To See You Smile || Mad Duchess
It had been nearly a week since Alice had been in Storybrooke and a few days since he'd brought Grace home to live with them. That morning, Jefferson had walked Grace to school, kissing her cheek and promising to be there to pick her up when the day was over. There was an unfamiliar sense of joy that coursed through the Hatter, pure and true and something that he'd not felt in twenty-eight years. His mind almost wanted to reject such happiness, almost made him want to recoil from it because it was fragile. This happiness could be like glass, easily broken. He had watched Grace enter the school before pivoting on his heel and retracing his steps back to their home. Along the way, he found a small florist and dipped inside to buy a bouquet of calla lilies. He knew that tiger lilies were Alice's favorite flower but they were hard to come by in such a small town. With the flowers in hand, Jefferson made his way home to find that the house was still quiet. It was still early and Alice was apparently still asleep. That served his purpose well.
In the twenty-eight years that Jefferson spent in mostly solitude he'd learned a few new things. Cartography and cooking. He set the lilies on the kitchen counter and pulled out breakfast foods from the fridge and cupboards. Food was different here than what it was in Wonderland but he hoped that Alice enjoyed it nonetheless. It took only a little while to cook it and arrange the food on the tray, the lilies in a vase along with a pot of tea and cups. The Hatter carried the breakfast up to the room he now shared with Alice and set it down on the nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed and using light fingers he brushed some blonde locks away from her face before leaning in to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Good morning, my angel." He murmured. "I've made you breakfast."