"I should be getting back home," she said.

Jack nodded. She thought she saw something like disappointment flicker across his face, but she convinced herself it was just her imagination.


Jack III


"Home sweet home," Jack murmured when he pulled up to Rapunzel's house at the end of the winding driveway through the woods.

It was an odd-looking house with a small foundation, but quite tall in height. It seemed to be a mixture of wood, brick and vinyl siding, but it was difficult to tell where one began and ended due to the weathered and discolored surfaces. Dark, frozen vines climbed up one side of the house and the front yard—if you could even call it that—was covered in foliage with a creak off to the right. Jack thought that if a hiker so happened to pass by they wouldn't even see the house, it blended so well into the forest.

"Yeah," came the soft reply from the passenger side. "Home sweet home." Rapunzel didn't make a move to get out.

Jack pulled the keys out of the ignition and the engine whined down into silence. "You okay?"

She looked over at him and smiled quickly, but it didn't meet her eyes. "Yeah. Thanks for today, I had a lot of fun."

"I sense a 'but' in there," he replied, frowning slightly, wondering what had suddenly dimmed her mood.

Her smile faded. "No, I'm just wondering…how did today even happen?"

He tilted his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I crashed my bike and for a moment I thought my life was over—" He raised his eyebrows, about to ask if she meant that literally, but she went on hardly taking a breath. "—and I thought I would be late for school and get in trouble and honestly…I was scared." She looked over at him. "But then you showed up and I wasn't anymore…and it turned out to be the best day ever and now I'm scared again that tomorrow everything is going to go back to the same way it's been since forever and I just don't know if I can do that, if I can pretend that I'm okay with…with the way it was."

His mouth suddenly felt dry. "Why does it have to go back to the way it was?"

She looked away. "Mother. She's really protective of me, that's why she doesn't let me stay out after school or go to people's houses she doesn't know or you know, school dances, Friday night football… She made so many rules and I don't even know what they're for anymore. She always tells me to be careful and I am, but she acts like I should be scared of everything too… If she knew what I did today, she'd…" She trailed off and sighed, letting her face fall into her hands.

It wasn't his business and he knew it wasn't his place to make it his business, but something was off. Rapunzel said that her mom was protective, although it sounded more like over-protective, borderline if not completely over-the-line control freak. But if she was so over-protective, then why did she make Rapunzel bike miles to school on icy streets? How did that add up?

He'd known Rapunzel to be a bit of a loner at school and he'd heard the rumors about her and her mom being gypsies and practicing witchcraft in the woods and other nonsensical gossip, but none of those pieces fit the puzzle of Rapunzel he'd created for himself. She was bubbly and fun, artistic and adventurous. She wasn't anything like he'd expected. None of it made any sense at all. Perhaps he just didn't have the whole picture. Or maybe he did, but he just couldn't put the pieces together correctly. Her mom played a vital part, but he couldn't quite place her. Everything seemed to contradict itself.

And then something else clicked. "So, that's why you're always alone at school. Your mom doesn't let you have friends."

"No," Rapunzel said immediately, looking at him almost angrily. He noticed her braid had loosened throughout the day and wispy strands had fallen out. She brushed them behind her ears. "She's not like that. She wouldn't mind me having a friend, she just doesn't let me go out after school, so people don't really want to be friends with me."

Jack wrinkled his brow, wondering why she was suddenly defending her mom. "So if I wanted to be your friend, your mom would let me?"

"No." It was a bitter reply.

He almost laughed in disbelief. "And why not?"

She exhaled heavily and Jack had the feeling she didn't want to say.

"Because you're a boy," she said finally, not looking at him.

"Because I'm—what? Really? She won't let you hang with guys?"

"Nope. Men are primal beasts of little intelligence and sole animalistic drive."

Jack bit his lip to keep from grinning. "Was that a quote from her?"

"Her favorite one."

He nodded slowly. Then he laughed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. It's stupid, I know."

"Primal beasts of little intelligence and animalistic driveWow, that's one for the history books."

"Yeah, she's…strongly opinionated."

That was one way to put it.

Crazy was another.

"I'm guessing, you've tried talking to her about it," he wondered.

She nodded. "Of course I have, but she doesn't…" She shrugged and leaned her head back against the headrest. "I can always try again, I guess. Maybe she'll change her mind."

She looked a bit dejected sitting there in a slouch, staring out the windshield towards her house, as if she were thinking about every discussion she'd had with her mom, argued and lost.

"Even if she doesn't," he started slowly, "things will be different tomorrow."

Her head tilted to the left, gaze on him, green eyes wide with surprise. "How do you know?"

"Because we'll make it different. No one was ever happy following all the rules."

She slowly shook her head, but her smile gave her away. "You're gonna get in me in so much trouble, aren't you?"

He shrugged, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Can't get in trouble if you don't get caught."

Her eyes seemed to brighten. "No, I guess not."

They fell into silence, something passing between that he couldn't quite define. Was it understanding? A promise? He didn't know. What he did know was that she was looking at him with those big, green eyes of hers, a hopeful smile at her lips, and with that one look he knew he was a goner. There was no way things would ever be the same again.

"I know one thing that will be different tomorrow," she said, breaking the silence and their held gaze. "No bike." She slouched in her seat again, crossing her arms and blowing out a raspberry. "What am I gonna do with it?"

"Fix it?"

She sent him a look.

He grinned. "Sorry. I can bring it by Hiccup's, he'll take a look."

"Really?" She sat up. "How much would that cost?"

"No charge."

"Jack."

"What?" he asked on a light laugh.

"All day you've just been giving me things and you need to stop."

He frowned. "What are you…? Giving you things? What have I been giving you? Look, Hic's got a load of crap in his garage he can use to fix it and he'd be happy to do it, I promise."

