Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Alice in Wonderland, otherwise it would have ended MUCH differently.
So, a couple of facts might be longed but I really, really tried to get them right. Hope you enjoy it.
"You're mad." Lord Ascot, friend, colleague, and family, looked at her with slightly offended eyes. She didn't know what she was talking about, certainly. She didn't know the responsibility, the scandal this would bring. "After years of earning the respect of this company, of the industry even, which if I might add is particularly impossible for a woman, you want to throw it away on a hair-brained idea like this?"
"If not on this, what more is worth it?" Alice reached up to pull the pins out of her hair. In the privacy of their conjoined offices, she was allowed as much freedom as she could muster. Which was not much these days. She still didn't wear stockings or a corset, but her crisp green dress was business-like, if not boring. Her freedom ended with her clothes.
She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. Her face had lasted, she didn't look a day over twenty four, and for that she could be secretly proud. Margret had been wrong. She wore her hair a few centimeters above her shoulders now, though it was looked upon oddly, it was more efficient and she liked the look of it better. And yet she was still unmarried, because no man had tickled her fancy enough for her to make the decision to commit. Though several had certainly given it their best shot.
It was thirteen years to the day when she'd fallen down the rabbit hole for the second time and found out that reality had two meanings. What was, and what we choose to believe. Things had certainly changed since she came back up, but she still couldn't answer the unspoken question her reflection in the mirror had every morning as she got ready: Are you sure this was worth leaving?
But that was a thought to dwell on when she had a moment to herself. Shaking her head with a small smile, she looked at Lord Ascot who was still staring at her. "Don't think you can change my mind."
"I've known your family long enough to know better than that." Lord Ascot chuckled a little, she was enough like a daughter to him that he'd offered her a place in the house when her mother died. He knew her well enough by now to know she was just as insane and just as stubborn as Charles. That never stopped him from making the effort. "Do I at least get a chance to meet the little guy before you completely change your life?"
"I left him in the library with your grandson and granddaughter. They get along quite well." Hamish had ended up marrying Faith Chattaway, and had continued on with his boring and perfect live unscathed by her refusal. She still couldn't believe how different from their father they were, it was as if they were raised by completely different people. His children were pretty, kind, and energetic. "I'll go get him."
She walked down the hall with a smile. She'd already adopted the boy, she hadn't mentioned that to him but it was unnecessary. She hadn't wanted him to be able to talk her out of it. He didn't know it, but he had more influence over her than she cared to admit. And she didn't want him to stop her from adopting the angel.
She adopted Carmichael because she'd fallen in love with the boy and his quirks He was a bundle of personality, and she liked that about him. He was profoundly creative and quick, but sometimes you wondered where his mind had wandered off to. There was only one thing she knew of that might cause a little friction. Lord Ascot was not going to be happy about the fact that he was Scottish. She knew how intrusting he was of anybody who wasn't purely British. But she knew Lord Ascot would at least pretend to like Carmichael.
"Carmichael." She called out lightly when she entered the library, laughed when she felt someone grab at her back. She turned, ready to make some kind of witty remark, but froze as her heart swelled a little bit. He looked up at her from the chair, his greenish eyes sparkling with amusement. Red hair played boyishly around his five year old face. She'd known him less than a year and already he was more like a son than young Henry was to Faith. Not that it was that hard to do, Faith cared more about the gardens than she cared about her own children.
It had been a coincidence the way they met. He was running away from the orphanage and she'd been coming home from a year abroad. It'd been a long couple of weeks on the sea. They'd bonded for reasons she couldn't fathom the moment they met on that ship. It'd been an instant connection, and the day she was off the ship, she filed for adoption. They'd shared a fascination for riddles and things that were beyond imagination. He'd been the one person she shared her stories of Underland with. He loved hearing them, though she doubted he believed any of them. "Where are the others?"
"They're busy with their lessons." Faith spoke from the other side of the room. She certainly showed her age, lines already starting to etch into her skin. She looked annoyed, and Alice knew that it was with her. "Alice, could I have a word with you?"
"Of course." She reached out and ran her fingers through Carmichael's hair. He pretended to pull away and be embarrassed but they both knew better. She wanted to sit down and "make" him sit in her lap as they talked about nothing and everything. "Be back in a moment."
She joined Faith in the doorway. In another room, Alice could hear her children playing some kind of make believe game. So it was simply that she didn't want them around Carmichael, she should have known. "Was there something you wanted to say, Faith?"
"You won't be bringing that thing into my home, Alice. I won't allow it." Faith looked over at Carmichael like he might get up and start eating the furniture.
"He's not a thing, he's a boy." Alice wanted so much to reach out and slap her, but she'd never been one to lose her temper so quickly. And she'd never, ever embarrass herself by giving into the urge to knock one of the Chattaway twins.
Fiona only looked at her like she was missing something that was as plain as day. It was the same look she'd been giving her since she came to live with them. She was one of the few people that just refused to accept that she would never fit a woman's place in society. "He's not from here and he doesn't belong around my children."
"I understand." She didn't, not at all. She would never understand how this family, how the community she'd been born into could be so anti-foreign. "You don't like people who are different from you, that's fine, but we're not leaving. We belong here same as you."
"You know that's not true." And it wasn't, Faith belonged here by marriage, but Alice was just a guest. Faith dropped her voice by only decibels. "Alice, don't you even care what people will think when they find out? You'll embarrass yourself and this household. Nobody at the school will ever accept him. You're doing him more harm than good.""
"I pity them and I pity you for not seeing how special he is." She looked at Carmichael, knew this was not the place for him. He would only find hate here. "Alright, he won't stay here. I won't allow him to."
"Thank you, Alice. You've always had a sense of decency to go along with that strong will of yours." Faith looked at her like she'd just won some war the two of them were waging against each other. Alice let her think she'd won, she had better things to do. Like packing her bags and making arrangements to find suitable housing for the two of them. Somewhere in the city possibly, where she could be close to the office and close to a nanny.
Alice turned to go to Carmichael, but he was gone. In the chair he'd been occupying was simply the book of riddles she'd given him as a welcoming present. She understood before it even registered that he wasn't in the room, he'd misunderstood. He'd overheard her and he thought she was sending him back. He'd run, because he didn't want to go back.
She grabbed the book and took off after him. She couldn't lose him now. He wasn't anywhere in the house, and her first fear was that she'd never find him. She was running now, through the gardens and vast hedges. She slipped on a wet patch of grass and went sprawling. Getting up, she ignored the grass stains on her skirt. Her second fear was that he would get hurt.
She caught a glimpse of him, called out but he didn't turn around. There was a familiar small voice, and next time she saw Carmichael, she was certain she saw a bit of white fluff. Around the next turn, she froze. She was face to face with the tree and the rabbit hole and she knew where Carmichael had gone.
McTwisp had lead him straight to Underland.