Oh boy. Here it is, the good stuff. Well, it's all been good, but this is the REALLY good stuff. Enjoy!
The one thing Alice had not planned on in her return to Earth was the landing. A fairly important thing to overlook, one might say, but there it was. And there it was, the concrete floor of the antique warehouse rushing up to meet her. Her last thought was that this couldn't hurt any worse than crashing the flamingo had. Unfortunately, instead of her back taking the brunt of the impact evenly, as it had on the rooftop, she hit hard on her shoulder and hip, cracking her head against the stone. The world went black and when she came to, the girl was laying in a hospital bed with an IV in one arm and a very worried mother on the other.
"Hey," Carol said softly. "You're awake."
Alice licked her lips, finding them sandpapery dry, her mouth tasting sour. "Am I?"
"If not, this is a pretty crappy dream, honey," her mother smiled gently, brushing her fingers against the girl's forehead. "You're in the hospital."
"I gathered as much," her daughter intoned, looking around the stereotypical hospital room. The liquid in her IV was clear, as it should have been. "How long have I been out?"
"It's been almost three hours since the police found you."
Her brow furrowed in confusion. "The police?"
Carol nodded. "Mr. Finch who owns the antique store saw you go into his warehouse." The older woman paused, licking her own lips, obviously struggling with what to say next. "A man was forcing you. Was it Jack, Alice? Did he do this?"
The little oyster - though, not really an oyster anymore, was she? - rushed to reassure her mother. "No, Mom, I swear. Jack would never," she shook her head, squeezing her mom's hand. "I was too late, he was already gone."
"What- can you tell me what happened?" Carol's eyes were filled with tears, her tone so soft it were as though she was terrified her words would somehow physically harm her already battered daughter. Alice's chest ached with guilt and sympathy. Her mother thought she had been attacked, that had been the cover story she was supposed to use. She was glad Jack had planned ahead and had one of his agents on this side of the Glass call the police, though he might have warned her about the hard landing. She should have guessed the owner of Pink Pendant Antiques was from Wonderland, since the mirror she had fallen through was in his warehouse.
The worst part about this lie was her own history with men and her mother knowing most of it. She could almost see the thoughts in the woman's head; knew that front and foremost would be the assault Alice had experienced in her brief time in college and the fallout from it.
"I don't remember a lot," she lied easily. It was either live with the consequences of this fabrication, however sickening they may be, or tell her mother the truth and end up staying in her own little room in this hospital for a very long time. "There was a bunch of them; maybe three waiting inside."
Her mother broke, tears streaming down her face. The girl sat up, ignoring the sharp hurt the movement did her ribs, and hugged Carol close.
"Hey, come on," she said, petting her distraught parent's hair. "It's okay. They didn't do anything."
Carol drew back, a look of incredulous anguish on her face. "Look at you!"
"A few bumps and bruises," her daughter insisted, sounding very like Hatter in the casino. "You should see them."
"If there were three of them-"
She cut the woman off, knowing where her mind was and trying her damnedest to bring it out of that horrible pit. "You know me, Mom," she said seriously. "If something like that happened, I wouldn't keep quiet about it."
Carol nodded, knowing this was true. Alice had brought down the wrath of Heaven on the person - too old to be a boy, too disgusting to be a man - who had raped her. There was no reason she would do any less now.
"Besides, the doctors would have checked me over while I was out," she added, bringing in outside confirmation to lay her mother's worst fears to rest. "You'd know if they found anything."
"You're right," the woman finally conceded, wiping the wetness from under her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't help-"
"I know. Don't be sorry," Alice insisted, laying back down. "I'm sorry. Running out alone like that was stupid."
"Yeah, it was," her mother agreed as sternly as she could. Alice knew that once her mom got over the initial shock and worry over this incident, she would be treated to one Hell of a lecture. That was fine. She could handle that. She even handled the police coming in to interview her about her assault and filing a false report against fictitious attackers. The next day she even managed to pretend to go out and break up with Jack Chase. It was a bit surreal, but she didn't think anything had tipped Carol off.
"I can't say I'm disappointed," the woman had said with all sympathy. Alice had nodded and shrugged.
"It just wasn't right, me and Jack," she told her mother. It felt nice to be entirely honest for the first time in almost forty-eight hours. "I think I was trying to fill a round hole with a square peg. I just didn't know it."
Her mother had nodded and rubbed her shoulder, then suggested Chinese for dinner. It was easy for her mom to believe what the girl had said, because she was acting like someone who had just broken up with her boyfriend. Sad and distracted by wistful thoughts and what-ifs, quiet and thoughtful. Alice wasn't usually so mature about her failed relationships, preferring to pretend the men in her life hadn't mattered than facing up to her real feelings. The way her mother was looking at her over the next few days made her feel strangely good about the whole thing, like Carol was proud of her - like she was more grown up.
