Disclaimer: I only own this plot, though I would love to own Tangled.

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Chapter Two

Rapunzel gave Eugene a horrified look as he paused for breath, which naturally made Eugene pause even longer to give her a confused look.

"What?" he asked.

"Your…your father was awful!" Rapunzel cried after a moment of silence. "How could anyone be so awful to their own children?"

A part of Eugene's heart warmed at the anger in her tone. Knowing how much she cared for him made Eugene love her even more than he already did. "Well…" he said with a sigh. "Not everyone's as nice as you, Blondie," he murmured with a fond smile. "Now…uh…where was I...? Oh, right. So Sarah came to live in the orphanage with us…"

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But Agnes Miller had never been more wrong.

She didn't know it at first, of course, because all seemed well in the months of Sarah's pregnancy. Better than well, actually. For the first time in a long time, Eugene began showing interest in someone other than his book about Flynnigan Rider and his adventures. The small boy followed Sarah around like a loyal puppy, his big brown eyes always watching her every movement, and chatting with her even when she didn't answer. Sarah seemed to adore having the little boy following her around, though, as she never asked that he not do so, and in fact doted on him like he was her little brother.

Not only that, but Sarah also would spend hours at a time, either chatting along with the little boy or reading aloud to him from his book. Eugene especially enjoyed hearing Sarah do the voices of the characters, and would laugh loudly in delight whenever Sarah read the voice of the villain, making the dark Lord Lucius a high-pitched voice with a lisp. It warmed Agnes' heart to see these two sufferers so happy in one another's company, but that ended very abruptly.

Six months after Sarah's arrival at the orphanage, she went into labor, and that was when Agnes' hopes for both Sarah and Eugene were shattered.

Sarah was reading The Tales of Flynnigan Rider to Eugene when she felt the pains starting in her lower back. She had been suffering mild aches in her lower back throughout her pregnancy already, but this was somehow different. Frowning a little and stopping her reading of the book, Sarah placed a hand on her stomach and gasped a little as a fresh wave of pain hit her. Eugene also frowned and came over to stand beside her.

"Wha's wrong, Sarah?" he asked in his little child's voice, resting a hand on her leg.

"I…I don't know," Sarah admitted, gasping a little. Looking down at her legs, Sarah whimpered in fear when she saw blood on her lower leg. "Eugene…Go and get Mrs. Miller," she murmured softly. "Tell her that the baby is coming."

Eugene obviously didn't understand what that meant, but he did run off to find Mrs. Miller, moving as fast as his short legs could carry him. He had seen the blood on Sarah's leg, and while he didn't understand anything about giving birth to a baby, but he did know that blood always meant something bad. Once he found Mrs. Miller, Eugene didn't bother explaining with words, simply tugging urgently at her hand, trying to get her to understand, even though he couldn't find the words to speak. Making various sounds of urgency as he pulled the older woman along, Eugene finally managed to drag her into the room where Sarah sat, grunting in pain as she watched the blood on her leg appear to spread. Looking up when she heard Eugene and Mrs. Miller approaching her, she gasped.

"The baby…the baby's coming," she whimpered.

Agnes knew the signs. She had seen them, not only with her own daughter, but with several other girls whose children now filled the orphanage. With ice water flowing through her veins rather than blood, Agnes led Sarah to the nearest bed and began preparing the poor girl for the arrival of her child, even though she was perfectly aware that Sarah would most likely not survive this.

"Eugene," she said quietly, not quite looking at him. "Go…go outside and play. Please," she added when the boy refused to move.

Frowning in confusion, the boy obeyed silently, walking out of the room and wandering outside to where the other children were playing various rough games that usually involved the boys fighting playfully while the girls pretended to be rescued. Frowning to himself, Eugene sat down next to the house, pulling his knees towards his chest and looking around in fear. Something was happening to Sarah. He didn't know what it was, but…it couldn't be good.

The remainder of the day was spent with Eugene hiding in the shadows of the house, listening to the screams of pain that were coming from the window to Sarah's room. Tears were filling his eyes as he listened, and a part of him wanted to run back into the house, but Mrs. Miller has told him not to go back into the room. Then the screams stopped.

Looking up in surprise, Eugene ran—waddled, really—back into the house in an attempt to find out what had happened. He only stopped when he saw Mrs. Miller, holding a strange bundle in her arms and crying. What was the bundle, Eugene wondered before he realized that Mrs. Miller was crying. Why was she crying? Where was Sarah?

"Where's Sarah?" Eugene lisped, his voice small.

Sighing heavily, Mrs. Miller sat down with a shake of her head. "Sarah…Sarah isn't coming back, Eugene," she said quietly. "But…This is your sister now," she added, holding out the small bundle.

