DISCLAIMER: We DO NOT own any chars from AIW. They belong to Disney. If we did, the Tweedles would have a record deal and the Cheshire Cat would have joined the Wonderland circus as a traveling act. The only character I own is Alicen Sierra Kimberly Miller and her family.

A/N: Okay. I hope you guys are ready for this next chapter because the story is def going to pick up speed!

"Sticking Close to Home"

Chapter 3-Trapped and a Rescue Plan

Alice awoke the next morning a little disoriented. She wasn't sure where she was at first. It wasn't until Sammie came into her room, did she remember where she was. She wasn't in Wonderland anymore. She was back at her Grandmother's house. She was spending the next two days here.

As her mind came back to the present, she smiled.

After getting ready, Alice joined Gran and Sammie for breakfast.

As the young girl dug into her Grandmother's French toast, Gran posed a question to her.

"So what are you up to for today?"

Alice almost said she was going to Wonderland, but remembered what her original plans had been.

"I'm gonna call Megan to see what she's doing. Maybe we'll go to the movies."

Gran smiled.

"That sounds like fun."

Once the breakfast dishes were taken care of, Alice went back upstairs and dialed her best friend's number.

Julie, Megan's younger sister answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Julie. It's Alice. Is Megan around?"

"No. She went to Ponyland for the day. She and Molly are staying there for the day. I'm going with Charlotte to a carnival. That's why I didn't go. I'll tell her to call you when she gets back."

"Thanks, Jules. Do you know when she's getting back?"

"They should be back by six or so."

"Okay. Talk to you later." With that, Alice hung up.

Dinah gave her a concerned look.

"Well there goes plan A, Dinah." She said with a sigh. "Now what am I gonna do?"

She thought of calling Julie back and asking her to use her Rainbow to get Firefly to come down and take her up to Ponyland for the day. She knew the pink pegasus would do it in a heartbeat. At least then she would be with Megan and have something to do.

But as quickly as the idea had come, it vanished. She really didn't' feel like going to Ponyland today anyway. She wanted to spend time with her best friend here. But that wouldn't happen for another four hours at least. She had to find something to do until then. The question was what?

It was then that the idea came to her. She didn't know why she hadn't thought about it before.

Smiling to herself, she picked up the phone and dialed another number. She had a few other friends other than Megan who lived here. She just hoped they were home.

Before Alice knew it, the next two days had flown by. She had spent time with Megan, along with a few other friends she had here. They had gone to the movies and roller skating. They had even gone to see a new play performed at Alice's old school. That had been a lot of fun. The young girl had seen people she knew and they were happy to see her.

It wasn't long before it was time to return to Wonderland. She was looking forward to it, but she was going to miss her grandmother and little sister. She was also going to miss her friends, Megan especially. The girls made plans for Alice to either go to Ponyland sometime or for Megan to visit her in Wonderland again. She had been there a few times before and the Queen had welcomed her warmly.

After Alice promised Sammie she would pick her up next weekend and promised to call and e-mail her, she gave Gran a hug and kiss, followed by Sammie before leaving the same way she had come.

"Well Dinah, I guess this is it. Home sweet home again." She smiled as she said this. She had really missed her family in Wonderland. She had especially missed her mother and the Tweedles as well as Hatter.

But as she entered her mirror, something strange happened. She didn't feel the same slightly sliding sensation she always did when entering her second and now permanent home. Instead of the familiar feeling, she felt as though she had come to a sudden stop. The question was why?

As Alice took a step forward to try again, she took a deep breath in an effort to remain calm. She could figure this out. She was a level headed girl.

Taking another deep breath, Alice turned around, all intensions of re entering her room and trying again.

But as she went to do so, she found she was stuck!

Now she was starting to panic. What was going on?

Making a last ditch effort to return home, Alice made a run for the door that lead into Wonderland, but to her growing horror, it wouldn't budge.

Setting Dinah's carrier down upon the ground, Alice sighed. If one thing was for sure, it was that she was in big trouble. She only hoped her family and friends in Wonderland would notice something was wrong and find a way to rescue her. The only question was, how long would it take?

"I guess we're stuck here until someone realizes something's wrong." Alice told Dinah. With that, she sat upon the ground in the little space she had and tried to think of a way out of her current predicament.

After a while, Alice could no longer tell how long she had spent inside the mirror. It could have been minutes, hours, or possibly even days. All she knew was that something very unusual was going on.

