DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).
This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't. (Due to recent updates in "Happily Never After" I have to inform you that the Wonderland situation will be drastically different [because in my story, Regina was locked up/killed in The Enchanted Forest not sent to and stuck in Wonderland and The Looking Glass is still there as the door to Wonderland.])
Chapter 9: You Are Such A Child
Jefferson awoke to an empty bed and quickly worry washed over him. Emma would always either wake him up if she up was up before him or simply fall back asleep and he couldn't even recall the last time he had awaken without her. His wife had not been in the best state the last he was with her and did not want her to be alone. Surely she wanted to be alone but after seeing her so upset last night he wouldn't have it. He quickly dressed and ran out to his room to go searching for Emma. He glanced into both Henry and Grace's rooms as he made raced down the hallway but found neither of them there so he decided to check the kitchen. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found his kids along with Baelfire happily chatting over breakfast, but he still worried where Emma was.
"Morning kids. Henry, Grace, have you seen your mother around?" He questioned with a heavy exhale of breath as he leaned up against the wall, exhausted after the running down the stairs and through the halls.
"Sorry Papa, I haven't seen her all morning." Grace replied with a frown at her father's worried appearance.
"Me neither." Henry agreed with a curious look.
"Papa, are you alright?" Grace asked with the worried expression still across her face as her brows furrowed with curiosity.
"Oh yes, don't worry about me sweetheart. Just searching for Emma is all…" he explained, his voice trailing off as he tried to think of where else she might be.
"I haven't seen her but I think Belle and my father are down the hall. You could try asking them if they have seen Emma." Bae suggested with a warm smile.
"Thank you Bae, I think I'll do that." Jefferson graciously replied as he spun on his heel and paced down the hallway to the dining room.
As he rounded the corner that led into the dining room he ran straight into Belle's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he apologized, laying a hand comfortingly on her the shoulder he had just bumped into causing Rumple who stood on her other side to grimace at him.
"Oh, it's alright," Belle soothed, "no need to apologize."
"What do you mean 'no need'? He bumped into you; of course he needs to apologize!" Rumple refuted.
"Shush!" Belle quieted him as she turned to him quickly then back to Jefferson, "Don't mind him," she continued, rolling her eyes, "was there something you wanted?"
"Yes, I was wondering if you've seen Emma this morning…?" Jefferson questioned with hope that they might know her whereabouts.
"I'm sorry Jefferson but I haven't seen her since last night. Have you Rum?" Belle apologized sincerely, turning to Rumple.
"Well I did hear this morning that she sorting out something with her mother and father, maybe you should check their council room." He explained, rolling his eyes knowing that he had to explain the truth otherwise Belle would have seen right through him if he lied about what he had heard.
"Thank you." Jefferson quickly replied as he dashed off to the stairs leading up to the meeting room.
"Worried little Hatter isn't he?" Rumple quipped as he looped one arm through Belle's.
"Oh be nice," she scolded as she swatted at his chest, "You know, you really should be a little nicer to him; he has never been anything but kind to you."
"You see dearie, nice isn't really my thing." He stated as he leaned down to her and softly pressed his lips to hers.
"Sure, sure; whatever you say." She laughed, pulling back with a small roll of her eyes.
The Council Room
"Emma you don't have to help us with this," James sighed as he looked to his daughter across the table.
"It's okay, I want to." She replied flatly.
"Why don't you spend the day with Jefferson and the kids?" James suggested with a quick glance to his wife for help in the matter, "You missed spending the day with them yesterday for business, you deserve some time with them."
"No, I've still got more to do so I need to take care of it before it all piles up." Emma stated, determined to take on as much work as she could so she would be able to distract herself.
"Sweetheart, since when were you so willing to overwhelm yourself with duties? You have never refused to do them but I have never seen you wanting to take on so many at once…" Snow questioned, hoping to deter Emma's unusual request for a workload that would normally last her weeks.
"I know I need to take on more responsibilities so I figured, why not start now?"
"And that's wonderful Emma but you don't have to start today after working all yesterday and not traveling with your family." Snow suggested, easily seeing through Emma's lie.
"Look you guys I'm fine, I can handle this. Now just let me take this paperwork and get to it."
