Eight Days A Week Chapter Seven ("Sunday")

Disclaimers: I own nothing you recognize; the Carroll estate and SyFy own characters unless they are created from whole cloth in my weird little head. Trademarks, etc, are owned by their respective entitites. I make no profit from this work of fan fiction. Oh and it IS Rated M/NC-17 so if you can't or shouldn't read adult-rated things in your area, please go elsewhere and read something else. Thanks. Oh and once more, the phrase Wonderian(s) is ganked from a Psyche Company song called "Wonderland".

Sunday

Sunday was…nonexistent. Alice didn't care much, though. She hadn't heard from Hatter since he left her apartment the day before—he didn't answer his phone, the bar hadn't heard from him, even to call in sick of late for his shift, and Real David hadn't seen him. When Alice had gone by Hatter's shop-to-be, she found the young assistant standing outside, literally twiddling his thumbs, because the door was locked and lights were off. Carol had offered a suggestion, couched in concern, that Hatter may have left town, or be with another woman. "Men do that sometimes, Alice."

"Mother, seriously…"

Alice had resorted to hanging about the café nearest Hatter's apartment, keeping an eye on the building until the barista had asked if she was stalking someone. Wandering up and down the street outside his apartment held little appeal, so Alice sat on the floor outside his door until she convinced herself that she was being pathetic and gathered her things to head home. She made it as far as the head of the stairs when a door creaked open and a little old man stuck his head out like a near-sighted turtle. "You here for that David boy?"

"David Hatter?" Alice stopped in her tracks and tried not to let the niggle of fear in her belly grow into a full-fledged panic. "I'm his girlfriend. Have you seen him today?"

"Hmph. Noisy punk, smashing around like he was holding a WWE match in there. I have the right to evict him, you know!"

Something clicked in Alice's mind and she forced a smile. "Oh, Mister Nussbaum! Hatter—um, David—has told me iall/i about you." The building super was, according to Hatter, sorely in need of a dose of Happy, or possibly Shut The Hell Up. Alice had questioned if such a tea existed and Hatter merely shrugged. "If Oysters can feel it, Wonderians can drink it."

Mr. Nussbaum edged into the hallway, keeping one hand on his door as if he expected Alice to lunge for him and cause him to need to make a quick escape back into his inner sanctum. "You tell your little friend that I don't appreciate all that noise in the middle of the night, missy!" He paused and narrowed his eyes. "You're that girl I heard hollering in there last night?"

Alice felt as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her head. "What?"

"Some girl, hollering up a storm in there like her hair was on fire or something!" He sniffed at her. "You smell clean, not like you just spent a night a-frolicking!"

"I assure you, Mr. Nussbaum, that my night was not spent a-frolicking. And Hatter—David—didn't have a girl in his apartment." After her initial shock, reason had brushed away the ice chips around Alice's stomach. i Hatter wouldn't cheat and I know better so snap out of it, Alice! /i The irritation lingered, though, and colored her next words. "And if you paid more attention to the building instead of the soap opera of tenants, maybe you wouldn't have black mold in the hallways and the water wouldn't run brown and red twice a week!" She turned on her heel and stomped towards the stairs. "My boyfriend doesn't have women in his apartment other than me!"

"I'm so glad I don't have to tell you that," Hatter's amused, familiar voice came from a few steps down. Alice gasped and nearly fell back onto her rear as she jerked around to face him. "What're you doing here, Alice?"

"I…I was worried." She moved backwards up the steps, conscious of the super watching as Hatter closed the distance between them. "Um, want to go inside?"

"Ah, no…Let's go for a drink, eh?"

"The tea shop?"

He grimaced. "I'm rather in the mood for something stronger." He waved at Mr. Nussbaum. "Sorry about the noise last night! It's…settled."

"I can still kick you out, you know!" he called as Hatter took Alice's hand and led her down the stairs. "Don't forget that, David Hatter!"

"What's he mean?"

"Oh, he threatens to kick me out once a week," Hatter laughed. "He thinks I'm some sort of thug." He paused and swung her up into a hard, quick kiss before setting her back on the sidewalk. "Now then—why the worry?"

"Why the something stronger?" she shot back. "Hatter, I was worried because…well, because of what happened yesterday."

