At the top of the tower, the very top of the tower, Rapunzel looked down and could imagine how it would feel. She would let go and the freedom of the fall would be amazing. The last seconds of her life as the best seconds of her life. She knew she couldn't stay in that tower any longer. Her life had been about seclusion. Now she was ready for her death to be about openness. The open free-falling. Landing in that, what was it called, grass? Would it be wet? Would it be soft? Would she even feel it at all? Closing her eyes, she let go.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, RAPUNZEL!" She heard the shouting but couldn't figure out where it came from. She slowly opened her eyes and realized she wasn't on top of the tower. She wasn't even in the tower. Where was she? She finally focused on the figure who had been shaking her and shouting at her. It was Eugene. Ah, sweet Eugene.

"Hi" she said with the softness of a voice unused for several hours.

"Hi yourself. I'm sorry to wake you, but you've slept so long and I was worried about you after that fall." He let his hand land gently on her head where the bump protruded at her temple. "What were you smiling about?" he wondered aloud.

Rapunzel pulled back. She had been smiling? But that was a suicidal dream, the fourth she'd had that week. Why had she been smiling? She chose to lie, not her first one that week. "I, uh, I must have been dreaming about us."

He bent down so their lips could meet, a morning ritual that he didn't want to abandon ever. "You can tell me all about it over breakfast. I brought you egg scramble on toast – your favorite." Eugene motioned to the tray he had set on the other side of the bed. "And orange juice."

Rapunzel smiled up at him while she struggled to sit up. "My favorite? Don't you mean the only breakfast you know how to make?" She chuckled then moaned as the pain came rushing back. "What did you say happened to me again?"

Eugene immediately sat on the bed and attempted to help her sit up slower. He tried to cover the concern in his face from her memory lapse. "Don't you remember? The horse? The fall?" He studied her face for any hint of recognition of the events from yesterday.

She furrowed her eyebrows, obviously deep in thought. She could remember that they were headed home from the castle. They had visited with her parents in their weekly trip. She had wanted to take the long way around through the woods to stop by the Snuggly Duckling to visit with the guys. Eugene had acquiesced, although a bit begrudgingly. He seemed in a bit of a hurry to get home to their cozy cabin tucked back in the forest. But that was all she could remember. And now here she was, back in the cabin, but with no memory of how she got there.

Rapunzel shook her head, attempting to bring back a memory, anything she could say to make Eugene feel better. She had seen the micro-expression of worry flash across his face. She could always see through him and he could usually see through her. But at this moment, most of the week actually, she didn't want him to see through her.

"It's okay, love. Here, lie back down. That fall must have been harder than I thought" Eugene's cheerful voice was no mask for his concern, but they both pretended it was. "You know, I think maybe I'll let you lie quietly while I go see about having you checked out."

Rapunzel had lost her memory, but not her sense of humor. "You're the only one I want checking me out" she murmured.

Eugene smiled one last time as he tucked the well-worn quilt around her. He ducked his head and turned away as he felt a tear come to his eye. No, he could not let her see that! He thought to himself. I must be strong for her. This is much more serious than I thought, why didn't I go get the doctor last night? He berated himself as he grabbed his coat and headed outside.

Max must have sensed that he was needed. He was standing outside the cabin, alert, ready to go wherever was needed. Eugene had planned on riding the horse to the Snuggly Duckling for help in finding Doctor Parkston, but then he had an idea. Max could get a note there and that way he wouldn't have to leave Rapunzel here alone. Another tear threatened to spill out the corner of his eye and he blinked quickly to make it disappear. Couldn't have Max see him cry either, he'd never hear the end of it. Eugene dashed back in to the cabin, quickly and quietly to dash a note off for Max to carry.

In the other room, Rapunzel let her eyes droop shut. She was so tired. Why am I so tired? And why am I having those dreams? I don't want to kill myself! The dreams have been coming since before the fall and I can still remember them. Did the dreams cause the fall? Did I try to kill myself? Her thoughts swirled around faster and faster. She wanted the thinking to stop. And yet she also wanted to sort it out and get to the bottom of it. But that last thought haunted her. Did I try to kill myself?

She must have drifted back to sleep for when she woke up there were three people staring down at her, worried looks draped across their faces. As soon as they saw her eyes open they began to smile that fake smile. She motioned for the water and Eugene grabbed it while her mother helped her sit up. The third person, the man, that must be the doctor. In all of Rapunzel's 23 years she'd never been seen by a doctor before and she was a bit timid. She knew about doctors, knew that they were skilled. She had studied about medicine a great deal. She truly hoped he would help ease the pain, but mostly that he could bring back her memory. And perhaps, she thought, make those dreams stop.

"All right, Rapunzel, I'm going to check your head now. I want you to be as still as possible, but do tell me if my fingers hurt you worse." The doctor's kind voice helped to ease Rapunzel's fears. She took a deep breath as she felt his cool fingertips against her skin. "Okay, here's the bump. I'm going to feel around it. Feel free to stop me if I hurt you too much." Dr. Parkston reiterated.

Rapunzel didn't respond. She let him do his job, all the while thinking of other things, of the tower, of the top of it, how it would have felt had she not been dreaming and had really been soaring down towards the bottom. She blinked rapidly, desperate to get those images out of her head. Why am I still thinking about that! She berated herself silently. The dr. noticed her flinch and mistook it for pain. He pulled back and waited for her tears to stop. She didn't even realize she was crying.

Later that evening as Rapunzel slept (again), the three other occupants of the house sat in front of the fireplace sipping tea and trying to think of something else to talk about. Anything to keep their minds off the injured girl in the other room. But it didn't work. There were far too many unanswered questions.

