Flynn here - month anniversary (:

Monday morning, I woke up at 8, which was kind of late for me.  But hey, I had no chance of a migraine attacking me today!
Rapunzel was still totally zonked out.  It appeared to me that she had done a faceplant on my shoulder, and that just looked plain uncomfortable.  And my shoulder was definitely numb.  But regardless.  This was probably the hardest she'd slept since my absence, what with having to get up with the babies and everything.  Luckily, Hallie had only gotten up once through the night, and my wife had refused to let me get up with her.  I managed to lay a quite numb arm around her, and smiled as I considered how glad I was to be back.
After about an hour, she finally woke up.  She promptly reached over to hug me and rested her head on my shoulder again after I propped myself up on my elbows.  I gave her forehead a kiss and said good morning.  She rolled her eyes at me, yet she still grinned.  We both got up, but I hated to even move away from her - Velcro Flynn.  Haven't you heard that's my full name?  Velcro Flynn Rider.
I couldn't help but grin at her.  She mistook it and thought it was because her hair was messy.  Yeah...it was really messy, but I didn't notice until she shoved me and grumbled about it.  I laughed, and she left to fix her hair up.

We left after the girls got up and Merida agreed to watch the girls today.
After we landed on the floor, I took her hand in mine and smiled at her.  She grinned back and my heart jumped.  We wandered around aimlessly and enjoyed a good chat about whatever came to mind.
When we looped back to the bookshelf after awhile, I pulled her close and asked her if she wanted to dance.
"Of course, kind sir!"  She kidded, and I took her hand up to kiss it.  The surprise/delight showed on her whole entire face.
But she surprised me right back, when she started to dance on her own, without me guiding her.
When the playlist on the iPod was done (since I had decided to start dancing when we got back to the bookshelf, I had asked Rayne to keep an eye or an ear out for us so she could start the iPod playlist), my wife stayed in my arms with seemingly no inclination to move away.  I was awkwardly wondering how to ask her how she'd suddenly learned how to dance, without sounding mean.
Eventually, I spit the question out quickly.  She giggled and said, "Rayne taught me.  I asked her to teach me, so that when you came back, I'd have a surprise.  However small that is, but hey - you noticed it!"  
I leaned in to kiss her, and then told her, "I sure did.  You were awesome."  She gave me a sweet smile and I smoothed the hair from her face.  She was starting to reach up to kiss me back, and I was about to lean down to help her reach, and then we were quite rudely interrupted by a "Hey, YOU!"
She pulled away from me, red-faced.  I looked up to see who it was...and surprise, surprise.  HB.
My wife stepped away from me in embarrassment, and then HB stomped right up into her face.  "So, are you happy now?"
"It took you this long to find out they were gone?"  My wife countered, and I was thinking the same thing, to be honest.
"Don't you change the subject!  I want them back, now!" Complete with foot-tapping.  The nerve of that doll-never mind.
Rapunzel explained - I was amazed that she hadn't snapped yet - with growing boldness, why and how they'd been taken away.
HB yelled that she was single now - no, AGAIN - because of the fact that Allie and Hallie weren't with her any longer.  Rapunzel just said it wasn't her fault, but it was a shame her boyfriend didn't stick with her.  At this point, I was horrified at how different the Barbies must be from the Disney-s.  If we get engaged, we stay together for the rest of our days, until one or both of us gets smooshed in a Dumpster or sold on eBay, or sent to Goodwill.
"Oh, hey!"  She suddenly turned towards ME, with a growing, sly smile and brightened face.  Uhh, nope.  "Where have you been?  I haven't seen you around in a few weeks and thought maybe you'd smartened up and left that ugly thing you call your wife."
She didn't just suggest that I would LEAVE Rapunzel, and call her ugly all in one shot, had she??  Oh, boy.  Before I could lay into her, though, my wife did.  She gasped, stepped towards HB, and HB backed off a step or two.  Her face grew to be some mix of surprise and terror.
I didn't know if Rapunzel was going to just yell at her, or jump her.  I grabbed her wist to pull her back, but she wrestled away from me.  I was surprised, too.
"Don't you DARE even look at him!  He is my husband, he is faithful, and he always will be.  He would NEVER do such a thing to me, and I am quite maddened that you act as if he WOULD!  Also, I do not want to see you near me, Flynn, or my children ever again.  You can do whatever you want, call me as many different kinds of ugly and stupid that you wish, but don't you DARE go near my family!  And..."
