Anna rolled over on her bed, sheets tangling once again around her ankles. She unconsciously scratched away an impending itch on her nose and shifted to a new position, finding a cold spot on the bed to warm up. She hummed once she found a cool place on the mattress and drifted back to sleep, hoping to sleep the day away.

Of course, if she didn't have things to do today.

Her bright teal eyes shot open, quickly adjusting to the holographic glow of the sun on the chronic day clock. She took in a deep breath, kicked at the entangled blankets at her feet, and sat up, wiping away the sleep in her eyes. Anna then lifted her arms, prompting a satisfying pop in her spine as well as a crick in her neck.

ACK! Probably from my weird sleeping position.

Rubbing at the tight muscle at the junction between her neck and shoulder, Anna got out of bed and walked to her bathroom, the cold titanium floor of the ship chilling the soles of her feet. The light automatically came on once she stepped in and she stared at the face in the mirror.

She was still tired. If it wasn't obvious in her yes, then it was apparent in her magnificent mane that was her hair. Anna glared at the untamed strands and tried smoothing it out but to no avail.

Bedhead in the span of seven hours.. This didn't happen in the seven years I was sleeping.

The thought of sleeping again after being dormant for so long seemed bizarre to the redhead. She figured that because she was out for so long, Anna could stay up for days.

But then again, she was still human. And her body had its regulatory needs.

Still human.

She gave up at trying to tame the monster and decided to just take a shower again. Shirt and cotton bottoms littered the floor and when Anna straightened her back, she looked at herself once more in the mirror.

Her eyes instantly swept over the scar in the middle of her chest. Delicate fingers grazed down the long blemish, starting from the top of her sternum, down to a teeny bit passed the end of the bone. It was now just white tissue but she imagined that it was an angry red mark to begin with. One last stare and she hopped into the shower.

After being clean and hair a wet mess on her head, Anna heard the wrist communicator Kristoff gave her beep on her desk. She fiddled with the contraption for a moment, struggling to remember how to use it, and cursed when the beeping stopped. She was about to dejectedly put it down when it started beeping again.

This time, she just resolved to just mashing all the buttons that were on the side and for some random miracle, she finally heard the captain's voice through the feed.

"Hello? Anna? You there?"

Anna brought the communicator to her mouth and shouted, "Kristoff! Good morning!"

Anna heard the blonde groan on his end and grumble, "Anna, you know that you don't have to speak so loudly. Given that it's you, I'll hear you even if you whisper. My communicator said that you registered the signal but didn't pick up. Did you have trouble trying to answer?"

"Uh.." Anna chuckled to herself, "Kind of, yeah. I'm still electronically inept you know."

"You just slide the screen across. The other buttons are for inputting an address."

Anna looked over the device in her hands, still confused.

"Anyway, I'll meet you in the diner for breakfast. Tiana said that there's a special for crew members if they show up in their uniform. Do you remember where to exit the ship?"

"Kristoff, I was tired last night, not drunk. I'll remember."

Anna heard a small laugh from Kristoff, "Alright. We'll be sitting where we sat last night. You'll see us once you walk in. See you." The feed ended with a beep and Anna went back to getting ready. Her hair was dry within ten minutes and she braided it into two plaits, then donned on her patrol uniform before setting out of her room.

It was a…. left!

The redhead confidentially walked in her definite direction, no trace of doubt in her mind. Her memory was slowly coming up from last night. She remembered stumbling here and sort of crashing into the wall there.

She scoffed, Kristoff probably thinks I'm an idiot.

Her confident walk faltered, however, when she passed Elsa's room. It was obviously hers because a platinum crocus emblem was chiseled on the automatic door and a glowing, red lock was lit on her command panel.

Anna's heart began to ache again. She hesitated and considered if she should at least make sure the blonde was alright, in case she wasn't malnourished and faint on the floor.

It wouldn't hurt right?

She quietly walked to the front of the door and stood face to face with polished steel. When she finally had the strength to, she lifted up her hand, knuckles about to rap on the hard surface.

But Anna didn't knock.

She's probably really busy. A flash of Elsa's stoic and apathetic face went through her mind. Anna cringed.

I wouldn't want to bother her more than I have already.

"Don't give up on this."

Anna's hand fell silently to her side. I'm not.. I just.. she just needs time to herself. We could talk later.

For a minute, Anna was staring at the ground, hopelessly wishing that Elsa would want to come out for breakfast and she would see Anna there, happy to invite her in. But a minute passed and Kristoff was waiting for her.

She could have her mind be distracted just for one more day.

