Title: What Did You Do Now?

Rating: T

Warnings: Only a couple of swear words.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

Author Notes: After do the chapters with the King/Eugene and the Queen/Rapunzel, I wanted to do the opposite. Also, be on the lookout for a stand-alone one-shot that I'll be posting separately.

Reviewer1: Thank you and you'll just have to wait and see ;) Even though it was hard to write, I did enjoy doing the last part with Gavin. I have to admit the "cut off the arm" bit was something that was an in-joke with my family growing up. It was especially funny when my grandpa would say it since he was an actual amputee having lost a hand as a young man training for WW2. Fun fact; he did have a hook though he only used it when doing gardening, handiwork, or threating the neighbourhood kids to stay out of his vegetables. My mom and her sister were the only ones brave enough to pilfer when they were little girls.

Frostystuffs: Thank you so much! Specially the professional compliment since I am far from it. This is only an amusing hobby for me and none of this is actually beta-ed. I just constantly re-read it while writing and then run it through a spelling/grammar check before posting. I do read a lot and try to imitate the writing styles of my favourite authors. My job also allows me a lot of time with very little to occupy my mind so I multi-task by letting my muses run wild.

Silviatangled: You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it.

Queen Rosalie was enjoying a relatively peaceful afternoon alone, curled up in her favourite chair reading in her private sitting room. Things had been busy of late. It was just coming into fall and, with harvest starting soon, the business of the Kingdom was picking up. Frankie was having a meeting with some merchants which she would have normally taking part in, but it was decided that Rapunzel needed to start getting experience with dealing with them so she was taking her mother's place today. She and Frankie had agreed that even though their daughter didn't grow up as a Princess, she was their heir and had to have as much exposure to the ruling of the Kingdom as possible.

Eugene would too eventually, but it was more important for him to get his intelligence network in place first. Besides, way the law about inheritance worked, when Rapunzel takes the throne he would not actually become King. A King's wife could be a Queen, but a Queen's husband does not become King only a Prince Consort. Rosalie also thought that it would work better if Eugene worked from behind the throne rather than on it. There would always be highborn that would feel that putting a commoner (especially one that was once a thief) in charge of the Kingdom would be equivalent to putting a wild dog in charge.

Running footsteps interrupted her thoughts and Queen Rosalie looked towards the door in time to see Eugene burst through it suddenly, turn, and then slam it shut behind him. He braced both hands against the wood panels of the door as if holding it shut against something, panting a little.

"Is the Captain after you again, Eugene?" Rosalie asked with amusement. "You don't usually burst in on me without a by your leave."

"Huh!?" Eugene spun around to stare at the Queen in surprise. He looked around the room, as if suddenly realizing which room he had hidden in, and smacked a hand over his face, groaning. "Oh crap… I mean shit!... I mean SHOOT!"

Rosalie couldn't help but snicker a little. Eugene seemed to have no problems with disregarding his language in front of her husband and daughter, yet he did his best not to swear in front of her. It might have something to do with the fact she was the Queen, but more likely the fact that she represented a mother figure. "Just stop. Before you put your foot any further into your mouth."

"I dunno. I'm beginning to think I like the taste of shoe-leather." Eugene answered back with a lop-sided grin.

"Is there a valid explanation for all this?" she asked again, motioning from him to the door. "And should I be concerned about harbouring a fugitive?"

Eugene paused for a very long time before answering her. It was long enough to make her suspicious. Finally he started to babble an explanation. "I was just passing through the Great Hall and saw the latest batch of arrivals from Camel-toe…"

"Chamelton." Rosalie interrupted. "It's pronounced Chamelton."

"Yeah, them." Eugene agreed, pointing a finger at her. "Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to not advertise my presence here. So… yeah. That's why I came in and now I'm going to go." Already she could see him start to reach for the door handle.

Rosalie sighed very softly and shook her head. "What did you do now?"

"Nothing!... recent…" he muttered the second word. Then he continued in an exasperated tone. "And why does everyone automatically assume I've done something?"

Rosalie just gave him a long look and raised an eyebrow. People were generally assuming such things because he usually had caused some mischief. Though the Queen had to admit that most of the time her daughter was right along beside him if not actually being the instigator of said mischief. Then that mutter registered with her. He had said recent. That could mean one thing. "Perhaps I should have asked a different question. What did Flynn Rider do in Chamelton? Cause fire, flood, or rioting in the streets?"