That was a baby? Eugene looked at the small face with a frown, and thought to himself that this was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Her face was all squishy and red looking, as though someone had squashed her on purpose. But…she was his sister. Eugene had never had a brother or sister before. Looking up from the baby at Mrs. Miller, he frowned thoughtfully.

"Wha's her name?" he asked after a moment.

Mrs. Miller hadn't thought of that, it seemed, as she gave Eugene a surprised look before she smiled sadly. "Edith. We'll call her Edith."

Eugene thought this over for a moment or two before he nodded a little, as though perfectly satisfied with this answer. He looked carefully down at the baby in Mrs. Miller's arms before he gently reached up to place his small hand on top of the baby's blanket, peering closely at the little girl's face. He frowned a little and glanced back up at Mrs. Miller.

"She's ugly," he declared, wrinkling his nose.

Mrs. Miller choked on a sad laugh and shrugged a little. "Actually…she's a very lovely baby," she said quietly. I don't think that I've seen any other baby half so pretty."

A slightly insulted look crossed Eugene's face, but he seemed to recover rather well from this as he continued looking down at little Edith. "When will her eyes open?"

"Soon, Eugene," Mrs. Miller promised. "Being born is very tiring, you know. Except for you," she chuckled. "You were screaming for hours after you were born." A frown crossed her face as she looked down at the sleeping baby and she sighed heavily. "Eugene," she said quietly, "Go and get Adam. Tell him that I need him to go fetch Mrs. Lydia Kemp right away."

In the four years since Eugene's birth, Lydia Kemp had given birth to three more children, the last only a few weeks ago. Many of the gossips in the village commented on this, speculating that most of the children couldn't possibly have been fathered by Lydia's husband, David, but Agnes knew just how wrong those old biddies were. Lydia and David simply had a…very healthy and loving relationship. Besides, the second pregnancy had resulted in twins.

Eugene nodded at this important task and made his way to the dining room, where most of the older boys could be found by now. Adam was the oldest of the boys still living at the orphanage at almost sixteen, and all the little boys, Eugene included, greatly admired him. Rushing up to where Adam sat, Eugene tugged urgently on the older boy's arm.

"What is it, Eugene?" Adam asked, swallowing the bit of bread he had been chewing.

"Mrs. Miller needs you to get Mrs. Kemp," Eugene lisped quietly, looking a little embarrassed as he did so.

"Right," Adam said, standing up matter of factly. "You let Mrs. Miller know I'll be back soon."

And Adam was true to his word. Soon enough, he was back with Mrs. Kemp and her newest child in tow. Lydia needed no explanations, depositing her child in Adam's arms and taking little Edith out of Mrs.' Miller's arms.

"There we go," she cooed softly. "Oh, what a lovely baby," she murmured before looking up at Mrs. Miller. "I take it that Sarah is…?"

Agnes nodded with a sigh and ran a hand through her graying hair as she sat back. "Just now, practically."

"Oh, poor little angel," Lydia murmured. "What is her name going to be now?"

"Edith!" Eugene piped up, looking very proud of himself for speaking up at all. "An' she's my sister!"

Lydia smiled softly at this and nodded. "I'm sure she is, my dear," she answered. "I'll just keep close by for now," she added, turning to Mrs. Miller. "Just until she's old enough to be weaned."

"Thank you, Lydia," Agnes sighed in exhaustion. "It will be a great help."

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The next few months seemed to speed by for Agnes, but for Eugene, they were very slow. He didn't get to spend much time with his new baby sister, as she always had to be near Lydia Kemp so that Edith could be fed regularly, which did not sit well with the little boy. Although he still thought that Edith wasn't a particularly pretty baby, that didn't mean that he didn't care about her. After all, Mrs. Miller had told him that little Edith was his sister. While Eugene had no brother of his own, he knew that big brothers were supposed to look out for their siblings, and that was exactly what he intended to do for Edith.

Thankfully, his fifth birthday and Edith's first birthday came quickly, marking the time when Edith came to live at the orphanage permanently, now that Lydia Kemp no longer needed to be constantly nursing her. When that happened, Eugene was over the moon about it. He was the first person to greet the little girl as she waddled into the orphanage, holding onto Lydia's hand to steady her.

Eugene smiled and took Edith's other hand, which seemed to confuse the little girl. "I'm Eugene," he said in explanation. "M'your big brother."

Edith still didn't understand, but she seemed to understand that he was someone who was a friend, and smiled up at the older boy, letting go of Lydia and following after Eugene as he started chattering about how much fun she would have. He didn't mention any of the things that made living in the orphanage almost unbearable, which both Lydia and Mrs. Miller noticed, but focused instead on how wonderful it would be for her with him as a big brother.

"I think those two will do just fine," Lydia said after a moment, shifting her youngest daughter on her hip. "With Eugene to watch over Edith…nothing in the world can stand in their way."

Agnes nodded a little and sighed heavily. "I hope so, Lydia. For their sakes…I certainly hope so."