OUAT/VD: The Truth Is Out There

Ch.17: Hat Trick

Katherine was driving through town, when she almost ran some guy over. She got out of the car to make sure he was okay. He said he was, but when she saw that he was limping a little, she gave him a lift to his place, which she found to be huge, though he was the only one living there as he informed her. She then helped him inside, deciding to be kind, and he told her that his name was Jefferson and she introduced herself. He gave her some tea, which she drank, thinking he was just being kind to her. It turned out that something had been in the tea.

When she woke up, she was on the couch with her hands tied in front of her and her legs duct taped and there was a gag. Knowing that some witches could move things with their minds, she tried it with her Traveler magic and succeeded in untying her hands and undoing the gag that way. Then she manually undid her legs and silently got up and investigated.

When she got to a certain room, she saw that he'd been watching her through a telescope. She then searched some more and found a room where Mary Margaret was gagged and tied to a chair. She didn't expect that but did get her untied.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned.

"I was in the woods, when he came out of nowhere and grabbed me," she told Katherine.

"How'd you get out?"

"There was a key in my cell."

"Who put it there?"

"I don't know."

"Let's just get out of here," she told Mary Margaret and they began to silently walk through the house.

Jefferson appeared with a gun in hand, pointed at them.

"Tie her up," he told Katherine. "You didn't tell me about her, which means nobody knows you're here."

"I don't take orders from anyone," Katherine replied. "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I'm trying to be a better person that I was before. But one thing hasn't changed. I don't listen to those that try to tell me what to do. I do what I want when I want." She then spoke to Mary Margaret. "Get out of here. Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

Mary Margaret did as Katherine told her to.

"Now, you want me here for a reason. You got me here. Now, why did you bring me here?" she replied.

He took her by the arm and brought her into a room that was filled with hats.

"I've been in this house the same as always for twenty-eight years. Then you showed up and everything changed. You're special. You brought something precious to Storybrooke. Magic," he explained to her.

"What do you want?" she asked him. "You brought me here for a reason, and it wasn't to give me a history lesson about magic."

"I want you to get it to work," he replied. He sat down in the chair. "You're the only one that can do this."

"Get what to work?" she inquired.

She looked at the table in front of her and saw a black hat. Seeing that, she began to realize who Jefferson really was. The Mad Hatter.

He tossed some black cloth on the table in front of her.

"Make one like that," he instructed.

"You want me to make a hat? You don't have enough?"

"Well, none of them work, do they? Or else you wouldn't be here. Now, make a hat and get it to work," he replied. He sat down in a chair that was in the corner of the room. "You have magic. You can do it."

"Just because I have magic, doesn't mean I know even the first thing about making a hat," she countered.

"You're not leaving here until you make my hat and get it to work," he replied.

"Then what?" she questioned him, as she began to cut the cloth, trying her best to do what he asked of her.

"Then I go home," he answered her, now sitting in front of her at the table.

Once she succeeded in making the hat, she tried to make it work as he asked, but it wasn't working.

"I can't make it work," she admitted.

"It has to. If it doesn't work, I'm never going home. I'll be cursed to live in this house forever."

"What's wrong with this place? It's beautiful," she assured him.

"It's cursed. Just like everyone else here, everything I love has been ripped from me," he informed her. "Take a look."

She looked in the telescope to see a girl with parents, having dinner. Then she looked at him.

"That's Grace. My Grace. Here it's Paige. She doesn't know who I am or remember where we came from, but I do. That's my curse," he explained.

"To remember," she stated, getting it. She always was a quick learner, after all.

"What good is this house, this place, these things, if I can't share them with her?"

"If she really is your daughter, why don't you reach out to her and tell her?" she questioned him. She knew she'd want to do the same if it were her daughter.

"Because I'm trapped by knowledge. You think I'd inflict that awareness on my daughter? It's hard enough to live in a land where you don't belong."

They stood in front of each other.

"That's why you want me to make that hat work. You just want to take Grace home to your world," she realized.

"It's the one world where we can be together. Where she'll remember who I am."

"I know what it's like to be separated from your daughter, but with different circumstances. I'm sorry for what you're going through, but at least your daughter is still alive. Mine I lost twice. The last time was from a werewolf bite."

"So, you'll get it to work," he assumed.

"I can try," she replied.

Later, after finally getting a hat to work, he let her go, so she went to see Henry. When she was on a bench with him, Paige said hi to Henry and then left to go inside the school. She was curious, so she asked to see his book, so he let Katherine see it. That's when Katherine found the story of The Mad Hatter. Seeing his story, she saw that he was right. He did have a daughter.

"Can I hold onto this?" she questioned him.

"Absolutely," he replied.