A/N: Ah, so I last left you guys off puzzled and wondering what the last chapter was all about. Well, here I am to help clear things up for you. To all my fans and those who leave me such lovely comments, yes that includes you Androsama, Eyes like Dawn, megumisakura, and Raspberry Thicket to name a few, thank you for your kind words. They mean the world to me, and you mean the world to me. Without further ado, the update! Enjoy! Love, Joanne.

36. You Again?

I looked into the eyes of that oddly familiar man, those brown eyes that once held sadness now sparkled with something new. He stood there, dressed in mint green scrubs, looking at me. "Belle, you're free now."

I slowly turned to look at him, and as soon as our eyes locked on one another, I knew who it was. Jefferson.

I screamed, and moved as far away as I could from him, remembering the time he had kidnapped me and forced me to make his hat magical again. "Dead?" I cried, panting and pointing directly at him.

"Could say the same for you," he said smoothly, not moving from where he stood. "It was a set-up. All Regina's plan. She had me convinced you were my long lost love Alice, and that was why I kidnapped you. Mr. Gold and I made a deal for him to send me back to our world, and instead, I was transported right to Regina's mansion. Her magic stopped me from going back…"

I shivered, and slowly stood up. "It's time we let the others know what is really going on, Belle. You need to go to Mr. Gold. Tell him Regina locked you up, and tortured you. Gold needs to know the truth. Don't worry about the nurse, I've taken care of her."

I wrapped my arms around me, and shakily walked out of my cell. "Take the door marked EXIT, and that will lead you to the main road. If you hurry, you can catch him at the shop!"

"Th-thank you," I managed to stammer out before I took off like a bullet out of the hospital. I burst out of the door, down the main road, and headed straight for the pawn shop. Although the main street was not filled with its usual hustle and bustle of pedestrians, the fair few that glimpsed me running past stopped and stared, probably wondering who I was.

I kept running despite the few stares, and reached the shop in the nick of time. I opened the door, and the bell jingled as I entered the shop. I looked around, and saw that the store was empty of both customers and the owner that I was here to seek.

I heard the familiar tapping of Mr. Gold's cane as he came out from his office. "May I help you?"

I stared at him, unable to process words to even begin to explain things to him. "Are you alright?" he asked, a concerned look overcoming his face. I stood there, forcing myself to respond to him, but it was a struggle since the only articulation I had made back in my cell were screams.

"I-I," I stammered. "I was told t-to f-find you."

"Dearie, you look positively ill," said Mr. Gold as he took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. "You're shivering."

"Sh-sh-" I began, trying to force the words out of my mouth. "She did this to m-me… She did this to me!" I sobbed and wrapped Mr. Gold's jacket tightly around me.

"She did this to you?" he asked puzzled. "Calm down, dearie. Here, sit down, and I will make you a nice pot of tea…"

I nodded, and watched as he disappeared into his office. I waited there for several seconds, trying to calm myself down, but it was no use. I heard the door jingle, and I screamed and ran to Mr. Gold's office, and closed the door behind me before I could see who had entered the shop. "Please!" I cried. "Please protect me from her! She'll find me again! She'll hurt me! PLEASE DON'T LET HER HURT ME!"

Mr. Gold wrapped his arms around me, and I sobbed into his shoulder. "It's alright," he said soothingly. "I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise."

"I can't… I can't…" I choked. "I can't go back there again… No more needles! No more drugs! No more! NO MORE!"

"Sh, it's okay," Mr. Gold said softly, holding me still. He stroked my hair, wild, uncombed, and tangled. "Can you tell me your name, dearie?"

"B-B-Belle," I stammered, and I felt his grasp on me tighten.

"It can't be," he said quietly as he pulled me slowly away to get a better look at me. "You're dead…"

"She took me," I said, looking into his green eyes. "She threw me in a cell… she drugged me and tortured me!"

"Regina," he growled angrily, coming to the inevitable conclusion. Despite his anger, he kissed my forehead gently, almost willing his kiss to alleviate my pain. "Oh my Belle, my poor, sweet, innocent, beauty… I will protect you. You don't have to be afraid of Regina ever again."

He pulled me into a sweet and gentle kiss, given the fragile state I was in both physically and mentally. His kisses mended my broken spirit, something I had thought would never be whole again. "I love you," I whispered in between kisses. "I never stopped. I kept praying you'd rescue me from that dank cell she put me in, but someone set me free, and told me to go to you. And here I am."

"Do you remember who set you free?" Mr. Gold asked as he kissed my neck tenderly. "I would like to send them a thank you card."

I chuckled at his quip, the first time in a long time. "Jefferson."

Aurelius Gold froze suddenly, and then brushed it aside. "Let's get you washed up and something in your stomach. Afterwards, there is something I need to do, and I will need you to come with me."

I nodded as he put his arm around me, and walked to the front door of his shop and changed the sign from opened to closed.

. . .

Jefferson had had enough. He was tired of being Regina's lapdog. He had been tired of getting screwed by her.

He remembered oh so well how the former Queen, now Mayor, had trapped him in Wonderland after she had been on a mission to bring back her father from the Queen of Hearts. Regina had tricked him, knowing that only two may enter and exit the realm. And Jefferson was not the first or second choice; she and her father was.

