Chapter Text
“That’s insane,” spits Regina. “You’re out of your damn mind!”
“I’ve heard that before,” responds Jefferson dryly.
In a calmer tone, Regina explains, “I locked Zelena’s hat away for good reason.”
“To keep me safe?” says Jefferson doubtfully, and the sorceress scoffs.
With an angry pout, Regina asks, “Why do you refuse to believe that I want you to be happy?”
“Because you–” Jefferson cuts himself off, grunting with frustration. Taking a breath, the portal jumper answers, “I appreciate the sentiment, Regina, but it’s still difficult for me to trust you. It’s only been fifteen years.”
“Twenty-five years,” asserts Regina irritably.
“For you,” says Jefferson quietly, because the sorceress may glamour herself to look younger, but she’s ten years older than him, transported to the past by Drizella’s curse. And they were both already so very, very old.
Jefferson sighs. “Regina…” Shaking his head, the jumper reminds her, “You imprisoned me for thirty years. It’s gonna take another thirty for us to be friends.”
“If that’s what it takes,” agrees Regina. “But I still consider you my friend, and so is Victor, which is why I told him a long time ago to keep Zelena’s hat a secret.”
“Because you thought I couldn’t handle it.”
“Because you made hundreds of those things! I didn’t want you making hundreds more.”
Jefferson opens his mouth to respond that he’s “better” now – that handling another portal hat, so similar to his own, wouldn’t trigger him to spiral – but they’re interrupted by a knock at Regina’s office door.
“Come in,” says Regina, and Percy the White Rabbit – ambassador to Wonderland and Regina’s advisor in all things magical – swiftly hops into the room.
“There’s no more time,” says Percy gravely. “You must let Grace connect her Ripper to the Hat.”
Sarcastically, Regina responds, “A mysterious, hostile entity from ‘outside space and time’ pries its way into the United Realms, and your suggestion is to allow a child–”
“She’s twenty-six,” says Jefferson, but Regina waves her hand dismissively.
“Grace is a child, compared to us,” says Regina, gesturing to the three of them. “By the ageless years we’ve lived, and the magic that we’ve mastered.” Pointing to Percy, the sorceress says, “You’ve seen firsthand how dangerous she can be! Three years ago, you and Grace almost died! Torn apart by zombies, or worse – afflicted by the curse of undeath yourselves!"
“She’s more experienced, now,” says Percy. “And I will be beside her, every step of the way.”
“So will I,” adds Jefferson. “Will you step up, Regina? Or is being Queen more important than being Savior?”
“Emma is the Savior,” says Regina, and Jefferson scoffs.
“We’re saving Storybrooke, aren’t we?” says the portal jumper.
Regina sighs. “Fine. You and Grace can have Zelena’s hat.”
The sorceress pushes past Jefferson, out the door and towards the castle’s vault, gesturing for him and Percy to follow her.
“Call Grace and have her meet us there,” Regina tells Jefferson, who takes out his cell phone and rings up his daughter. She picks up immediately, expecting his call.
“Hey, Papa,” says Grace. “What’d the witch say?”
“The mission is a go,” answers Jefferson. “Come to Regina’s castle now, before the Entity reaches Storybrooke.”
Phone pressed up against his ear, the portal jumper listens for his daughter’s response, but the conversation continues in-person, as Grace materializes beside him in a plume of purple smoke.
“Where was the last sighting?” asks Grace.
“The Land of Untold Stories,” answers Percy. “Tinkerbell is coordinating the island’s evacuation, by zeppelin and by sea.”
“But if the three of you can figure out how to seal the Tear–” says Regina.
“A tear your magic created back in 2018,” Jefferson moodily interjects, “when you thought you were unifying all the story realms.”
“Mistakes were made,” concedes Regina with a huff. “I learned not to mess with the fabric of the Multiverse.”
With the wide sweeping motion of both her arms, the sorceress gestures for the door to her vault to open.
“What else have you got in here, anyway?” asks Jefferson conversationally. “Gold? Jewels?”
“Magical artifacts,” answers Regina. “The most dangerous ones.”
