13. Make a weekly menu, and shop for only those items at the market
Hatter's jaw dropped and his eyes lit up as he took in the scene before him. This was better than the clothes shopping they'd done for him the week before. So many varieties…and all laid out before him for the choosing! Oh if the Resistance could've only seen this…
A metal clanging noise jarred him out of his imaginings and Hatter looked over his shoulder to see Alice pushing a large metal basket on wheels towards him. She pulled the paper she'd written a list on before they left out of her pocket and came to a stop beside him without needing to look up. "Okay," she exhaled, "We won't need to pick up too much to get you all set for the week so this shouldn't take too long. That apartment they set up for you had a good amount of nonperishable food already-"
"You have food that never goes bad here?" Hatter asked in awe. Ignoring the slightly confused and amused look the lady walking past them shot him.
Alice let out a laugh as she pushed the metal basket onward and led the way, "It's called that but it's just food that won't expire for months or years as long as you store it the right way."
"Brilliant," Hatter grinned and gave Alice quick kiss on the cheek that he was pleased to see made her flush attractively, "This is absolutely, brilliant! What'd you say this place was called again?"
"A supermarket," Alice smiled as pulled some jars off the very packed shelves and placed them in the metal basket, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you've never seen one before. But then…" She looked about before moving to whisper at him, "Where did you get the food you used to smuggle for the Resistance?"
Hatter shrugged as he surveyed the many ways he could apparently 'dress' his vegetables, "By trade mostly. The Queen supplied weekly rations for Register class citizens, and they would give it to me in exchange for Tea often enough. Otherwise I made bi-weekly trips out'a the city proper to haggle with the Rustics-Oh!" He pulled a jar of dark green cucumbers off the shelf, "Are these nonperishable cucumbers? Can we get them?"
"Umm, they used to be cucumbers but they've been pickled to preserve them. See all the colored water in there? That's the pickling chemicals," Alice informed him and Hatter put the jar back on the shelf with a frown. He didn't like the way that sounded. "They also don't taste like cucumbers anymore after soaking the solution up. They're very bitter and salty instead," she continued and that sealed it for him. It didn't seem right to do something like that to a perfectly decent vegetable.
It was like discovering a new world inside of the one he'd already hopped in as they continued through the market. Some things were easily familiar to Hatter. Flour, eggs, sugar, milk, and most fruits and vegetables coming from the same places on either side of the glass apparently. The aisle of proper tea and coffee took no less than an hour for him finish with as each variety was smelled (when possible) and weighed for potential consumption. Still, it was the sheer volume of hard to come across supplies (the wall of already butchered and wrapped meat was another joy to behold) and the variety of strange concepts like the 'ready made meals' that just didn't exist for Hatter before today that had him feeling like a kid again. It didn't take long for the former conman to figure out that if he looked passionate or desperate enough about something he wanted to try that Alice would smile, shake her head, and add it to the growing pile in the metal basket on wheels.
After an hour in the store and over half the cart full, she'd just given a reluctant sigh, ripped up her carefully planned list and, putting the pieces back in her pocket, just observed Hatter and answered his many questions about each of the food items he picked up or pointed at.
59. Take vitamin C BEFORE you catch a cold
It had started as just an irritation, a bit of a scratch he couldn't reach, nothing important and just as it always had; a hot cup of tea had solved the issue. No reason to for him to worry, so no reason to worry Alice either. She'd given him one of her piercing stares when the scratching had made him cough, but it hadn't happened today so Hatter continued to claim he was fine when he was with her. If he happened to be more tired than normal by the end of the day, he blamed it on doing a bit too much physical labor while setting up his shop and vowed to take it easy tomorrow.
'Course by then he finally had to admit something might be wrong.
Alice was flushed and sweaty when he woke up the next morning and Hatter didn't know what to do. There were little pills in this world that could aide healing and devices that would tell him what was wrong, but he'd never used them before and the few pieces Alice had left at his flat held no instructions. Torn but desperate, Hatter attempted to wake her but she'd protested saying she was feeling ill and weakly pushed him away so she could sleep.
His fear confirmed but still not knowing what to do or how bad things might be, Hatter gave into desperation and called Alice's mum, Carol.
