Best Day Ever!
They were in the drawing room, and the curtains were drawn for secrecy. Rapunzel cupped her hand on his ear and excitedly whispered to him the news. "I'm pregnant!"
"Pregnant?! You're having a baby? We're having a baby?" Eugene had to sit down. He could barely believe it.
"How? Well I know how, but it's only a little over two months after the honeymoon!"
"Well it seems that thieving and swashbuckling are not the only things you are good at. You're going to be a father!" Rapunzel exclaimed excitedly. "Rapunzel I can't believe this." Then he quickly sprang up, suddenly scooping Rapunzel in his arms, "I can't believe this!" He kissed her deeply. "Oh, uh," he quickly, put gently put her down. "Is that ok? Are you ok? Did I hurt the baby?"
"What? No!" Rapunzel laughed. "I am only eight weeks!"
"What does that mean? I mean, when are you due?"
Rapunzel laughed again. "In March."
"March? Close to our birthdays? So the season spring is going to be a celebratory family affair! Alright!" He swirled her around. "Oh I am sorry! I keep forgetting."
"Eugene, it's fine really" she laughed. "I'm not made of glass!"
Eugene and Rapunzel, now husband and wife, were inside one of the many rooms of the castle in Corona. Outside the castle stood proudly in the center of the island of their small kingdom, surrounded by foliage and quaint structures of the town. The day was bright, and birds sang. With this news, Rapunzel might say that this was her best day ever!
The royal doctor came out of the room with a scrupulous air, having gathered his medical equipment. He had a receding hair line that ended with a circular mop of brown curly hair in the back. He wore all black and unkempt clothes, along with an oversized jacket and steel toed boots.
"Congratulations young man, er Captain, I guess it is now?" The doctor asked referring to Eugene's most recently acquired title.
"Eugene is fine."
"If you insist." He weighed. "A bit informal for the future prince consort and father of Corona's next ruler, to me."
"Corona's next ruler?"
"Yes lad! The entire kingdom will be overjoyed at this news as much as when Rapunzel was found again. The royal line will continue!"
"Royal line?" Eugene scratched the back of his ear, feeling a bit pressured. He was going to have a lot of responsibility as a father.
"Yes, this is a bit before your time sir, but Coronans will be overjoyed that those weasely Humpherts won't be taking over the throne."
"I remember them," Rapunzel said, "They're our cousins."
"Yes and they would be next in line to succeed the throne if you had not been returned to us. Praise heaven you were found!"
"That's right! I remember reading about the line of succession in the royal archives. We've only met them once at my coronation day as new princess. They seemed nice enough to me."
"I don't remember them." Eugene confessed.
"There was a lot going on that day." She gave him a pat.
"So true."
"They were the ones who gave me those beautiful coronation shoes."
"Wait a minute," Eugene interjected, "The shoes one size too small for you, that you had a lot of trouble walking in that day?" He remembered them now, their lean figures and upturned noses, did give them a literal weasley look about them.
"Oh I had trouble walking in everything that day with a head full of hair under that huge wig." She grinned.
"That's true, but those shoes were meant to fit a child."
"Well I was practically a child. I was 18."
"Yeah but work with me here sunshine, they must have known what they were doing, they could have asked your size. Those shoes wouldn't have fit Pascal!" He exaggerated.
"They knew I had tiny feet and just overcompensated I think." She gave him a warning look to drop it. He frowned but shrugged. They had a mutual understanding. He was protective of her, which made him more cynical perhaps, but even without the power of the healing eternal Sun Drop within her any more, she'd always be the eternal optimist. That, and she expected the best out of people, finding that surprisingly, they often were inspired to give her just that. Though there were a few exceptions.
Just then the both realized that they had totally left the doctor out of the loop.
"Yes, well," The doctor cleared his throat. "I am sure the king will be overjoyed to learn of your pregnancy too. Congratulations your majesties! Er well, your majesty and Eugene." he corrected himself.
Eugene thought of telling him anything was fine, but wasn't sure if it was worth the effort or if it would just confuse the man more. Rapunzel snickered a little at him playfully. "After you, your majesty." Then she paused and took on a more serious tone. "We probably should tell my father next."
"You're what!?" Her father, King Frederick bellowed.
"Rapunzel! That's great!" Queen Arianna got up to hug her daughter. "This is wonderful news!"
