Hello Everyone! Let me thank you in advance for reading and sharing in this little fantasy that I can't seem to get out of my head. Let me also go ahead and say a couple of other things... I don't write often (this is my second posting on this site) and I don't have a Beta so if you see something in the writing that is amiss, please let me know. I do my best to check but sometimes you can't catch everything. I do not own any of the proprietary characters and story elements of Once Upon a Time. I only own the characters of my own creation. Lastly, I have, admittedly, not watched the entire series. I have seen Season 1 and some of Season 2 but this idea and these characters won't get out of my head... however, I realize that I may be missing pieces of lore or story line that would change how things work in the OUaT world I'm writing in. Please forgive me, as I watch if I discover something important I may amend things to keep a tighter lip on how this story interacts with that world, but I did want to acknowledge that I recognize this from the outset so... essentially this will be AU Seasons 1 & 2. Ok... all of that is out of the way. Thanks again, feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated. This is a fairly short chapter but I wanted to bang it out while it was fresh in my mind. Enjoy!

Everything was black. Black and buzzing. Somewhere in the distance a faint light appeared, and delicate, muffled moans reached Cait's ears. She blinked her eyes open and the light grew brighter but only just a little. The blackness was still there, pressing in around her, it was almost as if it were night out. She blinked again, and through her hazy, unfocused vision, she could see that it was night. It wasn't blackness so much as it was darkness. When had it become night time and who was making all of that noise? As she tried to turn her head she let out a pained sound and realized that the moans had been coming from her own mouth. There wasn't much time to think about that though, her head was swimming and she had the very specific feeling that she was going to vomit. With great effort she rolled onto her side, the motion only making the feeling of nausea worse. Her head was pounding too, and she felt like she had tiny needles sticking into her, all over her face, and arms… down her side and even over part of her legs. What the hell had happened?

Jefferson was walking, much as he did every night. The peaceful murmuring of the animals and wind moving through the trees a soothing and familiar sound to him. Even since getting Grace back, even now that everyone remembered, he still came out here at night to think. Normally there was nothing here to disturb him save the occasional appearance of a deer or some other wildlife… once he'd nearly been hit by a car but, then again, he'd planned that. Tonight, when he was about halfway through the well-trod path he saw something. There was something large on the side of the road. At first it didn't move, and Jefferson stopped, his breath icing in the cold air as he exhaled, watching the still form. Then, it made a sound, a low moan and after a few more minutes it slowly began to right itself until it became evident, even in the low moonlight, that it was a person. A woman. She had managed to roll herself over and was pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, shaking, unsteady he could see, even at this distance. Without thinking about it he found he had started walking again, taking slow, sure steps toward her. She let out another painful sound and gagged violently. He could see her body shaking and retching. Who could possibly be out here injured and ill? He stopped, realizing in that moment that he didn't recognize her. But that couldn't be. He knew everyone in Storybrooke and save one person, no one new had ever come to the town. And yet… here was this woman. It was selfish but, Jefferson was cautious, he had good reason to be, and he wanted a moment to examine her. She was young, around his age, well the age he looked, he guessed. She was wearing a thin, dark green shirt and black pants that fitted tightly around her legs. She was short, her hair was long, but the color was muddied by dirt and gravel which not only tangled in the curls of her hair but seemed to be stuck to most of her body, skin included. He could see blood was dripping slowly from the side of her face and she had lost one of the ankle height boots she'd been wearing. What was he supposed to do? Strangers didn't just show up here, so who was she? She might be dangerous, this might even be some type of trap, an ambush. He could feel the muscle in his jaw jumping. He should turn around and slip away, go home and kiss Grace goodnight. He had too much to risk it but… What if it wasn't something sinister? What if it was just an injured young woman? What if sometime in the future, though he prayed not, someone abandoned his little girl when she needed help? That made him feel sick and he knew he couldn't walk away, danger or not.

"Hey!" He called out, feet carrying him more swiftly toward the woman as he saw her retch again, body heaving, arms shaking trying to support her weight. "Hey! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Caitriona had no idea that anyone was near, let alone that someone was watching, she probably wouldn't have cared if she'd known. She felt like she'd been tumbled in one of those concrete mixers. Her head was throbbing, she was dry heaving, she ached all over, and there was something wet trickling down the side of her face. Her vision hadn't come back to one hundred percent either and there was a faint humming in her ears. This was bad. She didn't know how bad, but bad enough. As another wave of nausea hit her she felt two arms wrap around her midsection, taking the weight from her own arms and legs. Whomever it was… they were strong and held her with ease. It took a moment to register but they were speaking to her… He, it was a man. He was repeating something over and over… it took another few moments for her brain to clear enough to make sense of it.

