InsaneJournal

Who: Anna, Wash, Elsa and Kate
When: Friday, March 3
Where: Arendelle Manor
What: Spending time with Anna’s boyfriend
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Complete: Complete when posted


Anna was super excited to bring Wash over to visit with Elsa and Kate. This wasn’t the first time they’d met, she didn’t think, but it might have been the first official visit. Now that Anna and Wash were official and completely happy, it was definitely time to meet the family. Carolina seemed to… well, maybe not enthusiastically approve, but she hadn’t pitched a fit about Anna and Wash’s relationship, either. Hopefully Elsa and Kate would approve, too.

Anna picked up a chocolate cake and two bottles of Martinelli’s Apple Cider, then grabbed Wash, and headed over to the home she lived in for over eighteen years. She was dressed nicely, but not over the top, and straightened her skirt with one free hand as she and Wash waited on the front step. “Ready?” She asked him.

Ready wasn’t quite the right word. Wash wanted very much to properly meet Elsa, let her know how much he loved her sister and that he had every intention to treat her like the princess she was. He knew he had a lot of strikes against him. He was considerably older than she was. He was a former marine, damaged both by combat and the Dreams and to top it off he was a recovering alcoholic. But he did love Anna, and he had every intention of being the best he could be for her.

So needless to say Wash was extremely nervous. He looked at Anna and gave her a grin that reflected how anxious he was. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

While Elsa trusted Anna and wanted her to be happy she knew her sister didn’t have the best track record when it came to men and she couldn’t just ignore the fact that Wash was considerably older and more experienced than her little sister. So while she fully intended to be nice to him she wasn’t going to go too easy and she knew Kate felt the same.

They’d ordered from one of their favourite places since neither Elsa nor Kate cooked enough to do their own dinner party, besides the food they got was nicer than anything they would do. “Do you mind getting the door while I finish setting the table?” she asked her wife with a sweet smile.

Kate thought everything would probably be fine, but she did like Anna and wanted the best for her. Besides, she liked the opportunity to be intimidating.

She was Batwoman. She could broadcast her presence like an eagle's shadow over a defenseless mouse. After all, she'd heard about Hans.

She flashed a wicked grin at her wife. "It would be my pleasure."

Kate opened the door, and loomed. "You're just in time."

Honestly, she was mostly just having fun. It wasn't like she had a daughter to intimidate a boyfriend or girlfriend, so Anna would have to do.

Anna slipped her hand into Wash’s to give it a squeeze of comfort, just as the door opened. Anna’s bright smile turned up to her sister-in-law, and she offered up the cake box. There was a bag with the Martinelli’s Apple Cider dangling from that same arm. “Hey! Oh, good! Um, Kate, this is Wash. Wash, Kate.”

Kate’s looming at the door reminded Wash a little of a drill sergeant he’d had in boot camp. Said sergeant wasn’t a towering man physically, but he had a way of making himself feel as though he were a giant. On instinct, Wash’s back straightened and his shoulders squared. He caught himself before snapping to attention, however, and offered Kate his hand. “Hello, Kate,” he said with a smile he hoped did not betray his nervousness. “Anna’s told me a little about you. Its nice to meet you finally.”

Elsa had caught that wicked smile but knew Kate would have Anna’s best interests in mind and it was nice to know her wife was as protective as Elsa was. Their family meant a lot to both of them.

Finished setting the table she moved to beckon them into the dining room, “I’m sorry I was just finishing off setting everything up” she said as she approached her own presence not as intimidating as her wife’s but it was every inch natural regality.

Kate kept her grip firm, though she gave him a little wink. “Only a little? I knew I should have printed out that pamphlet. It’s nice to meet you too, Wash.”

She stepped aside so they could enter, and closed the door behind them. So far, Wash wasn’t tripping any red alarms for her, but she’d see how the night went. She became momentarily distracted by Elsa standing there, and smiled at her as though she were the only presence in the room. Oh right.

