A/N: Until the writers provide me with a proper last name Jefferson will bear the last name Lake in my cannon… I just like the way that name sounds. Jefferson Lake.

If you haven't already I do recommend first reading my story "Stress Relief." I make reference to it in this chapter. It's a one shot a full of smut, if you're reading this you'll probably enjoy that one too!

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Chapter 2: A Weasel in the Rabbit Warren

Emma was on the phone with Henry, discussing the possibility of pizza and a movie when Jefferson blew into the station with the force of a hurricane and promptly tried to lock himself in one of the empty cells.

"Henry, can I call you back?" Emma said, her mouth still hanging open from shock.

Jefferson was staring at her expectantly through the bars, and breathing heavily as if he'd run from his house to her station. He'd obviously left in a hurry; he wasn't wearing a coat.

"Why? Has something happened?" The little boy sounded far too excited at the prospect.

"No, just, someone's here to see me." Emma replied.

"Oh, ok, I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah, talk to you later, bye."

Emma hung up and leaned back in her chair folding her arms across her chest.

"What?" Jefferson asked after a few moments under her intense stare.

Emma shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. How about we start with why you're here, and why you're trying to lock yourself inside a jail cell?"

"Dr. Whale has sent some men to collect me." He replied.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Emma's eyes narrowed. "Jefferson, what have you done?"

"Nothing!" He exclaimed, "I swear! If I had, wouldn't you have heard about it?"

Emma sighed, he was right.

"Jefferson, there has to be a reason why—"

"There is; Regina was at my house when I got there last night. She said that she'd found out you'd been researching me and it scared her. She doesn't like the idea of you being around me."

"Why?"

"Because of the curse! She doesn't want you to believe."

"Well then, she has nothing to worry about, seeing that I don't."

Jefferson growled in frustration, but whatever he had been about to say died on his lips at the sound of the front door to the station opening.

"It's them!" he whispered, then turned back to look at her. "Help me, Emma. Please!"

Emma bit her lip.

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Two burly men lumbered into her office a few seconds later, followed closely by a thinner man in a suit.

"My apologies for this disturbance Sheriff, but I don't suppose you've seen Jefferson Lake at all today?" said Dr. Whale.

Emma looked up from the paper work on her desk.

"No, sorry I haven't, Dr. Whale." She replied.

"You wouldn't mind if we searched the station then would you?"

Emma frowned. "I just said I haven't seen him, why would you need to?"

"Oh, you know he may have slipped in unnoticed while you were in the restroom or out on a call… This is just to be sure a dangerous man isn't lurking in your office…"

Emma smirked. "It's my job to handle dangerous men, Dr. Whale, but be my guest."

Emma gestured with her hand around the room.

"Thank you, Miss Swan." Dr. Whale bowed his head slightly and the two men began opening closet doors and looking under tables for their query.

Emma watched Dr. Whale closely.

"Has Mr. Lake done something, Dr. Whale?" Emma asked.

Dr. Whale shook himself out of thought.

"What? Oh, yes, the mayor received several calls last night from people around town, complaining that he had harassed them yesterday, and she called me, concerned he had suffered a relapse."

Emma could smell the lie a mile away even without the fact that Regina had been to see Jefferson the night before.

"I see," Emma said, "Why wasn't I called?"

Dr. Whale hesitated, "I don't know Miss Swan, perhaps some of the citizens prefer to trust a familiar face, such as the mayor to a…"

"Stranger." Emma offered.

"As you say," Replied the doctor, "no offense intended Miss Swan. I personally think you are doing an exceptional job since the death of Sheriff Graham."

Emma's jaw clenched at the mention of his name, that wound still hurt.

At that moment the two men returned.

"He's not here." One man said.

"You're sure?" Dr. Whale asked. "We don't want to leave our dear Sheriff with a nasty situation…"

"We're sure," said the other, "We've searched the place top to bottom."

"Very well, perhaps he's returned to his house, go there and keep an eye out until he's found." Dr. Whale then turned to Emma. "You will call us, if you hear anything?"

"Of course." She replied.

"Very good, we'll let you get back to work then. Good day, Sheriff."

"Good luck finding him." Emma replied as they left.

Emma sighed and stood up from her desk.

"You can come out now." She said with a small grin.

