Disclaimer: If I owned any part of Batman the animated series, do you not think Jervis and Alice would have ended up together? DC and Warner Bro owns it

A/N- Thanks so much guys for the reviews! It makes be happy to know you're enjoying the story.

I hope you like this chapter. Please read, review and enjoy....

Chapter Twenty:

Prizes

Alice had been walking outside to clear her head. The small amount of time it had taken them to replace the window at the inn had hardly been enough time to sort through her many conflicting thoughts. As she walked back to the inn though, she thought she had at least managed to get a hold of her emotions. Right now she was just going to let things play out and see what would happen.

Once again though her thoughts were diverted as she made her way closer to the front of the inn. There were a large group of cars it seemed, in front of it. She had noticed them a while ago but at the distance she was at she could not really make them out. This soon changed as she got closer. At first it only registered briefly in her mind that these were police cars. However in the short period of time it took her to then walk into the hub she realized what this might mean.

.

It didn't take very long for the police officers surrounding her to realize that she wasn't supposed to be there.

"Excuse me miss." An officer walked quickly over to her. "Are you a guest at this inn?"

"Yes..." Alice tried to glance over the womans shoulder without looking too nosy. She could see two people standing by a police van and one of them appeared to be wearing a top hat...

"Well I'll just have to ask you to go--" The woman started.

"What's going on?" Alice interrupted, startling herself probably more then the police officer.

"The situation is under control ma-am. We just need you to return to the building while we proceed." The woman pulled out a notepad. "First though, I'll need your name. We may need to ask you some questions."

"Alice, Pleasance."

The woman looked up from her notepad as Alice replied. "Pleasance?" She questioned and when Alice nodded, the cop shut the notepad and stowed it in a pocket. "Come with me."

Alice wasn't sure what was going on at the moment but the police officer seemed to taking her nearer the parking lot so she followed willingly.

"Commissioner. We've located Miss. Pleasance. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with her at the moment."

"Wrong? What would be wrong with me?" Alice asked as she looked back and forth from the cop to Commissioner Gordon.

"Thank you Hill." Gordon replied to the cop. "I'll take it from here." He turned back to Alice who was still as confused looking as before.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Are you alright Miss Pleasance?" Gordon asked her.

"I'm fine." Alice responded, perhaps a little more stiffly then she would have normally. She had began to lose her patience at the seemingly chaotic atmosphere she had entered. At the moment all she wanted was to find....

"Alice.." A voice that would have sounded horribly familiar, had Alice not at that moment been distracted, came from the door of the inn.

"Jervis!" Making her way to the edge of the crowd in the parking area. Alice ran over to the hatted man who was standing in front of an open police van. In fact Crane was already inside it at the moment.

.

"Alice....?" There was a look of pure astonishment on Jervis' face when he saw her running over.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked, worry evident in her voice. "I was walking and I saw the cars and....

"Miss. Pleasance." Gordon had followed her when she had run off. "I'm going to need to ask you a few questions. Would you please step over here."

"What's going to happen to Jervis?" She asked, turning towards the Commissioner.

"Don't worry." Gordon replied in what should have been a calming voice. "He'll be going to Arkham. Now if you would come over here. We can make sure you're not still under mind control."

Alice frowned at this. "What? But....I'm not...."

"Alice, are you alright?"

"Billy?"

Billy ran over to where they were standing. "Alice, thank goodness you're alright! I was so worried about you."

Alice inadvertently took a step backwards. "What?"

Gordon seemed to note Alice's expression.

"Miss. Pleasance, we would like to ask you a few questions."

Alice by this time was standing next to Jervis by the van. Crane was inside, observing the whole thing as though it were a tv show.

It was a lot less amusing to Alice. Standing there she was at a loss as to why Billy was there and why the cops seemed to think she was under mind control. Well not so much the last one, she thought as she glanced over at Jervis. But that still didn't explain what Billy was doing here.

There was a sigh from next to her and as she looked over she could see that it was Jervis.

"Alice." He said quietly. "You should go with Gordon. There will be nothing but trouble if you--"

A thought struck Alice and before anyone realized what she was doing she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small object that had been there.

Standing up straight, she turned so she was face to face with Jervis. She did her best to hide her nerves as well. "We beg your acceptance," She started, earning herself some strange looks from Billy and the Commissioner. "of this elegant thimble." She held up the small thimble and with a smile tucked it in Jervis' breast pocket. The astonished look on Jervis's face was soon replaced with a soft smile.

"...and all must have prizes....." Alice heard him say as the cops moved him into the back of the van.

