A/N: Holy words, Batman... these chapters keep growing on me. Wow, thanks so much for all of the reviews last chapter :) Happy muse! Thanks! Thanks! Ack, this chapter was much more difficult than it should have been, it was a lot of work so I hope you enjoy.

Oh, and speaking of reviewers, I had wished for a FanVid to Bonnie Tyler's 'I Need a Hero' and CatBru came through for me! It is a really well thought out video, and she so talented! The link is on my profile, please check it out.

Chapter 10

Carol was stunned, well and truly and in the purest sense of the word. She stared from the hole in the metal dumpster, to the man her daughter was embracing, and back to the dumpster. He had just punched through the wall of it… how had he done it? From another world? She thought. Her daughter was trying to tell her that her fiancé was from another world. And what was wrong with him that he held on to Alice like that afterwards?

Hatter disengaged from Alice and cleared his throat, once again in command of himself. A flash of movement at the end of the alley caught his eye, but it was gone so quickly that he wasn't entirely sure he had seen it. He would just have to hope that no one had witnessed it; in his experience, people believed what they expected to see so he wasn't truly concerned. Alice was supposed to keep a look out just in case, but he'd not fault her for it, not when seeing to him was what distracted her. Besides, he had bigger concerns, like the way Carol was reacting to his little demonstration.

Carol was still staring openmouthed after they broke apart. Seeing Carol's response, Hatter was forcibly reminded of the day he had first shown up at Alice's door. Carol had worn a very similar expression after he had braved his first kiss with Alice. Well, that ended up okay, he thought. He could only hope she was as adaptable as her daughter. One thing was certain, she was not going to appreciate that she had been lied to; he could see that straight away by the way her guarded gaze fell on him.

"Let's go back up to the flat, yeah? We'll sit down and explain everything," Hatter said calmly, as if he was commenting on the weather.

Carol reevaluated her opinion of him yet again. This man was dangerous, and he wanted to marry her daughter. How often had he lied to her while wearing that charming smile? How often had he lied to Alice?

He pasted on his best trustworthy smile and gestured to the door. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously in response, and he tried to hide the ensuing wince. It seemed like every time he took a step forward with her, he took two back. Alice stared from him to her mother, distraught that this might be yet another wedge thrust between the two of them.

"Please, Carol?" he requested softly.

"Mom? Just listen," Alice added.

Carol shook herself mentally and then nodded. She would hear them out, if only to hear what fantastical story they used to explain this. She followed them into their home, and declined Hatter's offer of more tea. She just wanted to get this over with… she wondered if there were psychiatrists that made house calls on Sundays, and then she wondered if she would need one for herself. She was having a hard time discounting the five inch hole in the industrial dumpster… she almost believed them already.

Carol took the chair and Alice and Hatter sat on the couch opposite. Without thought, Alice reached out blindly to take Hatter's hand in hers, needing the reassurance. He tangled his fingers with hers, and she calmed a little with his touch.

She took that hand, Carol noticed. The one that had just gone through metal and still looked remarkably unscathed despite of it. Not one scrape, nor drop of blood… it wasn't normal. She knew something was off about him.

Carol stared at his hands; he fought against the urge to hide them. He looked down at Alice's smaller hand intertwined with his; her engagement ring dug into his fingers but he didn't mind it. It was comforting to feel it there, a reminder that she loved him, accepted him, and had agreed to be his wife despite of what her mother thought of him.

Alice began the tale by rather succinctly summing up her arrival in Wonderland, her meeting with Ratty, and then her visit to the tea house. Hatter shifted uncomfortably as she described meeting him, hoping she would leave out a few key details that he found a bit embarrassing in hindsight. She told her mother that he was an undercover agent for the Resistance, and that his job was to smuggle food and necessities to the Resistance while maintaining his cover as a distributer of emotion teas, the drug of choice in his land.

She made him sound noble, and Hatter was even more uncomfortable with that notion. Carol seemed to see through her, and asked him if he had been a drug dealer. Hatter compressed his lips and begun to agree that yes, he had been, but Alice defended him by saying it was more akin to being a bartender since it was distributed by the ruling authority of the land. She explained that he had taken her to see the local arm of the Resistance to get her help. She made no mention of him buying her or for asking for his cut for helping her; after all… this was his future mother-in-law; for that he was eternally grateful.

She detailed how he had stepped in front of Dodo's loaded gun to protect her (and had gotten shot for it), and how he chased Dodo down and tackled him so Alice could get away. Hatter sarcastically related how successful that little ploy had been, explaining that Alice had ended up rescuing him. She glossed over the tea shop's destruction and the escape from the Jabberwock fairly quickly (she didn't think the Jaberwock would do much for their credibility), just stating that Hatter had lost his cover with the royals and that the forest was dangerous. She did speak fondly of mad Charlie and the timely aid he had provided them.