She felt as if she was dreaming, although she was in fact, wide awake. She was hallucinating, and the images that were flashing through her mind left her nervous and confused.

Her mind's eye was assaulted with a confusing jumble of images, showing scenes from different points in her life.

Pictures and memories of her grandmother, mother, aunt and younger sister flashed through her mind, alternating with those of the queen, hatter, hare, and all of her friends and second family in Wonderland.

She recalled her biological mother's abandonment of her, and her feelings of loneliness, despite her aunt's and grandmother's loving care.

Then she thought of Wonderland, the queen who had adopted her, and all the wonderful friends she had made there. Things weren't always perfect in Wonderland, however. She thought about the times the queen had scolded or grounded her, times when she had had disagreements with the Tweedles and other Wonderland inhabitants, and once or twice when she had been injured or nearly so by one of the hatter's crazy inventions.

Pictures of the hatter in various memories passed before her eyes. She saw him, and even thought she heard his voice at times, telling her or Sammy a story, joking with the hare, or singing the praises of some machine he had created, or tea he had concocted.

She saw scenes of him wielding some outrageous contraption, proclaiming to the queen that he was her royal something or other, and that he was there to serve.

The more Alice saw, the more she realized how ridiculous the hatter looked in these situations. And all that music! How could anyone ever think to get any work done, or hope to make any sense at all if all they did was sing! It was enough to drive anyone mad! But wait, if she was the one thinking of all this, did that mean she was mad? Alice couldn't tell what was right anymore.

While one part of her brain pondered this, another part was still plagued with images of her double life.

Her earlier life with her biological family had not been entirely pleasant, it was true, but it not been all bad either. She remembered her grandmother taking her and Sammie to the zoo, the park, and the counter fare.

She even remembered the time with her parents, back when she was very young, and before her parents separated. She remembered how nice it felt to sit in her mother's lap and listen to stories, or be lifted into the air and twirled around by her father.

But then both in her life and in her flood of memories, the fighting started.

At first it was only occasional arguments between her parents, but these quickly escalated into horrendous bouts of shouting, swearing, and often the sound of her mother crying.

Alice saw the form of a little girl, herself, lying shivering in bed, the all too clear sounds of yet another shouting match reaching her frightened ears.

Just when it seemed like she couldn't take anymore of the pain and fear, the welcome sights, sounds and emotions of Wonderland entered her mind again.

The voices of her friends, the smell of crumpets baking, and the image of her friends filling her adopted mother's palace made Alice, trapped back in her tiny space between her two homes, nearly cry with both relief and exhaustion.

Perhaps it was because of this mental exhaustion forcing her to let her guard down, or perhaps it was inspire of it, that a memory started to surface that, in her stronger moments, she had fiercely suppressed.

Although she tried to keep the vision from rising, the all too familiar picture began to form in her mind of that parking lot outside the movie theater, on that traumatic day. That terrible day which had changed her life in such an unthinkable way, and which had haunted her nightmares ever since it had happened, was now playing out like a bad movie.

It was at this most crucial point in her life, that she discovered the true depth of the love that her Wonderland family held for her.

They had been there for her every step of the way, even though this experience was as new for them as it was for Alice herself. If it hadn't been for the queen, the Tweedles, and the others, Alice didn't think that she would have been able to work up the courage to recover from her emotional injuries, and to learn to trust people again.

It took a lot of time and patience, and sometimes she still felt a little unsure of herself and the people around her, but she had made a remarkable recovery with the help of her second family. Her grandmother had been there too, of course, but it was really the Wonderland gang that had been there for her the most.

Meanwhile, back in Wonderland, the Queen and the rest of the Wonderland gang were sitting around the dining room table about to start the Thanksgiving festival.

The table was decorated with red and gold turkeys and much to the Queen's chagrin, Hatter's center piece.

Although everyone agreed that it looked out of place with its sunglasses and sombrero, nobody said anything, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

As the turkey sat in the center of the table on a plate of gold with red trim, Rabbit glanced at the Queen in concern. She was just staring up at the clock as though waiting for something to happen. She hadn't even declared the festival officially begun.

"Pardon us for asking," the Walrus began. "But what's so fascinating about that old clock?"

"Yeah." Hare chimed in. "It doesn't even work anymore."

"Not since Alice and Dee busted it by accident while playing darts."

"Don't remind me." The Queen stated. "Alice lost her allowance for a month to pay for the damage. And after all that effort, it still didn't work."

