Time to see what happened after Thackery hit Alice in the stomach. Will the baby, potentially babies, be okay? Read and find out!
The first thing Alice saw when she came too was Tarrant's worried face. His normally bright green eyes were now a somber bluish-black color. He didn't realize that she was awake yet because he was talking to someone that Alice could not see. When she tried to turn her head to see whom he was speaking too, a ripple of pain shot through her body and Alice gasped.
The instant the noise left her lips Tarrant stopped speaking and focused on Alice. He said something that Alice couldn't understand, but apparently she was supposed to, because he looked even more worried when she didn't answer him. He kept speaking to her until she could understand his words.
"-love you have to answer me!" he cried. "Answer me, come on, don't die."
"I'm fine," she croaked.
"She is," someone assured him. He stepped into Alice's field of view and she realized that he was a doctor. "The one you should worry about is the child she carries."
"What?" Alice shrieked, her hands flying to her stomach.
The doctor remained calm as he explained. "When a woman is with a child and she takes a hard blow to the stomach, sometimes the child can be injured or even killed."
"No," Alice breathed. "No."
"How would we know?" Tarrant asked tightly.
"There is no way to tell if the child is injured, but if it has died, the mother will bleed," he explained.
"Bleed?" Alice repeated.
"From where?" Tarrant asked.
The doctor leaned forward and whispered something into Alice's ear. She went pale and struggled to sit up. Tarrant helped her and was surprised when she stood up. "What are you doing?" he asked worriedly.
"Checking for blood," she grunted. Without another word she hobbled into the washroom. Neither Tarrant nor the doctor spoke while they waited anxiously. After several long minutes, Alice finally came back out.
"Well?" Tarrant asked apprehensively.
"No blood," she whispered.
"No blood?" he repeated breathlessly. "No blood… That's great!" he cried. He rushed toward Alice and picked her up in a massive hug and spun her around. When he set her back down on her feet, the doctor spoke up. "There is still a chance that the child may have been injured," he warned.
His words immediately darkened the mood as well as Tarrant eyes. They went from a joyfully bright green to somber amber. "Well we will jus' have ta wait an' see won' we?" he said in a thick brogue.
The doctor nodded. "I'll leave you now." And with that he left the room. Neither Alice nor Tarrant spoke for a long time. They were both trying to absorb what had happened.
They were finally jolted into action when there was a knock on the door. Alice answered it and was surprised to see Thackery there. He had his ears lowered and looked guilty. "May I come in?" he asked hesitantly.
"Of course," Alice said, stepping aside so he could enter.
When Tarrant saw the hare enter the room, his eyes went from amber to blood red. "Wha' is tha' slurvish pile' o' mangy fur doin' 'ere?" he growled.
"I-I wanted to say-" he started.
"Ah don' care wha' ye have ta say," Tarrant snarled. "Jus' ge' outta 'ere 'fore Ah ge' ye owt mah own way." He looked at the window threateningly.
"Hatter, my friend, just here me out," the hare pleaded.
"Nae," he snapped. "Ge' owt or Ah'll thro' ye owt tha window', ye filthy pile o' hat material."
"Hatter," Alice hissed. "He didn't do anything! Just let him speak."
Tarrant glared at her and looked like he would like to tell her off, but Alice didn't back down. She met his steely gaze head on, confident that he wouldn't hurt her. But he wouldn't back down either. He continued to stare her down, his eyes growing ever darker until they bordered on black. "No," he said darkly.
"Why not?" she challenged.
"That," he spat venomously while pointing at Thackery "could've killed our child! Before it had a chance to live!" He was so furious that his brogue disappeared.
"That," Alice hissed harshly "has a name!"
"Why should I care?" he howled. "He could've killed our child!"
"Why do you hate him so much?" she demanded. "It was an accident! Why does this hurt you so?" The moment the words left her mouth, Alice regretted it. She should've known why he was so angry. "Tarrant, please forgive me, I wasn't thinking," she pleaded.
"Neither was I when I told you of the Nexus Vitae," he growled lowly. Then he left the room.
Alice was stunned. She never expected him to regret telling her about that. Without her noticing it, tears started rolling down her face. Her confidence that he wouldn't hurt her had just been shattered. Thackery moved over to her and gently tugged her toward the bed. She collapsed onto it and the March Hare climbed up next to her. He took one of her hands in his paws and murmured comforting words to her quietly. Alice didn't ask him to leave. She was glad he was there. She didn't want to be alone right now. For once she was unashamed to cry in front of someone, something she hadn't been comfortable with since her father had died.
~Elsewhere~
Tarrant was fuming. He couldn't believe that damn rabbit had the nerve to show up after hurting Alice. His Alice.
'I'm going to turn that filthy pile of mangy fur into a hat next time I see him!' he thought furiously.
The Hatter continued to make his way through the winding corridors of Marmoreal, not having a destination in mind. Every time he heard voices or footsteps, he would alter course to avoid an encounter with anyone. He had his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were whiter than usual. To let out some of his rage, Tarrant hauled off and punched a wall with as much force as he could generate. There was a sickening crack and Tarrant hissed in pain. He looked at his hand and realized that he had broken it. There were bones sticking out of his skin and it was bleeding.
'Damn it!' he thought angrily. 'How am I supposed to work like this?'
He tried to move his hand, but found it would not respond. With a heavy sigh he turned around and went back to Alice's room. He had heard her speak about a man getting injured on a ship while she was traveling to China. According to her, he had similar injuries to the ones Tarrant had now. He hoped she would help him fix his hand, but after what he had said to her, he doubted she would.
"I made a boneheaded mistake and now I have to pray that she will forgive me," he muttered.
~Alice's Room~
Alice heard someone knock on the door, but she didn't care. She wanted to be left alone right now, aside from Thackery. The person knocked again. Obviously whoever it was wasn't going to leave her alone. Alice reluctantly got to her feet and walked to the door. When she opened it and saw who was standing there, she slammed the door in his face.
"Alice, please," Tarrant begged, slightly muffled through the door.
She opened the door. "What do you want?" she asked coldly.
Silently, he held up his injured hand and showed it to her. "Help," he said softly.
Alice, being a helpful person by nature, stood aside and let him enter. He walked in slowly and stood awkwardly. "Sit," she said shortly, gesturing toward the bed. He did as he was told and sat on the edge of the bed. Thackery eyed him warily and jumped off the bed.
"I'm going to go now," he said to Alice.
"Alright," she said. "Have a nice day." He nodded to her and slipped out of the room before Tarrant could turn him into a hat.
Tarrant watched as Alice rummaged through her washroom. When she came back out, she had an armful of what looked like surgical instruments. "Do I even want to know why you have those?" he joked in an effort to lighten the mood. His efforts were met with a frosty glare.
"Let me see your hand," she ordered.
He offered up his hand without protest and she set to work inspecting the injury. She stood up. "Come," she said. He stood up and followed her into the washroom. She held her hand out and Tarrant placed his injured one in it. She started to clean it and he winced.
"I didn't mean it," he whispered.
"I know," she said. "You were speaking out of anger."
"I still shouldn't have said it," he said. His head hung in shame.
"It is in the past," she said without taking her eyes off his hand.
Tarrant winced in pain. "I still feel like I should make it up to you. After basically saying that I regret tying myself to you, how can you not be furious?"
"After some of the things people have said and done to me, that was not anything to be angry for an extended time over," she said bitterly.
I'm going to end this chapter here because I cannot think strait. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you'll review. Peace for now!