The Hatter

Chapter 11

"Hey, Jefferson," Autumn greeted, standing in the doorway with a tray of food in each hand.

"Hey." I looked up and smiled at her.

"So, I'm on my lunch break, and I was wondering if I could just hang in here? You seem like you need a buddy."

"Um, sure."

"Cool." She walked over and handed me one of the trays before finding a chair and moving it closer to me.

"Thanks."

"No problem." She took a bite of her salad with a crunch.

"How did you know what I liked?" I asked, opening my bottle of iced tea. She held up a finger and swallowed before answering.

"I kinda just guessed." She shrugged, and took another bite.

"That's pretty good for a guess." I took a sip of my tea. It was cold, but surprisingly, tasted okay.

"Guess so." She shrugged again. "So... how was your visit with Madeline earlier?" Her tone suggested that she wanted to segue to something else.

"It was nice."

"She seems cool."

"Yeah, she is, I guess." I slowly took a bite of my sandwich, wondering where she was going with this.

"Do you... like her...?" She raised her eyebrows in question, and I raised mine in surprise.

"Not like that, no," I lied defensively, "we're just friends."

"You sure?" She was smirking now, seeing the slight alarm on my face as I looked at her. Autumn wiggled an eyebrow suggestively.

Did I like Attina? There was definitely something about her that I was attracted to, but that wasn't quite "liking".

"Maybe," I finally answered, taking another bite.

"Maybe meaning... you don't really know?"

"Yes." I couldn't stop thinking about her now, and tried to picture what she would've looked like in our world, with a dress and a tiara.

"Jeff, buddy?" Autumn said, and my head snapped up.

"What? And don't call me Jeff."

"Fine, but I asked you a question and you didn't answer."

"What was your question?"

"Why are you not sure if you like her?" I had no definite answer for that.

"I... I don't know." I unscrewed my iced tea and took another sip.

A click of heels approaching drew my attention, and I looked up to see a well-dressed woman in a blouse and pencil skirt standing at the doorway to the room. She flipped her hair away from her face and put her brown eyes right on me. Anger started to boil in the pit of my stomach.

"Regina," I said, trying to regain my composure.

"Jefferson." Her posture was perfect, and reminded me of Attina. But Attina's was that of a born ruler, and Regina's was that of someone who learned the skill later on.

"Uh, hey... Mrs. Mayor..." Autumn greeted uncomfortably, but Regina paid no mind to her.

"I need to talk to Jefferson," she announced, her cold eyes never leaving my face.

"Sure," Autumn answered, taking a gulp of her juice.

"Alone," Regina added.

"Oh. 'Kay." Autumn got out of her chair. "I'll just be waiting outside then." She started out the door, but then turned back around to take one last bite of her salad before leaving.

"Fairies," Regina sighed when Autumn had left," rolling her eyes.

"Autumn's nice," I defended, standing up carefully. A twinge in my back caused me to grimace.

"Whatever." Regina crossed her arms.

I took a deep breath, then crossed my arms as well.

"What do you want, Regina?" I asked, annoyed.

"I just came by to visit you and your daughter, Paige." She mocked a smile a reached out to touch my little girl's hair, but I swatted her hand away, my eyes blazing

"Grace, her name is Grace!" I yelled. You should know; you'd changed it!"

She smirked, knowing she'd gotten under my skin, and I silently cursed myself for letting her provoke me.

"It must be hard, knowing that if you had come just a bit sooner on that night, that she wouldn't be like this."

My eyes burned as I glared at her in anger.

"I also came here to tell you that now you know how I felt..." She stepped closer, "when Henry was in a sleeping curse." Her eyes were fierce.

"Because you cursed the apple he ate," I added, and she frowned.

"It was supposed to be for Emma!" She replied, frustrated. "On another note, I hope you had fun earlier with my fishy friend... and yours now, I guess." She smiled like she knew something that I didn't.

"Are you watching me? And who are you talking about, Madeline?"

"Yes, Attina." The smug look on her face made me want to punch her. "She and I were... acquaintances back when I was the Evil Queen."

"You still are," I countered, clenching my fists tightly.

She sighed.

"You won't believe me when I say this, but I have changed, Jefferson." She seemed serious, but I snorted anyways, unconvinced.

"Yeah, sure."

"I'm not lying."

I just raised an eyebrow, bored, and Regina checked her watch.

"Well, I better go. Goodbye, Jefferson." She turned to leave.

"Wait, what did you mean by-?" I started, but she'd already left. Sighing, I leaned back in by chair and took a bite of my food.

How did she know Attina? And what did she mean by "fishy friend?"

Autumn came back in cautiously, moving slow.

"So... what did she want?" She asked tentatively. "Unless you don't want to tell me, which is perfectly fine."

"She..." I glanced over at my daughter, my beautiful daughter. "She mainly wanted to make me upset about Grace being like this."

"Oh," Autumn answered, smiling sympathetically. "And did she?"

"Did she what?"

"Make you upset?" She pushed her salad around with her fork and looked up at me.

"I'm okay," I partially lied. I did feel upset and guilty about everything, but the feelings did not consume me. I knew that her attack was not really my fault.

"Jefferson?" My ears perked up at the apprehensive tone of her voice, and I raised my head to see her surprised expression.

"What?" I asked, confused and worried.

"Grace."

My head turned in slow motion, and my breath hitched when I saw the brown of my daughter's eyes.

"My name isn't Grace, it's Paige," she said, her words slurred together and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

And I couldn't say anything.