Save You, Sacrifice Me

by MindSanctuary

Mara, o/c, has been trying to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her brother. Now, she's been almost been killed twice & saved by Jefferson 1x. The only clue to her brother's disappearance belongs to the Undeworld-a world more familiar to her than she might imagine. Closer to the truth the more she bonds w/ the man who saved her life -the Mad Hatter.

Storybrooke, Maine

9:45 pm

It was nearly 10 below when Mara was finally released from Storybrooke General Hospital.

A frost had settled over the sleepy town piercing her short fall wool charcoal coat and she distinctly felt a shudder run eerily down her spine having nothing to do with the sudden shift in temperature.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye -burning rubber against asphalt, two pale gold steady beams shafted upon an unsuspecting tiny frame crouching over to pick something up…a thunder of panicked footsteps leapt and grabbed the royal blue collar and yanked.

A pair of surprised and suddenly alert soft cinnamon orbs stared breathlessly up at the breathtaking dark sea green gaze worried and fretfully drinking her in-intrinsically searching for any signs of injury.

"Are you alright?" Mara studied the angelic looking 8 year old girl, adrenaline still clearly pumping through her veins –her heart jack rabbiting inside her chest, her voice coming out in a hurried rush. "Are you hurt?!"

A wondrous look captivated and melted the startled expression glowing in this child's orbs as on lookers started to surround them concernedly. It was all too clear.

"You saved me." The child instantly threw her arms gratefully around Mara's neck, warmly resting her forehead against the young photographer's shoulder and began to sob.

There it was in that moment –there was more solace in that hug than she had felt in a long time. Not after she lost Cimon…

At the mere thought, Mara felt a raw lump instantly rise but refuse to swallow in her throat. Never, not until she found him. Her dark green gems instantly welled up as her gaze fixed to the exact spot of this morning's hit and run.

It was so odd that the driver had not stopped.

Had she even been a second too late and had she not agreed to help Mary Margaret earlier that morning.

"Aislin Investigations."

"Mara?"

Glances down at the white blackberry marked "SNAP SHOT" and instantly rolls her dark green orbs secretly cajoling herself for not realizing it sooner.

"Hey."

"I didn't know you were a private investigator." The confusion and awe were palpable in the elementary school teacher's voice.

Arches an eyebrow down at the obsidian black berry storm labeled "UNSOLVED" situated in sleep mode-lucky bastard, even technology was ahead of her on that one.

"Wrong phone." Mara replied, her dark greens scanning to her radio clock at the early hour. 7:30 am. "What I do is not exactly common knowledge."

"I understand. I mean it makes perfect sense actually." The pixie haired school teacher said reflectively and Mara could overhear the empathy laced in her voice. "Especially after your br.."

"If it's all the same I'd rather not talk about it."

Sensing the guarded tone instantly walling up in Storybrooke's freelance photographer's voice, Mary Margaret couldn't help but feel nothing but compassion for her. Ever since that night and no one seemed to have any answers.

Shaking her head, So it was true, she had never spoken a word about it to anyone.

"Of course (pauses) I was wondering if you might be free this morning to take pictures of a field trip. The kids are really excited about it and I thought it would be a good idea for them to take the memory back home to their parents. And this trip almost didn't happen…" There was a slight tremble in Mary Margaret's voice recalling the near-parental mutiny 2 days ago and Mara instantly knew the source behind it.

"Screw the ass hats. ("Mara!" there was a slight incredulous yet completely moved emotion in Mary Margaret's tone as it was on her behalf) I'll cover the trip for you. "Mara declared throwing her arms through her short wool fall coat, tossing the phone to cradle next to her left ear as she began to pull up her grey denim pants with her right. The last thing she was going to let these hypocritical tight asses on the parent teachers board bull doze Mary Margaret.

"Thanks! We meet in front of Granny's diner at 8:30 am." Mary Margaret said relieved as she handed a cup of coffee to her flaxen haired roommate, Emma who nodded her thanks and headed out the door to the police station.

Tonight, the Main Street was unexpectedly frosty and desolate but the lamp posts still provided that comforting glow anyone would feel safe under. Except like a rare few she knew better.

Unconsciously, those large dark jade orbs instantly shifted to an adjacent lamp post as a familiar 8 and ½ by 11 inch volcanic gold paper instantly claimed the very heart of her attention.

MISSING! CIMON AISLIN, STORYBROOKE'S RESIDENT PHARMACIST

A flicker of deep and powerful emotions conflicted a tempest in that piercing gaze as she began drinking in the worn, wrinkled and ripped quality tearing at this particular memo. The hardest part to read was, "Last seen walking past Toll Bridge."

It was the last time anyone had seen him. No one was safe in this town.

This is why she had to resort to extreme but necessary measures to ensure it wouldn't happen to anyone else. Without city council approval and hell it wasn't like she hadn't tried…and ended up spending the night cooling her heels in the city jail abrasions riding her right fist.

Regina had a harder face than she thought.

It wasn't as though anyone would blame her and she still didn't know where that came from.

"There is a Statue of limitations on reopening cold cases in Storybrooke."

"Its' only been 3 years! Its' like 7 years at best before the police can close a case…"

"Yeah." A Cheshire rather smug smirk laced those dark plum lips triggering something deep and powerful in the snowy haired photographer, "If he's dead."

A blinding red haze and she leapt –more like lunged (Sidney Glass' quote from the article in The Mirror)-at a suddenly wide wolf eyed Madam Mayor over the City Council table. Fisticuffs pounded without mercy paying heed to only one command –suffer.

Mr. Gold watched from the back of the auditorium, his light rum gaze sung with glittering amusement and a hopeful 'get her good' bouncing off his olive features only to pout when Sheriff Graham and Sidney Glass managed to bodily pry Mara from inflicting more damage.

A suddenly disheveled mayor now adorned in violet and black wounds across her right eye and left cheekbone truly made the imp's day. A flicker of something unimaginable –horror-distressed those wolf orbs drinking in the suddenly manacled photographer. And he thought today would be boring.

It gave him a giddy twitch –reminded him of the night when he managed to imprison the exiled immortal only to discover she had let him.

Reaching into her brown leather shoulder bag, Mara rummaged fastidiously inside-her elegant ivory finger tips combing over her Nikon camera, film rolls, lens cleaner, her wallet. The camera was slightly dented from the impact of the telephone pole but she was willing to bet that the pictures she had taken earlier still held up. Maybe, she might have captured the driver. Stopping, Mara paused when she instinctively grabbed a near empty prescription bottle and arched a self-cajoling kick me now eyebrow.

Just another 10 hours before the pharmacy opened.

Suddenly, that's when her palm lifted the adhesive nylon material and procured a week old practically newly minted poster. New leads, new investigation and something she didn't have the first time she started.

Screw Regina, she'd take it to Sheriff Swan.

The sort of thing even The Mirror had omitted and the old sheriff had overlooked. She was getting closer and she would not let anyone stand in her way.

It was the only way to find the truth –the only way to find out what happened that night. There was only one area he frequented to refill his apothecary –something he had done a 1,000 times.

Unconsciously, her left palm took refuge in her short dark fall wool coat and began grasping an object unseen to any passing observer. Only the Main Street was empty and all establishments had closed for the night.

The unexplained tragedy, the discovery of a human heart and the near-fatal hit and run of this morning: the frame job wasn't fooling her and neither were her instincts. They had clearly stepped up their game.

But so-had-she and what she had was indisputable.

WHIR!

The smell of burning rubber, the screech of rolling tires and the roar of an engine instantly triggered a sense memory and unexpectedly the crime photographer found herself rooted to the spot. This time there were no beams of light –it was a black unseen mass now barreling formidable and unstoppable down at her. Gaining, gaining-

A photographic flash attempted a stream of unfamiliar faces and moments that were instantly barred and stamped into submission. All noise ceased to exist in this frozen moment –her heart hammering like crazy, stopping once-

Suddenly, her body felt a pressure –a force-drive into her and not with the momentum or metal monster power she had imagined. Somehow, this tall wily force would not let go as they tucked, corkscrew rolled and finally abbreviated stopping in front of Mr. Gold's pawnbroker shop.

Mara was suddenly highly disoriented, her body sore and just a little tender and her vision askew as she suddenly became conscious of a lithe lean form lying breathlessly atop her own. Nothing felt quite real in this moment.

A slight mist had started to envelope Storybrooke and the crime photographer felt a reassuring sprinkle pelt softly upon her forehead awakening her. It was enough to trigger those heavy ivory lids open and perk her alert lobes eager to listen to the environment. Not dead-awesome shows them.

A scary thought entered her mind causing her body to convulse briefly as the adrenaline started to kick in.

They knew. They absolutely knew what she had which meant they finally realized it was missing.

Which meant only one thing –she was being watched.

"Are you okay?" a voice that struck a chord on a level she did not know how to name and fairly certain had never spoken to her before this moment inquired concernedly from atop her. Still atop her and yet the notion itself found this connection nice, inviting even. "Are you hurt?"

A mass of colors swam above her, swirling with a kaleidoscope twist as the top of her petal nose detected the fresh invigorating scent of the evergreen forest all emanating from one man just above her. Wow.

He suddenly righted in her vision as though by magic and she felt her breath catch in the next: his dark brown locks were perfectly coiffed into a bold pompadour that perfectly illuminated his eternally boyish features and smooth alabaster skin. Her dark jades widened at the beauty of those magnificent lips, artistically crafted, dangerously curved with a sensuous grace that bordered on sinful.

Her dark pupils expanded and her normally steady pulse raced all in one incredible moment. She was usually calm even in the dire of circumstances and yet she couldn't explain why her body reacted with such feverish intensity.

It could have been shock or adrenaline but that didn't explain this unpredictable jolt of excitement that coarse like electricity through her at his closeness. He should have felt like a stranger but he didn't.

And yet it was that large diamond blue gaze that glistened luminously down at her, that held her attention most. For they peered down at her with a flicker of something familiar and intense concern, combing her face intrinsically for answers she could not yet physically give voice to. There was an immense haunted quality that surfaced in that entrancing gaze and vanished in the next.

Still, there was this undeniable feeling that she couldn't shake and it was her livelihood that she never forgot a face.

"Have we met?" Tilts her head to the side, trying to go down her mental list of possibilities but none even came close to him.

Those words struck for lack of a better word *magnificent* man just a breath above her as those masterfully crafted lips curled into the most wonderful boyish grin.

"I can assure you I would remember meeting you."

It was in this moment, the Good Samaritan lifted himself bodily off her unconsciously and more surprising to her than anything else caused her body instantly to sigh in deep disappointment. To part filled her with an unpredictable sense of loss that Mara couldn't explain. What the hell was going on?! This really wasn't her –to go all for a lack of a better word 'girly'.

She didn't like the loss of control especially after the last time had cost her so dearly.

And yet there was something different about this one.

Without another thought, the Good Samaritan offered her his palm and graciously assisted to right her on her feet. The second Mara sprang to her feet, her vision drank in the elegant man before her –he had a refined sense of style and dressed to kill the night.

"Are you hurt? Do you need a doctor?" The Good Samaritan inquired, that luminous diamond gaze burned intensely drinking her in and dirty thoughts instantly began to surface which she did her best to muzzle. But she seriously couldn't blame herself, he was handsome in a way that should be considered criminal.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Mara said her voice choppy as another thought entered her mind

He had saved her life without hesitation. The reality of this thought tilted her world on its speechless axis.

No one did stuff like this for her.

"That was a really brave thing you just did. You could have been killed. Thank you."

"Jefferson." Jefferson extended his elegant palm, his boyish features softening drinking in the way those rich piercing sea greens gazed up at him with a wonder and familiarity –it was as though he could feel the curse battling for dominance. "And you're welcome."

The memory so long ago must have been strong enough to confound and perplex the striking snowy haired woman as she gratefully shook his hand.

"Mara." Mara said breaking into warm little girl's grin across her lush icy heart shaped pout, drinking him in as she willfully tried to place him. "I'm not sure what it is, but you really do look so familiar."

A playful smile lit Jefferson's features –truly this daunted him-a little crack in the curse's armor.

"I must have one of those faces." His boyish voice said playfully with an enigmatic air.

"I don't think so." Mara shook her head, as she arched a deliciously sassy eyebrow up at him. "You're not easy to forget."