She started towards her, shaking a finger, and her face growing dark and ruddy, and I thought fast.  I snaked an arm out and grabbed her around her waist and dragged her back towards me, away from HB.  As much as I'd like to see her give it to HB, I didn't want her getting hurt.
"HB, you heard her.  Go back to your own side of the room.  And don't bother trying to make trouble again."  I growled at her with a glare.
She got the last laugh in, though.  "Fine.  If you want to be stuck with that awful, makeupless, awfully-haired thing...fine."  And then she turned and waltzed off as if nothing had ever happened.  I glared after her until I realized Rapunzel was staring at me.  I tried to offer a smile and said that hopefully, we wouldn't see her again.
She nodded and agreed.
I sat and she did too, putting an arm around my waist.  I put an arm around her shoulders and grinned at her.
We talked about how much we've changed and how much we've gone through in the past month and a half.  Really...there had been something major happening EVERY SINGLE SECOND, almost!
"Hopefully, things will wind down and we'll be able to enjoy life, instead of something happening CONSTANTLY!" Rapunzel said with a chuckle.
"I could live with that for awhile," I said, pulling her close to me and kissing her hair.  I couldn't help but smile with my gladness that I was back by her side.
I bent down to look at her face when she turned it away from me, curious as to why.  After I considered her expression for a bit, I figured that it was because HB had called her several kinds of ugly, and though she was NOT ugly by any stretch, she somehow always managed to get herself upset because she wasn't pristinely made-up or anything like HB.
"Hey."  I said quietly.  "I know that look.  What?  HB?"  I cupped her chin in my hand to bring her around to face me.
She sighed and shrugged.  "Just me being...me..," she refused to meet my eyes.
"Spill it.  I like hearing you being you.  Unless you're bothered by your appearance. That makes me sad, because you're beautiful."
My wife stayed silent, even whilst I was studying her face.  I leaned down to bump my forehead with hers, and then I told her not to let HB get into her head.  Then I asked her what I told her every morning.
"Good morning?"  She said, and I could tell she was attempting to skirt around the question and the topic altogether, so I chuckled.
"Good morning, and I usually try to remind you how pretty you are, and how lucky I am to have you as my wife."  I went on to give another speech, asking her why I'd tell her she was pretty, unless I meant it.
When I was done, she laughed, apparently feeling a bit better on the topic.  My heart swelled at the sound of her silly laugh, and so I kissed the tip of her nose.
Referring to what I'd asked her - why I'd call her pretty, sweet, wonderful, and awesome just because I felt like it - she said, "I suppose you have a point..thanks. And I am NOT awesome."
Feeling like teasing her, because I thought it might make her forget about the issue at hand, I said, "Says you,"
"Yeah, says me.  I'm pretty sure my friends will back me up."
"No!  They're on MY side!"  I joked.
She gave me a shove, and I exaggerated falling over, as if she'd shoved me that hard.  She gave me a quick peck on the cheek while I was down.  When I righted myself again, I sat quietly for a moment, and then grabbed her waist with my hands and tickled her.  She squealed in surprise, but then she started to get the giggles.
All of a sudden, I heard a loud, annoying noise.
"What's that sound?"
"Ohhh, no, I'm not falling f-for-" she laughed.
"No, really!" I yelped.  As I said that, the door opened, and Tangled Fan came bustling in with a vacuum.  Since she's not the most observant human on earth, we needed to get outta the way ASAP.  I grabbed Rapunzel's hand and started to make my way over to the bottom shelf of the bookshelf.  She was still giggling - how on earth she could still find something funny to giggle about...I dunno.  But I rolled my eyes in fake exasperation (which made her laugh hard), picked her up, and made a dash for the shelf.
When we got in there, I sat and allowed her to slide from my lap to sit beside me.  When she was settled, she gave me a sideways look.  I gave her one back, attempting to look expressionless.  I had to fight a grin, though.  She laughed again and elbowed me, and then I chuckled, too.
After a couple minutes, her giggling stopped, and she laid her head on my shoulder.  "You're..I don't know.  Awesome?  Great?  Grand?-"
"How about 'I love you'.  That basically covers all bases," I suggested, with a wink, and she gave a silly laugh.
"Okay.  I love you."  She said.  I was slightly surprised at how easily she'd said it. The past month and a half or so, she'd hesitated or given a slight stammer between the words, and then gone red-faced, as if she was embarrassed to say it. She gave me a big grin, and I matched it, my heart squeezing.

