Say my name

The sky seemed to have a purple nuance since the day magic came, everything was exactly the same and exactly the opposite. Emma was the only the one who could really tell the difference, all the others were kind of busy dealing with their second/real identity. Now that small town in Maine seemed even weirder than it always looked. The curse was broken, yet nobody seemed really happy, she could see them walking around with nowhere to go lost in their thoughts, in their lives, in another world. That was the problem, now she found herself surrounded by a bunch of fairytales' characters stuck in a magicless world, well not so magicless right now but still not so much "fairy". She didn't feel like a hero or something, not to mention the idea of being a princess. The exact word to describe the actual situation was awkward, yes, she couldn't think of anything else especially when she was in the same room with Mary Margaret and David, pardon me, Snow and Charming, or well, her mother and her father let's face it. But unbelievably that wasn't her biggest concern, because with magic unleashed she could expect anything from and especially from Regina. Now that Harry was living with her, there weren't any brake at what she could have done. Emma felt like she had to do something, she had to fix this, one way or another. No one made the first move, yet, but she knew they were all just waiting for the kick-off, on both sides. What was her place in all of that? Now that she definetely believed she didn't know what was the right thing to do. In twenty eight years she never felt so useless.

She was sitting at the desk in her office one morning among all of the others they spent in this disturbing peace. Henry was with Mary Margaret, too hard to say his grandmother, when Emma decided it was time to make her move or at least try to figure out something. She wanted so desperately to discover what Regina was plotting, she didn't even seen her since that day, but that would have been a silly move. The one who brought magic in was the only one who could have explained her what the hell was going on. So it was time to pay Mr. Gold one more visit at the antique shop. She rushed there with no specific idea of what to ask him, it's not like she was an expert on that stuff. But in the moment she found herself staring in front of the empty building she realized how stupid was that idea. Why should he be there, waiting for her to question him. He certainly had something better to do with all his magic... stuff. She leaned her head against the shop's door contemplating the foolishness of her ideas.

" Seems like I wasn't that mad after all, uh?"

Said a voice, behind her she immediately recognized. Emma quickly turned to him, feeling uncomfortable giving her back to a man who drugged her, and kept her against her will. She studied him for a second. He still had that crazy look, just like she remembered, but there also was something different. He didn't seemed so tormented anymore, or at least not so much as the first time she met him. He was smiling at her with that wicked grin. She bet he was feeling pretty victorious in that moment. But he still was the Mad Hatter, that was a thing to constantly keep in mind.

"And that's funny to hear, from the Mad Hatter himself."

In the exact moment he heard that name, his grin suddenly disappeared replaced by creepy scowl which made Emma almost regret her witty answer.

"My name is Jefferson!" Said he, keeping staring at her like he wanted to cross right trough her. He hated that name, nothing good happened to him since the day he was trapped in Wonderland, making all those hats. He never even wanted to be called like that, it was just that in that place they were all mad and they made him become too.

Emma couldn't quite stand that kind of madness, she was already surprised that she was still there talking too him instead of kicking his ass since arresting him would have been completely useless condisering their situation.

"Fine, that's enough for me. I have things a lot madder than you to deal with, Jefferson!"

She underlined his name and walked away irritated. Jefferson slowly followed her, regaining his calmness.

"Would you like it, if everyone just called you the Saviour instead of Emma Swan? Wouldn't you feel a little bit of pressure?"

Emma stopped instantly and turned around, he was sneering again. He seemed to like teasing her. And he knew exactly how to do it properly.

"Well, I still haven't saved anybody, so that's unlikely to happen."

She tried to leave again but he wasn't finished, not at all. He walked with her, staying just a couple of steps behind her. He didn't really know why he was doing it, maybe he really was a little mad.

"Do I detect a note of self pity?"

That was the last straw, she turned and violently pushed him.

"What do you want from me?" She yelled angry. "Did you come here just to torture me?"

Jefferson was shocked, both in a negative and positive way. He could have really tortured her, but he was strangely amused. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at her.

"Actually not, I was just looking for some groceries. My daughter needs to eat."

The single thought of his daugther waiting for him at home, enlightened him. Emma caught that change in his expression and forgot for second of her anger.

"So, she really is your daughter..." She sounded pretty surprised.

"Of curse she is. She's my Grace!" He was very careful to emphasize the concept.

Emma then remembered what it meant to have Henry all to herself, even with the awareness of an imminent attack from Regina. It was a relief, a terrible burden off of her heart. Now he really was HER son. Yes, she could definetely understand what Jefferson meant. Though she was able to understand his feelings, she didn't really feel like she could have a normal conversation with that man so she just stood there silent. Jefferson was a bit confused by her sudden silence, she always looked like someone not so easy to shut up. Maybe it was time for him to go, that wasn't his place. His place was just next to his daughter, he didn't give a damn about all the others.

"Well, if you'll excuse me" He politely said and then slowly walked away.

Emma was still there, standing still. A specific thought was crossing her mind, all Jefferson ever did to her was just in order to have his daughter back. He lost her because of Regina's curse, he should have hated her as much as everyone else in that town. He was the first one who really made her think that something strange was happening there. The day he kidnapped her he just kept talking about magic. Maybe he was the person she needed to solve her problems.

It seemed like a year passed till she decided to ask his help.

"Wait , Jefferson, wait!" She yelled running towards him. Jefferson turned to her expecting another bluster. But what he heard from was definitely not what he was expecting.

"You were right... About everything. Well except for drugging me and all the rest."

"You hit me in the head with a telescope!" Jefferson replied pretty amused by that memory.