It was a quick flicker at the edge of his expression, but Alice caught it. Anger, annoyance, reluctance. He forced a smile and tightened his grip on her hand. "No worries, ducks. I just had to, ah, get it out of my system. Everything is fine now." He tugged her towards a corner café. "I'm famished!"

Hatter's idea of 'something stronger' than tea turned out to be an industrial strength daiquiri. Apparently, in Wonderland, such drinks were not common. Alice supposed it had something to do with a lack of rum but Hatter had fallen in love with the frozen, brightly-colored drinks from the small restaurant down the street from his apartment. Alice stuck to ice tea as Hatter downed first a mango daiquiri, then a lemon-lime daiquiri. "Hatter," Alice tried again after his second drink and third sandwich, "I don't want to sound like a nagging girlfriend but I was worried. Where were you last night? And why did your super hear a woman screaming in your apartment?"

"Ah, watched a movie too loud," he said blithely. "That…what's it…you know, that one with a woman screaming."

Alice made a non-committal noise and decided to try another tact. "You didn't go down to the school and try to, oh, I don't know, make Don regret what he did, did you?"

Hatter sighed and pushed his plate to one side and took Alice's hands in his. "I promise you, my dearest Alice, my Alice of legend, that I did no such thing."

She narrowed her eyes, looking for some loophole in his words, but found none. "Promise?"

"I promise on my best hat that I did not go to the school or otherwise corner Don against his will and beat the pulp out of him." He crossed his heart for good measure. "Now, would you like some scones? This place has something called butterscotch…"

Hatter, pleasantly buzzed and more than a bit full of good food, was feeling more happy than not as Alice leaned on his arm, the pair of them making their way to her apartment. Her mom, she had informed him, would be gone this evening. A new boyfriend, Alice had added, looking only mildly upset. It was growing dark as they picked their way around gobs of tourists and the occasional busker, turning down the side street to the apartment house. "So are you still worried?"

She looked up at him and made a moue of deep thought before shrugging. "Yes but not as much… You ever going to tell me where you were?"

"Just home, watching movies." He smiled and, sweeping his hat from his head and plopping it atop hers in one smooth motion, leaned down and whispered, "You've been very…friendly this week."

"Takes two," she replied, breaking away from his grasp and darting up the apartment steps. She giggled, feeling unusually giddy as Hatter's footsteps sounded behind her. She knew that he could catch her if he wanted but he didn't, he let her get into the apartment before closing the distance between them, making her squeak in surprise as he grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her against him. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself," he replied, feeling—for the first time in days—at ease with Alice. iNow if I could get her underwear back to her without her noticing, life would be perfect… /i Alice pressed back against him and he growled into her hair. "What're you playing at, little Oyster?"

She turned and raised a brow at him. "Oyster now, am I? Am I supposed to be afraid of the big, bad Hatter?" She backed away a few steps, dropping her purse and reaching to unzip one boot as she hopped. "Little Alice, all alone in the apartment, at the mercy of Hatter…" She shed the other boot, tossing it towards the kitchen with a defiant thud. "Whatever shall I do?" she purred, finally reaching the sofa and stretching over the back, reaching for something on the sideboard just behind it. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder at Hatter. "Well?"

"Uh…oh…um…" He shook himself mentally. He felt a bit lightheaded as the blood rapidly moved southward from his head.

"I think," she said, kneeling on the sofa and shifting so she was half-draped across its back, "you're missing my point."

"No, I'm quite, ah, aware of it… I just seem to have lost feeling in me legs." He laughed somewhat shakily and forced himself to take a few steps forward. "What brought this on?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"I'm just having a bit of emotional whiplash, I think." He hesitated a moment longer, then took another step, closing the distance between them so that he could rest his hands on her shoulders, making her look up at him. "Alice, we do need to talk…"

"iNow?/i You pick inow/i to talk?"

"You didn't let me finish," he chided, pushing her back gently. "We do need to talk, but it can wait. I have something very important to tell you. Confess, more like."

She raised a brow. "Confess?"

"No, I didn't kill Don."

"Ah. Then it can't be that bad." She arched up against his grasp and gasped as he pressed her back, not letting her rise. "Hatter?"

He looked down at her with a heated gaze and made a quick choice. "Undress for me."

