Rapunzel's heart was pounding as the speedboat raced towards the yacht. She only hoped this would work. Jack was already on his way back to the inn, and straight into danger no less. The idiot refused to listen to her yet again. She let out a huff as she thought back to that morning when Mr. Black found them, still asleep in the ruins. Jack had been right then by showing immediate distrust in the well-dressed, soft-spoken man since Rapunzel knew there was no Coronan consul to the Seven Isles by the name of Korben Black. But she wanted to play along to find out more about this Korben Black and didn't have a way of telling Jack, so he stayed obviously suspicious while Rapunzel acted naive but kept her eyes open. She was rewarded when his daughter, Emily, let slide a passing comment about the owner of the yacht and her father made her keep quiet after that. Being around Black convinced Rapunzel that she was right and that Gothel was afraid of him. When she told Jack about the yacht, he quickly deduced that Gothel was going to sell the moonstones to its owner, the playboy Eugene Fitzherbert. And it was obvious Black wanted them out of town before the yacht landed as he got the two of them and Rapunzel's Aunt Willow tickets back to Corona on a flight that night. But Jack got out of the taxi before they got to the airport and Rapunzel tried to follow, only to lose him in the crowd. She found a boat rental service and borrowed a boat to get to the yacht, her only shot now of helping Jack get the moonstones back. Now, she was nearing that yacht, and her brain was frantically trying to figure out some way of convincing Eugene Fitzherbert to help them turn Gothel and maybe Black over to the police and returning the moonstones to Corona. What could she say to a man who practically always got what he wanted?

"Hey!" Rapunzel honked the boat horn upon coming to the side of the boat. "Hey! Stop, please! I need to get on board! Hey!" Several crew members came on deck, curious about the commotion. "Please, I need to get on board! This is important!" Rapunzel scanned the men, wondering if there was something she could say to convince them to let her on board. She thought of Jack and an intense fear of what Black and Gothel could do to him flooded her mind. "Please, this is a matter of life and death!" One guy who she figured was the captain left the deck and came back a minute later. He whispered to a sailor before turning to Rapunzel and waved.

"Come aside! Mr. Fitzherbert wants to know what this is all about."

Rapunzel let out a sigh of relief. It was working! "OK!" She brought her boat to the side of the yacht and a couple of sailors helped her hook it up and get on board. The captain took her below deck and led her to a room. He knocked.

"Come on in!" The captain opened the door, and Rapunzel found herself looking at the playboy himself, sitting behind a desk.

He leaned forward and blinked, surprised. 'Wow." Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. Eugene cleared his throat. "Uh, let me try that again." He shot shot her a smug grin." Hi, how you doing? The name's Eugene Fitzherbert, and you're cute."

"Oh, uh, thanks," said Rapunzel, not very interested.

"Listen, blondie . . ."

"My name's Rapunzel."

"Gesundheit. Now, I'm a busy man and I'm on my way to a meeting, so if you could . . ."

"Don't buy the moonstones!"

Eugene had begun to rise, but paused at Rapunzel's outburst and glanced at her in surprise. "What did you just say?"

"I know you're meeting the Coronan consul Korben Black to purchase the Coronan moonstones, and I'm telling you not to!"

"Old Pitch is the Coronan consul?"

Rapunzel blinked, then realized what she had said before wondering what he meant. "You know him as Pitch?"

"Yeah, Pitch Black as he's known, best known for driving quite a hard sales pitch, and last I heard he wasn't the Coronan consul, just an antiques dealer." He paused. "And what Coronan moonstones?"

Rapunzel crossed her arms. "So, he's lying to you too, huh?"

"Uh . . ."

"Listen, my friend Jack and I were just at his house . . ."

Eugene raised an eyebrow. "Your friend Jack?"

Rapunzel let out a breath and rambled out the whole story. She finished her tale with, "So you see, you just can't purchase those moonstones!"

Eugene got up and began pacing the room. Rapunzel crossed her fingers that this meant he was considering not going through with it. A knock came at the door, startling her. "Come in!"

The captain, who Rapunzel hadn't even noticed had left, entered the room. "We've docked, and a man and a woman want to come on board."

"Is that man tall and dark while the woman has dark curly hair?"

The captain nodded. "And they gave the password."

Eugene shot a glance at Rapunzel, but spoke to the captain. "Let them on."

Rapunzel glanced between the captain and Eugene worriedly. "What? But . . ."

Eugene raised his hand. "I know what the Coronan moonstones look like, if you are in fact telling the truth, I'll have my men detain them and call the police. But if you're lying, you're the one who's going to jail."

Rapunzel sighed with relief. "Oh thank goodness."

Eugene nodded at the captain who left again before turning to Rapunzel. "You don't seem too worried about going to jail."

Rapunzel placed her hands on her hips and looked him dead in the eye. "Because I'm telling the truth."

"We'll see, but for now, you'd better hide." Eugene nodded towards a door. Rapunzel followed him towards it. He opened it for her and she saw that it was a bedroom. "It's nice."

"Thanks," said Eugene with a genuine smile.

Rapunzel turned to him. "You know, I can't believe you haven't gotten married yet. You're such a dear."

Eugene grinned. "Why thanks, blondie, that means a lot. And, well, I would ask you out, but I have a feeling you're taken."

Rapunzel blinked. "Huh?" The two jumped when a knock came at the door.

