"Huh-uh, don't you do it!" Eugene yelled, dropping the box back on the truck tailgate and rushing over to Rapunzel, who was balanced on a very unreliable stepladder as she reached for a box of books. "That thing doesn't support me, let alone...two," he trailed off and cleared his throat.
"I know I'm fat, sir, but you need not rub it in!" she perched her hands on her hips, which seemed to grow ever wider. She was seven months along, it was mid-December, and she waddled rather than walked. "I'm perfectly capable of getting a box!"
"But you're not supposed to," Eugene kissed her cheek as he reached for the box, pushing the stepladder aside. "And you're not fat, you're pregnant. There's a difference."
"Humph," she grunted, but she held her hands out for the box as soon as it was down on her level.
"I'll take it to the display. It's heavy," he said, holding it just out of her reach.
"You're terrible, you know that? I'm trying to do my job!" she exclaimed, utterly frustrated. Eugene had gone into mother hen mode with her, making sure she rested plenty, didn't lift heavy things, and practically drove her nuts.
"And I'm trying to keep my wife and unborn baby safe. Most ladies would be thankful, y'know," he winked, then power-walked out of the stock room before she could loose a wail of frustration. Levi snickered, but ducked behind a shelving unit when Rapunzel threw him a look. Instantly, she felt a twinge of remorse. Maybe she should be nicer to Eugene. He was being really sweet, she guessed.
She left the stock room and found him setting the box right down where she needed it. She nibbled her lip and looked flat out uncomfortable. "Sorry," she finally mumbled. "It's just...my whole childhood and up 'til I met you, I was used to doing things for myself. And now you're Mister Mother Hen and it's good, and I thank you, but...it's-"
"It's fine," he chuckled, giving her a one-armed hug. "I'm not upset. I'll see you in half an hour."
"Okay," she nodded, watching him go before she started stocking the shelf.

Half an hour later, they left the bookstore to go home. "I've got dinner planned," Rapunzel told Eugene. "Just chicken and corn. I think Charles is supposed to come over-"
"When are you just going to give in and call him your dad?" he asked, grinning.
She paused, chewing it over in her mind. Dad. Daddy. Charles. Hey, dad. I love you, dad. How was your day, dad? Certainly in some scenarios, 'dad' fit better than Charles, but it was foreign to her. "I-it never really occurred to me to call him that. I'd feel weird," she said, nibbling her lip.
"That's fine, I just think it's amusing," he said. "I bet it'd mean the world to him. But regardless, what were you saying?"
"I was just saying that he was coming over to look at our, um, wedding photos," she grinned wryly. She bet Charles expected they'd had some big wedding.
"Hmm. What'll he say if he knows we didn't honeymoon or anything? Just went back to work after a long weekend," Eugene said.
"Since he never married himself, I don't think it'll matter. But it comes to a shocker for some people," she grinned as she remembered how shocked the young ladies at the bookstore had been to learn that they'd skipped the whole, overly-romantic honeymoon in order to save a little money, which had been put aside for expenses later on. Which was now being used to get baby supplies, which was nice.

"True," he nodded, glancing over at her and slipping his arm around her shoulders. "Are you ever upset that we didn't honeymoon or anything? You've never traveled. Actually, neither of us have, really."
She shook her head but nestled up against his side, avoiding the frigid wind as much as possible. "No. I didn't need to go somewhere special to celebrate our marriage, and I'm glad we got to relax at home."
Eugene grinned, plopping a kiss in her windblown hair as they walked.

Rapunzel kicked her shoes off as soon as she stepped inside their cozy Victorian home, shedding her coat and rubbing her hands and feet alternately after she sat down at the kitchen table. "Cold, cold...cold!"
"Good northern weather," Eugene said, "always frigid. I'm glad I don't get cold easily." Rapunzel almost pointed out that his nose was cherry red and goosebumps covered his arms, which he'd accidentally displayed by rolling the sleeves of his soft black shirt up. Instead, she covered her lips to hide a quiet chuckle.

