Disclaimer: If you're looking here for a witty disclaimer, you really shouldn't. I don't own anything here, really. Sometimes, when expected to be witty, my mind explodes. Nothing here's mine but the concept of Baby Grands.
A Brief Author's Note: Boo on spring/summer colds – this is all I have to say! Also… here we are, at last, at the last Baby Grand in the LJ community 10_prompts Table 11! Look for another Table to be started in the near future!
10 - Garden
Spring was forever hailed as a time for new life – rebirth, new babies, sprouting plants and all that kind of thing. The Blooming Season, as they called it in Underland, left nothing to be desired. Soon, there would be jewel-bright colours everywhere as the Tall-flowers dressed in their finest for the Season. Everywhere, everyone buzzed with plans for the great celebration to come tomorrow, the Flower Festival. Music, feasting, tea, and dancing would welcome new Flowers into Underland with style. McTwisp took great pride in getting things organized, bustling everyone about, harrumphing importantly.
And there was Alice, sick as could be, in bed. Even in Underland, it seemed stomach bugs picked the worst times to manifest themselves in all their vomitous glory. Outside her window, she could hear strains of music, laughter, and Underlanders preparing for the Festival. The Flowers sang their own praises, never troubled with modesty. Tarrant had been absolutely beside himself with glee – he couldn't remember the last time he'd had this many people to hat! She tried to be happy for him, tried not to complain, and he had assured her that she would be up and about in nothing flat.
"Why we use things that are not flat as a measure of the shortness of time is beyond me," he'd added, earning a rather soggy giggle, not making her forget that she had been sick for three full days.
Nothing, though, could make Alice feel better right now. It was the first day of the Blooming Season and she didn't feel better in the slightest. True, she had stopped throwing up – and she supposed that counted as a good thing – but an icky feeling washed over her if she so much as sat up for too long. Propping up on pillows was one thing, but holding herself up made her three kinds of dizzy. More sounds of happiness and merriment assaulted her ears and she stuck her fingers in them, scowling. It was bad enough being sick, but did she really have to listen to everyone else's fun?
Before long – too long, in her opinion – she ended up falling asleep, alone and miserable.
The next morning dawned much too early. Alice groaned at the sun as it shone obstinately in her face. Outside, she could hear happy birds chirping away as the Tall-flowers started bright and early in singing about last night's festivities. It was as if the world just had to rub in her face that she had not been part of it. She turned over and pulled Tarrant's pillow over her head, sighing unhappily at finding him gone, but not being terribly surprised by it.
She fell back into a fitful sleep.
"'lice..." she heard a familiar voice through the pillow. "Alice?"
Alice groaned once more. She could not find it in herself to be grateful for his concern this morning – being sick had taken too much out of her and, frankly, she was just put out with the world. The voice's owner pulled the pillow from her hands. In no mood for it, she covered her head with her own pillow, pressing her face into the mattress. A hand patted her backside and she growled sleepily. Unperturbed, that same hand removed her pillow and she felt the side of the bed sink down – maybe if she ignored him, he would go away...
"Alice, I do wish you would wake up," the soft voice of her lover crooned, his lisp almost returning, in her ear. "You will find someone has... left a rather marvellous gift for you!"
Though she remained mightily irritated with him, the excitement in his voice was irresistibly catching. Her neck popped unpleasantly as she craned around to glare at him. He sat on the edge of her bed, smiling hopefully. Still blinking irritably, she turned over on her back and allowed him to help her sit up. Her mood lightened considerably at the realization that she could do so without feeling dizzy or terribly sick. Seeing his opening, Tarrant took the opportunity to kiss his lover's pale cheek – it might take her a day or two to get her colour back.
Suddenly, Alice's half-closed eyes shot wide open and her jaw dropped as she caught a look at her room. She had never seen so many white roses in one place – and certainly not in her bedroom! Her entire room was a sea of perfect blossoms, each as white as new-fallen snow. Only a path that led to her window, to her wardrobe, to her bathing-chamber, and out the door was left clear. She felt dizzy once more, but not in the sick way, as the roses' heady scent surrounded her. For a long few moments, she simply goggled, taking the sight in.
"They all bloomed this morning," Tarrant's voice broke into her thoughts. "And – well, it was a mad idea, really – I figured that, with you abed these past three days, I should bring the garden in to you!"
As white as the roses were, so red did Alice's cheeks turn!
"I should kiss you," she croaked, voice still hoarse from sleep and repeated sickness, smiling weakly at him.
His tentative smile became a decidedly roguish grin – apparently uncaring of catching anything, he kissed her.
"If you're feeling that much better, dear," he began, taking her hand. "Perhaps you might accompany me to the Festival today and the Feast tonight?"
"I'm confused." Alice tilted her head. "I thought they already happened. Has time gone... funny on us again?"
The Hatter smiled genuinely.
"Yes," he told her – and it was true. "But that was only the first day of the Blooming Season. We celebrate for three!"
Alice smiled one of the prettiest smiles he had ever seen – never mind her bleary eyes and rather pallid skin...
"Of course, if the Feast itself is too much," Tarrant continued, voice lowering and eyebrows quirking suggestively. "We could always stay in..."
"I rather like our private garden," Alice giggled. "Thank you, love."