Hi here is another oneshot. I took a break from the Wonderland fandom and now I've returned. Alice and Cyrus have always been a love of mine and it was nice to write a long oneshot.
This is a Season 1, OUAT/OUATIW AU. It's in the Wonderland fandom because only a few characters from OUAT are mentioned.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just Lily who was Lily before the character was introduced in Season 4 when this oneshot was originally planned to be posted. Liddell is also the surname of I believe the girl Alice in Wonderland was based off.
Please read and review.
Italics are flashbacks to the Enchanted Forest, regular text-Storybrooke.
Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed.
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland/Once Upon A Time AU- She's not Alice in Wonderland in this world. She's Alice Liddell the single Mom to a fatherless daughter and a crush on the bartender with the brown eyes and the beautiful smile.
Somehow they end up in the Enchanted Forest. Will recognises it immediately and while Alice is disappointed that she's not back in England she thinks that it might be the safest place for them. She cannot take her mind off the blank walls of the asylum and the screaming she heard.
So yes, the Enchanted Forest is the certainty the lesser of the two evils.
They cannot go very far, Anastasia is still weak after her stabbing and resurrection and she leans on Will even as she protests she can walk. The find shelter in an inn and collapse together no magic, no money just each other.
Will and Anastasia get horses the next couple of days and then leave. Will has unfinished business in Sherwood and Anastasia refuses to leave his side even for a few weeks. They promise they'll come back and then they go into the night.
"So it's you and me now" Alice says looking out at the sky.
There's a pause. "Does that bother you?" Cyrus asks carefully and only someone who knows him in the intimate way Alice does is able to pick up on the nerves.
She kisses him to shut him up and as Cyrus's hands tangle in her hair and she realises she wants more. She wants everything promised to her.
"Let's get married" she says pulling back. Cyrus blinks his brown eyes clouded with lust and love. "Alright" he says but Alice is already shaking her head. "Today, tomorrow, let's just get married and live our lives"
Cyrus grins at her again his eyes warm and dimples showing. "Alright then" he says and he pulls her onto his lap his hands framing her face again.
They marry in the small church in the village by the nice priest, they travel back to the inn and the innkeeper's wife takes one look at their faces and linked hands and offers them a bed for the night. "Newlyweds?" she asks and Alice beams. "Long may it last" she says passing them some bread, cheese, ham and wine for the night.
"Agreed" Cyrus says his mouth near Alice's ear sending shivers down her spine. "I am going to love you like this forever"
And they fall into their forever.
They move into a small cottage in the town, Cyrus sells one of his father's rings to do it despite Alice's protests but he shakes his head and tells her it doesn't matter. The only thing he says that matters is that he can provide for his wife and family.
It's the first time that Cyrus has mentioned having a family and he goes adorably red after he says it. Alice just turns to him and kisses him because a child with Cyrus's smile and eyes and kind heart is something she wants very much.
The house is small, a bed in one corner and a table near the fireplace and a small room designed to hold a spare bed. It comes with furniture and the innkeeper gives Cyrus a job behind the bar that pulls a steady wage and the nice woman next door teaches Alice how to make cheese and butter and milk and how to skin chickens. It's hard work something a woman back in England would have never had to learn unless she was poorer than Alice had been and she tumbles into bed exhausted and filled with such a sense of satisfaction.
She wonders how some people want more than this. The wind rattles around their little cottage and the Evil Queen is a rumour that frightens everyone and winter is cold and unfriendly and it's been a long time since they've seen Will and Anastasia, but at night Alice goes on her back naked with her legs spread for the only man she's ever loved, and her husband and finds herself content.
"Are you happy?" she asks Cyrus one night, Cyrus turns under the blankets his finger tracing Alice's naked hip. "Of course I am" he says his eyes warm and filled with love. "I love you". She giggles and Cyrus kisses her and Alice spreads her legs and let's pleasure wash her away.
