Author' s Note: I used Burton's film mainly, but I also drew from the main book Alice in Wonderland, and American McGee's Alice. Great game. Anyway, reread Alice in Wonderland and decided to dust off this fic and continue it. Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer:I own nothing.

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The Oyster Murders

By: Lady Neverafternon

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I.

China, 7 Years Later

Alice leaned her head against the rail of the cramped wooden balcony and coughed quietly. The cold that had settled in her lungs like a malignant toad still showed no signs of lifting. Taking a deep shuddering breath, she straightened. At the very least, however, the company that she and her father had both struggled to build was flourishing. Indeed, her vision of trading with China had seemed to take wing on its own. The Ascot-Kingsleigh Trading Alliance had become well known and respected throughout Europe and Persia. Alice and Lord Ascot had worked hard to become the primary trade company in Shanghai. Now, her apprenticeship had changed to a respected partnership within the company, and they were even thinking about stretching their reach to Moscow.

Years and years of hard work, but it had all been worth it. Not only had her business prospects paid off, but her work at home had also come to fruition. Thanks to her success in the company she had been able to provide for both her mother and her sister. Lowell's true colors had eventually shown, as Alice had known they would, and her sister had come home after three years of unhappy marriage. Such a thing was usually unheard of, but the family could afford to not care and that was a thing that Alice was truly grateful for. Lowell had been a slug to begin with anyway.

Another harsh coughing fit interrupted her reverie. Alice felt her heart like a lump in her throat when she saw that her white handkerchief had come away spotted in blood. No matter how she chose to look at it, to make light of the situation, her sickness was getting worse. Taking another breath, she looked out over the dark night covering the city of Shanghai. The night did not seem to hinder the movement of the city in the slightest. Shouts, smells, and noises all drifted up to her small hotel balcony. Try as she might Alice could not bring herself to take much notice of them. The lights of the city seemed to swing before her eyes and she blinked blearily.

Maybe it was time to go home. The last of the post she had received from her mother reprimanded her for allowing her health to deteriorate, and implored her to return home now that their family's station was secure.

She pushed off sluggishly from the rail and stumbled back into her room. She didn't even make it to her cot before she dropped to the floor, unconscious.

She didn't hear the enraged shouts of a tea merchant below her room, angrily fending off an oddly dressed hobo as he poked through the man' s wares. She didn't see the two pudgy children nicking some of his tea while he was otherwise occupied with the crazy hobo. She didn't see a fat gray tabby dancing through and biting at the strange man's ankles, and she most definitely didn't see the startling green of his rather large eyes as he turned to look up at her balcony.

II.

The first thing Alice was aware of was that she was warm and content and at peace for the first time in a long, long time. She decided firmly that she was not quite willing to wake up and as such kept her eyes closed, determined to savor the feeling of comfort. She soon was aware of an arm firmly supporting her head, and a cup filled with a hot spicy smelling liquid at her lips. Curious, but acceptable.

As she slowly sipped at the liquid, which turned out to be a strong sort of apple spice tea, she thought about the arm supporting her. It was by no means small, which ruled out her tiny land lady who spoke only Cantonese and came once or twice a week to clean her room. The arm certainly had no trouble supporting her head and her heavy mass of blond hair. Alice frowned, wondering whether she should panic or not. The arm and the other arm which was presumably being used to feed her tea were not causing harm, but...

Then the murmur of voices sounded from the room and the rumble of the voice above her, obviously male and strangely familiar, answered them. Okay, there were a good deal many persons unknown in her room, disregard the fact that they were oddly familiar and they were feeding her tea, it was time to panic.

Alice's eyes shot open and she flung the bed covers off and was halfway across the room when she stumbled and fell. The cold floor was a nasty shock and she lay there shivering. She felt two sets of whiskers tickling her face, and she felt many hands lifting her up.

"Easy, you don't want to be hurtin' yourself when you only just started to mend."

Alice looked up. She would know that thick Scottish brogue anywhere. Sure enough, a pair of large green eyes were staring concernedly down at her. She smiled. She knew that dear, dear face.

"Hatter," she whispered, her fingers reaching up to touch his cheek.

He ducked his head so that his face reached her hand the sooner, and his forehead rested against hers and his eyes slid closed. For a moment it was only the two of them in the world.

"Hey, lookit, she' s okay."

