A/N: Thanks to moura1371, ticktockcroc, fairepeacock for their kind reviews! Here's the next chapter :)

Alice woke feeling better than she had in a while. She stretched out her limbs and blinked her eyes open, momentarily forgetting where she was. The memories came rushing back soon and she had to stifle a sob. It had just sunken in that her father was gone. Before there had been the promise of possibly finding him again but now she knew there was no way to see him again. He was dead. Swallowing down her sorrow, she pulled herself from the bed with reluctance; it was very comfy and warm. She wondered briefly how long she'd been asleep. She opened the door slowly and made her way into the hallway. Walking further along she came to a room which looked to be a kitchen. There was a note sitting on the counter and she picked it up:

'Alice,

You won't recognize any of the food in the cupboards but give it a go, I promise it's good. Anyway once you've had something to eat come back through to the main room out front. There are some people here who have some things to discuss with you.

Hatter.'

Putting the note down she decided to inspect the cupboards. After taking little bites of certain things she made herself something considerable to eat and soon she was making her way along the corridor in the direction of the white room. She pressed a button on the wall and the door opened. The occupants of the room turned to look at her.

"Ah Alice there you are!" Jack said with a fond smile.

"Come sit down there's much we need to discuss." She obediently sat in one of the white chairs. She looked around and studied the other people in the room. There was Hatter who gave her a smile and a wink from his chair, there was Owl who was sitting skittishly in a chair, holding a large bag and there was Jack who had by now placed his crown upon his head.

"Well all of us have worked through the night accessing the situation outside and the like. We have all deduced that it is in your best interest that you do not leave this place without an escort at all times. There has been talk of some rogue Wonderlanders who believe they have their own ways of extracting tea and if they see an oyster, who knows what they'll do." Alice nodded quickly. She had no problem with that. It wasn't like she knew anywhere else she could go. Jack continued after a nervous breath,

"The main reason I'm here is because I wanted to tell you in person. We have found the reason why the looking glass is not working. The ring has been tampered with. It has been chipped with a blunt object. We cannot say for sure who did it but the point is Alice, unless we figure out a way to fix it then we believe the looking glass may never open again. I am so sorry Alice, I know you miss your mother."

Alice had to hold back her tears. Forever trapped here. It was a painful thought. She would never see her mother again or any part of her world. She gave a strained smile.

"It's okay Jack, and it's not your fault." He sighed and stood bidding her goodbye. After he left the other woman in the room relaxed immensely. She smiled weakly at Alice.

"I just wanted to say I'm awfully sorry about what happened when we met and when Hatter said you needed some help I jumped at the chance," she handed the bag to Alice.

"Most of the refugees when they were taken away or decided to make it off on their own left behind tons of their belongings, mainly clothes so you should make some use of them." Alice smiled hesitantly and the strange woman practically scurried from the place. Alice blinked and shook her head. Hatter finally spoke to her now.

"So how'd you sleep?" She smiled and moved into the chair next to his instead of sitting across the room from him.

"Really great actually. The best sleep I've had in a long time." He nodded in understanding.

"That's because the bed is soaked in sleep tonic. I had to use it for a long time after the Queen took reign. It's just too hard to sleep when you're too busy worrying about everything." At her strange look he added.

"Don't worry the stuff's not dangerous or like the tea the Queen made. It's been around way before that even started."

She scrutinized him for a few minutes before something clicked in her mind.

"That's your bed!" she cried and he nodded innocently.

"I can't take your bed. Where are you going to sleep?"

"There's a spare room," he argued back with an eye roll.

"Why didn't you just give me that one?" she asked having calmed down. He huffed uncomfortably.

"I told you Alice, I want you to be comfortable while you're here. I'd be no sort of host if I gave you less than the best. Besides I haven't needed to sleep in it for a while so it's going to waste anyway." As he finished he grinned and she held her glare for a while before she couldn't resist smiling back. She decided to drop it. It was his home so he could choose where she slept even though she didn't think it was fair. She studied him, biting her lip slightly contemplating whether to ask him what she wanted to know.

"What is it?" She jumped not realizing that she had been openly staring with a glazed look for a few minutes longer than appropriate.

"I just noticed that you said that you were around when the 'Alice of Legend' was and I remember you saying it was a hundred and fifty years ago. I'm more than a little confused." He sighed as if he had anticipated this and took a breath before answering.

"Right, well the thing about that is Alice, time works differently here. I can't say exactly how old I am because I've lost track but I'd say close to three hundred." Her eyes must have widened to the size of saucers because he was watching her with a concerned look on his face. A look of realization crossed his face and he hastily explained.

"Alice my physical age still does count. At the moment by your world's standards I probably look around twenty five or something. That still counts. It just takes longer for me to get to thirty. I still have the mindset of the age I look; I just have more knowledge because of more time to learn it."

Alice seemed to grapple with this for a while and Hatter said nothing giving her time to think. That sure was a pretty big age gap. Then a thought occurred to her.

"What does that mean for me? I mean if I'm most likely going to be stuck here forever then how will that affect me?" she asked finally. Hatter seemed thoughtful for a moment and then he shrugged.

"I dunno. There's never been an oyster around long enough to find out." She nodded accepting that and she put her head in her hands.

"God, my mom must be so worried. I've been gone for about a week." Hatter let out a hesitant chuckle and her face snapped up to look at him.

"Well as I said in Wonderland time works differently here but it also is the same for your world. By your world's standard's you've probably been gone now for about three hours." Her face was in shock and then she began to hysterically cry. Hatter's eyes widened in alarm, wondering what he had done and he tried to think of what to say. He wasn't really good with crying girls.

"Alice I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything…" She stopped herself crying, wiping her eyes before answering.

"No, I'm okay. I think I just need to go get some more sleep." She stood and slowly walked from the room back to the inner house. Hatter sighed and after a few minutes he followed. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better.

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! More will come soon :) Please review!