In the Rough, chapter 1/40
Title: In the Rough (1/40)
Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Teen
Characters: Alice, Hatter, OC
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
Author's Notes:
So this is what I've been working on the last few weeks. This is quite possibly the biggest fic I've ever attempted, and I'm really excited to put it out into the world. ^_^ I'll be posting weekly, every Friday for the next several months. Thanks so much to my GORGEOUS betas, zombres and randombattlecry! They are simply fantastic.
One day, just like yesterday, Alice returned to the apartment for an hour’s lunch between classes. And that day, just like yesterday, Hatter met her there, also on his lunch break from the upscale teashop he ran in the business district.
And that day, just like yesterday, she and Hatter both made themselves sandwiches in the kitchen, standing side-by-side, passing each other the mustard and meat and cheese like it was a well-orchestrated routine, which it was, always ending with the shrill note of the tea kettle.
And if today were just like yesterday, Alice would have taken her sandwich to the couch with Hatter, and they would have sat all curled up together with their sandwiches and they would have talked about anything interesting that had happened that day. Or maybe they would have talked about nothing in particular at all.
But today wasn’t like yesterday, or the yesterday before that, or the yesterday before that. Because Alice was tired of yesterday.
“Hatter,” she said instead, and poked him with her foot. “I’m bored.”
“Well,” Hatter said, taking a huge bite out of his roast beef and pickle and not understanding at all what she was trying to say, “What do you want to do?”
With the tip of one finger, she delicately wiped mustard from one corner of her mouth. “I want to go to Wonderland.”
Hatter coughed, spraying half-chewed pickle all over the coffee table. He wiped his mouth and swallowed hurriedly as Alice rolled her eyes and calmly stood up to get a napkin or something.
“You what?” Hatter asked once he’d regained speech and she’d calmly started wiping off the table. “’I’ve had enough Wonderland for a lifetime’, you say, that’s what you tell me, and then, what, ten months later you’re all ‘I’m bored and want to go back’?” He looked at her dubiously, wiping reflexively at his chin. “What’s wrong?”
Alice sighed and flumped against the back of the couch. “I don’t know, it’s just... all that rushing around in Wonderland, and the newness of it all, the - well, not to coin a phrase or anything, but the wonder of it, I suppose- and then I come back here and it’s the same routine every day. It’s more wonderful now because you’re in it, of course, but it’s just not the same. As Wonderland, I mean. It’s the same as my world, obviously, but-“ She’d gotten herself a little tangled in this conversation, and unable to verbalize a decent way out, just gave up and stopped talking.
Alice had envisioned many possible reactions to this announcement - worst case scenario, she expected him to argue, or she expected him to be hurt that she would want something different after he gave up so much for her. Best case scenario, she thought he might...
“...Oh, thank god.” Hatter said with a lopsided grin. “Me too.”
Alice felt a smile work its way across her face. She should have known. “...Really?”
“Cotton cozy,” he responded, which was something he said now and again that Alice figured mostly meant yes.
Suddenly, Alice felt such an intense rush of excitement and relief and rightness with this man that she swung her knee across his lap so that she could straddle him, placing her hands on either side of his face for a kiss. He hummed appreciatively and settled his hands on her waist, and they stayed like that for several minutes.
“But,” he said once they had broken for air, pointing a finger in her face, “Don’t forget that you’re mad as a badger, you can’t lie to save your life, and you’ve got no sense of self-preservation to boot, so if we’re going to go, you’ve got to let me get my good hat first because I’m not leaving without it and you’re sure as hell not going by yourself!”
He had moved Alice off his lap by this point and was standing up, grinning like a kid at Christmas and no doubt ready to grab his hat and run out the door. Laughing, Alice grabbed his arm and dragged him back down on the sofa. “We can’t go now, you idiot! I’m not doing this all in a rush like last time!”
“Oh really?” he asked, and his smile was blinding, teasing. “How did you do it last time? Because however we do this, it has to end with you standing in front of me again-“ he kissed her shoulder - “dripping-“ he kissed her collarbone - “wet.“ He kissed her quickly on the lips and snickered mischievously, ignoring her light slap on his arm and tucking her into his side.