She told Carol about chasing after Jack despite Hatter trying to convince her to just get home, and getting herself purposefully captured by the Queen's agents. Hatter's hand spasmed around hers as she told of sneaking away in the middle of the night while Hatter and Charlie slept.

"You scared me half to death with that, I'll have you know," Hatter interjected.

"You are no better, chasing after me," Alice retorted.

He quirked a brow at her challengingly, but let it go.

When she related her discovery of Jack's true identity as prince and his engagement to the Duchess, Carol looked to Hatter dubiously.

"It was a shock to me, too," he agreed.

"So that part of it was true, that he was engaged?" Carol inquired.

Hatter nodded smugly, Alice rolled her eyes, and moved forward to Jack passing her Robert's watch and then Hatter and Charlie breaking her out of the Casino. Hatter explained that the idea of her father being held was enough to make her go charging back to the Casino, but that she had allowed Hatter to contact the Resistance leader on her behalf instead.

Alice explained that the agent that came to take them to the top man in the Resistance ended up being the prince-cum-Resistance fighter Jack. Jack said he could take her to her father and he had a way for them to get home. He had insisted that she must come alone, so she had left Hatter behind again to go with Jack. She said Hatter didn't trust Jack, and had secretly followed her to make sure she was okay. Carol nodded approvingly at Hatter, and he was almost embarrassed by the surge of happiness that followed. He felt vindicated when Carol admitted she hadn't liked Jack much anyway.

Alice related that Jack had sought her out for the sole purpose of using her to get to her father, although he professed that he had come to care for her in the process. Hatter rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the surge of jealousy that the thought of Alice with anyone else still seemed to produce. It was ridiculous, she had chosen him after all, and Hatter was not the jealous type. At Alice's statement about her father, Carol blinked rapidly and if possible, looked even more confused.

"Daddy was taken by the Queen. He didn't leave us. They made him forget about us," Alice disclosed.

Alice took a deep breath and squeezed Hatter's hand for support. He shifted closer to her so that the line of their legs touched; she leaned into his body in response. She explained that the Resistance had managed to capture her father. They hoped that by bringing her to meet him she would bring back his memory and thereby shut down the trade in emotion teas. Alice's face grew sad again as she explained that he hadn't recognized her… and that she and Jack were captured by agents of the Queen.

"Hatter tried to save me; he actually rode in on a horse! By the way… suicidal and stupid," she said, fixing him with an indignant glare.

Hatter shrugged, his lips twisted in a brief wry smile, "Odds were better than they would have been if I waited until they got you to the Casino. It was a decent plan, if it had worked."

"They just took Hatter, too. Gave him to a pair of homicidal maniacs to be tortured," Alice explained.

"And Mad March…" Hatter muttered before waving it off as if it was unimportant.

Carol vividly remembered the burn and knife scars on his body. Had that been where he had gotten them? Trying to rescue her daughter?

"But Alice escaped all on her own," he said proudly.

"Yeah, and I went back to the Casino to find Dad. I would have been caught again, but Hatter managed to get free and showed up just in time," Alice related.

"It was pure luck that I found her, I was cutting through the games room and there she was, held at gunpoint… again," he admitted.

"But he did find me, and we took out the guys with the guns and… well anyway we got the attention of the Queen's people, and then Dad came into the room… and he remembered… he did before..." Alice paused, blinking back tears.

"He took a bullet meant for Alice. He died saving her," Hatter finished for her.

Alice's lip trembled, but she had already mourned her father. She would hold it together.

"Who killed him?" Carol demanded, her voice rising.

"One of the Queen's people. He's dead now," Hatter replied quietly.

"He was going to shoot me, after he killed Dad. Hatter shot him," Alice expounded.

Carol's eyes widened and then narrowed as she fixed Hatter with a piercing stare. Her daughter's fiancé certainly had some interesting history.

Hatter dropped his eyes; he wished Alice would have left that part out of it. He didn't need any help with Carol fearing him or his past. He had seen the look on her face. He tried not to feel ashamed, but he was. He knew he wasn't good enough for her. He lifted his chin and met Carol's eyes again evenly; Alice had chosen him… he would have to be good enough.

"Robert is dead?" Carol asked, her composure beginning to fade.

Carol still wasn't sure if she believed them, but for now she was willing to suspend her disbelief. She thought back to Alice in the hospital, remembered her breakdown. She had been crying about Robert being gone... because she had just seen him die? She hadn't believed she had only been gone an hour, either. Her reaction at seeing David at the door made a lot more sense, as did many of his strange quirks. This would explain the nagging sensation that he had been hiding something… this was a fairly big something.

