Storms last night

Last night, there were some pretty nasty storms.  I couldn't sleep because of them, and I could hear Rapunzel was up and pacing.  I was wondering why -- I have been honoring her wanting to be alone so far, but I was worried because she usually paced only if she was really upset, afraid, or nervous. Soo I got up out of bed  and crept over to her side of the table.  She was the only one up, and was clearly upset about something. 
"Hey...what's wrong?  I'm sorry, but I couldn't lay in bed and listen to you pacing any longer," I announced myself in a whisper. 
She gasped quietly, and when another montage of lightning went off, I saw her face was just filled with fear. 
"Go back to bed, I'm sorry I woke you," she whispered. 
"No.  I've been up...this storm's pretty bad, huh?" 
"Yeah...that's why I've been up.  I'm...it's really, really stupid, but I'm terrified of storms," the end of her sentence was a squeak, because a loud boom of thunder sounded.  That's when lightning cracked and sizzled.  For a split second, the room was so bright from it that it was almost like daytime.  That basically sent her into a tizzy of fear. Her eyes widened even more, and she tried to run and dive for her corner, but I snagged her arms and pulled her close.  She buried her face in my shoulder, and I put my hands over her ears when some more thunder rolled.  The thunder was loud enough to make the window shudder...yikes. 
She clamped her arms around me so tight I could hardly breathe, but I figured that if it made her feel less afraid, I could deal with some shallow breathing.  I kept my arms around her until the majority of the storm had passed through.  While I did so, I thought.  I couldn't remember her being so terrified about storms, but we haven't had a storm this loud for practically a year, so I'd never been around her when there was a bad storm.  I wished I could get to the girls, too, to make sure that they were alright, but Tangled Fan kept them in a different room and in a box, so they probably couldn't even hear much of the storm. 

Sometime after the last grumble of thunder had rolled through, she loosed a shuddery sigh and loosened her grip on me.  "Th-thank you.  It's stupid of me, I know." 
I pulled away just enough to see her face.  "No, it's not.  I know that a lot of people don't like storms,"
She bit her lip.  "But it's weird.  We got a lot of bad storms in Tennessee, where I came from...and Flynn always laughed when I would get scared....Flynn and everyone else.  So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's weird of me," she muttered quietly.  Her fear had been replaced with shame. 
"Well, I'm not Flynn, and I say that it's just fine.  Everyone has those little fears or quirks.  I do...I'm not sure about Zelia though.  She's just terrifying sometimes," I tried to get her to smile, and it worked. 
"Really?  And...yeah.  She's pretty fearless.  I wish I could have a little bit of that bravery." 
"That's fine, though.  I can't blame you for not being able to sleep, though...it was a pretty loud one." 
"Mhm," she nodded before suddenly reaching to hug me again, burying her face in my shoulder.  "Thank you for staying up with me, and for not thinking I'm stupid for being afraid." 
I wrapped my arms around her and didn't answer her, I just asked, "How's your thinking...going?  I'm sorry I kinda broke your two-weeks-of-alone-time thing, but I knew you were upset about something, and I couldn't stand it anymore." 
"It's been fine--I've sorted out a few things...Zelia thinks it's stupid of me, but I'm used to the insults.  Punzie's been pretty horrible, too, but nothing new with--" she paused as she heard some rain come pattering down on the roof -- gently at first, but then it came down harder and harder.  A whisper of thunder reappeared, and lightning could just barely be seen on the horizon line.  "--oh, great.  I just want to get some sleep..."
I wordlessly slipped away from her, going to scoop up Pascal.  I snagged her blanket as well, and then crept back over to her.  I think I almost stepped on someone's hand - Punzie..oh dear gosh, that would've been terrifying-- but I made it over to her, putting a hand on her arm. 
"C'mon," I whispered. 
She did, giving me a curious look.  We left the table, and I helped her to scramble up in this great little spot I knew about. 