“Well,” Alice began. “for starters, I’ll want to be wearing better shoes this time. And bring some changes of clothes. And a towel! I’m never traveling without a towel again.”
“Good plan,” Hatter said, nodding sagely. “But extra clothes? How long are you planning on staying?”
Alice looked at him in surprise. “I mean, a couple of weeks over there is an hour here, isn’t it? We could be there for a month, easy. I’ll want more clothes.”
“Alice,” Hatter said with the air of someone enjoying themselves immensely, “I don’t often get a chance to tell you this now that we’re living together and you can throw me over your shoulder in ten seconds whenever you feel like, so I’m going to savor this moment.” Hatter bounced ever-so-slightly in his seat, took a deep breath and grinned. “You are totally, completely wrong.”
She blinked. “What?”
“See, that’s just like you,” he continued, running an idle hand through her hair with an unbearably smug look on his face. “You take one little jaunt through the Glass, topple the Red Queen, save the world, fall in love with a man in a devastatingly handsome porkpie hat, and you think you know everything.”
“But-“
“It was because our worlds weren’t connected for most of your trip. Of course Wonderland was moving at its own jolly pace, it wasn’t leashed anymore. As long as the Looking Glass is working properly, both worlds move at the same rate. I mean, think about the Oysters. You heard how often the Hearts had to replenish their supply to keep the Casino working properly - about a hundred per week, at least! There’s no way, what, a hundred, two hundred Oysters could be disappearing every hour, and no one noticing?” He shook his head. “The Glass would be discovered for sure.”
“Wait.” She placed a hand on his arm, bringing his attention away from her hair running through his fingers. “You’re serious? You mean we could even visit Charlie? He’d still be alive?”
He grinned. “You know what, you crazy thing,” he said, “Let’s go tonight, right after work. Go!” he said, shooing in the direction of their bedroom. “Go, pack, do whatever it is you need to do.”
Alice paused. Knowing that everything would be (almost) just as they left it had changed things somewhat. Her cheery mood was suddenly struck with a wave of suspicion. It was silly, old ghosts coming back to haunt her like this, and she had brought up the whole crazy thing in the first place, not him, but... old fears still niggled at the back of her mind. She touched Hatter’s cheek and turned his head so that she could look right at him. “Hatter, you’re... you’re happy here, right? We’re...” she swallowed and forced herself to continue. What if he got home, saw everything the way he remembered it, and... “We’re not going to go and you just - decide-“
“Hey,” he said softly, his manic energy ebbing away. He brought a hand up to cover hers. “That’s not going to happen. Not ever.” He kissed her forehead and reached for a hug, tucking her head in the nook of his shoulder. “This is what’s going to happen: we’re going to go to Wonderland, have an adventure for a day or so, visit Charlie, laugh at Charlie, come back, and then have amazing post-adventure sex. How does that sound?”
Alice snickered into his jacket, settling into the sensation of being held. He smelled like allspice and that weird perfume he scented his teashop with, like vanilla and grass.
“I love you,” she said.
Hatter leaned back to rub his thumb across her cheekbone and kiss her briefly. “I love you, too,” he said, and Alice felt all the anxiety fly away.
She smiled and stepped out of the hug, checking her watch. “You’re going to miss your subway if you don’t head out now,” she told him.
Hatter jumped a bit, mumbling “Cripes!” and reaching for his hat and jacket. “See you tonight then, Kettle?” he said with a wink and a flash of his dimple.
“See you tonight,” she called to his back as the door swung shut.
**
A whole world away, a very small girl with very dirty blonde hair stood barefoot on the very top of the very tallest mountain in the Tulgey Wood. She didn’t notice the cold wind blowing through the holes in her threadbare shirt, nor the suddenly sedate behavior of the (normally quite communicative) beaver sitting at her feet. All her attention was fixed on a small cluster of smoking trees several miles away, and the green glow that brightened, turned purple, and then faded away to nothing.
She sighed, and looked down at the beaver. “Oh, dear,” she said.
He clicked his teeth in agreement.
