The lower city

Alice woke the next morning from a dreamless sleep. The sun was shining brightly through the windows. She didn't know what time it was but it must have been well into morning. How long had she slept?

She laid there a moment stretching slightly and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She vaguely remembered Hatter waking her what felt like hours ago to tell her he was stepping out for a bit. She had been too tired at the time to ask where he was going but now she wished she had.

She got up and made the bed, returning the pillow and blanket Hatter had left on the couch back to their rightful place. She went to the bathroom and washed up. Finding a brush she managed to tame her hair a bit.

She went to the kitchen and found that there wasn't much to eat. That must have been where Hatter went, to get some food for breakfast. Having nothing much else to do she cleaned up the kitchen before wandering around the living room a bit.

The bookcases that lined the far wall caught her attention. She remembered Hatter telling her the queen had outlawed books, fearing her people having any knowledge. If books were considered contraband, how was it Hatter had so many?

She began running her hands along a row of books reading the titles as she went. The first few books she didn't recognize but the next one was the Stephen King book Carrie. There were more books from her world. A collection of works from Shakespeare, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, he even had what looked like a high school history text book Why were there books from her world in Wonderland?

She heard the door open and looked over to see Hatter coming in. He had a paper bag in one hand and three plastic bags hanging from his other. "Oh, you're awake. Morning."

She walked over to him and tried to take the plastic bags from his hand but he pulled them back. "Just food in those love," He said handing her the paper bag with a smile. "This one's for you."

"Really?" She said peaking inside the bag.

Hatter went to the kitchen and started pulling out items for breakfast. "I stopped by Lettie's and told her

to expect us today. You should have seen her. She lit up like the sun when I told her you needed a full fitting."

Alice followed him to the kitchen still holding the bag he had given her. She saw that he had bought some eggs and what looked like bacon, milk and bread. "Do you want me to help you with that?"

He set the food aside and turned towards her. "No, I got this. Open the bag." He said pointing at the package in her arms.

Alice sat the bag on the table and pulled out its contents. She pulled out a thin, white dress that was made of a soft material. There was a purple and gray design at the bottom of the skirt and a bow at one shoulder mimicking the same design.

"Do you like it?" Hatter had moved towards her watching as she looked the dress over.

Alice held the dress up against herself. It was a little longer that her blue dress, falling just above her knees. It was very nice and would be perfect as long as it fit. "Its nice. Lettie has good taste."

"Brilliant." Hatter said clapping his hands once. He turned back to the food on the counter. He took the eggs and bacon to the stove and grabbed a frying pan. "And I picked that out, not Lettie. The dress she picked out for you was awful, would have done nothin' for ya." He cracked a few eggs into the frying pan. "Not her fault though, she hasn't seen ya yet so she was just picking something she liked."

Alice looked back in the bag seeing that it also had a pair of gray tights. "Well." she said "I guess I'll go get dressed. As long as you're sure you don't need any help"

"No, go change." He said shaking the spatula at her. "We'll be leaving right after breakfast."

Alice took the bag and went to the bathroom to change. She quickly slipped on the dress and the tights. Alice looked herself over in the full length mirror that hung from the back of the bathroom door. She thought she looked ok, except for her oyster mark. Looking down, she ran her fingers over the green leafy swirls that stained her skin. It was a part of her now, she'd have to live with it whether she liked it or not.

When Alice reentered the kitchen Hatter was already seated and eating. "Well?" he asked her expectingly.

She smiled at him and joined him at the table. "Do I really have to stroke your ego by saying you have a good eye for fashion?"

He swallowed down a piece of bacon before he answered. "No, I have eyes, I see how good you look."

Alice looked away but couldn't help smiling as she settled down at the table. She ignored the smug look he was giving her instead focusing on her plate. "So we are going to see Lettie after we eat?"

"Well you are, I'm going to go to Trade." He said casually with a sip of his tea.

Sometimes, she thought, he forget she didn't really know anything about Wonderland. "Whats Trade? Is that a place?"

She watched while he fiddled with the last of the food on his plate. He was obviously trying to think of how to explain whatever this Trade thing was. Finally he answered. "Trade is where people take their assets and barter against each other. If you have gold or jewels or property you're allowed to wager them against others in Trade games."