Jefferson's breath hitched as his diamond orbs flickered startled and astounded as the impact of these words nearly leveled him. Did she really just say? He tried to catch his breath as the same rush and intensity flooded him –they were the exact first words she exchanged with him back in the great hall of realms.

All back when he was lost. Well, everything that is.

The very night he witnessed her get banished from her world. The only world he never dare enter during his hatter days –the one even the most feared fairytale residents never spoke of.

"Night-?" Jefferson could scarcely breathe, his heart thundering in his chest that out of all Storybrooke residents after all this time could know him. That he could no longer be alone in this.

"Are you okay?" The alarm in her voice anchored that breathtaking blue diamonds to her angelic features, drinking him in with undiluted concern. "Maybe we should both go to the hospital to be sure."

There was something bothering him. Something that didn't sit well at all –the very something he had glimpsed in his immense gold telescope back at his home.

"That car (pauses inhaling deeply) aimed itself at you. It was also flying blind. Whoever it was has been following you." Jefferson said carefully, watching intently as the clarity of these words settled over her.

An unsettling silence elapsed between them and Jefferson swore his heart stopped as a serious expression etched her angelic features and Mara stared up at him with an unwavering determination.

"I..I think someone's trying to kill me." Mara said in a small yet steady voice "And I think tonight wasn't the first time."

"You mean this morning…"Jefferson swallowed hard as the mere memory sent an icy reminder down his spine.

"I hadn't made the connection until now." Mara shook her head and she suddenly felt her breath leave her. "What bothered me is that the driver never stopped. If I had even been a second too late..."

Jefferson felt a chill go through him at these words and recalled the instant relief and joy that speared him when he realized who she saved. It never stopped the tremors and adrenaline he drove on for hours after trying to calm down.

His Grace.

She had run out into the street without a second thought.

His diamond sapphires instantly picked up on an unexpected ripple of fear storming those sublime angelic features. He couldn't help it –he felt a surge of worry coarse through him as his gaze softened exuberantly as it had the first time so long ago through the Looking Glass. She had helped him when no one else would and never asked for anything in return.

"Why did you help me?"

"I can read souls. You're a good man and a good father who needs to be with his child."

A part of him softened speaking to a level locked deep inside him that hadn't been roused in such a long time.

"How about I escort you home? Make sure you get home safely." Jefferson offered

A glimmer of surprise and an unexpected softer emotion glistened quite touched at this. The truth was Mara wasn't use to this sort of chivalry –it was something she was used to witness happening to others. But not to her –her real work required a sense of detachment: a sort of distance to maintain her objectivity.

Something she needed to find him.

And yet a sudden tingling sensation burned her ivory and rose cheekbones startling her as Jefferson gazed patiently down at her, a playful light dancing in that gorgeous cobalt, a wry smile dancing on those delicious lips. Wow, they really are a work of art.

At this angle, he was 5ft 11 inches a mere inch and half above her. A magnificent man that somehow made all the bad in the world get behind him-and something out of the ordinary happened for Mara.

She trusted him and without question. Sure, he saved her life but that still didn't explain this other sense on an unconscious level when she looked at him. She rarely opened up to anyone and she couldn't explain it. It was just like she couldn't understand this undeniable connection when their gazes locked.

"I don't want to hold you up any longer. You've done so much for me already." Mara said, but she heard it in her own voice –she didn't want him to leave either.

A sweet smile played on his lips-Jefferson could read between the lines and the truth was he found this endearing, the complete opposite of the exiled immortal liberator all realms feared and fantasized about.

Truth was there many compelling facets to both.

"C'mon it would give me peace of mind to know that you're okay." Jefferson assured reaching out to take her arm, he felt a sudden piercing pain hamstring considerably in between his shoulder blades and he released an alarming yelp.

"Oh my God! You are hurt!" Mara cried out meeting him halfway and offering her right shoulder to steady him and Jefferson instantly felt that peace settle over him in her presence from so long ago. The close proximity made him very aware of her heat, the erratic palpitations of her heart and the way all this buildup of darkness slipped into the shadows. Somehow, even the curse had not stripped her of this.

"I think I might have pulled something in my back." Jefferson found the truth slipping out with relative ease around her.

"I should really get you to a doctor." Mara insisted, those dark jades glistened like hopeful stars up at him. "You may have broken something."

"A long time ago." The words slipped out on their own accord, softly unconsciously so as his fingers ensured his scarf was still wrapped with appropriate measure around his neck.

A jarring thought hit him and Jefferson unconsciously shook his head –the last thing he wanted was to be seen at that hospital. Too many questions.

"I think I really just need to sit down. (Scrunches up his face at another spear of pain took hold of him.) Just rest my back."

The truth was Mara wasn't fond of doctors either and she knew the 'look' of someone who didn't like them either. But she didn't have a choice, she needed them to function.

"Look my car is in the shop. What if I walk you home?" Mara offered

"I live on the outskirts of town just beyond the forest." Jefferson explained trying to save face in front of her. "But I should be okay."

The mere thought of the two of them walking the road was unsettling enough and the idea of Jefferson injuring himself worse in the process didn't sit well with her most.

"My loft is just up the next 2 blocks. It's very late and I have a spare room. It's the least I can do for the man who saved my life."

The warmth behind these words filled Jefferson with the prospect of hope, his diamond gaze locked intensely glistening with vulnerability at her own.

"Lead the way."

Jefferson breathe an internal sigh of relief once they stopped in front of a 2 story red brick building at the end of Shade Drive.

The corners of his mouth twitched and the Mad Hatter himself chewed on his inner gums to suppress the bemused grin dying to make known. Part of him knew Regina couldn't resist the irony seeing as just who Mara's mother really is.

A pair of luminous cobalt watched as he felt Mara dig into her charcoal grey denim pants –strangely enough he liked the look of them on her. In the 28 years in this town, one of the things he had noticed about his liberator is her innate sense to wear clothes with a certain edge but mostly he admired her formidable resolve bent on solving the cases no one would take while the one so close to her impenetrable heart went fallow.

"Gotcha." Mara declared triumphantly as she wrapped her palms around a key chain and began to fiddle with the 5 keys attached.

The striated key, she held up was a sunset gold and not like any key one could easily procure from a locksmith. It had to have been specially made.

"Nice shade. Rare isn't it? Definitely hard to come by." Jefferson noted as a surprised yet impressed look glistened brightly in that piercing dark jade gaze.

"It's the only one of its kind and it can't be copied. This town has too many unfortunate circumstances that can't be explained."

"So I'm not the only one who has noticed." A sense of solidarity sparked warmly in that gorgeous cobalt and Mara distinctly noticed a flood of emotion tempering those criminally handsome features of his.

It actually burned her and excited her in a single moment.

Relief and hope fluttered considerably in that intoxicating diamond gaze, he was closer now and the very thought left her breathless. The corners of her lush heart shaped petal pink pout mouth parted to reply only to notice an all too familiar resident eagerly approaching from behind Jefferson.

Jefferson witnessed those entrancing dark jades widen and a cringe manifested on those sublime angelic features. Instantly, he turned in the direction of the approaching footsteps only to see Dr. Whale approaching, a flirty grin growing wider on his crooked lip. The intensity of his gaze shafted first on Mara drinking her in with a heat that could sear bone which only made her jab the end of the key into the lock that much faster.

"Damn It! I can't ever catch a break!" Mara muttered as the lock finally opened as Dr. Whale set a questioning yet curious gaze upon Jefferson before turning his full undivided attention upon Mara.

It was true he suddenly wanted to shear the pretty man's face off.

His reputation alone was enough to make Jefferson's prominent jaw clench considerably. The guy reminded him of an altar boy gone wrong and had employed such devious tactics that rarely failed him or his 'conquests'.

"Ahh Mara! I was hoping I might catch up to you. You rushed out of the hospital so quickly." Dr. Whale said a lucky me light twinkling in those baby blues.

Jefferson watched as his lovely snowy haired liberator froze in place, shoulders tense, inhaled deeply before resigning herself to turn and face an elated Dr. Whale.

"I just wanted to make sure that the little girl was okay. Her parents hadn't arrived yet. I was worried. No child should have to be alone after that. That's all." Mara said emphasizing the last word on purpose, but the worry in her voice could not be masked –a warmth glowed exuberantly in Jefferson's royal cobalt down at her.

Dr. Whale sighed, "Well its late I would have walked you home. (turn to Jefferson in a forced show of politeness shakes his hand) I'm sorry we've never met. I'm Dr. Whale."

"Jefferson."

A dark look pulsed intensely off Jefferson as he continued to stare daggers of savage intensity at the young doctor with a lethal menace. He couldn't understand his reaction nor the level of it.

"I can take care of myself." Mara stated her voice steady and clear, her piercing green gaze unwavering. Take a hint.

So Dr. Feelgoods threw his hands into his pockets and determinedly threw his too-perfect face into hers studying her as though searching for an tell. Out of every woman in town, Mara had a great poker face.

"Are you still afraid to let your guard down?"

Mara narrowed her jade gaze icily upon him keeping her angelic features inscrutable as possible –but with her it was always the eyes that gave her away. She could never get that under control.

But he still continued his reign of narcissism by entering the hall of gratuitous praise. "You won't have to be especially with an amazing doctor like me –even my coma patients wake up."

Jefferson noted the way Dr. Whale stared expectantly down at Mara obviously anticipating a captivated audience. But his snowy haired liberator was the epitome of quiet silent intensity before those hypnotizing dark jades sparked with realization.

"I'm sorry are you talking now? Because your prick keeps doing all the talking for you."

Jefferson couldn't help it, gob smacked and truly delighted at this dry sense of humor as a truly amused grin curved on his sensuous mouth and light heartedly chuckled. There she was –a bit of her real self was poking through.

Just like that day at City Council. "Ha ha ha! Go for it!" Jefferson had chuckled from the side of the auditorium once the frenzy of fisticuffs had been unleashed prompting a startled gasp from the crowd.

Shock plastered Dr. Whale's features, as the effect of these words left a truly priceless reaction Jefferson wished he could bottle. Clearly, out of everything, this was the last possible reaction he expected from her.

"And you're the only one who says no to me." Dr. Whale said, confusion lit his features and for some odd reason, Jefferson got the sense he hungered for the challenge that much more.

That's all she was to him –a challenge?

Bastard. Jefferson thought venomously.

A slight pressure clasped warm and wonderful just above his heart sending a jolt of electricity and excitement through him. It took him a split second to realize it was Mara, her smooth palm spread across the opening of his stylish wool jacket, beckoning him inside.

Her merest touch did wonders. The beauty of his soft lips curled into a tender smile –a happy one. His blood singed against his skin eager for more contact like this. It had been so long since he had been touched like this.

For the briefest instant, the tips of his long alabaster fingers clutched her palm and a nervous yet intense emotion burned him deeply in that onyx jade gaze. A flicker of vulnerability and a deeper emotion stared wide eyed up at Jefferson –it pierced him bone deep, he could scarcely breathe.

"C'mon. I've got a cold compress for your back." Mara said, the intensity of her gaze never leaving his as she turned around and entered the building.

As Jefferson entered the hallway, his right palm dancing on the door knob he couldn't help but catch the thunder struck expression glossing Dr. Whale's baby blues. A wry smile curled magnificently on Jefferson's beautiful mouth prompting the doctor's jaw to pop open.

Jefferson slowly closed the door.

Mara felt it in the air-an unsettling chill-that did nothing to alleviate her nerves as she stared down her loft door with suspicious eyes.

2x in 24 hours.

She must have a target on her back-2 very public attempts which meant either the perp had no fear of recrimination or was completely unbalanced.

It was all about opportunity and these attacks were sloppy with no cooling down period. They were desperate which made them all the more dangerous.

Someone had something big to lose.

There appeared to be no signs of forced entry or tampering with the large oak door of any kind. This was her sanctuary-the only place completely impenetrable to the outside world. No one was allowed in her home.

Case in point, her home security system was motion activated and designed to electronically notify her with an attachment of video feed in case of a break in.

It was something she had installed a week after the disappearance.

Syphoning her white blackberry storm from her left jeans pocket, Jefferson's cobalt gaze was drawn to the nimble dexterity of those elegant ivory fingertips working over the keypad with a frantic frenzy. Multiple screens popped up, a confirmation of an access code and an amiable ping!

In time video feed now flooded the miniature screen and a sudden pressure contoured his stylish winter coat –the subtle yet sensual scents of wild plum, cherry blossoms and hints of vanilla primed his senses and Jefferson unconsciously moved closer briefly smelling her hair but he caught himself in the process.

