Alice ran off, petrified, but feeling as if by doing so she was betraying her new allies and friends. How could this be a dream? She couldn't escape, it felt so real…and you do not normally sleep in a dream! But she then said to herself fiercely 'But how could this not be a dream? Talking animals? Grinning cats? A Jabberwocky? A blue, talking, wise, smoking, caterpillar?

And the Hatter…her friend, her new best friend.

"How could he be real? He was too good to be true…but how could he be a dream?"

She was not good enough to dream him up, she thought to herself. "Only someone as wonderful as my father…"

What she did not know, was that that special friend, the very one, was watching her carefully. At this, he wavered. He was very strong – his mad personally made him that way – and so for the second time in his life, he felt…on the verge of tears, on seeing how his friend was feeling, but he was also conquering fears of his own…unsuccessfully.

Alice sat down and a sparkling teardrop slowly trickled down her cheek –she had restrained once too many times in her life, and hadn't the strength to do so once more. After a while, she stopped for a second. Her eyes widened. She looked up… she looked around the arch, around at the surrounding wildlife, she looked at her dress, everything…and then she realized…

"Da ja vu…" she whispered slowly to herself. Then she gasped.

But how could this be? "How can it be?'"

And then she remembered having gone through all of this as a girl. All but one thing…she never felt this way about him, about ANYONE, as she did now…This was all too much for poor Alice, as after all, she was a tender girl of 19. She laid down her head, and broke down.

She did not feel the presence of another. Wild tufts of bright ginger hair, hat in place, he sat beside her, unusually calmly, sombrely and carefully. His arm found her opposing shoulder. She still couldn't feel – all she felt was the pain in her heart.

"Alice…" was all he could say, the soft Scottish lilt in his voice comforting her. "Alice…"

She suddenly realised. Someone was comforting her. Someone was talking to her. Someone was caring for her, not abandoning her in the way she felt she had just done to them…including…she recognized that voice anywhere, that hand anywhere. It was…him. The man who…who…she felt, not admiration, but…

ADORATION.

"How…how can it be? Oh, Hatter, I…I…!"

"Alice...Alice…is there…something; you'd like to tell me?"

"Wha…what is there to SAY? I…I…I'm not strong enough to fight the jabberwocky! I'm…I'm frightened, Hatter. I don't like this…it's too mortifying, knowing that all of this is real, well I mean, the Jabberwocky and…I don't mean…just…"

"Remember, Alice. All the best people are. All the best people are."

She looked up into his eyes, although the vision was blurred still. She looked away, ashamed.

"Alice…do not feel ashamed, for if you are ashamed for this reason, I should've be too." He turned away for a second, blinked his bout of shame away and turned to face her. "You have a something you need to tell me. Well…I…I also have a something I need to tell myself…but also you, as well."

"What…whatever do you mean?"

"I mean. You may know all the things I have done, just like I know what you have done – acts of nobility and strength, and you are showing now that there has also been…compation. Compation…com…pation…AAAHHH! NO! I CANN'T…CANN'T…CAN'T SAY IT!"

"Hatter…"

He calmed as much as he could for his friend, but he was scared himself. He was scared for three different reasons. One, he was scared of Alice fighting the Jabberwocky, almost as much as Alice herself, for he could not bear to see her die. Two, he had admitted something to himself he wished was a dream, just like Alice had thought Wonderland was a dream…STOP THE COMPARISON, he told himself. And three, he had to admit that very same thing to her…

"Compassion. Alice…" he lisped.

"Yes, Hatter?"

"What…what if I told you…that I wasn't happy being… friends with you. Would we still be friends?"

"What an odd thing to ask…it depends what you mean by that. I know you're fond of riddles…"

"Well…if it…if it…if…if…" His eyes were not green, nor orange or red. But blue. The deepest turquoise blue, in fact, Alice thought to herself. She smiled – it really did look beautiful. Then she realized, and stopped. But she didn't know the half of it yet…

"Oh, Hatter!" And she took him in her ever loving, ever caring, ever present arms. The arms of an angelic beauty, but not just any beauty, but a brave, loyal, caring, strong, willing, compassionate, cunning, intelligent, glorious…

"No. I can't." He stepped away, and walked a bit away.

"What's going ON, Hatter? I'm terrified…all this suspense, all this strange behaviour, what's wrong? What have I done? Oh, is it because I ran away? Is it…" Tears swam in her eyes again. But they were present in his eyes more so. They overtook him. He ran to her, sat down and hid his head in his arms. She rocked him, and he held her tightly. They stayed like this for a long while. In the end, she smiled at him.

"I love you." He stared at her. His eyes flickered. Then Alice realized what she'd said…

"I meant, I love this! As in, I love this PLACE! I…I'm sorry…I didn't mean…but I…" She then saw the disappointed look in Hatter's eyes. She understood. That heart-melting look had been enough, no matter how hard he had tried to phase it out.

"That…is just what I wanted to tell you, Alice…that I love…this…place." He suddenly started tearing everything he could apart, distressed, until Alice; "HATTER!". He looked at her sadly. He felt it'd never be the same. He'd ruined the best thing in the entire world, the thing he held most dear – his friendship with Alice.

"I'm…fine."

"No, you're not, Hatter. And I know why. I know why." The fear grew in his eyes, and his eyes were filled with misery, self-hate, doubt and fear.

"I...I have to confess. I was covering up. I...I meant what I said before, but I was worried…I was worried everything would be destroyed. I…and I mean what I'm saying; for I am mad enough to take this risk…I love you. In what I thought were dreams and were actually memories, you were just my friend, my best friend. But it's something more than that. I love you, and I will till the day I die."

He looked slowly up from having hunched himself into a ball, trying to console himself. He looked disbelieving, as if he couldn't hear his own ears.

"I'm going over hill mad, Alice. Please…tell me I heard what I hope more than I ever have in my whole life I heard what I think I just heard. Am I dangerously crazy?"

"No. You're…you're perfect."

"Am I really? Really I am?"

Alice nodded her head. She couldn't believe what had just happened, she had been longing for it for so, so, long. And she realized, so had he. So had he.

Suddenly, he looked at her quizzingly. She knew what he was asking through the silence without breaking it. Just a slight tilt of the head. That was all he'd wanted. He, the Mad Hatter, for the first time in his entire life, embraced her warmly, and felt that he could easily defeat any Jabberwocky in the world, and Alice agreed.

"Do you feel a little more confident that you can defeat the Jabberwocky now, lassie?" He sounded like himself again, and Alice was over the moon when she realized that…

"Yes. Yes, I do. You're right, I lacked confidence. But I'll be alright. Because you'll, Hatter, be right behind me." She beamed at him. "I'm still scared – that isn't going to change – but I can face everyone now. Whether I want to, is another question!"

The Hatter laughed, and grinned at her. "I'm glad. And, Alice?"

"Yes?"

"You've got back your muchness, and… it's beautiful."

Alice smiled, warm as sunshine.

It's no wonder Alice succeeded her challenge, because she knew she had him. That's enough for me, she thought. Hatter…