Note: Well guys, this is a wrap. First, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and set up an alert for this story. It's very motivating to know that people are interested in something you've done. :)

Next, there's a serious personal note here, so skip ahead to the chapter if you don't want to read any more "confessions." I've chosen to complete this story today, the 27th, because on this day in 2011, the deadliest tornado outbreak of modern times occurred in the U.S. I was affected by this outbreak—and conflicted, since I was already studying meteorology when it happened and was obviously fascinated by the natural aspect of it, while being horrified by the human tragedy at the same time. I saw some things close up, in nearby towns, that I wish I hadn't. The events associated with that outbreak (and its aftermath) gave me some perspective on survivor's guilt, PTSD, and, I am sorry to admit, dysfunctional control-related issues. Obviously all this influenced this story a great deal. Though I did not experience a personal tragedy that day, the story became a lot more autobiographical in some ways than I'd intended, and I appreciate your putting up with that when all that you probably really wanted was to read about these awesome characters in an offbeat AU. Thanks for sticking around! (There are more notes at the end.)

Chapter 15: Recovery

"I don't have to go to the hospital," Rapunzel protested as the paramedics lowered her body onto a stretcher. Eugene was already hooked up in the back of the ambulance, but these people wanted to take her to the hospital too. She had never been to a hospital before and didn't want to go now. This was one experience that she did not desire. She sat up. It really hurt the bruises, scratches, and puncture wounds that dotted her body, but she wanted to prove to them that she was okay. "I'll be fine," she said, wincing.

The storm chase team was right there. They had rushed to the scene after the tornado passed, terrified of what they were going to find—or not find. They were relieved that they were both alive, though they did not have Eugene's post-near-death-experience confidence that he was not going to die after all. He had lost a lot of blood, and he was starting to drift into unconsciousness again. Worry lines creased their burly faces, and a couple of the chasers frowned at Rapunzel for her stubbornness. "You're battered," Hook said to Rapunzel. "Stop fighting them, babe."

"Yeah, if you don't go with them, you're going with us," Vladimir added. "You're going in whether you like it or not."

Rapunzel sighed and leaned back on the stretcher. She supposed that she might as well stop this, because it was preventing them from bringing Eugene to the hospital, and he really needed to be there. "Fine," she muttered. "But he's in terrible shape. Don't worry too much about me."

Once they arrived, Rapunzel was treated with antibiotics, bandaged up, and checked over, but as she had already known, there was nothing seriously wrong with her. She did not get to see Eugene; he was quickly rushed into the critical care unit to get a blood transfusion, a massive dose of antibiotics, and to have the metal spike safely removed from his shoulder. After that the doctors would begin to repair the tissue damage as well as they could, but they were already dropping hints to the chase team and Rapunzel about permanent nerve damage. She hated it for his sake, but she was just glad that he was alive. However, no one was allowed to see him just yet.

Rapunzel waited in the hospital lobby that afternoon trying to think about everything that had happened. Now that there were no distractions—no tornado to chase and no warm arms to wrap around her and make her forget everything—it was overwhelming. Her mother was dead, and she had never had a chance to say goodbye properly. The only consolation she had was that she had tried to save her mother's life despite what the woman had done to her the day before. Her house was also destroyed along with most of her belongings. At least she still had Pascal. She was very glad she had insisted on bringing her pet along on the chase. Pascal was a small animal, so he might have survived the tornado if he had been there, but she would not likely have seen him again.

"You know," Hook remarked to her as he sat next to her, "we got a lot of data out of those sensors of yours."

She smiled weakly at him. "I'm glad."

"It was definitely an F5."

"I'm not surprised."

"We told the Koenigs about it. They're gonna be here in a few minutes. You'll get to meet 'em. They sounded really interested in you. Oh yeah, and they said Rider's back on the team."

"That's good."

Hook glanced at her. "I think he's going to be all right," he said compassionately. "He's a lucky punk, too. And I don't just mean because he survived that."

She smiled. She knew what he meant. "Thanks."

"There they are," Attila suddenly said, pointing at a pair of people coming into the lobby.

