The medallion was lighter than he thought it would be. Whenever he'd seen it in pictures, thick gold attached to a simple chain, he'd always assumed it would be heavy. Considering what it did, what it summoned, it should have been heavy. The fact that it was so light in his hand seemed too ironic to fathom.

The only alternative he could come up with was that it was a fake, but he could feel that it wasn't. The symbol on the front of it, the very one that could all too easily be burned into its victim's flesh, was identical to the one he'd read about in books. Besides, the magic he felt rolling off of it couldn't lie. This was exactly what he'd been looking for. It was quite possibly the most dangerous thing in his workshop at the moment…besides himself, of course.

As he set it in the box that he had for it he cast his gaze quickly up to Jefferson on the other side of the table.

"You didn't touch it," he presumed.

"Never with my bare skin," he answered as he watched him put it away. "I've been working with you long enough that when you say not to do something, I trust it."

"Excellent. And it was right where you thought it would be?"

"Not exactly," he sighed, taking a seat on one of his stools and removing his hat. "It had been moved. It was still in London just…"

"Just?" he pressed as Jefferson raised his hand to rub the back of his neck as if he was tired. His associate was aging it seemed, growing tired, settling down. He'd married a few years ago and though he still thought it an awful binding kind of deal, he could see in some ways how she'd helped him to find some stability. No longer was he the boy with a smart mouth that once flit about from place to place. He was so stable now sometimes it hurt to watch him.

"It wasn't in the museum, it was in a mansion, guarded by a woman…who could control her guard dogs with her breath."

The ability to control animals by breathing on them…in a realm that wasn't supposed to know about magic.

"That's interesting," he muttered, turning away to safely secure the box.

"Yeah, that realm has magic, I mean…obviously it has magic! I can get there! But I've never met someone before who was aware of it and could use it. Not that it caused a problem, I've dealt with worse than guard dogs and halitosis before, it just caught me unaware. Suppose I should have figured. The woman calls herself Cruella DeVil."

"Interesting choice of names," he nodded as he pulled out a satchel already filled with gold coins and magically added seven more to it before offering it to Jefferson.

"For your troubles…"

"Thanks," he muttered, taking it and storing it in his pocket. He was halfway back to his spinning wheel when he realized that though he was paid, he wasn't moving. Five years ago, that wouldn't have been an odd thing for Jefferson to stay around and bother him, these days, however, he never seemed to be able to get out and back to his wife fast enough. The days of Jefferson making himself comfortable in his castle were finally over. The castle was quiet these days. Sometimes too quiet. But he'd never admit that out loud.

"Shouldn't you be heading home to your wife?" he questioned as he took his seat at the wheel.

"Yeah, I want to talk to you first."

"Well, I hope it's to ask for more work because if you're searching for marital advice, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong Dark One."

"No, I wouldn't bother with that," he chuckled. "And actually it's sort of the opposite. I've…we-Pricilla and I-we've decided to retire."

The room was so quiet for a heartbeat it felt as though the air had been suddenly sucked out of the windows. He felt numb and unsure about the words he'd just heard. He didn't believe it. Certainly he'd heard wrong…

He turned back to Jefferson. "Retire?"

"Oh! It's what this other realm I've been to calls it when you stop doing the work you've been doing."

So, he had heard correctly. He just still couldn't believe it. The very idea went against everything he'd ever believed Jefferson to be! But Jefferson and Pricilla together…they'd made this decision? To put so much magical talent aside?! And for what? A job at a tannery? Wood carving? Hat making?

"Yes, it's what we call it when we decide to close our eyes each night and surrender logical thought and reason to illogical and emotional dreams!"

Jefferson shrugged. "That too."

This was…an odd reaction he was having. He didn't care about Jefferson. Not at all, they were business partners, they had been since he'd met him and employed him! The boy had been nothing but a bother all this time, constantly running his mouth, disappearing and reappearing at will, making himself at home when he wasn't welcome! He shouldn't care about news like this. And he couldn't figure out why he felt like his heart was in a vise at the news.

"So, you're 'retiring'," he muttered, turning his back on him and beginning to turn the wheel. His fingers felt cold. He didn't like it.