Jefferson groaned as she unfolded his legs and crawled out from under her desk. He stretched as he stood, and his back cracked loudly.

"You need a bigger desk." He said coming to stand next to her as she leaned on the edge of the object in question.

Emma smirked. "I'll mention it to the town board meeting in August…"

Jefferson gave a half smile.

"Thank you." He said, putting as much sincerity into the words as he could.

Emma sighed. "You're not out of the woods yet. It sounds like you need a place to lie low for a few days."

Jefferson's eyebrows jumped. "Seems like…" He sighed.

Emma thought biting her lip, Storybrooke wasn't a large town; there were only so many places where Jefferson could hide…

"This is gonna take a lot of explaining to Mary Margaret…" She sighed.

Jefferson looked at her with his brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry?"

"You can hide in my apartment until this all blows over."

"Are you completely mad?"

Emma's eyebrows jumped up in surprise.

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked.

"You don't have to –"

"Jefferson, they think they've got me working for them, it's the safest place for you to be."

"I don't want to risk you getting too involved." Jefferson said.

"You should have thought of that before you tried to lock yourself in my jail cell."

Jefferson relented, but he asked:

"Why are you helping me?"

"Is this really something you should be questioning?" Emma asked quirking an eyebrow in amusement.

Jefferson shrugged. "They call me the crazy one but you are the one helping the man who held you and your – friend hostage, until you knocked me over the head with a telescope and then pushed me out a window… Come to think of it, maybe I am crazy for trusting you."

Emma had to laugh at that.

"So why are you helping me?" he asked.

Emma took a moment to reply. "Because crazy or not, I don't think you've done anything wrong… That and it will piss Regina right off…"

Jefferson nodded.

"Does that 'nothing wrong' include the holding you hostage?"

Emma whacked him on the arm and he laughed.

"Don't push your luck." She warned.

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Several hours later Jefferson and Emma stepped out of Emma's car in front of the house.

Jefferson eyed the door nervously. "Now, you're sure Mary Margaret won't try to kill me?" he asked.

Emma sighed. "Considering that for the time being she'd have to get through me to do it, probably not… That and she's just not the type. She's not home yet anyway, there was a meeting at the school for all the teachers this afternoon."

Emma opened the door and they entered the small apartment.

"You want a coffee or something?" Emma offered.

"Tea, would be lovely." He replied.

Emma fought back another wave of her conscience telling her how terrible this plan of hers was as she set about filling the kettle with water and getting it on the boil. They prepared the tea in a relative silence that wasn't entirely awkward, which was only broken by a few exchanges regarding milk and sugar. They sat at the kitchen table with their respective mugs and stared at each other, each waiting for the other to speak.

"Why me?" Emma asked so suddenly that Jefferson blinked before forming his answer.

He shrugged.

"Oh, come on! There has to be a reason." Emma pressed. "I couldn't have been your first choice for an ally."

Jefferson looked uncomfortable but relented.

"Actually, you were…. It involves the curse, Emma…" He said pleadingly.

Emma sighed. "Humor me. I'll listen, just this once, so tell it to me straight. Well, as straight as you're capable of telling it."

Jefferson scowled at her for a moment before beginning to speak:

"I don't have many friends, Emma. Never had much of a chance to make them being trapped inside that house."

"Well, if you tie up every visitor you get, I can see why." Emma quipped.

But at the wounded look on Jefferson's face, she apologized.

"Like I said on the night I visited you," he continued, "I apologize for my behavior that night… some part of me knew that what I was doing was wrong, that holding you both hostage was wrong… but that was not the part that was in control at the time."

"What about the night you visited me? Do you apologize for that too?"

Jefferson looked confused. "Should I?"

Emma snorted in amusement. "No, I suppose not."

"I enjoyed that night Emma, the night I visited you that is. I'm not in the habit of apologizing for things I enjoy."

"So you didn't enjoy holding us prisoner then?"

Jefferson shook his head.

"No, but…" he sighed, "I believe the ends justify the means, and getting back to my daughter… I just wanted it so much… I just wanted to see my Grace again."

Emma didn't say anything about his questionable parenthood.

"I know how it feels." She said.

Jefferson looked up at her in surprise, not expecting her sympathy.