At the center of Regina’s vault, sitting on a glowing pedestal, Jefferson spots Zelena’s hat. For a moment, he thinks it’s his Hat – the artifact that changed his life forever, and gave him his name.
Grace confidently reaches out for it, eliciting protests from Regina and Percy, who admonish her haste, asserting that she must ‘be careful.’
“Take it, sweetheart,” says Jefferson, watching his daughter – his blood, his heir, and much more powerful magician, who could give Regina a run for her money – place the artifact upon her head.
The three older magicians hold their breath, but nothing happens.
Noticing their reactions, Grace says, “You need to spin it first,” like it’s obvious. Which it should be, but Jefferson has never used Zelena’s portal hat before, and he doesn’t know its Rules.
“I need to bring it back to my lab,” says Grace, removing the Hat from her head and stepping out of the vault. “At Vic’s house,” the scientist clarifies, “not my lab in Chicago.”
“I’m not letting that thing out of my sight,” says Regina, and Grace shoots Jefferson an incredulous look.
“Is that an order from my Queen?” Grace snarks.
“The Hat does not belong to you or your father, it belongs to my sister,” asserts Regina. “Be mindful of that. I am allowing you to use it, to help us stop the Entity – not galavant across the realms.”
“I’m well aware, your Majesty,” says Grace, “of whose property I’m carrying.”
The scientist holds up her left arm – a flesh and blood arm the sorceress gave her three years earlier, replacing the cybernetic limb her stepfather crafted and a trip to the Umbrella Academy broke.
But on that arm Regina gifted her, Grace has equipped another Dimensional Ripper. This time it’s more like her late mother Priscilla’s – worn like armor, not embedded in her skin.
“Let’s go,” says Grace. “I’ll let you do the honors, your Majesty.”
The four magicians stop walking, and Regina teleports them all to Victor’s old house in Storybrooke. It’s a piece of property the doctor kept to conduct his research, which frequently stank of death and fumes Jefferson didn’t want wafting through their home. Grace uses the space now, crashing there whenever she’s in town. Now Vic’s garage suits a mechanical engineer, not a biologist trying to raise the dead.
Grace has already prepared for this, placing electrodes on and inside the Hat, connecting those wires to a computer program Jefferson doesn’t understand. Recognizing something on the screen that’s no more than squiggles to the jumper, Grace abruptly starts to joyfully laugh.
“Oh my God!” she exclaims. “Oh my God,” she repeats, looking up at her father. “I had no idea!”
“What is it?” asks Jefferson.
“What did you find?” Regina asks, stepping behind Grace to examine the squiggly lines.
“It’s…hard to explain,” says Grace. “It’s silly, really.”
“Try me,” says Percy, and Jefferson and Regina turn to look at him. “What?” he says, removing his pink glasses and cleaning them. “Grace develops her theories quicker when she says them out loud. When I’m not around, she talks to a rubber duck.”
“How familiar,” asks Grace, “are the two of you with quantum mechanics?”
“Not at all,” answers Regina.
“Explain it to us like we’re five,” Jefferson says, making Grace chuckle.
So she does, and by the end of Grace’s lesson, Jefferson is no smarter and he suspects Regina isn’t either. Percy absorbs the information better, but then again, Percy and Grace have been partners for years.
“I think we need to spin this thing and take a look inside,” concludes Grace. “The catch is, I’m not sure how to get back out. I’ll need you for that, Papa. Would you do that for me? Take one more trip inside the Hat?”
‘One more trip,’ thinks Jefferson, and his heart clenches. ‘One more heist, one more job.’ He glances over at Regina. ‘One last kiss.’
“Papa?” asks Grace, and Jefferson blinks, unsure how long he was blankly staring, frozen by past mistakes.
“Jefferson,” says Regina, snapping her fingers in his face. “Wake up, Hatter! We’ve got work to do.”
“Not for you,” asserts Jefferson. He looks down at Percy, then across the table at Grace, to remind himself he’s on a team, not alone with the woman who broke his heart. “For Storybrooke,” he says, and Regina nods in agreement.
“For Storybrooke.”