When Jefferson went down the stairs the next morning, Heather was already awake, fully-clothed, and whistling as she whisked around the kitchen.
She was making breakfast.
For three.
"Morning," he greeted. She jumped slightly, turned, and grinned.
"Morning, Jefferson!" she exclaimed brightly. "I didn't know when you two would get up but I woke earlier than usual and thought I'd get a head start on breakfast. Nothing like waking up to the smell of pancakes and hot chocolate. Would you prefer coffee or tea?" She got out both the kettle and the coffee pot and held them out.
"Coffee. For the morning. Thanks."
Heather started making the coffee for him, and cocoa for herself and Grace. Jefferson moved to help her but she glared at him until he sat at one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
"How did you sleep after…?"
"The nightmare? Just fine. Thank you. For coming in to see if I was alright." Heather blushed a little in embarrassment and passed him a plate full of breakfast. He stared at it. For a girl who lived alone for the past twenty-nine years and had no one to impress, she made very delicious-looking pancakes.
That also tasted like heaven.
Jefferson couldn't help it—he let out a sigh of pleasure.
Heather smirked. "Like it?"
"Yes!"
"My mother taught me how to make these after Rosemary got married. She said to me, 'Heather baby, you're gonna end up married one day just like your sister and you better know how to cook!' And she taught me. For the longest time I thought I wouldn't be able to cook the way she and Rosemary did—both of them were so good at it and I managed to drop everything for the first several weeks. But eventually I learned and started liking it." She shrugged nonchalantly and turned back to the coffee pot. She poured some in his mug and finished with the cocoa for her and Grace—
Right as the younger girl rushed down the stairs. "Papa! What smells so good?" she asked excitedly.
"Your aunt made breakfast," Jefferson replied with a smile, turning around to give his very chipper daughter a big hug. She held him tightly while smiling brightly at Heather—who could swear she could see hearts in her eyes. She grinned back at how the cute the scene was in front of her. When Jefferson pulled back he gave her a very teasingly-stern look. "Now how about school?"
"After breakfast, Papa!"
"Of course, my dear." He kissed her head and moved to get up but Heather held her hands out.
"I'm making breakfast. Stay out of the kitchen while I'm cooking!" she sassed.
Jefferson put his hands up in surrender and sat back next to his daughter as Heather slid a plate with pancakes full of chocolate chips and nearly drowned in syrup and whipped cream across the breakfast bar to the eleven-year-old girl, who looked delighted.
Grace's eyes widened when she took her first bite and Heather grinned, setting a mug of hot chocolate next to her niece's plate.
"So, Grace. What's your favorite subject in school?" Heather asked, sitting across the breakfast bar from the father and daughter with her own prepared breakfast. She took a big drink from her hot chocolate and then looked her niece right in the eye, making sure Grace knew she was interested and listening. The little girl lit up like a firework.
"Science!" she exclaimed.
"Why?"
"Because it's like magic except harder and it's fun! The other day my teacher brought in a microwave and we put a highlighter in it and it pretty much blew up! It was so cool!" Her face fell and she cast her eyes down. "But not many other girls like science in my class."
"Hey," Heather said. Grace looked up. "I loved science when I was in high school. And just because they don't like it doesn't mean you're not friends, right?"
"Right."
"And if you ever want someone to talk to about science, go ahead and ask me. Remind me later to tell you about the time when I was in Physics and we almost electrocuted everyone in class."
The younger girl's face lit up again. "Okay!"
Jefferson finished his breakfast and got to his feet. "Okay, Grace. Time for school." Grace hopped to her feet and grabbed her backpack and coat. She took her father's hand and they headed for the door. Heather stayed in the kitchen, finishing up the last bit of her own breakfast and starting the clean up the very minimal mess she'd created. Jefferson stopped as he opened the front door and looked back. "Leave that for later. Come with us," he offered. Heather opened her mouth to protest but Jefferson gave her his "father" look. "Don't even argue, Heather. Just come."
Grace nodded excitedly.
Heather glanced at the dishes for a moment before turning back to her family and following them towards the door, grabbing her green jacket as she went. "Okay then," she conceded.
Grace smiled and took Heather's hand with hers. "Yay!" Heather wanted to tug her hand away because she didn't want to make it look like she was trying to replace Rosemary, but Jefferson gave her a subtle shake of his head and shrug of his shoulders before he walked out the door, tugging Grace and by extension Heather out with him.
The three of them walked towards Grace's bus stop while Heather silently prayed Regina or Mr. Gold or someone wouldn't see them. She didn't want to put up with snide comments from anyone in town. Grace was bouncing along brightly, the bubbly light in her eyes making her smile at nothing and laugh at the simplest of things. Heather and Jefferson shared grins of amusement over her head as she happily greeted her friends when they joined the small parade to the bus stop.
Heather gave Grace a hug. "Have a good day, Gracie. Go do some science!"
Grace grinned. "I will!" She gave her father a hug and climbed the steps of the bus behind her friends.
Jefferson and Heather waved to her as the bus pulled away and then went walking back to the house, maintaining respectful but friendly distance from each other, both with their hands in their pockets to combat the chilly Maine morning.
They made it back to the house without incident or running into someone and went about their own separate activities, only coming together when Heather poked her head into a parlor while Jefferson played the piano to ask if he wanted some lunch—which he politely accepted. They talked for a while before Heather went back to exploring the house. She'd never been in one so big in this life.
She liked looking around. There were all sorts of strange things—including the study where Jefferson had made hundreds of hats. Her favorite was the balcony of the third floor. She could see the whole forest from that vantage point.
But after a while she found herself sitting outside the parlor where Jefferson was playing the piano and just listening with her head leaned against the wall. He played very well. It was a piece she didn't recognize, but didn't care because it was beautiful. She closed her eyes and just listened, sitting on the carpet and just letting the gentle notes drift into her mind.
Then she heard him mutter to himself as the music faltered. "Grace!" he hissed.
Heather leapt to her feet and silently rushed out of the corridor and towards her room. She yanked her shoes back on and grabbed her jacket, realizing they had to get going if they wanted to be at the bus stop on time to pick her up. "Jefferson!" she called. "How about I go get Grace and you stay here?" She knew there was no way he was going to agree, but just to make it look like she hadn't been listening outside the door to him playing piano.
"No, no, I'll come too," he replied as she reached the front door and zipped up her jacket. He shrugged into his coat and they both left the house.
End Note: I forgot to mention that the title is partially inspired by the fact that my older sister has told me throughout my life that I look like Anne Hathaway - though more recently a friend mentioned that I look like Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter). The other reason is every single time I take a "Which fictional land do you belong to?" quiz, I ALWAYS END UP IN STORYBROOKE! Always! And at first I was like, "Ugh. I don't want to live in Storybrooke!" Then I started thinking about it and I was like, "Meh. That's okay. Storybrooke has Sebastian Stan in it." ;-)
To "SarahSmith95": Thank you! Good to know there's no such thing as a Sebastian Stan problem! Also AAAHHHHHH! A FAN? REALLY?! YOU'RE TOO SWEET TO ME! HOPE YOU LIKE WHATEVER ELSE I'VE BEEN WRITING!
Thank you for reading! Leave a comment if you have one!