Chapter seven
Alice knelt in front of the mirror once more. She had been here before, she knew what was going to happen, yet for some reason she just couldn't manage to tear herself away from the mirror. The familiar flash of gold and blonde hair appeared in the very background, swishing her hips slowly as one golden heel after another met the cold, shiny floor until she was face to face with Hatter. This time he stood and embraced her with open arms, very much the same way that he embraced Alice only that morning. He was wearing his old brown leather jacket and his dark hair flicked up around his hat like it used to when she had first met him.
"It's just a dream, Alice." She told herself through gritted teeth as Duchess hooked her thigh around Hatter's hip and he held it in place, "It's not real."
Duchess striped Hatter of his jacket and tossed it to the side as he began kissing her neck passionately, "It's not real." She scrunched her eyes shut and tried to block out the sounds of them kissing noisily. Alice was just about ready to smash the mirror again when a voice cut through her revulsion,
"Duchess?" Jack Heart called out as he appeared in the room, his bow tie hanging undone around his neck and his hands shoved into the pockets of his red trousers. Duchess pushed Hatter away from her suddenly and slapped him across the face; her lipstick was still smudged across his chin and lips.
"What's going on? Hatter?" Jack stormed over to the scene just as the Duchess flung herself into his arms, crying,
"He forced himself upon me, Jack." Duchess cried into his shoulder,
"Don't worry, my love, I'll deal with him." Jack gave a small smile as he pulled a jewelled blade from his waistband, the hilt of which was shaped like a heart and the light hit it gloriously. In a sudden movement he surged forwards and plunged the blade into Hatter's heart before leading Duchess away. Hatter slid down the glass, gasping for air.
"Hatter!" Alice banged on the glass, forgetting herself completely, "No! Hatter!" Tears pricked her eyes like angry hot raindrops, all desperate to race each other to her chin. She banged on the glass with all of her might but it was no use, she couldn't get through and he couldn't hear her. Hatter's face slumped towards her as he took his last breath and his eyes became glassy. "No." She squeaked.
Alice woke up huddled in a ball in the bed. Hatter and herself had been so exhausted when they had come home that they hadn't even bothered to get undressed before they collapsed on the bed in a heap. He was sprawled across the bottom of the bed with his one arm draped over the edge; he slept like a dead man. Tears that she couldn't control overtook her as she cautiously poked him in the stomach. He grunted and opened and closed his mouth a few times as if there was a taste he couldn't quite place inside of it. Alice let out a sigh of relief and tried to wipe her face but it was too late, Hatter had woken up.
"What's wrong?" he shot up into a sitting position and looked around the room for the danger, when he found none, he averted his attention back to Alice,
"It's nothing." She insisted, "You'll think I'm stupid." She wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to shake the dream,
"No, please tell me. I want to know what's wrong."
"I dreamt that you were...that you were dead. Jack killed you." Alice decided to leave out the whole Duchess part for fear of sounding like a jealous little girl.
"I'm fine, look. Still alive." He held up both of his hands and tapped his chest thoroughly, "It was just a dream." He pulled her closer to him and she sank into his chest, taking in his familiar smell.
"It felt so real though. I just can't lose you Hatter, not after what happened to my dad, I don't think I could take it."
"I'm not going anywhere," He muttered soothingly, stroking back her hair, "I promise."
"Yeah, and you better not." She sat up so that she could look at him better, "Because I don't care how dead you are, if you die, I will kill you."
"See, there you go, a threat. I can't die now; I'd be too scared that you might try to kill me." He kissed the top of Alice's head gently.
Hatter soon settled back to sleep with his arms around Alice, but she lay there a little while longer awake. She was terrified that if she closed her eyes she would be taken back to the Warehouse where she would have to witness either the seduction or the murder of her boyfriend once more, and frankly she didn't know which one was worse.
Daylight filtered through the curtains waking up Hatter. He glanced back at Alice who was gently snoring into her pillow. He was glad that she had been able to rest at last and didn't want to wake her. Instead he decided to get started on a surprise for when she woke up, although if he were to be honest, it was as much for him as it was for Alice.
An hour or so later the sound of drilling woke Alice from her dreamless sleep. Confused and dazed, she shuffled over to the balcony, wrapping her satin dressing gown around her as she went. Hatter was sat at the top of the first tree directly opposite the balcony. He was wearing jeans and a grey cotton t shirt that was soaked with sweat under his arms and he held an electric drill in his hands that he was using to secure a plank of wood to the tree. He looked up and saw Alice, his dark hair flopping over into his face slightly.
"What are you doing!" she called over to him, and he looked at her like a guilty school boy,
"Come and look for yourself!" he called back. Alice slipped on her big black boots and made her way out into the garden. She looked up at the tall tree just as Hatter climbed down and kissed her on the cheek.