King Frederick unabated, carried on. They were in the throne room. King Frederick had just finished his morning meetings with his constituents and was still seated on throne. Queen Arianna was standing down below her throne, and Eugene and Rapunzel stood on the opposite end of the room before them. The vastness of the golden and royally purple furnished room, vaunted with the high ceilings, made it an imposing setting to tell the king he was about to have a grandchild. "You're barely 2 months back from your honeymoon! Fitzherbert how could you let this happen?"
Eugene for the first time in his life felt speechless. When the king continued zeroing in on him for an answer, the first response that came to his head probably wasn't helpful. "Well sir," he swallowed, "it was a honeymoon."
The look the king gave him Eugene hoped he'd never have to face again.
"Frederick," Queen Arianna came to the rescue, "You're being ridiculous. You must have known that this could happen."
"But she's only a child!"
"I'm not a child!" Rapunzel intervened, feeling all the more like one by insisting she was not. "I am 21." She had celebrated her 19th birthday right before they left on their first journey outside the walls of Corona, and her 20th on the day she'd finally accepted Eugene's proposal. The royal wedding with all its trappings had taken a year to plan and pull off, so she was now 21. "Ok we all need to take a break here." Arianna stated acknowledging the tension.
"Frederick apologize to Rapunzel and Eugene and tell them you are overjoyed, because deep inside, I know you are."
He frowned in protest and the queen gave him a look of her own.
"I apologize. Eugene, Rapunzel I am exceedingly happy for you. And the kingdom will rejoice."
Rapunzel ran and hugged her father, while Eugene awkwardly hung back, still not sure what to make of the king's reaction. Arianna ever perceptive, spoke up. "I think this warrants more explanation."
"Punzie you come with me darling. We can talk nursery planning among other things." Eugene started to follow as well. "Eugene you stay here." She commanded. "The king owes you a word of explanation or two." She said preemptively, narrowing her eyes as she anticipated protest from the two men.
They opened their mouths, but to no avail. She and Rapunzel were gone within a minute, the throne room door shutting with a thud and leaving them to themselves. Frederick was the first to talk. He sighed.
"Look son, I am sorry I came down so hard on you. There is a reason I have to be a little alarmed by this."
"Alarmed?" Eugene sputtered incredulously.
Arianna sat on the bed with Rapunzel in Rapunzel's old room, before she moved rooms after she wed, and soothingly combed her daughter's hair. They did this between each other as mother and daughter quality time occasionally because Arianna had never gotten to do for Rapunzel when she was a girl. Her room was still decorated with a wardrobe, and resplendent purple bed covered with a massive canopy of the same color. The huge of sun of Corona was splayed on top of the canopy, as well as stars adorning the canopy and bed itself. Luxurious purple and red pillows were thrown about it. A few lanterns were tied to the ceiling. Rapunzel had painted all around the room, just as she had at the tower, a magnificent continuing mural. Vines, birds and portraits of her loved ones were displayed about the walls. The opposite wall to her bed was painted a portrait of her kingdom with tiny lanterns around the castle. There was also a bookshelf filled with tons of well-used books compared to what she had at the tower. She had a lot to catch up on.
It was stunning how many years she and her family had missed. It was also therapeutic for Rapunzel to have her real mother brush her hair, to feel her the care behind her caresses, as if she was redeeming all those times when the imposter for a mother did it with a selfish motivation. "What's up with dad?" Rapunzel asked softly, knowing that was part of the reason her mother ushered her in here.
"Rapunzel," Arianna slowed her combing. "You know how I do this for you as our way to make up for all the time we lost?"
"Of course."
"Well, sweetheart, we were beyond words, immeasurably joyful when we got you back, but we still lost all that time. Your father and I only had a brief time with you as a baby and all of the sudden were blessed to be reacquainted with you, but only as an adult. It was a bit disorienting to adjust to how we remembered you, to how you are now. It feels like our child was just returned to us, and now she's going to have a child! I think your father only wanted a little more time with you, before the next big transition."
"Oh I am sorry." Rapunzel acquiesced.
"Oh no! Don't be sorry!" Queen Arianna answered a bit sharply. Her anger wasn't directed at her, but at the woman who had raised her for eighteen years, who had caused Rapunzel to obtain an almost dangerous sense of responsibility, even about things that were beyond her control. In Gothel's world, everything that went wrong was Rapunzel's fault. That was partly how she kept her adventurous daughter locked up for eighteen years. Her tone softened a bit. "Never be sorry for something so wonderful darling! It will be so good to watch our grandchildren grow up and participate in all the stages we missed with you!" The two women embraced and Rapunzel was thankful for how at home she felt here in the castle.