"To be with Priscilla, yes," he confirmed. To be with Priscilla…he'd had concerns when he had first met the girl and began to see her regularly. He'd tried to warn him when they started sleeping together and again when he announced they were going to marry about the dangers of women and what they could do to men. He'd pictured a lot of outcomes for Jefferson when that girl came into the picture. This was never one of them.

"Why so shocked, old friend?!" Jefferson asked. "I figured you of all people would have seen this coming."

And yet he hadn't.

"We're not friends," he responded quietly.

"What do you call what we've been doing all these years?"

"It's a business arrangement," he insisted. "Nothing more."

"You seem awfully depressed for a simple business arrangement."

"Well, it's been a very profitable arrangement," he shot back quickly. That must have been it. That was why he was feeling what he was feeling. When he looked back on all the things Jefferson had done for him, all the things that he'd retrieved over the years, the way he'd reached into places that were unreachable to get valuable items and information…losing that was going to be a significant loss. Thank goodness he'd had the foresight to be sure the old boy owed him favors. Yes, that was right. Jefferson owed him! They had more than one outstanding deal for a favor. Perhaps this wasn't the last he'd see of him! Suddenly he was feeling better already.

"I didn't expect this reaction from you," Jefferson muttered across the room. "I thought you'd be happy for me?"

He snorted as he rose from his wheel to make himself busy with the vials of potion lying around. "Happy? Happy you are throwing your life away? For a girl? Well, now you don't know me at all!"

"Not just any girl, for her!" he insisted, rising to his feet and standing on the other side of the table. "We're in love, try to understand that."

"Love," he growled. "You lack the decades, the centuries of 'love' I've seen. Love is a plague, a curse."

"A curse?" Jefferson chuckled. "You really believe that?"

"And more. Love is a powerful curse, indeed. I've seen love turn the smart into stupid. It's turned the noblest of men into cowards, the richest into paupers, the strongest into weaklings, the adventurous into the ordinary, and now I've seen it turn the wise into a fool."

"I didn't know you considered me wise," he answered in his joking tone. He only looked up at him from under his eyelashes, unsmiling. There was nothing funny about this situation.

"Well, haven't you been listening…not anymore! Not so long as you pursue this girl."

"My wife?"

"Whatever," he shrugged, turning back to fiddle with the vials of liquid before him, even if there was no point to it. Funny how any other time he could think of half a million things he had to do and yet in this moment he couldn't come up with a single thing.

"It's not only that," Jefferson added with a sudden tone to his voice he'd never heard him use before. Nervousness. He was nervous! Jefferson hadn't even been nervous the first time they'd met, and everyone was nervous when they first met him. What was going on? He hated being the last to know. "We got married, and now it's more than just her and even us! Pricilla she's…we're…"

His stomach flipped over as he looked back up and recognized the look in his eyes and combined with his stuttering and nerves, the gaze cast to the ground and hands shoved into pockets…

"Pregnant," he finished for him.

Jefferson sighed, picked his head up, and nodded as a twinge of a smile flicked over his face. "I'm going to be a father." Suddenly he was distant, farther away than perhaps he'd ever been while standing in the same room, nervous and hopeful, and terribly scared. Yes, parenthood could do that to a person. Not that Jefferson was aware he knew that. Not that he needed to know now…

"Congratulations," he muttered before picking up a few of his vials and moving to return them to the cabinet just because he could.

"Well, that was believable…" Jefferson added. "Look, this isn't something I planned on. Priscilla is like me. I never expected to find anyone like me let alone someone like her. I'm not thrilled to be hanging up the hat, but she's right. We need to be careful and be here, not just for each other, but for our son now as well."

"They say a fool is made every day…"

"What?!"

He bit his tongue.

He didn't care. Jefferson's decision didn't bother him one bit. Their association over the years had been profitable, that was all. If he wanted to trade in such a great gift as magic for his family instead of risking all as he had years ago, that was his choice, and it didn't bother him one bit.

The only bit that did bother him, or rather the Seer, was an incorrect assumption he'd made.

"Daughter," he stated, turning back to him. "It'll be a girl, not a boy…congratulations."