It was the only good feeling she'd had since stepping through the Looking Glass. Alice missed her friends. She longed for her father to come home, but it would be weeks and weeks before she could even begin to expect him. If it hadn't been for the green mark on her arm -what Hatter had referred to as the glow - the girl would have started to think the whole thing was a dream. She tried to function normally, going to see Master Yakata and explain why she wouldn't be teaching any classes for a while. She left the house every morning, listlessly moving through the world, filling out applications for jobs she didn't want. Every night she lay in bed, looking at the mark on her arm because it was all she had, her only connection to Wonderland and to him.
On the fourth night, Alice found herself standing in the dark, the only light spilling through the windows from the streetlamps and moon outside, casting a weak, sickly blue-green hue on the room. It reminded her of the rose garden on her last night. She stood between the two massive mirrors that dominated the walls between the living room and the hall that led to the bedrooms and bath. Carol loved the effect of the two mirrors facing each other, reflecting on and on into infinity. Alice stared at her reflection in the glass, tried to see beyond it to the other world she knew was there, but could not reach. If she thought about it, if she wished hard enough maybe she could get back there.
No one had questioned whether Alice would go home, it was just the way things were and had to be. No one had questioned whether she would stay there, either. Everyone had treated these things as a foregone conclusion and so Alice, herself, had never even considered other options. She had never once asked how she might find her way back to Wonderland.
He didn't want her, but if she could only see him, hear his voice, feel his eyes on her once more, it would be enough. Her hand lifted, inching with painful slowness towards the smooth surface of the mirror. Please, she pleaded with whatever beings would listen. Please, please, please. For a split second, she thought her fingers would go right through the glass and her heart leaped. Her knuckles hit the very solid mirror and her spirits crashed back down to earth like Icarus, all pain and heartsick and empty hopes.
The next morning, she thought it had been a particularly depressing dream. She got up, showered and dressed, feeling the zombie-like fuzziness in her head that was usually reserved for when she suffered from the flu. It was strange how dull her world seemed now. The endless monochromatic gray of the city contrasting so sharply to the bright color that had been Wonderland. Not to mention the monotony, endless repetition. Or maybe it was all in her mind. So far as she noticed, the only thing that differentiated this morning from the others since her return was that halfway through breakfast, her mother said a delivery had arrived for her.
"Oh yeah?" She followed Carol out into the living room and saw the brown paper wrapped box sitting on the couch. Going over and picking it up, she inspected the return address, finding there was none. She wasn't expecting anything, so was dubious when she set the package back down and pulled away the paper. Her breath left her in a whoosh when she lifted the lid off the box, tears springing to her eyes.
"Oh, my God," Alice whispered, trailing her fingers over the silver embroidery on the smoky blue tunic.
"Honey? Are you alright?" her mother's gently concerned voice floated to her from miles away. She nodded, lifting the shirt from the box and finding a pair of clay colored leather britches underneath. No doubt, there would be a pair of boots beneath those. Oh, Charlie. The old paladin had found a way for his gift to make it back to her. Indeed, the boots were there under her trousers, but that wasn't all. A neatly folded expanse of purple velvet waited on the bottom of the box.
In a slow trance, she set the knight's clothing aside and carefully lifted the gorgeous plum coat from the package. Hatter had sent this to her, had given it to her, wanted her to have it.
"Alice, what's going on?" Carol asked, laying a hand on her child's shoulder. Alice cleared her throat, dashing the tears away with the back of her hand.
"It's a present from a friend of mine. I never thought he'd send me these," she half explained.
"What friend?" She could see the curiosity in her mother's eyes, knew the questions had to be piling up in her mind, but couldn't bring herself to answer them now. "Honey, talk to me."
"I can't right now, Mom," she choked out around the swell of emotion in her throat. Two minutes later she was out the door.
Alice went determinedly to Pink Pendant Antiques only to find the shop with a Closed sign on the door and curtains drawn across the windows. Ignoring the pain and the fact that it was illegal - breaking and entering was a charge she knew something about from her less than laudable youth - she kicked in the door to the warehouse and saw it had been emptied, only cobwebs and dust remaining. Knowing exactly what she would find, the girl retraced her steps from that fateful night, and ended up staring at a blank brick wall where an ornate mirror had once stood. Sitting on her butt on the cold, dirty floor of the warehouse, the little oyster cried. There was no way back. Something philosophical in that, but she didn't care. All Alice cared about was the feeling of loss in her chest, the ache that had nothing to do with her mending ribs.
It was ridiculous. What was Hatter to her? A friend, a protector, a hero. He was an amazing man, but she'd only known him three days. She must be out of her mind to have gotten so attached in such a short time. Yes, he was probably the bravest, most selfless person she had ever met. Granted, he was sharp as a tack and wonderfully unique. That didn't mean she had fallen for him. He was a friend. She was just mourning the loss of a fantasy. Because that's what it amounted to. A fish may love a bird, but where would they live? She and Hatter could never be together, not really. She was from New York, her whole life was here on Earth. He was from Wonderland and that was where he belonged. It was a silly, unrealistic infatuation and nothing real could come of it.