Suddenly they all turned at the sound of a knock coming from the doorway.
"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt, I was just looking for Emma since I haven't seen her this morning." Jefferson stated, shyly poking his head through the grand entrance.
"Oh no problem at all Jefferson, please come in!" Snow eagerly ushered, in the hopes that him being there would be enough to convince Emma not to take on the absurd workload.
"Morning princess," Jefferson greeted with a warm smile as he cautiously approached Emma who was avoiding his gaze.
"Morning." She replied grimly with a weak, almost forced smile.
"Why don't you come down and have breakfast with Bae, Henry, Grace, and I?" he questioned, offering his hand out to her.
Emma gingerly took it and stood up but still didn't look him in the eye as she replied, "I'm sorry but I've got loads of work to do today. I don't really have any time for anything else."
"Oh, well, I could stay with you and help you. Or maybe you could just—"
"No, no. You go have fun with the kids," she stated, cutting him off, "You spend some time with them. I've got a lot of work to do and I don't want to bother you with it"
"But Emma—" he called to her, reaching a hand to her shoulder as she turned.
She brushed it off frantically with a swipe of her hand then quickly gathered a pile of papers, mumbling, "I've got work to do and I uh, have to start now if I want to get it done. Sorry, um, I'll see you later." She took the mess of papers in her arms as she rushed past the table and into her father's office at the back of the room as she slammed the door quickly behind her.
James, Snow, and Jefferson all stood with jaws dropped at Emma's actions. They shifted uneasily in their spots during an awkward silence until Snow questioned what she had already assumed, "She's not taking it well is she?"
"I'm afraid not." Jefferson dryly stated, still baffled by his wife's previous actions.
"I'm sure she'll come around." Snow suggested with a weak smile. "Try not to worry about her. We'll do our best to make sure she's okay."
"Please do." He replied as his voice grew softer, weakened by his wife's unwillingness to be with him.
"I'm sorry Jefferson" James apologized as Jefferson let his shoulders slump in defeat. James could tell how much it hurt Jefferson that Emma did not want to be with him and was truly sorry he couldn't change how his daughter was reacting to the news they had broken to her last night.
"Yeah, I am too." Jefferson stated as he slowly turned and walked out into the hallway. He wandered aimlessly around the castle for an hour or so, unsure of what to do. Eventually he decided to seek out advice from anybody he could find, hoping that he would stumble upon someone sensible. He first ran into Dopey strolling through the halls but dismissed him with a quick nod of his head not wanting to confide in the dwarf who although was extremely kind was likely not very great at advice giving. To his luck (though he hadn't had much that day) he eventually found Belle sitting in the library on the couch-like cushion that sat between two bookshelves and led to a window that extended up to the high ceiling. He slowly made his way in and cleared his throat to get her attention without startling her too much.
The slight cough didn't even faze her as she merely shot a finger up to quiet whoever her visitor was so she could finish the page she was on. She sat still with her back pressed against a bookshelf, legs crossed in front of her with the book lying open on her lap and her gaze focused on the book until she finished the last sentence then gently closed it as she looked over to her new visitor. Her eyes widened with delight at the sight of Jefferson and greeted, "Oh Jefferson, please do sit down."
Jefferson slowly made his way into the chair just a few feet away from the windowsill and slumped into its plush, velvety arms. "So, where are the kids?" Jefferson shyly asked, attempting to slowly work his way to the topic he really wanted to discuss.
"Well Henry and Grace wanted to show Rumple and Bae some of the decorations that were still left up from Easter in the garden so they are likely still out there with him," she explained but noticed the somber expression on his face and questioned with furrowed brows, "but that's not what you want to talk about, is it?"
"No," he admitted, shyly looking up to meet her curious gaze, "It's just, Emma…"
"And how's she reacting to Graham being brought up again?" Belle finished as her one eyebrow raised in suspicion, knowing that her thoughts were correct.
"Yeah… how did you hear about it?"
"Snow and James told us this morning when we woke up… and from that pitiful look on your face, I take it Emma's not handling it well…?"
