The Tree House
Rapunzel and Eugene's son Bastion was one month old and slowly being introduced to all the important people and places in Corona (although Frederic might not have agreed that Rapunzel's friend's houses counted as important.)
"This is our tree house, Bas. Your mom Rapunzel helped fix it up for us. She's good at decorating places." Kiera explained.
"We're in the woods, so it's like all the trees are put of our front yard. We go out to play jump rope with Dad. He's better at twirling than jumping." Catalina added.
"The coolest part of our tree house is how you get inside. We used to just have a ladder, but now there's also an elevator outside!" Kiera bragged.
"It works on a pulley system, one of six simple machines..." Varian began.
"V, he doesn't care about science. He just cares that it's fun!" Kiera cut him off. Varian pouted slightly, but everyone else laughed, at in the end he found himself smiling again.
"Let's ride the elevator, Bas." said Rapunzel. She held the baby in her arms as she and Eugene stood inside the elevator and Lance pulled them up. Then he sent the elevator down again to pick up the girls and Varian.
"Next time I'm taking the ladder like Lance." Varian grumbled.
"Like you'd pass up the chance to ride in one of your 'simple machines'." Kiera knew his threat was empty.
"This is the front door to the main hut. It's where we have our kitchen and dining rooms. And on the left is the balcony where you can enjoy the fresh air." Catalina told Bas.
"Don't forget the weather vane!" piped up Kiera.
"Isn't it awesome? It's a wolf, like me." Catalina grinned.
"Maybe wait a little bit before you transform. Bas doesn't even understand I'm still Daddy when I put on my Captain's helmet, he might get confused seeing you as a wolf." Eugene cautioned.
"Yeah, that's fair. The third part of the hut is the biggest because it's got mine, Kiera's, and Dad's bedrooms. We also have a telescope in the window that Dad may or may not have gotten legally." Catalina continued.
"You told me you bought that!" Eugene gave Lance an accusing look.
"I tell you lots of things!" Lance countered, which wasn't really helping his case.
"Guh ga!" Bas wriggled in Rapunzel's arms. He liked the funny face his Dad was making. Truthfully, Rapunzel thought he looked funny too.
"We have a slide and a rope bridge leading to our attic where we store everything we're not using right away. Soon we'll be able to put our winter jackets in there. You've never seen spring before, but it's warm and flowery." Kiera said.
"And about a thousand times better than winter." Eugene muttered.
"Eugene, we're teaching Bas to like and appreciate all seasons." Rapunzel insisted.
"Fine." Eugene relented, although secretly he planned to tell Bas how great spring was and disparage winter when Rapunzel wasn't around to hear it.
"Let's go inside, gang. You'll want Bas to see inside a place, too." Lance suggested. He opened the door and everyone filed in.
"This is the kitchen, where Dad makes us pancakes every morning." Catalina said happily.
"We have a table, and chairs, and a lantern. Plus we put paintings on the wall! This one's my favorite, it's us as a family!" Kiera was pretty proud to finally have both a Dad and a sister.
"This is our toy chest. We didn't used to have anything good in it, but now we have dolls, and yo-yos, and a monkey playing cymbals, and cards, and a jump rope and all sorts of cool stuff!" Catalina couldn't help showing off a bit. Bas drooled and gurgled, but he seemed to appreciate it nonetheless.
"You spoil those girls." Eugene whispered.
"Like you don't do the same for your boy." Lance argued.
"Here's our desk where we do math and science lessons. V tutors us, so now we know more than Dad! We're like, super smart." Kiera boasted.
Varian grinned. "Well, it wasn't a high bar to clear." he joked.
"Don't make me throw you out of my tree house." Lance bluffed.
"I was kidding. They're good students, I'm really proud of them." Varian told him.
"Come see our bedroom Bas. We got pillows and blankets and 2 nightstands and a bookshelf. It has too many Flynn Rider books, but it's otherwise neat." Catalina said.
Eugene and Varian pretended to look offended. "One can never have too many Flynn Rider books!" Eugene protested.
"Goo." Bas chimed in, apparently sharing his father's opinions on literature.
"And that's pretty much it." Kiera finished. "Did you like our tour?"
"Gah ba." Bas said.
"I think he loved it. I know I did." Rapunzel smiled and hugged her baby tight.
"Good job Angry and Catalina but we're not quite through. We can't end the tour without going back to the kitchen and eating chocolate chip cookies." Lance declared.
"Yeah! Cookies!" the girls cheered. Lance led the way and the group followed him to the kitchen where Bas was fed his mother's milk and everyone else ate cookies.
The End
I want to thank tangledbea for the reference photos for this story. The girl's tree house was always neat, but it looked downright amazing after they remodeled it.