JUST A BIT OF LUCK
Written by: Michelle Hughes Hunter *aka* CharlotteAshmore
Summary: Leprechauns aren't real. If fairy tales are real, why can't the myth about leprechauns be true as well? Henry and Grace set out to find a bit of luck for Jefferson to help him find the courage he needs to ask Emma out. Just a little St. Patrick's Day fun.
Written for: St. Patrick's Day writing contest on OUAT fan fiction and creations.
Prompt: Gold (like the coin), Four leaf clover(s), Color green. St. Patrick's day theme.
Jefferson rested his eye against the eyepiece of the telescope and sighed. The town of Storybrooke was swathed in green. Green shamrock decorations to be exact. What was it with this realm that there had to be a holiday for everything? Apparently, someone had decided to set aside a day to celebrate some Irish bloke driving all the snakes out of Ireland with a big stick. He snorted, trying to bring the telescope into focus so he could spy Emma through the partially opened blinds of her office window. The little blond bombshell didn't like him to spy on her, a sentiment she'd made clear with a well-placed right cross. Too bad he couldn't seem to get his hands on a bit of luck this holiday was known for.
"Papa, are you spying on Emma again?" Grace asked as she removed her ear buds and eyed her father at his favorite pastime. Emma was the mother of her dearest friend, Henry Mills and sheriff to their fair town, and her father was head over toenails infatuated with her. It sometimes made things a bit awkward.
"I'm not spying," Jefferson insisted. "I'm merely admiring the decorations in town."
"Of course you are," she murmured dryly. Sometimes she believed there was just no hope for her father. "Have you seen my costume I'm supposed to be wearing in the parade tomorrow? I thought it was in my closet, but I can't seem to find it."
Jefferson sighed wistfully as he watched Emma through the eyepiece. She wasn't doing anything especially remarkable, merely sitting back in her office chair doing paperwork, but the view of her lovely profile and long blonde tresses never failed to lighten his mood.
"Hello, earth calling my stalker father!" Grace said, moving to stand next to the telescope and waving her hands in front of the lens. "Could I have just a moment of your attention?"
"Sorry, rabbit," he apologized, grinning sheepishly. "What was it you needed?"
"My dance class is performing in the parade tomorrow and I needed to know if you've seen my costume," she repeated, trying to get his focus off Emma Swan and back on her.
"Um…green sequin thingy?" he asked, needing clarification.
"Yes, papa, the green sequined thingy," she huffed, rolling her eyes.
"I took it to have it dry cleaned." He searched through the pockets of his waistcoat and pulled out the stub he'd need to pick it up. "Don't worry, I'll pick it up this afternoon."
A horn sounded in the long drive that curved from the large white mansion down to the street, alerting her that Regina was there to pick her up. "Gotta go, papa," she said, raising up on her toes to give her father a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back at seven. Please don't forget to pick up my costume. And stop spying on Emma!" she called over her shoulder as she headed for the door. Really, something needed to be done about his obsession with Emma. If he was so interested in her, why didn't he just ask her out?
XOOOX
"Don't you find it kinda creepy that my papa is so into your mom?" Grace asked as she sat down in the booth with Henry and dug her spoon into the sundae Ruby set before her.
Henry eyed the cookie in his hands, raising a suspicious brow at the green morsels dotting the confection. Who ever heard of green chocolate chips? "I dunno. I like your dad. It would be cool for him to hang out with my mom," he said distractedly, taking a hesitant bite to try out the new cookies Granny had been experimenting with.
"Then how can we get him to ask her out. You mom isn't exactly the warmest person to try to get close to, y'know?" she said around a mouth full of ice cream.
Henry dipped his cookie into his sundae and grinned. "She just needs to give him a chance. Maybe he just needs a bit of luck."
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," she said, her shoulders drooping dejectedly.
"I know exactly what we need," he said, his eyes alight with mischief. "Remember yesterday when Miss Blanchard was telling us the legend of the leprechauns? If we could find one, and better yet, catch one, we could ask it for a bit of luck for your dad instead of claiming his pot of gold. What d'ya think?"
Grace snorted in disbelief. "Henry, it's a legend. Leprechauns aren't real?"
"And neither are fairy tales. Do you really want to go there?" he asked, smirking in challenge.
"You've got a point there."
"And I know just who to ask. If anyone would know if they're real or not, it would be my mom."
XOOOX
They found Regina in the kitchen, peeling green apples for the turnovers she was making for the festival tomorrow when they burst through the front door in search of her. "Mom, mom, mom," Henry said, dropping his backpack on the kitchen table and coming to a stop at her side.
"Henry, we do not run in the house, dear," she scolded gently, her ruby lips curling into a genuine smile for her adopted son. "What has you so agitated?"
"Grace and I were wondering…are leprechauns real?" he asked in a rush, trying to catch his breath from the mad dash home. "Miss Blanchard was telling us a story yesterday…you know, because of the holiday…and I knew if anyone would know if they really existed, it would be you."
