Alice ran through the woods in distress ignoring the calling of Jefferson. It was only when she'd run quite a way and was quite sure that he was no longer following that she allowed herself to stop, taking a seat on a log.

Jefferson had played a part in breaking Regina's heart. Or re-breaking it one might say. Oh, rationally Alice knew he'd not been doing it maliciously. That for him it was really just business and that the true culprit was Rumplestiltskin. But she still couldn't help but be mad.

Regina had faced enough heartbreak without having to have it doubled with some resurrection scam. Regina who'd been her first true friend. Alice didn't take many people into her heart, so of course she was defensive of the queen.

Reaching down for her pipe she found it had disappeared and she let out a small groan. Retracing her steps brought up nothing and she wondered if it had slipped out and floated down the nearby river. Either way it was lost to her.

With a huff she decided to try and find a place to stay for the night since her plans with the Hatter were quite clearly cancelled.

OUAT

Jefferson was feeling slightly depressed. And it certainly didn't help that Grace was sad too. He'd had to explain that Piper needed to be a way for a while and he wasn't sure when she would be coming back.

The longer he didn't see her the more severe the ache in his chest began to be. Of course, he didn't really have anyone to talk this over with or a way of fixing it.

As far as the broken pipe went he had whittled her a new one carved with images of leaves and music notes. He was quite proud of it actually. But he doubted he was going to get a chance to give it to her given the way she was avoiding him.

Time passed and eventually Rumplestiltskin called on him again.

"What do you need?" he asked in a far less chipper tone than usual. He wasn't feeling up for banter.

"What's wrong with you?" asked the Dark One. "No quips about Your Darkness?"

"Not in the mood,"

"Why?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't but if you aren't yourself you're likely to get lax and I can't have you accidentally getting yourself in trouble and losing my merchandise because you weren't feeling yourself," snorted Rumplestiltskin.

"Fine, turns out Piper is friends with Queen Regina. The one we conned. I had the bright idea to come clean about my past encounter with her friend and she ran away from me in anger. I haven't seen her since." Rumplestiltskin looked pensive.

"I see. Well, I'm hardly qualified to give love advice but perhaps if you just wait a little longer she may come round. At the very least you're bound to meet again and be able to settle whether this is the end of things between you two. After all your personal problems don't get to affect my line of work."

"I suppose," said Jefferson for once not rising to the bait.

"Right then, off with you I have an important job," Rumplestiltskin gave him his orders and Jefferson spun out the portal that was his hat.

OUAT

As soon as Jefferson had come and gone Rumplestiltskin cursed.

Of course, he didn't regret breaking Regina's heart permanently. He'd needed to crush any delusions of bringing back the dead and firmly put her on the path to casting his curse.

HOWEVER, this was disrupting his plans to get Pip and Jefferson together. True their love wasn't exactly pertinent to any of his plans but he was...bleh relatively fond of the pair and he'd invested enough effort into setting them up that he wasn't about to let things fall apart at this stage.

With a huff he called Pip to him and a short while later the Piper walked through his doors.

"What is it Rum?" she asked sounding just as forlorn as the damn Hatter.

"I thought we ought to have a chat dearie," said Rumplestiltskin.

"Oh?"

"I understand you went and saw Queen Regina recently." Pip's eyes narrowed.

"Yes, in fact that's something I wanted to talk with you about. Why on earth are you teaching her magic and why did you insist Jefferson help break her heart again?" Pip sounded quite angry and Rumple felt rather glad their deal included an inability to hurt each other.

"That's primarily my business Pip," he replied. "Regina called on me asking to help get rid of Cora and then wanted to learn magic. But she wanted to learn how to raise the dead."

"Couldn't you just explain that's not possible!?" demanded Pip.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean she would have stopped trying. Better she give it a go and see it doesn't actually work," shrugged Rumple. "I'm not going to waste my time with a wishy washy student."

"But you WANT her as your student," said Pip all too perceptively. Rumple rolled his eyes.

"As I said. My business. And the feeling is mutual. I'm not forcing her to learn magic."

Which was true. He might be giving Regina the occasional shove but she was still welcome to turn back any time she liked.

"Would the resurrection have worked if you hadn't interfered?" asked Pip.

"No," replied Rumple shortly. "Not the way she'd want. Faking it simply made things simpler all around." he had no intentions of going into detail about why he wanted Regina as his student. Bae was none of Pip's business however pleasant company he found her. "Regardless, you shouldn't blame Jefferson. He was doing his job."