"No. I'm not a charity case, Jack, so stop treating me like one."

"What? I never—"

"All day you haven't let me pay for anything. The hot chocolate, hot pretzel, lunch, now this and I wasn't going to say anything, but now I just…I can't accept it so…" She reached down and grabbed her backpack off the floor. She opened the little front pocket and pulled out a purple floral wallet.

Something dropped in his stomach. "What are you—You don't have to—"

She yanked out a minimal wad of cash and planted it onto the dash a bit too forcefully. "It won't cover everything, so, really, thank you for the rest. But with the bike, if you're not going to let me pay him or something, then I'll deal with it myself." She forced the door open and hopped out.

"Rapunzel—"

"No, Frosty, just stop!" And she slammed the door.

He sat there frozen a moment, staring at the door, wondering how this had gone south so fast.

"Frosty?" he murmured to himself, amused and miffed she'd picked up Merida's nickname for him.

He caught a glance of her through the back window moving towards the trunk. He cursed softly and jumped out, grimacing as his feet sunk into the sludgy ground that was the driveway.

"Rapunzel, come on, I didn't mean to…" To what exactly? What had he done that had gotten her so upset? I'm not a charity case, she'd said. What was that supposed to mean? Doing someone a favor was considered charity now?

She was standing at the tailgate, fidgeting with the handle. "How do you open this?" she demanded and looked at him, a fiery light in her green eyes.

"You need a key."

"Then open it."

He stepped closer towards her, his hand gliding along the top of the tailgate. "Can you just tell me what I did?"

She took a step back away from him and he tried not to acknowledge the fact that that stung just a little.

"About buying lunch and stuff, I was just being nice. I didn't realize you were a passive aggressive, misandrous feminist," he quipped.

Smooth, Jack, real smooth.

"I'm not—" She exhaled sharply and continued on more calmly. "I'm not a passive aggressive, misandrous feminist. That's my mother," she said, something resentful in her expression. "I'm just saying that I'm not comfortable taking things from people without giving them something in return. I know I'm not well off, I may not have a phone or be able to afford a car or live in a house that's not in the middle of the freaking woods, but I get by, I always have, and I don't need you swooping in like some Prince Charming, buying things for me and—I don't know, taking care of this." She gestured at the mangled bike. "I can take care of myself."

"Prince Charming," he repeated incredulously. "Well, that's a compliment if I've ever heard one." Seeing as she wasn't amused, he dropped the banter. "Listen, I didn't mean to overstep, but—"

"Well, you did."

He blinked. "Right, um… I was just trying to help you out with your bike, but if you don't want my help that's fine." He unlocked the trunk and let the tailgate down. "I just thought it would be chivalrous."

"It is, but that's not the point."

"Right, so chivalry wasn't dead…until now."

She glared ahead into the trees.

He closed his eyes, mentally smacking himself. Why had he said that? Did he think that would actually rectify the situation?

He looked back at Rapunzel, but her gaze remained locked on the snowy woods, posture straight and rigid, arms crossed, backpack slung over one shoulder. Sunlight streaming through the tree tops made her hair shine golden and the snow sparkle. Her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold, but her skin still had a sun-kissed glow to it, a contrast to the frosty trees and snow-covered undergrowth. However, her expression didn't match the serenity of the world around them.

He ran a hand through his fringe, not trusting himself to say anything that wasn't completely stupid, but knowing saying nothing wouldn't help things either. "I'm sorry."

Eventually something in her features softened and she nodded. "I'm just not used to this, okay?"

He could only guess what she specifically meant by 'this', but he didn't prod. "Okay."

She nodded again and turned back towards the truck, coming to stand next to him by the open tailgate.

"You really want to deal with this yourself?" he asked gently.

She looked over the heap of metal, sighed and shook her head. "But can you at least ask him if I can repay him somehow?"

"Somehow? What, you mean with cookies or something?"

"I just so happen to make fantastic cookies," she countered, tilting her chin up rather defiantly. "So, before you go making jokes about it, maybe consider the offer."

Jack couldn't help but smile. He nodded. "Okay, I'll…I'll ask him if he wants cookies." He could barely say it with a straight face.

"Good. Chocolate chip are the best," she went on seriously, "but I can also make ginger snaps or lemon bars. His choice."

"I'll let him know."

"Good," she said with an air of finality and in a tone that clearly said 'no take backs'. "Why are you smiling like that?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. You're just…"

Her eyebrows lifted, adding to her typical innocently curious doe-eyed expression.

He felt his heart start to pound forcefully in his chest.

"Being ridiculous?" she wondered.

He chuckled and closed the tailgate. "Well, that's a given, but not what I was thinking."

She nudged him with her elbow at the light-hearted jab. "Then what were you thinking?"

He turned towards her, leaning lightly into the truck."You're just a lot different than I thought you'd be, is all."

"Oh. Like…" She looked down briefly, a strand of hair falling out from behind her ear. She met his gaze again, uncertainty in her own. "…in a good way or…?"

"Yeah." Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out and brushed the golden strand back behind her ear. "In a really good way."

He felt his ears burn as he slowly dropped his hand, but she smiled, brightening her features like the sun, and as his heart rocked his ribcage all he could think was, I'm in trouble…big trouble.


A/N: I'm baaaack and I just want to give a massive apology for leaving this story hanging for the past few months. I just didn't know where to go with it and my inspiration, motivation and any other word ending with 'ation' just kinda flew out the window and only just recently returned. This chapter took me for freaking ever to write, but I hope it somewhat makes up for my absence. Fair warning, I've planned to write 2 more chapters for this fanfiction, but I don't even have an outline for them yet...so yeah, I don't know how long it's gonna take me hahaha *is actually crying*

btw, thank you so much for all the positive reviews (they make me feel that much more guilty)!