Alice found her straight back in trouble, like she had seemed prone to over the last few days; even hours one might muse. She was on the casino floor and had just blocked off the one entrance because of the ensuing chase behind her. She ended up faced with two guns in her face, which ended with a whistle and Hatter knocking out one guy and she took care of the other. The two of them scrabbled to grab the guns from the unconscious guards and went to lock the other door.

Hatter went to the platform while Alice performed her idea, creating havoc on the floor setting bad emotions into the distillery. Mixing the right bad with the wrong good and of course it wasn't long until the rest of the guards that had been after Alice bust into the room. Hatter jumped from the platform and hid, while Alice stood there. Soon after Carpenter came in to seemingly take care of Alice. He proved his worth to her and once the people were released and the Casino shaking in instability.

Alice could only now cling to her father in a hug as though he was her lifeline. She had left the gun in her hand to her side the moment before the hug, but carpenter had grabbed it up. It was a reflex of not wanting his daughter holding something so dangerous that could cause so much destruction if it accidently went off, just before stepping into her embrace. It was only a moment later that he had looked and seen that Walrus was up, wounded and like a crazy animal. The gun pointed at his jellybean.

All Carpenter could do was yell "NO!" And twirl the duo around so his back became the target. And when the shot ran out he realized he didn't feel any pain like expected and he noticed that Alice had tensed up, in some sort of shock. For a moment it had seemed as though Alice had received the shot, but she yelled "Hatter!" in a stifled cry. Carpenter took this moment, this lull in between gun shots to turn around and Shoot Walrus till the big man fell over. And made sure he stayed down.

Alice Only stood there a moment before she let it all register, when Hatter finally fell to the ground Alice made a quick move to be right beside him, not even worrying if Walrus was taken care of or not. She sat there on her knees next to him watching his face twist in agony and his chest rise in fall in a ragged rate. She waited a moment hoping that he wasn't going to die. Hatter finally opened his eyes and looked at Alice. His breathing calmed slightly and his face wasn't as bitterly twisted up in pain as it had been before.

"Hatter," she whispered in a cry "Please…tell me you have your armor on." She knew it would be lying to herself because she saw the garish red decorating the even more garish shirt her had on. He laughed lightly, which turned into a coughing fit. The moment it passed he let a weak smile grace his face which gave Alice a bit of hope as he said to her "I'll tell you anything you want, love"

Alice couldn't take it anymore and moved her hand to put pressure on the wound on his chest trying to stop the bleeding. She bit her lip hoping she wasn't giving Hatter to much more pain as she saw him wince at the added pressure. To counter it with her free hand she started to move the hair that clung to his face. Which turned into a running her fingers through his hair.

And then a thought crossed her mind. One that nearly choked her just to think of it. What if this was her last moments with him, what if…

She didn't want to think of that, but it just surfaced in her mind and then a moment later she just blurted "I really like you…" which ended awkwardly on her lips. She justified it as though she couldn't say love just yet, because she really did think she loved him, but she didn't want to give that to him in case he left her, though the facts were, he already had it even if she never said it to him.

He first just looked at her with his big brown eyes and grinned once again. This time it was a bit smugger than the last one. Finally he replied "I really like you too…." He trailed of more because he was losing his light. He had a very comfortable feeling with her playing with his hair, and the mild discomfort didn't feel like much with this much warmth about him. So his eyes slowly closed and peacefully everything was black to him.