The next morning, Rapunzel was up before I was, for a change. She was propped up on her elbows, her chin resting on her cheek. The first thing I saw was her pretty face, and I smiled at her.
When she said good morning, I said, "Good morning, gorgeous."
Instead of rolling her eyes in the classic, sarcastic-Rapunzel style, she leaned over to bump her forehead with mine. I realized how far she was leaning around the same time I realized her arm must not hurt as bad, if she was leaning like that on her right arm. I smiled with gladness when I thought of that, and pulled her onto her side and close to me. She gasped, her eyes going wide with surprise, but then she laughed through her nose. And then she reached back to shove me. Yup, she was feeling better.
"Hey!" I said quietly.
"What?" She twisted to look over her shoulder, blinking her wide eyes at me.
I chuckled, propping myself up on one elbow. I brushed my lips with hers, and brushed some hair from her face. She gave me a cute little grin and then she turned towards Hallie, to watch her. I could see red creeping up her neck and even her ears, and then she scooted away from me a bit. To tease, I pulled her close to me again.
"Hey, I did that on purpose!" she giggled quietly, before pushing herself up to sit near my legs.
I suddenly wondered how she was feeling.
As she was disentangling her legs from the makeshift blanket, I watched her with some concern.
"How're you feeling this morning, hon?"
She glanced back at me before stretching her right leg out and staring at it. "My arm doesn't hurt nearly as bad. My leg doesn't seem to be as sore, either. And my head's still fine."
I gave her a relieved smile. She stared at me, and I wondered why she was wadding up the blanket in her hands. And then I caught the sly smile lighting her face.
She threw the wadded up blanket at my face.
"Hey!" I yelped quietly.
When I pulled the blanket from my face, I saw she was clear out of the shelf already.
I took one bounding leap, and was out of the shelf. She giggled and started to jog away.
"Hey, slow down. Don't push yourself!" I said, concerned about her leg. I didn't want her to get hurt because we were fooling around.
She took a few more strides, but then she stopped.
I started towards her, but then, out of absolutely NOWHERE, (okay, so maybe he'd come from behind a box nearby), Ray jumped out and grabbed her from behind.
She shrieked. He turned around, and I locked eyes with Rapunzel. I could feel my hands go cold, and my eyes grew wide with horror.
"Get the babies, and I'll let her go." Ray spat out at me.
"Flynn, look out!" Rapunzel yelled, and I followed her gaze. HB was trying to pull a fast one and slip beind me!
I grabbed her by the arm and she yelled, trying to slap me. Thinking fast, I looked in the tiny garbage can sitting near us. I reached and found a handful of binder's twine, in short strips. Perfect.
I forced HB down to the floor and tied her arms together, and then her ankles.
My wife screamed at me to get over there as soon as I could, and I hurried through tying triple-knots on HB's ties.
When I turned, I saw Ray was towering over Rapunzel, but his hands held her neck. Her face was turning red. I dove for them, and tackled Ray away from her. She rolled away, coughing violently.
When I was sure Ray was tied the same way as HB was, I took one huge step towards Rapunzel, dropping to sit anxiously beside her.
"Are you okay?"
She was gripping at her waist, coughing and shaking. She held one hand up, took in a few ragged breaths, and then nodded. "I..think so..."
I relaxed, and pushed the hair from her face. She stared at me, and I realized how close she'd come to being killed...again.
"You almost-"
She touched my cheek. "I didn't, so don't think it."
I took her hand away from my face and gave it a kiss. Then I started to get worried as to why she wasn't sitting up yet.
"You're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just give me a few seconds to get my bearings."
"Take all the time you need, hon."
I hovered over her, studying her face in anxiousness.
Finally, she pushed herself upright. I was so relieved that I kind of just thrust myself at her and kissed her. She leaned back quickly and caught herself on her hands. When I pulled back, I grabbed her up into a hug.
After we drew away from one another, she chuckled. I scooped her up and stood, planning to carry her to the shelf.
"Flynn, put me down...I can walk back. I'm okay, I promise." She told me, sounding slightly irritated.
I lifted my shoulders a bit into a shrug. "I can carry you back, too. It's just a few feet."
