Usual Disclaimer - I have no legal rights to Alice in Wonderland, or any of it's characters.

I'm trying to get this updated as fast as possible! This is working in fits and starts, but it's working out faster than I originally thought. Enjoy!

Chapter Six

Now

"And now, in an unusual plea to our audience..." Alice had most of the television noise tuned out, as she typed on her laptop. She was working on her journal, her usual silence time, but one of the children wanted to watch a show after the news. Alice didn't even bother to complain about the noise, it would be no use. For all that time had passed her by, technology didn't bother her too much. There were some mornings that she was confused by the racket coming from her alarm clock, but the small tea brewing appliance did make mornings much easier to get through.

But the calling of one of the children caught her attention. "Mama Alice, your picture is on the news!" Setting aside her glass of tea, she slid the chair back that she was sitting in and headed to the television room.

"This better not be one of your jokes, James. I have business to take care of today, and distractions are not... oh my..." Alice caught a glimpse of the hand drawn picture on the screen of the television. It was her, there was no mistaking it. Her knees suddenly weak, she slumped into one of the seats available. The program switched to a young man's face as he answered questions from the reporters.

"His name is believed to be Tarrant, and he's looking for Alice. This and several other sketches are all we have to go from, and that she was most likely born in England. Now, due to the age of this patient, there is a very good chance that Alice has passed away, but we would appreciate any information if someone out there recognizes this face."

"And how did the church get involved in this case?"

"I am personally helping with the mental health recovery of this man, after a request was made to the local church that it might help him with his issues. I volunteered, and that's how I was introduced to Tarrant. His case is more than just a number for me, he's a human being in great mental anguish, and I'm hoping this could bring some closure for the poor soul."

"Thank you for your time, Father. Now, on to the weather report. There is a cold front moving into the area that could..." Alice heard no more from the television, her mind baffled and confused. Tarrant was here, he was alive. Scrambling for her phone, she went running to the kitchen for some silence. Dialing the number that flashed on the television screen, she followed the button prompts and waited for a real person's voice.

"Hello? I know you've probably a full set of lines with people saying this, but I know who Alice is. Who would I need to talk to, to see Tarrant? Really? What state? Certainly I'll be able to prove that I know Alice, that's not an issue. I'll be there as soon as my jet can get me there. Yes? Yes. I'll be there soon, please let him know." Alice hung up the phone, then immediately dialed another number. "Branson? Please have my jet waiting for me, we're heading to Boston. I know this is short notice, but I simply must be in Boston as soon as possible. I leave it in your capable hands, I'll be arriving as fast as I can drive out there. Yes, thank you."

Returning the phone to it's cradle, she walked into another part of the sprawling house. Tapping on a door, she waited for an answer. Finally, a sleepy voice called out from the room. "Yes?"

"Sarah, may I speak to you? Are you decent for company?"

"Sure, come on in."

Alice entered the room, and sat on the edge of the bed. Breathlessly, she spoke. "I know this is awfully short notice, but you're to be in charge until I get back from a very important trip. They found Tarrant, I have to go to him."

Stacy woke up in a hurry at that news. "Your Tarrant, from that Underland place you sometimes talk about? That's simply impossible, he could not live that long!"

"I sometimes think of six impossible things before breakfast, young lady. And yes, it has to be Tarrant. Imagine, I've lived as long as I have, it is possible. Now, don't let the young ones watch too much television. I need to get to the airport, I have a flight getting set up to take me to Boston."

Stacy reached out and gave Alice a hug. "Go to your Hatter, we'll be fine here. Good luck, Mama Alice."

Even Sooner

"What is it that you wished to show to me, Mallymkun?" The White Queen could tell that the diminutive dormouse was practically dancing in her skin.

"I've something to show you, your Majesty, about the Hatter and Alice. I've been... peeking... into the mirror halls, and I've noticed something that you need to see." Wringing her tail for a moment, she continued. "I know that I'm not really supposed to go in there, but I wanted to check to see, well, to see if I could see Tarrant."

"We all miss his smile and wit, Mally. It's understandable."

