A fearsome storm had came in off of the Atlantic and was throwing rain all over Storybrooke that night. The wind was so violent that Ellyn moved her fish Gigi's bowl from away from the window in case it blew in. She lay curled up in her bed, imagining she was out on a ship in some savage sea storm and went to sleep. She fell into slumber, and from there into dreams.

In her dream she saw herself in the dress of a princess, her ex boyfriend was in peasant's attire and they stood on the edge of the wharf in Storybrooke but then it changed and it was a forest that felt keenly familiar. She saw her mother and father, people whose faces she hadn't been able to recall in her waking hours. She knew she had had a father, but that he had died when she was younger, photographs were all she had and they never felt right, felt like him, in her mind's eye he looked completely different. Her mother was always a haze, something like herself but more maternal and older looking. But here, in the familiar forest there they stood, welcoming her home. She woke up to the sound of her alarm, it had been going off for twenty minutes without waking her. She flew out of bed, fixing her hair in a messy bun and throwing on a skirt and blouse, all the while feeling that somehow her dream had been real and that the job she was rushing to was an illusion.

Jefferson stood by his window and didn't see Ellyn walk past at her normal time. He was forced to watch his daughter eat breakfast with a family that wasn't her own when he saw a bouncing streak of strawberry blonde curls go streaming out behind Ellyn's head as she ran the few blocks to work. He looked at the clock, it was 8:20. She had never been late before. He saw her trying to put her earrings on as she bolted down the street, the yellow dangle dropping to the ground in her haste and without her notice. She thought it had went into her ear. Onwards she rushed, heedless of the treasure left behind.

"You're late" came the gravelly voice of Mr Horn.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry, I was sleeping like a rock, I missed my alarm" she explained breathlessly.

"I don't want your excuses" he bellowed "this is unacceptable!"

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again" she said exasperated.

"It better not! I can't afford employees who don't take their job serious enough to arrive in a timely fashion!"

"This is the first time I have EVER been late" she stressed.

"I don't believe that!" he scoffed and stormed back to his office slamming the door. Ellyn hung her head. Just what she needed, her boss upset at her in addition to strange dreams that made her question her reality. She took a breath and looked in the mirror, straightening out her hair that had fallen from the bun in her run to work. She stopped, she only had one earring on. Panic flooded her eyes, but she knew she couldn't ask to go looking for it right after having been chewed out for being late. She didn't want to risk losing her job. She sighed putting her face in her hands. She felt someone move the hair back from her left ear and the cold metal of a dangle earring go in. She looked up, surprised to see Jefferson of all people. He gave her an awkward and sympathetic smile. She looked in the mirror and saw the other one of the set dangling there on her ear.

"Thank you so much!" she said expressively pressing his hand earnestly. "I can't tell you what it means to me. I thought it might be missing by the time I got off"

"It's fine" he said quietly "they're very unique, I thought you might be worried about it when I found it on the sidewalk outside my house" he added.

"They were my mothers" she answered automatically, but after her dream last night making her question the life she led she wasn't so sure "I think" she tacked on.

"Well wherever they came from I can see why they're so dear to you, they become you very well" he said moving to the door.

"Jefferson" she said "is there anything I can do to repay you?" He shook his head. "I won't forget this" she emphasized "if you ever need anything, I owe you a favor now and I take my debts seriously, just let me know" her earnest blue eyes expressed her sincerity in the matter and he gave her a slightly warmer smile than his usual.

"I'll remember that" he said smiling as he moved to the exit.

Weeks passed and now her smiles at him up in his lofty window were accompanied by a wave. It was almost like having a friend. Something he hadn't had since coming to Storybrooke. A black weekend was coming to a close, Regina had betrayed him yet again, but he had gotten some of his own back, sending Belle with news of who had locked her up to Mr. Gold. He walked back feeling somewhat satisfied though not happy, his happiness rested with getting his Grace back, and that felt further away than ever. He walked down by the docks and saw Ellyn standing on the deck of one of the little schooners, walking around, she looked pensive.

"Hello" she said as soon as she saw him. He looked up and managed something akin to a smile for her. She ran barefoot across the deck of the ship and back onto the dock.

"Hello" he said his smile widening a little. "How are you?" he said trying for small talk.

"Perplexed" she said.

"About?" he asked falling in alongside her as she ambled down the dock.

"Ever feel like something big is coming and it's just around the corner but you don't know whether it's good or bad?" she asked "wow, that sounded a little crazy, but have you?"

He nodded with a smile "yes I have" he answered "what do you think is coming?"

"I don't know" and she looked away from the sea and to the town. A wave of radiant energy rushed onto her and Jefferson, it's source, the hospital in the heart of town.