Hatter watched the emotions play over Carol's face; he was pretty sure she believed them. He heaved a sigh of relief, he honestly was not sure if she would. Alice went to Carol as the tears began to come and threw her arms around her mother; Hatter watched helplessly as the two women comforted each other, feeling awkward and out of place. He shifted on the couch and waited, finally rising and going into the kitchen to put the kettle back on. Alice would call for him if she needed him, but he'd felt like he was intruding on a private moment.

He sat at the kitchen table, sipping his tea and flipping his hat over his knuckles, walking it up his arm, flipping it back to his head and then off again in an attempt to burn off some nervous energy. Carol deserved to know what had happened to her husband, but he hoped he hadn't just destroyed any hope of winning her approval in the process. He settled his hat on his head once again as he heard Alice coming into the kitchen and found a smile for her, although he didn't feel much like smiling. This was difficult on her as well.

Alice poured two cups of tea and nodded her head towards the main room, "Come on."

"Is everything okay? She doesn't think you're a nutter, does she?" Hatter asked cautiously.

"I don't think so. I think she actually believes us. I think your demo had a lot to do with it," Alice remarked.

He gave her a brief smile, "Good."

"You are sure I should go in there?" he asked, unsure of his reception.

"I want you there," Alice said as she traced her fingers down his cheek.

He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, "Okay. For you, love."

She pulled him up to standing and then grabbed the cups; he started to follow Alice back into the main room.

"You know, I think I would rather face another Jabberwock than your mother," he muttered under his breath.

Alice shot him a mock glare, "You're lucky my hands are full."

He smirked but followed her, knowing he'd likely pay for that remark later.

Carol rose as she saw Hatter following Alice back into the room. Alice sat down the tea cups and moved quickly to take a position by his side. Hatter looked as uncomfortable as she'd ever seen him, wilting a little under her mother's hard scrutiny. It would be amusing to see her cocky Hatter so uncertain if it weren't for the circumstances. As it was, it just made her feel awful. She started to take a seat on the couch and pull Hatter down next to her but her mother intercepted, grabbing Hatter's arm. Hatter froze, tension zinging through his body.

"Your name isn't David, is it?" Carol charged.

He glanced with trepidation to Alice and then back to Carol, "It was, once. I've been Hatter for a long time, now," he admitted.

"And you took care of her in this world of yours?" Carol asked.

He nodded, "I tried to, but Alice is…"

Carol shook her head and laughed softly, "I know."

"And you stepped in front of a loaded gun for Alice, and got shot?" she asked

"Well yeah, but I was wearing body armor," he disparaged.

"And if it had been any farther to your right, you would be dead," Alice argued, and held up her finger and thumb spaced about a half-inch apart to show how close it had actually been.

"Alice, I didn't think he would actually shoot me," Hatter countered.

"You didn't think is right! It was still stupid," Alice replied.

Hatter shot her a quelling look; now was not the time.

"And you rescued her from that Casino place?" Carol inquired, continuing her questioning.

"Twice," Alice answered before he was able to.

Embarrassed, he nodded, "But it was Alice that took down the Queen. She saved us all."

"You shot the man that killed my husband?" Carol asked softly.

His jaw tensed, she probably thought he was a murdering bastard. Even without her knowing about March's death (and did that one really count since he was already dead once?) she knew of one death by his hands there, and he'd already killed two men in her world, and the tally was starting to sound less like hero and more like serial killer. It already did, to him. Still, he would do it again.

"Yes. He was going to kill Alice," He answered tightly, braced for her response.

"I'm glad you shot him," Carol said fiercely.

Hatter's eyes widened in surprise, he saw where Alice got her viscous streak. He glanced over at Alice, wondering what Carol's ultimate goal was in this line of questioning. Alice just raised a shoulder slightly to let him know that he had as much a clue as she did.

"You left everything behind?" Carol asked softly.

He swallowed… thought of a million different responses. He decided on the purest truth of it, "I love her," he said simply.

Carol stared at him for a few long moments. Hatter squared his shoulders and met her gaze calmly. He was what he was, whether she approved of him or not. He had no intention of ever letting Alice go, not ever.

Carol pulled him to her for a hug, almost knocking him off balance, "Thank you."

He just nodded and tentatively returned the embrace. He contemplated the possible implications of what she could mean by it and settled on simple gratitude. He was afraid to hope it might mean acceptance.

"I'm glad she found you. Thank you for saving my daughter," she continued, a soft sob escaping her.

Unexpected emotion welled up in him, choking him. He had hardly dared allow himself to wish for this. "She saved me. I was lost before her… and she saved Wonderland, after all. I'm just glad I could help," Hatter replied after he knew he could speak clearly once again.