The only choice she had was to let him go, as he had wanted her to. Alice had to think clearly now, not dwell on things she couldn't have. Wonderland was a place where the impossible happened everyday; here, the impossible was just that - impossible. And, dammit, Alice was from this side of the Glass, born and bred, thank you very much.
That didn't mean she couldn't visit, right? Carpenter would be home in a matter of weeks. Surely he would know how to get back through the Looking Glass. After all, Hatter wasn't the only thing she missed about Wonderland. There was Charlie, after all. It would be unforgivable of her to just forget all about the valiant White Knight after everything they had shared. And even Jack, who would be King by the time she saw her father again. And to be completely honest, she wanted to see the way the realm had changed now that it was free of the Queen's oppressive rule.
In the mean time, Alice could get her head on straight again. To that end, she was carrying two grocery bags when she stepped back into her apartment later that morning. Her mother was home, waiting for her. Usually Carol would have been at work, but had taken some time off to be there for Alice. It wasn't really necessary, but it made her mother happy and the girl didn't mind having someone else there to distract her from the maudlin thoughts that plagued her night and day.
"What's this?" her mom asked as she emptied the bags onto the table. Her daughter's cheeks flushed slightly as she set the plastic bakery containers and candy bars off to the side. "Sliced cream cake and Hershey bars?"
"Just taking a friend's advice," she said by way of explanation, going to put the plastic bags with the recyclables. Her mother opened one of the containers and took a slice for herself, making a sound of enjoyment as she bit into it. Alice chuckled. "Help yourself."
"Smart friend." Her mother smiled around her treat and wiped a crumb away from the corner of her mouth. "Do you want to talk about that package now?"
Alice paused, brows furrowing thoughtfully. "No," she finally decided, taking a slice of cake for herself. "It's not as dramatic as it seemed. I kind of overreacted."
"Oh?" her mother prompted, but didn't push.
"Everything that's happened this week has me a bit out of it, you know?" Carol's eyes softened much with sympathy and sorrow. She understood her daughter had suffered much in the last few days, but even so, didn't know the half of it. "I just wasn't expecting it and I kind of lost it for a second. But I'm okay."
"You know you can tell me anything," her mother stated with gentle firmness. "Not just the big stuff."
Alice nodded, gracing her parent with an affectionate half smile. "I know."
Hatter was an idiot. All eating large amounts of chocolate and cream cake did was give you a stomach ache. She cursed him silently as she curled up in bed that evening with a bottle of Pepto Bismol, hugging the sumptuous velvet around her.
Day six out of Wonderland and Alice stopped counting. She wore Sir Miranda's shirt with a pair of black jeans to an interview at a book shop not far from her house and got the job. Sitting in an air conditioned office. Answering vaguely uncomfortable questions seemed rather trivial after her adventure beyond the Looking Glass. That night she and her mother celebrated with left over cream cake. The girl held no ill will towards the dessert; it wasn't the cakes' fault she'd gotten bad advice. When not wearing long sleeves, she put copious amounts of concealer on her arm to hide the oyster's mark, really not wanting to have to explain it to her mother just now.
Thursday she slept in. There was no need to wake up at a reasonable time, as there was no need for job hunting now that she had found one. Master Yakata called to check in on her and ask how her ribs and ankle were doing. In Alice's estimation, they weren't healing fast enough. Her friend and teacher had warned her not to rush so much, as haste is wont to trip on its own heels. She hated it when he got proverbial. She hated it worse when he was right. Daytime TV was worthless, so the girl busied herself in other ways, doing what little she could around the house.
In her room, she dressed in something comfortable and colorful. A long-sleeved, cotton T-shirt -white with bright orange, yellow, and white striped sleeves and a cartoon candy corn on the chest. A purchase from the previous Halloween that she loved to bits. She also pulled on a pair of blue jeans that were faded and well worn, a tear over the left knee that just happened to still look fashionably prefabricated, but was one hundred percent genuine. Topping (or bottoming) it all off was a pair of orange socks. Her hair was pulled back haphazardly into a ponytail and if more than a few strands of hair escaped the elastic band, she neither noticed, nor cared. As she didn't plan on going out today, she didn't put on a bra and her ribs thanked her.
Alice carefully hung up the coat, her coat, and went to her computer, closing out all her accounts in various people-finder type websites and communities. She should have done so with her door closed, but hadn't expected her mother to be so light footed. The woman was behind her, looking over her shoulder before Alice could minimize the windows.
"What's this?" she asked softly. Her daughter turned, looking up at the woman soberly.
"I'm not going to find Dad on any of these sites," Alice told her, the girl's voice quiet. Carol did not protest, they both knew she had believed as much since before the first time Alice had begun her search. "This week has kind of opened my eyes. I need to move on, you know?"
Her parent nodded, bending to wrap the girl in a loving hug, which she returned wholeheartedly. It was true, really, even if it wasn't entirely on point. More importantly, it made her mother happy. She smiled widely, now that her mother couldn't see. She couldn't wait until her father walked back through their front door for the first time in almost fourteen years and made their family whole again.