"What're we planning for Christmas?" she asked instead. "It's coming up in a couple of weeks."
"I thought we'd invite Charles over for dinner. The good thing about a small family is you don't have to do much cooking, right?" Eugene asked, grinning.
"Agreed," Rapunzel smiled, her gaze dropping to her blossoming belly. "I can't wait for next Christmas, though. She'll be almost a year old, though. But won't it be fun?"
Eugene watched her gentle smile and let his own grin broaden as he imagined their child's first Christmas. "It will be," he nodded. "We'll get to spoil her exclusively, though, since her only relative that we know of is Charles."
"That alleviates a little stress, though," Rapunzel stood up with a little effort and wandered to the freezer, pulling a bag of chicken breasts out to thaw in the microwave. As she waited for that, she hunted for her favorite glass tray and preheated the oven. "We won't have to run all over the place, visiting people on holidays, and she won't even get any duplicate toys or clothes. We'll invite him over, of course. Every year. Oh Eugene, I'm so happy. Our little family!"
He laughed, snagging her arm as she passed by, stopping her long enough to share a quick kiss.

After supper, Rapunzel started stacking dishes up.
"You spend time with your Dad. I'll do these," he swiftly scooped the small pile out of her hands and headed for the sink.
"Alright," Rapunzel grinned. "Thank you." She gestured towards her father and he followed her to the living room, sitting down on the couch beside her.
"So...I want to see wedding pictures," he grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry I didn't get to walk you down the aisle-"
Rapunzel shook her head. "It's fine. I'm thankful that you're here now." In the couple of months that they'd known Charles, they'd grown very close. It took about a month for Rapunzel to finally trust him completely. When she had, though, she'd reacted just as she had with Eugene. She opened up and loved him with all her heart. She didn't hold him accountable for her past.

He smiled at Rapunzel. "I bet it was a big to-do, hm?"
"Well," she grinned as she held their first photo album. It only held a few photographs from their wedding, and most of the rest were silly pictures taken by either Rapunzel or Eugene...such as Eugene, fallen asleep on the desk chair in the living room with a pen still poised in his hand, or Rapunzel holding up an amusing sign that had announced her pregnancy. They'd shared a copy of this one solely with Mr. Barnes, and within the hour, the copy had been worn to tatters and had been passed around to everyone at least thrice. "Maybe it was for us. Everyone we know came..." she said with bated breath. Then she flipped open the scrapbook album and smoothed her hand over the album sleeve, showing a photo someone had taken of their ceremony.
"Justice of the Peace?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
"Yes," she laughed. "I wasn't lying, though. Everyone we know did come. Everyone from Mr. Barnes' bookstore. It was really sweet," she said, blushing slightly as she saw her father's gaze drop to the picture in which she was wrapped in her new husband's arms, kissing him fervently in front of everyone as the ceremony wrapped up.
Charles' voice dropped. "Is he a good husband? He seems like it, but, you know, people can be good actors, too."
She shook her head. "I'm so blessed. He's so kind, and gentle and sweet. Sure we have arguments, but we always make up. I'm so blessed to have him in my life, Dad."

She didn't realize she'd said it until after the fact, and it seemed to fall in place and feel quite comfortable to her. His face crinkled into a smile, and he patted her hand. "I'm glad. You deserve it."
Rapunzel glanced out towards Eugene, who was busy scrubbing dishes and humming quietly, it sounded like. "So...that was our wedding. It was all we needed, really. We didn't know many people and we didn't want something big and extravagant even if we did know a lot of people."
Charles flipped to the next page, finding a couple more wedding photos and then a photo of Rapunzel painting - which she hadn't even known about until she'd ordered the photos online.
"No honeymoon pictures?" he asked, flipping back and forth to make sure he hadn't missed a page. "I was waiting for all those typical honeymoon photos of you two with the scenery or the Eiffel tower, something like that."
Rapunzel grinned. "No. We saved the money we would've spent on a honeymoon, and right now, it's really coming in handy with the little one on the way," she explained, rubbing her stomach and letting her smile widen when the baby kicked against her hand.

