Chapter 11: Will You Marry Me?
Time has flown by fast and now Jervis and Alice have been together for a total of a year and 7 months. Bruce Wayne was generous and forgiving enough to give Jervis his old job back at Wayne Enterprises and was even promoted to the head of the neuroscience department there. Alice was as well transferred back to that same department so she could once again be her beloved Hatter's secretary. Jervis was getting ready for work while Alice was currently sick in bed because she got a cold. She did look pretty run down, but she still looked as beautiful to Jervis like she always does. She currently had a lot of tissues on the side of the bed while she was under the covers. "How are you feeling, love?", he asked while he sat at her bedside. "I feel like crap. I have a sore throat, my nose is stuffy, and I'm burning up.", she said while she had her hand on her forehead. "I'll tell Mr. Wayne you're ill and can't make it into work. Just stay home and rest up. And some ways that might help make yourself better is take a lozenge for your throat, as well as drink something warm, and take a steamy shower when you feel up to it.", he suggested. "Will do.", she said while sounding stuffed up. "Also, honey is a good way to alleviate your symptoms. It's worked for me before.", he said. He then went and got her the remainder of his morning tea as well as honey, and a lozenge. "Thanks, honey. Oh, pun intended.", she slightly giggled. "Anything for you, I'll see you later.", he said and then kissed her forehead. As he was on his way out, she called to him, "I love you!". "Love you too!", he called back. Later on at Wayne Enterprises, Jervis just got done taking some notes and he briefly took something very special for Alice out of his drawer. It was a diamond engagement ring from one of Gotham's finest jewelry stores. As soon as she was feeling better, he was going to propose to her. He was incredibly nervous as how he was finally going to ask his brightest light in life to spend the rest of her life with him. Bruce Wayne then came into check on his former enemy and see how his work was going. Jervis still knew nothing about the fact that his boss and his former enemy were the same person. He looked over Tetch's shoulder and saw the ring in his hand. "Jervis.", Bruce said behind him. Tetch jumped at the sudden voice and set the ring down. "Oh, hello, Mr. Wayne. What can I do for you?", he asked politely. "I just wanted to check in and see how your work is coming along.", Bruce said. "Oh, yes. It's coming along very nicely. The rats did as well as I hypothesized they would. Here are my latest notes.", he said as he handed Bruce the notes. "Very interesting. Glad to see this kind of progress. It's nice to see this isn't the only thing of yours that's making good progress.", he said. "I beg your pardon? What do you mean, sir?", he asked sounding confused. "I saw the ring.", he said as he gestured towards the ring on his desk. "So, you're going to propose to Alice?", he asked. "Oh, yes. I was planning on asking her as soon as she was feeling better.", he said. "that's very nice. I'm sure, she'll say yes. Good luck!", Bruce said with his hand on Jervis's shoulder. "Thank you, sir.", Jervis said. Bruce then left the room to finish up his work and then do his other and more heroic job later tonight. When Jervis got back home, He saw Alice reading Through the Looking Glass on the couch and who looked much better than earlier. "I see you're already feeling better.", he said. "Yeah, those tips you told me about really helped. Especially the honey idea helped a lot. Thanks, sweetheart.", she said as she went over to hug him. "You know what tonight is?", she asked. "Date night.", he answered. "Yep. What did you have in mind?", she asked. "It's your pick since you just got over being sick.", he said. "I thought a good idea would be going back to where went on our very first date.", she said. "Starbucks?", he asked as he was referring to where they met up not long after he was last released from Arkham. "No, I'm talking about our very first date at Gotham Storybook Land.", she said. "Really? You want to go back there after everything that happened there?", he asked as he was now referring to when he kidnapped and brainwashed her when he first became the Hatter and where he first fought Batman. "I don't see it like that. I see it as somewhere special to the both of us.", Alice said. Jervis thought about that for a second and said, "Sounds lovely. It will be like we're actually in Wonderland.", he said. When they were out at the theme park, they went through Gotham's recreations of classic fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella. But they saved the best for last which was the Alice in Wonderland section of the park which was the largest section compared to the others. "It really is amazing how detailed they reconstructed the story. It really makes us feel like we're in Wonderland.", Alice said as she looked around at the recreation of Lewis Carroll's fictional world. "If it were possible, I would rather be here than the hellhole this world is becoming.", Jervis said. "You really got to try to not watch the news so much.", Alice said. "That is true.", he said. They then made their way over to the recreation of the caterpillar smoking the hookah on the mushroom which is where they had their first dance together. "Talk about déjà vu.", Alice said. "Indeed. Although, instead of a dance, this time, I would like it to be something else.", he said. "Jervis, what do you mean?", she asked with curiosity. He took her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes. "Alice, words cannot describe how much I love you. You are the one true good thing that has ever presented itself in my empty, loveless life. You saved me from my darkest days and I will be forever grateful for that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.", he said with longing. He then got on one knee and took the ring out of his pocket. Alice knew where this was headed and was about to cry tears of joy as she put her hands over her face. "Alice Pleasance, will you marry me?", he asked as he opened the box, displaying the ring. "Oh, Jervis! Yes! Of course!", Alice cheered. "O' frabjous day! Callooh, callah!", he said with happiness as he slipped the ring on her finger. She looked at it with amazement as it was much nicer than the one Billy gave her years ago. They then hugged each other and kissed passionately. "I would be honored to spend the rest of my life with you, my darling Hatter! Nothing would make me happier!", she said. They were both as happy as could be as Jervis and Alice were now each other's fiancés.