"Doctor, do you think that she will ever remember what happened in the woods? I didn't even see her fall. I just felt that she wasn't behind me all of the sudden. We were galloping rather quickly, but I could have sworn she was holding tight to me one second and gone the next. I know Max felt that she was gone as well because he stopped almost immediately." Eugene stopped at this point, embarrassed that he had let her fall, embarrassed by how upset he was recalling the incident.

"It's not your fault, Eugene" the queen reached over to pat his hand. "Accidents happen. We can't foresee everything. We can't always keep them safe." Her voice broke and they each knew she was recalling the past and the time she wasn't able to keep her safe from being kidnapped. She looked into the fire, hoping that the tears welling up in her eyes would somehow choose to stop on their own.

Dr. Parkston cleared his throat and began to speak. "Eugene, I need to know what happened after that. What did you do after you noticed she had fallen?"

Eugene sipped his tea, giving himself a moment to consider his next words. "I jumped off Max, scooped Rapunzel up in my arms and held her, trying to get her to wake up. I yelled, I shook her, I even poured water on her head, but nothing worked. She was out. I knew we were only a mile from home and that her bed would be a good place for her so I carried her the rest of the way, Max trailing behind us." Eugene set his mug down on the table. "I put her to bed and let her sleep. I know now that I should have sent Max for you last night but I figured she'd be fine! But she didn't wake up. And I was finally able to wake her at 11 this morning…"

The doctor mulled over Eugene's story for a few moments before replying. "This is important and I need both of you to think about this." He gazed at both the queen and Eugene before continuing. "Has Rapunzel been acting normal up until that fall? Is there anything else that's been going on in the last week or so that is abnormal?"

"She did complain of a headache yesterday morning at breakfast." The queen mused, "but I figured it was just from us whispering late into the night last night."

Eugene paused, not sure how much he should say. Not sure how much was medically relevant. "The headaches have been every morning for the last 6 mornings. And I think she's been having weird dreams, but I don't know because she won't share with me."

Dr. Parkston pulled out his notepad and began to jot down the information being given him. "Hmm, not sure the dreams are relevant, but could be. How do you know her dreams are weird?"

Eugene didn't want to give away this special part of their relationship but felt he must. Anything to make her better, she would understand. He hoped. "We both….we both keep dream journals where we write down our dreams and then share them with each other. It's a special ritual that's kept us very close over the years. But for the last 5 days she hasn't handed me her dream journal to read. And I can't find it where she normally keeps it." He hated that he was giving away such a precious aspect of their marriage, but felt he must to protect her.

The queen shared a shy smile with Eugene. "That's so sweet to hear that you share your dreams like that. I wonder if Rapunzel knows that her father and I do that, too, or if she thought of it all on her own?" The queen's admission brought Eugene out of his reverie. He smiled back at her, surprised, but pleased. Perhaps their dream-sharing was hereditary.

"Eugene, I didn't think the dreams were important before, but now I'm thinking maybe they are. Changes in behavior, the headaches, as well as this fall that shouldn't have happened, combined with the memory loss makes me think this is all neurological. Something in her brain has caused all these incidents. I wonder if we could find her dream diary – yes, I know it's sacred, but it could be imperative to her healing – we could find the answer. I think we need to see what her dreams were about. If they were as abnormal as you think with her not sharing, then it's almost a guarantee that her brain is being affected by something."

Eugene couldn't focus on most of what the doctor said. But he did hear one part – find the diary. He let his head fall back against his seat. How could he possibly betray his wife by letting others read her private dreams? He wondered to himself. But he knew that whatever it took to make her better. He just had to know one thing.

"Dr. Parkston, if it is this brain thing, is that treatable?"

The question hung in the air for what seemed like forever. The doctor was considering the possibilities, but finally broke the silence. "I'm not sure. I would have to consult with some colleagues of mine to see what the current options are. It is possible we could get some of the symptoms under control, but the underlying cause? It's not realistic to think that we'd be able to perform the kind of operation she would need."

It pained the doctor to have to say those words, but he knew that they must be realistic about her options. Maybe someday someone would find a way to cure ailments such as these but for now not too much was known about the brain, how it functioned and how to heal it. He knew he could make her comfortable, give her some willow bark tea for the headaches, have her discuss her dreams to get them out in the open so they wouldn't torment her and perhaps even help improve her balance. But anytime she had a fall it would get worse. And fall she would if she rode a horse or did anything dangerous. Her balance would never be the same. Her thoughts would never be the same. Her brain would never be the same.

Eugene sank to the floor, his head in his hands, no longer ashamed to show the tears that fell freely down his cheeks. The pain was too much to bear. His heart hurt in a way that made him feel it was going to explode into a million tiny pieces.

The queen's gasping sobs could be heard throughout the tiny cabin. Rapunzel could hear the sobbing, had heard the prognosis even. She hadn't meant to listen in on their conversation. But she knew that what they would find in her dream journal would confirm the doctor's suspicions. It had been an awful week with awful dreams, dreams so scary she didn't dare share them with Eugene. Rapunzel quietly contemplated what it all meant. She had to do something to comfort her mother, to comfort her husband. They were in pain. Maybe it had been better to have never met any of them, to not be causing them this pain right now. Maybe it would have been best to have just stayed with Mother Gothel.

Rapunzel tried to get out of bed, but her feet wouldn't hold her as she attempted to stand. Her muted cry for help couldn't be heard over the murmurs in the other room. She slipped to the floor. The crash brought Eugene running into her room.

"I've got you, baby. I've got you" he soothed to her as he scooped her up and set her back in bed. "I won't let anything hurt you."

His words stung Rapunzel's heart. She knew his intentions were good, but his follow-through? How could he follow through on a promise like that? There was no way for him to protect her from her own brain. She slipped down into the covers, relieved to have him with her, but she couldn't find the words to let him know.