[fic: syfy's alice]
a hat by any other name
syfy's alice. alice/hatter. Alice and Hatter discuss things-including the fact that “David” Hatter is not as new to the other side of the Looking Glass as she thought ~1700 | pg13
Alice had always loved her mother, but she hadn’t realized how much until her mother had excused herself from their apartment-“I have that appointment to keep, remember Alice?” Carol Hamilton had said, looking between her daughter and the man she’d latched onto-without any questions.
She’d explain things to her mother later, as best as she could. Obviously, the Wonderland story was out. Somehow, Alice didn’t imagine the ‘I fell through a magical mirror and was transported into a world filled with all those nursery rhymes you said weren’t true when I was little’ explanation would sit well with her mother. Alice would probably end up in a loony bin and Hatter brought up on charges.
“Working it out?” Hatter asked. They had managed to work themselves over to the couch, and were sitting, though they were still holding hands. Hatter didn’t seem in a hurry to let go of her. Alice wasn’t in a hurry for him to.
“Yes,” she answered, trying to do just that as Hatter tilted his head to the side in obvious amusement.
Alice decided in her practical way that they would have met while Hatter’s construction crew was building an extra room at the dojo. Alice would have been intrigued by him, but at that time she was already dating Jack. Of course, Hatter would find reasons to stop by and flirt outrageously with her, and she’d let him because by then she was cooling with Jack and was beginning to suspect he was hiding something-which would turn out to be a fiancée. There were no hard feelings between her and Jack, but since he was busy being King of Wonderland, she didn’t think he’d find the time to return and face her mother’s wrath.
“I own a teashop,” Hatter supplied suddenly, though he looked content to watch the line between her brows crinkle in her concentration.
“I know that,” Alice muttered and sighed when he leaned in suddenly and pressed a kiss to her mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair-she missed the usual messy tousle of his hair and wondered if she could bring it forth with a few good tugs-following him as he leaned back. “That’s where we met, remember-pretty girl, wet dress?”
His dark eyes roved from the tip of her nose down to her waist. “Completely.” His voice was a little strained and he coughed. “I meant I own a teashop. That sells tea.”
“You mean… here? You have a teashop here?”
“Well, didn’t see a lot of Wonderland-er-ians drinking tea, did you?” Hatter didn’t bother to give her time to think about it. “Well, they didn’t. Tea’s sort of an import, and an expensive one at that, and most people prefer to spend what they have on those bottled emotions. Me? I got a sip of tea once and it was bloody good, and I heard they sold it all the time on the other side so off I went.”
“And you bought a teashop.”
“Yeah.” Hatter smiled at the memory. “’Course had to lift some jewels that came off the oysters first-” He hesitated at that, remembering, but Alice’s face wasn’t judgmental. Like most in Wonderland Hatter had done what he had to survive and he had done it wishing he didn’t have to. “And then I had enough to buy this old teashop from this ancient fellow who probably should have retired years ago-something Carroll, I think; he was a bit off his rocker, you know? Anyway, I built it up. Does pretty well now I’m told. Didn’t visit a lot since it wasn’t exactly easy moving back and forth with the Queen breathing down everyone’s neck.”
“Then who takes care of it?” Alice tried to take the information all in. Why was it there were never clear cut lines to Hatter? And why did it feel like she would never really have him pinned down, and why did that make her want to jump for joy?
“A Mr. Charles Dodgson. Good head for numbers, but a really, really bad tea maker.” Hatter made a face like it was the greatest shame in the world. “I show up every once in a while with a new recipe, and we try it out. If it tastes good-brilliant. If not-well, there’s always next time.”
Alice laughed, not sure why it was funny. Hatter grinned down at her, tugging her into his lap. She went, shaking her fingers through his hair. Ah-ha, she thought, there are those cowlicks!
“So this whole David thing,” she guessed, “not something you made up on the fly?”
“David Hatter is a mysterious employer that only Mr. Dodgson ever meets. It’s all very hush-hush. People prefer it that way. Keep hoping to catch a glimpse of me. I think the latest report is that the ever elusive David Hatter is actually a Mafioso member and the teashop is a front for various illegal activities.”
Alice shook her head. There was a lot she and Hatter were definitely going to discuss. “But why David?”