This wasn't like him and yet those 28 years imprisoned by knowledge forced to watch as his child lived happily unaware of his existence had weighed heavy on his mind seeping into his body.

The wear and tear was starting to show as he split at the seams…tying him into tense intricate knots.

And yet somehow, as that onyx jade gaze anchored up at his, Jefferson felt lighter when he noticed it soften as she stared up at him thoughtfully. Holding up the cell phone, Mara played the footage and had to fight a shiver when she realized those beautiful alabaster palms had steadied her shaky grip. O-M-G!

His touch was electric, her pulse danced, her blood speared with feverish excitement as his nearness nearly enveloped her.

"I can't be too careful." Mara explained, uncharacteristically stumbling over her words the second that breath- catching gaze leveled with understanding into hers.

Trust was not something that came easy to her.

"Of course" Jefferson said, his boyish voice settled nicely over her as he scanned the footage "Looks clear."

Twist, click and a reassuring spring later cast a shaft of ultra violet rays into the immediate alcove of her residence. It was pitch black beyond that and any intruder would naturally have to wait till their gaze acclimatized to the environment.

A steady pulse of neon green flickered boisterously on their left and Jefferson squinted at this device mounted against the wall. It blinked incessantly back at him prompting Mara to slip carefully out from underneath the base of his right shoulder, taking care to settle him against the pillar door before quickly pacing towards the alarm.

Bracing her palms around the sides of the device to steady the tremor in her fingertips, Mara punched in the four digit code carefully. She only had a 20 second window to punch in the correct cypher without alerting the security company.

And she only was allotted 2 tries before a security officer was dispatched.

An unexpected silence greeted her quite pleased to be docile again as the entire loft was now illuminated in succession-each room lit as though validating its safety once more.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Mara unconsciously wet her lush lower rosy pink lip trying to settle the disquiet chaos of her thoughts and her dark green gems instantly fell upon Jefferson waiting quiet and patient at the door. There was tension lining the cleft in his chin and his striking cheekbones appeared unexpectedly gaunt as though he were chewing on the inside of his gums.

He didn't want her to see.

The lances of pain that were now prickling his back –his family was going to kill her. A twinge of something powerful punctured that elusive feeling that had bubbled excitedly inside her from nearly 40 minutes ago.

Trying to quell the chorus of disappointment rising inside her, Mara smoothed the conflict tensing her angelic features before striding forward and offering her own shoulder as a crutch but this time leaving a gap between the two of them.

But at this point, Jefferson immediately sensed a difference in the way she held him that had suddenly elapsed abruptly in the span of a few seconds- the distance.

Bewilderment glistened in those soft crystal cobalt, studying her carefully as she assisted him gingerly into a nearby comfy computer chair not exactly meeting his gaze.

Tilting his head at the once exiled immortal before him, Mara could feel that diamond gaze intensifying trying to interpret her best poker face.

The depth of what she was feeling was too dangerous.

A gentle pressure suddenly clasped the bone of her delicate ivory wrist, turning it over and pressing an adept fore finger at the base as that diamond cobalt burned invoking into hers.

Mara's breath hitched stopping her in place and Jefferson felt the stream of her pulse beat erratically.

"What's wrong?" That oh so velvety soft voice implored was nearly her undoing but she wasn't about to do anything stupid that would produce any awkward encounters of her own making in the future. Especially when this man she barely knew who felt familiar on a level in a tender way that shouldn't be had managed to rattle the safety of her armor. It didn't make any sense.

The last thing he could do was devastate her, the worst he could possibly do is walk away clueless to the effect he had on her.

Jefferson drank in the placidity of those sublime rosy cream features that bore no signs of tension or brows to crease with trouble-nothing. It wasn't until he settled on that piercing obsidian jade gaze that flickered with a tremulous conflict.

"Why don't you give your family a call?" Mara suggested and she reached inside her smoky grey jeans pocket once more and held out her cell phone in front of him. "They must be worried sick about you."

The second she slipped her hand out of his, she regretted it -the void inside her deepened allowing these pangs of emptiness to scratch the hollow surface. His presence and his touch made her feel safe…whole even.

A wave of understanding hit Jefferson as that emerald gaze now suddenly sparked as though remembering something. He couldn't help it –the lines of that magnificently crafted mouth hummed into a pleased smile when he realized what went behind it. The distance thing suddenly made sense-she just didn't want to get hurt.

That was something he could understand.

"It's just me." Jefferson answered as his gaze was unexpectedly claimed to a massive brick wall lined with a white marker board, clippings, thin black nylon roped together in a web of concise deduction. "I lost my family a long time ago."

Mara instantly shut her lids, consciously shouting abuse at herself. She knew exactly what it felt like for people to unknowingly or ignorantly treading upon her own familial history-bringing it up so casually she felt the air puncture in her lungs. It was like rubbing rock salt in an old wound that never healed.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright Mara." He stood carefully to full height, his gaze softened tremendously upon her as Jefferson turned his attention momentarily stolen to that immense wall that had become the bane and the drive of her existence. It narrowly bordered on obsession but Jefferson knew a little too well what it could do as it rooted inside you. How the search never ends even in your sleep.

His cobalt gaze drank in each line of deductive reasoning with mirrored sympathy –each line of brick was covered with leads, suspicions and even dead ends. Even those she couldn't bring herself to cast aside as though fearing she might have missed something. Jefferson knew the devastation it caused to have your home ripped from you. Because that's what family was.

"Something tells me you know what that's like." Jefferson said, a touch of vulnerability layered his voice and Mara blinked her ivory lids open, slightly surprised and slightly excited to realize he was now a tempting few breaths in front of her once more.

Whoa.

"He's your brother?"

He hadn't referred to him in the past tense-which of course is what everyone in this town loved to do while staring at her with that damn dreaded look of pity.

"Cimon." Mara said, for a brief moment that dark emerald gaze appeared transfixed as though a million miles away before once again meeting his rapt gaze, " and thank you."

A quizzical expression etched those alluring boyish features as Jefferson's diamond cobalt twinkled curiously down at her.

"For what?"

"For not talking about him like he's dead."

"Well you don't look like you give up that easily."

A grateful smile curved that rosy pink heart shaped pout quite enchantingly and Jefferson had to reign himself in in the very last second before acting on instinct. The hunger had grown.

But around her, the need was maddening and all-consuming. The fact that he was now standing before her and not through a telescope lens made it that much harder –she was exquisite.

Not to touch her. His right fist nearly trembled and Jefferson quickly repositioned his palm behind him. To be this close.

Unconsciously, Jefferson's left palm tugged at his paisley scarf, his diamond cobalt brimming with renewed conflict as he lowered his gaze. Once anyone saw, that was the end of it.

He had great self-control (the control of a man much older than he) and the need to be closer to her trumped the latter. But he was now a man at the edge of himself, staring at the bottom.

All he had to do was concentrate.

"How about you get comfortable?" Mara offered holding out her palms "I can hang up your coat for you."

Jefferson nodded and inhaled deeply, trying to settle his nerves and quiet the needs of his neglected body. But his body betrayed him, punishing him for being ignored one too many times- prompting him to forcibly remove his arms from his stylish winter coat catalyzing a stab of pain that manifested definitively across his face.

"Whoa careful." Mara soothed, dark jades widening with concern taking the coat as the Mad Hatter tried to regain a hold of his mastery once more. "Let me get you that cold compress. You might want to loosen your clothing."

He couldn't help it-the corners of his magnificent sensuous mouth twitched into an impish smile. It was the closest thing to an invitation to remove his clothes from a woman (especially a woman as sublime as Mara) that he had in ages.

The echo of purposeful footsteps alerted his lobes announcing Mara's return from the kitchen. His gaze fell upon a blue grey cold compress large enough to cover the inflammation in his back and frosty enough to numb the area completely.

For some reason or another, Jefferson's gaze darted up stopping completely upon the way those lush rosy pink wonders broke into a rather sexy grin that grew considerably upon him.

Just like that, the curse took another hit as its structure quaked-it was like magic as that peace graced over every inch of the man he had once been melting away the tension that lined his body. Or maybe Regina never saw this coming.

A simple unconscious tug on a dark silk ebony paisley scarf stole Mara's attention. He must have done so without thinking, the trauma of the day taking its toll. The gesture had prompted loose an angry brutal laceration abrading that heavenly alabaster flesh riding the entire length of his neck.

He felt it-the intensity of her dark jades nearly singed him whole-and just like that he knew she saw what smugly mocked him whenever he looked in the mirror.

"Off with his head."

It was one of the worst moments of his life.

Out of habit, his fingertips instantly repositioned the elegant scarf into place as a streak of embarrassment lined his handsome boyish features and his gaze averted to the wooden floor. It was too late he knew but he didn't care.

Pity and disgust was something he was afforded with in the occasional keen passerby when Jefferson had been hasty in the mornings to ensure his Grace traveled safely to and from school. But it was not something he could bear in those pretty green orbs. He could not bring himself to meet her gaze.

As his gaze skirted around the room to alleviate his anxiety, Mara felt her heart skid to a halt at the vulnerability glistening hauntingly in that large diamond gaze. It was agony to see what it did to him.

A spurt of nervousness instantly flooded her as she removed her short winter wool charcoal coat and tossed to the floor. The force of which she used also propelled her onyx cotton sweater next to the coat leaving behind a grey and white striped spaghetti strap top. Summoning her resolve, Mara breathed in deeply before proceeding. She had never even considered doing what she was about to do.

Suddenly, a tiny pressure clutched his right hand and Jefferson's pupils expanded considerably. Mara was clutching his hand, gazing on him with such warmth it nearly threw the floor out from underneath him. There was a haunting sadness glistening in those piercing obsidian emeralds –it was something that mirrored on a deep level that had once shattered him. He recognized this all too well for he had seen it in himself, day after day. Somewhere inside, he softened feeling that old ache subside.

Shock and wonder glowed as he drank in his snowy haired liberator before him.

To his surprise, her dark sea green gaze was fretfully drinking him in-he could actually see the mechanics of her thoughts struggling with a choice that primed her to stare at him with hesitant yet hopeful orbs.

Jefferson could tell that she didn't arrive at this decision lightly –it obviously made her nervous and vulnerable-which only meant she had come to trust him.

"I want to show you something." Mara said, she could scarcely breathe and there was a slight tremor in both her palms-it could have been the adrenaline, but not this time. "Something I've never shared with anyone."

Turning slightly, Mara rolled up the back of her grey and white striped spaghetti strap top to reveal something he had not laid eyes on in over 28 years. Two angry abrasions rode the grace of the silk heaven of her shoulder blades.

The second he spied those two vicious lacerations, Jefferson stood up at full attention and sucked in a dark ragged breath, his sensuous lips hummed burning feverishly.

The Unspeakable punishment- cursed before the dark curse had been enacted.

His large exquisite diamond gaze appeared to pulse, haunting and unexpectedly full of fire piercing hers-the tip of his tongue parted and slowly licked his lower lip, seeping with raw emotion.

"May I?" Jefferson's boyish voice came out strained, his breathing choppy –not an inch of that criminally handsome face held any judgment or repulsion-as his gaze pointed thoughtfully to her back.

There was such consideration in his voice –it didn't spear her with condemnation, nor patronize her with a casual flippant joke as Dr. Whale had during a routine exam when her own doctor was not on duty.

He wanted to touch her?

Half-in-shock, Mara felt her head nod on its own accord at the mere thought, turning and her skin fluttered with anticipation. The second she felt the length of that rough forefinger trace the beginning of her scar, she shuddered and had to bite down hard on her gums to muzzle a moan. He was just so damn gentle, stroking each imperfect laceration with graceful flourish and dexterity of an artist.

She felt the heat of his breath next to her naked flesh –wondering like hell what he was thinking in this moment. How the hell did he do this? Make her quake…burn.

She was losing control and this time she didn't hate it. She could usually read people and their intentions pretty well. But it was always at a subjective distance, with Jefferson she found herself magnetized even closing the distance.

Only one thought was being entertained darkly in Jefferson's mind at this moment.

"The one who did this to you should suffer." The emphasis Jefferson stressed on the last word, lashing with a vicious almost feral feeling-only once before had he felt the urge to kill. "Death would be too quick, too easy."

