Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Alice. Only the bits that don't sound familiar from the show belong to me.

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She Would Follow

The NYPD was less than impressed with Hatter. They seemed to think that he was a pimp, or a drug dealer. And all of this was based on his clothes, and the fact that he had been wearing body armor while just walking down the street in New York. Apparently nobody walked around wearing body armor unless they were in trouble of some sort. Sure, Hatter wasn't dead (he was pleased with that), but now the police were taking an unhealthy interest in him.

"I'm telling you, he stole David's wallet and David started chasing him." repeated Alice. The officer who was asking Alice about her version of events wrote everything she said in a notebook.

"And what about you, sir?" asked one of the officers. The thief had been taken away already, for which Hatter was grateful. He was tempted to punch the man again for the damage that the bullet had done to his shirt.

"The man ran into me and when I checked, my wallet was gone. I decided to follow him." Next time, he swore that he was just going to let his wallet get taken. This was too much effort. Not to mention the fact that getting shot at was not on his list of favorite activities. "I pulled him into the alley to ask for my wallet back and he took out a gun. Then I punched him and the gun went off." He said, pointing to the hole in his shirt. The bullet would have pierced at least one vital organ if he hadn't been wearing the vest.

Before the cops had arrived, Alice had checked him for injury, even though he had already done so. It was nice that she was so worried about him. And this time she hadn't even cursed him for the fact that she thought he was really injured. She had just kissed him.

"And why exactly are you wearing body armor?" This was the question Hatter knew the cop was waiting for. The fact that he had sent a man flying across an alley with one punch had been hard enough to believe for the officers, even if there had been witnesses. Apparently some of the people from the sidewalk had actually paid attention when he pulled the thief down the side alley.

Hatter didn't exactly want to admit to the police that he had been shot before. Or that he was more or less used to being treated like a criminal. And he didn't want to lie. He wasn't sure how close of an inspection the paperwork that Jack had given him would hold up to.

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"David's used to working in some pretty tough areas of the city. He does construction work, when there are jobs available." said Alice, cutting in for Hatter. The officer that had been questioning her didn't seem to mind too much.

One of the cops nodded. The lie was more believable than some. And it didn't paint Hatter as too paranoid. Or at least she hoped it didn't.

She put her hand in his. She had been scared when the gun had gone off. But she promised herself that she would never again question Hatter's desire to wear his vest in public. If he hadn't been wearing it, he might be dead. But he might not have been foolish enough to follow the thief if he hadn't been wearing it. That reasoning wouldn't get her anywhere though.

"Will you be pressing charges?" Asked a female officer. The woman was practically salivating over Hatter. Alice tightened her grip on his hand. She glared at the officer, hoping that it wouldn't get her into trouble, even as she staked her claim on Hatter.

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"Umm… I suppose I should." The man had pulled out a gun after all. And Alice had told him that people took things like that relatively seriously around here. He had a nasty feeling that it was going to mean even more paperwork though.

"Ok, I think that's all we need for now. We'll be calling you in the next few days." Hatter was certain that they would, and just as certain that he wasn't exactly going to like this, even if he was on the right side of the law in this case.

Hatter and Alice walked away. Most of the other witnesses were already gone and only a few onlookers had stayed around during the questioning.

It took a half an hour to make it back down the blocks that Hatter and Alice had run up just over an hour before. Hatter noticed that the look on Alice's face seemed worried. But he wasn't going to call her out on it. She had a right to be worried. He was getting reckless. First he had run off to Wonderland to hit Jack and now he had gone after a mugger. Neither action had been thought out at all.

He caught her up in his arms outside the door of her apartment.

Hatter looked down into her eyes, noticing the fact that her make-up, so carefully applied that morning, had smudged badly over the course of the day. And nothing could look more perfect to him in that moment.

He felt alive (it was strange how getting shot could do that). He wanted to prove to her that he was alright; that the bullet hadn't done any lasting harm. He wanted to tell her that it would never happen again, but in his life promises like that didn't add up to much.

And so, he kissed her.

His lips closed hungrily over hers. And his arms pulled her closer to him, trying to prove by touch what she should already know. He was safe. He could feel the pressure of her hands between their bodies, but he couldn't tell through the vest what exactly she was doing with them. Was she trying to push him away? Or was she feeling the area where the bullet should have pierced through his skin?

Hatter didn't care. He just wanted to feel her closer to him. His lips left hers and he pulled her instead into a hug, letting her head drop to his shoulder.

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How long will the fear last? She wondered. How long will every move that Hatter makes convince me that he's going to leave? They were questions that she couldn't answer. She wanted to know that someday she would get over the fear. It didn't matter if he left her of his own free will or if something happened to pull him away from her. Her fear was that someday he just wouldn't be there anymore.

And that's what she had feared in the alley. That some low-life had done what all the Aces and Suits in the Queen's deck of cards couldn't do, she had thought that the man had killed Hatter.

She bit her lip, knowing that Hatter couldn't see with her head pressed against his neck.

No one was going to take Hatter away from her. Not even Hatter. If he tried to leave, she would follow. She was done letting men walk away from her.

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AN:

Sorry, the idea of the police thinking that Hatter was a drug dealer or a pimp was too fun to pass up mentioning. He is kind of a shady guy after all. I don't blame the police for thinking he might be up to something.

Alice is getting kind of protective of Hatter now that she's decided that they are going to be together. Don't worry; she's not going to let him go, even if all the forces of Wonderland try to pull him away from her. Alice's last internal rant isn't meant to be angst ridden, just contemplative. She does have to come to terms with her fear of men leaving before they can have a relationship, and her way of doing that is to decide to follow him if he leaves

Today starts the Name Duchess's Baby Contest. If you review, just leave a name that you think would be good for the baby and list if the name is for a boy or a girl. Then I'll go through the names and pick the suggestion that I think fits the story the best.

So if you have names for the contest, questions or just want to chat about something you liked, leave a review.