Greetings Readers! I've written some Tangled fanfics before, but now I am daring to write a chaptered story! I hope that the first chapter goes all right.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled or any of its characters.

Rapunzel opened her eyes into the dim darkness around her, wincing at the dull pain emanating from the back of her scalp. As she reached up ruefully to rub the soreness away, she noted that her captor had removed her arm shackles sometime while she was unconscious and felt momentarily grateful. But then she remembered all that had happened, and tried to shake off the pulsing headache with limited success.

I have to get out of her, she thought. The light in the small locked chamber never changed and Rapunzel had no idea how long she had been there. Her captor came in occasionally to bring her enough food to keep her stomach from growling and to attempt to provoke her into tears, but his visits were too sporadic to be any indicator of time.

What does he want with me? Rapunzel agonized as she pulled on the shackles that surrounded her ankles. It couldn't be her hair, since it had been cut two years earlier and lost all its power. That was the only reason that she could think that would compel someone to kidnap a member of the royal family. He certainly wasn't seeking a ransom for her; he'd made that clear from the first moment she'd regained consciousness in the dark room with the strange masked man leaning over her.

She wished it was her hair – more, she wished she had her hair. It would make the room much brighter so she could get a better idea of where she was, and she was much more experienced at defending herself with her hair than with anything else. As it was, she didn't even have a frying pan nearby to help.

Irritated, she tugged once more on the shackles tying her feet to the wall and immediately had to stifle a gasp as she felt the chain give. Pulling up some of the slack chain, she peered through the darkness and saw that one of the links, the one closest to the wall, was bending out strangely. She gave the chain a sharp pull and it broke, the chain falling with a broken clatter to the floor as her foot slipped out of the heavy shackle. An idea lit up her face and she began pulling on the remaining shackle with all her might until it, too, gave way.

Rapunzel treated herself to a brief moment of elation, bouncing up and down and giggling delightedly before calming down and trying to formulate a plan. She had begun to walk over to the door to see if there were any weaknesses in the wood when she heard footsteps on the other side. Rapunzel stooped down and picked up the shackle, steeling herself as she crouched beside the door. She didn't particularly like violence – she still felt pangs of guilt when Eugene suffered soreness from his old frying pan injuries – but she had to get out. She had to get home to her parents, to Pascal, to Eugene… Rapunzel narrowed her eyes with determination and gripped the chain firmly. And as the door opened, she leapt forward…

···

Rapunzel had had no idea that she would soon be fighting for her life, she had been too busy fighting to stay awake as her math tutor continued droning on during her daily lesson. The princess attempted to keep a look of polite interest on her face, but it was hard to keep it on when the tutor never changed the inflection of his voice, smiled, or even blinked.

The door of the classroom banged open and the tutor started violently. He jumped into the air, blinking madly, and the piles of parchment in his arms went flying in all directions. Turning indignantly towards the offending door, the tutor sputtered out, "Mr. Fitzherbert!"

It was unlikely that the tutor would have addressed Eugene in that way if protocol hadn't demanded it. He probably would have preferred not to address Eugene at all, given the intense irritation in his face, but as his princess' beau he had to afford the impertinent man the courtesy. Courtesy, however, did not prevent him from shooting the young man a disapproving glare.

As usual, Eugene was impervious to disapproval and leaned casually against the doorframe, arms folded and a smirk featuring prominently on his face. "Uh-huh," he said confidently, "it's me. Hey, teach. Hey, Blondie."

"Now, Mr. Fitzherbert!" The tutor cried, flustered, "That is no the way to address her high…"

"Don't be so uptight," Eugene grinned, slapping the math tutor congenially on the back. "Blondie doesn't mind, do you, Blondie?"

Rapunzel didn't mind, but she did notice the vein growing larger on her tutor's temple and quickly stood up. Upon seeing the thunderclouds in his girlfriend's eyes, Eugene backed off and said more calmly. "Besides, sir, the king asked me to get you. He said that Rap- the princess is through with her lessons for the day." He'd tried to see if it only took one more informal name to make the restrained older man explode but upon seeing the reproach in Rapunzel's face thought better of it.

The tutor exasperatedly gathered up his books and chalk and shuffled out of the room, stopping only to give a perfunctory bow to Rapunzel before continuing on his way. Rapunzel stood up from her table and crossed her arms. "Do you have to do that every time you come to my math lesson?"

Eugene strode over and smiled down at her. "Yep. It makes his day more interesting."

Rapunzel folded her arms. "I think it's just raising his blood pressure."

"Ah, that's my Blondie," Eugene said teasingly but tenderly, weaving his fingers through her short brown hair, "always worrying about other people." Rapunzel only had a moment to blush at the closeness of his face before he kissed her, and then let herself melt into his embrace.

