Summary: When Kathryn finally sees Hatter after a long absence, she is stunned to discover that the entire town has accused Mary Margaret of her own murder, and begs for him to help her escape to prove Mary Margaret's innocence. Even though he fails to help her, Hatter finds another way to calm her down and wait for the future.

Rating: M for sexual situations

A/N: That Mad Hatter episode was AMAZING! Despite this not following the plot of the show, I'm going to continue it and I most likely won't follow the plot so this story is now AU.


Kathryn hadn't realized it was days since she last saw Hatter - Jefferson, Jefferson, she reminded herself quickly, as it was insanity to call her new lover such a strange name. But his absence hit her instantaneously when she was allowed out of her cell one day to walk the bleak, grey hallways that felt oddly worse than a jail cell. The guard had walked with her past a cell, and she could hear a whistling.

She knew it was Hatter by the way the maniacal laugh brought her an intense comfort. Hatter was still here, and if he was still here, they could still travel to Wonderland - and she wasn't alone just a little bit longer.

The way she stopped in front of the cell emitting the only noise heard in this dungeon besides their footsteps must have stunned the guard because he continued to walk before stopping and turning to face her with a frown. "What are you doing?"

"I..." She pointed to the cell door. "Can I see him?"

"No," the guard answered bluntly. "Of course not. Now let's go. You have one more lap until you head back to your cell."

By now the noise had stopped, and Kathryn could swear her heart beat faster at the thought that Hatter might have stopped his ramblings to hear the sound of her voice, because he missed her as much as she did him. "I...I can't see him?"

"Patient interaction is not allowed for your own safety," the guard answered dryly before he grabbed Kathryn's arm and pulled her forward. "Now walk!"

Kathryn held back her snicker, finding it ironic that the guards and nurses had no idea how much patient interaction they had really engaged in, and how Kathryn had never felt unsafe with Hatter. If anything, she could swear she felt the ground under her feet was back again by the simple thrill his name gave her.

It gave her such a thrill, in fact, that when Kathryn returned to her cell minutes later, her heart somehow skipped a beat when Hatter opened the door and slipped inside. Immediately, Kathryn rose from the coat and moved to kiss him, an action that was habitual after her marriage with David. As soon as she stood and was able to take him in the sight of him, Kathryn stopped when she realized he didn't have his normal, attractively insane smile.

Hatter smiled weakly when her hands cupped his cheeks and grabbed her wrists tenderly. "Kathryn."

The way he softly said her name forced her to recoil, frowning. "Hatter?"

"We need to talk."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Look, we've only had sex once. I don't think we need to have the 'we need to talk' talk. Whatever it is, I'm sure it isn't that important."

Hatter shook his head and smiled. "Please sit."

"Tea time?"

"I don't appreciate the quip," Hatter responded bluntly. "Now please, Kathryn, sit. We do really need to talk."

She did as he requested, but wondered briefly if she'd have his crazy bizarreness back. This calm, serious demeanor was something she'd associate with her husband when he wasn't busy lying to her. Kathryn realized with a laugh that she was finding pleasure in exactly what she had berated David and Mary Margaret for, having an affair with someone she'd just met. Still, she gave this man her complete attention as he sat down on the cot beside her with a heavy sigh.

Finally, he met her gaze. "I made it to the outside world."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry?"

"The outside world," he repeated with a slight nod. "I made it to this place you all call Storybrooke. I...I escaped."

"And you came back?"

Hatter chuckled gently and looked down at his hands that twisted together. Meeting her gaze again, he whispered for the first honest time, "I couldn't leave you here in this horrible place."

"Can-Can you save me from this place?" Hope brimmed in her voice unlike anything she'd ever felt before, and she didn't want to even consider the alternative, and that he wouldn't save her. He had to, because even though this was a mad man, Kathryn was certain he wouldn't leave her behind in this place...He'd be the knight in shining armor that David never was.

"I can take you to a better place," Hatter answered with a grin. "Wonderland?"

"No, no, Hatter, I don't want to go to Wonderland," Kathryn rushed out as she grabbed his hands, hoping that would summon his attention to her, that hopefully her actions would make him realize how desperately she needed to escape this horrible cell she longed to forget. "I...I want to get out of here! I need to get back to my life!"

"I can't take you there," Hatter told her gently. "It's...It's too dangerous. But...But I can tell you about what I saw out there, if you want."

Kathryn sighed. "You can't help me escape like you did?"

"Not for a while," he answered sadly. "It's risky enough for me to come see you now. After the guards discovered my escape...I'm surprised they don't have someone watching my cell twenty-four seven. I would, if I were them."

"You sound awfully sane today, Hatter," Kathryn commented gently, intertwining her hand with his to gently stroke his fingertips, calloused from work.