"I thought it was kind of interesting when it started clucking like a chicken instead of chiming it's usual sound at the stroke of midnight." Hatter replied.

The Queen glared at him.

"Speaking of Alice," Dee continued. "Where is she? Shouldn't she have been back now?"

"Come to think of it. You're right." Rabbit said worriedly. "She was to be back hours ago. Do you think we should put the festival on hold until she gets here?"

The Queen nodded in agreement.

"I declare this festival postponed until further notice." She said officially.

"What are we gonna have for dinner then?" Hare wondered.

"I don't know about you guys," Dum suggested. "But I'm in the mood for pizza. Who wants Wonderland express?"

Almost everyone started saying things at once.

"Extra pepperoni." Came Hare's request.

"Extra mushrooms for Pinnepid." The Walrus chimed in.

"Extra pineapple and black olives." Dee said.

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"What? Alice turned me onto it. Ya'll should try it sometime."

Just then, the Dormouse made himself known.

"Extra cheese for me, please." He said before going back into his teapot.

After the orders were placed, everyone drifted to different parts of the palace until the food arrived.

Just as quickly as the gang had dispersed, they came together again a few minutes later.

They were all thinking the same thing.

Dum voiced it aloud.

"It's kind of strange around here without Alice." He said. He absentmindedly tossed a tennis ball up in the air and caught it again as he spoke.

"Dum's right." Dee agreed. "I hope she comes home soon."

After the pizza had arrived and everyone had gotten their fill, they left the palace and headed for their respective homes for the night.

However, they were in for a restless night indeed. The Queen especially.

Hatter, who couldn't sleep either, turned on the TV and settled on the Hat channel. He watched it until there was nothing else on except for infomercials about the best hat for your pets.

Switching off the TV Hatter decided to do the only other thing left when he couldn't sleep. Make tea.

Walking into the kitchen however, the teapot wasn't' the first thing to catch his eye.

Sitting on the table, his blue eyes landed on a rectangular object that was hot pink and blue in color.

Sitting down in one of his favorite chairs, he picked the cell phone up.

Turning it over in his hands, he examined it more closely. He had fixed what had to be fixed, but he had always wondered how Alice changed her ringtones.

Taking it upon himself to find out, he flipped the phone open and searched through the many menus until he got to what he thought was the right one.

As he continued to fiddle with it, the doorbell rang.

Putting down the phone, he went to answer the door.

Expecting to find Hare on the other side, he was surprised when he came face to face with the Walrus and Pinnepid. Well in Pinnepid's case, maybe not so much.

"We're sorry to disturb you this late." The Walrus apologized. "The Queen has sent me here to find you."

"What does the Queen want at this hour of the night?" He asked curiously.

"That's just it. She wouldn't say. All she said was to meet her in the forest in twenty minutes. Whoever was there, well…I hate to think what the consequences would be. It's a good thing Pinnepid is always on time."

Hatter raised his eyebrow, but didn't respond.

They picked up Hare along the way and before they knew it, had reached their designation.

"What is this meeting is all about?" Hatter asked the moment they were fully assembled. "Let me guess. You finally figured out how to make something other than toast."

The Queen ignored him.

Clearing her throat as she often did before giving an important royal speech or announcement, she began to speak.

"You're probably wondering why I've called you all here."

"How true that is." Hatter said in his standard way.

"Well, I'll tell you."

"Maybe we'll get home before the sun rises." Dum whispered to his brother.

"Hey! I heard that!"

Dum became silent, but then quickly signed something to Dee who nodded.

"As I was saying." She went on, eyeing the Tweedles. "As you all know, Alice was supposed to be back home earlier today. But she didn't return. And it's not like her to go back on her word. This could only mean thing."

"That aliens have abducted her and taken her away to their secret hide out run by highly intelligent chimps who work for banana cream pie?"

The Queen didn't even acknowledge his statement.

"It means something must be wrong. It's our job to figure out what it is."

"Our job?" Hatter repeated. "You mean you're actually going to get your hands dirty?"

"I know what you're thinking. And I wouldn't ordinarily do this for anyone else. But Alice isn't just anyone else. She's my daughter and a good friend to everyone here. She means a lot to me and I know everyone here feels the same way. So with that said, we need to break up into teams and try to figure out what happened and how to bring our Alice back home again."

Before anyone could start calling out who they wanted to be partners with, the Queen picked them herself.

After that was done, the harder part began….