AN: Hey, look, I'm back! So this is a follow-up to Early Birds. It pretty much starts immediately after the last one ends. I hope you like it!! Oh, and I mention the Court of Miracles in here. That's a Hunchback of Notre Dame reference. XD

All credit for the spectacular characters, Reginald L. Theophilus III and Alice, belongs to Bri-chan and Rain. Their wonderful webcomic is on livejournal- "When Curiosity Met Insanity". Go read it. Right now.

Edit: Something wonderful has happened!! A reader- BriarRose86- has offered to do two things for me. Not only has she offered to be a beta for my stories, but she's also drawn some AMAZING pictures!! Based on my little drabbles!! I'm so unbelievably happy about this. XD Please go look at her artwork on DeviantArt: briarrose86 dot deviantart dot com --Replace the dots with actual dots and take a look. They're so nice!!! BriarRose, you are AWESOME.

After leaving Alice at work, the Mad Hatter walked towards his own store, not in the least upset with her rejection. He was rather getting used to being told no, and Reginald was very good at talking himself out of slumps. 'She's just playing hard to get, Reggie. Very, very hard to get…'

He strolled along the street, hands in pockets, whistling as he went. (He does so enjoy whistling.) The sun was shining; the usual Disney crowds were bustling about, and he was entertaining plans for a lovely lunch with Alice. As far as Reginald Leopold Theophilus the Third was concerned, life was good.

He reached his shop without incident, and spent the next five minutes digging through various pockets for his keys. There were many pockets to consider: top left of his vest, bottom right on the vest, all of his pants pockets, the two pockets on the inside of his coat and the two pockets on the outside of his coat. After a long and arduous search, he discovered them in the secret compartment in the seam along the inside of his hat.

(In this hidden space, he also stashes two shiny candy wrappers, a bit of small change, a spare pen, a purple kazoo and a small photo of Alice- purchased from Britt Dietz.)

Once inside, Reginald carefully and methodically hung up his coat and hat, and removed his vest. Once it was safely folded away, he pulled on his apron and went to work.

Reginald spent a long, productive morning in his hat store. Considering how infrequently he worked full shifts, orders tended to back up. When he actually did show up to do his job, there was always plenty to busy himself with.

Passerby who were familiar with the Mad Hatter's typical eccentricities were routinely surprised to see him whenever he was working. For his usually comical face would be the picture of serious as he bent over his current project. His movements would be slow and practiced, carefully piecing together his famous hats.

In a few hours, he finished a (rather boring in comparison to his own) top hat from a previous day and began work on another. The new hat was for a member of the Court of Miracles, and Reginald had quite a bit of fun designing a crazy jester's cap with no thought for conventions. Though, looking back, perhaps he had been a bit over-zealous with all the bells...

Eventually, he noticed the time, nearly dropping his tools when he did. 'How can I have lunch with my Alice if she eats before I arrive?!?' Seeing as it was approaching noon, Reginald hurriedly put away his things, muttering frantically under his breath all the while.

Had the March Hare been present, he would have wryly noted that Reginald had never been so careless with his work things before. Buttoning his vest and donning his infamous coat and hat, he was out the door less than five minutes after he decided to leave.

'What if I'm horribly late, and she was expecting me? She'll hate me!' Shaking his head to rid it of such horrid thoughts (nearly dislodging his overlarge hat), he practically ran to Alice and Belle's bookstore. The Disneyland residents were all, of course, used to his erratic behavior and paid him no mind.

Reginald burst through the door in a flurry of bright colors, hollering "Cricket!!" as he went. The store- which only a moment before had been filled with the quiet murmurings of customers- fell silent as everyone turned as one to stare at the distressed Hatter.

Alice, standing in one of the book aisles where she had been chatting with Ariel, felt her mouth fall open. "Oh, heavens…" 'What on earth is he doing here?' Her mouth shut with an audible click as she moved the few steps towards him, hands fisted at her sides.

