Title: The integrity of your revolution

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Denise Levertov

Warnings: violence, death, AU during season 1

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 1290

Point of view: third

Prompt: Once Upon A Time, Jefferson, death doesn't fear him

Note: this is the last chapter I have written.

The first time he killed a man, Jefferson was 19 and after a very valuable artifact in the man's care. His employer had mentioned that should the man suffer some sort of fatal accident, there'd be a bonus added to the price of the artifact.

Jefferson's other employer, the infamous Dark One, had been withholding his pay from a previous job due to a minor disagreement they were having about the value of the object, so a bonus seemed pretty good.

Jefferson felt nothing about the target. He was a rich man, like so many rich men. Maybe he was good to his servants; maybe he wasn't. Maybe he loved dogs and gave horses extra treats; maybe he hurt the women in his power, or maybe he didn't. Jefferson neither knew nor cared.

His employer wanted the artifact, and Jefferson wanted the bonus. The target was old and frail, and his heart gave out during the night. He barely struggled as Jefferson held the pillow over his face.

The bonus was 10 gems of his choice and a favor to be collected later.

.

Jefferson took a few jobs over the years where he only killed; he didn't retrieve anything. They weren't as much fun, though, so he didn't seek them out.

Very rarely did he kill for any reason but money – he could count them on one hand. Five people, all told, in 32 years; he doesn't count what happened in Wonderland, or the 28 years trapped in Regina's curse. Two of Jeffrey II's men, Jeffrey II himself, a former employer who didn't wish to lose Jefferson's services, and then Regina. Eighteen assassinations. He doesn't remember how many died in Wonderland before they learned the lesson.

.

Watching the townspeople of Storybrooke try to resume some facsimile of normalcy, as they shy from Rumpelstiltskin, as they peer in dark corners to see if Regina has returned – Jefferson attends tea with Grace, helps her explore this world she's been in for 28 years and yet never truly experienced, answers her questions about their time apart.

Here in Storybrooke, magical animals are in human form and powerful sorcerers are separated from their magic and royalty have no thrones or crowns. Here in Storybrooke, Jefferson is known as the eccentric rich boy or the mad peasant. It is far more amusing than it is galling.

.

"Papa," Grace asks one evening after school, "if we could go back, would we?"

Ten years as her father, however long in Wonderland, 28 trapped by the curse –

"Do you want to?" Jefferson asks in reply.

She thinks about that, glancing from her ipod to her laptop, over at the flatscreen TV, then at the door to the hall that leads to the first floor bathroom. "No," she declares decisively.

Jefferson smiles. "Then we won't."

.

In the back of the safe installed in Jefferson's house there is a hatbox. He retrieved it the same afternoon he disposed of Regina's body.

One bright morning, as Jefferson walks Grace to the bustop, a cloud darkens the sky, returning magic to those who had previously had it, yet somehow not replacing the human bodies of the non-humans. Magic is capricious, so Jefferson assumes it followed Rumpelstiltskin's will. Because, of course it was Rumpelstiltskin. He needs his magic back to find his son, after all.

"Papa!" Grace shouts, clinging to him.

"Don't be afraid," he murmurs, scooping her up, smiling as the cloud settles across the town.

Jefferson had a little magic, back home. Nothing compared to Rumpelstiltskin or Regina, or even Emma, once she's trained. Enough to work the hat (which he knows never worked for Regina, after she'd arrived back without him).

It was useless in Wonderland, where everything followed the Queen of Heart's will, and in Storybrooke until… now.

"What is it?" Grace whispers in his ear, her face buried in his neck.

"Magic," he says. "Magic has come back."

Not back, not really, not in this world where it has never been before. But to them, the poor sorry sods who don't belong – yes, back to them.

.

Grace ends up not going to school that day. She's napping that afternoon when the Dark One appears in Jefferson's kitchen.

"Would you like some tea?" Jefferson asks. He waits until Rumpelstiltskin has chosen a chair and sat down to set the mug teacup in front of him. "I have a piece of information for you," he says before Rumpelstiltskin can begin haggling or needling or whatever he came for. "It's priceless, I believe, but I have a demand."

"By all means, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin says, waving a hand benevolently.

Jefferson smiles, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Do you remember that servant girl you used to have? Belle, I think her name was."

The teacups shatter. "Belle is dead," Rumpelstiltskin says quietly, eyes intent on Jefferson.

"In fact she's not," Jefferson tells him. "And I'll trade you her location for Grace's safety in whatever you're planning."

"A man who travels far and sees much," Rumpelstiltskin mutters. "That's what you said. The things you've seen." He laughs, a much softer cackle than Jefferson has heard from him before. "You were awake the whole time, while the rest of us slept through endless monotony."

Jefferson waits him out, arms across his chest.

Finally, Rumpelstiltskin sighs. "If Belle is alive and where you say she is," he says, "then I'll keep your daughter safe through anything that happens in this blasted town. I'll even protect you in the bargain, should you not cause whatever misfortune it is."

Rumpelstiltskin gives him a full minute to think it over before demanding, "Well?"

"The hospital," Jefferson says. "Basement. There are cells down there. As of a week ago, that's where your Belle was."

The Dark One vanishes without even bothering to fix the teacups. Jefferson leaves the mess and goes to his study, where his vast collection of notebooks resides, charting who and what all the townspeople used to be.

Regina is dead and Rumpelstiltskin will be focused on his maid or his son, depending on the day. Snow White and her prince – king? It's possible they were crowned while Jefferson was lost in Wonderland – are taking command, even though there are plenty of other royals around. It's quite the mess.

And the most fun he's had since he retired.

.

Jefferson was never truly notorious for few people knew what he did. He acted like a simple traveler, always from the next kingdom over even as he traversed worlds. He was a thief, perhaps the best of all worlds, for how many other thieves could jump through realities at the drop of a hat?

He knows that at some point in the near-future, Emma will remember what he said about worlds lined up in a row. She'll probably go to her parents first, or maybe Rumpelstiltskin, but she will eventually come to him.

He locks the door to the study with a charm he learned from a mage and heads to the den, where Grace is watching old Disney movies. "C'mon, Papa," she says, gesturing to the spot beside her on the couch. "Tell me who's who."

Jefferson chuckles, sinking down beside her. He's traveled a long road to come here, and he knows it stretches on. But it's fun and he has nothing to fear – perhaps he's not the most dangerous inhabitant in Storybrooke, but he's close to it, and nobody here knows what he really is, anyway.

"Is anybody GusGus?" Grace asks as mice sing on the screen. "He's my favorite."

He drops a kiss on the top of her head before answering, "One of the mechanics; I'll introduce you this weekend."

She bounces in place in excitement and Jefferson laughs again.