Rapunzel looked up. The man was large-bodied, with blue eyes, silver hair, and a beard. The woman was thinner. Her long, rich brown hair was also streaked with silver and tied in a ponytail. Her eyes, though framed by bifocals and creased by lines of worry, age, and, it appeared to Rapunzel, deep sorrow, were the exact shade of green as her own. As the pair neared, she realized that the resemblance went much farther than that. This woman was practically a doppelganger of her in facial features. If her hair had been longer and its true color, the resemblance would be even more striking.

The woman's eyes suddenly popped as she approached. Her jaw dropped and her mouth fell open a little. As she reached the group, she shook her head slightly, as if trying to clear her thoughts physically, and gave them a shaky smile. "Ingrid Koenig," she said, shaking Rapunzel's hand. "I'm so glad to meet you, dear."

Rapunzel suddenly remembered what Eugene had told her when he was dying. It was really important, apparently, for her to tell these people about her life, if that was what he needed to tell her as (he thought) a last request. She resolved to do this at the first opportunity. For now, they had to get acquainted and talk about the events of the previous day.

That evening Rapunzel's emotional shock had increased tenfold. Apparently, around nineteen years ago, these scientists had undergone an experimental treatment for infertility—a certain medicine made out of a mutated flower—but the baby they had wanted so badly had been kidnapped shortly after it was born. After Rapunzel explained about her cabin, her strange upbringing, her mother's—well, Gothel's—past as a plant breeder and herbalist, the Koenigs were pretty sure that she was their daughter. Rapunzel could not believe it, but she agreed to undergo a DNA test to settle the question.

It came back positive.

Eugene must have known about it, she realized after she got back the shocking—well, by that time, not so shocking—results of the test. He had known the Koenigs and known their back story. He had definitely known about Crown Enterprises. He must have pieced everything together in his mind, but not told her because he wasn't absolutely certain of it. When he thought he was going to die, he had insisted that she tell them about her past so that they could put the pieces together too. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about what this implied. He must have figured it out before the tornado, but he still tried to save Gothel's life for her sake. Then he thought he was going to die, but he wanted to give her the keys to finding her family so that she wouldn't be completely alone in the world. She had told him already, but now that she understood fully what he had been trying to do, she realized that she really, really loved him. And she was infinitely grateful that his gift to her had not been darkened by his death after all.

He was not able to have visitors, but the Koenigs still stayed overnight in the hospital at Rapunzel's insistence. She was not going to leave him that night, whether he knew that she was there or not. However, the next day, she went to her new home to begin to get acquainted with her new parents. The first request she made was to have her hair dyed its natural color. That was what it would look like from now on anyway. The mutant flower had been destroyed in the fourth tornado along with everything else in the cabin, including Gothel's supply of elixir. The little bottle that Eugene had swiped had been used up to save his life. She had very mixed feelings about the flower and the herbal made from it, and she was happy to see them gone now. She would not have been conceived without it, but because of it, she didn't get to meet her real parents until she was an adult.

They talked a lot about what sort of relationship they should have. Rapunzel was an adult, and the Koenigs knew that they could not expect to treat her as a child. The Koenigs knew that her relationship with them would always be different from that of other adults with their parents. Most parents would watch their child grow up and find their own partner, who would then become the most important person in the world to the child, but the years of that status would have forged a bond so close that the parents would not actually feel that they had lost much "rank" in their child's heart at all. When Ingrid Koenig had been pregnant, she had thought about that. It had been a sad thing to think of, but she had known that that was how it was supposed to be, and she had comforted herself with knowing that she and her husband would, at least, be the most important people in the world to their child for many years. Even after she had been kidnapped, they had hoped that if she was still alive and they found her while she was yet a little girl, they could be that to her. Now it was too late, and that would never be. The close bond wasn't there; it had to be formed, and all three of them knew it would not match that other bond that had begun to form the past several days. The relationship would no doubt become warm and loving, and in time she truly would regard them as parents, but they would always be second place. However, they were glad to have what they could.

Rapunzel moved into her new home and immediately began painting her bedroom with pictures of the events that happened during her first chase trip. She wanted lots and lots of plants so that Pascal would be happy, but none with flowers. It was too painful to think about right now. She was home, but she did not leave the hospital for good for another two weeks—for Eugene had a major, multi-tissue injury that had to be treated. They moved him into a regular hospital room once he was stabilized. He was out of it for most of the time, but when he was conscious, he was always aware that she was there.

