Ooc: I think I got Alice's first love across alright. It seems sappy, but a thirteen year old falling in love for the first time isn't the most dignified thing. :) Please review.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Lewis Carroll owns Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Syfy owns "Alice".
At thirteen Alice had become as accustomed to Wonderland as a child that had been born there would have. Her father had never told her about her brief time in his world, or how Wonderland is featured in a chain of popular children's books and movies. For all she knew, she had been born there. Robert thought it best this way, even though he had thought of explaining it to her. He himself had taken a long time to get used to this fantastical world that he had never thought existed. To try to explain it to his daughter, who had only ever experienced Wonderland, might be too upsetting for her. It would be much easier for her to think that she was a native of this place.
Already she was becoming more and more like its inhabitants. There was something about her- Robert couldn't pinpoint it- that was so different from himself and Carol. It might have been the rosiness of her skin, or the glimmer of her eyes, if he was to guess. But that slight difference made her more a child of Wonderland than he would have thought possible: she was becoming one of them. He hadn't noticed it until one of his coworkers had begun to observe Alice on one of her visits to the lab.
The scientist explained that since Alice had come to Wonderland at such a young age, she was beginning to become more like its citizens. It was suggested that it might have been the air, or the food: no one was certain. But since she had come at only a few weeks old she was accepting this new life. It was too late for Robert, who had lived in his own world for too long. But at least his daughter would experience this new world as any other native of Wonderland would, including the extended life span.
Yet despite Alice's change, she was still a teenage girl. A girl that he constantly had to worry about.
Alice, however, thought her father worried too much. There was really little trouble to run into in the palace. Besides the occasional scrapes and bruises she had gotten during her childhood while racing Jack up the trees in the courtyard, no real physical pain had come to her. Even though her father worked in the lab for more hours than she would have liked she had at least Jack to stay with.
Growing up in the palace, the two had spent most of their childhood together. Even though Jack held the title of King he, currently at the age of fifteen, was still unfit to rule. He had complained on numerous accounts how the old Aces stared down at him during council meetings as if he was still a child. Having never had such a title, or the position it came with, Alice could only attempt to soothe him.
"Your eighteenth birthday isn't that far off," she suggested, trying to calm him as he stalked back and forth in front of her. She drummed her fingernails on the stone bench she was sitting on, watching him move back and forth as if at a tennis match. His leather boots made a sharp, resounding sound against the pavement with every harsh step. Any strolling nobility or servants had cleared the courtyard as soon as the pair had come into view after taking one sight of the king's expression. Everyone knew better than to be in the teenage king's path when he was troubled. That was, except for Alice. She, being one of the few people able to calm her best friend, was allowed to sit through his rants.
Finally Jack sat beside her while running his hand through his hair. She carefully picked up his free hand with one of her own, clasping them together. "Just wait until you come into the Council Room the day of your eighteenth birthday. Those old men will be so impressed that they will shout to every corner of Wonderland: "Long live Jack, King of Hearts!". By now she had dropped his hand to spread her own in the air, as if imitating the actions of the Aces. "You'll see."
He laughed lightly before picking up her hand again. "I sometimes think that you should be the one to go there and tell them off," he remarked as he lightly traced her hand with his fingertip. "What would they say if little Alice came running in there and berated them?" He smiled before carefully placing her hand back at her side.
Alice brought her hand back to her lap as she savored the tingling feeling that his skin upon hers had created. She was slowly growing aware of the changes that one faces at a certain age- despite the awkward conversation with her father on what those changes actually were- and quietly noted that she had never felt so warm as she did at this moment than any other time Jack had touched her. It didn't make sense to her once she thought about it.
She had been friends with Jack since before she could remember. Having lived at the palace she nearly always came into contact with him and the two had grown to be best friends over the years. Most of their free time was spent together, and at times she was even brought into his lessons to help him concentrate. Those lessons had included fencing to dancing. Alice considered herself to be the better fencer of the two but she wisely knew not to mention it to the teenage boy, as his ego was in a fragile state at this age. Or so her father said when she had nearly threatened to flaunt the fact to Jack.
But now as she shyly met his eyes, which had been staring into her own, she felt an unfamiliar fluttering in her stomach.
