1193
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Mathew really did worry about her. Tiffany, that is. She had never really been able to see very far past the immediate situation she was in. Not to mention the company she kept. Certainly he had gotten used to people showing up at unearthly hours of the night to complete transactions that usually involved large amounts of money and discreet paper bags. No that he was used to, he was even used to finding bottles of alcohol and drugs hidden everywhere, no matter how often he threw it all out. She pretended that she hadn't noticed, and they never spoke about it. Even now as she mixed and measured her chemicals that where usually hidden inside air vents, Mathew didn't say anything. The tension in their house was tangible, with a million lines to tread, each on finer than the last. But Mathew did love her and now he was worried that she'd gotten herself into something really dangerous.
"I don't want to discuss this with him here, Hollywood." Erin said shooting Mathew one of her cold glares across the kitchen table.
Tiffany laughed under her breath as she concentrated on pouring out a toxic looking liquid, "Sweetie, if Mattie was going to rat me out he would have done it years ago. Besides, he'd fall right with us for not turning me in for dealing."
Erin clenched her teeth, she still didn't like it but Tiffany did have a point, " I want to know how far along you've gotten in this whole thing."
"You have nothing to worry about, fell for the whole damn thing like a charm. For the first time in my life I have to make sure I don't sell a junkie too much. If I let her have her way she'd OD." Tiffany smiled looking up from the desk where she was sitting to look out the windows of the apartment that took up most of one wall, that view made up for the price tag nicely she thought.
"Is there anything else I need to know?"
That brought a slight hesitation to what had been fluid memorized motions. Knowing her back was to them and they couldn't see her face Tiffany bit her lip considering the question, "You should probably come over here to hear this."
Erin gave Mathew another glare before going over to trade whispers with Tiffany over her meth lab. After a few seconds she turned sharply on her heel, "End it, I don't care how. Break them up. If you can't do that I'll pay someone else to."
"No, I swear I can take of this! You wanted to know and I told you. I'm not saying I can't handle it. Hell I have been handling it!" Tiffany turned back to her chemicals as the door closed, but she couldn't be bothered to continue her work.
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1168
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It was Christmas. No that wasn't entirely correct, tomorrow was. Tomorrow was only four hours away though. It had never been a particularly special day for Hatter but Mathew had made her promise to meet him up so they could celebrate. Two months, ten maybe eleven or twelve dates. She had never been happier, even her other plans were so close to fruition. They still met up at the Looking Glass Lounge, Mathew had never guessed at who she was. He was still hoping she would tell him herself. For what felt like the millionth time Hatter pulled up a seat at the bar to wait.
"Hey!" a million watt smile and a head full of pink hair emerged from a crowd, "Before Mathew comes, I have some more inventory. I just wanted to check, I mean I'm sure you have plenty, but you know me fishing for cash."
Of course if she had gotten happier in the past months, not all of it could be attributed to completely positive means. There was a scar forming on the arm that always hung limp at her side from where she had pushed needles in with shaking hands. And she had to give the excuse that she was sick and yes she would got to see a doctor soon to gloss over her incessant coughing. Excuses, there had to be so many; of course she ate every day she had no idea why she was losing so much weight (an outright lie), and did she get enough sleep? She had circles under her eyes. Oh those? Eye makeup that she had tried to wash off. (She wouldn't have known what to do with eye makeup if she had any). Always a new excuse, a new way to dodge any questions.
"No actually, I need heroin syringes."
Tiffany nodded and then quickly glanced around, "Would you mind if we could do this out of the open. The cops have been cracking down on a lot of dealers and junkies to rat on the rest of us. I just need to be safe is all. Go to the ladies room and wait a few minutes, then I'll come and we can continue with business."
