A/n

No real point to this story, it's just pure fluff. Enjoy!

River Sickness

The first three days out of Wonderland had been great. After a flurry of lies fed to her mother and a quick getaway, she spent the first day showing Hatter around the city and teaching him how things worked here. The second day, she'd shown up early at his apartment and after breakfast, they'd spent the afternoon shopping for furniture, clothes, and other things.

The third day started out similar to the ones before. He picked her up and took her out to lunch before they returned to his apartment to set up his new things. By the afternoon, she started feeling extremely worn out. She chalked it up to being so busy lately combined with everything she'd gone through in Wonderland.

Hatter noticed her change in energy and insisted they spend the rest of the night relaxing and watching movies. She fell asleep on the couch, cuddled against his chest while they watched Casablanca. Hatter woke her up hours later when he noticed how warm she was.

The fever came first, accompanied by extreme weakness. She could hardly sit up on the couch and knew standing and walking were way beyond her at this point. She felt terrible, just her luck to get sick when she was trying to enjoy spending time with Hatter.

He was fussing over her, asking when exactly she started feeling ill and pressing her to describe how she felt. There wasn't any good reason why he should be worried, it was just a cold or at worst, the flu. She was more worried about getting him sick, after all he really didn't have any immunity to germs here.

She was confused when he lifted her shirt and ran his hand over her stomach. "What are you doing?"

"You have river sickness."

She looked down at her stomach and found a huge rash covered in lots of little bumps. "Oh my god!" She tried to get off the couch but he just pushed her back down. "What's river sickness?"

"It's something you get from swimming in the lake of Wonderland. You probably caught it the time you fell out of the Scarab. It's a children's disease so it never even crossed my mind you could get it."

"Is it bad?"

"No, you can only catch it once. Most mothers toss their kids in the lake when they are five or six then they room them with a bunch of other kids who need to catch it. It's easier to get river sickness when you're young. It'll be a little rougher on ya because of your age, but it's noting serious."

He lifted her shirt again and looked at her rash. "Did you have this this morning?"

"No. I think I would have noticed that. I felt fine until a few hours ago."

He nodded. "That's good. Once you get the rash, you're highly contagious. Hopefully your mum won't come down with it."

Her mom, she hadn't even thought about that. "How long will this last?"

"Three or four more days. Ya can't risk getting your mum sick so, you're stuck here with me. Sorry." He was smiling and looked anything but sorry.

She really didn't know why, being stuck with a sick Oyster for three days couldn't have been high on his list of things to do. "What are we going to tell mom? She'll never believe me staying here for days without coming home."

He thought for a moment before raising a finger signaling for her to wait. Funny considering she wasn't going anywhere. "You, are going to call Carol," he said, fishing around in her purse and retrieving her cell phone. He handed it to her and smiled broadly down at her. "Tell her your wonderful, handsome, boyfriend is taking you on a three day holiday."

She took the phone but didn't open it. "She'll never believe that. I would never go away for a weekend with someone I've only know a week and she knows that."

"Yeah, and she also thinks I'm your long lost love who's moved halfway round the world to be with you. It's a good cover story and it'll buy me some points with her."

Alice sighed and called her mom, playing along with Hatter's lie and trying to sound like she didn't feel like she'd just been run over by a train. To her surprise, Carol had actually believed the whole thing and even encouraged her to be gone longer. "David's such a sweet boy, Alice. Enjoy yourself."

She flipped the phone shut and closed her eyes. Her head was pounding and there was a horrible ringing in her ears she really wished would stop. "Hatter?"

She didn't hear him and cracked her eyes open. He wasn't in the living room anymore. She managed to sit up but the action made the room spin. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before she stood and stumbled into the kitchen. He wasn't there but he had put a kettle of tea on the stove.

"Hatter?" she called out again, louder this time.

She hadn't heard him come down the hall and startled a bit as his arms circled around her waist. "You shouldn't be up, luv. I was just making up the bed for you." He held her tightly and tried to lead her to the bedroom. When she slumped under her own weight, he bent down and scooped her up, carrying her the rest of the way.

She whimpered softly as he laid her down on the bed. "Good thing they delivered the bed today, yeah?" He fussed with the pillows under her head. "I'll have you know, this is not how I envisioned getting you into bed. You were much more lively in my fantasies."

She managed a few soft chuckles but it sounded more like crying than laughing. It felt like her whole body was bruised and beaten and she was so cold. "How long will I feel like this?"