Hatter pointed to his hatless head with a free hand, making Kathryn wish suddenly that she could run her fingers through his hair just one more time. "No hat on my head, no madness. They haven't allowed me to return to Wonderland after my escape. My punishment, I suppose."

"Sounds so horrible."

Hatter only shrugged, and looked down at his hands again. "I've endured worse."

Before Kathryn could question his response, what possibly could be worse than his dreams ripped away from him, she found herself asking, "What happened out there in the real world, Hatter? Has...Has a lot changed? Do people know I'm gone?"

"Oh yes," he answered with a nod. "People know you're gone."

"So..." Hope filled her voice again. "So they're trying to find me?"

"Well, what they assume is left of you anyway," Hatter answering, sighing softly when she frowned in confusion. Unsure how to tell her the truth without hurting her, Hatter rubbed his chin thoughtfully before telling her bluntly, "They think you're dead, Kathryn."

"Dead?"

"Yes," he told her. "Murdered, actually."

Hatter didn't need to look at her much longer to know that she was crying, to know that he didn't like the sight of her tears and wasn't sure how to help her. In all his life, he'd never had to deal with a crying woman, unless his daughter was injured - but that was an easy fix. Intuition told Hatter this situation might not be that easy of a fix, especially with the way Kathryn rigidly turned away from him, hunched over, and covered her mouth with her hand.

Hatter didn't touch her - because he wasn't sure if anything he offered was a consolation - but softly told her, "There's more."

Her head twisted to look at him. "More?"

"They're accusing Mary Margaret of your murder," he answered, surprised when her body completely twisted around to grab the front of his shirt, like she was about to violently shake him. Grounding himself into the bed, Hatter grabbed her wrists slightly if he needed to pry her away. He frowned when she jostled him slightly. "I know this is bad-"

"Bad?" She shook him again. "This is horrible! Mary Margaret would never have it in her to...to kill someone! And she didn't kill me! I'm here and alive and it's some horrible person that's keeping me here! You..." Her eyes opened wide as she realized a way that they could make this all okay, that she could prove Mary Margaret's innocence and head back to Boston again, maybe dragging the Hatter with her if he could escape from this dungeon. "You could help me escape! You have to help me escape!"

Hatter only shook his head. "I told you, not now Kathryn. It's too dangerous. If they know that we're going to try an escape, they won't ever leave us alone again, and not just by keeping us apart. We'd never have a shot if we tried too quickly."

Her fists tightened into balls against his shirt as she asked, "If you had that hat on, you'd be suggesting we try now, wouldn't you?"

"Probably."

"You want to put it on?"

"No," he answered with a smile at her attempt to trick him. That was his job. "Even though I feel safer with it on, and even though it brings me these wonderful feelings..." Hatter trailed off with a smile, not wanting to divulge to her that he felt safer in her presence, that being with her brought him wonderful feelings that a poisoned hat never could. He could have never before imagined that his insane, colorful world didn't compare to that joy which human contact brought him.

Kathryn sighed heavily and shook her head when he didn't continue. "So what am I supposed to do? Just sit here and let everyone think I'm dead and that a completely innocent woman did it? I can't...I'm not sure I can deal with that!"

"I-I'm sorry Kathryn, I wish I knew. I just...I thought you should know, considering that it's your life and all."

She met his gaze somberly and asked quietly, "What were you doing out there anyway? And why...Why did you come back?"

Hatter shrugged. "Couldn't leave you here in this hellhole by yourself, could I?"

"You didn't answer my original question. What were you doing out there?"

"That's unimportant."

"Really?" Kathryn raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him.

"It is not important," Hatter repeated sternly with a shake of his head. It was bad enough the world thought him insane, but a criminal? Kathryn didn't need to know that he had kidnapped the sheriff and Mary Margaret in an attempt to make them realize the truth - not just about this other world that he so strongly believed existed but also about Kathryn, that she was indeed alive and needed saving only the police could bring.

Hatter didn't want to get her hopes up that the cavalry would charge in any more than he wanted to admit to her what he had done. Some things, he decided, were just better kept a secret if they caused this woman more pain.

"Hatter," she attempted to coax, "please?"

"No," he responded with a quick shake of his head. Hatter pulled away when she leaned toward him, her method of persuasion one he knew he wouldn't be able to deny for very long. He turned his head when she leaned toward him again, completely rebuffing her advances and decidedly ignoring her huff as she sat back against the cot.

Finally, he turned to her defeated face with a grin. Raising a finger, he pointed it to the sides of her eyes, "Pouting is very unbecoming, Kathryn. Time has a funny way of making wrinkles if you let it."

She didn't smile. "Is it too hard to answer a simple question, Hatter?"

"Is it so hard to accept something you will never understand?"

"Hatter, I-"

"This is no different," he cut off firmly with a shake of his head. "You accept things like love and hate, even though you don't truly understand what they do to you or how they got there or why you even feel them. But you accept those readily, don't you? This is no different. This is simply just another thing that happened that you'll never fully understand."