The intercom buzzed and her mother pulled back with a gentle smile. "We should do something tonight. You and me," Carol said. The girl nodded, her smile returning. As her mother went to answer the door, Alice turned back to her computer, clicking off the windows one by one.
"Alice, there's another delivery for you," the older woman called. Her heart jumped up excitedly. Another package? What could it be? She stood, but paused, taking a deep breath. It might not even be from Wonderland, after all. She could be getting all excited about nothing. Her expectations firmly back in check, the girl headed out into the living room to see what had come in the mail.
"I'm sorry, what company do you work for?" Carol was asking the deliveryman.
Alice had barely set a foot out of the hallway when she stopped. It wasn't only her legs that stopped, her heart stopped, her mind stopped, her lungs stopped. This was New York, this was Earth, this was nothing if not not Wonderland and, yet, there in her doorway stood something impossible. White and black sneakers, faded black jeans, a white T-shirt, and brown canvas jacket covered a too familiar shape, shrouding something wholly inexplicable in treacherous normalcy. Deep chocolate eyes turned from her mother and found her own, the only part of her that had not frozen upon the sight of this inconceivable thing. The hand on an arm that should by all rights be in a cast lifted quickly, pulling a black fedora off the top of a head covered in monstrously well-behaved black hair.
It was everything she'd been wishing for wrapped in the deceptive guise of reality.
"Hatter!" Her lips and tongue and lungs worked together without her brain's assistance, gasping out the name like a plea for water in the desert. His mouth opened slightly, no words coming out to respond, but his eyes spoke volumes. Her heart was the next to recover and did it ever, slamming against her ribs as if seeking to finish the job and break the bones apart. She was running over the hardwood before she knew it and, dear God, yes, he was stepping passed her confused mother and across the room to meet her. Two torturous seconds and she was in his arms, her own thrown around his neck and holding on for dear life. There was no pain as she pressed her body firmly against his, her face against his neck, and breathed deeply of that heavenly scent.
His breath left him in a huff, his arms tightening just a bit more. "Finally."
The sound of Hatter's voice so close to her ear, the feel of his heart beating against her breast once more brought her brain back to life in an instant. This was real. This was real.
"It's not magic," she whispered, fingers curling against the fabric of his jacket. "It's just you."
The man in her arms let out a single, breathless laugh. He drew back and she knew it was because he wanted to look into her eyes when he responded. Alice didn't care what he had to say, she didn't intend to let him speak. Cheshire Cat had said Wonderland made itself known just fine, so she had only herself to blame for letting the opportunities provided slip by her. The choirflies, standing before the Looking Glass; these were moments offered and she had been too foolish to act. Third time lucky, she didn't care what the outcome, the girl wasn't going to let this chance be wasted. As her pale eyes met his dark ones, her breath hitched. She was going to kiss him and damn the consequences.
But Alice didn't kiss him. While her brain was sending the signals to the rest of her to get moving, he was already bending down to press his lips to hers. God, it was perfect. Those pale pink lips were every bit as soft as they looked. He tasted like hot and sweet and if it had a flavor then, sweet Jesus, Hatter tasted of bliss; it was the most addictive combination that had ever slipped across her tongue and all she wanted was more and more and more.
He broke away, his breath falling heavy and hot on her lips as his forehead rested against hers. "I missed you," he whispered. The words entered her mouth and curled warmly around her heart, turning the ache into something beautiful. And oh, she had missed him, too. The girl kissed him again, preferring to show him without words how she felt and it was so good nothing else mattered.
Except that something else was her mother who was growing more confused and agitated by the second. "Alice, what the Hell is going on?" she demanded, physically pulling the two apart. Hatter stumbled back a few paces, eyes so dark as to be almost black as he blinked away the fog in his head. Alice knew this was what he was doing, because the same fog had infected her, passed from his mouth to her own.
"Mom," she stuttered, desperately pulling her thoughts together. "This is Hatter."
"Hatter?" Carol repeated. Until that moment, Alice had forgotten how odd a name it was.
"David," Hatter stepped in with the save, sounding apologetic. "David Templeton. Hatter is a nickname, Mrs. Hamilton."
"Who is this?" Her mother's voice was filled with endless confusion as she asked the question. Alice did her best not to look surprised upon hearing Hatter's real name for the first time.
"It's a long story," she said, stalling for time to think of something plausible. Her eyes found Hatter's, pleading with him, hoping he had something to offer.
"So, start telling it," the older woman instructed, shutting the still open front door.
"I met Alice a few months ago, through a mutual friend," the man began, haltingly. "We got on very well."
"I can see that," her mother commented sardonically, bringing color up in both her daughter's cheeks and those of the strange man standing before her.
"Sorry about that," he apologized, lips twitching as he tried not to smile.
"Were you dating this man while you were seeing Jack?" Carol turned to Alice, sounding scandalized as the thought occurred to her. The girl rushed to correct the misconception.
"No!" she insisted. "No, Hatt- David and I never dated. I…" She faltered, then had a stroke of genius. "He was here on a temporary work visa and had to go back to England."