She started to roll her eyes, but then she put her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. My face turned mildly red.
When I turned the corner to go into the bookshelf, I came nose-to-nose with Merida's arrow.
"Hold your fire," Rapunzel told her, and Merida lowered her bow. She stared at us, wide-eyed. Then Rapunzel said my name.
I looked at her face in confusion, totally forgetting about the fact that I had her in my arms. Then I looked down and realized she was.
My face turned flaming hot and I slowly let her legs down. She wormed away from me.
"Ray?" Merida asked, tossing an un-shaken glance down at HB.
"Yup." I said.
"Where's he?"
"Over there," I said, gesturing.
She peered out, and then looked back at us. "Great! Now what happens when Tangled Fan sees this?"
"I dunno." I shrugged.
Jase came running. "Momma!" She dove for Rapunzel, and she caught her up into a hug. I stood behind my wife and bent over her shoulder to give Jase a kiss on the head. I was going to kiss Rapunzel on the cheek, too, but then Jase wanted held.
"Daddy, are Ray and HB gone for good?"
"I suppose. We'll have to see. I hope so, though!"
"Me, too." she gave a definite nod.
I was surprised that the babies were still asleep, what with all the ruckus going on over Ray and HB.
I stepped into the bookshelf and peered down at them.
Then, I went back over to Rapunzel, with Jase still in my arms. "You need to sit for awhile. You don't want your leg to get worse again."
"Oh, I'm fine." She told me.
"You should listen to Daddy. He just wants to make sure you don't get hurt!" Jase said.
She chuckled. "You do have a point, baby girl. You usually do - you're pretty smart!"
She beamed, and then told her to listen to me.
I put a careful hand on Rapunzel's side, careful not to touch her where Ray had grabbed her - she'd said her sides were sore. "Yeah, listen to me."
She gave me a shove, giggling, and then did as I requested.
Merida plopped down beside her as soon as she sat down. "So, did you take anyone down?"
"Ray. He grabbed me, so I headbutted him until he fell down, and then I pinned him down. Before Flynn could tie him up, though, he grabbed me into a chokehold. I'm pretty sore around my waist from him digging his hand into my waist, but other than that, I'm okay. Flynn took HB down."
"Whew...see, if you woulda had my bow and arrow with ye, it coulda been a lot easier!"
She laughed. "You're bad - but you do have a point."
I walked over, seizing an opportunity to tease. I stood behind her, bending to kiss her hair. "Merida, you should have seen her taking him down. She had ME scared!"
"I bet. You don't mess with that girl, and you'd better remember it, too." Merida kidded.
"Yeah, don't worry about that! I'm pretty sure bashing her head up against someone else's face repeatedly didn't help anything about her knock-out from the other day, though."
She turned her face up at me. "What else could I have done, though?"
No clue...so I shrugged.
After awhile, Merida got up to do something, and accidentally elbowed Rapunzel.
She sucked in a breath, and I saw the color wash from her face.
"Should I check your waist? So nothing's, like, wrong or anything? No gaping rips to the plastic or whatever?"
I stepped towards her, and her eyes grew wide with horror. "Flynn, don't you dare. Don't. You. Dare! I'm fine, just a tad bit sore. No, you will NOT be checking my waist. You do realize I have a DRESS on, and not a shirt I could just pull up a little bit. And you realize how embarrassing that would be?!"
I paused to study her from head to toe. My face grew really hot, once more.
"I'm fine, I promise. I feel almost like I'm a little bruised, if dolls can have bruising; and my back's starting to ache from being wrenched around and everything..but that's all, hon."
I kissed her hair again and offered to rub her back.
She laughed. "No. I'm fine, like I said. But thanks for the offer."
"Want me to brush your hair or something? Rebraid it, maybe?"
"It's fine. But you know what you can do? You can help me up so I can go get Hallie."
I shook my head, starting to turn to get Hallie myself.
She hollered at me. "Flynn, my backside is going numb. I am NOT sitting here one more minute!"
I almost burst into laughter. I bit my lip and offered my hand out to her. She took it and stood, thanking me.
