Chapter 7: Of Clothing and Hatter

In the wake of Stephen's statement, Duchess cradled her friend a little closer, wondering if it was only she who felt such sheer relief at the man's quiet words. It was strange how in so little time she'd gone from nearly loathing the man to being pitifully grateful to him. It wasn't often someone looked and actually saw her Kitty well enough to trust her, well enough to believe in her and the things she said. It was a gift her friend deserved, and should have had along with the healthy dose of respect worthy of a powerful mystic. As gifted as she was, Cat would have had it easily, had the Queen not destroyed the Cheshire heritage so completely.

The fact that Stephen had been prepared to stand up to Duchess and Jack just on the slightest chance that they might be harming Cat hadn't hurt Duchess's opinion of him, either, she admitted to herself. Her Kitty could always use another friend and protector, and while Duchess didn't know if Stephen would be staying in Wonderland, at least he could offer a little care to Kitty for the time being.

And if having an attractive man around who truly meant no harm didn't go miles toward healing some of the internal scars the Queen and court had left behind on Kitty, then likely nothing would.

In her arms, Kitty's tremors slowly eased and then shifted into the random fidgeting of a normal Cheshire. She nuzzled her face into Duchess's shoulder and then smiled at her widely, her green eyes no longer holding the pain and despair of a few moments prior.

"Feeling better, are you?" Duchess asked teasingly and ruffled her friend's ruddy curls. Cat nodded wildly, her head bobbing about almost too fast to follow.

"I am and look he is and we are and everyone is better and better and best of all, Hatter is coming!"

From his stance by the bed, Jack let out a choked laugh and then shook his head.

"Yes, Hatter is coming and should be here soon. Thrilling, really." His less than thrilled expression had his cousin letting out a chuckle.

"So, what now?" Stephen asked fidgeting a bit himself, and Duchess guessed the man might not be as patient as his cousin. She glanced over at the aforementioned King of Hearts and was amused and exasperated to see him draw that royal attitude back around him like a shield. It would be nice if he could occasionally let that go; shame it wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

"Now, it seems we are merely waiting on Hatter to arrive. He should have some information on your mental and physical wellbeing considering how long you've lived beyond the Looking Glass." He tugged at his tie absently, and shrugged. "We have little experience for this sort of thing. It is best to be sure there's been no lasting harm to you."

"If I'm being forced to entertain your guest, cousin, do you think I might have something more in the way of clothing?" Stephen asked wryly, and Duchess blinked as she realized the injured man likely wasn't wearing a great deal other than bandages. And she'd left Kitty alone in the room with him? She was more than a little surprised the Cheshire hadn't run screaming at the mere thought.

"No no no, you silly 'Licia. He's wearing pants. Obviously." Duchess raised an eyebrow at her friend, and this time decided she really didn't want to know how Kitty knew Stephen had pants on underneath the blankets he had yet to remove. Knowing Kitty, the answer would likely be even more unique than usual. The wicked grin the Cheshire shot her from behind her hands made that even more of a certainty. Stephen watched the women from his spot on the bed, his eyes just slightly wary, and Duchess wondered if he'd caught Kitty's mischievous look, as well. It wouldn't do him much good even if he hand. Cat was nothing if not unpredictable.

Duchess shook her head slightly, forcing herself back to the issue at hand. If they were, in fact, going to present yon Hart to Hatter, he probably would need something more like clothing. And in no way would it be proper for she and Cat to remain while the cousins accomplished that little feat.

"Gentleman, I believe we will withdraw for the moment while Stephen is made a bit more presentable." She took Cat by the hand and, with a pair of curtseys to Jack, they swept out of the room. Once outside the tapestry and hidden door, Duchess lowered herself gracefully onto a settee against the wall across from a rather lovely painting of the Kingdom of the Knights. She made a mental reminder to show it to the White Knight, Sir Charles, the next time he visited the palace. It might be relatively soon, she mused. Whether Stephen chose to stay in Wonderland or not, there would still likely be a fete in honor of the surviving Heart cousin. It seemed more and more likely he was, in fact, who Jack thought him to be. He'd had an air of haunted memory about him when Jack had spoken of the exile and possible murder of Prince Heart and his family, as if the story had filled some holes in his own past.

Perhaps that was merely Duchess projecting, though, for Jack if not for herself. He wanted to desperately to be part of saving someone's life instead of merely belonging to the family that destroyed lives.

"He's already saved the one he has even if he leaves again, you know. He doesn't know but he should me thinks." Duchess glanced over and laughed out loud to see Cat walking about on her hands up and down the hall. It was a mercy her blouse was staying tucked in, else the Suits who bustled about would have had far more of a show than was quite proper. Trust a Cheshire not to care particularly. "You remind him if he forgets, Alicia Duchess. Tell him he's a good man and he might realizes it's mostly true. Or truer than false it is and isn't it?"

She cocked her head up at Duchess as her voiced lifted up in question, then Duchess almost jumped as Cat's body followed the curve of her neck, rolling off her hands and the somersaulting for another few feet to fetch up against a pillar by the settee. She was still mostly upside down, but at least her head and arms were relatively upright. Duchess didn't would get quite as dizzy this way. Perhaps it was her upright position that cleared Duchess's mind enough to follow what Kitty's been saying.

"You think I should tell him? You think he would even listen?" her voice sounding more brittle and far more bitter than she liked. Cat narrowed her eyes at her, and Duchess found herself looking away. As much as she dearly loved her little friend, it was occasionally a little uncomfortable being a close companion to a Cheshire. Cat clearly knew it too, her grin fading a bit as she slithered forward away from the pillar to lay her head in Duchess's lap. Duchess reached down to stroke her hair absently as Cat spoke again, her words slow as if she was carefully reaching for as much clarity as possible.

