Started off, I woke up with just over seven hours of sleep. I watched Rapunzel as she slept, but within minutes, she woke up as well. She propped herself up on her elbows and smiled at me.
With a grin, I asked, "How're you feeling this morning, dear girl?"
Instead of rolling her eyes and grumbling that she was fine, she grabbed my hand, rolled over to face me, and said, "I'm feeling pretty great right now!"
Getting that she was teasing me, I chuckled. "Same here."
THEN she rolled her eyes and gave me a smile. I studied her face, wondering what to say or whatever, and she randomly reached over to kiss me. Just as I put an arm around her and started to kiss her back....BOOM. This weird feeling hit me. Not because I was kissing my wife or anything health-related...it was like the whole dresser was vibrating.
Before I could get up, Rapunzel jumped up and pulled away from me. Mind, jumping up isn't a good idea, seeing as we sleep under a bench.
She cracked her head off of the underside of the bench with a THWACK. She ducked with a grimace, and I started to ask if she was okay, but by the time I opened my mouth, she was on her knees and crawling out.
"What on EARTH is that??" I heard her exclaim.
"Tangled Fan's...stupid...cell phone!" Merida. "She uses it for her alarm clock, and it..vibrates!"
I heard thudding, so I scrambled out myself and went to stand behind my wife.
Tangled Fan reached for her phone, and since Merida was standing on it, stomping her plastic feet on it..Rapunzel grabbed her and yanked her off of the phone just in time.
Tangled Fan turned it off, staring at us. "Didn't I warn you that my phone does that every morning?"
"No..." my wife said, casting a glance towards Merida.
"I knew, but I didn't think ya put it there!"
"Yeah..sorry guys!" Tangled Fan exclaimed. Then she left us to our own devices.
My wife turned around, and apparently, she still hadn't noticed I was standing right behind her. She thumped into my chest and looked up, an alarmed expresison on her face.
"Sorry!"
I took her beside me, kissed the top of her head, and chuckled as I thought about her grand head-banging experience minutes ago. "So, how bad did you crack your head off of that bench?"
She giggled. "Well, I didn't knock myself out-"
"So THAT'S the thud I heard a few minutes ago! Wow." Merida laughed and looked at Rapunzel.
"Yeah. That HURT! For us having soft plastic heads that'll squoosh, that hurt!" she laughed again.
Merida's grin subsided and the firey, 'I was woken up too early by something stupid' expression vanished.
"Well..I'm going back to sleep, like the rest of em are doin. I can't believe everyone slept through that, especially the babies!" She said, stroking Allie's arm.
"We were already up, so-" Rapunzel started, but I broke her off, seizing an opportunity to freak Merida out.
"We'll finish up what we'd started doing before that stupid phone went off."
Calculating glances from Merida arose, and she finally managed, "I..don't want to know."
"We were just talking! He has a way of saying things and having them not come out right-"
"Yeah, yeah...I said I didn't want to know!" Merida laughed.
My wife elbowed me in disgust and I tickled her, making her giggle. Then, we headed back under the bench.
"Duck this time." I joked, watching her stoop down to come in behind me.
"Yeah, yeah." she laughed, sitting beside me and crossing her legs at the ankles.
I gave her a grin, and I must've freaked her out. "What? You're creeping me-"
I reached over to kiss her, breaking off her sentence. When I pulled away from her, she bumped her forehead up against mine and reached to hold my hand.
I sat back. "So...what are your big plans for today?"
She shrugged and said she didn't really get to think much about it.
I suggested that we watch some of that Duck Dynasty that everyone talks so much about.
"You mean you'll allow me to walk that much?" She said, wide-eyed. Not sure if she was joking or not.
I chuckled. "If you feel up to it. I'll try to not be so overprotective."
She grabbed me into an excited hug. When she pulled away, I gave her a grin. "Sound like a plan?"
"Sounds like an excellent plan, hon!" she said with a sweet smile.
Suddenly, Jase came careening in, throwing 'good morning's to both of us. She plopped her little self down, half on my lap and half on hers.
Rapunzel reached to give her a hug, laughing through her nose.
"Daddy, are you and Momma still mad at each other?" Jase asked, blinking innocently at me.
Great...I knew that was coming.
"No, honey, we're not. We just had a small disagreement, is all." I said.
"Good!" She reached over and snuggled up against me with a slightly melodramatic sigh.
I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness, and I looked up to meet my wife's eyes. She smiled as well.
After a bit, she pulled away from me and held her hands out towards my face.
"What?" I asked, leaning down towards her. She took my face in her hands and gave me a kiss on the cheek, giggling. I got the impression that she was trying to be like her momma.
Awhile later, we left to watch some Duck Dynasty.
Forgetting my promise to not be so protective, I told Rapunzel to stay where she was at on Tangled Fan's bed, and I would go get the iPod from the drawers nearby.
When I realized what I was doing, I apologized and said it was fine, that she could come along like she wanted to.
She laughed, leaning her head on my shoulder for a second before taking me by the hand. "Thank you!"
"Anything for my girl," I joked.
It only took a few minutes to get the iPod, and pretty soon, we were settled on Tangled Fan's bed, watching the hilarity that is known as Duck Dynasty.