"Yeah, I said she was-"

"No you didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Boys," Alice said, her voice rasping pitifully in her chest.

She raised her head from the Hatter' s arms, and turned to look at her dear friends. Tweedledee and Tweedledum quit smacking each other and watched her concernedly, and the Dormouse who had been dancing about their feet stopped to push more tea at her. Alice frowned. All was not quite as she remembered it.

Her Tweedles were decidedly thinner than she recalled, and younger. Dressed in baggy smocks, she would have hardly recognized them from the hundreds of urchins in Shanghai if she had run into them on the street. The Dormouse was now a small, regular mouse size, and it was not proudly brandishing its rapier nor wearing its smart frock. Indeed, it was on all fours and twitching its whiskers at her, clearly thinking about eating her packet of tea.

A loud purring drew her attention to the fat gray tabby who had been winding about her ankles, and as Alice peered closely the cat seemed to have a grin on its wide furry face. The Cheshire Cat grinned up at her, as much as he was able, and was clearly unable to speak.

Alice frowned, then turned to look at her Hatter, and was frightened to see that even he too was changed. His face was pale and drawn, and his short (it had not been that short!) hair much less orange than she recalled. His waistcoat was a drab black, and his boots were plain and warn and caked with mud. The only thing about him that Alice could say for sure was the same was his familiar hat. It seemed as though-

"You've lost your muchness," Alice whispered.

The Hatter smiled gently at her. "We had to change a bit to enter your world. The rules here are a bit different I'm afraid."

"You're not hurt?" Her eyes widened, and she struggled weakly to sit up.

The Hatter stroked her hair and carefully eased her back down.

"No, we're not at all hurt," he said lightly, "though it will not do for us to be here much longer. As you said, we are losing our muchness."

Alice lay back against his lap. She closed her eyes, trusting him to take care of her and to make the right choices. It was clearly his adventure this time around. She sighed.

"I want to go home," she said quietly as she drifted off.

The Hatter knew exactly what she meant. "Soon."

He lifted her effortlessly and carried her back to the bed. Alice felt herself be bundled up in the thick heavy quilt and the pillows plumped under her head.

"For now, lets get you well," the Hatter said. She slept.

III.

When she woke again she discovered that the Hatter had not stirred from her side and the Dormouse and the Cheshire Cat lay sleeping across her knees. The Tweedles were nowhere to be seen.

She shifted, and the Hatter helped her to sit up. For a moment they sat there in companionable silence. Alice found that another cup of hot tea had been pushed into her hands, and sipping it she discovered it to be strawberry cake flavored.

"Curious," she murmured.

"Sorry?" the Hatter asked.

"Oh, nothing," she hastily amended, though after a second thought added, "this won't make me grow or shrink will it?"

The Hatter stared at her a moment, then peeled off into mad giggles that finally settled into a full hearted belly laugh. Alice thought it wonderful a wonderful laugh, and she smiled at her Hatter. He noticed her affectionate smile, and returned it.

"It was an honest question you know," Alice told him.

"Yes, yes I know. Still," the Hatter said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Where are the Tweedles?" she asked, "I don't think it's a good idea for them to be off by themselves."

"They went to look for a suitable door home," the Hatter told her, his smile dropping.

Alice knew exactly why it did, too. She remembered the last time she was posed with this question. She made the choice to returned to the outside world, where she would finish the things she had set out to without a thought of whether she would be able to return. But now she was tired. Her mother and sister were safe with her pension she had set up and her debts to society had been met. Lord Ascot had enough of the plans to make her father's company a name to be reckoned with throughout the years to come. There was nothing left to hold her here.

"Hatter," she said, "You asked me once if I would stay in Wonderland. Is the offer-"

"Yes," he said simply.

Alice was so happy, she thought her heart would burst. Then a coughing fit interrupted the moment. Alice coughed so hard she thought her lungs would part company from her chest. She pulled the handkerchief away from her mouth but was surprised to see that it remained free of blood. She looked up at the Hatter questioningly.

The Hatter smiled slightly. "The White Queen," he said by way of explanation.

He pulled a purple vial out of his coat pocket and showed it to her. It was half full of a semi opaque white liquid. Alice stared at it a moment, then looked up at the Hatter.

"She spit in it didn't she," Alice said flatly.