Alice felt her cheeks color almost instantly. They had undressed in front of each other before, in a manner of speaking. Quickly, in dimly lit rooms, a few times in full light, in sunlit spaces, in moon-silvered beds, but never slowly, never deliberately. Never, she thought, with Hatter looking at her like that. "Okay," she finally said, a bit breathlessly. She stood as he stepped back. "Um…" He sat in the armchair across from her, resting his hands on his knees, looking up at her with hooded eyes and a half-smile as she stood, uncertainly.

"I'm not going to bite you, you know. Not unless you ask."

His tone—slightly rough, a bit fevered—made her shiver. "I just don't know where to begin."

"Outerwear first, I'd say," he smiled. "Work your way down."

She took a deep breath and had a stern word with her self-esteem. i Just because you've never done this before doesn't mean no one has never wanted you to. Hatter is the first—and maybe the last—to ask and he's the only one you'd even think of doing this for… /i Exhaling slowly, she closed her eyes and reached for the zipper on the back of her dress.

Hatter felt a twinge of apprehension—Alice looked very nervous and he didn't want her to be upset, or not enjoy this… He opened his mouth to say stop, to tell her never mind, he was being silly, but she reached for her zipper and slowly, so slowly that the grate of the metal teeth was like thunder in the quiet room, she tugged it down and let the dress slide off her shoulders. She opened her eyes then and found his gaze, her blush fading just a bit, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. He felt his stomach clench in anticipation, his fingers tightening on his knees to keep from reaching out and just grabbing her. iAct like the adult you are, Hatter, /i he scolded himself. i Think of cream cakes and tea. Think of Mad March. Think of sodding paint drying on the sodding walls! Behave! /i Alice swayed slightly side to side, as if she were moving to some music only she could hear, and Hatter felt his mouth go dry. She stepped back, just out of arm's reach, and let her dress fall around her waist. Hatter said a silent prayer of appreciation and thanks to whichever deities invented red lace bras and breasts, especially whoever had been in charge of Alice. He could barely see the edge of dark pink aereole through the sheer, lacy bra and that, he decided, was more tormenting than seeing her completely bare.

Her hands moved over her arms, rubbing gently as if cold, before skimming across her stomach, fingers splayed as they moved over the very slight swell of belly, curve of muscle and strength. She shifted, raising one foot just enough to point her toe, and reached down, tracing her fingers up her calf. "Is this how you want me to do it, Hatter?" she asked softly. "Take everything off like this?"

He nodded, uncertain if she even saw him. She was humming a husky, soft tune under her breath as she slowly caressed her calf, then her thigh, just to the spot where her skirt stopped. For an eternity, for a few breathless seconds, her fingers lingered there, at the very edge of her black and white striped long socks, made oddly sex by virtue of being on her legs. Hatter waited, feeling as if time had stopped until she slid one finger under the ribbing and pushed the sock down, past her knee, over her calf, onto the floor. She raised a brow at him and he could not help but smile back, feeling like some twisted version of a boy in a candy shop as Alice—his Alice of legend—stripped before him. She moved to her other leg, this time not teasing so much as prolonging the gestures, taking the stocking off so slowly he was sure she'd fall over before she had gotten it past her toes. She took the stocking and tossed it to him, turning away as she reached for the clasp on her bra. "No," she ordered when he shifted. "You asked me to do this, so I'm doing it. You," she paused to unfasten the hooks, "get to watch." Her bra came off and was tossed over her shoulder, leaving her bare back for his gaze to feast upon.

Hatter thought he could lose himself in the constellation of freckles across her shoulders, fall forever along the pale lines of summers' past criss-crossing her back. She was golden cream and spun-sugar delicacy, warm autumn sliding into cold winter. i If she tells me she loves me again, if she really means it, I may expire on the spot from sheer luckiness. /i Her hands moved to her hips and pushed at her dress, giving a slight shimmy as the fabric slid downward. Hatter thought his heart stopped as she stood there, naked as the day she was born, her dark hair pushed over her shoulders, her bare skin exposed for his gaze to dwell upon and revere. She turned before he could ask her to, her hands covering her breasts momentarily before she took a visible breath and let her fingers move down her belly to her sides. "Now what?" she asked huskily.

"Alice—"

"ALICE!"

"Mom!"

A/N Next chapter is the last one in this fic… but I have plaaaaaaaans for more Hatter/Alice-ness *cackles*