Disclaimer: Just an update, Syfy still won't let me have Hatter. So, he and the rest of the Alice crew still belong to them.
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Heartless
Alice looked good while blushing, Hatter realized. He filed that thought away with a reminder to himself to try to discover more ways to make the pretty Oyster turn red. He put down his knife and fork down on the plate before taking a sip from his glass. Things were going fairly well, so far Carol hadn't demanded that he never speak to her daughter again, and Duchess hadn't made a fool of them all by accidently letting something slip.
"At least Hatter isn't like Jack, that heartless bastard." Hatter choked at Duchess's proclamation. There it went, all of their careful planning and lies gone in an instant.
"You know Jack?" Asked Carol, finally seeming interested in Duchess's conversation. Hatter's choking turned into a coughing fit. Air wasn't coming fast enough or easy enough for him. He gratefully took his water from Alice's hands and gulped some down, hoping it would ease the spasms wracking his chest.
"Of course I know Jack. After what he put Alice through, he deserves whatever he gets."
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Now it was Alice's turn to be startled. Was Duchess actually playing the part of her friend? The woman's indignation seemed genuine, but so had Jack's interest in Alice.
"Oh…" Carol looked at Hatter and Alice had a feeling that her mother was re-examining the man.
"I think it's great that Alice has moved on so quickly. From what I hear, Jack's made a habit of using women." Alice thought Duchess might be laying it on a bit thick, but it was interesting to hear the blonde talk about her fiancé like that.
"Well, Mom," she interrupted, "Do you need me to help you get the desert?" Everyone had finished eating during the discussion.
"Just grab the plates." Alice picked up the dirty dishes while her mom went into the kitchen.
"Was I convincing?" Asked Duchess, batting her eyelashes like some movie star. Alice noticed that Hatter was still staying silent. What was he thinking about? As she picked up his plate and cutlery, he brushed her hand with his just for a moment. With a smile on her face, Alice entered the kitchen.
"Well, I suppose I misjudged him." Carol began. "He seems honest." Alice nearly laughed at that comment. Honest was something she wasn't sure Hatter would ever be, but she liked him a bit crooked. "I like this Duchess girl too. It's good for you to have a girl around to talk to." Alice nodded her agreement. Maybe she and Duchess could be friends. Stranger things had happened.
"Mom, I'm going to spend the night at Duchess's place tonight." Alice hadn't asked either Duchess or Hatter about it, but she was fairly certain that they wouldn't mind too much. As much as she had been at their apartment in the last few days, it was starting to feel like home.
She watched as her mother tensed and then relaxed, going back to scooping ice-cream over the cobbler she had just pulled out of the oven.
"You're an adult, Alice." Her mother reminded her. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that Carol didn't like having Alice away from home. She had never really come to grips with the disappearance of her husband. They both knew it. Alice wasn't even certain that she was over it entirely yet. It helped knowing that he had been taken against his will and hadn't just walked away from them.
In that second, Alice knew that she would have to tell her mother. She needed to know the truth, and if that meant telling her the entire story of Wonderland, Alice would do it. But the time wasn't right. No time would be right, but she couldn't tell the story just yet.
Alice looked out the door of the kitchen, watching as Hatter and Duchess talked.
Her mother followed her gaze.
"So, are you two sleeping together?" She asked. Alice grabbed two plates of cobbler and gave her mother a wicked grin.
"Not yet."
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If Hatter noticed the fact that Carol gave him worried glances all through desert, he didn't mention it. If he comprehended the glance that passed from mother to daughter as Alice got her coat on, it wasn't obvious. What was obvious was the fact that Duchess had caught on.
Hatter left first, since Alice would be going with Duchess. He waited in the hallway a few minutes for the two women, wondering what exactly Alice's mom would do if she knew that Duchess's apartment was also his.
Figuring that it was best not to dwell on disturbing images of being tortured with blunt kitchen implements, he decided to think of what color choices would be the best for the club. Red was nice, or orange… His inner debate over colors and furniture designs was interrupted by the girls emerging from the apartment.
"So? What now?" He asked, while pushing himself away from the wall he had been leaning against. He saw Alice watching Duchess with a wrinkle creasing the skin between her brows.
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"Chocolate and cream cake." She said softly, looking at the woman beside her. Despite still looking elegant and poised, Duchess seemed sad. And after those comments about Jack…
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It turned out that Duchess's version of "chocolate and cream cake" turned out to be Chinese food and ice-cream, a combination that made Alice feel a little ill watching the other girl eat.
Hatter had retreated into his room after wishing Alice luck. She thought she might need it. Girl talk was not something that came naturally to her. But it seemed like Duchess had to get whatever was bothering her off her chest.
And so, Alice tried to prompt the conversation while they both ate fried rice out of the carton.
"Did you mean what you said about Jack?" She asked tentatively. Duchess's fork stopped half-way to her mouth.
"Yes." She continued eating, but this time with a thoughtful expression. She set down her fork. "When you know someone as long as I've known Jack, you understand the fact that they have faults. Sometimes they're easier to accept than others." The same was true of any relationship, Alice realized, even her relationship with her mother.
"That doesn't sound very romantic." Alice commented, shifting to a carton of sweet and sour chicken. Duchess laughed, though it sounded forced.
"It isn't. I love Jack, but he's a bastard, and I'm willing to admit it." Duchess plunged her fork into a carton of mint chocolate chip ice-cream.
Alice felt sick watching Duchess plow through both ice-cream and Chinese food after the dinner that Alice's mother had fed them. Alice wondered if it was common in Wonderland to eat more food than in her world. After all, Hatter ate a lot as well.
"I couldn't stand him just ignoring me anymore. And now with his mother out of the picture, there's no one forcing him to marry me. It makes me so angry to think of how I served that bitch to stay close to him when now he won't even look at me." And with that, Duchess started to cry.
Alice did the only thing she knew how. She gathered Duchess in her arms (the way her father had held her after Dinah died) and let the woman cry.
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AN:
Alice is a handful. It seems like Hatter's bad influence is wearing off on her a bit too much. I just hope that it doesn't lead to Carol being even worse towards Hatter.
I loved the comment in the show about "After much chocolate and cream cake, like turns into: what was his name again?" I thought that it would be something Alice would remember too. In the show, I think that Duchess really did care for Jack, even though he treated her horribly. But I don't think that she would stick around for that if she didn't feel like she had to. The downfall of the Queen gave Duchess a certain amount of freedom in that respect.
By the way, thanks to the reviewers. You all make me think more carefully about things in the story and help me to figure out what's going to happen next.