hey guys, this ones going to be short but it was really fun to write and ive been desperate to write it for a while. i hope it came out while and you guys enjoy it!

hannah jane: yes i would be sexing him up all the time too

princess shahrazad: i think after writing that last chapter we all got a bit pregnant there

wolfram-and-hart-sauron: yes i am going stay close to the original, but soon im going to put my own spin an diverge a lot from it.

ldncrazygirl: soon, i promise they'll figure it out

disclaimer: disney owns it all, i dont know anything

Chapter Twenty-Five

The first thing that woke Rapunzel up was the feeling of being nudged on the face. Then lightly slapped. But the thing that woke her up was the feeling of something wet and slimly entering her ear.

"Gah!" Rapunzel yelled out while jumping up. This woke Eugene up, mainly because she elbowed him in the face when she jumped up.

"What the hell?" Eugene said grumpily, he did not like to be woken up early in the morning.

"Pascal? What's wrong?" Rapunzel asked her friend, while she tried to cover her modesty. Escept for early morning sex with Rapunzel, of course.

That's when they both heard something that made both their hearts stop and blood run cold. The sickly sweet sound of Gothel's voice yelling up for Rapunzel. Pascal had seen her coming from his new perch on the windowsill and had instantly ran to Rapunzels room to try and wake his friend up. But it was far too late. Gothel was already at the bottom of the tower and there was no way for Eugene to escape.

Both Rapunzel and Eugene stumbled out of bed, Eugene running downstairs at full speed to collect his clothes while Rapunzel went to throw on a dress. But, upon seeing the state of her neck and chest in the mirror she had to rethink her plan of action and she grabbed one of her high collared, long nightgowns. Gothel would scold her for still being in her bed clothes this late in the morning. Then Rapunzel remembered this was the least of her problems as downstairs held so much evidence of their love making and Eugene was still in the tower.

"Rapunzel!" Gothel called again, "What's going on up there?"

"Nothing Mother!" Rapunzel called down nervously while Eugene was jumping around trying to get into his trousers while trying to find his boots.

"Then what's taking you so long!" Both lovers looked each other straight in the eye trying to come up with an excuse that Gothel would believe. Eugene had a stroke of genius, gesturing towards her hair as he grabbed up his shirt and vest, as well as Rapunzel's tattered dress.

"I… I put my hair up again last night mother, and I'm just taking it down now!"

"Well hurry up! I'm not getting any younger down here!"

They both hurried around trying to hide everything that would tip off Gothel that a man had been in the tower all evening. Eugene grabbed the last piece of clothing and ran upstairs trying to make sure the bedroom held no evidence. Rapunzel on the other hand was frantically trying to tidy up the main room. She gave the tower one more glance before throwing her hair out of the window and hooking it up.

"Finally!" Gothel called up to Rapunzel as she created a loop of hair and allowed Rapunzel to pull her up.

"Welcome home Mother! I honestly didn't expect you back so soon!" Rapunzel said as Gothel descended into the tower.

"Clearly," Gothel said coldly taking in the sight of her daughter who was still in her bed clothes.

"Why are you not dressed?"

"I… I…"

"Oh Rapunzel don't tell me your still feeling unwell."

"Yes, yes I am. So I decided to sleep in this morning to see if that helps."

Gothel merely shook her head at this as she took of her travelling cloak. She was about to hang it up on the clothes hook by the window when Rapunzel saw the arrows that Eugene had used to climb the tower the day before. Rapunzel quickly darted in front of Gothel to grab her cloak.

"Allow me Mother, you just go and make yourself comfortable and I'll make you some breakfast?"

"Alright dear."

As Rapunzel hung up the cloak she grabbed the two arrows and hid them behind one of the cushions that adorned the window seat. Breathing a sigh of relief as she made her way across to the kitchen, thinking that she had made a great escape. Until she noticed her ruined underpants still hanging off the stove. Rapunzel couldn't help but freeze as she saw the obvious mistake dangling so happily off the stove, almost mocking her. And her mother had not turned around yet to see it.

"Mother!"

"Yes dear?"

"How, how was your trip?" Rapunzel asked as she pulled out one of the dinning room chairs for her mother to sit on. The one that faced the window, not the kitchen. Gothel begun to tell her all about her trip as Rapunzel turned and slyly removed the offending undergarment from the stove, before starting to cook her mother's breakfast of eggs and ham with toast. But as she was making it she started to feel slightly nauseous again. That was entirely odd, as normally she loves the smell of cooking ham.

"Darling, are you alright?" Gothel asked.

"Yes Mother, why do you ask?"

"You look a little, um, green around the gills?"

"I'm fine thank you mother," Rapunzel said as she turned back towards the stove.

"Rapunzel?" Gothel asked after a moment's silence.

"Yes mother?"

"I think you've gained some weight. Your looking rather chubby now. Maybe you shouldn't eat a lot of that breakfast." Gothel said with a slight smile. Enjoying the upset look on her daughters face. She was so easily manipulated. But, as she came to think of it, Rapunzel did look slightly chubby now. Not that much, but maybe a little bit.

Rapunzel laid the dishes on the table and then sat down to eat. Her plate was unsurprisingly less full than Gothel's. The two ate in complete silence. Rapunzel was afraid to say anything that could possible give her away. She was also terrified that mother would find Eugene. She hadn't seen him since mother came back and she had no idea where he was or if he managed to leave the tower or if he was hidden somewhere. She wished she just knew where he was then she could relax more. Rapunzel was sure that mother knew something was wrong.