She'd yet to take a true shine to him (not that he could blame her much, what with the misleading information from both of them before and after Alice's release from the hospital) but even he knew she'd do anything to help her only daughter. One rushed call and forty minutes of pacing later, Hatter opened the door to his flat just as Carol raised her hand to knock.
"Carol!" he beamed and ushered her inside, "Thanks again for comin' by quick like. Alice can be a bit stubborn even when she's not unwell, so I doubt it's much of a shock to say she's still in bed then."
Carol sighed as she looked about the place and Hatter belatedly realized this was the first time she'd ever been in his flat. He squashed down the nervousness at what she might think of the place as he focused on getting Carol to Alice's side so she could help Hatter make Alice well again with all of those lovely pills and tools she said she'd bring. "I'm sure she's not as bad as you think David," Carol reassured him, "Alice knows how to take care of herself. She's a grown woman after all." The older woman gave him a look that made him feel transparent then and Hatter blamed it on concern for Alice that was throwing off his careful mask. "I find it hard to believe you never even used a thermometer in England, though," she stated before raising a suspicious eyebrow, "I wouldn't be surprised if you'd just taken advantage of the healthcare system and not bothered to own one."
Going along with her assumptions for the moment, but not wanting to lie to her more than necessary, Hatter nodded and led her down the hall to Alice, "Yeah, well, I'm rarely sick myself. Not to mention the tools here aren't like the ones back home. Different, erm,...bits and baubles about them too."
Carol gave him an amused smile as she entered the room and moved to sit beside Alice, taking a thin looking rod out of her purse and sliding it into her daughter's mouth, "I'll just have to teach you how to understand Fahrenheit then. Someone once told me that was the hardest conversion to make from metric." Alice had groggily allowed the device admittance, but did not fully wake.
Hatter was out of his depth again but didn't let it show as he waited for whatever result the little stick was suppose to give with no small amount of impatience. Carol was doing little movements with her hands, placing them in various spots on Alice's face and neck, while she waited and was the picture of calm confidence. The stick beeped about one minute later and Carol nodded at what she saw on the tiny screen. "One hundred and one point five," she stated as she wiped the device off before putting it back in her purse, "Not too high, but definitely running a fever." Alice moaned and gave a few coughs before snuggling deeper in the covers. Even looking a bit dreadful, Hatter could do nothing to stop the swell in his heart at the adorable image her tousled position presented and gave into his first desire as he leaned over his side of the bed to stroke Alice's face gently.
Carol cleared her throat and broke his trance. He jolted back as if shocked and he knew it showed when he looked up at her. Her face wasn't stern or judging however. She was smiling kindly at him for the first time he could remember and passed him a bright orange box.
"It's Dayquil," she informed him, "Her glands aren't swollen, but her cough sounds wet and I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't congested as well. It's probably the flu." Carol frowned down at Alice, "I told her to get the shot while we were at the hospital but she wouldn't have it. She'll be fine in a day or two though."
Relief flooded his system then, and Hatter slumped forward with a release of physical exhaustion at that announcement that he didn't know he'd been feeling. Alice would be fine. Just a bit of normal sickness and the lovely colored orange pills would make her better. No hospitals or maniacal doctors with their probing questions would be needed. The touch of a cool palm on his forehead broke him out of his thoughts this time and Hatter jerked upright to see Carol frowning at him now as she moved around to his side of the bed.
"I suppose it would be too much to hope you'd gotten one as well," she mumbled and retrieved the temperature stick from her purse again. Her look demanded no arguments and Hatter found himself too tired to make a fuss that he was fine and instead allowed her to place the device under his tongue; closing his mouth when she bid him to do so. Carol repeated the same motions on him that he'd seen her do on Alice. Palms on his forehead and cheeks before pressing against his throat and along a path around his eyes, nodding sagely when he pressure made him wince occasionally.
When the stick beeped again, she declared him sick with the same thing Alice had.
His brain was feeling fuzzy and his limbs heavy by this point, and he vaguely recalled giving minimal resistance as Carol assisted him back into bed properly when he woke up hours later. Alice was sitting propped up against her pillows and her red nosed smile was the first thing he saw when he did wake before immediately closing his eyes again as he sneezed into his pillow.
