A/N: Reviewers please, let me know what you think about this one…it seemed to grow on its own. We are marching steadily towards more action…promise.


Chapter 22

Alice had settled back into sleep, snuggled in safe and warm next to Hatter, snoring slightly. The doorbell rang, followed by a few short knocks at the front door. Hatter rubbed a hand over his face, blearily peering at the clock. Five am? He disengaged from Alice's arms and legs, curious and apprehensive about who would be outside his door at such an early hour. Another set of knocks and Alice began to stir.

"What is that?" she asked, her voice heavy with sleep.

"I dunno love, stay here," he answered.

As usual, Alice ignored him. She climbed out of bed, pulling on the sweatpants she had discarded on the floor earlier in the evening. Hatter was almost to the front door when Alice emerged from the bedroom. He turned back to her, exasperated, motioning her to go back in the bedroom.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Who is it?" she called out as the knocks rained on the door again.

"Police. We need to speak with David Hatter," came the reply.

"Just a minute," Alice replied.

"Hatter. Pants," she whispered.

He looked down, confused, "I'm wearing me pants," He said, looking down at his royal blue silk boxers in confusion.

"No pants. Put some clothes on," she hissed.

"Oh. Trousers. Right," he jogged back to the bedroom and snagged a pair of jeans from the closet, pulling them over his boxers. No sense in wrinkling perfectly good trousers.

He opened the door a crack to verify it was the police, and then let it swing open all the way, "I'm David Hatter," he said warily to the pair of police officers standing outside his door.

Alice waved at them to come inside, growing concerned. What on earth would they want with Hatter? Hatter was apparently thinking the same thing. His hands twitched, and she got the feeling he was wishing for a hat in his hands. She had noticed that his hat tricks were like a nervous tick for him. When he was feeling uncomfortable or nervous or just plain bored, he would flip his hat or make it dance or do any number of intricate tricks. The more complicated the trick, the more uncomfortable he was. She went to stand near him, taking his hand in hers as they waited for an answer.

"Did you hear anything unusual within the last few hours?" asked the officer with the nametag that read 'Jackson.' The other officer remained silent.

Hatter shook his head in the negative, confused by the question, "No. Why? We were sleeping, up until you knocked on the door," he answered.

He didn't feel the need to tell them that prior to falling asleep for the evening, a marching band could have been in his living room, and neither one of them would have noticed. He shot a sideways glance at Alice…or heard it. His Alice had a set of lungs.

Jackson looked disappointed, his partner looked bored, and Hatter was growing more concerned by the moment. He shook off the last vestiges of sleep.

"What happened?" he asked, now wide awake.

"The store downstairs was vandalized. Do you know the owner, James Waverly?" Jackson asked.

Hatter nodded numbly, "Yeah. I do. He's me landlord, and I work there."

"He's on his way over to come see the damage," Jackson's partner chimed in.

He wanted to go and see for himself. He looked over at Alice, and she just nodded at him. They told the police that they'd like to go downstairs and take a look. Alice could see how worried Hatter was getting about his boss and his shop; she hoped the damage was minor. She was certain Hatter was upset when he emerged from the bedroom fully dressed in less than three minutes. Although he was not nearly as accessorized as usual in jeans, red t-shirt, chocolate brown leather jacket and of course, a black derby hat, he still looked gorgeous. Not fair, Alice thought as she looked down at her own rumpled oversize t-shirt, sweatpants and sneakers.

"Oh, hell," Hatter breathed as they came around the corner.

The glass of the storefront had been bashed in, and the red brick walls were tagged with red paint. Alice tried to read the writing, making out 'East Side Locos'. The same gang that Hatter and Alice had a run in with. Damn, thought Alice. This was about the thugs they were pressing charges on. She didn't think Hatter would make the connection, being unfamiliar with this sort of thing, but she had underestimated him again. His jaw tightened and his lips compressed into a thin line.

"Those bloody bastards. They don't quit, eh?" he growled.

He strode to the storefront and surveyed the damage inside. He clenched his fists as he saw the overturned tables and bins. It was bad. Alice came to stand beside him and could only gape at the destruction. Hatter spotted his boss, James, walking towards them and was overcome with guilt. This was his fault. He had brought this upon someone who had only tried to help him. He strode over to meet him in front of the store. The cop ambled over at the same time to give him the details of the report.

"I din't hear a thing all night. I'm sorry. I'll help you clean up," Hatter offered.

James looked older than his sixty-five years as he sadly surveyed the damage. He patted Hatter on the shoulder.

"Shop's closed tonight son, I won't need you until the insurance gets this repaired. I'd appreciate the help cleaning this mess up, though," he smiled wryly, "I'm glad I emptied out the safe yesterday, it could have been worse," James reasoned.