**
Chapter Two
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Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Teen
Characters: Alice, Hatter, OC
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
Author's Notes:
So this is what I've been working on the last few weeks. This is quite possibly the biggest fic I've ever attempted, and I'm really excited to put it out into the world. ^_^ I'll be posting weekly, every Friday for the next several months. Thanks so much to my GORGEOUS betas, zombres and randombattlecry! They are simply fantastic.
One day, just like yesterday, Alice returned to the apartment for an hour’s lunch between classes. And that day, just like yesterday, Hatter met her there, also on his lunch break from the upscale teashop he ran in the business district.
And that day, just like yesterday, she and Hatter both made themselves sandwiches in the kitchen, standing side-by-side, passing each other the mustard and meat and cheese like it was a well-orchestrated routine, which it was, always ending with the shrill note of the tea kettle.
And if today were just like yesterday, Alice would have taken her sandwich to the couch with Hatter, and they would have sat all curled up together with their sandwiches and they would have talked about anything interesting that had happened that day. Or maybe they would have talked about nothing in particular at all.
But today wasn’t like yesterday, or the yesterday before that, or the yesterday before that. Because Alice was tired of yesterday.
“Hatter,” she said instead, and poked him with her foot. “I’m bored.”
“Well,” Hatter said, taking a huge bite out of his roast beef and pickle and not understanding at all what she was trying to say, “What do you want to do?”
With the tip of one finger, she delicately wiped mustard from one corner of her mouth. “I want to go to Wonderland.”
Hatter coughed, spraying half-chewed pickle all over the coffee table. He wiped his mouth and swallowed hurriedly as Alice rolled her eyes and calmly stood up to get a napkin or something.
“You what?” Hatter asked once he’d regained speech and she’d calmly started wiping off the table. “’I’ve had enough Wonderland for a lifetime’, you say, that’s what you tell me, and then, what, ten months later you’re all ‘I’m bored and want to go back’?” He looked at her dubiously, wiping reflexively at his chin. “What’s wrong?”
Alice sighed and flumped against the back of the couch. “I don’t know, it’s just... all that rushing around in Wonderland, and the newness of it all, the - well, not to coin a phrase or anything, but the wonder of it, I suppose- and then I come back here and it’s the same routine every day. It’s more wonderful now because you’re in it, of course, but it’s just not the same. As Wonderland, I mean. It’s the same as my world, obviously, but-“ She’d gotten herself a little tangled in this conversation, and unable to verbalize a decent way out, just gave up and stopped talking.
Alice had envisioned many possible reactions to this announcement - worst case scenario, she expected him to argue, or she expected him to be hurt that she would want something different after he gave up so much for her. Best case scenario, she thought he might...
“...Oh, thank god.” Hatter said with a lopsided grin. “Me too.”
Alice felt a smile work its way across her face. She should have known. “...Really?”
“Cotton cozy,” he responded, which was something he said now and again that Alice figured mostly meant yes.
Suddenly, Alice felt such an intense rush of excitement and relief and rightness with this man that she swung her knee across his lap so that she could straddle him, placing her hands on either side of his face for a kiss. He hummed appreciatively and settled his hands on her waist, and they stayed like that for several minutes.
“But,” he said once they had broken for air, pointing a finger in her face, “Don’t forget that you’re mad as a badger, you can’t lie to save your life, and you’ve got no sense of self-preservation to boot, so if we’re going to go, you’ve got to let me get my good hat first because I’m not leaving without it and you’re sure as hell not going by yourself!”
He had moved Alice off his lap by this point and was standing up, grinning like a kid at Christmas and no doubt ready to grab his hat and run out the door. Laughing, Alice grabbed his arm and dragged him back down on the sofa. “We can’t go now, you idiot! I’m not doing this all in a rush like last time!”
“Oh really?” he asked, and his smile was blinding, teasing. “How did you do it last time? Because however we do this, it has to end with you standing in front of me again-“ he kissed her shoulder - “dripping-“ he kissed her collarbone - “wet.“ He kissed her quickly on the lips and snickered mischievously, ignoring her light slap on his arm and tucking her into his side.