He cut her off before she could say a word, seemingly oblivious to his precarious perch on her last nerve. "Pumpkin! Thank Disney you're still here!"

The entire store was looking on with unveiled interest, Belle and Ariel especially. Alice could feel the flush burning in her cheeks, and she mentally turned all of that nervous energy to anger. "Mr. Theophilus! Do you have to make such a scene, you ridiculously dramatic-" With great effort, Alice cut off her stream of insults.

(She shoved all musings of why she was avoiding the insults to the back of her mind, and locked them firmly away.)

"What exactly do you mean, 'still here'? Where else would I be?" She ranted in a furious rush, dragging Reginald over to the counter as she spoke.

"Well," he began a tad nervously, for the first time noticing the stares of the other customers. Not wanting them to hear their conversation, he leaned in close to Alice, intending to whisper in her ear.

The poor young woman started at his sudden nearness, his face alongside hers so that she could feel the warmth of his cheek. His white hair brushed against her jaw, and she marveled at the silkiness.

Alice's face blushed redder than anyone had ever seen it, and she froze in place for a moment. Reginald began to murmur in her ear, but the words were lost in his overwhelming proximity and the loud pounding of her heart. The breathe behind his words seemed to caress her ear, and she trembled. With an abrupt gasp, Alice pushed him away with both hands against his chest.

He stumbled, surprised, and stammered over his words. "A-Alice? What?"

"You were entirely too close, sir! Completely inappropriate!" She snapped at him, and moved around to the far side of the counter in a huff. In all honestly, Alice was forcing the show of anger, because she couldn't let him know her true reaction. 'Why won't my heart slow down? It was a surprise, that's all!' She tried desperately to reassure herself, but was still unable to look him in the eye.

Reginald examined her shrewdly, watching her stare somewhere just over his shoulder and nervously fiddle with her hair. A pleased grin spread across his face as he came to his own conclusions. 'It's all because she loves me, of course! My adorable little darling is all flustered!' He leaned confidently against the counter, smirking at her knowingly.

"So," he questioned in an exaggeratedly deep voice that he thought sounded very suave. "What do you say, Lollipop?" Reginald eagerly awaited her reply to the question he posed whilst whispering to her, but her expression showed only confusion.

His seemingly random question drew Alice out of her tense silence. "Say to what?" she asked, completely mystified to the point of finally locking gazes with him again.

Reginald sighed, shaking his head in mock disappointment as he stood up straight.

"Really, Alice, you must learn to pay better attention when people are talking to you. It's only polite." She scowled. "Now then, I asked you if you would like to have lunch with me this splendid afternoon."

Alice blanched, staring at his eager face. Internally, she was groaning. 'I can't handle this much Reginald so often in one day….' Outwardly, she gave her answer softly, a small part of her heart always aching for him when she rejected him. She knew it always hurt his feelings, and Alice hated to do so. "Not today, Mr. Theophilus."

Reginald's face fell into a childish pout. "Why not," he whined pleadingly. "I thought we were getting along well!"

Alice felt a pang somewhere in her chest at his desperate face, and suddenly had the overwhelming urge to change her mind. However, even with her abrupt desire to go along with his plans, she knew she simply couldn't handle it that day.

With a small unhappy noise that filled Reginald with concern, she slumped over the counter and hid her face in her small hands. "I'm tired, and my head hurts, and I feel kind of sick, so I'm not really hungry, and all I want to do is go home and go to bed as soon as I can."

The Mad Hatter also leaned over the counter, placing his head in his hands so that- should Alice look up- they would be nose to nose. He felt quite bad for his poor little Alice, as any of the bystanders in the store could see. "Well," he began quietly in a gentle sort of voice that Alice found soothing despite her desire not to feel that way. "We could…have lunch tomorrow?"

At this proposition, Alice did finally look up, and upon finding herself so close to Reginald's face, squeaked and jumped back. "I'm sorry but I enjoy reading with lunch!" The excuse escaped her mouth in a frenzied rush before she even thought about what she was saying. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and all Alice wanted was for the man to leave so that her blush could do the same.