"Hey! Are you alright? Can you hear me? Hello? Talk to me… are you alright?" His voice was low and soothing, and he was warm against her back. She felt her eyes fluttering closed despite the pounding and aching. He seemed to notice because he started speaking more urgently to her. "No, hey, don't close your eyes. I need you to wake up ok? Tell me your name…"

She felt herself pulled backwards into a sitting position, the man still behind her, cradling her in his lap, one arm around her waist the other trying to hold her head up; turning her a little so that he could look at her face. She blinked her eyes open, squinting as they tried to focus on his face. It wasn't much help, she could barely make out his features… Angular jaw, lips curled down in concern, brow furrowed over the brightest blue eyes she could ever remember seeing… though, the way her brain was working right now that didn't mean too much. There was a little stubble growing in on his jaw and chin and there was something… a scarf? Maybe… wrapped high up around his neck. She groaned again as he continued to move her, as gently as he could. Her throat felt scratchy and dry and when she parted her lips to speak it took her a couple of tries to get the words out.

"Caitriona… I'm Cait… What happened?" She felt the nausea coming back again and closed her eyes to try and shut it out. She could feel him moving around. She cracked one eye open to see him pulling out a cell phone and awkwardly dialing it with one hand while he cradled her in the other arm. "Who are you calling? Where am I? I need to..." She tried to get up, or at least she thought her brain told her body to get up. What happened was more like a general flailing of limbs. He wasn't able to hold on to her and she rolled out of his lap and back onto the ground. The movement made her retch again, her vision swimming and the world sinking back into stillness and darkness.

Jefferson wearily climbed the front steps to the house. He was more tired than he could remember being in a long time. Well, physically tired at least. He eased the door open and then closed behind him and crept up the stairs and down the hall, taking a moment to calm his breathing before he cracked open the door to Grace's room. She was asleep, curled around a large stuffed rabbit and tucked into a nest of covers. Silently he slipped into the room and planted a feather-light kiss on her forehead before heading out just as quietly and leaving the door cracked behind him.

In his own room Jefferson stripped off his dirty and bloodied clothing. He had not expected to find anything but solitude on his walk tonight and that was exactly what he hadn't gotten. When he'd removed his clothing and shoes he stepped into the bathroom, turning the shower on, the room steaming from the heat of the water. No, he hadn't expected to find a woman in the woods, bruised and battered and likely with some kind of head injury. She'd looked a lot worse up close, her face scratched and bloody from hitting the gravel and asphalt. It looked like she'd skidded along the road, been thrown from a car, or something but… there was no car, no nothing. Just her shoe, a few feet away and a backpack a few feet from that. If he was honest with himself, he was a little shaken. It had been bad enough when he'd first pulled her up into his arms, but then she'd seized and fallen back to the ground and into unconsciousness. When'd picked her up that time she was dead weight… lifeless, almost. It made his throat tighten to think about it.

Jefferson stepped into the shower, flinching slightly at the water temperature, though he adjusted to it after a moment. For a long time, he simply stood there, letting the water run down over him, eyes closed. An image came to his mind, unbidden, and he couldn't seem to shake it. A heart shaped face covered in dirt and blood… green eyes shining through thick lashes and then suddenly going glassy and unfocused. Her body, in his arms going rigid and then limp. Now he was the one who felt nauseous and he couldn't understand why. Yes, it had been rattling to find someone so injured, especially someone who didn't belong but… she wasn't someone he knew or cared about, why was he having this kind of reaction to it? Grace… it had to be. He hadn't had her back all that long and he'd made that connection before helping the woman. How he would have wanted someone to help Grace if she were hurt… that had to be it.

A long time after the water temperature had cooled on its own Jefferson finally finished washing up and climbed out of the shower. He toweled his hair off and regarded his reflection in the foggy mirror. He ran his hands over his face, scratching at the beard growing in on his chin and then down over the thin scar that encircled his neck. He didn't know what he was looking for here or why he stood there so long… Blowing out a breath of air through his nose he walked out of the bathroom, trying to shake the nerves that kept creeping back into his mind after the evening's events. Slipping into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt he threw back the covers and climbed into bed. Much like the solace he'd been seeking earlier, sleep was not something he was going to find tonight. Those green eyes seemed to burn into him every time he closed his own. By the time he'd decided he wasn't going to get any sleep and resolved to get out of bed, dawn was nearly breaking. A glance at the clock told him that Grace would be waking in a few hours to get ready for school. At least he could get a head start on breakfast, he reasoned, and with something else to focus on, maybe he wouldn't have to see those eyes staring up at him anymore.