That lovely snowy locks whipped around creating an almost ethereal appearance, tilting her head up as though reading him, gazing on him with astonished dark eyes. In this moment, they looked nearly obsidian-eyes of Hades-glistening up at him with their immortal depths as they once had in the hall of the great realms. Intoxicating black diamonds that sparked a flame inside him the moment their gazes locked so long ago. How could she not know?

The investigator had to rewind the words just uttered from those magnificent lips-did he just threaten to kill the one responsible?

To say that she was blown away was an understatement.

There was just something so irresistible about this man she even found the threat sweet.

That scar of his –damn, she bit the inside of her lower lip once more-trying not to imagine what it would be like to flick and caress every inch with the tip of her tongue.

Damn impossible in this moment seeing how he looked every bit of sexy in front of her. What Ruby called, "Sex on legs" and apparently to Sheriff Graham and more recently August W. Booth fell under that category. Intercepting the dubious expression scrunched up on Mara's angelic features along with a shrugged 'eh', Ruby chuckled amusedly, "Girl you are too much! "

And yet, there was this vulnerability emanating off him-his cobalt gaze glistened with such self-torture that instantly purified the direction of her thoughts, rationality taking over. He was just as vulnerable as she was.

With him, she suddenly felt the need to be careful-almost as though if she held him the wrong way, he might fracture.

"Jefferson." A soft delicate stroke of the slope of his left cheekbone instantly sparked a trail of hunger, a burning need and unquenchable angst in its wake as that beautiful cobalt instantly anchored achingly with hers. He wanted to kiss her, claim her brand her 'his'.

But that was simply out of the question Jefferson knew what the deal breaker was.

"You don't need this." The softness of her voice-the truth behind it-and his palms trembled as her piercing jade gaze pointed meaningfully to his stylish paisley dark scarf he had readjusted a few moments ago. "Scars or no scars, you're a beautiful man. Anyone who thinks otherwise is completely ignorant and not worth knowing."

The reality of these words caught Jefferson off guard-the seriousness burning in her orbs-rattled him to the core. That she could even want him in return.

That singular understanding and undiluted acceptance glistening in those pretty green orbs of hers relaxed the tension in his palms and alleviated any concerns as he unfastened and removed the paisley dark scarf. His neck suddenly felt lighter, less constricted and free.

It was in this moment, that Jefferson intercepted a lusty gaze stirring in those exquisite dark green wonders, drinking him and the deeply embedded scar lassoing his neck with a feral heat that caused his heart to palpitate wildly.

The way she undressed him with her eyes…a playful alluring grin curled quite wickedly instantly drawing her attention on that sensuous mouth of his.

It had been a long time since someone stared at him the way Mara did right now-he could suddenly feel her becoming aware of herself and trying not to steal glances at his mouth.

A streak of rosy pink colored her cheeks and she appeared to be hoping like hell he hadn't noticed-Downright adorable.

Mara unconsciously wet her lower lip thoughtfully, her thoughts swirling over the mind-bending insanity that had occurred in the past 24 hours.

None of it seemed real-a man who risked his life without hesitation to save hers, a man as vulnerable and cursed in a way as she was that it was practically cruel and a man willing to right what she just couldn't remember.

This was truly the worst and best day of her entire life.

"Thank you."

Jefferson tilted his head as their lips accidentally brushed together-a feverish spark: hot, warm and tender. It had clearly been meant for his cheek and yet neither pulled away.

The way he looked at her in this moment-something happened in Jefferson's eyes burned her with the truth.

He loved the feel of her lips against his and yet he couldn't move-the fire between them scorched him. It was the last thing he expected to happen this evening but it was also the best.

The moment their lips had accidentally crashed upon each other's and wow Jefferson's lips were the softest heaven ever to meet hers a stream of fluid visual streams commandeered her mind's eye.

A dark world barricaded in the abyss of shadow and painted in blood and bones seared through. There was a fortified cell and a punishment that required sacrifice. A late night caller that came in the form of a man with dancing dark eyes burning with the secrets of the dead and the damned came flooding at her.

The chaos of these visualizations ended as suddenly as they began. It had to be the adrenaline wearing off, her body was crashing.

And yet none of this-death and sinister hallucinations-actually mattered. She had kissed Jefferson-she was going for his cheek-and now she knew the taste of desire for it sizzled.

An accidental kiss yes, but a kiss just the same.

"I…um…wow. I mean sorry. I was going for your cheek." Mara tapped her right cheekbone, her striking cheekbones flushing that wonderful rosy pink matching her lips.

A playful smile teased at the corners of Jefferson's mouth growing considerably wider delighting in her unexpectedly flustered reaction.

"Do you regret it?" the entreaty of his boyish voice became husky and for the first time the intensity of his gaze told her he was mentally stripping her as she had done him earlier.

Ni-ice.

Right now, she probably needed a cold shower because she was about this close from acting on impulse.

"You've done something for me that no one ever has." Something in the way she stared at him-sass, fire and tenderness-the warmth that now flooded in her voice enveloped a powerful surge of happiness that had once stealthily evaded his grasp. "What do you think?"

Jefferson smiled with consideration at the mere thought.

Thunk!

A pair of swirling cobalt suddenly went wide glistening with unconceivable terror,

"MARA!!"

Seizing uncontrollably, Jefferson watched horrified-he felt so powerless-as his snowy haired liberator's piercing jades rolled into their sockets unable to stop the tremors that rocked her lithe body.

Without hesitation, Jeffersoncrouched on the wooden floor and immediately positioned her svelte frame carefully on its side, trying to ignore the violate convulsions that rode her body. It was important to detach himself, because if he didn't he'd come apart at the seams.

Not when she needed him most.

This proved to be hard-the involuntary tremors that seized her body triggered painful raspy noises that escaped that lovely heart shaped rosy pink lips-to witness her so powerless, trembling and vulnerable scared him in ways he didn't know to define.

Jefferson felt like he couldn't breathe.

Up until a minute ago, their lips had accidentally brushed together in a feverish yet tender caress scorching him bone-deep. Just as suddenly, the woman he had saved –a snowy haired angel who was a guarded loner in every sense of the word-collapsed without warning and Jefferson felt his world fall out from underneath him.

Like hell.

Scooping up the white blackberry storm labeled 'SNAPSHOT', Jefferson began to frantically scan Mara's list of contacts his mind fixed on one objective. This curse would not rip anyone else from him and he'd be damned if it stole her from him.

"It's okay. It's okay." Jefferson reassured trying to keep his voice steady and calm as her crumpled svelte form continued to seize uncontrollably. "I'm not going anywhere."

Scrolling the contact list carefully, Jefferson raised a few curious glances at some of the names (aliases) before making a selection. Time had suspended at this point-2 rings to be precise-before he was greeted by a rather groggy yet calm Irish brogue,

"Storybrooke General."

"Is this Dr. Jim Scott?" Jefferson prompted as a frantic nervousness in his soft voice that instantly claimed the attention on the other line.

"Speaking. How may I help you?" Dr. Jim Scott requested, turning down the volume of the radio in his escalade.

"I'm with Mara Aislin and she just collapsed. Listen, she's having a seizure. I need to know what I can do to help her."

A pair of dark coal eyes widened in near-disbelief,

"Look I'm going to need to see her. I'm about a 10 minute ride away from her residence but for now I'm going to need you to help her."

Jefferson nodded.

"Just tell me what to do."

The second Dr. Jim Scott gingerly pulled Mara's bedroom door shut, he flashed Jefferson a rather toothy Cheshire cat grin, his boyish features contorted in a melodramatic sigh that instantly summoned to mind a loony toons character.

As the 5'9 Irish man approached, a boundless sprint in his step as he stopped abruptly in front of Jefferson and drank in the taller man's hyper concern with twinkling coals that almost burned black.

"Easy mate. You can relax. She's out of the woods for the time being."

A sigh of relief instantly flooded the once Mad Hatter and Jim instantly noticed his jaw unclench and the tension in his shoulders relax.

"What..what exactly happened?"

"She never told you?"

Jim tilted his head watching as the confusion deepened crystalizing in those haunting diamonds and threw a cautious gaze at Mara's door.

"Look, I'd rather we not talk here. Let's go into the hallway."

The sudden serious departure in the soft feather light voice instantly put Jefferson's nerves on edge again.

Inhaling deeply, Jefferson nods in agreement and follows the on-call doctor into the hallway.

Leaning against the entrance, Jefferson crossed his arms across his chest and ignored the quick sweep those dark coals performed over his neck, stopping at his scar before meeting his rapt gaze.

"This never leaves this hallway. (Jim held up his hand, palm facing him in and fixed Jefferson with a surprisingly commanding and severe glare to which he was greeted with a firm nod)."

The overhead lighting cast the strangest luminescence to bathe over the doctor's unnaturally fair skin, his dark eyes had a sudden dangerous quality that bordered on predator for the briefest moment before transitioning to the placid playfulness of earlier.

"When it could cost someone their life, I prefer that people stay in the know. To see behind the grail, can be a great advantage and a risk worth taking. But I must remain anonymous…she trusts me. And you know for someone as private and guarded as Mara, that is not an easy feat."

Jefferson pursed his lips, his brow furrowed deep in thought-the fact that this strange man took his oath so seriously was nothing short of admirable.

"I can understand your hesitance." Jefferson said "All I want to do is help her."

Dr. Jim Scott fixed him with one last interpretive hard glance before throwing both hands into his west wood suit appearing satisfied with what he saw there.

"Mara has a serious condition known as chronic insomnia. The damage a seizure can cause to patients with epilepsy can usually be repaired through sleep. However, with someone like Mara who can only fall asleep with the right kind of medicine, the recovery process is unpredictable. (bites thoughtfully on his lower lip) Shame she can't dream."

A dawning realization hit Jefferson with the force of a derailed train-the exiled daughter of Hades, known as Nightmares unable to dream in this world.

This was her curse.

And it was not her first.

Not when you were born a curse – a taunt on behalf of the Netherworld gods council to punish the king of the dead.

Heads rolled: A catastrophic choice concerning who he picked for his Queen.

Born in the land of the dead, all 3 of Hades' immortal children were walking curses forced to leave their home each night to survive on humanity's essence or weaken and die.

The cursed 3: Hypnos (The god of sleep), the god of dreams & (Morpheus) and their sister, Mara, goddess of nightmares.

Unlike their other monstrous brethren, the cursed 3 lived by a code enacted by their mother:

Do not kill only drain.

No children.

Drain only the darkest souls.

It was the very code that kept the Queen of Shades and her children in the crosshairs of the Netherworld council.

It was also there the night the duke's men surrounded a lone peasant boy courageously trying to defend his father's honor in merchant's ally.

As the duke's first in command raises his hand to strike him, a svelte dark lithe figure emerges taking life from shadow formidably blockading the young boy. Suddenly, the first-in-command is paralyzed and drawn into the thrall of a deadly hypnotized state.

The child is shocked and frightened by this unnatural display of dark power wielded from snowy haired figure draped in shadow in front of him. But he had to know…

Edging closer to get a proper look at this preternatural being, the young boy noticed a golden glow emanating like tongues of fire in the eyes of men. Their bodies quaked in heart palpitating terror. The source of the light suddenly refracted upon him, as she turned – halos of black gold-upon him.

"Run."

It was a warning. But Baelfire knew as he ran into the relieved arms of his father, that woman with the obsidian orbs that burned gold had saved him.

In the eyes of the Netherworld council, this was a capital offense that none from their dark world dare to commit before –coming to the aid of a human child.

Only 1 sentence was swift and immediate: The Unspeakable punishment.

The hard wood floor was so soft.

There was a cotton plush quality to it that she just sank into.

Nothing was what it seemed.

The velvety horizon that usually caged her in a limbo world night after night lifted like a veil allowing her passage. Only this time, she wasn't alone.

There was a solitary figure waiting for her on the other side a jubilant grin growing on his face.

"Hello sister. Its time you remember who you really are."

Mara sat up with a lightning jolt, heart thundering against her chest adrenaline pumping once again in her veins. Glancing down at her spaghetti strap grey and white striped shirt, the crime investigator gave the material a little tug only to discover what she had already expected: glow (her word for perspiration b/c women didn't sweat they glow!).

"Heyy! You're awake." A pleased voice greeted her, the relief palpable.

That voice. Instantly, she felt herself soften and a spark of happiness shot through every inch of her exhausted svelte frame. She could scarcely believe it.

"Jefferson!" A dawning realization struck Mara on a level she never knew existed inside her. "You stayed with me."