"My son," she explained. "Henry was adopted by Regina… I never expected to love him the way I do, I never expected to meet him, I never really wanted to. I gave him up when he was born, I just gave him away, and now that I have met him… now that I've seen how wonderful he is, I keep thinking how could I have ever done that? And I hate myself for it sometimes, that I let him be raised by such a blood-sucking witch like Regina…"

Emma wiped away the tears that had escaped her eyes angrily.

"I'm sorry," she said with a forced laugh. I didn't mean to get all emotional."

"It's ok," Jefferson said, "How old were you when you got pregnant?"

"Eighteen." Emma replied.

Jefferson nodded. "That's young. I was twenty when my Alice got pregnant, that was too young too, and I almost left them both."

"But you didn't?" Emma said, swallowing back her immediate response to Jefferson's madness which was to point it out.

Jefferson shook his head. "Fortunately for me, I realized in time that they were what I wanted, a family. And fortunately Alice was the forgiving sort."

"Alice is your wife?" Emma asked.

"Yes."

"What happened to her?"

Jefferson hesitated before uncovering those memories.

"She died," he said, "When Grace was just a baby, we took her to Wonderland, and Alice was trapped there… I never saw her again. When I was trapped there myself I found out that she had been tortured by the Queen of Hearts, and died in her dungeons."

"I'm sorry." Emma said, and Jefferson gave her a sad smile.

"That was a long time ago."

Whether or not the story was true, or whether or not Jefferson was simply crazy didn't matter to Emma in this moment, Jefferson certainly felt the pain of it real enough, and for that he earned her sympathy, despite that little voice in the back of her head telling her how bad an idea like that really was.

After a few moments of silence in which they finished their tea, Jefferson asked about taking a shower.

"Yeah, of course." Emma said, glad for the change of subject. "There are towels in the closet. I use men's shampoo; you can use that unless you'd like to smell like passion fruit and mango…"

Jefferson smiled. "As long as it gets me clean, anything will do."

Emma had a smile on her face until he closed the bathroom door, then her smile melted and she sunk to the floor and groaned out her frustration and confusion at the surreal nature of the situation.

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Mary Margaret returned home a few minutes later, and Emma thanked whoever was responsible for the few minutes to break Jefferson's presence in their home to her gently.

"Hey!" Mary Margaret greeted brightly, setting a bag of groceries on the counter.

"Hey!" Emma replied, "How was work?"

"Oh, you know the usual. The kids are still all behaving like angels though, since I haven't given them any homework yet."

Emma laughed. "Give it time; they'll remember how mean you really are!"

Mary Margaret pretended to be offended.

"Just for that you get to go and bring in the rest of the groceries!"

Emma huffed, but got up and went out the door to pull the last two bags from Mary Margaret's car. When Emma returned all hell had broken loose.

Mary Margaret had Jefferson backed against the wall and was brandishing a kitchen knife in his face. His hair was still damp from his shower and his eyes darted from the knife, to Mary Margaret, and then to Emma nervously. So much for breaking it to her gently.

"How the hell did you get in here!" Mary Margaret was demanding.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma cried stepping between Mary Margaret's knife and Jefferson. "Mary Margaret, it's ok, I let him in."

"You what?" Mary Margaret exclaimed.

"Dr. Whale sent some men after him; I said he could stay here until they stop looking."

"What on earth possessed you do to that?"

"Because I think Regina is behind it."

"Emma, did it ever occur to you that Regina might know he's crazy, and want him locked up for a good reason?"

"Please, Mary Margaret, just trust me on this. He's not going to hurt us."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have nowhere else to go." Jefferson said.

Mary Margaret eyed him suspiciously then turned to Emma and pointed the knife at her.

"You have a lot of explaining to do… and you!" She turned back to Jefferson. "If you come anywhere near me, I will kill you."

Jefferson nodded in understanding, and Mary Margaret pulled Emma upstairs into her bedroom.

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Emma relayed all of the past two days' events to Mary Margaret, and Emma could see that by the end of the story Mary Margaret somewhat agreed with Emma's decision, or at least could understand why she had mad it, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"But how do you know he's not lying, Emma?" Mary Margaret asked.

Emma gave her a look.

"Right, right, your 'superpowers…' But Emma, you've been wrong before, what if he's just a really good liar?"

"Well, Dr. Whale isn't and he confirmed Jefferson's story when he searched the station."

