"I don't know about this," Belle said as she was practically dragged by Aleera and Ariel to the dance studio.
"Don't be so worried," Ariel said. "It's just a dance."
"It's a dance class," Belle said. "An intense one."
"Come on, Belle," Aleera said. "Do a solid for Ariel, she needs to get used to her legs and you need to get out more."
"What's the class called again?" Ariel asked Aleera.
"Zumba," Aleera answered.
"Sounds exciting!" Ariel exclaimed. "Come on, Belle, you'll love it!"
Ariel and Belle found a spot in the back of the group to dance as per Belle's desire not to make a scene of herself. Aleera was at the front of the class as she was the instructor. Aleera gave an introductory seminar for Belle and Ariel's sakes. And then the class started.
As the music became more exciting and Belle got the flow of it, she started to let loose. Ariel absolutely loved it, but every time she lost her footing on her new legs she took someone down with her. But everyone in the class was jovial so no one minded. When the class ended and everyone else went home, Aleera, Ariel, and Belle all sprawled out on the couch in the office trying to get their breathing back to normal and their muscles relaxed.
"Well that was quite fun," Belle said when they were relaxing.
"I told you you'd like it," Ariel said.
"You knew that without even knowing what it was like," Aleera laughed at Ariel. "Feel pretty confident on your stems now?"
"If by stems you mean legs, then yes," Ariel replied a little confused.
"Yes she meant legs," Belle assured her. Ariel then chose to change the subject.
"Now that you know the people who went to Neverland are coming back, are you doing anything to prepare?"
"It's up to them on how they get back," Aleera said. "There's no way for us to give them a way in with us worlds away."
"When Snow and Emma came back from the Enchanted Forest there was a portal opening on our side," Belle said.
"If you find one of those currently, let me know," Aleera said. "Getting them back here is one thing. Getting this entire town back to the Enchanted Forest is another."
"What?" Ariel and Belle said in unison.
"You think we all need to leave Storybrooke?" Belle asked.
"Greg and Tamara put it into perspective for me," Aleera said. "We shouldn't stay here. We don't belong. There's a reason all the portals that can take us to this world like magic beans and enchanted trees are harder to find."
"But the only way we had to get back to the Enchanted Forest was the beans that the town was growing," Belle said. "They're all gone now."
"We could use Ariel's way," Aleera said.
"For a whole town?" Ariel asked. "My way is more complicated than you'd think. There are multiple channels to travel. You'd likely lose townspeople along the way."
"She's right Aleera," Belle said.
"It was just a thought," Aleera said.
"It's too bad King George destroyed the Mad Hatter's hat," Belle sighed. Aleera stewed with that for a moment, but then she sprang up.
"Whoa!" the other girls said.
"What is it?" Ariel asked.
"There are more hats," Aleera said. "The reason the restoration of the original hat was put off what because fairy dust hadn't been found yet. But now we have a supply. Jefferson made the hats, so maybe all that was needed is fairy dust…and maybe an enchantment from me or something."
"Aren't you and Jefferson a bit rocky?" Belle asked.
"He'll help us," Aleera said. "All he's wanted for 28 years was his daughter and a way back home. I'll call him tonight." And then she left, leaving the other women dumfounded.
Aleera had Alastair help Granny restore the rest of the hearts so she, Belle, and the Blue Fairy could focus on finding a working hat. Ariel was getting human lessons from Miranda so she could wow Eric when they reunited. Aleera called Jefferson that night and told him what they wanted to do. He didn't say much, but he agreed. But Aleera knew him well enough to tell that he was very intrigued by the idea.
When Belle was leaving Rumple's house she got a text from Aleera that said she should meet her at Regina's house. Belle found that odd, but did what she was asked. Regina's front door was unlocked so she let herself in. She called out Aleera's name and Aleera responded from upstairs.
Belle followed her voice up to Regina's room. And when she saw Aleera she did a double take. Aleera was standing with her back to the door dressed in Regina's clothes. She was facing the mirror, straightening out her outfit. The sisters looked enough alike to make Belle think she saw the Queen herself.
"Are you serious?" Belle asked. "You're stealing from your sister's wardrobe? Why?"