"Jefferson spoke with you?" asked Pip with a pause.

"Yes, he was decidedly less irritating and frankly it was unnerving," snorted Rumple. What looked like hope crossed Pip's face.

"Thank you, Rum."

"Just get back to normal the both of you I don't need my most useful employees in an argument. It's most inconvenient." Pip snorted.

"Sure it is Rum."

OUAT

A couple weeks passed and she purposely avoided the area of the forest close to the Hatter's cottage. She tried to put the pair from her mind but it was difficult.

Prior to spending time with Jefferson and Grace she'd not generally, felt consciously lonely. Oh, she missed her parents and her friendship with Regina but she didn't MIND being on her own.

And then Jefferson and Grace came into her life filling it with laughter and joy. And suddenly, the idea of being alone was less appealing.

Now, after speaking with Rum, who was surprisingly willing to take responsibility for the entire incident with Regina, even if she could tell there was more the story, her desire to see them again and reconcile was heightened.

Was this what love was?

Alice held a good deal of pride. Apologizing was not something she did often, or really at all at this point. Yet, Grace and Jefferson were surely worth it. At least if Jefferson would forgive her.

So she went to the village where the pair resided and dawdled around till she saw Grace head off to the neighbor's house and caught Jefferson on his own. If he didn't wish to forgive her she wasn't going to weaponize any feeling Grace might have towards her, against him.

Jefferson smiled as usual as he interacted with his daughter but as soon as she was out of sight his face fell and he appeared slightly down trodden. She tentatively approached.

"Hattie?" she called tentatively. His head whipped round in surprise and she saw what she thought was hope flair in his blue eyes though she wasn't entirely certain whether she was fooling herself or not.

"Piper," he said loping over. "It's, good to see you."

"And you," she replied softly. "Could we take a walk?"

"Sure," said Jefferson offering her his arm and she took it before they deviated out of the town and into the woods. There was an awkward silence for a while before Jefferson finally broke it."

"I didn't think you were coming back."

"I was...foolish running away like that. As Rum rather acutely pointed out what happened between you and Regina well...it was more his fault than yours. You did what you had to do to support Grace and frankly I'd have done the same in your shoes. Hell, if Gina weren't my friend I wouldn't even have been upset in the first place."

"So you forgive me?" he asked. Piper shrugged.

"There's nothing to forgive. More accurately I've gotten off my moral high horse," she said the last bit with a wry smile turning to face him. Jefferson reached out to stroke her cheek.

"Thank goodness. It's been agony waiting to see if you'd show up again. I worried I'd have to get His Darkness to summon you under false pretenses." Alice laughed.

"You'd do that?" Jefferson scoffed.

"For you. Absolutely."

OUAT

Relief and hope flooded through Jefferson as Piper stated that she no longer held the Regina matter against him. He wondered from her comment if Rumplestiltskin had played any significant part in getting her to come round. In which case he might be owing the imp a favor.

Gently he reached out to stroke the soft skin of her cheek.

"Thank goodness. It's been agony waiting to see if you'd show up again. I worried I'd have to get His Darkness to summon you under false pretenses." she laughed a pretty sound that filled the forest.

"You'd do that?" Jefferson nodded with a scoff.

"For you. Absolutely." Then something came to mind and he dropped his hand reaching for the Pipe he kept in his belt.

"That reminds me. You dropped your pipe when you ran off. I accidentally broke it when I tried to follow so...I made you a new one." He offered the honey colored instrument. Piper examined the pipe and he was pleased by the look of awe on her face.

"It's beautiful Jefferson. Thank you."

"A pipe suited for the Piper," he replied cheekily. However instead of laughing the object of his affections turned to him with a slightly serious expression in her grey eyes.

"Alice. My name...is Alice." Jefferson felt a jolt of shock run through him. Of course he'd suspected the Piper was an alias of some sort but he'd not thought to get her true name. It just hadn't occurred to him.

"Well, Alice. May I kiss you?" he enquired with a flirtatious smile reaching to cup her cheek in one hand the other going to her waist. Alice's lips twisted up in a small smile her grey eyes softening as her arms wound round his neck.

"Yes. Yes you may." That was enough for Jefferson without further ado he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers kissing the woman he knew now that he loved.

Author's Note: SOOO with a little shove from our favorite imp our couple is back on track and we get our first kiss! Let me know what you think! If you like the story (or really have any thoughts) I'd love to hear them in the comments it helps keep me motivated. Thanks so much for reading! Until next time