He didn't say much during her visits, because he did not quite trust himself to speak. He thought he had come to terms with everything on the chase, but now his thoughts were jumbled up again—this time in a good way—though he figured that a near-death experience would do that to you. He knew that he needed to be a far better person for her sake and that somehow he had grasped something of his true potential. Opening the door to whatever it was he could become seemed to have caused the jumble in his mind; it was too much to contemplate all at once, but Rapunzel provided a point of focus for him when she was there. As she leaned over his bedside to talk to him, he would gaze at her with unfathomable looks in his eyes.

On the seventh night, she was getting ready to leave for the night. She had just been telling him about how her new parents had gone out to the swamp with her to recover everything they could from her cabin. The few items that they salvaged, she brought home and locked in a trunk. She was glad that they had been saved, and she knew that someday she would want to look at them again, but right now she did not want to see them. He listened to this emotional outpouring, which was mixed with more than a few tears, and when she kissed him goodnight, he finally spoke.

"Goodnight, Rapunzel. I love you," he said hoarsely.

She stopped en route to the door, where her parents were waiting. They backed into the hallway to give them their privacy when they realized what he had said. She turned around, walked back to the bed, and kissed him again. "I love you too," she whispered.

Her discovery was the biggest story in Corona in a long time, and the media ate it up. Between the team of "serious" journalists suddenly styling themselves as "investigative reporters" into the shady practices of Crown Enterprises, the tabloid paparazzi digging for dirty details of how Gothel had treated Rapunzel and making things up when all else failed, and the mass of mainstream reporters simply wanting to get as much as they could about the human-interest angle, they had their hands full with media inquiries. The Koenigs and the storm chase team handled the swarm. They would not allow members of the press to speak to Rapunzel, despite her comparatively good state of health. She did not object. The last people she wanted to talk to were reporters. She didn't even like the idea of something so personal being plastered all over the media for everyone to gawk at voyeuristically. Why was it anyone else's business that the Koenigs' daughter had been found? They weren't even public figures. She expressed this opinion very angrily one night before an interview was scheduled, dropping one of Eugene's choice words into her rant before blushing and apologizing. Her parents had laughed, however, and assured her that if she didn't want to talk to the media, she wouldn't have to.

Finally the day came that Eugene was scheduled to be discharged. His shoulder was bandaged tightly where the bone had been reconstructed. He could not use his left arm except clumsily, but the doctors were feeling more optimistic about his prognosis than they initially had. They had told him that most function might return in time. It was worth it to him either way.

Rapunzel clutched his other arm protectively as they walked out of the hospital together and headed for the Koenigs' minivan, which was in the parking garage. Eugene's Mustang had taken some serious damage from debris impacts and had been tossed against a tree by the outer circulation of the F5, but it was in the shop and would apparently be repaired. In any case, he was in no condition to drive one-handed. As they left the hospital at last, he noticed members of the media parked outside the hospital, just waiting for him to make an appearance. One of them pointed at the van. Cameras swiveled over, and at once, Eugene ducked down. He knew that this was a huge, feel-good (at least to people who were not part of it), emotional story, and that reporters would have currency signs figuratively flashing in their eyes at the thought of a story like this, but this was ridiculous. He'd just gotten out of the freaking hospital.

Their next stop was the courthouse. The Koenigs had wanted to have lunch with him after he got out of the hospital, but he had insisted that this needed to be taken care of first. The paparazzi swerved around the block as the Koenigs' minivan pulled in, but he and the little family had dashed inside before they could be interrogated. He went before the judge as Flynn and emerged from the courthouse, finally, lawfully, as Eugene again. The camera-toting mob was waiting outside.

"Mr. Fitzherbert," one of the reporters at the front of the mob said, shoving a microphone into his face. "WCRN reporting live. Do you have any statement to make about unexpectedly discovering Miss Koenig or getting your old job back despite attacking your late colleagues in public?"

Eugene stopped. His eyebrows narrowed.

"Oh dear," Ingrid Koenig said softly.

"No, Mr. Fitzherbert has no comment," he said in a voice so tight that it sounded like it might explode. "But if you need a statement for your live story, then here's one from Flynn Rider." And with that, he stuck his right hand directly in the reporter's face, middle finger extended.

