After she closed the front door, Alice turned to her husband.

"Your son's name is Robert. He's four. We–"

"Named him after your father." Hatter nodded once.

She smiled. "Right."

"'Charlie' is short for Charlotte." Alice kept talking as she began to move around the living room, picking up toys from the floor. "We always meant to call her Charlie, but that's an unusual given name for a girl in our world, so we chose – what is it?" Alice paused because Hatter had an odd look on his face.

"Oh, nothing. Just… 'our world.'"

"Well," Alice stood, a stuffed unicorn in one hand and a plastic truck in the other. "Yeah."

Hatter gathered a collection of picture books from one end of the sofa and stacked them in his hands.

"I like the sound of that. You and me. Having a world together."

There was a crashing sound in the kitchen, followed by crying and a small voice loudly complaining that something wasn't fair.

Alice smiled. "It's a really great one."

The kitchen conflict ended when Alice proclaimed there would be no more candy.

"It's time to start dinner. Go wash your hands."

Hatter sat at the table. He couldn't stop looking at the kids. His kids. He had kids.

They both had Alice's eyes.

With hands still soapy between the fingers, Robert climbed into his lap and set two little cars on the table. He slammed the vehicles into each other repeatedly, imitating the sounds of a crash.

Charlie returned and regarded him quietly for a moment. Then she asked why he was wearing a hat.

"I like hats," he answered.

"Yeah, I know," she said. "But you only wear them when we go out. You don't wear them when we're home. Are we going out to eat?"

Robert swiveled in his lap, an expectant look on his face.

"Guys, I'm making dinner," Alice told them. She'd taken a couple of pots out of a cabinet.

"Why isn't Daddy making dinner?" Charlie asked.

"I thought I'd give him the night off."

"But Daddy always makes dinner."

Do I? He looked at Alice.

She put her hands on her hips. "I know how to cook, Charlie."

This made Hatter smile. Alice, defending herself to a little girl..

"Is something wrong with Daddy?"

Talk about uncharted territory. Hatter didn't want Alice to have to answer all the questions alone, but he was keen to follow her lead.

Alice took a deep breath.

"You remember that he was having a test at the hospital today, right? Well, the test was fine, but it's just taking a little while for the medicine to wear off and Daddy doesn't remember some things right now."

"Like what things?"

"Like where we keep the pots and pans or how we make spaghetti," Alice said.

"I'm sure I can make it next time," he offered.

Charlie only frowned at him. She looked at him squarely and he was reminded of Alice saying "I don't believe you."

"Do you remember us?" his daughter asked.

Of course you want to go to the casino. He opened his mouth, but Alice was already speaking.

"He knows he's your dad. He'll… remember the rest later."

Alice started taking items from the pantry, and Hatter thought for a moment that Charlie had moved on. Then the look on her young face let him know things were going to get worse before they got better.

"What if he doesn't ever remember?"

Alice turned from the stove and gave her full attention to her daughter. "He will."

"But what if he doesn't?" Charlie's voice rose.

"Hey, hey," he said, leaning forward in the chair. "Of course I will."

"But if you can't make spaghetti, will you remember how to make pancakes? Because we have those on Saturdays and Mommy can't flip them…"

"Charlie," Alice said warmly. "It'll be okay; I promise."

She came over and knelt so that she was on her children's eye level. The movement caused Robert to stop his play for a moment. Alice took one of his hands and one of Charlie's.

"Once upon a time, I was scared that something might happen to me." She looked at Hatter. "And your daddy promised to take care of me. So that's what we'll do. We'll make sure he's okay."

Charlie squared her shoulders, and Hatter felt something stir. Was that pride?

"I'm going to get the photo album," she announced. "It has family memories in it."

It only took her a moment to come dashing back into the room.

"Thank you," he said as she handed him the book. He took off his hat.

"Hey, could you go put this by the front door? I don't think I'll need it anymore tonight."