D.- This chapter is up for the second of my three new reviewers, Outwiththelogic. There's still one more being uploaded tonight, so be sure to check it out too! I am in fact elaborating on the Duchess/Jack relationship because I think they suit each other. Must be all the blonde lol…Jk. I don't own or receive any compensation for use of the name Home and Garden Magazine. Enjoy folks!
Alice marvels at her first sight of Hatter's place. His office is shiny and plastic and cold, with odd quirky bits, like the grass carpet, but this room is something out of a slightly mismatched Home and Garden Magazine. All the textures are soft, just begging to be touched. Where the furniture in his office is all stark white, with glass, his suite has all wood furnishings, hand carved from the look of it. Strange and beautiful designs cover the wood, all burnt into the face and sanded until it gleams. His color scheme is everywhere, no discernable pattern except that there are a lot of patterns. Hatter lets her look around as he disappears through a doorway.
His walls are all a different colors, on the Plum Purple wall; he has all blue toned art, modern with bright slashes of color on a stark white back drop. On the Forest Green wall, he has a large wardrobe, in a medium shade wood, with beautiful twists and turns covering the doors. Those two walls meet and enclose his small living room. A very soft, inviting couch is in the middle of the room, facing the wardrobe. The small coffee table holds a tableau of a frog and a rat walking down the street in evening wear. She recalls his song and smiles. The Tuscan Gold Yellow wall is the kitchen back drop. It holds the two windows, higher from the floor than she is used to seeing in her world, but well decorated with pull down shades of a deep orange paisley. The cupboards have orange stained glass doors with antiqued knobs and the counters are tiled with different shades of off white. He has a stunning tea pot on the counter, decorated with tiny black paintings on a sunny yellow background. She smiles when she sees the Fire Engine Red wall. It is completely bare except for a large bookshelf, done in a dark, rich wood with what appears to be some sort of stone insets. It draws the eyes away from the doorway on either side. She approaches it and reads titles that she recognizes.
"I didn't know you could get copies of Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe over here. Did you ever travel to my world?"
"Nope" Is Hatter's reply, making sure to pop the 'p'. Alice, afraid to overstep her boundaries, continues to browse the titles. She eventually hears Hatter's breathing get ragged and when he looses a little groan, she wants to go to him, but doesn't want to intrude.
"Are you ok in there Hatter?" Hatter grunts a pained "Yes" but Alice becomes worried when all she can hear is her own breathing. She waits another minute for any sound
and is about to walk over and peek in the room when Hatter steps out, a pair of loose fitting pants and his bandages all the clothing he has on. He lifts one arm to run through his hatless hair and grins weakly at her.
"I thought you wanted to get some sleep. Leave the books alone, they'll still be around in the morning, yeah?" He holds out a pair of men's pajamas to Alice and motions her to the bathroom. "You can change in there if you like. Would you like a cuppa tea?" Alice clutches the pjs to her breast and nods.
"I'd love a cup of tea Hatter, thanks." She turns and flees into the bathroom, her cheeks aflame. Alice can well imagine what it would feel like to run her fingers along his bare shoulders, she can imagine him lifting her up and taking her against any surface in the place. Alice strips out of her dress, imagining that Hatter is the one doing the honors, imagining that his fingers are sliding along her back as he lowers her zipper. Alice steps out of her dress and pulls the top on distractedly. Before she reaches for the buttons to do up the shirt, she pulls off her tights and stuffs them into her boots. She begins doing up the buttons, while thinking of Hatter undoing them. Alice folds her dress neatly and drapes it over her boots in the corner of the bathroom.
Jack again lifts Duchess into his arms as he leaves the scarab. The Diamond state rooms aren't far from the looking glass room so he walks through the growing number of oysters lining the walls and standing in groups around the chairs in front of the Looking Glass. People clear out of his way as they notice the Duchess' unconscious form. When he arrives at the room, he has to tighten his hold on Duchess with one arm, trying to balance her weight on only that arm so that he can let himself into her suite. Jack sighs in relief when the door slides open and he shifts her back to both arms, jostling her awake.
"Jack?" Her voice is soft and sleepy and Jack feels a pull of attraction as he watches her large eyelashes flutter against her pale skin. He wishes, not for the first time, that he and Duchess had met properly, had a different past. He still wouldn't take advantage of her in this state, but he would certainly not feel so torn about helping her. He can't help but see her as the person who reported to his mother all of his misdeeds as a child growing up. He can remember all the times she refused to partake in his small adventures, the short times in his life where he could venture outside the expectation and be himself, explore why things were the way he was always told they had to be. He looked down into her painted face, her eyes confused and glassy.
"Duchess, I…" Her head lolls to the side, her hair falling into her eyes. He brushes the hair back gently before continuing. "Duchess, I need to know something very important from you, so you need to stay awake for me ok?" Duchess nods a little too enthusiastically, her eyes flying open in panic as dizziness takes over her. She straightens in his arms, forcing him to put her down before she manages, just barely, to stride into the en suite bathroom to vomit. Jack feels relieved, almost certain that this is a sign of her body fighting off the drugs.
