Authors Note: This story was inspired by spoilers for the upcoming episode, "Hat Trick". Read at your own risk.

Madness and Millinery

Emma Swan stared at her hand mirror in disbelief. This wasn't possible. She closed her eyes in an attempt to will the image away. With a deep breath she chanced another look. The pair of cerulean feline eyes and an impossibly wide smile were still there. She couldn't resist the temptation to look over her shoulder and see if this being was truly floating in the air beside her. It was with a profound sense of disappointment that she discovered this not to be the case. Yet, the odd cat was still there within her mirror sporting a mocking grin. Emma knew that she was hallucinating. Stress could do strange things to people, and she had been under a great deal of it the past few weeks. There was no way in hell that the Cheshire Cat was really there. He is only a character from a story.

Stories... What's a story?

She shook her head in denial. This was all Jefferson's fault. He had planted the idea in her mind, and now her imagination was running on overdrive. She refused to give into whatever madness he'd wrought on her. To do so would mean having to admit that she'd been wrong about so many other things. Fairy tales weren't real, and this is the real world.

A... real world.

Damn him. He had been unhinged, insane, and she shouldn't even give the things he'd said that night a second thought. Yet, they sounded far to close to what her kid had been trying to convince her of ever since he had shown up on her doorstep. Fairy tales, the curse, her parents... It was all make believe. Magic didn't exist.

You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.

She was tempted to pick up the phone and call Archie, but something always held her back. What if he determined that she truly had been driven insane? She would lose any chance of seeing Henry again. Hell, Regina would have a field day. There was no way that she would give that woman any more ammunition than she already had.

Emma sighed as she walked over to the kitchen table. She took a seat, set down her mirror, and stared at the mass of fabric and other items that laid innocently beside a large black top hat. She didn't yet know what had possessed her to take the materials from his home. If anything she should have it set aside as evidence.

You have magic. You can do it.

Her hands seemed to move on their own accord as she picked up the supplies she needed and set to work. She wasn't entirely sure why she had decided to heed his request after so long. No, that wasn't accurate. It made the madness that threatened to engulf her recede, and that very notion frightened her more than the cat in her mirror. She thought of Jefferson and his room full of hats. Was this why he had crafted so many? Not just because he was trying to create something powerful, but because it was the only way to get a little peace of mind?

Now get it to work.

It was past midnight by the time she'd completed her task. The cat in the mirror waved and faded into nothingness. She wondered why she suddenly felt such loneliness at his departure. She should have been happy to have him gone, but instead she felt an odd sort of discontent.

Even as she later stood outside of a cold steal door deep within Storybrooke's asylum with the hat in hand she couldn't shake that feeling. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door with the keys that she doubted she would ever return to Regina, and stepped inside.

The man lounged on the cot with confidence that didn't fit in with his surroundings. He smiled.

"I knew you could do it Princess."