After a good while, Tangled Fan left, and so we went back out.  After a little bit, we meandered over to the window.  We clambered up onto the sill and stared outside.  After a couple minutes of silence, I laced my fingers with hers, and she started to sweep her hand back and forth over her braid, which was, I admit, starting to look a bit messy.
"I need to brush it out, or rebraid it, or something."  She muttered, and I glanced towards her.
'It looks fine.  What'd I tell you, like, a half an hour ago?"
"Yeah, yeah...but it still needs brushed."  she said with a smile.
She flopped down and sprawled across the windowsill.  I laid down beside her, and we both just watched the outdoors for awhile in silence, simply enjoying one another's company.  After awhile, though, we did start talking about lots of stuff, including ideas for blogging, to make it more interesting for you guys - so we're not always just documenting our daily lives and going on about how twitterpated we are with one another.  I'm sure you all get tired of reading that!

When we got back, Jase promptly came running over and hugged me.  I sat down with her, and she talked and talked and talked..and talked...and talked...about all the games she'd made up when I was gone.  I would tell you all about her games, but by the time she was done chattering about all the various games, my head was swimming and I couldn't remember half of them.  All I caught was that she wanted to teach them ALL to me.  I hope to goodness she didn't mean to teach them all to me in one day.

After awhile, Rapunzel, with Hallie in tow, meandered over towards the Hallmark box that was right beside the wicker chair.  I managed to snag her by the waist.
"Wait up a sec.  There's room here for you."  She turned towards me and rolled her eyes before giving me the usual 'what if I..' spiel.
I didn't answer her, but I did suddenly pull her backwards to sit down.  So quickly that she gave an awkward, surprised squawk/squeal.
"You can sit here for a couple minutes."  With a wink.  She elbowed me, and I pulled her close to brush my lips with hers.
"Not in front of the kids!"  She grumbled at me.
Before I could say anything, Jase spoke up.  "That's okay, Momma!  I know you like Daddy.  And that's what dolls do when they like someone, right?"  Jase looked up with wide, innocent, questioning eyes.
I had to keep from laughing.  "Umm.....yeah, that's right."  Rapunzel answered her, and I could tell by her reddened face that she was trying to keep from laughing as well.  Then, she pulled Jase onto her lap beside Hallie and gave her a quick hug.  As soon as she released her hug on Jase, however, she scooted back down onto my lap.  I gazed down at her and looked at her bright eyes.  She gave me a dimply smile, and I couldn't help but love the little girl. I shot a glance towards my wife, and saw she was staring at Hallie's peaceful, sleeping face.  I gave her shoulders a squeeze and a kiss in the hair, and she looked up at me with such a sweet expression on her face.  And, which surprised me, I also saw love in her eyes.

I know she had been uncomfortable with me at the beginning, and we'd both been really awkward.  When I'd become more comfortable around her, she still wasn't, but she'd still gone along with my ideas of getting engaged, getting married, and fostering, and also adopting, children.  Even though she'd not been completely ready for all of this, she'd still trusted me enough to go along with it.  I know she loved me the whole way, but this was the first time I can honestly say she looked at me lovingly.  She was just starting to open up enough to be comfortable and display affection around others, let alone towards me.  That, my readers and friends, is a huge, huge, huge step.  And I'm glad.  I still feel bad about rushing her, mind, so I'm especially relieved to know she's finally starting to get used to all this.

Well, I'm gonna let you all go, before I get too mushy about it.  You all are probably so tired of hearing the same old same old...!