Regina and Robin landed in a clearing near a small but well-kept house with cheerful puffs of smoke coming from the chimney. A young girl knelt in the area in front of the house playing with a few dolls, but other than that Robin didn't see anyone. Regina made her way towards the girl, squatting down in front of her.
"Hello," she said quietly.
"Hello!" said the girl brightly, pausing in her play. She looked at Regina for a moment, then continued, "I like your dress!"
"Thank you," Regina replied gently, a bright smile lighting up her face. "Would you like an outfit like this for one of your dolls?" she asked.
"Oh, yes please!" the girl said. Regina waved her hand and out of a small purple cloud of smoke came a doll-sized sparkly dress.
"Here. Now your doll can dress up too," Regina said with a gentle smile as she presented the dress with a flourish.
"Thank you!" said the little girl.
"You're welcome, sweetheart," Regina said. Robin stared in awe at the transformation that took place before his eyes. He had seen enough sides of her at this point to know that this interaction wasn't a ruse. Who would have guessed that the Evil Queen has a way with children? He thought to himself, shaking his head and chuckling slightly. Regina looked up at the sound and gave him a confused look before turning back to the little girl. "I'm looking for a man named Jefferson. Do you know if he still lives here?" she asked the girl.
"You mean Grandpa? He lives there," the girl said pointing back towards the house but not taking her eyes from the serious task of re-dressing her doll in the new dress. "He's watching me today while Mommy goes to buy food and things."
"And what's your Mommy's name?" asked Regina.
"Mommy's name is Grace," replied the girl, now holding up her doll in front of her and admiring the new dress.
Regina stood up and turned towards the house before looking down at the girl again. "Thank you so much for your help, sweetheart. We're going to go in and talk to your Grandpa now; will you be ok out here on your own?" she asked, gently tucking a piece of hair behind the girl's ear.
"Yes I'm very good at staying out of trouble," she replied.
Regina began making her way to the house. "I'm sure you are. Perhaps we should work on the 'not talking to strangers' bit though," she said with a smile as she motioned to Robin to follow her.
She made her way to the door of the little house and gently knocked. After a few moments it was opened by an older gentleman who looked Regina up and down before whistling. "Well, well. If it isn't The Queen, not aged one single day. Your Majesty," he said with an ostentatious bow as he lifted her hand and kissed it gently, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"
Regina smirked at him and swept into the house. "You've aged quite a bit my friend, but I sense you haven't actually changed one bit," she said, turning and sitting down at his table. She motioned to him to take the seat across from her and he sat, smirking back at her as if the two of them were in on some secret that Robin had no part of. He felt a small twinge of jealousy towards this man who shared a part of Regina's life that he could never know, and he closed the door and moved to stand by the fireplace out of the way.
"What can I do for you Regina?" he repeated.
"I need to get to another realm. Do you still have your hat?"
"And you say I haven't changed one bit," he replied. "30-something years later you show up here and want exactly the same thing as last time. Unfortunately for you the answer is still no," he said.
"Still no? What do you mean?"
Jefferson looked at her quizzically. "I mean that you asked before and I said no, and the answer is still no."
"This was back when Snow and Charming were fighting me to take back the kingdom. Before Emma was born. I came to your house and I promised you a life of riches if you transported me to Wonderland, and you denied me?"
"Yes," he replied. "I would remind you that you were there, but now I wonder if maybe you weren't…" he trailed off starting at her intently. "I came quite close, though. Watching Grace grow up penniless wasn't easy, but I guess things turned out alright. I'm not rich but Grace seemed to be happy enough, and I have a grand-daughter to boot."
Regina was stunned. That's what had happened in this realm. Without her father she had not been able to crush his heart and enact the curse. Snow and Charming had defeated her, and Emma had never left. She looked over at Robin and, seeing the distressed look on her face, he inadvertently took a step towards her. She gently shook her head at him and motioned with his hand for him to stay where he was. Pulling herself together again and squaring her shoulders she turned to Jefferson.
"Well here I am again and I need the answer to be yes this time. What will it take?" she asked him.
"That depends on what you need," he replied.
"Just transport. I'm not stealing anything and I'm not planning on getting you mixed up in anything," she said.
"I can take you there and bring you back, for a price of course. How long did you need to go for?"
"We're not planning on coming back," she clarified.