"Miss. Pleasance." Commissioner Gordon had escorted her back into the inn and was sitting opposite her at a table in the restaurant. It was clear from the expression on his face that he was having a hard time understanding her story. She had told him a slightly edited version of what had happened to her. She wasn't sure where Ivy and Harley were at the moment but she didn't think that they had gotten caught. And because of that she had felt free to leave them out of her story, along with a few other things.

"I came here for a vacation." Alice replied, with folded arms. "That's all."

"Your fiancée says--"

"Who?" Alice glanced up from the spot on the table she had been staring at for the last little bit.

"Billy Travis."

"He's not my fiancée."

There was a pause before Gordon started talking again. "Miss. Pleasance, I think it would be for the best if returned to Gotham for the rest of your vacation."

Alice shrugged, "I suppose so."

"We'll need to ask you some more questions about this." Gordon glance down at his watch. "However I think we've gotten all the information we can at the moment. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask one of my officers to escorts you back to Gotham.

At this Alice bit her lip. "Am I in trouble then?"

"No..." Gordon paused. "However I do think it would be for the best."

Alice nodded, not really sure if she had much of a choice in the matter.

"Detective Montoya will drive you back to Gotham." Gordon was saying as Alice stood up.

--

Alice was packing up her stuff when Lorina had walked into the room. There was a police woman standing out side the door. It was slightly uncomfortable, however the woman did seem to be keeping Billy away as Alice hadn't seen him since she'd been outside.

"I brought you your cat." Lorina said as she walked across the room. "She was attempting to scale the side of the house. I really don't know what she hoped to accomplish on the roof, but..." Lorina shrugged as she placed Dinah on the bed. "Cat's are weird."

"Thank you." Alice replied with much relief at having her pet in front of her eyes again. After everything that had just happened it was nice to have some level of normalcy returned.

"Mom's out front yelling at the cops who ran through her garden." Lorina chatted idly as she sat on the edge of the bed. "She says you should come back for a visit sometimes. Also Heather says that they'll see you later." With that Lorina jumped onto the floor. "It was nice meeting you Alice. I hope you come back sometime."

Alice nodded with her thanks...she wasn't sure if she would....Her thoughts froze as she was just about to close the lid of her suitcase. She had said....Heather, who was Heather?

It took Alice a moment to remember where she had heard the name before.

"Are they gone yet!" Harley exclaimed from her perch in the branches of the the tree they were in.

"Judging by the police cars still there, I would have to say no." Ivy replied dryly.

The two of them had managed to find a relatively safe spot to hang out and watch the fiasco as it unfolded. True the tree didn't have the best view but it was the closet Ivy was willing to let them get. The branches wouldn't help them though if Harley kept jumping out of the tree though.

"You're going to get us caught." Ivy hissed as Harley swung herself up from the ground. "Are you trying to get sent back to Arkham?"

"Come on Red." Harley replied. "I was only talken to the cook lady. She said they're taken Alice back to Gotham."

"That's hardly surprising."

Harley nodded and then climbed up a few more branches so she was sitting next to Ivy.

"Are they gone now?"

Ivy opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it and settled for glaring at the blonde.

Time passed and though it was silent. Silence with Harley can only last for so long after all.

"That guy's a jerk." Harley spoke up randomly, causing Ivy to look over with a confused look.

"Harley, what on earth are you talking about now?"

"That Billy guy, the one who was dating Alice. He's a jerk."

"I can't say I disagree with you but why are you bringing this up now?"

Harley grinned and Ivy buried her face in her palms. "No, not another plan."

"Come on Red it'll be fun!" Harley exclaimed. "And we can help Alice. You're always going on about keeping friends out of 'bad relationy things'!"

"You Harley I was talking about, you!"

Harley stuck out her tongue. "I already told you, Mr. J loves me. This is different anyhow." She stuck out her lip in a pout. "Please......?"

"Fine..." Ivy sighed. "But this is the last time. Next time you want help with a plan, find someone else."

"Yah!" Harley squealed and hugged Ivy.

"Now be quiet." Ivy muttered as she went back to watching the police cars. "They should be leaving soon."

The trip back to Gotham was a strange one for Alice. The woman driving her back seemed nice enough. She did try to reassure Alice that the only wanted to ask her a few questions.

By the time they had reached Gotham it was well past nightfall. Detective Montoya had stopped the squad car once they reached the police station.

"Will this take a while?" Alice asked, glancing over at a clock that read it was past ten.

"Not very, we just need to ask you a few questions now. You can take your cat in with you if you keep it in its cage."

"Alright." Alice replied quietly as she let herself be lead out of the car. She had no idea what other questions that they wanted to ask her. She had answered all that the Commissioner has asked her before.

"Follow me." Montoya said as they entered the building. Alice hadn't been inside the police station in a while but it appeared pretty much the same as before. It wasn't long before they reached the room Commissioner Gordon was in. There was a woman sitting in a chair off to the side as well.