Reginald, who had not moved at all, sighed. He was completely unwilling to accept defeat, but had a sneaking suspicion that continuous pushing would only upset Alice. He sighed again, thinking hard, striving to stay focused long enough to come up with a good idea.

Then it hit him. "That's it," he crowed clapping his hands and hopping a little in his excitement. All of a sudden- as Alice stared at him, perplexed and wary of his newest plan- he turned very serious. Alice suspected he was only putting on such a calm face for dramatics, as his eyes were still dancing with joy.

"Miss. Liddell," He began formally, grasping one of her hands between both his own. Alice found that she couldn't make herself pull away from the warmth. "I hereby promise to leave you in peace- though I don't believe you could possibly carry on happily without me, despite your own opinions on the matter, ahem- for the rest of today and tomorrow,"

Reginald stopped to stare at her pointedly, hoping that she understood the gravity of his sacrifice.

"On one condition."

Alice bit her lip, suspecting that she knew what was coming. But she had to ask; curiosity wouldn't let her refuse without knowing. "And what would that be…?"

Reginald, breaking character, as he was completely unable to keep a straight face, smiled devilishly. "Cricket, you must agree to have dinner with me on Friday!"

Alice flushed, wondering if it was necessary for him to have announced it so loudly. There were muttered whispers flying all around the small shop, and Alice wasn't sure if she could handle the embarrassment. "I…umm…."

While she stammered and stalled, her eyes landed on her two best friends over Reginald's shoulder. Ariel and Belle stood side-by-side behind the Mad Hatter, complete opposites in action and expression. The red head had a look of horror and desperation as she frantically shook her head and motioned for Alice to say no.

Belle, on the other hand, was signaling for Alice to go along with the idea, grinning excitedly and nodding. Seeing what Ariel was doing out of the corner of her eye, she frowned for a moment before shoving Ariel behind a bookshelf and going back to smiling at Alice.

'Oh, my.' She thought to herself at the random violence, before turning back to her suitor. 'Belle always does seem to know best…and her husband was quite unconventional as well; look how they turned out. Sometimes I think they've the best romance in Disney…'

Nodding her head along with her thoughts without meaning to, Alice watched Reginald's sweetly hopeful face. "Alright," she murmured, before speaking louder. "Yes, I agree."

Reginald's mouth fell open, revealing (adorably) large teeth. For a long moment he seemed incapable of processing her answer. "You…will?" There was another pause as he stared at Alice in wonderment, realizing for the millionth time that day that she was absolutely gorgeous. And this clever, passionate, stunning creature would be dining out with him in only two days.

He could scarcely believe it. Yet, the right synapses finally connected in his brain, and the most wonderfully happy smile that Alice had ever seen spread across his face. She found herself smiling back, unable to resist responding to a joy that she had inspired.

"Yes," Reginald cheered, jumping into the air with his exuberance. However, as he was still holding Alice's hands over the counter, he tugged her forward, throwing off balance and rather ruining the moment for her. He didn't notice.

He shook her hands, feeling like the luckiest man in the world. "Oh, my lovely, darling, wonderful, sweet, smart, beautiful Alice!" Alice found herself giggling in response, and then quickly stifling the laughter. "I'll hold you to that, Teacup."

Abruptly, he dropped her hands and turned away. Alice felt the loss immediately, and didn't even think to wonder why. Stopping to shake hands with Belle and murmur a giddy "thank you", Reginald swept out of the store with a new bounce to his step.

Alice, on the other hand, couldn't decide if the emotions churning inside of her were excitement or dread.

AN Part 2: For anyone even the least bit interested: here's a brief timeline. Unusually Usual (aka- when Reg walks Alice home from work) takes place on a Tuesday night. Early Birds and this story are on the next day, Wednesday. So Reginald agreed to leave Alice alone for the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday. Their dinner date is set for Friday night. Keep a look-out for that story! XD