"We thought it would be better not to start something that would just end badly," Hatter added smoothly. "Then Alice started dating Jack and it all seemed to be for the best."
"Would one of you care to explain what just happened, then?"
Alice opened her mouth to say something, but Hatter lifted a finger to silence her. "I'll take that one," he told her gently, lips curving up into a little smile. "I let this amazing woman slip right through my fingers and have spent every moment of the last eight weeks regretting it. "
The girl gasped softly, eyes taking in the lack of bruises and missing cast anew. "Eight weeks?"
He nodded, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together, despite her mother looking on with disapproval. "I know it's a bit uncouth to declare your feelings for a woman who's already in a relationship," he admitted, barely managing to look contrite. "But I had to give it a shot, you know? When she was so happy to see me, I suppose I lost my head for a moment."
"And you lied about being a deliveryman, why?"
"I wanted to surprise her." He ducked his head and chuckled with chagrin. "Oh," he exclaimed softly, turning his eyes to Alice once more, his smile adorably crooked. He lifted his other hand, which she had not realized was grasping something other than his hat until just then. "This is for you."
It was a flower, the long stem of which had broken at some point in their embrace and hung over his knuckles pathetically. A single, white carnation. He remembered. Her chest tightened with a lovely warmth as she accepted the ruined flower like he had given her a diamond ring, holding it just under the blossom so the broken stem didn't matter. Oh, Hatter.
"Alice, could I speak with you for a moment? Mr. Templeton can wait here." No matter how politely they were phrased, Alice's mother's words were an order and there were no two ways about it. The women went into the kitchen and Carol ran a hand through her bangs.
"I'm sorry I never told you about David, Mom," Alice rushed to speak before the older woman had a chance. "But we were just friends and he was leaving the country."
"If I'm counting right, your friend went back to Britain a week or two before you started dating Jack?" Carol offered, sounding far calmer and more thoughtful than the girl had expected. She nodded slowly, doing some quick math of her own.
"Something like that," she agreed. Alice was surprised when her mother visibly relaxed, appearing to have worked something out to her liking, but the girl had no idea what. "You're not mad?"
"No, I'm not mad," her mom declared, actually smiling. For God's sake, she actually looked pleased. Not that she didn't want her mother to be pleased, she just wanted to understand why. "He seems very sweet."
"Sweet?" the girl blinked.
"Yes, he flew all the way here from Britain to tell you how he feels and showed up on your doorstep holding your favorite flower. I'd say that falls under 'sweet', don't you?" Her mother was smirking. If she only knew how far Hatter had really traveled. He really had come a long way for her, hadn't he? Carol's smirk melted into a soft smile at something she saw in Alice's face. She plucked the abused carnation from the girl's grasp and nodded towards the other room. "I think you two have a lot to talk about."
"But, Mom," Alice began, really not grasping why her mother almost seemed to approve of Hatter. It couldn't just be the very romantic idea that he had crossed an ocean for her. Her mother wasn't so sentimental as that. Not that the girl knew of, anyway. In fact, she had been all suspicion until she worked out just when David had left for England. Alice still had no idea what had changed the woman's mind when Carol waved her off.
"Don't worry about me," she insisted lightly. "We can still have mother-daughter time later tonight. I think the best thing right now would be for you and David to discuss a few things."
It was all a jumble and Alice was always one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but just this once she would take something offered at face value and worry about it later. She nodded and went back into the living room to find Hatter still standing by the front door, chewing his nail and looking around the room with curiosity. She smiled, taking in his tamed hair and down to earth outfit. Had he dressed like that to make a good impression on her mother? Carol was right, he really was sweet.
He heard her footfalls and looked up, hand falling away from his mouth. "She hates me, doesn't she?" he asked, somewhat despondently. Alice smiled and shook her head.
"Actually, no. I think she likes you," she told him, making no effort to hide how surprised she was by that fact. "She says we should go talk."
"Really?" His dark brows shot up, as thought this was too good to be true.
"I think we should, too," the girl agreed with her mother. Hatter was of the same mind and in two minutes the pair was making their way down the stairs to the sidewalk outside her home. They walked in silence for a few moments, each trying to find the right words. How she could feel so awkward now when only minutes before the man had his tongue halfway down her throat was a mystery to Alice.
"We should get a taxi," Hatter said softly. "You shouldn't be walking around so much on that ankle."
He stepped towards the street, flagging down the first yellow cab that drove up. When the car stopped, he turned back to her with a wide grin, like a proud child looking to a parent for approval. She couldn't have helped but return the smile if she had tried. He ushered her into the vehicle, slipping in behind her and gave the cabbie an address.
"Where are we going?" the girl asked, brows furrowed in confusion and curiosity.
"My apartment," Hatter replied, suddenly looking uncertain when her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You have an apartment?"
He half nodded, half shrugged. "Yes and no. It's not technically mine. Belongs to the Resistance," the man explained. "I thought it would be best to talk somewhere private. Unless you didn't want to. I mean, we could go somewhere else."
His little anxious expression over his choice of venue made her bite back a chuckle. "It's fine, Hatter." She made an amused face. "David."
