So this chapter was a bit of the good and the bad. One the one hand. This is 500-1000 words longer than the last one, which WHOO HOO! On the other hand, Hatter STILL hasn't made his appearance yet. Blame the Cheshire. On second thought, she's had a bit of a rough day; just go ahead and blame the author.

Still own nothing you see here but my imagining of Cat Cheshire. Quit asking already!

Chapter 6 Of Relations and Withdrawal

When Jack finally returned to his cousin's room, he didn't bother knocking. After all, that might have woken the bandaged patient, and he didn't particularly want to deal with a scolding from the diminutive Cheshire for doing such a thing. Nor did he particularly want to deal with Hatter's voice inside his head, likely mocking him for having to knock in his own castle or some other biting nonsense.

He sighed and scowled, just a little aggravated that Hatter already had his equilibrium off, and the former tea-seller hadn't even arrived in Wonderland yet. Jack and Alice's current love had formed an uneasy truce in the time between Alice's departure and Hatter's rather desperate choice to follow her through the Looking Glass. Jack couldn't deny that the other man loved Wonderland's lovely heroine with all of his crooked heart. Indeed, he'd certainly loved her more than Jack had. Nor could Jack deny that Hatter's affection had given the man a sort of strength, one he knew all too well had been a major factor in the downfall of the Casino and Jack's rise to the throne. The newly crowned King of Hearts knew he owed the other man a debt of gratitude. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

And it certainly didn't mean he was excited about the prospect of seeing Hatter again, especially with Alice by his side as Jack knew the strong willed young woman would likely be. He'd need every ounce of his own pride wrapped around himself to deal with that emotional upheaval.

So, no. The King of Hearts would not knock. Instead, Jack just pulled aside the tapestry, turned the doorknob, and walked right in. Right into the middle of what appeared to be a bit of a standoff. He paused at the sight of Duchess looking her most regal and staring down his cousin who, to Jack's surprise, was already awake. Stephen appeared to be rather less than comfortable with his surroundings and the pair of women standing by his bed.

Eyes on the tableau before him, Jack eased into the room carefully, somehow unwilling to startle any of the three. Neither of the women responded to his entrance, but he had the feeling both were completely aware of just who had stormed in without even a by your leave. Hopefully, his presence wouldn't aggravate them as much as Stephen's had apparently aggravated Duchess.

Jack wondered for a moment just what the injured man had said to set her defenses up so suddenly. It had to be a fairly impressive insult. That or, more likely, Stephen had insulted the other young woman in the room. Jack had already glimpsed Duchess's fierce protectiveness toward the Cheshire; it wasn't a stretch to think she'd be insulted on Cat's behalf even if the younger woman wasn't.

The silence dragged out for at least a minute or two with neither woman seeming willing to break the stand off with the man in the bed, and Jack finally coughed softly and stepped forward to the opposite side of the bed.

Stephen looked startled at Jack's appearance, as if he truly hadn't noticed anyone had entered the room. He was visibly startled for only a moment, though. Then he immediately schooled his expression back into a calm mask, as if even that reaction had been too much to share. Jack could certainly relate to that desire for control; he wondered if he should warn his cousin that it was likely a wasted effort with these two women. Between Cat's gifts and Duchess's court-trained abilities, both were more than capable of reading a man no matter how well he thought to hide himself from them.

Jack shook off the slight intimidation at that thought, and stepped forward to hold out a hand to the wounded man.

"Hello Stephen. My name is Jack Heart, and I believe you are a cousin of mine." Stephen didn't shake the offered hand, and Jack dropped it down again after a muttered 'wrong hand silly' from the Cheshire reminded him that Stephen wouldn't be doing much with his right arm for at least a while yet.

"Heart? Like the King of Hearts Cat was going on about?" Stephen's voice was carefully casual, as if commenting on the weather or the state of the former Queen's flamingos, but Jack could detect just an edge of challenge in the other man's words.

"Yes actually. Strange though it may seem for you, I am the current King of Wonderland." Jack straightened his back as Stephen tried to bury the look of absolute disbelief on his face. This time, judging from the decidedly chilly look Duchess shot him, Stephen was far less successful at hiding his expression. Jack tried to ignore the by-play between the two, and instead continued on with his explanation, a decision that Cat grinned at, showing her sudden approval. "I know this will be difficult to believe, but roughly 150 years ago, a young girl slipped from the other world into ours by way of a Rabbit Hole. That girl, the Alice of Legend, eventually returned to the Oysters' world and told her story to a gentleman who took it in his head to publish the book you have likely heard of. Luckily he turned most of her tale into complete nonsense, leaving the Oysters unaware of our existence outside of that children's story. It was safer that way, for us and for them."

