"Keys, keys, where are my keys?" Hatter muttered, patting his pockets as he searched for his key ring, which he always seemed to be losing. After about five minutes he finally found them in his back jeans pocket, he sighed and started murmuring to himself as he sorted through the four keys on the ring to find the one he was looking for. "Ah ha!" he said finally lifting the ring with a single silver key between his forefinger and thumb over his head, as if to show someone, but he was alone. He smiled to himself as he unlocked the door in front of him. He reached forward and flicked a light switch, smiling at the empty room in front of him.
It was his café, named The Tea Shop, but he didn't just serve specifically tea. Basically, it was Starbucks, but cheaper, and cooler because well, it's Hatter, obviously his shop is going to be cooler than Starbucks. He had opened the café in a closed down used bookshop, and filled all the shelves along the wall with books both from Barnes and Noble as well as other bookstores around the city, and his own collection from back home. Back home in Wonderland. He started to walk back behind the counter to get ready for when the people started coming as he thought about Wonderland.
He had loved it in Wonderland, he really did, but after everything that happened and meeting Alice, okay, so mostly because of meeting Alice, it stopped feeling like his home and more like a gray area that he was just waiting in before he found his home, which is in Alice. Wherever she was, felt like home to him. As he started all the kettles and coffee machines, he started to think about when exactly he felt like wherever Alice was, was where he needed to be.
And then he remembered.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The shots from the gun in his hand echoed against the walls as he watched the Walrus fall down. His gun skidding across the floor. Everything else sort of became a blur as he watched everyone run as the casino started to rumble with the force of all the emotions Alice had made the oysters feel begin to destroy the building from the inside out.
He made a move to leave, but then he realized that there was still someone in the room with him. Alice. He turned and saw her kneeling over her father's unmoving body and his heart broke for her. She finally found what she had been looking for and it got taken away from her the second she got it. He ran to her quickly and his heart completely shattered as he heard her sobbing. Hatter kneeled down behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Alice, Alice we need to go, I'm sorry," he whispered, lifting her up gently.
Alice was still sobbing, but she had heard him and they ran for the door. Once they were out of the game room of the casino, Alice fell to the ground again and broke out into a fresh round of sobs. "I-I need to go in there and get him." She said through her tears. Hatter shook his head.
"Alice no, no you can't, you'll die!" He said, but she wasn't listening. She had stood up and was starting to run back to the doors. Hatter sighed a little and ran over to her, lifting her up into his arms and running out of the casino just in time. Once they were a safe distance away with the other oysters and Hatter put her down, there was a sudden booming noise, and the whole casino went down. Alice watched, and her face crumpled again and she started to fall to the ground. Hatter caught her and hugged her close to his chest. "Shh, Alice, shh it's okay. I got you," He said stroking her hair as she sobbed.
"H-h-h-he's gone…he's really gone, an-an-and he isn't coming back...h-he left, he left me" She whispered, still crying. Hatter hugged her tighter and kissed her hair.
"I know Alice, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered continually into her hair. She cried even harder, wrapping her arms tight around Hatter.
"D-d-don't leave," She whispered. "p-please," Hatter kissed her hair again and held her tighter
"I promise you I will never leave." He said, planning on keeping that promise until the day he died.
And he did. He followed her to her world and moved to New York about two months ago and opened his own tea shop. With actual tea, not that dumb emotions drained from humans crap that the queen had him selling, oh no, he was selling real tea from real leaves, and coffee from real beans and hot chocolate from actual melted chocolate. (Okay he'll admit that he doesn't know what chocolate is made out of…) and he loved it, it felt right to him, also, he kind of felt like a drug dealer when he was selling all the emotions back in Wonderland, he never did like the idea of 'instant gratification'.
He quickly unlocked the two cash registers and made sure everything was accounted for and then he glanced up and smiled. On the edge of his register he had taped a picture of himself and Alice from a few weeks earlier. Her mom, who happens to just love "David", was the one who it.
They were sitting on the couch in Alice's apartment. Well actually Hatter was sitting on the couch while Alice was sitting on him. Her arms were wrapped around Hatter's neck and her face was hidden in his shoulder while Hatter's arms were wrapped around her, his hand on her lower back and he was in the process of kissing her hair. Hatter remembered when that picture was taken. Alice had been getting nightmares ever since she came back through the looking glass, and Hatter was there every time to comfort her.
The night the picture was taken was one of the worst nightmares she had and it took Hatter a good four hours to calm her down. After she had fallen asleep, Carol had come back into the room and showed Hatter the picture. When he questioned her about why she took it, she told him that Alice had never ever let anyone hold her like that before, which made Hatter smile down at the sleeping girl in his arms and kiss her head. He loved her more than anything and there is never a day that he doesn't tell her that. And every time he says it, she gets this cute smile that is pretty much her Hatter smile because she only ever smiles like that around him, and she says it back. Hearing her say those three words, even though it happens on a daily basis, makes his heart skip a beat.
He was quickly snapped out if his thoughts of Alice when a voice spoke up. "You know, I could've been a thief and killed you," He looked up and smiled. Harper Rae Stevenson was at the counter. She was his seventeen year old assistant and only other staff member at The Tea Shop. She was a constant customer at the café before Hatter offered her a job. Harper was homeschooled and she asked her parents who agreed to let her work there full time. But they gave her assignments to do and hand in during her off time and bring back when she got off work. Hatter helped her with a lot because in Wonderland schools they did teach typical classes that were in oyster schools. Like math, literature and others like that.