"Regina, the same number that go through have to come back. If I take you there I wouldn't be able to come back without the two of you," Jefferson replied. "It's out of the question."
"But if you opened it and we went through without you and just never returned-" she began but was cut off.
"Then I would have a broken portal. I couldn't use it to go anywhere else until the two of you returned. Also out of the question."
"Jefferson, I need this. What will it cost me?" she asked, for once being fairly open with him.
He looked at her sharply as if he didn't quite believe the raw openness that was coming from her. "Regina I don't know if you remember this but you haven't made any effort to make my life particularly easy. You see those around you as mere pawns to be used for your own amusement. Why do you think I would help you?"
She felt her insides crumpling in shame. It was true; she had used everyone around her. She didn't deserve anyone's help. She didn't deserve a fresh start. She didn't deserve a happy ending. She felt herself beginning to spiral into a vortex of shame and self-hatred and she looked around the room shamefully trying to avoid Jefferson's eyes, until her gaze landed on Robin. He looked back at her with an encouraging smile and she remembered his words from earlier. She felt a strength growing in her and she looked back at Jefferson as a fire ignited in her eyes.
"Please tell me more about using people as pawns, Jefferson," she said sarcastically. "I seem to remember a time that you had no trouble helping Rumple take advantage of a naïve young girl who was trying to resurrect her one true love to save her from an awful marriage." Jefferson at least had the decency to look down at the table with some shame. "And after you and the good doctor helped Rumple convince me that there was no hope left for me I seem to remember that you benefitted greatly from the new, darker, Regina who was willing to do all kinds of things that got us whatever we needed when we were hopping from realm to realm."
"I never asked you to do any of that," he said quietly.
"That's true, and I know I'm not blameless in this," she said sharply. "I know that we were both young and reckless. I asked you to do things that I shouldn't have, and ultimately I did my very best to keep you on a dark path with me. But you knew I needed love, and you made it clear that you valued me and my company for very specific reasons," she spat at him.
"I did care for you, Regina," Jefferson said, looking into her eyes now.
"Yet you never said or did anything during those years while you watched as abuse and indifference warped that girl, who had come to you for help, into something dark and twisted," she said, tears shining in her eyes despite her best efforts to keep them at bay.
"Once I had gotten to know you, and I understood the fiery and passionate soul that you hid beneath that naïve and resentful exterior, I regretted that I had helped Rumple. But you were gone by then. There was no bringing back the woman that existed before," Jefferson said, still staring at her as tears pooled in his own eyes now. "But I truly cared for that girl that I sometimes caught glimpses of."
Regina wrapped her hand over his on the table between them, looking at him with some tenderness. "Then help me bring her back now. Help me go to a place where I can get a fresh start, and find the love and happiness that I was never able to hold onto in this realm."
Robin wished he had stayed outside. The raw emotion that crackled between the two of them was almost visible in the dark and quite room. The level of intimacy between these two, who had grown up together in a way, who had seen the light in each other but only nurtured the darkness, made him feel like an imposter. He tried to shrink further into the corner as he watched emotions dancing across both of their faces as they stared into each others eyes.
Finally Jefferson roused himself. "I'll do it. I'll help you," he said.
Regina smiled and leaned across the table to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you," she said as she pulled her face back and stroked his cheek.
He looked back at her sadly, and then a mischievous gleam came into his eye. "You wore that dress on purpose didn't you?" he said, eyeing her up and down. One corner of her mouth quirked up as she gave him a sly wink. "Alright," he said. "I'll get my hat and then I'll meet you in the front yard."
Regina stood up from the table and clasped his hand once more wordlessly before she turned to Robin and motioned for him to follow her outside. Once they had emerged into the yard she let out a long sigh and looked over to Robin with her hands on her hips. "You ready?" she asked him seriously.
"I am," he said with no hesitation. She smiled at him as Jefferson emerged from the house carrying an old battered hat.
"Alright," he said. I'll open the portal and then you know what to do Regina."
"I do," she said as she and Robin walked over to stand next to the hat. "And Jefferson, thank you again."
He smiled at her and stepped back as he spun the hat and opened the portal. Regina took Robin's hand and the two of them jumped in. As they disappeared into the portal she saw Jefferson take his granddaughter's hand and begin walking back into his house, never looking back at the life of adventure he was saying goodbye to.