Where-where are you going for lunch?"

"Umm, I don't know yet. The Three Amigos just opened a new restaurant here like a week ago, I was maybe gonna check that out."

"Oh...okay...that's cool." Cool? Wow, she really was losing her mind.

She must have been giving the confused brunette a pitiful look, because the next thing she said was "Did you...wanna come?"

Elsa shook her head, probably a bit too fast, "Oh no no no, it's fine. I-I've got food in my fridge." She pointed back to her nearly empty office fridge. Last time she checked there was half a bottle of orange juice and one carton of yogurt.

"Okaaaay, well I'll see you in a bit then." Hannah made her way to the elevator, and the words that had been caught in Elsa's throat finally surfaced.

"Have you talked to Anna lately?"

Hannah paused, and turned around. This was the first time they had talked about Anna since they came back from The Neighborhood; and even then that conversation was short, with Elsa saying that this was new and she didn't know what to make of their relationship, and would get more answers that night. Hannah was weary about this and wasn't full-on supportive, strange considering that she was the one that gave Anna her number, but she at least didn't criticize either of them for this decision.

The young assistant had no idea what happened with that phone call, but she had her suspicions that it hadn't gone well. Now she had more proof for that hunch.

"No, not really. I've kinda been busy studying for finals. But when I do try and talk to her, she seems a little distant. When I ask her about you guys, she just leaves me on Read for a few hours and then changes the subject." Hannah looked just as worried as Elsa felt.

"Oh…" was the only thing Elsa could say.

"I don't know what happened between you guys, and it's not my place to say, but I think you guys need to fix this soon, before it's too late. I mean...you like her right?"

Despite how terrible it would be as a response, Elsa wanted to laugh. It still wasn't that simple. But Hannah did have a point, she needed to decide where her feelings lie soon. The silence was making things worse, they'd endured four years of it sure, but somehow these two weeks of silence felt worse. Not only was she replaying those words in her head when she was awake, but she was also having this recurrent nightmare where she and Anna were talking on the phone, replaying that same conversation.

Except instead of Elsa hanging up on her, she couldn't speak. Literally no words could escape her from lips no matter how much she spoke and eventually screamed, and Anna just kept repeating that same question getting more and more desperate, her sobbing growing louder with each iteration. Until finally Anna hung up on her, and she finally found her voice. Except all Elsa could do was cry. It was intense, terrifying and woke her up more times than she could count. Suffice to say, she probably wouldn't be getting a good night's sleep until she sorted this out, but right now wasn't the time. And she didn't know when it would be the right time.

"I...don't know." Elsa responded, thankful that she could speak now. "It's complicated."

The elevator bell dinged and Hannah sighed, "No it's not, you're just in denial. Anyway Imma get going, I'll see you in like an hour."

"Wait what…" But Hannah was already inside the elevator, and the doors were already closing. Elsa was alone again.

Do you want the same thing?

Anna slid across the counter, landing just next to Rapunzel who was wiping down a very persistent stain. "Hey, so Hannah wanted to go out to dinner tonight, try and get her mind off studying for finals for a little. You want to come? If not, we'll just take an Uber, and you can take the car back. Oooooor maybe I can take the work van?"

Rapunzel gave her a small smile, but didn't stop wiping down the counter. "Nah, I think I'm okay. I ordered this new baby book that I should probably get started on. I wanna make sure I'm doing this whole thing right, you know? And no, you are not using the van."

Anna stuck her tongue out, "You're no fun." Nonetheless, she returned the smile, and although it was bigger, it wasn't necessarily brighter. "I'm really happy that you decided to keep the baby, by the way. I know I said I'd be supportive of whatever you picked, but...I dunno, I kinda like the idea of being an aunt."

"Auntie Anna does have a nice ring to it."

"It does, doesn't it? I mean it kinda makes me want pretzels but other than that..." Anna kicked her legs back and forth, keeping from smacking them on the display case underneath her. Today had been a busy day as usual. Their employees were getting a lot more confident in themselves in the back, finding time to spout inside jokes and mess around while still adhering to the quality of food that Anna wanted.

But up front was still a different story, they didn't have much experience making sales or talking to anyone that wasn't three feet tall, but they were getting there too. Anna spent more time in the front than in the back, cheerily talking to the customers- maybe talking to them for a bit longer than she needed to, but they seemed to enjoy their company. A guy even asked for her number, which she politely declined and spent a couple more minutes in the freezer afterwards.

To check on the chocolates, of course.

It was the end of another long work day, and with her cleaning duties done in the back, the redhead hummed to herself and admiringly watched her best friend clean the front. "I'm glad you're feeling better now, Rapunzel."

"What?"

Anna looped a finger around her ear. "You were talking all crazy earlier, it's glad to see that you're at least sounding a lot better."

Rapunzel blinked, "Right...I'm...the crazy one." She went back to work wiping down the counter, but her face looked, well, annoyed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring up what happened earlier.

And it wasn't. After a minute of this, with no other sounds but the humming of both the air conditioner and the impossibly cheerful redhead, Rapunzel stood up, "Okay I can't let that go, just...not anymore. I'm the crazy one? Me? Really?! You've been putting on this fake smile for two weeks now- after telling me not to do the same, mind you- and I'm the one that's crazy?"

Anna looked hurt and hopped off the counter. "I-I'm sorry if you were offended by that, I was just calling it like I saw it."