A tempest of hibernated emotion glistened in that piercing jade as she stared up at him with a mixture of incredulousness and wonder. That void, that darkness that tore him to shreds every waking moment of every day melted at this raw vulnerability peering up at him. This was the first time he let someone in since the curse brought them here.

Salty diamond tears glistened stark and powerful in those pretty deep set green orbs as Jefferson crouched down beside her until they were face to face, nearly a tempting breath apart.

"Of course."

His breath nearly hitched, his sensuous mouth unconsciously puckered and the former Mad Hatter felt the tip of his tongue stroke the lower to alleviate what had sparked earlier between the two of them.

He knew from that moment forward he would never be able to get this close again without thinking about the way those rosy lush lips accidentally massaged his –the truth was his mouth had been on fire ever since.

"I would never leave you." Jefferson assured his tone calm rational "I wouldn't do that."

Her lush lower lip trembled, a single pearl shaped tear spilled against the contour of her cheekbone and there was a warm glow now resonating in those pretty luminous orbs of hers. She had kept everyone at bay…but not him.

"I'm sorry! I'm not use to anyone being here for me."

He couldn't bear to see her like this but he understood this all too well-loneliness had weighed heavy on his soul for too long. Reaching out as gently as he could, Jefferson brushed the tear with his forefinger.

"I know exactly what you mean."

In her slumber, Jefferson had changed into a cotton white v-neck shirt and a pair of blue grey pjs that accentuated his lithe form nicely.

She stared up at him with curious eyes,

"What happened to me?"

"You've been through more than enough in one day than anyone should have to." Lifting a silky snowy lock, Jefferson gently positioned it behind her ivory lobe. "You're body crashed. "

Huh. That had never happened before.

There again no one had tried to kill her twice in the same day before.

A keen eye appraising Jefferson's change of clothing and circles darkening under that beautiful cobalt told her she had been out awhile and he had been frantic. She didn't mind him changing into a pair of her brother's pjs –she wanted him to be comfortable esp. after he injured his back earlier.

"I didn't get a chance to fill my prescription. That may have contributed…" Mara speculated –she had always been diligent in taking her nightly pills. Hell, she might not be able to dream but at least she could fall asleep.

Except tonight was different –something happened when she passed out.

"Dr. Scott thought it might be a factor but he couldn't say for sure. He'd like you to make an appointment to see him."

Raising a surprised eyebrow, a pair of dark green began avidly darting around the room, "He was here?"

Nods.

"Just left (and yet there was a discomfort now tensing her jawline that bothered him) I didn't tell him what happened earlier."

Relief instantly flooded those angelic features and Mara glimpsed appreciatively up at him,

"Thank you. Would you do me a favor? And you can say no if you don't want to I would completely understand."

Anything –besides Jefferson couldn't imagine anyone wanting to say no to her.

"Tell me."

There was great hesitation in those piercing green orbs –almost as though she felt he might say no. "Would you lie next to me?"

A sweet smile breaks happily at the corners of that beautiful mouth of his when the reality of what this meant shook him to his core. This woman kept the world out and now she was allowing herself to be vulnerable with him.

"I'd like that a lot." Keeping his soft blue gaze steady with those dark jades, Jefferson slowly lay beside her so that they were now facing each other.

As Jefferson settled in on the cotton white pillow next to her own, Mara noted the scarlet spider webs that were interwoven around his sparkling cobalt, the rather alertness that primed his features, the saucers that darkened above his chiseled refined yet boyish features.

The onyx of her pupils popped with sudden realization and undeniable worry began glistening in those haunting jade.

"OMG! You haven't slept have you?"

The corners of that masterfully crafted mouth curled into a sweet smile –sometimes he forgot what it felt like to have someone care about you.

"I'll be okay." Jefferson assured, there was appreciation in his voice as he massaged his temple before leveling a rational gaze with Mara. "Besides I think I'll be wired for a while."

It was very subtle-this brief flicker- that materialized longingly in that cobalt gaze. There was a crackle of torment and caged unprocessed emotion that ate away that flicker of light in those haunting blues.

This crushed her.

"You look like you need to talk." Mara said, as a wave of compassion flooded her and Jefferson's gaze anchored to hers in need.

The moment he parted his lips to respond, Jefferson paused as a sense of disappointment flood him when he realized he wouldn't be able to tell her everything. He would have to filter some of it out otherwise he would risk losing what had started to unfold between them tonight.

Or the moment they first locked gazes through the Looking Glass.

As though sensing his hesitation, Mara encouragingly clutched his right palm with a warmth and tenderness that he instantly was drawn to.

"Whatever it is you feel comfortable in sharing…I'll listen. There's no judgment here and if it makes you feel better I'll tell you something I've never shared with anyone."

She didn't push him nor was she trying to be nosy –this came from a place of genuine concern. A concern he had glimpsed from a distance at injustice or an innocent in harm's way. But Jefferson sensed this went a level deeper because she was willing to allow herself to be bare right alongside him.

Jefferson couldn't help it-he was blown away.

"I have a daughter named Grace."

It felt so freaking good to say her real name out loud in this world.

Mara watched attentively as a great rush of relief assuaged every line of tension in his face and the spark of excitement when he said her name. A father who truly loves his child.

There was a misplaced sense of ache that filled her that she couldn't explain.

But the unexpected joy-albeit fleeting-that contoured his boyish features was powerful and Mara couldn't help but feel delighted to see what this brought out in him.

An unexpected dark memory had obviously clouded his thoughts and Mara felt her heart fall when she noticed the crushed look growing on his face.

"We had lost her mother when she was very young." Jefferson explained the emotions that catapulted inside him and he couldn't bear to hold back any longer. "and I didn't want her to lose me too."

"I'm so sorry you had to suffer." There was a great sadness in her voice. "It's not easy losing the one you love."

It had been a long time ago –more than 30 years since he lost his wife because of his work.

He had closed himself off when they arrived in Storybrooke and watched the unknowing town with attentive eyes. No connections, no ties-just him.

Until now.

When he looked into those dark jades, he saw something that he had witnessed in the mirror many times-.

"For the longest time, we were each other's whole world. All I wanted to do was make her happy and that came before everything else. As a parent, you want to be able to give your child the things she needs most. When things were at their worst, a job offer came along that would allow me to provide Grace with the life she deserves."

A great strain and discontent tempered Jefferson's criminally handsome features instantly triggering pangs of distress across Mara's angelic features. Whatever happened here, it still bothered him.

"This job was a rouse and left me stranded in a strange land for a long time." Jefferson meets Mara's empathetic stare, his diamond cobalt stinging with fresh tears. "My Grace…was expecting me home for tea."

His voice cracked and instantly averted his guilt-ridden gaze to the plush white comforter. Diamond shaped salty tears spilled freely down his cheekbones, raining past his incurable scar on its way to saturating his white cotton t-shirt he had borrowed.

This-agony-that plagued him secretly killed her. She had started to care for him very fast. That he had bottled all this up…found her putting a choke collar on her own hesitation and imbued her with strength to gently reach out, collect his face with her palms and anchor it with her captivated gaze.

Mara caressed the sides of his cheekbones, her silky thumbs wiping the tears that for the first time flowed freely in front of another.

"Come here."

Instantly, Jefferson pulled her to him, his temple crashing against her chest as his body rocked with heightened emotion.

"You've been holding on to this for so long, haven't you?" He could feel the soothing grace of her voice comforting him on a level he never thought possible.

Lying against her, as her fingertips gently massaged his back filling him with a solace that produced a cumulative calming effect throughout his body-which only made him hold her to him that much closer.

The intoxicating scent of wild plum, cherry blossoms and hints of vanilla filled his senses.

A few minutes later, Jefferson regained ahold of himself determined to tell her.

"Someone saved me when no one else would." His features softened unconsciously as he drank in Mara with a lighter emotion whom tilted her head in response completely drawn in. "When I arrived home, my Grace had been taken from me ripped from our home."

Mara's dark jades widened dismayed –she couldn't stand the thought of a child being hurt.

A resolute look glistened with such perseverance and strength it took her breath away.

"Till this day, I will not stop until I get her back."

This man had suffered more than anyone ever knew.

That unwavering determination that fueled him against unsettling odds was something she understood a little too well because Mara didn't know how to stop. Not when your only family was stolen from you.

The word 'quit' isn't in your vocabulary.

"When no one else is looking but you..(her voice cracks with raw emotion). I lost a brother when I wasn't looking I can't imagine what it would be to have your child taken from you."

"There is no worse hell not knowing if you will ever see your child again." Jefferson said, his haunting cobalt glaze with sadness he could never recover from and yet there was something about being bare in front of her that made him feel lighter.

Mara nodded in adamant agreement as salty tears once again began welling in those piercing onyx jades. "Nothing is more important than family."

"Hey." The slightest grace of his right palm as he now cradled her face and instantly any residual resistance or fear was left at the door-wow.

"We both lost a life time's worth in the blink of an eye. Maybe (the tempo of his voice cracked as he tried to control the emotion rising inside him, his head bowed) maybe we can help each other (pauses to glimpse at her as raw salty tears brimmed to the surface in his sparkling cobalt as he broke in a small voice) will you help me?"

A spark of joy buzzed inside her when she recognized the hope glistening in that haunting diamond cobalt down at her.

Without hesitation,

"Of course I will."

At these words, the tension in Jefferson's eternally boyish yet refined features melted. But it didn't end there, his shoulders sighed and the inflammation that speared his back abated to a mild pressure that he scarcely noticed.

He wasn't alone in this anymore.

Acting upon instinct, Jefferson pulled her closer to him and the gesture alone prickled every inch of her svelte frame with white hot need. The shock and the niceness of it had her body sighing as it had earlier this evening when he had risked all to save her life.

Even after nearly being killed and enduring a gran mal seizure, her body still found ways to amaze her –still want him. This need for him went bone deep.

But the way Jefferson held her with life clinging force- the need to bring him solace and comfort trumped the most basic primal instinct.

It felt so damn good-Mara-lying against the perfect peak of her left breast as he listened to the rhythm of her heart. The tempo was initially steady and calm but quickly drummed with an erratic racing pulse.

Jefferson couldn't help but break into a huge lopsided grin –so she felt it too. And here he was half lying against her in a semi state of rapture sent pangs of need and fire in his blood.

Her smell-wild plum, cherry blossoms and hints of vanilla-was intoxicating and now his own personal drug he didn't want to be cured from.

To feel what he was feeling went beyond anything he had known before –it was powerful and nothing short of a tempest, the attraction instantaneous.

He had revealed the dearest and darkest secrets of his soul and she hadn't blinked.

"You're the first I've told about this."

A touched tender glow twinkled modestly in those dark piercing jades. "I'm honored you told me besides you're the only one I let up here."

"So I take it you and the good doctor…"

Although she could tell Jefferson tried to make it seem like a natural curiosity, there was a sudden vulnerability that unconsciously manifested in those criminally handsome features.

"No. I have taste." Mara broke into a small meaningful little girl's grin at Jefferson who felt a sense of relief instantly flood him as he adjusted his frame to the cushy pillow keeping in mind the trauma her body had endured only hours ago.

He really detested the idea of severing this kind of contact-the intimacy of this closeness that had developed so fast and yet so naturally between them-but Jefferson recognized that her body needed to recuperate.

A part of him grinned when he noticed the flicker of disappointment when he had shifted to the pillow pulling him-self from her-the hardest thing to do-but she soon seem to realize Jefferson had done so for her own benefit.

"There is something." His snowy haired liberator began, clasping her right wrist firmly. "I want to tell you. Something no one else knows."

Jefferson inched closer, his gaze attentive watching as he suddenly spied a nude tape wrapped around her right wrist that he had never spotted before. With a few simple flourishes, Mara unwound the tape to reveal a dark tattoo (N) and a (/) going through it.

"When I was a teenager, Cimon said I went missing for 10 days. I lost time. All I remember is becoming conscious on a road into town with slashes on my back and this on my wrist. Till this day, I can't remember what happened but all I know is it's never happened again. And you know what? My whole life I didn't have the proper cognitive function to dream only to fall asleep. Tonight is the first time I dreamed."

Granny's diner – 2 days later

A crisp yet pleasant tinkle announced the arrival of a late-morning customer that instinctively scanned the counter and was relieved to find it empty.

Settling a cup of steaming Irish Breakfast in front of the snowy haired photographer with the loveliest jade eyes, Ruby appraised the more than welcome sight with a playful grin.

