Alice sat on the edge of the bed.
"You're freaking me out here, Hatter. What's going on?"
He looked at his surroundings. "Have I been injured? Are we in a hospital?"
Alice ignored his questions in favor of one of her own. "Do you really not remember we're married?"
He opened his mouth, but a yawn came out instead of words.
Alice tried again. "What is the last thing you remember?"
He took a moment to think. "The Looking Glass chamber." He looked at her and smiled fondly. "Coming to see you."
She softened; it was a sweet memory. "But you don't… Do you remember anything after that?"
He grinned at her, still obviously under intravenous influence. "Are we really married?"
She took a deep breath. "Okay, you know what? You're fine. Or at least, you will be fine."
This was just one of those Wonderland Things. Like his weirdly accurate sense of direction or being allergic to pumpkins.
She leaned into him and dropped her voice. "But you can't say anything about Wonderland to the nurses, okay?"
"Why am I so tired?" He let his head fall back to the pillow. "Have we been running from a jabberwock?"
"See, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. Don't say jabberwock."
He nodded like he understood, but he was already drifting off.
Sleep is good, Alice thought. Then he'll wake up and be back to normal.
While he was out, a nurse came to remove his IV and he barely even stirred. Alice signed the papers for his release and then nudged him awake once they were alone again.
He seemed more alert.
"You cut your hair," he noted.
Alice let out a breath. "Yeah. Let's get you home."
"How long have I been here?" Hatter asked as Alice drove.
"A little over a decade."
"That long?"
He looked out the car's window, idly tapping his fingers on his knee. The streets were so flat; Alice must feel safe here.
"Do I… ever go back? To Wonderland?"
"You used to." Alice slowed down to pull into their driveway. "You quit once the kids were born."
He stopped drumming his fingers.
"We have kids?"
Alice made a face he recognized. It was one reserved, in his memory, for cities not built on the ground and articulated birds of the Empyrean. He didn't like being the cause for That Look.