A/N and Disclaimer: This story contains mentions of other story heroines in passing. Violet, Reggie, Sarann, and Alex all belong to me. The characters that Violet identifies different characters with don't. They belong to Lewis Carroll.

Yo la Reina

She never thought that she'd want to be in a room crowded with people, even if it was the snotty ladies her mother and sisters took tea with every Thursday afternoon promptly at four p.m., the proper hour for such a refined sacrament. The fact that they had wanted her there was amazing, but it was like the Rabbit had given her much choice. "You're going to be late! Late! For a very important date!"

But the White Rabbit didn't belong to her, but to one of her childhood books. It was very much like when she'd slip into the shoes of the Queen in her younger years, decapitating those horrid little blonde dolls that looked like anorexic models on ecstasy with their big breasts, starry eyes, and heavy lids. "Off with their heads! Off with their heads!" she'd shriek and saw her brother's pocket knife across their pretty little throats.

While the adventures of other heroines-Nancy, Scarlett, Eve, and Bridget were some of her favorites-were intriguing with their abrasive demeanors, none were quite as contrary as the Queen. Of course she couldn't let anyone know of the adventures in her personal Wonderland, and most often visited them while in her dreadful science and math classes and those delirious moments right before the shores of Moon River beckoned. That was, of course, before she had lost her insanity altogether.

So now she sat in a small little room, her personal "sanctuary" as the therapists (a fancy word for idiots) called it. It was very simple. There was a too short bed, a chest of drawers, and a dresser. There was also a small wooden desk with a haphazardly teetering pile of papers and a multitude of ink pens thrown on it. Six hours a day she sat at that desk, writing away with her adventures, and issuing royal decrees to those who bother her and her sacred chambers.

There were only two nurses that she allowed in there. The first was a man on the day shift. Something reminded her of Hatter, perhaps since some of the things that popped from his mouth, such as "That cup is dirty, you need a clean cup!" and "There's always time" were something straight from the Hatter's mouth.

The second nurse was a young woman on the early night shift. She had gorgeous red hair and eyes that were such a shade of blue that they were almost violet. She was as good as a lady in waiting should be. She listened to her queen, fetched various books and knick-knacks as needed, and would patiently listen to her retelling of how that awful man with the spots (her neighbor who had a habit of burning himself with his cigarette butts) would burst into her room once again and just as she happened to be dressing for tea.

She would address these too by name most of the time. The young man, Reggie, would often bring her flowers in from the outside. The young lady, Sarann, would let her wander into the library and music rooms after hours.

They all knew she wasn't actually crazy anymore; she simply refused to leave. She didn't feel safe in the outside world. She wrote her books and mailed them to the publisher. All that the author biography said was that she lived in London. That was all that needed to be known. There was one of those grainy, fantasy like pictures of her in the back. She wore a wine colored coat over her ankle length black dress. The snow was falling, and yet she was bent over the winter roses in the garden, tentatively breathing in the sweetness beheld like no other.

She was sitting in that garden on a snowy day, scribbling her latest story of Margaret's escape from insanity, when a new nurse came looking for her. "Ms. Bach?"

"Hello. How are you this afternoon?"

"Ms. Bach. I'll catch up with you over tea later. You have a visitor." He whispered the last part, as though scared to share the news. There were very few visitors she allowed to see her. In fact, there were only three: her publisher, her sister, and her mother. However, from Reggie's tone, she knew it wasn't any of them.

"Who is it? Not one of the usual?" She stood, scampering towards the sunroom. She let her long auburn hair tumble from her hat and quickly unbuttoned her coat before the indoor heat overwhelmed her. "Could you not discourage them? Tell them I was stark crazy."

"He was quite persistent."

"Name?"

"A Mr. Parker."

She hissed and began striding towards her room. "He came here after all this time! After all this time, he decides to hunt me down! After five years! Five! Tea will not be needed, Hatter. This guest shall be soon."