"Jack is… He is King, and Wonderland dreams for him, my Alicia Duchess. He doesn't dream as well me thinks, because of that dreaming for him I means. He can't see, can't feel what's really down there in his heart of Hearts." She shrugged against Duchess's legs. "It was safer before when his mother the Bitch Queen ruled us all. If she knew her son had feelings she could use and use up for her own ends? There wouldn't be a knave left to grow into a king after long. He'd have all but stolen every tart in the casino and and and run off to make a harem in the lake with all the prettiest fishes in the sea he would were he like her."

She tilted her head upward to seek Duchess's gaze.

"But he's not like her. Not really. Just lost and dreamless for now." She stood suddenly, and Duchess's hand fell into her lap as she stared upward, caught in the Cheshire's wide green eyes. "But Wonderland still dreams, she does." She brushed hair out of Duchess's face, and Duchess felt herself tremble as Cat's eyes almost seemed to glow. "Wonderland dreams of a Queen of Hearts with a Diamond will. One who loves her people more than she ought, and loves her King with all she has left."

Her words hung in the air as if placed there by Cat's voice. After a moment, she suddenly grinned impishly, and the spell of the Cheshire left her eyes. Duchess took in a deep gasp of a breath, surprised to find she'd been holding her breath. Cat beamed all the harder, swinging her arms about happily.

"That's the dream we want, my Duchess. That very one. Jack should want it too he should but bless him, he's male and you know they are hardly expected to think very clearly at the best of times now are they?"

"You know, I'm trying not to take offense to that but it's not exactly easy." A cheeky voice sounded down the hall, and Duchess turned to look as Cat spun around to face the newcomer. Newcomers, plural, Duchess realized as she took in Hatter's grinning face and the shy smile of Alice Hamilton standing close to his side. Cat flew down the hall, her exuberance increasing now that there was yet another target for her delight.

"It's a Hatter!" she squealed and leaped. Luckily Hatter seemed almost as used to Cat's energetic hellos as Duchess herself was.

"It's a Cat!" He caught her under her arms and spun in a circle, causing Alice to jump to the side to avoid the Cheshire's flailing legs as they spun about, both of them laughing like fools. He set her down finally, and Cat turned to offer a smile and an elegant curtsey to Alice.

"Hello! The Hatter brought you he did I'm glad and glad to meet you, Just Alice, his dear." Cat chattered on at the clearly bemused Oyster woman, and Duchess had to hide a smile behind her hand.

Hatter wandered over to stand beside Duchess, bowing over her hand with a slight grin. Duchess shook her head, used to his rather extravagant ways. She'd known him a very long time actually; long before her engagement to Jack. That had been during one of her first 'assignments' from the old Queen, to cozy up to a Teashop owner that some suspected might be working with the Resistance. It was also one of the only times Duchess succeeded in lying to that same Queen. She owed the Resistance, and Hatter in particular, a debt of gratitude. Her parents had barely escaped an 'exile' very similar to that of Stephen's parents. Hatter had smuggled them away from the Suits' custody and down to the Great Library; Duchess hadn't seen them again until the fall of the Casino. Her parents now lived in a tiny little cottage on the edge of the Great Lake. It was strange to see the once glamorous Diamond nobles so comfortable in the country lifestyle, but then, Duchess herself was hardly the glitzy pampered courtier she had once been under the Queen's rule.

They'd all changed, she thought quietly, watching Cat and Alice talk and Hatter grin fondly at them both. All three Wonderlanders were more open than she guessed any of them ever thought they could be. It was amazing how the weight had dropped off the three of them once the Queen lost power. It was the same throughout Wonderland, too. The people of the realm were slowly coming to life again, once they were weaned off of the emotion teas.

"That's hopeful, isn't it," Hatter remarked quietly, his thoughts apparently echoing her own. They exchanged another smile, and then Hatter shook himself. "So, what's Himself called me here for then?"

Duchess hesitated. It was a tricky business, knowing just how much of Jack's story to tell.

"The King has a cousin who's not an Oyster but lived there a long long time but now he's fallen through the rabbit hole with a not-a-wocky and it's worrisome that he might be all ill and Oyster-ed without knowing it." Apparently Cat didn't find it tricky at all, Duchess thought wryly. Typical Cheshire.

Hatter blinked and shook his head for a moment as he untangled Kitty's explanation. Alice touched his shoulder, and he turned. They exchanged a silent communication Duchess could only envy, and then Hatter shrugged.

"A Wonderlander living in their world for how long?"

"Most of his life we think. The Queen sent he and his parents into exile when he was 4 years old." At Duchess's words, Hatter let out a long whoosh of breath.

"Well that is... interesting. Not sure what to make of it. Not just yet anyway." He shrugged apologetically.

"Of course. I imagine you'll need to meet Mr. Hart first. Shall we?" Duchess asked. When Hatter and Alice nodded, her hand sliding into his, Duchess tugged aside the tapestry and knocked twice against the door. A muffled call of 'Enter' had her opening the door and allowing Jack's guests to enter ahead of herself and Cat.

Jack and Stephen were standing by the bed, and to Duchess's confusion, Stephen looked as if he'd been struck over the head by the entrance of Jack's guest.

"Connor?" he asked, then suddenly grinned widely. The smile made the attractive man suddenly even more handsome. "Thank God, Connor!"

He took two steady steps forward and then pulled Hatter into a strong hug. Hatter merely stood here, his eyes wide and more than a little confused. He patted Stephen's back awkwardly, mouthing the word "What?" helplessly over Stephen's shoulder to Jack and Duchess.

Kitty just giggled.