Alice, 20 year old daughter of King Thrushbeard, was lost. Hopelessly, without a doubt, lost. All she had wanted was a simple walk in the woods. She had asked her elder sister Lorina to come with her, but she had refused, worried she was going to get her new dress dirty. After all, she was meeting with a prince today, she had been invited to stay the night at his palace. The other princesses who had stayed there always came back empty handed, but claimed they had had the best night's sleep ever on one hundred downy mattresses. Her father and mother had a meeting with Rumpelstiltskin later this afternoon and Alice didn't wasnt to disturb them, seeing as they were always nervous before one of these meetings. So it was just Alice all alone in the Whispering Woods. The sky was beginning to turn evening gray, and Alice felt a few tears splash on the sky blue fabric of her dress. Roughly wiping her cheek, she sat down by a wisened oak. Alice expected to hit the ground with a hard thud, but instead she kept falling, down and down. She let out a scream as she bounced off a giant bed. She landed on hard on the ground of the room full of doors. She lifted herself after coughing a few times and took in her surroundings. There were dozens of doors, each one different than the last. One had a round table engraved on the surface with a couple of knights sitting around it. The next was forest green, a bow, arrow and quiver painted on the front. Yet another was an emerald green and expanse of yellow brick road shone in the backround. Finally she came to the one that intrigued her most. It was a mirror, and Alice could see herself clearly in it. Her dress was torn in a place, but otherwise she looked fine. The only thing that bothered her was that the backround didn't show the room she was in, but instead a whimsically green forest with multicolored birds. She reached out a hand to touch the glass, to see if this was real. Her hand touched nothing and Alice found herself being pulled through the door. She sat bolt upright, taking in her surroundings. Everything around her was too vibrant, too bright. The flowers too pink, the trees too green. It wasn't at all like the forest greens and navy blues of home. A puff of vile smelling smoke snapped Alice out of her thoughts. "Who are you?" a violently blue caterpillar sitting atop a red mushroom asked. "I'm Alice. Who are you? And where am I?" she asked. The caterpillar frowned. "I know who I am. As for where you are, you are in Wonderland of course! You must have meant to come here if you came through the looking glass. Now, get out of here you silly girl." he said, as if this all was completely obvious. "But-" Alice started, but before she could finish the caterpillar puffed another cloud of smoke at her and disappeared in the mist. Alice huffed, quite annoyed that the caterpillar had just dissapeared on her. Putting that behind her, she stood up and looked around. There was a trail to her left, so she took it. After what seemed like an eternity of walking she came to a fork in the road. An ancient live oak stood in the middle, and perched up in the branches was a cheshire cat, with a grin on its face. This bothered Alice because, quite frankly, cats could not grin. She herself had a kitten and never in her lifetime had it smiled like that. "Um, hello there." she said, not wanting to anger the cat. Appartently she didn't, because it kept on grinning at her. "Which way should I go?" she asked. "Well, that depends on where you want to go." the cat answered, its grin still plastered on it's face. "I don't care," Alice said "As long as I get somewhere." "Then it doesn't matter which way you go." Alice glared at the cat. Why wouldn't anyone here give her straight answer. The cat must have noticed her glare, because his smile became a little softer. "Why don't I take you to the Hare and the Hatter, hmm?" he said. Alice replied skeptically, "Who are they?" The cat laughed. "Why they're mad!" he laughed. Alice's face spread into a look of horror. "I don't want to be among mad people!" she exclaimed. She had seen mad people before in her kingdom. The homeless people on the streets who cried out nonsense to passing people. This mad the cat smile even more. "But you already among mad people. That caterpillar's mad. You're mad. As you may have noticed, I'm not all there myself." he said as if this was normal. Alice frowned. "How am I mad?" she asked, slightly offended. She had never been called mad before. "Well, you're here, aren't you?" he responded shrugging his cat like shoulders. The he dissapeared in a puff of purple smoke. Alice looked wildly around, and spotted him at the end of the path, standing in mid-air. "Coming?" he said. Alice ran to catch up. "What is your name?" she asked looking at her companion. "Cat." he answered simply. Alice wrinkled her nose. "Cat isn't a name, it's an animal. I'm Alice. Now you don't have an excuse not to tell me what your real name is." she said, stopping and crossing her arms. Cat, as he was called, looked at her with his feline eyes. "It's Baelfire. Happy?" he grumbled and Alice realized it was the first he hadn't been grinning. "You don't like your name?" she inquired. She always liked her name enough. She certainly loved the name Baelfire, it sounded like a noble name, even if it was an old name. If she ever had a boy, she decided, his name would be Baelfire. If it was a girl, Grace or maybe Paige. "I don't like the man who gave it to me." Alice didn't ask any more questions. Something in the cat's tone of voice had hinted he was a little more than annoyed. Finally, after walking a while in awkward silence, they reached a tea table. A young girl was seated at it talking excitedly to a boy who looked a few years older than her. The girl had dark brown hair and wide, black eyes. The boy had hair white as snow, and for a minute, Alice thought he was an albino. She was soon corrected when she saw his eyes. Dark black, serious eyes. The man at the end of the table took her breath away for a moment. His light brown hair was shaggy and topped with a hat. A smile lit up his hazel eyes. He didn't look mad at all. "Jefferson, March, Alistair, this is Alice. She fell through the rabbit whole I presume?" Cat said looking at Alice for conformation. Alice nodded shyly. The girl with the brown hair, March, was her name glared at Alistair. "I told you, you shouldn't go digging hole up there. Look what happens!" she said. Alistair rolled his eyes. "How do you know it was my hole, hmm? I haven't dug anything for a week, and you know that." he said, waving her off. March glared, but didn't say anything else. Jefferson, on the other hand, smiled. "What don't you join us for tea and cake, Alice?" he said politely, gesturing to an empty chair beside him. Alice smiled back. "Is there a special occasion going on?" Alice said, looking around at all the cakes and sweets. Cat grinned. "Well, it isn't any of our birthdays, so let it be an un-birthday party." he laughed. Everyone around the table laughed, including Alice. Then Jefferson frowned. "Cat, we have company. Why not show us your human form." he said. This took Alice by surprise. It never occured to her that the cheshire cat might be human. Cat sighed. "fine," he grumbled. There was a puff of purple smoke and once was there a cat, now was a man with black hair and feline eyes. " Better," Jefferson grinned. "So Alice, tell me, how did you find yourself in Wonderland?." Jefferson said, his hazel eyes locking with her blue ones. That moment Alice felt something she had never experienced before: love at first sight.