"I'm trying to dress more adult," Aleera said. "All my clothes scream teen and I don't have the funds to get a whole new wardrobe. It's not like Regina is using any of this right now."
"Yes, but a suit? You can still dress down and be adult."
"I was trying on several things," Aleera said. "There's a short sleeved sweater-long sleeved button up shirt combo in there."
"That would be better," Belle said.
"But this pencil skirt is great," Aleera said.
"And maybe wedges instead of skyscraper height high heels?" Belle suggested. "We are going to be walking through the woods."
"She's got some nice boots in there," Aleera said.
"Well go change then!" Belle laughed. She smirked as Aleera flounced off. "You may want to be an adult, but you certainly haven't outgrown wanting to play dress up!" Belle could hear Aleera blow a raspberry from the closet. Jefferson had a similar double take when he saw Aleera decked out in Regina garb.
"Ho-oly crap!" He jumped and rushed his hand to his heart.
"Oh my God, enough!" Aleera said peeved.
"That didn't help distinguish you from your sister," Jefferson said.
"If I were Regina you'd be reduced to a pile of empty Jefferson skin by now," Aleera said.
"She was one for making people feel like nothing," Jefferson said. "Hi…" he said to Aleera, finally looking at her for who she was. They used to be the best of friends. For 28 years they supported each other. But since the curse broke, they only really saw each other when bringing Miranda and Grace together for play dates.
"I miss us," Aleera said.
"I stepped off when you didn't need me anymore," Jefferson said.
"What makes you think I didn't need you?" Aleera asked.
"You had your real man back," he said. "I hear you two got married."
"After a 40 year engagement," Aleera said. "We were ready."
"Technically it was 38," Jefferson teased.
"Still pretty impressive," Aleera laughed. The two of them gave each other long looks. But finally Blue interrupted their eye lock.
"We have some work to do," Blue said.
"Quite right," Jefferson sighed. He ushered, Blue, Aleera, and Belle out of his house and to the backyard where all the hats were lined up on a long table. "Take your pick," he said.
"There's ten here," Aleera said. "I remember more."
"This is a good sample," he said. "They were all made by me, so they are no different from each other."
"I can't waste enough dust for all of these," Blue said. "Just pick one."
Blue chose the closest one and sprinkled dust on it, the hat glowed in bright blinding light and then the light dissipated. Jefferson picked up the hat and tossed it in a spinning fashion. It hit the ground and spun a bit, but then stopped and lay there with the open end up, but no vortex issuing from it.
"Maybe we need my magic too," Aleera said. "Let me spin it." Aleera took the hat and threw it as Jefferson had. Still nothing. "Did you keep track of the kind of mood you were in when you made the hats?" Aleera asked.
"What kind of mood would you mean?" Jefferson asked.
"A mood when you felt…love? One where you were you had Grace on your mind as motivation?"
"That would be every hat I made," Jefferson said.
"How was the original hat made?" Belle asked.
"Gold had it for a while before I came along," Jefferson said. "He used it once by himself to see if any of the doors led to this land, but they did not. But he made many enemies along the way when he traveled to all the lands. So he hired me, a young, adventurous, sly fox who tired of his hatter's job, to travel the lands to retrieve magical items that he could use to travel to the land without magic. I also contracted out. I became quite rich."
"But you don't know how it was made?" Aleera asked.
"No," Jefferson said. "Back then, I didn't care."
"You must know," Belle said to Blue.
"No, unfortunately," Blue admitted. "The Dark One was much a mystery to me despite the centuries we spent adversaries."
"So if one of your hats won't work, none of them will?" Aleera asked. Jefferson sighed heavily.
"If we had access to a true love potion like Gold had when he restored magic we could place some droplets inside….or if any water remained in the well after that portal last year ravaged it we could douse it with that. But we don't have any of that."
"Well that is unfortunate," Blue said. "We will have to find some other way." And then she headed out.
"Are you going to help with that?" Aleera asked.
"I and the rest of the fairies will be hard at work," she said. "But I think two teams working at it with different strengths will be beneficial. Assuming you don't go down dark paths to achieve it," she said condescendingly. And then she was gone.
"Freaking bitch," Aleera said.
"Aleera," Belle scolded.