"Ok, just who is he?" Arching a wicked eyebrow along with a devious you-better-give-me-the-411 subliminal message which was fooling nobody in hearing distance, Ruby keenly intercepted a flame heat that porcelain ivory skin.

Though those angelic features remained impenetrably inscrutable, the rapid color growing in Mara's cheeks and the startled expression in those onyx jades told another tale entirely.

Woah! Now she really had to know!

The freelance crime photographer had decided to feign ignorance with a suddenly quizzical expression,

"What do you mean?"

Ruby rolled her light blue grey orbs that could pretty much enslave any man from birth before launching the inquisition,

"Oh you can do better than that! You come in here every day and all you order is a cup of tea…"

"Coffee would keep me up for…longer." Mara interjects knowing that if she didn't she may not get a word in edge wise. "Tea is calming."

"All of a sudden you're out 2 days straight."

Mara parted her full rosy pink lips to respond only to be silenced by a warning palm by Ruby. "Now before you utter the word 'case'. You still come in here when you're on them or when you're sick and you order it to go when Dr. Whale starts eye-sexing the hell out of you. (as an afterthought) Well that or anyone who does try hitting on you."

"I have a lot at stake Ruby. I couldn't bring anyone into this." Mara said lowering her voice and yet there was a raw ache there that instantly softened Ruby's scolding.

"You know I'm only worried about you. " Ruby clasped the palm of her right hand, empathy laced in her vision.

Truth was there was one thing she couldn't get out of her mind:

Jefferson.

#1: The fact that he slept in the same bed with her without tearing her clothes off. Part of her pouted at this one.

#2: That accidental kiss was hotter than any other man she had ever kissed.

#3: When he touched her, there was searing spark that electrified every part of her body. It was all consuming passion that burned her all the way to her marrow.

#4: That he stayed and didn't abandon her.

#5: That they bore some of their darkest truths to each other.

#6: That he saved her life at great risk to his own. Okay, so that was really hot.

#7: That she had a dream for the first time in her life. Wonder what Dr. Scott will think of that?

Okay, in all fairness after she dropped him off at his spacious residence she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She kept imagining what it would be like to nuzzle every delectable inch of that sexy scar-which also made her think about the way Jefferson stroked her own scars.

It also didn't help that Jefferson is breath -taking. Okay, so she admitted it she wants him which also meant that other women had noticed him too.

Mara fisted her palms so fiercely that her knuckles turned white.

She never had this reaction even for her ex.

But Jefferson was different-precious-and because of that she wanted to protect him.

Scoping the time on her 'UNSOLVED' blackberry storm, Mara's dark jades widened realizing she only had 10 minutes before she had to sprint across the street.

She was about to do the one thing she swore she would never do.

Meet with Mr. Gold.

But she didn't have a choice, time was running out.

Mr. Gold's Antiquities Shop

After power-sipping down the rest of her robust tea, Mara threw her graceful shoulders through her short fall charcoal coat and started to head in the direction of Toll Bridge.

With any luck, she would be out of there in 10 minutes.

As she turned the knob into the most dangerous man in town's shop, a pair of breath taking cobalt watched with alarm from across the Main Street as the angelic snowy haired woman entered with no reservation.

"You know you're the only one in town who isn't afraid of me." Those pair of dark caramel wonders regarded her with wonder and just a hint of respect as she approached the counter careful to keep her gaze steady and resilient.

Of course, Mr. Gold was dressed to the nines –in a brand name suit and a wicked grin.

Right there, he was doing it again that stare he reserved specifically for her a sort of "I know what you look like naked" which was impossible of course.

"I don't think that's true." Mara disagreed casting him an unwavering glance of determination that instantly manifested a rather naughty expression on the antiquities dealer's still handsome olive features. She gave him a pointed meaningful stare as she spread her palms on the counter, "You have met Emma haven't you?"

A flicker of genuine amusement flashed merrily in those dark wonders of his. It didn't matter what realm she was in –neither feared him but both respected him.

"In all fairness, you are the first one in Storybrooke who has never come to me until now." Gold pointed out just loving this just a little-too-much for her taste.

"I haven't been this close until now." Mara explained and began to rummage into her side pocket for something. "I need you to appraise something for me."

It was the only thing she had discovered in her investigation that made no sense and yet it felt vital.

The second she was about to hold out the object the bell to Mr. Gold's shop rattled announcing an unexpected customer.

"Sorry we're closed until noon." Mr. Gold explained, cocking his head out to address the prospective customer lip thinning for not closing the door upon her arrival. "Private meeting."

"I'm with her." An unfamiliar soft spoken voice answered from the doorway unexpectedly causing the lines of Mr. Gold's mouth to thin even more at this interruption.

Diamond cobalt met dark caramel –an unwavering stare resonated in both men as Rumpelstiltskin finally laid eyes on who the Wonderland residents had 'affectionately' entitled, "The Mad Hatter". Clearly the Disney version didn't do him justice, the man was being robbed.

"Jefferson." That sweet voice instantly broke the impenetrable stare oaring that breath taking cobalt upon the rather surprised yet touched angelic woman before him. "What are you doing here?"

Gold instantly snapped his attention back upon his prospective client –a little gob smacked at the spark of happiness in Mara's voice at The Mad Hatter's sudden arrival. That was a first he had never seen her affected by anyone –a light now burned abundantly inside her spreading from her voice to her alluring angelic features.

"I came to make sure that the deal (special emphasis on this particular word) is fair." Jefferson threw a pointed knowing looking at Mr. Gold (who me? mock affronted stared right back at him), an intense serious expression emanated from that eternally handsome yet boyish face. The way he stared at him –like he knew who he really was.

Gold suddenly had a higher respect for him.

There was something about that young tortured face that was akin to a man much older than he. Frozen, like a picture in this world.

"All my deals are honored which is why everyone comes to me-everyone except lovely Mara here." Gold pointed at the young ex-goddess turned exiled immortal he had kidnapped before turning a devious expression upon Jefferson. "Until now."

Jefferson suddenly noted the hazy expression in Gold's dark orbs as they once again locked with Mara's –a gleam of lust radiated upon the snowy haired woman with unsettling force. She had seen Gold do this before-he had often stared at her as though he could see through her clothing.

"Don't look at her like that." Jefferson said clear and calm, but there was no mistaking the threat in his voice.

Gold smirked and shrugged in apology. For Mara, there was certain swoon factor at the protectiveness in his voice.

"Sorry. Look, I actually owe you one my dear. (Mara stared at him quite puzzled) Let's just say, I help you out today and we'll call it even."

Exchanging an interpretive look with Jefferson, Mara knew she had no other choice. She had no idea why Gold owed her a favor.

Not that she'd ever contest this anomalous offer.

"Sounds fair."

Settling the unique looking necklace in front of the antiquities dealer instantly drew a excited gasp from Mr. Gold. Clearly, the object is able to perk his attention.

"You recognize it?" Mara asked as he turned the medal over.

Those dark rum orbs twinkled with surprise at her.

"It's a talisman. Origin: Ancient Greece. These aren't supposed to exist (pauses) in this world.." Mr. Gold clasped the object closer, squinting slightly. He had said this for Jefferson's benefit –a sort of I know that you know acknowledgment.

Jefferson stared puzzled by this.

"What do you mean?"

A hint of excitement emanated from the antiquities dealer.

"Historians wrote about the Greek gods. This one belongs to the god of secrets and is specific to the land of Hades." The look in Mr. Gold's orbs nearly leveled Mara "The Underworld."

A dangerous fire roasted in that dark emerald gaze narrowed considerably on the antiquities dealer, What-the-hell?!

"I came to you because I thought you would be able to help me that you would take this seriously."

There was an edge of raw emotion rising in her throat but instantly squashed down through years of self-practice and discipline. The former Mad Hatter's breathtaking features contorted with anguish at this, his breath going still.

She didn't want to go to pieces in front of Gold. Nor would she ever give him the satisfaction.

Instead a stunned expression flicked over to her now seething pretty jade.

"I never joke luv." Mr. Gold placed the medal on the counter and gripped the sides. "Especially when it concerns a missing family member-not everyone is blind to what it's done to you. There was genuine concern and something more in his voice. (Rumpelstiltskin now noted her 'tread lightly' expression with charmed amusement and more surprising yet-compassion.)."

Throwing a keen interpretive glance at the medal, the inner imp could not miss a beat cast a knowing expression at her resourcefulness,

"You took that from the crime scene didn't ya?" Mr. Gold queried more curious than anything else "The day you're brother went missing."

Jefferson's gorgeous diamond cobalt widened with realization as he could sense Mara priming herself not to react.

She held Gold's gaze (so as not to disappoint) and Gold held her own as she scooped up the medal and dropped it into her short fall wool coat.

But Jefferson noticed that as she pulled her hands out of her pockets, they were shaking lightly. Gold had hit too close to home.

Without another word, Mara turned on her Madden laced up black leather ribbed boots and marched out the door, her piercing dark emeralds a million miles away.

Instinctively, Jefferson turned to follow her only to pause as Mr. Gold emphatically cleared his throat,

"It might be wise to keep an eye out for the lovely Miss Aislin. The only reason she took a piece of evidence from a crime scene is because she's gunning for the one responsible. Like you, I would hate to see something happen to her." There was a sort of 'Do It or I will" edge to the imp's voice.

For the first time since their meeting, Jefferson couldn't agree with Gold more.

The god of secrets walks among them.

This meant only one thing.

Jefferson's mind reeled at the mere thought the truth too incredible and heart crushing to process –the conflict too great.

Tearing open Gold's heavy door, Jefferson flew outside heart pounding in his narrow yet lightly sculpted chest, his gorgeous cobalt darted wildly around scanning the Main Street. He risked losing it all.

But to withhold what he knew, would be cruel.

In both worlds-magic and non-magic-she had been cast out or isolated. Anyone who she cared for abandoned or disappeared.

And Cimon's disappearance wasn't just coincidence either-especially the timing.

The second his gaze zeroed in on those unnatural snowy waves bouncing off her shoulders-she was at least a block ahead of him full speed ahead and from her brisk purposeful strides mad as hell.

He had seen the glowering micro-expression that angelic face fixed on Gold –it was the same titan wrath he had seen in her the day Mara threw frenzied fisticuffs at Regina.

"MARA!" Jefferson bellowed and unexpectedly that 'I'm Gonna Cut You Down' march halted, swiveled to face him, those angelic features softened at the mere sight of him, her heated searing gaze abated as he approached.

"Hey you." Mara greeted him, there was tenderness to this and Jefferson felt his heart leap and lurch in a single motion. He felt her gaze studying him quite attentively and his breathtaking features clouded with internal struggle. He suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Uh oh. That look has trouble spelled all over it." There was a coy teasing quality that lightly prodded him with a fondness and Jefferson realized she was being playful.

This could destroy everything. That still small voice urged him on and for a brief moment Jefferson ignored him –anything to prolong the way she looked at him.

The way she undressed him saucily with those gorgeous piercing emeralds one moment and gazed on him with such affinity and tenderness the next –how could he not be impacted?

That she was willing to venture into an unchartered terrain of vulnerability –risk it all to show him he was not as alone as he thought.

"How are you feeling?"

That interpretive haunting diamond gaze peered worriedly into her and she was grateful that he didn't ask if she was okay because that was usually a question followed by a reaction people aren't ready to handle.

"Pissed. Well, mostly at myself." The snowy haired investigator clarified cajoling herself for jumping the gun on this one. "I should have known not to trust Gold. That he would make up some elaborate fiction about some greek god to mind screw with me. Y'know that man should come with his own disclaimer (holds up palm of hand and pantomimes the gesture) ."

Jefferson bit on his lower lip, his pulse quickened and his breath went shallow. "May I ask you something? (Mara nods anxiety floods her as she notices the considerable distress lined in his temple as that intoxicating gaze meets hers) In the 3 years that you have investigated your brother's disappearance and correlated to other disappearances in Storybrooke, that not one has a rational explanation?"

Her brow creases deep in thought and Jefferson can tell her mind is aptly making a mental sweep over the town's history and the type of crimes committed in the area. "I grant you there are a lot of unexplained and unfathomable occurrences that have been covered up through the powers that be in this town."

"And haven't there been moments when you can't remember how or when you met someone?" Jefferson's cobalt never appeared more blue as he closed the distance between them, his gaze impenetrable staring at her imploringly.