Jack paused for a moment as the courtier in him realized neither woman had seated themselves, and he wondered if the fact that three people all but hovered over him was adding to Stephen's unease. Either way, manners drove him to pull a pair of chairs from the corner of the room to Stephen's bedside. There were only the two, but he figured he could stand. Or he could sit, he amended wryly as the Cheshire took Duchess's move to one of the chairs as a signal to climb back up to her previous spot on the empty side of Stephen's bed. The wounded man shot Cat a veiled look, but she just smiled wildly at the room in general and settled down with a pillow clutched to her chest, eyes wide and waiting for Jack to continue his story. Jack un-buttoned his suit coat and settled himself into the chair beside Duchess, then leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and spoke again.

"In the wake of that Alice's visit, our world went into significant upheaval. One queen had been overthrown, and a new queen, my mother, took power. She was not a benevolent queen. Thanks to the then-Alice's arrival, she now knew there was a whole other world to exploit, and she did so. She created the Hearts Casino, hooked most of Wonderland's populace on emotion-laced teas, and used her card agents and the White Rabbit organization to force compliance with anyone who refused her new regime."

Jack stalled again, wondering if anything he was saying made even the slightest bit of sense to his cousin. He certainly wasn't given Jack any clues either way. He risked a quick glance toward the Cheshire curled beside his cousin, and she winked at him. Strangely heartened by the cheeky little thing, Jack went on.

"Our world was in a rather horrid state until recently when a new Alice arrived, and with the help of the Resistance fighters, my mother was stripped of power. I have since taken her place as ruler, hopefully one more benevolent than she, of course. The Looking Glass is still active and in the care of our best scientists here in Wonderland, and in the care of the aforementioned Alice and her companion Hatter in the Oysters' world." He shrugged as Stephen maintained his un-impressed expression. "It's still better that most of the other world's residents don't know we even exist save for those unfortunate souls who my mother had abducted. They too are at least nominally in Alice Hamilton's care."

Jack finally drew silent, his throat slightly dry after his long soliloquy. Cat roused from her dreamy pose, and slid off the bed to fetch a glass and fill it from the pitcher beside Stephen's bed. She offered it to Jack with a curtsey, the gesture surprising Jack. He hadn't thought the Cheshire could stand him in the slightest, and he certainly wouldn't have thought she'd offer him such a courtesy freely. He took the glass with a smile of thanks. She scampered over to pour water into another glass by the pitcher, and while Duchess and Jack watched, she helped the injured man drink it down. Once he had, Stephen turned his attention back to Jack, the focus in his blue eyes almost pinning Jack to his chair.

"Thanks for the history lesson and all that, but where exactly do I fit in to your little story?"

Jack swallowed tightly and fiddled with the glass in his hand. This was the part of his tale that he was utterly ashamed of, and hoped to high heaven, he wouldn't end up with yet another enemy blaming him for his mother's actions.

"You are, or so my research has led me to believe, my first cousin, Stephen Heart. Spelled 'h-e-a-r-t,' of course," Jack clarified with an amused glance at the Cheshire now sitting on the floor beside Stephen's bed. "Your father, Michael Heart, was younger brother to my father, Winston Heart, the then King of Wonderland. And until I was born, both your father, and in turn you, were my father's heirs."

Jack took another long sip, using that as an opportunity to avoid his cousin's watchful gaze. The man seemed to have an uncanny knack for looking right through a person. It was worse now: Cat had snuck back up to the bed and helped to maneuver him to a fully upright position. Even as battered and bandaged as Stephen was, he still managed to look far stronger than a man who'd been that close to death only a day or two prior had any right to be.

"So then what?" Stephen asked, his voice less dismissive than it had been only moments before, but something told Jack the other man knew there'd be nothing like a happy ending to this story.

"Your father was attractive, charismatic, and genuinely fond of the people. There were rumors that a good portion of the public half-hoped my father never sired a son at all, just so the line could pass to my uncle instead. Then the rumors suddenly died, and your father and his pretty young wife and three year old son vanished." Jack shrugged and then immediately regretted it. He sat up straight again, and winced at what he was about to reveal. "My mother never left things to chance. Most people assumed your family was assassinated, but some held out hope for mere exile beyond the Looking Glass." He took another sip of water and finished, hoping he'd be done with the hard questions at least for the moment. "As it happens, when I took power and began looking for the lost Hearts, the Resistance found evidence of your existence in that world, so apparently some of the rumors were true."

"And now here I am."

"Here you are."

"Bloody hell."

"Quite.

The pair of men fell silent, and Jack wasn't really sure what else to say. Stephen seemed more willing to believe him now, though Jack wasn't quite sure how long that would last. Duchess finally broke the silence, and Jack was relieved to hear her voice had softened towards his cousin.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Hart?" Her voice held the slightest edge of a pointed curiosity, but damned if Jack knew why. Surely she'd tell him eventually. "Is any of your strength returning?"

Stephen sat himself up straighter on his mountain of pillows and grimaced, his brow furrowing in thought.