"Not well at all! I completely understand why she is upset but I don't understand why she won't talk to me, or anyone for that matter. All I want to be able to do is comfort her and help her but she's treating me as though I would only hurt her more." Jefferson exclaimed as threw his hands in the air, defeated.
"Well, Emma is a person who has had walls up her entire life," Belle explained leaning forward as she rested her hands atop the book in her lap and turned to fully face Jefferson, "and those walls only started to come down once Henry came back into her life and brought her to Storybrooke. Those walls may have been broken down for a long while now but they are very easy to build again. She originally built those walls to keep out anything from hurting her but I'm afraid the mention of Graham's unfortunate and sudden death has likely started them to be built up again." She paused, noticing Jefferson intently listening to her every word then continued, "She cared for him and let down her walls down for him then he died in her arms… none of us can ever even imagine what that must have done to her. The fact that she has to deal with it again is likely hurting her and the only way she knows how to deal with hurt is by putting up a wall. It's not that she thinks you're going to hurt her more but the wall is simply prevent her from letting anyone in, in fear that they will be broken down again and she will have to face the hurt. She still loves you and no mental wall will ever prevent that love but sometimes it will unintentionally push it away. I know you don't want to hear this but if she wants some time alone then you need to give it to her or the walls will only get stronger. Let her be and let her try to break down the wall herself, but only for a short time because she will need you soon enough, even if she does not want to admit it. Emma is so strong so you don't need to worry about her as much as you do, I promise." Jefferson opened his mouth to interject and explain that he only ever does it to help her but Belle instantly noticed and shot a hand out to halt his protest as she finished with a small chuckle, "I know you only smother her because you love her and I do not deny that it is incredibly sweet, but as a woman who has a husband of her own who is sometimes slightly overbearing I have to tell you that we are okay without you every once in a while. Let her work through it for at least a few hours then go to her. She needs a while to breath and let it all sink in and try to sort out her feelings for herself, so let her have a little time."
"Fine…" Jefferson agreed as he sank further into the chair and a pout formed on his lips.
"Oh goodness, you look as though you were just defeated in a war." Belle quipped, playfully laughing at his personal pity party, "Trust me, she wants to be with you she just doesn't know it yet. Give her a chance to figure it out."
"What if she never figures it out and stays hidden behind her walls forever?" Jefferson questioned urgently.
"Well if that happens then I say you have full permission to bother her until she opens up… but I promise, it won't come to that!" Belle added with a smile.
"Well exactly how long is it going to take?" He asked meagerly, his pout reforming.
"You nor I nor anyone could really say for sure. It may be a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks but trust me, she will come to you." She stood up and started to walk past him as she chided, playfully patting his shoulder, "I honestly don't know how she deals with you, you are such a child. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and come help me prepare lunch for everyone."
Jefferson simply groaned as he pushed against the sides of the chair and lazily made his out of it. They walked to the kitchen and Belle dismissed the chef letting him know that she would handle lunch for the day as she began to pull out the makings for the sandwiches she knew were each person's favorites. Jefferson groaned and shuffled around the kitchen, following whatever orders Belle gave him as they both did their best to distract him from his current situation with Emma. After an hour of making everyone in the castle's sandwiches they gathered all of them along with a few bowls of sliced fruit into a hand-woven picnic basket and made their way to the garden. They ate lunch with Henry, Grace, Bae, and Rumple at one of the tables that sat amidst that sea of flowers and decorations that was the garden. As they finished Belle stood up and declared, "Well that was lovely but I must be off to deliver everyone else's lunch to them, if anyone would like to join me…?"
"Well if I could, I'll take Emma's up to her…" Jefferson shyly suggested.
"Of course," Belle smiled with understanding as she reached into the basket, "And you might as well take Snow's and James' while you're at it, so here you go."
"Thank you," he replied, smiling at the thought of hopefully getting to see his wife.
"I'd love to come with you Belle." Grace replied excitedly, stepping over to Belle's side.
"Well thank you Grace. Your help will be much appreciated." Belle thanked with a warm smile.
"As nice as that sounds I think I will take the boys out to the stables and we'll go for a ride through the forest." Rumple suggested looking down to Henry and Bae.
"Sounds awesome!" Henry exclaimed with a wide grin as he looked to his older friend smiling back at him.
