and here's where it starts gettin' good, folks

36. We'll figure it out.

"I don't have enough rent for next month and you don't either."

This was rather abrupt, thought Arthur as he looked across the kitchen at Gwen, who had pushed herself up onto the counter and was now swinging her legs back and forth. There were tears in her eyes and Arthur was beginning to feel rather confused. She had gotten a new job a couple weeks ago – it was good, nice work environment and quite a fair bit of money and friendly people to work with. So why didn't she have enough money for rent? He approached her slowly and hopped up onto the space beside her, nearly knocking down a jar of herbs.

"But your job –"

"I haven't clocked enough hours to get the money we need," she said, swiping the first tear away as quickly as it came. "I'd need to work morning to night, crazy hours, and I still have to start thinking about school 'cuz I've skipped enough years and my youth is slipping away and I just –"

Arthur pulled Gwen into a hug, pressing his lips against her head and wrapping his arms around her torso. In one swift movement she was practically on his lap and she was crying into his shoulder and he was hugging her and cooing to her that everything would be okay, that it would all be okay, and he kissed her head softly and stroked her hair and closed his eyes because he hated seeing her cry. It broke his heart. He always felt like he could've stopped the tears from falling, even if he hadn't seen them coming prior and even didn't know what was making her cry. He rocked her back and forth steadily.

"I have some money saved up," he realized slowly. "I was saving it because I didn't know when you would get a job and didn't know when you would be able to start paying again. I don't know if it's what we need…"

"I'm sorry, Arthur," she whispered shakily. "It's my fault."

"No, it's not." Arthur kissed her forehead again. "We picked a nice place. It's both of our faults." They laughed quietly, more of a hushed chuckle, but it was still a laugh. "But seriously, Gwen, it's not your fault. You didn't choose to lose your job. You didn't know this would happen and couldn't save in advance. I'll do some more jobs for people, get some more money while you work as many hours as you can handle, okay?"

"And if it doesn't work?" she asked quietly.

"We'll figure it out."