Flynn here - Breakdown

Hey everyone...
So today I woke up around 8.  I promptly remembered yesterday's scare.  I felt so horrible that I hadn't been able to catch her in time.  Every time I thought about it, I thought about the moment we'd locked eyes just moments before she fell.  And then how she hit the...Okay, you guys read both my post and my wife's post, most likely; so I won't obsess too much about it.
Anyway.  I woke up before anyone else, so I wandered outside of the bookshelf awhile.  Truth be told, I was kind of keeping a wary eye out for Ray.  I wouldn't put it past him to try to finish the job.  When Hallie woke up, though, I made myself snap out of my guard-dog mode so I could go into daddy mode.

Later, the other two girls and Merida woke up.  Rapunzel was still fast asleep, and I was starting to get a little concerned (okay..I won't lie.  I was almost ready to have a nervous breakdown.)
When Jase woke up, guess what her first words were, aside from good morning?  "Daddy, can I ride TODAY?"
I scooped her up into my arms.  "Honey, I really wish I could take you riding today, but you're going to have to wait till Momma's better."
Her face fell and I felt bad.
"Hey..why don't I take her?  I'll take her out all day and let her ride Maximus."  Merida offered.
"It's okay, really, Merida," I said, but Jase overlapped me with a 'Can I go, Daddy, oh pleeeease can I go?'
"It's fine," Merida laughed.  "Then that's what we'll do."
"I'd really prefer to take her myself, and Rapunzel for sure will..." I said uncertainly.
"Jase will be devastated."
I sighed.  "If you really want to, I suppose..." I said after a few seconds' thought, watching Jase's face.

I heard Rapunzel clearing her throat, and I hurried to her side in relief.
"Hey, hon," I greeted her with a smile as I pushed some hair from her face.
"Morning," she said, sitting up quickly.
She squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in a huge, quick breath, and her face turned pale.
"Are you okay?"  I asked worriedly.
She didn't answer me for what seemed like an agonizingly long time, but then she nodded and said she was okay.
"Sure?"
She peeled her eyes open to study my face for a moment.  "I'm sure.  Your face makes everything better!"  She joked.
I chucked.  "Don't think you'll distract me from the topic at hand."  She stood, and I asked her how she felt.
"I'm fine, like I said,"  she told me, but I could see the cloud of pain in her eyes.
I told her that, and she huffed.
"Fine.  My leg hurts like nobody's business, and my arm hurts a bit too.  My neck feels better, though."
"Your head?"
"Cloudy, but I'm still walking, talking, and breathing, so I guess it's fine, too."
I shook my head in exasperation, wondering how she could kid around right now.  I cupped my hands on her face and kissed her.  For a moment, anyway; because she suddenly pulled away and asked how long I'd slept last night.
I told her how long - seven and a half hours - in a crisp tone.  She laughed at that, but then she stumbled over her own feet.  Since she bumped right into me anyway, I wrapped my arms around her in a hug.
"Rapunzel and Flynn, sittin' in a tree..."  Merida.
She pulled away from me hurriedly.  We both looked towards her, and saw she was laughing so hard, she was doubled over.
"Oh, knock it off."  Rapunzel laughed at her, her cheeks turning rose red.
My face was probably red, too.  I looked down at Rapunzel and met her eyes, trying to think of a way to get on Merida's nerves.
"See, Rapunzel?  I'm telling you, she's a bad influence on the kids."
"I am NOT!"  Merida yelped at me.
Rapunzel decided to play along.  "Hmm..yeah, you might be right!"
"You're both terrible.  Both of you!  Tell your parents they don't have to be so mean," she added, turning to Jase.
Jase walked over to Rapunzel and I, wanting picked up.  I scooped her up, and she turned to Merida.
"Sorry, Aunt Merida...I told you not to pick on them, though."
Rapunzel, Merida and I laughed in surprise at Jase.
"Then I guess I won't take you out all day...and to ride Maximus like I was planning on doing today...if you feel that way," Merida said, pretending to walk away.
"No!  I'm sorry!  I side with you!"  I set her down, because she was wriggling frantically.
"Huh?"  Rapunzel asked with a laugh, turning to look at me.
I explained what Merida had planned on doing.
"We could take her, why not?"  She asked, turning to pick Hallie up.  I grimaced as I saw her limp.
"Um, maybe because you need to rest."
"I'm fine!"
"No, you need to rest.  If you don't cooperate, I'll tell Tangled Fan."
"I'm fine.  I want to see Jase ride Maximus for the first time.  Today.  I'm perfectly fine - I don't have a headache or anything suggesting I have any underlying issues with me being knocked unconscious, and I can walk.  My arm isn't too bad, and I don't use it to walk, anyway!  Please?"
I shook her head and reminded her that I wasn't about to possibly harm her health by not making her rest.
We went back and forth a few times, and finally, Rapunzel relented.  She jutted her chin out and tipped her head up to stare at me as she added that she would NOT just sit around all day...complete with Hallie on one hip and her hand on the other.
I grinned at her and gave her a quick kiss.  "We'll see about that."