"Better, I think." He frowned down at his right arm, and lifted it slowly, his brow furrowing even deeper as he did. "Much better actually. Why?" He narrowed his eyes a little in suspicion. Jack couldn't blame the man; not when he and Duchess had so clearly gotten off on the wrong foot. Such a show of concern would seem a bit out of character for the woman Stephen likely thought her to be. Duchess's expression was knowing and somehow satisfied. She tossed Jack a superior smile and an arched eyebrow as if he should know as much as she did, but to his chagrin, he was every bit as in the dark as Stephen.

"Shows he's a Wonderlander, that's why." Cat re-asserted her presence in the room with a soft smile, and words that were somewhat saner than Jack expected. "Wonderlanders live longer, stronger. Heal faster too. You should know that already, Stephen deer." Stephen gave the Cheshire a questioning look, and she went on, giving the clear impression that she was ignoring the others in the room in favor of the wounded man beside her. "Lived through too many things to count. At the very least, the leggy bug should have killed you, and me thinks you knew that. Survival depended on how quickly the venom spread in the blood stream and the nasty bite was awful close to the heart, now wasn't it?" She reached out and tapped what looked to be an old faded scar on his cousin's shoulder. "Can hardly even see this now. Faded awful quick me thinks, like a memory one hallucinates."

She sat back abruptly, and gave Stephen a glare so angry that had Jack half standing in defense before he realized it. It was only Duchess's hand on his arm that kept him from shouting at the Cheshire; that and the way Stephen only looked ashamed as opposed to cowed.

"You do remember it, you fool of a Hart. She left you there to die and you still…" She trailed off to stare into the air around Jack's cousin, and if anything her glare deepened with as much disgust as anger now. "You went with the bitch, knowing she was such. You still went! Great stupid bloody deer! Do you learn nothing on the other side? Nothing at all!" She threw up her hands and rolled of the bed as if unable to stand to be near the man. "Men. Useless. Bloody hopeless, the lot of them!"

She began to mutter under her breath viciously as she paced back and forth, seemingly unaware that anyone else was still in the room at all. One hand reached up to pull violently at her hair, nearly ripping it out at the roots, while the other began to claw at her arm, her nails beginning to dig bloody furrows.

Beside him, Duchess let out a pained cry of the Cheshire's name and then stood and approached Cat carefully as one would approach a rabid animal. Jack and Stephen stared at each other, both confused as to what was happening, and what could have sent the relatively happy go lucky (at least so far as Jack had seen of her) Cheshire into a such a tailspin so quickly.

"Kitty, Kitty look at me, please?" Duchess almost begged, and Jack stood at the sheer misery in her voice. "Come on, Kitty, come here, please."

Cat finally seemed to notice Duchess was even there about the time tremors began wracking her body.

"Alicia… I.. I'm sorry, I left it too long. I know I did and I knew better but I didn't want to interrupt-I'm sorry!" She took a few hesitant steps toward Duchess and then nearly collapsed against her. Duchess carefully pulled the Cheshire's hands away from her hair and arm, and then wrapped her in a tight hug. "I'm sorry," Cat said again, and Jack was again struck by the painful sanity in her voice. Was Caterpillar's concoction wearing off already? He buried the pity, but Cat seemed to sense it, anyway. She lifted her head to look at him with far more shame in her eyes than Stephen had been showing. "I could feel it coming, but there wasn't time to tell you. Not really."

"Where are your gloves?" Duchess asked softly, and Stephen surprised them all by answering.

"Here," he said, lifting them from the bedclothes beside him. "They're here."

He sat up even further and leaned out to hand them to Jack, his right arm supporting him fairly well in the process. Jack eyed him impressed by the rate at which he was healing, but didn't say anything about it. He took the gloves and passed them to Duchess who slipped them onto Cat's hands with the same gentle care that she'd used to capture her hands in the first place. Then she pulled a tiny vial from her trouser pockets and tossed it to Jack.

"Jack, put that in a glass of water, please?" He did as she asked, and then handed it back to her. Duchess helped the younger woman to drink, in a scene that was painfully reminiscent of Cat aiding Stephen only moments before.

"You're drugging her." Stephen's voice was harsh, probably harsher than he'd intended or so Jack gauged by the way his cousin dropped his gaze after the words. He looked up again quickly though, his protective nature apparently stronger than his momentary regret. "Why? What are you giving her?"

"It's alright, Stephen deer. I need it," Cat answered, peeking out at him from Duchess's arms. "It's too long to explain, but I truly do. Alicia Duchess would never harm me. Honest."

Stephen furrowed his brow again, but then nodded, apparently somewhat mollified.

"I believe you," he said quietly, and Cat visibly relaxed at his words. Then he turned his eyes back to Jack for a long measuring look. "I believe you, too."

Jack sighed heavily, and then wondered a little at his own relief.

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