He smiled softly at the sound of his name on her lips. His fingers brushed against hers on the seat of the car and after a moment's hesitation, Alice put her hand in his. It was strange how things they had been doing since their first meeting, like holding hands, suddenly seemed to take on new significance. As his fingers closed around hers, she found herself leaning just a little closer.
"I got the package," she told him softly, her heartbeat skittering as he brushed his thumb over her knuckles.
His smile warmed her nicely. "Yeah? Sent that through about five weeks ago."
"It's really been eight weeks?" she asked, trying to grasp that length of time. Her friend nodded.
"I wouldn't have waited so long if it had been my choice," he said, reading her mind and answering the question before she'd asked it. "I was only oblivious for two days."
"You were going to come after me after two days?" He had just said as much, but she couldn't stop the whispered words from passing her lips. It was too big a notion to just gloss over; to Alice at least. He nodded, reaching up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear tenderly.
"I never should have just let you go like that," he told her, barely above a whisper. "I know you had to leave, but I should have said something."
"Hey, I'm just as guilty as you," the girl insisted. "I just thought you didn't-"
"Well, I do," he cut her off before she could finish the statement. God, she wanted to kiss him again. Her eyes lingered on his lips so long they might as well have been paying rent.
"What did you mean, it wasn't your choice?" she asked, trying to keep herself from forgetting there was a random cabbie not two feet away.
"King Jack-"
"He's King now?" She smiled, happy for her former lover, but a little sad she'd missed his big coronation. Hatter nodded.
"He closed down the Looking Glass while him and his advisors came up with a way to regulate passage back and forth. I had to put in an application," he rolled his eyes. "Caterpillar said it would go through first, but no one through the Glass means no one, so I had to wait."
"But you came back to now?"
He nodded again, licking his lips before speaking. "I was afraid if I gave you too much time, I'd be too late," he admitted softly. The girl felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards, her eyes softening.
"It wouldn't have been," she assured him, running her fingers under the collar of his jacket. "But thank you for not making me wait."
His eyes were so deep and warm, she wanted to curl up inside his gaze. How had she been so blind as to think he didn't want her? Too wrapped up in her own insecurities, insecurities that had no place between her and Hatter.
"The cream cake was really not working at all," she informed the man in a slightly accusatory tone. He chuckled, something light dancing in his eyes at her statement. Perhaps it was the fact that she had remembered what he said in passing, perhaps the fact that she had just admitted to trying to use comfort food to ease the ache leaving him had left in her.
"That only works with 'I care'," he chided with gentle teasing. The words struck a chord in her and the teasing smile on her lips faded. If anyone else, any other man in her life had done what Hatter had just done, she would have ran for the hills. Implying that what she felt for him went beyond simple caring would have been hugely presumptuous coming from anyone else. This amazing man, however, was entitled to say such things. And, Alice realized, being completely honest with herself, it was entirely true.
"Then, I've got only myself to blame," she responded after a moment of silence, her voice feeling slightly thick in her throat. Hatter chuckled.
"I like to think I had a hand in it, too," he told her with a cocky half-smirk. That shouldn't have been as sexy as it was, but it was and there was nothing she could do about the way her pulse jumped. She shifted on the seat of the cab and the man at her side noticed, eyes dropping to her lips and darkening in a whole new way for her.
"How's Charlie been?" she asked completely out of the blue, needing something to cool off the conversation that was threatening to fog up the taxi's windows. Eyes still on her mouth, Hatter chuckled.
"He's been doing quite well, actually," he smiled. "Been working with Caterpillar to make the Kingdom accessible, but not disrespecting the knights at all. Won't take any money for his work either, but he's making a nice profit selling those beehive mousetraps of his in the city."
Alice laughed at that last statement and her friend joined her. That White Knight was quite a character. "What about you? What happened to the Tea Shop?"
Hatter's smile faded. "It's closed. For good." His voice was somber, regretful. She wanted to say something to bring his smile back, but he went on. "Dormie had the idea what we should reopen the place as a dance club. Now that the Queen is out of power, all kinds of music is going to flood into the realm. I figured it wasn't such a bad idea. We were scheduled to open in a couple days, but my paperwork went through, so now he's got to do it without me. He'll be fine."
His lips twitched and Alice smiled fully at the thought of little Dormie as a nightclub owner, asleep behind the bar. "What's it called? Hatter's?"
He looked away, almost shyly, and chuckled. "Actually, I decided to name it Choirflies."
Her heart melted. "That's a good name for a dance club," she complimented. When his eyes found hers again, the little oyster decided she didn't care who was there to see and reached up, sliding her hand around the back of Hatter's neck. His hair was just as soft as she remembered, tickling her fingers lightly as she drew the man towards her and pressed her lips to his. He breathed out heavily through his nose and something very pleased with itself curled up in her stomach and, fuck, she wished they weren't sitting in the back of a cab.