"I don't like that answer."

"And I hate being stuck in this mental ward for the rest of my life, but I'm just going to have to live with that, won't I?" He smiled when she rolled her eyes. "I think you can live with not having one of your questions answered, Kathryn."

"You're the one that brought up going to the outside world, not me."

Hatter snorted gently. "Yeah, so you could know the truth."

Kathryn looked down at her hands, suddenly saddened and not at all irritated with Hatter's tease of information. With a soft sigh, she murmured, "Maybe it's better not to know the truth sometimes."

"Maybe, but now you won't wonder if people think about you or miss you."

"No," she agreed, "but now I have to live with the knowledge that an innocent woman is going to have her life ruined because of me, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. There's no way I can help her, no way I can prove her innocence." Pausing, she looked up at his concerned eyes with hopeful eyes of her own. "But I guess there is a way if we fought for it."

Tenderly, he reached out to cup her cheek in his hand and smiled weakly when she leaned into his touch, her body sighing at the warm contact. "That is an option, Kathryn, just not right now. Not when it's too dangerous."

Kathryn closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that brimmed. "Did they catch you?"

"No, but they know I wasn't in my cell," Hatter answered with a shake of his head. "And if I'm not careful, I might never be able to leave my cell again." And if he couldn't leave his cell, that would mean he couldn't see her, and that would surely drive him more insane than the power which any top hat had.

"So...So we'll wait until the time is right and you'll help me get out of here?"

"Yes," he agreed with a nod. "When the time is right, I'll see to it that you make it out okay."

"Thank you," she whispered, the sincerity in her voice forcing it to soften as hope filled her and, for once, didn't leave. She returned his gentle grin and leaned forward to kiss him softly, his lips hesitant against hers only for a moment before he melted into her embrace.

What Kathryn had intended as a quick, tender kiss quickly transformed into one whose passion she was unable to control. Their mouths met in a frenzied fervor, making up for lost time in his absence; Kathryn couldn't dream of anything better than the way he took control of the kiss. If she wasn't sitting, she was certain her knees would have buckled when he intensified the kiss to explore her mouth intimately with his tongue.

How he rendered her completely powerless with a simple touch was something Kathryn would never understand, but a sensation she'd never question.

Pulling away from her to breathe, Hatter smiled when she protested with a soft whimper. "Missed you, too." With an insane smirk, he kissed her cheek and said, "Okay, I'll see you around."

Through her surprise, Kathryn was capable of grabbing the fabric of his shirt and keeping him against the bed. His playful eyes were met with an open mouth as she asked, "T-That's it? You're just going to leave?"

"Well, yeah, I have nothing else to do. No more business here." Hatter raised a finger. "And if there's one thing that I do not do, it's waste time. Time has a way of wasting itself."

"So you're just going to leave me hanging?"

"Yes."

"That's very rude," she commented with a shake of her head.

Hatter outstretched his arms with a shrug. "I can be very rude to people with blonde hair who ask too many questions, it seems." He smiled when her noise crinkled. "But you're much better company than Alice. I actually don't mind half of your questions."

"Oh? And the other half?"

"Drive me a little mad," Hatter answered, smiling when she shook her head and looked down at her hands. Kathryn no longer looked saddened at the fate of the outside world, but amused by his nonsensical words. "Do I drive you mad sometimes, Kathryn?"

"No," Kathryn whispered in response. "You actually keep me saner than I've ever been."

Hatter smiled. "I'd say I'd felt the same, but I'm not entirely sure what's reality and what's fantasy anymore."

She met his eyes with sincerity and curiosity. "Well what are you sure of?"

"That I don't want you to ever have to stay in this place by yourself again," Hatter replied. "And the outside world is crazier than the one in here."

Kathryn laughed, the sound pleasant but foreign to her ears. She remembered David, and their miserable marriage, and then thought of Jefferson Hatter, a crazy man who didn't make her miserable but awoke sensations in her she had thought disappeared as soon as she and David married years ago.

The world was so simple in here, too, compared to the drama and conflict she faced in Storybrooke - but she'd never live here forever, as it would render her insane like Hatter.

Finally, she agreed, "I can understand that."

When Kathryn looked back up at him, she was stunned to see his eyes soften, a sadness in them she'd never seen before, like it hurt him to see her rendered to his fate. Before Kathryn could find a definite answer to the hollowness that almost broke her heart, she was stunned to feel his lips meet her again, this time more tender than any kiss they'd ever shared.

His lips were soft, encouraging but not overpowering, and she couldn't help but wonder if the flutter in her chest was one of anticipation or something deeper, something she had never truly felt for David but a powerful emotion this man evoked with only his presence.

