Never Stopped Dreaming

Chapter One

By GirlX2

OOoooOOOoooOOO

The young blond woman smiled serenely at the older man as he snipped furiously at a piece of felt. Once finished snipping, he began sewing rapidly. His green eyes never lifted from his work.

"You'll see, it'll be just the thing."

"Hatter, I know it'll be lovely. Your hats are all lovely." Alice murmured, and tried to raise herself from the pillowed bed. She managed for a moment, but her trembling arms soon gave way. The Hatter looked up at the slight noise her actions produced.

"Please don't. You need to rest."

"I've done nothing but rest for the last week. I believe any more bed rest may make me mad."

"All the best people are." The Hatter smiled crookedly.

Alice watched him work for a few moments. "I'm not getting better, am I?"

The Hatter put the half-finished cap down and turned towards his friend, the crooked smile dropping away.

"I'm…I'm afraid not. The Queen has tried so hard to find a potion for you, she's worked very hard, done nothing but work in fact, and it's getting to her, and-" His voice became very fast and strained.

"Hatter!"

"…I'm fine." He choked out after a moment.

"Yes, I can see that." Alice's eyes slid towards the brilliant sky outside her window. "Perhaps…perhaps I should go back."

"To Overland?"

"To see a doctor. Maybe a doctor from above could cure me." Alice said gently. Hatter had been so happy since she'd returned from the place they deemed Overland.

In truth, they both had been.

"You're too ill to make the journey. No, no. If you need an Overland doctor we'll simply bring one here." Hatter clasped his hands together. "The very best. Only the best for the savior of Underland!"

"And how do you propose we bring this wonderful doctor here?"

"I shall retrieve him." Hatter declared. "I've a lovely traveling hat, it'll be just the thing."

"Hatter, no. You don't know Overland-you have no idea how things are there. Things have changed since I've been away. " Alice's voice grew cold. "No one must journey there-not even the white rabbit. It would be too dangerous."

The Hatter's zeal died instantly. "Then we will bring him here in the more traditional way."

Alice frowned. "I don't like the idea of uprooting some poor man who has no idea of this place simply to help me."

Hatter grinned widely at her. "I'll see that he's treated with the utmost care and consideration."

Then he was off in a flurry of fabric and ribbons.

OOoooOOOoooOOO

"Wilson!"

The oncologist sighed and opened the door he'd just unlocked. Standing in the middle of their living room, House was glaring into a huge mirror as if it had personally offended him.

"What is this?" The crippled man demanded.

"It's a mirror, otherwise know as a reflector or looking glass." Wilson shed his coat and loosened his tie. House had been home from work for hours. Wilson wondered if he'd been inspecting the mirror the entire time.

"Funny. Why is it here?"

"It's for decoration. You wanted me to inject some more personal statements into the apartment, and I did."

"Then put it in your room. I don't want to watch myself as I'm working off the day's stress." House waved a DVD with a young woman flashing herself on the cover.

"First: ew. Second, just don't look. That thing is too huge from my bedroom, and the wall was blank." Wilson replied.

House rolled his eyes and tossed the DVD onto the table. "Where did you find this thing anyway? Pottery barn?"

"I got it from an antique shop."

"So it's a glorified pottery barn reject."

Wilson joined House at the mirror. House scrutinized the image of the two of them standing side by side for a moment.

"Waiting for something to happen?" Wilson asked after a moment.

"Just seeing if you look as ugly in reverse."

Wilson studied the mirror. It was rather large; easily five feet on all sides, and hung a few feet off the floor, it reached well over their heads. But it made the condo look larger, and the silver-colored frame was pretty. It'd been relatively cheap too, a real bargain, actually.

"It's staying, House."

"Fine." House leaned close to the mirror, inspecting it's surface. "There's a crack, though."

"What?" Wilson leaned in, scanning the surface for flaws. "I don't see-"

The ground shifted under his feet, and the oncologist pitched forwards. He threw his hands up to brace against the glass, wincing in anticipation. To Wilson's amazement, he seemed to keep falling-he was falling much further than he should have. He found his hands braced on the apartment's floor rather than the silver surface.

"What…?"

"Wilson!"

Wilson glanced up at House's cry. He found himself staring at the other side of the apartment.

Wilson frowned. Had he gotten turned around somehow? "How did-"

"Wilson!" House shouted again, sounding frantic.

Wilson got to his feet, dizzily disoriented.

"House, please, I don't feel well." He murmured and lifted his eyes. The mirror was somehow now behind him.

Only now, House stared out of it, gaping at him.

"House?" Wilson passed a hand over his face for a moment. The image didn't vanish. House was on the other side of the mirror. Wilson didn't even see his reflection.

"Wilson-don't move." House slowly lifted his cane.

"How-how are you doing that?" Wilson spun around, sure House would be behind him. But the only thing he confronted was an empty apartment.

"Wilson, turn around."

He turned back towards the mirror, noting the strange state of the apartment. Everything looked wrong. Things were on the wrong side of the apartment. The angles even seemed incorrect. It was all skewed and off kilter. The apartment through the glass seemed to reflect the world he knew: everything was in its proper place, anyway.

"I'm having a stroke." Wilson shut his eyes. "Or an aneurysm. Something."

"No you're not. I am."

House's cane was poking through the mirror. Not as if it had shattered the glass and was going the empty frame, but going through the mirror. It was going straight through the glass.

Wilson touched it. The worn wood was reassuringly real against his fingers.

"What's happening?"

"I have no idea." House replied, stepping though the glass. The surface rippled slightly as he passed though it. Wilson stepped backwards and stumbled over the ottoman that should have been on the left of him.

"Did you slip me something?" He managed as House began inspecting the apartment.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I must be dreaming." Wilson shut his eyes tightly. "In a few minutes I'll wake up."

"Well until that happens, why don't we try climbing back-"

*BONK!*

"Ow!"

Wilson opened his eyes to the sight of House rubbing his forehead in pain. A small smudge on the surface of the mirror told Wilson what had happened.

He braced a hand on the glass. It was solid again. Their reflections still weren't reflecting. Their apartment (the normal one anyway) lay unreachable beyond the glass.

"We're trapped in here!"

"Yeah, I figured that out already." House snapped, and turned toward the front door of the skewed apartment. "Seems we've only got one other option."

"What? No way. We have no idea what's out there." Wilson put his hands on his hips. "It could be dangerous."

"Well, either we check it out or we stay in here forever." House replied. "And I'd like to try and figure this out before resigning myself to spend the rest of my life in here."

Wilson dropped his hands to his sides. House was right. "Okay. But we're going to be cautious, all right?"

"Sure thing, Mom." House swung the door open and limped through. Wilson hurried after him, and failed to note the telling *click* as the door swung shut behind him.

OOoooOOOoooOOO

To Be Continued...