"Time to hide. I'll handle this, just sit tight." He quickly closed the door. Rapunzel pressed her ear to the door to at least listen in on the conversation. "Ah, hiya Pitch! It's been a while."

"That it has," said Black in a cool voice. "A little too long, I think."

"Oh, what makes you say that? Am I your best customer?"

"Possibly. Speaking of, show him the jewels."

"Yes sir," said Gothel in a strong voice, but Rapunzel could tell there was a hint of fear to it. She did fear Black and perhaps acted irrationally recently because of his presence in the village. Rapunzel wished she could be a fly on the wall, but she had to make do by continuing to listen through the door.

"Wow, these are some beauties!" said Eugene. "And wowee, they look almost like the Coronan moonstones!"

"Yes, quite remarkably so. They are almost identical, and as such are thought to be frauds, but they are most certainly real moonstones, I can guarantee that."

"And you're good on your word, Pitch, so I trust you."

"Now, the payment."

"Oh right, I left it in the ship safe. I'll go get it right now."

"A wise place to keep it. But please be quick, we have other . . . appointments."

"Certainly." Rapunzel heard Eugene's footsteps leaving the room and fading into the distance. She only hoped this meant he was going for the police right now. Her heart pounded, there was only a door between her and two criminals! And what had Black meant by other appointments? Was he talking about Jack? As a matter of fact, was Jack alright? Where was he? What had happened at the inn? Her panicked thoughts was interrupted by a loud sneeze, only to be horrified to realize that she had been the one to sneeze. The door was thrown open, and she found herself looking up at Black.

His eyes flared. "You!" She screamed as he grabbed her arms and pulled her out of her hiding spot.

"Let me go!"

"I should have listened to you, Gothel, and taken care of these two your way!" He snarled at Rapunzel. "You've interfered in my business for the last time!"

"Let her go!" Rapunzel, Black, and Gothel glanced at the door.

"Jack!" Rapunzel called out in relief. Jack rammed into Black, sending them sprawling on the ground. Rapunzel got up quickly and went after Gothel, who was gathering the moonstones into a bag. The two women got into a tug of war over the jewels. "Let . . . them . . . go!"

"No!' screamed Gothel. The bag ripped open as the two fell backwards and the moonstones scattered across the floor. It interrupted Jack's and Black's fight as both lunged to try and gather them all up first. At that moment, three policemen came in with Varian, Eugene, and Emily.

Varian pointed at Black and Gothel. "Them, arrest them! They stole the moonstones from Corona!"

Gothel gasped. "Varian! We're family!"

Varian glared at her and crossed his arms. "No member of my family gets away with a crime."

The police walked towards them, helped them to their feet, and placed handcuffs on them. "You're under arrest." Jack and Rapunzel took the rest of the moonstones from them.

"Daddy how could you?" said Emily, who was on the verge of tears.

"I was doing this for you," he said as he and the officer walked past.

"I didn't want this," whispered Emily, turning away from her father as they walked out the door. "And now I have nowhere else to go."

Eugene placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I've got plenty of room. Want to stay with me?"

Emily glanced at him and began to smile as a tear fell down her cheek. "I-I'd like that. Thank you."

"Rapunzel!"

"Aunt Willow!" Rapunzel embraced her aunt as she dashed into the room.

"Oh don't you dare scare me like that! Your parents would have my head if anything had happened to you!"

Eugene chuckled. "Wow, protective much?"

Willow glanced at him before turning to Rapuznel. "I think it's time we tell them. You did get them back after all."

Jack approached them, the gears in his head turning. "Wait, what? You, you got them back?" He glanced down at the moonstones before glancing at Rapunzel. "Wait, are you . . ."

Rapunzel took off her blonde wig. "I am."

Jack's eyes widened and knelt. "Princess Rapunzel!" The others gasped, Eugene and Varian quickly bowed while Emily curtsied. Rapunzel tapped Jack's shoulder and motioned him to rise.

"And I can now tell my parents with complete confidence that you should get your job back. You were innocent and we were wrong not to believe you, much less not even bother helping your retrieving the jewels."

"Well, uh, you just did."

Rapunzel grinned. "Well, I suppose I just did."

"OK," said Eugene, crossing his arms, "I think we all need to hear the whole story, over dinner. My treat."

"A playboy treating us out to dinner? Who can say no to that?" said Varian.

Jack chuckled. "Right?"

"That does sound like a great idea," said Willow, "I've been in the dark the whole time!"

"Well then, let's go!" Eugene led the way off the ship to fancy restaurant where the whole story came out and each person told their part.

Later, Jack sought out Rapunzel to speak to her alone. "You, you believed me, this whole time?"

Rapunzel laid a hand on his hand. "How could I not? You've had every opportunity to do so before, but have never stolen them. So, why now? Besides, the guards did find you and can confirm that you had been hit pretty hard from behind. So either you were lying and was part of an elaborate plan to steal the moonstones, or you were telling the truth." She looked into his eyes. "And you've never lied to me before."

Jack leaned closer. "And I never will," he whispered. Their lips touched for a brief, precious moment. "And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for believing in me."

"You're welcome."

(Thanks for reading this! Hope you all like it! Just adding a note here because I'm considering turning these three little snippets into a full novella at a later point. Have other stories I need to finish writing, and some to get started on, but maybe I'll have this ready for next year's Jackunzel Month.)