In Storybrooke Alice Liddell wakes up to her alarm going off. She groans hitting the damn snooze button with all her might before sitting up. The clock reads six AM which means she has an hour to get breakfast on the table. She yawns forcing herself out the room and into the kitchen tying her hair up into a ponytail.
Alice hates the longer days, she works at one of the beautician's in Storybrooke but last night the owner asks her to pull a double shift as it was one of the inventory night and therefore she didn't get home to late. She thanks God that Granny (the woman who runs the bed and breakfast and the go to babysitter for many a working parent) was up to babysitting Lily for the better part of the day.
Lily Liddell, Alice's five year old daughter sidles into the room as soon as she can smell the eggs cooking. "Morning Lily-Pad" Alice says pouring a glass of milk and she's rewarded with a small smile. Lily is too much like her mother not at all a morning person.
Lily is beautiful, dark hair, dark eyes, dimples and slightly tanned skin but she is still Alice's daughter in everything she does.
They've lived in Storybrooke their whole lives alone as Lily's father is gone. Alice doesn't even remember him all that well but she thinks she's carved out a life for herself without any help. She owns her own apartment and she pays the rent on time, it's a small three room apartment and money is tight but Alice always makes sure that Lily has new shoes and strawberry milk on the weekends.
"I wish it was Friday" Lily bemoans as she changes into her uniform and allows Alice to tie back her long dark waves of hair (darker than Alice's own) into two plats. "Friday's muffin day"
Alice has Friday afternoon off and therefore she makes sure that she and Lily go to Granny's for tea and muffins. Lily calls it Muffin Day and looks forward to it with great gusto.
"I know Lily-Pad" Alice says smiling as she locks the door to her apartment. Multitasking is something that she's more than got the hang off and she tightens her coat around her as they walk down the Main Street.
"Momma" Lily says as there making their way down the street "Can we have spaghetti for dinner tonight?"
Alice calculates. Yes they can.
"Yes" she says finally "But when you come home from school you have to change, I need that uniform for the rest of the week and that uniform and spaghetti are not friends?"
"Why would spaghetti and my uniform be friends?" Lily asks her nose scrunching up adorably.
Alice is spared answering because it's at that minute she hits something solid. It's a human chest and she trips and falls into him strong arms coming forwards to catch her before she hits the sidewalk.
"Are you alright?" comes a concerned voice and Alice rights herself still keeping a hold of Lily's hand and forces herself to look upright into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes framed by the longest lashes she has ever seen.
"Oh yeah...err...fine thank you" she says righting herself.
The man is stunningly beautiful. He has a face framed by sharp cheekbones and his eyes are kind and brown and wide, his mouth is a perfect bow and his nose slightly upturned. His hands still on Alice's arms are warm and large, fingers long and thin. His skin is darker than Alice's and he's wearing black jeans, feet stuffed into combat boots much like hers and he's wrapped up in a brown winter coat.
Gently he lets go of her and he looks slightly stunned like she does a blush covering his cheeks in deliciously warm colours. She tries to rake through her memory as she thinks who this man might be. She's been taking this walk to Lily's school since she's enrolled and she must have seen him before.
"Sorry" she says again tugging Lily closer. The man laughs and Alice wants to groan because the laugh is utterly delicious. "Don't worry about it"
"Momma" Lily hisses tugging Alice's hand and Alice tears her eyes away from the man and down to her daughter. "School"
Alice resists the urge to roll her eyes before nodding. "Alright let's go" she turns back to the man. "Thank you" she says before ducking her head down and walking across the street to the bus stop.
The sickness comes unexpectedly. And yes alright Alice has been expecting this, she's not arrogant enough to do this. The Enchanted Forest is filled with good people under the iron rule of the Evil Queen but it's lacking something that Wonderland has. Alice is happier here than she would have been in England but she won't deny she misses Wonderland.
Sickness runs rampant throughout villages as well so it doesn't surprise Alice when she comes down with something and throws up most of the day. She struggles to sleep and burns up for the first few days and Cyrus gets more and more worried even asking neighbours to check on her and make sure she's alright.
