Chapter 10

Hannah Taylor and her son Jonathan had quickly become near-constants in the Fitzherbert household. She and Rapunzel had really hit it off, and Eugene thought their rapid conversations and loud laughter was one of the best things in his life; Rapunzel hadn't exactly been one of the most mentally stable people, and having a close friend like Hannah was doing her a lot of good.

His wife may have always been outgoing and accepting of people, but having a close friend like Hannah was allowing her to connect with people more than she had originally. It was wonderful seeing her having more friends closer to her own age—pretty much everyone before Hannah had been the guys from the Snuggly Duckling, or young children she had befriended in town.

Hannah also served as a source of womanly (and sometimes motherly) advice, which was something every girl needed.

—-—

Rapunzel was very concerned. Her… cycle was late. By a lot.

Before she'd lost her magic, they had been like clockwork: three days of light pains and… *ahem*… every 30 days. After losing her magic, she'd learned that clockwork regularity wasn't typical. This wasn't the first time it had been late, but it was the first time it had been more than 5 days. A week was unthinkable; and it was nearly three late, now!

And, unfortunately, she didn't know who she could talk to about it, if it was even a problem at all.

She went over what she knew again. It had been more than 50 days since her last one, she hadn't been sick or had anything happen that could throw it off, but it being late wasn't necessarily a problem… Was it? Mother had called it a woman's burden, but Rapunzel wasn't sure why it happened… Was there a reason why that Mother had never told her?

She needed to talk to Hannah. Forget the stigma Mother had always associated with it, she needed to know what was going on!

—-—

A few hours and a very eye-opening conversation later, Rapunzel was laying on her and Eugene's bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how she was going to tell him that soon it wouldn't just be the three of them anymore.

They hadn't even talked about having kids yet! Did he want children? How would he handle the news that he was going to be a father?

And he'd grown up as an orphan, how would he feel about having to be a father?!

She glanced at the clock, noting he wouldn't be home for a few more hours. She was in for a very long and not-at-all fun afternoon.

—-—

Eugene had gotten home to a clean and tidy house. Even more so than usual, actually, as none of the furniture had been re-arranged, there didn't appear to be any fresh paint on the walls, and the floor had a soft shine to it, as if Rapunzel had spent a few hours scrubbing it earlier in the day.

He'd walked into the kitchen to find Rapunzel finishing up dinner, which just so happened to be his favorite—a stew of her own recipe. Then, he'd noticed a pie cooling just inside the window, and he had a feeling it was cherry—another of his favorites. She was wearing a dress he liked on her, and was humming a tune he liked to hear her sing softly as she stirred the pot on the fire a few more times.

He wondered what he had done to deserve such a great evening.

Of course, Rapunzel greeted him with a kiss on the cheek (if a little more enthusiastically chipper than normal), and went about serving the food as if there was nothing amiss. They ate dinner and discussed their days, Rapunzel offhandedly mentioning a visit with Hannah that she had had a little before lunch.

They moved on to the pie, and Eugene discovered that it was in fact a cherry-filled one. It was delicious, as always, and Rapunzel blushed when he told her so.

As they finished up eating and began doing the dishes, he could tell that she was working up the nerve to tell him something. Now, he was concerned that it was less something he had done right and more something she had done—something she was worried he wouldn't like. Had she adopted a new pet? Had she gone back to the tower, a trip he didn't like to think of her taking on her own, without him? Had..

"So, when I talked to Hannah today…"

He blinked. "Yeah?"

"We, uh… We realized something."

His brain had been so busy thinking up other things that it wasn't prepared for this sudden shift in direction. His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "What?"

"I… I might be…" She trailed off, looking at him nervously.

He set down the spoon he had been drying, and turned to fully face her. "Are you okay? You're not sick or anything, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine! I just… Hannah thinks I might be pregnant, is all." She had looked down as she finished talking, and now was peering at him warily through her eyelashes.

Eugene, on the other hand, was staring at the patch of wall behind her that was visible just above her head. She was… He was… They were going to…

His eyes shot back down to hers. "You're pregnant?" he breathed.

She nodded, still barely meeting his eyes.

He whooped, throwing a fist into the air. Then, he grabbed her around the waist and spun her around, before setting her back on the ground and leaning down to kiss her. "You're pregnant!" he exclaimed.

She looked a little shocked at his reaction, but quickly became just as excited as he was. "I know! Isn't it wonderful! We're going to be parents!"

He kissed her again, and let out another shout of excitement. He was going to be a father!

AN: *puts on shades* Almost 3 years without uploading, she comes back with a chap, that no one was expecting, how's that for a start? So prepare for some fluff, because a baby's on the way, and mecaka has finally got back her f***ing... *desperately tries to complete rhyme* *gives up on making her own diss track ala danisnotonfire*
Ok, hi guys! I bet you completely forgot about me in the last 3 years, didn't you? HAHAHAHA *cries*! I finally reread what I'd already posted for this story and decided to force out another chapter, and honestly it's not that bad, considering it's this story...
So, some heads up, I'm going to work on a few more chapters for this, but I'm not going to be dragging this mofo out for too much longer, because I honestly cringe reading it back to myself. But! I owe it to my loyal readers to give it an ending. So I'm going to.
If you have read anything else that I've written, I'll probably do the same with some of my other stories. Just the ones that were doing well, though, or that I actually had good ideas for. I figure, that if I force myself to write for this, it might just be the kick in the pants I needed to really get into writing again.
And honestly, I've really missed writing. So, I'm going to work on tying up all these loose ends, so that I can clear my conscience and work on some new, exciting ideas I have, but have been too guilt-ridden to start on.
See you soon, guys! Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow this story, as more posts will be coming before the year is out (I promise, like yell at me if I haven't posted anything else by Thanksgiving. Spam me on tumblr and Twitter. Please hold me accountable.)