"She only deigns to work with me if I'm useful. She bends over backwards for the Charmings, but the daughter of the Dark One? This isn't the first time she's been all like, 'Well, you're on your own, sucker! Bye!'"
"Don't say that," Belle told her.
"She used me to create the storybook," Aleera said. "But she has always insisted that I figure things out myself even though she goes out of her way to pop out of nowhere to be my fair weather cheerleader."
"She gave your little sister a home and safety didn't she?" Belle reminded her.
"Only after she got my parents killed, because she distracted me with her uselessness." Aleera huffed.
"You know that was mostly your father's fault for taking the protection spell off of them." Jefferson said. Belle stiffened at that. It was hard for her to hear the bad things Rumple had done. She believed there was good in him because she'd seen it. But that couldn't make up for the bad.
"And it's my fault for not staying with them longer that morning," Aleera said.
"You couldn't have known," Belle tried to assure her.
"With my foresight ability, I had no excuse," Aleera started to tear up. She was all riled up now.
"You can't see everything," Jefferson said. "Come here." And then he took her in a hug. He rested his cheek on the top of her head and then he looked over to Belle. "She doesn't talk about that day often. This is only the second time we've talked about it in 28 years." He then looked back down to Aleera and tilted her chin up with his hand. "Your parents wouldn't have blamed you," he said to her. And then he held her close again.
Belle watched them and marveled at how beautiful their friendship was. They seemed to be able to say so much to each other without physically saying much at all. She knew that they had leaned on each other throughout the curse. She'd seen Alastair be supportive of Aleera, but never had he ever calmed her like this or ever read between the lines of what she said. Belle noticed he seemed prone to try to distract her instead of really talk about it. Belle wondered if Alastair really knew the root of Aleera's guilt in the case of her adopted parents.
"There might be another hat that would work," Jefferson said out of nowhere. He let Aleera out of their embrace but held her face in his hands.
"What hat?" Aleera asked.
"One that the Savior made," he said. "She made it the night she was here, and when I came back to my house when she left I never saw the hat again. She must still have it. Maybe in her storage room at the station!" Aleera wasn't entirely convinced.
"She didn't have magic when she made it, how do you know it will be any different than yours?"
"Have faith, honey," he said. "I'll go get Blue, you two go to the station."
"He's right," Belle said. "We have to try." And she wrapped her arm around Aleera's shoulders and led her away.
The storage room was full of junk and extra furniture. She found extra chairs, broken computers, file boxes and confiscated items such as a grappling hook of all things. She wondered if Emma played with this thing out back when no one was around. She pushed some boxes around and found on a wheeled TV shelf: the hat.
"Unless Emma made more of these, this is it," Aleera said.
"Let me see it," Belle said. Aleera tried to throw it to her, but she under shot it and it fell to the floor. But when it did, it opened a portal. The girls braced themselves on the walls nearest them and watched in shock.
"It works!" Aleera exclaimed.
"Emma's magic made it and your magic activated it! It was her magic we were missing!" Belle shouted. Then the portal closed.
"Jefferson said it stayed open as long as it had to for someone to jump in," Aleera said as she and Belle came toward the hat.
"Add fairy dust to it maybe?" Belle asked.
"Perhaps," Aleera said. "Or, maybe we need to make a true love potion too."
"Do you know how?" Belle asked.
"Two strands of two true loves' hair," Aleera said. "Do you and Dad want to donate or should my husband and I?"
"Your true love is in town," Belle said. "His hair is easier to acquire." She then looked down at the floor. Her sadness that had been absent the last day was back. Aleera wanted to cheer her up. Something in her said that using her and Alastair's hair wouldn't be as special.
"I doubt Dad remembered to grab his comb," Aleera said. Belle looked back up and fought a smile. "Let's go get it," Aleera said. She picked up the hat and they left. First she locked the hat in her father's safe, and then they went to his house. She called Jefferson who had apparently had a hard time getting Blue to come back.
"Tell her we found a good, not dark, way to make Emma's hat work," Aleera said. "We just need pixie dust from her, and I'm making a true love potion." Jefferson paused before answering. And when he did, Aleera heard a surprising sadness in his voice.
"So, you'll be using your hair and your husband's?" he asked. His tone gave Aleera pause too.
"No…I am using Belle's hair with my Dad's. It just seems right."