Anna finally willed herself to walk away from the Queen's quarters and out to the diner, where she would spend another day with Kristoff.

Anna thought dinner time in the restaurant was lively, but right now... breakfast was a madhouse. Plates clattered into bins and glasses clinked together on the tables in a discord of noise. Her ears didn't know what to process first: the hearty laughter and talking from the crew members, the hollering of the waiters to the chefs, or the disgruntled growl of her empty belly.

But she registered one sound.

"Anna!" She turned towards the sound of her name and saw Kristoff waving his arms wildly at a booth. She maneuvered her way in between busy waiters and rolling carts and to her surprise, made it in one piece to the table.

"Morning guys!" She scooched into an empty space on the cushioned bench, next to Kristoff and across from Hans.

"Where's Olaf?" Anna expected the young man to not miss breakfast after working all night. Kristoff waved down a passing waiter and turned in an order for Anna and a second helping for himself.

"You just missed him. He said he had to get back to work as soon as possible."

"Oh okay." She sat back in her seat, watching Hans hurriedly finish his food.

"What's gotten you in a hurry?" Anna wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the redheaded man looked trying to stuff toast and eggs into his mouth. Hans looked up from scarfing down his food and swallowed.

"I got an urgent comm from my general saying that I was needed ASAP back in Arendelle. Something about missing paperwork or something. So after I finish eating, I'm taking one of Kristoff's ships and heading out." He wiped his mouth and continued chewing.

"But I thought you need to be permitted to use a scout ship. That means you had to ask Elsa."

"The Queen," Hans reiterated, "spared some time for me in her busy schedule to allow consent for departure. She understood my reason and is letting me go back to Arendelle to take care of important business."

"Oh.." Anna muttered quietly. She looked down and fiddled her thumbs. "I-isn't she going to eat breakfast?"

Amidst chewing, Hans replied indifferently, "Queen Elsa has been known to sacrifice nourishment in times of responsibilities if needs be. Being a Queen is hard work if you haven't noticed. Queen Elsa doesn't have time for herself where she can just relax, unlike you. You need to understand that."

Anna lowered visibly in her seat, "I do..", and didn't question anymore.

Kristoff shot Hans a look and the admiral merely shrugged his shoulder. Hans wiped his mouth and stood up.

"Well I need to leave now so I give good luck to your ship," he nodded to Kristoff then looked to Anna, "and a farewell to you." The busy admiral left the duo, haste obvious in his steps. Kristoff clicked his tongue and grumbled something incoherent under his breath.

When their waiter finally arrived with their food, Anna didn't dive in like Kristoff expected her to. He spoke through a mouthful of eggs.

"Hey, Hans was just in a hurry. What he said wasn't personal or anything, don't let what he said get to you."

Anna exhaled through her nose and poked at her hashbrowns, "I'm not. It's understandable though, Elsa being busy and all. I passed by her room this morning, I thought I could at least pop in and make sure she was okay but then I thought, 'Anna, she can take care of herself. Don't baby her.' So I just left it as it was."

Kristoff set his utensils aside and leaned back against the cushioned back of the booth.

"It's true that Elsa can look out for herself, but even she needs checking up on once in a while. It's only the first day that she's shut herself in so we all can assume that she's fine. When it gets to the third day, however, then we can start intruding ourselves upon her privacy."

"I guess," Anna replied quietly. She swooped her fork under the now cut up hashbrowns and finally took her first bite of breakfast. Kristoff saw the redhead's eyes bulge and he took in a breath, awaiting her next move.

Anna quickly chewed and Kristoff heard her gulp down the food, loudly. He witnessed her shovel in more of her breakfast into her mouth, looking even more savage than Hans earlier.

"Thish ish shoooo good!" A piece of egg flew out of Anna's mouth. "Oop, shorry."

Kristoff held his stomach, laughing, "Anna! Slow down you're gonna choke!"

Anna dismissed the captain's warning with a wave of her hand and continued eating, humming her contentment in finally filling her empty stomach with food. The pair ate their meal in glee, Anna occasionally flinging pieces of yolk at the blonde and Kristoff retaliating by reaching over and eating some of Anna's food, much to the redhead's disbelief.

After a minute or so of useless fighting between the two Anna spoke up.

"So!" She put aside her utensils and empty plate to the side and placed her hands on her lap, "What were you planning for today?"

Kristoff opened his mouth to talk when a loud crash echoed through the restaurant. Anna looked at Kristoff in concern and searched the room for the source of the disturbance. She saw a young waitress hunched on the ground in the middle of the room, frantically picking up broken pieces of ceramic while cleaning the spilled liquid with her apron. Anna heard a sniffle and she darted towards the woman.

"Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

The waitress shot her head up at Anna and she could see that tears were rolling down her youthful face. The woman looked down at the broken plates then up to Anna, words struggling to leave her mouth.

"I.. my first day, and. I just.." A sob choked out. Anna quickly hugged the woman to reassure her.

"Sshh, it's okay. It's just your first day. You're doing just fine." Anna looked the waitress straight in the eye and rubbed her arm.

"Here, let me help you with all of this. I'm sure Tiana will understand what happened, she's a sweet lady." Anna took a napkin from the floor and stacked pieces of plates onto it.

"Oh I'm Anna by the way." Anna smiled to woman, remembering that she didn't get her name. The sniffling waitress wiped her nose with her sleeve and struggled a smile back.

"I'm Lady. And you know Tiana?"

"Yeah, I mean like, I met her literally yesterday but we're good friends now! She's actually childhood friends with…. my… friend…" Anna became quiet by the end of her sentence and she stilled from picking up a piece from the floor. She looked at the portion of the plate in her hands and turned it over subconsciously with her fingers, mind somewhere else.

"Anna!" The redhead looked up towards the sound and saw Kristoff jogging over to her. He then registered the other kneeling woman on the floor and crouched beside her.

"Are you okay?" Kristoff asked tenderly. Lady's eyes widened at the sight of the blonde captain and Anna noticed that she was wringing her hand on her apron. She hunched up her shoulders and averted her gaze for a moment before replying.

"I-I'm fine," Lady barely made out. Kristoff let out a breath of relief.

"Whew, that's good. It sounded like a nasty fall from where we were sitting. Let me help you with this alright?" Kristoff started picking up shattered parts and putting them in his hat.

Lady still didn't face the captain but nodded her frantically, not saying a word. Anna was confused about her behavior but with a squint of her eyes, it hit her.

Is she… blushing?

Lady hadn't moved from her spot ever since Kristoff started crawling on the floor around her, unbeknown what he had triggered in the young woman. Anna saw her uneasiness and wanted to give her a break.

"Hey Kristoff, leave the plates to us. Can you carry the trays and the cart to the kitchen?"

"Sure." He got up and dumped what he had picked up so far onto Anna's napkin, then gathered the fallen trays and rolled the cart towards the two swinging doors. Once he was out of earshot, Anna scooted towards Lady and nudged her gently on the arm.

"You like him?" Lady apparently had watched him walk away and Anna's sudden appearance and declaration surprised the poor girl.

"I- um.. w-what? Is he your friend?"

"Yeah and just a friend. He's really sweet, you should go talk to him."

Lady brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, "I.. I don't know. I have work right now and I don't want to look like I'm slacking around."

"Oh alright, understandable. But we'll most likely still be here so once your shift ends, feel free to come up to us and talk." Anna straightened her legs and helped Lady up. The young girl gave Anna this time a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

They walked towards the kitchen and Anna followed Lady to a trashcan to dump the pieces.

"Lady!" Anna turned towards the exclamation and saw Tiana dodging around cooks and sous chefs to reach them. Lady turned around as well and a cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

"M-Miss Tiana, I can explain-"

"Are you hurt? Did you cut yourself?" Tiana took Lady's hands into hers and looked them over, eyes scoring over every finger and searching for any evidence of incision.

Lady was obviously shocked, "Uh, n-no.. I'm fine."

"Oh thank God," Tiana said before hugging the perplexed waitress. "I know it's your first day and things can be a little challenging but I just want to tell you that it's alright and I'm not mad." Tiana pulled away and smiled tenderly.

"And I'm sorry that I had to ring you on such a busy morning. Most of my morning staff called in for either the afternoon or evening shift so I needed the extra help. Thank you again for coming in."

Lady was obviously still speechless so Anna spoke up for her, "We could help! I mean Kristoff and I. We're not busy at the moment so we can lend a few hands!"

Tiana looked towards the new voice, "Anna! Oh I didn't see you there sugar." She then hugged Anna after letting go of Lady. "You are just an angel sent from heaven. I would love that, thank you. Oh, and Lady?"

The dazed waitress shook out of her stupor and faced her boss. "Y-yes Miss Tiana?"

"Can you make sure that Kristoff –he's a blonde young man in a uniform, you won't miss him- has taken the trays to the washing room? I'm afraid I didn't give him clear instructions as to where to go so the poor fellow must be lost."