"Be back before sundown." Jefferson sternly ordered to Rumple.
"As you wish, your majesty." Rumple replied with a mock bow and a wave of his hand.
"Have fun Henry," he wished with a smile as he pulled his son in for a quick hug. "You too Grace," he added, pulling his daughter to him, giving them both a tight squeeze.
"Thanks," they muttered through forced breaths for their father was squeezing them too tight and they could hardly breathe.
Jefferson laughed at their weak thank you's as Henry pulled away and added with his smile fully reforming, "Tell mom, if she gets the chance she should come down and ride with us."
"No problem Henry. Of course I will." Jefferson agreed before quickly turning on his heel and nearly running back to the castle. After making his way up the numerous flights of stairs and long corridors he finally got to the council room and found Snow and James sitting next to one another with a mess of papers lying out in front of them.
He slowly walked in, holding up the sandwiches and greeted with a small smile, "I brought lunch."
Snow looked up from the paperwork and smiled, "Oh thank you Jefferson."
"Just in time, I was getting starving." James added with an equally grateful smile.
Jefferson handed the two of them their sandwiches and slowly sat down in a chair a few seats down from Snow. As they began biting into their sandwiches Jefferson glanced over to the doorway that lead to James' office and questioned, "Is she still in there?"
"Unfortunately yes," Snow replied with a somber expression.
"Have either of you been able to talk to her?"
"Well I was able to get a bit out of her earlier but nothing more than that she wants to be distracted and does not wish to talk to anyone," Snow grimly explained. "I'll try to go bring her, her sandwich and you may be able to sneak your way in with me," she added with a slight smile.
"Could you?..." Jefferson asked sheepishly.
"Of course," Snow smiled as she rose from her seat and took her daughter's sandwich from Jefferson as he followed slowly at a safe distance behind her.
Snow gently knocked on the door then peaked her head in and offered, "I have your lunch here if you want it."
"Sorry, not hungry." Emma replied, all too quickly.
"Come on, it's pastrami on rye." Snow smiled, slightly waving the wrapped sandwich in the air for her daughter to see.
"That's okay, I'll eat it later." Emma instantly replied, glancing up for a split second this time.
Snow frowned as she backed out of the room and looked back to Jefferson gingerly. "I'm sorry," she apologized handing the sandwich back to him, "I tried…"
"It's okay," Jefferson lied as he took the sandwich back and trudged back to the seat he had just been sitting in.
"You can try waiting around and see if she comes out… She has to get hungry eventually so I'm sure it wouldn't hurt." Snow shrugged with a weak smile as she sat back down to continue eating her lunch.
Jefferson took Snow's suggestion and sat, waiting for hours upon hours, occasionally chiming into Snow and James' heated discussions on kingdom business but mostly staring at down at his hands in his lap or the sandwich sitting in front of him, mocking him incessantly. He was tempted so many times to grab the sandwich, bust through the office door, and demand that Emma talk with him but whenever the thought came about so did Belle's advice from earlier. "Let her have a little time" kept repeating in his head as he would force himself to stay in his seat at the table.
After about five hours of Jefferson waiting with them and deciding on kingdom matters with James, Snow glanced out the stained glass window and noticed the sun was setting and remarked, "Whoa, it is getting late. I think we should try to finish up and head down to dinner."
Jefferson snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered the promise Rumplestiltskin had made him earlier and turned to Snow asking, "Would you make sure for me that Rumple and Bae are back with Henry? He promised they would be back now."
"Of course," James replied for Snow as he separated the currently sprawled-about papers into a couple, neat piles.
"I'll stay here a little while longer and see if she finally realizes she's hungry." Jefferson explained with a forced smile.
Snow and James each took a stack of papers then headed out of the room as Snow handed hers off to a messenger and James laid his on a shelf in the corner. Jefferson watched them leave then taking the opportunity and not willing to wait any longer, for he knew Emma had to be starving at this point and he didn't want her suffering just because of her stubbornness, he stood from his seat and quietly made his way to the office door. Just as he reached his hand out to push open the door it swung open in his direction, hitting him square in the side of his face, causing him to stumble back and clasp his hands to his cheek as he groaned in pain.