"Afraid your combo wouldn't work?" Jefferson mumbled.
"What?" Aleera chirped. She was taken aback, but deep inside what he said resonated.
"Nothing, I'm sorry about that," Jefferson backtracked with an awkward chuckle.
"Jefferson?" Aleera asked. "Did you step back because you didn't need me either because you had Grace back?"
"I wanted to think that," Jefferson said. They had an awkward pause. And then Jefferson spoke.
"How soon can Grace and I go home?" he asked changing the subject.
"We have to wait till everyone gets back from Neverland," Aleera replied.
"And how long will that be?" he asked.
"It's impossible to say."
"Can't we go back a little earlier?" he asked.
"Can't you…." Aleera barely could say. "Wait for me? I mean, for everyone?"
"What if they never come back?" Jefferson asked.
"Have faith, honey," Aleera quoted him. And with some difficulty she hung up.
Spending time with Jefferson again brought back all these feelings that Aleera had denied for a long time. He had been her only real support during the curse when she had to keep her romance a secret and Alastair was his terrible counterpart. She wouldn't have gotten through it if it weren't for Jefferson. She knew she loved him, as a friend. But that kind of love…shouldn't be so unbearable.
"I've got the hair." Belle said coming down the stairs.
"That's great," Aleera said. She was trying to be cheerful to keep Belle that way. But that phone call had been tough.
"Are you okay?" Belle asked. She knew Aleera well enough to tell when she wore a façade.
"Yes," Aleera said. She held up a vial. Belle placed Rumple's hair inside, and then tore a hair from her head and added it too. They watched the vial for a moment, and then the hairs glowed and intertwined.
"It worked!" Belle gushed excitedly. She then saw Aleera smirking. "What?" she asked.
"It's hair sex," Aleera joked. Belle turned bright red and giggled.
The hairs combined would become a potion when left to sit for a few hours. Aleera locked it in the floor safe instead of the wall safe so everything wouldn't be in the same place if a robber broke in. No one could find the floor safe without opening the cupboard and lifting the chipped cup. No one but Ariel and Belle knew about that.
That night in her sleep, Aleera had one of her visions. It was very intense, detailed, and horrifying. Her physical reaction to the vision was seizure-like and awoke Alastair beside her. He quickly flipped the light switch by their bed and tried to hold her still and bring her back. He knew she wasn't one to seize, so it had to be a vision.
"ALEERA! ALEERA!" He called out to her.
When she calmed she was very still and unresponsive so he called an ambulance. He let Miranda go with them and called Belle to come pick her up to watch her for the night while he stayed with his wife. By the time Belle came Aleera had come back to consciousness and they were of all things, arguing.
"I have to get to Neverland, Alastair!" She exclaimed.
"Absolutely not!" Alastair argued. "It's too dangerous, bringing more people into this will only cause more casualties."
"I'm the one who knows how events will unfold, I have to get there to stop them from happening!" she told him.
"I'm not going to let my wife and the mother of my daughter risk her life!" he bellowed. "Miranda is not going to lose another mother." Belle turned to the couch by the door and saw Miranda bent over with her head on her knees with her hands suctioned over her ears so she didn't have to hear.
"Miranda, why don't you come with me," Belle said.
"Yes, go with her," Aleera said. "Randie I'm sorry you shouldn't have to hear this. Your father and I are just scared about what happened tonight, we don't mean to be shouting."
"You fight all the time now!" Miranda said. She shrugged out of Belle's arms and stormed over to her father and stepmother. "You don't love each other anymore, it's obvious." She turned to her father and said, "I saw this same thing with you and my real mom. Why don't you marry people you love!"
"I do love her, honey," Alastair tried to assure her. "I'm just worried about her risking her life."
"Didn't you hear her?" Miranda asked. "If she doesn't go to Neverland, people will die! How can you let that happen?" And with a look of disgust she stormed out.
"I don't know where that came from," Alastair said dumbfounded.
"Take her home," Aleera told him. "This is the wrong time of night to have this discussion. Get her to bed and talk to her in the morning."
"What about you?" Alastair asked.
"I'll stay the night as the doctor ordered," Aleera said. "You don't need to stay with me."
"I'll stay with her until she goes to sleep," Belle told Alastair. "Don't worry."
