"This ain't your usual kind of buy, doc." Hopps looked down at the slip of paper in his hand, trying to sound out the word written there. He couldn't. It was some kind of drug. "What's it for?"

"Hypertension." The short man looked up from the slip of paper she'd given him, confused. Eva clarified. "High blood pressure."

"Hunh. Well, I never picked up this stuff before, it's gonna cost you. How much you need?"

"60 count."

"Fuh..." He ended with a hiss shaking his head. Then he looked up at her, dark brown eyes narrowed as he began to negotiate. "I'm gonna need like... 800 up front."

"For a total of...?" Eva arched a brow.

"Two grand."

Eva rolled her eyes. "Jesus, you must think I'm an idiot. Do I look like an idiot to you, Hopps?"

"What? What's the problem, doc?" Hopps shifted from foot to foot, shoving one cold hand into the pocket of his hooded parka.

"What's the problem? The problem is I can do the math. If I want to get ripped off, I'll buy insurance."

"This stuff is gonna be hard to get! It's not even the normal blood pressure stuff, I know that much."

That was true. The drug Eva needed was specifically for new mothers, breastfeeding mothers. Sianna Smith couldn't take just any blood pressure medication. She needed the right one. Eva shoved her hands in her coat pockets. "Set a reasonable price, and I'll pay you for the effort."

"Or what? You gonna go somewhere else? You think you can find someone else?"

"Jesus, Hopps, I didn't know you could be such a little prick." She reached out to grab the slip of paper from him and started to turn. There was always someone else. Some nurse late on her mortgage, some junkie doctor willing to write the script, some pharmacist willing to 'lose' a few bottles. If there was one thing Eva knew for sure, it was that there is always someone willing to be bought and sold.

"Okay! Okay!"

Eva turned back, brows lifting expectantly.

"I'll take 800 up front and... and another two on delivery."

The slip of paper was extended back out towards him. "I'll give you 400 hundred now, and another two on delivery, and if you think you're gonna get more than 10 creds a pill, you can kiss my business goodbye."

Hopps shifted his weight from foot to foot again, then reached out and grabbed the paper from her. They had an agreement.

From her pocket Eva pulled out the paper money, and started to count it out. When Johnny got back she'd have him take Sianna to a proper doctor in Star's End, a doctor who could write a legitimate script. In the meantime, Sianna was her responsibility, and Eva, as always, would do what needed to be done.

The problem was that as usual, Eva was running out of cash fast. She couldn't ask her friends for the money it cost to treat them. It felt to her that caring for them was something she just ought to be able to do. But medicine wasn't actually her occupation. She had to get nearly everything off the black market. Essentially, she was working during the day to cover the costs of medical supplies. A couple more months of this, and she'd have trouble making rent again.

"And that's four."

"Half. Got it." Hopps shoved the wad of bills into his parka pocket.

"No, not half. You're getting another two on delivery. Don't screw with me Hopps, I'm the best business you got."

"Alright, alright. I was just kidding ya."

"Yeah, I'm laughing all the way to the poor house. See you later prick."

"Always nice doing business with ya, doc."

Rent was due in eight days. Eva sat back on her heels, kneeling in front of the open closet door, and counted the creds one more time. The soft paper marks slipped through her hands, her lips moving as she counted, as if maybe this time there would be more. There wasn't any more.

Eva blew out a breath as she pushed a hand through her hair. There would be enough money to cover rent, food, and her share of the mortgage on her parents' farm. After that, it got dicey.

Mason's share of the rent would just about wipe him out. He'd been working down at the docks as a day laborer ever since he was forced to leave his job with Lillian. Eva hated it. He worked from dawn until well after dusk, and the work was unforgiving on his already taxed body. Between his heart problems and his occasional injuries, the work was too unsteady for him to gain any sort of ground on his finances.

On top of that, Sianna was set to run out of her medication in a few days. Eva had already asked Hopps for another sixty count, at six hundred creds. She had just enough to cover it. Meanwhile her own medical supplies were starting to run low. She needed more sutures, and the pain medication Mason took when he got hurt, and some of her antibiotics were going bad.

Plus, Mason would be running out of his heart medication soon too, and even though he could get a legit prescription for it, it was still more expensive than they could afford.

Eva cursed and sank against the closet doorframe. The released cash spilled from her hands into a disorderly pile at her knees. Another month. Another month was going to go by, and she wasn't going to set any money aside for the future. She wasn't asking for much. Just enough for the security deposit on an apartment. Rent at the Inn was killing them. She always had just enough, with nothing left over. Payday to payday. Like a hamster on a wheel.

Rena had said it just the night before. They needed to get out of the Inn. But how could they?

People her age were saving for their retirement. They had emergency funds and investment accounts. They had homes and businesses. Antonio was working on multimillion dollar deals. Maranya lived in his palace, and she'd heard her say she had cooking lessons and fencing lessons or something. Tucker had his farm. All the Misfits seemed plenty comfortable. Taneth and Tormay's engagement party had freaking gold jewelry with diamonds to give as party favors. What did any of them have to worry about?

Eva was just barely scraping by. And she was too embarrassed to ask Rhys for another payday advance.

It wasn't that she didn't have options. She had plenty. The simplest solution would be to hock some jewelry. She could sell the party favors she and Mason had gotten from the engagement party, the jewelry Ghost had given her when they were together, her wedding ring.

Another idea was one that Mason had suggested. She could take on more accounting work in addition to what she did for Captain Caisson at the Yransea Warehouse. See if some of the small businesses in the Marketplace needed someone to look at their books. Moonlight for extra cash.

Or she could just give up on being legitimate. She never had this much trouble working as a doctor. She was good at it. And when she wasn't trying so hard to be a good person, above the law, she could make a tidy living. She'd had a clinic once. Back in Star's End. With high end security, a state-of-the-art lab and equipment, and even cybernetic capabilities. She never had to worry then about having enough sutures. Of course, her clientele had left something to be desired.

The last option was the most obvious. She could try to find a buyer for the plot of land she'd inherited from her parents back home. She'd left it fallow for more than a decade, just sitting there, drying out. It would need work to be profitable. But with planting season getting closer every day, now was the time to sell it.

But she just couldn't. And she didn't know why.

Eva lowered her head to look down at the money. She just had to face it. They were never going to get out of the Inn.