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All The Time In The World >> Jefferson (Mad Hatter) X Reader

Title: All The Time In The World

Paring: Jefferson (Mad Hatter) X Reader

Warnings: there is not child!reader X Jefferson. He is just acting like a family friend, or estranged uncle early on.

Spoilers: not if you've watched the origin stories episode in I think season three Once Upon A Time!

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Mr Jefferson had all the time in the world. He had so much time, that it saturated his entire mind and drove him very nearly mad. Well, he was mad before the curse, but that wasn't the point. He had nothing. Just hats and material, rows and rows of failures and sleepless nights, and a little telescopes to keep his restless mind racing.

He watched the years go by. At first, they went slowly; he knew it was because he was aware of it. But it wasn't until the third year of the curse when he noticed something. Or, someone.

The kind teacher at the school, Miss Mary Margaret Blanchard, had a baby. He'd not noticed a bump or a her acquiring a partner in the three years. The curse made a sort of groundhog day, for everyday. He watched Ruby fight with her grandmother about her clothes, and Mayor Mills stroll down the street at the same time everyday. He watched his daughter Grace - not Page! Her name is Grace! - go to school and get her homework done on time.

But this baby...

It aged different. For the next near decade, Jefferson watched with not an interest, but a confusion. While Dr Hopper went on his way without any lines ageing his face, here was a little kid, splashing around in gumboots in puddles, only to be cautioned inside from their mother Miss Blanchard. In fact, it was the eighth year of the curse when he decided to venture out. See what this kid was actually like.

It wouldn't have been too bad an idea if his umbrella hadn't broken and the worst storm Maine had seen in thirty years rolled in. Jefferson knew the kid and their mom Mary Margaret visited the hospital to read to the patients, but now stuck inside the long term care wing from a low branch down, he can see more.

You're eight years old, wearing overalls and a long sleeve blue shirt and bright red gumboots. Hair all over the place, eyes bright in wonder. And wide in fear as the thunder starts to rumble.

"Mister? Will it be okay?" Jefferson's attention is brought back to the kid in front of him. You. You're trembling, lip bitten in an attempt to keep it from wobbling. He can't help but remember Grace like this, on her first thunderstorm.

He nods slowly. "Uh, yeah, it's okay. It's just the clouds talking to each other, you know," he tells you.

You blink in interest, "Talking? It sounds like when you drop all the pots and pans in the kitchen, not talking!" You tell him in ernest.

Jefferson, for the first time in a while, smiles. "Well, it's like this," he explains, "there's a hot cloud, and a cold cloud in the the sky. And they don't much like being together, and they make a ... a fuss about it."

Your little head bobbed in understanding. "Like in The Hobbit?" You asked.

Jefferson paused. "I don't think I've read that one," he says.