She started to turn back to her book. Rosalie had said that last part rather flippantly as she was sure whatever trouble he had gotten into was more along the lines of Flynn's usual crimes of petty theft. Then Eugene gave a nervous chuckle.

"Funny you should mention those," he said, giving a small grin that matched his chuckle in nervousness, "because it was a little of all three."

The Queen's eyes widened and she slowly raised her head to stare at him in aghast. "You're joking!"

"Umm… well…" Eugene trailed off rubbing the back of his head and Rosalie could tell just by the way he was refusing to meet her gaze that he was being completely serious. And also did not want to explain whatever his misdeeds had been to cause all that.

"Never mind. I don't think I want to know the details." She said abruptly, rubbing her temples with one hand.

He gave a little sigh of relief and flashed his usual grin. "Yeah that… That would probably be best. But I can honestly say that I really only played a minor role in the whole fiasco. Camel-toe just blew it way out of proportion."

"Chamelton." Rosalie corrected absently.

"Right. Right." He nodded in agreement and then turned to open the door again. "So since I'm not exactly 'simpatico' with them at the moment, I think it might be a good idea if I just hide in my rooms until they leave."

Rosalie sighed again and closed her book. As good of an idea as that was, it just wouldn't work. "That won't be possible, Eugene. There is to be a Court Banquet tomorrow night. You will be escorting Rapunzel so you have to attend. Besides, we cannot keep hiding you from those you've caused trouble for. The Kingdom is going to have to deal with the consequences from your past so we might as well start now while Frankie and I are still on the thrones."

"But does it have to be with Camel-toe?!" Eugene whined. Rosalie gave him a hard look for that. Honestly, a grown man whining like a petulant three year old.

"Chamelton!" she replied exasperated. She could suddenly sympathize with her daughter over his refusal to call Pascal anything but frog. "Please do no call it anything but Chamelton! You certainly will call attention to yourself by calling it that. The Duchess is very particular about mispronunciations of the name of her duchy. She is almost as bad as the Duke of Weasel-town."

"Wesselton." Eugene quipped. Rosalie gave him a glare that could peel paint. He just grinned cheekily. She rolled her eyes. He moved away from the door and dropped into a sprawl on the couch across from her chair. "You know there are just so many kingdoms and lands and such that should really consider name-changes. Makes me glad our kingdom doesn't have a weird name."

Rosalie smiled a little. "I'm sure that someone out there has found a way to mangle Corona." She pointed a finger at him "By the way, that wasn't a challenge."

Eugene placed a hand dramatically over his heart. "Would I do something like that?" When Rosalie opened her mouth to answer him, he pointed a finger right back at her. "Don't answer that."

The Queen merely closed her mouth and let her expression tell him exactly what she thought about him coming up with some crazy nickname for the kingdom. Most of the time, Eugene's nicknames were all in good fun. But there were a few people who got the short end of the stick in that regard and whenever he came across someone who got riled up over it, Eugene would make a point of using whatever the hated nickname was whenever possible just to get a reaction out of people.

"Getting back to the whole banquet thing. "Eugene continued. Rosalie watch with some amusement as he absently reached over into the knitting basket Rapunzel had left the other day and pulled out one of the balls of yarn that had unraveled. As he spoke he went through the process of re-rolling it into a tight ball again. "As much as I don't like disappointing Blondie, is it really a good idea for me to go? I really don't want to be the cause of a diplomatic incident."

"I highly doubt that, Eugene." Rosalie replied, resting her chin on one hand as she watched him. It did please her that he seemed seriously be concerned over that possibility.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't know Camel-toe."

Rosalie forced herself to ignore the mispronunciation this time. "Not at the level you experienced, no. But I would suspect that I do know the Duchess and her family a little better than you do. But if you are truly worried, I suppose that we could ask Lord Lawrence if he could be Rapunzel's escort." She pretended to turn back to her book, but continued to watch Eugene out of the corner of her eye.

His hands had stilled on the yarn as he narrowed his eyes. There was a slight pause before he spoke. "Lord Lawrence?"

"The Duchess' grandson. He will have come with her." Rosalie nodded as she answered with a very faint teasing note in her voice. "He is perhaps a year or two older than Rapunzel and, from what I've heard, said to be quite handsome." She let that last statement just hang in the air. It was perhaps a bit mean to play on his vanity and the paranoid fear that someone better would come along and scoop Rapunzel away from him, though he should know better by now that she and Franklin would never push such a thing.

