Author's Note – Of course I do not own this. But, the muse demanded it be written so journey down the rabbit-hole and see what you may find.

In that wonderful place where dreams and reality are blurred, she stood there waiting. Whom was she waiting for? The name was on the tip of her tongue. She couldn't remember, but she knew she must continue wait. So, she waited…patiently, still as a statue whilst the world around her remained blurred and inconstant. The tingle at the nape of her neck told her, without seeing, that he was there….finally. She smiled and turned her head, looking over her shoulder as his hand touched her shoulder. "You came," she breathed out, savoring the feel from the warm touch.

"You waited," he answered, tracing a finger up to the side of her neck.

"Am I dreaming?" she wondered aloud, as she leaned into the touch.

"When are you not?" he countered, stroking her delicate jaw line.

"Do I know you?" He was so familiar to her; she knew she should know him, but she couldn't quite place it.

"You have forgotten," he sounded sad, as his fingertips brushed her cheek.

"I…didn't mean to?" she stammered out, closing her eyes against the pain she could sense in his voice. Pain that she had caused somehow.

"You could have stayed," his lips were next to her ear, while his fingers went down to grasp her small, white hand in his large, gloved ones. The gloves were old and tattered, the fingers cut showing the pale digits beneath. They were calloused and scarred.

"I had to leave…I had…I had to do something" her distress was increasing, and she didn't know why.

"You were afraid," he stated, pulling her flush against his taller frame. He held her immobile against him, but not forcefully. His other hand tangled into her hair, tugging it gently.

"Yes." It was the only thing she could say before he spun her around and kissed her. Slow, deep, hungry. She responded in kind, returning the kiss with just as much hunger and passion, tangling her hands in his wild orange hair.

He pulled away, nipping at her bottom lip playfully before resting his chin on the top of her head. "You haven't come back yet," he said, wistfully.

"I am here right now," she declared. "I am yours." He smiled, albeit painfully, down at her upturned face.

"My Alice….You won't be mine…not until you come back." He pulled away from her. That single movement was enough to tell her that he was leaving.

"Wait!" she cried, reaching out to grab his hand, to prevent his departure. But there was nothing there. He was gone, if he had even truly been there in the first place.

"I don't know where you are," her eyes filled with tears as she spun around in a circle, trying to find him.

"Listen to your heart; it will tell you," the words came from far away, as if from a long tunnel…or rabbit hole. "Find me, Alice. Find me again, and we can be together…forever."

"I don't even remember your name!" she wailed into the nothingness around her, grabbing handfuls of her hair and tugging in frustration.

When Alice Kinsley woke from her tumultuous dreams that morning, there were a multitude of thoughts running rampant. Namely, who was this odd looking stranger in her dream, why was he so familiar, and what was his name. She pressed her finger against her lip, which still tingled from her dream lover's kiss.