Grace snatched up an apple slice and popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "I think he's full of it, Mrs. Mills."
"Actually, Grace, he's not. There are myths about them that abound in Ireland. But why would you want to know?" she asked, grinning at her son. "Are you planning on doing a paper for school?"
Henry's eyes shifted to Grace as he frowned over her lack of faith. "Um…yeah, something like that. You wouldn't know how to summon one, would you, mom? Just think about how authentic my paper would be if I could talk to a real live leprechaun and learn everything I could about him."
Grace opened her mouth to out him to his mother and he stepped on her foot. "Ow!"
"What's the matter, dear?" Regina asked, concerned.
"Stubbed my toe, Mrs. Mills."
Regina looked dubious, but brushed it off as she thought of how best to answer her son's questions. "Well, I might have a summoning spell in one of my books." She wiped her hands on a dish cloth and ushered them both into her study and the locked cabinet that housed her books on magic. She searched for several moments until she found the tome she was looking for and sat at her desk to peruse the spells within. "Here's a basic spell to summon someone or something. I think you could probably just insert leprechaun here where it asks for a name and it should work well. Are you certain that you want to dabble with magic, Henry?"
"I just want to talk to one, mom. It's not like I'm asking him to run amok and cause chaos all over town," he said, his eyes pleading.
"Alright. Here's the spell," she said, writing down the instructions and a list of things they would need to make it work and handing it to him. "Would you like me to help you?"
"No, mom, I think Grace and I should be able to do it alone. You said yourself that it was simple."
"Very well. Just don't tell Emma I let you do this. You know she'd be highly upset," she said. She was frenemies at best with Henry's birth mother, who she shared custody with and she didn't need anything to upset the tenuous relationship.
"Thanks, mom!" he called over his shoulder, grabbing Grace by the hand and running for the front door.
XOOOX
Grace peeked over Henry's shoulder at the little man and grimaced. He was even shorter than the dwarves, and boy was he mad. He was extremely short, shorter than anyone either of them knew, with short black hair and beedy green eyes. His clothing consisted of black leather boots, brown breeches, a bright green poet shirt and a forest green waistcoat, but the sneer on his angry face prevented the pair of youngsters to comment on them.
"Why 'ave ye summoned me, eh? Ye don' look like witches or demons. How d'ye have to magics t' bring me 'ere?" he asked, pointing a short little finger in their direction. "Ye're tryin' t' steal me gold, aren' ye? Well, I'll no' be givin' it up so easily."
Grace shared a frightful look with her best friend, her eyes wide as dinner plates, tugging on his sleeve to prompt him into action. Henry offered the little man a hesitant smile, putting his hands up in a gesture that clearly said he meant no harm. "Please, sir, we just wanted to ask you a few questions."
"Questions, eh? 'Ow bout I curse you with bad luck 'til ye're old and gray?" the leprechaun threatened, but there was a certain lack of heat to his tone now that he knew he was dealing with mere children.
"Please, sir, we mean you no harm," Grace said in a trembling little voice, fearful of the little man and what he might be capable of.
"Sir, eh? I could get used to tha'," he little man said, smiling for the first time. "Alrigh', ye've got me here. What is it tha' ye want?"
"Well, sir, Grace's dad is having a bit of bad luck or no luck as the case may be. He's infatuated with my mom and doesn't have a chance of getting her to go out with him. We were kinda hoping that you might be able to tell us how to turn his luck around," Henry tried to explain.
The little man scratched his smooth chin and regarded the two children with interest. "And 'ere I thought ye had a challenge fer me."
"You'd be willing to help us?" Henry asked, his voice filled with excitement.
"Only if yer willin' t' 'elp me, laddie. I appear t' be stuck 'ere fer the next 24 'ours. If yer willin' to host me while I'm 'ere, I'll 'elp yer da," he said the last to Grace, chuckling at her bright smile.
"Deal."
XOOOX
Jefferson bit back a curse as Henry and Grace burst through the front door, causing him to burn his lip as he took a sip of his tea. "What the…"
"Hi, papa," Grace said, her smile brimming with excitement. "I'd like you to meet, Seamus. He's going to be our guest tonight. He's passing through our realm and I invited him to stay with us. He's a leprechaun."
Jefferson stared at her blankly. "I beg your pardon?"
"He's. A. Leprechaun," she said slowly, raising a brow at his blank look. "He's going to help you with your bad luck."
Henry grinned and disappeared into the kitchen to make sandwiches to offer their guest while Grace prepared him a cup of tea from the service on the coffee table.
"I thought they were one of this world's myths," Jefferson said, some of the color returning to his face as he tried to grasp what was going on. "They don't exist."
Grace rolled her eyes. Seamus cupped his hand next to his mouth and whispered, "He's a bit thick, isna 'e, lass?"
"Papa, you should know better after what we've been through with the curse," she scolded gently, passing the cup to Seamus.