A blush crept on Lady's tan cheeks, "Y-yes Miss Tiana. Right away." Lady waved bye to Anna before spinning on her heels and swiftly walking away. Anna couldn't help but giggle.

"And how are you?" Tiana whispered once they were alone. "Are you feeling better?"

"Oh, yeah actually," Anna switched her gaze to the floor beside her and rubbed her neck. "Sorry for just running out like that. I should have excused myself more properly." She was overwhelmed with warmth again when Tiana hugged her once more.

"Oh sugar, you don't have to apologize for anything. Both of us know that you're not the one in the wrong."

"But.." Anna gently pushed herself out of the hug, "It was expected of her. It's not her fault. She had responsibilities."

Tiana let go of Anna but when there was no sign of the redhead looking back, she brought a hand up to her cheek and made Anna look at her.

"Anna, I'm going to tell you something that will help you understand where I'm coming from okay?" Tiana said sternly but kind enough that Anna merely nodded silently.

"Before all of this," Tiana swopped her arms around her, indicating the restaurant, "I was just a girl with a hopeless dream. Not enough money and not enough resources. After my father died and we were left to find small town jobs to keep the oven warm, my dream of having a luxurious diner had to wait. Mama's health was my main priority and I had to keep that in check. There were hard times when it felt like everything was pointless and that I shouldn't even bother trying anymore. But by God did I have a hell of a lot of determination."

Anna laughed, making Tiana smile and she continued. "It was a good thing too because when I was working as a caterer at my friend's ball, under certain circumstances, I met Naveen. He was passing by in the district and my friend invited him, thinking a prince would liven things up. We didn't click at first; we actually annoyed each other to no end but we were both put under siege of some witch doctor and forced to cooperate together to escape our situation. At the time, we were only looking towards our own personal goals: mine was to go back to my mama and to go back to my life of working so I can give her the diner she deserves and will be proud of. Naveen…. He just wanted to go back to a life full of fun and fooling around."

Tiana took a deep breath and retied her bun. When she finished she looked to Anna again.

"I was so determined to get back to my old life and responsibilities that I almost dismissed the feelings I was having towards Naveen. 'Dig a little deeper,' is what I was told." Tiana smiled to herself, as if remembering a tender moment in her past.

" 'Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed,' " Tiana sang. When she came down from her cinematic moment, she saw Anna lift a brow in question.

"Sorry," Tiana waved off her confusion, "It was a song someone taught me. Anyway, if I had kept my eye on the things that my head wanted to do, then my heart wouldn't have had the experience of what love was. I mean, it was possible that if I had just gone back home after escaping the witch doctor, I would have gotten my dream restaurant later on the future. But.."

Tiana placed her hands on Anna's shoulders.

"Sharing your dream with the person you love is one of the best things the world can offer you. I would have been happy that I had my own diner like my daddy wanted, but I would be nowhere near as happy as I am now sharing it with Naveen. And who had thought that it was going to be in space?"

Anna felt Tiana brush her hand over her forehead to sweep her bangs out of her eyes.

"Anyway, what my point is Anna, is that Elsa shouldn't override her life with responsibilities. It's good that she's thinking about her people, but she also needs to think about herself too, and to tend to what she needs. What she wants. What she's doing right now is not only hurting you, but her as well. Just as much. And if she doesn't change her viewpoint, then she is going to regret missing out on a perfect experience for herself."

Anna blushed at the last sentence. She knew what Tiana meant. A tiny shake on her shoulders brought her gaze back to the dark skinned woman.

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to her."

"But.." Anna finally spoke, "she locked herself in her room."

"Anna, if there's one thing you should know first about me, it's that I am a very persuasive person. Now, enough about life lessons from little old me, let's see what kind of work we can hand you."

"Whew, for a restaurant in space, they do get a lot of customers." Anna slumped back in her chair and let her arms fall to the floor. She had never worked in her life and she expected it to be a breeze, but with every new customer and every new table, her perspective had changed drastically. She had caught up, fortunately, but the labor took a toll on the young woman. Anna could hear her heart drum erratically.

Kristoff spun his chair to regard the lounging redhead, no sign of fatigue whatsoever.

"You were a sight also, running around, dodging people, taking orders. And you said you were bed ridden most of your life."

"Believe it or not, I was still an energetic child. Before my incident, I'd mildly climb trees and run after butterflies and stuff. I still had a childhood you know."

"Mildly?"

"Yes, mildly. One branch at a time. So…" Anna swiveled in her seat and looked around the room.

"Where are we?"

Kristoff brought his feet down from a panel and pressed some buttons on the dashboard. Light poured in from the dark window in front of them and Anna realized that they were looking into the Halcyon Room.

