Hello fellow readers, it seems you guys really like this story! To be perfectly honest, I have never got that many reviews for the first two chapters ever before! In this chapter, drum roll please! *drum roll* Eugene and Rapunzel meet Katherine. I got a lot of suggestions, but I decided to do something a little different. So here it is and I hope you like it. The chapter song is "I'm Still Here" from Treasure Planet

Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled or "I'm Still Here"

Chapter 2

I'm Still Here

"I'm glad your parents let us have the day together," said Eugene as he and Rapunzel walked out of the castle. Rapunzel's parents were kind enough to let them have a break from lessons and training and go to the kingdom village so they could have a little fun.

"I'm glad mom and dad let us have the day together too. I bet it was pretty hard for them to convince our tutors and the Captain of the Guard to let us have one day together," said Rapunzel. She knew their tutors were strict and always wanted them both to be the best princess and prince consort they could be. She also had heard tons of times from Eugene about how the Captain is stiff and never gives him a break.

"The tutors I'm sure were hard, but I bet the Captain agreed right away because I wouldn't be here today," chuckled Eugene. Rapunzel giggled as they walked out of the castle and into the village.

It was the beginning of fall in Corona. The leaves were changing from green to red, yellow, orange, and brown, and the September air felt cool. Despite the lovely scenery, Eugene didn't like autumn because his mother died during the fall, but his birthday was during the fall, but he didn't care. He reluctantly had to put on a warmer outfit for the weather since it was in the 50s in Corona. He wore his old thieving outfit, but he didn't roll up his sleeves like he'd usually do. He noticed Rapunzel wearing a yellow dress that went well with her short brunette hair. He loved Rapunzel and her short brown hair; even better than the blonde it was since he did have a thing for brunettes. He also loved her for being sweet, kind, and caring. No girl in the entire world could compare to her. She was his and his only.

They went to the cupcake stand and got some cupcakes and ate them in the alley like they did during the festival of lights when he first took her. They then went to an art shop so Rapunzel could get some new paints since she was planning to do a painting that involved colors she didn't have yet. After getting some paints, they went to the library to read some books. Even though Rapunzel has been there before, she could never get over how many books there were in the library. Eugene didn't mind at all. With only reading three books her entire life, Rapunzel always loved how many more books there were than the ones she read in her tower.

"You sure do like to read Blondie," said Eugene as they walked out of the library.

"Well, I still can't get over how many books are in there, there must be hundreds and thousands…" said Rapunzel before heard something and looked at a street corner.

There was a man that was very big, had an eye patch, a huge scar, and was very muscular. Also there was a woman that had praline colored hair, chocolate colored eyes, and was a little overweight. The man was trying to take something from the woman and the woman was trying to prevent it from being taken.

"Give me it!" exclaimed the man as he tugged on the thing.

"No! I will not give it to you! It's too much value to me!" exclaimed the woman as she tugged the thing even harder making the man almost fall forward.

"Give it to me!" exclaimed the man as he tugged even harder.

Rapunzel and Eugene watched the robbery from across the street. Rapunzel felt awful for the lady and wished there was something she could do. Eugene on the other hand looked at the lady in confusion. For a strange reason, she looked familiar to him, but couldn't make it out to who it was. That thought was pushed out of his mind when something hit him in the gut, knocking all the air out of his lungs. It was a frying pan. Baffled, he looked at Rapunzel.

"Eugene, we need to do something. Can you please hit the guy with a frying pan?" asked Rapunzel.

"Do I have to?" asked Eugene who was looking at the size of the man compared to himself.

"Yes Eugene, you have to," said Rapunzel.

Reluctantly, Eugene walked towards the man and woman and snuck up behind the man ready to hit him with the kitchen utensil he was just given. Meanwhile, the man had got the thing and made the lady fall backwards, nearly exposing her bloomers. The man started to gloat when he finally got the thing from the lady.

"I'm rich! I'm rich! Let me tell you I am ri-"

CLANG!

The lady looked up to find the man with a dazed face as he fell face plant on the ground unconscious and a younger man, who looked so familiar to her, holding a frying pan.

"And that my friend, is what happens when you try to take things from old ladies," said Eugene after he watched the man fall to the ground. He then looked up to see the lady stand up and straighten her skirts.

"Thank you," said the lady.

"Aw…don't mention it," sighed Eugene as he saw Rapunzel walk towards him.

"But it should be. My name's Katherine," said the lady as she finished straightening her skirts.

"You know, I used to have an aunt named Katherine," said Eugene.

"That's pretty interesting," said Katherine.

"Anyways I'm Eugene, and this is Rapunzel," said Eugene as he pointed to himself and Rapunzel.

"You know, I used to have a nephew named Eugene," said Katherine.

"Well, what a coincidence!" exclaimed Rapunzel.

Eugene smiled and then noticed something on the ground next to the unconscious man. It was a golden necklace that had a "K" on it for "Katherine". Picking it up and dusting it off, he handed it to Katherine.

"I believe this belongs to you Miss Katherine," said Eugene as he handed the thing to Katherine.

