A/N: Well hey there readers! I kinda left this story to rot for a while :( I really shouldn't have. Here's a filler chapter to make up for it. Something epic is coming later this week. I promise. And yes, I will be religious about posting. ;) Please review! Love you all3
Lewis Caroll and Tim Burton own everything having to do with AiW. I don't. Poop.
Home. Alice was finally home. The walk off of the docks was strained and wobbly; "sea legs" makes one weak on land, you know! She smiled, waved in glee at the throng of family that slowly swallowed her, asking of how China was, how rich its culture was. One uncle even asked about the oriental cuisine.
"Simply marvelous, Uncle!" Alice said on her way to an awaiting coach. She shut the door to the carriage behind her, sticking one white glove out of the window to bid a final adieu. As soon as the coach left the family's sight, Alice took a well deserved seat on the back cushion. Mr. Ascot, who had escorted her to the carriage, sat across from her, a smile plastered to his slowly aging face.
"Distant, are we, Alice?" He asked, noticing Alice's grey eyes watching the window to her left.
"Quite, Master Ascot. You see, I miss someone. This 'someone', I haven't seen in almost two years. He's quite the curious fellow; with a head of vibrantly ginger hair, and an adorable top hat! He loves having tea with me on Sundays. Oh, I miss him so, Master Ascot! When will we arrive upon your estate?" Alice quickly realized she'd babbled. Darn that mouth of hers. It was so hard for her to keep it under lock and key.
"I'd say not more than a half of an hour's drive, dear. Is this a man you favor, if you do not mind my intruding?"
"Well, that's what I'm not entirely sure of. I do love him, but I do not know of his feelings for me. Love is quite the confusing thing, isn't it?" Alice turned from her intense stare at the window to flash a brief smile to Mr. Ascot.
"Love is very confusing, Alice; and yet so utterly simple. It is so simple that it is confusing!" He laughed, what a contradiction. The rest of their drive was spent conversing of love, and Alice's odd suitor, with the adorable top hat, vibrantly ginger hair, and an obsession with tea.
"Alice, dear! We've arrived. We're home!" Lord Ascot gently shook Alice by the shoulder. She'd passed out on the couch only moments after they'd finished speaking of love. As the coach pulled to a halt, Alice rose sleepily from her crumpled position on the seat, stretching to rid her muscles of kinks and knots received over the period of the drive.
Alice grabbed her blue trench coat that she'd shed earlier in their journey home, quickly swinging the door to the coach open, and not bothering to take the steps. Instead she simply hopped from the floor, through the threshold, and on to familiar grasses. Alice glanced pack at Lord Ascot, as if asking if she could run to him. He smiled jovially, nodding and shooing her on. He told her servants would come for the luggage.
She ran to the gardens, calling sweetly for Nivens.