Author's Note: Hello all! I'm so pleased people continue to enjoy this story. Thanks to all those who've reviewed and reached out to share your thoughts! I hope you like the latest installment. I know my chapters are a bit small and quiet compared to what occurs on the show, but I hope my story fills the void of those lovely moments we miss between Alice/Cyrus in all the drama of the real storytelling we see on television!

Disclaimer: I still have no rights to the storyline or characters of "Once Upon a Time In Wonderland."

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Cyrus rose from the floor of his cage to meet Jafar's words. He worked quickly to get his thoughts in order. He had to protect Alice and their…their child. Cyrus felt his eyes close for the briefest of seconds. Their child. This truth revealed to him in the vision a moment ago was so new, so incredible. But, he couldn't allow himself the luxury of processing his changed reality right now. Cyrus would trade everything to protect Alice and he had to throw Jafar off her path. Once he did that, then maybe he would allow himself a moment to understand just how much his and Alice's world had changed.

Pressing himself as close to the cage's silver bars as he dared, Cyrus answered Jafar's earlier statement. "I'm not quite sure I understand you, Jafar." Cyrus hoped he had feigned the right amount of polite confusion in order to make his words believable. "Alice can't possible be in Wonderland because we both know you had the Red Queen—or should I more properly say, her enforcers—remove Alice from this realm quite some time ago."

Jafar sighed at Cyrus's words. Straightening the cuff of his black tunic, he didn't even deign to look up at his captive as he replied, "Really, genie. I thought we were on much better terms than this. There is no need to lie to me. You see I have—what did you call them, enforcers?—of my own and these convenient little informants happen to be with Alice right as we speak."

Cyrus froze at these words. One of his worst fears had come true. The one thing he had always worked to shield Alice from was now a reality: Jafar had a way to hurt her and if Jafar was to believed, the situation was made worse by the fact that she had been betrayed by someone she trusted.

Seeing that there was no use in denying Jafar's words any longer, Cyrus met them in a defiant effort to save Alice in whatever way possible. He feared—really knew—he couldn't do much from this position, but he had to try. That's what Alice would do and thus what she deserved from him. "You have no use of her, Jafar. If you wish to hurt me, you have already done so by keeping us apart. Leave her alone. Your castle is well hidden and impossible for her to find. Alice is no danger to you or your plans."

Jafar looked at Cyrus, a chillingly cold smile playing across his lips. "Ah, and here is something we agree upon. You're right, genie. Alice is hardly a danger to me. She's not even a disruption. For you see, she's a tool in my plan. Brave little Alice on her quest to rescue her one true love," here Jafar adopted a mocking tone that filled Cyrus with an ager so deep he felt as if he could break through his cage, "will lead me right where I need to be. She'll find your bottle and no doubt plan to make three sickeningly innocent wishes to bring you back to her again. What she doesn't know is that thanks to her 'friend,' I'll be there first and she'll give me that bottle. Then we might take a nice little trip back here, where I'll torture those three wishes from her, right in front of your very eyes. I figure the least I can do is let you see your Alice one last time before I take your magic and you spend the rest of eternity locked away in your cozy bottle."

With this threat, Jafar abruptly spun away from Cyrus and strode purposefully back down the stone walkway. Cyrus was hardly a man who found himself shaken after a confrontation, but with this threat to Alice, coupled with the news he had received in his vision, Cyrus felt his last remaining hope begin to drift away. Whatever his plan entailed, Jafar was deadly serious. He would find Alice and hurt her in unimaginable ways to make her use those wishes. Pressing his hands over his eyes, Cyrus desperately sought a way in which he could save Alice and their child from this horror. He needed to think of something because, as he had told Alice on that night that he now knew to be the fateful moment of their child's conception, he would never allow her to be alone in this word again.

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"Do you want to know a secret?" Alice grinned mischievously at Cyrus, her eyes sparkling over the remains of her dinner plate. They had stopped at a small inn for the night. The inn was tucked in a small cluster of woods that were not too far from the Dandelion Shrub under which, the two had buried Cyrus's bottle once and for all that afternoon.

Cyrus felt his heart twist warmly in response to Alice's increasingly familiar smile. They had been traveling across Wonderland for almost a month now and he still couldn't believe that he had received such an amazing gift. For someone like Alice-brave, beautiful, kindhearted Alice—to love him, as he truly loved her, was an unimaginable freedom. For not only had Alice freed him from the lonely life of his bottle, but loving her had granted him the freedom to become the man we was meant to be.

