The moment that Alice recognizes the man standing in her apartment, she runs to him. It doesn't matter that his hat is missing and his hair is slicked down, so unlike his usual scruffy appearance. Hatter has come just for her, and she kisses him despite the confused look on her mother's face, breathing in the fact that he's alive and so very surely hers.
It takes about five seconds for her mother to hesitantly ask, "Alice, do you know this man?" and the hard-to-believe explanations take her hours to complete. She hesitates in telling about her father, Jack's betrayal and final offer, anything and everything that might bring her mother more pain, and she constantly finds herself looking for signs that the woman who raised her now believes she's either crazy or strung out on something.
Occasionally, Alice still finds herself wondering the same thing. It's too hard to acknowledge that the man sitting beside her and fidgeting as he rubs his hands around and around his knees isn't from… here.
When she reaches how she came back through the looking glass, Hatter takes over the tale, saying that he followed her through and found her in the building, sprawled out on the floor. He sputters to a stop when he explains his worry that she was hurt, and there is a lull in the conversation so defined that Alice is sure her mother won't be speaking to her ever again unless it's through the thickly padded walls of an insane asylum. Her eyes go back to Hatter's hands, which are practically rubbing two holes in his jeans, before she hears her mother's voice, and she jerks so quickly up that she feels her neck pop.
"Well, I've… certainly never heard anything quite like it. I suppose you deserve a lot more thanks than I thought, David."
Alice feels as if her eyes might force their way out of her skull; she can't believe her mother has so easily accepted the existence of Wonderland. Then, though, her mother speaks again, and she suddenly understands why.
"David, since you seem willing and keen to keep in touch with my daughter, why don't you stay for dinner?"
Hatter, or David, as Alice and everyone else now call him (though Alice makes a point to tell him that he chose a rather humdrum name), quickly charms his way into Carol's favor. Alice has never dated anyone who fits quite so easily into her regular life, and that's particularly odd since David is obviously anything but normal.
He enters into the life of Earth with his usual enthusiasm and snarky humor, complaining when he has to pay his power bill and whining when he has to work. Alice finds herself spending virtually every evening after her judo classes with him, showing him around the city and doing anything that interests him.
He insists on eating pizza during their first real date, and Alice complies because she likes garlic beard and has never been one for five course meals, anyways. She guides him to her favorite pizza joint, and they settle into a booth near the back of the dimmed room. Even across the gloom, Alice can feel his eyes resting on her, and she spends the evening laughing as he burns his tongue repeatedly; he apparently loves the pizza and can't wait for it to cool down before consuming it. Cheese dangles down his face as he bites into the slices, which she has to show him how to hold, and he manages to get sauce in nearly every pore of his face.
"Nice eats, actually," he mumbles when he has eaten half a pizza on his own, and she laughs before offering him a napkin.
"Maybe you should clean your face," she says, sitting back and grinning as he wipes at the layers of food spread around his mouth.
A year after their return from the looking glass, Alice is walking with David along the edge of the pier, dressed up from the one fancy meal they've likely ever had. His dress jacket is draped around her shoulders, and she took off her shoes and handed them to him the moment they left the restaurant. He occasionally bumps her with them as they move along, enjoying the chill off the water and talking about the pros and cons of possibly eating some gelato in the cool of a spring evening.
They pass by plenty of empty boats but then find one lit up so brightly that it ruins Alice's night vision, and she has to shield her eyes against the blurry glare.
"Looks like somebody's having a party," she says, gazing at the massive yacht and straining her neck to glance at the top deck.
She can hear music pounding from somewhere on the largest deck, and she is bobbing her head along when David pulls his jacket off her shoulders. Alice turns to him with a glare and finds him shrugging back into it; he tosses her shoes into her arms before shoving his own into the coat sleeves.
"What are you doing, exactly?" Alice asks, irritation lingering in the edges of her words.
David just smiles and says, "Put on your shoes."
Alice is amazed by how easily he talks his way past the security; he claims that they're royalty, she a duchess and he a prince, and when they are in route to the dance floor she whispers, "How utterly ironic."
He elbows her gently and smirks.
The music is so loud on deck that Alice worries she'll be blown away by it, but David pulls her into a fast dance before she has time to complain. They shuffle around and step on each other's feet, looking fairly ridiculous compared to the fancier and more proper couples moving around them.
"I'm not sure this is how a prince dances," she says as she gasps for air.
"Then there are some princes missing out!" he replies, raising his voice to be heard over the last violent chords of the song.
The shift into the next song, something that Alice assumes must be a waltz or another equally dignified dance, is so sudden that there is no time to escape the sea of rich partiers. Alice moves closer to David's chest as he slithers a hand around her waist, breathing in the smell of the tea he drank with dinner as she rests her head on his chest. They still don't dance very well, but there's something so settling about being near David that she doesn't mind.
"So is this how a prince dances?" he whispers into her hair.
She says, "I guess it probably is."
"Not so bad, then. Of course, if you want to pull off the duchess look, I suggest that you find yourself something to wear using a little less fabric."
She punches his arm and tries to pull away, but he draws her closer and they both laugh at the joke, likely startling the other dancers around them. Alice is surprised that she doesn't mind, not even a little.
"So, do you think the prince actually married the duchess?" he asks, and Alice considers for a moment before replying.
"Knowing Jack? It wouldn't be the world's biggest surprise."
"No, love, I believe that award goes to the discovery that you can walk through a looking glass and come out somewhere different on the other side."
"Yeah, yeah I guess it does."
They dance on for a moment, the slow music humming around them before David speaks again.
"What about this prince and duchess?" he asks, and Alice glances up in confusion.
"You mean us?" she asks.
"Yeah, does this prince get to marry his duchess?"
Alice is glad she's already looking at him because, otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to decide if he was being serious. The stare that meets her eyes, however, shows nothing sly, and she sucks in a breath.
"You're serious."
"Look, I know I don't exactly have a ring yet and it's a bit impromptu, but I love you, Alice, and if you don't ever want to see me again and wish I'd go back to Wonderland, well, I guess-"
Alice kisses him before he can finish his sentence, and when she breaks away, he asks, "So is that a yes or just a nice way to make me shut up?"
She grins as she replies, "Both, I think."
"Well, then, let's continue, shall we?"