"Ta," Hatter thanked Alice when she passed him a tissue without needing to be asked and he sat up and cleared his sinuses. "You been up long?"
She shook her head, "Maybe thirty minutes. Mom asked me to wake you but I wanted to give you as much time as I could. She's made soup." Alice's eyes sparkled with hidden laughter at her remark, though Hatter was baffled as to why and unable to ask as Carol briskly walked into the room with a tray in either hand. While he couldn't smell whatever was inside the bowl, he certainly felt hungry enough to eat it all and quickly tried a spoonful. It was some sort of warm chicken based concoction with pasta…and it was absolutely delicious. Hatter's manners returned after a few spoonfuls and he quickly bestowed praises and thanks onto an amused looking Carol for making them lunch.
"You can thank me by taking care of yourself. The both of you," she replied with a look at Alice before pointing to the glass of juice on his tray and the matching orange pills next to it, "Take those and make sure to drink plenty of fluids once the medicine kicks in. Just because you're feeling better doesn't mean you are better."
Alice rolled her eyes, "I'll make sure we both take it easy Mom, you really didn't have to come over and do all this."
"Well if you'd just gotten the flu shot like I asked you to, then you and David might have been able go out to that surprise lunch with me and I wouldn't have had to," Carol shot back with a touch of patronization in her voice. Hatter was finally feeling coherent enough after a bowl of soup to not let the shock show on his face that Carol apparently hadn't told Alice he'd asked her over. Alice didn't seem bothered by her mother's response though and smiled when Carol dropped a kiss on her daughter's forehead and stoked her head once. "By sure to keep on your vitamins at least okay? You could have avoided catching the flu if you'd just done that," Carol insisted and Alice nodded before insisting her mother go and that they would be fine.
He watched as Carol walked around the bed to feel his forehead and run a hand over his hair like she'd done with Alice; giving him a fond smile all the while. She turned around then, reminding them to get rest and get lots of fluids, grabbed her purse, and calmly let herself out of the flat like she made such visits all the time. It was a surreal experience for Hatter and he couldn't help feeling that maybe Carol liked him a bit more then he'd thought after all.
80. Don't let your imagination run away with you
"Okay, I don't know if I'm waiting the right amount of time until I can say this, so I'm just gonna say it," the brunette woman on Alice's left, Laura, declared, "I am SO glad you chased off that Jack guy."
Alice sputtered indigently, "I did not chase off Jack! I told you he had-"
"Yeah, yeah," the blonde friend on her right, Sally, interrupted with a wave of her hand, "So you say. But we also know he was two timing you with some stiff upper lip English chick back in the motherland so we know that's not the whole story."
Laura made a confirming noise as she took a sip of her wine before speaking, "We do give you props for catching a most excellent rebound man though."
"Mmm, here here," Sally agreed and clinked glass with the woman across the small round bar table from her.
Alice couldn't fight the smile on her face at her close friends' declarations, but shook her head at least in some form of reprimand, "I'm not saying that wasn't the problem, just that it wasn't the only reason we're not together anymore." She took a sip of her wine before continuing, "I thought you both liked him the few times you all met though?"
Her girlfriends exchanged a look and Sally sighed before responding first, "Look Alice, it was clear you liked the guy and he did have that British charm about him so we definitely got it. Wasn't bad looking either. Had nice teeth, which is something I've been told to look out for with Englishmen."
Laura smirked, "I didn't mind the view when we got to watch him leave either. Usually the highlight of those nights for me-"
"Anyway," the only blonde spoke up, "We thought he was okay and we could tolerate him sure, but he just had this way of speaking that…"
"That what?" Alice frowned.
"That whenever he spoke to you, he just knew – not implied mind you – just flat out knew he was better then you," Laura stated with a pointed look at Alice, "He didn't do it to you, well not often anyway I think, but whenever Sal or I were stuck with him or tried to talk with him we could feel it."
Sally winced sympathetically, "I was kinda bad sometimes Alice, sorry."
