Chapter Twenty-Three: Mad Man with a Box…and a Gun

Mary Margaret had sat tied and gagged for an undetermined amount of time in a darkened room with the only available source of light coming from the window behind her. She was beyond terrified of the events that had transpired in previous few hours. As she escaped into the woods, she was suddenly kidnapped at gunpoint by a Storybrooke resident who she never met before. Even though it was in her goal to be somewhere that no one would find her (not even Emma), she did not want to risk her own life in the process.

She heard footsteps outside the door and grew very nervous again, knowing her kidnapper was returning to either check up on her…or kill her. The door swung open without notice and the first person Mary Margaret saw enter the room was John Smith, who was the current victim of the madman's insanity as he held him at gunpoint while wearing a hat that was reminiscent of the Mad Hatter. As soon as Smith saw that Mary Margaret was in the room, he immediately went into a state of panic and went to her.

"Mary! Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

Smith attempted to remove the gag from her mouth, but Jefferson pulled him away before he had the chance. With the gun still aimed at Smith's head, Jefferson stood in between him and Mary Margaret, preventing Smith from making another attempt to free her. "She's not why I brought you here, Doctor."

Mary Margaret blinked rapidly in surprise over the strange name that Jefferson addressed Smith by.

"Look, just let her go." Smith demanded. "There's no reason for her and Emma to be here. If it's me you want, then leave just me."

"They can go…as soon as you've taken me back to where I belong." Jefferson, keeping his gun aimed at Smith, went to a large item in the room that had been covered by a beige tarp. Smith hardly even noticed the large, covered item upon entering the room, figuring it to be a valuable piece of furniture that Jefferson did not want to attract dust on. But after the tarp was removed, Smith realized that it was not furniture; it was the blue police box that he had seen Mr. Gold take away a month ago.

Mary Margaret shared Smith's stunned reaction upon seeing the police box there in the room, which was barely able to suit its tall frame.

"Now," Jefferson said, "Take me home."

Smith was almost speechless; at that point, he just had to talk himself out of this situation. "Look, mate…I've got to be real with you. I am not this Doctor bloke. He's just a character in a story. He's not real."

"I know he is! So am I!"

Smith was taken aback by Jefferson's claim. "What?"

Jefferson sighed in frustration. "I already went through this with Emma, and she didn't believe me either."

"Where is Emma? What've you done with her?"

"That is not your concern!" Jefferson's loud tone made both Smith and Mary Margaret jump; between it and the fact that he was holding a gun to Smith's head, the uncertainty of what would happen next made them petrified of even the slightest action he made. Calming himself down, Jefferson told Smith, "You're my only hope, Doctor. I've seen what you could do with your box. You've shown me things it can do that my hat could never do. It's my only way back to my old life…my daughter."

Beyond the crazed look on Jefferson's face, Smith could see a very desperate man…or a desperate father. It then became clear to him that these delusions were a result of whatever loss he suffered with his daughter. Because of this revelation, Smith decided to play along, hoping whatever Jefferson anticipated on happening with the antique police box would distract him while he freed Mary Margaret, Emma, and himself and got back to Jack.

"Alright, Jefferson…you've convinced me…I am the Doctor. I remember everything vividly now." He then pointed to the police box and added, "We'll just step inside my TARDIS, and you'll be back home in no time." Jefferson bought into the ruse and allowed Smith to walk over to the police box and open its doors. However, Smith noticed that the doors were locked and a key had to be inserted into the lock. "You wouldn't happen to have the key on you, would you, Jefferson?"

Jefferson's face scrunched in confusion. "Key?"

BAM!

Before anyone could have seen it coming, Jefferson was suddenly knocked out from behind by Emma, who snuck in with a long telescope that she gathered from another room. Watching Jefferson, the gun, and his hat as they all went down, Emma disdainfully said, "Crazy son of a bitch!"

Smith sighed in relief after Emma's rescue and immediately went to free Mary Margaret. As he helped remove her gag and bonds, Smith asked Emma, "Where was he keeping you?"

"In this room full of hats." She answered. "He wanted me to make one, going on about making it work so that he…"

"…can go home." Smith finished for her. "He tried to feed me the same rubbish just a second ago, making me believe that over there was the Doctor's TARDIS."

Emma looked to the police box, which she was surprised to see in the room. "Oh, my god! Where did he get this from?"

"EMMA! WATCH OUT!"

Mary Margaret's warning came a little too late as a recovered Jefferson suddenly emerged, tackling Emma right into Mary Margaret and Smith. Bodies fell like dominoes as Emma struggled against Jefferson. She tried to go for the gun that he dropped after having been knocked down, but he snatched her by the hair and hurled her against the police box. Retrieving his gun and hat from the floor, Jefferson aimed it at Emma's head and grinned.

"Off with her head."

Emma stood frozen as she stared down the barrel of his gun; she felt certain that it was the end for not just her, but Smith and Mary Margaret as well.

"HEY!"

Jefferson heard the voice from outside the room and swung around to find Jack Harkness standing in the hallway with his own gun aimed at the madman. Without hesitation, Jefferson fired on Harkness and the bullet struck the deputy-captain square in the left side of his torso. As Jack was reeling back from the shot, he fired one of his own on Jefferson, striking him directly in the right shoulder. There was enough force in the shot to send Jefferson falling back into the window, crashing through it and plummeting three stories down.

With Jefferson gone, Smith completed freeing Mary Margaret, who still remained half-tied to the chair. Emma went to the broken window and looked out to see where Jefferson's body had landed; to her surprise, all that was there on the ground were shards of broken glass and Jefferson's peculiar hat. As much as she wanted to take a moment to figure out what became of the madman after his fall, the heavy groans of Jack Harkness directed her attention back indoors where Jack was slumped against the wall in the hallway and in extreme pain.

Smith, Emma, and Mary Margaret immediately went to Jack's aid. "Jack, just lie down. Don't strain yourself." Smith instructed.

Shock registered on Jack's face as he felt his body trembling under the massive discomfort in his side. "Something's…wrong."

"Yeah, you've just been shot." Emma indicated.

Jack shook his head negatively. "No, no. Something else is wrong. I'm not…I'm not…healing." His strange comment brought upon odd stares from Smith, Emma, and Mary Margaret, who all believed Jack's current condition was much worse than they feared…but not as much as Jack himself did.