Nick sat with his dad on a bench in Central Park. The Cat sat on the ground next to him, Alice stood next to Hatter.

It had been slightly diffiuclt moving Hatter/Connor here. Not only was the potion returning his memory to him, but it had also made him go quite stiff, trying to get him to walk in a convincing way had been like trying to move a corpse in rigor mortis. Getting him to sit down in Alice's car and on the bench had been even more difficult, but they had still managed it somehow. Nick looked up at Alice.

"Thank you, for helping us." Alice sighed and brushed Hatter/Connor's forehead.

"I used to know a guy before him, I thought he was perfect too. Then it turned out he'd been engaged to someone else all along. And then when I met David, I mean, Connor, I thought that maybe I had finally found Mr. Right." She turned to Nick. "But I can see now that in this case, your good is more important than mine."

"Well done, Alice" said the Cat. "I can assure you that you will find your Mr. Right soon enough."

"Look after him, Nick" said Alice. "He's a great guy"

"Thank you" said Nick. Alice gave one last look at Hatter/Connor, then she turned and walked off in the direction of her car. The Cat leapt up into Nick's lap.

"Farewell, Nicholas Temple" he said.

"You're leaving?" said Nick.

"Yes, Nick" said the Cat. "You have found your father, you no longer need me and neither does he."

"What do you mean?"

"When Alice gets home she will find Hatter's will, leaving his entire business to her. She will take over the drink's plant and do quite well for herself. As for you, you will return home to England, your father has money in his pocket and I also took the liberty of bringing this along."

Out of nowhere he produced a small book.

"His passport" said the Cat. "You will both be able to go home. And as for me, I must return to my world. Here in Central Park, comes the end of our union." Nick stroked the Cat between the ears, tears began to well in his eyes.

"There is no need to weep for me, Nick" said the Cat. "For whilst our union is over, our frienship will never be. And I am never hard to find. Take out Alice in Wonderland."

Nick reached into his backpack and took out the said book. The Cat flicked through the pages once more until he came to the page with the original Alice looking up into a tree. He pointed at a picture of the grinning cheshire cat sitting in it.

"Whenever you read this book, I will be just here" he said.

"There's one thing I don't understand" said Nick. "Back in Wonderland, you told me that my family had a history of facing dangerous creatures, what did you mean by that?" The Cat grinned even wider.

"That is not for me to tell you about, Nicholas. One day you will discover it for yourself. You can't rely on a talking, grinning cat for your whole life, you know." Nick smiled, the Cat grinned back and his tail disappeared into thin air. It was followed by his back legs, then his body, and then his front legs. Nick realised that now was his last chance to say thank you.

"Thanks, Cat. For everything."

"Cat?" said the Cat, now only a head floating in mid air. "Is that what you thought my name was all this time? Oh no, Nick." He grinned even wider just as his ears were disappearing.

"My name is Cheshire!" And his face disappeared, followed by his nose, and eyes, until only the grin was left. It stayed for some time afterwards, but soon, it too disappeared.

A tired groan came from next to Nick. He turned to see his dad sitting up on the bench, a tired look on his face.

"Where...where am I?"

"Dad, it's you" said Nick. Connor turned to him, for a moment he was silent. Then his brown eyes widened in astonishment.

"Nick, is that you?"

Nick burst into laughter and hugged his dad, Connor hugged him back.

"My god, you've gotten so big. You were just a baby when I last saw you and your mum. My god, Abby! How is she, where are we anyway?"

"We're in New York, Dad. Long story, I'll tell you on the plane home."