Jemma the woman from across the road brings over her sister Daisy who is a midwife and a healer and she checks Alice's stomach and breasts and forehead and asks all sorts of questions. She smiles as she claims Alice is going to survive this after all.
"You're with child my girl" she says dropping tonics for Alice to take on the table. Alice stares. The woman chuckles and quietly lets herself out as Cyrus bursts in clearly out of breath. Alice resists the urge to roll her eyes because she's forgotten the small society mentality that means everyone knows everything.
"Are you Ok?" Cyrus asks carefully sitting down onto the bed. He looks terrified and Alice who hasn't been out their bed for days realising then that he's been terrified for her.
"Quite fine" she says and she cannot stop beaming. "Turns out I am with child"
Cyrus blinks looking like Alice has just hit him over the head with something heavy. Suddenly a thought occurs to her, what if Cyrus doesn't want this?
"Oh Alice" Cyrus breathes and any thought that he doesn't want this baby goes out the window because he's looking so amazingly happy, blinding and beautiful. His hands find her flat stomach and his fingers cover the whole of her skin and Alice feels so utterly alive and safe and protected.
"I love you" Cyrus says again, and again Alice simply kisses him. "I love you too" she says once they've broken apart.
Nine months later, Alice is in labour for nearly a day and a half, the labour is long and bloody and dangerous and Alice feels herself drifting in an out of consciousness for the last hour or so until the midwives can stop the bleeding and restore some colour in her.
When Alice comes up for air everything hurts and she's stiff and so sore. Cyrus is sat next to her in the chair they bought from a nice man in the neighbouring village along with a little crib whittled by his son who is also made out of wood. In his arms is a bundle wrapped in a white blanket and Cyrus is cooing softly to their baby with the look of the utmost tenderness and love on his face.
"Hey" She says quietly and Cyrus's eyes shoot up then relief coating his face.
"Alice" he says sighing his eyes going bright. "I thought..." he trails off. "You were unconscious for a few hours" he says finally throat working furiously. "I heard from outside it was...brutal...do you hurt anywhere?" Alice wants to reply she really does but her eyes are focused on the bundle in his arms. Cyrus's eyes follow hers.
"This is our daughter Alice" he says gently passing her the bundle. She bites her lip as she sits up and Cyrus is there instantly letting her lean on him as he passes their daughter to her.
The baby is tiny, she has a tuft of brown hair but her eyes are closed, her nose is cute as a button and her small fingers curl over the blanket. Alice has spent the better part of half her life seeing the evil in all worlds and now she cannot believe that she's given life to something so innocent.
"I know" Cyrus says seeing the look on her face and reading her like an open book.
"I...err...I was thinking Lily" he says finally and Alice looks up at him through her tears, he's blushing again and Alice tries to find the words but can't. "After your mother" he finishes. Alice tries to speak again but instead nods and pulls Cyrus down so that his face is pressed against hers. Cyrus kicks of his boots, locks the door and tucks the three of them into bed making what sounds like a blessing in his own tongue with a sign over the baby's head his mouth trembling with emotion.
They fall asleep like that their own little family of three.
Alice is walking across the street when Lily pulls her hand. "Momma look a yellow car" she says pointing. Alice looks and there is indeed a yellow car parked on the side of the street. She raises an eyebrow. Mayor Mills runs a strict town and therefore Alice is surprised to see such a bright car parked in the street.
"It's pretty" she says brightly before again she bumps into someone. This time even though she closes her eyes at the contact she knows who it is. The smell of some sort of spice, coffee, and some sort of aftershave that made Alice's head swim.
"Sorry" she says resisting the urge to both laugh and cry when she sees who she's bumped into...it's the man in his brown coat again. This time he's left it open so Alice can see the black cashmere jumper that's covering a great deal of well-defined muscles.
