callmeemily | times, they are a changin'

After the day she's had, Joel had better have this shit figured out.

Her leg hurts, for one. She's been taking the potion thing he's made her pretty much constantly for the last couple of weeks, and she figured she should stop before he just up and fixes it... but she's not used to it, anymore. That, and she's been doing some things that maybe she shouldn't, like clubbing and wearing heels, but it's not like she's going to let anything hold her back from what she wants to do.

Except now? Now her leg hurts.

He'd first talked to her about it almost a year ago, and maybe it's taken him this long, or maybe he's been too busy with Spencer and Dane and honestly, she gets that she's not married to him or his son or whatever, but they're supposed to be family. She's tired of coming last with people - and yeah, she's last, because otherwise he would have probably fixed her leg sooner if he could have done it this whole time.

At least, that's what makes sense. It's what she told himself after he called. He said that he'd finally figured it out, but it's not like he's really had time to look into it lately, what with the baby and all - she wondered just how long she'd been dealing her leg, and he'd known how to fix it. Well, maybe not dealing because he made her the potions, but it's not like having to take them every six hours was easy.

But she's finally fired that freeloader Amber, and maybe people just don't get how hard it is to run a business, but she's here, and Joel will fix her leg, and then she can figure out what the hell she wants to do after that. So she knocks, and pastes on a friendly smile that actually ends up looking vaguely irritated, to get this show on the road.

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She's staring at him like he's lost his mind. Full on lost his mind. And then he says he's not fixing her leg, and she can't stop the way her eyes well up. "Right. Right, great. You know, you could just have been honest. If you didn't want to do it, or couldn't- Really glad to know that I get to keep being the girl with the limp forever, and isn't it such a shame such a pretty girl has such a visible disability." She remembers how she told him that a long time ago, that the old ladies would say that to her.

He asks why he would lie, and Raleigh shrugged, scrubbing at her cheek. "You know what? I don't know. I mean, even before the baby showed up, I get that Spencer's the center of your world and everybody else just sort of orbits you both, but god, I lived with you. You saw how much it hurts-" She hates that she's crying, and all she can think is that for some reason Joel is lying. Maybe he's not able to fix her leg, maybe he doesn't want to for some reason, but she doesn't feel any different, or like anything's wrong. It's worse that he's, to her perspective, lying to her about this than just him not being able to heal her leg.

"You know what?" She sucks in a breath. "Forget it. Just forget it." Shaking her head, her voice is filled with pure anger. "I don't know why I thought you'd do it anyway. It's just what my leg is. It's fucked up. The end."

He has to remind himself that this isn't Raleigh speaking to him, not really, because the words, however true they might be, still sting. Another indication, as far as he's concerned, that something is going on, because Raleigh has never said anything like that to anyone. Even in times when she should, even when Joel thinks she has every right to be angry or to shout, she never does. Even when that man on the street had grabbed her, she'd reacted like he was in the right, like it was her fault.

This isn't Raleigh. Not like she's supposed to be.

The worst part is that he's sure now. He can fix her leg. And he wants to. But that isn't the most important thing at the moment. That can wait until he's found a way to fix this first, whatever it might be. No matter what she says, there's something wrong, he can see it and now he's beginning to realize how strange she's been for the past few weeks. Everything Spencer has said to him, the things he's heard from Coop, it makes sense.

"Shut up," he says and he's going to regret it down the road when she's back to normal. There is no other option, she's going to be normal again, he's not going to just leave this and let it go. "This isn't about your leg. I don't know if you honestly can't see or feel that something is wrong or if you're still in there somewhere and something else is speaking for you, but if you are, you listen to me. I'm not going to leave you like this. I'm going to help you." And at the moment he has no idea where to begin, but he's already making a list of the people he needs to contact.

It's when he tells her to shut up that she rolls her eyes, staring at him in disbelief. "What? Oh, and I'm the one who's acting weird." He's never told her to shut up - honestly, she's never heard him say it like that to pretty much anybody, and now she's glaring at him. "Oh, now you think I'm possessed? Sometimes, Joel, people are just mad at you because you're being a jerk. You can't just pull the demonic possession card, come on!"

He says he's going to help her, and all she can think of is the people who've offered to 'help' her over the years with her leg. The ones who acted like she somehow wasn't just physically messed up, but mentally, that she could never have a good life, that nobody would care about her. "I don't need your help. Thanks for the kum-by-yah, but I think I'm good." She shakes her head, and she just turns around, and leaves. Where she's planning to go, she doesn't even know-- but it's definitely not here.

times, they are a changin' - for Joel CLOSED

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