Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nigel was one of those people Eugene couldn't help but severely dislike. He hadn't done anything to him personally. But something about him made him very unlikable. Eugene didn't want to hate him (well, it was a lot of fun to make jokes about his stuck-up nature); it was just something he couldn't help.

He led them down the hall, with his nose in the air. Eugene clasped his hand over Rapunzel's, which was at his elbow. The two shared a smile. Nigel turned his head, muttered something about him being above this duty and opened up a door. He pursed his lips.

"There is someone who wants to see you, your highnesses," he said.

Eugene opened his mouth to make a quip about how Nigel reminded them of that only nine times, but Rapunzel nudged him. She kept her smile and thanked him. The two stepped inside.

Ms. Newcomb was fawning over herself in front of a mirror. She adjusted a lock of hair before turning around. She wore the same artificial grin as before, waving for the two to join her. Eugene had to stop himself from taking off right there and then.

"Your majesties!" she exclaimed, "What an honor to see you again."

"Why are you here?" Eugene asked before he could stop himself. Rapunzel sent him a dark look.

Ms. Newcomb didn't seem fazed. "When I caught word that there would be another little royal tyke running around, I knew I had to plan the celebration. Like a young bird."

Eugene quirked an eyebrow. Young bird? Oh, right. Ms. Newcomb was all about the weird rhyming thing. Great.

"I don't just throw the best weddings. I also throw the best baby celebrations. Especially for royals. Did you know that I just finished helping with the Countess Spinggust's party? She's having a triplet girl, you know."

"How does she know?" Rapunzel wondered.

Ms. Newcomb gestured as if it wasn't anything big. "She went to a fortune teller, silly dear."

Fortune teller? Eugene's insides shook.

"Everything was pink. She had the walls painted pink. The carpet was replaced to be pink. Everything and everything was pink. It was marvelous." Ms. Newcomb lit up, as if she had a vision. "We should take you to a fortune teller! That way, we can plan accordingly."

"No!" Too fast. Eugene rolled his shoulders back and cleared his throat. "I'm not into that. Why don't we, uh-"

"-Get right to it? A splendid idea, your princeness!"

Ms. Newcomb sat. She nodded at Eugene and Rapunzel to join her. As if she were the queen, the royal and they were a servant. They looked at each other, but sat. Eugene pulled her chair out for her.

"Yellow," Ms. Newcomb mumbled, "The color that makes me want to bellow." She looked up with a smile. As if her rhyme was clever enough to warrant applause. She looked back down with a sigh. "What else? We need to go through the menu, the guest list, the flower list, the event list, the bird list, the party favor list, the costuming list, the letter list, the-"

"Excuse me for interrupting, Ms. Newcomb," Rapunzel said, "But what do you mean by, 'Customing?'"

"Well, it is tradition that the mother dress up her baby bump to look like something clever."

Rapunzel paled. "What?" She gave a hesitant chuckle.

"I know!" Ms. Newcomb clapped. "Isn't that a marvelous idea? The father gets to dress up, too. I thought we could go with something darker. Like a guillotine or noose."

"What!" Eugene stood.

Rapunzel grabbed his hand.

"This can't be a real thing, right, Ms. Newcomb?" he asked.

"Not that it doesn't sound . . . lovely," Rapunzel added to spare her feelings.

Ms. Newcomb giggled. "Of course, it's a real thing! You don't think I'm clever enough to think up something like that myself, do you? Of course, I'm flattered, your highness."

Eugene and Rapunzel turned to each other. Nope. There was no way they were going to dress up like a noose victim or whatever Ms. Newcomb decided. Besides, who did that? If it was such a tradition, how come Eugene never heard of it before? Or was it a Coroan thing?

Once Ms. Newcomb decided they were done for the day, (they tried several times to make a polite entrance. Eugene was ready to take off without explaining himself. So what if it was rude? It was rude of her to keep them there), they left the room together. Then faced each other. Neither knew what to say.

"Um, well," Rapunzel said, "Now we know . . ."

"Is that from your people or my people?" Eugene pointed at himself. "'Cause I don't know your people well, but you don't seem like you'd be that extreme. But my people aren't, well, so weird. At least I thought . . ."

"I'm not sure. How about I'll ask my parents and you ask your dad?"

"Deal."

Eugene began the other way. Though he paused and stared back after Rapunzel. Her golden braid waved as she trodded down the hair. She paused to greet a servant before continuing. Rapunzel always had a smile on her face. Nope, stop. He needed to see Edmund. Eugene found his office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Edmund called from inside.

He did, shutting the door behind him.

"How weird were our people?" Eugene asked.

Edmund gave a blank stare. Maybe he should rephrase that.