"Don't apologise" he says beaming and showing an unfair amount of dimples. Alice is suddenly aware that she's in an old pair of leggings and a loose jumper with one of her scarfs wrapped around her and her boots and her hair is scrapped back and her cartilage piercing needs replacing. Everything about her feeling undignified next to his beauty. She pulls herself out of these thoughts to focus on what he has to say.
"I'm glad to see you" he says then promptly blushes as if he's said something reviling. Alice blinks but before she can say anything Lily pipes up. "Momma the clock is moving"
The three of them look up at the clock and indeed for the first time since Alice has been here in Storybrooke the Tower Clock is moving.
"Huh" she says and then her eyes drift over to the yellow car, something feels different. And then she takes note of the time
"Sorry again" she says blushing "We must be off before Lily is late for school" and then she's past him Lily hurrying with her as they leave the yellow car, the moving clock and the man standing there looking at her with those hungry brown eyes.
They survive in their village the three of them for five years before the mutterings start. Snow White and Prince Charming have gotten married and Alice and Cyrus go to one of the village festivals and celebrate with the others. They take Lily who plays with the village children. Will and Anastasia are still in Sherwood Forest still in their own cottage, but happy and while letters are scarce the meaning is clear. They got their Happy Ending.
The next day the atmosphere has abruptly changed. The village is agog with the rumour that the Evil Queen is concocting some kind of curse that will rip all of their lives apart, take them to some new land that will be a prison.
Alice has survived more than most and still when she looks at Lily working over her reading with Cyrus at the inn she feels terror grip her like a pain she has never felt before. Before she never had a family.
She and Cyrus don't talk about the curse for a few weeks and then as Snow White's belly grows and they know it to be a threat do they pull the curtain around their bed away from Lily and discuss the danger.
"It's coming" Cyrus says grimly "The Inn is full of people thinking they can outrun it, but it's not just this realm once it's let loose nothing will stop it..." he shrugs looking helpless and fearful and Alice's stomach curdles because not even in Wonderland in their darkest moments did Cyrus show fear the way he is showing it now.
"What do we do then?" she asks curling herself around him and Cyrus presses a kiss into her hair. "Wait" he says grimly "I don't like it but...they talk of a 'Saviour'" his mouth spits the word. "That can save us. And..." he looks at her helpless "I wish I could protect you and Lily from this but I don't know how" he confesses and Alice shushes him her fingers brushing against his chin.
"As long as were together" she says finally and Cyrus smiles but it's grim and filled with bitterness. Alice knows the feeling.
They tuck themselves away in the following months but one night they are awoken by the Church bell and Alice knows what's coming. Cyrus grabs his boots and his trousers and shoves them on reaching for his shirt and his sword and Alice finds one of his shirts and forces it on it coming to mid-thigh. Lily is up and out of bed clutching her stuffed rabbit and Alice opens her arms and she goes into them willingly.
Cyrus sticks his head out the door and then slams it shut looking terrified. Even though they've been living like each day is their last they never thought this day would come. He crosses the room and wraps both of his arms around them one hand tangling in her hair, the other in Lily's.
"Me and Momma love you very much Lily-Pad" he says gently and only Alice can pick up on the terror as the screaming dies down over the wind.
"I love you and Momma too Papa" Lily mutters slightly muffled sounding scared but also confused in a way and Cyrus shuts his eyes for a brief second before they open and find hers.
Alice wants to say something but it feels like her mouth has been glued shut and she wants to cry but her eyes are dry. She and Cyrus have said all that needs to be said and Cyrus's fingers find hers and entangle them together his eyes never leaving hers as they press closer together.
The door blows open and Lily screams but the howling wind drowns it out and somehow Cyrus has let go of Alice's hand and she's falling still clutching Lily and then all goes black around her...
Alice wakes up in Storybrooke.
Emma Swan is the owner of the yellow car. She sits in Granny's and smiles at everyone and is the biological mother of the Mayor's son Henry who is a few years older than Lily. She drinks hot chocolate with cinnamon and smiles at Lily as she passes.