"Oh really…" Eugene muttered. The Queen could easily tell he was trying to play it cool with this particular bit of information. Silently she started counting, making a private bet with herself that he would not even make it to five. She was right. "All right! Fine! I'll go to the stupid party."

"If you're sure…" She started to say, smiling slightly and still pretending more interest in her book.

"Yes, I'm… Wait a minute!" he interrupted himself. He looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then glared. "That was a dirty trick, Your Majesty!"

Rosalie turned her head to face him and gave him a wide-eyed stare. "I have no notion what you are talking about, Eugene."

Eugene just narrowed his eyes further and continued to glare. "Oh no. Don't even try that. Blondie does that to me all the time! The whole innocent wide-eyed thing. It's not fair!"

"You of all people should know that life isn't fair." She said with a laugh. She reached across the space between her chair and the couch to pat him on the knee. "It's all right. Frankie falls for it every time too so you aren't the only man to get it. It's a woman thing."

Eugene laughed, shook his head, and went back to winding his ball of yarn. "If I didn't love Blondie so much… You know, Flynn Rider would never have put up with that. He never let a pair of innocent eyes con him into anything. But a few blows to the head with a frying pan totally changed that and now I can't say no to her for anything. I guess I'm living proof of that old saw that love can change a person."

Rosalie had to agree. Even though they were one and the same person, Flynn Rider was a completely different personality from Eugene Fitzherbert. And she had to agree with her daughter that she liked Eugene better than Flynn. "Old saws usually do have a grain of truth to them. That's what makes them old saws in the first place." She watched as he worked to untangle a knot in the yarn. "Well, you certainly are a man of many talents."

"Hmm?" he looked up from the knot at her and then back down at his hands. And a faint blush coloured the tips of his ears. "Oh. Well, I uh… Let's just say that it's better if I keep my hands busy sometimes."

"Do you have problems with itchy fingers?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

Eugene shrugged. "Half a life time's habits, unfortunately. Something I am trying very hard to break. I won't deny there's a lot of nice valuable stuff lying around this heap, but I'd be an idiot to throw away the second chance I've been given over a part of me I can and will control."

Rosalie was more than pleased to hear that bit of information, not that she ever doubted his new integrity. "To change the subject, how do you think Rapunzel will do?"

"What do you mean? As Queen?" He looked thoughtful at her nod. "I think she'll do just fine. She's smart, learns fast, and has a compassion that I don't think many nobles have for the common-folk. And Blondie has more charisma than anyone I've seen. She's got a lot to learn, we both do I suppose, but I think that you and Franko are taking the right line with how you're handling all that. As you know, I once coveted that tiara of hers, but only for the money I would get when I fenced it. I don't envy her at all the responsibilities that come with it."

"You don't foresee any problems?"

"There will always be problems and she and I will face them together. I think most likely it will come when some of your stuffier highborn suddenly realize that they are one day going to have a Queen in charge instead of a King. And that that Queen will have an ex-thief as her consort."

"That is something that we have discussed." Rosalie said. "You are right that there isn't anyone in court still alive to remember Frankie's grandparents, which would have been the last time we had a similar situation."

"That was the clock-maker, right? And how long has it been since someone with as shady a past as mine?" he asked and then answered his own question. "Even more generations then that. Why are you asking me anyway? It's not like I've got any experience in what it takes to run a country."

Rosalie smiled reassuringly at him. "You know more than you think. Being from the lowest levels of society gives you a view-point that those of us at the highest levels cannot truly fathom. There will probably come times when we, Frankie and I and the Council, are going to need to be reminded of such a view-point."

Eugene shrugged again, but looked a little pleased at such a compliment. The Queen suspected that much of his life was spent with the understanding that, as a commoner, his opinion was unimportant. Well things do change when said commoner is also going to eventually be a member of the Royal Family. Silence fell between them as Eugene finished winding the ball of yarn and tucked it back in the knitting basket. The former thief then stretched which caused his joints to pop rather loudly. Rosalie tried not to shudder at the sound. Eugene didn't notice and looked at the closed door in speculation.

"You think it's safe enough for me to slip out of here? I kinda promised Blondie we'd meet up after that meeting thing she and her dad are at. And I also have to get down into the city later tonight too." He looked back at the Queen and cocked an eyebrow.

