Once Upon An Untold Story

Jefferson's Story Part 1

A sudden blast hit the people of Storybrooke and restored their Enchanted Forest selves. Janitors were dwarfs, teachers were princesses, and sheriffs were saviors once again. One of our characters is still in pain, still in belief that his daughter would never recognize him.

Jefferson was walking down the streets of Storybrooke, he waited by the stop where the school bus dropped off the kids, where it dropped off his Grace, or as her other family called her Paige. He lost hope and when the bus began approaching, he started walking away, tears slowly rolling down his face. He knew coming here only caused him more pain each day. A pain that might drive someone mad.

"Papa?" he heard a familiar voice calling. He kept walking as he thought it was just the constant voices in his head torturing him again.

"Papa? Why are you walking away?" he heard it again. This time, he slowly turned around and saw his little Grace standing there, only a few feet away.

"Oh my god," he choked out, "Grace," he ran over to her and embraced her. He held her so tightly, it seemed as if he would never let her go, "It's been too long, one year too long, I'm sorry I left."

"It's okay, Papa, can we go finish our tea party now?" Grace said as she looked up at him with hope in her eyes.

"Of course, anything for my Princess," Jefferson picked her up and they went on their way, taking various buses to their home. Once they got back to Jefferson's, he immediately went into the kitchen and began brewing the tea, ecstatic that in this life, they could have a tea party with actual warm tea instead of the well water they used in the Enchanted Forest. 

He carried the tea into the main living room, where his grand piano stood, an instrument he hoped to teach Grace to play one day. He set down the tea and told Grace to wait.

Jefferson went into the other room, where he had a bunch of kids toys and a rabbit that resembled the one Grace wanted at the market. He teared up thinking about what happened that day but stayed strong knowing that she was waiting for him in the other room.

"Grace, I have something for you, something I wish I could've gotten for you a while back," he said as he showed her the rabbit. Her face lit up and she ran over to Jefferson, thanking him for everything, and for being the best Papa.

They went over to the couch and began their tea party, telling each other wild stories and Grace telling her Papa about how different life is in this place. How she misses the daily forest walks with him, but how she's happy that they don't have to suffer anymore.

"You know we're going to have to talk to the people who've been taking care of you this past couple of months?" He began.

"My other family-" Jefferson cut her off.

"I'm your family! No one else, it's just me...," he sighed and looked over at Grace, who seemed startled at his response, "I'm sorry Grace, I've missed you so much and seeing you with those other people tormented me for the longest time, you were so happy with them and I just wanted us to be a family again, just you and me," He started crying and left the room, he didn't want to hurt her anymore than what he's already done.

He went back to the room after a few seconds and sat down next to Grace, who seemed to be afraid and watched his every move. 

"I'm sorry, I've been with them for a while and that's what I've gotten used to calling them, I love you, papa, you're my family," Grace reassured Jefferson, hoping he'd understand her better. He looked down at her and smiled, a smile that hasn't come across his face since the Enchanted Forest. 

He picked her up and set her down in his lap, holding her close and apologizing for what he thought was everything. Jefferson didn't know that she was okay with everything, Grace was just glad she had her Papa back.