Hatter nodded, smart enough not to scan the room for any one who might have been observing, she did as she'd been told. She waited in the restroom examining her shoes for lack of anything better to do. She heard the door open and she looked up just as something connected with the side of her head hard enough to send her reeling. Vaguely she heard the lock of the door click as she tried to regain her balance. It took a few moments for her to regain enough of her senses to see clearly and by then she was pinned against the wall by the front of her coat.
"Do you remember the first time you came here and I told you to not bother with Mattie?" Never before had a baby-faced girl with pink hair looked so terrifying, "I admit, I may have stretched the truth a little bit. He's certainly very professional, very involved in his work. And I've tried to be very gentle with you about this-"
"Very gentle, you're a goddamn saint." Once again hatter felt something hit the side of her head hard enough to make her dizzy, only then did she see the faint shine of a black metal pistol in Tiffany's hand.
"Like I said, I really have tried. Which is why I've allowed this to go on for so long. But you've got to understand. Mathew doesn't like you. I mean you gotta realize, he's playing you sweetie."
"How the fuck would you know? You're lying, bitch." she didn't believe it Hatter promised herself, she didn't….if she didn't why was her throat getting tight like she was going to- she didn't get to finish that thought because suddenly she felt her self falling and only when she hit the ground did she realize her feet hadn't been touching the ground.
"He comes home and we laugh about it, how stupid you are for falling for it. And because Mattie is going out with me. He loves me!" Each word ended with a sharp kick that left Hatter on the floor in pain. Tiffany bent down and took a wad of cash out of Hatters pocket counting out syringes as she continued, "You wanna know what he was going to do tonight? Take you out to eat of course like usual, you would walk and talk. Every thing real gentlemanly and proper like. And then at midnight, Christmas and all, he was going to tell you for a Christmas present. But it's Christmas eve, and a joke isn't worth not spending Christmas eve with your boyfriend. Not that you would know. Okay so here's ten syringes I'll put them in your pocket. I'll see you again in two weeks yeah?"
She smiled as she left, like nothing had happened. Hatter sat up slowly leaning against the wall, after a minute she reached up and wiped her face on her sleeve, unsure of whether it was blood or tears. She couldn't help that she had loved him now, it was like some twisted beauty and the beast story. The forensic coroner and the mad felon. It was this damn city, it destroyed everything in it. Instead of happily ever after it was a cruel juvenile joke. Hatter would learn from her mistakes though, she knew who it was safe to love now.
Me? I'm never going to leave. In fact I can't, we'll be stuck with each other for the rest of our life. We can be friends again, like when we were little?
Yes, Alice and the Hatter because they'd never really had any one else who cared, had they? Hatter pushed herself to her feet hearing the syringes fall against each other in her pocket as she walked. She saw Mathew waiting for her at the bar where she usually was, she went for the exit.
"Hatter! I've been waiting for you-" Mathew caught up to her catching her by the shoulder but stopped speaking when Hatter mumbled something.
"I hate you."
"What?"
"I hate you!" Hatter felt more tears coming washing away drying blood as she screamed. It was another excuse, for her own benefit trying, wanting, to believe the lie. She couldn't, and that was why it hurt so much. But she had Alice and Alice could make it right the same way Hatter had done for her.
Even through the tears she smiled, sad and desperate and back at square one. Revenge the game that had gotten her in Arkham. Every one was staring at her, this crazy possessed girl, she did the only thing she could and ran. She would go home with one less thing to distract her from her real plans. So intent was she on getting away she didn't get to see what happened next. As Mathew turned around to look at his friends trying to figure out what had just happened. He saw Tiffany wipe a proud smile off her face as quickly as she could, but not fast enough.
"What the hell did you do?" He demanded, knowing enough to see past the clueless look.
"What it's my fault your girlfriends a psycho? Dude the whole city knows it, brush up on what happened while you were on vacation back home."
"I don't know what happened here while I was in California, but I do know there is blood on your shoes. What you should know is that there is one thing keeping me from beating you senseless, and that is the fact that you are my sister. And believe me that's not going to hold up for very long. So you had better tell me what you did."