"Yes indeed," the Hatter said cheerfully, "There's also Mock Turtle Tears, Gryphon feathers, pepper, crumpets, and newt lisps. Quite a powerful spell actually. I've been slipping it into your tea."

Alice shook her head, then held out her hand. "Let's have it."

The Hatter handed it over and Alice tossed the mixture back. She immediately began to feel better and she lay back against the pillows with a sigh.

"Thank you," she said, "for everything, for coming to get me."

The Hatter leaned forward, his luminous eyes on her face. "Always. Because you' re MY Alice. No matter where your muchness is, nor what size you are, or if we've disagreed about the tea things, you are my Alice and I will always come for you.

Alice couldn't help herself. She flung her arms about his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He smelled like Earl Gray tea, potting soil, and a spicy zing that could only be her Hatter. She gripped him tight, his orange hair tickling her nose, afraid that he would disappear if she didn't hold on tight enough.

"I love you," she whispered, "I think you ought to know what you're getting into."

"I know. I love you too. It doesn't matter you know, we're both quite mad," the Hatter told her.

Alice pulled back, her nose inches from his, watching him. The Hatter studied her in all seriousness for a moment and he looked to be considering something. Then, he leaned forward and kissed her. Alice was stupefied for a moment, then her eyes slid shut and her hands snaked up his chest to grip the lapels of his waistcoat.

His mouth moved over hers and he was all that mattered to her in that moment. Kissing her Hatter, Alice decided, was nothing at all like kissing Hamish (the only other person she'd ever kissed). That had been a messy embarrassing affair that he'd instigated after she'd left his father's study, and he had received a box to his ears for his trouble. Hatter, however, was wonderful.

He kissed her in a gentle, considerate sort of way that made butterflies flutter in her stomach and tickle at her toes. They were still new at this kissing business, but Alice decided that there should be a good deal more practice in that area.

Alice smiled at him and opened her mouth to speak but the door opening interrupted her.

"Here now what were you doin'?"

"She's sick she is. What you doin' with her face?"

Alice and the Hatter turned to see Tweedledee and Tweedledum staring at them with equal expressions of suspicion.

"Sorry, I shall not disturb the patient any longer," the Hatter said sheepishly, "did you find the door?"

"Yeah, it's the river it is," Tweedledee said proudly.

"That's what I said, the river." Tweedledum smacked him.

"No you didn't!"

"Did."

"Didn't."

Alice sighed, then gasped as the Hatter lifted her up effortlessly, down quilt and all. The Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse were quite affronted at being dumped on the floor but they soon got over it when they learned that the party was heading back to Wonderland. Alice wound her arms back about her Hatter's neck and pressed close. She was not entirely sure about the river part but decided to trust him with it. After all, he was more familiar with this sort of business than she was.

Within moments he had swept her out the door and into the night. The journey though Shanghai passed like a dream. Alice did not know whether it was from her sickness or whether they were traveling oddly, but they seemed to drift through the streets like ghosts. Though they certainly made an strange procession no one stopped them or commented. Indeed, it seemed like they were not even there.

Finally, they stood on the banks of the Yangtze River. Alice took a deep breath as she stared at the dark water. The Hatter watched her. The Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse trotted into the river and disappeared without a ripple. Tweedledee and Tweedledum did an odd little dance, tipped their hats, then walked into the water. Nary a ripple.

Alice looked up at her Hatter. "Let's go home."

He carried her and she went without fear into the dark river.

IV.

A few months later Alice' s mother and sister got a letter. It looked like it had been through a war. (Quite literally it had, for the Hatter and the March Hare had got into a disagreement about the sugar). Jelly spotted the corners, and the writing was hastily smudged, though the Lady Duncan did see her daughter in that loopy carefree handwriting.

Dear Mum,
I am quite happy and I've found my way back to Wonderland. I'm not at all mad, well, perhaps a little. But don't worry, all the best people are you know.
I don't know if I shall ever be coming back. Time is a tricky bugger, and he doesn't play nice on your side of the fence, which is why he' s been kicked out over here. But I'll try my best to come visit if I can. If not, please drop the post down the rabbit hole. You know the one.
I don't know if it still works. The doors from this world and yours are often finicky. I shall miss you terribly.

All my love,
ALICE

P.s. Do you know why a raven is like a writing desk?