Rapunzel pulled back first to catch her breath, eliciting a painful groan from Eugene. "So, Father's letting me out of lessons early today? I wonder why."

"Well, he will once I tell him where we're going."

Rapunzel forked her hands on her hips. "Eugene! You're shameless."

"Ah, but don't you love that about me?" And he kissed her again to cut off her amused squawk of protest. When he pulled back from the kiss, he kissed the tip of her nose and grinned down at her. "Come on, Rapunzel, let's go."

"Where are you going?" Rapunzel asked as she followed Eugene out the door and down the hallway.

Rapunzel beamed. She liked getting surprises – excepting the infamous occasion when Eugene thought to surprise her by letting her have the first ride on a new horse he'd bought. He hadn't realized that the horse had rarely been ridden, and Rapunzel had been in for a wild ride through the palace grounds before the horse had come to an abrupt stop, sending her sailing headfirst into the duck pond. Eugene had taken up flower duty for a week to atone for that once. She also liked giving surprises, too, and as she grabbed her bag surreptitiously as they passed the cloakroom, she grinned at the idea of his face when he saw her present. If this surprise was his anniversary present, she would be ready to immediately give him his.

···

Rapunzel leaned over the side of the boat to better watch the small colorful fish darting underneath the water, causing Eugene to scramble to the other side of the boat to maintain their balance. He chuckled at the awestruck wonder on his girlfriend's face before picking up the oars again and resuming rowing, and Rapunzel let her fingertips skim the surface of the cool water, giggling as small fish swam to the surface and nibbled curiously on her fingers. Withdrawing her hand from the water, she watched the ripples coursing through the water before leaning back in the boat. She laid down on the pillows they'd put on the bottoms of the boat and blissfully closed her eyes, and it took all the focus Eugene possessed not to throw the oars to the side and kiss those adorable rosy lips senseless. Instead, he reined in his libido and chuckled down at her. "Am I that boring, your highness?"

Rapunzel recognized the teasing in his voice and laughed before saying, "Certainly not, my dear sir. I am just very tired."

"Ah, yes," Eugene's voice became distinctly what he called "snotty," as he continued, "Being pampered all day must take a great deal out of you."

"Eugene!" Rapunzel said, her voice sounding hurt as she sat up and opened her eyes. Eugene's eyes widened as he hastened to apologize – only for an enormous splash of cold water to crash against his face. Wiping his sodden hair out of his eyes, he playfully glared at his girlfriend who was rocking back and forth with peals of golden laughter. He scooped one oar gingerly into the water and then overturned the water-laden oar over Rapunzel's head.

The immediate aftermath led to several minutes of intense water battle in the middle of the usually serene lake, the shrieks and yells echoing across the water and into the surrounding forest, rousing binds from their nests and ground animals from their burrows.

When the boat hit the shoreline, Eugene stepped out and secured the boat before reaching out a hand to help Rapunzel out. She took the hand and stepped lightly onto the shore, her other hand wringing water out of her soaked brown locks. Eugene shook himself like a dog, running his fingers through his hair to look more presentable as Rapunzel ruefully wiped the extra water out of her eyes. She stooped to pick up her bag, which mercifully had remained dry, and as she straightened up, she shivered. Eugene looked at her with concern. "You cold, Blondie? Want my jacket?" Rapunzel shook her head and walked stiffly past him into the forest, causing his face to fall slightly. Nearly jogging to catch up with her, he reached out his hand just enough to tentatively graze her wrist. "Rapunzel, are you mad? I didn't mean-"

To his relief, Rapunzel wove her fingers through his and squeezed his hand reassuringly, grinning up at him. "Of course I'm not! I'm just teasing you."

Eugene smirked. "Why, you little-" He kissed her firmly on the lips, hard to do since he was smirking and she was giggling. He smiled more gently as he pulled back. "I've missed you, Blondie."

It seemed odd that the statement made sense to the both of them, given that they slept in the same corridor and had at least dinner together every day, but it didn't feel as though they had seen much of each other for the past month. Eugene's training to become a palace guard had intensified with learning how to wield swords and crossbows, and Rapunzel's studies had become more difficult as the ceremony to celebrate her twenty-first birthday approached, and she would be officially presented to the surrounding kingdoms as the future heir. Most of her lessons would cease after that as she would have more of her time taken up in court procedures and so forth. It was irritating that the tutors were sucking up all of Rapunzel's time, but it was worse that she'd have even less time after the ceremony.