It was under the table and on top of the bins, but it was surrounded on two sides by other boxes and the other side was the wall; the fourth side was open and facing across the room.  The boxes blocked the majority of the lightning from being seen -- except for a flash of light in the room--and it somewhat blocked the sound of the thunder.  Somewhat.  Hardly.  But whatever. 
After she sat down in the one corner, I wrapped her blanket around her and handed Pascal to her before sitting beside her.  "There.  You won't be able to see the lightning as much, and I'm hoping it blocks the sound out a wee bit." 
She gave me a small smile.  "Thank you...this place is actually pretty neat,"
"Yeah...I thought it was, anyway."  I watched Pascal get comfortable on her lap as I spoke. 
"You can go get some sleep, Eugene.  I'll be fine, and I won't wake you up by pacing." 
"It's tempting, but I'd prefer staying with you, to be honest."
"Your joints, though..." she gave me a concerned look. 
"They will be just fine.  I'm not pacing, am I?  I'm sitting down."
She sighed.  "Okay...if you're sure.  And thank you,"
We sat in silence for awhile, but eventually, the thunder started up louder once more.  She bit her lip and started to look a bit worried, so I tried to think of something to talk about to distract her. 
"So...um...how's Anna been treating you?" 
She quirked a brow, staring at me, but then she caught on to what I was trying to do.  "She's still avoiding me, but she's less hateful doing it." 
We continued the conversation, and despite the storm --which wasn't as violent as the one before it--she, with her knees pulled up to her chest, leaned up against me and fell asleep.  I didn't want to wake her up, but I also knew I couldn't carry her up to the table, so I just stayed there too.


This morning, I was up shortly before she was.  I was just considering getting up and leaving her on her own when she woke up.  She didn't seem to notice me at first, until after she had unfurled her legs and stretched.  When she looked over her shoulder, she gasped in surprise. 
"O-oh!  Did we...did we fall asleep down here?" 
"Yeah,"  I told her -quite simply.
She nodded before giving me a shy smile.  "Thanks for staying up with me last night.  I, um...I really appreciated it..and I don't think I've ever been calm enough to fall asleep during a storm." 
"You're welcome.  Glad I had a calming influence on you," I chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders and hugging her without even thinking.  As soon as I caught myself, I started to apologize, but she shook her head. 
"That's quite fine," she actually grinned.  "Don't be so apologetic." 
"Okay, but I'll stop apologizing after I say this:  Sorry for breaking the break agreement thing." 
She slugged me playfully.  "I'm pretty sure I told you not to worry about that.  Actually...thank you for doing so.  I've been way overthinking things, and I'm pretty sure I just got my answers."
"Hmm...like about what?" I asked, curious. 
"Lots of things," she said, probably knowing full well that I really wanted to know. 
"Oh, so you're not going to tell me.  Typical!"  I pretended to be mad, and even threw in a huff of disgust.
She giggled.  "I will, but--"
"But not now!  You've peaked my curiosity and now you'll leave me hanging forever!"  I kept on teasing her, and she gave me that adorable little smile of hers.  I haven't seen that one in a long time! 
"Do you always tease this much in the morning, or..?"  she asked.
"Hmm...I don't know.  Maybe," I said with a wink, and she actually leaned up against me, smiling. 
"Well...I'll tell you.  But not because you're complaining highly about it...I just need to get it off my chest," she gave me a mock-disgusted look for the 'complaining highly' part.  
"O-okay?"  I must admit that I was a little worried. 
"I...I just want to thank you.  It's been almost a month, and you've put up with me...so well.  You've really opened my eyes as to how a person should act.  With Flynn, I was naive, and I was just so excited over the fact that maybe, just maybe, someone cared about me...I didn't have any experience, and I thought that maybe that was just how others acted.  Maybe he preferred to be around me when I was prettied up, because I know I look horrible.  Geez, I don't look very pretty when I AM prettied up anyway!  But regardless...I thought maybe he was just giving me space or pretending he didn't see when I would trip or be clumsy.  I thought maybe he was just staking his claim or something when he'd want to be around me when we were around the others...specifically Diane, that girl that he was trying to get the attention of.  I thought maybe he was just having a bad day whenever he'd get short with me.  But no.  If you really care about someone, your actions are...and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's when you can spend hours talking about anything and everything to them, and never get bored.  They'll stay up with you no matter what time of the night it is, just because you're lonely or need reassurance.  They know exactly what to say and when, and they don't complain if you don't braid your hair or dress up.  They just care about you.  They don't mind your pet, and you love how they laugh, how they smile, and how they tease you.  They'll come and dance with you whenever there's music to dance to, and they don't get mad if you need to vent about your ex or your past...or anything.  They put your problems above their own... And...they keep tabs on you via your sister, when you say you need space." she gave me a pensive stare, silently asking me if I got what she was trying to tell me. 