He said the words, even managed to put a bit of feeling into them when he saw Jefferson's face light up, there might have even been a tear in his eye. But he didn't stop to watch his expression, just went back to his wheel, his ever faithful, always present companion, and began to spin again. Jefferson could show himself out.

"Listen…I'm gonna go, but…I cleaned my grandfather's cabin out, finally! There were a few of his knick knacks for getting place to place that he left behind. Pricilla doesn't want them in the house with a baby, so…for you! You can owe me a favor for them. I put instructions and notes on each one telling you where it takes you and how to work it, so you can look over them later."

And he would look at them…later. Though his fingers itched to get up and see what wonderful delights had just come into his possession, he wouldn't, not while Jefferson was still here.

"I'll send you word when the baby is born. If you need me, you'll know where to find me…"

His words were pushy and expectant. He was waiting for him to respond to say good-bye, anything! But he couldn't bring himself to. He just pushed on the wheel and twirled his wrist changing ordinary wool into ordinary thread. He let his mind calm and go blank, he let his emotions slip away and pictured Bae in his mind once more until Jefferson gave up, and finally left.

Love. It was hard for him to believe that two people could ever want to be truly together for an eternity. He'd seen couples out and about, watched the women hang on the men and the men dote upon the women with sloppy seasick smiles. He'd been one of those stupid wretches once. From where he stood now, there was nothing less appealing than love. And the rich who spent after day in bed engaging in dalliances as their servants did their work for them as if there was nothing better to do than raise the heart rate and exchange bodily fluids…it was ridiculous. A dreadful waste of time that he'd never expected Jefferson, in all his youthful energy, to fall prey to. Perhaps that was the reason he almost enjoyed helping Regina so much, always pushing her toward her goal. She didn't seem to understand love either. It wasn't a surprise, not since it was denied to her for so long by the woman who had denied him the same joy Jefferson now knew.


Welcome to the Frozen Section! Now, if you were not a fan of the Frozen arc, take a deep breath. I promise I didn't call it "The Frozen Section" because it is all Frozen all the time. Truth be told, the only other thing I could think to call this section was both redundant and a bit too spoilery. So I dubbed it "the Frozen Section" because I couldn't come up with anything better. But rest assured, it's not going to be Frozen all the time. And, better yet, just trust me on this one...I'm not crazy about the Frozen arc, but I really loved how this section came together! There are a lot of really good things in this section, a lot of great long term characters are going to come into play, and it all leads up to something very special and very important! So please, don't let the fact that it's called "The Frozen Section" scare you away.

Thank you Alarda, Grace5231973, and Jennifer Baratta for your reviews of the last chapter. We got through the Regina Section, now we'll get through the Frozen Section. Of course, I'm making all these promises about how wonderful a section it is and what do I start this chapter with? Disappointment. I can hear the groaning from all my Jefferson fans now. Why write an awesome relationship and then destroy it?! Well...because I had to. We don't know much about Rumple's relationship with Jefferson in OUAT. As I've stated before this isn't something that we can blame A&E entirely for. Sebastian Stan's career took off and it was clear that there was no bringing it back down. But in Storybrooke I can't just have Rumple think "Oh Jefferson's gone off to be Bucky Barnes...bye!" I needed a legit reason why Jefferson, who obviously had some kind of relationship with Rumple in the past and desperately wanted to get his daughter back, never once approached him about it. I needed a reason why he never went back to him to ask for help. The way I saw it, that kind of refusal comes from someone who is very hurt and you don't get "very hurt" from just "we were business partners". So I built up a relationship, solely for the purpose of making it crash so bad Jefferson would never want to see Rumple again and explain his absence from his life later. Now, we're not there yet. This is not Jefferson's last chapter, but in this chapter you can hopefully sort of see where it's going. Rumple does obviously care for Jefferson and Jefferson knows it. He's hurt here. But I think he's hurt in a way that he leaves thinking "he's gonna get over it. By the time the baby is born he'll come around and things will go back to normal." Jefferson is not expecting this to be "the end". So imagine how disappointing it's gonna be when he looks back and realizes it sort of was. Peace and Happy Reading!