When Merida and Jase were gone, I took Allie and sat down.  Rapunzel sat by me, facing me.  She had a determined look on her face.
Finally, she asked me what had happened yesterday.
It grew harder and harder for me to explain what had happened.  I kept thinking about her falling over and over again.
When I was through with my condensed version of the story, Rapunzel looked down at Hallie.  I needed to let all of my emotions out, but I didn't know how.  Good grief, I didn't need to tell Rapunzel about it all!  Some of it was embarrassing...lI mean, really.  I didn't want her to know I'd cried.  But I felt like a bottle rocket, ready to explode at any given time.  After a few moments, she glanced up at me.
She studied my face, and finally, I succumbed to the emotions.
"Dear girl, don't you ever do that again.  Ever.  If you think you're going to be in danger, do NOT go ahead and put yourself in harm's way!  Good grief, you could've been broken.  You could've been broken beyond repair.  You could've..." You could've died.  I broke off and sniffed back the tears threatening to break loose.  I jumped up, took Allie over to the makeshift bed, and laid her down.  She was sleeping anyway.  I did the same with Hallie.
Then, I started to pace.  I needed to get myself under control and calmed down.  But I couldn't.  The thoughts I'd thought yesterday all came flooding back.
I could barely hear Rapunzel trying to catch my attention.
She grabbed me by the hand as I was walking by.  I know it was mean of me, but I tried to pull away from her.  She was just trying to help me, I know; but I needed to think by myself.  She grabbed me with her other hand, too, and pulled herself up.
"Husband, I subdued an angry Ray yesterday, and shoved him in the corner.  I think I can take you!"  She said, quite seriously.
I spun to look at her, surprised.  When I saw the concern on her face, the dam broke and I lost it.
Her eyebrows furrowed and she reached up to grab me into a hug.  I pressed my face into her shoulder and sobbed.  That made me feel horrible.  I didn't need to be crying like this.  It was stupid!  It was beyond stupid.
But since I'd already started, I might as well just let 'er rip.
I started telling her everything, but she broke me off.  "But everything's fine.  You couldn't have ran a yard within five seconds.  You did all you could do, and I'm okay anyway."  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was fending off tears.  THAT made me feel even worse.
"You could have-you could have been killed!  All I could think of was how much you meant - you MEAN - to me, how Jase would take things, of all the ttthings I didn't get to tell you - of-"
She was sobbing now.  Each of her sobs were like someone pulling a knife out of my back and sticking it back in...no pun intended, referring to the movie.
I pulled her in close and held her tight.
"I love you - I love you so much.  You mean the world to me, and then some...I can't live without you, and I don't think I could have.  You-you're the most beautiful and sweet, and compassionate, caring, endearing, a-and you're so wonderful with the kids, even though they were rushed onto you...and you're usually so kind...and even right now, when I should be comforting YOU, you're comforting ME...and you're the one who went through all that yesterday...and oh my gosh, honey, it just killed me.  You're perfect, and so easy to get along with and...just...you're just wonderful."  Through all of this, she was bawling.  She rubbed my back with one of her hands, and I figured she was comforting me as much as herself.
I felt like a child.  I pulled away from her.  "I need to knock it off.  I'm not some sissy little girl who cries over everything!"
I attempted to resume my pacing, but Rapunzel braced herself and grabbed my arm.  I saw her grimace as she did so.
"You need to let it out.  Even men have to cry some, and it's not criminal!"  She studied my face, and then reached up to put her hand to my cheek.
I shook my head in amazement at how she must be feeling crummy herself, but yet here she was, calming me down.  And then I picked her up and kissed her fervently.  She kissed me back, and I was surprised at the power of it.  I don't think she'd ever given me such a powerful kiss before; and as you can probably tell, we kiss.  A lot.  But give us some slack, we've only been married about a month and a half, and been through a lot.