"Come with me, you're not going to believe this." The two headed down the halls of Marmoreal, not quite hurrying, but not wasting time either. As the duo came to the mirror covered with a light blue cloth, Mally pulled the cloth to one side as well as she could from the floor. Mirana reached out and helped to remove the cloth, then gasped.

The mirror was no longer shattered! There were still thousands of cracks and slivers missing, but the frame was filling back in, as though Time was giving it a hand in recovery.

"Can mirrors do this? What does it mean, your Majesty? Does it mean... does it mean that Tarrant and Alice will be able to use this as a way home again?"

"It might well be their path home, given time for the mirror to continue to recover. Now, Mally, I would appreciate it if you'd not come in here too often. I don't want to raise everyone's hopes, only to leave them sad once again if this is not the way back. Everything takes its' own time, remember that. Distkin Day will soon be upon us, and then... we shall see."

Closer One

"No more, do you hear me? No more torturing that poor man!" The older doctor slammed his fist on the desk, sending pens and nicknacks shaking from the impact. "What was your reasoning this time, hmm? Feeding him that much contrast? The poor man is in agonizing pain, vomiting blood from an overdose. Did you forget to read the instructions on the side of the container, that over three pints could cause internal bleeding? He can't report you to the board, but I sure as Hell can!"

The younger doctor shrugged. "I was curious, how much was too much. It's to help other patients, to give us a figure on if we can up the dose in cases of resistance."

"Oh? Curiosity did this?" The older man pulled out another file, and slapped it on the desk. "Here's one of great curiosity. Five tabs of nitrostat, to check for possible heart strain. Or this one, exploratory surgery, since he was not enjoying his mashed potatoes. Surgery, because he didn't finish a meal? Here's another! He was complaining of a headache, so you loaded him up on morphine. Not much, mind you, just enough that would knock over a bull elephant!"

"It's in the name of science! We've made great strides from those tests!" The younger doctor was not in the mood to be lectured, but he didn't have much of a choice. He stood, resisting the urge to come over the table at the overweight doctor seated on the other side.

"Sit down, I'm not done with you yet." The younger doctor returned to his seat unwillingly. "What the Nazis did to people was also in the name of science, you sick man. In the sixties and seventies, mister Tarrant swallowed enough pills in the name of science to sink a small battleship. He comes here, after the chemists are done with him, and this is the treatment he gets from the medical world?" The older man sighed, and he deflated a bit. "It's out of my hands now. One of the nurses turned you in to the medical board, you get to explain to them your scientific progress. I've been requested to make a statement in front of the board, something I'm looking forward to. Mister Tarrant is getting a transfer, out of this hospital, and out of this state. They're taking him back to Boston. He's going to a long term care institution, where hopefully he can live out his life without being poisoned or tortured."

The younger doctor bolted to his feet again. "What? They can't take him from us, there's still so much more to learn..."

"And I don't care. I can't see how you could treat him like this, and it's coming to an end. He's not our special guinea pig, he wasn't born just to give us amusement. I let this go on for far too long, and now... I hope that someone can help this man out of the box his mind has put him in. Now, get out of my office, and out of my sight. I plan to only see you again at the medical board review."

Closer Two

"We were warned, that he's a bit of an escape artist when it comes to restraints?"

The orderly laughed. "Tarrant Hightopp has an uncanny ability to get out of just about anything you could hold him back with. We figure that restraints only work on him when he decides they're going to work. I've watched that man get out of straitjackets in under ten seconds, when he sets his mind on it. Sometimes, you can reason with him, and he's the model patient. Then he wanders off the deep end..."

The young doctor nodded. "Then it's anything goes, I get the picture. Well, he's been put in his new home. Just his luck, it's room number thirteen in the solitary wing. Now, any particular allergies or reactions we need to know about?"

"Nothing comes to mind, and anything I've forgotten should be listed in the top file. Please sign here, and we're done on our end." The doctor dutifully signed the offered sheet of paper, then smiled.

"He'll do fine here. Things have changed a lot in the world of psychiatry. If nothing else, we'll keep him safe, fed, and clean. From the size of the files that were dropped off last week, he's been through the ringer so far. Hard to believe, he's that old..."