Needless to say she is the enemy of the Mayor. And probably Mr Gold who doesn't frighten Alice per say but makes her feel like she needs a shower after she sees him.
Alice on her work break goes for a coffee and a grilled cheese. The owner of the boutique where she works as an assistant Violet is friendly to Lily and likes Alice and sends her on food runs. Alice grabs one of Ruby's famous Earl Grey tea's and a paper bag filled with her grilled cheese and leaves Granny's her boots clacking on the pavement.
"Hello" says a voice just before a body catches her. Alice looks up and wants to kick herself because again she's run into the cute man again. She smiles again running a hand through her hair. It's loose and straight today and she's in tight grey jeans ripped at the knee and a loose t-shirt that shows her bra strap she realises when his eyes stare for a second.
"Hi" she says back fingering her paper bag. Then she sees the t-shirt he's wearing over those well-defined chest muscles.
"You work at the Rabbit Hole" she says noting Storybrooke's famous bar. Alice has a small child so she doesn't have a lot of time for drinking but she knows the place well. The man nods. "I'm a bartender there" he says finally. "I'm on the lunch run"
"So am I" she says holding up the bag and the man smiles again.
"My name is Cyrus" he says holding out her hand and Alice reaches out easily to shake it. "Alice" she says.
There's a jolt of electricity as she touches him but Cyrus seems not to notice. He smiles again as he lets go of her hand the spark seemingly gone. "You have a very cute daughter" he says and Alice smiles warmly. "I do" she says folding her hands together. Cyrus stares at her again for another second.
"Err..." he ducks his head and then looks up again "Do you...err...wanna get a drink sometime? If...I mean I don't know if you have a boyfriend or a husband..."
"No" Alice says shaking her head.
"Good" Cyrus says before biting his lip. "I mean...good...nobody will attack me for asking you for a drink"
Alice laughs before his words seep into her and she has to think past the fog in her brain.
Alice pauses. "I...err...I have a kid so...getting out's not a big thing for me..." then sudden inspiration strikes. "Coffee?"
Cyrus who had begun to look disappointed practically lights up before biting his bottom lip in between his teeth.
"Eh, I'm more a tea kinda person" he says finally. Alice beams lifting up her plastic cup. "So am I" Cyrus beams again, "Tomorrow around four?" he asks. Alice pauses. Tomorrow is Friday which is her and Lily's muffin day, "Saturday" she counters before she kicks herself internally, Friday nights at the Rabbit Hole are probably brutal.
But to her surprise Cyrus just nods smiling again like she's given him the world and Alice has to pause because as far back as she can remember nobody has ever looked at her like that. "I can meet you around ten if that's ok?"
Alice mentally calculates, Miss Blanchard one of the teachers at the school is planning on taking all of Lily's class on a trip to see the birds tomorrow so she should have some time. Alice likes Miss Blanchard, despite her not being Lily's teacher she seems to care about all of the children at the school.
"Ok" she says smiling, "I guess I'll see you then"
When she picks Lily up from school she realises that she's still smiling.
Friday afternoon she and Lily go to Granny's for their tea and muffins. Granny's been mixing up the recipes and she has new muffins on sale. Alice buys Lily her chocolate cheesecake one and buys herself a raspberry and white chocolate.
"Careful it's hot remember" she says as she's adding milk to Lily's tea. Lily nods and Alice cuts up her cake into eatable pieces for a five year old, she's just about to start asking what kind of birds Lily's desperate to see when she goes to the sanctuary when the door opens.
It's Cyrus, he smiles at them as he goes to the counter, and Alice watches him as he plays with his fingers twisting them in his lap and forces herself to eat a mouthful of cake. Cyrus gets his tea and goes and Lily is just finishing telling Alice all about her day when Ruby comes over with another chocolate cheesecake muffin.
"I didn't order another one" Alice says as Lily beams. "I know" Ruby says winking. "Cyrus did, for Lily"
That leaves Alice feeling warm and slightly unsettled all at once.
