"So what were your birthdays like in the tower?" Asked Eugene as he watched the newly reunited royal family hug on the sofa. They were hugging a lot. It was a good way to say I love you without using the words, and it was something to do after dinner.

"Usually, not much different from other days, expect for the floating lights. They were the highlight and late enough so that Mother would be asleep. But she usually did something nice for me, even if she did downplay it. Hazelnut soup for dinner, that she would make herself, I cooked most of the time. A new brush for my hair or paints. Sometimes fabric for a new dress." Rapunzel replied, she kept calling Mother, well, Mother, since they didn't have any other name for her yet, but she could tell it bothered Mama.

"Hazelnut soup… What about a cake, did she make a birthday cake for you, too?" Asked the queen.

"Birthday cake?" asked Rapunzel, feeling dumb, again. Her cookbook had recipes for cake, but she'd never heard of a birthday cake before.

"We did get some of the birthday cupcakes you had handed out for the celebration," chimed in Eugene. He was an orphan, but even he knew about birthday cakes, even if they had to share with all the others that had a birthday that month.

"You never had a birthday cake?" Asked the king in his deep rich voice.

"No, what's a birthday cake?" asked Rapunzel in a small embarrassed voice.

The queen, her face filled with joy, looked over to Margaret the maid, who went up on her toes in excitement, "Have the kitchen make a birthday cake, right away."

In a twirl of black and white, and a clatter of shoes, Margaret took off running down the corridor.

"My dear, a birthday cake is a special cake made for you on your birthday, and it comes with candles and you share it with family and friends. And you must have a birthday cake even if it is a little late." The queen smiled. The Kidnapper had taken so many things from their family, but somehow she had left this one special little thing just for them.

"Don't forget presents," said Eugene.

The king laughed, "Oh, there are plenty of presents, we'll have to show you the storerooms full of presents the people have given us for you over the years."

"Well, the cake will take a while, so let's go down and take a look right now," said the queen.

When they opened the first one Rapunzel was intimidated by the sheer amount of presents, how could she be a good princess, there was no room for hardly any of this stuff in her room, and after poking around for a little while, she had no idea what to do with almost all of the things she had found either. Almost all of it was pretty, but you couldn't do anything with it, that she could tell.

Then they looked in the other four rooms.

"Mama, I'm so dumb, I don't understand any of this. Please. Help me." Rapunzel was shaking, trying not to cry. She wanted to be a good princess, but this didn't make any sense to her at all. Clothes that were much too small, obviously made for a child. Painting, which were nice, but she liked hers more because they meant so much to her. The snow globes were pretty, but what could you do with them at all.

"It's okay, dear. People are just trying to be nice and give you things you might like but they couldn't know what you liked. We saved all this for you so you could see the … sunshine …they have for you." The queen used an alternate word for the love the people had for their lost princess.

"Okay," Rapunzel said slowly, "But what can I do with all of this, there is nowhere to put it all in my room."

"True enough, we should send thank you notes back to tell them you appreciated getting the gifts, but yes we need to do something with all of these things."

"Maybe we should have a yard sale," said Eugene, his Flynn Rider side had totaled up the value of the items and it was pretty impressive.

…

The royal family and Eugene came back to the family dining room once they were told the cake was ready.

The kitchen staff had almost lost it, when they learned that their princess had never had a birthday cake. There wasn't a need or time, it was getting late, to make a big, fancy cake. It really was just for the four of them, but they wanted to make it fast and good. So they had to keep it simple.

Everyone wanted to help; the head chef ended up having to stand in front of the oven to make sure the cakes weren't disturbed, while the pastry chef and her assistant went crazy making roses and frosting. He did get the staff to help cool the cakes by taking them outside and fanning them to cool them quickly. It was a bit odd to see 20 people waving sheet pans at a small table in the garden.

The pastry chef had grilled Margaret, not like that! She asked Margaret questions, about the princess: her favorite colors, foods and things like that. They didn't have much to go on, except she used to have golden blonde hair, and a lavender dress she came in and she liked hazelnut soup.

There was a small, okay, not so small, panic trying to find the candles, they never did figure out what happened to the spoons. But the cake was tasty and ready to be served in record time. It was a butter cake, with some ganache to hold the layers together and a white frosting with yellow and lavender roses.

The kitchen staff waited anxiously as Margaret carefully took the cake to the princess.

…

"Now you blow out the candles and make a wish," said the queen, excitedly, as the king and Eugene looked embarrassed about how badly they had sung together.

Rapunzel looked at the candles as they burned, thinking about what to wish for. "What more could I wish for, I am back with my real parents and I have my true love. Right now, what more is there that I need?" She thought. Well, there was one thing.

She screwed her eyes shut and blew really hard.

Author's Note: A special someone had a birthday recently. So I wrote this.