Chapter 3

It should have been a joyous moment, filled with excitement but instead all Rapunzel kept thinking about was how it was possible and what she was going to do. Absentmindedly, her hand went to her hair that was no longer there. Unable to twirl it like she used to her fingers went about doing something else which resulted in her twisting her dress until her fingers got so caught in it she had to take a few minutes to extricate them. She thought about the doctor's words. Maybe things were running behind schedule. After all, things had been stressful and when she got stressed her body usually did something that gave her a clue she needed to calm down. Granted that usually meant she'd get some big ugly thing on the end of her nose that would need to be gotten rid of but maybe this time, it was that her cycle was late. Needless to say with everything going on, now would have to be the worst time to find out she was pregnant. Her only saving grace possibly being her powers which she hadn't used in over a year. She didn't even know if they worked or how they worked if she still had them.

"Blondie, you ok?" Eugene asked, noticed his bride wasn't eating dinner. Her hands were hidden under the table and he wondered what was going on. The Queen had taken dinner to the King and since she might be infected, she didn't take "no" for an answer when the doctors protested so they sat with Pascal alone at the large dining table in the main dining hall.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just preoccupied with what has happened today. Have the doctors found anything out?" She asked hoping he wouldn't pry anymore.

"I think they're still working things out. I have to say those leeches are quite disgusting," he made a face before tucking a little more into the piece of meat on his plate.

"I'm sure they are. They don't even sound fun," Rapunzel replied. Pascal shook his head. He'd run into a few once or twice before he'd found Rapunzel and he knew for certain they weren't nice. Silence settled between them for a few minutes when she spoke up; her words almost a whisper.

"Eugene, I…" he didn't let her finish as he left his seat and crawled under the table. When he appeared out on the other side near her, he stood, and pulled her up into a hug.

"It's going to be ok Rapunzel. You'll see. The doctors will have this figured out in no time and we'll all be enjoying each other's company soon," he tried to reassure her despite the fact that he was as unsure about the future as she was. They just stood there in each other's arms for a while before the chef ran in and shouted,

"One of my staffers just passed out into the soup!" Quickly Eugene let go of Rapunzel and dashed off to see if he could help and she followed. They burst through the kitchen doors to find some of the staff attempting to help the man. He'd been pulled out of the large floor standing pot of hot leftovers but his skin was all red and it appeared to Rapunzel that he was barely breathing.

"Someone fetch Doctor Caldwell and stand back from him!" She shouted. They all looked at her like she was crazy but one of the staff ran off to find the doctor.

"Why shouldn't we help this man?" The chef asked.

"I don't know about you but burns like that hurt. Anyone gets near him and accidently bumps something they shouldn't he could start screaming. You want the entire guard down here in a flash, then fine but otherwise stand back," Eugene quickly said, realizing what Rapunzel had meant and why they could not tell the staff about possibly being infected.

Doctor Caldwell and Doctor Lebowitz burst through the kitchen doors and immediately went to the man on the floor. The chef explained to them what happened and they looked at the man. If not for the burns, his remaining skin was an odd color, much like the King's was, worse still was the look of his eyes which were burned enough that they could not tell if the redness was from the illness or the burns.

"Send for his family," Caldwell said as he called for the guards. Two rushed in and helped them carry the man back to the doctor's office but Rapunzel could tell by the look on Caldwell's face, the man's chances weren't very good. This could be their opportunity. She rushed after the group as they left before Eugene could stop her.

To Be Continued…