The policeman gave Hatter the go-ahead to enter the shop, and he began to sweep up glass. He tried to convince Alice to go back up to bed, but she wouldn't hear of it. She dug in and helped, sweeping glass and spilled tea, righting tables and helping to sort inventory. They stretched a sheet of heavy plastic over the broken windows to keep out the rain and then surveyed their work. In a few hours they had managed to set the shop mostly to rights. Hatter hoped he wouldn't be out of work for long; he had debts to pay now. He didn't want to have to dig into his shrinking nest egg. James chased them out of the shop with the assurance that he was just taking care of a few minor details, then he would be leaving. Hatter's temper had cooled to a low burn by the time they had finished cleaning up, but he was now even more determined to set things right in his neighborhood.

Hatter's stomach growled, alerting him to the fact that he had gone about fourteen hours with no food. Too long. Alice teased him about his ridiculously fast metabolism, but he actually did seem to burn through food more quickly than most people. He had wondered if it had something to do with his extra ability, or if it was just the way it was made. Regardless, he needed to eat something.

Alice smirked at him as she overheard his stomach rumbling, amused, "How about breakfast at The Diner? It seems to be the place to go after a crime…" she joked.

He glanced back at the tea shop and shook his head sadly, "Might as well."

Hatter ordered a stack of pancakes, bacon, ham, eggs, toast and biscuits with a cup of coffee. She looked at him strangely.

"Coffee?" she asked.

He had never ordered coffee before, the food she was used to.

"Have you seen what they have for tea here? Gah! It's horrible. And I din't get my morning tea," he answered.

She watched him pour so much sugar and creamer into the coffee that it almost overflowed the brim. He picked it up and took a sip, grimacing slightly, and then added more sugar. Alice tried to suppress her giggles, failing miserably.

"What?" he huffed.

"Would you like some coffee with your cream and sugar?" she snarked.

"Well I'm glad you're having a good time," he grumbled.

Alice rolled her eyes and raised her hand at the waitress, "Could we maybe get the biscuits out right away?" she asked, looking pointedly at Hatter.

Hatter devoured a few biscuits slathered liberally with butter and strawberry jam, then smiled wryly at Alice,"Thanks. I was starving."

"I know," she answered.

"You have to teach tonight, yeah?" he asked Alice.

She nodded; her mouth was full of biscuit. Hatter wasn't the only one that was hungry, all the clean-up had been hard work.

"I'm coming with you. I've got a bad feeling that those blokes are out to get us," he asserted, gesturing with his coffee and biscuit.

"I think it's more you they're after, but alright," she agreed amicably.

Hatter disagreed; he knew how this sort of people thought. If Alice was his, she was in even more danger than he was. But she hadn't argued about him coming with her, so he would let it be for now. Hatter looked at her suspiciously. That was entirely too easy.

Alice smirked, "Since you will be there anyway, you can join in. It's all intermediate and below tonight, there will be some other white belts there."

Ah, so that's why she gave in so easy. He determined.

"Yeah," he answered with forced levity, his voice raising an octave, "Brilliant."

The waitress brought the rest of the food then, and Hatter was spared the rest of the conversation. This day just seemed to be getting worse by the moment. The only good thing about it, he reflected, was that Alice was spending it with him.

After breakfast, they headed back to Hatter's so Alice could change. She still had to drop off her paper, so they made a side trip to Alice's apartment to grab her essay and then caught the subway to the university. Hatter had of course taken the opportunity to accessorize while she was changing, adding a waistcoat over the t-shirt and switching out his black hat for his brown one.

Although he was assimilating remarkably well to her world, he was still just as uncomfortable in a subway car. He held her so close to him on the ride over that she thought she would have a bruise where his hip pressed against hers. She reached back to the nape of his neck and stroked his hair like she would calm a cat. He relaxed infinitesimally against her, soothed by her touch.

She dropped off her final essay as quickly as she was able, and then they made their way back to Hatter's flat. They had originally planned to go buy some things for his new place, but in light of him being short a few days of work on his upcoming paycheck, they decided against it. Hatter was more subdued than usual, but Alice hoped that the class tonight would help him work out some of the anger and frustration that had been overshadowing him all day. She was looking forward to her black-belt class for the same reason.


Clad in his snowy white gi, Hatter fell in line with the other students. He and Alice had been practicing together before the class started, and he hoped that it would help him do better in class. He stepped into the back row with the two other white belts attending the class, everyone else was higher rank. If possible, he was even more uncomfortable this time around. He had not failed to notice the glares he was receiving from another student. He thought Alice was a stunner; it only stood to reason that other people would think so too. He smirked at the man, raking him with an assessing gaze that clearly showed disdain, and then ignored him as Alice called the room to attention.

Unbeknownst to Hatter, he was getting more than a few curious (and interested) glances from Alice's female students. She knew he only had eyes for her, but it still made her grind her teeth. She impulsively changed her lesson plan for the evening, deciding to focus on body punishing throws. She debated adding in some sparring, but a glance at Hatter made her doubt if it was really a good idea. She smiled slowly as she decided to go ahead with it… it would be good for him.