“Well,” Alice began. “for starters, I’ll want to be wearing better shoes this time. And bring some changes of clothes. And a towel! I’m never traveling without a towel again.”
“Good plan,” Hatter said, nodding sagely. “But extra clothes? How long are you planning on staying?”
Alice looked at him in surprise. “I mean, a couple of weeks over there is an hour here, isn’t it? We could be there for a month, easy. I’ll want more clothes.”
“Alice,” Hatter said with the air of someone enjoying themselves immensely, “I don’t often get a chance to tell you this now that we’re living together and you can throw me over your shoulder in ten seconds whenever you feel like, so I’m going to savor this moment.” Hatter bounced ever-so-slightly in his seat, took a deep breath and grinned. “You are totally, completely wrong.”
She blinked. “What?”
“See, that’s just like you,” he continued, running an idle hand through her hair with an unbearably smug look on his face. “You take one little jaunt through the Glass, topple the Red Queen, save the world, fall in love with a man in a devastatingly handsome porkpie hat, and you think you know everything.”
“But-“
“It was because our worlds weren’t connected for most of your trip. Of course Wonderland was moving at its own jolly pace, it wasn’t leashed anymore. As long as the Looking Glass is working properly, both worlds move at the same rate. I mean, think about the Oysters. You heard how often the Hearts had to replenish their supply to keep the Casino working properly - about a hundred per week, at least! There’s no way, what, a hundred, two hundred Oysters could be disappearing every hour, and no one noticing?” He shook his head. “The Glass would be discovered for sure.”
“Wait.” She placed a hand on his arm, bringing his attention away from her hair running through his fingers. “You’re serious? You mean we could even visit Charlie? He’d still be alive?”
He grinned. “You know what, you crazy thing,” he said, “Let’s go tonight, right after work. Go!” he said, shooing in the direction of their bedroom. “Go, pack, do whatever it is you need to do.”
Alice paused. Knowing that everything would be (almost) just as they left it had changed things somewhat. Her cheery mood was suddenly struck with a wave of suspicion. It was silly, old ghosts coming back to haunt her like this, and she had brought up the whole crazy thing in the first place, not him, but... old fears still niggled at the back of her mind. She touched Hatter’s cheek and turned his head so that she could look right at him. “Hatter, you’re... you’re happy here, right? We’re...” she swallowed and forced herself to continue. What if he got home, saw everything the way he remembered it, and... “We’re not going to go and you just - decide-“
“Hey,” he said softly, his manic energy ebbing away. He brought a hand up to cover hers. “That’s not going to happen. Not ever.” He kissed her forehead and reached for a hug, tucking her head in the nook of his shoulder. “This is what’s going to happen: we’re going to go to Wonderland, have an adventure for a day or so, visit Charlie, laugh at Charlie, come back, and then have amazing post-adventure sex. How does that sound?”
Alice snickered into his jacket, settling into the sensation of being held. He smelled like allspice and that weird perfume he scented his teashop with, like vanilla and grass.
“I love you,” she said.
Hatter leaned back to rub his thumb across her cheekbone and kiss her briefly. “I love you, too,” he said, and Alice felt all the anxiety fly away.
She smiled and stepped out of the hug, checking her watch. “You’re going to miss your subway if you don’t head out now,” she told him.
Hatter jumped a bit, mumbling “Cripes!” and reaching for his hat and jacket. “See you tonight then, Kettle?” he said with a wink and a flash of his dimple.
“See you tonight,” she called to his back as the door swung shut.
**
A whole world away, a very small girl with very dirty blonde hair stood barefoot on the very top of the very tallest mountain in the Tulgey Wood. She didn’t notice the cold wind blowing through the holes in her threadbare shirt, nor the suddenly sedate behavior of the (normally quite communicative) beaver sitting at her feet. All her attention was fixed on a small cluster of smoking trees several miles away, and the green glow that brightened, turned purple, and then faded away to nothing.
She sighed, and looked down at the beaver. “Oh, dear,” she said.
He clicked his teeth in agreement.
**
Chapter Two
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