Chapter 13:
"So, how was your date with August?" Emma asked Bella the next morning when they ate breakfast together.
"It was great, one of the best first dates I've ever had." Bella replied with a smile.
"You look happy." Emma noticed.
"I am. What about you and Graham? How are things moving?"
"Everything is great between us. I'm so happy with him… I've never been that happy with anyone since Neal. I… I might be falling in love with him." Emma replied.
"That's great Emma, I'm very happy for you. Maybe he'll be the one to help you break the curse." Bella replied, not telling Emma that she believed her friend to be already in love and not falling.
"Who knows." Emma smiled back.
.
Bella's morning passed quickly, she finished reading the book about Cold Ones, checked that she had written down all the parts she wanted to remember and went to give it back to Gold. Then, she spent a while talking with him before she finally joined August for lunch.
"So, what did you do this morning?" she asked him.
"I ran into my father, introduced myself as a newcomer in town. We talked quite a bit and I offered my help in his wood shop. I assured him that it would be free and he accepted. I'll go back this afternoon."
"That's great!" Bella exclaimed, unable to keep herself from holding his hand as she said so.
"Yes, I'm very happy about it. I was nervous at first but I did as you suggested and was simply myself. I can't wait until Emma breaks her curse so that he can remember me." August replied, a bright smile on his face.
"What can I get you two lovebirds today?" Granny came over and asked them before Bella could reply.
"I'll have a piece of your delicious lasagnas with some soda please." Bella decided.
"Right away. Lettuce on the side?" Granny asked her.
"Of course, usual dressing. You know me well, Granny." Bella nodded.
"What about you?" Granny asked August.
"I think I'll do the smart thing and follow Bella's move. I haven't tried your lasagnas yet but I'm sure it'll be as great as everything else is." He replied.
"A soda too?" She asked him.
"No, I think I'll take an Iced tea. Thanks."
"You're welcome. You two are my favorite customers, especially since you chose my dinner as a location for your second date. Today's meal is on me." The older woman decided with a smile before she turned around to get started on their orders.
"I like her, she's great." Bella commented.
"Especially since she's such a big fan of yours. This morning Marco told me that she's always talking about your books lately, trying to get people in town to read them." August revealed.
"Did he?" She asked him with a small smile, trying to imagine old Marco reading her book, which, let's face it, was no weirder than the Dark one doing the same thing.
"He ordered them and started on the first last night." August nodded with a small chuckle.
"Tell him I'll sign them if he wants." Bella smiled back, enjoying every moment she spent with August.
"I will. So, what are you planning to do this afternoon?" he asked her.
"I'm not sure, I guess I'll stop by the station to see if Emma needs anything and then I'll go find a quiet place to write." Bella replied.
"How is your next book coming along?" he asked her.
"Pretty well actually, this place just inspired me a whole new saga. I'll finish this book and finish the saga I started first though." She assured him.
"How will it end?" he asked her.
"Well, it always ends well." She smiled mysteriously, already knowing every detail of the ending she wanted.
"You're not even going to give me a spoiler?" He asked her.
"Even Emma won't have one." She replied.
"But we're dating." He insisted playfully.
"Even if we were married I wouldn't tell you anything." Bella assured him, making him smile.
"I guess I'll just have to wait as patiently as I can until you release it… but I'm going to need help keeping my mind off it." He replied playfully.
"I think I can do that." Bella smiled before she bent over the table to allow his lips to meet hers in what would be as their very first kiss, at Granny's, over two warm plates of her lasagnas and not noticing Ruby taking a picture of the two of them as they kissed.
.
"Hey Emma, how is it going? Do you need help with anything?" Bella asked as soon as she entered the station.
"What I need is for you to tell me if you really had your first kiss with August on top of Granny's lasagnas. Seriously, you couldn't wait until you were someplace else?" Emma asked her.
"Wow, word really travels fast around here. Who told you? Don't tell me that your mother's blue birds are here and came to you with the message because that is one thing that I won't believe." Bella asked her with a smile.
"No, not the birds, though I'm curious now, i'll have to ask Mary-Margaret about them later. Graham told me. Apparently Ruby took a picture of it and sent it to Cinderella, I mean Ashley, to settle a bet they made. I guess it got around from here. Do you want a copy of it?"
"Sure, why not." Bella sighted.