The hour went wayyy too fast, and before I knew it, our chosen two episodes were done.
Rapunzel rolled onto her back, holding her sides and giggling.
I grinned, and then randomly remembered a song I'd heard online a few days ago. Deciding I'd show it to Rapunzel, I got to work finding it again.
If you're wondering what the song is, it's "If I Didn't Have You" by Thompson Square.
"Hey, silly! Listen to this song I found the other day online," I told Rapunzel, glancing over with a grin.
"Okay," she said, returning the grin and rolling over to watch the screen.
Halfways through the song, she looked up at me, starry-eyed. She smiled. "I think I love this song. It's beautiful!" I met he eyes and she suddenly sat up, grabbing me into a kiss.
Well, gee. Tell a person before you give them a fervent kiss, right in the middle of listening to a song. I was just a wee bit surprised.....
I gave her a wide-eyed stare, trying to think of something to say. She laughed at me, and I shook my head at her.
"Don't surprise me like that!" I laughed, finding words.
She laughed even harder. "But you do that to me all the time!"
"I suppose you have a point," I chuckled. I stared into those emerald green eyes for a moment, but she quickly looked down into her lap.
She asked what we would do next, and I suggested going over to look out the window. We hadn't done that in ages!
Too bad I didn't know that the cool breeze would affect her leg.
We sat on the open window for about two hours. A practically chilly breeze filtered through the screen almost the whole time.
"I think we should head back...much as I hate to say it." she said, standing.
I stood up as well. "Are you feeling alright?" I asked, immediately concerned.
"Yeah....," have I ever mentioned that my wife is a horrible liar?
"It's your leg, isn't it?"
She nodded.
I sighed. I can't believe I hadn't thought about her leg! When I voiced my thought, she exclaimed that it was fine and she didn't think about that either.
By the time we were back to the dresser, her leg was stiff and she had a limp started up again. Much as I didn't want to, I knew the best thing to do was probably to tell Tangled Fan about it.
Luckily enough, I was able to slip out the open door without anyone noticing.
I hurried down a really long hallway, and after awhile, I found Tangled Fan.
"What are you doing out here? The dog-" Tangled Fan stood up from her chair and gave me an odd stare.
"Rapunzel's leg is bad again..It's my fault, and-"
"Let's go see." She picked me up and we were back to her bedroom again within minutes.
I was met with a cold glare from my wife, as soon as she saw me and Tangled Fan. "Why did you-"
"I don't want your leg getting worse! I'm sorry." I said. I felt just plain horrible about it. I knew I had gone back on a promise and let her down, and that just about tore the heart right out of me.
Tangled Fan chatted with her, and I stood off to the side, concerned. Luckily, Jase and Hallie were napping, so Jase wasn't playing twenty-thousand questions about Rapunzel.
"No. No WAY. If I didn't go when I was knocked out, like you'd said-" Rapunzel was giving her a hassle. Tangled Fan wanted to take her somewhere and keep her for a few days, to get her leg healed up.
"Rapunzel, it couldn't hurt."
Then, the claws came out. "You just can't trust me, can you?! I TOLD you I'd be fine and I'd make sure to take care of myself! And you SAID you'd try to stop being so overprotective! Why did you go back on your word?"
"Because I...I just don't want you getting hurt any worse." I said, staring at her and hoping she'd get it.
She didn't. She simply looked away from me.
"I just want to do this because it's going to be chilly this week, especially at night." Tangled Fan said. "It's the middle of August!" Rapunzel exclaimed.
"But the weatherman's predicting a cool streak this week. It'll only be for a day or two; you'll be back home in no time if you behave yourself." Tangled Fan said.
Rapunzel heaved a huge sigh, still staring down at her lap. Tangled Fan turned to go, and I tried to wave to her, to get her attention, to do anything...but she pointedly turned her head away from me.
Wearing my heart on my sleeve, I watched them go. I felt like my heart could shatter. I knew I had promised her I wouldn't be so overprotective, but what was better? My wife possibly ending up with a lifetime plagued with leg soreness and injuries, or my wife better, but really ticked off at me? I told myself it was for the best, but why did it have to be this way?
I turned around and saw Blondie, Rayne, and Merida all standing and staring at me.
"Ye did the right thing," Merida told me, nodding.
"Then why does it feel like I've betrayed my wife's trust?"
"Because you sort of did. But if it's for her well-being, you did the right thing." Rayne said.
I sighed. "She's going to be so mad at me..."
"Yeah, she is, too. Yer really gonna in for it." Merida said.
"Thanks for the moral support, there, Merida." I said flatly.
"Sorry, but it's true. She'll get over it, though, for sure." she added.
"I hope so," I whispered, trudging off.
The rest of the evening dragged by. Jase was quiet, and Hallie was very fussy. I kept myself busy by keeping Hallie quiet and plaguing my mind with 'what ifs'...which isn't a very fun game to play!
I also confronted Tangled Fan, and even though she told me originally that I couldn't go see her, I harped at her enough that she relented and said that I could visit her tomorrow.
Tomorrow cannot come too soon.
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