She took a deep breath before shaking her hair back and opening the door violently it hit the wall and ricocheted back. "Adam."

"Violet. Isn't it time to go back to the real world? You've been here five years." He didn't bother with pleasantries, but simply put his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently. "Please?"

"Why should I? You might have been my childhood playmate, but that doesn't mean you have any pull in my life now! And I'm cured…I just haven't wanted to leave."

She whispered the last part, and sank down onto her bed. He stared at her for a moment, his green eyes sweeping up and down, examining her for lie. He didn't know why he had let her go for so long. He loved her, and yet he couldn't find her. No one would tell him where she was. And just now, he tracked her down.

He sat down beside her and wrapped her in his embrace. She sobbed on his shoulder, simply letting go like she hadn't been able to since she had officially lost Wonderland to the subjects when they wanted a democracy. What a horrid day.

"Adam, I've missed you. I wanted to write you, email, call, anything! Somehow I figured if I found you though, I'd just break again."

"Why? I don't understand. Why did you break the first time?"

"Don't you see? It was because of you!" she spat. "I saw you with that hussy…and Wonderland had been pulling at my dreams and life ever more before that, every since Daddy shot himself. Don't you see? You were everything I wanted. I loved you-I still do!"

Violet blanched when she said that. That wasn't meant to slip out. That was need to know, and a basis for her stories. He was a forbidden love, practically betrothed since he was little to that Winslow chit. He was much like her Cheshire, the man who could disappear and morph between cat and man. After all, she had subconsciously based the cat off her playmate.

"Violet?"

"Adam, can't you just leave? I'm not leaving here. I don't feel safe outside."

"Because you don't try to get out of here and work and associate with people from the outside!"

"You don't know me. Ever heard of Sarah Audrey Parks? That's me! The elusive author who doesn't do signings or tours or interviews! I haven't felt safe for a very long time. Wonderland was my way of coping."

"Violet, can't you just be calm and listen to me?" She looked at him, contorting her face such that it read utter disbelief. "Just sit for a moment."

When she did so, Adam sat beside her, running a hair through his blonde locks. He sighed before ever attempting to spit out what he wanted to say. "Violet, there are people out that care for you and want you to be safe. It doesn't matter that there's a war and such. That's all on a different continent. Your family loves you. I love you, and definitely not like a brother. Won't you come back home?"

"You love me? Ha! That's a load of crap! What about what's her face? Jessica? Stupid little chit!"

"Only you have I ever loved. You were truly the Queen of Hearts-the Queen of my heart. Please, leave with me."

"I can't," she whispered before wiping a tear away. "I simply don't have the strength. Besides, I have set up my personal little chambers, with my happiness and writing and wish for love-"

Adam couldn't stand it anymore. He turned her face to his, running his fingers over her eyelids and down her cheeks to trace over her lips. "I love you. I'll protect you. Queen, didn't you want your Cheshire to obey you and love you? To become you with you in love? Because you have the chance now, and I'm not going to ask again. I haven't changed my feelings for you; I've been hanging on for too many years. We'll build our own Wonderland. Just say yes, love."

"Yes, Cheshire. Yes, Adam. It's time."

None of the nurses saw them leave. The room is empty. The bed is neatly made. The chest and dresser are both empty. The desk is void of all of paper, pen, and ink splatter. The only sign of its past inhabitant was in a dust covered heart carved into the wood of the desk. In the middle of the heart was a single paw print.

Two days later, Reggie went outside to the garden, out by the roses Ms. Bach loved so. Beneath the bench, was a bottle that went neglected for many weeks. In the bottle was a letter.

Dear Reggie and Sarann,

My Cheshire has come for me. We are going back to Wonderland. Thank you for helping me see that this life is simply a fraud, a place that I had to dwell until someone was sent for me. I love you two very much, and know you shall hold a special place in my heart from this period of imprisonment.

Yo la Reina,

Violet, Queen of Hearts