After breakfast mother asked Rapunzel to sing for her. This made Rapunzel relax as this was part of their normal routine. Her mother began to walk towards the wingback chair by the fire. Rapunzel went to grab her stool from the corner when she noticed all of Eugene's buttons all over the floor. Luckily Pascal had noticed these too and had begun retrieving them. And Gothel hadn't noticed at all as she took her seat by the fire and awaited for Rapunzel and the brush.

This was a great distraction for Gothel. She listened intensely as she sang and brushed her hair so softly. Absorbing all the healing energy that Rapunzel gave off. Eugene was of course watching the entire scene from upstairs. He saw Gothel's wrinkles fade and her hair darken. He saw the sick smile that came over her face as she brushed Rapunzel's hair and it made him sick to his stomach. This woman had no feelings for this girl. She only wanted her for her hair. It made him so very, very angry. It took all the self control that Eugene possessed to stop himself storming downstairs and confronting the woman before throwing Rapunzel over his shoulder, climbing down the tower to escape that old witches grasp forever.

But Eugene knew better. Rapunzel would never forgive him for that. And besides, from what he had heard and what he had seen of Gothel he had no idea how she would react. She could easily kill Rapunzel or himself, or knock him out and escape with Rapunzel and hide her so he would never find her again. This made Eugene sink to floor kneading the back of his neck. He desperately wanted to take Rapunzel away, now more than ever. She was going to be his wife! He wanted to keep her safe and sound, but the sight of her interacting with all those other people had made his heart sore. It was such a crime to keep her away from people. She was so very good and honest and free. She had so much to offer the world.

Eugene looked down to see that Pascal had come up to check on him. This made Eugene smile as the small lizard was carrying all the buttons from his shirt.

"Thanks little buddy," Eugene said as he stroked the chameleons back.

"It isn't fair on her, is it." Eugene eventually said to Pascal as he listened to all the put down's Gothel was now reciting. The effect it had on Rapunzel was obviously, she was so crestfallen. The effect it had on the boys upstairs were obvious as well, both looked sadly at it. Pascal nodded to Eugene, telling him that he agreed with him.

"You don't believe that she's her mother, do you?" Again Pascal shook his head. Every since Eugene had appeared and had shown Rapunzel so much love Pascal realised that Gothel didn't love Rapunzel at all. It saddened him so much. They had seen mothers interacting with daughters in the villages that they had visited and it was so different to what Gothel showed Rapunzel daily.

The day passed very, very slowly. With Eugene hiding upstairs in Rapunzels room, trying desperately to sew the buttons back onto his shirt while Pascal snickered at him every time the needle went straight into his thumb! While Rapunzel continues her chores downstairs under the watchful eye and sharp tongue of Gothel. In the afternoon Rapunzel began to make a new dress for Gothel, like she had promised to do last week. While she worked Gothel began to belittle her work again. Enraging both Eugene and Pascal, and clearly upsetting Rapunzel. After a few minutes Rapunzel left the living room to retrieve some more lace from her bedroom. As soon as she closed the curtain that separated her room from the rest of the tower she let the tears unashamedly fall from her eyes. Eugene was there instantly, bringing her into her arms and letting her cry into his chest. He stroked her long blonde hair and whispered sweetly into her ear.

"Rapunzel! What's taking you so long!" Gothel yelled up as she began climbing the stairs to her daughter's bedroom. Rapunzel broke apart from Eugene to run to the entrance to stop Gothel, but it was too late, she had thrown back the curtain to Rapunzel's room.

"Mother! I can explain!" Rapunzel yelled out.

"Good, I've been waiting down there for the last ten minutes for some lace trimming, what on earth is taking so long?" Gothel said very sternly. Rapunzel was very taken aback by this answer. She turned around to see her room was completely empty.

"Well?" Gothel exclaimed.

"Sorry mother, I couldn't remember which basket I put the lace in," Rapunzel answered in an unmistakable shocked tone. Gothel merely shock her head as she left the room, muttering darkly about her daughter's incompetence.

"She gone?" A husky whisper sounded from somewhere in the room.

"Eugene? Where are you?" Rapunzel asked to the thin air. Her question was answered by several of the wicker baskets under her bed suddenly moving out. After a second a very uncomfortable thief suddenly rolled out form under the bed. This caused Rapunzel to giggle, especially when he handed her a handful of lace.

The rest of the day passed in unexpected enjoyment. As Rapunzel sneaked into her room every once in a while to sneak a small cuddle or chaste kiss from him. And before either of them knew it, it was nightfall and Gothel had decided to come to bed. This finally gave Eugene a chance to escape.

Pascal was sent downstairs first to see if Gothel was indeed fast asleep and was stationed outside her room to make sure she wouldn't get up. Once Pascal gave the signal Rapunzel and Eugene tip-toed downstairs towards the window.

They gave each other some deep, sweet kisses before Rapunzel handed Eugene his arrows and watched him descend into the darkness. She waved him goodbye before she sighed happily looking at her mother's sleeping form. That was when she realised that her mother didn't love her at all and had taken her away from the world for her own selfish reason. She tried to suppress the feeling that Gothel might not even be her mother. That couple in her dream felt so warm, and loving and familiar. The dark force also felt so familiar. She knew it had to be Gothel, but she wished it wasn't.

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