Wow, thank you everyone who responded to the first chapter/prologue. I'm glad you're interested in reading more. So, here ya go. This chap's all Alice and Hatter and chaos. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show. They belong to Syfy and some other rich people. I just like to have fun with them.

The Hit:

"Are you sure you don't mind picking up the last of my boxes?" Alice asked as she walked toward the dojo where she taught Karate, her cell phone pressed against her ear. "I can get them after my lessons."

"Alice, I've been here nearly two months. If I can't make it to your mum's and back to the apartment by now, I'm a lost cause. It's no problem. Really." Hatter tried to sound excited about his mini-adventure, but seeing Alice's mother wasn't his idea of time well spent.

The woman had disliked him ever since she'd seen him kissing her daughter. Well, maybe not disliked, but she had tried to cool things down between them—though it hadn't worked. He'd heard Alice and Carol arguing about him and their unconventional relationship many times.

"I'm not worried about you getting lost," she said. "Although, the thought of you navigating the subway still scares me."

"I only ended up in New Jersey once," he said, defending himself.

"And you nearly got yourself killed."

"Who knew Oysters were so sensitive about their clothing? I don't see why. Most of what they wear is hideous."

"Hatter, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about you being alone with my mom. I don't want you to feel awkward around her."

He loved the way she cared about such trivial things. He could only think of one instance in his life where he'd felt truly awkward; the first time he'd met Alice, in her wet dress. Though, he'd been feeling a few other things in that moment too.

"Carol and I aren't what you'd call bosom buddies," he admitted, "but we'll get there. Don't worry."

She was thankful for his confidence, especially since she didn't feel any at the moment. Her mother liked Hatter—or David rather—but she was convinced that he and Alice were too serious for being together such a short amount of time. Her mother was still astonished that Alice had gotten over Jack Chase so quickly.

"You sure you don't mind?" she asked for a final time.

"Everything will be fine. Trust me."

"I do."

"See you at home then," he said before hanging up.

Something was making Alice nervous. But it was more than just normal worry about her mother and Hatter getting along. A gnawing feeling was starting to grow inside of her, and she couldn't explain what it meant.

Alice keyed into their apartment around nine o'clock, tired and still feeling anxious about something. She just needed to see Hatter, know that he had gotten home okay, and she was sure that her mind would be put at ease. Maybe she had been worried about him getting lost after all.

She flicked on the lights, looked up and almost fell from shock.

Hatter was squatting, not sitting, on the couch. His hands were clasped in front of him, holding his Wonderland hat—the hat that she had worn earlier that morning in bed—as though it were a lifeline. Two bags sat at his feet, stuffed full.

But the thing that drew her attention the most was the blood. There was so much blood. It was smeared on his hands and face. On his hat. She noticed that there were bloody handprints on the wall as well. But Hatter's white shirt was the biggest casualty—it was saturated with the red liquid, sticking to his chest.

It couldn't be his blood. He'd be dead by now if it was.

"Hatter?" His name was a strangled whisper. Alice thought she might be hyperventilating.

His head snapped up when she spoke and he jumped from the couch, rushing over to her. His eyes were wide but his eyebrows were knitted together, giving him a crazed look that truly frightened her. Alice took a few steps backward but found herself pressed up against the door.

"Alice, thank goodness you're safe. I was so worried. You didn't answer when I called."

She'd forgotten to turn her phone off 'silent' when she'd left the dojo. But she wasn't the one who needed to do the explaining here.

"Hatter, what the hell happened? Where did all this blood come from?"

He came up to her and grabbed her arms, transferring some of the wet blood to her skin. His grip was painful, and though she knew she could get out of his hold, Alice didn't move.

"I didn't do it Alice. You've gotta believe me. That's what they'll say, I wager, but you have to trust me."

His explanation didn't help calm her down. "Whose blood?" she breathed.

"It was the Queen's men. I'm sure of it," Hatter continued, avoiding her question again and making her infinitely more nervous. "I'm sorry, but there's no time to explain. We have to go now. They'll be here any moment."

"The Queen's men?" she asked as he finally let go of her arms and stepped back. "That doesn't make any sense. The Queen's in prison. In Wonderland."

"We can't be sure of that. Now, c'mon. We have to go."

"Hatter, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me whose blood that is and what it's doing on you."

Hatter stopped pacing the small space between the couch and the apartment door. He couldn't look at her. The knot in her stomach felt like it was on fire. And then, as she put the pieces together, her heart felt like it was racing and stopping all at once, like it might explode inside of her chest.

"No," she said, denying the truth before it had even been confirmed.

Hatter came back to her and steered her to toward the couch so that she could have a softer landing should she collapse from the news.

"Alice, I'm so sorry to have to tell you."

"No," she repeated, sitting down because her legs wouldn't hold her.

"Your mum. . . .She's dead."

Words wouldn't come out. Alice couldn't even scream; only sobs escaped her.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but we have to leave. We're not safe here," he tried to explain, but she shrugged away from his touch.

Hatter got up and began pacing again, running his hands through his hair and pulling at the ends, making it stick up in places. Alice tried to compose herself, but every time she pictured or thought of her mother, her cries intensified. She rubbed her arms, only to see the bloody markings from Hatter's hands on her skin. Her mother's blood.