After warming up the class with pushups, crunches and stretching she ran them through basic kicks and punches before separating them into two lines. Hatter ended up paired with one of her more advanced students, Alex. Alex had always acted as if he had a little bit of a crush on her, and she had a moment's indecision about if she should switch his partner. Not wanting to attract attention to it, she let it go.

Hatter looked up to the man across from him and emptied his expression. It was the same guy that had been glaring at him at the start of class. Lovely, he thought sarcastically. Alice never had to take him to task for hesitating with his throws; he enthusiastically tossed the larger man to the mat each time. Alex returned the favor, throwing him faster and harder than he ordinarily would with a white belt. Unfazed, Hatter ignored him and paid attention to Alice's instructions. After all, he was the one with Alice; he could afford to be generous. He was more amused than angry.

Alice paired off a few students at the end of class to spar. Hatter shifted uneasily, adjusting his gi. The first two students sparred, and Hatter was relieved that the intensity was nothing like the black belt class sparring session. Alice herself paired herself against the winning student, although she just deflected their attacks and gave advice. She moved through this cycle a few times, and then called Hatter and Alex into the center. Hatter shot Alice an annoyed glance before taking a position in the center of the mat.

Alex and Hatter bowed and then stepped back into fighting stances. Hatter watched him warily, circling with him. Alice approved of his restraint. Many white belts rushed in swinging during their first sparring session. Of course, Hatter was not new to fighting, just to martial arts. Alex swung at Hatter, but he dodged easily. Hatter could move remarkably fast. Hatter kept his arms up, blocking the next few punches and kicks. Alex was getting frustrated, he had thought he could show this cocky little man up pretty quickly, but it was not going as he had planned.

Alex finally connected with a roundhouse to Hatter's ribs. Hatter clenched his jaw, but he didn't otherwise acknowledge the hit. He was unfamiliar with blocking martial arts moves, and Alex made the connection and began focusing on kicks. Hatter had enough. He threw a right hook to the man's ribs, lifting him with the force of the blow, followed by a knee to the chest, then another right hook. Alex fell to the floor. Alice stopped the match, declaring Hatter had the win.

Hatter reached down a hand to help Alex up. Alex looked up at him and cracked a grin as he accepted the help up. Evidently he had decided that Hatter was an alright sort of guy, or at least, the sort of guy he really didn't want to mess with.

Alice stepped into the center opposite him and he swallowed hard and shook his head. Alice smiled a predatory grin, but Hatter didn't find it funny. As a matter of fact, the thought of striking Alice made him ill. She noticed his discomfort and moved in close enough to whisper to him.

"It's just like practicing. You don't honestly think you can hurt me do you?" she said in a quiet undertone.

He nodded, smiling slowly, his dimple flashing in his cheek. She was right…this could be fun.

He tried to get through Alice's defenses, but she was good. He had succeeded in making her work to defend, though. The three minutes passed quickly, and when the student keeping time called a halt, they were both breathless and sweating.

Hatter peeled off the soggy gi in the changing room, finding himself a corner to change in. A few of the students told him he had done well, and had welcomed him to the class. Alex had told him again how well he had done. He had enjoyed it, he thought with surprise. He hadn't thought of the problems with the gang the entire time. He suspected that had been Alice's aim.

Hatter wrapped his arm around Alice as they walked back to his flat. After all, they were both sweaty, although he had dried somewhat as he waited for Alice's black belt class to finish. Hatter's mind was filled with thoughts of Alice. The sparring session with Alice had got him to thinking about other activities that left them both breathless and sweating, and he was having a difficult time making conversation. All he wanted to do was get her back to his flat and make her sweat some more. From the looks he had been getting from Alice, she had the same idea. He was once again grateful that he lived only a block from the dojo. They hurried.


A rough looking man leaned against the brick wall of the alley, watching the young couple obliviously heading towards him. They rounded the corner and stopped walking. The man that was responsible for the leader of the Locos sitting in a holding cell froze as he spotted him. He disengaged from the girl, putting his body in front of hers.

"Oh that's cute," he growled at the couple.

"What do you want?" the man asked in a thick British accent, his arm outstretched to keep the girl behind him.

"I'm just delivering a message. Drop the charges," he snarled, and then began to walk away.

"That's not happening," The girl answered.

He didn't even turn around.

"That would be a big mistake," he warned, calling over his shoulder.


Alice and Hatter traded a stubborn glance between them. The cop friend that had warned her before about the gang leader had filled them in on a few more details after the black belt class had let out. The gang leader was nasty and slippery. He had done atrocious things, but the police had never been able to make any of it stick. His warrant evasion together with the assault charges they had filed might be enough to finally put him away for a while. She didn't want to be responsible for setting him free, and neither did Hatter.


A/N: Wow this chapter got large. I hope it meets with your approval!

As a side note, added another shirtless Andrew-Lee to my profile. Did I mention yummy before?