"And to answer your first question, I'm going to spend the afternoon researching for a way to keep Henry away from Regina, to protect him from her. Well, I will unless something happens that requires my attention." Emma replied and that's only then that Bella noticed all of the books on Emma's desk.
"Where's Graham?" Bella asked, wondering why he wasn't helping his girlfriend.
"Out on a call. I'm keeping the fort." Emma smiled.
"Do you need my help?" Bella offered.
"Thanks but I'll be fine. It's all temporary anyway, right? As soon as I break this curse, Regina will be in trouble with everyone and I'll be able to take Henry home with me."
"Where will that be?" Bella asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"Your mother's loft isn't that big… You're already three living in there. Plus Henry… You'll have to share a room with him, that means no intimacy. And what happens when you and Graham decide to move in together? Does he move in with you all because you want to enjoy time with your parents or do you and Henry move in with him?" Bella asked her.
"I haven't thought about any of this… I guess we'll have to see. Maybe move in a bigger place all together… You're right, I need to speak with Mary-Margaret and David about this before anything happens." Emma nodded.
"Okay well, I'll let you think on it while I go and work on the last book of this saga. Call if you need anything." Bella told Emma before she turned around and left.
.
Bella wasn't sure where she was going. She knew that she should be writing and she even wanted to but she could feel that it wouldn't happen today. She felt pulled elsewhere and let her legs carry her to one of the most secluded part of town.
"Hi!" A man vaguely familiar said, appearing in front of her through some bushes.
"Oh, Hi!" She replied, surprised and amused at the same time.
"Sorry, I didn't want to surprise you, I just wanted to be able to speak to you when you're alone. I'm Jefferson."
"Oh, I see." She recognized him now, he was the Mad Hatter and if her instincts were right, he wasn't affected by the curse.
"I know that you know. And I know. And now you know that I know. We both know. And we need to talk about what we know." He told her.
"I see. Very well. If I know, then you'd be the Mad Hatter, right?"
"Right." He nodded, obviously relieved that she believed him.
"So, why did you want to talk to me?" She asked him.
"Maybe we should move this somewhere else? My house? It's not too far." He offered.
"Sure, why not. I'll just warn Emma if you don't mind." Bella knew that Emma would want to be warned and she'd feel better following someone called "mad" if she knew that someone knew where she was.
"Of course, here, I'll even give you my exact address." Jefferson nodded.
Not completely trusting him yet, Bella turned her GPS on so that Emma would be able to locate her in case anything happened to her.
Once inside his large house, Jefferson explained his story to Bella, the part she already knew and the parts that weren't in the book. When he was done, Bella understood that he had plenty of reasons to hate Regina and to want to get revenge on her. She really was a terrible woman to separate a loving father from his daughter.
"So, why did you want to talk to me?" She asked him, a bit confused.
"Regina took my hat and there's no magic here for me to make one. Except you and Emma, you have natural magic and you should be able to make one for me."
"A magical hat? One that opens a portal to multiple, just as magical, places?" Bella asked him.
"Yes." He nodded.
"I'm not sure I can… I mean, I don't mind trying, I'm actually very curious about it but there's no magic yet around here…" Bella replied, a bit confused as to how it would work.
"I need it! I can't stay here, I need to take my daughter and escape this horrible place with her. Take her far away where she'd be able to get her memories back and where we'll be able to be happy together." Jefferson exclaimed, his desperation showing in his voice.
"Listen, why don't you wait for Emma to break the curse? She already believes and though I don't know how she'll do it, I can tell that she'll break it soon. Then your daughter will remember you and you'll be together."
"But she'll remember that I left her, that I didn't keep my promise."
"And she'll understand that it was Regina's fault, that you did what you thought would be best for her." Bella smiled.
"I don't know… I'd feel better with my hat, being able to leave this place." He insisted.
"Fine, I'll help you. If it doesn't work today, I'll come back tomorrow. But I don't think we'll be able to see it work until magic is brought here." Bella warned him.
"At least I'll have the option once the curse is broken."
"But how will we know it's done right if there's no magic to check it?" Bella asked him.
"I think you'll know. You're special, I can tell it. You're even more special than Emma is. I don't know how but you are." He told her.
"If you say so… Let's try then." She smiled.