"Who's Cyrus Momma?" Lily asks as she's getting ready for bed. Her hair is loose around her rabbit pyjamas and Alice tucks her into bed ready for their night time reading.
"He's a friend of mine" Alice says. A little after the fact she blinks because she doesn't even remember thinking of Cyrus as a friend until she's already said it, but there's something about this man that makes her yearn for everything and anything he's willing to give. She doesn't elaborate on that, she just focuses on Lily. "Alice in Wonderland again?" she asks and Lily nods and settles down.
The next day Alice for the first time in five years agonises over the choice of her own clothes. She chooses her skinniest pair of jeans she hasn't worn in years and a loose fitting pale pink shirt that she usually saves for Parent's Night.
She gets to Granny's after dropping Lily off and surprisingly enough Cyrus is already there, he's dressed in a loose jumper and jeans and looks exhausted.
"Rough night" she says once they've ordered. Cyrus nods. "This was worth getting out of bed though" he says grinning and Alice blushes over her tea.
"So Alice..." he says and there's something about the way he says her name that makes her melt again. "Tell me all about you"
She doesn't talk about herself at all, she doesn't know how. She talks about Lily at first, about how she likes Alice in Wonderland and how thrilled she was when Cyrus bought her another muffin. She talks about Lily for hours on end or so it feels like and then she blushes.
"Sorry" she says biting her lip but Cyrus is still smiling like he's been hanging on her every word. He shakes his head. "Don't apologise" he says brightly. "It's lovely how much you love your daughter, I do hope that she knows that"
Alice grins. "She's kind of my world" she confesses.
Cyrus drops his gaze and then says as if he's testing the waters, "I'm sure she means the world to both her parents"
Alice sucks in a sharp breathe the mood gone. Lily's father is a tough subject mainly because she doesn't know who he is. It's not something she's proud of but whenever she tries to think she loses her concentration and she believes deep down she might not have been conscious when Lily's conception happened. Not that that makes any difference to her. She loves her daughter no matter what.
"Lily doesn't have a father" she says sharply "She has me" Cyrus must register the tone because he looks stricken, "No" he says his hand reaching out even as Alice in all of her burnt pride moves it out of reach.
She knows it's not Cyrus's intention but she feels rankled. Like he's implied she's not enough and it makes her feel sick because she was honestly starting to care for this man and now he's took that away from her and sent her spiralling back to the shy girl she was.
"I didn't mean any offense" Cyrus says looking wretched. Alice shrugs bitterly. "It's ok" she says finally. "I guess I'm used to being not wanted...and Lily...well she doesn't need what he has to offer"
Cyrus pauses dropping his eyes. "People want you" he says so quietly that Alice has to strain to hear him. "I..." and then he abruptly stops but not before Alice has managed to put two and two together.
Alice doesn't want to be another notch on the bedpost and Lily has to come first in any relationship regardless. The mood is gone and so is the tea and she can feel tears building but she doesn't know why. She barely knows Cyrus and God knows she's survived worst disappointments. But...she thought this time would be different. Why she doesn't know but she did.
"I should go" she says standing up and grabbing her jacket even as Cyrus stares up at her with those wide eyes.
"Alice" he tries again but Alice is already up and out the door before he can say anything else.
She wants to kick herself but she doesn't, she very calmly stops in the woods near the bird sanctuary wipes her face and puts on a smile for Lily.
"Hey" she says lifting Lily and God her girl is getting too big for this, "How about we order in some pizza and watch some cartoons all night"
"Yay" Lily says looking overjoyed and Alice feels her bad mood deflating because it's impossible to be upset when Lily is this happy.
They eat pizza and watch Disney movies including Alice in Wonderland and Lily falls asleep halfway through Beauty and the Beast. Alice waits till she's asleep pours herself a glass of barely touched red wine and then promises herself tomorrow she'll move on. She's come this far without a man she can go the long way.
