Moe French was late with his monthly payment. Moe was never late, always had the money ready when Gold arrived, and never really made a fuss. Even before Gold had taken up with Lacey, he'd been able to count on Moe to always be prepared to pay him. Things were changing in Storybrooke now that the Savior had arrived and Rumpelstiltskin was aching for the curse to break. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic in the small town and he was constantly on the verge of a panic attack at the need to just escape.
And now he had to play the terrifying landlord when all he really wanted was to lock himself away at his cabin where nobody could come for him and lick his wounds in solitude. Ah well, they all had their roles to play in this story, didn't they? Rumpelstiltskin's was to be the merciless landlord. With Dove trailing behind him, he made a perfect picture of idle wealth – a man too rich to need to do his own dirty work. The only thing that would have made him look even more useless would have been Lacey here, but thinking of her only brought up a nagging sense of guilt for what he was about to do, so he shoved the thought away brutally – it was no more Moe's fault he was behind on payments than it was Prince David's fault that he was married to the wrong woman. Gods, Rumpelstiltskin was going soft.
"Well, this is just perfect," Rumpelstiltskin-as-Gold said with faux cheer. "I've been looking for you, Mr. French."
"I'll have your money next week," Moe promised, moving away from his van and his flowers to reply.
"The terms of the loan were fairly specific," Rumpelstiltskin responded before turning to Dove. "Take the van."
Dove didn't say anything, instead climbing up into the driver's seat.
"Wait!" Moe exclaimed, stepping in front of the van. "It's Valentine's Day! I've got a grand in roses in the back!"
Moe was interrupted by the engine turning over, drawing his attention away from Gold for a moment.
"You've got to let me sell them!"
"I'm going to leave you two to continue this discussion," Gold said haughtily, turning to leave.
"You are the lowest, Gold!" Moe yelled. "You don't deserve her!"
That stopped Rumpelstiltskin in his tracks, and he turned to face the grandfather of his child.
"Come again?"
"You heard me," Moe said stubbornly, clenching his fists. "She deserves so much better than the likes of you."
Rumpelstiltskin bristled and turned to face the man who would have been his father-in-law. Moe flinched, but didn't back down.
"Be that as it may," he snarled. "She seems to have made her choice."
"You've trapped her," Moe said with a slight tremor to his voice that he seemed determined to cover. "She can't leave or the town would eat her alive and you know it."
Rumpelstiltskin narrowed his eyes at Moe, invading his personal space and trying to stare the larger man down. Moe didn't falter, though. He wanted to, he was just barely keeping it together, but he was standing up for his child and nobody knew better than Rumpelstiltskin how far that could carry a man. The realization of who he'd become to this family was like a splash of cold water across his face.
When Belle inevitably left him, her father would be the only one she had to turn to. If he ruined the florist, then what would become of his child?
Rumpelstiltskin turned away, moving to the back of the van and grabbing a bouquet of flowers.
"I'll be sure to send Lacey your love," he snarled as he gestured for Dove to climb down from the van. "Consider this an early Father's Day present."
As he stalked off, he saw Regina lurking nearby. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her today, though. Instead, he limped to the pawn shop and locked the door after himself. He didn't want to deal with anyone right now, especially not the damned evil queen.
It surprised him how much he enjoyed Lacey's company, though he wasn't sure why. Gold had always liked her, and Rumpelstiltskin had enjoyed Belle's. If anything, Lacey was a little more fun than Belle had been simply because, while both were observant and clever, Belle was too nice to say the things Lacey would.
"They're having an affair," she said with a nod towards Prince Charming and Snow White in the diner. "Or they're going to."
Rumpelstiltskin looked nonchalantly over to where the pair sat at different tables while still carrying on a surreptitious conversation.
He made a noncommittal noise, more interested in her gossip than whatever the truth of the situation might be.
"Not like his wife has too much of a leg to stand on anyway," she continued as she swirled her drink with her straw. "She's been fucking Dr. Whale for years."
That piece of news made him choke on his own tea, which he set down gingerly with a cough.
"How do you know that?" he asked with a smile he couldn't help on his face.
"They used to go to the Rabbit Hole on Thursdays," she said with a shrug. "Since he woke up they still go, but they don't come in together and they leave five minutes apart. It's not rocket science, Gold."
He cut another glance back towards the prince and princess who didn't remember being married and then looked back to his date.
"Do you think her husband knows?"
"Nah," Lacey replied. "I doubt it. If he did, I don't think he'd be acting so weird with the school teacher. He'd just fuck her up against his car and call it a day."
Lacey had a logic all her own, but damned if she didn't make a good point. They made small talk for the rest of their meal and made their way home.