Wish granted. The car stopped and the cabbie turned to announced the fare with a completely apathetic tone. God knew what kind of things he had seen happen in the back of this car; there was no way a simple kiss was going to ruffle his feathers. Hatter reached into his pocket and pulled out some folded bills, giving the driver far too much money and pulling Alice from the vehicle.
"Do you know how much you just paid him?" she asked with wide-eyed amusement. The dark haired man shook his head.
"No idea," he admitted uncaringly. "It's just paper, Alice."
"It's not just paper here," she told him. "If you keep doing that, soon you won't have any left."
He gave her a mischievous grin. "Then your ex will just have to give me some more."
She laughed and rolled her eyes. If he was getting his money from Jack, it was no wonder he didn't care how quickly he burned through it.
The building they now stood before was fairly nice, nicer than Alice had somehow expected. She didn't know why she assumed a Resistance owned apartment would be like a safe house off Law & Order, but she had. There wasn't a doorman or anything, but there was an elevator so she didn't have to limp her way up the four flights to Hatter's apartment. Though she had the suspicion he wouldn't have let her make it up the stairs entirely under her own power anyway. The two were silent again as they made their way to the man's door, Alice's hand feeling sweaty in his as it had on the ledge of the city in Wonderland, thankfully from an entirely different set of nerves.
His key was all but soundless as he pulled it from his pocket and let them into the apartment, which seemed wrong. Everyone the girl had ever met in her life had a keyring that jingled. All Hatter had was a single key, to this one lock. Inside, Alice looked around as her friend locked the door behind them. The place was all done in earth tones, deep greens and rich browns. The furniture was leather and looked expensive and comfortable. Everything was tasteful and understated and matched beautifully. It was so completely not Hatter.
She turned to tell him as much, but the smile that was forming on her lips fell away as she took him in again. He was leaning against the door now, hands behind the small of his back, just looking at her. Not just looking, but looking and her pulse leapt again.
"You're beautiful," he said then. He'd never said any such thing to the girl before and, while he wasn't the first to tell her such, it somehow meant more coming from him. She actually believed he thought so and felt the color rise hot in her cheeks. She walked back to him, there at the door, and stopped just in front of him, only inches away. Slowly, she reached up and plucked the hat from his head, tossing it onto the nearby couch. Biting her lip, Alice ran her fingers through his soft, midnight hair, mussing it intentionally. His eyes slipped closed, a rush of air leaving his lungs and he swallowed once. His hair easily abandoned the neat style he had imposed on it, curling away wildly.
"That's better," she whispered, pleased with her work. His eyes opened again and she saw that they were filled with heat and dark with want and knew her own mirrored them in another shade. He leaned forward, capturing her mouth in a searing kiss that held nothing back and shot heat through her like a lance. It wasn't until the door was pressed against her back that she even realized he had turned them around. A soft grunt, a sound of want vibrated against her mouth and her stomach clenched in the most wonderfully wanton of ways. The girl's fingers were in his hair again, gripping tightly as she lifted up on her toes to press her mouth harder against his.
Hatter was not shy by any stretch of the imagination and once she'd opened the door, he made himself at him. His hands slid over her body possessively, learning every curve. He slipped them under the back of her shirt, feeling the bare flesh there for the first time. Her lack of a bra meant there was nothing between his touch and her body at that moment, the realization and sensation of which sent wet heat coiling low in her stomach and between her thighs. When she sucked his tongue into her mouth, curling her own around it, he growled deliciously. Those hands dropped low, cupping her backside and pulling her up almost off her feet and flush against his body, hot and hard like freshly molded steel. Alice moaned into his mouth, her nails scraping against his scalp lightly as her fingers moved down to tug at his jacket.
It only took him a moment to grasp what she was trying to do and an instant later, the garment was on the floor and Hatter had broken the kiss. He stared into her eyes, breathing heavily as he questioned her without words. Alice took the moment he offered to draw air into her lungs, hoping some of it would make its way to her brain. Not because she had any doubt about what it was she wanted - a new and rather lovely experience for the girl - but because she feared she might pass out from the way he made her temperature spike. Her silence and inaction went on a split second too long.
"Alice," he said her name and the way his voice cracked, low and rough in his throat, felt like a whole new kind of caress. Before he could say more, move further into doubt, she dropped her own hands to the hem of his shirt and tugged upwards, a catlike smile curving her lips when he actually gasped. The shirt was up and off before she had a chance to appreciate the sight of him removing it, but she forgave him that slight when all that creamy skin was hers to take in. Hatter was lanky and lean, like a wild cat, his chest bare but for a sparse stripe of hair that ran from his breastbone down, disappearing into his jeans. His skin was smooth and hot, soft under her hands as she petted his flesh with greedy reverence; it was salt and spice on her tongue as Alice leaned in to kiss his collarbone and stole a taste of him.
That growl came again, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine. He pulled the elastic from her hair and wove his fingers into her locks, pulling her head back and sealing his mouth to hers once more. He walked backwards, one hand feeling behind him to find his way as he led her from the room. She followed, drawn by the wet heat of his mouth down the hall and finally to a stop. He broke from her again, this time leaving her altogether. Darting around the room, Hatter, she saw, was turning on every light he could find, even though the sun was still shining in through the window. Not that the girl didn't know why - he wanted to see her - and it made her shiver wonderfully.