“You get the place of honor, across from Elsa.”

“I haven’t told all your secrets, Kate,” Anna teased as she stepped into the house. Funny how she hadn’t lived there for a couple of years now, but it was still coming home. Every time. Especially with Elsa there, smiling at her. She set the cake and Martinelli’s Apple Cider aside on a table, then wrapped her arms around her sister in a big hug. Coming home. Anna and Elsa belonged together, really. It was a shame that they both had lives and didn’t get to spend as much time together as they both surely would have liked.

“I’m excited for dinner,” she said, hopefully, to her sister as she pulled back. “Elsa, you know Wash, right?” Then glanced back and over at him.

Elsa may not have had the same kind of powerful presence her wife did, but she was every bit a queen with how she carried herself. It reminded Wash very quickly that he was, in fact, dating a princess. He hoped his smile didn’t betray just how nervous he was. He stepped forward to offer his hand, which thankfully wasn’t covered in cold sweat. “I’m glad to finally get a chance to meet you,” he said. “I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to really talk at Gale’s wedding, but Anna decided she wanted to dance all night,” he smiled at Anna next to him.

Elsa returned her wife’s smile and her sister’s hug, she missed Anna being in the house a lot. But she had become determined lately to spend more time with her friends and family and less in the office.

“Of course” she smiled as she shook Wash’s hand, her own hand naturally cool thanks to her abilities, “That’s perfectly understandable, she does so enjoy dancing” Elsa added with affection for her sister, “Why don’t we all get settled in the dining room?” she suggested.

It was nice to have family. In her dreams, Kate only really had her cousin and her dad. Even in the waking world she rarely saw either them or her twin sister. So she’d happily ‘adopted’ Anna. “Honestly the best and worst parts of formal occasions is the dancing. I only really like it when there’s a pretty girl to dance with.”

Anna grinned brightly when Wash mentioned the dancing. That’d been the best part of the night! Okay, maybe not the best part… but it was certainly up there. Maybe even tied! Then she followed Elsa into the dining room. It was a grand house, and Anna knew it like the back of her hand.

“Ooh, maybe sometime we can all go out dancing together!?” Anna’s eyes lit up as she grinned over at Wash. Her attention was caught by the table, though, and she turned back to her sister. “It’s lovely. What beautiful place settings!”

The Arrendale Manor was amazing. Wash had never been in such a grand house before. He’d grown up in a modest two-story that boasted only three bedrooms, one of which he was pretty sure had been a storage closet before it had been converted into a place to stuff his bed. Along with being elegant, the house had a quality Wash hadn’t really expected. It felt like a home, something even his childhood house hadn’t ever felt like. He attributed it to the relationship between Elsa and Anna and Kate. They were obviously very much a family, the three of them. The sisters clearly meant a lot to each other. Elsa and Kate were very much in love and Kate and Anna seemed very close as well. It was a nice warm little family unit. Wash felt a little on the outside, at first. Almost as though he were intruding on something that was already perfect.

He didn’t have much family to speak of. He hadn’t seen his mother in over ten years, and she had made it clear that she hadn’t wanted much to do with him. Same went for his father, a man Wash had never met face to face. Wash’s family consisted of Carolina, his sister, though their relationship was still somewhere between Commanding Officer and Subordinate and actual siblings. There were the rest of his squad, too, of course. Though the only one Wash knew the status of was York.

He smiled back at Anna and nodded. “I’d be up to go dancing sometime,” he said. He’d been pleased that he’d been able to keep up with Anna dancing all night at Gale’s wedding. The constant sparring matches with Carolina had certainly paid off getting his stamina back up where it needed to be.

He followed the others into the dining room. Even the spread looked amazing. “This looks great, Elsa. Thank you very much for having me.”

“Dancing would be lovely, that’s a great idea Anna” smiling in agreement and shooting her wife a sweet look. Any time she got to dance with Kate was a good time, in fact any time spent together out and having fun was a good time. Elsa was still very much in love with her wife, her feelings never wavered.