"Thank you," he said to Belle. He bent down to Aleera on the bed, kissed her on the forehead, and then left. Belle and Aleera sat in silence for a while before Aleera finally spoke up.
"What if she's right?" Aleera asked Belle.
"What if who's right?" Belle asked.
"Miranda," Aleera clarified. "What if Alastair and I don't love each other?"
"Well…." Belle didn't know what to say. "Aren't you true loves? That's what your father said."
"…I think we just assumed that," Aleera had trouble saying. "We've never proved it. We just thought that we were because we always came back to each other no matter what. But, when we made the true love potion today and you said we should use our hair, I worried it wouldn't work."
"You must feel something for him," Belle said. But she was ashamedly starting to agree.
"I do," Aleera said. "But I worry it's not enough."
"Perhaps you two should go back to therapy," Belle told her.
"Maybe," Aleera said. "But first…" Aleera magically removed the I.V. "I need to get to Neverland." She got out of bed and went to the pile of her clothes on the shelf. She picked up her phone and tossed it to Belle. "Text Jefferson that we are on our way. He gets to go home with Grace sooner than we planned."
She healed her hand, got dressed, and after Belle texted Jefferson, Aleera dematerialized with her and they went to the pawnshop to retrieve the hat and the true love potion, which had sat long enough to be ready. When they got to Jefferson's house he had a vial of fairy dust that he had been given from Blue.
"Why the change of plans?" he asked.
"I have to get to Neverland, my family needs me," she said.
"And your husband is cool with this?" he asked.
"He has no idea," she replied.
"Oh that's going to go over big," Jefferson chuckled.
"I don't want to talk about him," Aleera huffed. "Listen, if I let you and Grace go home before everyone else, you have to prepare our world's remaining residents for our arrival. After they are prepared you and Grace can go live your life free of all of us."
"Free of you?" Jefferson asked.
"I meant free of any obligation," Aleera said.
"Free of you?" he repeated.
"I don't know what to say, Jeff," Aleera said. "My marriage is falling apart and I may not be able to come back from Neverland. Ever since I saw you again, really saw you, all of what I've been denying has knocked me over and is pressing down on me."
"What has been pressing on you?" Jefferson asked.
"…Please tell me you know," Aleera said breathlessly. "I just can't say it."
Jefferson responded by pulling her towards him and kissing her. And with that kiss, Aleera discovered what had been missing from her for a while. She hadn't felt this light, this euphoric, this rapturous since her first kiss with Alastair when she now realized she hadn't felt since early in her relationship with her husband….which was not just before the curse, but before she was imprisoned in stone. And really, even that kissed hadn't felt quite this intense.
At that moment Grace and Belle came in and Jefferson and Aleera had to break apart. Belle felt awkward but really wasn't shocked by any of it. But Grace was positively bug eyed. She barely remembered her mother and hadn't seen her father with any other woman, much less her best friend's stepmom.
"Is it time to go?" Belle asked to break the silence.
"Yes," Aleera rasped. She cleared her throat and turned back to Jefferson to talk business. "I know the same number who go through the hat have to come back. But, can any number of people go through as long as the number who come back are the same that went in last?"
It took a moment for Jefferson to understand exactly what Aleera had said because he was he couldn't believe what he had just done. But then he got his senses back and shook himself out of it. He told her yes.
Aleera went to hug Belle and told her to tell Alastair what happened in the morning. She released the potion into the hat and covered it in fairy dust. She then tossed the hat and a roaring vortex opened up.
Jefferson took Grace's hand in his left and Aleera's hand in his right. Then they jumped in unison and descended into the hat while Belle watched in awe.
Yep...big turn of events. I put little safety devices throughout this story to make it possible for Aleera and Alastair not to be true loves just in case I ended up not liking him. Especially after making him a jerk throughout the curse, I realized that it would be hard to get everyone to like him again afterward. But it seemed some of my readers didn't like him even before the curse. So, I'm glad I had those little safeties throughout. I knew Jefferson would be a possibility for another romantic interest, but I wanted to give Alastair a fair chance and leave it possible for Aleera and Jefferson to just be friends if that was what I decided. But I still haven't confirmed if they are true loves. You will all just have to wait and see.