"Like gambling?" She wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. He didn't seem to want to explain it fully.

She watched him nod his head back and forth slightly in a way she had come to realize meant he didn't want to answer. "In a way. The most popular game is chess but there are also games of chance like cards and dice." He moved to take his empty plate and hers and placed both in the sink. "I'm not very good at chess, and I've never had much luck with cards or dice."

Alice looked at him questioningly. "Then why go?"

I figure," He said as he offered her his hand and pulled her up from her chair. "I've been pretty lucky these last few days so I thought this would be a good time try again. Also, if you fancy eating and having comforts such as hot watter and electricity, I'm going to have to reopen the shop. To do that I'll need more money than I have now. Trade is the fastest way to double what assets I have left."

They left the kitchen and went to the living room. Hatter quickly put his coat on and then held hers out to her. She let him help her into the purple coat then moved to sit on the couch and slip on her boots. "Gambling is illegal in my world."

Hatter shrugged his shoulders. "Its just another business practice here love. Everyone does it."

She stood and smoothed out her dress. "It's not dangerous is it?"

"No" He said as they walked towards the door. "It's only dangerous if you cheat and even then only if you get caught."

"And no, I don't cheat." He said cutting off the question she was just about to ask. "If I did, I would have won more often, don't ya think?" He flashed her a wide smile.

They left the teashop and started down a street. Alice wasn't quite sure if she had been this way before or not. She was still finding it hard to get her bearings. She didn't even know if the sun here rose in the east and set in the west. Wonderland being the way it was she wouldn't have been surprised to find it chose a different path across the sky each day just to confuse everyone.

Hatter was once again walking on the outside near the ledge. She thought it was sweet how he always took her fear into consideration. Sometime after they started out Hatter had slipped his arm around her shoulders. His arm was light and there was no possessiveness to it, the feel was very casual. She was surprised that she hadn't noticed him do it.

"You're doing better you know," He gestured out towards the drop off. "with the whole heights thing."

"Really?" She said with a little nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah." He nodded. "You're far less tense and you only slightly look like you're going to pass out."

"Its still..." she paused daring to look over at the edge. "we're really, really high up."

She felt his arm tighten around her shoulder. "Only a few more blocks then we'll be heading down. Just try to think of something else."

Alice took a deep breath and tried to think of something besides her fear. She thought back and remembered about the books back at his place. "So what's with all the books? How did you get so many from my world?"

"Oh that, it's all black market. If you have enough money they're easy enough to find."

"You have a lot of books."

"I tend to have a lot of money. Well I used to anyways. Guess that's what I get for a having such liquid assets."

Alice rolled her eyes at his pun about tea. "Do you have any Wonderland books?"

"Course I do, thats what Dodo used to pay me in. I would bring down food, water, or particularly good bits of information and he would begrudgingly give me a book or two." Hatter kept walking but had to stop when he felt Alice pull away from him. He looked over only to find her standing there, her head tilted in such a way that let him know she was thinking. She looked slightly angry and he wasn't quite sure how a conversation about books could have lead to that.

"So your usual cut from Dodo was books?" She asked.

"Yes." Simple as the answer was he was afraid to let it slip out. He had no idea what was wrong but he hoped that yes had been the correct answer. He watched as she smiled while biting her bottom lip slightly. That, he thought, was definitely not a happy smile.

"So let me get this straight," She was looking at him now, arms crossed and completely defensive. "You bought me off a rat catcher for a bottle of excitement just so you could trade me to Dodo for a book?"

Well at least now he knew what she was so upset about. "Now Alice. you have to remember, I wasn't so attached to you at the time and Wonderland books are impossible to come by...."

"I'm a living person Hatter! Whether or not you were attached to me you don't have the right to trade me." Her voice had raised a octave or two. She wasn't yelling yet but she was well on her way.

She had backed away from him a few paces in her anger and Hatter moved to grab her arm. "Now look, we've already fought about this remember, I chased you round a tree? I apologized for that."

She raised her hand and jabbed her finger pointedly at his chest. "First of all you never apologized and second... a book? Really? You were going to leave me with Dodo, a man who hates you and shot you, just so you could read something?"

Hatter grabbed her hands "Look, lets just make our way down to Old Town and if you're still angry we can argue about it down there. At least that way I don't have to worry about you backing off the ledge in anger."