Charles nodded. "Hm. Sensible," he nodded once more.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Eugene plopped down on the desk chair, which they'd used for seating due to their lack of a third chair. Grinning to himself, he tested the wheels on the swivel chair, then launched himself from the table, trying to push from the table to the desk in the living room in one shot. Rapunzel jumped in surprise as the chair - plus Eugene - shot backwards past her.
He'd overestimated how much force he'd needed to launch off.
The chair crashed into the desk, making the mug full of pencils and pens topple over. The contents scattered on the floor with a loud clatter. Eugene fell off of the chair in a tangled heap due to the abrupt stop, and Rapunzel stared at him in shock for a moment before she and Charles dissolved into laughter.
"A-are you okay?" she giggled, only somewhat trying to mask her amusement.
"Yeah, yeah, at least try to act concerned," Eugene teased, giving her a mock-disgusted expression as he crouched and picked up the pencils and pens. "I meant to do that."
"Sure you did, sweetie," Rapunzel laughed, reaching to ruffle his hair. "If only the people who adore your mystery novel knew how you act, you goof!"
"Hey," he grinned good-naturedly and shook his head, setting the writing utensils in the mug and sitting down on the desk chair carefully.

Charles slowly went through the rest of the album and then closed it, fixing her with a curious gaze.
"As much as you went through, all the bad influences in your life...how can you be the bright, kind girl you are? That defies any theories about child learning based on their guardians' behaviors."
Rapunzel shrugged, blushing. It was just how she was.
"I don't think it's even in her genetic coding to be mean. She's kindhearted. I think it's because she's experienced the bad, and she knows that life could be much different." He glanced towards her and raised an eyebrow. "Is that right? I'm just guessing."
She shrugged again. "I guess. I don't even know," she laughed. "I just don't want anyone to feel like I did."
"That's good," Charles nodded. "More people need to be like that."

When Charles left that night, Rapunzel gave him a big, yet awkward, hug and a kiss on the cheek. He left their house beaming from ear to ear.
Eugene slipped his arms around Rapunzel and hugged her shoulders from behind, leaning his chin on top of her head. "I'm glad to see you had a good time with your Dad today," he mentioned.
She smiled. "He's a dear. Thank you for cleaning the kitchen up. You're a dear, too," she added.
"Am I? Hmm," he grinned and kissed the top of her head. "Speaking of parent stuff, I'm thinking about looking into the accident and who my parents were. Try to know them in a way, I guess. What do you think?"
She turned around and gave him a serious gaze. "If you're up to it, go for it. Just don't get hurt by learning about the people you never knew."
"I know," he nodded. "I just...kinda want to know who my parents were. We have a bit of an idea about yours, so now I'm jealous," he joked, kissing her cheek.
Rapunzel hummed in agreement. "Well, I think it's an interesting project and good timing, too. How is your mystery coming along?"
"Slowly, but surely," he said. "I figured that this project could be a nice little break away from it."
Rapunzel nodded. "Good idea, if you've got writer's block again."
He nodded, but then yawned. "And I need to come to a decision before the end of the year about those two publishing companies that want my book, come to think of it. But that can wait for discussion on another day."

Sunshine on Cloudy Days
You're my sunshine on cloudy days
I don't know how you do it,
But you are in so many ways.
Maybe it's your wit,
Maybe it's the rays
Of sunshine that across your face knit
When you smile.

They say to never say never, so
I'm not gonna say "I'm never leaving you"
But instead I'll say we'll forever grow
Closer, and pray I'm right, because through
Thick and thin, you're my sunshine on cloudy days.

I hope I can be your sunshine on cloudy days,
The one you turn to, the one you love even when I'm dumb
(and you know I can be in so many ways)
The shoulder to cry on if you think you're a terrible mum
(which, you won't be.)

You're my sunshine on cloudy days.