A/N: This story is inspired by the movie "Groundhog Day" and my general longing to see Jefferson back on the show. Really miss that guy! :'(
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Emma had fooled him! She had knocked him out with the telescope, efficiently dropping him to the floor. Jefferson came-to a moment later. He felt the absence of the gun at his back and heard the hushed voices down the hallway. A fury burned inside his chest that brought him to his feet. He placed the hat on his head and barreled down the hallway towards the two women.
"EMMA LOOK OUT!" Snow White screamed as Jefferson plowed into Emma, knocking her and the chair Snow White was tied-to to the floor.
The gun was knocked from Emma's grasp and she scrambled across the floor to retrieve it. Jefferson tried to pull her back by her legs, but Emma fought him. The two wrestled on the floor, Jefferson pulling her hair and Emma pulling-off the scarf from his neck. When Jefferson had finally had enough, he yanked Emma up off the floor and shoved her across the room, giving him time to grab the gun. The room went still as Emma saw the black barrel that was being pointed at her face. Jefferson smiled as he replaced his fallen hat on his head and craned his bare neck to expose his scar.
"Off with his head." Jefferson repeated the words that had once been his sentence as Emma gaped at the deep, jagged line that circled his neck.
Suddenly, something hard collided with Jefferson's shoulder, packing enough force to spin him around. Jefferson managed to catch a glimpse of Snow White before she kicked him backwards and sent him crashing through the window. He fell through the early morning air along with the window's shattered glass. Together, they took a long hard fall to the ground, and Jefferson's vision went black.
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He awoke with a start as if Storybrooke's clock tower, chiming away in the distance, were inside his very room. Jefferson glanced at the clock on his night stand to see that it read 8:15. He rubbed his face with his hands, trying to clear the haze from his night's sleep, and then he froze.
Confusion crossed his face as he glanced around his bedroom
"How did I—No." he answered his own thought, "She kicked me out of the window!"
Jefferson shot-up from his bed and raced to the room where he had kept Snow White. When he opened the door, he found that not only was the room in one piece, but the window was too. Jefferson ran to the room where Emma had hit him with the telescope only to find that the telescope was untouched. It was the same story in his living room: No tea. No map of Storybrooke spread across the piano. No sign that anyone had been in his home at all. Jefferson walked outside in search of the little yellow bug he had hidden from sight. Either he had hid it so well that he couldn't even find it, or it had never been on his property in the first place. Jefferson feared it was the latter.
Like a man who had lost everything and had nothing else to lose, he sauntered back inside his house, feeling completely numb. Jefferson dropped onto his couch and sank into the cushions. His eyebrows were lowered over his intense gaze as he stared off at nothing and his mouth was set in a perpetual pout. Jefferson had determined that there were only 3 possibilities for how the events he clearly remembered happening, didn't happen.
One. Magic.
Two. It was all a dream.
Or, the possibility he abhorred the most. Three. He was crazy.
Jefferson stood up and headed for his favorite telescope, the one that pointed to Grace. He caught sight of her just as she was heading off to school. She was wearing the same navy coat she always wore on cold mornings, but the pattern and color of her scarf always changed. On this day, she wore the same blue scarf he remembered seeing yesterday—the same "yesterday" he had shared with Snow White and Emma. Calculating the time to be about right, Jefferson strolled to the living room and put his eye to the lens of the telescope. There was Emma, the Sheriff of Storybrooke, arriving to work at precisely the same time and manner as "yesterday". Jefferson backed away from the telescope as if it were a guard armed to shoot him. He wandered back into the room where his other telescope sat. Jefferson continued this routine of going back and forth between his telescopes until he saw Snow White escape from her prison cell for the second time.
Jefferson was no soothsayer. It hadn't been a dream or some vision. Magic was the only explanation. Once night had settled over Storybrooke, Jefferson set out to take a familiar stroll down a dark, winding road. When he heard the car approaching, he could hardly believe it. Why should the same day happen twice? As the little yellow bug sped around the corner, headed straight for him, Jefferson couldn't move. Maybe it was the deer-in-headlights effect. Or, maybe there was a part of him that didn't believe it was real. When the car slammed into him—causing him to fly several feet through the air to have his neck crack on a tree—it felt very real. And for the second time, in too short a time gap, Jefferson's vision went black.
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The chiming of the clock tower awoke him and he sprung up in his bed, eyes wide and alert.
"I should be dead."