Back before her now, his hands were tugging her own shirt up and off and she couldn't help but hiss softly as the pain in her ribs resurfaced when she raised hr arms. He noticed. There were bruises on her torso that she had forgotten about in the fog of lust. Damn. His touch was far too light for her liking as he caressed her. He dropped to his knees, turning her under his hands so he could press soft kisses to the marks that marred her skin. It was too sweet, too hot and her knees turned to rubber, her hands gripping his shoulders just to stay upright. The fly of her jeans was no match for nimble fingers and soon fell open, the pants dropping to pool around her feet, revealing a pair of yellow polka dotted boyshorts that actually made him laugh. It was a deep, husky sound that made her bite her lip hard as she stepped out of the jeans, the garment catching around her own sneakers and pulling them and her socks away in one convenient bundle.
Hatter's breath fell hot and cold on her stomach, his tongue leaving a burning trail as it teasingly circled her navel and dipped wickedly below the waistband of her underpants. Her fingers curled against his skin, nails digging in a little as she whimpered. He groaned softly, slipping off her last vestige of clothing and leaving her completely bare before him. His mouth was on her skin again, searing the flesh of her hips and thighs and the place that needed his touch most. She gripped his hair, pulling his head back.
"Please," she hissed. It had felt good, so good, but she wanted so much more. Understanding her, as he always did, the man got back to his feet. He reached for his own fly, but Alice pushed his hands away. "My turn."
She easily unzipped him, moaning as she saw with heavy lidded eyes that he wore nothing underneath his jeans. Shoving the pants down, she left him to his own devices to get out of them completely as her attention was fixated on what she had done to his body. Her fingers curled around his shaft, the hard arousal throbbing and scorching her palm like a brand. He groaned loudly, hips arching forward into her touch as his head fell back. Determined not to let any more opportunities slip by her, Alice licked along his exposed throat, nipping at his pulse point and earning herself another groan. She stroked her fingers against his hardness firmly and he growled her name, bringing the pleasurable throb between her legs to a burning ache.
"David," she moaned breathily into his ear, using his given name just because the fancy struck her.
Suddenly, he gripped her arms, pulling her back from him and turning them around. He moved them to the waiting bed, not letting her go as she kneeled up on it, but pushing her back and down onto the rumbled, half turned down coverlet. When he did let her go, it was only to yank the blanket fully out of the way. The girl realized that he had slept in this bed once, she could smell him on the pillow under her head, and had not bothered to make the bed when he woke up. Something about that struck her as wonderfully arousing and she pulled him down atop her, parting her thighs to cuddle him between.
"Alice!" he groaned her name, rocking against her gently, his arousal pressed against her in a cruel tease.
"God, Hatter, please," she hissed, arching up against him. He caught her lips again, slanting his mouth against hers and plunging his tongue deep in hungry preamble. Reaching between them, he positioned himself at her entrance. Alice turned her head to break the kiss. "Don't you have a condom?"
Hatter panted down at her, blinking without comprehension. "A what?"
"Oh, Jesus," she laughed. She couldn't help but laugh, what else was there to do? Her sixth grade health teacher would have hit her with a brick, but the girl made a quick decision. "Never mind. Next time."
His brows furrowed in confusion. "What are y-"
"Hatter!" she whined his name, cutting off his question, and lifted her hips against him again. Anything he might have asked flew out the window as he groaned and drove down into her, finally easing that aching need. He rolled his hips against hers slowly, giving her a moment to adjust before drawing back and sinking into her again. She cried out softly, eyes falling shut as the old ache was replaced by something far sharper and more intense. "Oh, my God…"
He took her lips again, his tongue mimicking his length inside her, slowly sliding in and out of her mouth, driving her mad. Every movement, every touch was sheer perfection, so good it almost hurt. He was slow and careful, his need to care for her his first consideration, as always, and made her heart ache as much as the rest of her. His groans of pleasure washed through her like the tide, pushing her higher and higher. Too soon, Alice was shuddering beneath him, wild tingles running rampant through her body, all originating from where they were joined.
His breath was ragged against her skin and she felt teeth on her shoulder and neck more than once, each time making her tighten around him with an involuntary spasm of pleasure. At any moment she would come apart at the seams, no matter how badly she wanted this to go on forever.
"Look at me," he suddenly ordered, his voice a beautifully growling purr. Forcing her eyes open, she found his, so dilated with lust it was like looking into the night sky. There were no butterflies in her stomach, Alice realized, but fireflies. A single spark was all it took and they were exploding within her in a shower of glorious embers that burned and seared their way from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She shrieked his name, breaking apart in his arms. Her eyes squeezed shut, she had no control anymore, her nails scrapping across his back. He shouted her name in return and she knew, wonderfully, that Hatter was right there with her. As always.
Hope it was good for you. ;) Don't go away. There is a bit more story after this, really.