Making Your Own Happy Ending

When he had seen the magic cloud, his heart had leapt. He knew the spell had been broken, that his Grace would now know him, but legally she still belonged to her adoptive family and they'd been good to her. Like Emma Swan the odds of getting Grace back, irregardless of the fact that he'd never consented to her adoption in the first place, were low. If he grabbed her in this world, law enforcement would find him. He had assisted Regina on occasion. He had kidnapped the savior and her mother. He'd never get custody here. So Jefferson determined, now that his hat should work again, he wouldn't remain here much longer. Let her adoptive father mewl in impotence. He'd spent the last 28 years doing so.

Unfortunately, he had decisions to make before he showed up at her school one afternoon and drove off with her. That part was easy. He only needed five minutes to get them to a clearing, whip out the hat, and take them forever beyond the reach of Emma Swan and her sheriff's badge. The first was which world to go to. Their home was abandoned. Everyone from there was here. If there were no people, there was nobody to sell mushrooms to and he and Grace would starve. So their home was out of the question. Wonderland was also out of the question. He would never bring his Grace to that hell hole, not in a million years. But there were many, many other worlds. He would look upon them tonight with his hat and make his choice then.

His second concern was the one that had trapped him in Wonderland in the first place. He didn't want to end up 'selling fungus at the fair' again, as Regina has so eloquently put it. He wanted what she had promised him long ago, namely a life of comfort for his child and himself. Here he had comfort, but no Grace. Before, in their home world, he had Grace, but no comfort. He would not drag her back to poverty. He needed a better alternative.

Sighing, he plopped himself down on the hood of his car, letting his head roll back to look up at the sky. The puffy clouds gave him no answers, but then here they were mere water vapor, not magic smoke from a caterpillar's pipe or the last drops of cream from a bounty-granting cow, as they were in other worlds. Cloud watching was useless in this realm, so much so that writers and poets often used it as a metaphor for wasting time. Well, he'd been separated from Grace for far too long. He couldn't afford to waste any time.

Straightening his neck, Jefferson's eyes fell on the shop across the street and the name on above it. Gold, that was his answer! Gold was valuable in nearly all worlds. If he could bring enough of it with him and Grace, stuff their pockets and travel bags, he'd have a nest egg for them when they reached their new home. He could purchase a warm home and all the necessities of life for them for years. Yes, acquiring a significant amount was the answer. With renewed magic Rumplestiltskin could freely spin the stuff in his spare time, so the amount Jefferson requested wouldn't be much issue to the Dark One. What Jefferson could offer in return would be his focus in the bargain, and an eerily vindictive smile spread across his face as he realized he had something quite valuable to offer. Getting into his sports car, Jefferson tried to taper down his enthusiasm as he drove towards his home in the woods. He had to get to his hat.

Upon opening his dusty old box, he found his hat was indeed magically imbued again, but more important than the hat were the objects inside of it. When Regina had had dropped them in, the hat had greedily devoured them for their magic, but now that magic was in abundance, the little pieces of metal had been returned to this world and lay peaceably nestled in the hat's velvet lining.

He would offer them all. None of these magic charms were of any use to him or Grace, but that physically worthless brass ring would buy them all the gold father and daughter could carry. The ring was blessed with the power of true love, and not just any true love, the love of the evil witch and whoever that man whose face reflected back when you turned the ring just so had been. Had Regina's maternal instincts not been so strong, he doubted she would have parted with that little piece of brass for anything else in any world, not even to maintain her curse. Rumplestiltskin would surely pay well and make Regina pay a thousand times over to possess it. That idea pleased Jefferson. All he had to do was sell the ring and the other objects, and he'd have his revenge through the imp proprietor's machinations. It seemed he truly was done with her forever. Yes, the bliss was sublime, and he knew he was on the verge of his own happy ending.

Three days later, as he patted his full stomach, Jefferson realized that he indeed had his happy ending. It came as he watched his little girl dancing with a well quaffed lion on the dance floor of the finest restaurant in the Emerald City. Taking a final sip of tea, he stood up, strode across the floor and cut in. Grace could find another dancing partner, and this lion had some dance moves he just had to learn.