Hatter watched it rain. We watched as the dark clouds poured their sorrow onto the city. It had been raining for two days. Three days since he had last seen Alice.

She'd gotten stuck at a competition for her students in a town over a hundred miles away. The rain had flooded so many roads that she'd gotten stuck there. He knew she was safe, they were staying in a high school gym that was high up, but he missed her.

Desperately. He had to keep reassuring himself that she was fine, and he would see her soon. But as he watched the rain fall he couldn't help feeling that twist in his stomach that he felt when he wasn't by her.

Two Days Later

The rain stopped finally. But the roads were still flooded. Hatter found himself constantly pacing his apartment. Alice called every night, but her voice just wasn't enough. He wanted more.

Two More Days Later

It was eight o'clock and Alice hadn't called. She called every night at seven. Hatter was watching the phone, willing it to ring. He called Carol, "Have you heard from Alice?"

"No. She said something about maybe getting out of the gym today, but that's all. Why?

"No reason." Hatter quickly hung up not wanting Carol to worry. Out of the gym. He looked out the window. It had started to rain again.

Damn.

The next two hours he broke two tea cups, and one of his cupboard doors. Where was Alice?

By eleven he was about ready to go out and look for her, flooded streets be damned. But he heard a knock on his door.

He pulled the door open, ready to tell Mrs. Johnson that he would keep it down, but it wasn't his landlady ready to scold him for tossing furniture about.

It was Alice.

Much in the same way he had first seen her, just in different cloths. She was shivering in a wet pair of jeans and his purple jacket.

"Alice." He breathed.

"Hatter." She replied simply.

Without even thinking he pulled her into a long kiss. Her lips were wet and tasted of rain.

After a minute she pulled back, "Gonna let me in?" She asked.

Hatter pulled her over the threshold. He kicked the door shut before slipping the wet coat off her shoulders and onto the floor. Her skin was cold and as he kissed her again she whispered his first words to her in this world, "I missed you."