"What I'm trying to say is... I don't know how to deal with all of this and everyone's expecting me to save them.." She could not go on, her pride made it a little impossibile to confess all of her weaknesses like that, but Jefferson now saw the point. He relaxed making a pretty funny sound that should have been a laugh.

"Are you asking for my help, Emma Swan?"

Emma raised her eyebrow snorting, he really wanted to hear it.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing, but only because I don't know who else to ask."

Jefferson found this new twist really interesting, he didn't really know what she had in mind but he was willing to help. Maybe this was his last occasion to do the right thing.

"What a pleasant occasion could this be!" He said showing again that puzzling smirk of his.

Emma didn't know what to expect from that new alliance. Actually, she didn't even know if that was an alliance at all, her special "ability" never worked with Jefferson. She could not detect if he was lying or not, he was inscrutable.

"We can't talk here, I don't know what kind of tricks Regina could use to spy on me." She said looking around. Magic here is unpredictable said once Regina, just now she was starting to understand what she meant.

"Come with me" She started walking towards her office. Jefferson followed her, he was still smiling.

"Do you think here is safe?" He said when they entered the office.

"Well, considering how easily you spied on me all this time I'd say it's not, but at least I'm sure now you're gonna be the only one knowing about this."

Jefferson laughed loudly, even putting a hand on his stomach. "You really don't know magic, Emma Swan, do you?"

Emma gave his an icy gaze and snorted. "If I did we wouldn't be here right now, believe me."

Jefferson tried to compose himself. "You're an amusing girl, I have to admit it. But go ahead tell me, how exactly do you think I can help you?"

Emma was surprised, she thought it was quite obvious.

"You know magic pretty well, don't you? You have a magic hat, I know that for a fact!"

He shook his head and sighed. "I did, Regina took it. But you're right about one thing, I do know something about magic, though it's not even remotely close to Regina's knowledge about it. She lives through it; it's not going to be easy... A true love's kiss won't solve the problem this time."

"I'll do whatever it takes to stop her, she needs to be stopped we are all in danger."

Jefferson saw an incredible strength in Emma's eyes, he saw that look before, when she was trying not believing with all of her forces. Now it was the exact opposite.

"I already told you once... You have magic, you are special!" Saying this Jefferson got closer to Emma, his look was so intense. Emma didn't feel very comfortable with that proximity.

"Maybe I do, but I don't know how to use this magic. That's why I need your help."

"I'm afraid there's no specific rule on how to develop one's magic. It's something that comes from your soul, it can be different for everybody."

Emma sighed and caught his perplexed look. "There must be something that we can do."

Jefferson was stunned by her strength and determination, she was everything he never the courage to be.

"You're very brave Emma!" For a second he felt the need to comfort her and reached out to stroke her cheek.

In the same moment someone came in and he withdrew his hand.

Emma stared at Mary Margaret, not sure what to do or say. She tended to become a bit nervous when one of her parents was around. She usually started to get confused with names and identities so most of the times she preferred to remain silent letting them speak. In fact, Mary Margaret spoke first, she was pretty confused too.

"Emma, hi! I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with Henry and us, they're waiting outside... But what is he doing here? Something happened?"

Emma suddenly distanced herself from Jefferson. She tried to say something while wondering how in the hell her life became so weird.

"No, no, everything's ok. I asked him for... some help with magic. If I really am the saviour I need to know more about all this stuff."

Mary Margaret looked disappointed. "You could have asked me, maybe it's hard for you to accept the fact that I'm your mother, but I'm still your friend."

Jefferson was definitely feeling unwelcome in that moment; maybe he should have start looking for an escape route.

Mary Margaret looked at him, she didn't trust him, and she knew he worked for Regina more than once.

"So what did Regina promised you this time?"

Jefferson couldn't believe his hears, everything he did in the past was only in order to save his daughter, he had no other choice, now that she was back the only thing he wanted was to live in peace and take his revenge on Regina of course.

"Why should I work for Regina? She lied to me, and took away the only thing that mattered. All I want is to destroy her, like all of you!"

"How can I believe you after what you did to me and Emma?"

Jefferson was now yelling and cursing the moment he decided to muscle in this situation.

"Emma brought my Grace back. I would never want to harm her or anybody she cares about!"

Emma was feeling really uncomfortable in the middle of all of that, especially after Jefferson's words. She wanted to make them stop. She took a deep breath.

"Mary Margaret... mom, you're right he did terrible things, but I would have done the exact same things if I had to save Henry... Wouldn't you do the same... for me? I'm not saying I trust him with my life, but maybe he's not that bad, that's all."

Jefferson would have certainly smiled hearing those words coming from Emma's mouth, but now he was too angry. Mary Margaret snorted, since the day she had her memories back she became very protective towards Emma and all her family. The guilt was a heavy weight to carry, she felt responsible for all the awful things that happened to everybody.

"Well, since we're at this point, I didn't come here just to invite you for lunch. We have a plan, and you go tell Regina if you want, I don't care and tell her that she doesn't scare me anymore!"

Jefferson was about to start yelling again when Emma stopped him.

"I don't think he's working with her. I think he can help us because he wants to stop Regina just like all of us. If you don't trust him at least trust me."

Jefferson was tired of all those accusations, especially because deep down he hated himself just like Snow White hated him.

"Thank you Emma, but I think it's time for me to go. Grace's waiting for me." He lightly smiled at her thankful for what she said about him, and left almost immediately. Emma didn't even have time to reply, he was gone. She sighed and then looked at Mary Margaret that suddenly seemed calmer.

"So let's go strategize!"