Because of the remarkable response, I've decided to add to this story! This is a little baby interlude because I really haven't delved into Carol's point of view so far. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! I will be adding longer chapters in the future.

Carol wasn't the kind of woman to fall in love, and she certainly wasn't in love with Jim, the CEO of Remax. With Alice's impending marriage to David, Carol would be alone, and she couldn't bare the idea of being alone with her thoughts. She hadn't mourned her late husband for a long time, but it preyed on her if she spent too much time by herself, so when Jim asked her to marry him as they sailed high above the earth in a Remax hot air balloon, Carol said yes. Jim had already cheated on her with his secretary, but Carol didn't much care, as long as she had someone. She felt her tenuous relationship with Alice slipping through her fingers.

It wasn't David Hatter's fault that Alice was distant, in fact, Carol liked him. The problem was, Carol and Alice had been Carol-And-Alice for so long, Carol didn't know how to be Carol, and she wasn't actually sure who Carol Hamilton was. For a small portion of her life, she was the housewife. For a large portion of her life, she was the over-protective mother. Somewhere, very deep down, Carol had dreams to revisit, and she hoped that eloping would be the start of finding them again.

As she unlocked the door to the flat she had shared with Alice since her father's death, Carol felt that something was amiss. What Carol hadn't prepared herself for was the absolute emptiness that greeted her when she realized that Alice's belongings were gone. Alice was gone. The empty wine bottle Carol bought Alice for her twenty-first birthday, gone. The Don't-Kiss-the-Blackbelt apron, gone. Alice's embroidered sheets, gone. Her shoes, gone. Her special vegan shampoo, gone. Her furniture remained, but every little knick-knack that once covered them was gone.

"Looks like we've got the place to ourselves," Jim remarked, in a tone that was colored with neither innuendo nor observation.

Carol had forgotten all about Jim.

As her new husband cuddled up to the college basketball marathon on TV, Carol worked on scrounging something for dinner. At least she wouldn't have to adjust the amount of food she normally cooked. It struck her that she didn't know if Jim was allergic to anything, or just disliked a certain kind of food.

"Jim?" she called in a tone she hoped wouldn't grate his nerves.

"Hmm?"

"What sounds good for dinner?" she asked.

"Whatever," Jim replied. "I'm sure it will be good, whatever you ch—Go big blue!"

Carol sighed and began boiling water in her favorite spaghetti pot. Just as she finished setting the table, the doorbell rang.

"Care?" Jim called. "Can you get that?"

Carol abandoned the kitchen table, though her hands were partially covered with butter, and went to answer the door. She opened it to find Hatter standing on the doorstep.

"David! Come in," she said, surprised.

Hatter entered hesitantly, crushing the brim of his fedora with nervous fingers. "I've just come by to ask you to our wedding," he spat out before the door was shut. "Alice didn't want me to come, but I know that she'll look back on it and wish you were there."

"Oh," Carol breathed. "When—uh, when will it be happening?"

"Next weekend, in New Hampshire, where Alice went to summer camp," Hatter repeated, just like Alice had explained it to her best friend Cam over the phone.

Carol felt her brain race to protest the wedding occurring so soon, but then she stopped herself. Carol might not know who she is, but she knew she would be a hypocrite if she told them not to. She had to let Alice be an adult, and she wanted to have her daughter in her life. "I'd love to, David, it's so sweet of you to invite me… and Jim," Carol said, turning towards her vegetative husband. "Jim, won't it be nice going up to New Hampshire next weekend for Alice and David's wedding?"

"Wish I could, babe, but I'll be in Rio for the conference," Jim said, without turning to look at her or acknowledge Hatter's presence.

"Pity you can't make it, Jim," Hatter said politely. "Still, you're welcome, Carol."

"I'll be there," she said.

Hatter produced a little invitation with the rest of the info and handed it to Carol. "Everything starts at four, but it's going to be short, and then we're going to spend the rest of the weekend hiking and stuff."

"I'll bring my hiking boots," Carol said brightly. She and Hatter looked at one another awkwardly for a moment, until she stepped forward and hugged him. It took a second, but Hatter returned her embrace. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Hatter said. "I'd better get back home; Alice is entertaining my parents all by herself."

"I'm excited to meet them, David," Carol said.

"Goodnight," Hatter said nicely.

"Have a good night. We'll—I'll see you next weekend," she said.

Hatter left and Carol closed the door behind him. Jim said nothing to her as she walked back to the kitchen, and Carol wondered how much of the time they'd spent together actually involved talking about their lives. They talked with their bodies, and not about things that mattered beyond the bedroom. Jim wasn't a man that Carol would grow to love anymore than she was a woman capable of doing so, and yet she wanted it for herself. What Alice felt for David, for a man that would move across the world for her. All Jim had given up was a tiny, nearly empty apartment in Brooklyn. He travelled so often, Carol wondered why he had even wanted to settle down in the first place. Carol also wondered how long it would take him to leave her entirely, for something exotic and young.

A/N: Let me know what you think!