"Whoa, what? Isn't that…?"

"Halcyon Room? Yes. This is the control room where you get to choose your own scenery or place. I already had it placed to the acquired setting that Elsa wanted so you guys didn't need to come up here."

Anna looked out once more and noted that the dome structure that she had seen as a flower field was now plain white. She remembered how it had looked like with all the flowers and grass and how their table was set right in the middle of it.

Wait.

Dinner. Elsa.

A blush suddenly bloomed itself on Anna's freckled face and her breath hitched.

"W-wait. D-did you… were you up here.. when we were um.. eating dinner?"

"What?" Kristoff looked at Anna quizzically, "No, I had to captain my ship silly." He laughed.

"Anna don't worry, nobody was up here. We all respect Elsa's privacy on her personal affairs."

Anna quietly let out a breath of relief and turned away.

"Okay.."

She heard Kristoff crack his knuckles, "Now…" The captain entered inputs so fast, Anna only heard them as rapid taps. With a final click, he swiveled to face Anna and beamed at her.

"How about I show you the world?"

Elsa woke up with a start.

She tiredly looked around the room to find the source of her abrupt awakening but found nothing peculiar. Just her usual empty room.

A nap for thirty minutes felt like four hours, but she needed it with all the time wasted away working at her draft. She didn't even bother returning to her paperwork and simply had shifted it to the side of her desk, mind made up that she would get back to it later. The blonde continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of her before feeling her stomach grumble.

She didn't have Gerda and her automated food service at the time so means of nourishment meant that she had to venture outside her refuge and get some herself.

Elsa looked at the digital clock.

12:45.. I guess I could go in quickly, get lunch, then come back.

The Queen not so gracefully stood up from her chair and hobbled over to her bathroom, where she would first take a shower, then change out of her clothes and into new ones.

Because gods know that I didn't have time to change last night.

Elsa felt a pang of guilt stab through her chest as she stepped into the shower, causing her to swiftly grab at the wall for support as she almost fell over.

What is wrong with me?

With a firm shake of her head and a clench of her fist, she stood back up and continued her routine.

Elsa made sure to avoid any contact with any person in hopes that she could just get a quick lunch and go back to her room, no unnecessary small talk with anyone. As she stepped out of the ship, she adjusted her uniform, this time leaving her royal Arendelle Coat and going for the more… casual look, which was donning on the generic Service Unit uniform.

She quickly spotted a booth that was away from the entrance but in front of the kitchen and hastily made her approach to the vacant table. As soon as she was seated- which she was grateful for, because she wouldn't want to compete with someone for this spot in the busy restaurant- a waitress immediately accommodated her requests and was left alone once again, tending to her thoughts.

Elsa found that her position was an interesting one. From here she could see all the action that was going on in the kitchen and all the customers bustling in, ordering for a table. The blonde noted that a few dignitaries walked in once in a while, probably recommended by Naveen's parents, but the majority of the regulars were just ordinary people, looking for a bit of fun in the vast spans of space.

Her waitress had brought her food with the usual cheerfulness that Elsa expected from Tiana's trained staff and thanked her, being sure to give her a tip before she went on to her standard work.

"Oh wow.. t-thank you Miss!" She held the bill in her hand, as if confused as what to do with it.

Elsa smiled softly at the young woman, "Oh, it's no problem." She inwardly giggled to herself, glad that the woman had no idea who she was. "You have a good day…" Elsa flashed a look at the waitress' name tag.

"Lady."

Hmm, what a peculiar name.

"Thank you! And you too!" And with a jump in her step, Elsa's waitress went off to take more orders. The blonde felt herself smile and began eating her food in silence.

Every so often, she would look up and observe the people who came and went, all the while she was chewing her food. The dignitaries had left, Elsa realized, and the restaurant was slowly dying back down to just a handful of conversations here and there.

With a content sigh, Elsa pushed her empty plate aside and leaned back in her seat, deciding that she could people watch for a few minutes before getting back to work. It was a peaceful three minutes just relaxing in the booth, not thinking about responsibilities.

When the time hit four minutes, however, her peace had shattered.

In through the entrance walked in her captain and-

Shit! Anna!

I'm back folks! How's everybody? How's the fandom while I was gone? Is everybody still alive? Anyway, I hope people wouldn't mind my mild shipping of Lady and Kristoff (I don't know, picture Lady personified?) Because you know… he's a tramp?

*nervous laughing

This chapter is the first of a two parter so expect a lot of things happening in the next chappy.

Till then!