Emma whipped her head in the direction of the mumbled cursing, noticing that it came from her husband and quickly rushed his side, apologizing, "Oh god, Jefferson. Crap! I'm so sorry." She cupped one hand over his hands that were covering the injured cheek and brought his face up to hers and apologized again weakly, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were there."
Jefferson removed his hands from his now red and slightly-swollen face to look up at his face and take her hand that had been covering his and reply softly, "No, no, it's okay. I should have knocked." He couldn't help the large smile from spilling across his face at the touch of his wife's soft, delicate yet warm hand. "Did you finally finish your work?" he asked still grinning at her touch.
"More like I finally looked up from my work for a second once I realized my stomach was likely to start eating me if I didn't eat something soon," she replied with a small smile and a roll of her eyes.
She glanced down to her hand then up to grinning husband as a serious look overcame her and she pulled back slightly to notice the sandwich sitting on the table, "I heard there was a sandwich with my name on it waiting for me."
Jefferson's arms fell limp to his sides as his wife pulled her hand from his grasp and walked with her head down towards the table in the center of the room. He had almost convinced himself that she was ready to talk to him but then she just had to pull away… UGH, why did giving her some space have to be so damn difficult? Regaining some sensible thought Jefferson shyly suggested, "Why don't you come down and eat dinner with everyone else?"
"No thanks, I'll just eat my sandwich while I try to finish my work." Emma responded blankly, grabbing the sandwich and heading back to the office.
"Well I'll stay here and wait for you just in case you change your mind," Jefferson quickly responded.
"Oh, uh, you don't have to do that. I don't want you to starve too."
"I want to." Jefferson replied seriously as he turned to look lovingly into her gaze, from over her shoulder, in the eyes.
In that moment she was nearly tempted to invite him in and have him sit with her and share the sandwich and spend the night together as he held her in his arms and everything would be alright as he soothed her to sleep and she would forget about everything she was trying to distract herself from but she knew that if she did it would more than likely have the opposite effect and she would end up breaking down again and she did not want that happening again. So she simply turned around quickly and shut the door leaving a yet again defeated Jefferson in her trail. He let out a heavy sigh and slid back into the chair he had been sitting in all day and continued waiting.
The Dining Room, After Dinner
"Goodnight," Snow wished, waving to her guests as they exited the room. "Henry, Grace, why don't you two help me with the dishes…?"
Henry let out a sigh a sigh as Grace mumbled a complaint to herself as they dragged their feet back to the table and began to pick up the plates.
"Oh come on!" Snow cried in shock, "You two are acting as though I just asked you to clean all the castle windows. Now put some smiles on your faces and please try to be a little more enthusiastic. Helping out can't be that bad."
Henry and Grace turned to her and gave her two large, terribly fake cheesecake grins in a pitiful attempt to appease their grandmother.
"Much better," she laughed as they walked towards the kitchen, dishware in tow.
After cleaning the dishes and a small splash fight between the trio, Snow made each of her grandchildren a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and sat down at the small table meant for the kitchen staff to eat at during their breaks.
"Thank you two for being good, little helpers tonight." Snow thanked with a grateful smile.
'You're welcome." They replied in between sips of their cocoa.
Snow waited a moment longer before taking in a deep breath and began explaining to her grandchildren, "So I'm not sure if you kids remember but back in Storybrooke before Emma was the sheriff there was Sheriff Graham…"
Grace's face grew serious as she recalled the sheriff she had seen occasionally around town and heard of his sudden death which was later explained to her to be the work of The Evil Queen. Henry's face pinched in anguish at the memory of Sheriff Graham's death at the hands of his adoptive mother. The man had always been so nice to him and didn't deserve to die when he did.
"…He died there but since he never truly got a proper burial we are holding a funeral for him tomorrow and your grandfather and I as well as your parents would greatly appreciate it if you came." Snow finished with a serious yet comforting expression.
"Yes, of course." Grace nodded weakly as she took her last sip of hot chocolate.
"Yeah, wouldn't miss it." Henry added as he let his mind drift back to his memories of the late sheriff.