"Oh" she said feeling a little dizzy, Jefferson caught her as her knees buckled, bolstering her up against his side.

"You okay?" he asked. He had felt the wave, and he knew what it meant. The spell was broken, maybe soon he could go home with Grace.

"Yeah" she said righting herself and standing up. "I remember!" she exclaimed. "I remember it all now, where I'm from, my mother and father, Taran, all of it!" she said awestruck.

"What's your name?" he asked. It had puzzled him for long enough he felt it was about time he knew who she really was.

"Eilonwy" she said "I'm a princess. Eilonwy princess of Llyr" she was still reeling from the curse being lifted.

"Uh-oh" Jefferson said as purple swirling dense fog came down the hillside towards them.

"What is that?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good" he said. "Take my hand" he said with so much authority that she couldn't help but comply. He jumped into the cold water with her, swimming under the dock to seek shelter from whatever the mysterious mist was.

"Brrr" she said shivering in the chill Atlantic waters as she spat out some water, she had not been prepared for a swim that day.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded, her teeth soon setting to chattering. She could feel the purple mist coming closer, somehow. She wasn't sure what connection she had to it but it came, and it filtered through the cracks between the planks of the dock above her head, it had dribbled down onto her before Jefferson could grab her to move her. Though when he went to do so he refrained, her earrings were luminescent in the dark under the dock. Their colours varying with all hues in the spectrum and dancing off the bottom of the boards above their heads.

"Magic" she said.

"Magic!" he exclaimed "magic is back" he said and smiled wide. Perhaps finally they could all go home. They swam to one of the anchored boats and climbed up the side and onto the deck. He saw her convulsing with intense shivers. "Here" he said taking off his coat and putting it on her. It was still dripping wet. "I guess that wasn't too much help" he admitted.

"It's the thought that counts" she said.

"Maybe there's some dry clothes below" he said going into the small cabin on the ship. There was a small closet behind a bed, with three days clothes for a man of his size and stature. He came out. "There are clothes, not quite your size, but at least they're dry"

She went into the cabin and changed and then he did so, when he came out she clearly saw the scar that ran the diameter of his neck and gasped. He crimsoned a little and looked away.

"I'm sorry" she said coming up beside him, still shivering a little as her body tried to regain a healthy temperature. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it" he said flatly, looking away.

"I'm sorry" she looked at his face, it seemed he was having a war against all of the emotions he kept inside. She put her arms around him "two are warmer than one" she said though it was not for that reason she was hugging him. He looked so lonely and heartbroken and this was the only way she knew to reach out after his rejecting conversation.

He put his arm around her shoulders. The penniless hatter who scraped by was being comforted by a princess he mused, but what occupied his thoughts was the fact that even with the curse lifted, could he bring himself to go back to Grace. He had left her. She probably hated him, wanted nothing to do with him and all he wanted was her back in his arms. He needed her to call him papa just once more. He'd give his soul for it.

After they both stopped shivering Jefferson helped her back onto the wharfside.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Who did Regina take from you?"

She paused "No one, what she robbed me of was my dearest posession, my freedom. But this isn't the first time someone's done that, and I know how to survive. Though I wonder now, even if we can't get back to our real homes, if we can leave the town. Maybe I can go to sea after all" she said looking out at the bay.

"I wouldn't try it until someone else does" he advised.

"What about you? What did she take from you?"

"Grace" he said and walked away leaving Eilonwy confused as to whether Grace was a person or whether he meant the act of forgiving someone. She hoped, whether in this world or in the one they belonged, that she could find him again, and talk to him. The man was a walking mystery. And her curiousity was picqued. She wanted to know where the scar had come from, what Grace was, and if she could help him in any way. She let the voice of her bauble earrings guid her as she walked back into town. Freedom had been take from her. But she felt maybe her parents were still somewhere around the town and she was determined to find them. Now that she remembered what they looked like and their personality she felt maybe she could find them. The commotion in the town was at fever pitch. So many different voices crying out for children, lovers and parents. She couldn't take the stress of it all and so she walked to her house. Shutting the door and hoping that tomorrow things would be calm enough that she could attempt seeking her parents. The damp strawberry blonde hair's passing was noted from the window of the house. They were both alone, though Jefferson had much to think on. With the return of magic he might be able to get his hat to work... if he could get it back from Regina. And even then, would Grace be willing to go with him after he had abandoned her. He turned away from the window, the tiniest of tears in his eyes. He hoped Eilonwy was not cursed to remain forever alone as he was. The curse had been lifted but the curse of his own folly remained. He left his house for some air.