Disclaimer: Alice the show, Alice the character and Hatter the awesome are all owned by Syfy.
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Where has all the Money Gone?
Everything went fine for the next couple of days; even Duchess was able to keep out of trouble. Alice didn't think that daytime television was exactly the right place to be learning about how to live outside of Wonderland, but she wasn't going to argue if it kept the blonde busy while she and Hatter got work done.
Alice still taught her karate classes, glad at least that there was some form of constant in her life. So much had changed since she got back. Her mother seemed a bit less trusting of her, and having Hatter around was a lot more distracting than Jack or any of her other boyfriends had ever been.
"About the money…" Alice began. Having nearly fifty million dollars (they had of course had to spend some on Duchess's new clothes and food) sitting under Hatter's bed was not exactly a good idea. And while Alice knew that the rent for the apartment could be paid with cash according to the sub-lease that Jack had given Hatter, it still didn't cover the fact that cash simply couldn't be used for everything. And walking around New York carrying a lot of money wasn't something she would recommend on any day.
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She sounded like an old woman, constantly nagging him about the money. It was sweet, but unnecessary.
"I deposited it yesterday." He enjoyed the look of utter shock on her face. "I opened a bank account and everything. They even gave me this shiny new piece of plastic." He said, holding up what he knew perfectly well to be a credit card. He had seen her use hers to buy food sometimes when they went out, and groceries when they needed to work in the apartment.
In fact, the bank had been a bit too eager to take the money. He worried that there might be something wrong, but he knew that Alice trusted that particular bank with her own money as well.
Hatter silently thanked Jack, even if it irked him to be indebted to the king. Duchess had given Hatter a stack of paper that Alice hadn't seen, a few letters from Jack detailing how exactly to go about acquiring land in Alice's world. Apparently it wasn't the first time that the Heart family had done so. He wondered why the Queen had had the White Rabbit place the Looking Glass in a building that she didn't own. But then again, if anyone noticed people disappearing in the proximity, it couldn't have been traced back to her. The Queen was a remarkably paranoid woman, a trait which he normally admired, but found absolutely repulsive in her.
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"You did what?" Alice had nasty images in her head of someone thinking that Hatter was a terrorist or a criminal. The idea of him in an orange prison jumpsuit without his hat made her face go pale. She had wanted him to deposit the money, but not all at once. Alice had to face the fact, she hadn't known what to do and that might possibly get them both (Duchess didn't even figure into her thoughts) in trouble.
"He deposited the money." Chimed in Duchess, as if she knew that she had even been mentally excluded from the conversation. "Jack gave me a letter saying how to do it. Something about the fact that Wonderland actually has a bank of its own that deals with your money. It was all a bit confusing when I read it." Wonderland had a bank? What the hell had the Queen been planning to do? Alice was glad that woman was no longer on the throne. Even if Jack was a bit irritating these days, at least he didn't kill people.
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After living with Duchess for almost a week, Hatter knew her a lot better than Alice did. The woman was smart, but she liked to pretend that she was just a pawn. It was disconcerting in the extreme, but there was nothing really that he could do about it. He still had no idea why the woman had really decided to come to Alice's world. If she had really meant her comments about the gossip that was following her, she would have just traveled within Wonderland itself. More and more, her stories weren't adding up, despite the expert spin she put on them. He got the feeling that she let herself be played and made the fool of for a reason.
Hatter didn't particularly like people keeping secrets unless it was him. His own secrets were known variables. Everyone else's secrets were problems just waiting to rise up and bite him.
"Yup, Old King Heart's been more than helpful." Even if he wasn't certain about Duchess, it was still fun to bait her occasionally.
"Jack's not old!" She protested. She threw the nearest object that she could find. Thankfully it was just a couch pillow that bounced harmlessly off his arm.
"Jack again." Alice's tone sounded resigned.
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Why was everything looping back to Jack? Sure he was King of Wonderland, her ex-boyfriend, and now something like Hatter's business partner. But why the heck couldn't she go through her life for one day without hearing his name? She knew she was just as guilty as anyone else for bringing him up in conversation, but the man seemed to be present even when he was in a different world. Alice wasn't used to feeling bitter. Maybe she still hadn't forgiven Jack.
Not to mention the fact that it was still uncomfortable to see the look in Duchess sent her way every time Jack was mentioned. Tigers would run in fear from the woman. Even though Alice was fairly certain that Duchess had heard her tell Hatter that she hadn't slept with Jack, the woman was still cold at times. Alice guessed it was all part of her punishment for being dumb enough to believe Jack's lies.
"Just as long as nothing horrible is going to happen." She poured herself a drink from the refrigerator and sat back down next to Hatter.
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Hatter moved a pile of paper so that she wouldn't leave rings of condensation on the paper again. He preferred to work in much more orderly environments and from working with Alice for the past few days, he knew that she had a systematic approach to everything.
He ignored the sound of Duchess once again flipping through the television channels while he focused on the paper before him.
It was another of Jack's notes. When had the man found time to write them all? Hatter wondered, not for the first time, how much time had elapsed in Wonderland between when he left for a second time and Duchess had appeared.
The note contained instructions on which lawyers to approach about what problems that Hatter might run across in his attempts to buy the warehouse. In Wonderland, land transactions were fairly simple, just an exchange of valuables and a deed to the property. The sale didn't even have to be registered anywhere. Hatter didn't know how Alice's world continued to work with the backwards desire for records that seemed to permeate everything here.
He saw Alice glancing nervously at the clock every few minutes.
"Is anything the matter?" He asked, wondering what could possibly have her so edgy.
"Mom said that dinner's at seven." He cursed, how had he forgotten? Today was Friday, and their dinner with Alice's mother.
"May I come?" Duchess stood up from her place on the couch and talked over to the table. Her height made her tower over where they were sitting.
And just like that, Hatter had a plan.
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AN:
In my mind, the Queen had a lot of plans that she didn't get to carry through with thanks to getting deposed. I like the idea of the Queen having a secret bank full of money that we use in our world. It seems like the type of sneaky thing she would do to fund amusing excursions into this world.
Duchess has her own secrets and ideas. I feel sorry for Alice and Hatter. And I hope that Jack doesn't cause too many problems for them… yeah right. Alice and Hatter have a long way to go before everything is done.
Hopefully the next chapter will be more entertaining: dinner at Alice's.
Comments? Questions? You keep reviewing, I keep writing. At least that's how I hope this works.