Hallooo. Here's my latest installment. It is by far the longest, but I'm pretty happy with it. This line has been niggling to be written about for a while now, so here it is. Longer note at the end.

Also, this one has kind of an almost more T rating, for some brief, pretty harmless innuendo.

I disclaim.

"And with much chocolate and cream cake 'like' turns into 'what was his name again?'"

Much chocolate and cream cake...

The words echo again and again through Alice's head, and a plan coalesces. She grabs a jacket and her house key off of hooks by the door and calls out to her mother, "Be back in a couple of hours."

Carol's head pops out from around the divide between the kitchen and the living room. "Are you all right, sweetie?"

"Yeah, fine, mom. There's just something I think I might have to do."

"No, it's okay, spare me the details. I don't need to know." Carol raises her eyebrows at her daughter, and when Alice doesn't respond, she sighs, and says, "Try and be back before it's dark, okay?"

Alice rolls her eyes, but smiles and says, "Will do. See you later."

And with that, she is out the door and on her way to her favorite bakery, three blocks down from her house. As she walks, she reflects on the past month and a half.

Alice had made every attempt she could to forget about Wonderland, and the people she had left there. She had thrown herself into her studies, both in school and in her martial arts, pushing herself harder than she ever had before. None of it worked. No matter how exhausted she was when she arrived home at night, or how many times she forced herself to read over her notes, he was always there, in the back of her mind waiting for a slip in her concentration so he could push, once again, to the forefront of her thoughts.

This trip is Alice's last resort. Though, how she is supposed to forget about a man while taking his advice was beyond her.

Walking into the pristinely French-Country-themed bakery, Alice regards the display cases full of wondrous pastries, and realizes she has no idea what cream cake looks like. Hesitantly, she hails one of the bakery attendants, and asks about the cake. Is this a mistake? Do they even have cream cake on this side of the Looking Glass?

Apparently, they do. In three flavors. Alice orders a slice of each, wincing at how much sugar she was about to consume. Oh well, he had said "much."

Alice finds a place in a corner to sit, her back to the door, and allows her thoughts to wander.

...turns into what was his name again?

What was his name? He couldn't possibly have been born with the name Hatter. Of course, it was Wonderland. "Couldn't possibly" wasn't often taken into consideration there.

Bite.

There was so much she didn't know about him. Who were his parents? Where were his parents? How long since he had started helping people—being there when they "passed the hat. So t'speak?" Alice almost smiled. But was that really why people called him Hatter, or was it just another web he'd spun of words to capture her trust?

Bite.

Like turns into...

Did she like Hatter? Of course. She wouldn't be here, attempting to take his advice (mockingly offered as it was) if she didn't. The real question floated around and around her mind: would she still like Hatter, if she saw him again? Would the image she had built up around him in her head shatter without all of the pressure of the frenzied trip through Wonderland to hold it in place? Her perception of him had to be inflated; no man—no person—could possibly be that good, that...heroic. No, it was best that she wasn't seeing him again. He would just be a disappointment.

Bite.

But that was the thing: he never had disappointed her. In all of the time she had known him (granted, it had only been four days, but it felt like a lifetime), he had always shown up just at the right moment. Always there, always saving her. This lack of appearance was decidedly out of character.

Alice slumps back in her chair, the cream cake sitting heavily in her stomach. She sighs, convinced she would be unable to take another bite, despite only being halfway through the second piece. Stupid Hatter and his stupid inability to even give out good breakup advice.

She didn't realize she'd mumbled that last part aloud until she heard a voice behind her announce, "I thought it was rather good advice, actually. Maybe your cream cake is sub par."

Alice whips around. There he stood, in clothes much more subdued than she ever would have expected out of him—dark jeans, black t-shirt, gray waistcoat, black suit coat with purple pinstripes, and a black fedora—but grinning that same cocky grin.

"Hatter!" Flabbergasted, she searches for the right words, and stutters out, "What...? Why...? How did you find me?"

He circles her, and takes the seat opposite her at the table. "I was headed to your house to see you, but as I came up, you were leaving. I wanted to see where you were going." He shrugs, taking a swipe out of her cake with his finger, and sucking on it thoughtfully before continuing. "It was hard not to let you know I was there, but...I didn't know. I mean, if you wanted to see me..." He casts his eyes down, evidently embarrassed at having revealed so much so soon. "That cake is most definitely substandard, by the way. That must have been your problem."