Yeah, with you.

The way he felt familiar in a tender yet powerful way that shouldn't be.

Okay, true.

Suddenly, those elegant palms gripped her firmly hoisting her to him, Mara's breath hitched at this unexpected action and yet her cheeks flushed with the pleasure she received from it.

His gaze was dead serious,

"That's the curse."

Her dark green orbs popped significantly at this –did he just say?! "Curse?"

A tremor of emotion erupted all over his face and rocked him to his core.

"It takes everything in your life that you care about and rips it from you. Most it forces to forget and each is specific to the individual. And some (his voice goes hoarse) it forces you to remember both worlds. I have to live with the knowledge and watch as my daughter-my Grace-is being raised by a different family with a different father."

Oh-my-God. There it was on his face, he trembled at these very words and Mara knew that he believed every word.

This shook her all the way to her marrow.

"But I don't believe it was the curse that caused your brother's disappearance." Jefferson said with conviction, "One of the people from your world came looking for you. I believe that's where you will find your answers."

Very carefully, Mara inquired. Apparently, they weren't from the same world.

"My world?"

Jefferson turned his head to study her expression as he stated simply,

"Hades, the Underworld."

Oh well, of course…

Jefferson watched anguished as a crushed look contoured those heavenly sublime features falling rapidly seeping into those radiant emeralds. In this moment, he felt her slipping through his nimble fingers.

For a second his vision skewed, blackening and returned again upon the crestfallen expression now etched in that angelic ivory rosy features. Salty tears stung that lovely jade, as Mara cast an unreadable glance upon the man that tilted her world on its speechless axis.

He couldn't tell what she was thinking in this moment only that it tore him to shreds in a matter of seconds.

"Please…I..have to go." A soft sob erupted from that lush heart shaped pout and Jefferson felt his world fall out from underneath him –for the second time in 28 years-as he with great reservation undid his vise-like grip from her graceful shoulders feeling a torrential shudder run through him as he did so.

Watching her walk away, heavy hearted as Jefferson felt himself start to slip…

The appointment with Dr. Scott went as smooth and painless as possible.

One same-day MRI scan later and those large luminous onyx orbs danced with relief upon Mara –her expression uncharacteristically lost and pensive.

"No internal scarring, bleeding on the brain or legions." Dr. Jim Scott whistled upbeat only to have Mara snap out of her reverie and grant him with a polite crooked smile. "There is evidence of seizure activity and if you came in the next day (grants her with a reproving yet concerned gaze) I would have been able to offer a more thorough analysis."

Just smile and nod my dear.

"Sorry. I was sleeping it off." For some odd reason Dr. Scott was the only doctor she completely trusted in this hospital and she didn't want to let him down. Why she didn't know.

Another instinct she couldn't explain. For this she had no basis, only a feeling that he would always help her. Maybe he just had a great bedside manner –at this point who the hell knows?

Her mind had just recklessly tested out 'the theory' (which is what she officially labeled what bordered on psychosis) out for a spin without hesitation or a second thought.

Which meant only one thing: She was no longer objective –Jefferson was now inside her skin.

This brought a crooked bemused smile to that lush rosy pout. Huh, don't I wish.

There it was – Exhibit A.

This also meant that she couldn't bear to stay away from him. She saw the utter devastation that had crept into that too beautiful face of his when he let her go-the tremble of fear in that hypnotizing cobalt that she thought him to be crazy.

Broke her heart. Her feet wanted to run screaming in the other direction but every fiber of her being fractured at this separation. What the hell was going on?!

Maybe because when their lips met she saw the Afterlife. That she actually saw things- a world of dark and light, death and grace. That when she slipped into the darkness of her mind, she did the impossible-she dreamed. But above all else, she had developed deep all-consuming feelings for him and couldn't help but be crazy worried about him.

She suddenly had this all-consuming need to run back and throw her arms around him. And now that she was here, sitting before Dr. Scott who gazed on her inquisitively with those burning dark eyes as though they could read into her soul, Mara felt this ache inside her intensify.

The sweet agony too intense –this had never happened to her before. She had never needed to be with anyone-the connection had never existed and at the time she was grateful. Able to walk away from the few she had let touch her unscathed and unaffected.

It had kept her tenaciously perceptive, unwaveringly focused and above all uncompromised.

Until the moment that large diamond blue gaze, luminous and haunting in its intensity locked with her own peering at her with a familiarity and concern that resonated with a reckoning inside her. There was something about him that was so precious, fragile even.

This she had to treat with utmost care. That crestfallen look in those radiant diamonds also had an unpredictable danger to it which only sparked a primal nervous energy inside her, forcing her to sit up straight in Dr. Scott's patient chair.

Those dark black diamond orbs twitched at the epiphany that suddenly sparked exuberantly in those lovely dark jades.

There was only one way to help him.

First, she'd have to find him.

The drive to Jefferson's lavish estate had kept her on pins and needles.

And of course, today of all days an escalade had managed to careen off the main road onto the shoulder spectacularly jack knifing into one of Mr. Gold's rental trucks.

The irony was not lost on Mara but it barely registered as a dull fading beat.

The bumper to bumper traffic forced her to make an illegal U-turn and no she didn't care who saw her turn into a speed demon into the finely manicured town square.

Normally, she would have felt a small measure of satisfaction at tire mauling Regina's prized red roses but not today.

What she needed right now was a distraction to chill those hyper-sensitive nerves that had yet to quiet since she left Dr. Scott's office. Odd, how he resembled that unnatural looking man with the dancing dark eyes in that holding cell.

Biting down on her inner gums, Mara leaned forward and turned on the radio –loud. It was something she never did as she detested the radio with every fiber of her being.

But she was beyond the edge of reason now. Unexpectedly, the car now filled with an addictive yet uplifting song (Lady Gaga something or other-wow, this chick is good!) that served and temporarily sated her need to not think as she finally pulled into Jefferson's sprawling driveway.

The second she slammed the driver's side door to her green envy supernova –her dark jades shifted frantically to the front door and she suddenly felt her breath leave her.

The bone white door was thrown all the way open in a way that left her chilled as her toned long legs turned to jelly. No! No! No!

Her heart was pulsing erratically now into her chest, adrenaline kicking in it for the second time in 3 days as the familiarity of this unwarranted slammed into her without mercy. No, please!

"Jefferson!" Mara cried out only to have her own voice break panic setting in.

Sprinting inside, Mara was instantly overwhelmed by the immensity of the estate-her dark emeralds frantically drinking in the expanse and the grandeur that was a bit odd yet captivating just the same.

Something had happened, something horrible.

Her dark jades darted up the lavish diamond shaped carpeted staircase and raced up all 12 steps without pause for breath –thank you adrenaline! She'd suffer for it later but she didn't care.

As she rounded on the first landing, 6 stark white doors gleamed up at her –all closed. Oh god!

If anything this intensified her anxiety level through the roof and just like that her piercing dark greens discovered a door partially open.

As Mara advanced, her ivory lobes perked at the faint yet exuberant almost erratic speech emanating from the door at the opposite end of the house. It almost sounded disconnected.

The snowy haired photographer inhaled deeply, trying to steady those jittered nerves and compose herself before entering that doorway.

"Get it to work!" That normally soft steady feather light velvety voice was now broken, fervent and resounded with an unnatural speed and temperament.

The second she heard this a resilient fire ignited in that green wild fire and Mara marched into the lion's den with a determination she didn't have to force but actually felt.

A mountainous disarray of tall plush velvet top hats greeted her blocking her entrance. Gazing fretfully around the room, spiked her nerves but no visual signs of him anywhere –just entrancing glass cabinets lined with the same dapper tall hats and hypnotic dark paisley wall paper. Just like his shirt and scarf, just like him.

Taking another step until she stood at the apse of the room, Mara allowed her own raspy breathing to still and that's when she heard him.

"Get it to work! Get it to WoRk!" Over and over, Fuck no!

Glancing over her shoulder, she finally spotted him (her heart sang with instant relief) crashed to the floor nestled against the wall sewing furiously and snapping at himself when he drew blood.

He had yet to notice her presence.

Crouching in front of him, Mara clapped both her smooth elegant ivory palms to those delectable cheekbones and turned him to face her.

"Wake up Now!" Mara ordered her tone steady yet commanding.

Jefferson blinked hard. A pair of piercing emerald exquisite in their smoky depth was now studying him intrinsically. It was as though something righted inside him –he felt as though he was missing a few hours.

The reminder of what started it all rail-road him with alarming ferocity.

"I..I need to go." These soft yet inscrutable words still stung with their indecipherable meaning as that illuminating gorgeous cobalt met that enchanting green with wounded eyes, appraising her carefully.

Mara's heart dropped into her stomach at that look-the hurt that rippled behind it was her undoing.

"You came back." It now seeped into that soft boyish voice, straining him as he sprang up like a jungle cat and rounded on her with penetrating gutted almost menacing orbs, that beautiful stubble clenching furiously.

Suddenly, Mara understood he felt abandoned.

She ran from him and she never ran from anyone or anything.

"I-I needed to see you." Mara heard herself utter out-she picked an uncanny moment to not have a filter-right now she panicked. She never said things like this to any man because she never had to because she never felt them. Until now.

Now, she knew why her feet made with the frenzy –Jefferson is precious and that scared the hell out of her.

He clearly had an effect on her that she didn't have with anyone else. How the hell was she supposed to tell him what he did to her? That she ached for him. This is unchartered terrain for her and she had clearly fucked up big time.

These were all new frightening emotions that she wasn't exactly comfortable with but it didn't change a thing. She felt for him-deeply.

Jefferson's diamond cobalt watched stunned, the hurt and devastation that consumed him so abruptly lifted at the mirrored anguished now tarnishing that sublime angelic features. There was an ache and a terror glistening underneath the fiery take-no-prisoners mask when she found him-all for him.

"I…I shouldn't have ran. That was very wrong of me. The second I did I regretted it. God, the last thing I want to do is be away from you. (her voice lowered at this part losing all control, her cheeks flushed a delightful scarlet as though realizing the underlying meaning of these words) I can't explain it…"

An oh-so-soft heated pressure caused those rosy pink lascivious lips to pop open.

"Ohhh." Mara's words quaked and her body shivered for more.

Those heavenly diamonds met her own a wily naughty boy grin twinkling infectiously down at her-and to her own relief, palpable undiluted lust. He had just kissed her!

That mere delicious skin friction had left her lascivious lines pulsing and hungry.

Wow, that mouth of his.

Suddenly, this conjured a rather X-rated visual of where he could put that breath taking lips of his and her svelte body started burning unbearably with need.

That very same mouth brushed her own, hot and hungry, fervently caressing her lips with a masterful skill and yet there was an intense almost desperate quality to it that she couldn't put her finger on.

Without warning, those wonderful lips ceased their captivation of that burning mouth (which was now flustered as to why he stopped at all) as he cradled those alluring cheekbones in the palm of his hand –gazing at her with a serious quite vulnerable expression in those soul stirring cobalt.

"I almost lost you today." Jefferson said, in a too-small voice that nearly broke her on the spot

NEVER!

"I thought when you walked away that was it…that I would never see you again." He choked out the last of these words as even more my heart be still salty red tears started to well in his orbs, jaw and delicious stubble twitching.

Mara melted at the mere sight, her body unconsciously sighing with relief as she now clasped a single palm to the left side of his eternally boyish features that disarmed her from moment one.

"Oh baby, no. (Jefferson's heart thundered and had to resist the urge to hand pump himself at the tenderness this endearment she had just granted him with-still that didn't stop that all too sexy lopsided grin from spreading artfully on that mouth) What happened today was a lot to take in. I needed time to process it all, that's all."

Jefferson angled his forehead so that it tilted in perfect proximity to her own, feeling a flood of relief fill and salvage him. Well, in all fairness he had dropped the a-bomb on her.

"That was a lot wasn't it?" Jefferson's diamonds flashed with realization as he could almost hear those alluring rosy lips curl into a tender smile. But it was the truth and part of him was grateful that she found out sooner rather than later.

It was an Understatement to say the very least. Mara thought but she kept this to herself.

He had lost so many people when he wasn't looking.

Mara lifted his chin so as to face those exquisite piercing jade as though sensing the direction of his thoughts.

"I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
This thought produced an all-too-saucy grin curving with possibility on that masterfully crafted mouth, those large diamond blues twinkling with an uncharacteristic playfulness that she had never seen before in him.