She started to scream then, but gagged instead, falling from the couch to the floor on her hands and knees. Hatter was by her side, holding back her hair with one hand, his other hand resting on her back in a gesture of comfort.

"Alice, we really need to run."

"Why?" she breathed, wiping her mouth.

"We've already wasted too much time. The Blue Suits have probably figured out where you live by now."

"The cops? Why would they be coming here?"

"Well, I'd like to think they'd try to find a man covered in blood that was seen fleeing from the apartment of a murder victim. There's laws against those kinda things here, aren't there?"

The mention of murder almost made Alice start dry heaving since there was nothing left in her stomach. "Murdered?" she whispered.

"I found this—" Hatter started to say, but just then they heard footsteps come to a stop outside her apartment door.

A few pounding knocks and the announcement, "This is the police," came through the door. They didn't sound like they wanted to be kept waiting.

Alice turned from the door to look at Hatter, but he had vanished. The bedroom door was cracked open; he must have gone to hide. There was more pounding on the door, louder this time.

"Coming," Alice said. She stood up, legs wobbling beneath her; her body was still recovering from the violent response she'd had to Hatter's news. Something fell from her lap to the ground as she straightened and she bent down again to pick it up.

A playing card? she thought. Is this what he found at my mother's apartment? A Queen of Hearts?

"Open the door, ma'am," a feminine voice commanded from outside.

Alice did as she was told. The police officers quickly swept the room behind her with their eyes and then took in her appearance. She must have looked horrible because their hands reached for their guns, though they didn't remove them from their holsters.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" the female officer asked.

Alice nodded.

"Are you alone?" the woman's partner added.

She gripped the playing card still in her hand more tightly and nodded again.

The officers dropped their hands away from their guns, though they still looked on alert. The man brought himself up to his full height. "Are you Alice Hamilton?"

"Yes."

"I'm Officer Williams. This is my partner, Officer Hanes. May we come in Ms. Hamilton?"

"The apartment's a mess," Alice said.

"This is important."

"This really isn't a good time," she said. She didn't want the police to find Hatter hiding out in the apartment if they thought he had killed her mother. He had said they'd try to blame him, but Alice wouldn't pass judgment just yet. She didn't think Hatter had done anything to her mother, but she still wanted to know why he was covered in her mother's blood.

Officer Hanes tried a different approach. She held out a sketch of a man that looked a little like Hatter. The nose was too big, the eyes were too small and the lips were all wrong, but she knew who it was supposed to resemble.

"Do you know this man?" Officer Hanes asked.

"It's my boyfriend."

"He's a suspect in a murder case. We need to find him. Has he been here tonight?"

Alice decided to go with the truth. With the blood on her walls and on her as well, it was pretty clear that Hatter had been there. "Yes. But he left. H-he told me my mom was dead."

"And you didn't call the police?" Officer Williams asked, frowning at her.

"It was such a shock," Alice said, "I think I passed out. Your knocking woke me up."

They didn't look like they believed her but, as far as she knew, she wasn't the one they were after. They wanted Hatter. "His name is David Hatter," Alice continued. "We've only been together two months. I don't know that much about him."

The officers were pleased to see that she was cooperating. "Do you know if he has any friends he might be staying with? Anywhere he would go that he feels safe?"

Quick, Alice. Think of something. "He has an old friend, Charlie Knight. I think he lives in Queens. David goes there a lot."

Officer Williams wrote down the information on a tiny notepad.

"Do you have somewhere you can go until we can bring him in? It might be safer if you stayed away from your apartment for the time being," Officer Hanes said.

"Yeah," Alice responded. She couldn't help but ask, "Can I see her body?"

The officers exchanged a quick glance, their expressions sympathetic. "The Coroner's Office will call you when they're ready to release the body. It may be a few days."

"Take this," the woman said, offering her a business card. "Call if you need anything or if you think of something else that might help us find your boyfriend."

"We're sorry for your loss," Officer Williams added before they turned and walked away.

Alice shut her apartment door. Every part of her was shaking. Her emotions were all jumbled and she couldn't think straight. Her stomach rolled again, but she made her way to the bedroom. The room was cold and she realized that the window was open.

"Hatter?" she called.

A few seconds later, his head—tan hat and all—appeared in the window.

"You sent them away?"

"For now, but they'll be back," she admitted, knowing that when the police learned that Charlie Knight didn't exist, they'd come back looking for an explanation. "What is this?"

He came back into the apartment and took the playing card from her hand. "It was on your mum's body," he said. "It was a hit."

"But why would they go after my mom?" She could feel the tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, but she held them back this time. Crying wasn't going to help them get out of this mess.

"Maybe it wasn't your mum they were after. Maybe they were after you, Alice."

A/N: So, I guess now would be a good time to say that this whole story comes from the fact that I didn't like Carol in the series, and I kinda sorta wanted her to die...well, I wanted her to not be present at all. Alice should've just been an orphan. Haha. My friend suggested I write a story where she dies, and yeah...this is it. :) Let me know what you thought about this chapter. Reviews make me incredibly giddy...even the constructive ones. :)

Also, thank you UbiquitousPhantom for being my Beta. You rock!

One more also. I will try to update once a week, give or take a day or two. :)