Museboxing locked to seethelanterns

[guidethesun]

One baby. That was what Eugene signed up for -- okay, well, maybe not signed up for since he and Rapunzel hadn't expected to get in the family way only four months following their marriage -- but he'd been expecting one baby. One baby. Rapunzel's pregnant belly had been big, but it hadn't looked big enough to hold more than one occupant. And yet, after he's handed his son -- they're naming him Heinrich because that was Rapunzel's grandfather's name, even though Eugene just knows the poor kid will get teased by Heinie one day -- full of pride because look at that handsome boy!

He's told by the midwife that there's one more. What. One more what? One more baby, Your Highness. One more baby? There's another baby in there? I thought we were supposed to get just one!

Apparently not, and thirty minutes later, Eugene and Rapunzel have a daughter -- Eugene's got enough wits about him after the confusion to suggest Emeline for a name, and there they now have their daughter, Emma. So now Eugene's holding both baby Emma and Ricky (because he will call his son Heinie in a cold day in Hell) while Rapunzel rests, tired from a twenty-six hour labor. Eugene spends the hour Rapunzel sleeps watching the newly born twins sleep in their bundles of blankets inside Rapunzel's old bassinet that Eugene's mother-in-law had brought up before Rapunzel's labor even started. He notices that Ricky looks more like his mother while Emma takes after her father. Whereas Emma has her daddy's eyes and nose (Eugene pities the palace portrait painter for the future portraits he'll be painting of Eugene's daughter) Ricky has Rapunzel's mouth and cheeks. He reminds Eugene of a squirrel actually, and Eugene would laugh at that if it weren't his own son.

He hears a stirring sound from the bed and knows it's his wife. He leaves the bassinet's side to go to her, sitting down on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand up to the wild mess of brunette hair that can only be Princess Rapunzel of Corona.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Eugene says softly. "Get enough rest?"

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[seethelanterns]

Rapunzel stirs, obviously exhausted and overwhelmed by the labor, relieved that it is over and resting afterwards. But when she finally wakes, she shifts slightly, feeling his hand in her hair and raising her own hand to hold it for a moment.

"Mm. I feel a bit better now. How are they?" Of course she is more concerned for the babies, recalling being told of how sick her own mother had been while pregnant with her. She barely managed to make it through the labor before sleeping, utterly spent. She sits up and manages a small smile at seeing Eugene, initially wondering where the twins were before noticing they are asleep in the bassinet.

She sits up, tentatively almost crawling from the bed towards the bassinet to see them, half resting and leaning against Eugene as she looks down on them.

"They're so little."

[guidethesun]

Eugene is wary as Rapunzel sits up -- it'd been a long labor and Eugene's first time witnessing childbirth and it had looked downright horrifying to be frank -- worrying that she might exhaust herself, but she's stubborn, the woman he married, and while his shoulders twitch, fingers curling into the down of the comforter, he doesn't move until Rapunzel's seated beside him -- he relaxes once she leans against him. He puts an arm around her waist and keeps her close.

"For somethings so little, they sure require a lot of maintenance."

[seethelanterns]

Rapunzel is aware once the others see her already up they will probably tell her to rest and lie back down. But right now she wants this, reassurance that the twins are all right, to be with Eugene. Really, this is more than she could have hoped for. A family. A real family of her own, her parents, Eugene and now these two infants, so vulnerable and tiny.

She can't help but smile at the sight of them, so easily resting after their initial tears and screams of upset. These two tiny little people who will rely so much on her, on Eugene. Who will one day take their place to guide their people of Corona. It's a huge responsibility, one she is still admittedly partly terrified of, but one she will leap into wholeheartedly.

"So I'm told. You don't think anyone will try to kidnap them? I mean, when my hair was cut...neither of them seem to have that."

She can't help but worry, wanting them to be safe and avoid a repeat of her own life, being kidnapped by Gothel. Surely by now everyone was aware that things were different. The power was gone, there was no more healing to be passed on since she saved Eugene.

[guidethesun]

Eugene's mouth thins and his arm around Rapunzel pulls her a little closer. The very idea of someone like Gothel coming and taking his son and daughter are a thought that's gone through his mind before (back when he'd been expecting just one baby and not two). And he'd thought long and hard about how he'd do something worse to that person than any theft he'd ever committed in the past. But he also thought about being practical, and had talked with his father-in-law about his worries and the King had validated them and understood Eugene's concern.

But you can't let this ruin this wonderful gift, Eugene. That's what the King had said. We won't let anything happen to your child. We know better now, and we will protect this child with our very lives. And that had convinced Eugene. A little. He'd known he would always worry -- because that's what fathers do -- but that doesn't make the thought any less horrible.

But he's back in the now -- Rapunzel looks so worried and there's memories in her eyes of a life that she hadn't deserved. A life taken because she happened to have something that someone terrible wanted. And he pulls the bassinet right next to the bed instead of a few inches away, so that their son and daughter are right there at arms length away.

"Your dad is going to double the guard from now on, and your mother is ensuring that all windows and doors in the suites will be locked at sundown. Nobody is going to take our children, Rapunzel. And if they try, well, then they have an entire kingdom to contend with."

[seethelanterns]

There's a shift, one hand curling into Eugene's shirt as Rapunzel brings her other to the edge of the bassinet when he pulls it closer. She's been hesitant to mention the very idea to her parents, this worry of hers, due to not wanting to bring up those difficult memories for them. She has no idea Eugene already talked to her father about it.

"Really? I hope that keeps them safe."

Not that she doubts their efforts, but she doesn't want her parents going through the same thing with their grandchildren, and hates to think of how it would upset Eugene given his past too.

"We'll keep them safe too. I just--I never really expected this. Having a family of my own."

[guidethesun]

"Kind of life changing.," Eugene says, head tilting to he side as Rapunzel makes herself comfortable against him, reaching out to the bassinet. The little bodies which rise and fall with each breath they make -- the little heartbeats inside such fragile cases. These are Eugene's and Rapunzel's realities. They're only a day old, but already Eugene knows he'd give his life if it came to it. He'd probably steal for them if it came to it. Even pick up a sword and attack if it came to it. He loves them so much.

As much as he loves their mother. Maybe more? No -- he loves them each equally, but differently.

"I'm going to have to share you now." He turns his head, lips brushing against Rapunzel's brow, and he strokes her back soothingly. "Hopefully I'm mature enough to handle it."

[seethelanterns]

"Kind of?"

Try, majorly life changing, Eugene, that might be a bit closer. Still, Rapunzel knows what he means. This will definitely change things. She's read up on what she can about parenting and babies, relieved for her parents' support and help, even if they might be conflicted even in their excitement in their loss of raising Rapunzel themselves. This hopefully is some small way to make things up to them.

"Ha. You've always had to share me anyway, Eugene."

Because clearly he forgot about Pascal. Or wasn't counting the chameleon, glaring over at him from the bassinet as he joins the twins and settles to watch over them for Rapunzel.