TITLE: Chapter Twenty-Five

CHARACTERS: Peter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth, Olivia Dunham, Charlie Francis, Ella Dunham, Rachel Dunham

POV: Charlie, Astrid, Ella

GENRE: Dark, Surreal

RATING: M

SUMMARY: "Ella stared at the candy bar behind the glass of the vending machine. She remembered when Mommy would let her have the fruit wraps and crackers for dinner when they lived in those hotels after they stopped living with Daddy. Right now she really wanted chocolate, really wanted to eat peanut M&M's, but she didn't have any of the big coins to buy any, just a penny she'd found in the parking lot of this hospital."

CHALLENGE: Alice in Wonderland, Ella, Mock Turtle, Roses

WORD COUNT: 1115

WARNINGS: None

SPOILERS: Anything season one

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ella!

DISCLAIMER: unbeta'd

Charlie placed the blanket up to Olivia's chest, then rethought it and pulled it down to her waist. There. That would keep her warm, but not too warm. He hated the days when they had to rush Olivia, Peter, and Astrid back to the private hospital room for Rachel Dunham's twice a month visits. The toughest part was keeping the three attached to the synaptic transfer. Walter had warned many times that if the three disconnected in the middle of this limbo there could be dire consequences.

He refluffed her pillow, wondering. Walter had explained the concept of the 'Wonderland Complex' to him many times before, but as a man who believed in the supernatural that occurred by the hand of God, this was a very strange idea to grasp.

'They live within this computer.'

'A ghost in a shell,' he said, recalling a Japanese show his wife liked to watch when they were back in college.

'This young lady creates the structure while the three explore it.' Walter pointed to the screen with a trio of small dots of light.

Maybe he couldn't understand all of it, but he wanted to. He couldn't explain it to Sonia to see if she could rephrase the concept for him—she was very good at that—so for now he just took Dr. Bishop's word for it that it mad sense.

Charlie looked down at his watch. It was time to meet Rachel Dunham in the lobby.

The coin landed in Peter's hand and he flipped it onto the back of his left palm. Astrid peaked at what side the gold disk had landed on.

"Heads," Peter announced before it disappeared. "All right Dunham—do we need to saddle up?"

"Yes." Olivia began to climb onto the large shell of the giant mock turtle. "And hurry! We're going to be late!"

Ella stared at the candy bar behind the glass of the vending machine. She remembered when Mommy would let her have the fruit wraps and crackers for dinner when they lived in those hotels after they stopped living with Daddy. Right now she really wanted chocolate, really wanted to eat peanut M&M's, but she didn't have any of the big coins to buy any, just a penny she'd found in the parking lot of this hospital.

Mommy's footsteps hurried over to her and she felt her hand grab her shoulder firmly. "Ella, there you are! Come on!"

"Okay!" she said, forgetting about the candy momentarily.

"Hello, Ella," the nice man with black hair and a deep voice said, walking alongside them.

She smiled at him. "Hello, Mr. Francis. I found a penny in the parking lot."

He smiled back. "That's very nice. Is it shiny?"

"Not really. It looks like it was run over by a car!" she said excitedly.

Mommy rolled her eyes and pushed her into the room where her Aunt Liv lived. "That's nice, sweetie. Can you wait in there with your Aunt Liv? I need to talk to Agent Francis. Don't touch anything."

"I won't!" she said cheerfully.

Alone in the room, she immediately went over to her Aunt Liv's bed, wanting to see the silly patch of short hair on the side of her head. Ella began to giggle as she looked where a long scar traced from her temple to the back of her head and she reached over to touch the polished smooth skin—

"Hello," a voice behind her said and she jumped, jerking her hand away.

There was a man with grey curly hair, wearing pyjamas and blue bathrobe walking over to her and she tucked her hands into her pockets, wondering if he was going to tell Mommy what she was up to.

Ella wasn't a shy girl. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

He shuffled in his blue slippers over to her side to look at Aunt Liv. "I'm not a stranger. I know your Aunt Olivia."

"Are you her friend?" Ella asked, looking at him curiously.

"Yes. I take care of her." His hand rooted around in his robe's pocket and pulled out a few wrapped treats. "Do you want a candy?"

She clapped her hands excitedly. "Yes, please!"

As she unwrapped the candy and popped it in her mouth, his face became sad. "My son doesn't like raspberry treats."

"Is Mr. Francis your son?" she asked, her tongue rolling that large hard sweet around her mouth.

He pointed over to a familiar man laying asleep just like her Aunt Liv. "No, Peter is."

"Can I have another candy?" He gave her a second candy. She began to chew the one already in her mouth as she unwrapped the second one and walked over to Peter. "Is he in acomar, like my Aunt Liv?"

"Yes," he said.

She looked at Peter's face; he didn't look happy. "Is acomar like sleeping?"

"Much deeper than that." She looked up at his very serious face and he continued talking in a dreamy tone. "Right now your Aunt Olivia is dreaming of many great and beautiful things."

The man's voice reminded her of the narrators of her favourite fairytale movies. "Like dragons and princesses?"

He smiled at her. "Perhaps. Giant mushrooms and talking caterpillars and painted roses…"

Ella nodded and put the second candy in her mouth. She liked dreaming about dragons and princesses, too.

"Look," Olivia gasped.

They'd been riding on the back of the mock turtles and Astrid couldn't say if it had been for five minutes or five days—it was one of the problems with this world. Ahead were immaculately cut walls of roses, tall and lightly ominus. Heavy wrought iron gates were opened outwards to them, like a cage acting as though it weren't one.

The mock turtles came to a halt, looking quite interested in the flowers growing on the side of the road. The three dismounted and stood on the gold brick path that would lead them into what could only be the Queen of Hearts domain. As the mock turtles wondered off to the side of the road, grazing on Technicolor tulips and lime green daffodils, Astrid looked at the gateway, very wary of what was waiting for them.

A small girl came running to the entrance and though she was just far enough away that Astrid couldn't see her face clearly, her white dress with a very large red heart on her chest made her believe she was looking at one of the many members of the court of hearts.

"Where have you been?" the girl yelled to them, hardly sounding older than four. "The Queen is waiting!"

Olivia's face went pale. "Ella?"