Chapter 2/6.

*Note: Chapters 2 and 3 can be taken as one chapter (thus they are posted up at once!). The fragments below are just stubborn and would not fit themselves into the next chapter. =P

*I promise you, Alice WILL make her appearance. Eventually. (For now, you will just have to settle for mild HatterXAlice undertones.) I just had a little too much fun in Wonderland. =)

Enjoy!

"Rabbit… when is Alice's birthday?"

"Hmm… If I am not wildly misinformed, her mother said something about it being in five days."

"Oh – okay, I see."

"Rabbit… I've quite made up my mind to surprise Alice for her birthday. What do you think of this idea?"

"Well, I think it is quite a brilliant one. She should like that very much." Rabbit joined without missing a beat.

"I thought so. And I'm going to make her a hat."

"Very good choice."

"Isn't it?" The Hatter smiled, pleased with himself.

"Rabbit… I think I might have one small problem. Can you show me how to get there?"

During the entire course of tea, Hatter had punctuated the unusual silence with these abrupt questions. Rabbit could practically see the Hatter's mind whirling away under that ridiculous hair of his. "Get where? She just lives in the great big house at the end of the lane."

"No, not that. Get to the Otherland, I mean. How do you do it?"

"That? Oh… that. Why, by being a White Rabbit, of course."

And that had been it for that conversation – Hatter became so fixated on his new problem that he promptly ignored everyone else for the rest of tea time. As kind and helpful as the White Rabbit was, he couldn't tell Hatter how he was able to leave Underland on whim. It just sort of happened for White Rabbits. This was a problem, because Hatter didn't exactly want to turn into a rabbit. (Though his top hat would have made a fine accessory, he thought a bit regretfully.)

Hatter thought long and hard about this one. It was a difficult problem, and he did not know exactly how to deal with it.

"Your face is going to freeze that way soon, you know," March Hare quipped. He was annoyed at the lackluster company at the tea table, of late. He scowled at the Hatter, who had been absolutely still for quite some time, and hadn't given any indication of coming out of his daze anytime soon. "What are you thinking?"

"Well, I have a problem, you see. The White Rabbit says I have to be a White Rabbit to visit Alice, which I don't think would be a pleasing experience, but if it got me to the Otherland I might consider it, and if Alice didn't mind of course, if only I knew how to – "

"Hatter!"

March Hare allowed Hatter a moment to compose himself. "Aren't you being kind of silly? When Alice returned to that other place, it wasn't the White Rabbit who got her back."

Hatter raised an eyebrow as he thought about this. "That's right… it was the Queen! I just need to go visit the Queen!" Jubilant, he smiled at Hare. "You know Hare, you are kind of brilliant, sometimes."

The Hare rolled his eyes. "Thank you for noticing, sometimes."

The Hatter was so worked up he ignored the jib. "I'm so excited! Alice's birthday is exactly five days away – oh, how can I wait so long? Hare, I think I might just expire before then…"

"Rabbit… does – "

"No, time in our land does not match time in Otherland."

"It is apt to slow down or speed up and on occasion it halts. It is always too early or always too late so it is never our faults." Both recited the familiar rhyme that allowed them to get away with any mishaps on time management. (Alice, being an outsider, did not know this and therefore felt very guilty every time the Rabbit accused her of being late.)

"And is time in Otherland… always the same?"

"Oh yes, it is very consistent."

"Oh dear! Then how shall I ever know when one day begins and one day ends?"

"Dear me, that IS a problem, isn't it? Well, I will let you know when each day is up, and after five visits, it will be Alice's birthday. There."

"Oh… good. That is exactly what I need. You are so good at this, Rabbit!"

And so the countdown began. The good White Rabbit, true to his word, stopped by to tell him whenever a new day began in Alice's world.

To be continued.