Author's notes: Um…well, I guess there will be one more chapter after all. Apparently Jefferson, Emma, and company have a lot they need to say after all. I'm going to admit this chapter was really hard to write for me, as it was mostly a transition chapter to the next. Still, I am mostly happy with what I managed to write.

Again, the characters are not mine. If they were, you'd be seeing Jefferson a whole lot more on your television screens.

A half hour later, the pizzas had been ordered and Jefferson, along with Emma's assistance, had set the kitchen table for the meal. He and Emma argued over his insistence that they should have a salad to eat as well for lunch. His argument was that the children should eat something healthy in addition to the not so healthy choice of pizza, and Emma scoffed at his reasoning, saying that it was more likely the kids would simply ignore the salad and the only people in the house consuming the salad would be her and Jefferson.

It felt oddly domestic to argue with someone else over choices to be made for their children, and Jefferson could hardly let himself get caught up in the feeling. While Emma had definitely reached out to him over the past few hours, he was under no illusion this could be a reoccurring event. She was a princess, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and he was the Mad Hatter, a one-time portal jumper and mushroom seller. No matter how much he might enjoy their time together, he knew that they could never be more than casual acquaintances and parents of children who were friends with each other.

The sound of footsteps came from hallway and Jefferson turned to see Grace and Henry standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Grace's eyes were red from crying, and Henry looked equally upset. Grace looked at him for a long moment, before running to him and throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him close. He wrapped his arms around her, bowing his head to hide his face from Emma and Henry.

"Papa, I am so, so sorry," she whispered into his chest. "I had no idea."

"Shhhhh—" he murmured, trying to comfort his crying child. He heard Emma move from beside him and looked up to see her going to Henry. She gave him an empathic look and mouthed she'd be back soon, and then ushered Henry out of the door with her.

"Grace," he said, pulling her away from him and leading her to the table. He pulled out a chair and directed her to sit, and then pulled another chair out to sit right in front of her. "So you read about our story in Henry's book?"

"Oh, papa!" she cried, tears filling her eyes once again. "It was so awful! How can you stand it?"

Jefferson took a shuddering breath. "Grace, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I couldn't stand it. I did go mad in Wonderland."

"Are you better now?" she quietly asked, looking at him intently. "Are you okay?"

"For the most part, yes," he admitted, and was relieved to see her relax in front of him. "But I haven't always made good decisions in the past, and when you make bad decisions, you need to face the consequences of those decisions at some point. I had to pay dearly for choosing to trust Regina back before the curse, and as a result I was separated from you for decades." And with that admission, he pulled Grace out of her chair and into his arms once again.

He decided not to mention that he was aware the entire time of the curse of exactly who he was and how he was unable to reunite with her. Someday he would have to address this with her, but today was simply not the day. Grace had learned enough of the past for one day. He only hoped this omission didn't cause more damage with his relationship with Grace later on. Jefferson was truly sorry for the decisions he had made, ones that had and most likely still will, have far reaching consequences. He knew that someday soon, Emma would learn of his second deal with Regina and his hesitant friendship with her would vanish. However, at his core, he was a selfish man and wanted to enjoy the tentative friendship Emma had offered him while he still could.

The door bell ringing interrupted his moment with Grace. Pulling her away from him, he wiped away her tears and said softly to her, "Why don't you run to the bathroom to wash up for lunch. I'll go and get everything ready."

Grace smiled at him weakly and reached out to hug him quickly once again before running out of the kitchen. Jefferson wiped away the tears from his own eyes, before taking another deep breath. Standing up, he started for the front door, only to be surprised by Emma entering the kitchen carrying the two pizzas. Looking at her, he began, "Emma, you didn't have to..."

"Jefferson, I got it," she stopped him, walking past him to set the boxes on the table. "I sent Henry to wash up for lunch, so why don't you grab the salad you insisted we have and I'll grab the drinks so we can all eat."

He just stared at her for a moment, and then walked over to the refrigerator to get the aforementioned salad. He and Emma worked in silence for the next few minutes getting the meal ready before Henry and Grace returned. However, soon the four of them were sitting at the table together, helping themselves to the food. As Emma had predicted, neither child has seemed overly keen to have any salad, but after a gentle admonishment by Jefferson to Grace and a stern look for Henry by Emma, both children found a pile of salad greens on their plates along with their slices of cheese pizza.

The meal was surprisingly light hearted, much in part due to Henry. As he knew of Jefferson's portal jumping past, he was curious about all the worlds he had visited and once he realized Jefferson was willing to answer his questions, he was asking questions non-stop.

"So, is Hogwarts real?" Henry asked around a mouth full of pizza. "Have you met Harry Potter or Dumbledore?"

"Henry!" Emma admonished, giving him a hard look. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Henry swallowed his pizza and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Jefferson just chuckled and put down his own slice. "Yes, I've been to that realm before, and no, I haven't met Harry Potter or Dumbledore. Time in that realm runs fairly concurrent with this one, and at the time I was actively portal jumping, they were in the middle of the first war with Voldemort. I tended to try to just get in and out of that world due to the dangers the world was presenting at the time."