I shot Merida a glance and her cackling only got worse. I was waiting for her to buckle over, she was laughing so hard. Good grief! If she didn't stop, I'd start laughing...and I didn't want to laugh. Even though it WAS pretty funny...
Anyway. The day dragged on. Rayne and Blondie came down, realizing the whole situation. That was interesting, but Rayne asked for forgiveness. My wife was a better doll than I was, that's for sure. I would have told her off, but she simply nodded.
After that, they invited us to go back up to the top shelf. I'd miss the bottom shelf, personally! Rapunzel and Merida both felt the same. It was a lot roomier down there, and easier to get to the floor. But I told them we'd wait till Rapunzel's leg was completely better. Oh, and Tangled Fan came in and took care of HB and Ray.
Rapunzel went to bed early. I was concerned about that, cause she NEVER went to bed early, but I didn't want to harp at her about it.
I thought she was asleep when I went to bed at 10. I flopped down on my back, under the covers, and was asleep within moments.
However, when I woke up sometime through the night, she wasn't there. I sat up and looked around, finally spotting her at the edge of the shelf. I figured that I better go check on her.
I crept over behind her. "What's the matter?" I asked.
"Can't sleep," she whispered, tipping her head up and back to look at me.
Then, she did something that surprised me. Instead of reprimanding me for not being in bed sleeping, she patted the floor beside her, smiling at me.
I returned the smile and sat beside her, putting a careful arm around her shoulders.
"Why can't my sweet wife sleep tonight?" I asked.
She chuckled quietly at my sentence. "Back's bothering me. My leg's not too bad, and my waist isn't as terribly sore, but now my back hurts." She paused. "It'll probably ease up by tomorrow or the day after, though."
"I see. Maybe Tangled Fan should take a look at you?" I said, concerned. As much as I hated the thought of her having to stay away, I wouldn't put selfish desire over my wife's health.
"No! I'll be fine. Please, don't." She grabbed both of my hands into hers desperately, before I could even think of standing up.
I looked at her face. "But if it gets worse, you ARE going to be checked out. And that's a fact."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I guess..."
I leaned towards her and gave her a kiss, which she returned. When we pulled apart, she touched her forehead up against mine. "Now...get to bed. I'll come back later, I suppose."
I shook my head. "I could still stay up for a good while,"
She shook her head back at me. "I don't want you to get a migraine!" she hissed.
"I won't. So don't you worry your pretty little mind, dear girl." I grinned at her, but we were close enough that I doubt she noticed.
She sighed. "Nothing's gonna make you go back to bed, right?"
"Yup."
She laughed through her nose and shook her head in mock exasperation. "You're awful."
"Yup." I said, hoping to get a laugh out of her; and I did.
She leaned up against me, putting a hand on top of mine and lacing her fingers with mine. Amazing how just that made my heart feel funny.
After a while of silence, I finally spoke up. "So..the day after tomorrow's our month-and-a-half anniversary. Do you think you'll be up to doing anything, or...?"
"Of course!" She exclaimed...and then she got a mischievous look about her. "If you'll LET me do anything, that is!"
I chuckled. "We'll see."
"And how do you think going back to the top of the bookshelf will go over? I know I am pretty reluctant to go back. It's nice having a small bit of privacy, as well as being able to get out easier."
I nodded. "Same here."
We sat quietly for a few moments, and then she spoke up. "I suppose we should probably get to bed..especially you."
I stood and offered a hand to her, which she accepted. We minced back to our corner, trying not to wake anyone.
She promptly flopped down on the bed and rolled over onto her side, and I did the same. She loosed an exhausted sigh, and I reached to put an arm around her waist, as was how I'd gotten used to doing. (I'm a doll of habit.)
But as soon as my hand touched her side, I jerked it back. "Sorry!" I whispered, hoping I hadn't touched her where she was sore.
"I'm not made out of glass, hon," she whispered to me, before she reached behind and pulled my arm back over her. I laughed quietly, relieved I hadn't hurt her.
"Love you," I leaned over to whisper in her ear.
"I love you too, hon." She whispered in return, and I smiled to myself.
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