It quickly becomes apparent to Lacey that she is utterly helpless. After a few days in the hospital, it's slightly easier to move without her entire body shutting down in pain, but her cast is unwieldy. She requires a nurse's help the first time she tries to make it to the restroom and it's a new kind of indignity to have someone steadying her while she attempts to take a piss.
On the fourth day, she is discharged. She's almost glad of it. She has no idea how she's going to afford the hospital bills with no money and no insurance and no job, much less the physical therapy she's been told she'll need, so getting out as soon as possible is preferable. But as the nurse wheels her into the lobby she realizes with a sinking feeling that she has nowhere to go. She's already given up her apartment. She's quit her job. She can't even live out of her car seeing as it's completely totaled and burnt to a crisp.
She supposes she could go to Gold and beg for a place to live. He'd give her something on the cheap, she's sure of it. But she can't bear the idea of groveling to him. So instead she sits in the waiting room with her crutches laid across her lap, her chair parked in front of the big sliding glass doors of the hospital, and tries not to cry.
Lacey has never been one for tears and she's certainly not going to start now.
The only things she has to her name are the clothes on her back, the three hundred dollars cash Gold gave her for the necklace in her coat pocket, and a her cell phone which is now sporting a cracked screen since the accident. The rest of her money and possessions were destroyed in the crash.
She quickly does the math in her head, wondering how many nights at Granny's $300 can afford her. Granny has always been kind to her. Perhaps she'll let her stay at a discounted rate if she earns her keep in the diner. Of course, the idea of waiting tables and being on her feet all day with a cast up to her hip is laughable. Lacey can barely maneuver around on the pair of crutches the hospital provided her with. There's no chance in hell she could keep up with the dinner rush.
Still, Granny's is her best option for now. Groveling to Granny is better than debasing herself to Gold or her father. And Ruby has always been a friend, even if she hasn't seen much of her since Belle died. She was always more Belle's friend than Lacey's.
Now that she's decided on a place to go, the next step is getting there. She can't spare the money for a cab, but the hospital is several blocks from Granny's and she's not sure she can make it on her crutches. Too bad she has to leave the wheelchair behind or she could just roll her way into town.
Instead, she braces one crutch against the floor, hoisting herself up into a standing position and getting the crutches under her arms with as little embarrassment as possible. Once she's standing, it takes a moment to steady herself before she's ready to take a step. She's so busy trying not to fall flat on her ass and risk further injury that she almost collides with someone entering the hospital.
"Lacey," Gold exclaims, reaching out to steady her with a hand on her arm. She hates the way warmth seems to spread through her whole body from the simple touch and shrugs him off.
He hasn't been by to visit since her first night in the hospital. She should have known he'd turn up again at some point though. Bloody perfect that he's here right when she's at her lowest.
"What are you doing here?" she asks sullenly. She feels like she's always asking him that. Why does he seem to think she's worth his time and effort?
"I heard you were being discharged today," he returns. Lacey doesn't bother to ask how he knows such a thing. Gold knows everything, he always has. He's rich enough to afford all the information in town and if someone can't be bought, he's intimidating enough to force what he wants from them.
Lacey just snorts out a laugh. "Yeah, I'm a free woman."
Gold nods, turning to motion out the hospital doors. "I'm parked just out front."
Lacey doesn't immediately register what he's offering. A ride, she supposes. She's out one car these days as he well knows. She's almost tempted to slide into the warm front seat of his Cadillac and let him taxi her around town. But if she tells him to take her to Granny's he'll probably insist on paying. She can't stomach that. A payment for services rendered. She's debased their relationship, called it out for the sordid thing it is, but allowing him to pay for her would put it over the edge. It would feel too much like a transaction.
"I don't need a ride, thanks," she says, hobbling past him on her crutches and out the door. She doesn't need the telltale tap of his cane against the pavement to tell her he's followed her.
"Yes you do," he insists. "You not only need a ride, you need a place to stay. Dr. Whale said you shouldn't be on your own."
"You talked to my doctor?" she shouts, wheeling around on the crutches and almost toppling into the hedges outside the hospital. "That's an invasion of privacy."
"He was concerned about you," Gold counters. "And I'm your next of kin on your hospital forms."
Lacey sighs. She'd forgotten about that one. That her closest family member is her brother-in-law she's trying desperately not to fuck anymore.
"Look, I'd offer you your apartment back but it's on the second floor with no elevator," he says. "I don't think you could manage it at the moment. So will you please come home with me?"
"No," she says, almost on reflex. She can't move in with Gold, not when she was so close to breaking free of whatever spell she's been under with regards to him. She needs to leave. She needs to be far away from him or she'll lose herself again. Her pathetic heart can't take it.
Gold looks frustrated. If he were a more petulant man she thinks he might actually stamp his foot. His mouth settles into a grim line, his eyes hard.
"You shouldn't be alone, Lacey. You need help, why won't you let me give it?"
She's not good at accepting help from anyone, least of all him, that's why. She's so fucking in love with him and he says the sweetest things to her and looks at her like maybe he does see someone there beyond Belle's familiar face. But she will always be half of something else and so will Gold. Without Belle they don't work and if Belle was alive they wouldn't work either.
Cursed.
"Is this what you wanted?" she demands, that cruel creature that resides deep in her heart and seems to always want to rise up and snap at Gold coming to the fore once again. "Did you want me so completely desperate and alone that you're my only option? Are you satisfied with the mess you've created out of me?"
She doesn't know why she's blaming him for all of this. It's not as though he caused her accident. It's not as though he broke her leg and her spirit and her heart. She did all of that on her own. Running has never got her anywhere she wanted to go and yet she continues to do it, compelled to flee from any chance at happiness.
Gold's eyes are large and pleading and oh so sad. In the feeble sunlight outside the hospital they seem lighter, almost amber. When he's angry they are dark and when he loves her they become black as night. But the amber eyes, those are the ones she can't take.
"I'm sorry," she blurts out, and she truly is. She doesn't want to hurt him. Gold has had enough hurt for one lifetime. "I didn't mean that. I'm just not good at accepting hand outs."
"If you don't want a hand out, don't let it be one," he reasons. "You'll need a job. Come work for me."
Lacey scoffs, motioning down at her cast. "If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit useless at the moment."
Gold just shrugs. "It's not as though I'm asking for a jogging partner," he says, tapping his cane against his bad leg. "I manage the pawnshop alright. So will you."
Lacey feels chastened for a moment. She's been so caught up in her own misery she didn't even think about Gold's own disability. He never lets it slow him down, never seems negatively impacted by it, so she often forgets he even needs the cane for more than aesthetic purposes. Here she is moaning about a few weeks in a cast when she's expected to make a full recovery and whatever accident befell Gold left him unable to walk unaided for life. For the first time she wonders what happened. She supposes she'll probably never know.
"There's no shame in accepting help," Gold continues. "No man is an island."
And damn it, but she knows he's right. As she's just shouted at him, she has no other options. She needs a place to stay and she needs a job.
"Fine," she agrees after a long moment. "But I'm just staying until I get back on my feet, literally."
"Of course," he says.
"And I am leaving town eventually," she adds. "You won't stop me."
Gold's mouth twists a little bitterly, but he nods. "Agreed."
"And it goes without saying that just because I'm staying in your house doesn't mean we'll go back to the way things used to be. I'm sleeping alone."
Gold stiffens, giving his head a little shake. "I would never take advantage. I hope you know that."
And she does know that. Of course she does. He's never taken anything from her that she didn't give oh so willingly. She trusts him more than she trusts herself.
"Then it's a deal."