The blonde scoffed and threw the washcloth down, "You're sorry that I was offended?! What has gotten into you, Anna? What are you trying to repress?" Frustration was painted on her face, but obviously there was still worry there somewhere.

"I'm not trying to repress anything." Anna replied with a frown. "I really wish you'd stop saying that and making stuff up."

"But I'm not making stuff up. It's the truth, isn't it?" Rapunzel walked in front of the counter and put her hands on Anna's shoulders again, not for reassurance, but to make sure she didn't flee the scene. "Something happened to you when I wasn't looking and now you're trying to pretend that everything's fine, when everything is clearly not. You're clearly in a lot of pain and...and you're my best friend, Anna. I don't wanna see you hurt. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me, but I'm here now so please…please tell me what's wrong."

Again, Anna thought to herself that maybe it was time to drop the act, but she pushed that thought down. What act? This was how she normally was, there was nothing going on. EVERYTHING WAS FINE. "Well you don't have to worry, cause I'm not in pain and everything is fine."

"This is about Elsa, isn't it?"

Anna's body betrayed her and tensed under Rapunzel's grasp. Her mouth suddenly got really dry. "I-I don't know what you're talking about…" she said hoarsely, still trying to keep that smile on her face.

"I'm trying to rack my brain to figure out when something like this happened before, and the closest thing I can think of is our freshmen year. When you'd barely come out of your room at all, and when you did, you'd smile and hum to yourself and leave like nothing was wrong. But I could see it Anna, heck I could hear that something was wrong, our walls weren't exactly soundproof."

"It's not...you-you've got the wrong idea."

"Do I?" Rapunzel's brow furrowed, "Then look me in the eye and tell me that this has nothing to do with Elsa, and that you're really fine."

Everything was fine. Everything was fine. Everything. Was. Fine.

Why couldn't Anna say that out loud now? She'd said it so many times today and these past two weeks, why did she have to stop believing it? Hannah was almost here, why couldn't she keep her guard up for a little bit longer? Why couldn't she keep up the act anymore? Why couldn't everything actually be fine? Why couldn't she go back in time and stop herself from saying all those stupid things?

Why wouldn't Elsa talk to her?

Anna closed her eyes and shook her head, now was not the time. She took a breath, shakier than she wanted it to be, and opened her mouth to convince Rapunzel, "I'm...not okay."

But she couldn't do it. Not anymore. She was finally broken after trying to keep herself together all this time, but this was longer than anyone could possibly bear to repress all these thoughts and feelings. She'd been doing it too much for four years, and after she'd gotten a taste of what it was like to be happy and not have to hide what she was feeling inside anymore, she just...didn't want to let that feeling go again. And then it was taken away from her.

But before she could confide any more to her best friend, the bakery doors opened.

"Am I interrupting something?" The voice undoubtedly belonged to Hannah.

Anna wiped her face across her sleeve and turned around, confirming her suspicion. "No, it's- everything's fine. It's just been a stressful work day, that's all." She put on that fake, wide smile again.

"O-okay, um...you ready to go?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm...good to go, I just need to check something in the fridge first." Anna said quickly.

She excused herself, leaving Hannah greatly confused and Rapunzel the most worried that she'd been for her in weeks. When Anna got inside the freezer, she shut the door and sat behind one of the carts with her knees pressed to her chest, trying to catch her breath as the world closed in around her and the tears started to fall again.

Elsa looked through her suitcase, ensuring for the fifth time tonight that she had everything she needed. The heat would still be worse in Agrabah than it was here, so her wardrobe choice would be significantly lacking. Still, she felt like she'd brought enough for the trip.

"Alright, I think we're good here." She said to herself with her hands on her hips. "Now I just need to...figure out my pitch."

She walked back to the dining room table and opened up her laptop, but before she could get to work, she heard a sharp knock at her door and jumped.

No one knew where she lived apart from Hannah, who made it clear she didn't want to be around here anymore. Cautiously, she walked towards the front door as three sharp knocks racked the wood again. She stared into the peephole, holding her sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn't some shady hitman or anything like that…

But it was, however, a familiar blonde on the other side. And she didn't look happy.

Elsa debated on just keeping the door shut, but she knew that would cause more harm than good. She unlocked her door and looked at her confused, "Rapunzel? How did you-"

"Hannah gave me your address." She stormed into the apartment and turned around to face Elsa with murder in her eyes, "Now shut up and listen because I have a lot of things to say to you."

Elsa looked at her front door helplessly and rubbed the back of her neck, "Could this wait until tomorrow, I-"

Rapunzel put up a finger, silencing the slightly shorter blonde on the spot. "I am trying very hard not to rip your head off right now." She hissed. "And it's a little easier when you don't talk, so shut it."

With anyone else, in any other situation, Elsa would have seized control and talked down the person who threatened her like this. But she knew what she did, she had no place to lecture or scold. Not with the guilt pooling in her stomach this much.

Instead, Elsa nodded humbly.

When she sensed that there wouldn't be any more interruptions, Rapunzel continued. "Good. Let me get this out of the way first: I hate you."

A/N: I reeeeeaaaally wanted to wait two weeks to post this one just to let the pain fester some more and let y'all feel the feelings of not knowing that Elsa and Anna have been feeling, but I'm too nice and also like even I would get antsy waiting to release the chapter, so screw that.

Also as a side note, I'd really love to get like a cover image for this story but I don't want it to be some generic picture of Elsa in a business coat looking all pissed off. So if you know of any great artists that would make one or do commissions then hmu. I'd love to see some super pretty fanart of this story made.