He was still in love with Belle. The thought was as unwelcome as it was unlooked-for, but there it was. He loved her. He would always love her. And she had loved him, or else the kiss wouldn't have worked the last time. So why had she agreed to marry someone else if she loved him? The woman he'd thought he'd known would never have agreed to that, would she? Then again, how well had he really known her, anyway? She'd been with him less than a year and if there was one thing Rumpelstiltskin knew, it was that people were unpredictable.
Belle would leave him again, too. Lacey may not have options (as Moe had so kindly pointed out) but Belle would – she had to. She was too kind and sweet not to have someone else willing to take her away from him. He could probably force her to stay, call their original deal in or threaten to keep the baby if she left, but the thought of it just made him sad. He still loved her, but he wanted her to want him, too. Maybe that's why he was still so angry.
"I'm afraid I didn't have much else planned for the day," he admitted to Lacey when they were finally in the front door. "It kind of snuck up on me."
"You already got me a present," she replied flippantly. "I ordered it a couple weeks ago. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"Oh did I?" he replied. "I hope I had good taste."
"Very good," she reassured him and it was almost like old times except for this gaping hole in his heart. "And very generous as well."
"Well, that's good to know."
He glanced over at her when she didn't answer and she was hovering in the hallway as though trying to make up her mind on something. He decided to give her space, because nothing good had ever come of trying to push her into anything.
"Regina wasn't here for her adoption papers," she finally blurted out while he was pretending to examine a statue of a shepherd.
"It never crossed my mind that she had," he replied, setting the porcelain figurine back on the mantel. "I assume she told you what the truth was?"
Lacey nodded, seeming to prepare herself before speaking again.
"She wants me to say you've been acting erratic," she admitted softly. "Get you locked up in an institution. She said since the baby was your next of kin, I'd be able to stay in the house."
"Oh," was all he could think to say. That was certainly a new one for her, anyway. Regina never had been particularly subtle or creative – really, he was almost proud. "And what did you say to her?"
"I told her I'd think about it," Lacey replied, cocking her chin defiantly in a way that reminded him so much of Belle it almost knocked the wind out of him. "What was I supposed to say?"
"You could have told her no," he pointed out.
"And make her think I'm a threat to her?" she said incredulously. "She can't hurt you without me, but she can damn sure get to me."
"She can't get to you," he replied. "You know that, Lacey."
"No, she can very much get to me," Lacey replied sharply. "She won't as long as I live here because she's afraid of you."
"So?" he wasn't entirely seeing her problem, and maybe that was a problem in and of itself. "Don't leave, it's that simple."
She looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"You really think it's that simple?"
"Isn't it?"
"You've barely spoken to me in days," she nearly shrieked. "And you've been distant and moody since before that. You have been acting strange, Gold. I don't think you're insane but I think something is going on and you won't tell me."
"Lacey," he replied firmly. "You do know that I'm not going to kick you out, don't you?"
"No," she shot back. "How the hell would I know that when you barely want to look at me anymore?"
"If I wanted you gone, I'd have said something before now."
"You can't just say 'oh I'll tell you when I want you to leave' and expect me to be okay with that," she exclaimed. "I can't live like that, waiting on you to make your choice to be done with me."
"So what do you want, then?" he challenged her. "Did you want me to propose, perhaps?"
He'd never admit how much he wanted her to want that, but it was a stupid thing to have even said. The curse was weeks away from breaking, at which point it was all moot anyway.
"I just want some guarantee that I'll have a home after the baby comes," she replied, her face inscrutable. "I don't care what it is, Gold, but if you don't want me to be vulnerable to psychopaths, then you need to do something about it because I can't."
She was right, dammit. She was right. He was the one who had brought her into this; he had to be the one to get Regina away. It was his child who was now embroiled in all this, and if she was this desperate, it would be foolish to believe that Regina would stop trying to turn Lacey against him.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked him at last, when he hadn't replied.
"No," he said softly, dropping into a chair. "I'm not angry. Not with you, anyway. Regina will apparently need to be dealt with sooner than later, but that's hardly your fault."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," he assured her. "Regina's complaint is with me. But if she comes to you again, you'll need to tell me."
"I couldn't exactly say anything about it while she was here," she replied tartly. "And what about the rest of it?"
"I'm not going to propose," he said finally. "But I won't see you homeless, Lacey. I won't make you be helpless no matter what."
"Well," she said flippantly. "That's something, at least. I'd like more than that, though. I don't care what it is, but at some point you have to give me something besides your word."
"I'll make some arrangements this week," he said with a sigh. "Just trust me that far, at least."
She nodded and he took her silence as an opportunity to slip away into his office. He'd figure something out to make her happy just this little while longer – a trust fund, maybe. Even when Belle woke up, it would be something for the baby.