Ah. 
She knew about when I pulled Zelia aside to ask her how Rapunzel was (I did that Sunday). 
Woops...
"Hmm...you know about that - about me keeping tabs on you?" 
"Yep," she answered in such a quick, sure manner that I had to laugh. 
"I hope you don't mind...I was just worried about ya."  I was beyond relieved that she wasn't mad at me or anything. 
"No, no...it's fine.  I thought it was really sweet, actually," she blushed and giggled quietly before catching herself and immediately dropping her gaze to her lap. 
What a change a couple of days had given her.  She seemed so happy to have finally gotten Flynn out of her head - for the most part. 
I asked what was going to happen to the ban, and she rolled her eyes, saying it was silly of her and that it was done. 
"Awesome...so...movie tomorrow?"  I accompanied that with my best silly/hopeful face, and was rewarded with a laugh.
"Yes....movie tomorrow,"
"I can't wait," I winked, and she gave me a shy smile.  "Oh...and by the way?  You saying you're not pretty...that's a straight out lie.  You are beautiful, inside and out...just sayin'." 
She gasped, but then she burst out laughing, surprised at her own gasp.  "Um...I think you're just trying to make me feel good, but thanks."

We decided to leave our little spot, but we made it only as far as my side of the table.  She said she wanted to spend the day with me if I was okay with it, and do you really think I was going to pass up that opportunity??   She sat on the wicker chair, and I on the box beside it. 
And was I ever glad to have her over for the rest of the day...not a minute was spent talking about Flynn, and I think the proverbial battle's already half over.  I wanted to tell her about..well, you know.. but I decided that it was too soon, and I wanted to be sure she trusted me 101% before I told her. 
Eventually, though, she sighed and leaned her head up against the wicker chair.  "I suppose I need to get back over there..."
"Hmm...I guess." I gave her a smile, even though I was rueful to let her go.
She stood up, and I realized we were holding hands.  When had that happened??  Regardless, she gave me a grin, held her other hand out for me to take, and pulled me up off of the box.  When I stood, I still held onto her hands, reluctant to let her go. But regardless, I gave her a grin.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she met my eyes and gave me a smile in return.
"Yup!  When?"  I asked. 
"Hmm...around one?"
"Awesome," I told her, and she nodded before she turned to leave.  "Wait!"
"What?"  she turned and gave me a curious look. 
"Thanks for spending the day over here.  It might sound silly, but I missed you these past coupla days."
She gave me an honest-to-goodness, toothy smile, but then her eyes actually teared up a bit as she came back over.  "Thank you.  I have to admit...I missed you a bit, too.  I'm sorry I've been so weird..I'm just afraid of letting my guard down...you know?" 
"I know," I pulled her into another hug.  "You can trust me, though.  I promise I'd never do anything to hurt you, okay?"
She buried her face in my shoulder for a minute, but then she pulled away and gave me a teasing grin as she held her little finger out.  "Pinky promise?" 
"Pinky promise...just for you," I pretended to be exasperated, and she laughed as she linked her tiny finger with mine. 
"Okay.  I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled up at me, holding my gaze, and I nodded. 
"See ya then," I told her.   I made sure she had her blanket and Pascal with her, and then she started to leave.  Before she went to the other side, though, she turned back to me with a shy smile. 
"And thanks once more for staying with me last night.  I don't think I've ever felt safer, to be honest." 
With that, she left.