The Koenigs and Rapunzel burst into laughter and dashed away with him into their van. Cameras flashed and popped around them, but they didn't care.

"I can't believe you did that," Rapunzel said, punching his right arm as she sat down next to him.

He laughed. "I can't quite believe it either, but man did it feel good. I hope the whole city saw it on live TV."

"I assume you still want to be yourself, though," she said in a more serious tone.

"Of course. But the 'Flynn' part of me has been there for so long—and to be honest with you, I don't think it's all bad"—he gave the Koenigs a wink—"that I'll probably always think of certain kinds of remarks or actions as 'Flynn' actions."

"It's not all bad," Rapunzel said. "Nobody's all bad or all good. No, nobody," she said as he opened his mouth to object. "And it's not like your 'good' side is all Eugene and your 'bad' side is all Flynn. After all, wasn't it Eugene who decided to 'become' Flynn in the first place?"

"You're right," he muttered. "As always."

A couple of weeks later, the lab's technical team was going over the data gathered in the tornado. Rapunzel was among the technical wizards that day, watching them analyze her data. Rapunzel loved the entire lab and was intrigued by what everyone did there, so she wanted to experience everything to do with it. She was also recreating a prototype of her design out of much more precise instruments than disposable radiosondes. They were going to try to deploy the new and improved sensors in a tornado by shooting them at the funnel. It was simply far too dangerous to try what she and Eugene had tried, and the Koenigs were not going to risk it again. Eugene himself was at his desk, working on a write-up about the tornado. He was now able to type with his left hand, though it slowed him down. He didn't mind that Rapunzel was not clinging to his side all the time now. He was happy that she was adapting so well, and he definitely was not being deprived of her company in general. In fact, he was a little worried that he was depriving her parents of her company.

"Eugene, could you see us in the office?"

Eugene looked around and saw Ingrid Koenig. She bore an impassive expression on her face. Eugene gulped. Was he about to be chewed out for keeping their "new" daughter from them? Did they suspect that he was taking her to bed? He wasn't, but he knew that parents could be paranoid about that, and he had certainly tried to the day he'd met her. That was the sort of thing he did—well, used to do—and he fell into that pattern even when he had met a girl that he really cared about. He was glad now that Rapunzel had stopped him, because he wouldn't have wanted their first time, her first time period, to be in a creaky bed in a shabby motel with lies and deceptions still between them. But he knew he couldn't explain any of this to the Koenigs, because if this was what they wanted to talk to him about, an explanation like that would only make it infinitely worse. He would just have to reassure them that he wasn't having sex with her when they were on dates and that he would give them more time with their daughter. He took a deep breath as he got up and followed Dr. Koenig into the office.

She went into the little pantry room that linked her office and her husband's, took out a plastic bag, and walked over to a coffee machine. She opened the bag. A delightful scent filled the air.

"Coffee, Eugene?" she asked. "It's Sumatran extra dark roast." She held up the bag for him to see.

He was staring open-mouthed. "Um," he said inarticulately. Dr. Koenig raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, thank you," he managed to stammer out. "I just never knew you had a separate machine in here."

"I don't care for that multi-flavored stuff that Attila brings to the break room," she said. "I don't think you're getting the real flavor of coffee if you add so much other stuff to it, you know?" Her eyes were twinkling.

"I love you," he gasped out.

She chuckled. "I'm glad to hear it. Bad relations among one's future in-laws would make things very uncomfortable in years to come."

He blinked. Had she really just said that? He gaped at her. "Um," he said again. She gazed back at him serenely. "Well, it couldn't be more uncomfortable than you've just made it," he finally said.

A masculine chuckle parted the air, and Dr. Wilhelm Koenig entered the little lounge. "Have a seat," he said. Eugene didn't dare disobey.

"You must be wondering why we've called you in here," Wilhelm Koenig said.

"Yes, and I am a little apprehensive," Eugene confessed.

"You don't need to be. My wife and I just think we need to have a talk. There are a lot of things that need to be aired out, so to speak."

Eugene sat back and waited expectantly.

Dr. Wilhelm Koenig peered into his face. "First of all, I'm very glad to see your affection for my daughter."

He grinned. "What can I say? She's an amazing woman."

"She has been through a lot, Eugene."

He nodded. "She has. Much more than I have."