Arianna paused though. "What is it?" Rapunzel asked.
Arianna pursed her lips. "There is something else your father may be worried about as well."
"Alarming? What is alarming about having a baby sir? With all due respect, I am excited about becoming a father!" Eugene asserted somewhat sternly in spite of himself.
"You have to understand son, that I almost lost Rapunzel's mom during her pregnancy."
Eugene was stymied for a little. "So that is what this is about?"
"That and some other things Arianna would be better at explaining. Look son, having illness during pregnancies runs in Arianna's family, and therefore in Rapunzel's family."
"So you're saying that Rapunzel might fall ill?"
"It's at least a possibility."
Eugene sat down. He had never even considered this. "But, she's a completely different person sir." He countered, an inner argument starting within himself. Rapunzel was fighter. He wasn't sure if she had ever gotten sick in her life. Though, of course for the first eighteen years of her life she possessed a healing power strong enough to bring back someone seconds into death. Now that she didn't have it...
Frederick interrupted as if he could hear Eugene's thoughts. "I am sure it will be fine son. And I am sorry for overreacting." His apology genuine now. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Eugene never liked the sound of those words.
Pascal, the rascally little lizard, hadn't known whether to accompany Rapunzel when she went with her mom, or Eugene when he stayed behind. Excitement bubbled up in him when he heard the doctor give her the news. He had been a bit worried for her. She had been a little worn down lately and not her total chipper self. Not so much that she couldn't keep it from Eugene, but enough that she couldn't hide it from him.
The doctor's appointment had been a mere cursory affair to double check to see if she was alright. He was elated when he heard the news. He rode on her shoulder when she told Eugene, and then swiftly jumped off when he suddenly picked her up. The lizard shook his heard. Rapunzel's husband could be impulsive at times. He wasn't sure if he'd liked him at first, but over the years and definitely through his sacrifices, he had proved to be just what Rapunzel needed.
He had bonded with Eugene, almost as much as he had with Rapunzel. Rapunzel was still his favorite. The only time they had been separated was during the honeymoon. He was still a little peeved about that but he guessed he could forgive her. She was his best friend after all.
Nonetheless, right now his intuitive lizard sense told him that Eugene would need him more right now than Rapunzel. He didn't know how he knew it. It must have come from his lizard survival skills or something. He watched the king deliver the news to Eugene that the pregnancy might make Rapunzel fall ill. He watched Eugene first fight the notion and then slowly succumb to doubt as he sat down. He climbed on Eugene's shoulder and squeaked at him.
"Hi frog." Eugene smiled sadly. Eugene still to this day called him frog even though he knew he was a lizard. It was his pet name for him he supposed. Pascal couldn't let Eugene sink into the despondency that seemed to creep into his features. Humans could be so unnecessarily down sometimes, especially when they didn't know what the next day could bring. He squeaked him somewhat more aggressively then to get him out of his funk. "You're right," Eugene started, rising up and dusting his pants off. "Why don't we see what my wife is up to? That still sounds weird you know! But so nice."
After searching nearly all the top half of the castle, they found Rapunzel and her mom in the northwest room only a door or so down from Rapunzel's old room. The room they shared was on the other side. "Man I checked up here in this area first and didn't see you here before." Eugene huffed. The two women were bent over engrossed in fabrics. "Oh we had been in the storage room. We're trying to find some good ones for the nursery and clothing." Every color of fabric seemed to be there, pink, purple, blue, green and even yellow.
"This palace has its own storage room of fabric?" Eugene asked astounded about what kind of affluence that must mean.
"Wow our baby will be dressed in the best! Do you think it'll be a beautiful Rapunzel? Or have the freakishly handsome Fitzherbert looks? Either way this baby will be styling!" The women laughed.
"You're welcome to help out Eugene! We're sorting fabric into different colors and types and figuring out what we want." Rapunzel offered.
"Dear, if Eugene is anything like your father he doesn't know anything about-" Arianna started.
"So do you want the tulle here and the satin here?" Eugene returned with a glint in his eye.
"I should have known." Arianna laughed. "You're lucky to have a man who knows about fashion." His wife smiled.
"Hey this doesn't happen on accident." Eugene quipped, gesturing at himself. Rapunzel gave him a quick peck. He would always be playfully vain, but she'd seen his heart. They set to work. As he helped with the sorting, he couldn't help but wonder at the lavishness he had fallen into.