And now, after being separated from Grace for the second time, unable to reunite with his one true love, Alice, and being sent through a faulty portal (not surprisingly Regina's doing), Jefferson was at the end of his rope, and he wanted Regina's blood.

Once he had been deposited into the Mayor's mansion, Jefferson took in his surroundings before finally settling his hateful gaze on the woman in the black pantsuit who looked like the devil herself. "WHY DID IT NOT WORK?" he shouted at her, watching as Regina's red lips expanded into a pearly, conniving grin. "SEND ME BACK HOME!"

"Afraid not," she sneered. "Curse just doesn't work that way. But, I think we can come to an arrangement you'd agree to…"

"I'm done with you!" he shouted, the veins on his neck beginning to bulge. "YOU FUCKED ME OVER ONCE, I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DO IT AGAIN!"

"What if I said I could get you Paige?" she said before Jefferson could turn around to leave. He froze.

"Grace," he bristled.

"Whatever," Regina said, rolling her eyes. "What if I could get Paige back?"

"It's Grace! You changed her name, you monster!" he screamed, knocking over her papers on her desk. "And why should I trust you? You've never followed through on a deal yet?"

"Because," she said. "You're the only one who can get it to work."

She pulled out a large, familiar tan box, and opened it. "My hat?" asked Jefferson, questioning as Regina motioned for him to follow her.

"Yes, the very one," she grinned evilly. "Now, the hat needs magic… And I have a few trinkets that might get it to work…"

"Even if you do get it to work," Jefferson said bitterly. "You can't go through it."

Regina disregarded Jefferson's warning, and dropped her little trinkets into the hat. "Give it a spin. You know you are the only one who can open the portal."

Jefferson didn't move. "I can tell it's not enough. You need something that vibrates with magic. Something that still pulses with energy…"

Regina took out her ring, the only remnant of Daniel that she had left. His image shone in the center, pulsing and vibrating with magical energy. "I-I can't," she said quietly.

"What is it you most desire?" Jefferson asked.

"For Emma to be out of my hair… permanently!"

"And how do you think you are going to manage that?" asked Jefferson cruelly.

"With the poisoned apple I gave Snow White," Regina spat harshly.

"If you want that apple, you need to give the hat the ring," said Jefferson.

Regina finally placed the ring into the hat, and Jefferson gave it a spin. It whirled about the room, kicking up purple and black clouds of smoke. "Concentrate, and you shall get your apple."

Regina delved into the hat, and within a few minutes, she held the apple victoriously in her hand. She chuckled as she examined the bitten apple. "I couldn't eliminate the mother, but I sure as hell will eliminate the daughter with this!"

But things had not gone according to plan. Instead of Emma consuming Regina's deadly apple turnover, poor, innocent Henry had consumed it to show Emma the truth about his adopted mother, and he had wound up in Storybrook Hospital in ICU, the staff struggling to stabilize his conditions.

When Jefferson had asked Regina for his part of the bargain, she had told him all bets were off. She had not gotten what she wanted, so, being that the deal had not been completed, he was not getting his beloved Grace back.

In his rage, Jefferson grabbed Madam Mayor by the throat, squeezing just enough to make her struggle. "You don't have it in you to kill me," she gasped. "You want to, but you don't have the courage to do it!"

He let go, and Regina coughed and collected herself. "I've got to go to the hospital. My son is dying…"

She had left Jefferson in her mansion in her haste, and just as he was about to leave, Jefferson spotted a large manila envelope on Regina's desk marked BLACKMAIL- .

Curious, Jefferson opened it, and pulled out a chipped teacup, along with files from a mental ward. These were records of one Belle French, he mused, instantly recognizing the picture from when he first encountered her. "But you are supposed to be dead," Jefferson said, puzzling over this bit of new information.

Then he got an idea; the ultimate revenge against Regina. He took the cup from the envelope, the cup that Maurice French had been sent by Regina to take from Mr. Gold, and placed Belle's records back into the envelope.

Jefferson left Regina's mansion, but not before slipping a few thousand dollars into his pocket, and took off towards the police station. He put the cup safely in his pocket, and entered the dark and empty building. Jefferson noticed as he walked up to Emma Swan's desk that Mr. Gold was quietly sleeping in the jail cell. "I might not be able to kill you Regina," whispered Jefferson as he set down the bail money and the cup on Emma's desk. "But I know ol' Rumplestilzkin will."

Jefferson headed straight for the hospital immediately afterwards, and snuck into the scrubs room. He quickly changed into mint green scrubs, and took off towards the basement where the files had said Belle was located. The nurse at the front desk had tried to stop him, and he paused, flirting with her with his intense brown eyes. He stroked her cheek seductively, his fingers trailing down her pale neck, pressing against the pressure point and knocking her out cold.

Jefferson smirked, knowing that his handsome looks came in handy at times like these, and stole the ring of keys from the nurse's pocket. He walked down the hallway, passing by an eerie looking janitor, and finally stopping in front of a cell that bore the name B. French on the door. He fumbled for the right key, and opened the door, and after Belle had left, he smirked. "Wait until Gold finds out about your little ruse," Jefferson chuckled to himself. "I won't need to kill you after he gets the full details from his beloved Belle! You are going down Regina, and I hope I can be there to see you fall."