Carol stepped back from him and spun an incredulous gaze to Alice, "Wonderland? You are telling me this land he is from is Wonderland? You went to Wonderland? That is a story in a kid's book!"

"You know, that's exactly what Alice said," he remarked.

"Mom, it is real… although the other Alice was there one hundred and fifty years ago," Alice explained.

"And it has changed a lot since then…" Hatter deadpanned, and then directed a sly smile to Alice.

"Hatter!" Alice admonished, but she had to bite her lip to keep from smiling at the memory of their first meeting.

She had been both drawn to him and utterly repelled by him. She looked at him warmly, thinking there was nothing she found repellant about him now. She realized he had caught her staring by the smug look he now wore and flushed at being discovered. She turned back to her mother who was beginning to look somewhat panicked, feeling a little guilty for being distracted.

Carol laughed, but it had a hysterical edge that made Hatter and Alice a little nervous for her. Alice had avoided naming Wonderland just for this reason.

"Alice and The Hatter…" Carol giggled, the hysteria growing stronger.

"Just Hatter… not that one," he corrected.

"Mom… what does the name matter?" Alice challenged.

Carol eventually calmed down again, and after another hour of random questions and explanations she finally left Hatter and Alice alone to try to enjoy the rest of their Sunday together. She seemed somewhat mollified that they had told her as close to the actual truth as they were able to. Alice hoped she had convinced her mother to try to give Jonas another chance. Hatter earned an elbow in the ribs for whispering to Alice that he really hoped they worked it out considering Jonas was his lawyer.

Hatter's plans for the morning had already been blown to smithereens so he suggested that they take care of their grocery shopping since it was still early on, and then they could go by the video shop and pick up a film. He may have missed out on their morning romp, but he would be damned if he let the morning put him off of his plans for the evening. He would have to pop into the tea shop to clean up from Saturday, but that should be fairly quick. He wanted a quiet evening together, especially because she would be gone next weekend for Nationals.

Alice, of course, had a different sort of plan for their evening. She wanted to go out to the movies. She and Hatter seemed to have so little free time, and he had yet to experience a movie on the big screen. She wanted him to experience it for the first time with her… popcorn, overpriced candy, and maybe a little making out during the slow parts. They could even catch a fairly early one so they had plenty of evening left afterwards.

Hatter caved in the face of Alice's excitement. It sounded interesting, at any rate. As long as he was with her, he would be happy enough.

Later that evening, he and Alice settled into the seats in the theatre, bucket of popcorn nestled between them. Alice lifted the armrest between the seats and then tucked herself under his arm and leaned into him. Hatter chuckled and asked her if she was comfy. Alice reached up and flicked the brim of his navy and grey pinstriped fedora in response.

"Would you like me to give you some space?" she offered insincerely as she pretended to shift away from him.

He shot her a droll look, "Oh, please."

Hatter enjoyed watching the film on the large screen, but Alice was driving him mad the way she kept tracing her fingers along his thigh or over his chest. He was quite sure it was intentional. He noted that many of the couples in the theatre were snuggled together much like he and Alice were, and that in at least one case, he was pretty sure that some weren't watching the movie at all. He decided to get some turnabout, since Alice had seemed to decide that she preferred to keep him in a state of perpetual arousal.

He leaned in and began to place kisses on her neck, her cheek, her ear… soft innocent looking ones that felt anything but innocent to Alice. When he begun to speak in her ear, Alice discovered that she should be more careful of teasing her Hatter… he could turn it around on her in an instant. She shivered as he told her what he had planned for the rest of the evening in deliciously intimate detail.

His breath was hot against her skin, the stubble on his cheek rasping against her neck, and his voice was deep and raspy and she suddenly wanted to be home alone with him. Now. He chuckled as she started to get up to leave, and protested that the film was not over.

"Really? You'd like to stay?" she asked.

"It would be a shame to miss the end," he replied casually, although he was unable to mask the rough edge to his voice.

She stood up anyway and glanced around quickly; she noted that no one was looking and smiled wickedly. She could change his mind. She sat on his lap, wound the fingers of one hand deep into his hair, and cupped his jaw with the other as she planted a scorching kiss on his lips. He reacted in half a second, his arms tightening around her, his tongue fighting for dominance. She jumped off of his lap abruptly and grinned down at him.

"Still want to stay?" she asked breathlessly.

"No," he bit out.

He loved his wicked little Alice. They made it home in record time.

A/N: I know we went through a summary of the movie here, but I wanted to be able to show Carol hearing it, and what exactly she heard from them.

Hope ya'll liked this… Hatter needed it, anyway. Speaking of Hatter's needs... the M-rated Missing Reel for the end of this chapter is titled 'A Simple Request.' *grins*

Please do review? It does feed that starving muse of mine. Man, I tell 'ya…those guys will eat you out of house and home.