"Were our people so weird that they dress their queens or princesses or wives up at baby showers as nooses?"

"Nooses?" Edmund turned his bookshelf. He picked up a book and flipped through a few pages. His eyes lit up. "Ah, you're talking about Queen Albinie the second! She was a strange one."

"So she . . ." Eugene made a gesture.

"Not exactly. She was interested in death. More so than the average person. When she learned she was expecting, she dressed up like a crow and painted one on her stomach. It's also said that she glued feathers there, as well, but we know for certain that she painted a crow on herself. Now, don't worry, son. The baby turned out fine. Maybe a little . . .'' Edmund made the crazy sign. "But well enough."

"All right. Thanks, Dad."

Sometimes, whispers annoyed him.

But the whispers between Rapunzel and her parents broke his heart.

Varian and his father were already back in Corona. Arianna and Frederic wanted to stay as long as possible, but they had a kingdom to run. Eugene stood to the side as they exchanged embraces and light kisses.

"Bye, Mom, Bye Dad," Rapunzel said.

"We'll come as soon as we can," Arianna promised, kissing her forehead.

"Goodbye."

The two boarded their carriage. Rapunzel stepped back. Eugene caught her. She looked up at him with a smile.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"I . . . Yeah, your welcome."

He wished he could do more as she sobbed in his embrace.

"Do you wanna go back?" he mumbled into her hair, "I can carry you."

She paused. But gave a weak nod. Eugene lifted her up. Rapunzel relaxed her face on his shoulder. He dodged questions from servants. She didn't want anything. Aside from a little alone time, he assumed.

But as he laid Rapunzel in her bed, she reached for him.

"Stay. Please."

Eugene kicked off his shoes to climb into bed with her. He rested his hand on her back. He let her cry. Until she was asleep.

Frederic had given him specific orders, but this was Eugene he had talked to. There was a zero percent chance, he was even listening let alone willing to do whatever the king wished. He wanted Eugene to higher security around Rapunzel and to have her stay inside the castle walls at all times. But that was just about the opposite of what he was planning on doing.

He tied a handkerchief around her eyes, so she couldn't see. Eugene took her hand as they stepped onto the dock. Eugene got into the boat first, he swung her in, holding her hips. Rapunzel laughed and attempted to pull the mask off.

"Eugene! Where are we?" she asked, smiling. The boat titled, bumping her into him. Eugene helped her sit, as gracefully as possible.

"You'll see soon, Sunshine," he replied.

Eugene began to row them. It had been hard just getting her here. On the very edge of the kingdom was a lake. In the center was what he called a miniature island. There he had set out a picnic basket and blanket for them. They needed a day outing to get away from it all. Rapunzel gasped once he removed the handkerchief.

Eugene had put together a picnic for them. Simple, but sweet. She squealed as she made a dash for it.

"Eugene!" she exclaimed, "This is perfect! I love it!"

"Well, you mentioned something about picicing and so I thought, 'Why not? Might as well try it out.'"

Eugene plucked down next to her and reached for the basket. Rapunzel bet him to it.

"You've never been on a picnic before?" She gasped, clasping a hand over her chest. "I have to teach you everything, then."

"I think the concept is fairly simple. You eat on a blanket outside."

Rapunzel shook her head. "No, no, no! A picnic is much more than that." She held out her hand, pressing down on each finger as she listed: "There's Picnic Basket Relay and Water Balloon Spoon Races and Melt an Ice Cube." She flapped her hand at him. "Oh, oh! Don't forget Pass the Water . . ."

Eugene leaned on his elbow. He beamed. Just seeing her all excited and talking a mile a minute was so . . . refreshing. No. This was if sunshine was a person. That was who Rapunzel was.

She looked over at him. Her eyebrows quirked.

"What?" Rapunzel asked with a laugh. She lowered to her knees.

"What?" But he knew exactly what she was talking about. "I don't know. It's just nice, I guess."

She chuckled. "I think it's nice, too."

They stared at each other. Only for a moment. Eugene's chest filled with warmth.

"Well, let's dig in. I'm starving!"

Me: Huh, looks like I have something of an update schedule again.

Also Me: Doesn't update in three weeks.

I am so sorry for the wait and that this chapter is mostly filler. I had to scrap the original plan for this chapter, because it wasn't working. I also wrote a fic for a dead fandom that's 51k words in three weeks. That's it. That's my excuse. I'm very proud of writing that fic even though I shouldn't have been so focused on that. These next weeks I hope to get some writing in. But I can't make any promises. Thank you for all your lovey comments. I haven't had the opportunity to answer most of them, but I plan to in the coming days or hours. I apologize about this long AN. I had to rewrite it at least eight times.

Thank you so much for reading!