While Jefferson showed her how to make a hat Bella asked him:
"So, do you have any idea as to who my parents could be?"
"How would I know?" he asked her, surprised.
"You've traveled a lot, you've seen a lot of different places and people. Maybe you know something. I mean, you knew who I was."
"I knew because I've been spying on you and Emma every since you two arrived in town. I hear a lot, I see a lot. I don't know anything more than what I heard you tell the Dark One." He confessed.
"Oh… okay." She was a bit disappointed but she accepted it.
She had to be patient. She'd find her father eventually. Maybe even her mother. After all, she had been taught early on that all things came to those who waited, and she could be very patient.
It took Bella a lot of work but eventually, the next day, near the end of the afternoon, she had managed to make a complete hat. She had concentrated on believing in magic and on love the entire time she worked on it. August had come to spend the afternoon with her and Jefferson and his presence helped her concentrate on love and magic.
"It looks about right." Jefferson nodded.
"I think it should work, I mean, I believe it will and my gut feeling tells me that it will work but I doubt it'll work now and here." Bella replied, handing the hat to its new owner.
"I think you're right, I guess we'll just have to see once the curse is broken."
"Breaking the curse won't bring back magic." August argued.
"But Gold will bring it back at some point since he needs it to find his son." Bella added.
"What if the hat doesn't work even then?" Jefferson asked Bella.
"Then I guess you'll tell me and I'll just have to come back and try again. Don't worry Jefferson, we'll find a way. First, we'll reunite you with your daughter, then we'll concentrate on making this portal hat work." Bella told him, doing her best to convince him that she was right.
"You may be right… I guess all there is for me to do is wait now." He admitted.
"Don't worry, the wait won't be long now, I can feel it." Bella smiled.
August and her were going to get some dinner together and so she offered for Jefferson to come with them but he refused, assuring her that he'd be better off as far away from Regina as he could while staying in town. In the end, they ended up sharing dinner with Emma and Graham.
"So, have you found anything to keep Regina away from Henry?" Bella asked her best friend.
"Nothing legal, not while the curse is still unbroken. I hate this, especially since I know that he's not happy with her but there's nothing I can do… I just hope he understands." Emma replied, shaking her head.
"Of course he understands. Henry is one very smart boy." August replied.
"That's what I told her but I guess a mother will always worry." Graham added.
"What worries me is that Regina might catch on to what I was looking into and try to keep Henry away from me. That's something she has a right to do for now." Emma replied, her tone showing her anxiety.
"It won't last and whatever she does or say won't last long. Henry knows what's true and what's not. He knows who to trust." August told her.
"Yes, and he doesn't trust her, if he did, he would have never looked for you and insisted that you stayed. Henry's on your side Emma, he won't leave you." Bella added, knowing what was worrying her best friend.
"What worries me is that Regina could use him to hurt me." Emma whispered when someone she didn't know walked past the table.
You could never know who was working for Regina in this town.
"If she does, we'll be there to protect him. You're not alone Emma, we're all here with you, along with David and Mary-Margaret." Graham promised.
"Speaking about them, shouldn't they be here? I thought they were joining us tonight." Bella asked.
"They decided to spend the evening alone." Emma replied with a blush.
They all knew what "alone" meant and Emma, being their daughter, didn't want to think about it. They were all chuckling at Emma's embarrassment when the door of the dinner suddenly burst open and went to hit violently the wall behind it. Everyone in the place turned their head to see Henry in the doorway.
He had paused long enough to spot Emma and, once he had, he ran to her, looking panicked.
"Mom, Emma!" he called out, making her worry.
"Henry, what's wrong?" She asked him while August and Graham stood up, ready to act if anyone was trying to hurt him.
"It's Regina, she wants to lock me up until you leave town. I think she's planning on poisoning you, I saw her." Henry explained, speaking quickly.
Everyone in the dinner had heard him and looked shocked, worried or doubtful. However, before Emma could do or say anything, a shadow appeared in the doorway.
The good old cliffhanger... Who is the shadow? (come on, it's obvious, isn't it?)
Keep on reviewing.
Tell you what, if, in your review, you give me the name of whoever is in that shadow before I publish the next chapter (where that person will step into the light), I will answer ONE of your questions about this story, just name it in the review and if your answer was right I'll answer.
Lorelei Candice Black