*I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OF TANGLED (but if I did, I'd probably pull 'a Gothel' and keep it all to myself)*

''Now, I need to go and get some parsnips for dinner, I should be back within a half an hour''. Mother Gothel said to a melancholy Rapunzel as she latches her cloak back on over her shoulders. ''And Rapunzel, when I get back, you'd better still be here''. She teased in a sing-song tone, pinching Rapunzel's cheek in a playful yet harsh approach.

''Believe me mother, I won't be leaving any time soon''. She said in downheartedly as she got her hair ready for her mother. She looped it around the hook outside of her window and then released it, letting it dangle down along the tower. Looks like it's back to the same old routine.

"Rapunzel, will you be alright?" She placed her hand on Rapunzel's cheek, which then began to slide slowly up past her ear into her hair. Next thing she knew- Gothel was combing a small section of magic blond hair with her fingertips. Rapunzel mistook this as a sign of affection. ''All these years you… when you told me the world was a dangerous place, I never…really...believed you. But now I know exactly what you mean and I will never leave again!'' Rapunzel muttered staring at her bare feet, fighting to hold back tears.

''Oh Rapunzel… Gothel said sympathetically, holding up Rapunzel's chin. ''I really did try to warn you. The world is dark and Selfish and Cruel if it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine it destroys it."

'Yes Mother, you didn't want me to get hurt, and you were right. I needed protection because people can't be trusted. I've learned my lesson.'' Rapunzel sighed wearily, helping her mother descend from the window.

"That's my flower."

But as Gothel was being led down the tower, she couldn't help but smile to herself menacingly. What an amazing stroke of luck it all was. Just think, all those years of lying and manipulation, when all it really took was a broken heart to make absolute sure her precious Flower would stay hidden from the world, and this time- forever.

''I'll be back soon darling!'' Gothel called out as she waved from the ground making her way towards the secret passage.

'' I'll be here…again.'' Rapunzel said solemnly to herself pulling her hair back up. She then felt something rest on her foot. She looked down to see a blue chameleon looking up at her with big endearing brown eyes.

''Pascal I'm fine''. She said trying to sound convincing, doing her best to come up with a smile.

Rapunzel cupped her hands together and waited for Pascal to climb on. She then lifted her friend up onto the kitchen table. His eyes still remained big and endearing with a hint of concern.

'Pascal stop it, I'm fine!' she exclaimed, not meaning to sound so harsh. But with that, Pascal deciding it be best if he gave her some time to herself for a little while.

Rapunzel stood in the centre of the tower with her arms wrapped around herself. So many memories kept racing through mind. She looked in front of her in the kitchen and saw the infamous frying-pan she used to defend herself against thugs and palace guards (but mostly Eugene). On her left, by her mother's chair, she saw a large pile of wilting flowers that once kept her hair in a beautiful plait that allowed her to dance so freely back in the kingdom, but was recently taken down by mother. And behind her, above the fireplace, was a mural she did of the Lights. Rapunzel then gave a quiet sigh and walked slowly towards it. Oh how magical it all was. All the anticipation, the warm glow of the lanterns surrounding her, the feelings she got when Eugene held her ha-
And at that thought uncontrollable tears were streaming down her face. She felt a painful mixture of sadness and anger; an emotion also known as heartbreak. She held her burning, damp face in her palms as her knees gave in to the cold tiled floor.

Rapunzel sat against the wall with both hands still blanketing her face as she sobbed, feeling like a complete fool. Of course he took the crown. She began to think to herself. Why wouldn't he? After all that was the only reason why he was there in the first place!
Her thoughts were then interrupted by a friendly clinking sound by her foot. It was Pascal again. This time with his tail coiled around a handkerchief. Rapunzel gave him a weak smile and took his kind offering.

*Sniff*

''Oh Pascal, what would I do without you?'' She remarked, petting him gently with her middle and index finger.

All of a sudden Rapunzel heard a familiar and anxious voice calling her from out the window.

''Rapunzel!'' She heard from outside. A gasp of shock suddenly escaped her lips at the sound of the voice. She began to stare at the window, and then at Pascal, and then the window, and then Pascal again. She stood up slowly, wiping away any remaining tears with the hanky while continued to gaze in bewilderment at her window. A thousand thoughts were rushing to her mind at once; Was it really him? What is he doing here? What if mother sees him? Could I be hearing things? She lost her train of thought when she heard him again.

''Rapunzel, let down your hair!'' This time his voice was sounding even more anxious. And so without thinking Rapunzel drops the cloth and runs towards the window.

She peeks over the window ledge; she was hiding slightly behind one of the wooden panels. It was definitely him. Eugene had returned! But why? He already has the crown. What else could he possibly want?