Cyrus extended his hand across the worn, oaken table and Alice immediately dropped her fork to embrace it. He drew a brief circle across the top of her hand, before flipping it to examine her palm lines. "I want to know all your secrets Alice. But I should warn you, part of a genie's magic involves the ability to see visions of the past and the future. So, be careful what you choose to reveal." With this, Cyrus sent a small wink at Alice before kissing her palm lightly.

Alice closed her eyes at the delicious shiver his kiss sent through her before answering, "I will never hide anything from you, Cyrus. My past and our future are open—though there are some rather embarrassing moments from my childhood involving a misguided attempt at dance lessons that I'd rather your visions steered clear of."

Cyrus laughed softly while continuing to caress her hand. "I have no doubt that you are a beautiful dancer my love and look forward to the opportunity to see you in action. But surely, the secret you spoke of earlier does not involve your dance lessons. You looked much too mischievous for such a tame tale."

"Oh, no. You're right. My secret wasn't that. Though now I fear it will disappoint whatever you've imagined." Alice smiled at him before continuing, "I was only going to say, that I've just remembered… if Wonderland calendars hold true to the ones in my realm, today is my birthday."

"Your birthday?" Cyrus smoothly removed himself from his seat across from Alice and moved to take the spot next to her on their table's long bench. Facing Alice he responded, "My love, that is quite a secret. You've said nothing of this all day. Alice, this is something special. We should celebrate your beautiful life." He softly grazed his hand across Alice's cheek before leaning in to kiss her. Cyrus felt Alice move a fraction closer to him, so that they ended the kiss with Alice's slight frame subtly tucked between his knees.

Resting her forehead on his and eyes slowly opening to the world, Alice smiled a bit cheekily as she replied, "I think that was quite a nice celebration right there. At any rate," Alice gently moved her head away from Cyrus's and grabbed both his hands between hers, "I don't really celebrate my birthdays. We never have. I just saw the date when we paid the innkeeper for the room tonight and remembered."

Cyrus threaded his fingers through hers and carefully looked into her eyes. There was obviously a history behind these solemn birthday celebrations and Alice had told him enough about her lonely childhood to guess it had something to do with her ever distant father. While Cyrus could not fault the man for grieving profoundly over his wife's death (after all, where would he be if Alice was taken from him—he couldn't begin to comprehend this nightmare), Cyrus did blame him for the pain he had caused his daughter. Alice had grown-up feeling unwanted and responsible for her mother's death and her father's sadness. He imagined a little girl whose birthdays went unacknowledged year after year, and he vowed to spend his life making up for those decades of pain.

"Alice, every day I spend with you has been a treasure. You are an extraordinary woman who deserves nothing but happiness from this life. I love you more than I can truly express, my darling Alice and I will spend this birthday and every birthday after proving just how wonderful a person you are to me and everyone who has the great luck to know you." Cyrus bent down to meet Alice's lips again, this time wrapping his arms around her back. He wanted this kiss to demonstrate the feeling behind his words. He imagined this embrace showering Alice in the love and devotion she should have experienced her whole life.

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Cyrus removed his hands from his face as the last beautiful remnants of that night's memories played threw his mind. He and Alice had planned to spend the night at that inn on the edge of the forest. Cyrus had not planned for their relationship to progress to the point it did, however. Respect for Alice was always one of his guiding forces. Though she had seen so much and traveled so far, there were necessarily some matters of which a young woman from Victorian England remained ignorant, compared to a magical genie who had lived many lifetimes. Yet returning to their room after that dinner, had marked a turning point in their relationship.

Though he had known it long before, that dinner had cemented the fact that he and Alice would never be apart. Cyrus loved her more than he had thought possible to love another in this life. He knew when she had related the sad history of her childhood birthdays, that he would devote the rest of his existence to making her happy and protecting her from any further harm. And with many reassurances supplied by Alice, they had consummated that promise in a union of their love, that he now knew had led to the wonderful creation of their child.

Now, Cyrus knew, was the moment his promise to Alice was to be tested. When he was first captured by Jafar and Alice was returned to her realm, Cyrus had resigned himself to their separation. At least he knew she would be safe and he hoped the strength of their love would sustain her though a life on her own. But Alice's return to Wonderland had changed everything once more. He had to find a way to be with Alice and their child—he had to protect his family from the sure harm Jafar was sending their way. A plan already forming in his head, Cyrus stood to address the slovenly guard who was gorging himself on a turkey leg on the walkway beneath him.

"Excuse me sir. But could you spare just a morsel…"