Title: Quick and Precious and Now

Author: strangelittleswirl

Words: 1067

Rating: G

Warnings: Spoilers for the all of Alice. This amount of sugary fluff may be bad for your teeth.

Summary: Alice is very good at remembering dates, so her memory of how it all unfolded is unparalleled.

Disclaimer: This is not mine, it's Syfy's and Lewis Carol's, and I only play with it.

Alice is very good and remembering dates, so her memory of how it all unfolded is unparalleled:

March 10th- Her mother watched her kiss a seemingly complete stranger in their living room. The event was followed with a two-hour long conversation with her mother once 'David' left, even though her mother made sure to point out she thought he really was sweet. Alice didn't mind a second of it because all she could think of was-

March 11th-Alice met Hatter at the Looking Glass. He seemed distracted and fidgety, and when she asked him for a reason he muttered something about business dwindling in Wonderland and how quite frankly he was considering just leaving. When Alice told him that he should, he stared at her as if she had five heads. And then she discussed that she was possibly moving out of her mother's apartment and would be looking for a new place of her own on or around-

March 19th-She found the perfect apartment, and the next time she saw the Hatter he gave her an empty, dejected congratulations and requested to know the date of her housewarming party. Alice told him that it would be-

April 4th-She had moved in at the beginning of the month. Her mother was happy to see her move on with her life, and was delighted to see that lovely construction worker arrive for the party.

The Hatter brought her flowers. Alice placed them on the mantle, where they were the subject of conversation for the rest of the night because no one present had ever seen plaid roses before.

At the end of the night (it was late), Alice found Hatter on the balcony, brooding. She asked him if he wanted to stay after the others left, because she was thinking of getting pizza and wondered if he would like to as well.

"Pizza?" he asked.

"And other things," she answered just as it struck midnight and it was suddenly-

April 5th-She and Hatter shared a pie at a place on 9th. They sat at a table near the door. Hatter watched the Manhattan traffic with keen interest, but always paid attention when Alice asked him a question before returning to watch the street.

At the end of the night, Alice walked him back over to the Glass, trying to figure out when she had said or done something that had caused the chapeau-wearing man to be so distant. He muttered a quick goodnight and was about to go through when she called out to him.

"Did March 10th not happen?" Alice blurted out, and he turned back around. Perhaps she'd imagined that kiss. "Because I'm pretty sure we just went on a date and I know I'm not great with all of this, but...I mean, is this too fast? Do you not..." She couldn't finish that. Wouldn't.

The Hatter cast eyes upward and whispered "thank you" before striding back over to her side and kissed her soundly.

"What the hell is going on?" Alice demanded. "It's only been about a month, I know, but-"

"-And it's been about eight for me, remember? Time isn't the same on both sides. I thought you didn't-"

"Oh. No, I do want to. I mean, have a relationship-"

And then Hatter was kissing her and pressing her against the wall and she was a little too preoccupied to breathe, let alone finish her sentence.

The Hatter remained in her apartment until-

April 8th-Hatter said that he had to return or his associates would take over and he'd have no hope of getting out of the whole deal with any sort of profit. He was looking into the best way of converting goods from Wonderland into anything of value in Alice's world.

"So you're taking me up on my offer?" she questioned from her spot wrapped in the comforter.

He rolled his eyes as he leaned over her to give her a kiss. "Obviously."

But then Alice pulled him back into the bed and he really didn't get back to Wonderland until-

April 9th-Alice had a late (very late) breakfast with her mother, at which time she announced their plans to move-in together.

Carol thought it was all a bit too quick.

Alice chocked on her tea.

The next few days were spent working and and wondering and wandering until-

April 12th-Hatter moved in and they were too busy with the affairs trivial and domestic to return to Wonderland until-

May 22nd-Charlie asked Hatter (quite solemnly) what his intentions were, and he spent a good two minutes sputtering before he excused himself. It made Alice wonder the same thing and it was-

June 3rd-Alice rolled over one morning to find her boyfriend snoring softly next to her, hair mussed, body snug against hers. She tried to imagine waking up without him and the concept left her with an empty feeling. There was a scar on his shoulder from the fight for Wonderland, for her. Alice whispered 'I love you' into the arm wrapped around her. In sleep, he tightened the arm around her and she fell back into sleep. That being said, it came as a surprise when-

June 17th-The couple was leaving the park when suddenly, surprisingly, Hatter reached over and kissed Alice before laughing, just as they reached the crosswalk.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

The shock on her face was real.

"I heard you that morning," he explained, smugly.

Despite the muggy heat of summer in the city, Alice felt twenty pounds lighter at that moment. Cars sped by and time flashed in a blur.

Alice is very good with dates, but after that she didn't really care about specific dates. Too much time spent on the specific whens took away from the nows: the dash to the bathroom one morning, the anxious minutes before the little pink plus appeared, the announcement to her mother, the announcement to Charlie, the sight of Hatter fleeing from Charlie's sword, the courthouse wedding to appease Carol, the delivery of their child, the first time Alice tied her daughter's dark hair up into a high ponytail with a soft blue ribbon as she prepared for karate class.

They were all quick and precious and now and quite frankly, she wouldn't give them up for anything in either world.