Rapunzel turned her head over to Pascal in hope of some guidance. When Pascal met her concerned gaze, he shook his head and clicked disapprovingly.

Rapunzel gazed back down at Eugene. A sudden rush of air was drawn into her lungs at the sight of Eugene attempting to climb her tower. And by the looks of things, without those two arrows, that he used last time, he could be there for quite some time. Mother was bound to see him.

Her eyes began to dance in her head. Rapunzel had to think fast. She unexpectedly shot down to the floor and gathered a large amount of hair.

Pascal stood in the centre of the window ledge with his arms thrust out and shook his head vigorously; indicating that this was a bad idea.

''Pascal, don't look at me like that. I'm jus... I'm just going to tell him that he has to go and I swear that'll be it.'' Rapunzel breathlessly tried to explain. But the chameleon still wasn't budging.

''Please Pascal. What if… what if mother comes back and sees him.''

Pascal put down his little arms in defeat and stepped aside. He then gave her a certain look that only Rapunzel would understand as "Don't say I didn't warn you."

And so with a little hesitation, Rapunzel threw down her long golden locks. Only to be immediately caught and ascended by the eager young rogue.

As she waited patiently with her back against one of the posts beside her window, a sense of doubt crept into her mind. I mean let's face it; if deserting her wasn't bad enough he also traded her secret for some crown and left her to be attacked by two brutes. Thank goodness her mother was there. Right?

Rapunzel closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.

''Ok, I can do this. I can do this…'' She repeatedly whispered to herself, trying to keep it together.

XXXxXXXxXXXx

Eugene was now already more than half way up, which was impressive considering that the tower was a only a little bit over 70ft from the ground. But then again years of thievery gave him great stamina. He could scale the side of any building, hop from roof to roof without so much as a creek, smooth talk his way past security, get the job done, and still make a clean get-away faster than you could say; "Hey, who stole my earrings?" Not that he would brag about that or anything. No, he was only determined to make sure that Blondie was okay.

Finally, Eugene had reached the top. He lifted himself onto the window ledge and climbed over to the other side.

He swears his heart skipped a beat when he saw her beautiful face again. He was once again captivated by her large emerald eyes gazing up at him. He didn't even notice the mask of confusion she wore and before Rapunzel could even make out a syllable, Eugene took hold of her in a tight embrace.

"I thought I'd never see you again.'' He murmured into her hair.

Eugene had just had a pretty rough 24 hours. First, he was knocked out, then strapped to a boat, thrown into prison, and was only minutes away from certain death (and would probably not be here right now if it wasn't for those crazy pub thugs and Maximus). But the worst part of it all was having absolutely no idea what had become of Rapunzel. He drove himself crazy thinking of her. The last memory he had of her was when she was sitting all alone in the boat waiting for him to come back, completely unaware of the unfortunate advents soon to occur. Eugene swore that if he ever saw those good-for-nothing brothers again he would have no problem ringing them both by their necks. And how did they know about her hair anyway? What was it, just some lucky guess? But then as Eugene was being lead out to his sentence, he spotted his ex-colleagues, the Stabbingtons, in a cell and something inside him snapped like a thin twig. He managed to break free temporally from the guards, long enough to get some information from one of the brothers. He pulled the one with the sideburns by scruff of his collar; his face pressed against the bars of the cell. This was the first time Eugene had ever seen the Stabbington brothers scared. Usually he would enjoy having the upper hand; he may even milk it a little. But Eugene had some very important matters to attend to.

'How did you know about her? TELL ME NOW!'

''It was the old lady''. He said with a shaken voice.

"Old lady?" Suddenly a figure came to mind. It had to be her. She was the only other person who knew about Rapunzel's gift. His thoughts came to an abrupt halt when a few more guards roughly dragged him off to meet his fate. Well at least they were until a certain group of thugs crossed their paths.

There were no words to describe how relieved he was that she was safe and in his arms. He had never been this close ,well emotionally close, to anyone- Ever. For a thief, making friends or getting involved in certain relationships was completely out of the question. It was like one of those unwritten rules that somehow everyone knew about. You can't let anyone slow you down for anything. And while Flynn lived happily by these rules, Eugene was not about to give up Rapunzel any time soon.

Rapunzel was currently still in Eugene's tight grasp, her forearms pressed firmly against his chest. Her mind was in more of a daze than ever.
True- she may have slightly enjoyed the sudden warm embrace.
And Yes- it did feel somewhat wonderful to be this close to him again, but then again the last time she felt like this, she ended up with a broken heart, something no amount of magic hair could heal. She then managed to break the embrace by slightly nudge away from him.

Eugene was a little taken aback by this. She took half a step back and looked up at him. "Eugene, what are you doing here?'' She demanded in an urgent whisper.

