Disclaimer: I don't own Alice or the related characters, places or ideas. Syfy has that honor.

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Getting to Know You

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It seems like Jack had a taste for slumming." Duchess's gaze lingered on Alice. The shorter girl stood firm beneath the withering stare. Hatter noticed all of this and filed it away for further thought later.

"As much as I really want someone who isn't my girlfriend to be sleeping here tonight… Why in the name of the Red King did Jack send you here?" He didn't like having his personal space invaded, and certainly not by this woman who seemed intent on making Alice feel bad.

The blonde laughed. It was not an attractive sound. Hatter was inordinately pleased by that fact. Her face was suddenly bitter, and lines formed at the corners of her eyes.

"I couldn't exactly stay, now could I? My fiancé comes back from another world with a girlfriend in tow. And when he becomes king he has the gall to ask her to marry him instead of the woman that he's known since he was a child."

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Was Duchess actually serious? Who would care? But then Alice remembered how people were. If there was a chance to ridicule those in power, they took it happily. Alice would have gladly felt sorry for Duchess, but the woman made it hard for anyone to pity her.

"Well, if that's the case. Why not just find someone else to rub it in his face with?" Hatter's suggestion wasn't exactly the best advice, but it seemed much more Duchess's style than simply running away.

"Because right now, I look like the victim." Commented the woman, who looked more like a predator than a victim in that moment.

Alice turned to do something else. If Duchess wanted to work on a power play against Jack that was her own business.

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Hatter showed Alice the progress that he had made, highlighting the key issues that would need to be addressed about buying the warehouse. Zoning and such could be handled, but he had quickly realized that he didn't have the time to organize everything that he would need in order to purchase the property and overcome all the political and bureaucratic nonsense that this world seemed so keen on.

"You could hire someone. I mean, if Jack really wants this to work I doubt he'll spare any expense to see it done right." Hatter ignored the fact that there was a tiny hint of grudging admiration in Alice's voice when she spoke about Jack. He would erase that soon enough.

They were sitting in the bedroom, looking at the computer screen while Duchess watched television in the other room.

He went over to sit on the bed, while Alice remained at the desk.

"I guess. I mean, neither of us really understands all this legal drivel." But his mind had wandered away from the topic.

This was the first time that Alice had been in this bedroom while he was its owner. And his mind kept looping back to the fact that she might have been in the room before. Thinking of Alice and Jack together made him jealous, and that was a feeling he wasn't precisely comfortable with.

He idly spun his hat between his hands, causing it to do rolls and sudden twists.

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Alice could tell that Hatter was thinking about something, but she wasn't sure if she should interrupt. It was strange getting to know when exactly to speak up in a relationship and when being quiet was better. She hoped this time that silence was the answer. With Duchess in the next room, Alice wasn't sure if she wanted to get into a serious conversation with Hatter.

"Did ya' sleep with him?" Hatter's voice was a bit husky and it took Alice a moment to understand what he had asked.

"Wait a minute… what?" Her eyes widened. In a split second, her emotions went from confusion to outrage to disappointment and finally to understanding.

"No. I never had sex with Jack." Not that they hadn't been considering it. It was more that they hadn't actually gotten around to it before Jack was taken. Come to think of it, if she thought that sex with Jack was something to be "gotten around to" it probably would have been a bad idea to sleep with him in the first place.

There was such a look of relief on Hatter's face that Alice felt that she needed to be completely honest with him.

"But I have had sex before." Hatter's hat did what almost could be described as a victory dance as it flew up his arm and back onto his head. He was grinning brightly.

"That doesn't exactly bother me. It was just the idea of sleeping in a bed that you and Jack…" He gestured to the bed he was sitting on with a look of disgust.

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"You two look a lot better together than you and Jack did." Duchess said from the doorway. Hatter wondered just how much she had heard, but judging from her faintly triumphant smile, he guessed she had heard enough to make her feel better.

"Thank you." Alice's sounded a little less than pleased with the interruption. Hatter had to admit that the timing was a bit unfortunate. But at least now he knew the truth about Jack and Alice, no matter what the man might insinuate next time they met.

"So, one of Jack's conditions for me coming here was that I was going to have to 'work.'" Duchess said the word as if it was unclean and she didn't want to stain her lips with it. Hatter wondered what type of job he could find for her to do. Maybe a waitress? Or entertainment, if he could convince her that it wasn't beneath her dignity to be ogled by dozens of men nightly. But then again, she would probably take it as a compliment.

The rest of the day was spent explaining to Duchess important parts of Alice's world. Hatter found himself learning as well. He was entranced by the public transportation maps that Alice called up on the computer screen. There were so many possibilities open to them and this city was far bigger than he had expected. Not only that, it was only one of many. He had only ever really seen two, and one of those had been the ruined Kingdom of the Knights.

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Alice found that it was unexpectedly fun to teach them about her world. Some of the smallest things would cause them to stare in wonder at her, while some things she wouldn't have expected them to know about were greeted as a matter of course.

From what Alice had seen, science in Wonderland was just as advanced, if not more so than her world. But it was the application of that knowledge that was different. She remembered seeing a phone booth near Hatter's shop, but he admitted to the fact that it hadn't worked in as long as anyone could remember. He thought that there might not be anyone in Wonderland who even knew how to work a phone, even if they had things like the flamingos.

Through the course of the question and answer session, Alice realized that Duchess was far smarter than she seemed. The woman's questions were well thought out and she commonly referenced earlier things that Alice had said to clarify a point.

Maybe the woman wasn't so bad after all.

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AN:

I figured it went with Alice's character to have some experience with men (or a man depending on what I decide later). I don't really think this would bother Hatter too much, as long as she hadn't slept with Jack. As much as I love the idea of Hatter being the only man for her, it doesn't strike me as very realistic.

Questions? Comments? Anything? Hit the review button and let me know!