The next morning they wake to the news that the Sherriff has died. Within three weeks Emma Swan is the new Sherriff and within another couple of weeks Kathryn Nolan slaps Miss Blanchard for sleeping with her husband and then goes missing.
Well, Alice thinks grimly in the shower one morning, she had wished for something to keep her mind away from Cyrus.
Lily thankfully goes on holiday the week Miss Blanchard is arrested. Alice keeps Lily away from Granny's and the gossip instead they make their own muffins and drink tea and lick frosting from the bowl. Just as well Alice thinks, the human heart in the box rumour is enough to make her want to vomit.
Miss Blanchard is acquitted and only then does Alice venture out of her apartment. Lily is back at school and Alice walks her to the bus stop on her way to work rather than walking the whole way with her. Lily is rather unconcerned by this change but Alice doesn't think that she can take another run in with Cyrus. She might have jumped the gun a bit but her pride is damaged and so has her embarrassment. Fortunately-or unfortunately Cyrus seems to go out of his way to avoid running into her. Alice has survived worse so she tells herself to not let it get to her. Lily is her number one priority nobody else.
And then one day it changes.
She and Lily are on the way home when a strong gust of wind slams through the both of them. Alice pauses turning to look around and then suddenly, she remembers. Oh God she remembers all of it, she remembers Wonderland, the Rabbit, the Enchanted Forest, Lily, curses, Jafar, the asylum, Will, Anastasia...Cyrus...
If it wasn't for Lily holding onto her hand Alice is pretty sure her knees would buckle. She doesn't even want to think about how much time has passed, how much she has lost. And then through the haze one thought resonates.
Cyrus.
Oh God this explains everything, the jolts when they touch, their reactions to each other, why she was so damn protective when it came to Lily's father...their bodies were telling them they recognised each other all this time and she ignored them. All of the signs.
"Momma" Lily says and Alice looks down. Lily is still so young her hair loose today and her uniform creased. She looks as confused and scared as she did the night the curse hit. Alice opens her arms and sweeps her into a hug.
"Papa" Lily says looking around "Momma we have to find Papa"
"Ok" Alice says painfully aware she's in jeans and a paint splattered shirt and that she's not seen her husband, not kissed him, and not been with him in probably a decade.
"Ok let's go"
She tries the Rabbit Hole ducking down side streets but it's shut for the day so she turns around ready to head back to Granny's with Lily but she stops short.
Cyrus is stood there in the middle of the deserted street. He's dropped the plastic cup of tea he's holding and he's looking at the two of them like he's a starving man in need of a meal. Alice feels her eyes water.
"Papa" Lily says before she pulls herself loose and runs to Cyrus who drops to his knees and pulls her into his arms. Alice moves forwards as if in a daze until she's right in front of them and Cyrus looks up his eyes glistening to meets her and Alice knows the tears streaming down his face match hers. Alice curls her hands through his hair and Cyrus drops his head down to her stomach and leaves it there for a second.
He pushes himself to his feet, still with one hand wrapped around Lily he curves the other one around her cheek and then his mouth is on hers and he devours her.
Alice's response is...enthusiastic...
Cyrus pulls back looking dazed and his arm curves around her as Lily wraps both arms around his neck.
"My girls" he says looking at her and then at Lily whose wrapped both arms and legs around him and clearly doesn't want to let go. "My girls" he murmurs again still looking stunned.
"I love you" he says eyes brimming. Alice nods. "I love you more" she says but Cyrus just smiles and presses her closer. "Let's go home" he confesses weakly.
"Yours or mine?" Alice asks sniffing and Cyrus tightens his grip.
"Yours" he says without hesitation and they slowly begin walking their way back up the street.
This isn't the end of the drama, Alice knows. The next few weeks will be fraught with chaos and confusion but right now she has her husband and her daughter and she honestly cannot care about anything else.
As they say. Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed.
And let me know what you think, if I should write this from Cyrus's point of view or what.
I might come back to the Wonderland Fanfiction soon so...