Kathryn became impatient when his pace didn't change as they lazily kissed, and realized she couldn't take any more of this anticipation by the way her body almost shuddered at the thought of making love to him once more.

His kisses weren't enough; she wanted more.

Determined for him not to reject her again, Kathryn broke their kiss to gently ghost kisses across his jawline until she found his earlobe, nipping softly until she felt Hatter's hands tangle in her hair to keep her where she was. His grasp was gentle, but just powerful enough for Kathryn to know he enjoyed the attention that she hadn't given him last time.

Kathryn knew he appreciated the attention by the way she heard his breath involuntarily hitch. She smiled as she tenderly kissed his neck, right above where there was an elongated, jagged scar that stretched his entire neck. It puzzled her slightly, but she didn't question it.

What began to bother Kathryn, however, was the way he tensed and fought the desire to pull away when her lips got close to the scar like it brought him an intense pain he couldn't shake.

She finally had enough of the wondering, of how she worried he'd reject her if she pushed his limits. Pulling away, Kathryn brought her hands to his cheeks and forced him to look at her, at sad, angry eyes that leveled her. Gently, she traced her fingertips across the scar, startled when he quickly grabbed her wrist and met her confused eyes with stern ones.

"Don't."

"But-"

"Don't," Hatter repeated firmly with a shake of his head. "Do not ever ask about that Kathryn. Ever. There are some things you just don't want to know. Things that I just...I just can't ever talk about."

"Jefferson-"

"No," he told her quickly, not releasing his firm grip around her wrists even as she tried to break free. "We can talk about anything but that, Kathryn. Just not that."

"Okay," she finally conceded softly.

Hatter released her wrists immediately, sighing softly when her hands went to his cheeks again. Refusing to meet her gaze, he looked down at his hands before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Kathryn. I just..." He sighed heavily. "That's the part of Wonderland that was a nightmare."

"I'm sorry, Hatter."

"Me too," he whispered in response, finally choosing to meet her gaze.

As much as she loved the hat, this man that sat before her was someone Kathryn found herself most comfortable with. His eyes reflected an honestness that she'd never seen before, in any man.

He looked sad, too, and that broke her heart.

He suddenly wasn't just an insane lover who made her smile, but one that could feel like any other human out there, one that wasn't untouchable from human emotions and one who felt just as strongly as she. To think that someone had hurt him this deeply brought her pain, and Kathryn wanted nothing more than to find a way to help him end his misery.

Even for just a few moments.

With that in mind, Kathryn kissed him with more passion than she thought she was capable of. The heat of the moment ran away from the both of them, it seemed, as they both attempted to drown their pain with frenzied fervor so strongly that within seconds they began to remove any piece of clothing they could grab.

Kathryn wasn't even aware they were naked until she straddled him, moaning when he held her powerfully and kissed every inch of bare skin he could reach. When he found the swell of her breast, Kathryn arched into him with a content sigh.

"Don't stop," she finally hissed, burying her fingers in his hair to keep his mouth where it brought her pleasure.

He didn't stop, not until both their desires were sated and they lay together, silently besides their heavy breaths, on the small cot.

Kathryn had never guessed Hatter as a man who liked to cuddle, but she didn't mind the way he tenderly brushed his fingertips across her shoulder, tucking his head to gently kiss the spot his fingers had just left. She laughed gently, trying to muffle her snicker with the pillow, but to no avail.

Jefferson frowned and, stressing every word, asked, "What is so funny?"

"Nothing."

"Kathryn," he warned with a slight shake of his head. "If it were any other situation and I was afraid that I'm not the only man you've been with recently, I'd be offended and a little worried."

"Sometimes I think I like you better with the hat on, Hatter," she told him with a smile.

"I'm starting to like not wearing the hat at all," Hatter replied with a wide grin, kissing her shoulder tenderly again. He didn't need to see her to know that she smiled at his comment that she was better than the Wonderland his mind had created and fought hard to keep. Resting his face against her neck, he whispered, "Please tell me, Kathryn."

She sighed. "I'm just surprised is all."

"By what?"

"How gentle you're being after...well, after how rough we were." Kathryn yelped when he playfully bit her neck. She dug her nails into his shoulders in a painful response, gritting her teeth as she warned, "Don't make me take back what I said."

He chuckled gently. "Wouldn't dream of it. That's just madness."

Gently intertwining her fingers into his already mussed hair, Kathryn let a contented sigh escape as she rested her forehead against his, a symbol of unity and connectedness that she desperately needed. "Hatter?"

"Yes?"

"Will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me the next time you leave, you'll take me with you," she murmured softly, not a question but a simple command.

She knew Hatter agreed with her statement when he pulled her closer, kissing her softly. Kathryn had unshakable faith in him, and knew that his promise made was a promise sealed. "Thank you, Hatter."

"No," he whispered honestly, "thank you."