When he found her, she was dripping wet and singing at the top of her lungs.
" Weeeee...wishuh...mereeee Christmas..."
" And a happy new year to you too, Blondie. You might want to get out of the water now."
" Noooooo. Not-" She wagged her fingers impatiently. "-until you gave me a partridge."
" What? Where would I find one?"
" In a bear tree."
" Right."
" Opps." She giggled. " Pear tree. Bear, pear. They rhyme!"
She grabbed and shook his arms in excitement. " Have you ever noticed that? Bear, pear. Pear, bear. A pear bear! "
" Would you look at that! How fascinating!" He sighed. "Seriously, Rapunzel. You need to dry off-"
" Where is it then?"
" Where is what?"
" My present!" She pouted as if he was the one being unreasonable.
" Now?"
" Yessssss." She hissed.
He tried to charm her. " How about a kiss from the most handsome and dashing guy in the kingdom instead?"
" Why would I want to kiss Max?"
" Maxim-do you actually think-never mind, let's just go home."
To his surprise, she started to burst into tears." You don't love me?"
" Hey. Hey." He pulled her into a hug. Her sobs continued. " Of course I do."
She looked up at him with red rimmed eyes. " Then why won't you give it to me?"
" Hmm?"
" The partridge. You're my true love, aren't you Eugene?"
" And..."
" The song! It said so!" She was getting frustrated, he could tell from her tightly knitted eyebrows. That and the angry punches she threw at his shoulders. Drunk Rapunzel was not someone to be messed with.
Then, it hit him. " Do you mean this song?"
He hummed to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
She broke into a smile. " That's the one."
" Rapunzel, it's just a song-" Her gleeful expression fell."-it doesn't really mean any-" Her lips trembled. "-I have other gifts ready-" Her eyes watered.
"...you know what? Pascal needs a new friend anyway." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Let's go find ourselves a pear tree."
Merry Christmas, everybody!