He pulls his thin tie from around his neck and walks into the bathroom, using it to secure the Duchess' hair for her. He steps back and walks to the linen closet, grabbing a small washcloth and wetting it with hot water. When Duchess leans back against the claw foot tub, he hands her the cloth to wipe her face with. She stands under her own power and rinses the cloth clean, then runs it under cold water, to press it against her forehead. That task complete, and feeling more human, she pulls out her toothbrush and looks pointedly at Jack, who raises his hands in surrender and backs out of the bathroom. Jack doesn't close the door but steps over to the seating area and takes a seat in the chair facing the couch. Once Duchess is finished her task, she steps out of the bathroom and starts when she sees Jack sitting tall in her lounge chair. He stands and motions her around to sit in front of him.
"I still need to know some important things Duchess. Please have a seat." She bristles at being told what to do in her own space, but does as he asked. Once they are both seated, Jack rubs his neck in a nervous gesture before he speaks. "Duchess, are you still under the effects of the Honesty tea?" Duchess thinks about it, but then mumbles a shy 'yes'
"Duchess, I need to know how often you've taken emotion teas." Her look of shock and outrage prompts him to very quickly explain himself. "If you've never taken them before, you'll have more pronounced symptoms, but they will clear your system faster. If you have a history of tea use, the symptoms will, naturally be less severe, but long lasting. I'm trying to figure how to help you best." Duchess looks mollified and replies very quietly, her voice that of a scared child.
"I tried it once when I was young and foolish. It wasn't as strongly diluted as it should have been and the effects were wonderful at first. Then the after-effect kicked in and I dumped the rest of the bottle down the drain. I've also had a few of my drinks laced with something or other in small amounts over the years…the joys of being a pretty girl I suppose." Jack felt an irrational anger that his staff had been drugging his mother's ward and had to take a breath to tamp down the anger. Just as he managed to calm himself, Duchess remembered something else that made his blood run cold. "And any new emotion she didn't want to try, she'd summon me. Sometimes more than one at a time."
Jack can't stand the thought of it and stands, walking around in front of Duchess, his anger visible as he paces back and forth behind the chair he had just vacated. Suddenly, the most important question of them all springs to his mind. His anger vanishes, leaving him standing behind his chair, unsure how to phrase the question to Duchess. He looks over at her, seeing her confused eyes resting on him patiently, waiting for the interrogation to continue. But suddenly plagued by conscience, he's unsure if it would be right to ask her how she feels about him and why she took this tea to begin with. Duchess can see he wants to ask something, it just occurred to him, but he's being shy. A shy Jack is a cute Jack.
"I remember that you used to stutter ever so slightly when you were being shy. When I was moved out here to live with your family 10 years ago, and we were first introduced, I didn't think you'd be able to finish the sentence 'My name is Jack' I thought it was the cutest, most adorable thing I'd ever seen." Jack smiles awkwardly, not sure where the thought had come from, but glad to not have to think about the moral dilemma he had been pondering. He sits next to Duchess carefully, turning his body to face hers on the couch, and they talk about their past until dark, when the Prince excuses himself to go check on the Looking Glass, and then retire for the night.
Alice looks at herself in the long men's shirt, and opts not to wear the pants. She splashes some water on her face, and removing her pins, braids her hair back. She takes a deep breath, prays that she has the strength to resist jumping Hatter or that he doesn't have any such strength, and then she steps out of the bathroom. Hatter is just pouring the boiled water into his teapot when he sees Alice. He stops and swallows, his eyes raking her body. She smiles nervously and moves to the small little couch, curling her legs under her and flattening the shirt against her thighs. Hatter returns to dutifully pouring the water into the tea leaves. Once that is completed, he is at a loss. He gets down two tea cups and matching saucers. He calls over his shoulder.
"How do you take your tea Alice?" While he is distracted, she stretches up her arms above her head, hearing her spine re-align itself. Releasing a breath, she sighs out.
"Sweet. Usually 2 sugars." She looks over at Hatter to find him staring at her again. She smirks and rakes her eyes over his broad shoulders and arms, perfect in everyway, toned but not muscled, lean all over and just a hint of tan. She finally looks back at his face but he is turning back to the tea, his hands busy fixing the appropriate amount of sugar. Alice smiles and folds her arms on the armrest next to her, resting her head gently on top as she watches Hatter keep himself busy. Finally, feeling too wound up to do stay still, she stands quietly and walks up to him.
"So where do I sleep then? Gonna make up the couch or do we get to share?" Hatter starts at her closeness, dropping the sugar bowl. Luckily, this one is plastic and doesn't break; it just spills a little sugar. Alice cocks her head and waits for Hatter's response. Hatter turns to face her, his eyes dark and blazing.
"Why it's lady's choice here." He speaks with a cocky smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. Alice can see he is nervous, maybe just as much as she is. She reaches for his hand and places it gently on her hip, rubbing circles on the back of said hand with her thumb. Hatter looks into her eyes, searching. "Be sure" is all he says as he waits.