Finally, she slowly parted her lips from mine.  I stared at her stunningly green eyes, and she studied my face.
Suddenly, she spoke up.  "As much as I'd like to enjoy this...could you please put me down?"
I glanced down and realized I was still holding her.  "Oh.  Right."  I set her down carefully, and then pulled her close into a tight hug.  I felt like Velcro Flynn once again, only this had been more serious.
After awhile, I slowly released her.  She cleared her throat and gave me a smile that made my head spin for a moment.  "Feel better about things?"
I shrugged and tried to avert my eyes from hers, but she kept me entrapped in her gaze.  "I still feel like this is all my fault."
"Well, don't; because it isn't!"  She exclaimed, stepping away from me.  I took her hand and found a spot to sit down, telling her to do so as well.
"No..."
I gently pulled her down beside me, and she cuddled up against me, resting her head on my shoulder and allowing her eyes to go shut.
That lasted a whole three minutes....until the babies woke up again!

For the majority of the day, I took care of the babies and wouldn't let Rapunzel get up much.  I knew she was getting agitated with me, but I prefer agitation over possible health problems!
She kept harping at me to let her go outside, so after awhile, I allowed her out of the bookshelf for about a half an hour, and we were able to watch Jase ride Maximus.  I kept a very cautious eye out on her, and made sure I was never more than a step away from her, still concerned about Ray.
After awhile, I made her go back inside.  I could tell she was grumped about me making her go in, but she still told me thanks and I couldn't help but smile at her kindness.  But then, every time I looked at her or thought about how much she wanted to do all sorts of things, I felt terrible.  If only I would've caught her...


Once Merida and Jase came back, the evening was spent chatting amongst all of us.
When Jase finally announced she was tired and wanted to go to bed, I told her goodnight.  Merida had already put Allie to sleep and was heading for bed herself.  I glanced around, and realized Rapunzel was sleeping, leaning up against the side of the bookshelf.  Hallie was asleep in her arms.
I chuckled quietly to myself, carefully took Hallie from her arms so as to not wake either of them, and put Hallie to bed beside Allie.  Then I scooped my wife into my arms and laid her down in the makeshift 'bed' and tended to covering her up with the other shirt, before I allowed myself to go to sleep too.

Sometime through the night, though, I must've rolled over or something, and slung my arm around my wife...or at least, I tried to.  When I realized she wasn't right beside me, or at least, I thought she wasn't, my eyes flew open, and I sat up in a hurry.  I looked around frantically.  Had Ray taken her and the babies while the rest of us slept-
I saw she was slumped against the wall of the bookshelf, and so I did, too.
"You scared me!"  I chuckled quietly to her.
"Sorry!" she whispered.
"Why're you up at this hour, anyway?"  I studied her face through the dark.
"I...couldn't sleep."
"Lemme guess.  Nightmare?"  I asked, thinking about how she'd tossed and turned through the night.  Even gasped something out, but I couldn't hear what she'd said.  "You were tossing and turning a lot."
She nodded.  "That's pretty stupid, right?  Flynn, I had a bad dream..." she said mockingly.
I shook my head, still looking at her.  I reached to rub the pad of my thumb on her cheek, and she gave me a slow and innocent smile before she attempted to stifle a yawn.
"You outta get back to sleep.  You're safe, and I'll be right here."
I had a pretty good feeling that she'd probably been having nightmares about Ray.
She nodded and slid back down underneath the covers, rolling over onto her side.  I did the same.  I slid my hand down her arm, which was resting on her side, until I found her hand.  I laced my fingers with hers and kissed her hair quietly, and then I wrapped my arm around her waist, leaning over to whisper an I love you into her ear.
"I love you too," she muttered.  And then I was out cold.