Alice couldn't help the sigh that escaped her at their admissions. They weren't saying something she hadn't already become intimately familiar with during her trip through the Looking Glass, but it did bother her. Not just the fact that she hadn't noticed Jack had acted that way before, but also that her good friends had to experience it. They were smart and well-spoken women who knew they didn't deserve to be treated that way, but had let it slide for that short time for her benefit. They were great friends and Alice would have to make it up to them somehow, that was for sure.
"Look Alice," Laura placed a consoling hand over hers, "I know what's going through that head of yours and seriously, stop it. It wasn't your fault he was such a prick half the time and you've given him the boot now so it doesn't matter. We'll never have to put with his airs and graces again."
"British two point oh on the other hand…," Sally trailed off and her eyes looked over at the bar entrance.
Laura took another sip of her wine before grinning widely, "Oh now he's just gorgeous. Really Alice, where did you find him? Is he another new student? Cause I might have to start taking your class if you're bringing in men like him."
"He's also headed this way," Sally quietly announced out of the side of her mouth as she took a discrete sip of her drink.
Alice turned around to get a better view and didn't even try and fight the smile growing on her face once she saw Hatter easily weaving between the crowds to get to the small table she and her friends were occupying near the back of the bar. His eyes sparkled with unchecked mischief when she caught his gaze just as he slide up beside her. "Hello there ladies. Don't suppose you'd have room for a bloke amidst the triangle of beauty you've created here then?" Hatter charmed as he easily placed an arm around Alice thanks to the high seated chairs. She rolled her eyes at his line, but smiled and leaned into his hold anyway.
"I told you I was having a girl's night," she insisted with a pointed poke at his chest, "and you said you'd be busy with all of the set up that needed to be done anyway. What're you doing here?"
"Finished up early is all and was thinkin', that I, might crash your little party," he admitted with twinkling eyes as his hand roamed down to the small of her back. Easily finding the patch of skin there exposed by the gap of shirt and jeans to trail light but sure caresses around till finding their goal of circling Alice's hip. She couldn't stop the small shiver that ran through her from his touch as she pictured what those hands hand done the other night-
His hands lit her nerves on fire as they continued their lazy exploration. Flat and encompassing as they'd pressed her against his lean form had became narrowed and focused once they moved back towards the front of her; teasing the bit of skin on either side of her right below her hips, with slow confident circles. Some unintelligible sound of need had escaped her then and she used the hands buried in his soft hair to bring his mouth towards her own so she could better express the desire she felt, but he dodged her at the last moment to lavish attention on her neck instead. Making his way towards her ear, his warm breath another caress as he whispered with lips only just brushing against her skin-
"Or maybe, I was hopin' to convince you to skive off a touch early…and come along with me."
Alice blinked with a start. That's not what he'd said or what she would've imagined.
Reality came flowing back to her with that realization, along with what she was sure was the worst blush of her life thus far, and Alice sent shy glances at her friends; only slightly reassured by the knowing and encouraging looks they respectively sent her way from the reaction Hatter had caused in her.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to concentrate with Hatter instilling thoughts like that in her with every touch (as she was sure her friends would insist he crash their evening out, leaving Alice to look rude if she tried to demand he go), Alice finished her drink and made her apologizes for leaving early. It was no surprise when Laura and Sally let her go with only perceptive smiles and reassurances that they didn't mind, and would see her in a few days to make up for skipping out tonight. She left money for her part of the tab and let Hatter and his smug grin lead her out of the bar, though not without catching the last few comments from her friends.
"I swear, I've never seen her so flustered and loose all at the same time."
"Damn Sally. If she doesn't thank that man for even just the privilege of giving him a good blow, then there is something seriously wrong with her."
They were right in a way, but Alice didn't think Hatter's corruption of her imagination was really that wrong of a trait to have acquired overall. Alice smirked at the back of Hatter's head as she let it run free with her own plans now.
Author's Comments: Number 80 entirely was inspired by Chibi Kaz's LJ comment about a month ago. If I thought the direct quote would work I would've used it, but Laura got the summery so that's good enough I suppose. It was also my first attempt towards writing anything leading to smut. I'm tempted to try my hand at it but not sure if I would do well so if you want to read some, you'll have to let me know. Number 13 isn't an experience I've seen Hatter go through yet and once it came to me, felt like something he might be left in awe of that first trip. :) Thanks for reading and hope you liked them.