Mary Margaret bit her lip in thought.

"I'm sorry Emma, I just can't trust him."

"We can handcuff him to my bed if that would make you feel better." Emma offered.

Mary Margaret burst into a fit of giggles despite herself.

"Kinky," she laughed, "But no, I don't think you have to do that."

Mary Margaret sighed. "Besides, we haven't heard him madly breaking the china…"

Emma smiled reassuringly, and took her friend's hand. "Talk to him? Just try and I'm sure you'll see."

Mary Margaret sighed again. "Fine. I'll try, for your sake… but I'm sleeping with the carving knife in my room!"

"That's completely your prerogative!" Emma laughed, but in her heart she felt a twinge of guilt over making Mary Margaret feel afraid in her own home.

Emma and Mary Margaret exited the room to find the groceries put away, and a full meal being prepared.

"If he poisons us, I'm blaming you." Mary Margaret whispered. "And I think I've changed my mind about the handcuffs…"

"Yeah, me too…" Emma replied.

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In the end they forced Jefferson to taste everything he had prepared before either one would eat it. He humored them without much protest. In the end the meal had been delicious much to Mary Margaret's chagrin, even if the atmosphere had been a bit tense. Little more than small talk was exchanged between Emma and Mary Margaret with Jefferson's eyes flicking between the two, watching them intently but not saying a word. It made Mary Margaret uneasy. Emma made a point of cleaning up to give Jefferson and Mary Margaret a moment to talk in private.

Mary Margaret leaned forward on her elbows and narrowed her eyes at Jefferson.

"Why did you kidnap us?" she demanded.

To Jefferson's credit he didn't seem fazed by the direct line of questioning.

"I needed Emma to fix my hat." He said.

Mary Margaret looked confused. "So what does that have to do with me?"

"You're her friend; I knew she would come after you."

Mary Margaret frowned. "And after she fixed your… hat. What would you have done? Killed us?"

"No," Jefferson said with as much sincerity as he could muster. "I would have let you both go."

Mary Margaret blinked. "Oh."

There was a pause in which Mary Margaret noted the innocence behind such thinking. If he let them go after kidnaping them, Emma was the sheriff, no doubt she would have come back with reinforcements and arrested him on the spot… well, Mary Margaret would have thought so until earlier this evening.

"Emma said you have a daughter." She commented, changing the subject.

Jefferson tensed at the mention of Grace, guilt and longing flooding him. Jefferson blinked back the tears that threatened, and swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat.

"Yes, her name is Grace." He said. "But people here call her Paige."

"Paige?" Mary Margaret asked, "Paige Driscoll?"

"Yes…" Jefferson answered warily. "Do you know her?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "She – She's in my class. I'm her teacher. So you're telling me, you're her biological father?"

He nodded, his mind reeling at the revelation that in this world, she was adopted.

"Is she –"his voice broke. "Is she a good student?"

Suddenly Mary Margaret could see when she looked at him, that there was no way this man wasn't Paige Driscoll's biological father.

"She's one of the best." She said.

The details of how Paige had ended up in the care of her adoptive parents had never been explained to Mary Margaret, but it had been something Paige and Henry Mills had had in common, and that they had bonded over for a while like brother and sister. But then when Henry had started believing that everyone in Storybrooke were story book characters, she had been told to stay away from him as he'd been sharing his theories with her.

"Look," Mary Margaret said, "I don't trust you. I'll believe you about Paige, but I still don't trust you. But Emma is choosing to trust you, and to be perfectly honest I think she is as crazy as you are for doing so. You're not well, and you need help, far more than she can give you… so I'll give you this warning, you take advantage of her, if you use her, or hurt her, there is no where you can hide that I won't find you, and make you pay for anything you do to betray her… understand?"

It was then that Emma returned and Mary Margaret bid them both goodnight, but making a point to visibly bring the carving knife with her up the stairs to her bedroom.

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A/N: Next chapter has the smuts, I promise. If you're enjoying the story, why not say so? Reviews are like cookies, wonderful incentive, and I would love and cherish a simple "liked it!" as much as anything longer. Contrariwise, if you're not enjoying it, why not tell me? But I ask that it is done in the form of constructive criticism, where you tell me what you don't like and why, so that I can strive to improve my writing. Thanks for reading!