The sky was black when Alice and Jefferson finished talking. Alice looked nervously around when she realized how late it was. "How do I get home?" she asked worriedly. Jefferson's face fell. "You don't want to stay?" he asked sadly. Alice returned with a sad smile. "I don't want to leave, Jefferson, but mother and father will be worried. I promise I'll come back." she pleaded, looking deep into his eyes. Jefferson just shook his head. "No one can find the rabbit hole twice, but..." he trailed off looking at her intensely. "What?" Alice asked. "How would you like to see my hat?" he said, grinning.

Alice ran home alight with happiness that evening. As it turns out, Jefferson's hat was magical. He took her places she'd never seen before. The lush, green forests of Sherwood, the rolling plains of Camelot, and candy-colored Oz. At the end of their trip, he gave her a peck on the cheek and promised to return at the edge of the woods next Saturday. So Alice rushed home, so excited to share her news of the mysterious hatter, she forgot all about her parent's meeting. She rushed into the Great Hall of her home. "Mother, Father! I've had the best evening! I fell through a rabbit hole and met a hatter called Jefferson and he was amazing! I also met Cat, but his real name was Bae-" he voice suddenly died in her throat when she saw a golden man seated at the table with her parent. Mouthing soundlessly for a moment, Alice stared at the one and only Rumpelstiltskin. "I'm so sorry." she apologized weakly, dropping into a clumsy curtsy. Rumpelstiltskin only grinned at her, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. His eyes expressed an entirely different emotion. Was it hope? Hope for what? That look hadn't been in his at the beginning of her story just when she mentioned the Cat... Suddenly, a line that Cat said to her came back to her. "You don't like your name? I don't like the man who gave it to me." Something clicked in Alice's mind. "Baelfire was Rumpelstiltskin's son! Her eyes growing large, she curtsied once again before running up to her room. That night she fell asleep with thoughts of Cheshire grins, and lost sons.