Jefferson ran a hand over his neck, inspecting it for any unusual angle that might be detrimental to his health. His scar was the only unusual thing about his neck. Jefferson sighed, but it wasn't with relief. Quickly, he slid out of bed and moved to his telescope just long enough to catch a peek of Grace's blue scarf. Jefferson made a face. He was reliving the same day over and over. Wasn't it bad enough that he had relived the same year for 28 years? Jefferson didn't know what he had done to cross Regina this time—well, at least, he didn't know how she had found out about his rescue of Snow White—but she was his first thought when it came to...repetitive curses.
Donning "yesterday's" attire, Jefferson set out to visit the Mayor. When he arrived at her home, he wasted no time on courtesies like knocking on the door. He strolled inside the foyer of the house, expecting to be met by her cruel smile as if this new curse was just her way of toying with him. Instead, he walked in on her unexpectedly.
"Jefferson!" she gasped as her heels clicked to a halt before him.
Her bag dangled from her arm and her keys from her hand as if he had caught her on her way out the door.
"What are you doing in my home?" she demanded, "I could have you locked up…or worse."
Jefferson winced at her threat. He knew all too well what "worse" meant.
"Don't play stupid," he told her as he measured her with scrutiny in his eyes, "You put another curse on me."
Regina examined him for a moment and then a laugh escaped her lips.
"Oh, Jefferson," she mocked as she stepped passed him, "It's good to know that solitary living hasn't broken your sense of humor."
Jefferson grabbed her arm.
"I'm being serious," he spoke through his teeth, "These past 2 mornings I have awoken to relive the same day."
Regina removed his hand from her arm.
"Then again," she said as she eyed him up and down, "Solitary living has apparently broken something."
Jefferson gave her a bored look.
"I wouldn't have come here if I felt I had another choice."
Regina looked at him carefully, and then walked towards the door.
"Fine. Perhaps you're right, Jefferson. Maybe someone has put a curse on you," Regina played along, "But don't point a finger at me. You're not worth my time."
Regina held the door open and her chin high in that self-righteous way of hers.
"Goodbye, Jefferson."
His jaw clenched as he stared at her. She no more believed him than she held any blame for his new curse. Regina was not one to allow others credit for her handy work. There was some other magic at play here. Jefferson sighed in irritation and focused his eyes forward as he walked out of the Mayor's home. He didn't bother to look back at her, knowing that she would be of no help to him. In fact, there was only one other person who possessed magic and a reason to use it against him. Jefferson's eyebrows lowered as he pursed his lips.
"Emma."
When he arrived at the Storybrooke Sheriff Department, he heard a trio of familiar voices coming from the main detention area. The two most notable of the three belonged to Emma and Rumpelstiltskin. Good. Jefferson thought. He could cover all his bases as far as possessors of magic were concerned. As Jefferson stepped into the doorway, all eyes turned to him.
"Can I help you?" Emma asked as she looked at him with not the slightest bit of recognition.
Jefferson ignored her as he strolled into the room, catching a curious glance from Rumpelstilskin. Snow White was still in her cage and Jefferson wondered what ill-fate she had been met with the previous "yesterday" when he hadn't saved her from crossing the border.
"Don't bother using that key," he advised Snow White to which her mouth fell in shock.
Emma put herself between him and the bars Snow White was standing behind.
"What key—Excuse me, who are you? Do you have a problem?"
Jefferson laughed at that.
"Several." he replied as he met her gaze with a dark glare.
Rumpelstiltskin limped towards them on his cane.
"What's this about?"
"She cursed me," Jefferson replied as if it were commonplace, "Or if she didn't, you did!"
Jefferson looked at his old business partner and noted the lack of amusement on his face.
"Careful, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin warned, "You're beginning to sound a bit...mad."
Jefferson's jaw clenched as he held the older man's gaze. For all that he pretended to be, Rumpelstiltskin was aware how that word could affect him.
"You didn't curse me, then."
Rumpelstiltskin gave a laugh at the absurdity of his statement.
"No, dearie, I didn't curse you."
"Well then, that only leaves her."
Jefferson looked into Emma's familiar hazel-green eyes and she scoffed at his accusation.
"Don't mind him, Ms. Swan," Rumpelstiltskin intervened, "He's known around town for being a little unbalanced."
"I'm not crazy. I've been reliving the same day since I met her," he declared as he pointed a finger at Emma, "She has magic. She doesn't believe it, but she does! I'll prove she does!"
In a true moment of insanity, Jefferson lunged forward towards Emma, planning to shake the magic out of her or something as equally unsuccessful. All he received for his efforts was a hard whack to the back of the head that knocked him unconscious.
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When Jefferson awoke in his bed to the chiming sounds of the clock tower, he realized that there was only one way to confront Emma about her magic—the same way he had confronted her the first time—alone...
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