“I was particularly fond of James Bond, but that was probably too obvious. I considered Lewis, just to be funny, but Mr. Dodgson didn’t seem very amused and one can’t go around introducing themselves as Hatter. All you get are strange looks-and I learned that those are bad ‘round here-so I thought: what’s a perfectly, boring harmless name? And there you go-David.”
Should I learn to start calling him David? Alice wondered. No. He’ll always be Hatter to me.
“Well that explains a lot.”
“It does?”
“I doubt there’s pizza in Wonderland.”
“It was tried by the Queen once, for Jack’s tenth birthday I believe. Not that I was invited for the feast mind you, but I’ve heard it was awful.” Hatter nipped at her bottom lip when she squirmed playfully in his lap. “Apparently the substitute for tomatoes was not really a substitute at all. More like a complete and total opposite. Prince Jack locked himself in his room for a week.”
“But you knew about pizza, and about my currency, and tea apparently. I probably should have guessed you'd been here before.”
“Don’t worry about it, love, I’m not after you for your brain-watch it with that, or you’ll start something you can’t finish!” Hatter jumped as Alice’s hands skimmed over his hips.
“So you’re going to be visiting more often now, right?” Alice asked, wrapping one hand around the back of his neck. Her lips teased his, moving feather light over his skin.
“I was actually thinking more along the lines of, well, permanently.”
“Permanently?” She drew herself away.
His hands gripped her hips, as if he was afraid that she’d bolt. “It’s just I don’t fancy jumping back and forth just to come see you. ‘Sides, the Resistance doesn’t need me anymore, now with King Jack on the throne. And we could always visit, if we wanted. You’re going to more popular than the Alice of Legend, you know.”
From the look in his eyes, Alice could tell that he was worried he had put out too much, too fast. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears, but it wasn’t from her normal instinct of flight. Instead, she felt exhilarated, exuberate. A whole lot of words that meant she was really, really, really happy that she was sitting in Hatter’s lap and he didn’t seem willing to go anywhere-except maybe to the bedroom two doors down.
He was watching her with all the weariness of a cat that had been dunked in bathwater too many times. He’d done it before, too. Whenever she talked about Jack, whenever she talked about going home, when she had told him to come visit her on the other side of the mirror. At least now she understood why.
Hatter’s wide hands framed the small of her back as she cupped the underside of his face and pressed her mouth into his. It wasn’t like the kiss they had shared when they had been reunited, or the few that they have given each other on the couch. It was fierce and possessive, her teeth pulling gently at his upper lip, his arms tightening around her, branding her to his body.
“Really,” he gasped, tilting his head back and groaning as she pressed her mouth against the rough column of his throat. “I meant it-starting things you can’t finish.”
“Who says I can’t finish it?” And as she rasped it out, Hatter kissed her again, tongue thrusting into her mouth with a fervor that she could easily match.
“Much as I would love to pick you up and find out what your bedroom looks like, you live with your mum.” He rained kisses on her face as he said it, one hand coming around and stroking the skin beneath her shirt, dangerously close to where she wanted his fingers to be. “I don’t think I could manage, knowing you’re mother could be hearing us shag.”
“She left for an appointment.”
“Like I fell for that. I know girl-speak when I hear it.”
“I have a lock on my door,” she told him.
“But she’d hear us. It’d be mortifying.” Hatter sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “And I don’t want her to get the wrong idea of me. I want her to think my intentions are honorable.”
Alice raised an eyebrow, sliding herself back onto the couch. Hatter looked a little pained to see her go, and the look grew as she slowly lifted her shirt off her body inch by inch. By the time it hit the floor in a heap, Hatter’s tongue was practically rolling out of his mouth and his decision had been.
“Right,” he said and leapt at her without warning, throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieked but didn’t protest too much, since the view was lovely. “I think we can manage before your mum gets back. It’ll have to be fast, though. You don’t mind fast, do you?”
She laughed the whole jaunt down to her bedroom, bouncing on the bed where Hatter tossed her, still laughing as he came on top of her. After that, of course, her laughter stilled but it was a worthy trade.
By the time Hatter managed to drag himself out of Alice’s bedroom, Carol already had dinner prepared and greeted his departure with a raised eyebrow.
“Well,” she said, the look in her eyes something Alice would have recognized as teasing. Hatter didn’t. “You might as well as stay for dinner.”
