That night Tarrant took a turn for the worse, he unexpectedly he went into a nervous, hysterical fit. Between his deteriorating mental condition and the excitement from the party he went into an almost unbearable state. For awhile when the twins were first born he was almost free of his more extreme moods but as he and the boys got older he began to go downhill. There was no reason behind any of it and it tore the two apart at times. Tonight was one of the more terrible ones.

Alice found herself kneeling on their bedroom floor watching her beloved cry and babble incoherently. She held back the tears like so many other times as she tried to talk him into a more relaxed condition. His eyes went from red to yellow to green then to yellow again as he fidgeted.

"Tarrant, please some back to me." She pleaded. "I'm here, everything is alright." It pained her inside to see him like this, her very insides writhed and twisted.

He looked at her with wide tear drenched eyes and said something inaudible. Birds were gathered in a tree near their window, curious about the commotion. Suddenly one cawed and Tarrant was startled by the noise and sprang up, knocking Alice back.

Alice screamed and looked to see her husband huddling in the corner of the room staring at her with frightened eyes. She had been struck in the face. With a shaky hand she wiped the blood from her lip, the twins soon came banging on the door wildly.

"Let us in!" They yelled.

Tarrant huddled further into the corner and cried in his hands.

"Stop it!" Alice yelled back at them.

The banging ceased but the doorknob began to wriggle violently. After a few moments the door was flung open and the whole lock dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. The twins stopped in their tracks at the sight of their mother bleeding. Vellian ran over to her and helped her up. All of them turned to the shaking hatter.

"What did you do?!" Valen roared stepping toward his father. The elder hatter only cried more.

"Stop!" Alice yelled. "Get out, both of you!" She grabbed Valen and pulled him away from her terrified husband. "You're making it worse!"

Vellian then approached Tarrant with fists clenched. "If you ever hurt my mother again…"

"Go!" Alice screamed at him.

The two stormed out, slamming the doors behind them. Alice looked in the mirror to see her bleeding mouth, part of her face was starting to bruise also. She then looked back at the man in the corner. Slowly she stepped toward him and knelt down. Lifting his head up she saw that his eyes were green and filled with remorse.

His unsteady hand reached out and touched her face. "I did that…" He whimpered. "B-bad, horrible, terrible, dr-dreadful husband…"

"It's okay." She touched his cheek.

"No, no, no!" He cried.

She wrapped her arms around him and let his tears soak her dress. "I know you didn't mean it."

"I'm sorry." He repeated several times between sobs.

She pulled away from him. "Look at me Tarrant."

He averted his eyes to the floor and shook his head, tears falling from his pale face.

"Now." She demanded. Slowly his eyes met hers, she had never dreamed of seeing her husband like this. "I love you, I've had children with you but we cannot live this way." Tears began to drip off her face now.

He nodded quickly. "I know. I'm not fine. N-not fine at all."

"I can't see you like this anymore Tarrant, it tears my heart out!" She grasped his hand.

Tarrant stood up, still holding Alice's hand. His face looked tired and weathered, body was tense and sweaty. "Help me." He pleaded.

"I will try." She swallowed hard.

He gave her an innocent child-like look and touched her face, again he started to weep. "Hit me."

Alice was baffled by the request. "Never."

"I deserve it. My own sons wanted to beat me." He sobbed and clung to her.

"Come on. " She patted his back. "Let's get you cleaned up."

She walked her husband into their bathroom and sat him down. He didn't say a word as she ran a bath for him. The water ran nice and warm, steaming a bit on the top. Alice helped him undress and tried her best to relax him. Rubbing his shoulders and talking softly to him, he began to settle down.

"I would never strike you Tarrant." Alice said as she washed his back. "I don't care what you did, I'd sooner die than hurt you."

"I didn't mean it." He said shamefully. "My children hate me…"

"It's not your fault." She kissed his cheek. "I understand and we're going to work on all this, okay?"

"I don't know what's happening to me Alice. I'm very afraid." He shook his head.

She stroked his hair and touched her head to his. "So am I."