"What'cha doing?" Alice asked, looking up at the tree once more.
"Well you wanted me to get back to the old me, the me in Wonderland, so I thought I'd make us a tree house." He smiled confidently,
"Right, and did you ever make a tree house in Wonderland?"
"Not since I was about eleven, no, but..." Hatter began but Alice cut him off,
"And you do realize that we don't actually own this house, right?"
"Well, even if we don't buy it, it'll be our own little mark to say that we were here." Hatter insisted, "Now are you going to stand there and patronise me some more, or are you going to help?"
Alice rolled her eyes, "I'll help." She smiled, "But you're making dinner tonight then."
"Okay."
"Actually on second thoughts." Alice added, remembering the last time he cooked, "Maybe it's better if I just cook."
"Tell you what. I'll help you with the dinner if you help me with the tree house, we'll work together, ok?"
"Sounds like a deal to me." Alice smiled, "So what do you want me to do first?"
Alice handed him a few planks of wood before climbing up the tree herself to get a better look at what was going on. They definitely had a floor now that was more or less even; all that they needed now was walls and a roof.
"How were you planning on making the walls? There are only two planks of wood left." Alice noted.
"I erm... I was going, I thought that maybe we could... okay, I don't know."
"It's fine. We can figure it out later. It's just that it's more of a tree raft than a tree house." Alice giggled.
"It's been so long since I made one, I can't remember how you make the walls." Hatter defended,
"And oh, it's beautiful, it truly is." Alice grinned, "All that's missing is a few homely touches."
"Homely touches?" Hatter repeated,
"Yep. Tell you what. You go and start cooking the spaghetti. Remember how I taught you? Whilst I add a few touches and we can eat up here tonight."
"Okay." Hatter disappeared down the tree and into the kitchen but Alice stared out over the trees for a moment. There it was again, so faintly that it could have been nothing more than the wind rushing through the leaves, but in her heart, it felt like Charlie calling out her name once more.
She climbed down the tree and returned a few moments later with a black bag full of items. She laid them out in the tree before returning to the kitchen to see how Hatter was getting on. Luckily nothing had been burnt yet, so she stood back and let him get on with it. Every so often though, he would cast a glance back at Alice to make sure that he was doing the right thing. Once it was finished they both took a plate of the spaghetti bolognaise and very carefully climbed up the tree and onto the little platform that they had built into it.
Across the centre of the wooden floor, the patchwork quilt was laid out with two pillows at the head of it, beside it a bottle of wine and two glasses and candles that were already lit as the darkness started to fall around them, were dotted around.
"Not that I don't love the romantic touch with the candles, isn't it a bit of a fire hazard to have them in a tree?" Hatter asked, taking a seat on the patchwork blanket.
"Maybe, but I don't care so much, like you said, it's romantic, and I want to be able to see your face tonight." She gracefully sat down next to Hatter on the blanket and placed her plate in front of her.
Once the food had been eaten and the wine drank, Alice blew out the candles and lay back on the blanket with Hatter beside her, staring up at the stars.
"Alice." Hatter muttered, still staring up ahead, "I want us to live here. I want you to tell the woman that we'll buy this house. That is, if you still want to live here?" Alice shot up to look Hatter in the eye,
"Are you being serious?"
"100 percent." He smiled, looking Alice in the eyes. She had never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment, her features slightly highlighted by the moonlight.
"I'll call her tomorrow." Alice smiled, "Thank you."
"No, thank you, Alice. You were right. I needed this place. Just like I need you Alice." He sat up and fiddled for something in his pocket,
"I was going to save this for our anniversary tomorrow, but you've made this place look so beautiful tonight that it would be a waste if I didn't."
"Hatter?" Alice's face suddenly became very serious as Hatter pulled a small, velvet-covered box from his pocket and presented it to her.
"Alice, you already know that I would do anything for you, I would die for you if I had to, and although we haven't known each other for years and years like other couples have, I think we're stronger than any of them and we will be together forever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Alice Hamilton, will you marry me?" Hatter took the ring from the box and hovered it over the end of Alice's ring finger.
"Hatter..." Alice was lost for words, "This is all so quick..."
"I know it is." Hatter cut in, desperate not to hear her say no, "But I don't think that anything has ever felt more right. Stop thinking with your head and listen to your heart. I'm not Jack, I'm not your dad, and I'm never going to leave you Alice. I will always be here for you."
Alice closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think clearly. The old part of her was telling her to run, commitments only led to disappointments, if she guarded her heart she would never get hurt. But Hatter was right, although it was impulsive and not like herself, when she felt rather than thought, it felt so right.
"Yes." She smiled and Hatter's eyes lit up, "Yes, David Hatter. I think I will marry you." She reached out and hugged Hatter tight before kissing him passionately under the cover of the stars.