Greetings Readers! I apologize for the lateness of the update - I could give excuses and reasons, but you probably don't want to read those. Instead, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled, or any of its characters.

If it hadn't have looked absolutely pathetic, Eugene would have fallen to his knees, gripped his hair and screamed, right in the middle of the marketplace. He had spent hours asking the same questions over and over in an increasingly futile effort to track down the guy who had kidnapped Rapunzel. All he'd gotten from eyewitnesses about the guy was that he was a small, seedy-looking guy that nobody would notice. The descriptions he'd been given were vague enough to apply to at least a dozen of those he'd heard of and known in his less reputable days. Even the recognition of the chloroform for what it was had led to a disappointing dead end – he'd gone to the two apothecary shops but neither of the shop owners remembered the seedy man who had slipped in to buy chloroform. He just hadn't been one that stood out, both shops claimed, and one had been distracted by balancing the books, while the other had been distracted by a pretty girl looking for love potions. The second shop owner had tried to appeal to Eugene's susceptibilities as a normal guy, saying that he'd have been just as distracted if he'd been the one talking to the girl. As Flynn, he would have totally agreed and even set aside a chunk of time to talk about just how good the girl looked.

But he wasn't Flynn Rider, he was Eugene Fitzherbert, and he was having a hard time not rearing back and socking the stupidly grinning man for letting the guy who took Rapunzel get away. He'd even felt his fingers clenching into a fist, only to relax them as the vision of a disappointed Rapunzel's face appeared in front of his mind's eye.

However, his frustration had to find some outlet before he exploded, and so he half-stumbled, half-trudged into a nearby bar, not noticing the concerned gaze following him as the doors closed behind him.

The bar was cleaner than the Ugly Duckling, but not by much, and the normal patrons were less menacing but also less interesting. He'd been in this bar before, using the scene to practice his swagger and pubescent smolder on the serving girls or pretty dates that had gotten dragged in. Eugene recognized the bartender, but the man polishing glasses behind the bar gave no indication that he remembered him. That was just as well, since Eugene didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Julia slipped into the bar, pushing back the hood of her cape as her worried eyes surveyed the room. It wasn't hard to find Eugene – the only people in the bar besides Eugene and the bartender was a table of four sailors playing poker in a back corner and a hunched man at the end of the bar, nursing a tall glass of brown, murky liquid.

Eugene gave no sign that he'd heard her enter or felt the rays of sunlight that feel and dissipated across his face as the door opened and closed. Julia bit her lip – she had never seen him like this.

It wasn't that she had never seen him drunk before. There had been several entertaining incidents when they were younger when he had gotten royally plastered – but he had been in a good mood. He had become animated, exuberant, and his smolder and hold on the ladies had intensified. It was not normal to see him slumped morosely over the bar, staring into the empty mug in front of him with his eyes dimmed with overindulgence. Eugene craned his head upwards. "Gimme another one."

The bartender automatically came over, with the intent of grabbing the mug to refill it, only to stop at the sight of Julia drawing her hand under his chin, while shaking her head fervently. The bartender turned back to the rag and mugs.

"Ah, c'mon," Eugene groaned, blearily, gesturing for the bartender to return.

The shock of the slap that pinned his palm t the slightly sticky wood of the counter reverberated down his spine and he looked up to see an irritated but concerned Julia looking down at him. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" He glared, "I'm getting drunk, or I was until you showed up."

"Good thing I came then," Eugene looked away, irritated, so Julia gave up the niceties and went right to the heart. "What would Rapunzel think?"

The question sent a jolt of pain noticeably through his stance and eyes.

She pushed on. "What kind of a boyfriend are you? Your girlfriend's missing, and you're out getting drunk?" She didn't particularly like playing hardball, but she'd had to deal with a drunk family member or two in her life, and shock tended to be the quickest way to shop them out of a drunken stupor.

Eugene grimaced and put his head on the bar, ignoring the stickiness that adhered his forehead to the wood. "Not like I was being a much better one before."

Julia's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you-?"

Ripping his head off the counter, his forehead beet-red and stinging, Eugene looked her in the eye and answered frenetically. "What kind was I before? How could I let her be taken? How can I not find her? How could I let this happen?"

"How can you give up?"

The question stopped him short, spoken in a tone that was quiet but intense, and he stared at her as she crossed her arms and gave him a piercing look. "The guy I knew would never give up because of a few setbacks, not when the goal is really valuable." She spared him a small smile. "And if you'd risk anything for a couple fistfuls of silver and coins, can't you risk even more for Rapunzel?"

Resolve crept into his eyes, but quickly seeped back out. "I'm all out of leads."

"I'm not," she countered proudly, "I was talking to Frank when these little boys came up to buy bread. They were talking about some guy carrying a brown-haired girl out of the marketplace a few days ago."

Eugene stood up, resolve suddenly blazing in his eyes. "They still there?"

"Should be," she grinned.

Eugene fumbled in his tunic for a moment before producing a few coins. He flung them at the counter with such force that they ricocheted off the counter and towards the man at the end of the bar. One of the coins hit him in the shoulder and the other two fell into his mug, causing the liquid to splash up and over the side of the mug.

"Hey, Rider! Get back here, ya punk!" The bartender yelled after the swinging door, finally having recognized Eugene. He was torn between slight amusement and irritation, but instead stayed back to smooth things over with the customer, who had not reacted at all since the alcohol had splashed up into his face. "Sir, ya all right?"

The seedy little man continued to remain frozen, and the barkeeper leaned in closer. "Sir, ya want another drink? It's on the house."

The man blinked furtively and then stumbled backwards, sending droplets of alcohol from his hair and clothing as he turned and ran out of the bar into the sunlight. The barkeeper simply raised an eyebrow before slipping back behind the bar and picking up the mug, pouring out the soggy dregs so he could keep the coins and clean the mug. In all his years, he'd seen stranger reactions than what he'd just witnessed, but there was something about the guy…

The bell above the door rang, and he pushed the thought out of his mind to deal with the new customer.

Too close, Guiner thought to himself as he took in deep breaths, leaning against the brick wall of the bar. He hadn't been far from the storehouse where he was keeping the princess since he'd gotten her there, and he'd had no luck in getting any tears. He'd needed a drink, and so risked getting caught for pint of mildly decent alcohol in a mildly decent bar.

The universe must have something against him that the one bar he happened to pick was the same bar that the princess' boyfriend happened to stumble into. He hadn't even been able to let the potency of the alcohol set in.

He hadn't been caught, but the fact of the matter was he could have been. It wasn't as though Guiner was new to the adrenaline rush of pulling a successful con or even of escaping the repercussions of those who figured out that they were being swindled. But he'd never played for such high stakes before, and beneath the thin sheen of adrenaline was thick, solid fear. I have to do something.

A/N: So now what will happen? I know, and soon you will, too! I hope you liked it.

Thanks for reading and please review! Reviews make me happy!