"But you're not and you didn't," Hatter said smiling at her. "Hey Harper." He said as she walked behind the counter and unlocked her cash register.
"Hey there Hatter," She said. There were a few people, actually three, including Alice, who knew his real identity. One of them being Harper. Harper was one of those teenagers that had a bigger imagination than usual. She believed in fairy tales, her favorite, coincidentally being Alice in Wonderland. So Hatter told her the real story, and she believed him and promised to stick to the story he was going with, that he grew up in Yorkshire in the UK and that's why he had such a heavy accent. Before they could continue their conversation, the bell above the door chimed. They both looked up and smiled. Standing in front of them was a woman dressed in a navy skirt and matching blazer, holding the hand of a little girl in a patchwork design skirt and a long sleeved shirt that was the same deep purple color as the jacket Alice wore back in Wonderland. "Hey Stella, and hi squirt." Hatter said looking down at the little girl.
Stephanie was four years old and her mother met Hatter when he moved into the apartment next door to them. Stephanie instantly bonded with Hatter and when he opened the Tea Shop, it sort of became Stephanie's place too; she was the other of the three people that knew Hatter's real identity. Every morning her mom would drop her off and go to work and then her nanny would come pick her up at lunchtime. Hatter had the type of personality that people just trusted and her mother didn't have any reservations about leaving her with him (she also did research on him and didn't find a criminal record so that was a plus). So she kissed her daughters cheek and thanked Hatter like she always does and Stephanie ran over to the counter and sat on one of the high stools like she always does and dropped her Hannah Montana messenger bag onto the counter as Hatter made her mother's usual. Once her mom was gone, Hatter turned and smiled at Stephanie.
"'ello!" She said smiling a grin that showed the two holes where her two front teeth should be. Every time she was at the tea shop, she would try and copy Hatter's accent. He smiled and handed her a small mug of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream on it and leaned on the counter across from her.
"'ello guvnah." He said chuckling and ruffling her hair. "Keep trying squirt, you almost got it." He continued before turning to the cash register to wait on the person at the register.
At about noon, it started down pouring and continued until eight pm, which is when Hatter and Harper were going through her math assignment, and the bell on the door rang. "H-h-hey," A familiar voice shivered. Hatter looked up and saw Alice, completely soaked in jeans and a t shirt, was standing in the doorway arms crossed and teeth chattering.
"Babe my god you're going to catch pneumonia," Hatter said jumping up and taking off his jacket, wrapping it around his girlfriend's shoulders. Alice smiled gratefully up at him and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks, this is helping," she said, looking over his shoulder at Harper. "Hey Harper," She said. The teenager smiled and waved.
"Hey, uhhh Hatter, do you still need help? Because I gotta head home," She said her bag already on her shoulder. Hatter smiled and shook his head.
"Nah I'm good, probably going to close up early. Thanks though Harper," He said waving as she stepped past them and out into the rain. Once she was gone, he turned to Alice and handed her his key ring.
"Upstairs, go change." He said kissing her forehead. He was talking about his apartment. The café was in the storefront directly under his apartment building, and his apartment had a door that led straight into the storage room of the café, so it was easy access. Alice shook her head.
"No I'm fine," She tried saying, but Hatter cut her off, kissing her quickly.
"Now." He said. "I don't want you getting sick love," He continued, turning her towards the back room and pushing her gently to get to the door. She rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Fine, I'll be right back," she said, turning around and kissing him quickly before taking the key and walking upstairs. Hatter smiled.
"Good. And I'll be here with a cup of tea waiting for you." He said already starting to get the water ready. As he waited he started to close down the shop. Once he finished closing up and making the tea, Alice had come back down stairs in a pair of his sweat pants and a white t shirt under a black unzipped hoodie, the sleeves covering everything but her fingertips. She smiled smally at him as she walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest, inhaling the familiar smell of mint, coffee beans, and Alice's favorite cologne that her mother had bought for Hatter to use.
"I missed you," She whispered into his shirt, cuddling closer into him as he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin o her head.
"I missed you too love. God, six hours is a long time apart." Hatter said. Alice laughed tiredly, and Hatter scooped her up in his arms and carried her to one of the cushiony arm chairs in the corner of the room, sitting down and seating her on his lap, handing her the mug of tea before he kissed the side of her head. "Drink this so you'll warm up, then we'll go to your place okay?" He asked, rubbing her back a little as she nodded and took a sip of the steaming drink in her hands.
She sighed happily. "God, why are you so perfect?" She asked, drinking some more. "This is perfect thank you baby," She said, finishing the drink rather quickly and resting her cheek on his shoulder. Hatter smiled and held her closer, rubbing her arm gently.
"Oh no sweetheart, I'm far from perfect. But you did a good job of describing yourself." He said smiling down at her, kissing her quickly before she could protest. "So how was your day? Did you kick anyone's ass today?" He asked. Alice giggled and snuggled closer to Hatter's chest and shrugged
"It was okay, but no, I didn't kick anyone's ass. But baby, when are you going to take my class?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. Hatter sighed.
"Gorgeous," Hatter started "You've seen me fight. I don't need classes. But I might just come to see you fight." He said winking. Alice slapped his chest.
"You're such a guy," she said yawning. Hatter smiled and kissed her cheek.
"C'mon," He said standing up. "Time to go home." He said, grabbing an umbrella and taking Alice's hand as they walked down the street in the pouring rain.
They didn't notice the blonde man standing on the other side of the street watching them, or the Stone of Wonderland shining against the glow of the street lights on his ring finger.