"It tasted just fine to me."

"That's because you've never tasted mine."

"You bake?"

He nods once, "I bake."

She pauses for a moment, taking in this revelation, then leans forward, crossing her arms onto the table. Taking a deep breath, she makes the plunge.

"Maybe the cream cake wasn't the problem. Maybe the man I was trying to forget just wouldn't be forgotten." There, it was out there, let him make what he would of it.

His eyebrows shoot nearly to his hairline and he leans forward, mirroring her. "Well, who might this bloke be?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"So I can beat the stuffing out of him for not knowing what a good thing he had when he had it. And for making you gorge yourself of such poorly constructed cream cake." He glances down, ostensibly examining the offending baked good.

Alice brushes aside his feeble attempt at a subject change. "It's you, Hatter."

He chokes. "Well, that's...that's..." he blows out a sharp breath, "wow."

Alice balks, backpedaling quickly, "Sorry. I shouldn't have—I'll just..." she gestures vaguely over her shoulder toward the door, standing, intent upon putting as much distance between herself and the embarrassing situation as possible. She had turned and taken a step before his voice calls her back.

"Wait, Alice."

He takes her gently by the shoulder, and turns her around, and she is surprised by how close he is standing.

"Don't go just yet. Give me a chance to explain?"

She nods, and he smiles, just a little, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I was just surprised. It's been, what, six weeks here since you left Wonderland? I was sure you'd have found someone by now."

She shakes her head. "Not even close. I've spent my entire time here trying not to think about everything that happened there. It just hurt too much, knowing that I was here, and you—all of you, Charlie, and Jack, and Caterpillar—but mostly you-" she pushes gently on his chest for emphasis "were all there."

"But I'm here now."

She nods, then throws her arms around his neck, and his go around her waist, and she thinks he might have whispered "finally" against her ear, but she's not sure, and right now it's not important. She's as close to him as she can get, but it's not close enough, so she pulls back just enough to crash her mouth against his, keeping their bodies flush against each other, and reveling in the sensation of finally having him there, and touching him, and having him respond so enthusiastically to the kiss. They remain that way until the a throat being cleared raises them from their reverie, both blushing like teenagers caught doing things they shouldn't in the back of a movie theater. They reseat themselves on either side of the table, holding hands across the top, unwilling to break contact now that it had been established.

"So," she asks, "how did you get here?"

[O ]-==:

Hours later, the bakery is closing, and the manager is politely but firmly asking them to leave, going so far as to have the untouched leftovers packed into boxes without first asking the couple, who barely notice, too engrossed in their conversation.

As they stand up to leave, Hatter picks up the box and asks, "So, any plans on what to do with the rest of this cake?"

"I was going to take it home to my mom. Why?"

"Oh, I was just thinking I could put it to...better use." He smirks, eying her up and down nearly the same way he had back in his office, when she showed up dripping wet. Except now something more glints in his eyes, something decidedly warmer.

"Can you now? And I suppose you have a place to carry out these 'better uses?'"

"Of course. If you'll kindly follow me, my lady Just Alice."

Alice smiles, and follows her Hatter out of the bakery. Her image of him hadn't shattered that evening as he told his story, only grown more shining, if that were possible. She smiled, content knowing that this was one man whose name she wouldn't want to forget.

A/N 2: So, I think the ending is kinda weak, and while writing this, I think I changed tenses about a gazillion times. I'm pretty sure I got all of them in editing, but if you noticed anything, let me know. Tense changes are sort of the bane of my existence (that and punctuating quotes, but we'll not get into that).

*coughs* So, Alice and Hatter having fun with cream cake. I could get into that *is embarrassed* I truly wish I had the skill (and the guts) to write something like that, but, alas, I do not. Should it strike anyone else's fancy, though, feel free to write it, just let me know that you did.

Last thing, the "You bake?" "I bake." exchange had me singing "computer age philosophy..." in my head. If you can place that reference, you get an internet hug and baked good of your choice.

Till next time,

HeadPhones.