Trustworthy

Alice was frozen in fear. March was a skilled assassin and he was holding her against his body with one arm, the other arm held a knife to her throat. She didn't know what to do; everything she ever knew about self-defense flew out of her mind and left her completely helpless.

"Let her go." Madelyn's kept her voice steady but Alice could see the anger flashing behind her eyes.

"Why should I listen to you?" March replied in a condescending tone. "You were helping my prisoner escape."

"Yes, it is my fault. Don't punish her for my faults." Another quick mood swing from Madelyn left one of the happiest expressions Alice had ever seen appear on her face. "You know you don't want to hurt her, at least not now. Wait for the best opportunity to do anything harsh." The smile on her face couldn't have been missed by March but he didn't seem worried about it.

Roughly turning Alice around he started to lead her down the hallway the opposite way her and Madelyn had been heading. She could hear the smaller woman's footsteps following as they rounded corners and walked up stairs. It didn't take long for Alice became disoriented.

They finally reached the room March was leading them to and Alice's heart sank when the door opened. Through the open door she could only tell that it was another white room, but the noise coming from it almost brought tears to her eyes.

Upon entering the room she saw what she feared she would. Hatter was in the middle of the room tied to a chair. His hat and jacket were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Alice could see cuts and bruises on his face and could only imagine what injuries his clothes concealed.

Another thing that made Alice's heart sink was seeing Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum holding a baseball bat and a cattle prod respectively. The last time she encountered those two she was stuck in the memory of her old house trying not to look in the bottomless pit she was standing inches from.

"I have a new toy for you boys." March's voice made Hatter finally looked at the three new arrivals in the room. The anger in his eyes was unmistakable and Alice had the feeling if he wasn't tied down he would have killed March then and there.

"You told me you'd keep her safe." His eyes looked accusingly at Madelyn who couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Never said that." Her voice came out weak and Alice could tell she was fighting to keep her voice steady.

With that Hatter jumped up still tied to the chair. The chair legs knocked Dr. Dum over as they flung up. Suddenly Alice's self-defense knowledge came back in a rush and she flipped March over her back onto the ground.

While March was sprawled out on the floor she stepped on his wrist forcing him to drop his knife; which she quickly picked up. Looking up she saw Dr. Dee come at her but Hatter spun around knocking the doctor off his feet with the chair.

Without wasting a second Alice raced over and cut Hatter's restraints. Just as fast he jumped up grabbing her arm and half dragged her out the door.

"Are you coming?" He stopped and turned to look at Madelyn who stood in the doorway watching them.

"No. I- I can't." She glanced back at March groaning on the floor and returned her gaze to the couple. "Just," her voice suddenly became demanding, "get out." Hatter nodded and turned to continue to run down the halls, holding on to Alice's arm the whole time.

It quickly became apparent that neither of them had a clue where they were going and after running into many dead ends Hatter gave up running through the halls. He walked over to the first window he saw and shattered it with a punch from his trusty right hand.

"We're on the second floor." All the blood left her face when she realized what he was going to suggest. "I'll go first, then you slowly ease your way down, and I'll catch you."

She realized it was the only plan they had but didn't like it one bit. Not only was she terrified of heights she was going to have to trust Hatter to catch her. Normally it wouldn't have been that big a deal, the trusting Hatter, but ever since she saw him hugging Madelyn in the hall she just couldn't trust him the way she used to.

She nodded her approval of the plan and he wasted no time jumping from the window. Looking down she almost lost her nerve and told him she would find a different way out but she heard yelling and footsteps heading towards her and knew there was no time.

Before she had time to think about it she forced herself onto the ledge and jumped. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting, he thought she would try to slow the coming down process by lowering herself down slowly but he quickly moved to catch her.

Once both were safely on the ground they ran for cover in the woods. In the safety of the forest Alice let her anger towards Hatter explode.

"Didn't want to leave your girlfriend behind?" The words were laced with venom and Hatter flinched as if she had slapped him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me, you know I know you cheated on me." How dare he play stupid. Her anger grew, she had yelled at him in the hallway and he at the audacity to act like he didn't know what he did wrong.

"I thought you figured it out. That's why you came back." Confusion was very apparent in both his face and voice. "You don't trust me."

"No!" She snapped back, though she regretted it immediately seeing the hurt on his face.

"I would never hurt you Alice."

"Then why were you with her?"

"Maddie-"

"So you have a cute pet name for her too."

"Shut up Alice! Let me explain."

"Explain what? Why I'm not good enough for you?"

"She's my baby sister!"

After the echo of his shout quieted there was no other noise. Alice didn't know what to say or think, he never brought up a sister before and now was a very convenient time for one to come up.

"You knew what I thought and you didn't try to correct me in the hall." She was remembering her outburst when she had caught him with Madelyn.

"She told me that Mad March was after me and I figured if I went along with your belief that I cheated you would stay away and wouldn't be in danger." His voice was soft and caring and he stepped forward to hold her in his arms.

"Why haven't you told me about her before?"

"Let's just say things happened and we haven't spoken in a while. She wasn't anything worth mentioning." Hatter was a little tenser than before but Alice could tell he was being sincere and whatever it was that tore him and Madelyn apart wasn't something he liked to talk about.

"I trust you." Somehow his rushed explanation warmed her heart enough to let him back into her heart.

Just as Hatter was leaning in to kiss Alice they heard someone clear their throat close by. They both turned around to see Madelyn standing there and just as bruised and bloody as Hatter was.

A/N Just thought I'd congratulate ArmyRoses and Malteaser for figuring out Madelyn's connection to Hatter.