Jefferson shook his head and sipped his tea, not taking his eyes from the little man. "And just what is he supposed to do for me?"
"The little lassie says yer 'avin' a spot of bad luck. I can change tha' fer ye," he promised, retrieving a gold nugget from the pocket of his waistcoat. It glowed faintly with an other-worldly light.
Jefferson's eyes widened warily as he stared at the gold. "And just what's in it for you, little man?"
Seamus scowled at him. "The childr'n offered me a warm place t' lay me 'ead, a hot meal an' a cold mug o' ale t' quench me thirst. I'd say tha's a fair trade."
"Come on, papa, take a chance. This way you'll have the best of luck when you ask Emma to go out with you," Grace said, confident of his success.
Jefferson sputtered into his tea. "Who says I'm going to ask Emma out?"
"Oh, please, papa. You've been salivating after her for months. This will give you the confidence to finally find out if she's worth your time. If she's not, you can stop spying on her through the telescope."
He regarded the little man skeptically and then shrugged. "Alright, Seamus, do your worst."
XOOOX
Henry and Grace decided to test the theory of Jefferson's newfound luck instead of letting him run straight to Emma to ask her out to dinner. Better to be safe than sorry. Grace convinced him to go to the park with them, finding a patch of clover and plopping down in the soft grass. "Come on, papa, down here with us. The first to find a four-leaf clover has to buy the ice cream at Granny's," she said brightly.
Henry chuckled at the disgruntled expression that spread across the hatter's face. "It won't be so bad, Mr. Madden. Think of it as an experiment."
Jefferson grumbled to himself as he stretched out in the grass and buried his nose in the patch of clover. "I'm going to get grass stains all over my new frock coat."
"Oh, quit grousing," Grace said, smiling fondly at her father.
It only took five minutes of fingering his way through the clover patch to find one with four leaves. "Look, Gracie, I found one."
"See, papa, I told you Seamus would be true to his word. And your luck just improved by finding a lucky charm," she said, plucking it from his fingers and tucking it into his lapel. "I want hot fudge sauce on my sundae, by the way."
There next stop was Granny's to purchase ice cream for the children. It somehow didn't matter that they'd already had one hours earlier. They were going to end up with a stomachache the way they devoured the frozen treat. But much to Grace's delight, her father's luck only continued to prove. As they exited the diner, Jefferson found a crisp twenty dollar bill lying against the picket fence next to the sidewalk. He was no longer able to deny that his luck had indeed changed to the better and his heart swelled in his chest at the thought that his fondest wish was possibly going to be granted.
Jefferson paused outside the sheriff's station and looked down beseechingly at his daughter and her friend. "What if I ask and she says no? What if she punches me again?"
"Papa, the only reason Emma hit you in the first place was because you kidnapped her and Mary Margaret. She had every right to be upset with you," Grace reasoned.
"You'll never know if you don't try, Mr. Madden," Henry chimed in his two cents.
Grace reached up to straighten his cravat as Henry opened the door and held it open for them to enter. He led the way to his mother's office, calling out a greeting to her. Emma stepped out of her office and ruffled his hair before smiling a bit at Grace and Jefferson. "Hey, guys, what's up?" she asked, trying to be polite.
"Jefferson has to talk to you about some stuff, mom. We'll see you later, ok?"
"Wait, where are you going?" she called after them.
Jefferson smiled warmly at Emma and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back slightly on his heels. "I think they're going to the park. We were there earlier hunting for four leaf clovers and I think they want to try their hands at it again."
"Four leaf clovers, huh?" she asked, reaching out to run her finger over the one pinned to his lapel. "Looks like you got lucky. Has your luck improved, Madden?"
Jefferson took a deep breath and huffed it out nervously. "Well, that would depend on you."
"How so?" she asked, quirking a golden brow suspiciously.
"I was…ah…hoping maybe you'd like to go to dinner with me this evening? I'd like to apologize for the entire abduction episode and possibly grovel for your forgiveness?" he said, casting her a gamine-like grin.
A slow smile spread over her face as she took in the sincerity in his warm grey eyes. She'd been drawn to him for longer than she cared to admit and there was no way she was going to pass on a chance to finally sit down and get to know him a little better. "Well, it's about time you asked."
"Wait, what?!" he asked, gaping at her in awe.
Emma began backing towards her office to pick up the ringing phone, fighting the blush that rose to stain her cheeks. "Pick me up at eight."
Jefferson stood there for several moments, lost in thoughts of having her all to himself before coming back to reality and exiting the sheriff's station in a daze. Henry and Grace were waiting outside for him. "Well, how'd it go? What did she say?" they asked simultaneously.
"She said to pick her up at eight."
Henry and Grace high-fived each other, their matching grins filled with glee. They would make sure to thank their new Irish friend for the gift he'd given the hatter, thankful that Jefferson's life was moving in a happy direction. And all it took was a leprechaun and…a bit of luck.