"Call Van Dorn tomorrow and set up the meeting at lunch." Commissioner Gordon was talking into a phone. "She may not like it but this man has to stay in Arkham."

After a few snippets of conversation the Commissioner hung up the phone and glanced over at them. "Thank you Montoya. I'm going to have to ask you to stay awhile longer though."

"Alright Commissioner." Montoya nodded and walked over to the side of the room.

"Now Miss. Pleasance." Gordon started talking. "I know you said you were fine but I'm going to ask you again. You're away from that place and he can not hurt you here."

"I'm fine." Alice replied stiffly, staring at the floor. "I told you what happened."

"Yes and I believe you. However when it comes to people like the Mad Hatter you can't always trust-"

"Jervis...." Alice replied, blinking in surprise at her own actions.

"Pardon?" Gordon looked over at her.

Alice took a breathe and tried to steady herself. "His name is Jervis."

There was a pause before Gordon continued. "...can not trust their memories. Alice I'm going to have to ask you to talk to Dr. White. She's just going to ask you a few questions and take a blood sample."

"Why?"

"We just want to make sure that there aren't any foreign toxins in your blood stream."

Alice nodded, she supposed it was only natural that they still thought she was under mind control.

"Hello, Alice." Dr. White smiled as she walked over. "I'm sure you're tired but I promise this will only take a few minutes.

It didn't really take that long and though Alice had never been a fan of needles that part of the ordeal was soon over with.

"Now, that just about wraps it up." Dr. White said as she wrote a few things down. "The results will be in a few day. This is more of a formality." She said when she saw the look on Alice's face. "However it always pays to be prepared."

Alice nodded, her gaze still on the papers that were spread out on the table.

"Who is that?" She pointed to a paper that was off to the side.

"Oh excuse me. That's a patients file." Dr. White shook her head. "Poor dear, he's another one bound for Arkham. But that's really all I can say on the matter."

Alice nodded and stood up a little shakily. She was extremely tired at this point and at the moment all she wanted to do was to sleep. Slightly jealous she glanced over at the cat that was fast asleep in its carrier case. Dinah seemed to have the ability to sleep anywhere.

"Gordon said that Detective Montoya will drive you home." Dr. White was saying as she stood up. "You really should get some sleep you know."

"I know." Alice yawned as she stepped through the door. But at the moment the lack of sleep she had was the only thing that was keeping her from thinking clearly. And at the moment she really didn't want to think about what the future would bring. But she allowed herself to be led home in a sleepy daze.

-

Despite the drama that her day had contained she had to admit that walking into her own house was something of a treat. Letting Dinah out and getting the cat food was the first thing she did, after locking the door.

A few minutes later she was sound asleep on her bed. She hadn't even made it under the covers. It had been a long day.

It had been an extremely long and frustrating day. Billy thought as he sat waiting in the police station. It was god knows what time at night and he was still waiting for Alice. Hell, he hadn't even gotten a moment alone with her since they found her at that inn. He'd been right though. That....that Hatter was there and that whole scene in front of the van. Well it just proved that she was under mind control. What other explanation could there be for it?

The door to the room he was sitting in opened and Billy jumped up from his seat.

"Where is she?"

"Settle down son." It was Commissioner Gordon who was walking into the room. "Alice is fine. We sent her home to get some sleep."

"You sent her home?" Billy replied in slight disbelief. "I need to see her. Make sure's she's alright!"

Gordon sighed as he rubbed his brow. "It's after midnight son. Go home, get some sleep before you do anything stupid." Billy frowned but didn't reply to this.

"We're having her blood tested." Gordon spoke up as he walked over to the door. "But I don't think she was under any form of mind control."

As he walked out of the room, Billy clenched his fists. Of course Alice had been under mind control. It was the only logical answer.

Sighing he made his way out of the building. He was going to have to have a talk with Alice tomorrow. He wanted to talk to her right now but the last thing he wanted to do was to wake her up. She was probably tired after all. With a yawn he made his way back to his apartment. He was sure that once this whole mess was sorted out he and Alice would be back together again. It just had to happen.

"...in friendly chat with bird or beast, and half believe it true" He was back in his cell, Jervis thought sadly, staring at the grey walls. Had everything been just a dream....?

His uniform had a pocket and from it Jervis pulled out a small object. The guards hadn't even noticed it. Though he couldn't make anything out of it to get out of here he still held it gently.

A thimble. A prize and one that was for him. He smiled as he lay on his cot. Perhaps he could hope this time?

"All must have prizes...."

A/N- Well I hope you all liked that chapter. Also it goes without saying but....don't kill me!

Also please review and tell me what you thought