"Thank you," said Katherine. What she didn't know was a picture slipped out of the locket and fell to the ground.

"Oh, you dropped something," said Eugene as he noticed the picture on the ground, "here, let me get…" Eugene then noticed something in the picture that got him confused. "…That?" said Eugene confused as he picked it up and blew the dust off. After a few coughs from the dust, he looked at the picture that got him really confused. In the picture, there were two women, one who looked like Katherine and the other one looked so familiar to him. He couldn't make it out, but he knew he'd seen her before sometime in his life. His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar female voice.

"Eugene, is everything alright?" asked Katherine.

"Huh?" asked Eugene confused who it was. He then looked at Katherine and exclaimed, "Oh yes, Miss Katherine! Everything's just…" said Eugene as he looked at the picture again and tried to think of some women he knew that looked just like the one in the picture. He tried to think of women he knew who looked like one of them. He knew it was none of the girls he hit on before he met Rapunzel. She didn't look like any of the girls he saw at the orphanage while he stayed there. Plus, she didn't look like any of the women he saw at the castle. His thoughts were interrupted again.

"Eugene?" asked Rapunzel. She was curious why he was acting so strange.

"Huh?" he asked again confused by who it was. He looked at Katherine then Rapunzel and said stuttering, "Oh, sorry Blondie, I was just…" said Eugene before he was cut off.

"Why are you calling her 'Blondie'?" asked Katherine. She knew Rapunzel didn't have blonde hair so she was curious about that.

"Oh, you see, I only call her that because she used to have blonde hair," said Eugene not realizing he promised himself not to call Rapunzel "Blondie" in public because people were bound to get confused why he was calling a brunette "Blondie".

"So where do you live?" asked Rapunzel curious where Katherine lived.

"To be honest, I don't have a home," said Katherine.

It was true. Ever since Miranda died, Katherine's been like a nomad wandering from place to place trying to find someplace where she belongs. So far, no luck. She has been taking all kinds of jobs in the places she went. The most common jobs she did were a seamstress or dressmaker, sometimes a nurse or waitress, and once in a while, a bartender or showgirl since she was good at dancing, but she was to shy to dance most of the time. Other than that, she didn't have a job or a place to live.

"Well, why don't we let her stay at the castle?" asked Eugene.

"The castle?" asked Katherine in confusion. She knew that place was for royals only (excluding the guards and servants). Why are they taking me there? Those snobby royals wouldn't want a poor peasant woman like me to be there! Thought Katherine for a moment. Then she thought for a moment why they were taking her there and realized something: they lived at the castle. The man and girl she just met must be nobles. Kind nobles unlike the nobles she met that were snobby, selfish, and rude. She liked that she met nobles that wouldn't stick their noses up at everything. She then smiled and replied, "Thank you that is very kind of you."

"You're welcome!" said Eugene.

"Well, hurry! Let's go!" said Rapunzel as she, Eugene, and Katherine walked back to the castle. While she was walking, she noticed Eugene looking down at the ground. "Eugene, is there something wrong?" asked Rapunzel.

"N-no, no Blondie, there isn't anything wrong!" stuttered Eugene. He tried his best to not sound like an idiot, but the way his words came out, that was the only thing he was succeeding in.

"Then what's up? Why are you acting so strange right now?" asked Rapunzel.

"Strange?" asked Eugene. The word sounded foreign to him. No one has ever called him strange before! He knew the word since he used it on other people (including Rapunzel when he first met her).

"I mean is there something bugging you that I need to know about?" asked Rapunzel. She was concerned about Eugene and why he was not acting like himself.

"Everything's alright! It's just; I noticed something familiar about that picture in Katherine's locket," said Eugene.

"What do you mean?" asked Rapunzel.

"This woman looked so familiar in the picture. So far I'm debating if it's the lady who took care of me at the orphanage or my m-m-" said Eugene.

"Your mother?" asked Rapunzel. She thought she was the only one who had trouble when she mentioned her fake mother. Turns out Eugene had trouble when he mentioned his real mother. Eugene smirked at how she automatically knew what he was having trouble with. He ended up smiling all the way back to the castle. Rapunzel smiled back because she knew that he knew that she knew him like a book and can tell if there's something wrong with him.

Katherine's POV:

I can't believe how nice those two nobles are. They are so sweet and kind, but for some reason, the man looks familiar. But I just can't figure it out. I hope the nobles at the castle are as nice as these two.

Well, they now met each other. Sorry for the long update, I was busy finishing my story "Spirit's Return" and starting my one-shot series. Now for some replies to reviews I got:

BroadwayFanGirl91: even though I didn't use your idea, the part about Katherine getting arrested for thieving did give me an idea for later.

Wheels4TheOneTrueGod: Thanks for giving me that idea. At least people can read it now and understand who's talking. Plus it makes my chapters longer.

MyLittleWorld15: Yes, Eugene and his father had made up by now. I think he might show up later in the story.

adrilabelle: I know it's sad, but it'll get a little happier.

So…now that that's out of the way, I just want to say if you guys have any suggestions for this story, say it. Don't be shy! Hasta Luego (see you soon)!