Hatter grinned sheepishly and wished he had brought a hat with him to worry between his fingers.
syfy's alice. alice/hatter. Alice and Hatter discuss things-including the fact that “David” Hatter is not as new to the other side of the Looking Glass as she thought ~1700 | pg13
Alice had always loved her mother, but she hadn’t realized how much until her mother had excused herself from their apartment-“I have that appointment to keep, remember Alice?” Carol Hamilton had said, looking between her daughter and the man she’d latched onto-without any questions.
She’d explain things to her mother later, as best as she could. Obviously, the Wonderland story was out. Somehow, Alice didn’t imagine the ‘I fell through a magical mirror and was transported into a world filled with all those nursery rhymes you said weren’t true when I was little’ explanation would sit well with her mother. Alice would probably end up in a loony bin and Hatter brought up on charges.
“Working it out?” Hatter asked. They had managed to work themselves over to the couch, and were sitting, though they were still holding hands. Hatter didn’t seem in a hurry to let go of her. Alice wasn’t in a hurry for him to.
“Yes,” she answered, trying to do just that as Hatter tilted his head to the side in obvious amusement.
Alice decided in her practical way that they would have met while Hatter’s construction crew was building an extra room at the dojo. Alice would have been intrigued by him, but at that time she was already dating Jack. Of course, Hatter would find reasons to stop by and flirt outrageously with her, and she’d let him because by then she was cooling with Jack and was beginning to suspect he was hiding something-which would turn out to be a fiancée. There were no hard feelings between her and Jack, but since he was busy being King of Wonderland, she didn’t think he’d find the time to return and face her mother’s wrath.
“I own a teashop,” Hatter supplied suddenly, though he looked content to watch the line between her brows crinkle in her concentration.
“I know that,” Alice muttered and sighed when he leaned in suddenly and pressed a kiss to her mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair-she missed the usual messy tousle of his hair and wondered if she could bring it forth with a few good tugs-following him as he leaned back. “That’s where we met, remember-pretty girl, wet dress?”
His dark eyes roved from the tip of her nose down to her waist. “Completely.” His voice was a little strained and he coughed. “I meant I own a teashop. That sells tea.”
“You mean… here? You have a teashop here?”
“Well, didn’t see a lot of Wonderland-er-ians drinking tea, did you?” Hatter didn’t bother to give her time to think about it. “Well, they didn’t. Tea’s sort of an import, and an expensive one at that, and most people prefer to spend what they have on those bottled emotions. Me? I got a sip of tea once and it was bloody good, and I heard they sold it all the time on the other side so off I went.”
“And you bought a teashop.”
“Yeah.” Hatter smiled at the memory. “’Course had to lift some jewels that came off the oysters first-” He hesitated at that, remembering, but Alice’s face wasn’t judgmental. Like most in Wonderland Hatter had done what he had to survive and he had done it wishing he didn’t have to. “And then I had enough to buy this old teashop from this ancient fellow who probably should have retired years ago-something Carroll, I think; he was a bit off his rocker, you know? Anyway, I built it up. Does pretty well now I’m told. Didn’t visit a lot since it wasn’t exactly easy moving back and forth with the Queen breathing down everyone’s neck.”
“Then who takes care of it?” Alice tried to take the information all in. Why was it there were never clear cut lines to Hatter? And why did it feel like she would never really have him pinned down, and why did that make her want to jump for joy?
“A Mr. Charles Dodgson. Good head for numbers, but a really, really bad tea maker.” Hatter made a face like it was the greatest shame in the world. “I show up every once in a while with a new recipe, and we try it out. If it tastes good-brilliant. If not-well, there’s always next time.”
Alice laughed, not sure why it was funny. Hatter grinned down at her, tugging her into his lap. She went, shaking her fingers through his hair. Ah-ha, she thought, there are those cowlicks!
“So this whole David thing,” she guessed, “not something you made up on the fly?”
“David Hatter is a mysterious employer that only Mr. Dodgson ever meets. It’s all very hush-hush. People prefer it that way. Keep hoping to catch a glimpse of me. I think the latest report is that the ever elusive David Hatter is actually a Mafioso member and the teashop is a front for various illegal activities.”
Alice shook her head. There was a lot she and Hatter were definitely going to discuss. “But why David?”