"Alice?"
She jumped at the sound of her name, breaking the moment. Standing up hurriedly she dusted off the skirt of her gown as if in an attempt to hide the fact that she had spent an intimate moment with her best friend.
"Alice?"
Again her father called her, coming from one of the halls leading to the courtyard. Not wanting her father to see the two, both a bit flushed looking, and get the wrong idea she hurriedly moved backward. "Your majesty," she said, sweeping him a careful curtsey which would have belonged at a more formal reception than this one, yet smiling so playfully that it erased the formality of it all together.
Gingerly she placed her fingertips upon her cheeks as she hurried to meet her father. Even with such a slight touch she could feel that they had grown warm from blushing. And in that meeting in the courtyard, she first realized that she was in love with her best friend.
-
She gently stirred the cup before her while staring down at the tea leaves with interest. While the tea leaves themselves were not the cause of her interest they had simply been something that she could stare at while she focused on the day's events. Alice knew that she couldn't talk to her father about what she had felt between herself and Jack. It would be too awkward talking to him about that. And anyway, her father might not like the idea of her adoring the king. Too many courtiers kept mistresses, and although she knew Jack would never make her one, that would be the first conclusion that her father would think of.
What she couldn't understand was how she had never felt this way before of Jack, even though they had spent their childhood together. She guessed that at that time she had been too caught up in other things; childish things. Her mind had been too focused on her dolls and pretending to have tea parties in her bedroom. Even though the king had been a guest at quite a few of those teas, despite his reluctance, she had never felt anything different toward him than she did of any of the other children of the palace that she played with.
But now she felt as if a shade had been lifted from her eyes. It was as if she was seeing the fifteen year old for the first time. How had she never noticed the way his blonde hair fell across his temples, or how his eyes seemed to penetrate her heart? She was shocked from her thoughts as someone sat across from her.
"Troubled m'lady?"
A smile spread onto her face as she recognized Hatter as the man across from her. Although he had enough employees running around the shop she knew that he was still busy overseeing them all. Yet every time she and her father-or in this case just her- came to visit, he made time to talk with them. He folded his arms on the table as he leaned toward her. "Does your father know that you are out and about at this time?"
Her eyes flickered over to the grandfather clock that rested in the corner beside the fireplace and winced. It was nearly seven o'clock and she had left at five. Forgetting to answer Hatter's first question she shook her head. "I left a note for him that I was in the library, but I didn't think that he would be finished in the lab by the time I returned." Alice toyed with a stray strand of her hair as she thought over the lecture she would be given after her father realized that she was not in the palace's library. She wasn't even supposed to be out in the city without him as her guide.
Yet she had needed a place to think and staying in the palace would have given her no peace. How could she think about the source of the sudden upheaval in her life when he was in the same building as her? So she went to the place that was closest in her heart as her home: Hatter's tea shop. The man that had wrapped her scrape and calmed her tears had become a close friend, despite the fact that he looked to be twenty-four. He wasn't troubled by her childish talk at age six and now put up with her at age thirteen.
But Hatter didn't mind her visits at all. On the contrary, he looked forward to them once a week. It interested him to see how the girl had accustomed to Wonderland as if she had been born here, not to mention that she was a sweet little thing. On occasion she brought a box of comfits for him, which were usually eaten by March before he had a chance to open them himself. His eyes flickered from Alice to the mentioned man behind the counter who grinned at him as if knowing exactly what Hatter was thinking of. Grumbling something about inconsiderate friends he moved to stand.
"Close up the shop will you March? I'm going to walk Alice home."
Grinning cheekily at the disgruntled look on March Hare's face at having to stay later than normal Hatter extended his hand to the young woman. She quickly accepted it before buttoning her coat. The gray woolen coat of her childhood had been replaced by a black one, a gift from Jack for her last birthday. It was warmer than any coat she had ever worn before, most likely since it had been made by the king's personal tailors. She hadn't wanted to ask how much it was and was glad that she didn't know. It was clearly more expensive than anything else that she owned.
Opening the door for her Hatter led her out into the deserted streets of the city.