“Oh you’re welcome. And I’ll let you in on a little secret, Kate and I order in since neither of us can cook so we can’t take credit for any of the food to come” she grinned, sometimes she forgot that the splendor of the house wasn’t something people were used to. Elsa had grown up never wanting for anything, materialistically anyway, and Kate had been the same.

It was the second biggest house Kate had ever lived in. A brief year in her mother-in-law's had been the biggest (and she'd never actually lived in Wayne Manor). But it had never felt like home, not like this place. For a long time, no place had felt like home.

Even if half the time she exited or entered through an upstairs window. Just to keep in practice. "You just had to spill the beans, didn't you."

Anna laughed. “At least I’m not the only one in this family who can’t cook. I guess I should have warned you ahead of time.” She grinned over at Wash for a moment, then back to her sister. “And I think we should definitely do dancing. Soon. Like a proper double-date.”

Wash smiled a little. “I’m not much of a cook either,” he admitted. “Until my sister came to town I did a lot of takeout.” So much so that the people at the pizza place by his apartment knew him as Wash and not the name on his debit card. “I’ve started teaching myself. So far the only thing I can really make are casseroles.”

As for a proper double-date, Wash was down for that. He’d been on more double dates in the recent past than he’d been on actual dates his entire life. They were fun, though, it was pretty ok being in a group of people. Dancing was better than karaoke anyway.

“It felt right to be honest” Elsa said with a wink to her wife, she didn’t want to set expectations too high.

“I’m learning a little but I don’t think I’m ever going to get to dinner party level” she smiled, “Double date it is” she agreed nodding at Anna, “But right now let’s eat”

“Casseroles are cheating,” Kate pointed out. “Even I can make a casserole.” She couldn’t actually make a casserole, there was still a strange smell in the oven from her last attempt. In hindsight, setting high expectations was probably a bad idea. “But we probably don’t want to poison any of you, so sticking to what we have here is probably for the best.”

“I can’t make a casserole,” Anna teased, glancing at Wash. Then she turned back to Kate. “Poisoning sounds like a really bad way to spend the evening. Let’s avoid that at all costs.” The food was amazing, but the company was even better. Anna dug into her meal, talking, and laughing. She squeezed Wash’s hand under the table as they sipped Martinelli’s all together.

Anna made the mistake of having one helping too many, and then leaned back once her plate was practically licked clean. “Oh man,” she breathed out in a satisfied sigh, “I wish I was wearing a belt right now so I could loosen it.”

Wash was the only one at the table drinking water instead of Martinelli’s. He felt awkward about it at first, but as their conversation went on, the awkwardness started to fade. He was starting to get comfortable around Elsa and Kate. Neither one of them had come at him with a barrage of questions or had attempted to intimidate him on purpose. Both Elsa and Kate had commanding presences that demanded respect, but they each seemed to know how to best present themselves.

Wash returned Anna’s hand squeeze. He was going alright. He was doing pretty damn good, he thought. They were talking and laughing and eating delicious food. Once the food had been eaten, Wash sat back, highly satisfied. “That was delicious. Thank you very much.”

Elsa laughed at her sister, sometimes Anna could be ridiculously cute, like right now. All through dinner Elsa had felt blessed, the way the conversation flowed easily and the food and drink went down well it was truly a lovely evening. Wash seemed nice, they’d learnt a little more about him but had tried not to intimidate. Generally watching people as they relaxed and let their guard down told you more about them anyway.

“You’re welcome, perhaps we should move to the living room for a while before dessert. I don’t want to make Anna pop from too much food at once” she added with a wink.

“I have a few things planned for the evening,” Kate explained. “Silly games, but one of my… families always enjoyed them.” There was a special bond among those who wore the bat, or the bird, or were otherwise affiliated. A kind of family, different from this one or her blood family, yet family all the same.

And even the Batfamily did game night. “Hope you like trivial pursuit!”