They didn't say much as they walked on, perfectly content just having time together without having o worry about being torn away by palace duties or interruptions. As they stepped from the dense forest onto a cobbled street, familiar voices filled the air and Rapunzel listened carefully before beaming up at her boyfriend. "Are we going –"

Eugene smirked down at her. "Yep."

Rapunzel squealed with excitement and leapt up to give him an enormous hug before grabbing his hand and dragging him behind her. He laughed and started jogging to keep up with her as they ducked under the swinging sign of the Snugly Duckling and went inside. It was dark, smelled strongly of man-smell, and suspiciously rusty red stains were all over the floor. Rapunzel smiled. It was just like she remembered it.

"Hey Princess!" The thugs chorused in a deep bellow, several raising their mugs in a sloppy toast. Big Nose walked over to them and grinned sheepishly as Rapunzel gave him a big hug. "Good to see you, Ms Rapunzel. It's been a long time."

"Sorry," Rapunzel apologized as she let her go.

"Did nobody miss me?" Eugene grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Eh, 'course we missed you, punk." Hook Hand boomed from behind him and slapped him genially on the back, causing Eugene to crash face first onto the floor. Eugene picked himself, groaning, off the floor and dusted his shoulders off. "Thanks…I think." He looked around and, seeing that Rapunzel was fully occupied in chattering happily with several of the Snugly Duckling regulars, leaned close to Hook Hand and whispered, "You get everything ready?"

Hook Hand looked slightly affronted before responding. "Of course. We love making that girl of yours happy." He looked towards the cleanest part of the grimy bar and elbowed Eugene sharply in the ribs, causing him to double over, wheezing. "There it is – go get her."

Rapunzel had been deep in talk with Big Nose, trying to give him encouragement for the date he was taking his girlfriend later on that night when Eugene grabbed her arm. She looked up into his grinning face. "What is it?"

"Just look, Blondie," Eugene responded as he turned her around and as her eyes settled on what he was talking about it, she gasped in surprise.

"Surprise!" The thugs chorused in a roar. A large, several tiered cake, perched on the end of the bar, looking elegant and delectable, surrounding by equally inelegant thugs all bearing cheery grins. It was a sight that made Eugene shudder slightly, but he ignored it, instead focusing on the look of joy on Rapunzel's face. "Happy anniversary, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel smiled. "Thank you, Eugene!" And she gave him a kiss so thorough that it made his knees wobble precariously, and he collapsed against a stool as Rapunzel rushed over to thank the Snugly Duckling regulars. Noticing the smirks of Hook Hand and a few others, he cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair in a casually suave fashion. "Nice job on the cake, guys. Where'd you get it?"

Hook Hand quirked a brow. "Get it?"

"Well, it's all pink and girly!" Eugene laughed, "It's not like any of you guys…" An irritated growl came from just above Eugene and he looked up at Attila, noticing that the tall, nearly silent man was not only wearing a surprisingly frilly apron but was smeared with pink frosting, "…made it. Ah." Eugene cleared his throat somewhat nervously and dusted Attila's arm off – not being able to reach his shoulder. "Well done, my man."

Attila's facial expression didn't change much, but his oven-mitted punch only sent Eugene into the bar rather than into the ground so he had probably let the comment slide. Eugene pulled himself onto a stool as piano music began to fill the room, a rollicking, hearty melody that immediately caused Rapunzel to dance with the beat. The thugs began thundering around her and Eugene simply sat back and enjoyed watching the girl he loved have fun. Her skin was flushed, her eyes flashing with exuberance, and laughter bubbling from her lips. He would have perfectly happy just watching, but the thugs began pushing him towards the dance floor with enormous smirks. Eugene managed to keep them all at bay until a soft, small hand touched his arm and he looked up into the bewitchingly innocent green eyes that he could never say no to. Within seconds, he was out on the dance floor, the girl he loved clasped in his arms with the thugs hooting and hollering in support.

Eugene noted to himself that out of the few times he had ever danced, most of them had somehow ended up in here. He would never have been caught singing and dancing until he'd met Rapunzel and now…the prospect didn't seem quite so bad. In fact, he thought as he held her close, relishing in the softness of her skin and the sweet smell of her hair, the idea was just about perfect.

But perfection never lasts, and Eugene would probably not have enjoyed the moment so much knowing that the man who would soon sabotage theirs was walking towards the pub…

A/N: And there's the first chapter...hope the first part wasn't too confusing. It was supposed to be a scene from the not too distant future. If that's not too clear, please let me know so I can fix it. I hope you enjoyed it!

Who is this guy? What is Rapunzel's present for Eugene? Will Eugene make it through the night in one piece (considering how often he's been knocked to the floor)? All will be revealed next chapter!

Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy and remind me to keep my nose to the grindstone to post updates!