He was surprised by her query. ''I had to… see if you were safe". He said attempting to gain back some eye contact as he captured her delicate hands in his own.

Rapunzel drew her eyebrows close together in pure confusion at his warm grasp. Was that it? He broke her hear and now he's back to make sure I was… safe?
Only Eugene could make her feel this aggravated. She used every muscle in her body to restrain herself from slapping him senselessly.

"Eugene, I'm fine." She lied. "But you can't be here. You have to go before Mother comes back" She hissed as if her Gothelcould actually hear her. She stretched out her neck towards the window to check if the close was still clear. "Rapunzel please-
He takes his right hand and cradles her Jaw, gently forcing her to look up at him. She will never let him know how easily she melts in his tender touch.
"Just talk to me."

Despite his efforts, her eyes remained on the ground. "You left." She hoarsely said. "You traded my secret for a crown and just… left."
She once again broke his grip and held her arms across her chest. "Do you have any idea how scared I was when they came after me?" She croaked as an all too familiar lump formed in her throat. "I thought I could trust you."

His heart both leaped and fell at this statement. No one had ever trusted him before, not that he ever gave them a reason to otherwise. He always figured it was better that way, or at least he used to. "Rapunzel please just listen, I never wanted to leave you." He couldn't stress the word never enough.

"Then why-

"I was trying to give them back the crown." He said, determined to get through to her. "I don't know… I guess I thought that way they'd leave us alone. But before I knew it they knocked me out and tied me to some boat, which led me to have a bit of a run in with some palace guards. And with that last comment, he began to run his fingers through the back of his head, rubbing a throbbing area on his scalp.
Well the guards weren't exactly known for their gentle touch, especially when it came to finally capturing the kingdom's most wanted criminal.

The tiniest glimmer of bliss flickered its way back into Rapunzel's forest green eyes. She tilted her head to the side and examined his expressions inquisitively.
"Really?" She questioned in a hopefully tone; completely oblivious to the small (but obvious) curves forming at the corners of her mouth.

"It almost sounds sound like my pain pleases you." He smirked, shifting his weight onto one foot as his shoulder rested on the wooden post beside the window and his arms folded across his chest. It was a classic Flynn Rider pose, but his eyes were all Eugene. They looked at her the same way they did on the boat. Like she was something absolutely extraordinary, and it wasn't because of her hair or the magic it possessed. He saw far beyond that- to him she was the girl who, in spite of her upbringing, could tame psychotic horses, make thugs sing and steal a thief's heart. It seemed like wherever they went people just fell in love with her kind spirit and beautiful nature. She was his dream, but couldn't quite comprehend how to tell her.

Rapunzel, slowly but surely, became completely captivated by his alluring amber gaze. She doesn't recall doing it, but she found herself taking a few steps forward while all the same relaxing her arms by her side. Eugene, arching both eyebrows with pleasure, copied her actions.
Finally she spoke again. "And exactly why should I believe you?" She asks her tone far from condescending. It was more like, now this may have been his imagination talking, but Eugene could almost swear that she was baiting him- Successfully.
When close enough, he slid both hands around her tiny waste and overlapped them on the small of her back. This was a bold move, considering his last two rejections, but this time Rapunzel had no objections to this as her hands were once again pressed back on his chest.

"Blondie, do you really think a liar would say his real name is 'Eugene Fitzherbert'? He retorted with a chuckle. She grinned in agreement making direct eye contact. His smirk morphed into a sincere smile as their foreheads gently collided. The room was silent. There was no one else in the world but Eugene, Rapunzel, and an eager little chameleon sitting with anticipation in the corner.
He's so close. So close to where he wants to be, but it still felt like a million miles away. Their noses touched and Rapunzel can feel his breath brush against her lips. She's hoping he can't feel how fast her heart is racing.
Just a few more inches he estimates. A few more inches and that taunting gap between them would disappear. He's trying so hard not to take advantage. But he wants her, more than he's ever wanted anyone or anything, and maybe it's just the heat of the moment but he can tell the feelings mutual. He'd probably give up a thousand crowns just to defeat those last few inches.

Both of their eyelids drop as Eugene slides his nose down past her own; making perfect entrance. And just as their moment is almost fulfilled…

"RAPUNZEL LET DOWN YOUR HAAAAIIIRRR!" An all too familiar shrill voice called from below.

XXXxXXXxXXXx

A/N: Uh oh Gothel's back…
Okay hope you enjoyed my first Tangled fanfiction. It took soooooo long to write so part two may take a little while but I plan on making it my top priority. Reviews and thoughts will be MUCH appreciated and Thank you so much for reading. Lots-O-Love…

xXsunlillyXx