A guard tells Eugene he's allowed to enter when he's standing outside the door, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers. He's been caught doing several wrong things before, like ravishing the daughter of an innkeeper or stealing from a church, but never had he felt this nervous. Then he sees her parents, all important-looking and poised on the throne and he loses even more of his nerve. Somehow, he manages to remember to bow when he approached them.
"Your Majesty." His voice cracks.
"Mr. Rider." The Queen answers instead and Eugene dares himself to look up.
"I-It's Fitzherbert. Eugene Fitzherbert." He swallows.
"Well Mr. Fitzherbert, are you aware of why you're here?"
"I have a hunch."
"You do? And what might that be?"
"I'm guessing you want to give me some sort of reward for bringing you back Rapunzel?"
"That is correct." She smiles, standing up and a servant handed her a bag; Eugene heard the familiar jingle of coins rubbing against each other. "So, this will suit you just fine, I presume. And you are also pardoned from all of your crimes."
"Your Majesty, that's awfully generous, but I can't accept the money."
"Oh?" She sounds surprised but her eyes give away that she expected this. "Is that so?"
"Y-Yes," he says, "but if it's okay with you I'd like to accept the latter on one condition."
The King sits up, intrigued, "That condition being?"
Eugene swallows again; he'd had nightmares about being face-to-face with the King and about his booming voice announcing he would be executed. Now, here he was and he scared for an entirely different reason; he pushes himself to speak.
"I know this is going to sound bold and disrespectful, but I'd like to stay with your daughter. Here. I... She needs me," he confessed, his heart pounding. He could see them refusing, lamenting and pitying him; he was he, after all, to demand to live in a castle with the Royal Family. "And I kind of need her too. I'd like to stay and protect for as long as I can. I —"
"We know." The Queen nods and opens her mouth to speak again but stops as she looks up.
Rapunzel bursts in then, her tutor straggling behind her and asking her to come back. "Mother, Father let him stay!"
"Goldie," he breathes as she collides into him. He forgets that they're in the presence of her parents and holds her; when she threw herself on him in the tower he had kind of vowed to not waste any time with her not holding her because, God she feels good, and God she smells fantastic but shit, her parents are watching, pull away now because if you keep this up you're going to end up making out with her neck.
"Mother, Father," she says earnestly. "I know he did all the crimes but he's changed now, I promise. He saved my life in so many ways and I'm begging you."
Her hand clutches the fabric of his shirt tightly. "I want him here."
"I kind of covered all that already," he murmurs to her and she blushes.
"Oh, I see. But," she looks up at him; the way she looks at him gives him this fuzzy feeling inside. "Are you allowed to stay? Are you staying?"
"I..." he starts, lost in her soft green eyes, looking towards the King for the answer.
The Queen rolls her eyes. "Yes, of course he is. We wouldn't want you wanting to leave when you've just gotten here."
"And we want you to be happy," the King adds, taking the Queen's hand.
Rapunzel lets out a squeal, high and short, and proceeds to run up to them and hug them tightly, all the while squealing 'Thankyouthankyouthankyou'. Then she turns to Eugene and pulls him out of the room, still giggling excitedly.
She's chattering enthusiastically at him about how happy she is that they can now spend every day together now and how much fun they're going to have each second of each day and it's all kind of sinking in, but not really; because all he can think about is how much he wants to kiss her and so he pushes up against a wall and does, for a moment thinking about how they could do this everyday: look in her eyes, feel the small of her back, her breath on his lips, knot his hands in her pixie hair.
Now that was something worth chattering about.