After a few moments of silence she glanced over at him. "Thank you, for walking me home. Papa might not be as upset if he knows that I didn't make the trip into the city completely alone." It might help a little bit, but she wasn't sure if it would do anything to help lessen the punishment she knew would be coming. But it had been for a good purpose that she had left and she was dreading having to tell her father why exactly she had.
"Well, for walking you home, why don't you tell me what exactly was bothering you?" he asked in that playful sort of way that characterized him to her. He wasn't boring or looked down upon her despite her young age and she was always grateful for that. It was his tone that made the difference: he was joking yet serious at the same time.
Alice waited a few moments while thinking of how to explain her problem. Even though Hatter was a man and an adult, he was easier to talk to than going to her father. "I think I might be in love," she finally blurted out. The man beside her came to a halt, causing her to stop also. They stayed in silence for a moment or two, no sound heard except for their breathing.
Hatter finally looked back at her as if seeing her in a new light. Where had that little girl that he had saved gone? She was clearly not here, and instead a young woman had replaced her. She was much taller than she had been when he had met her and her face held an air of a young adult, not a child. He supposed he didn't notice it since he saw her nearly every week. But now that she had admitted such an adult feeling he knew he could no longer picture her as that little girl anymore. When had she grown up? He hesitated for a moment.
"How do you know?" he asked, recovering as he continued to walk. She hurried to catch up with him. "I'm not sure how to explain it. I feel warm when I am with him, I can't think. I can't concentrate with him around. And when he touched me..."
Alice realized how pathetic she sounded but she couldn't stop. It was like she had been underwater for so long and now she finally had the chance to break the surface and draw a breath. Realizing that he hadn't said anything she quieted. "And I don't know what to do. Papa would kill him."
Hatter, for the first time since she mentioned her problem, laughed. "I would think that any father would be protective of his only daughter," he said, "if she came to him and announced that she had fallen in love. If I were that boy I would run for the hills. Facing the Jabberwock might be an easier end than meeting your father."
She smiled and playfully smacked his arm. "Papa wouldn't hurt him," she said, although the image of her father meeting Jack as the boy that she loved instead of her best friend was less entertaining than she thought.
Nodding at the suit that was standing guard at the gates to the palace she turned to Hatter. "Thank you, again. I'll see you at the end of the week when Papa and I come to visit. You won't tell him, will you?" She waited for his answer, although she knew that Hatter wouldn't tell. He wouldn't betray her in such a way and Hatter wondered why she had even bothered to ask.
"Of course not," he answered, smiling and tipping his hat to her. "Goodnight, Alice."
He watched her run up the path to the side entrance of the building, staring at the girl who was no longer a child but a young woman.
-
It was almost a week later that Robert came to his shop alone. Seeing the man he excused himself from instructing an employee on the proper way to take inventory, although the young man continued to record the about of tea cartons in his own way.
"Good afternoon Mr. Hamilton. Daughter-less today?" he asked, smiling as he leaned over the counter.
Robert smiled slightly before sitting himself down at a stool at the counter. "I wanted to come thank you, for walking Alice home that night," he explained, pausing to extract a handkerchief from his pocket to cough. Pausing for a moment he recovered and hastily stored the cloth away. "She doesn't understand that she can't be going around the city alone, especially at night."
Alice was his world. He couldn't stand how she couldn't see that if anything happened to her he would be crushed. Yet she was growing older and wouldn't stay glued to his side as she often would when she had been younger. It was harder to keep an eye on her.
Hatter brushed off Robert's explanation. "It was no problem. She just forgot the time was all. I don't think you have much to worry about with Alice." He paused. "I'm very protective of the little lady. I wouldn't have let her walk back alone."
He couldn't not be protective of her after knowing her for so long. She was a sweet girl and although he didn't normally spend time with many people her age she was a good friend. March teased him all the time about having a thirteen year old friend but Hatter had taken to just putting the man on longer shifts in retaliation.
Robert stood up before taking in a careful breath. He resisted wiping at his eyes to force himself to stay awake. He had been working with a new chemical the past few weeks and he had gotten little sleep because of his research. He supposed his sudden cough and aches were a result of lack of sleep.
"But thank you again Hatter. It is comforting to know someone else is watching my daughter when I can't."
The two didn't think about the conversation until three years later when Alice turned sixteen.