"You mean all that about Harry Potter was real?" Emma asked incredulously. "But those are just some fantastic stories written by J.K. Rowling."

Jefferson looked at her with mild amusement. "Emma, I told you before there were many different worlds out there, pressing against one another. And books and stories are written for a reason, you know. In this world where there's no magic, but some of the more creative souls can sense other worlds through their imaginations, and that's how the stories begin. Many times, it's starts as a fantastic idea or dream, but in reality, it's the other realms reaching out to the individual."

"That is so cool," Henry said, gazing at Jefferson in awe. "It explains a lot."

Jefferson smiled back at him. "It does, doesn't it?"

Grace had been silent all through Henry's questions. She looked at her father, then asked innocently, "Can we go to any of these realms, papa?"

Jefferson, Henry, and Emma stilled at the question. Jefferson didn't have his hat any longer as it had been accidentally destroyed by David. He was about to answer her when Emma spoke.

"Grace, your dad no longer has his hat," she said softly. "After Regina used it to open a portal to get rid of the Wraith, it pulled me into the portal and my mother jumped in after me. My father tried to follow us but accidentally destroyed the hat."

Henry watched Emma in amazement as she explained the hat situation for his friend. Deciding to share what he knew of the situation, he added, "Gramps was really sorry he destroyed the hat, Jefferson. And then his mean adoptive father burned it for revenge after his plan to frame Ruby failed."

"What!" Jefferson and Emma asked in unison, both turning to look at Henry.

"My hat was burned?" Jefferson groaned.

"David's adoptive dad tried to frame Red?" Emma asked. Henry just shrugged and went on eating his pizza. Grace just looked between Emma and Jefferson with interest.

"I guess that means no more visiting other realms for me again. Probably better this way anyway. Magic's too unpredictable here. I'd probably get stuck in Wonderland again if I tried," Jefferson said bitterly.

He noticed Emma looking at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. He was about to ask her what was the matter when Grace spoke up. "Papa, can Henry and I be excused?"

He looked over to see both children had eaten several slices of pizza, yet the majority of the salad remained on their plates. "I suppose," he sighed.

"Henry," Emma said, stopping the boy before he could run off with Grace once again. "Maybe we should leave now. I'm sure Jefferson and Grace have better things to do than entertain us for the afternoon."

"Emma," Grace pleaded, looking at Henry first then Emma. "Henry and I wanted to watch some DVD's he brought with him."

"He not only brought his storybook but also DVDs?" Emma asked with raised eyebrow. She turned to Henry. "What were you thinking kid? Got clothes with you too? Are you planning to move in?"

Jefferson started at Emma's mention of moving in. While it had never crossed his mind to live with another person besides Grace in this house, a sudden image of the four of them filling this house with laughter and happiness flashed through his mind.

Henry interrupted his brief musing by answering Emma's questions. "No, but I wanted to watch some Disney versions of the fairytales in my storybook with Grace."

"What?" Emma asked, surprised by the answer. "And how did you get those, because I know Regina would have never purchased those for you."

"I-uh might have bought some a while ago using Grams credit card?" he answered tentatively. "And maybe asked Gramps to buy a few more a couple of weeks ago?"

"Kid, we are going to have a long talk about your internet purchasing habits," Emma sighed. "I guess staying is up to Jefferson."

Both children turned pleading eyes to him, and he could only laugh. "I don't have a problem with you staying as long as your mother doesn't have other plans this afternoon, Henry."

"We don't," Emma answered. "Are you sure?"

He turned to look at her. "Emma, it's fine. As long as you don't mind hanging out with me, that is."

Emma just smiled at him, and turned to look at Henry. "Okay kid, but only for the afternoon. We're not staying for dinner as Snow will have our heads if we're not home by six."

"Awesome!" Henry cheered. "Come on Grace! I have Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and Mulan with me. Mom and Grams met Princess Aurora, Mulan, and Captain Hook in the Enchanted Forest and we can compare the real stories of them with the movies."

Jefferson laughed as he watched the two of them run off together in the direction of the family room where the entertainment center was located. "I suppose watching the Disney versions of our stories is relatively harmless."

Emma just closed her eyes and shook her head. "You know, I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the idea that I'm surrounded by people who are considered by many as just storybook characters."

"I can imagine it would be difficult," Jefferson replied sympathetically. "I remember how hard it was to convince you of the truth."

"It's hard to deny when you're faced with a 50 foot fire breathing dragon, ogres, and giants. Let's get this place cleaned up and the leftover put away." She gave him an impish look, then said, "Looks like you're going to be eating salad for a while."

He laughed heartily at her comment. "I guess you were right after all."

"Of course I was," she said smugly and walked towards the table to gather the empty plates. The two of them worked silently for the next several minutes. As they were just finishing the very domestic task of cleaning up after the meal, Emma surprised Jefferson once again.

"Jefferson, what if I told you I think I might be able to help you with your hat now?"