He brushed her sweat-dampened hair off her face. "You might be feeling better in the morning. The first twelve hours are the worst. Sleep will help, you need to rest."

Her eyes closed while he spoke to her, it was just too hard to keep them open. He covered her with a light sheet but it wasn't enough. She reached for the comforter but he just pushed it further away.

"I know you feel cold but you're running a fervor. Do they have medicine here for that?"

She didn't even have enough strength to nod her head. "The pharmacy on the corner. I just need some aspirin or something."

That was the last thing she remembered saying before she slipped into unconsciousness. She was vaguely aware of Hatter waking her to take a few pills at some point. Mostly she remembered tossing and turning. Her body kept switching between being way to hot and uncomfortably cold. She was kicking her blanket off one moment and tugging it tight around her the next.

Her fever finally broke sometime around three in the morning. She was drenched in sweat and still dressed fully from the day before. She sat up, testing her strength to see if she could make it to the bathroom. Now that the fever was gone her body seemed to be leaning more towards normal.

Hatter was on the bed next to her, fully dressed and laying on top of the blanket, somehow still asleep. How in the world he managed to sleep at all with all her tossing and turning she had no idea. She slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed, trying not to wake him as she made her way to the bathroom.

She splashed cool watter over her face before she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Dark circles lined her eyes and her skin was horribly pale. Her hair was slick with sweat and clung to her forehead and neck. Her lips were dry and cracked. In short, she looked like crap.

"Alice? You ok?" Hatter stood in the doorway, hair and clothes rumpled from sleep

She ducked her head, suddenly self-conscious. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little better."

He closed in on her and ran his fingers along her neck. "That rash is spreading." He fingered her wet shirt. "I need to get you a change of clothes. Sit down, I'll be right back."

She slumped down on the edge of the tub and buried her head in her hands. Now that she was feeling a little better, she was mortified that Hatter was seeing her like this. No matter how comfortable she felt around him, it didn't change the fact that they'd only known each other for six days. She didn't like anyone seeing her when she was sick, let alone a new boyfriend.

He came back with a light cotton t-shirt and boxers. "Can you dress yourself? I'll be happy to help if ya need it?" He was smiling and flirting with her like nothing was wrong.

"No, I think I can handle it."

"I'll be right outside if ya need me." He pressed a kiss to her temple and left the room, closing the door behind him.

The muscles in her arms were stiff and achy and it hurt to raise them above her head as she pulled her shirt off. Thankfully her bra latched in the front so that was easy enough to shrug off. The rash spread out across her chest and was a darker shade of red now. This really sucked. It reminded her of when she was thirteen and caught the chicken pox. She couldn't decide what was worse, the constant itching of chicken pox or the energy draining weakness that came with river sickness.

She ran a wet washcloth over her chest, stomach, and arms, before slipping into Hatter's shirt. Standing for as long as she had drained her. Even though she felt much better for having washed and changed, she was completely exhausted again.

She stepped out of the bathroom and saw Hatter leaning against the wall waiting for her. His head snapped up and he looked her over from head to toe. She still couldn't believe he found anything attractive about her in the state she was in. He quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and led her back into the bedroom.

He kept her siting up while he rearranged her pillows. "Maybe now that you've changed, you'll sleep more peaceful." Apparently her tossing hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Hatter, I'm really sorry to put you through this."

"Don't be," he said, sitting next to her. "It makes me feel useful."

She laid down on her side. "Why wouldn't you feel useful?"

He laid down next to her and rubbed her back. "Because I don't know anything about this world of yours. I've done nothing but follow you around like a dog since I've come here. I rely on you far too much."

The rhythm of his hand moving up and down her back was lulling her into sleep and she fought to stay awake. "I don't mind. I wasn't any better when we were in Wonderland. At least you're not risking your life every five seconds and making me save you."

He chuckled and moved closer to her so he could rub the muscles in her shoulder and back. "Well, that's the difference between us. You were running about trying to save the world. I'm just trying to furnish an apartment and make a home for myself. I'm more sensible, thats all."

He pulled her close and softly kissed her neck. "Your life may not be in danger over here, and I may not have the hang of everything just yet, but I'll still make sure you're ok."

She rolled over and he laid down on his back so she could rest her head on his chest. "I'm a lucky girl." The steady beating of his heart filled her ears and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.