“I was particularly fond of James Bond, but that was probably too obvious. I considered Lewis, just to be funny, but Mr. Dodgson didn’t seem very amused and one can’t go around introducing themselves as Hatter. All you get are strange looks-and I learned that those are bad ‘round here-so I thought: what’s a perfectly, boring harmless name? And there you go-David.”
Should I learn to start calling him David? Alice wondered. No. He’ll always be Hatter to me.
“Well that explains a lot.”
“It does?”
“I doubt there’s pizza in Wonderland.”
“It was tried by the Queen once, for Jack’s tenth birthday I believe. Not that I was invited for the feast mind you, but I’ve heard it was awful.” Hatter nipped at her bottom lip when she squirmed playfully in his lap. “Apparently the substitute for tomatoes was not really a substitute at all. More like a complete and total opposite. Prince Jack locked himself in his room for a week.”
“But you knew about pizza, and about my currency, and tea apparently. I probably should have guessed you'd been here before.”
“Don’t worry about it, love, I’m not after you for your brain-watch it with that, or you’ll start something you can’t finish!” Hatter jumped as Alice’s hands skimmed over his hips.
“So you’re going to be visiting more often now, right?” Alice asked, wrapping one hand around the back of his neck. Her lips teased his, moving feather light over his skin.
“I was actually thinking more along the lines of, well, permanently.”
“Permanently?” She drew herself away.
His hands gripped her hips, as if he was afraid that she’d bolt. “It’s just I don’t fancy jumping back and forth just to come see you. ‘Sides, the Resistance doesn’t need me anymore, now with King Jack on the throne. And we could always visit, if we wanted. You’re going to more popular than the Alice of Legend, you know.”
From the look in his eyes, Alice could tell that he was worried he had put out too much, too fast. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears, but it wasn’t from her normal instinct of flight. Instead, she felt exhilarated, exuberate. A whole lot of words that meant she was really, really, really happy that she was sitting in Hatter’s lap and he didn’t seem willing to go anywhere-except maybe to the bedroom two doors down.
He was watching her with all the weariness of a cat that had been dunked in bathwater too many times. He’d done it before, too. Whenever she talked about Jack, whenever she talked about going home, when she had told him to come visit her on the other side of the mirror. At least now she understood why.
Hatter’s wide hands framed the small of her back as she cupped the underside of his face and pressed her mouth into his. It wasn’t like the kiss they had shared when they had been reunited, or the few that they have given each other on the couch. It was fierce and possessive, her teeth pulling gently at his upper lip, his arms tightening around her, branding her to his body.
“Really,” he gasped, tilting his head back and groaning as she pressed her mouth against the rough column of his throat. “I meant it-starting things you can’t finish.”
“Who says I can’t finish it?” And as she rasped it out, Hatter kissed her again, tongue thrusting into her mouth with a fervor that she could easily match.
“Much as I would love to pick you up and find out what your bedroom looks like, you live with your mum.” He rained kisses on her face as he said it, one hand coming around and stroking the skin beneath her shirt, dangerously close to where she wanted his fingers to be. “I don’t think I could manage, knowing you’re mother could be hearing us shag.”
“She left for an appointment.”
“Like I fell for that. I know girl-speak when I hear it.”
“I have a lock on my door,” she told him.
“But she’d hear us. It’d be mortifying.” Hatter sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “And I don’t want her to get the wrong idea of me. I want her to think my intentions are honorable.”
Alice raised an eyebrow, sliding herself back onto the couch. Hatter looked a little pained to see her go, and the look grew as she slowly lifted her shirt off her body inch by inch. By the time it hit the floor in a heap, Hatter’s tongue was practically rolling out of his mouth and his decision had been.
“Right,” he said and leapt at her without warning, throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieked but didn’t protest too much, since the view was lovely. “I think we can manage before your mum gets back. It’ll have to be fast, though. You don’t mind fast, do you?”
She laughed the whole jaunt down to her bedroom, bouncing on the bed where Hatter tossed her, still laughing as he came on top of her. After that, of course, her laughter stilled but it was a worthy trade.
By the time Hatter managed to drag himself out of Alice’s bedroom, Carol already had dinner prepared and greeted his departure with a raised eyebrow.
“Well,” she said, the look in her eyes something Alice would have recognized as teasing. Hatter didn’t. “You might as well as stay for dinner.”
Hatter grinned sheepishly and wished he had brought a hat with him to worry between his fingers.