"Oh, he is. Every recorded year of it. And watch those eyes of his. Green and blue are usually safe colors, but when they go orange or amber, watch out. Grey usually means fear on his part, but that usually doesn't last too long before some other color takes over."

"So his eyes really do change shade?"

"Not changing shade. Complete color shift, it's one of the stranger things I've seen in this line of work. His eyes practically glow in the dark, if someone's willing to sit in the dark with him, not always a wise idea. Watch those eyes, those are your early warning devices. Now I don't mean to just rush off, but I've got to get going if I plan to beat the afternoon rush back to New York."

"Good luck with traffic on your way back. I've a new patient to introduce myself to." Turning back into the hallways, he made sure to stop by his office for a clipboard and a working pen. Heading down more halls, he finally arrived in the solitary wing. Standing for a moment in front of the metal door with a number thirteen above it, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Tarrant?"

"Why, good morning to you. Is it morning? It's hard to tell lately, not a single soul has bothered to tell me which ways are snud and queast, or which side of the sky the sun likes to dance through in the morning. Come in and make yourself comfortable." The young looking man in the room took a quick glance around. "It's not my usual habit of offering comfort, when there are no chairs to be comfortable upon, but I guess that standing and being comfortable is also possible."

The young doctor leaned against a wall, and took a look around the small room. Other than one window, set far up the wall and barred with steel and an open arch that lead to the tinier bathroom, there was nothing on the walls to break up the institution's white paint job. Tarrant was arranging his meager collection of clothes on a shelf, humming to himself. Finally, the doctor spoke up. "My name is doctor Scott Wilson. I'll be your therapist during your stay here."

"Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself to me. It's very much appreciated." Finishing with folding his clothes out of the way on the shelf, he sat down on the floor and looked up at Wilson. "What time do I need to be awake for the various tests? The last location I was at, they simply refused to give me a warning when it came to injections or pills or surgeries. I would like to know, so I know when I can sleep without being bothered by too many nightmares."

"Oh, this is not that kind of place, mister Tarrant. From what I've read of your records, you've had a hard time. We're here to help, not run tests. As far as can be told, there's not a combination of medications that have made a dent in your condition, and I'm not one for wasting time with actions that don't produce results."

Tarrant tipped his head to one side, a bit of green swirling to the surface of his eyes. Not minding the shocked look on Wilson's face from the color shift, he spoke. "No pills, no shots, no surgery? I could actually summon up something other than rage or fear. Do I have your word on this? No more tests?"

"I won't lie to you. Once a year or so, we'll do some basic lab tests, and that involves a needle or two. But nothing of the extent of what you've gone through, nothing like that." Wilson watched as colors warred in the man's eyes, to finally settle on a faded blue.

"A test now and again, I think I could handle that. No electric shocks? That made my hair quite unruly for a few months."

"No shocks, no ice baths, no beatings, and no surgery." Wilson was quickly adjusting to what he would later term the mood ring eyes. "If you get out of hand though, you will be subdued. We will not stand for violence, against the staff, or the other patients. That also goes for you."

"Pardon?"

"There will be no self mutilation, no attempted suicides, nothing that would harm yourself. I've learned that restraints don't slow you down for long, but you will be immediately sedated and placed in one of the quiet rooms if your outbursts get out of hand. Violence is not the answer, young man." They both looked at each other for a moment, then Tarrant broke the silence with a small giggle.

"I'm not the young man in this room, doctor Wilson, but I think we can both let that comment stand. I shall endeavor to keep my... outbursts... to a minimum. In return, I just ask for a chance to find my Alice. No, not my Alice, she was never mine to claim. But I must find her, this is very important to me."

"Let's give you a bit to get used to the routine here, and then we can sit and talk about whatever happens to be on your mind. I need to sort through some papers, your file is rather extensive, and I don't want to miss anything that might be of help to both of us. Now, dinner will be delivered to your room precisely at six each evening. Anything you'd like to request, within reason?"

"I would greatly enjoy a glass of tea. If that's not too much to ask?"

Wilson smiled. "I think that's well within reason. I'll make sure it's added to your dinner ticket. Now, settle in, relax, and I'll be coming to see you in a few days. Get some sleep, that might help."