Cat, Jefferson, March, and Alistair walked down the street of Storybrook, Maine. March was slightly ahead, storming and grumbling something about betrayers. "Does she even know where she's going?" Cat asked Alistair in a mock whisper. Alistair laughed. "Probably not." he replied. He turned his head upward to look at his friend and what he saw surprised him. "Uh... Cat. Do you happen to have a mirror?" he asked, trembling a bit. Cat scoffed. "Why would I need a mirror?" he asked. Then he got his reflection in a shop window. His hair had turned a light, chestnut brown, along with his eyes. He stopped dead, staring there, his mouth agape. "No, no no no!" he muttered, still staring. March's mouth was wide. "So THAT's what you really look like!" she gasped. Jefferson blanched. "Magic doesn't last long in this world." he murmured. He had really hoped Cat could have done something about the curse. Suddenly March flicked her head. "Is this it? Is there where he is?" she asked. They had arrived at Mr. Gold's Pawnshop. Jefferson nodded. Cat turned to all of them scowling. "If any of you say anything about who I am, I will kill you. Understand?" he growled. Everyone nodded and into the shop they went. The little bell above the door rang and Mr. Gold turned around. There he saw something totally unexpected. Strangers. "Jefferson, how may I help you?" he asked, addressing the only person he recognized out of the group. Jefferson smiled weakly. "My, uh, friends, from, um out of town wanted to come in." he fumbled. Mr. Gold arched an eyebrow. "Why don't you introduce me, hm?" he asked. "Okay," Jefferson said awkwardly, "This is March." The girl with the long brown hair glared at him with cold eyes. "Her brother Alistair." The boy with the white hair nodded his head in recognition. "Cat." The last person said before Jefferson could introduce him. He had dark brown hair that fell into his eyes slightly. His dark brown eyes were cold at the moment, but gave of signs that they had smiled often. "Cat's an unusual name." Mr. Gold commented. Cat merely grinned. "I don't like my real name. Cat's more of a nickname." he said shrugging. "Wow!" came a voice from the corner. March had found something. "Look how old this is!" she said in wonder, looking at an old leather ball. "That's not for sale." Mr. Gold said coldly. "I know, you couldn't sell this!" she said, rolling her eyes then giving a meaningful look to Cat. He glared back. Mr. Gold was starting to get a little confused. "Listen, Regina's curse is weakening. It might be time to move in and attack." Jefferson said, dropping his voice. "It's not that easy, dearie." Mr. Gold said shaking his head. Cat heard this. "Don't you wish you could just turn your enemy's into snails and crush them?" he said. The room fell deadly silent. Cat was the only one who didn't seem to notice. After about a minute Jefferson shifted awkwardly. "Well we must be going." he said. March shot a glare at Mr. Gold. Alistair held the door open. Cat was the last to leave. He looked around with a sad look in his eyes. Just as his foot was almost out the door, Mr. Gold called out. "Bae." The word rang out like a long forgotten bell and Baelfire stopped, frozen in the doorway. It was the first time he had heard his name spoken out loud by another in a long time. A tear escaped the corner of his eye but he harshly wiped it away. "I don't go by that name anymore." he said, trying to keep his voice from wavering. Mr. Gold gulped. "Bae, I've spent every moment looking for you and-" "No you haven't!" Cat yelled, tears now running freely down his cheeks. "You didn't care if I died or-or.." He collapsed into sobs then, letting all the emotions he hadn't let flow for awhile. Mr. Gold came up and put an arm around his son and leaned into him. Father and son were together at last.

The End

I hope you guys like this story! I'm sorry it had to come to an end so soon, but I have a new story in mind and I want to start it before Season 2 starts back up! 1 more week!