Wonder

Based on the final scenes of 'Alice' a Syfy miniseries.

The last thing she remembered before passing out was hitting a wall.

Alice Hamilton awoke to find herself in a hospital room, lying on a bed with a mattress that had seen better days. But at that moment, she didn't care. Had she returned from Wonderland safely, or had she simply dreamed the whole thing? She would find out soon enough because her mother was stood next to the bed. As soon as she saw Alice was awake, she turned to see her daughter.

"Alice?" she asked calmly, as if she were trying to test her memory.

Alice slightly inclined her head to show her mother that she understood. Carol's face lit up with delight as seeing her daughter was alive. But Alice suddenly remembered her father, how the Walrus had killed him in cold blood and the last words he spoke to her. He had not been taken to Wonderland or the Casino out of choice. He had been kidnapped. Even though Alice had forgiven him after breaking through the memory spell the Queen of Hearts had put on him, she was beginning to realise that she didn't need to search for answers anymore. She had found the answer she had sought; unfortunately her search had ended in a way she could never have imagined.

Alice's face began to quiver. Her body was reacting before her mind but it soon caught up.

"He's gone" she whispered.

Her mother noticed her daughter's distress and her face turned into a curious but not patronising expression.

"Who's gone?" Carol asked, though in some part of her she knew.

After a few seconds, she responded. But her face could longer hold the illusion of false emotion and shook with so many years of grief than Alice could remember.

"Dad" she said and with that word, she broke into tears. Carol leant close to her and Alice hugged her mother tighter than she had done in a long time. She had resisted needing her family in this way for so long but now, it was the only thing keeping her alive.

Her mother stroked her hair and back and after a while, Alice let go of her mother and lent back down onto her bed. Her mother's smile returned, but this time it was more netural rather than forced by her relief of her daughter's recovery.

"You gave me such a fright" Carol said gently.

After a second, Alice decided to find out once and for all if the events in Wonderland had all been in her imagination.

"How long was I there?" she asked. It was vague enough for either response to be true. It would all be determined by how long she had spent there.

"An hour" her mother replied.

Alice repeated the same two words back to her mother. She couldn't believe it. Unless Wonderland's time system was different to Earth's, which was unlikely, it was impossible for her to have gone anywhere.

"You were really lucky" Carol continued. "A construction worker saw you run into the building"

That settled it. It had to have all been a dream. Alice lay in bed for a minute, letting it all sink in. She wondered if she would ever bring herself to believe it. But for now, she had to focus on getting better; there would be plenty of time for wondering once she got home.

A few hours later, Alice left the hospital with her mother and returned to the flat they shared. Nothing had changed, how could it in just a few hours? She stood in the living room and began to wonder again. The dream had been so frightening, enjoyable, upsetting and most of all, it had felt so real. She hoped she would dream again of the Wonderland she visited. Though hopefully not in the state when the Queen of Hearts ruled the roost.

Alice went into her bedroom and found everything she had kept that her father had either owned or had a picture of him on it. Seeing his death and hearing his apologies had somehow helped Alice in a way that she couldn't imagine. She could see now that searching for someone that was never likely to come back wasn't a good thing to do. And neither was senselessly keeping thing in the open that only held value if he was going to return. Which he wasn't, dream or no dream. She could now think of him with fond memories and remember who he was, rather than feeling anger that was near impossible to extinguish.

Carol stood in the doorway and watched her daughter fondle the items.

"What's all this about?" she asked.

Alice placed the lid on the box.

"I don't need to look for Dad anymore" Alice replied.

She got off her bed and placed the box in the space underneath.

"I've said goodbye to him" she said reassuringly and rolled up his map which she had lain on the bed.

Carol might have been worried if her daughter hadn't seemed so calm. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing she had finally accepted he was gone. It still hurt her that he was gone, but she had moved on, the best she could. Before either mother or daughter could do anything else, the door buzzer noise echoed twice. Carol looked over in the direction of the noise.

"Oh, I almost forgot, the construction worker who found you he wanted to stop by and see how you were, very sweet" she said and went to answer the door.

Alice placed the map under the bed and picked up the last of her father's items. A copy of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. She admired it for a few seconds and wondered if she had dreamed it all because of this book or if by some miracle, all her assumptions of the futuristic world being a dream were false. But that was something she would never know.

"Alice, come meet David" came her mother's voice from the living room. Carefully, Alice walked out of her bedroom and looked up to see her rescuer.

For a second, Alice still believed it was a dream. But upon seeing the man who had rescued her, she knew that it wasn't a dream.

For the man that was standing before her, although he was wearing different clothes, was the man she had missed most after leaving Wonderland. His brown hair and dazzling eyes shone brightly even in the dim light of the room and upon seeing her, his face beamed with recognition. Her face broke into the widest smile she had worn in years.

"Hatter!" she exclaimed and ran across the room.

As Alice got closer to Hatter, the two spread their arms apart and when they met, they closed their own around the other. They hugged each other with just enough tightness to show how they felt, but not enough to cause any pain. Even though they had only been apart for a short while, it felt like they had met after a very long time

"Finally" Hatter said in his rich British accent. The hug he had been waiting for ever since he had met Alice had finally happened.

"You've no idea how happy I am to see you" Alice to him. And it was true; she now knew that Wonderland's time must be different than Earth's, impossible as it had seemed yesterday. Hatter was living proof that it was all real, not just a figment or a dream.

They broke apart for a second, only to look into each other's eyes. Unable to hold their love any longer, Hatter moved forward and pulled Alice into a kiss. She accepted it gladly and placed her hand around the back of his head for support. As the kiss continued, the two closed their eyes and let the emotional energy flow through them.

"I missed you" Hatter said quietly and the two continued to kiss. It lasted longer than either could have dreamed, but they didn't care. They were in love.

Meanwhile, Carol Hamilton watched in absolute astonishment as her daughter seemingly kissed a perfect stranger. But Alice and Hatter neither noticed, nor cared.

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