"Alright, why don't you kids get some sleep so you can be ready early enough in the morning?" Snow suggested as she took their mugs from them and reached to set them into the sink across from her.
The kids mumbled complaints as they slowly got out of their seats and slowly walked back to their rooms.
"How'd they take it?" James questioned from the doorway.
"Okay I guess. I could tell Henry was rather upset though which I guess was expected…" Snow said letting her voice drift off then remembered where she had sent her husband off to and questioned, "What were they up to?"
"Well Jefferson is asleep in the same chair we left him in," James explained, laughing, "and Emma is still slaving over work but she is probably going to pass out anytime now."
"Oh goodness, should we wake him?" Snow smiled up at him, laughing as she took hold of his hands.
"Probably," he laughed with her rolling his eyes, "but he would probably just end up staying there and falling back to sleep so I'm not so sure we should."
"You make a good point," Snow considered, looking past him thinking about it, then laughed again, "You're right; I guess we'll let him sleep."
Henry's Room
"So what was he like?" Grace questioned, sitting cross-legged on her brother's bed across from him, genuinely curious about the man whose funeral she was attending the next day, "I had seen him around town back in Storybrooke but I never knew him. And papa only ever told me not to talk about him around Emma."
"Well I knew him my whole life and he was one of few people who were really ever nice to me. I barely knew him but he always seemed kind of sad like he was missing something until mom came to town. Then I know one night they kissed and he started remembering his life here. I'm not sure if he ever fully remembered but I know that the same day he came to me and asked me for help in figuring out who he was, was the same day he died." Henry explained as his expression grew remorseful and he let his gaze drift to his hands, "All I can remember after that is mom being really upset for a while. I figured she at least cared for him since she was so sad when he was killed."
Grace nodded in understanding then questioned again, "Who was he here?"
"Oh, he was The Huntsman. He was raised by wolves because his parents abandoned him as a baby and when he was older he made a deal with The Evil Queen and said if she outlawed the hunting of wolves then he would kill Snow White and take her heart for her. But when he went to kill Snow he saw the goodness in her and spared her life. He tried to trick the Queen by giving her a fake heart but she realized it was a fake then took his heart right from him chest and kept him as her slave." Henry explained as his sadness for the late huntsman grew.
She continued nodding and added somberly, "I wish I knew him. He sounds like a pretty good guy."
"Yeah, he was." Henry assured his sister as he filled with remorse, wondering if there was something he could have done differently that would have saved the poor huntsman who was basically the reason he was alive.
The Council Room, In The Middle Of The Morning
Jefferson stirred awake dazed and confused, lifting his head up from where it had rest on his arms on the polished, wooden table. He felt around him not recognizing the surroundings but then slowly sat up and realized he had fallen asleep at the table in the council room. He pushed his chair away from the table then, remembering why it was that he had fallen asleep there, he tiredly made his way to the office door and was surprised to find Emma sound asleep with her head and arms sprawled lazily on top of the desk. He awoke himself fully so he would be able bring Emma back to their room. He wedged his arms beneath her and pulled her up tightly against his chest.
She fidgeted slightly in his arms and moaned as he walked out of the office and he feared he had woken her up. He sighed with relief as she settled into his arms simply curling up further to him. He carried her down four flights of stairs before finally reaching their floor and bringing her to their room. He then gently released her from his arms and laid her down on their bed. He slowly took off her boots, setting them beside the bed, and tucked her under the sheets, planting a gentle kiss to her forehead. He removed his own shoes then and quietly slipped under the covers and carefully took hold of his wife. She began to squirm again and yet again he feared she had woken up but instead of waking up she simply flipped onto her opposite side, now facing Jefferson, and nuzzled herself into his chest. Jefferson held her close as he drifted to sleep with a smile spread across his face, happy that his wife was back in his arms.
So I hope you don't mind that this chapter ended up just a bit long… :P I honestly thought it was going to be rather short because I didn't think I would be able to come up with much in between stuff but the words just kept coming out and I couldn't stop! Even though there wasn't really much of any Emma and Jefferson fluff in this I hope you still enjoyed it at least a little! :]] Be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter when they hold Graham's funeral and maybe Emma will let Jefferson back in. ;D