Alice and Hatter were a bit jetlagged after their flight. It was nearing five thirty in the evening when they checked into the hotel. They ordered room service for dinner, too exhausted to go out that night. Alice was looking online for ideas of what they could do tomorrow. She came across an article that caught her eye because it mentioned Wonderland.
"Hatter, come look at this," Alice invited as she looked over the article with curiosity.
"What is it, love," Hatter asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"It's like a Wonderland tour guide. It lists all the places and events around London inspired by Lewis Carroll's stories," she explained, fascinated by what she found. They looked it over together and agreed to definitely visit some of the sites. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep that night.
The next morning, Alice was up quite early. Hatter was still soundly asleep. She dressed in blue light wash skinny jeans, a rose pink long sleeve top and a black knit cardigan. Alice slid on a pair of her favorite warm boots. A glint caught her eye and looked down to realize it was just the rings on her finger. It filled her heart with joy knowing that Hatter was her husband. The word still felt foreign on her tongue and in her mind.
"Well, if it isn't my beautiful wife," Hatter beamed. "Good morning, love." Alice's heart fluttered as he walked over to her. She kissed him softly and slowly, savoring the way his lips felt against hers. As they parted, Alice traced a faint scar on his shoulder. He had gone through so much for her in Wonderland, she felt guilty though it wasn't her fault. Hatter followed her eyes and she kissed his scar gently, letting him know how much he means to her with this simple act of love.
"It's not your fault, you know," Hatter stated quietly, holding her close.
"I know. When it comes down to it, I would've done the same for you," Alice told him. He kissed the top of her head and they stayed silent for a moment, holding each other.
After Hatter was dressed for the day ahead, he and Alice set out to eat breakfast before any adventures began. They walked across the street to the café. Starting off with drinks, Hatter ordered tea and Alice ordered a coffee. She was going to need her caffeine fix. After breakfast, Alice and Hatter looked over the tour guide she pulled up on her phone the night before. They decided to visit the British Library to see their Alice in Wonderland exhibition.
Arriving at the tube, Alice pulled out the visitor Oyster card to pay for the transportation. She remembered the reactions she and Hatter had to the name of card. They had burst out laughing at the sheer irony of the situation. There were no available seats so they stood with the crowd of people. Hatter stood behind Alice, his arms wrapped around her waist protectively.
Once they got off the tube, Alice and Hatter navigated their way to the library. Upon entering the building, they saw the exhibition was held right in the entrance hall. The displays were a sight to take in. The glass cases held different editions of the classic story which contained a variety of illustrations. Among these editions was the original manuscript titled Alice's Adventures Underground.
Though Hatter was actually from Wonderland, he never ceased to be fascinated by her world's interpretations. Tables were set up with several renditions of the original story by many different authors, along with checkered mugs. There was a display of rounded drink me bottles filled with sparkling wine. Hatter and Alice paused at the table set up for the Mad Hatter's tea party, complete with a cardboard cutout of the illustrated character.
"Tell me more about Wonderland," Alice asked, lacing her fingers through Hatter's.
"What do you want to know," Hatter questioned.
"What was Wonderland like before the whole emotion tea business? Was it just as vibrant as the stories say," Alice inquired in a soft tone. Hatter smiled at her natural curiosity. He loved the sparkle in her eyes when she looked at him. They began moving through the rest of the displays as he answered her questions.
"As I've said before, I was born into the Queen of Hearts' rule. The knights had been wiped out before I was born and I had only heard stories about the great Kingdom of the Knights. The upward city that you saw wasn't originally there. We had small villages scattered throughout the kingdom. I grew up in a cozy cottage, though my family wasn't particularly well off. The worst any of us had to worry about was losing our heads should we do something to displease the queen. It was easy to avoid, as we pretty much kept to ourselves. I was on my own around the age of sixteen, having lost my family when the tea economy began. Wonderland was quite vibrant when I was younger; more so before my time. The colors were bright and the flowers sang every morning, though they did not have faces," Hatter joked.
Alice took all of this in, wishing she could see Wonderland in its glory days. Her heart ached at the mention of his family. Though she knew it wasn't the same, Alice hoped he felt like part of her family.
"I'm so sorry, Hatter," Alice told him sympathetically. "Maybe when Jack and Duchess get Wonderland thriving again, we could go visit and you could show me around." Hatter smiled at Alice's suggestion.
"I'd be more than happy to, my little oyster," he muttered, sweetly.
They moved through the remaining displays and marveled at all of the history. The end of the exhibition had a makeshift rabbit hole with little Alice's lower half sticking straight out of it, dressed in blue with a white pinafore and striped stockings.
Their next stop was a little boutique called Alice through the Looking Glass in Cecil Court. Alice and Hatter explored the shop hand in hand. They looked through the iconography, chessboards and stacks of first edition copies of the book. Coming across an exquisite antique gold looking glass, Hatter's eyes lit up.
"You okay," Alice asked him, concerned by his reaction.
"Alice, this was the original looking glass. Nobody ever knew what happened to it after it became dormant. This is an actual piece of Wonderland history," Hatter explained, fascinated by the historical artifact. Alice was just as intrigued about the looking glass.
"How long has it been dormant," Alice asked him curiously.
"It's been dormant for over a century, though nobody seems to know why or how to restart it," Hatter explained. "The looking glass you went home through is more technologically based than magically based. This one here ran on pure Wonderland magic."
Alice couldn't help her curiosity and lightly pressed her finger to the glass. It was solid for a moment but quickly became liquidized under her touch. She gasped loudly and pulled her finger away, causing them both to be shocked about the situation.
"I don't believe it," Hatter stated, dumbfounded. "No one has seen the glass work in over a century and it reacted to your touch."
"That's impossible, I don't have magic. I'm just Alice. What does it mean," she asked, not quite able to believe what had happened.
"No idea, but the best theory I have is maybe you do have ties to the original Alice of Legend," he offered. This thought never occurred to Alice, as she never took an interest in her family's history. She vowed to do research on his theory when they returned to New York.
Alice and Hatter arrived back at their hotel after their adventures and a delicious dinner. After changing into a baby blue nightgown that came to her knees, Alice flopped down onto the bed, sighing with relief to be lying down. Hatter chuckled at her dramatic show of exhaustion.
"Today was fun," Alice stated. "I love adventuring with you." Slipping out of his shirt and changing into a pair of light gray sweatpants, Hatter flopped down as well, clearly mocking her.
"Today's adventures don't have to end just yet," Hatter spoke softly. He kissed her teasingly, allowing Alice to catch on to his suggestion.
"I think I might be up for more," Alice giggled, kissing him back.
Author's Note: I totally did my research on all these real places in London. The exhibit only ran from November 2015 to April 2016 but it looked so cool! If you wanna see a visual of it, go to my Youtube channel, simplyshelbs16, and it's in my liked videos. Thanks to PrimevalRenji, JillJones123 and AlwaysHopelessRomantic95 for their lovely reviews!