"For heaven's sake, Eugene." She replied with a laugh. "I highly doubt the Duchess is lurking outside that door just waiting to catch you. Didn't you say that when they arrived, you booked it out of the Great Hall right away? So she probably doesn't even know you're here yet."

"Well if I learned one thing in my former line of work, it's that you can never be too careful when it comes to people, or horses, that might be after your hide." He pushed himself off the couch and onto his feet. "And Camel-toe was certainly persistent in coming after mine."

Rosalie groaned softly. "Chamelton! Eugene, please…" She stopped mid-thought as she caught sight of the amused twinkle in his eyes. Suddenly she realized what was going on and narrowed her eyes dangerously at him as she jabbed a finger in his direction. "You are doing that on purpose."

Eugene sniggered. "You catch on quick. Blondie's still convinced that I think the frog is actually a frog and not a chameleon."

"Get out!" she scoffed, picking up her book as if to throw it at him. At the same time she was struggling to no burst into giggles over it. "Just get out!"

He laughed and hurried out the door before she could follow through with the threat of book-projectile. Rosalie spent a few minutes just laughing. That right there was yet another good reason for Eugene to be in their lives. She knew she hadn't ever laughed as much in the last several months as she had ever since Rapunzel had been kidnapped. Eventually Rosalie managed to get her laughter under control and get back to her book. Less than an hour later, however, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." she called out. The door opened to reveal one of the servants. "What is it?"

"The visitors from Chamelton have arrived, Your Majesty." The servant replied with dignity. "Will you or His Majesty be greeting them?"

"I will. Have them await me in the Lesser Receiving room. I will be there shortly." Queen Rosalie answered as she marked her spot in her book and set it aside. Might as well get this over with now and keep the Duchess occupied so there was less of a chance of Eugene running into her.

Rosalie stood and followed the servant out into the hall, but headed for quarters she shared with Franklin. The gown she was wearing for the day was elegant enough for greeting dignitaries, but she had left her crown on her dressing table. She quickly retrieved it, set it on her head, and did a quick check of her appearance before going down to where the Duchess was waiting.

There was a pair of footmen standing on either side of the door to the Lesser Receiving room. Queen Rosalie nodded to them as both flung open the door and one of the men stepped into announce her. "Her Royal Majesty, Queen Rosalie of Corona." The man bowed deeply to her as she entered the room and then stepped outside again, shutting the door behind him.

"Duchess Camilla, It is so good of you to visit." Rosalie said as the elderly woman made a show of struggling to her feet and gave a very sketchy curtsy, one claw-like hand clutching the elaborate cane she used to walk with. The Duchess of Chamelton was a haughty old woman a little taller than Rosalie with steel grey hair that was done up in a tight bun at the back of her head and the type of face that made it look like she was perpetually smelling something vile. She had not grown old gracefully. A young man stood by the window with his back to them. Rosalie could only assume that this was the grandson, Lawrence, as she had never met him before.

"But of course!" Duchess Camilla exclaimed. "We had received word that the Lost Princess had finally been returned and had to come see for Ourselves. We thought it would be advantageous for the Princess to meet Us being as we are such very good trading partners with Corona."

Rosalie tried not to grimace at the woman's excessive use of the Royal Plural. Coming from the Duchess, it just sounded insanely arrogant, especially considering that this was far from a formal setting which was really the only time it was ever used in Corona. "My husband and I are very relieved to have her home again."

"She did not come with you to greet Us?" Camilla peered past the Queen at the now closed door in such a way that Rosalie was sure the old woman couldn't even see beyond the end of her nose.

"I am afraid that she is currently attending an important meeting along with her father. We were not expecting your arrival." Queen Rosalie replied smoothly. "You will be able to meet her tomorrow evening at the Banquet."

The Duchess sniffed. "We do hope so. Our Grandson is most eager to make the Princess's acquaintance. Aren't you, Lawrence?"

That was when the young man finally turned from the window and bowed deeply to Queen Rosalie. He had moved so quickly that she hadn't been able to get a clear look at him at first. "Yes, I do look forward to meeting her. Word of her beauty had certainly reached Chamelton."

It was only after he spoke that he rose from his bow. Upon seeing his face as he stood up, Queen Rosalie struggled to keep a serene look on her own face. She was surprised, no shocked, by what she saw. She couldn't believe it at first.

It was Eugene's nose on someone else's face.