"From this room?" Jefferson arched an impish eyebrow, his tone a heady fire ripe with want and a chasm of frustration as his right thumb pressed and flicked her mid-lip.

His right palm, a live wire of nerves and need, trembled unbidden as his thumb traced that sweet indentations of that lovely rose pink mouth making a heart lost on sweetly sinful those lips were to his touch.

He opened his own mouth unconsciously in response, his gaze turning hazy radiating nothing short of primal need as Jefferson once again restrained himself.

A pair of smoky dark greens widened with surprise and awe-this beautiful man tormented in too many dark ways than the soul knows how to define never ceased to amaze her. How long had it been for him?

A man of action was even now holding back and fighting his nature. This part she saw echoes of in him.

Suddenly, Jefferson felt these delicious tingling sensations nuzzling feather light kisses across his lacerated flesh and instinctively his head tilted back, lids shut drowning in them as his breathing went shallow. Sweetly sucking, darkly laving, and sensuously flicking without restraint all-around from front to nape. The last of which pulsed with thermo nuclear speed all the way below his happy trail, his entire body alive and panting.

"Don't contain yourself." Those warm rosy pink lips hover a tempting breath next to his left lobe. "You taste so fucking good."

Jefferson snapped his eyelids open in time to catch Mara lapping her upper lip, in this moment her dark jades glowed obsidian and her breathing had gone ragged. The truth was she was imagining what he would look and feel like against her naked. He could see the start of her breasts rising and falling breathlessly.

This was driving him crazy!

Without warning, two strong fisticuffs shackled both unsuspecting ivory wrists yanking her into every delectable inch of his body aching with hunger. Another delicious moan escaped that rosy pout. Reason shut down and Jefferson just felt himself let go. Claiming possession of her startled unsuspecting pout, Jefferson massaged her lips tenderly until he felt her moan in pleasure against him.

A spark of unexpected happiness shot through him at this deliciously addictive erotic litany and he deepened the kiss. Ummm…she liked where this was going but she knew he needed to detonate-badly. The second Mara parted his lips with her tongue, rolling and flicking his own with an mastery as she writhe against his crotch, Jefferson lost all sense of control.

Throwing her-as carefully as possible-upon the elongated table Mara landed wide-eyed, slightly sore and aroused as hell from the unexpected action. Damn baby! Now we're getting somewhere. There was an intense primal look glowing radiantly in that cobalt as he climbed atop of her pinning her arms (she barely stifled a moan at this) above her head and cracked a heated yet playful grin down at her,

"Oh angel, the stuff I could do to make you feel good." Jefferson mused darkly, noting the sparkle of anticipation and arousal flickering vibrantly in those dark green orbs. The very prompt of which unconsciously triggered her legs to part.

Finally, she saw a glimpse of the man he had been-beautiful, sexy as hell and completely uncontained.

All rolled into the tortured soul now pinning her legs against his inner thighs causing her to release another breathy release.

"Ummm." Jefferson growled, lids shutting pleasurably as he slowly-and-on-purpose (you, naughty boy!) laid out completely atop of her panting wanting frame, desperate for his touch. As though sensing her arousal, Jefferson's mouth curled mischievously atop her allowing his lips to rake her left lobe. "I love the way you moan."

And that's when Mara felt the start of his erection against her stomach. Whoa!

She could feel his length and his pulsing need desperate to be free of his dark pants as he now burrowed his desire against her burning core-she quaked. Her tongue flicked out at the mere thought of taking him into her mouth.

Dark emerald met diamond cobalt-there was a hungry urgency glowing primal and unhinged (good!) and Mara knew that he might not make it. She knew what he needed-playtime would have to wait to later.

The way he looked at her now-longing, undiluted lust and a flicker of tenderness-Mara knew she would do anything for him. She had never felt this way about anyone.

Loosening the buckle of his belt with urgent yet steady experienced palms, Jefferson began to undo the top of her charcoal grey jeans button his mind racing as his palms trembled with anticipation and need when they reached her zipper. They were a live wire –each movement an electric jolt that forcibly ripped in to him as it had earlier in Mara's loft.

Need to touch her now!

Nearly-all-his-clothes had just now hit the floor. Mara must have read his thoughts. Stripping him down to the bare essentials to only a pair of Calvin Klein briefs and a lopsided sexy –as- hell grin.

Shaking off her left pants leg, Jefferson drank in the exquisite teal and powder blue balconette bra and matching satin underwear prompting him to lick his heated now tender lips. Wow!

She had beautiful ivory skin and he couldn't wait to lick every inch. Jefferson let out a ragged hiss. He knew one stroke he might come and if he didn't get himself in check as in right the hell now he couldn't get what he really craved-her. He wanted to make her his.

So that Dr. Feel Goods and Mr. Gold would back the fuck up! Yeah, especially Gold!

And now here that snowy haired angel was beneath him writhing up at him in need. Intense dark emeralds piercing his, lust and tenderness glow wondrously up at him. They were both half-naked and lost in a sensual haze of delicious friction as Mara clasped her right palm to his lacerated nape and impetuously pulled him in.

Their lips collided hungrily as Jefferson ground the tip of his erection against her damp panties. She groaned, clawing at his back forking his dark brown polished pompadour as their tongues stroked once more pushing him to his breaking point.

"Ahhhh…"Jefferson grunted, his chin resting between the valley of those tempting ivory peaks still hidden from the hungry dark look growing desperately in his stunning cobalt.

Mara stilled herself trying desperately to unclench those muscles that were about to implode –really hard to do when Jefferson gave her that I-Want-To-Be-Inside-You look and she literally thought of the Nicki Minaj song 'Super Bass'. Panties coming off yes!

The most beautiful surprisingly frustrated man on the planet wanted her, needed her.

She was wet and he is in needing.

Stroking her lower rosy pink lip with the tip of her tongue, Mara found the rim of his briefs and gave the material a simple tug pulling until his shaft was free of the material. Jefferson arched his body up allowing the underwear to litter the floor next to his plush pile of dapper tall hats.

One simple motion Jefferson yanked, pulling too forcibly and those pretty teal panties ripped. He instantly cast her apologetic look only to intercept her release a breathy moan as she arched her sculpted hips into the motion. Mara arched a playful eyebrow wiggling it up at him. She was still wearing her bra and Jefferson wanted-needed-to feel every inch of her.

Steadying his nerves, Jefferson plucked the catch free and oh-dear-god those pearly pink nipples rose diamond studded to meet his touch. He started to lave his lower lip at the thought.

Jefferson truly is a work of art-Mara couldn't help admiring the rosy colored nipples that stood erect and at attention above a fine yet lightly sculpted chest. He had a nice jolly trail and oh..oh my the thickness of his shaft triggered warm pools to flood her core. So this is what heaven looks like.

Spreading her toned ivory legs wider with his palms, Jefferson's diamond cobalt popped as basic primal need consumed him, his eyes ablaze with passion as the tip rested against her throbbing clit. She was completely wet, waiting, ready.

His.

One smooth thrust –Mara blinked (he filled her completely), Jefferson grunted, groaning feeling her tight sheath.

He slowly moved out of her until to plunge deeper inside again-they both cried out-Mara swore she saw stars.

In-Out-Slow it was one steady hot rhythm. Faster, harder-such sweet agony pulsed between them as Jefferson pumped without restraint inside her –completely uncontained. Pounding furiously, his breathing choppy, his heart pounding as the buildup of those delicious sensations nearly hit the brink of reason. He thrust a sweet addictive rhythm that Mara arched herself into-deeper, hotter faster-as she relished the look of absolute pleasure radiating off that too-beautiful face.

She was soooo close about to come and once again she tried to unclench those fucking awesome sensations now growing in her muscles. There was one thing she needed more.

A rough guttural moan escaped the sensuous perfection of his lips, roaring her name as the most intense orgasm rippled inside him, sending sparks of intense carnal pleasure and undiluted contentment glowing from the inside out as Jefferson finally found his release.

There…right there…that was what she was looking for.

She wanted him to find his release before her. He needed it so badly. She had sensed this longing inside of him.

A breath taking smile curled with deepest satisfaction on those lips as Jefferson gazed with a tenderness and a warmth down at her. She still had not climaxed and Jefferson had yet to sever their connection-he was still inside her - exactly where he wanted to be.

Arching an impish eyebrow, Jefferson started to thrust, plunging deep –devouring her until he felt her quake screaming his name, her svelte body glowing and resplendent, completely sated.

Jefferson collapsed breathless atop of her as his lips graced that delectable ivory slope of neck and pressed a stirring yet sweet kiss on her collarbone.

He knew exactly what she had done-made sure he found his release first-the very thought made him hard again.

Very gently, his fingertips steadied with relative ease now collecting the right side of her angelic features, tilted that smoky green gaze which sparkled and lightened the second her gaze anchored to his.

Absolute concern glistened in those stunning blues which to her delight had a relaxed and tender glow radiating in wonder down at her.

"Did I hurt you?"

Well, that was a first –usually at this point the guy rolled over, snatched the remote and channel surfed till he settled on Dexter or Spartacus. Or there was the usual bathroom run and the infamous snore fest.

Sure it was obstinately rude but it was a crude reality check. It also made it easier to leave as detached as possible.

Tilting her head, Mara was thrown and momentarily speechless. What came natural to Jefferson had once again tilted her world on its speechless axis.

Shaking her head, barely able to answer him coherently Mara's obsidian jades suddenly widened in astonishment-he was hard again. The tip was rubbing to relieve some of the frustration against the lips of her core. So want to touch him.

"I need to touch you." An urgent primal command that dipped to a husky intimate level. Yummy!

So once-twice-okay four mind blowing cosmic times in which her entire body felt boneless and gratifyingly glowed with satisfaction and to her surprise she came every time!

The man was insatiable but in a way she couldn't get enough of. Mara didn't think she could be near him now without wanting him to tear her clothes off.

As they both collapsed, exhausted yet sated (for now) Mara now drank in the OMG shocking state of the glass cabinets.

"We broke the cabinets?!" Seriously, when had they done that?!

Jefferson broke into a truly amused carefree chuckle and wrapped an affectionate arm around her and pulled her to him, those strong arms wrapping her in a protective embrace laying her out against his chest. Even now she felt this heat between them.

And this was the first time she heard him so relaxed and at peace. He placed a lingering hot kiss atop her snowy waves and Mara shut her eyelids savoring the tenderness behind it.

"Do you trust me?"

Mara glanced up slightly thrown by this question, his gorgeous blues were now intense and hooded his expression unexpectedly serious. Uh, wow.

Without a second's hesitation,

"Yes."

Something else appeared to be troubling him.

"Do you believe me about the curse?" Something dark and painful clouded his expression and Mara instantly felt a stab of worry flit through her, taking her from one end of the emotional gauntlet to the other in mere seconds.

Ah yes, the theory. This is what concerned her most but what troubled the investigator more is that feeling she hadn't been able to fight.

"When you saved me 2 nights ago, I couldn't shake this feeling that I knew you. Not from here but from somewhere else. It was so strong and every time I got close to remembering…I was blocked. How is it the night I meet you I'm able to dream when I couldn't before? How is it when we first kissed I saw…"

As though sensing her hesitation, an excited glow glistened exuberantly in those stunning blues as his soft voice encouraged,

"What did you see?"

Wetting her upper lip, proceed with caution, Mara leveled her gaze with his.

"The afterlife." Mara said still shocked by her own admission "and a man with black eyes standing outside a cell." She bit her tongue careful not to say great now I sound bat shit crazy!

Jefferson's blues widened with shock-so all this time he's been here.

Noting the exhaustion claiming those pretty jades, Jefferson pressed a reassuring kiss at her temple. Instantly, this produced the desired effect as Mara instinctively rested against him, listening raptly to the steady beating of his heart.

"Who was I?"

Jefferson broke into a warm smile at the mere memory,

"You were the one who saved me when no one else would."

Mara blinked her eyes open noting the way his voice softened considerably at this revelation recalling his disclosure a few nights earlier. She was curious to know more but her lids were so heavy right now.

Something about Hades. She had to refrain from scrunching up her face at this.

"Rest baby." Jefferson brushed a heated kiss to her lacerated flesh just tracing her shoulder blades. "I promise to tell you more in the morning."

"Hard to do that when you keep kissing me like that." Mara said playfully as Jefferson broke into an artful grin, oh the things you do to me.