That caught her attention and she froze up noticing how close she had actually come towards the edge of the sidewalk.

Hatter pulled her back towards the wall and switched sides with her so he was once again on the outside. "Ok?"Alice only nodded they begin moving once more.

They walked down a few more blocks before coming to a long, narrow building. Alice remembered using these before, when she and Hatter had run from the suits and escaped in his smuggling boat.. The only thing in these buildings were stairs leading from the upper level of the city down to the ground.

They emerged from the building, Alice already felt more relaxed knowing there was solid ground under her feet. Looking around she saw they were in an alleyway, just a few feet from the actual street. She turned to Hatter who was just coming out of the building. "That was a dirty trick."

"What? Stopping you from backing off the edge? I thought that was very nice of me." Hatter was glancing about, probably making sure no one was around.

She shook her head and glared at him. "No, playing my fear of heights against me."

"What do you want me to do? Apologize? Tell you how I regret even taking you anywhere near Dodo or putting you in danger like that?" He'd yanked his hat of his head and ran his hands through his hair. "What will make you happy and stop ya from being so cross with me? It was a mistake and I'm sorry. I wouldn't trade ya now for every book in the Great Library if it were offered to me."

Alice looked down at her hands nervously playing with her fingers. "I'm not really mad at you as much as I am Wonderland in general." She looked down the ally, seeing a few people walking along the street. "My people are considered things here. You may not think like that anymore but most of them still do."

They stood in silence for a moment neither knowing quite what to say. Hatter flipped his hat back on his head and held his hand out to her. "Things will change, it just takes time."

Alice glanced up at him quickly before taking his hand. He lead her, turning to the left as they hit the street. This part of the city was different than the higher levels. The buildings here looked much older and more well used. Instead of the industrial look of the upper city this place was more inviting. The buildings here were made of natural materials like stone and wood instead of steal and concrete.

The streets were wide and made of brick and stone. There were no sidewalks here either. The only thing that separated the buildings from the street were small, narrow, gutters she guessed were for rain watter to run down.

There were more people too, men and women hurrying along the street, entering and leaving the various shops and businesses. She wondered what the reason was for the separation. Why it seemed so much more alive down here than anything she had seen in the city above.

She was going to ask Hatter about the difference but she stopped when she looked up at him. He looked very defensive and his arm was wrapped around her again, this time tight and protective. He watched everyone they passed with weary eyes. She may have felt safer here but clearly he knew different.

She focused attention on the shops they were passing. There was a butcher shop with large chunks of meat hanging in the window, a shop whose sign read 'Great City Gems', a shop called 'Squares' that appeared to sell croquet equipment, and next to that a building who's sign simply read 'Drink Me'.

"Hatter, whats that place?" She asked gesturing towards Drink Me.

"Oh that." He said without stopping. "Used to be a bar that served alcohol. That was before the queen outlawed liquor, not sure what they sell now."

They passed a few more shops before stopping in front of one called 'Fountain Fabrics'. The building was made of a light, brown colored brick. There was a large window in the front with dark red curtains and little window boxes filled with brightly colored flowers. "This is it." Hatter said gesturing towards the building.

Alice nodded and she started towards the entrance. Hatter however stopped her and pulled her back towards him. "I just want to warn you a bit before we go in there." He said "Lettie is a doll and you'll love her however the girl who works for her, Rose, is a massive bitch. She's stuck up and snotty and hates most people but seems to really have it out for me. As you're acquainted with me she's going to have a instant dislike for you."

Alice smiled up at him. "This isn't going to be a repeat of the Great Library is it? Is Rose going to pull a gun on us?" Hatter looked far to serious for how funny she thought this all was. "Hatter does anyone in this city like you?"

"Yes believe it or not, there are plenty of people who enjoy my company. Until a few moments ago I thought you were one of them."

Alice laughed and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. "Oh stop being so dramatic. I'm sure I can handle Rose." She pulled him towards the door and the two stepped inside.

a/n

Looks like Thursdays will be my normal update day. If I can get a chapter done on the weekend it will be Sunday but I'm not sure I could do that every weekend.

Thank you again for the reviews, I always appreciate them. Lets me know I'm not boring you too much with the length of the chapters.