"She will be given love—real love—by my wife and me, but I think that in cases like these, there is no such thing as too much love. She's just lost the person that she believed was her mother, who did raise her"—the man choked on his words—"and while she's doing an admirable job of coping with everything, I know she is struggling with her feelings about that. My wife and I are trying to help her through it, but she needs you too."

"Well, she has me. She's mentioned that subject several times," he said, grimacing, "and it's way above my pay grade, so to speak, but I'm trying to help her deal with it. How to address her grief about that while acknowledging that you"—he turned to Ingrid Koenig—"are actually her mother."

The man nodded approvingly. "A few weeks ago I would have had grave misgivings about your having a relationship with her, or, to be perfectly frank, anyone... but I think that you are a very different person from who you were then."

"I think so too. And"—he swallowed hard, as if swallowing his pride itself—"it was about time that I dealt with all that."

"Yes, Mr. Fitzherbert, it was." He leaned back in his chair and turned to his wife, as if giving her a cue to speak.

Dr. Ingrid Koenig looked Eugene in the eye. "I may as well tell you, Fl—Eugene, when you first became a part of the lab, we really wanted you to be part of our lives. We had lost our daughter. You had lost your parents and even your identity. Yes, we knew that it was an assumed name," she said, holding up a hand for silence as he opened his mouth. "My husband owned a copy of the book when he was a boy."

"Very entertaining book, by the way," Wilhelm Koenig added.

"We went along with it because obviously you had some reason why your true name was painful to you, and in any case, we didn't know what it was. If that was what you wanted to be called, that's what we would call you."

Eugene was dumbstruck.

"And as we got to know you better, my husband and I soon came to regard you, well, not quite as an adoptive son, but definitely as a protégé."

Well, he wasn't too surprised. He had thought that himself when he was still "Flynn." It was actually gratifying to know that it wasn't just his own arrogance and egotism, and that it really had been there. However... "Then why did you sack me?" he exclaimed.

"Sometimes a person has to do something painful because it is in the other person's best interest. It had become clear to us that you were not coping with the issues in your past. I had long hoped that being in the lab, among other people with a desire for excitement and a love of weather, would benefit you. But rather than the lab being a stable environment that reshaped you, you were making the lab over in the image of yourself."

He could hardly believe his ears. That was exactly what he had been doing. How long had she been aware of it? Just how well did this woman understand him anyway?

Well, she was Rapunzel's mother, and Rapunzel certainly understood him quite well. It would figure.

She peered at him. "You're different from what you were. It's uncommon for such a drastic change to occur so suddenly, but significant events change people, and it can happen very quickly under those circumstances." She stood up. "I like what I see. And I think that deep down, you do too."

He grinned. "I don't have to look deep down."

"Well, I'm glad that you're at peace with the changes rather than fighting them."

"Thank you for everything," he said, sensing that the meeting was over.

"No, thank you for everything." She gave him a look of deep gratitude and affection. "You can get back to your report, Eugene. That's all we needed to tell you."

"Um... hey? Sorry to interrupt."

All three heads turned to the door on Wilhelm's side. Rapunzel stood in the doorway, her eyes wide, looking completely frazzled. She held out a large, colorful map.

"What are we looking at?" Eugene asked.

"Forecast EHI for three days from now. Look at this!" She pointed at a dark red spot. "Just look at it! I don't see how I can get the new prototype done in time for this!"

He got up and took the map away from her gently. "Don't worry about it."

She glanced at him with wide eyes. "Are you sure?"

"There'll be other storms," Ingrid Koenig said, smiling.

"And I think we've seen enough for a while," Eugene said. He took her hand, caressing it gently. She squeezed it and smiled at him. He smiled at her in return as they walked back into the lab together.

Concluding Thoughts: Thanks for reading this strange, special-interest story! It's been a fun ride.

Please don't expect a sequel to this story. (Cute one-shots about the future within this AU are a different matter, and I have an idea or two, but I make no promises about that. I get a lot of ideas and not all of them turn into stories.) If you want to see more from me, though, don't worry; I'm doing another novella for this fandom. It's another modern AU, a rather different one from the one depicted here, and it's a doozy. Less action and adventure, more emotional angst and character-oriented drama. I'm really looking forward to writing it, and I think you'll like it. I hope so, anyway. So, ciao for now, and see ya soon.